by Sarah Black
A sob breaks free of my throat as I fumble for my phone while holding my shirt against her wound. If I hadn’t waited. If I didn’t freeze up. I could have, I should have.
The world is full of thoughts that don’t lead to action.
“Don’t you leave me.” I struggle to unlock the stupid device, my bloody fingers slipping over the screen. Blood, her blood. That AB negative we both share. Yet no call screams to me to use her blood. A small mercy in this situation where she needs me and not the addiction of power.
Tears blur my vision and I can feel the hysteria just at the edge of my sanity.
“This can’t be real.”
Poppy tries to reply, the phone won’t unlock, and the world slows to a crawl.
“Fuck!” An exhale. “Okay, okay, Poppy, I can fix this.” I push my magic into her as a trickle of blood drips down my neck, followed by the searing pain of her wound in my side as I steal her cuts and bruises.
My whine echoes all around us. Poppy gains enough strength to slap my hands away, breaking the circuit.
“Dammit, let me share this!” I cry, the wound on my neck seeping. Her own is deep, too deep to heal, but perhaps not too deep to share. A sob breaks free of my lips as I try to create the circuit again. Only to get cut off as she fights me.
I wipe the tears from my vision, smearing blood across my eyes and cheeks. I look up at our savior, the angel who swore to protect me fighting in the distance.
“Let me share this.” I reach down, feeling her pulse, those eyes glassy and staring straight at me, a vision that will haunt me endlessly. That look will never leave me until my own, dying breath. Nothing else in this world matters but her.
Nothing.
“Back up, I can help.” I blink away the tears in my eyes to see a man, no, vampire, bloody and brooding like a Viking king.
“She won’t let me help her,” I sob, trying to create the circuit again, but this time my magic won’t latch on. “No, don’t you fucking dare!”
“Hush, I can’t think when you cry.” I can barely see him, my vision keeps blurring.
“You said you can fix her, fucking fix her!” Rage replaces my other emotions, tunneling into one thought and one thought only—save Poppy. I fumble with my cell phone again, trying over and over to unlock the stupid thing.
Hands reach down, placing them over the device. I look up as Valentino kneels beside me. Blood is spattered across his white shirt in macabre lines. His eyes glow that eerie color, and his fangs cut into his lower lips.
“Fix this,” I beg, my voice nothing but a crackling plea. Because I no longer have control. She refused me. Even though the cut on my neck still drips.
“Alaric, make a choice, she only has moments left.” Valentino turns to this Alaric, his teeth shrinking.
“You don’t know what you ask of me.” The other man runs bloodied hands through his hair. “Fucking Cain!” His roar echoes all around, us startling me.
A sob breaks from my chest as Poppy gurgles again, her breathing strained. I latch onto her once more, forcing the circuit. Inside my neck, I can feel the tear of her wound as I take what I can of her burden.
“Penny, no!” Valentino yanks me back.
Doesn’t he know I’d die for her?
“And she chose to die for you.” His breath whispers across my quickly healing neck, answering my silent thoughts. “Alaric, now!” Valentino yells.
Alaric glances up at me, his eyes full of sorrow as he lifts his wrist to his mouth. “She wasn’t supposed to be here.”
My eyes widen as his teeth elongate, his own gaze peering down at Poppy as he sinks his teeth into his wrist. Blood wells and drips as he lets go. With a shaky hand, he reaches down, allowing the blood to pour from his wound and into Poppy’s mouth. His other hand gently lifts her head.
My world moves in slow motion. My mind splinters as reality shatters into a thousand pieces of glass all around me. I can’t look away even as the blood pools in her mouth and spills over. The call of his magic is squashed by the danger of the moment.
“Drink it, you stubborn bitch.”
“Penny.” Valentino’s hand is a brand on my arm. “It may be too late.”
“No!” The word is wrenched from my soul with the pain of a thousand deaths, a thousand lives all sent into a denial to yell into the universe. “No,” I repeat softly.
