Rose narrowed her eyes. “Oh, you would like that, wouldn’t you?” she snarled. “Having another person that you can use, just like you used Erik?”
Alana smiled seductively. “You’d like it, too,” she whispered.
“Not likely,” Rose stated coldly. “No one will ever control me.”
Alana laughed, her dark blue eyes sparkling with amusement. “Oh?” she challenged, raising an eyebrow. “Maybe you have forgotten, but I’m a telepath.”
“I haven’t forgotten,” Rose said, “but it doesn’t work on me.”
“Are you sure?” Alana asked. “Because I can see every, little thought in your pretty, little head.” She leaned in and whispered, “Every…little…thought.”
Rose swallowed. “I meant the telepathic control. I can resist it.”
“Hmm,” Alana murmured thoughtfully, “but for how long?”
Rose frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
“Rose!” Audrey yelled, practically hyperventilating. “What is going on?”
Alana stepped to the side of Rose, standing so close that her arm brushed Rose’s arm. “What will it be, baby vampire? Will you tell them or not?”
“Did…did she just call you a vampire?” Audrey stammered.
Rose stared at them, her face pale, as she tried to decide what to say.
Sadness and disappointment suddenly twisted at Owen’s face. He placed his hand on Audrey’s arm. “Come on, Audrey,” he sighed. “Let’s just go.”
“He knows,” Alana sang in Rose’s ear.
Rose spun toward the telepathic vampire, her face paling in horror. “He does?” she sputtered, her voice barely a whisper. “How? How does he know?”
Alana smiled at Rose. “Oh? You want my help?” she asked. “You want me to tell you what he’s thinking? You want me to use my abilities to help you?”
Rose scowled. “Well, when you put it that way…”
“Because I will,” Alana offered. She brushed Rose’s hair out of her face, almost affectionately. “I will tell you whatever you want to know, but you have to play for my team first. Do something for me, and I’ll do something for you.”
Rose stared blankly at the seductive, manipulative vampire. “I’m trying to figure out whether you’re asking me to be evil with you or have sex with you,” she muttered dryly. “All of these double entendres are confusing me.”
Alana flashed a flirty smile. “Do I have to pick just one?”
Rose shrugged. “Either way, the answer is no.”
Alana poked out her bottom lip adorably, as if she were a cute, little child, instead of an ancient, murderous vampire. “Ah, come on,” she pouted. “No one passes up the opportunity to sleep with me. I mean, just look at me.”
“Believe it or not, sociopaths aren’t my type,” Rose said.
“Sociopath?” Alana repeated. “You think I’m crazy?”
Rose flashed a sassy smile at the vampire. “I’m fairly certain, actually.”
“Why doesn’t anyone get it?” Alana sighed. “I’m trying to fix the world.”
“By killing people?” Rose scoffed. “Okay, Hitler.”
Alana sighed disappointedly. “I had such high hopes for you, Rose. When I first saw you in Erik’s mind, when I first saw your pain, I thought you would understand. I thought you would help me. I have already tried reasoning with you, threatening you…” She shrugged. “I am running out of options.”
“Reasoning?” Rose repeated in disbelief. “You were hurting me.”
“No, no, no, darling,” Alana murmured, stepping closer to her. She brushed Rose’s hair out of her face again, ignoring the bewildered look that Rose gave her. Her thumb rubbed affectionately at the skin beneath Rose’s ear. “I never hurt you. This world hurt you. I only reminded you of the pain.”
“Um…right,” Rose mumbled. “And…why do you keep touching me?”
Alana dropped her hand. “You leave me with no other choice.”
Rose frowned at that ominous statement. She watched as Alana cast a thoughtful glance at Audrey, and the word that Alana had used previously—leverage—flashed in Rose’s mind. “Don’t you dare,” she growled at Alana.
Alana giggled, and then, she moved so rapidly that Rose could barely follow the movement, even with her enhanced eyesight. Within the blink of an eye, Alana stood behind Audrey again, one hand entangled in Audrey’s hair, and one hand clasped around her throat. Her dark blue eyes shifted up to meet Rose’s terrified gaze. “Humans are so fragile, don’t you think?” she giggled. “You can snap their little necks without even thinking about it, and they just…die.”
