by Tara Brown
Mike leaned over the counter, "Let me refill you."
Aleks handed his drink to him leaning across the counter.
Mike nodded to the right, "The guy in the blue shirt, obvious vamp, he's the one. Brought girls every week. I never stepped in or cared cause they always walked out looking happy. Last few weeks he's been bringing the same girl. She's hot. Like sweet momma hot. I actually thought for a sec she was a vamp or a siren maybe because she was so hot. Anyway, she's starting to look rough. I tried to step in but they are claiming her. They're blood drugging her for sure."
Aleks felt his jaw tighten, "Where is she?"
"Back corner leaning against the wall. Hot. Maybe Asian."
Aleks took his drink and slipped Mike ten dollars, "Thanks."
Mike nodded.
Aleks walked away looking around the bar. Women noticed him, human women and everyone else. His presence made them aware of their sexuality. He couldn’t help it. It had been part of his curse, a part of it Dorian hadn’t felt necessary to have removed. He would attract the women so his father would get interested in them and murder them. They had been destined to be a team. He cringed thinking about the latest of his father's crimes. The girl had been young and sweet. He took a large drink shaking off the memory. The Roses liked that he could distract with his looks.
He hated that the price Dorian had wanted was the draw of his father's murders. Aleks had been the only one of his kind and loved being able to avoid the Roses roster. He only ever obsessed over his father's killings. Dorian saw the possibility of Aleks hunting all the Dark Ones, not just his father. He took the draw in a bargain to save Aimee. Aleks never regretted it, he just wish the price had been something else. He hated feeling nothing. Even more so he hated not knowing where his father was, or at least had been.
Turning his head to the back of the room he nearly dropped his drink to the floor.
Leaning against the wall was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his life, Giselle.
Chapter Twelve: Stuck by a buck
Hanna
She woke not realizing she had fallen asleep. Her head rested on something. She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again as they focused. She was no longer within the inner sanctum of his lab. The room was dark and eerie. She looked at the dark blue walls and the huge fabric curtains draping at the window. The light framed the curtains, where it seeped in the cracks around them.
"Morning sleepyhead."
She jumped, startled at Marcus smiling at her. She frowned, "What are you doing in here?"
She looked down to ensure she had clothes on still.
He smirked, "This is my bed."
"Then what am I doing in here?"
He smiled and leaned down to kiss her forehead, "You fell asleep on the floor. I thought I was doing you a service by putting you in a bed. The floor would have been uncomfortable."
She wanted to pull away. The smell of him was drawing her in again. She couldn’t force herself to hate him as she had tried before. He was being sweet, he smelled like sex and she was already in a bed.
His eyes were full of passion, she knew the look. It was the same as the car.
"Hanna you have me turned upside down."
She laughed, "If you weren’t such a dick I'd say I feel the same way." She climbed off the bed, only to be pulled back on, "You can go when I say you can go."
His mouth met hers crushing it. His tongue forced its way into her mouth.
His hand slid up her shirt.
She panicked. His fingers bit into her skin as his kiss grew needy.
She shoved him back feeling a ripple under her skin, "No."
She twitched feeling the shift coming. She ran off the bed and from the room. The hall started to get fuzzy. Her eyes couldn’t focus. Sweat started to burst from her pours. She could hear her screams echoing from the rooms she passed. She ran into a room seeing a window and dove through it. She needed to be outside. The glass shattered cutting her skin. She screamed but the pain of the glass cuts were nothing in comparison to the war going on inside of her. She landed with a thud on the grass below. She was recovered and on her feet running into the forest within seconds.
She could hear him screaming her name, as she felt her skin tearing itself from her body. Suddenly the sound switched off and everything went black.
****
She woke to something sharp stabbing at her stomach. Her right eye didn't open, but her left one noticed movements around here. She looked at the beige colored shape beside her. Suddenly as if the sound was turned on in her ears, she heard a scream. She shot up, forcing her right eye open. The pain of everything hit all at once.
The scream filled her ears again. She touched her lips feeling them closed, she wasn’t the one screaming. She blinked seeing the beige thing move again, it moved in sequence with the screams.
She looked at it letting her brain catch up and recognize it. She blinked looking around. There was no way it could be what she thought she saw.
A full-grown deer with one of its horns ripped off lay on the ground next to her. Blood seeped from its stomach. She reached for it but as her own hand came into view she noticed the blood on it. She looked down at the deer's horn sticking through her stomach.
Tears formed in her eyes as she panicked. She tried to pull the horn from her stomach, which made her insides scream.
She cried out, "Help me. Please help me."
Sob's filled her as she watched the animal suffering needlessly. She had changed and wounded it. She looked down at her clothes seeing only her underwear intact and part of her shirt. Her whole front of her body was covered in blood, some was hers and some the deer's. Blood seeped lazily from her stomach. She was shivering and alone in the forest with a badly wounded buck.
She sobbed but dragged her wounded body even closer to the deer. The animal thrashed as if recognizing her as the predator that had wounded it.
