Cross My Heart

by Elizabeth Morgan

  “Just bloody do it.”

  The Vampire charged. Without thinking, I dropped to the floor, my knees hitting the wood with a loud smack. My eyes fluttered shut as the Vampire drew close, and without thinking, I shoved the two stakes toward him as hard as I could. They hit something hard. A weight pressed upon me. Thick liquid coated my hands as something wet smacked against my forehead. The next thing I knew, I was tumbling back and being crushed.

  The vile smell of Vampire blood met my nostrils.

  Opening my eyes slowly, I looked up to see the Teen looking down at me. “Nice work.”

  The blond lay on top of me in a haphazard way, his body pinning me down, his head right next to my neck.

  Releasing the death grip I had on the ends of my make-shift stakes, I wiggled them out from between us. Hands on the male’s shoulder and side, I pushed him, ignoring the wet slide as the tip of his tongue slid down and over my left eye and cheek. A groan escaped the Vampire, causing me to squirm and kick until I was free of the lump.

  Jumping to my feet, I looked down to find black blood smeared all over my new shirt and jeans. My hands ached where splinters had pierced my flesh, but as I looked at the indents, I could see the tiny shards wriggling out.

  “Self-healing, remember,” the Teen reminded me.

  “Than!” Elle shouted, urgency ringing in her tone.

  I turned around just in time to see the dark beauty, who sent both of us flying into the living room of the left house. We slid across the well-polished wood floor, stopping at the threshold of the landing.

  I screamed out as her talons plunged into my ribs. I could actually feel the nasty claws scratching against my bones as she twisted her hands inside me. Something thick filled my mouth, oozing at the corners.

  Rearing her head back, a guttural cry broke from her. Her fangs glinted, and before I could move, the razor-sharp points slid through my left shoulder.

  “Fuck.” The word was gargled, rasped through gritted teeth and the taste of my own dead blood.

  “Fight, Than.” I could hear the Teen shout. “Fucking fight.”

  Pain stung the end of my fingers, and as I lifted my hands to grab her bald head, I noticed my own talons had grown. I dug them into the taut skin of her scalp. The cry that left her vibrated through her and into me, but she remained latched on to me.

  “Aim for her neck.” I wasn’t sure which version of Elle was instructing me. All I could hear was the panic in that all too familiar voice. The voice that had gotten me this far. The only voice I knew I could trust, even over my own.

  Clutching the right side of her head, I stabbed my hand into the left side of her neck repeatedly.

  I felt as though someone had poured acid down my shoulder, and every blow I made to her neck caused my own body to shudder. But despite the pain and the fact that my eyes suddenly felt heavy, I kept punching, kept listening to that voice guiding me out of this mess.

  Eventually, the Leech’s fangs and talons slid out of me, and then, her body grew slack.

  My arm dropped like a deadweight to my side. Pain swam from my ribs to my shoulder and back again.

  With the last bit of energy I could muster, I shoved her off me and pushed myself up to a sitting position. Elbows pressed into the wood, I glared at the remaining five Vampires, trying my best to hold myself up despite the fact I could feel my arms trembling. Or the fact that I could feel blood oozing out of the holes that now littered my torso and shoulder, the thick vile substance causing my shirt to stick to me.

  I spat the blood that still filled my mouth onto the floor beside me and pinned them all with a look. “Who’s next?”

  Elle and the remaining five all stood in the built archway which connected the middle and left house. The Vampires were back to their human-looking self, genuine surprise highlighting their features. A mixed look crossed Elle’s face, one that I couldn’t read, but at the sight of the white-knuckled grip she had on the sword that pointed down at her side, it was easy to guess what she might currently be thinking.

  Was she scared of me? Surprised? Concerned?

  I glanced to my left and noticed that the female’s body had started to melt and crumble, as was her head that was no longer connected to her shoulders.

  “Jesus.” I looked down at my right hand which was coated in her blood and then back at Elle who was suddenly looking a lot paler.

  “Christ, Than, you just cut the woman’s head off with your bare hand.”

  The idea that Elle could be freaking out or thinking something terrible snapped me out of my momentary shock, but a cry left me as I tried to push myself up. Searing pain spiralled through my torso and down my shoulder and left arm.

  “No more challenges for today.” Elle finally broke the stunned silence. “You want t’leave. Go. Otherwise, go to the right house and make yourself comfortable.”

  “He needs blood,” I heard Mark state as I shuffled backward until my back hit the landing wall.

  Elle stopped beside me, the odd expression still on her face. “You okay?”

  “I’ve been better.” I couldn’t bring myself to meet her gaze, too nervous about what I might see in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” She knelt down beside me, sword still in hand, but used as a leaning post.

  “All the times I laughed at you. That was not easy, and my god, they’re horrifying.”

  “I told you so.”

  “You just can’t stop saying that, can you?” I laughed, regretting the action as it caused my abdomen to tense, caused more blood to ooze as pain pinched at me.

  “I think I’m entitled to.” She finally holstered her sword.

  The sight made me feel a little better. I gave her a small grin, risking a look at her. The colour was coming back to her cheeks, but she suddenly looked tired. Then again, the last two days had been exhausting.

