Blood Rose (Blood Books Book 1) Page 15

  She explained that this was a time of war, and in a war, casualties were unavoidable. I had prepared a solid defense—one that I was certain I’d have to use. Instead, I was sent away to do her magical bidding. Binding myself to their weapons was tricky. It would leave me vulnerable, but I was willing to risk my life for theirs.

  Lillie killed the Rogue in front of her and then side-stepped another. She ran toward the gate and dove past the barrier. She jumped to her feet and turned back, blades ready. The Rogues who pursued her slammed into the barrier I had cast. She smiled, turned back toward the manor, and disappeared through the front door.

  She was only gone for minutes before they all emerged. Every vampire in the house came to our aid. They wore loose-fitting clothes, clutched knives and swords that had been blessed with my magic, and screamed as they ran toward the group of Rogues impatiently awaiting them. I don’t know how I found the time to smile at their efforts, but I did.

  “Remember to stay with your groups!” I called out. “Don’t separate—”

  Something hit me from behind. My body fell limp as I flew through the air and slammed into a tree. My spine broke, and I fell to the ground. I began to heal, but the Rogues were already upon me. I wouldn’t heal fast enough, so I did the only thing I could do: I once again relied on my Pagan ancestry to save me.

  “Terra, Air, Ignis, Aqua, Spiritus, I appeho. Sanabit. Sanabit. Sana me!” I barely spoke above a whisper, but it was enough. The tingling effects of my magic swirled around my broken spine, strengthening its core as the vampire blood within me reformed bone.

  A Rogue reached me before I had use of my limbs. He pulled me to my feet, holding me in the air by a hand around my neck. I choked on blood as he crushed bone beneath his grip.

  Focus! You don’t need the breath to live.

  “You should have taken option A, my sweet,” a voice said. I opened my eyes to find the Rogue leader before me, smiling, baring fangs.

  “Avah!” Jasik yelled from across the field. I trailed my eyes across the wasteland of dead bodies and found him. He ran toward me, pushing past the Rogues that tried to stop him. I tried to reach out to him, but my spine hadn’t fully healed. I could feel it snapping back into place, and though I couldn’t speak, inside I screamed.

  “Kill him,” their leader said, waving his arm dismissively. The Rogue released me, and I fell into the leader’s arms. My head rested against his neck. He lifted me slightly, allowing me a clear view of the chaos behind him. Jasik fought the Rogues around him, but his eyes never left mine.

  “I have big plans for you and me, Avah. We’re going to rule everything,” he whispered.

  My spine made one final crack, and with its alignment, I dug my nails into his scalp, yanked his head back, and tore through his neck. I viciously drained him until his skin sunk into bone. I tossed him aside and moved my head from side to side, cracking the joints.

  I released a deafening growl, and the Rogues froze. Their eyes went from me to their dead leader and back to me again. I growled as they screamed for their lost brother. They dropped their victims where they stood and charged me. With the help of the vampires, the Rogues’ numbers were dwindling, but there were still a few dozen left.

  I threw my hands to the sky and yelled, “Incendia!” I brought my hands back down as sparks flew from my fingertips. The Rogues combusted before me, and as more pursued me, the fire began to spread. I fell to my knees as my power drained my strength, but I refused to release the spell. I held on until I collapsed onto my side. As the final Rogues reached me, I found myself counting: one, two, three… Thirteen Rogues remained. I tried to laugh at the irony but fell short.

  I smiled at Jasik, who was yelling my name and running to my aid. I knew he’d never reach me in time, but I wasn’t upset. I’d leave this new world the way I came into it: fighting.

  Just as the first Rogue reached my side, he turned to ash. Another turned to ash. Soon, they all were lit by a spark and fell to their deaths. I squeezed my eyes shut as I was lifted from the ground, a searing pain soaring through me. I needed to feed, and I needed to feed now. My eyelids were heavy, and it took everything I had to keep them open.

  I opened my eyes when the pain subsided, and I found Jasik staring back at me, jaw clenched, machete in hand. The other Hunters matched his stance. Slowly, my eyes moved from Jasik, to Malik, to Jeremiah, to Lillie, and to the remaining vampires of our coven. Confused, I swallowed hard and rolled my head over. My breath caught.

