Betrayal (Blood Haze: Book Three) A Paranormal Romance (16 page)

“Listen,” I told him. “The worst that could
happen is that Dmitri could take me prisoner. It’s happened before.
You’ll find a way to get me out. Please, Alexi. I’m
begging
you to let me do this. Please.”

He was silent for a moment,
contemplative.

“Fine,” he conceded. “But if anything happens
to you…”

“If anything happens to me, I trust you to
get me out,” I convinced him.

“You know I would not stop until I got you
back – no matter the cost.”

“I know, Alexi,” I agreed, placing my hand
gently on his cheek.

His hand closed around my wrist, and I felt
him press his cheek harder against my hand. I could feel his love
for me surging through my skin like an electrical current. It was
intense and undying, and I knew what he said was true. Nothing,
short of death, would stop him from trying to get me back.

“Please be safe, my love,” he whispered, his
voice faltering slightly.

“I will,” I told him. “I promise.”

“You must feed before you go,” he said. “I
will call one of the volunteers in here for you.”

“Alright,” I agreed.

It was true. I had been trying to find Alexi
to tell him I needed to feed when I’d overheard Liam’s big
revelation. That was something I definitely wished I hadn’t heard.
Liam was my best friend – the only person I could confide in and
have fun with without it being complicated – and now he might be
leaving.

Alexi brought a young man up to the dining
hall. He must have been around nineteen or twenty. He was cute, but
not overly so. His arms were sleeved in tattoos, and his hair was
spiky and dyed green.

“What’s your name?” I asked him.

He looked confused.

“My name?” he asked. “Why?”

“Because you’re not just food to me, that’s
why,” I said. “And I appreciate what you’re doing for us.”

He fidgeted uncomfortably, shoving his hands
in his pockets and shifting his weight back and forth from one foot
to the other.

“Blake,” he answered.

“Thank you, Blake,” I said. “I’m Alice. And
again, I really appreciate you doing this.”

I always felt guilty feeding. Ever since I
was a little girl, feeding had made me feel so strange. I knew some
vampires saw humans as nothing more than food – like cattle, but
with more personality. I had never been that way. Although humans
had once made me feel extremely uncomfortable, they were always my
equals.

“Will you sit down?” I asked Blake.

“Sure,” he said, shrugging and sitting down
in the chair in front of me.

I knew my venom would paralyze him, and I
didn’t want him to get hurt in case I couldn’t catch him in time.
Usually, that was no problem. Occasionally, the feeding frenzy
would take over, and I would forget what I was doing. It was easier
if they were sitting down.

As my face neared his neck, I could hear his
pulse racing through his veins. He seemed nervous, and I wondered
how long he’d been a volunteer, and why he was doing it at all. His
heart beat so quickly it was almost fluttering.

“Just relax,” I whispered into his ear,
placing my hands on his shoulders.

I heard his heart rate slow very slightly,
and a little of the tension in his shoulders loosened. I placed my
lips gently against his neck, and the muscles quivered underneath
his skin. His heart rate increased again, but this time, I thought
it sounded more like excitement than fear or anxiety.

It was then that I caught an intoxicating
whiff of his blood. I don’t know where the scent came from, because
I was certain I hadn’t bitten him, yet. But somehow, I could smell
it. I felt some kind of darkness stirring inside me, and it quickly
began to boil over. It was a kind of rage, and I couldn’t control
it.

I could feel my fangs sinking into his neck,
although I didn’t do it intentionally. Something had taken control,
and it wasn’t me. It wanted to devour this poor boy, and I felt
powerless to stop it. More and more of his blood flooded into me,
and it was warm and soothing. I was delirious with the pleasant
feeling, and the slower his pulse became, the better it felt. My
arms wrapped around him, and I constricted his body as though I
were trying to squeeze every last drop of blood from his veins.

“Alice!” I heard a voice shout, though it was
dulled and echoic as if I was hearing it from the other end of a
long tunnel.

I felt hands pawing at me, though I couldn’t
understand what they were trying to do. I could vaguely feel some
kind of tugging, but it didn’t matter. All I wanted was blood.

“Alice, darling, please,” I heard a voice
say.