  Mark stopped by my right, placing a drawer full of blood by my side. “This will help with your healing.”

  “Thanks.” I eyed the red bags. I had the notion my stomach should be turning and I should be retching, but as I looked at the dark red liquid, my throat grew drier. Not helped by the fact that my own blood was clinging to the roof of my mouth like that horrid skin you got on the top of heated milk.

  I glanced up at Elle. “Do you mind giving me some privacy?”

  She looked genuinely stunned at the request. “Come on, Than. I’ve seen you drinking Heather’s mixture.”

  “That’s different.” I pushed myself farther up the wall. “It looks and smells like cranberries. It’s easy to pretend it’s juice. This …” I deliberately turned away from her. “I don’t want you t’see me drinking this.”

  “I know that you’re a Vampire, Than. I’ve accepted that.”

  Hearing her say those words was all I had wanted since that night we had found each other again at the Monastery, but words weren’t enough anymore. I couldn’t bear to see that strange look on her face again. I didn’t want her to be repulsed by me.

  “I know, but there’s knowing and then there’s seeing, and you seem to be having trouble with the seeing.”

  She remained quiet. Her silence only confirmed what I had just seen in her eyes, on her face.

  I risked a look at her. “It’s okay. I’d have the same look on my face if I could see myself.”

  She had gone against everything she believed, everything her family stood for just to help me.

  She sighed. “I just—”

  “It’s cool. I promise I understand.”

  “Okay.” She straightened. “I will be in the other room if you need me.”

  “I know.”

  I waited until she had disappeared from view before picking up one of the blood bags. Mark sat cross-legged against the front door to my right, watching me with intense interest.

  “Thanks again.” I lifted the bag to my mouth and reluctantly tore the top off with my teeth.

  “Piercing it would be easier and less messy,” Mark stated.<
br />
  A splash of blood spilled onto my shirt, mixing with my dry dead blood. “I will remember that.”

  I held the bag in front of my face. I hated how I knew the smell, hated that I could already taste it before it passed my lips. That now I held it in my hands, I was actually craving it. My thirst hadn’t been an issue since I had left the facility. Despite the blood in Heather’s mix being watered down, it had done the trick, but now, I could smell it, untainted …

  “You do not like blood.”

  I glanced up at the young Vampire. “Guess I’m not a normal Leech.”

  “You certainly aren’t.” He looked over at the decomposed heap. “That was quite impressive.”

  “It was unnecessary.”

  “She would have killed you, which would have defeated your purpose.”

  Sure it would have, but I was a lover, not a fighter.

  “Well, you’re a decent fighter.” The Teen sat down at the end of my feet. “Or you’re just dumb lucky.

  Definitely the latter. I have no idea what just happened.

  “Neither do any of your Colony.”

  Shit. I’m the Leader now.

  “Until someone else challenges you and wins.”

  Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

  I glanced back at the Vampire. “I was hoping that we could have all come to an understanding without anyone getting hurt.”

  A laugh escaped him though I couldn’t make out any humour.

  “And yet, you have killed two Vampires in one go.”

  “Two?” I felt my brow furrow.

  “Mistress.” He nodded to the mound, and then turned to the space where I had left the unconscious blond. I followed his gaze to see another mound in his place. “And Bloodling.”

  So, it really did work, and fast. Kill a Mistress or Master, and their Bloodling would be dust. Made sense for how easy it would have been for the Pack. Each Vampire they killed would have destroyed a handful more.

  Insane.

  “At least you never have to worry about such things.” He pushed himself up to stand. “You don’t have one.”

  “How did—”

  “Great hearing.”

  He’d overheard mine and Elle’s conversation. Meaning they all had.

  “Is that bad? That they know?”

  Honestly, I have no idea.

  Elle and I would just have to bear it all in mind for future conversations.

  He nodded to the bag in my hand. “Drink up, or your healing will take longer.”

  Cupping the squishy bag as carefully as I could, I closed my eyes and knocked the contents back. The moment the copper liquid slid down my throat, I could feel the skin around my wounds tingling. No to mention a scratching sensation on my insides, almost like a needle threading my muscles.

  “You really aren’t a normal Vampire.”

  I opened my eyes to see Mark smirking.

  “Interesting.”

  I gulped the liquid back and watched the young Vampire head through the sequence of archways toward the right house.

  “He’s an odd one.” The Teen watched him over her shoulder.

  “Yeah, but at least he’s more accepting than the others.” I threw the blood bag on the floor and grabbed another. I ran my tongue over my teeth, and sure enough, I could feel the sharp edge of my fangs as my gums pinched and they extended. I pierced the plastic and chugged.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good thing, Than.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  ~ Danielle ~

  Saturday 24th October, 2015

  Belgravia, London

  “Carter, please can you just call or message and let me know if Heather has safely made it back to the UK?” I disconnected the call and threw my phone on the sofa.

  I had been calling the Alpha for the last two days ever since I’d received a very short and to the point text from Dante stating that Heather and Brendan were due back any day now. It had been welcome news, but I hadn’t heard anything since, and it was starting to feel like the Wolves were ignoring me.

