“Crap. Apparently I was brutally attacked in the forest. I died and came back to life. My boyfriend is a vampire, and his brother. You're a witch. If I don't complete some kind of change, I will get sicker and die for real. If I go through it, I'll be a vampire too. So yeah, I'm feeling great.”
“I know. I know all about it. I knew what the brothers were. I should've said something.” The last part she said more to herself, but Liz only heard one thing. Her friend had known they were vampires. Real life vampires.
“You knew about them?” she asked, dumbfounded.
“I could tell what they were from day one.”
“Why didn't you say anything?”
“Knowing I was a witch was enough of a mind-fuck,” she said, wringing her hands together. “They promised they wouldn't do anything to harm anyone and so far they haven't.”
“You pushed me toward Sam.”
“He's good, Liz. He doesn't want to be a vampire. He never did. They came here to try and reconnect with their humanity. He's not a monster.”
“But you pushed me toward him knowing what he was,” she cried.
“And if he tried anything, I would've dealt with him and his brother.”
“How?”
“I'm a witch, Liz. I can make their brain cells explode and if it came to it, I think I've got the stomach to stake them. Especially Zac.”
“Stake them?” She felt sick. What had she become? What had her friend become?
“We don't live in the same world anymore, Liz. It's screwed up and I don't like it, but things are different. I had to learn how to protect myself. I'm still learning.”
“What about me? What happens if I want to change into-” She couldn't bring herself to say the word 'vampire'.
“Nothing will change between us, Liz. Nothing, you hear me?” Gabby grasped her friend's hands. “You're my best friend. I trust you with my life. Then and now. Whatever you choose.”
“I don't know what to do,” she sobbed.
“I know.”
“Did Sam tell you what happened in the forest? He said he found me, but I don't remember.”
“He said he thought you were dead. He was holding you in his arms when you woke…when you came back to life. He told you that he loved you,” Gabby said with a sad smile. “Men, huh? Takes a tragedy.”
“He-”
“I don't understand it, but vampires seem to feel things a lot deeper than humans do. If he says he loves you, then he really loves you.”
Gazing at her hands, she wondered what she was supposed to do. “I can't go outside,” she whispered. “The sun burns. I can't go into anyone's house without an invitation. I don't know if I can stomach the thought of living off...blood.”
“You're thinking of the cons,” Gabby said. “There are some good things.”
“Good things? What good things?”
“You're super strong. You're fast. You don't run out of breath. You can jump really high. You'll look hot forever…”
“Forever,” Liz scoffed. “Immortality. Who'd have thought it, huh? Liz Evans, immortal blood sucker.”
“Here,” Gabby said, “give me your hand.”
Holding out her hand, palm up, Liz wondered what she was doing. The witch dropped a silver ring into her hand. A pretty thing with an onyx stone set into delicate scrollwork.
“What's this for?” she asked, frowning at the ring.
“It'll help you with the sunlight. Sam and Zac, they have a web weaved on their bodies. I can't do that, I'm not strong enough, so for now, you get a ring.”
“I can go outside? And I won't burn to a crisp?”
“Yep. Just put it on and you're set.”
Liz turned the ring over in her hand, inspecting the stone, before slipping it on her right ring finger. “Where did you get it?”
“It was Sam's. I think he said it belonged to his mother at some point. It was all we had. I spelled it, but I think we should test it first.”
Sam's mother's ring? How could she accept such a gift?
Gabby's expression fell. “You still have to complete the change, Liz. Sam says you're still transitioning, so you'll feel sick until you choose.”
Truthfully, Liz didn't want to die. She didn't really want to be a vampire either, but Sam had learned to control it. He was practically human in everything he did, despite his dietary requirements. He'd help her. He said he loved her and that feeling in her heart said, that she did too. How could she turn her back on that? How could she turn her back on her family?
“Oh my god,” she gasped. “What about my Mom and Dad?”
“That's a hurdle we'll jump when we get there.” Gabby took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Together.”
“Okay,” she said with a sigh. “I'll do it. I'll change into a vampire.”
Chapter 5
Liz looked into Sam's eyes and didn't quite understand what she was feeling…or seeing for that matter. The world was sharper in more ways than one. That thing that had been blossoming between them seemed deeper than it should after only three weeks.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Sam asked, sitting on the bed next to her.
She nodded slowly, hugging her arms around her stomach. “I don't want to die, but I don't want to be something I don't understand. What choice do I have? The one that sucks the least.”
Zac stood in the doorway, leaning his broad shoulders against the doorframe, arms crossed. He was frowning, eyes cast to the floor. Gabby sat on the opposite side of the bed, looking sick.
“Okay,” Sam said.
“What do I need to do?”
“You need human blood to complete the change.”
“Will it hurt?” she asked, her gaze flickering to Zac as he let out a snort.
“Yes, it will hurt,” Sam replied.
She saw the knife in Gabby's hand and watched as her friend sliced across her palm, opening up a long wound that immediately began to bleed. Holding her hand out, she nodded. “Take it.”
