Blood Delirium (Blood Trance Book 1) Page 9

  Chapter 34

  Kevin was unchained and sprawled on the bed. Marcus was holding him gently and drinking from two puncture wounds in his neck. “Stop!” I yelled and hit him as hard as I could. He jumped back with surprise. Looking around for something I could use to stop the bleeding, I realized that I had to ruin the gorgeous dress I was wearing. I ripped part of the bottom off and pressed it to Kevin’s wounds. I could feel his pulse thru the material. It was weak, but at least it was still there. “Is this what you call letting him go?” I demanded.

  “I was just taking enough blood and giving him some of mine to ensure that I’ll always be able to find him. That way, if you ever try to escape, I can hunt him down and kill him.” My face fell when I heard this. My plan of escaping and taking Kevin with me would no longer work.

  “Why not just take my blood?” I demanded. “Why put Kevin through that?”

  “Please. Do you think I’m that stupid?” he replied. “First of all, I’ve already taken enough of your blood and given you mine.” My mind flashed back to when he’d had me restrained in Christopher’s room. “Second of all, if you were to escape and go back to Christopher, he’d change you and render me senseless when it comes to you.” He was being overconfident. Already, he’d let slip that I could remove the bond if I were to be turned into a vampire.

  “How do you know that Christopher doesn’t have me bonded to him? How do you know that he won’t show up any second?”

  Marcus hissed and moved quickly. Instantly, he had me pinned up against a wall, fangs brushing my neck. “There are three rules while you’re with me,” he said quietly in a way that gave me goosebumps from fear. “One, do not mention Christopher unless I bring him up. Two, do not rip or ruin the clothes that I procured for you. Three, never interrupt me when I’m feeding.” He paused before continuing, “Any violations of these guidelines will be dealt with in the same way.” Then, he released me.

  “How?” I asked quietly, curiosity getting the better of me.

  He picked me up and threw me on the bed. Then, he ripped my dress open and sank his teeth into the front of my right thigh. After a few seconds, he pulled away. “I will drink from whatever part of you is looking the most tantalizing at the time of the violation.” He then did the same thing to my right shoulder and left side. After he was done, I lay there shivering, surprised at what had just happened to me. I couldn’t believe that he’d done that to me. It was one thing to have him drink from me. It was another to be thrown on a bed and treated like a blood bag.

  “You should be aware that I have a temper,” he said quietly, almost apologetically. Then, he tossed me a towel. I wanted to move. I wanted to cover myself up, to stop the bleeding, but I couldn’t. I was frozen in place by the horror of what my life would be from now on. I just stared at Marcus, hoping that he’d show some compassion, some remorse for what he’d done. After searching his face, I realized that there was none. We stayed that way, staring at each other, waiting for the other person to move first until the blood loss hit me. My eyes rolled back into my head as I passed out.

  Chapter 35

  When I woke up, I was lying in an incredibly soft bed. The air smelled fantastic, and I felt refreshed. I smiled and stretched, shifting around and repositioning my limbs. I pulled the pillow closer to me and breathed in deeply, smelling the dryer sheets. Then, I remembered what had happened. I opened my eyes and jumped back, pulling the comforter closer to me. I looked around the room and was relieved to see that Marcus wasn’t there. I climbed out of bed and went over to the full length mirror.

  There were bandaids covering the spots that Marcus had bit me. Carefully, I peeled them away and examined the skin underneath. I’d either been asleep for weeks, or something had speeded up the healing. There were slightly puckered spots of pink skin, but that was the only permanent indication of the brutality that I’d suffered. There were still long streams of dried blood running from the site of each puncture. I shuddered and jumped into the shower again, rubbing the blood until it disappeared from my skin. Tears began rolling down my cheeks, mixing with the water and blood.

