New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2) Read online

  “When I bit you it was worse though... It looked like some sort of tiny shark ripped a hole in your lip. It had to have hurt.” That was me all right, goldfish to shark. Well baby shark. But still.

  This time he snickered. “Let’s say piranha for now.” My face puckered teasingly.

  “Anyway.” He adjusted to lie against me more comfortably. “It’s difficult to explain. Sort of depends on our state of mind if you will. See right now you’re relaxed, and you love me. Might I dare say you may be just a bit aroused?” He could dare.

  Damien grinned most devilishly. “So you see the pain doesn’t bother you at all. In fact the state of mind you were in, it made the feeling much more sensual.” Much, much more.

  “Although, if you were in a defensive or offensive state of mind, fighting is the best example… Well, things are not so pleasant then. Then you probably would have come after me like the little piranha you are.” He grinned wickedly. See there, not even a big fish.

  Rolling onto his side his eyes never left mine. “Come with me.” Pulling me with him, Damien stood.

  Leading me in the direction of the large open bathroom off the bedroom, he walked with me. It was the most elaborate bathroom I had ever seen. A giant hot tub was off in the corner. Solid gleaming black marble of course and large enough for maybe ten people. It wasn’t impressive, it was ridiculous. Jezabell really was over the top.

  Deep hand carved elegant black marble sinks had dolphins carved into the bowl as if they were swimming. A mirror the size of a rather large wall framed an even more elaborate vanity, carved entirely from solid black marble. There wasn’t a personal object in site.

  It was there that I stopped dead in my tracks. Following my gaze sighed, slowly pushing me closer. “You should see yourself, Anna. It’s healthy for you.”

  Step two in the How To Be A Vampire handbook, accept you’ve changed in every way possible.

  The reflection was shocking. While in Vermont, I hadn’t thought to look in the mirror. Of course I knew I was different. But with all of the things going on, I hadn’t exactly paid attention to what I looked like. I’d been too busy playing with the shower steam.

  Pure silver eyes radiated. Skin like ivory. No marks, scars, blemishes or a single freckle. I didn’t even have any pores. Hair gleamed like every metallic shade of brown, made from pure silk. She looked like the statue of a Goddess. Instinctively my hand reached out to touch her. I must have moved too quickly. The glass fractured at my touch. Before I could apologize, his fingers brushed my lips to stop me.

  “Yes, you’re beautiful. Not more than you were before, just different... Immortally beautiful,” Damien spoke slowly and precisely with careful emphasis on each word. He shrugged as if either way it didn’t matter. “Your beauty has stunned me from the moment I first met you. I’ve told you before, nothing could change that. Not bruises. Not scars. Not even immortality. You’re as perfect now as I found you then. Just different is all.”

  My fingers brushed my lips in silent question. They were such a dark crimson. Mouth opened slowly, my lips curled back. The feral grin starring back reflected four glistening white fangs, longer than I’d thought possible.

  “From now on when you’re hungry or showing extreme emotion, your physical features will reflect those emotions. Your lips will darken. Your eyes will radiate brilliant colors if you become upset until you learn to control it. Otherwise, they’ll be as silver as they are now.

  “Eventually you’ll be able to control your emotions enough so that you’ll look quite human. Well, to their eyes anyway. Any supernatural will be able to spot you even in a sea of people, much like a beacon of light within the dark. Humans see what they want to see. They rarely ever notice how different we are from them.”

  “I noticed you…” I’m not sure why I said it, but it was the truth. I remembered crowded nights in the restaurant and never having trouble spotting him in the first second.

  “You were nothing like them.” Fingertips slowly rubbed along my cool flesh. Despite our body temperatures, it felt as if he drug embers over my skin. Painstakingly slow, he pulled the tank top up. My arms rose as the olive green tank was pulled off of me, leaving me in the black bra and blue denim clad hips.

  Damien’s fingers delicately traced down my stomach to the waist band of my jeans. While never taking his gaze off the reflection of my eyes in the mirror, he stripped me down.

  Kissing along my shoulder and arm his fingers carefully unsnapped the bra clasp in back. Trimmed nails clawed against my flesh, dragging one strap down my arm until it fell to the floor.

