New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2)

by Unknown

  As they stood up I saw the grimace in Phoenix’s eyes as they tightened their grip around Damien’s limp body. He came to promptly after being jerked up right. He was dazed though and had given up on the fighting though his body was as tense as steel cables.

  They were long out of sight as I moved at a crawl after them, making my way back to the house. I couldn’t feel anything from the middle of my back down, but my body knew what to do.

  Now I understood how Phoenix had managed without being able to see. Instinct. I stood slowly, stumbling through the miles of woods after them. I managed to only fall a few dozen times. I was blessedly grateful no one was around to witness this. Not to mention it hurt. Bad.

  My shoulder had started healing finally by the time I returned to the house. That was due to Phoenix’s gift before we’d gone to find Damien. My neck and back were no better off though.

  I listened to them all as I sat down (or willingly collapsed) on the front stoop, not ready to go inside yet. It sounded like everyone was fighting each other. Physical fighting I could handle a lot better than the verbal stuff. The verbal stuff I wanted nothing to do with.

  Ryce was throwing the younger boy around, demanding answers about Neesa. Everyone had forgotten poor Melody. She was probably dead now anyway.

  I could see Lara through a broken window clenching her eyes shut trying her best to see what was yet to come. Were we out of the fire yet?

  Everyone else was arguing about what had happened. Or was happening. Hell, for all I knew or cared they could have been arguing over if the sun was rising or setting. I for one didn’t care which.

  Everyone was fighting each other except for Damien, who was only fighting for his sanity. I knew I should be in there. At least trying to help him. Even if he didn’t want it, I owed it to him.

  They were all in this mess because of me. I owed everyone. Uhg. Not a pleasant thought. But I didn’t get up to go inside. I could hardly move. Not yet. The hike through the woods had done a number on me physically. I couldn’t feel my legs at all. And mentally… I just wasn’t ready for it. Giving so much blood to Phoenix, and Damien taking more, I was fighting against more than the pain.

  After about five more minutes of sitting there I heard Jezabell yell, “Where the hell is Anna? Did you just leave her there?” She snarled at someone or another, though I couldn’t be sure who.

  “She’s outside, Jezabell. She’s been through enough. Give her some space.” Phoenix. Ah, that explained it.

  Time to stop hiding. Damn. Slowly I stood. Forcing my legs to do as they knew they should and walk up the steps. I stumbled, falling against the doorframe. It took a moment to force my feet under me.

  Jezabell almost ran into me as I walked up to the foyer through the busted doorframe. She was coming to get me if I liked it or not I guess. My brow arched. It wasn’t a pleasant expression. Jezabell back stepped abruptly out of my way. Wisely she didn’t dare offer me help as I staggered past her.

  I kept my mind as clear as possible. Solely focused on how everyone else was doing rather than myself. Why burden the two I cared for most in this world with my pain?

  Soon as I entered into the house Phoenix was by my side. With his arms around my waist, my arm propped on his shoulder helping me stand. There was no point in arguing. Despite what I did to try and hide it, he knew.

  It took me a moment of looking down at the floor in utter stillness to compose myself. I was humiliated. I was angry. I didn’t want to be weak any longer and Phoenix was making it too easy to depend on him. Deal with it. I didn’t argue. The demon was still there, promising me salvation. I allowed its icy relief to wash through my veins without giving it the control it wanted.

  Damien had moved into the corner of the room. Lara eyed me curiously but very briefly. She knew what had happened. I could see it in her eyes. She’d watched what he’d done to me, but there’d been no way to stop it. Didn’t like the pity I saw there either. She knew more than that.

  Damien’s lips trembled with a low growl. His eyes were glazed over with a ruby red glow. I realized from the way Phoenix looked at me and the way Jezie and Lara looked at me now, mine were, too...

  It was from Blooding. The glow of dead blood. Nifty. Store that away for later contemplation.

  Damien spoke, but the voice was barely his own. “Just back off already I can handle it!”

  Phoenix sneered but stayed silent as he looked me over. I could practically hear the thoughts myself. As if to confirm, his hand lift my chin to see the open gash on my neck. His other hand slid around to touch the wound on my back. I didn’t flinch because I couldn’t feel it.

