New Blood

by Everly, Faith

  Which only made me hate her more.

  She took another step in my direction, her eyes now locked on mine. “If you won’t come willingly, there are other ways.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I raised the knife, backing away.

  She appeared at my side, moving the way Dominic had. I didn’t have the chance to react before she touched my cheek. “I’m not even completely sorry.”

  Darkness enveloped me.

  Nine

  SOPHIE

  I sat bolt upright, gasping for air.

  It was dark. The sort of dark that feels thick, somehow, and heavy. Pressing on me. Making it tough to breathe.

  I was going to hyperventilate if I didn’t get a grip on myself.

  Think of five things. One of my old coping mechanisms to pull me out of my head and into the present moment. Five things I could either feel, see, smell, hear or touch. Preferably one of each.

  Well, sight was out. I couldn’t see a goddamn thing. I had no idea there was such a thing as complete darkness. Wasn’t a light always burning somewhere? Even blackout curtains weren’t able to completely block all light. Something always leaked through around the edges.

  No such luck here.

  Okay. I’d have to work without that.

  Touch. There was something soft under my hands. I wasn’t on the floor—my ass thanked me for that. No splinters from the cabin floor.

  This wasn’t that floor. It wasn’t any floor.

  I didn’t think I was even in the cabin anymore.

  I ran my hands over the softness, forcing myself back into the moment and away from panic and confusion. It was lush. Luxurious. Sensual—could sheets be sensual? If so, these fit the bill.

  When I moved, something rustled. Okay, here was something else to feel, to experience. The clothes I was now wearing. A dress? What the hell? It felt… well, it felt about as sensual and luxurious as the bedding.

  What the hell kind of game was this?

  I forgot about the rest of the things I was supposed to be experiencing. It was clear I was in a bed. I felt around on either side of me as far as I could go. My fingertips dangled over the edge without my having to stretch very far.

  Throwing my legs over the side, I touched a tentative foot to the floor. A foot encased in what felt like a strappy heel. This was getting more bizarre by the moment.

  I stood. My legs were strong enough. I didn’t hurt anywhere—well, maybe except for my feet, but that was more of an ache. I hadn’t worn heels like this in a long time. If ever. Boots were more my thing.

  Feeling around, I managed to reach a small table next to the bed without stubbing my toe or banging my knee into anything. There was a lamp there. I found the switch and flipped it on.

  Okay. Things were getting better. I could see.

  And what I saw left my mouth hanging open as I turned in a slow circle. It was like something out of a fantasy. A black marble fireplace set in the far wall, offsetting the light gray surrounding it. Black, polished floors that looked like they might’ve been marble with thick throw rugs dotting them. Black leather chairs, one on either side of the hearth. Crystal sconces on the walls, a chandelier over the bed.

  The bed! Silk sheets and a blanket that shimmered like it might’ve been woven from silver.

  “Where the hell am I?” I whispered. There was nobody there to answer.

  There were also no windows.

  No phone.

  Two doors. I went to one of them, tottering a little in the shoes, and found it locked. I couldn’t so much as jiggle the cut-glass knob.

  I went to the other door next and found a bathroom. Something about the normalcy of a real, actual bathroom helped me breathe a little easier.

  Granted, the bathroom was cream marble with what looked like gold fixtures and a tub big enough that it might’ve fit six people with room to spare, but whatever.

  There was also a full-length gilt-framed mirror. It wasn’t the mirror that caught my attention. It was the reflection in it.

  I walked toward myself, staring at each part of me in turn.

  The dress—no, it was a gown—was creamy satin, and it fit me like a glove from the thin straps down to the slight flare at the bottom, near my ankles. It hugged my curves, turning the full breasts and hips I had always hated into something ripe and luscious.

  I ran my hands over my body, marveling at what good tailoring could do.

  But just who had done this to me? How did they know what would fit?

