Silver Blood

by Tamara White

  "I suppose it’s you I have to thank for that, though. After all, you're the one behind the attacks, aren't you?"

  His face reddens, just as I hear a twig snap behind me. I spin, sword poised at the throat of the newcomer. When I recognize who it is, however, I lower my sword and smile.

  "Who the fuck is that?" Xander growls, and I roll my eyes. Of course he would be intimidated by Lincoln. He's a monster of a man after all, and his wolf shows in every move he makes. The sign of a true Alpha.

  "I'm her mate. And I take it you’re the idiot who fucked her over," Lincoln says, his voice lowering dangerously and his gaze remaining fixed on Xander. Lincoln must have made the connection based on how similar Xander looks to the vamp I nearly beat to death, because it’s not love and rainbows he's projecting right now. No, it’s death and darkness.

  "Whoever the hell you are, this is none of your business," Jeremy spits out, his voice filled with rage.

  Rather than answer Jeremy, Linc instead turns to me. "What do you say, killer? We take three each? That would be fair," he suggests, appealing to me with a wicked smile.

  I give a grin in return. "How about you take one, and I'll take the rest?" I suggest, just as I feel the wind shift behind me.

  I leap out of the way just as Joel and Brian's wolves land on Linc. Trusting him to handle his attackers, I turn to face my former trainer, my brother, my ex-lover, and one of my biggest bullies. "Brendan, I beg you to reconsider this. There's another way we can handle this. The vampires, witches, and wolves here have all accepted me, why can't you?"

  My brother lets out a war cry, running towards me, and I sigh in defeat. It’s like he's been brainwashed. The second he gets within touching distance, I kick out and send him flying across the road, wincing as his arm is grazed on the broken glass that litters the ground from the crash. I don't want to hurt him if I can avoid it, but he's not giving me much choice.

  Xander and Sophie are in front of me in the next instant, coming at me with their fists. I use my swords, swinging around and cutting them along their arms deep enough to do some damage.

  Sophie lunges for me, and I stab her straight through the heart, watching as the girl who bullied me for years drops to the ground in a heap, her lifeless bloody looking no different than when she was alive, other than the blood of course.

  Arms wrap around me from behind in a death grip. I smell Xander’s disgusting pine scent on me, which makes me want to hurl.

  Jeremy takes a step towards me, ripping the swords from my hands and throwing them on the side of the road with a smirk. "You forget, Emerald, that I trained you. There is no move you can do that I won’t know how to counter."

  I burst out laughing, feeling my smirk grow as wariness enters his expression. "You trained me during normal class lessons. After a year of your training," I spit out, emphasizing just how much I hated his stupid class, "I went to my dad and asked him to teach me. Every day, morning and night, he trained me."

  My head flies back, headbutting Xander. I ignore the pain in my skull and stamp on his foot, following it up with an elbow to the solar plexus, before summoning my swords.

  Jeremy's eyes widen in surprise, but he doesn’t have time to stop me. My swords descend in an arc from each side, decapitating him in one smooth motion.

  I look down at the severed head at my feet, before kicking it over at Brendan, who has just gotten up. His eyes fill with hatred and he glares daggers at me

  "Leave, or suffer the same fate," I warn him coldly. I'd rather not fight my brother, but I won't back down if he decides to continue on this path.

  Linc joins me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, and the scent of fresh blood comes off him in waves. We stand side by side and watch as Brendan grabs Xander by the shoulder and takes off, climbing back into one of the cars.

  I wait until they're out of sight before rushing back to my car, letting my magic shielding drop. I peek in and see that Talon and Dev both look remarkably better, at least if their anger is anything to go by. "You can be angry later. How's Nik? Is he awake yet?”

  Dev's gaze goes from angry to worried. "No, and I don't think he will. He's lost too much blood, and we didn't think to bring any with us."

  Linc and I walk around the other side of my baby, and he peels the car door off. Looking at Nik slumped in the driver’s seat, I can see just how much blood he's lost.

  Holy shit! The whole floor is soaked in blood and more keeps dripping down from where a piece of metal is jammed into his leg.