  The world around me seemed to disappear as I stared at my savior. I ignored everything around me, because all I could see was a set of glowing violet irises staring back at me.

  Beep. Beep. Beep. The machine blared at me. I swallowed; my mouth was dry, my tongue rough.

  “H—Hello?” I said, moving my arms around. I brought my hands to my eyes and peeled off the taped cotton pads. I opened my eyes but instantly shut them again. The light in the room was blinding. Slowly, I began to open them again, allowing my senses to adjust.

  The room was illuminated by a dim bedside lamp. I looked around. I wore a hospital gown, and IVs of blood were taped to my arms. I sat up. I grunted as I moved off the cot.

  “Hello?” I said again. “Jasik?”

  The hall outside my room was dark. I pulled the needles from my veins and dropped them on the bed. Blood dripped from the needles, soaking into the white cotton sheets. I stood and stumbled to the doorway. Pushing open the door, I entered the hallway and immediately recognized it as the basement quarters.

  I leaned against the wall as I limped toward the stairs. I crawled up on my hands and knees. I didn’t understand why I was so weak, but I didn’t care. I needed to find Jasik and the others. I pulled myself into the foyer. I called out again, but no one answered. I pushed myself to my feet and fell against a small end table. The front door was open. I reached for it and wobbled onto the front porch.

  And I saw them.

  Jasik, Malik, Jeremiah, and Lillie were hanging from trees, their torsos split from navel to neck. Their innards were splattered on the ground, where the limbs of our coven mates lay dead. I screamed as I fell to the ground, clawing my way toward them.

  “Now, now, Avah. You’re not supposed to be awake yet,” a voice said from behind. His accent was thick, Australian. “I hoped to clean this up a bit first,” he said as a needle entered my throbbing neck.

  The world grew dark as my eyes fluttered shut.

  I woke screaming and thrashing. Someone grabbed onto my arms, holding me down. I opened my eyes to find Jasik on top of me with fear-filled eyes.

  I grabbed onto him and pulled him down to me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face into the crevice.

  “I think… I think I just had a vision. It felt so real. You were dead. You were all dead,” I said as tears spilled.

  “It’s okay. It’s okay,” he said, running his hand through my hair. “We’re fine.”

  “No, you weren’t. You were dead! I saw you! You—You—” I wasn’t able to suck in as much air as I was letting out. I hiccupped and pulled him closer to me.

  “Avah, look at me,” he said, pulling away. He cupped my face between his palms, and I met his gaze. He smiled. “I’m okay. Malik, Lillie, and Jeremiah are all okay. We did it, Avah. You did it.”

  I wiped my tears away and pushed my lips against his. I kissed him long and hard, unable to stop, to let him go. The dream had been so real. Images of him hanging flashed before my eyes, and I pulled away from him, shaking my head.

  “I still see it. I see you hanging. You were cut open. Everyone was dead!” I said, running fingers through my matted hair.

  “We did lose some. Maybe that’s what you saw,” he said, trying to reassure me.

  “No, it was you.” I nodded. “It was you. And it was real; it was so real. And there was… there was someone there. A man. He came from behind. He—he… he drugged me or something. I didn’t see his face.” I groaned in frustration.

  “Do you re
member anything from the fight?” he asked.

  “What? No. I mean, I don’t know. I just remember the man. I can’t think of anything else but that stupid man and his thick accent. He talked to me. He told me I woke too soon. There were things he still needed to do,” I said, looking up at Jasik.

  “That man—he’s here. He’s… like you.”

  Suddenly, I forgot all about my vision as scenes from the fight flooded my mind. I remembered everything—especially him.

  “Take me to him,” I said.

  “I will, but there are some things you need to know.” His face grew somber as he recounted the facts I had missed while recovering.

  Nearly forty-eight hours had passed.

  We had lost seventeen vampires from our coven.

  Amicia was missing. Her guards were dead.

