Blood Twist (The Erris Coven Series) (5 page)

As Liz and Lexie approached, Braden shoved his hands in his pockets,
in a vain attempt
to appear aloof. If he admired Liz’s beauty now, it would give his cousins more ammunition for torturing him.
He knew they loved harassing him, but he didn’t have the heart for it today.

Lexie automatically went to Torin’s outstretched arms
. She hobbled
in her walking cast,
but it didn’t prevent her
from smiling
. The two of them glowed in
each other’s
presence
.

Liz stood right next to him
, her own
soft
hands fixed at her sides
. Braden breathed in her captivating scent, perplexed that her smell could send
such a pleasing ripple
through his body.

It wasn’t her blood. S
he didn’t tempt him to feed. It was something else he couldn’t explain.
Embarrassment
flamed his cheeks, if his cousins were mind readers, they would show no mercy.

“Did you really
locate the cure for my
mom?” Lexie asked. The hope in her voice matched the look on her face.

Liz turned her head towards him and for a moment their eyes met. Hers had flecks of gold, the color of the sun streaming through
the forest. Averting his gaze
,
he focused
on her friend.

“I’m leaving tomorrow. I may be gone for a while, but I plan on sending the a
ntidote through overnight mail,” he swallowed dryly. “I’m hoping it will do the trick.”

“Have you told the elders?” Cian seemed
surprised
.

“Actually,” Braden explained, “I’m meeting a friend of my fathers. You know how painful it is for them when he
’s brought
up in conversation.
I’d
rather we keep this
between us.
Besides, if the plans for locating it fall through, at least they’ll still be searching.
”

“I can come with you,” Cian offered.

“Brade
n and I talked about it earlier,” Torin said, shaking his head.
“
We don’t know if
the youngest Serov will be back.
I really need you and Teagan here with me to keep an eye on things.”

Braden
nodded to Cian.
“You should
keep an extra eye on Brooke and
Theo –
they could
be targeted
since they are friends of Lexie’s
.”

With a huff, Ella stood abruptly, knocking her lawn chair over. “So that’s how it is. He’s nothing but a threat to any of you.”
Tears rolled from her
dark
eyes.
“You can spare yourselves the concern. He’s not coming back.”
Her
voice quivered
as s
he turned her back on them.

Braden watched Ella
with concern. “If
t
he
werewolf
comes bac
k, he might be looking to take
her with him.”

“What about me?” Liz interjected.

Pretending to barely notice
her, Braden glanced over. “You won’t want to make such a long trip.”

Teagan chuckled, “Maybe she would.”

“Liz is a good travel buddy,” Lexie added
,
rubbing Torin’s shoulder
as she sat on his lap
.
“We went to Disney
together.”

“Having Liz as a companion will make the flight go quicker,”
Torin
looked directly at him
,
with a crooked grin, he was
clearly entertained
.

Braden realized where this conversation was going. He needed to redirect it. “I’m leaving the country, she would need a passport.”

“I never leave home without it,”
Liz
insisted
. “The Captain
is a Navy man. I’ve flown all over the world visiting him at different bases.”

Teagan br
ushed the crumbs from his shirt and gave Braden a playful grin.
“Since we have to stay, I’ll feel better if Liz travels with you.
Unless you want one of the elders to keep you company. My father likes
flying;
I don’t mind asking him for you.”

Feeling backed in
to
a corner, Braden stared up at the sky and wished it w
o
uld open up and swallow him. He knew his
cousins were having fun razzing him about
Liz, but he didn’t want to put her in danger.

“Alright,” h
e said, surprising even himself, “b
ut be ready to leave by dawn.”

Blowing out a deflated breath, Braden knew it was time to drop the subject.
I
f he
continued to refuse
her, his cousins just might tell the elders about his trip.
Seamus and Donovan wouldn’t acc
ept his generalized explanation and
Patrick would demand to come with him. Even though they weren’t his parents, Braden always showed them respect. It was bad enough lying to his cousins in order to keep them safe, he couldn’t do the same to the men his father called brothers. 

Perhaps, Liz’s presence
wouldn’t be so bad.
Having her
company during his final hours would help keep his mind off the inevitable.
Even now while she stood only inches away, the surface of his skin excited in response to her nearness.
He w
ould
just have to
send her
home on a return
flight as soon as they land
ed
.
Rather than leaving a good-bye letter in his room, h
e
w
ould ask her to hand deliver the note
.

