New Blood

by Everly, Faith

  If I had my way, he would never see it.

  “That’s very sad,” Graz sighed. “I’m sorry for her.”

  “And my uncle,” I added. “My father’s brother. He already lost my dad. Now, I’ll disappear and he’ll lose me, too.”

  Then, something hit me for the first time. I genuinely gasped. “He’s a cop. He’ll look for whoever took me or killed me. Whatever he thinks. What happens if he finds you? And Gabriel and the vampires he hangs out with? They’ll kill him, won’t they?”

  And oh, my God, I called and asked him to run Gabriel’s plates. He’ll go straight to the family.

  Graz seemed to shrink a little. “I don’t doubt it. They only care about protecting themselves.”

  “Oh, my God.” I wrapped my arms around myself to hold off the shivers I couldn’t control. It didn’t work. I shook until my teeth chattered. “They’ll kill him unless I convince him not to look for me. And Poppy. If she comes up to Miller’s and starts asking questions…”

  I turned to Graz. “Can you help me get word to them? I have to try. I can’t let them walk into something that will get them killed.”

  “What could I do?”

  “How would I know? You tell me. I’m the one who’s new to all this.”

  She pressed her lips together and tapped her chin with one finger. “Let me think. There must be a way.”

  Which was when I noticed her ring. It was just like everybody else’s, only smaller to fit her little fingers. “What is that? I’ve seen Dominic and the others wearing rings like that.”

  She looked down at her hand like she had never seen it before. “Yes. You could use this.”

  Wow. That was almost too easy. I didn’t even mean to ask out of anything but curiosity. There had to be something to this whole instinct thing.

  “How would I use it?”

  “It’s how we move from place to place without using vehicles. We transport using the ring. It protects us from sunlight, too. Though there isn’t any sunlight here, not ever.”

  “Where is here?”

  She tipped her head to the side. “Do you have time for me to explain it?”

  “No. Probably not.”

  “You could use the ring to get back to your cabin,” she whispered, eyes getting wide again. Her cheeks colored, which wasn’t exactly a bad thing since now she didn’t look like death.

  Even though she was technically dead. My life was such a goddamn mess.

  One thing at a time. “So it’s, like, a magical transporting thing? That’s amazing!”

  “But.” She stood, braced herself, hands on her hips. “You would have to come back right away. Immediately. Make your telephone calls or write letters. Whatever you need to do. But you must return right away. No one can know I gave you my ring, Sophie.”

  Guilt gripped my heart. “What would they do to you?”

  “I can’t speak of it. It’s too terrible.”

  “Would they kill you?”

  “No, but they might as well. I would be starved for at least fifty years, if not more. Entombed beneath the manse, left to starve.”

  No pressure or anything. I held this weird, intriguing little vampire’s life in my hands.

  But Poppy’s and John’s lives meant more.

  And so did mine.

  “I have an idea. Can you use the ring to go to the cabin and take me with you?” When she bit her lip, I added, “I mean, how else did Dominic get me here? I wasn’t wearing a ring. I guess he was holding me or carrying me, something like that. Right?”

  “I would be too afraid to leave. They would know if I wasn’t here.”

  “You’re in my room right now. With me. Nobody thinks there’s anything wrong with that, do they? So why not come with me for a little bit and we can come back and nobody needs to know?”

  Good thing her special power wasn’t mind reading, or else she would’ve known I was lying through my teeth. I had no intention of coming back and planned to beg her to go without me once we were at the cabin. The only reason I wanted to go with her instead of going on my own was wanting to be sure she kept her ring.

  I didn’t want to leave her without it. They’d know right away that she had helped me if her ring went missing, unless she told them I knocked her out and took it and let’s face it. That wasn’t going to happen.

  “I won’t take long,” I promised. “A couple of phone calls. That’s it. We can come right back. Please, Graz. If they end up dead because of me…”

  She took a deep breath. “I don’t want to get into trouble.”

  “I’ll do everything I can to make sure you aren’t in trouble because of this. I swear.”

  I was basically garbage. I knew it.

  But she smiled a little, and I knew it was worth the effort. “All right. We’d better hurry, before you are called to the Summit.”

  Oh, I had no intention of attending any summit.

  But if she wanted to believe I would, well, who I was I to stop her?

  “Take my hand.” She closed her eyes as I clutched her hand. “Think about your cabin. Imagine it in detail.”

  I closed my eyes since she did and imagined the cabin as vividly as I could.

  When I opened my eyes, we were there.

  And we weren’t alone.

  “It’s about time you showed up,” a man growled from the darkness.

  Sixteen

  SOPHIE

  For some unfathomable reason, I positioned myself in front of Graz, between her and whoever growled at us. Like there was anything I could do to save her if things went to shit.

  The light switched on.

  I didn’t feel much better when I saw who’d been waiting for me. There he was, wearing that stupid leather jacket again.

  Graz, on the other hand, squealed. “Gabriel!” She rushed past me and hurled herself into his arms. For a second, I was glad for her. She looked and sounded so happy.

  “Little sister.” He wrapped her in his leather-clad arms and surprisingly enough looked downright happy, too. “I’ve missed you.”