The voice was still reverberating and
distant, but I could clearly tell it was Alexi. He was saying
something else, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Blake’s pulse grew
weaker by the second. Before long, he would be dead.

“Alice, stop… before you kill him,” Alexi’s
voice pleaded in my ear.

I felt his hand close over mine, and the
electrifying surge of his love overwhelmed the darkness inside me.
I snapped back to reality in a split second. I retracted my fangs
and gasped loudly, staggering backward into Alexi’s strong
arms.

It took me a moment to gather my wits. It
almost seemed as if everything around me was moving in slow motion,
but it wasn’t. Sounds were faded, muffled. I leaned backward
against Alexi, who wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly.
I heard a commotion, scuffling and voices that sounded panicked. I
couldn’t understand what was happening, or what was being said.

I shook my head and tried to get a grip on
reality. I remembered the feeling of something dark taking over
inside me, and I remembered sinking my fangs into Blake’s neck. I
gasped aloud. Had I killed him?

“Alexi!” I shrieked. “What have I done?”

“Shh,” Alexi comforted me, stroking my hair.
“It is alright, darling. You stopped in time.”

“Maybe,” Liam muttered.

“Liam!” Alexi warned.

“What?” I gasped. “What does he mean by
‘maybe’, Alexi?”

“Nothing, darling,” Alexi replied. “Just calm
down. He will be fine.”

“I don’t understand what happened,” I said.
“I’ve never lost control that way. It was like I couldn’t stop.
Like I wasn’t even in control of myself.”

Father Jacobs and Alexi exchanged worried
glances.

“What? What was that look?” I demanded.

Alexi opened his mouth as if to speak, but he
grunted slightly, and then paused as if he couldn’t find the words.
I turned to Father Jacobs, and he only looked down at the
floor.

I pulled away from Alexi and flew across the
room to stand in front of Father Jacobs. I looked into his eyes and
searched for the answer.

“Please, Father,” I implored. “Tell me what’s
going on!”

“I can’t be sure,” Father Jacobs told me
honestly.

“Then tell me what you
think
is going
on,” I pleaded.

He shifted his eyes toward Alexi, as if
looking for either help or permission. Alexi said nothing, so
Father Jacobs sighed.

“I believe this is the beginning of a process
that was set in motion by you dabbling in dark magic,” Father
Jacobs said at last. “I’m afraid this darkness may get far
worse.”

“But I hardly spent any time on it,” I
argued. “How can this be happening? I only dabbled in it for a few
hours!”

“Alice, I’m afraid that even the slightesy
foray into the dark arts can drag a person into darkness,” Father
Jacobs said grimly. “It isn’t something to be toyed with.”

“You can stop it, though, right? Have you
found someone who can help?” I asked him.

“Not yet,” he admitted. “But I will keep
trying. You have my word.”

“What have I done?” I lamented. “I thought I
was doing the right thing.”

“It will be alright,” Kai said, putting his
arm around me. “I know it will.”

“I hope you’re right,” I said, but I was
doubtful.

I almost killed Blake. He was an innocent
victim – a volunteer. He was there because he wanted to be, because
he trusted us. And I’d nearly taken his life away in a moment of
weakness.

At least I would be strong when I went to see
Dmitri. Blake’s blood now coursed through my veins, and I could
already feel it strengthening me. If Dmitri would not accept our
proposal, at least I had a chance to defend myself.

We decided it would be best if we left right
away. Alexi’s driver had purchased a new Guardian, and it was
sitting in the driveway fueled and ready to go. Kai hugged me
goodbye. I could tell he wanted to kiss me, but he respected my
boundaries. Alexi was not so accepting. It was all I could do to
struggle away from his arms.

“Alexi, please,” I tried to reason with him,
wriggling my way free of his embrace. “I have to go.”

His hands grasped my shoulders, and he leaned
close to me.

“I still object to this,” he told me sternly.
“But I am trusting you. You must come home safely to me.”

“I will, Alexi,” I tried to convince him, but
I wasn’t so sure myself.

“I love you, Alice,” Alexi told me. “With all
that I am, I love you.”

I noticed over his shoulder that Liam was
standing in the window, watching me prepare to leave. When he saw
me looking at him, the curtain quickly closed. He couldn’t even
stand to be near me.