  "Shit, that looks fucking gross!" Linc exclaims, looking down at the metal in fascination. "You know, one of us is going to have to pull that out if we want him to heal."

  Talon nods grimly, still looking at me, refusing to acknowledge Lincoln’s presence. I sigh heavily. There is no way I can pull that out.

  "Linc, can you do it? Just give me a second? I have a feeling Nik isn't going to react well to having a huge chunk of metal being ripped from him."

  He nods, and crouches down beside the car, looking over the metal as I try to concentrate my thoughts. Nik? Can you hear me? I need you to wake up.

  Tired. His mental voice alone is filled with exhaustion, and I realize we don't have much time.

  I lift my arm, and hold it in front of his mouth, but then Talon grabs me from the back, stopping me. "Em, you haven't fed in days. If you feed him now, you’ll pass out."

  I meet Dev's eyes, and we share a look of understanding. He pries Talon’s hand from my wrist. "She has fed recently, don’t worry. Just let her do this."

  Lincoln grins up at me, the secret between us thickening the tension in the air. After this, I'm going to have to tell Talon and Nik, because keeping this from them is killing me. I also think it may help if they know I was able to drink another's blood without throwing it back up like some scene from a horror movie.

  I nod down at Linc, signaling I’m ready. Then I turn my gaze back to Nik, waiting for the vampire side of him to lash out.

  As if there's not enough tension already, Linc starts counting. "One, two–"

  "Son of a bitch!" I cry out as Nik's mouth latches onto my wrist, ripping skin away as he feeds desperately.

  He feeds for a good few minutes before letting go with a gasp, his eyes red as his vampire pushes forward to the edge of control.

  "Get in the car," he growls at me, and I nod, quickly climbing over his lap to squeeze into the back. Linc smiles at me through the broken back window. "I'll follow in my wolf form and make sure no one else tries an attack," he murmurs softly. Then he turns, shifting into a white wolf, with black markings similar to a panda. I chuckle and remind myself to bring it up at a later point.

  Nik starts up my all but demolished car and speeds down the road without a word, Lincoln’s wolf following after us. The wind rushes in through the side of the car where the door has been ripped off, but luckily, we’re only on the road for a short time before Nik turns down a long drive off the highway. The safe house was literally only ten minutes away from where we were ambushed.

  We come to a stop and Dev quickly climbs out of the car. I worry though, that there's no other cars around. Britt should have been here by now.

  Talon and I climb out from the passenger side of the car and go around to help Nik out. Just then Lincoln shows up in his wolf form, loping towards me. Nik places an arm over Talon and my shoulders, and his head lolls to the side, breathing in the scent of my neck with a moan.

  "If you're still hungry, Nik, you can feed. I have plenty left to give," I reassure him, moments before his fangs sink into the tender flesh of my neck.

  I groan as he takes his fill, Talon standing there keeping him propped until he is able to stand a little steadier on his own.

  Nik finally lets go, licking the spot once, which makes me shiver. Linc’s wolf rushes over, rubbing his body along mine as I waver, my vision blurring. Nik must have taken a lot more than I realized for me to be feeling this faint.

  We walk up the cobblestone path to the two-
story brick house just as Dev opens the door for us. Dev takes my spot, leading Nik to the couch. I frown, feeling an odd tingling in my chest and over my soul-tie marks.

  "Have you contacted the coven?" Talon asks Dev as they help Nik sit down. Then Dev hands him half a dozen blood bags he found in the fridge.

  "Yeah, I called Axel and Sierra, and told them what happened. No one has heard from Brittany or the guys, though. Sierra is leaning towards the possibility that Britt may be the mole," Dev reveals, sounding disappointed.

  I shake my head, trying to clear the ringing sound in my ears. "That's impossible. Britt is my best friend. She would die before betraying us."

  Dev opens his mouth to say something else when I suddenly sway, almost falling over Lincoln.

  Talon grabs me at the last second, looking down at me with concerned eyes. "Emerald, you alright?"

