The Beast Within

  Another shot rang in the air. I heard the bullet hit a tree just a few yards to my left. Grabbing Arianna’s face, I gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll meet you there. I love you.” I didn’t give her another chance to try and stop me. I didn’t have time. Wrestling my arm back, I blurred away, toward the danger everyone else was running from.

  I swung wide of the pair of men crashing through the brush after my girlfriend and my family. Turning around, I came up behind them. Hopefully, with the element of surprise, I could get the drop on them. Zipping back to the woodshed, I grabbed a heavy, durable log. Hoping I had the courage to inflict harm on another person, I charged the one closest to me. Moving blindingly fast, I smacked him across the back of the head with the log. He went down with a thud, and I twisted to his partner. The guy saw me, though, and swiveled his gun and fired before I could attack him. I instinctively ducked, and the man kicked me, hitting me just under the chin.

  My vision hazed as I fell onto my back. I’d never been kicked like that before. I swore my jaw was broken and my teeth were cracked. My ears rang, and I saw everything in triplicate. I knew I didn’t have time to dwell on the pain vibrating through my skull. I didn’t have time to fixate on any of the myriad sensations percolating throughout my body. Nika, my family, the noises coming from the house, all of it was lost on me as I watched my attacker shove his gun into his pocket and pull out a thick, wooden stake. Wow, I was about to get staked, just like in some lame vampire flick.

  The man was no bigger than me, but when he sank to his knees, straddling my body, I suddenly felt powerless. That wasn’t true, though, so I forced my mind to fight through the fear paralyzing my body. It was a bit alarming when I realized my breathing was heavy, my body was shaking. It had been an eternity since I’d had a panic attack. Calming my body, I brought my hands up to block the stake barreling toward my chest. I stopped the weapon an inch before my rib cage.

  My attacker didn’t say anything; he just tried a different tactic. Leaning down, he head-butted me. I’d never experienced that before either. I saw stars as blackness choked my sight. My limp hands fell to my sides, leaving my chest exposed. I knew I needed to move, but I just couldn’t get my body to cooperate.

  Hoping I’d at least given my family enough time to escape, I made one last attempt to get my body to do what I wanted it to do. My arms felt like lead as I lifted them, and I felt like I was shoving them through tar as I reached out for the man’s chest. Since he was moving forward to shove a sharp stick through my heart, his body met my hands more than the other way around. Wanting him away, I pushed against him with everything I had left.

  Surprisingly, he flew off me. I cracked open my eyes, disbelieving my own strength. A growl filled the air as I watched my assailant soaring through the night sky. He struck a nearby tree with a sickening thump. He didn’t get back up after he fell to the ground.

  “Julian, are you okay?”

  Cold hands felt my forehead as familiar glowing brown eyes examined my injured face. “Mom?”

  I could feel her location pinging in my head as she knelt beside me. I could feel everyone’s. The bond had crackled into life some time ago, but I’d been too preoccupied to really pay attention to it. I could sense Nika, Hunter, and my father several hundred miles away, and Halina was rushing into the house to help with the rest of the intruders. I relaxed in my mom’s arms as her cooling fingertips soothed my injuries. Even though we were still in the middle of the battle, I felt safe.

  “Did Grandpa and the others get away?” I murmured, feeling sleepy.

  “Yes, sweetheart,” she cooed, kissing my forehead. “Mom is taking them to Peter’s, getting them away from the property. You saved them,” she added, pride in her voice.

  She helped me to my feet. I felt wobbly, like I was going to fall again, and I clung to her for support. “I didn’t do that much,” I muttered, wishing my head would stop throbbing.

  “You helped them get away, and now I’m going to help you get away.” Her voice was fast and low, still laced with tension. This fight wasn’t over.

  Mom scooped me into her arms while I listened to snarls and growls echoing from inside the house. I hoped every member of my family was safe. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing any of them. Just as Mom turned to dash away with me, an emptiness greater than anything I’d ever felt seared my soul. I gasped and clutched at my chest. It felt like a chunk of me had been ripped away. It hurt more than being staked. Mom paused, looking down on me with worried eyes. “Julian, what is it?”

