Disarming

  Christian huffed and smiled, making him look even less threatening. His sallow color was disturbing. It made me feel like I was looking at a corpse. He was not emaciated yet, but he looked like he had missed quite a few meals.

  As the moments ticked by, the anger fizzled away, leaving me confused, lost and uncertain of my fate. Of any of our fates.

  “Hey, how long have you been down here anyway?”

  “Long enough.”

  “They’re starving you.” I stated. It was obvious. “Aren’t they?” I cocked my head and scrunched my eyes as I studied the lines of his pale face. I hadn’t bothered to do this before, back at that fateful battle up in the tower, when he had readily wanted to harvest me for blood before I nearly killed him by slicing him open. He had looked worse back then, sallow and green, filled with some mutating, vampiric withering sickness. But now his fair skin was translucent and smooth. His long maroon hair framed his face like a blood-fire halo.

  Christian was not as repulsive as I’d thought he’d be; his eyes were definitely intriguing with their clash of colors. I was sure he had not been born that way, but the sickness and subsequent cure must’ve left him scarred in the most unusual ways. I wondered briefly who he had been before the outbreak, what had happened to make him who he was today, the leader of a vampire clan.

  “Yeah, it’s the new and improved slim-fast diet.” He chuckled, but I could see the pain etched across his face. He was definitely suffering. It wouldn’t be too long before he was weakened enough to incapacitate him or probably kill him. Could vampires even die? Did it mean they were not in any way immortal? I had always thought that they were. Maybe not. Who knows? Things certainly had surprised me as of late. Anything could happen in this crazy world. Anything goes, I thought.

  Being stuck in an underground prison cell with Christian was no exception.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Never You

  April

  “SO, HOW LONG?”

  “How long what?” Christian’s irritation flooded his voice as my curiosity peaked. His face was pinched with pain periodically, making me wonder if starvation was that painful, or if my questions were driving him mad. Since we were stuck here together, with no way out, I figured I’d get to know him. Know thy enemy, right?

  “How long before, you know, you kick the bucket?” I chewed on my lip, wondering if he was going to act all broody and uncooperative. It was going to be a hell of a long night if he didn’t want to chat. I was wide awake, and I had no intention on letting him rest while so many questions dwelled in my mind.

  Christian snorted and turned his gaze in my direction. Something told me he was doing the same thing I was: trying to peel away the layers that I had so carefully wrapped around me. It was my own armored wall that I had stacked so high not even I could get out. I was certain there was no way in, which was perfect for this moment.

  “What? Gonna miss me?” he snickered. “I don’t know. I’ve never starved to death before. I’ll let you know when I find out.” He shifted on the cot, sliding to the ground and crawling toward me. “Why do you care? You offering?”

  “What? Oh hell no!” I shuddered and stood up, meandering to the bars and glancing down the hall. The place was as silent as a morgue. Concrete and the choke-inducing, stale air made me feel suffocated. I hated it. It was worse than Blaze’s hive, mostly due to the bars that held me entombed in this place.

  Christian leaned on the bars on one side of his cot and let one arm hang outside the bars, watching me pace as he relaxed. The halos of his eyes reflected what little light seeped over his side, making him wince from the brightness. I had the urge to slap him, like an annoying fly that kept hovering about my head. But he wasn’t a fly. He was a full-fledged hybrid blood-sucker, now immune to the deadly vampire sickness that had caused havoc throughout his and Blaze’s hives. I could see his hunger in every twitch of his lips and every flash of fang as he gazed hungrily at me.

  “Oh come on, why not?” Christian closed his eyelids, sweat gleaming across his forehead as time ticked by. I definitely wanted to swat him across the face for his request. I couldn’t believe he would ask me for blood. What the hell? I seethed in silence as I dug my heels into the ground. “Tell you what,” he continued, “how ‘bout we do this the right way, April.” Nothing but calm radiated from him as he waited for me to let the fire inside me die down. I didn’t want to listen to him. I already knew what he was going to say. “My name is Christian Hall. What’s your name, beautiful lady?” The slight twang in his voice reminded me of a Texan cowboy. It was subtle, as though he had not spent the entirety of his life in the southern states but had moved there when he was quite young. I had to admit that I was curious about him too.