  I wiped them away and promised myself that I would never cry in front of Marcus. Once I stepped out of the room, I wouldn’t show fear or sadness. I dried myself off and donned another one of the dresses. Gathering all of my courage, I opened the door and walked back to the room that Kevin had been kept in. When I saw that no one was there, I frantically looked around the rest of the rooms. My search yielded nothing. Frustrated, I screamed, “Marcus!”

  “I sent him back home. He’s already safe.” Marcus appeared in front of me.

  “I wanted to say goodbye,” I replied coldly.

  “He’s already gone.” Marcus looked like he was expecting something else from me.

  “You listen to me,” I took a step forward and shoved him. I could feel my fear slipping away to be replace by anger. “You need to take me to him.” He tried interrupting, but I stopped him. “I am staying with you. I promised to leave behind my friends, my family, and the man that I love. The least that you can do is let me say a final goodbye to my best friend, the person that you kidnapped to get me here.” He froze, looking surprised.

  He contemplated my demand before replying, “Why should I?”

  “I mean, you bit me, multiple times. I promised to come with you, but I never promised to let you feed on me, and from places that I’d be uncomfortable with Christopher-“ I stopped short when I realized what I’d said. I’d broken one of the rules. My face turned white and I stepped back. I closed my eyes and braced myself for his retaliation. After a few seconds, he grabbed my neck and tilted my head to one side. He barely punctured the skin and stopped after a few seconds. When he finally let me go, I opened my eyes and pressed my hand to the wounds.

  “Let me see.” He pressed his finger to one of his fangs, piercing the skin. Then, he rubbed it against the puncture wounds. He bent down and licked the blood away. When I raised my hand back to the site of the bite, it was healed. I looked up in surprise. “I can’t have you fainting again.”

  “Why did you-“ I started to ask. Then I stopped, not wanting to overstep my bounds.

  “I’m full,” he straightened up. Then, he said quickly, “Feel free to say or ask anything, as long as it doesn’t break any of my three rules.”

  “Can I please say goodbye to Kevin?” I asked quickly.

  “One condition: you agree that, for every question that I answer honestly, you’ll do the same.”

  I paused. “It works both ways, right? If I’m honest, you’re honest too?”

  “Agreed.”

  “Then, I agree too.”

  Chapter 36

  Kevin jumped up and grabbed a stake when he saw Marcus appear. “Stop,” I said quickly, going over to Kevin. “Can you give us a minute?” I glared at Marcus.

  “What are you doing with him? You know that he kidnapped me and fed on me, right?” I nodded. “Then why would you-“ he froze and took in my outfit and the presence of the healed bite marks on my neck. “You traded yourself for me?” I nodded again. He pulled me close to him and gave me a long hug. “You don’t have to do this,” he said flatly.

  “Yes I do,” I whispered. “You saved me three years ago. Now it’s my turn.”

  “Christopher and I can figure something out,” he said, not giving up.

  “No, you can’t. He wants me, and he would kill you if you tried anything. Please, just give up.” I pointed towards the door, indicating that Marcus could hear us.

  Kevin handed me a piece of paper and a pen before replying, “Don’t do this.”

  “I have to,” I replied.

  “At least let me give you a long goodbye hug,” he said and wrapped his arms around my waist so that I could write on the pad of paper without being found out.

  Kevin- Trust me when I tell you that trying to find me will only end with your death. I have a plan, but it will take some time and I will not be the same person that I once was. I�
�m going to miss you so much. I paused before adding, Please show this to Christopher. I kissed him on the cheek and said, “Goodbye. I love you.”

  I went to leave, but he grabbed my arm and tried to pull me back into the room. “Don’t do this. We can work things out.”

  “I didn’t come here so that you could convince me not to do this.” I looked sadly into his eyes. “I came to say goodbye.” Then, I extracted myself from his grasp and went out into the hall.

  “Done?” Marcus asked, and I nodded. I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t cry, but my body betrayed me. Two tears escaped my control and rolled down my cheeks. I brushed them away quickly, but I knew that he’d seen them. He beckoned to me, and I took his hand. We were just about to leave when Christopher appeared in the hall.