“I will return soon,” I told Alexi.

I kissed Alexi and Kai both on the cheek, and
then I joined Father Jacobs in the Guardian.

Fortunately, Dmitri’s compound wasn’t more
than an hour away. It was a long, anxious drive. Although I was
worried, I was almost relieved when we pulled up to the front gate.
As I started to leave the car, Father Jacobs grabbed my arm.

“Alice, before we go in there,” he said. “Do
you want me to talk, or would you prefer to?”

“You can do it,” I said. “You’re the
diplomat.”

“And what are you?” he asked.

“The bodyguard, I suppose,” I answered with a
shrug.

“Let’s hope we don’t need you in that role,”
Father Jacobs said solemnly. “And let us keep this as amicable as
Dmitri will allow.”

I nodded in agreement.

“I don’t want an altercation any more than
you do,” I agreed. “I made a promise that I would come home safely,
and I intend to do everything I can to honor that promise.”

We were escorted inside by a security detail.
We traveled down a long, dimly lit corridor. At the end of the
corridor, one of the guards pushed open a huge wooden door. It
creaked ominously, and I shivered as a gust of chilly air swept
around me.

“Please… do come in,” a voice I recognized as
Dmitri called.

Father Jacobs and I entered the room. Dmitri
was sitting behind a massive wooden desk, and he beckoned with a
sweeping motion for us to occupy the two chairs which sat in front
of him. We complied.

“I am surprised to see you here, Alice,”
Dmitri drawled. “I never imagined it would be so easy to…”

“Stop,” I growled quickly. “That’s not why
I’m here.”

“Tell me, then,” Dmitri said. “Why
have
you come?”

“I am Father Peter Jacobs,” the priest said.
“I have agreed to come as a mediator, in order that we may attempt
to find an amicable solution in which no one needs to get
hurt.”

“I see. I assumed you had come to offer Alice
to me in appeasement.”

“Ms. Wright is not an object for bargaining.
We understand there is something else you wanted more than
her?”

“What I wanted is no longer possible,” Dmitri
said gravely. “I’m afraid your chances of bargaining with anything
other than Alice are gone.”

“Why is it no longer possible?” asked Father
Jacobs.

“When Barnabas died, I would guess he took
the secret of what I am seeking to the grave with him.”

“But you’re the one who killed him!” I
shouted, suddenly seething with rage. I jumped to my feet and
slammed my fists onto Dmitri’s desk, glaring stormily into his
eyes. “It was your wraiths who killed him!”

I felt Father Jacobs place a soothing hand on
mine, and I knew he was trying to get me to stand down.
Reluctantly, I lowered myself slowly back into my chair and tried
to contain my anger.

“I never wanted any harm to come to
Barnabas,” Dmitri said, shaking his head sadly. “I’m sure you are
aware by now that Barnabas was once one of my closest friends.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “And I also know why you’re
no longer friends.”

Dmitri raised one eyebrow, and then asked,
“Then do you know what it is I wanted from him?”

“Alexi said he believes it’s some talisman,”
I admitted.

“Indeed it is,” Dmitri nodded. “And I need
the talisman now more than ever.”

“Why? Do you have someone
else
to
kidnap or murder?” I growled.

“Alice,” Father Jacobs warned me gently.

I gritted my teeth. It was exceedingly
difficult to contain my anger, when the murderer of Alexi’s father
and grandfather sat directly across the desk from us. I’d asked the
priest to do all of the talking, but suddenly I had taken over the
role, and I felt powerless to stop.

“It is no concern of yours,” Dmitri
snapped.

“Look, if you want this thing so badly, then
I need to know
why
,” I told him.

Dmitri opened his mouth as if he wanted to
tell me, but he paused.

“Just tell me,” I urged.

Dmitri sighed.

“It is difficult for me to admit this,”
Dmitri conceded. “But things have… gotten out of control.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The wraiths… are turning on me,” Dmitri
admitted, turning his eyes downward in obvious embarrassment.

“Oh, lovely,” I groaned. “Is that why you’ve
done all this? Because you messed around in something you shouldn’t
have, and now it’s all backfiring on you?”