  As soft as a feather from behind me, his touch traced my skin until one hand flicked against the button of my jeans, guiding the zipper down.

  My spine was tingling. Touching against my thighs, he drug the denim down my legs until they were bare to him. His hands took both of my own as I stepped out from the confines of the snug fit blue jeans.

  He stayed with me. Hands roaming my bare flesh, his thumb slid along my hip into the strap of the thong as he turned me to face him. In a second it was at my ankles.

  For as fast as the immortal before me was, every movement every moment, he drug out, moving slow and deliberate. Some things in life should not be done quickly. Dropping to his knees before me, his chin lift up so that he could look into my eyes as I looked down upon him. Kissing at the sides of my knees, up my hip, and over my stomach as his fingers traced the rose tattoo at my side. One kiss at a time his lips covered my body.

  The rose was darker now, like wet ink. The thorns of the vines looked real enough to make you bleed. Each petal of the two black roses seemed almost real to the eye. The black Dragonflies looked alive as the wings glistened. Amazing it remained when so many scars did not.

  Standing slowly, his mouth traveled up my body taunting me. With one hand, Damien tugged off his shirt, tossing it away.

  Those nimble fingers dropped down to the button of his jeans. Before he could react, I reached out and stopped him. Taking my time, I pulled the button free followed by the zipper, letting them drop to the floor. That’s all he had been wearing. Rough and fast, he pushed me backward until my back found the wall in the shower.

  One hand reached away from me, and blindly pushed a large silver button on the wall that started the downpour of burning water from above.

  Delicate as petals, his fingers drug my flesh torturing me in ways I had never known before. “I need you,” whispered between softly dragging kisses from my shoulder to my ear. “I want you.” Hands drug my stomach, tracing my tattoo precisely while tickling my side teasingly. The other rubbed over my hips, squeezing firmly, sliding lower, pushing between my legs to make me gasp. Lips kissed from one shoulder across my throat to the other. Fangs slid against my flesh as his tongue flicked tauntingly to catch the blood, not missing a single drop. A quaking moan trembled out from my lips. The sting wasn’t pain- it was a promise.

  Damien pulled back just enough to stare into my eyes as if he sought my soul. Sliding up his arms squeezing his broad shoulders firmly, my arms wrapped around his neck.

  Fingers drug across my flesh until his hand rose to hold against my cheek. A battle raged between our lips, all but devouring one another. One leg came up to wrap around his bare hips. Holding me in place, he grabbed hold of my thigh, squeezing as if he meant to crush me.

  Suddenly, both hands took hold of my hips in a devastating grip, lifting me up. My body pressed flush against his, both my legs wrapped around him.

  With one hand, he easily held me up as the other rose to the back of my neck, urging me to look at him. “I love you, Lianna.” As he spoke Damien brought me down against him. Though I tried, I could not speak.

  As his eyes clinched shut, his forehead pressed to mine. A groan so deep it turned to a deep reverberating growl before his fangs found my throat.

  Relentlessly we ravaged one another. We clawed. Bit. Caressed, and tangled together under the water raining down on us so hot it filled the room with
a thick steam.

  Our bodies shuddered violently. Beneath my touch his muscles tightened like taught cables. Throughout this never ending ecstasy his hands dug into my flesh, squeezing hard enough I realized briefly that as a human I would not have survived this. Frighteningly, I found this knowledge more arousing.

  As time escaped us we melted onto the floor together, still completely entangled. Damien whispered against my flesh between kisses, “I never dreamed I would find you.” Our gazes caught. Silence lingered as we stared, hypnotized.

  Then the switch. The moment of bliss was passing. His eyes grew grave and serious, though at least they’d gotten their color back. Peridot green gems staring back at me. “I will love you for the rest of my eternity. No matter what ever happens, please, never forget how deeply I mean that.” He did not say this with happiness.

  My eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong, Damien?”

  “Nothing.” He smiled, but it was weak. My gaze remained scrutinizing. My lie detector radar was pinging off my id. Knowing this he took in a deep breath and sighed. “Lara, she...” he trailed off.