  Phoenix’s lips pressed into a fine line as he refrained from speaking. I shook my head, glaring. Begging him silently not to throw that on him now. “I already know, Phoenix! You don’t have to say it! I know what I did to her! You wanna kill me now or later?”

  Damien’s fist hit through the wall. The stud snapped. Damien was soaked in his own blood as well as Demetrius’. He had not left the battle without his own share of injuries, but he was the only one among us already healed completely. Demetrius’ blood was powerful.

  Jezabell looked like white marble for as pale as she was. She’d used a lot of her gift that night and she was weaker now for it. She motioned to Lara and then the others.

  Lara’s soft small hands carefully lay onto Phoenix’s shoulders to try and guide him to go sit down. He wasn’t much better off than me despite his healed flesh. He’d used so much power, and the venom still tainted his veins. My blood wasn’t a magic elixir like the Dragon’s had been.

  “Not now, Lara,” his voice was almost cruel. After a moment’s hesitation she gave up and backed away from us.

  Jezabell came up behind Damien with her hands up in defense. I watched the muscles in his back tense even before she touched him. Both her hands lay onto each of his shoulder blades. They stood that way for a few minutes before the tension in the air slowly lifted. Another ability of sense manipulation was satiation.

  Stepping away from Phoenix slowly, I moved closer to Damien. Jezabell gave me a slight warning expression but I ignored her, sliding myself against the wall and up under his arms. My brow arched, waiting for him to look at me.

  Jezabell slowly departed and moved back to Lara’s side at last. Hendrick strolled over to the other Vampire and Ryce without a word, standing over them, ready to help.

  Damien’s hands slid down to brace on the wall on either side of my shoulders. The slightest smirk came to his lips as he had put me in such a position before. It felt like a long time ago, but it wasn’t. We were both thinking about it.

  His fingers brushed through my hair and then softly down my cheek to the gash on my neck. The skin surrounding it was turning dark, nearly black much like the rest of my wounds. The blood loss with whatever lingering side effects of Roman’s magic was inhibiting my healing.

  He bit into his hand, kissing my lips gently as they parted to argue. “Let me do this,” he mumbled against my ear. His hand ever so gently slid around my back, lifting my shirt and pressing his bleeding palm against the gaping wound. As he did so I heard the skin of his lip break and felt his lips softly press to his savage bite.

  We stood like that for a while, ignoring everyone else. My hands held onto Damien’s shoulders for support. His other arm held secure around my waist to hold me up. My body still hurt but it was healing slowly just like the rest of me.

  “I’m so sorry,” his voice quivered into my neck softly so no one else could hear. Lightly Damien’s forehead pressed against mine.

  “We’re past apologies, Damien.” He nodded slowly. His arm holding me up squeezed gently. “Damien I-”

  To stop me, his lips pressed mine gently and far too briefly. His eyes locked onto mine were heart breaking for the grief they held. “Please don’t say it, Lianna...” My brow furrowed deeply, showing silently my confusion. Why? Damien shook his head. Damien? Please don’t do this. I need you. His lips pressed my forehead
firmly. To insure the subject was ended he turned us to face the others.

  Ryce was nearly ready to morph back into the panther and rip the boy apart when Hendrick laid a hand onto his shoulder to hold him back. “Killing him will give you no answers, my friend.” My eyes lay onto the kid in the corner. He was shaking. He refused to look at anyone. The way he huddled so close into the corner he looked like a small child. It was the same kid who’d longed to attack me in the meadow before. The same kid I went to high school with not that long ago.

  Poor kid. He didn’t choose this life. But then again I imagine few did.

  Despite the situation he had found himself in, I knew he was still a former part of Demetrius’ group. There was no way to avoid this now. Jezabell gave a sigh as she looked him over cautiously. “Well considering he knows more about what Demetrius has been doing lately than any of us do, not to mention what happened with Neesa and the hum-”

  “Melody. Her name is Melody,” I corrected her with a warning glare.

  Ryce gave a firm kick to the kid. “Tha’s your cue to talk, boy.”