  And oh, dear God, who did the dressing? Who’d washed my hair, for that matter? It smelled like roses and hung to my shoulders in golden curls. The sort of smooth, shining curls I had always wished I could coax my hair into.

  There was even a touch of lipstick on my mouth, a little blush on my cheekbones.

  “Who did this?” I asked, looking up at the corners of the room, expecting to find a camera mounted somewhere. “Huh? Who did this? Are you watching me now?”

  I stared at my reflection. The mirror meant something else now. Was there somebody on the other side? “You watching?” I banged my fist against the glass. “Huh? You watching me right now? You pervert. Nobody gave you the right to undress me and wash me, and I didn’t choose these clothes.”

  I threw back my head. “I didn’t choose any of this!”

  My voice bounced back at me. I didn’t feel any better, that was for sure. A shame, because a good yell usually helped.

  There weren’t any windows in the bathroom, either. How was I supposed to get out of here? I had to, no doubt about that. I wasn’t sticking around, no matter how hot I looked.

  Lacking an exit, I had to find a weapon for self-defense. Dominic might be able to defend himself from just about anything thanks to his freaky speed, but there had to be more than him here. He couldn’t live in a place like this alone.

  Maybe my brain just didn’t want to face the idea of Dominic being the one to strip me and bathe me. Sure, he was panty-meltingly hot when he wasn’t pissing me off, but he was also frightening. Menacing.

  I couldn’t forget the way his eyes went black back at the cabin.

  There was a poker next to the fireplace. I picked it up, tested its weight in both hands. It would do.

  And with no time to spare, either, since there were footsteps outside the door. I moved as fast as I could in my heels, positioning myself behind the door just before the knob turned.

  This was it. Now or never. I’d deal with how to get the hell out of here and back to the cabin once I got rid of whoever was about to come in.

  Slowly, the door swung open. Like the person pushing it was tentative. I raised the poker and took a deep breath. I’d swing until their head was nothing but strawberry jelly if I had to.

  “Hello?”

  My heart stopped. A little girl’s voice. Goddammit.

  “Hello? Where are you?” She stepped further into the room and I could see her now. Long, black hair in two braids that hung to the middle of her back. Dressed in something that looked like it could’ve come out of a historical movie. I tried to remember the name of it. Pinafore? And black Mary Janes with ruffled socks.

  “Who are you?”

  She gasped and spun in place. Her eyes were so big, almost too big for her little face. She couldn’t have been older than ten or eleven. So thin. Freckles across her nose, standing out on her pale skin.

  “Why are you holding that?” She pointed to the poker.

  “Tell me who you are.”

  She sighed, folding her hands in front of her. “My name is Graziella. I prefer to be called Graz. It’s easier to say.”

  “I agree. It is easier.” I lowered the poker since it didn’t seem like she could do much except kick me in the shins. I could handle that. “Why are you here?”

  “I’m a little embarrassed.” She looked at the floor, scuffing her toes against the marble.

  “It’s okay. You can tell me.” Meanwhile, the door was still open. I listened hard for sounds comi
ng from beyond the room. I wanted to get the girl’s trust before I made a run for it.

  “I… wanted to watch you sleep.”

  That was unexpected. I forgot even wanting to escape for a second. “What? Why?”

  “I never get to watch people sleep. It’s been a long time since I…” She turned away and went to the bed, running her hand over the silver blanket. “This is a lovely bed. Did you sleep well in it?”

  “I guess so, though I don’t think I was really sleeping.” I inched toward the door, ready to run. “Somebody knocked me out, Graz. They brought me here without my permission and they’re holding me here. I don’t know why. Do you?”

  Her eyes went wide. “I can’t say.”

  “So you do know? If you didn’t, you’d say you didn’t.”

  “I don’t,” she breathed. “I really don’t.”

  “I feel like you’re not telling me the truth, Graz. Please, listen to me.” I dropped the poker and dropped to one knee, taking her hands. “I need your help, sweetie. I have to get out of here. I never agreed to come. I don’t know the people who brought me here and I’m… I’m scared,” I admitted. God, the words curdled in my mouth.