“Please, don’t kill me,” Audrey sobbed.
Another flash of red sparked in Rose’s eyes. “Let her go,” she growled.
Alana smiled seductively. “Make me.”
“Okay,” Rose said. The dark, blood-red haze overtook Rose’s eyes, consuming the other colors of her eyes—the bright blue, the black, the white—consuming her eyes as the power consumed her. A ripple of dark energy radiated from her body, causing her red hair to sway around her, as if it were being blown by the wind. The Stone of the Eklektos glowed a brighter red beneath her shirt.
“Huh,” Alana said, her eyebrows lifting, “I’ve never seen that before.”
Audrey’s eyes widened in horror. “Rose?! What is happening to you?”
Alana cried out in pain as her fingers were pried off of Audrey’s throat and out of Audrey’s hair, one at a time, as if someone were pulling each finger backward, except…no one had touched her. An invisible force manipulated her hands with the strength and control of a physical body, and Alana was powerless to resist it. When her hands fell to her sides, Alana gasped and stared down at them, stunned by how they’d moved on their own. A smile of wonder formed at the edges of her lips as she looked up at Rose. “Now, that was impressive.”
The silver dagger flew out of Rose’s hand, spiraling through the air, until it stopped midair, the sharp point of the dagger hovering in front of Alana’s throat. Alana straightened, her dark blue eyes watching the dagger nervously.
“Audrey! Owen!” Rose called out, her voice weak. “Leave! Now!”
“What is wrong with you?!” Audrey cried in a high-pitched, hysterical voice. Her skin looked sickly pale, and tears streamed down her cheeks. She breathed in quick, shallow gasps, hyperventilating, as she stared at Rose’s terrifying, inhuman eyes. “Why do your eyes look like that? What is happening?”
Alana laughed, “Rose, haven’t you noticed? Owen is already gone.”
Rose frowned, suddenly realizing that Audrey was the only person she could hear freaking out at the moment. She glanced around, stunned to find that Owen was nowhere in sight. She was relieved, at least, to see that he’d taken Riley—to the hospital, hopefully—but a sickening sense of dread twisted at Rose’s stomach. She shifted her crimson gaze back toward Alana. “Where is he?”
“You have a dagger hovering at my throat,” Alana reminded her. “I don’t feel much like helping you right now. But…if you want to put the weapon away and rethink your position against me, I will tell you everything I know.”
“No, thanks,” Rose said in a cold, emotionless tone.
“Are you sure?” Alana asked, an amused smile curling at the corners of her lips. “Because…I know where he went and why he left, and trust me: it’s something that you need to know. Your friend has a few very dangerous secrets.”
“Trust you?” Rose repeated. “You’re the last person I would ever trust.”
Alana shrugged. “You’ll regret this decision in the future.”
“Oh. So, you can see the future now, too?” Rose asked caustically.
Alana laughed at Rose’s sassy remark. “Attack her,” she said suddenly.
Rose frowned bewilderedly. “What?”
Before Rose could understand what was happening, Audrey ran toward her. Rose stared at her friend, frozen in place by a mixture of confusion and disbelief, as Audrey shoved the knife
that Owen had given her into Rose’s chest. Rose stumbled backward, gasping, as the pain exploded through her chest. The red glow in her eyes faded, and her eyes shifted back to their normal blue. Audrey jerked the knife out of Rose’s chest and tried to plunge it into her heart again, but Rose caught Audrey’s wrist before she could. “Audrey,” she gasped, “stop.”
“Yeah, Audrey,” Alana laughed, “why are you trying to kill your friend?”
Audrey’s golden-brown eyes widened in horror as she glanced back and forth between the blood-soaked knife in her hand and the bleeding wound in Rose’s chest. She dropped the knife and staggered backward. “What? I didn’t…”
Rose felt her strength fading rapidly, and a wave of drowsiness washed over her. She covered her chest with her hand, feeling the warm blood pour through her fingers, washing over her hand and down her arm, as she swayed on her feet. She fell backward, but her body never hit the ground. Instead, an arm swept beneath her back, catching her before she collapsed. She stared up into a pair of familiar brown eyes, black spots swimming at the edges of her vision.