  I couldn’t breathe for a second while I tried to understand just what I was feeling. There was a nothingness in my body where something warm and loving used to be. I felt shallow, scooped out, void. The hollowness brought tears to my eyes. I couldn’t wrap my head around my growing despair. Why was I feeling this way? Was it Nika’s emotions that were getting to me? They shouldn’t be affecting me this strongly, considering our distance. I tuned in to her, paying more attention to the blip on my heart that was her. That was when I understood.

  Eyes wide, I looked up at my mom. “I can’t feel her. She’s gone. She’s just…gone.”

  Mom was confused for a second, then she gasped as she understood. “You can’t feel Nika’s emotions? Why? Why would they just disappear?”

  She looked over her shoulder, to where we could both feel Nika’s presence. That bond was still there, still pinging her location. Our emotional bond was different though. Gabriel’s shot, and the shot I’d been given as a child, had proven that the two bonds were independent of each other. I didn’t want to say it. I didn’t want to think it. But only one answer rang through my head. If I wasn’t picking up on her feelings anymore, it was because she wasn’t having them. And if she wasn’t having them…then she was dead. I just knew it.

  WITH MY SHOULDER propped under my boyfriend’s arm, I watched in horror as his father fired a gun at his chest. At this close range, there was no way Connor would miss. I couldn’t believe we’d come this far, just to have Hunter’s father kill us now. I silently said goodbye to my brother. Whatever he was doing now, he was scared. As a wisp of smoke escaped the gun and a sharp boom cracked the stagnant air, I prayed that Julian and the others got through the night okay.

  With the small amount of strength he had left, Hunter shoved me away from him. It wasn’t enough of a move to spare him from being hit, but it got me out of danger. I cried out in fear and anger, since it was the only thing I had time to do. Then, quicker than even my eye could process, my father twisted in front of Hunter to block the shot. I held my breath as I watched the bullet lodge into his back.

  One injured, one depleted, I watched two of the most important men in my life sink to the ground. Fury ran up my spine, temporarily silencing the fear. I would not let this man destroy my family. I blurred over to Connor. Could I take him on my own? Well, of course I could. I wasn’t your average teenage girl. I was a vampire, born from a long line of proud, vampire women, and I could handle one lone hunter.

  Ramming my shoulder into his chest, I knocked him over, making him miss his next shot. The discharge of the gun echoed in my ear as I crashed on top of him. Lightning quick, I yanked the gun out of his grasp and it skittered across the ground toward my dad and Hunter.

  Connor strained against me, but with my enhanced strength, I kept his forearms pinned to the ground. I could hear my dad grunting as he stood, could hear Hunter working his way to his feet. Dropping my fangs, I snarled in Connor’s face. It felt good to relieve the tension, but Connor didn’t appear to be the slightest bit afraid of me as he continued to fight against me. Maybe he thought that I wouldn’t cause him any actual harm. And he would be right. I wouldn’t. I couldn’t even contemplate hurting anyone.

  Wondering what to do with him, now that I had him sort of trapped, I did the only thing I could think to do—I pulled the earphones out of his ears and opened his mind to the power of suggestion.

  “Hunter! Tell him to stop!” I called out, twisting to lo
ok behind me. Hunter and Dad were on their feet, Dad wincing in pain, Hunter stumbling and looking nauseous. You would think the pair of them had been duking it out all night by their slow reactions. I breathed a sigh of relief that the bullet that had struck Dad hadn’t hit his heart.

  I’d released one of Connor’s hands when I’d pulled out his earphones. When I twisted back around to him, I had just enough time to see that he’d grabbed a jagged knife from his belt. While he still could, he plunged it into my body. My eyes widened when I felt the sharp metal slicing through the tender flesh of my stomach. Then the pain hit me, and I cried out.

  I heard Hunter yelling at him to stop moving, but he was a fraction of a second too late. The damage was done. Connor had already moved the knife up my gut, then yanked it out. At Hunter’s order, he froze beneath me, bloody knife in hand. Rolling over to the hard-packed dirt beside him, I panted as waves of pain radiated throughout my body. It was all I could focus on—that one incessant source of agony. I clutched my stomach, instinctively wanting to hold the wound closed; my chilled fingers instantly warmed as hot blood oozed through my soaked T-shirt.