  “We start over, a clean slate for both of us.” He held out his pale hand.

  An offer to start over? I really didn’t know what to make of it. What was he playing at? Collapsing onto the cot, I leaned on my legs as I glared back at him. I sighed, feeling defeated.

  “April. April Tate. And the pleasure is not mine,” I hissed.

  The smile Christian cracked made my anger fade a bit more as his hand returned to his side. He was amused by my little fit. His tongue ran along the sharp tips of his fangs, licking his lips but looking quite nonchalant about it all, like it was just a subconscious habit. His indifference made me feel pathetic, like I was over-reacting.

  I stood up and approached him, staring him down, hoping to get a rise out of him. But would I? He was weak and hungry, craving nothing but to sink his fangs into my jugular. Still, I inched closer until I met the edge of his cot. Sinking down to my knees until our faces were nearly even with one another, I narrowed my eyes at him.

  His hand reached over and carefully stroked my cheek. I wanted to flinch away, but I couldn’t move my limbs at all. His eyes were hypnotizing and swirled into deep wells until I couldn’t see anything but the endless emerald and brown abyss of their colors. My breath arrested and my eyes refused to close or pull away from his unrelenting stare. Everything inside me twisted as I suddenly felt a wave of nausea fill me. Breathing faster and faster, I wanted to pull away and find the air that my lungs screamed for. It was then that Christian reached out and grabbed my shoulders to give me a sharp shake, breaking the trance.

  “Wake up!” A flash in my vision knocked me to the floor, leaving me gasping. All the while, my throat burned and my eyes felt like they were on fire. I choked down gulps of air into my searing chest, catching my breath. Finally, the silence engulfed me and calmer, slower breaths finally filled the void. My heart was pounding in my ears, but it eventually slowed its frantic pace.

  What in the world?

  What had happened was beyond me. I had never felt anything like it. It had been a rush, and the flash had been my sudden disconnection from him, from his touch.

  As I regained my senses, still lying on the floor, I rolled my head toward Christian, anger burning in my eyes. “What did you do to me?” I demanded. The look on his face immediately told me that he seemed to know what he had done but was definitely as shocked as I was. His surprise made me feel a prick of fear as his voice slowly invaded my weakened consciousness.

  “I–I don’t know. That’s never happened before….”

  “Don’t bullshit me!”

  “I’m not.” He kneeled beside me, slipping his arm behind my head and pulling me up to a sitting position. I frowned at him but let him help me back up. “I swear. I don’t know what that was.”

  I groaned. Still dizzy from the shock which had incapacitated me. I scooted back to lean against the bars. I watched him suspiciously, wondering again why he hadn’t already just bitten me. I was so close to him and now, kind of helpless. He could have drained me if he’d wanted to. Why hadn’t he done so?

  As though he could hear my thoughts, he answered back. “Not without your permission. I’m not that person anymore.” His soft voice felt like a feather being dragged across my skin, making me shudder. He was so cl
ose he could have kissed my cheek. It was an invasion I didn’t want, but I could not bring myself to shove him away. I sucked in a breath as I slid my eyes to meet his again. Would he try to control me again? How was he reading my thoughts?

  “What do you mean, not without my permission?” I inquired, watching his face turn sullen as he avoided my gaze. It darkened, and I was left even more confused. I didn’t yet want to crawl back to my cot. I did want to get the hell out of there and run from whatever it was that he had done to me, but in a way, I didn’t want to run at all. Conflicted, I felt eerily scared. These were things I’ve found seductive in ways that were inexplicable.

  “I will never taste your blood without your permission first. Not without your permission, ever.” His promise rippled along my skin, making me shudder again. “I apologize for the way I was before. I was deranged, crazed from the sickness, not myself. It’s not like that anymore.”