  “So why have you not reached out to me?” she asked, her face half-buried in his jacket.

  “You know as well as I do how difficult that would be.” He stroked her dark head with a small smile. How could he be so tender with her and so fucking murderous toward me?

  “Hello? What are you doing here?” I spat. “Why are you in this cabin?”

  He raised his eyes, smirking. “I was waiting for you. Did I not make myself clear?”

  “I don’t want you here. You aren’t welcome.”

  “And that matters why?”

  “Be nice to her.” Graziella pulled back, looking up at him. “I like her.”

  “I never said I didn’t.”

  “Oh, so you’re in the habit of running down people you like? I’d hate to be on your bad side, then.”

  “You didn’t do that, did you?” Graz asked him. The adoration all over her face almost turned my stomach.

  He glanced down at her before coming back to me. “Would you believe it if I said I had nothing to do with that?”

  “Oh, right. So somebody stole your car and hit me with it and left me for dead?”

  “In a nutshell.”

  “Yeah, right. And you’re here, what? To apologize for it?”

  His eyes moved over me, another smirk tugging at the corner of his sensuous mouth. “It would be worth the wait to see you in that dress.”

  “Gabriel.” Graz shook her head. “Now isn’t the time. She’s come to leave word with the people she loves, to let them know she won’t see them again.”

  “Oh? Is that so?” He met my gaze over the top of her head. There was no question of whether he believed my lies or not. He clearly saw through me.

  I lifted my chin. “I have to let them know not to look for me, or else they might end up dead.”

  “You aren’t wrong.”

  “Would you do the honors yourself?”

  “Don’t say that.” Graz
let go of Gabriel, finally, and turned to me. “He would never.”

  “Would he never?” I held his gaze. “Really? Because I doubt it. Why else would he have, like, turned to the dark side or whatever?”

  He snickered. “Is this a movie?”

  “I wish.”

  “You’ve been telling tales, little sister.” He looked down at Graz. It sounded like he was gently scolding her, like he would if she really was his sister.

  “She didn’t have to tell me much. I figured it out. You fell out with your so-called family and went to the other side. Where you once rescued Graz from. She did tell me that. So if you had to rescue her, why would you go back? Why would you take their side?”

  He frowned. “So many questions. Your mind is as quick as I… heard.”

  Why did he pause? What wasn’t he saying?

  “Graziella.” He crouched, taking her face in his hands. How could he be so sweet and gentle with her, but so evil and vicious in other ways? How could somebody cold enough to leave me to die be so kind to her? “You must go back. Now. Before Lucian knows you’ve gone.”

  “Not without her.” She looked my way.

  “No, little sister. She will remain here for now. With me.”

  “Wait a second—”

  He ignored me, only holding up a hand to signal me to stop, never looking away from her. “Go now, before they know you’ve gone. Blame it on me once her disappearance is discovered. You know I can handle anything they throw my way. Sophie and I have business to attend to. I shall return her to you, I promise.”

  Shit, shit, damn and shit. What was I supposed to do now? I didn’t plan to go back with her and never had, but the alternative was hanging around with this murderous piece of shit.

  Sexy, yes. But murderous.

  “No.” She straight-up pouted. “It will only get you into more trouble.”

  “I can handle it. You know I can. What’s one more reason for them to hate me?”

  “This is the biggest reason there could ever be. How could you protect her here?”

  “Leave that to me. You must go. You must protect yourself now. Pretend to know nothing of this. I know you can manage it.”

  Then, because he really wanted to throw me off, he pressed a kiss against her forehead. “Go now.”

  “Sophie…” She looked at me with those insanely big eyes of hers.

  “Yeah. You should go.” I smiled as genuinely as I could. “I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me.”

  “I’m sorry.” She touched her ring and closed her eyes and—that was it. She was gone. There was nothing between Gabriel and me but empty air.

  * * *

  GABRIEL

  The darkness inside me called out to be satisfied.

  To take her. Finally, after years of waiting. To claim her for myself. For all of us. She would have no choice once I’d turned her.

  Augustine would be so pleased. If he got to her first. If I brought her into the fold.

  The aroma of her blood sang to me. An old song, one I’d heard so many times. I knew it by heart.

  So tempting. Intoxicating.

  And she looked like sin in that dress, like she’d been poured into it. Lucian always did have a taste for women in clinging satin, didn’t he? I could’ve laughed at how obvious he was, but nothing about this was particularly amusing.

  She certainly wasn’t amused. Along with the scent of her blood was the scent of… fear? It was rare, smelling fear on her. She was normally fearless. Confident. Since she’d begun training herself, strengthening, honing her skills she’d turned her life around.

  I’d gloried in that change. I’d been so proud of her.

  Now? She was practically shaking.

  Because of me.

  Seventeen

  SOPHIE

  “Wow,” I breathed. Even now, in the middle of something I was completely unsure of, it amazed me. Like watching magic, real magic. Not an illusion.

  “You get used to it.” I heard a laugh in Gabriel’s voice. “By the way, you have a terrible ant problem in this cabin. It seems a container of ice cream was left to melt on the floor.”