I lean down, pressing my shaking fingers to her pulse point. A small tap against my finger is all I need. My hands flutter to her throat, my thumbs pressing against her trachea. I lean over her, refusing for this scenario to end in her death. Just as Alaric continues to drip his blood into her mouth.
No matter what she becomes—a witch-vampire hybrid?—it doesn’t matter as long as she lives.
I massage in a downward pattern, my tears returning only to drip onto her face, Alaric’s wrist still resting against her open mouth.
I lick my lips, words tumbling from my throat. “She used to sing.” I pause, unable to speak past the emotions I cannot contain. “Before our parents got her lessons, she’d sing and strain her voice. It would crackle for days, then she’d turn the hot water on in the bathroom and ask me to massage her trachea.” I sniffle. The words pouring from my soul as the need to talk takes over. My magic is refusing to help the situation, expressing the dire circumstances beneath my fingertips.
“It always worked.” Always.
Her throat constricts. A gulp.
A sob breaks free from my lips. “Her voice, it’s beautiful.” I doubt the guys at my side even understand what I’m saying.
Poppy’s eyes dart to me, a hunger in them that is undefinable. Her hands snap to Alaric’s wrist as her throat begins to work in spasms. She can’t get his blood down fast enough. My own hands fall from her throat, as Valentino pulls me back into him.
My thoughts pause as I stare, unable to comprehend everything that happened. But I don’t need to think about that right now, all I need to know is one thing. “Will she live?”
This time they understand me. “Yes,” Valentino whispers in my ear.
Poppy jerks upright, dragging Alaric to her lips, her mouth full of blood, his blood, capturing him with fierce passion.
“Oh.” It’s all I can think of.
Alaric pulls away from Poppy’s demanding mouth, his eyes blazing as uncontrolled power wafts off of him. “Go. I’ve got her.”
“Come on.” Valentino drags me up, hiding me in the shelter of his arms.
My eyes stayed glued to Poppy, seeing her alive becomes more than I could have ever hoped for. But at what cost? Yet it is a price I’d pay again and again if I had to do it over. My body weighs down with each step out of that alley to the sidewalk where I left my duffle, which Valentino sweeps up.
Valentino leads me toward an idling car. I don’t even protest as I climb in, bloody and gritty, onto the leather seats. My hands shake as I lift them and the world crashes down on me with broken sobs.
15
Steam fills the bathroom in a thick haze, the humid air filling my lungs and clearing my sinuses. Sobbing uncontrollably left my face swollen and my eyes a puffy mess. My mind slowly comes around to reality as I stare at my bloody hands. I’m not sure how long I’ve been standing here staring at my hands because I’ve only just acknowledged it right now.
I swallow past the lump in my throat as I clench my fists. The blood that coats my hands is nothing but a stiff, coagulated, sticky mess. A wave of dizziness sways me on my feet. I do my best to root myself in reality, the struggle overwhelming me more than I could have ever thought possible.
A gentle rap sounds on the door. “Penny.”
I close my eyes at the sound of his voice—Valentino. He’s been nothing but gentle this entire time, allowing me to weep against him, dirtying his white shirt with tears and blood. He carried me somewhere, but my eyes saw nothing beyond the scene of my sister with her throat ripped out, my mind flashing between her and my parents. Yet the soft scent of incense and candles that drift
over me every time the air kicks on gives it away.
I stumble backwards, my ass hitting the wall of the standing shower before I slide down to the floor.
“I’m coming in.” The lock twists and breaks with ease. I guess I shouldn’t even be surprised at his strength. Low slung sweats cling to his wet body, apparently having showered somewhere else and granting me enough time to sob as my memories play on repeat.
“Hey, let’s get you cleaned up and into bed.” I search his eyes, looking for a lie hidden there that he, too, will destroy me. But nothing sparks there, only genuine concern for my wellbeing.
“A vampire attacked her.” I hold his gaze, seeing only sorrow.
“I know.”
Licking my lips, I voice the thought that stabs into my brain like an ice pick. “Was it one of yours?”