  But they were the truth. I was only this scared once in my whole life, and things hadn’t ended so well that night. For one thing, that was the night I’d become an orphan.

  “I can’t help you.” She looked mournful. Sounded that way, too. “I’m sorry, Sophie. But I can’t.”

  “How do you know my name? What is this place?” I was so damned frustrated, tears prickled behind my eyes. I never cried. Or hardly ever. I hadn’t even cried when I was sure I was dying, for fuck’s sake.

  But this whole feeling-like-I-was-talking-to-a-wall thing? There was nothing that made me want to tear my hair out more than that. And when I couldn’t express my rage, I cried. That was how it had always been.

  “Only he can tell you. Those are the rules.”

  Tears, be gone. Adrenaline raced through my veins. I grabbed for the poker and stood. “Dominic, you mean?”

  “He’s coming to talk to you,” Graz whispered. “If you weren’t awake yet, he was going to wake you. There’s—”

  Footsteps. Sharp, rapid. My fist tightened around the cold steel.

  “Who left this door open?” Dominic burst into the room. His mouth was a snarl, teeth bared.

  Until he noticed I was out of bed and holding a weapon. “Not this again,” he sighed. “Even dressed the way you are, you can’t rise above your common upbringing?”

  “Oh, fuck you.” I glanced at Graz. “Sorry.”

  She didn’t look at me. Too busy gaping at Dominic. I wondered if she had ever heard anybody talking to him that way and figured probably not.

  “All we’ve done is save you from something you can’t control or stop on your own. Nothing more than that. You might be dead this minute if we hadn’t taken you from the cabin when we did.”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Don’t tell me you never noticed the smell in there.”

  My breath hitched. “What?”

  “The smell. As if someone or something had been in there when you weren’t. Yes?”

  “What do you know about it? Did you do something?”

  He shook his head. “No. But I knew you would smell it as I did. Others have been to your cabin. Waiting for you. Watching for you.”

  He took a step toward me, one hand reaching out to touch my bare arm.

  I reacted without thinking.

  I took a swing.

  Graziella screamed.

  A scream that knocked me off my feet and sent me flying back until I hit the wall.

  Ten

  SOPHIE

  At least I didn’t get knocked out this time.

  I did feel a little dizzy, though. “What the hell was that?” I couldn’t quite hear myself. It was like walking out of a loud concert and having to wait for everything to sound normal again.

  Dominic’s face filled my field of vision. “Graziella.” I could tell from the way his mouth moved that he was being very deliberate with the way he spoke. He knew I couldn’t hear him well. “It will pass.”

  “What did she do?” I looked around. “Where did she go?”

  “She fled the room when she saw what she did to you.”

  “But… how?” I forgot to hate him. I forgot to be afraid of him. I even forgot to want to kill him.

  “Graz is talented. We all are in our own way. She’s unaccustomed to having to reel her talents in, as she’s unaccustomed to spending time with fragile beings.”

  “I’m not fragile,” I managed before wincing as I sat up straight.

  “Of course you aren’t.” I might’ve been half-deaf, but I heard the laughter in his voice. “Come. We have to get you ready to meet him.”

  “But where did Graz go? She was here one second, and then…”

  “She moves quickly.” He helped me to my feet and held me steady until I could manage it myself.

  “But how did she do that without touching me?” I looked back at the wall while touching gentle fingers to my head.

  “As I said, she has talents.”

  “This isn’t making sense, and I think you know it. Why won’t you come out and tell me what I’m doing here? Why are you the way you are? Why is Graz? Why are you doing any of this? Stop wrapping everything in this fancy language. Giving me answers without actually saying anything.”

  He took a deep breath. “It embarrassed her, knowing she might’ve easily hurt you. That’s why she ran away.”

