Page 38 of Love Bleeds
Chapter Fourteen
Aldrich lived in a tiny apartment across the street from a French restaurant. The place was mostly bare, as if he'd only just moved in a week or two ago. Black-out curtains obscured the windows and the smell of paint hung over everything.
Crimson hated it.
He especially hated having to spend a whole night there before Aldrich got the call that gave them the go-ahead to visit 'the safe-house' where Luke was residing.
"Did they say anything about how he's doing?" Crimson asked as they made their way there in Aldrich's car—a bright red Honda Accord. "Has he woken up? Did he really ask for me?"
"I don't have details," Aldrich responded to his questions, not for the first time. "Except that he did ask for you and he's not dead. That enough for now?"
It had to be, but Crimson wasn't satisfied. He wasn't going to be until he could confirm that Luke was okay with his own eyes.
Once the car pulled up to the large house that served as Luke's family's safe haven, someone stepped out of the house and approached them. Someone with a slender frame and dark rings under his eyes. “That’s Collin,” Aldrich informed Crimson as the two of them got out of the car.
Collin looked at Crimson with suspicion in his eyes, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"Before you come in, let me make one thing clear," he said. "I've pulverized a vampire lord before and I'm not afraid to do the same to you if you hurt Luke. I'm sorry about what happened to you, but I know you're not Damian anymore. My brother can't see that."
"I'm never going to hurt Luke."
"No, you won't." Collin rubbed his face with one hand, before continuing. “Give me your hand.”
“My hand?”
“Just do it,” Aldrich said.
Crimson extended his hand to Collin, palm up. Without any hesitation at all, Collin lifted his own wrist to his mouth and tore into it with his… were those fangs? Crimson had no time to question his observation before Collin used his own blood to draw a mark on Crimson’s palm. Something that looked like a sideways M with an X through the middle. It glowed, then disappeared.
“There,” Collin said. “You’ll be fine to come in now.”
Finally. Crimson exhaled. "I need to see Luke."
"Follow me."
Collin led the way into the house and up a set of stairs and into a medium-size room with a king-size bed at the center. In it lay Luke, eyes closed and perfectly still.
"Has he been..." Crimson couldn't find the words as his thoughts scrambled in his brain at the sight of Luke, crisscrossing each other.
"We don't really know what's wrong with him," Collin explained. "I mean, we know what happened. What I'm saying is that, physically, there's nothing wrong with him. At least, that's what the doctor says. He's been given some transfusions, but that's about all we could do from a medical standpoint. Now we just have to wait for him to get back to normal." Collin sat on the edge of the mattress, looking at his brother. Gently, he took Luke's right hand and turned it over. There, on the inside of his wrist, a strange mark adorned Luke's skin. It looked like a birth mark, but something told Crimson that wasn't what it was. The shape reminded him of a tree with three branches, or a simplified trident.
"It feels hot sometimes," Collin said, tracing the mark with one finger. "Sometimes he glows the way I did when I pulverized that vampire."
Crimson didn't know what to make of that. "He glowed when he made me remember his name."
Collin’s gaze shot to him. "You remember?"
"I don't remember everything," Crimson admitted, stepping closer to the bed. Luke looked almost peaceful in his sleep. "I should have protected him."
"You did." Collin let Luke's hand sink back to the bed. "I don't know if you remember this or not, but the night you were turned, the vampires would have gotten him if not for you." He said this in a low tone of voice, almost as if he was afraid Luke would hear him. "I should... I guess I need to thank you." He sighed. "What name do you go by now?"
"Crimson, but you can call me whatever you like, I guess."
"How much do you remember?"
"Not much." Crimson licked his lips. This wasn’t what he wanted to talk about. He wanted to know what was going on with Luke. "What does that mark on his wrist mean? Why couldn't he be turned?"
Collin remained quiet for a moment before he spoke, likely turning his words over in his head. "We're not regular humans," he said eventually. "We're descended from creatures who were a mix of vampires and witches. Dhampirs. Luke couldn't be turned because he already has vampire genes."