  I opened my mouth to speak but couldn’t find words. I stood in a daze. How had so much time passed? How did we lose so many? Who had Amicia? What happened? Somehow, I knew our new visitor had information we needed. I knew he could help us locate Amicia, but I also wasn’t sure he’d give up information willingly. Information meant leverage. I was sure there was something he wanted from us—or just from me.

  “Has he said anything?” I asked as we took the stairs to Amicia’s office.

  “Only that he’ll only speak with you.”

  “He isn’t going to just give up what we need. If he has information, he’ll likely want something in return. After all, it’s pretty obvious we’re desperate. We’ll need to make him talk. There’s no time for negotiations,” I said.

  “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Jasik asked as he grasped the doorknob to Amicia’s office.

  I nodded. “More than ready.”

  The vampire was sitting at the chair beside Amicia’s desk; the other Hunters watched him closely, ready to strike at any moment. I vaguely heard Jasik enter the office behind me and close the door. I was too focused on the vampire.

  He was tall, thin, and had light, sandy brown hair that fell to just below his chin. His skin was pale, his eyes ice-cold, but what concerned me most were the violet irises that found me the moment I entered the room—and never looked away.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “Name’s Sebastian, darlin’, and I reckon you’re Avah. Heard a lot about you,” he said with a smile.

  “H—How?” I asked, staring into his violet irises.

  “How what? How’d I know your name, or how is there someone else like you out there?”

  I didn’t know what to say. I had so many questions. There was so much I didn’t understand, but I knew I needed to play my cards right. He had information I needed, and if he was smart, he’d use that to get something in return. I could only hope he was stupider than he looked.

  “You see, darlin’, there’s a lot you don’t know. There’s a lot that coven of yours never told you ‘bout this world. I reckon you’ve already figured that part out, though, eh?”

  “What don’t I know? How did you know about me? How did you find me?”

  “Well,” he said, standing from the chair and stretching, “that’s a long story, and maybe if I wasn’t so thirsty and received a little better hospitality, I could tell you all about it.”

  I furrowed my brows and stepped forward, angered.

  “I want to make one thing very clear, Sebastian: We’re not friends. I don’t know you, and I don’t owe you anything.”

  “Now wait just one minute! I saved all of you,” he said, pointing to the other Hunters in the room. “And I think that—”

  “Well, you thought wrong,” I said, interrupting him.

  “You’re a testy one, eh?” he said with a smile.

  “We don’t have time for this. Just tell us what you know.”

  “I don’t know anything about that priestess of yours. I reckon I got here after she was taken. ‘Sides, I was a little busy saving all of you. Only stuck around ‘cause I thought that might be worth something. Y’know, like trust.”

  “I don’t even know you,” I said. “I don’t know that you weren’t helping the Rogues in the first place. You both conveniently found me here.”

  “Blechh!” he said as he spat. “Rogues are foul creatures. I would never lower myself to having such tasteless friends.”

  “Say I believe you. Then what? What do you want? Why are you here?”

  “Long story short: I’m here for you. In case you haven’t noticed, we have just a few things in common.”

  “What do you want with me?” I felt my pulse racing. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know the answer.

  He smiled, his gaze trailing down my frame. “Well, it’s not too often a chosen one turns. Had to come see you for myself. Thought we could get to know each other, learn some things.”

  “Yeah? Like what?”

  “I’m sure there are a few things you’re dying to know. I turned a long while ago, but let’s see if I can remember,” he said, closing his eyes. “What am I? How’d this happen? Do I still have The Power? Am I still a witch? Will my coven ever welcome me back? What do I do now? Are there any more like me?” He opened his eyes. “Am I close?”

  “Very,” I said.

  “Thought so.”

  “Is this just a guessing game, or do you plan to answer these burning questions sometime soon?”

  “It’ll take some time, but I’ll oblige. I have a few conditions, of course.”

  “Of course,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “First thing, the hospitality in this place sucks, and I want a room. A nice room. With a view.”

  “Oh, certainly. I mean, we wouldn’t want our sun-stricken guest to miss a sunrise.”

  His mouth curved into a sideways smile. “There’s so much you need to learn, Avah. I admire your innocence, your naivety. You’ll soon lose both. Enjoy ‘em while they last.”