She laid a hand on its face. She didn’t know what to do. She looked around the forest for a solution. Everything was bright and green and alive. There was nothing to kill a deer just lying about. She tried to walk but her legs buckled making her fall back down as if her legs were broken. The huge antler in her stomach felt as it if were ripping her open more with every move.
"HELP ME PLEASE. MARCUS PLEASE COME TO ME!"
She heaved, crying hard as she watched the deer struggle. It screamed again never taking its dark eyes off her.
"HENRY SOMEONE PLEASE!"
She lay back feeling the pain becoming too much.
"HANNA?"
His voice truly was like music. She sighed knowing he would help her. She felt his feet hitting the ground with every step. His warm hands touching her frozen naked skin was a relief.
"Hanna, Jesus Christ what have you done?"
She looked up to see Marcus's worried eyes taking it all in.
She smiled, "You found me. The deer. Marcus you have to put it down."
He nodded, "I will."
She watched as his face changed slightly, his eyes went completely black and fangs dropped as if his teeth grew. He turned away from her. She heard the deer start to scream again but it was cut off by a gurgling sound.
She listened to the sounds terrified of what she wasn’t seeing.
Marcus wiped the blood his mouth, "That was disgusting." She screamed at the sight of him.
He bit into his wrist dripping the blood near her face, "You have to drink this as I rip the antlers out."
She shook her head, leaning away from the crimson stream. "No. No I'll be fine I'm sure."
"Hanna drink."
"Please Marcus don’t make me do this. My dad lived through all his injuries."
He shook his head, "I made him an immortal long before he ever sustained anything major."
"I don’t want to be an immortal."
"Hanna my blood will heal you, that’s all. I gave him something else to become an immortal."
Her hands shook trying to push his b
leeding wrist away from her face.
"Hanna drink or you will die."
"Its for the best. They will kill me anyway."
He growled, "Not if I can save you." He forced his wrist into her mouth pushing his warm, sweet blood into her lips. He squeezed his arm as, if pumping the blood into her. She tried to fight him but it was no use. The blood flooded her mouth. Her only choice was to swallow before she drowned in it.
She gagged as the hot liquid filled her mouth and slid down her throat.
Suddenly a ripping pain filled her. The blood still pumped into her mouth making it impossible to scream. She pushed his arm away letting the scream fill her throat.
She looked down at Marcus licking the blood from her stomach.
"You taste much better than the deer."
She cringed, "What are you doing?"
He looked up at her, frightening her with his black eyes, "Saving your life."
Her hands shook, her body trembled as if going into shock. He picked her up and carried her through the woods.
She snuggled into him for warmth, "You're a vampire?"
He laughed, "I'm thee vampire."
"The only one in the world?"
He laughed, "No silly, the first one in the world."
She shuddered, "You're Dracula?"
He nodded, "The very one."
"But you said you were Nephilim?"
"I am."
"You're both?"
He nodded, "My father was an angel and my mother was a human. My mother died and my father left. My grandparents who were completely unaware of my abilities raised me. I got into trouble because of them and was cursed."
"Cursed?"
He nodded, "My heart was taken so I would never find love."
"Can you love?"
He laughed, "Of course I can. It was figurative. It's harder for me to feel things though."
"Are you going to kill me? Drink my blood and make me your blood slave?"
He laughed, "What? You would make a terrifying blood slave. I would bite you and you would change and snap me in half." He chuckled and shook his head, "I don’t take blood slaves. I don’t need to eat very often, one would get bored feeding me."
"How are you out in the sun?"
"I'm the only one like me."
"There are no others?"
"Of course there are. I made some of them and they in turn made others." His jaw clenched.
"Is that why Lydia hates you?"
He nodded, "Yup. I broke the law." His black eyes looked frightening against his beautiful face. The color of them slowly turned from black to dark blue.
"What law?"
He laughed again, "All of them."
She felt off, as if something happened inside of her. Her body began to heat up. She felt strong instantly as her heart rate quickened.
He smiled, "There. You're all better."
"What?"
He nodded toward her stomach, "You're healed."
She looked down at her stomach, it was smooth as it had been before. No rips. Blood stains still covered her but her wounds were gone.
She struggled, "I can walk then."
He shook his head, "No you have no shoes and I'm in a bit of a hurry Hanna. Your change shouldn’t have occurred this quickly. The elixir should have held it at bay for at least a month. Something is different this time. I need to run tests." He squeezed her tighter to him, "I'm not letting you out of my sight until I have this fixed."
She wanted to fight him on it but she knew it was pointless.
"Have you ever used your vampire abilities on me?"
He smiled.
She frowned, "What?"
"Well once when you were about seven you came upon me doing something not very good, with a woman in your fathers study. I ensured you grew up without that horrid memory to haunt your dreams."
"Oh my god that’s disgusting. That’s how I knew your face."
He looked startled, "You remember?"
She shook her head, "No but when I read the journal I knew what you would look like."
He looked puzzled, "That’s not a good sign."