A ravenous hunger overtook her and Liz almost pounced on Gabby in her need for the thing that would save her life. The copper tang hit her tongue and it was enough to cause a reaction in her changing body. She just wasn't expecting it to be as violent as it was. She doubled over with a cry as the blood made its way into her stomach, leaving a burning trail that began to spread through her veins.
Sam slid onto the bed behind her, rubbing her back. “We're not going anywhere.”
As another spasm tore through her heart, her gaze collided with Zac's. She'd never seen anything but smug arrogance from the elder of the brothers, but now she saw pity. Was it, though? Before she could contemplate it any more, her heart began to slice in two and he looked away with a grimace. A split second later, he was gone.
“Don't fight it, Liz,” Sam murmured, holding her close. “Let it take you and it will be over quickly.”
How could she give in? It was her natural impulse to fight.
“Listen to him, Liz,” Gabby was saying from someplace far away.
Collapsing back into Sam, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The funny thing was, she didn't need to take another.
There was only one word she could think of to describe turning into a vampire. Agony.
Zac sat in the parlor, a bottle of whisky in his hands, trying not to listen to the pain that Liz was going through. It was a pain he was all too familiar with. He'd gone through it and it was his fault Sam had endured it, too. Watching his little brother turn was enough torture to last a lifetime. Scratch that. It was enough torture to last his immortality.
Liz had been attacked in the forest by werewolves out of the bayou. Someone had come along and fed her vampire blood. Was it an attempt to save her? Then why had they left her alone to die, or worse, turn on her own?
Taking a long draught of alcohol, he felt the slow burn of hunger dissipate in the back of his throat. Sam loved her, he knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. He was a little jealous, but who knew how these thi
ngs worked? Sam would take care of her in his spineless absence. He listened as silence descended on the manor. She'd probably passed out from the pain, her human body giving way to the vampirism that was taking over. She wouldn't feel any pain now.
He heard footsteps on the stairs and a moment later Gabby glanced at him as she passed the door to the parlor. She gave him a small smile, so hell had definitely frozen over. He listened to her rustling around in the kitchen as Sam came into the room, looking beaten.
“How is she?” he asked, dropping the asshole facade.
“Scared. In pain.” It was frightening how drawn and worried his little brother looked. Sam was usually the one in complete control.
“She'll be okay. It'll pass.” He offered the bottle of whisky to his little brother, who took it and downed a quarter of the bottle.
“She doesn't remember what happened.”
“None of it?” Zac asked as Sam sat next to him.
“She remembers running, then nothing until she woke up here.”
“Shit. It's no wonder, little brother. The way you said you found her. She's lucky she can't remember.”
Sam scowled at him. “There's nothing lucky about it.”
“It could be worse. I remember everything. Waking up on top of a pile of corpses, choking on my own blood.”
“Zac-”
He held up a hand to stop him from saying anything else. “Don't.”
Turning away, Sam ran a hand over his face. “She smelt like werewolves…”
“She still smells like them,” Zac interrupted. “It's not your fault, Sam.”
“I should've known… The South is full of them…”
“It's not your fault.” If it was something he knew about it was blame and his little brother had nothing to do with this. “Whoever turned her could still be hanging around. I'm going to search the forest, the town, everywhere. Stay here with her. She'll be confused when she wakes. Turning is hard enough without waking up alone.”
Sam nodded. “Do what you have to do.”
Zac didn't have to ask twice what he meant. Venturing out into the lengthening afternoon, he let his senses fly out as far as he could manage.
They'd vetted the town carefully before setting up residence. There were no known supernaturals within a fifty-mile radius. Not even a whiff of wet dog or the stench of other vampires. Their legacy had obviously had a long effect on the area and it kept a lot more than nosey humans away from the manor. Why the hell were they coming back now?
The werewolves he could understand, it was their natural behavior to migrate toward vampires. Yet another enemy along with witches. Had a pack from the bayou found Liz in the forest and attacked her for sport? It didn't explain how vampire blood had gotten into her system. He trusted Sam beyond a shadow of a doubt when he said he didn't try and heal her and there was no way in hell he'd ever turn someone.
That could only mean another vampire had come across the wolves and found her dying. Had they tried to save her or simply turn her? Whatever the reason… it was important that Zac found them before they could do it again. Changing a dying girl in the middle of the forest and leaving her to complete it on her own…fuck. He was callous, but not a complete, utter maniac. Who the hell would do something like that?
Time was running out if he had any hope of picking up a trail…from the wolves or the unknown vampire. A vampire that obviously had no issues with the sun. Setting out across the yard, he focused on the task at hand, because if he focused on what had just happened at the manor? That was a rage no one wanted to be on the receiving end of.
Liz sat on the crumbling stone fence that separated the overgrown garden beside the Degaud manor from the driveway at the front, staring up at the sky with new eyes. The stars seemed more alive than usual. There were more than she could ever hope to count and more than she'd ever seen with human eyes. They sparkled overhead with silver light, planets, galaxies, satellites… She imagined she could see them all.
When she'd woke up, it was just as Sam had said. She didn't feel any more pain. Instead, she was bombarded with new sensations. Sight, smell, sound, strength, speed. Everything was dialed up to a billion. She'd opened the door and almost pulled it off it's hinges and when she'd turned on the faucet in the shower, it almost came off the wall entirely.