“No.” The sincere distress in that one word is enough to allow me to believe him.
And yet… “Do you know who?”
His eyes dart away as his lips press into a thin line while he ignores my question. One I know he has an answer to. But that’s okay, I’ll figure it out. Of that I swear.
For Poppy.
Blowing out a breath, he looks down at me. “Come on, kitten.” He grasps the bottom of my favorite black tank top, coated in a thick layer of blood I’ll never get out of it. He peels it up and over my head, my lacy bralette resting against my skin. His hands pause on mine to leave the bra on at least for now, even though blood hides underneath in a lacy pattern.
But that isn’t what numbs me. It’s the red lines of scars and the bloom of a bruise that discolors my skin. My fingertip brushes over the lines and mottled skin of wounds that aren’t my own.
“You shared her wounds.” His own fingers follow mine, the awe in his voice evident. “Did you know you could do that?”
“No.” I wouldn’t lie about that. “It just happened.” My gaze stays stuck to the wounds. I could have saved her.
But at what cost?
Numbness washes over me once more as Valentino lifts me to my feet. His hands work swiftly and carefully as he unbuttons my jeans, rolling them down my body and leaving the black lace panties in place. No shame enters my thoughts, I can’t see past the blood. Past the act that almost left me alone in this world.
Valentino opens the shower door, his grip gentle and steadying. Surprisingly, he steps in behind me, his clean clothing getting soaked as he reaches for the removeable showerhead. I stare straight ahead as he begins with my hair. Soaking it then washing it, rinse and repeat.
Each touch is gentle, breaking me just a little more.
I stare at my hands the whole time until he begins to massage in the conditioner. Each press of his fingertips relaxes me until I’m no longer glued to the invisible blood on my hands.
“What happens to Poppy?” What will she become? Is she more? A vampire hybrid? I can’t speak the words, and instead stare at the glass doors and the steam billowing in front of me.
“She isn’t a vampire, Penny.” He pauses, but not long enough to ease my worries. “She is still a witch, but also more.”
I push on, intending to come back to that question. But I leave it for now. “Who is Alaric?”
“My brother.”
I pause, the shower hitting me with a hot spray while my skin feels nothing but a chill. “You look nothing a like.”
“No.”
“How did his blood save her?”
“When vampires share blood, they gift the receiver with temporary healing properties, but it comes at a cost.” The sorrow in his voice stops me from asking what that cost is.
Long moments pass while he massages my hair, some of the purple dye sliding in bubbled rivulets down my body. My fingers brush along the bubbles over my hip where they pass over the healing scars.
We shared wounds. “Is this normal?” I jump topics, my mind like sludge and unable to stick to any single one.
“No.” He leans over to grip the head of the shower, rinsing my hair and the purple soap. My eyes track the movement as it swirls down the drain.
“Is there anything you’re willing to say?”
“In these walls? No, not much.” He picks up a loofa and soap, the suds scenting the air with sweet lavender. My favorite fragrance. “But ask your questions and I’ll answer what I can.”
“Tell me what you can about what happened with Poppy.” I return to my sister, needing the assurance that she really will be just fine and that maybe I can trust Valentino.
He nods, kneeling, his eyes resting on my belly button. His hands lift my calf, my leg resting on his as he washes the blood away. In any other circumstance, I’d feel desire. But right now, I can’t feel anything past my numb emotions. Though each one attempts to poke its ugly head through to tear me down.
“It’s a good place to start.” He pauses, looking up at me and I just know. I know with every fiber of my being that what went down, what I saw, isn’t the end. Not with Poppy and Alaric, and certainly not when it comes to the man kneeling at my feet. That by the time I walk out of this shower, he’ll be a part of my life until my dying day. “Vampires have the ability to bring back the dying, but at a cost.”
I almost don’t want to know. “What’s the cost?”
He stays quiet, giving every inch of my skin attention while ignoring my questions.
“Valentino, what is the cost?” His green eyes meet mine, the hand on my calf squeezing gently.