  Finally the kid looked up, his eyes moved up to Ryce, then Hendrick, then over to me. His gaze narrowed slightly but he had not made any signs of speaking yet. Jezabell swiftly moved to kneel in front of him. Her eyes were cold and rather persistent as she spoke, “You don’t have to talk.” She took a pause, smiling in a frightening mock of innocence. “But it would make your case much more appealing if I did not need a translator.”

  Damien’s grip around me adjusted as he turned to position himself in front of me. Exhausted, confused and frankly past the point of caring, I leaned back into the wall behind him. The boy still held a grudge for me I guessed. But why? I knew just from the reactions from Damien that he was ahead of me on that end.

  Then he proved it when within a second the boy did not speak. “His name’s Anthony. He still wants Lianna dead. Apparently he knew Melody before he was turned. Lianna, too. He’s in love with Melody, so of course he blames Anna. Melody was-”

  Before he could go on, the kid suddenly sprang up lunging in my direction. He flew up right over Jezabell, only to be caught by the back of his shirt by Hendrick. Jez ducked out of the way quickly as the boy remained flailing midair. “Don’t you talk about her! You don’t have the right to talk about her! It’s her fault this happened! All of it! I’ll kill you, demon!”

  Ryce came to stand beside Hendrick looking rather impressed. Hendrick shrugged. Awe how cute, they’re bonding. Over torture. How nice.

  Anthony lunged again helplessly in my direction. I never flinched. After what all had happened just that day alone I knew I could handle someone like him easily enough.

  Hendrick laughed and kept him hanging midair. It looked pretty funny to watch his feet kick and fly about. Anthony’s fists balled and swung at the air. His shirt slid up to his chin as that’s all that held him up. Every kick and punch made him spin back and forth as his shirt twisted about.

  “Easy there, kid. You think this helps you at all? Calm down a bit. You know that’s pointless. Unless you wanna die that is.” Hendrick chuckled.

  Die? Hm.

  Anthony finally stopped and just hung there shooting Hendrick a death glare. Oh if looks could kill. Hey in our world some of them can I guess. “Put me down.”

  “Pleeease?” Hendrick mocked. In response Anthony spit at his feet. That’s all it took for the boy to get chucked across the room. He went in for a hard crash head first into the floor. He really was very much a New Blood. Someone older would not have crashed at all they would have already been using it to escape.

  Hendrick threw him in the direction of Phoenix who was standing ready. The boy fell to the floor as Phoenix’s foot planted hard on his chest. I heard something pop. His sternum or some ribs maybe. It made me smirk a little though.

  The kid grimaced as his hands helplessly wrapped around Phoenix’s boot. Ryce had followed just as quickly and was standing by, snarling. “What about Neesa? I don’t care about the other one!” Before long no one would be able to keep him from changing just because of how angry he was. “Where is she?!”

  “You’re walking a fine line, son,” Jezabell spoke as she gave a heavily annoyed sigh. She motioned to Damien so she could know more.

  Damien gave a slight nod. “He’s only eighteen days old. Melody, as I was saying before, was turned by Roman just this night. He doesn’t know if she’s dead or if she survived the change. He made everyone leave before it was over. He doesn’t want to die. Anthony’s just angry. However he’s also convinced we’ll kill him either way. And I’m sorry, Ryce. He doesn’t know who Neesa is. He’s too absorbed with Melody right now to focus.”

  Ryce looked as if we had slapped him. His face fell, looking at Damien with disbelief. “You’re sure of that? He could be lying.” Damien shook his head, looking down to the floor.

  Anthony shot a sharp glare in Damien’s direction. “I can speak for myself!”

  “Obviously you can’t,” Jezie rebutted with another annoyed girly snort. Her eyes narrowed before a slow grin came to her lips. She walked over to him and stroked his cheek. His eyes went wide before I realized what she had decided.

  Her fingers were unmovable. Instantly Anthony groaned and writhed on the floor under Phoenix’s boot. His fingers uselessly fought against hers. Once he knew that was hopeless, he began trying to push Phoenix’s boot off of his chest. That, too, was futile. It only took a few moments for him to give in. “Okay! Okay…”

  Anthony groaned as his body fell limp on the floor, still pinned of course. Jezie finally tapped Phoenix’s boot and he released the boy. Anthony didn’t budge. After that no one would. He groaned, his hands coming up over his face with a low moan of discomfort. “What do you wanna know?”