By the time she gets back, everything will be said and done.
At least Ruby will
live
.

7

DEATH

Death chewed each knuckle and tendon, grinding his teeth against the sinew and bone until he could extract the sweet marrow from within
each
delectable bite.
The grease and fluids ran down his chin, pooling onto his crisp white shirt. The twitching body beneath him
had
long since silenced.

He loved spilling hot crimson over tile flooring. The way the blood collected in the
grooves around each square fascinated him. He would wait until it thickened with
knotty
little clots before
running his tongue along the grout,
licking it clean.

Closing
his eyes,
he pretended
it was the damphyr beneath him. There was nothing like the blood of a
half breed
. His
pallid
skin shivered with the fantasy, sending
desire
through his torso and down into his groin.

His stomach was full of flesh, blood, and cartilage, but it was his throat that constantly burned for more.
Pulling
his v
ictim’s other hand to his
mouth,
his
teeth
stripped the salty skin from the fingers quickly, getting to the delicate meat underneath.

The damphyr finally called. He had been waiting for h
im to come as promised
. He had bee
n fantasizing about
the scenario that would finally bring the two together
and
j
oyfully
anticipated tasting
the boy
for twelve long years
. H
is sexual appetite
was heightened just
thinking of the pleasure to come.

He rocked agains
t the cooling corpse
. The hedonistic pressure of his weight rubbing against the stiff body filled him with
joy. More blood flowed from his meal’s
gaping wounds, running in
rivulets
down the wan skin.

The moment he had
been waiting for was coming.  Tipping his head back,
his guttural moan reverberated against the walls around him.

Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.

8

LIZ

Liz wasn’t averse to flying, but waking up at the butt crack of dawn wasn’t her favorite thing
either
.
She
barely climbed out of bed
when Braden knocked lightly on the front door. Fortunately
,
she had packed
the evening
before
,
so when
he asked if she was ready to leave, she just yawned and followed him out to his truck.

At the airport, the lines were long and she just wanted to
get situated on the plane. Thinking longingly of coffee,
she
push
ed
her leg
s to keep up with
the damphyr’s
quicker stride
. After collecting their tickets and watching her squirm through security, Braden
led Liz
through the airp
ort’s terminal at a break neck
pace.
As he moved with purpose,
she cou
ldn’t help but notice the
tension behind his
illuminating blue eyes.

Maybe he’s uptight about the time.

W
hen they
arrived at their boarding gate, she was surprised to see the plane was destined for Vancouver, Canada and not
Ireland like she had expected.
She gave him a questioning glance, but he just proceeded to hand over their boarding passes to the agen
t who was calling their
row to be seated.

Riding in first class was a novel experience. When she mentioned paying for her own
airfare
the night before, Braden wouldn’t hear of it. She expected to be sitting in the
economy section where her knees bumped the seat
in front
of her
, but there was plenty of room
to stretch out
.
Even as tall as Braden was, the damphyr had leg room.
 

Her joy was complete when the perky flight attendant took her breakfast order and brought her coffee.  She didn’t appreciate the goo-goo eyes the bleach blonde was bestowing on Braden, but the coffee was
good and made
a peaceful
brib
e.

Wonderful, delicious, hot coffee…

Once in the air
, Liz
began fidgeting with a nervous excitement.
She liked her window seat, but was more interested i
n what was going on around her. Un
sure if it was
due to
the caffeine she slu
rped down or the bisque co
lored rubber eggs,
she needed entertainment.

Liz
turned
t
o face
Braden. He was sitting
upright and
staring straight ahead
with a pensive expression
. 

“Was there a reason you told your family we were traveling to Ireland instead of Canada?” she blurted.
Braden didn’t flinch.
“You could have at least mentioned it to me. What if I had a strong hatred against Canadians or was banned from
entering
the country or something?”

“You could have refused to get on the plane,” he answered simply.

“So
,
is being cryptic your vampire power or something?”

Braden cocked his head to meet Liz’s gaze. “Do you have to talk so loudly? We aren’t the only passengers on this plane.”

Liz edged her face closer to his. “I really don’t think anyone cares what we
are talking about
.
”

She sat
back and studied him, “You know –
y
ou aren’t exactly what I expected of a vampire.” She caught his eyebrow go up
.
“Excuse me, damphyr.
  You’re a bit on the preppy side.
”