“Rose,” Kallias said, his eyes wide. “What happened to you?”
He heard Audrey whispering, “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.”
Kallias looked at her. “You did this?”
Audrey’s eyes widened. “No. I didn’t… I don’t know… I just…”
Rose felt her consciousness slipping away, but she tried to fight it. She needed to stay awake. She needed to speak. “Alana made her do it,” she choked.
Kallias glanced back down at her, still holding her weakened body in his arms. His brows furrowed. “Did you just say Alana? Alana is dead, Rose.”
“No, she’s not,” she rasped, just before her eyes fluttered closed.
“Rose? Rose?” Kallias called. He shook her in his arms. “Shit.”
“Oh, no,” Audrey whispered. “She’s not dead, is she?”
“Not yet, but she’s close,” Kallias said. He lay Rose gently on the ground and spun toward Audrey, his eyes narrowing. “What the hell happened?”
“I don’t know,” Audrey sobbed. “I didn’t mean to do it.”
That’s when Kallias noticed the woman standing behind Audrey. The scent of Rose’s blood and the surge of Rose’s emotions had distracted him to the point that he hadn’t even noticed the scent of the other vampire. His brows furrowed as he swept his gaze over the vampire. “Alana?” he gasped in disbelief.
Alana smiled. “Hello, Kallias.”
Kallias raced across the parking lot and snatched Alana up by the throat so quickly that, to Audrey, it looked as if he had just disappeared before her eyes.
“I’m losing my mind,” Audrey gasped. “I’m actually losing my mind.”
“How are you alive?” Kallias snarled at Alana.
Alana grasped Kallias’s wrist, trying unsuccessfully to pull his hand off of her throat. “I’d love to play this game with you,” she said hoarsely, “but your extremely powerful girlfriend is dying. You might want to feed her…now.”
Kallias felt the blood fade from his face as he noticed how weak and slow Rose’s heartbeat sounded. He realized that the knife must have done more damage to Rose’s heart than he originally thought. Without hesitating, he dropped Alana back onto the ground and raced over to Rose. He dropped to his knees and gathered Rose into his arms. Then, he sank his fangs into his wrist and placed it against Rose’s mouth, allowing his blood to pour over her lips.
“What the hell are you doing?” Audrey shrieked.
Kallias ignored her. He just continued to watch Rose anxiously, waiting.
“Tell Erik that I said hi,” Alana said, “and that I’ll see him in Europe.”
Kallias glanced back at Alana, watching helplessly as she disappeared into the night. He didn’t have time to catch her, not if he wanted to save Rose. He sighed and shifted his gaze back toward Rose, shaking her slightly in his arms.
Rose made a soft moaning sound in her throat as the scent of Kallias’s blood pulled her into a state of semi-consciousness, allowing her instincts to take control. She latched onto his wrist, her fingers digging into his skin as she clutched his arm closer, sucking mercilessly at the partially-healed wound in his wrist. By the time the wound closed, she’d regained some of her strength, and she flung herself onto Kallias’s lap, her legs straddling his hips, as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and sank her fangs into his neck. She moaned as the sweet, thick blood poured more freely into her mouth. She seemed so feral and wild as she fed from him, rocking slightly against him, draining his blood.
Audrey staggered backward, her mouth dropping open, her face paling in horror. “What…” she stammered. “No. No. No. This can’t be happening.”
Kallias clutched Rose’s hair, groaning as the endorphins flooded his body, causing powerful waves of desire and pleasure to wash over him. He gripped her hip with one hand, holding her close to him, as she continued to rock against his groin, her jeans scratching against his. “I do not have the self-control for this,” he muttered under his breath, groaning again at the sensations.
“Please, tell me this is one of my dreams,” Audrey cried. “At least then, I can stop this from happening. My best friend is not a vampire. She can’t be.”
Kallias tightened his grip around Rose’s hair and pulled her face away from his neck. “Rose,” he groaned, “if you don’t stop now, you’ll drain me.”
