Blood Price (Blood Immortal Book 1)

by Ava Benton

  “Where to?” he asked, chewing hard on a toothpick. “Ya know, I don’t usually let people sit up front wit’ me.”

  “Yes, well, I appreciate you making this exception.” I gave him an address—he looked suspicious but shrugged good-naturedly as he pulled away.

  A look over my shoulder at Mariya confirmed that she still had everything under control.

  I had never seen anyone look so focused.

  The driver noticed her and glanced at me.

  “What are the three of you doin’ out with a girl like her?” he asked, smiling wide.

  I could almost read what was on his disgusting mind—if I didn’t need him to get us where we were going, I would’ve slit him open from groin to sternum just for considering thinking about her that way.

  She was so far above him, they might as well have come from different planets.

  “We’re just coming back from a night out,” I explained, gritting my teeth as I turned away from him.

  The longer I looked at him, the clearer was the mental image of tearing his flesh to pieces. At least the nose-burning scent of his body odor made him less appetizing.

  “And you’re goin’ to that part of town? What, is dumpster divin’ part of your night out?” he laughed.

  “It’s a scavenger hunt,” one of the two warlocks said. His voice was flat, lifeless as Mariya spoke through him.

  “Oh, one of those,” the driver said, nodding like he had any idea what he was talking about. “Just be careful out there, you know? I mean, there’s some shady characters wandering around the old warehouses at night.”

  I almost laughed out loud. If he only knew who was in his cab—the very shady characters he was describing.

  We passed the rest of the ride in silence, and before long I noticed the way the architecture changed.

  Apartment houses with street-level shops and restaurants turned into tall, boxy buildings with fewer and fewer intact windows.

  It grew darker, too, since almost none of the street lamps were in working order. Now and then, a shadow would move, indicating the presence of junkies looking for a fix.

  “You sure about this?” the driver asked once more as we pulled up to one of the last warehouses before the docks, which jutted out onto the river.

  “Very.” I looked back to Mariya, who handed over a wad of bills.

  I didn’t know how much more she gave him than was necessary—she didn’t have it in her to count the money, it seemed—but the man seemed overjoyed.

  “Wow! Thanks, gorgeous! You sure you don’t need me to hang around, wait for you guys?”

  Looking for another tip, I guessed. “No, thank you.”

  I helped the warlocks out through the rear door, while Mariya stepped out behind the driver.

  They swayed on their feet, but that could be chalked up to drunkenness should the driver notice.

  I took their arms and led them through the open doorway of one of the buildings. I was familiar with the area from the old days and knew none of the old warehouses and factories on that particular stretch of land were still in use—one of the few kind gestures Vanessa had made was allowing me to explore those areas, albeit from behind the windows of a car.

  “This way,” I grunted as I led them inside.

  Touching them was enough to make my skin crawl, but I pushed down the disgust they inspired. They knew where Vanessa was. It took all my self-control to keep from yelling at them, demanding the truth of her whereabouts.

  A truth I wasn’t sure they would give up easily. I was counting on it. I even looked forward to it.

  I tossed the two of them to the floor, and they fell like sacks of grain. No effort to resist.

  Mariya stood beside me, barely breathing.

  I hurried, then, sensing how hard she was struggling to keep them under control.

  I helped out with two zip ties around the ankles, two around the wrists.

  “Does this make it easier for you?” I asked when I straightened up and looked down on them.

  “Somewhat.” She visibly relaxed, but not entirely. “I have to keep them from casting spells to escape, or using any sort of psychic connection to contact Kristoff or others like them.”

  And there were bound to be others.

  I looked back at them and saw them blinking hard, shaking their heads.

  One of them snarled. “What is this?” His eyes darted back and forth between Mariya and me.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  He opened his mouth in an ugly snarl, but whatever he intended to hurl at me didn’t come out. His face showed surprise, then frustration. “Jeremiah,” he said, haltingly, like some outside force was making him speak. Which it was—Mariya.

