Page 27 of Prayer of the Damned

The Dean’s words suddenly fade out, my head spins and my vision goes foggy. Control of my body slips away from me, just at his mention of the word “blood”.

“Are you alright?” Liam’s breath blows over my ear and I shiver. His proximity makes me uncomfortable. I haven’t yet let go of the sense that something’s wrong with this trio.

“Yes,” I whisper, hurrying to hide my face. The whole auditorium around me seems to vanish. I close my eyes and focus on the air filling and emptying out of my lungs, but it doesn’t help, damn it. I try counting, but my head’s spinningand I lose count. I feel my nails elongating and stare at them forcefully from my armrests.

“Fuck…” I hear Liam. He’s so close, he smells different… a sweet, intoxicating smell that almost drives me mad.

Valentina puts her hand on mine and whispers in my ear that I need to keep counting. Shit, who’d have thought a simple action like counting to ten could be such an impossible task? And the smell, it envelopes me, suffocates me.

When it doesn’t work, I hear her say with some urgency: “We gotta get her out of here, now!” I don’t lift my head when Valentina pulls me out of the auditorium. My legs follow her on autopilot, and I hear Tyra’s shouts telling us to follow her. My body curls up like it’s getting ready for an incoming disaster, and I let out a painful cry as my blood ignites in my veins, on the verge of bursting into flame. “We have to call her father! He’ll know what to do!” Valentina’s voice is panicked and she searches my body for my cellphone.

“Wait a minute!” Liam shoves her away from me. I struggle against the hands holding me in place, and an intolerable itch spreads across my fangs. I open my mouth and bare my teeth, trying to ease the itch.

A bottle is shoved into my mouth, and I struggle against the horrible nausea that assaults me as soon as I realize Liam is trying to give me that awful juice my dad’s company makes.

“No!” I plead for him to take that disgusting thing away from me.

“It won’t help! You’re just making it worse!” Valentina shoves him. “Belle, listen to me. Breathe.” She caresses my hair and I do my best to focus on her voice, but it’s no use. The sweet smell of the blood around me follows, and won’t let go, demanding that I totally give myself over to the frenzy overtaking me. Where the hell did it come from?

For a moment it seems my yearning grows so strong that the sweet smell intensifies around me. I close my eyes as they roll back, and take deep breaths. When I open my eyes I see Liam in front of me. My hands are loose and no one’s holding me. I look over his shoulder and see that everyone else has gone. It’s just Liam and me, and he looks appetizing. When he opens his mouth I notice that his tongue is red, and blood is glinting in the corner of his mouth. I lustfully lick my upper lip, slowly run it over my sharp fangs, and my eyes focus on the crimson liquid in his mouth.

My body reacts immediately, leaping forward as a single drop is about to spill and be wasted, and I latch my mouth onto his. It’s only my second kiss, but I don’t believe I’ll experience a kiss as desperate as this one. I literally devour his mouth, Liam’s hot tongue into my mouth and squeezing feral growls out of him that arouse my body and drive me to lick him hungrily.

I surrender myself to the wildest, most primal sensation I’ve ever experienced.

But the blood on his tongue doesn’t satisfy me, and I use my fangs to pierce his lower lip, pulling it with my teeth, and he bleeds in a renewed burst.

My kiss is clumsy and I lick his jaw, the blood pours endlessly from his lips and I draw in more and more. But damn, I feel like even emptying him out altogether won’t be enough for me. My hunger is a bottomless pit.

Liam grabs my shoulders and digs his talons into me, trying to get me away, but I fight him. Even the pain from his grip can’t break my fierce longing for his blood.

“Belle, stop…” his voice pleads, and I force myself to open my eyes.

He seems stunned, and I realize that I’m riding him, holding him in place. In a panic, I scramble off him and leap backwards, my back hits the wall on the other side of the patio we’re in.We’re alone. I put my hand on my chest and try to slow my breathing, my heart stirs to life and my face is burning.

Am I alive?The thought confuses me.That can’t be.

“What happened?” I demand.

“I think we broke rule number three.”

“What?”What is he talking about?

“The third rule, the most severe taboo – it is absolutely forbidden to drink the blood of our own kind.”

“Fuck, Liam,” I growl, and slap my head. I have no doubt something must have gone very wrong if I have no memory of what happened mere moments ago.

Liam is staring at me, slowly running his fingers over his swollen and injured lips. I start panting for breath, my eyes drawn to the crimson stains on his lips. He’s licking the blood off his lips and I realize it’s just remnants left over from my attack, and that he’s not bleeding anymore.

Valentina bursts into the patio and the panic on her face makes it clear to me that Liam’s in trouble. Her fists tighten with rage as she stands in front of Liam.

“You! I won’t forgive you for this, you little bastard! You and your psycho siblings!”

“What did they do?” I stare directly at Liam.

“They dragged me away from you by force!” She seems especially angry at Liam as she kneels next to me, sniffing me, and I quickly wipe away the evidence and lip what’s left of Liam’s blood off my lips.

“What’s that smell?” Her white eyes flash for a moment.

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