  “Tell us everything you know about Demetrius. And I do mean everything. Plus, you’re going to take a little ride with Hendrick and Ryce. You’re going to help them find the girls. Both of them,” Jezabell spoke with a disturbing smile.

  Lara came to stand by Anthony, offering her small hand to Anthony to help him stand. Unwillingly, Anthony reached his hand for Lara’s and stood slowly. Without looking at anyone he nodded to Jezabell’s orders. His head hung to stare at the bloody floor. “Who’s the other girl? I need a picture.”

  “I can show him. I can synch with him and show him.” I wasn’t sure how I knew. I just knew I could. Never doubt your instincts.

  It would of course exhaust me, but I didn’t even think about it. Hell what would be the difference? Pushing myself from the wall I staggered up to Anthony at a slow limp. “I won’t hurt you.” Anthony grimaced as I reached to touch him. There was no way I could connect to him otherwise though, not this weak. “I promise.” He sneered.

  Anthony wasn’t afraid, he just hated me. I sighed. “I can’t do it any other way right now.” Reaching my hand up to place against his temple, I focused on memories I had of Neesa from the vision so he would know where and what she looked like then.

  He didn’t recognize her at all. He didn’t even recognize the warehouse. Great. “We’ve got a bit of a problem. They didn’t all stay together. There was a warehouse. And another place the majority of the group stayed.” Focusing my visions in his head I traded his memories with my own.

  “A house. In the Bronx. A place where cops don’t go. A place where no one pays mind to the screaming.” I shuddered, pulling away from him.

  Blood trickled from my nose. I brushed it away with the back of my hand quickly, unsure if anyone had seen. My back was to Damien and Phoenix.

  “He never saw Neesa because he never left the house until tonight except once to steal food and water for Melody. When he returned they’d taken her to the warehouse. The next time he saw her was in the field. Then when Roman took her away to turn her.” Looking back at Anthony I smiled sadly at him. He was kind, even with the sad position he’d been forced into. “If she’s alive, we’ll get her back. Okay?”

  “You remember me?�
� he asked. Anthony’s emotions radiated from him. Fear. Physical pain and the pain of a broken heart. His hope was gone.

  I nodded softly. I’d shown him a memory of him being in middle school with Melody while I was in high school. Another of a football game of his that I had attended with Paul and some of his friends.

  I wanted to ask why he hated me so much. Was it just Melody? Was it something before all this supernatural crap? Instead I opted to keep my mouth shut. In the end I didn’t think I wanted to know.

  The others eyed me with confusion as Damien came to lay a hand on my shoulder. Phoenix looked from me to the boy. I knew what he was thinking without him sharing it with me.

  There was no way to change the past. We could only move forward, move on with our pain carried in our pockets. It was the lesson we all had to learn.

  “Anthony, I give you me absolute promise, no one in this house will hurt you again, and we will do everything in our power to help you find Melody.”

  Lara cleared her throat. Her lips pulled into a small frown. She looked up to me apologetically. “I’m sorry. You need to hurry. Paul’s leaving Burlington now. He’s going to go back to the house. If you all are going to get a chance to clean up before he gets there you need to get going. I know the timing’s bad. But if he beats you there then he will just wait. And given-” She flustered and waved her hand at me.

  Oh, is it not normal for people to be covered in blood and have big gaping holes in their bodies? My bad. Damien and Phoenix chuckled bitterly at my silent joke. I shrugged

  Phoenix gave a sigh and scratched the back of his head. He gave Damien a strange look that I found puzzling. “No it’s fine. Thank you, Lara,” Damien sighed as he spoke.

  “I think I’ll ride in the Jeep this time, if that’s all right with you, brother.” Phoenix mumbled. Yeah he was worn. And of course he wasn’t letting me leave his sight either.

  Damien just gave a small nod. After a second, he fished through his pocket. Pulling out a set of keys, Damien tossed them to Phoenix. Wait all of that and he never lost his keys? How did he manage that one? “You’re driving.”