  His friend struggled against the restraints. “You think this can hold us?” he spat. Right. I would start with him.

  A swift kick to his kidneys made him curl up in agony.

  I relished the sound of his groans as I rolled him onto his back and crouched over him, one knee on either side of his ribs.

  “Open your eyes,” I commanded, one hand on the blade of my dagger.

  He refused, as I knew he would.

  Anticipation mixed with adrenaline, but it was still important to keep myself focused. I withdrew the dagger but only held it in my hand. It was sturdy, strangely warm.

  His eyes bulged for just a second at the sight of it before he turned his expression to stone, but it was long enough for me to notice.

  “Let’s try being polite,” I whispered, almost like a caress. “What’s your name?”

  “Fuck off,” he spat.

  Without Mariya in his head, he could pretend to be a tough guy. But that was all he was doing—pretending.

  “That’s fine. I don’t need to know anything about you to do this.” I drew the blade down the length of his face, from temple to jawline, and blood began to ooze.

  He hissed and tried to buck me off.

  I pressed my knees into his ribs to calm him down then chuckled. “If you think that was bad, you’re in for a terrible time.” I looked over at his friend, Jeremiah. “Does this look like fun to you?”

  He turned his head away.

  “No!” I barked, and it echoed through the empty space. “You do not get to look away. Remember when you couldn’t control yourself earlier? I’ll make you watch. You won’t have a choice. And if you try to close your eyes, I’ll slice off your eyelids.”

  Slowly, his head swiveled back in my direction.

  His friend, the one beneath me, whimpered softly. “What do you want to know?” he asked.

  “Now we’re getting somewhere.” I turned my attention to him, waving the blade close to his face as I spoke.

  His blood was on it, the same blood which oozed down the side of his face and into his wavy brown hair.

  I gritted my teeth and commanded myself to ignore it. “I want to know about the ritual you’ve been blabbing about in front of people at the club. Specifically, when it’s taking place, where, and with whom.”

  He gaped at me—then burst out laughing.

  I couldn’t have been more surprised.

  “You think I’m going to tell you?” he sputtered between gasps for air. “Oh, that is rich. I’ve always heard that vampires are stupid, pathetic creatures, but this?”

  I never broke eye contact as I cut off his right ear with a light flick of my dagger.

  I watched with intense satisfaction as his eyes flew wide open before he howled in shock and pain. I pointedly avoided looking at the rich flow of blood over the side of his head while picking up the ear off the dirty floor and holding it up for him to see.

  The scent of his blood, pumping fast and full thanks to his racing heart, made me a little high. It took effort to keep myself thinking clearly. The image of Vanessa’s face did it.

  “Any more opinions you’d like to share before telling me what I want to know?” I asked, dangling the ear in front of his eyes.

  He screamed and bucked harder t
han ever, which gave me no choice but to dig my knees into his ribs in hard, sharp jabs until he gasped for breath.

  The sound of his snapping bones filled me with almost unbearable pleasure.

  “I’ll cut your damned eyeballs out if you don’t tell me what I want to know right now. Right this very moment.” I glanced at Jeremiah, who blubbered like a baby, then tossed the ear his way.

  He screamed and tried to dodge it, but it landed on his chest with a satisfying splat.

  “I can’t tell you!” my nameless, one-eared captive wailed. “He’ll kill me!”

  “I’ll make you watch your heart beat its last before I cut out your eyes.” My face was inches from his.

  The desire to gulp down his blood was almost overwhelming.

  I fought through it and held the point of the dagger against his chest. “Come on. Give me an excuse.”

  “He’s in an old hotel down in Atlantic City!” Jeremiah wailed. “Please, stop this! Let us go!”

  “Who is?” I asked, looking down at the other one.

  “Kristoff,” he whimpered. “An old, abandoned place. Would’ve been torn down but there’s a bunch of spells and protection wards on it. That’s where he lives, that’s where we all gather. That’s where she is.”

