Page 34 of Club Blood

“Cece, Mercyclaimedyou. We can smell her on you. In all the years of sex and devotion, Mercy never once called Cissa hers. While I can see the appeal,” he winked, “Narcissa can’t fathom why Mercy would want a human over her. A lifetime of being someone’s bitch, hoping to be something more, and Mercy replaces her with a human. To say she’s pissed and out for blood is an understatement.”

“I’m sorry but you’re wrong. While the temptation and desire is there between us, there’s nothing more than that. I won’t deny that I want to see what it takes to make Mercy lose control for once, I’m not going to pretend like it’s anything more than the want and need for release. She literally won’t let me leave this stupid place. I’m not exactly going to fall in love with a vampire who abducted me.”

A look passed across Warren’s face that I couldn’t quite decipher before he schooled it again, shrugging. “Nobody is saying anything about love. But the undeniable fact is that Mercy refused to bed Cissa and instead, the whole compound heard her cry out with your name on her tongue. Narcissa won’t forgive or forget that. And since she’s loyal to Mercy at her core, the only way to, uh, resolve the problem would be to get rid of the competition, so to speak.”

I covered my face in my hands and groaned. “Narcissa is going to kill me?”

Warren nodded and I was almost tempted to say he looked sad. “Yes.”

I sighed and closed my eyes. “Why tell me?”

Leaning across the table, Warren took my hand in his and squeezed slightly. “Because even though it is my nature to want to kill, I don’t relish the idea of humans dying needlessly. Especially not one who, whether either of you will admit it or not, means something to my oldest friend.”

“Warren, I–”

“It’s fine. But look, you have to try and look out for yourself over the next few days.”

I shook my head. “I can’t defend myself against her.”

Warren smiled wryly and tapped my hand gently. “You don’t have to. Just keep out of her way unless Mercy is with you. I’ll be back in a day or two and then I’ll speak to Mercy.”

“About what?”

“About me teaching you to kick a vampire’s ass.”

Before I could blink, Warren had stood up and was brushing invisible creases off his shirt. Tucking his hair behind his ears again, he grinned and pressed a quick kiss to my cheek.

“It was really lovely to meet you, Cecelia.”

“It was nice to meet you too, Warren.”

He bowed his head slightly and winked. “Stay alive, darling Cecelia. I think we’re going to be great friends.”

21

MERCY

Vampires age like fine wine.The longer we live on Earth, the more the world seems to give back to us. I always wondered if God, or whatever it was that started this place, really didn’t find us sinners at all. If they had, then why did they give us all that they did? We continued to grow, mature, and blossom. Our powers would never wean, instead we rose. Vampires, the Known, whatever name humans gave us each century, were born to rule.

Narcissa was an old vampire, though she remained as beautiful as she had in her youth, still positively stunning to look at. She was strong, fast, smart as hell, and each year brought more knowledge, and even more strength and speed. Narcissa was trained to become my greatest weapon.

“You bring in a human that you grovel to.”

I didn’t need to hear more than those few words before I felt my feet shift. A snarl came roaring from the back of my throat and I hurtled forward. Hitting Narcissa was like running into a brick wall; years of frustration and pent up aggression were thrown into her, and we went flying. She was an old, powerful vampire, but I was older and stronger. We crashed against the wall, and I cringed at the age-old paintings I’d spent fortunes on retrieving as they fell into a heap of rubble. The wall caved in, the splinters of wood cracking easily under our weight and acceleration. We’d gotten stuck in its cavity and my hands wrapped around her thin throat, my teeth poised at the base. Just as easily as I tackled her forward, she could have defended herself. I almost wanted her to fight back, even to just test the boundaries of my vigor, and yet she didn’t.

I resisted the urge to puncture her neck, still hesitant even after her incessant insolence, to kill the one vampire I knew could be my best asset. Narcissa was too smart for her own good, knowing well that her submission would be the reason she lived today. Her hesitation to fight was enough to keep her from dying by my hand. Still, my mouth salivated at their spot against her neck. I felt the drool drip from my lips, cascading down her chest as I heaved big aching breaths. She stayed deadly still beneath me.

“You bring in a vampire that will disappoint you.”

I shouldn’t have let those words affect me. Warren was nothing but a tool, I had used him just as thoroughly as I had Narcissa. And yet, hearing her insult him, hearing her fumble through her outrageous jealousy, pushed me to the brink of chaos. My protective instincts for Warren had become a debility that Narcissa could capitalize on.

Where I usually had so much control over it, I was now letting the full strength of my vampirism take me. My rage had opened a door I was unsure I could close on my own, and I was terribly close to being frightened of it, too.

We were far different than the walking blood bags who continued to live as delicate, breakable creatures. Since the creation of humankind, they had becomesofter, while our shellshardened,our teethsharpened, and our bodiesmutated. They would never get to feel the way I was feeling now, with power and hunger rumbling through my entire skeleton so violently that it caused my body to shake with overexertion.

It was not blood I was craving however, although just the mention of it made my throat tickle with a slow burning need. What I felt was chaos, and what I craved was destruction. Something, something, was living inside of me, breaking my bones and tearing apart my mind. It paced dangerously back and forth, waiting. Adrenaline flooded through me, pounding against my skin so intensely that I was afraid it would tear free, cut me open and let me bleed out before it. Together, we created a precarious monster, but if it broke free on its own accord…it would burn this world to the ground.

The vampirism virus consumed me.

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