  Was there something funny about this? All his attitude did was infuriate me. “What the fuck are you actually doing here? No jokes. No wordplay. Graz is gone, so you can speak freely now.”

  It was the most ridiculous thing ever. I was in an evening gown. Barefoot. Facing a vampire in a leather jacket. And oh, right. He had tried to kill me because his people didn’t want me to take my place as Blood Queen.

  “Listen. There’s one thing we need to get straight.” I folded my arms, always aware of what was around me. The knife I had tried to use on Dominic was on the floor near the wasted ice cream. He wasn’t kidding. It was a goddamn ant jamboree down there.

  My bat. Where was that? I couldn’t find it without looking around, so I decided to leave it be.

  What was I even thinking? I knew who he was. It was one thing to try to swing a bat at who I thought was human. Picking one up now would only get me laughed at.

  “Well?” Gabriel mimicked my pose, which didn’t make me want to kill him at all. Not even a little bit.

  “Don’t give me that shit about not hitting me with the car. And don’t expect me to step up and rule or whatever it is you expect me to do, because I don’t want any part of it. So maybe go to your little buddies or whoever came here to kill me and maybe tell them not to waste their time on me. As far as I’m concerned, we’ve never met.”

  “If only, if only. But it’s not that simple, sweetheart. Believe me when I tell you I wish it was. You’ll never know how many times I’ve wished it.”

  “Terrific. So you’ve, what? Been looking for me, too? I’d feel flattered if you weren’t, you know, a vampire who’s trying to kill me.”

  “I am not trying to kill you. I’ve never tried to kill you.”

  “Tell me another one.”

  “A jealous girlfriend attempted to murder you using my car after drugging my… food.”

  My head snapped back before I could stop it. “Is that true?”

  “Oh, yes. There are drugs and potions which affect us much like the drugs and potions you once used to escape reality.”

  Once again, there went my head. I’d end up with whiplash soon. “What do you know about it?”

  “I told you. I’ve watched you for a long time. More successfully than my brother, truth be told.”

  He tapped a finger against the side of his head. “He’s always lacked imagination.”

  “How were you any more successful? How did you find me?”

  “I never had to look hard. You frequented the same clubs and bars again and again. The ones where you knew you could score. Why bother going anywhere else?”

  My nose wrinkled at everything. What he said, how he said it. How disgusted he sounded. “You’re still the one who drinks blood to survive.”

  “I can’t help that.”

  “I couldn’t help myself back then. I would appreciate if you didn’t sneer about it. Like you’re so much better. What were you doing there? Don’t tell me it was only for my sake.”

  “I wasn’t there to feed, I can tell you that.”

  “No? A bar or club full of drunk—”

  “We don’t drink from the intoxicated unless we wish to become intoxicated ourselves. I had a job to do. I couldn’t afford to feast on the willing and unable to defend themselves when I needed all of my faculties intact to keep an eye on you.”

  “On me? That’s all?”

  “Sophie.” He did one of those crazy quick moving things, where one second he was across the room and the next he was close enough to practically touch noses.

  Or lips.

  “You really don’t remember me?” His touch was fire, sending crawling fingers of flame across my jawline, my throat. “I thought we were special.”

  How was I supposed to concentrate on anything when he was touching me? When he was close enough to smell the scent o
f night on his skin? Just like Dominic—and again, I couldn’t figure why that scent did what it did to me. Why it brought to mind dark, delicious pleasure.

  “Do I know you?” It came out in a choked whisper a good octave deeper than my normal voice. Like lust had fought its way to the surface of my consciousness and was speaking for me.

  A brief smile washed over his mouth. “Very well. Not as well as I would like, but I have nothing but time. I imagined you didn’t recognize me when we crossed paths. I admit, I was crushed.”

  “Who are you, then?”

  “We spent the night together once. The entire night.” He brushed hair away from my ear, letting his fingertips graze my earlobe. A shiver ran down my spine and my lungs refused to take in air for one brief, terrifying second.

  “We did not.”

  “Oh, we did. You told me everything there was to know about yourself. Your parents. Your uncle. Dropping out of school. Wanting to go back but wondering if it was too late. How scared you were all the time. How nobody ever did find out who killed your parents or why.”

  He cupped the back of my neck, drawing me closer an inch at a time. “The crushing guilt, wondering if it should’ve been you…”

  I yanked myself out of his grip and backed away, eventually hitting the bookshelves. Paperbacks fell all around my feet. “Stop it. You’re reading my mind or something.”

  “I was there so many times, Sophie.”

  He appeared at my side, his breath on my ear. “That dealer who tried to rape you in the stairwell but had an accident and fell down the stairs. His neck broke. Remember him?”

  A tear rolled down my cheek. We had been alone in that stairwell. I could smell the ancient piss which had soaked into the floors or seemed to, could hear a baby crying two floors up. Nobody was taking care of that poor baby.

  “You ran away, because you knew nobody would believe it was an accident. Even if they did believe it, they wouldn’t believe you were being attacked. They would blame you once they saw the pinholes your pupils had become. Just a piece of trash who’d get what she deserved.”