  “Dad,” I whimpered, almost more scared than pained.

  He was beside me an instant later, his pale eyes scanning my face, then my body. His hand lifted my shirt, gently moving my fingers aside so he could see just how much damage Connor’s knife had done. “Jesus,” he muttered. I didn’t take that as a good sign.

  Hunter moved to the other side of me. Fear on his face, he watched as my father pressed his hands upon my stomach, trying to staunch the flow of blood. I struggled to hold in my pain-filled cries as the pressure amplified my torture. Hunter’s fangs dropped as the smell of blood filled the air.

  “She’s losing blood too fast,” my father told him, his words quick and clipped.

  “Do we take her to a hospital?” Hunter asked him.

  My father’s pale eyes shimmered as he locked gazes with me. “We’re too far away. She won’t survive the trip.”

  His words hit me, and tears leaked from my eyes. Was I going to die here? Would Julian know? Forcing my fear aside, I tuned into his emotions. He was scared as well. Maybe he already knew? Or maybe he was about to die too? Not knowing was as torturous as the agony in my belly. Although, that ache was feeling better as time passed. I was more tired than anything now.

  “It’s not so bad, Daddy. I can barely feel it…” My words felt slurred to me, my mind thick, my lids heavy.

  I felt cold hands on my cheeks, moving my head from side to side. It made sleep evasive, and I frowned at the person trying to interrupt my slumber. “Nika, you need to stay awake, baby.”

  Hunter’s concerned voice was in my ear. I tried to lift my hand to touch his face, but my body wasn’t responding to my commands. “Five more minutes,” I muttered. I wished I had a blanket. My hands and feet were freezing.

  Hazy words met me. “Teren, what do we do?”

  “I don’t know. She’s bleeding internally. I can’t…I can’t fix this.”

  My dad sounded so scared. I wanted to tell him not to worry…I felt fine. I felt great. Just cold. And sleepy. So sleepy. If I could just rest a minute…

  NIKA WAS LOSING blood fast. Her heartbeat had already slowed to a point that was dangerous, and she wasn’t responding anymore when I shook her. Not even a groan escaped her lips now. Teren was right; she wasn’t going to make it to a hospital. She wasn’t going to make it at all.

  The wound up her abdomen was deep, massive. Teren’s hands upon her stomach were holding her organs in place as much as slowing the flow of blood. I didn’t want to think about how cut up she was on the inside. I didn’t want to contemplate the fact that she’d never be the same after this moment. I just wanted to rewind the night. I wasn’t sure what I’d do differently to change this, but I would try.

  No, I knew exactly what I’d do differently. I never would have run away from my nest. I would have told Halina and the others that my father was sending assassins after me, and we would have dealt with the problem as a family, because that was what we were. A family. A family who was about to lose a member. Because of me, and I couldn’t handle that fact.

  Teren’s grievous face looked up at mine. “We’re losing her. She’s slipping…her heartbeat is so faint.”

  I’d never seen someone look so devastated. Was this how my father had looked when I’d died? Somehow, that made what he’d done to me easier to bear. What would I do to save someone I loved? What was I going to do now? There was only one thing I could think of.

  Not knowing exactly what to do, I relied on the vampiric instinct coursing through my veins. My fangs had crashed down ages ago, when Nika’s blood had first filled my senses. I brought the sharp points to my wrist. They ripped through my flesh as easily as a human’s. It hurt, but I endured it. This pain was nothing compared to Nika’s. Instead of nice clean holes, I tore open a section. Nika needed blood. I had blood.

  Teren snapped his gaze to me when he realized what I was doing. When I brought my wrist to Nika’s mouth, he grabbed my arm. A deep growl rose from his chest. “What are you doing?” he asked, venom in his voice.

  That instinct inside of me told me we were running out of time. Eventually, even this option wouldn’t save her. As gently as I could, I told him, “She’s going to die if we continue to sit here and do nothing. We can’t move her. We can’t fix her. But I can turn her.”

  Teren shook his head. “No. She wouldn’t want this.”