  “She?” Mariya snapped.

  “The Sorceress. The One. The Chosen One.” His eyes filled with tears. “Please, no more. Please. We’ll disappear. He doesn’t need to know you found us.”

  “You’re right.” I slashed the silver blade through the air, and just like that, blood poured out of the gaping wound in his throat.

  I jumped up to avoid getting caught in the flood—I didn’t know if I would be able to avoid feeding from him if his blood touched my lips—and watched with grim satisfaction as he died.

  His feet skittered across the floor as he struggled to hold onto life, but it was pointless. One more shudder, then his lifeless eyes stared up at the rotted ceiling.

  “Wh—why did you do that?” Jeremiah screamed, inching his way back from his friend’s body with the ear still stuck to his shirt. The blood kept it there.

  It would’ve been funny if I wasn’t hell bent on killing him, too. It wasn’t as satisfying as bathing in blood, but it was damn close.

  “Because I don’t trust you.” I bent to my knees, crouching down, holding the dagger up for him to see. “Now. You’re going to tell me what Kristoff plans to do. Right?”

  “Yes! Yes, I will!”

  “Elias…” Mariya’s voice sounded like it was coming from far away.

  I glanced up at her and recoiled at her chalk-white skin. She was all but drained of energy from controlling the warlocks.

  I pulled Jeremiah up by his shirt collar and held his chin in my hand, turning his head. “Look at him. See what I just did? Make it fast.”

  “Tomorrow night! He’s performing the ritual tomorrow night and please, don’t kill me!”

  “At the hotel?”

  “Yes!”

  “Okay.” When he saw the blade descending, he drew in his breath to scream again.

  I was too fast for him, plunging the dagger into his throat up to the hilt and pulling it out as I backed away. He gagged, eyes bulging, as his life seeped away. I licked my lips, almost faint with desire. Just a little taste…

  “Elias…” Her voice was a whisper.

  She swayed back and forth before sinking to the floor.

  I caught her just before she made contact.

  Her head lolled back on her shoulders, eyes closed.

  I shook her, but she didn’t flinch. She was out.

  12

  Mariya

  He was the first thing I saw when my eyes fluttered open. His face filled my world. I couldn’t see anything else but him, and the way his eyes darted back and forth over my face.

  “Elias?” I whispered.

  Things started clearing up.

  I felt softness underneath me instead of the cold, filthy warehouse floor. “Where are we?”

  “Your apartment,” he whispered back.

  “How?” I glanced around.

  Sure enough, I was on the bed. I wiggled my toes. My boots were still on. I was still dressed.

  “How did we get back here?”

  “You’d be surprised how unsurprised the cabbie was when he found me carrying a girl’s inert body over my shoulder.”

  “What?” I tried to sit up, and my head spun.

  He eased me back down.

  “Relax. And yes, that was my only option. To pretend you’d overdone it. I carried you back to a more civilized part of town before hailing a taxi.” His voice was softer, gentler than I had ever heard it.

  Not at all the voice I remembered from back in the warehouse.

  “He might think I drugged you, but he didn’t seem to care.”

  “Oh. That’s extremely reassuring.”

  He was smiling. He was actually smiling. I used to think he couldn’t be any more handsome.

  The memory of what I had just witnessed flashed across my memory and my smile faded.

  I didn’t know he could be that vicious. Granted, I had wanted to do it, too. Maybe I was even a little jealous that he got to be the one to make them pay for what they did. Just the fact that they spent time with Kristoff meant they were bad, bad men.

  Elias sighed. “Are you all right after what you saw? For a moment, I thought the strain of watching me work was what caused you to faint.”

  I tilted my head to the side. “I can handle the sight of blood. Even a few… random ears,” I added with a grimace. That part had made my stomach churn, even when I was only half-present and half-absorbed in controlling the two warlocks. “I didn’t realize how it would drain me, was all. I feel much better now.”