  “The next condition?” Jasik asked.

  “Avah and I speak alone,” he said.

  “Out of the question,” Jasik said. “And the next condition?”

  “Jas—” I said.

  “There is no other condition—well, a supply of blood would be fantastic, too, but other than that, I require nothing else,” Sebastian replied.

  “You may believe Avah to be naïve, but I am wise beyond my years. Do you truly believe I would ever leave her alone with you?” Jasik asked.

  “Do you truly believe I would tell her anything with you around?” Sebastian asked with a chuckle.

  “You guys—” I said.

  “You will not be left alone with her. End of discussion. Now, tell—”

  “I really don’t think it’s up to you. Avah seems to be the leader of this pathetic excuse of a team,” he said, his eyes glancing from Hunter to Hunter. “She can decide for her—”

  “Stop!” I yelled, the earth shaking as power radiated from me. “We don’t have time for this!”

  “Now, now. No need to get fussy. If you think we don’t have time for this, then you really don’t want to bring about an earthquake,” Sebastian said, crossing his arms.

  “You’ll get a room and some blood, but that’s it.”

  “Then I tell you nothing, sweet pea.”

  “Excuse me?” I said. “I just agreed to two of your three conditions. That’s a win for you. Take it or leave it,” I said.

  “Fine,” he said. “Be seeing ya.”

  “You don’t seem to understand, Sebastian. Now all I have to do is wait a few more days. I’ll wait until you’re nice and weak, and then I’ll walk right up to you and bite into that sweet Aussie neck of yours. I’ll drink until you’re begging me to stop, because you just can’t take another minute of it.” As I walked toward him, he took several steps back until he was pushed up against the wall. “Sooner or later, I’ll get the answers I need from you. Or you can take the easy route and just tell me what I want to know.”

  His lips formed into the curve of a sideways grin. I was sure the smile plastered on his face was his go-to loo
k. It probably melted the hearts of girls all across the globe, but to me, that grin spoke of an unknowable power—and of knowledge. In the end, I knew we’d pay for the knowledge he held over us, but right now, I couldn’t think of that.

  “You’re feisty. I like that in a girl,” he said, leaning forward. His nose touched mine, and his eyes fell to my lips.

  I could practically hear Jasik tense from behind me as I took several steps back. Sebastian walked forward but stopped short of reaching me. Instead, he pulled a long-stem white rose from one of Amicia’s vases. He brought his wrist to his mouth and tore through skin. Without averting his gaze, he dipped the tip of the flower into the wound. He slowly but confidently walked toward me and held the blood rose just below my nose. A crimson line dripped down the curve of the delicate flower before collecting at the base and sliding down the stem. I met his eyes.

  “Have a taste, then.”

  My fangs instinctively lowered, my tongue tracing the bottoms of my teeth. His gaze lowered, where he watched my tongue slide across my inner lip.

  I didn’t know what I’d feel once I tasted his blood, but I knew it wouldn’t be anything good.

  Writing is a team sport. I devoted a seemingly endless number of hours to writing this book, and I couldn’t have done so without a select group of individuals. Blood Rose is dedicated to my team of friends and family who’ve helped me get this book to print, especially the following: my husband, Pete, and my mom, Lori; my assistant, Danielle from Author’s Pal; my amazing editor, Tara from Narrative Ink Editing LLC; my graphic designer, Robin from Wicked by Design; my book formatter, Nadège from Inkstain Interior Book Designing; my Xuni.com team, Maddee, Jen, and Ryan; my writing buddies, Patricia France and Shawna Borman; and my undergraduate and graduate school mentors, Nancy Holder, David Anthony Durham, Theodora Goss, Dean Karpowicz, Carole Vopat, and Nick Tryling.

  But most importantly, I want to thank you. Thank you for giving me and my books a chance, and I can’t wait to take this writing journey with you.

  Danielle Rose is a writer of fiction and travel, as well as the owner of Narrative Ink Editing LLC. Danielle currently resides in the Midwest, where she spends her days at a local coffee shop planning her next vacation or plotting her next novel.