  I didn’t know what this was or why it was happening now that I was sitting so close to him, stuck in a prison cell. Was he sincere? My thoughts drifted to Rye, and I missed him more than anything right then. It was Rye who made my skin shiver and his voice that sent ripples of want through me. What was this, then? It had to be some sort of trick. Maybe if I moved away from Christian, it would go away. Maybe his hold on me would wane if I inched back just a bit. If this was some sort of persuasive influence, I wanted nothing to do with it. I called on every bit of my will power and crept back, slowly sliding away.

  “Don’t go, please, April….” He begged as he reached out for me. “I do need blood, but I don’t need much. I won’t hurt you, I swear.” He sounded desperate, but I managed to make it back to the cot and pull myself into it. Why did I want to give him what he wanted? Why did I want to run back and let him sever my veins and suck my crimson life into him, just like that? My body ached to let him. I groaned as I turned away from him, hoping the ridiculous urge would eventually pass.

  “What’s happening? Why do I feel so strange?” I moaned, curling up into a ball. “What did you do to me?”

  “I−I don’t know, but….” A quiver shook in his voice as he continued. “I swear I didn’t do anything to you. This only happens if…but…I’m not sure. Look, I know you won’t like what I have to tell you, if it is what I think it is.” He paused, waiting to hear from me and searching for words.

  “Spit it out already!”

  “We connected now, matched. Simple as that. I−I never thought that I would match with anyone, let alone you.” I could feel his gaze on my back, probably secretly enjoying my shock.

  “What?” I shook my head, not believing what I was hearing. Shifting on the mattress to face him, I scanned his face for trickery. It had to be there, right? “How do you know?”

  “Well,” he said, rubbing his head as he sat up and slowly breathing out as he thought of what to say. “This connection… you’ll feel my pain, my suffering as if it’s your own. It will be the same for me too, it goes both ways. That’s how this vampire connection thing goes. We’re now one. We can share each other’s powers too. But,” he let a long breath out, looking more and more tired, “this shouldn’t be happening. You’re a human, not a vampire.”

  “No!” I sat up and gritted my teeth. “You’re lying!” He watched me calmly, complete despair spilling from him. “Why didn’t we connect the last time we met? I don’t believe you.”

  “Maybe the sickness blocked it somehow. I don’t know, April, I swear I don’t know. We’re all new to this; it’s not like I planned it,” he sighed letting his head drop back against the concrete wall.

  I felt my stomach drop as a creepy feeling of dread seeped into my stomach. “We can’t be mates, that’s impossible.” I shook my head, unbelieving. “I love Rye, not you!” I dropped back onto the pillow, tears streaming down my cheeks, soaking into my hair and onto the cot.

  What if it was true? Could it be his way of manipulating me to get what he wanted? Nothing made sense; nothing turned this chaos in my head into a calmer ocean.

  “Not you.” My sobs filled the air now, and a strong overwhelming exhaustion filled me. “Never you….”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Never Is A Promise

  April

  THE FLOURESCENT LIGHT seeped through my eyelids, making me groan and turn away from its assault. I didn’t know what time it was, but I knew I had slept for quite a while and still felt like utter crap.

  “Sleep well?” A voice jarred my memory, and it brought a loathing along with it as the events from the previous night echoed in the silence of the cell. I scanned around me and frowned, half hoping to awaken anywhere else but here in this hellish cell or some horrid, forsaken nightmare.

  Christian’s face came into focus and I pressed my already tense lips tighter together. He looked the same, if not a bit paler. The color did not suit him. His skin tone looked like it had once had a slight tan to it. But now it was transparent under the grey tones from the starvation. I sighed and sat up. He was on the floor and looked as though he had not slept at all in weeks, shaking uncontrollably.

  “You talk in your sleep.”

  “What? No I don’t,” I muttered, throwing my legs down off the cot. My muscles ached, and my back was killing me from the stitches, not to mention the insanely uncomfortable cot. Running my fingers through my messed up hair, I was sure I looked frightful. But why would I care? I wasn’t there to impress anyone.