  “You’re sure?” His forehead creased as he searched my face again, looking for the truth. The fact that he cared so much did a lot to ease the discomfort over the torture I had watched. But it didn’t do enough.

  “That was… unsettling, back there.”

  He nodded. “I thought it would be for you.”

  “But not for you.”

  “I don’t feel anything but glad that they’re both dead. They didn’t deserve to live.”

  “I’m not disagreeing with you. I was in their heads, and I saw what was in there. It was terrible.”

  Images flashed past me—the way they laughed as a woman screamed.

  Vanessa, maybe? No, it was too long ago.

  Somewhere far in the past. They watched while she was tortured to death. I couldn’t see her, but I could feel her agony. Yes, they had deserved everything he gave them and more.

  It was watching him do it that unsettled me.

  “What bothered you, then?”

  My heart sank.

  He was so dense.

  “You were like a different person in there. I didn’t know you had that in you—I guess I must have, on some level, since I know who you are and what that means. And I saw you earlier, when you wanted blood.”

  His eyes had gotten that same look in them, too. Blood lust.

  I shivered.

  “I can’t help how I am,” he murmured, looking out the window.

  The rain had finally stopped, and the sky was clearing up. The little bit of light coming in from outside framed his strong profile.

  My heart clenched.

  He would never understand.

  “I know that. I’m not saying you’re bad. Just that I’m not used to seeing you that way. That’s all.”

  “It’s the strangest thing,” he said, shaking his head. “When you fainted, and I caught you, and I looked down at you and thought it might be my fault for making you do it… I felt guilty. I haven’t felt guilt in a long time. A little for letting Vanessa get away from me, but nothing like what the sight of you did to me back at the warehouse.”

  I couldn’t breathe.

  Was he saying what I thought he was saying?

  It sounded like he was, but I was afraid to believe
it. It would only hurt worse when I found out I was wrong.

  He was clueless. He didn’t feel emotions the way I did. He had no idea I had been in love with him from the moment my sister woke him up.

  I tried to smile. “You didn’t need to feel that way. As I said, I’m all right. It wasn’t your fault.”

  “That doesn’t change what I went through. How concerned I was for you.” He looked down at me, and I stopped breathing again. “I haven’t felt that way since… for a long time. And when I did, it was because I had made a mistake.”

  “A mistake?”

  He nodded slowly. “I grew too close to my charge back then. We aren’t supposed to ever grow too close to those we guard. Our lives must be completely separate. I couldn’t help but blur the lines. She was… she was special.”

  When he reached out to tuck a stray bit of hair behind my ear, I was sure my heart would explode. It was so tender and sweet. Everything I had ever imagined, and I had spent more time than I would ever admit imagining what it would be like if he touched me that way. The simplest, most innocent gesture, but it meant the world.

  “I think I’ve made another mistake,” he whispered, then cracked a slight smile. “But I don’t feel like it’s a mistake right now.”

  “I don’t feel like it is, either,” I admitted.

  It couldn’t be happening. It was all too perfect.

  That didn’t stop him from leaning down and taking my face in his hands.

  I held my breath as Elias lowered his head. My mind was an empty slate, and the only thing I could think of was this incredible man that I had an unnerving attraction for. His closeness eclipsed all logic.

  His lips hovered over mine, sharing air with me, drawing in my scent while I breathed again and took his into my nostrils, then deep into my lungs, into my being. With one final glance at his smoldering eyes, I lowered my lids and let myself sink into the moment. His breath was warm, and like cinnamon and like a warm blanket. My attraction pulled me closer to him, starting at my core and extending outward as I subconsciously leaned toward his hard body. A sensation I was unfamiliar with sent a surge of heat throughout. I’d never felt this kind of desire before.

  Yes… desire. For Elias.

  A craving that obscured all other desires I’d ever thought I’d felt before. Those were nothing.