  I just needed to speak to my cousin, and then I could check in with my parents. The news would at least reassure them and cement the reason I needed to stay in the UK a little longer. God, my father would have a heart attack if he knew I was currently staying in the Colony Nest and sharing a bedroom with the new Leader.

  Not that there was anything going on between us, far from it. It’s just Nathan didn’t like the idea of me being in my own room with strange Vampires in the same building, and as he didn’t sleep, it meant I could use his new rooms and he would stay close by.

  Truth be told, this had to be the only time in our history he was actually keeping me from losing my mind. I mean, I was living in a Nest. Sure, it wasn’t for long, but the fact alone was madness.

  Not that the remaining three members were anything to worry about. I had the feeling that the two females had taken a shining to the new Leader, and the boy, Mark, looked as though you could snap him with a simple tap. Not exactly a strong army for trouble, but it would do, for now.

  The three of them had been sent out two days ago to search down any Leeches that might be hiding and give them the same choice that they had been given—follow the new Leader or get out of the UK.

  I wasn’t expecting an army to come back, especially as our survivors were only with us as their Masters and Mistresses didn’t reside in this country. One way or another, our three members would either come back with some straddlers or empty-handed.

  I guess the Pack would be pleased to hear that they had actually exterminated the entire UK Colony.

  So, while I sat on my thumbs waiting to hear about Heather, Nathan got to work on tidying the place up and studying the businesses that Michael had, getting to grips with the wealth he had just laid his hands on and how he could somehow improve Vampires’ way of life.

  Jesus, my father would straight out die if he knew what I was involved in. I should be killing Vampires. Not helping them to adapt.

  “You look deep in thought … again.”

  I looked up as Nathan stepped into the room, dressed in jogging bottoms, T-shirt, and trainers. He really didn’t suit the look but wanted to wear something loose and comfortable while we trained. I had somehow been roped into teaching him to fight as he had won his first and only two challenges on sheer luck and savage instinct.

  “Just trying t’get my head around things. I guess it’s all finally catching up t’me.”

  This last fortnight had been the craziest of my life.

  “Any word off Carter?”

  “Are you serious? He seems t’have fallen off the face of the planet all of a sudden.”

  “Try Dante again?”

  “I will.” I hopped off the arm of the sofa. “Remind me again what the point of the agreement was?”

  “So we could all live in peace and be on the same page.” He brought his hands together in prayer.

  “I feel like we got the short end of the stick.”

  “Yeah, I think we did.”

  “If I don’t hear from them in the next few days, I’m going t’have t’go back up there.”

  The idea of making the nine-plus-hours journey was not appealing in the slightest, but if Carter and Dante continued to ignore my calls, it was looking like I wouldn’t have much of a choice but to pay them a visit.

  He dropped his arms to his sides. “I know.”

  “Are you going t’be okay on your own?”

  I didn’t like the idea of leaving him here on his own. Sure, we only knew of three Vampires that were still in the UK and they might not be back for another week, but that didn’t mean he would be safe on his own.

  “I’m not that helpless.”

  “Oh, I know you’re not.”

  I still couldn’t get the image of him punching the female Vampire’s head off out of my mind. The way in which he’d repeatedly stabbed his talons through her flesh, muscle, and bone … The blood had actually drained from me as I’d wa
tched. The rhythm in which he’d punctured her had reminded me of the shower scene in Psycho where Norman Bates’ ‘mother’ stabs relentlessly until the victim is dead. Considering all the Vampires I had killed and the ways I had killed them … the ways in which I had witnessed them be killed … well, this was the first time I had actually wanted to throw up. I wasn’t entirely sure it had anything to do with the way the Leech had been slaughtered. More to do with witnessing who was doing the hacking.

  Nathan was far from helpless and most definitely far from being harmless, which is what I had repeatedly told the Pack and, I guess, myself. He was just as dangerous as any Vampire, if not more so as with every day that passed by, we were learning that he had all of their advantages and not many of their weakness. But that’s what the Leches wanted, according to the Pack—a better, stronger species of Vampire, and my God, they were on their way to getting just that.

  “It will be good for me t’have a few days here on my own.”

  I arched a brow at him.

  “Besides, with all the new moves you’re going t’teach me, I will be totally fine.”

  I stepped into the centre of the living room of the centre house which we had chosen to keep clear for meetings and training, etc. It just seemed easier than constantly having to replace furniture.

  “This is my life now, Elle.”

  “T’be alone? Jesus, you’re really getting into the iconic broody Vampire character, aren’t you?”

  “Get lost.” He stretched his arms above his head. “I just meant, fights, challenges. These are part of my life now.”

  “You’re right, but that means you’re never going t’be on your own. There will always be Vampires around, and a lot of them will always be trying t’challenge you or just hurt you.”

  “I will be fine.”

  His focus shifted to the left of the room, and he shook his head.

  I frowned. “You took this role on without fully realizing what it entailed.”

  “I took this role on so no one else has their life stolen from them.” He looked back at me. “So that you didn’t have something else t’worry about.”