New Blood (The Blood Saga Book 2) (22 page)

Phoenix and Hendrick looked to me
questioningly. Damien watched Ryce as if he were seeing things. Cussing under
his breath Damien quickly ran to meet Ryce. “When?”

“Las night I drove her owt to her
mot’rs. She was too hysta’rical to drive bai hersef. We didn’ knuw it had
alreadeh happened. She wanted to protect dem. We wh’ere too late,” his accent
was thicker than I remembered. Perhaps it was his turmoil tainting his words.

He’d only been in America for a few
years. Ryce and Neesa had always talked about having their wedding at his home
in the Barbados islands.

When Ryce stood, all traces of the
massive cat were gone.

Ryce’s body was covered in deep
lacerations from head to toe. He looked like he had been thrown in a blender.

As I moved, Phoenix moved with me.
Ever a step ahead of me as if he were still ready for any attack. Hendrick
followed behind just as close but more confused than anyone.

“What happened to you?” It was a
complete shock to see the man I had spent two years working with every day turn
from cat to human like that.

Of course he looked on at me with
the same shock as he had never seen me as a Vampire before. Though the pain still
overwhelmed all other emotions.

“Neesa’s behn taken because of you!”
He snarled, a low growl rumbled from his lips more feral than anything I had
ever heard before. His shoulders tensed and hunched forward unnaturally. Feral
like fangs had yet to shrink back completely. They were twice as long as my own
still. That was why he was so difficult to understand.

In the same instant Damien, Phoenix
and Hendrick all stood in front of me. Each one ready to rip him to shreds at
the first sign of a real threat.

Horrified by what had happened to
my friends, I staggered back. Lara and Jezabell came up behind me cautiously.
They remained quiet but listened intently. Lara stood by my side. Her hand on
my arm in concern.

“Tell me what happened, Ryce,” I
begged helplessly from behind my wall of overzealous protectors.

“She saw eh vision of her mot’er
being attacked. She begged me to go wit her. I wasn’t fast enuff.” His hands
came up to his head, gripping his skull desperately. This was a man that had
been terrorized by the pain of loss. It was the same understood emotion that
made Damien and Phoenix so ready to protect me.

“Dhey were dead. Her mot’er and fat’ar
both. I’d neva seen suh mhuch blood. I drug Neesa owtside to get her away, but
it whas tu late. They were dere waitien fo us. I hadn’ even seen dhem before
dhey attacked. Dhey took
her
!” He collapsed back to his knees. With his
head in his hands he sobbed openly.

I pushed through Phoenix and Damien
to get to Ryce. Carefully my hands placed to his battered shoulders. I was
afraid to touch him for the extent of his wounds. I should have been afraid for
a whole other reason. As soon as I touched him, Ryce’s hands shot up and threw
me back, leaving deep claw marks across my stomach. The second I got close
enough, he had begun changing that quickly.

I crashed into the ground with more
force than expected. Hendrick tackled Ryce as he screamed repeatedly, “It’s yow
fault! If yu would ‘ave stayed away from her she woulda bein safe! It’s yow fault!
Yew faucking
Vampires
!”

They struggled on the ground, but
Ryce was too battered to fight well. Phoenix was standing over me, pulling me
to my feet just as Damien joined him. With a low snarl and a glare meant for
Phoenix, Damien placed himself between Ryce and me once more.

“We have to help him, Damien. He’s
right. This is our fault. I can’t let her suffer because of me.” My feet
staggered slightly as I tried to push past Phoenix futilely. Wrapping his arms
around my torso he locked me in place. He was extra careful of the deep gashes
that had shredded my shirt as well as my flesh. I didn’t notice nor care about
the pain. “Damien!”

Damien nodded at Phoenix for him to
keep me there. Phoenix spoke low so that only Damien and I would be close
enough to hear, “He’s too dangerous. We read his thoughts. He’ll kill you if we
give him the chance. He’s certain she’ll die and he’s here for vengeance. Not
help. He’ll gladly die if it means you die, too.”

“Hendrick has him now. Can he kill
me if Hendrick’s holding him down?” I fought against Phoenix but he was
unmovable. “Let me go!”

Phoenix rumbled in my ear, “I’m
afraid I can’t do that, cupcake.”

Damien turned to me before looking
back to Ryce, who still struggled even against his odds.

Hendrick maneuvered Ryce to be in
front of him, holding his arms behind his back in a way that looked absolutely
painful. Finally rolling him until Ryce was face down in the grass.

Hendrick held his arms still and
placed a knee in the center of his back. “What should we do with him, Damien?”
Hendrick yelled, jerking his arm back every time he struggled. “Quit fighting
or I’ll break your arm!” He grunted as Ryce squirmed.

“Phoenix, please! She was my best
friend. She was helping Damien, and that’s why this happened. I have to speak
to him. I have to make this right. You know that I do.”

Damien looked back and forth between
Hendrick, Ryce, Phoenix and me. Uncertainty in his eyes. Phoenix loosened his
hold. “I’m going with you then. You
will
stay behind me, and you will do
as I say.” He released me after I nodded to his conditions and placed his
unmovable hand around my arm, walking past Damien with me to stand closer to
Hendrick and Ryce.

As I looked to Ryce, tears ran down
his face. He was sobbing like a child and had completely given up on the fight
with Hendrick. “She loved yu, and now she’hll dai because of yu. And tha’s only
if she’s lucky!”

Damien came to stand on my other
side. Phoenix never released me, holding me so I was half way behind him.

“Ryce, listen to me. I know it was
our fault. But you’ll have to agree to stop trying to kill me if you want to
get up any time soon. Will you talk to me peacefully? Please? Let us help bring
her back to you.”