Her eyes opened, the blood-red haze dancing within them, and she growled, baring her fangs like an animal, as she tried to latch onto his neck again.
“Damn it, Rose,” he groaned as he pulled her away from his neck once again. He placed his hands on her face, forcing her to look at him. “Listen to me. You’re healing. You need to regain control now. Can you do that?”
Rose stared at him, her brows furrowing. “Kallias?” she mumbled.
Kallias offered her a weak smile. “Yeah. How do you feel?”
“Confused,” Rose answered. “What happened?”
“You almost died. Again,” Kallias said bitterly.
Rose glanced down at her blood-soaked T-shirt, studying the tear down the front of the shirt, directly over her heart. “Alana,” she remembered.
“So, what kind of monster are you, exactly?” Audrey snarled suddenly. She stood about fifteen feet away from them, tears streaming down her face. There was a hysteric note to her voice. “Are you a vampire or something worse?”
Rose looked up at Audrey, her face paling in horror as she realized what Audrey had just seen. She scrambled out of Kallias’s lap. She swayed unsteadily on her feet, still slightly intoxicated from all of the blood she’d consumed. “Audrey,” she whispered, taking a slow, hesitant step toward her friend.
Audrey staggered backward, her eyes wide. “Don’t come any closer.”
Rose froze, her heart sinking as she realized how terrified Audrey looked. “Audrey, I’m not…” she trailed off. “It’s still me. I’m your friend.”
“You have blood all over your face,” Audrey snarled.
Rose hesitantly lifted her hand and wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. Her hand came away from her mouth coated with blood, large, dark red droplets dripping onto the pavement. “Well, yeah, but…”
“And what the hell is wrong with your eyes?!” Audrey interrupted, practically screaming. “Those eyes are the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen!”
Rose shrugged helplessly. “They’ll go back to normal in a minute.”
Audrey let out a strange, half-laugh-half-sob and threw up her hands. “Oh, yeah, that makes me feel so much better,” she screamed. “My friend is a monster who happens to look normal sometimes. Scratch that. My former friend.”
“Audrey,” Rose said in a pained voice. “I’m still… I’m still your friend.”
“No, you’re not,” Audrey said coldly. “You’re a monster.”
“Okay, that’s enough,” Kallias growled, putting himself between Rose and Audrey, as
if he could protect Rose from the damage of those words.
Rose didn’t even bother to fight with him about it or push him aside. She just stood there, frozen, as unbearable pain lanced its way through her soul.
Audrey glared at Kallias, hatred burning in her hazel eyes. “Did you do this to her? Did you turn her into this? I saw your fangs. You’re a monster, too.”
Kallias growled, baring his fangs at her, “Yeah. Since I’m such a monster, maybe you should shut your big mouth before I rip your throat out.”
Audrey screamed and stumbled back. Then, she broke into sobs again.
“Kallias, stop,” Rose snarled at him, finally pushing him aside.
He turned toward her. “I can’t just let her talk to you like that.”
Rose narrowed her eyes at him. “You can, and you will.”
“Rose,” he said sadly, his voice softening, “I can feel your pain.”
Rose looked away, swallowing back the sob that threatened to escape through her lips. Her eyes burned with unshed tears, but she tried to hold them back anyway. “I know,” she said. “But you still can’t threaten my best friend.”
“I know I don’t have many friends,” Kallias said quietly, “but I still know that friends don’t act like that.” He jabbed his finger in Audrey’s direction.
“She’s scared,” Rose said weakly, too tired and too broken-hearted to put any emotion into her voice. She shrugged. “And she’s right. I am a monster.”
Kallias placed his hand on Rose’s face, brushing her blood-soaked hair out of her face with his thumb. “No, you’re not,” he said sympathetically.
“Is Erik one, too?” Audrey managed to choke out. “Is he a vampire?”
“I need to erase her memory,” Kallias told Rose.
“What? M-my memory? No! Absolutely not!” Audrey shrieked. She gave Rose a pleading look. “Rose, don’t let him do that! You owe me that!”
“She doesn’t owe you anything,” Kallias growled at Audrey.
The Tomb of Blood Page 15