She just needed a little quiet, so she'd retreated out into the yard in the darkness, but even here there was a whole new cacophony of sound. When she felt Zac before she saw him coming, she didn't quite understand how, but she wasn't surprised. He approached her through the garden, picking his way through the overgrown plants, prowling like some kind of wildcat.
He jumped up on top of the wall, higher than any human was able, not bothering to hide what he was anymore. He settled next to her without a word and she could smell the bayou on his skin. He'd been out looking for her attackers and her twisted savior.
“Did you find anything?” she asked after a moment.
He sighed, betraying how exhausted he was feeling. “No.”
“You didn't stay.”
He didn't say anything, he just pulled out a flask of some kind of brown spirit and unscrewed the cap.
“Well?” she asked, beginning to get annoyed at his silent treatment.
“No, I didn't stay.”
She wanted to slap him for leaving her, but how could she be angry with him about that? They hardly knew one another, not like her and Sam.
“It's going to be hard, Liz,” he said, turning the bottle over and over in his hands. “I can't lie to you. You'll want to eat everyone for a while.”
She began to pale. “How long?”
He shrugged. “I don't know.”
“How long did it take you?”
Grimacing, Zac said, “It took Sam a few weeks. He was always good with people.”
“I didn't ask about Sam,” she snapped.
“Easy, beautiful.”
“Answer the question, Zac.”
Taking a deep breath, he said, “I've still got issues with it.”
Would she be like that? Always struggling with her desire for blood? She felt it now, burning in her throat, aching through her veins.
“I know I'm an asshole. I get it,” he said, distracting her from her thoughts.
“That it's easier to have people hate you than let them get close?” Liz asked, narrowing her eyes at the flask in his hand.
He stiffened so slightly, that she almost missed it.
“That's why, isn't it?”
“No,” he said through gritted teeth. “It's because I'm a monster.”
Her skin began to prickle. Wasn't she the same now? “Then why are you helping me? Why do you care?”
Zac looked away, biting his bottom lip. ”Because you don't deserve it.”
“Did you?”
“Fuck, Liz.”
“Did you have to threaten Gabby's family? Or was that just to prove how big and bad you are to the world?”
“Well, I can see you're going to love being a vampire,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“What's that meant to mean?”
“Emotion overload, twenty four seven. You're on a bender right now.”
“You need to apologize to Gabby.”
Rolling his eyes yet again, he said, “Fine, I'll apologize.”
“You so aren't.”
“Nope. But I feel sorry, so it counts in my world.”
They sat in the darkness on top of the crumbling brick wall, both of them unsure as to what to say next. Zac would probably always be biting back, getting in the last word.
When he finally said something, she wasn't expecting regret. “If we hadn't of come back…”
“It's not your fault,” she said. Why did he have to take the blame for everything? What was so bad in his past that he kept kicking himself down all the time? Zac cared for her in his own way, she saw it now, but she'd always want Sam. “You don't have to take the blame for everything,” she whispered, knowing that he'd hear.
/> His fingers tightened around the flask and he took another mouthful before handing it to her.
“Why do you drink so much?” she asked, reading the label. Scotch seemed like it was Zac's drink of choice.
“It helps with the cravings.”
“Cravings?”
“Blood. When you get hungry, your throat burns. Alcohol helps.”
“How much do you have to drink to get drunk?”
“Lots.”
She pressed the bottle to her lips and grimaced as the liquor burned a trail right into her empty stomach.
Zac glanced at her out the corner of his eye, watching her expression. “You'll get used to it.”
“I don't think I'll ever get used to it,” she said, shaking her head.
“You've got the time.”
She snorted at the irony. Time. She guessed she had enough of it now to figure out what she was meant to do with her life. Her very long life.
“We'll be here to help you, Liz. We won't let you deal with this alone.”
“Good. Because I have no idea how to get through another day without you.”
Zac looked her up and down with an expression she didn't understand and she wondered if she'd said the wrong thing.
“It'll be okay,” he said. “It has to be.”
Liz stood on the sidewalk outside the tiny door next to the hardware store that led up to her apartment. Living above a shop didn't sound like the ideal place to be, but it was her own space and it worked for her. Now, it just seemed too noisy. Gabby had called Mrs. Greene the day after she'd, you know, and weaved a story that she was sick. That had bought her a week, but it was time she went home and began facing the inevitable. Life went on, so there was no use hiding from it.
“But, you said I have to be invited in,” she said to Sam, looking at the door with a frown. “I rent it out, surely I need to be invited by the landlord?”
“Loophole,” Sam said.
She gave him a look.
“Hey, I didn't write the rules,” he said with a chuckle. “The mystical part of the universe did. You signed the lease.”
Opening the door, she picked up the wad of mail that had been delivered in her absence. It didn't escape her notice that one was a little larger and thicker than the rest and her heart skipped a beat. Sam's hand slid over the small of her back and she sighed, forgetting that he could hear those kind of things.
Young Blood (A Witch Hunter Saga Novella) Page 5
