Page 35 of Blood Claims
Unless there were other supernatural creatures that shared this same trait, I didn’t know. All I knew was that whoever he was, he had saved me, making me look down to see that the drop was enough to have broken my neck as there seemed to be some kind of hall beneath me.
I also knew how strong the man must have been as he started to lift me up with only one hand wrapped around mine. One very large hand, at that, his fingers met above my elbow. Which meant that as I rose up through the broken floor, I had no choice but to watch as, bit by bit, his huge body came into view.
Then once I was at waist height, he took hold of my other arm to aid him from pulling me the rest of the way through. Yet my feet still hung in the air as he walked away from the broken floor before setting me down… and down… and down some more. This was until my head barely came to the center of his chest as the guy was a behemoth!
I was about to thank him when he growled down at me,
“Your death is not yet fated.”
I swallowed hard and backed away from him, having no choice but to look down so I didn’t make the same mistake twice. But then what choice did I have when his voice sounded like it belonged to the fucking devil! The rough timber of it gave me chills far stronger than the creepy laughter had.
“Who… who are you?”I braved to ask as his heavy footsteps brought him closer to me, unaffected by the fact I was trying to put space between us. I even saw the glint of white teeth as my question must have made him grin.
“You will know soon enough,” he promised with less of a threatening growl to his words, despite the context suggesting otherwise.
I swallowed hard, and he dipped his head lower as if fascinated by the action. His silver eyes still glowed in the darkness giving me something to keep contact with, as I swear the shadows of the night were moving around him.
I decided to ignore this and ask something else as my head darted to the sides of him. Quickly trying to make sense of where the moonlight had gone, as it should have been behind him. Especially seeing as I could see the edges of the windows at his back. Had it gone behind a cloud and my eyes were just playing tricks on me?
“What is this place… where are we?”
He stepped even closer, and to the point that I was forced to tilt my head right back in order for me to keep eye contact with those glowing molten depths.
“You are precisely where I want you to be,” he replied, making me gasp as I took my last step away from him, putting me directly against a wall.
“W-hy… what… what do you want with me?” I stuttered. Again, he seemed amused, and this time I was close enough to see deadly fangs emerge when he grinned.
“Oh, so very much,”he replied, his voice taking on a dangerous smooth tone that felt like it could lure victims into a lake so he could stand at the sides and watch them drown.
“In fact…” He paused so that he could reach out and touch me.
My flinching retreat meant nothing to him as he gripped hold of my neck. My frightened gasp was one I knew he relished in, as he used his thumb to force my chin up. Doing so now so as I could meet his gaze as he lowered his head down to mine.
Which meant that he commanded all my attention when he told me,
“…I want everything from you…my sweet-blooded Vanessa.”
I cried out, his hold on my throat not tight enough to prevent this, something that seemed intentional. For he clearly liked the sound of my distress. His grin told me so before he leaned down until his lips were at my forehead. Which was when he startled me, first by leaving me with a lingering kiss, before adding to it a villainous promise.
“Soon, little one… soon I will come for you, but for now, I will allow you to wake and release you from my dark world…until next time, my sweet little Blood Lily.”After this all the shadows in the room suddenly lunged for me, like a hundred arms all reaching for me as one. My scream echoed in the night and this time, it was one that was answered by comforting voices in the dark.
“Nessa!”
“Wake up, baby!” Victor and Tal both called out to me as I felt myself being shaken from the nightmare that had still gripped me.
My eyes snapped open to find them both either side of me in whatever bed they had obviously placed me in. Each were holding me tight as I heard crying, only realizing after a fewfoggy seconds that it was coming from me. And speaking of fog, I gasped the moment I finally remembered where I had seen those strange living shadows from my nightmare before.
It had been the night the witch was trying to kill me. Right before the brothers had arrived to save me.
The man in the darkness had done the same thing. Meaning that all three of them were somehow connected.
Their Darkness United.
11
UNTIL ONE DAY…
“Easy now… calm for us, little one,” Tal cooed down at me as I tried to control my panicked breathing. The nightmare still lingered, clinging to me like some sticky web entangled in my thoughts. And now, I was left questioning why that same living shadow I had previously seen being recused had showcased in it? Was it just my mind twisting my memories or was something more nefarious going on…I just didn’t know.