  It wasn’t a far reach. “She had a vision.” He nodded, closing his eyes briefly. “Won’t you tell me?” My hand held to his cheek as the other ran circles along the back of his neck.

  Vehemently he shook his head. “No. It was a glimpse. Just one possibility that was in itself impossible really.” For a long moment he was silent, not looking at me or anything really.

  Both my hands held to his face as I looked into his green eyes. So deep. So brilliant. “Of course it’s not. I hope you don’t doubt that.” Never in my life had I ever meant anything more.

  Shaking his head, a slight crooked smile on his lips. “I don’t.” His lips pressed to mine soft at first. But I deepened that kiss. A kiss to build a dream on as he carried me straight to the bed.

  Hours had passed as we lay tangled together again in bliss. “I am undoubtedly the luckiest man in the world.” His energy had definitely returned, and the dark mood from before had long since passed.

  Playfully I hit him. “Don’t.” I shook my head, but smiled lightly. I laughed, only a little bitter.

  “I mean it.” His hand held under my chin. “You don’t even fathom.” His eyes were unreadable. Not even a faint smile tugged his lips.

  His mouth pressed against my hair as he murmured begrudgingly, “We should get dressed, I suppose. You need to feed. I took a little more than I should have. You must be hungry.”

  “Don’t lie, Damien. I’m always hungry now.” He couldn’t help but laugh. Kissing my forehead, he pulled me against him, rolling out of bed with me in his arms.

  Opening the closet door, he pushed me along inside. My jaw dropped as I looked around. Not quite bigger than the loft, but nearly. Damn.

  “I hope you don’t mind. Jez and Lara took the liberty of obtaining you a new wardrobe since they can’t take you with them to go shopping. Yet.”

  “Yet? I don’t like yet, Damien. And I have my bag in the Jeep,” my voice tried to come out menacing but it weakened to begrudging.

  He laughed giving a careless shrug as we stood there, bare body against body. “All right. You try to tell Jezabell no. See how that works out for you. Let me know, okay?” Kissing my cheek, he laughed more. “Of course that is after you get some better control over yourself. Then well, then I am sorry, my love, you are at their mercy.”

  “We’ll see about that.” Laughing, he grinned wryly. It was good to see him in such a better mood, and looking stronger than ever.

  Groaning, I pushed him away with a laugh of my own as I began to look through the wardrobe that already easily tripled (or more) my old one. Most of the clothes were so ornate I couldn’t even imagine ever wearing anything like them. I wondered if they would be very offended if I went down for my bag.

  “You think this is bad then you should see Jezabell’s closet. It’s the size of my room- our room rather. She has a strange affliction for wearing wedding dresses.” Wow. “There’s some things you should like towards the back. I made sure Lara took care of that for you. Jez is the flamboyant one of the two.” Sadly, he went on to get dressed.

  Grumbling, “When?” I went to the back as he directed to pick out a shirt. Though it was made of pure Egyptian cotton, I found a tank top was pretty much my style.

  Since when do clothes have thread counts? My eyes rolled. The cut was simple enough. Black with a square neck, long on the lips and covered in a webby delicate lace that I thought might have been made from silk. The Italian label confirmed it. It felt like a custom fit. The straps weren’t sizable like most. It clung to my figure just perfectly. Of course, that figure had toned out a lot in the last few days.

  Next, I pulled out a pair of boy cut underwear made of lace. Every single pair was either lace or silk I noticed with a roll of my eyes. Oh, wrong. A few were leather. I cringed. What’s wrong with cotton?

  Finding a pair of jeans, another designer French label, I pulled them on uncertainly. They were a dark midnight blue. Not a bit faded or torn up like my old ones.

  Oh no, I hadn’t bought them that way. Why bother? I managed that through wear and tear. These, too, were a perfect fit though. It was just a bit strange and nearly creepy that they knew my exact size in everything.

  Checking the mirror, I looked over to Damien. He wore dark blue jeans, a black tee shirt. Once more, Damn.