  “But how did she almost hurt me?”

  “Would you believe me if I told you she is a supernatural creature born decades ago with the ability to create shock waves with her voice?”

  “No.”

  “And there we are.”

  “You can’t expect me to believe that.”

  “It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not, Sophie. What’s true is true. Regardless of whether or not we want it to be.”

  “What’s real is what’s real,” I hissed. “You can’t gaslight me into believing otherwise.”

  “So you weren’t just knocked off your feet by a sound wave caused by Graziella’s scream.”

  “I don’t know what knocked me off my feet.”

  “Surely, you do. You know she did it. You probably know she did it because she was afraid for me, watching you swing at me with that ridiculous poker. And you know what happened as a result. I’ll wager your ass hurts considerably.”

  “Don’t talk about my ass.”

  “How can I not, when it looks so good in that gown?” He craned his neck, looking around me like he wanted a better view.

  “No way! You don’t get to talk to me like that.” Where was this coming from? “What, you think just because we’re on your home turf now, you get to ogle me? You still won’t even tell me why I’m here.”

  He sighed. “You’re here because it was dangerous for you back at the cabin. You’re safer here, believe me. Otherwise… I’d hoped to ease you into this. What I have to say isn’t the sort of thing one dumps on somebody. Like what I told you about Graz. Your mind immediately rejected it because you’ve never seen anything like her. You’ve never heard of a person being capable of that, so you can’t even try to understand it.”

  “How can you expect me to? Don’t you know what a huge ask that is?”

  “I have a great deal more to ask of you, Sophie. We all do. All I ask is that you try to keep an open mind.”

  “Never one of my strong suits.”

  “Give it a try now. Your life depends on it.”

  “My—”

  He surprised me by reaching out, taking a curl between his fingers and letting it slide through. “Your life. While you’ve been nothing but trouble to me so far, you are rather lovely. I admit that whatever lives in me responds to whatever lives in you. I would hate to see that thing die because you refused to listen to me.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, an
ything, but I couldn’t get enough air out to make a sound. I wouldn’t have known what to say, anyway. Whether there were any words for how much I hated myself for wanting him. I’m talking throw-him-to-the-floor-and-fuck-him-to-death wanted him.

  No, it was more than that. What did he call it? Whatever lived in me. Something dark. Something that hadn’t gone away when I got sober. It was still there, still seething.

  And it saw him. Felt him. Wanted him.

  I tried to shake myself free of it. This wasn’t the time for my hormones to go haywire. If there was ever a time for that shit, it was definitely not now.

  I pulled my head back enough to pull the curl away from him.

  Meanwhile, I had a little figuring to do. They had probably put me in these ridiculous shoes to make it so I couldn’t run away. If I could maybe excuse myself and go to the bathroom, I could take off the shoes and run that much faster. I might even get lucky and be able to drive a heel into somebody’s eye socket.

  Right off the top of my head, I thought of two sockets in particular that needed a heel jammed through them.

  You know that isn’t true. That’s not how you feel about him.

  I had to ask my inner voice to shut the hell up. This wasn’t the time for that, either. I couldn’t afford to reason with myself and get all judgy-judgy. Not at this particular moment, when I absolutely had to get the hell out of this place.

  I might be able to throw myself at him on opening the bathroom door. I could catch him off-guard. It had to be possible to catch him off-guard, right? I could do it. I knew I could.

  I had to. It was as simple as that.

  “You aren’t listening to me right now.”

  He snapped me out of my plans. “What?”

  “You went away. You’re trying to come up with ways to escape.” He tipped his golden head to the side. “Right?”

  “No.” I folded my arms.

  “You waste so much energy. Always fighting, scheming. You would do better to listen, as you seem determined to get answers from me.”

  I threw my head back. “I can’t believe what you say anyway. Most of what comes out of your mouth is obviously bullshit. Sonic waves knocking me off my feet. Supernatural powers. Give me a goddamn break.”