She frowned, "Do you think my father being an immortal is what's making me different."
He nodded, "Yes I do."
"I'm scared."
He nodded again, "Me too."
That didn’t make her feel better.
Chapter Thirteen: ADHD and Ecstasy don’t mix
Aleksander
She tried to pull her arm out of his grasp, "Please don’t hurt me. I'll just let you do it."
He sighed pulling her into the bathroom and shaking his head. Suddenly they were standing on the beach. It was the safest place he could think of.
She bent over and threw up all over the rocks and sand.
"Like what the fuck are you?" She retched again.
He felt disgusted watching her. She was so beautiful, probably the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.
She stood up wiping her mouth off, "What? What do you want? You think you can kill me? Go ahead. I've lived through everything else."
He put a hand to his face, "Giselle you know who I am. Think about it. Aimee told you about me. The guy you thought was the killer and the guy who drugged you. I saved Aimee at the party when she was choking."
Her face lit up, "Aleks. You're the Aleksander guy. Aimee's Aleks." She started to cry, "Where is she? Is she okay? I miss her so much. I don’t have any friends left."
He shook his head, "She's fine. She's the reason I'm saving you right now."
She looked confused, "What? Are we in Port Mac? This looks just like a beach we had back home. Is this home?"
He nodded, her brain was exhausting.
"So is Aimee like, here?" She asked sniffling again.
He shook his head, "Aimee is at home, in the city."
"Seattle? That bitch lives in Seattle and has never called me. Are you kidding me? Oh my god that’s so not, like cool."
He put a hand up trying to stop her, "No, no she's in Portland."
She crossed her thin arms, "Well whatevs that’s the same shit. I can't believe that girl. She's as bad as her sister."
"I need to know what you're on?"
She clenched her jaw, "Huh, oh uh uh."
"What?"
"No."
He looked her deeply in the eyes and smiled softly, "Giselle I need to know what you're on."
She batted her eyes lashes at him and frowned, "Dude what are you doing? Are you kidding me right now? Have you never heard of Ho's before Bro's? You're Aimee's boyfriend and you're coming onto me." She raised a finger to him, "Don’t think I'm keeping this shit secret. I'm telling her like everything homie."
He sighed, "She's dating Shane again."
"What, no way. Oh my god that's so awesome." She started to cry again, "I can't believe she never calls me. I can't believe how much we've grown apart. I thought she was my bff."
He wanted to grab her by her thin little arms and shake her, till answers started to pour out of her."
"Giselle I will take you to see Aimee as soon as you answer some questions for me."
She nodded, "Okay. But I don’t want to see her if she doesn’t want to like see me."
He looked at her doubtfully.
She conceded, "Okay I do but I'm not happy about all this shit. Last time I talked to her dad she was still in the center. Alise and Blake told me that she wasn’t really there and she was really a zombie but obviously that’s not true. Alise told me everyone thought she was dead."
He put a hand up again raising his voice, "Please stop talking. Please. Just answer the questions, short answers."
She jumped at him shouting at her. She looked like she would cry again.
He ran a hand through his hair. He wondered how she was able to resist his charms? It would be easier if she wasn’t immune to him.
"Who has been feeding off of you?"
She bit her lip and looked down at the ground ashamed, "A guy named Tony."
> "Is he the only one you’ve fed?"
She shook her head.
"Who else?"
"Well like there was a bartender about a month ago at some club downtown. He and I like did it once. He was my first but then he told me to stay away. Then Tony saw me standing outside Master Mike's and he asked if I wanted to come in with him. I wanted him to bite me so like I said yes."
He felt disgust seeing how thin she'd gotten, "How long has this been going on?"
"Uhhhh like a few weeks, he made me come back every night. He's been feeding me his blood to make me like heal faster but I just keep getting more tired. The bartender at Master Mikes tried to help me last week. He told me to leave but then a group of them told him that I was like their blood bag." She sniffed again.
"Is it only Tony feeding off of you?"
She shrugged, "I don’t know. Me and Tony, we like did it while he bites me."
"You did it right in the club?" He felt his blood pressure shooting up. He wanted to rip Tony open.
She nodded. The ashamed look on her face was killing him. He took a step toward her and put a hand on hers. Her skin was damp and cold. He looked at her eyes seeing the dilated pupils.
"When he feeds you his blood how do you feel?"
She shook her head, "Good, like I don’t know. It feels like I'm superwoman. Like doing ecstasy."
He closed his eyes. He had heard that some vampires liked to take intense amount of drugs. They would then feed their blood to humans. Most humans would be fine but Giselle wasn’t most humans. She was never going to be as strong as a regular human would be. Her liver transplant had been a success but she would always be weaker. He knew that meant she would always have to be extra cautious.
It was no wonder she looked weak and thin. The bartender who had her the first time would have tasted her weakness in her blood but the Dark One at the club wouldn’t have cared what he tasted.
The bartender had tasted the illness and told her never to come back, he'd been trying to save her.