  “You look fine.” Christian waved his hand at me as he leaned against the bars.

  “Oh, so now you’re psychic.”

  He shrugged and played with the shredded end of his shirt. He must have been wearing it for some time now; dirt and filth streaked the edges, leaving it threadbare and ripped. A slight wave of nausea rushed over me, making me clutch my stomach as it surged through me. I didn’t fail to notice Christian flinch along with it. Had he felt it, too?

  “Uuagrh….” I moaned as it receded, like a drowning ocean tide pulling away. “What’s happening to me?” I gasped, my voice croaking in a strangled whisper. Hanging my head down in my lap, I took deeper breaths as the pain finally faded, leaving me clammy and slightly lightheaded.

  Christian shifted, standing up to pace back and forth on his side of the cell. He was definitely agitated by something. Maybe he had felt the pain and nausea, but he’d recovered faster than I had. I wondered how long he had been feeling that way, since he seemed so used to it now.

  “Make it stop,” I begged as another wave tumbled through me, sending me crashing to the floor, writhing in its tumult. My hands turned clammy as I gripped my legs tighter to me.

  “Hey, April.” I felt his cool hand on my shoulder as he reached out and pulled me toward him. I sat up as the agony pulled away a bit. My breathing was rapid and shallow and I prayed I would just pass out. My vision threatened to fade to black as it shrunk into a tunnel while the room spun, reminding me of the seasickness of riding in a boat. I had ridden in a few in my childhood, and it had never gotten easier for me to endure. Just like then, all my senses were off, leaving me out of balance in every way.

  “Don’t fight it; it’s better to just breathe through it.” He had me sitting up, partly against the bars and partly embracing my torso to keep me from slipping to the floor. I sucked in ragged breaths as the sweat beaded off of me.

  “I can’t.”

  “You must.”

  “Please, make it stop!”

  “I can make it stop,” he whispered as I writhed in agony. “But you wouldn’t want me to do it.” His warm breath tickled my face, and I turned toward him. His words came softly and momentarily soothed the pain. I wanted to sleep and forget about this and him. His arms tightened as I swayed, slipping slightly against the cold smooth bars.

  “What do you need to do?”

  Christian leaned his head to mine, his dark brown eye gleaming in the dark right into my own blue one. The glowing gold halo surrounding his iris was the only difference between human and supernatural. “Give
me some of your blood, just a tiny bit. Then you have to drink from me. It will heal us both.”

  “No.”

  “It’s the only way, April.”

  “It can’t be the only way,” I whispered. My tears tumbled down my cheeks from the tension inside me. I didn’t want to hurt anymore, it was excruciating.

  “It seals a bond between us, but it will take the pain with it. Once I’m not starving anymore, this torture will go away. You’re feeling my torturous starvation. It will make us both whole again, and we’ll be strong enough to leave this place, this tomb.” Christian’s voice was a melody in my head as the room continued to sway. Why he had not bitten and drained me yet was beyond me. I was slipping with every moment.

  “But if I let you, we’ll be bound to each other, won’t we?”

  He nodded, his eyes betraying his concern.

  “But that’s no good. What about Rye? What will this do to us?”

  Christian shook his head slowly and I understood the severity of this “cure.” His sincerity made me want to scream. “I can’t do that to him, he’ll never understand.”

  “No, he probably won’t. But you, as well as I, will die here otherwise.” He tilted his head, watching me closer. “Do you want to die here?” I shook my head. “He never told you just how a vampiric bond between mates is truly formed, did he?”

  I shook my head once more, wishing I had probed Rye more about it. “How fast will it work?”

  “Not as fast as you’d like, but it won’t be a long wait.”

  “I have to think about it.”

  “Of course.” He continued to hold onto my weakened body, making sure I didn’t slip farther down. I was definitely confused and uncertain of what to do. What could I do? I hadn’t expected this, almost dying from pain that wasn’t even mine because I’d somehow become matched with an enemy vampire. Just my luck. I wanted to laugh out loud at the irony of it all.