Page 11 of Blood Lust
“This is different,” I said, feeling tears pooling in my eyes. “I almost killed you.”
“That is different,” a sympathetic smile drew up on his face, “but you craving blood—my blood, in this case—is natural for a newly-turned vampire. It’s the first stage and the stage we need to teach you to control.” He glanced past me, and I saw the concern, rage, and determination in his eyes and felt the emotions thick in my chest. “Your bloodlustwillbe controlled.”
“Bloodlust? I can’t believe any of this. I hate that witch with everything that I am.” I was feeding off Braden’s emotions, and all I wanted was to see that witch suffer a miserable death.
“We’ll fix it,” Braden said, looking at me curiously. “Are you craving my blood again?”
“No,” I answered without emotion. “Why?”
He touched my balled up fists and stared into my soul, “Because your beautiful brown irises look like flames from hell, and your fangs are out.”
I unclenched my fists and brought them to the new razor-sharpfangsI had acquired. “Impossible,” I said, feeling the foreign objects that extended from my gums. “How do we reverse this? You all hate human-turned vamps, and now you’re bonded with one. Maybe she ended our bond by turning me into a fucking parasite.”
“Nothing can touch our bond. It’s far too powerful even for a vengeful witch with dark powers. Even if she had ended the bond,” he brought his finger to my chin and eyes to meet his, “I will be honest when I say that we four are the luckiest mother fuckers out there.” He cocked his head to the side, examining my transformed vampire face. “You’re extraordinarily beautiful.” He laughed, “Interesting.”
“What?”
“In being an immortal or turned vampire, we are created to make our prey fall victim to our charms with enhanced appearance and an air that gives off a sense of security to our victims, so they trust us, and more importantly, want us.” He softly laughed again. “Never has an immortal fallen victim to this predatory lure of any vampire—until now. I have never been lured to anything that desired my blood. Baby, I would let you drain me completely just to feel your lips against my throat. To know that I was feeding you what you want, giving you what you desired. I thought that you being a Life Blood was my greatest weakness until now.”
“Dear God, what did she do to us?” I asked. “This isn’t good. I just can’t figure out why?”
“Because the bitch is trying to put us in our place, and I say fuck her.” Logan’s voice hit my ears before his blood consumed my entire being.
I looked at the tall, dark-haired guy with a desperate longing for the sweet aroma of his intoxicating blood. My throat was so dry, and I felt that strange dying-inside feeling. Starving to death would probably have felt better than this. My body felt empty, my tongue rough, my skin was drier than I could ever have imagined possible. I grew agitated when I heard three heartbeats and a wealth of blood pumping through the veins of the vampires I desperately needed to feed on.
“Shit! She’s in fucking pain,” Zac said, walking over to where I tried to seduce him with a smile. “Tell me you guys can feel it too.”
“I feel it,” Cole said. “I’ve been feeling it since she almost killed Braden. I had to ignore that shit and call her off.”
“Did it work?” Logan gritted through his teeth. “Goddamn, I’ve never wanted a vein so bad in all my fucking life.”
“Elle,” Cole used the alpha tone, and I snapped to. “Not right now. We need you to try something. You will do this.”
I nodded like a robot to his command.
“This better fucking work, you asshole. We’re treating her like she’s some damn reptile.”
I glared at Zac for speaking to the only vampire who could control the demon inside me. “I’ll do whatever he asks.”
“Alright.” Logan laughed and shook his head, “Your douchey, alpha-sounding voice seems to settle our gorgeous little vamp queen down. Let’s get this over with so we can get her under control. I’m literally going to throat punch you if I have to listen to you talk like this all the fucking time.”
Cole walked over to me with a dark leather canteen. “It’s my blood,” he said in his low voice. “Drink it.”
I gripped it with two hands and sank my fangs into it. The flavor of the honey-sweet liquid barely ignited my taste buds, and the fluid was just entering my dying insides before there was nothing left. I opened my eyes in a rage and glared at Cole. “I need more than just a damn drop,” I growled.
Cole and the rest of my vampires stared at me with puzzled and shocked expressions.
“Holy shit,” Braden said, looking back at Cole. “No vampire can inhale blood that quick. She drank that in less than a blink.”
“You’ll wait for more. You’ll be fine to wait,” Cole ordered the demon that was starved for more blood. “And you’re not a fucking demon. You will stop thinking like that right now.”
As soon as the order left his lips, I felt comfortable in my own skin again. The aroma of blood filling the air was soothing instead of painful. I collapsed back into the couch I was on, exhausted and in need of answers.
“Damn.” Logan looked at Cole. “Maybe I will put up with your stupid alpha shit, so long as I don’t ever have to feel that way again.”
Cole ignored him, dropped to his knees and pulled a blade out and cut the leather canteen open. He laid it out flat and studied the contents of blood that soaked the inside of it. “The blood isn’t responding like it would if there was lethal venom in it.” He looked at my guys and then back to me. “She’s turned her into a vampire who could drain us to the point of desiccation before we could stop her.”
“That’s reassuring,” Braden said. “How do we offer our blood to her and actually make it satisfying? This is fucking bullshit. I’m not letting Elle suffer like this. It’s bad enough she thinks she’s a monster now.”