  It was a long time before he answered my question. “Soon as I realized you weren’t... When I knew you were going to turn, I called Jezabell. Once your body finally began to heal, I knew you would survive the change.” As he turned to me, I saw his mouth was a hard line. His brow furrowed deeply by the memory.

  “You called them? I don’t remember that.” Biting down on my bottom lip, I looked over to him, strangely nervous.

  Even though the clothes were simple enough, there were still a bit more extravagant than I was used to. He didn’t answer my actual question. “You look good enough to eat,” Damien spoke with a slow wicked grin twisting his lips into a smirk.

  “You already did that,” I shot back with a twisted smile.

  “Once is never enough.” Holding his hand out for mine, we walked casually out of the room and down the stairs hand in hand.

  As we walked, I felt a strange tingling at the back of my neck. My grip on Damien’s hand became tight. His muscles flexed defensively in response from my nervousness as he looked to follow my eyes. He whispered only low enough for me to hear. I hoped. “No worries. That’s Hendrick. And to his left is Phoenix. They’re my brothers, Anna, and now they’re yours as well.”

  Hendrick stood over seven feet tall, maybe closer to eight actually. His shoulders were similar to that of a bull. All eyes were on me. He gave me a soft nod. For the moment, he stayed quiet as he notably read the anxiety in my electric eyes.

  Hendrick was burly with a hard square jaw. Skin the richest shade of mocha. Deep-set dark chocolate eyes made his features much warmer. Thick lips were the same shade as his eyes. His head was completely shaved. Hendrick tried to look kindly at me, almost apologetic. Maybe he could read minds, too. Great just what I needed, another mind reader. Sorry Damien.

  Damien held back the laughter but his shoulders gave him away with a slight shake as his lips tugged into a smirk. “He’s not like me. Just incredibly observant. Never underestimate Hendrick. Believe me, he tends to surprise us all.” My eyes forced to pull away from Hendrick, scanning to Phoenix.

  Dangerous. He looked like a friend of Death’s. Phoenix’s muscles were absolutely ripped. The shirt was tight enough to tell. Not to mention he was thin and very tall. He must have been a couple of inches over Damien. I knew this even though he was sitting.

  All of the men seemed to have that same chiseled build, though Phoenix looked just a little wirier than the others under the tight long sleeve shirt.

  Longer hair cropped recklessly above his ears, shaggy but spiky, too, and so jet black it could have been midnight blue. He was paler i
n color than me, which was saying something at that moment.

  His eyes were larger but slightly squared rather than almond shaped like Damien’s and the most brilliant Caribbean blue I had ever seen. Phoenix’s features were harsher than the others, intensely contrasted. Not pleasant and kind or even showing an attempt at such. Not loathing either.

  Sitting hunched forward on the edge of a chair as if he was ready to run with his hands interlocked in front of him, elbows on his knees. As Phoenix looked at me, I could almost feel his calculating mind brushing against everything. This situation. The atmosphere. Me. A practiced casual smile placed onto my lips. Riads did teach me that at least. I could play these games.

  My fingers slid from Damien’s as I stopped on the bottom step, letting him continue solo. He understood. I needed a minute.

  Damien reached a hand out to Hendrick who responded by wrapping his massive hand around Damien’s. They appeared to shake hard enough that I wondered if either of them had any fractures. Phoenix stood as Damien neared him. They, too, shook hands as Phoenix laid a hand onto Damien’s shoulder. “Welcome back, Damien. I see you made it home in one piece.” His lips twisted into a half grin. “This time.”

  “Phoenix,” he greeted with no more elaboration, but a smirk exchanged. Both men turned to look at me simultaneously. Probably not a good sign.

  “Or maybe just two pieces,” Phoenix clearly spoke to Damien alone, though neither looked away from me.

  Step three in the How To Be a Vampire handbook. Meeting the family.

  It was hard not to wonder just how much his family already knew. More than me, for certain. What could Damien hear from the others that I could not?

  Curled into one another Jazabell and Lara sat together on the love seat. Jezabell pulled from Lara, holding her hand out to me, beckoning me to join them. Slowly walking to the couch, I sat on the edge with Phoenix positioned directly across from me. Better to see him clearly.