  I exhaled in a quick huff. “I didn’t want it either, but…some things are preferable to death. I see that now.” I glanced down at her pale face; her mouth was relaxed, pain-free, and her slim fangs were visible as she rested. As she died. “She’s already a vampire, Teren. She’ll be okay with this.”

  “She’ll be a pureblood. Condemned to darkness. She’s only sixteen. A child…”

  His voice hitched, and I returned my eyes to his. “I will be with her. She won’t be alone. It’s the only way to save her…you know I’m right.”

  Teren’s head dropped, then he nodded. He eased his hand upon her body, and the blood now free from its restraint, gushed from her, completely staining her shirt. I waited a few minutes, until some innate part of me knew she was ready to receive my blood in exchange of hers.

  My wrist had healed already, so I ripped open my flesh again and placed it to Nika’s sweet lips. The blood poured from me, into her. As her mouth filled, my father, immobile thanks to my command, barked out, “Creating a monster from a monster. You’re truly one of them now, aren’t you?”

  As I stroked Nika’s forehead with my other hand, I murmured, “Yes. I am one of them. And I’m grateful for it.” When Nika’s mouth was full, she automatically swallowed. I reopened my wrist to feed her again, while my father continued berating me for the life he’d given me.

  “I really have lost you. I should have let you die that night. I should have killed you myself before you converted. You’re an evil bloodsucking creature of the night now. If your sister only knew what you’ve become…”

  A snarl left my throat as I stared over at my father’s prostrate body. “Stop talking! You don’t ever get to mention her to me again! She loved me. Above anything else, she loved me, and she would have tried to accept what I’d become. She would have attempted to love me, even like this. She never would have sent our friends to kill me. As far as I’m concerned, Dad, out of the two of us, you are the one who has shown yourself to be the true monster.”

  My father opened and shut his mouth, obviously wanting to retaliate with harsh words of his own. I ignored him for a moment, and focused on feeding Nika instead. Even as her heartbeat faded, she drank from my wrist with more fervor than before. True to our species, she was dying and living at the same time. While I watched her swallowing, I glanced over at Teren. He had long tear tracks down his cheeks, but he was smiling as he watched his daughter recovering. When he noticed me watching him, he whispered, “Thank you.”

  I frow
ned. “I got her into this mess. You shouldn’t thank me.”

  His smile turned sad. “The past is over. What you’re doing now is what matters to me, and without you, she’d be dead, so thanking you is the very least of what I should be doing for you.” He put his hand on my shoulder in a fatherly way. “You may have fought against it, but you’ve adapted to this life and remained a good man. You should be proud of that fact.”

  I was speechless as I stared at him, and could only nod in lame acknowledgement. Pride wasn’t one of the things I felt, but maybe…acceptance was. Over Teren’s shoulder, I saw my father silently fuming. Considering my options with him, I murmured, “The past is the past.”

  Knowing he was a problem I could deal with later, I refocused my attention on Nika. I wasn’t sure how long I needed to feed her. I would give her every drop of me if necessary. It felt like an eternity, but eventually she stopped swallowing what I gave her. Panicked, I looked up at Teren. Blood filled Nika’s mouth, overflowing from her lips, but she wasn’t drinking it. Teren’s eyes scanned her body as he tilted his head to listen to her heart. Worried, I listened too.

  The low thump of life within her was faint, thready, and I could swear each beat was weaker than the rest. While my blood sat useless in her mouth, the ineffectual organ in her chest struggled to remain alive. I knew it would stop soon, and I wanted to cry with the loss of it. If it weren’t for me, her heart would still be beating. She’d live to see seventeen. She’d grow into a woman. But the past was the past, and all I had was the here and now. Grabbing her hand, I squeezed it tight. “I’m right here with you, Nika. Go ahead and sleep. I’ll be here when you wake.” God, please let her wake.

  After my words left me, she swallowed the last bit of blood in her mouth. Then a slight breath escaped her lips. There was no reciprocating inhale. Her heart gave one last weak thump, then it didn’t beat again. Teren brought his hands to his face and began to weep for his dead daughter. Leaning over, I placed a light kiss on Nika’s forehead. My jaw quivered, but I held in my tears. She wasn’t gone. She was dead, yes, but she wasn’t gone. My blood had to have saved her…I couldn’t go on without her.