Shoulders slumped, he nodded
weakly. “Let him up, Hendrick.” Ignoring me, Hendrick looked to Damien and then
Phoenix who both nodded together.

Hendrick first removed the knee
from his back. Holding his hands as if he were arresting Ryce, he kept them
locked in one grip. His other held Ryce’s arm to pull him up from the dirt. “Hendrick!
Let him go!” I growled, pressing to push past Phoenix though he wouldn’t let
me.

Hendrick eyed Phoenix and Damien
who stood still as statues. Reluctantly he released Ryce’s hands.

Ryce snarled low, rubbing one
shoulder that had a large piece of flesh and muscle missing as if something had
bitten it off. There was more truth to that than I wanted to admit. Something
had.

Shuddering involuntarily, Phoenix
pulled me closer to him, though not forcefully. I got this strange feeling he
had wanted to sooth me somehow. Strangely knowing that, it did.

“All right, Ryce, I think you know
now that any act of aggression here is not going to be a smart one. Did they
say anything that would help us find her?” We all knew who it was already. This
was Nekayla’s way of dealing with things.

Not only could she not share. When
she was done with something she’d rather kill it than anyone else get a chance
to take it.

Ryce shook his head in grief. “If I
woulda ‘ad any inklin of ‘ow to find her, I would ‘ave gone after her mahself.
But I knew she whas helping yew. An I knew da Vampias took her.

“Not full Vampias. They were
Crossbreeds. It just made sense if eh Vampire asked her for help, an anoter one
attacked her dhen mah answe’ would lai wit da filty blood sucka dhat had pushed
dheir problems inta her life in da first place.” Hendrick snarled in a low
menacing warning. Ryce didn’t care. His lips curled back from his now human
teeth. It still carried the same threat. My stomach still burned, and drizzled
from the last time he’d instantly shifted.

Sighing, I looked down. My gaze was
pulled to the intricate blue ink marking Phoenix’s back and arms down to his
elbows. As fresh as it looked, it seemed ancient as well. I’d never asked him
about them before. Weird time to note such a thing probably. But in my defense
he was still standing in front of me.

Finally I looked to Damien for
help. His eyes went past me to Ryce, and then back to me. Though he didn’t miss
a beat in sending Phoenix a glare of disdain in the process.

It was clear to me no one else knew
what to do. This was my mess ultimately. It wasn’t just Damien’s fault. I drug
Neesa into this crap long before I had turned. Time to clean it all up. I shook
my head, shaking out the feeling of panic and took in a deep breath.

It took a few moments of absorbing
the chaos before the strangest feeling stirred inside of me. It was like a
switch inside of me just finally flipped, turning off the raging emotions and
chaotic thoughts.
It’s okay Phoenix you can let go of my arm now.
I
never said it out loud, but instantly he released me.

Damien tensed.
Not now, Damien,
I don’t have time for this.
His eyes went wide.
What? Just because I can’t
hear you doesn’t mean you both can’t hear me just fine. I may as well use it to
my advantage if you’re going to be in my head anyway. We used to do it all the
time, remember?

Phoenix smirked as he stepped back
by my side rather than in front of me now.

“Hendrick, Lara, Jezabell. Get Ryce
inside. Get him cleaned up and see what you can do about the injuries. If
nothing else, send Jezabell for some medical supplies. And get the man some
clothes.” Uhg I could seriously go without seeing my old friend in the nude
ever again. As a human I’d been attracted to him, I was only human after all.
Now, something seemed almost repulsive to me about him physically.

“Damien, Phoenix. Come with me. Don’t
worry, Ryce. We’ll get her back if it kills me.”

Again. Hardee har har
.

To my surprise they all instantly
responded to my instruction. Knowing they had nothing for his injuries,
Jezabell went straight to the garage and went about retrieving her pearl white
Ferrari.

Hendrick and Lara escorted Ryce
inside. It was a slow effort for a horrible limp on his right side. “Blood
doesn’t heal Shifters like it does us, does it?”

Phoenix shook his head. “No, they
heal quickly. But they heal much more like humans do.” I sighed, that was sad
to hear. He didn’t deserve any of this. Neither did Neesa. “We were to follow
you?” Phoenix questioned with a raised brow.

“Yes.” I turned away from watching
the others and quickly moved into the woods. Damien and Phoenix both followed
quietly. We stopped deep in the woods, plenty far away from the others. I
needed to feel the distance between us.

“You’re both fighters. I’ve seen
that.” I didn’t need to say how. “What can we do?” I turned to them. Arms folded
against my chest tightly. Of course I wasn’t cold. I was determined.

Damien spoke first, “We can’t let
them pull innocent people into this any further. We need to bring them down.
The sooner the better in my opinion. However it will be dangerous. We don’t
want the fight to come here so we need to bring it to them.”

Just like that I knew what we
needed to do. “Then we’ll go back to Vermont. Your house in Vermont to be more
precise. They’ll think Jezie asked us to leave to take the fight away from
them. They tried to use me as bait then. Well now you can use me as bait
instead. This time we’ll be ready, and they won’t get away.” I shrugged as if
it made perfect sense.

Damien’s eyes narrowed. “Nekayla
could be there. That’s not a good idea I don’t want you anywhere near her.”

Phoenix shook his head. “No. She
won’t. She doesn’t deal with the confrontations like this. She even said she
would send her people. As I blacked out, Nekayla yelled for Demetrius. He’s in
charge of things for her now that Liahm is dead.”

It all sounded so perfectly clear
to me. This was what to do. He knew that house. He knew it was Damien’s. It was
a safe place to take this. It was safe away from here and everyone else.