“There are things we cannot discuss here, Penny.” He drops the loofa, his body creeping up mine until he hovers over me. His expression is tight, and his hands block me in while the hot water slams into him, now saturating his clothing. His voice dips low, no louder than the spray of water. “There are things that will be expected of me now, Penny. Things I don’t wish on you. Not yet. But my choices are few.”
“Valentino, what are you talking about?” Because the subject has changed to sorrow, his faced pinched.
He leans in slowly, inhaling me where the slight scar sits on my neck. “Will you forgive me?”
Fear surges through my body in angry spasms as I read between his words. Something is about to happen. My palms slap his chest, the water splashing me. Yet he doesn’t move. Standing sturdier than a stone.
A knock barely breaks through the tension. Like a buzzing fly, it’s nothing more than a pest. Yet the door opens with a creak. My eyes don’t move from Valentino’s. Something is about to happen, and I won’t have any control over it.
“What will you pay for protection?” Valentino’s breath teases the hair near my ear.
“Is that what this is?”
The door to the shower opens and a hand turns the faucet off.
“You two ready?” The newcomer’s voice doesn’t yet faze me because my sight is still locked on Valentino.
Waiting on his next move.
“Wait in the bedroom.”
“Fine, but Thana is moody, and I don’t have the patience to deal with her.” His bored tone drifts away with the snick of a lock.
“I need you to trust me.”
“And you need to realize that trust is earned, not taken,” I counter.
“Then take a leap of faith.”
“I have no reason to besides your word that Poppy is safe.”
His eyes shift until he breaks away, leaving the shower and peeling off his shirt. Its wet slap strikes the sink hard enough to send droplets to spatter the mirror. Muscle ripples under tanned skin, bulging as he moves. A cross takes up the whole of his back, tattooed in intricate detail. He pulls a brush out of a drawer, wiggling it in front of me.
Another test of faith? I step out and spin around, expecting him to be rough, but instead he wraps a terry cloth towel around me, using another to sop up the wet strands of my hair.
“Why a church? A cross?” I peer over my shoulder, trying to get a look at him, but his fingers press my chin forward.
He stays silent. Another secret I’ll have to unearth. Instead of looking forward to
the challenge, it only exhausts me.
The brush sweeps through my hair, barely catching on knots. I’ll have to steal his shampoo and conditioner.
“When we walk out of this room, I’m going to have to drink from you, and I need you to be willing.” His words pierce the silence of the bathroom.
Muffled curses grumble behind the closed bathroom door until it swings open, revealing a beautiful blonde woman. Her blue eyes roll as she takes in the two of us.
“I’ve had enough of your somber mood, Val. We’re moving on. Create the compulsion so I can go about my evening.” She glances at one blood red nail. Her power pulses beneath her skin, a drum beat I’m quickly associating with the magic of a vampire.
“Lucy, leave,” he growls. “I specifically asked for Thana.”
“And she is in the other room, waiting.”
“Then why are you here?”
“You bring a human into the house for the second night in a row demanding everyone else stay away. Did you think any of us would miss this?” Her matching bright red lips tip into a sinister smile.
I cant my head to the side, she has no idea I’m not human. Valentino’s hand on my hip is a warning, each fingertip gently digging in and telling me to keep my damn mouth shut.
“Leave, Lucy.”
“No.” She spins on a heel, her red dress fluttering in her wake.
I whirl around to Valentino, my brow cocked, but his head shakes just once before his eyes dart to the bedroom beyond.
He’s keeping me a secret. Either because he knows what I truly am or he suspects.
“Come now, darling, we don’t have all day,” Lucy calls from the other room.
Whispering low enough that I hope vampire hearing doesn’t pick up on my words, I demand, “You will tell me everything.”
“If you are willing.” His eyes brighten just a bit.
“That’s the price, isn’t it?” He cannot drink from someone who isn’t willing. That’s why his eyes hold shadows and his cheeks poke through in that blinding, sharp bone.