  "Yeah, I just don't feel good. My body is all fuzzy..." I mumble, having to swallow my saliva multiple times after I speak. It’s like that feeling you get when you haven’t had enough to drink. "It must just be blood–"

  I drop to the floor, crying out in pain, with my heart pounding loudly in my ears. Pins and needles break out all over my skin, and a ringing builds in my ears, growing ever louder until with a final snap, I scream.

  Time ceases to exist as I’m overwhelmed with the agony that consumes my soul.

  The sound of whimpering is the first sign I'm back with the world of the living, but the echo of pain I feel within my soul makes me wish I was dead.

  Gray wolf eyes look down at me as Lincoln nudges me gently with his nose.

  My head lolls to the side as I look for the others, no longer able to feel their presence. When I catch sight of them, they all wear the same traumatized look I imagine is on my own face.

  The door bursts open, and some sort of commotion ensues, but I really don't care. Just kill me and get it over with. Life isn't worth living without them.

  Britt’s face suddenly appears above me, looking down at me with the same grave concern as Linc, but I close my eyes, unable to meet her gaze.

  Her best friend is gone, and the only thing left is a broken shell.

  "Em, what's going on?" she asks in a whisper. I open my eyes, and a rush of tears spills out.

  "My soul-ties are broken."

  Epilogue

  Brendan

  The door slams opens and I push forward, my anger fuelling me as I make my way further into the witches’ coven.

  Jeremy, my real father, is dead and I don't know how to handle all this rage inside me. All I want is to kill that piece of shit who calls herself my sister. For one tiny moment, I thought she cared about me, by letting me live, but it turns out she was just gloating. She wanted me to see Jeremy dead and bring me to my knees.

  "Where is he?" I demand of the witches who are gathered around a formal dining table, eating their breakfast.

  Just then, the witch in question walks through the double doors leading to the kitchen, carrying a plate of pancakes. He places them on the table before walking towards me.

  My wolf is pushing at the seams of my sanity, demanding I make that bitch pay for the death of my father.

  "I want her killed. She killed my father! I demand justice for that!"

  He smirks at me and reaches out to grab a drink from the table. "Don't worry, young wolf. It's been taken care of. This very second, the abomination will be wishing she was dead."

  "Wishing she was dead, and being dead are not the same thing!" I growl out, craving vengeance.

  "All in due time. Now, if you please," he mutters, gesturing at the people gathered, "I have guests."

  He moves around me, effectively dismissing me. I turn on my heels and make my way back through the house. When I get to the entryway, I stop at the sight before me. A vampire stands there, blocking my exit from the house.

  "What do you want?" I growl, my wolf looking for any reason to attack.

  She smirks at me, and takes a step forward, handing me a card. "Don't worry, young pup. I kept your father well informed, and I'll be sure to keep you in the loop, too. The time will come when she's all alone, and then you can take her out. She won't have her soul-ties to keep her alive anymore."

  The woman turns around and opens the door, and I can’t help but watch her, mesmerized. "Why are you helping us?"

  She shrugs, looking over her shoulder at me. "Because I, too, believe she is an affront to nature."

  She takes another step from me, ready to leave. I call out, because I have to know. “What's your name?"

  "Felicia." She winks and steps out of the house, into the midday sun. It doesn't appear to bother her one bit, in fact she seems to bask in its glow.

  I look down at the number on the card, intrigued by this vamp. She might very well be of use to me.

  I'll bide my time. Sooner or later, Emerald will finally be alone, and I'll make her pay for everything. She took my father, and killed my biological father. I won’t let her take the pack too. When I’m done with her, she’ll regret ever being born.

  Note from the author

  Ah! I hope you guys don’t hate me for leaving you all on a cliffhanger like that but I promise I am working my fastest to get book three out. I also wanted to leave a note for the people who might be confused by some parts. I tend to be a seed planter author, meaning I like to leave little clues throughout each of the books so when the ending finally rolls around, its like that ‘OH!’ moment.

  Thank you guys so much for reading book two and I will keep you all updated by my page or in my group. Thank you to everyone who gave this book a chance.