  “Jules,” he said when he saw me. He looked from the dress I was wearing to the obvious bite marks and bared his teeth. “I shouldn’t have let him take you.”

  “She made a deal,” Marcus said. Christopher stepped closer to us, and Marcus grabbed me. He pulled me against him and tilted my neck to the side. “One step closer, and I will bite her.”

  “People have already died because of me,” I said quietly. “Please don’t make it any more.” The last thing that I wanted was for Marcus to go on a killing spree. At least if he was using me to hurt Christopher, other people were safe.

  “I don’t want you to die,” Christopher took a step closer.

  “I warned you.” Marcus sank his teeth into my neck. I cried out with pain. Christopher lunged towards us. He grabbed my arm and pulled me away from Marcus, throwing me to the floor. Then, he grabbed Marcus around the waist and the two of them disappeared. I stood there for a few seconds, not sure what to do. I was pleasantly surprised to see that none of the students that lived in this hall had heard the commotion and come out of their rooms. Unsure about what to do, I went into my room and grabbed the first aid kit. I’d just finished cleaning the bite marks and putting bandaids on them when Marcus reappeared, holding Christopher’s neck in his hand. I could see that he was hurting Christopher.

  “Stop!” I yelled out. I went over to them and grabbed Marcus’ hand, trying to loosen it. When that didn’t work, I grabbed some of the garlic that Kevin had given me and pressed it against his hand. It loosened immediately. Marcus wheeled around to face me, so I said, “Please. Let’s just go. Don’t hurt him anymore.”

  “You’re still coming with me?” he seemed surprised.

  I nodded. “We had a deal.”

  “Jules,” Christopher said weakly from the floor.

  “I love you,” I told him. Then, I grabbed Marcus’ arm, expecting him to teleport immediately. Instead, he pulled me close and kissed me. I was so surprised that I didn’t react immediately.

  Chapter 37

  By the time I slapped him and stepped away, we were back in the house. “Why did you do that?” I demanded.

  “I’m trying to use you to hurt him. Telling him that you love him is going to make that harder.”

  “Why do you want to hurt him so badly?” I demanded.

  “I’m not going to answer that,” he turned to leave the room.

  “You bit me when I didn’t break any of the rules. If you’re going to do that, there’s no reason for me to avoid breaking the rules. You owe me,” I argued.

  He sighed, acknowledging my point. “When he left to play human, I was… hurt.” He looked at me with an expression that terrified me. “I think I can use you to make him hurt so much that one of two desirable consequences will happen. Either he’ll go on a rampage and return to being the vampire that I terrorized cities with. Or, he’ll be stupid enough to make some sort of bargain for you that I’ll use to get him back.” He grinned evilly. “Either way, I’ll have my partner in chaos back.”

  “He’s stronger than that,” I replied confidently. Christopher would never become that vampire that he’d once been. That was one thing that I was confident of.

  Marcus grabbed me by the throat and pressed me up against the wall. “You’ve made him weak,” he said quietly. “And, now it’s my turn to ask a question. I wasn’t going to ask, but now I want to know what was on the note that you wrote Kevin.”

  “You knew about that?” My face turned white. I couldn’t imagine what my punishment would be for abusing the small favor that Marcus had granted me. He nodded. I looked down. “I told him not to worry. I told him that I’d be gone for a long time, but that I had a plan.” I hesitated before finishing, “And, I told him to show the note to Christopher.”

  Marcus turned my head to one side, exposing my neck. I knew the punishment for bringing up Christopher, even though I’d been answering one of Marcus’ questions. He peeled the bandaids off and bared his teeth. However, instead of biting me, he cut his finger and healed the marks he’d made. “Stay here,” he said. Then, he disappeared. The air rushed to fill the space he’d been occupying as I stood there stunned. Unsure about what had happened, there was only one thing that I could do. I took some sleeping pills and went to sleep.

  Chapter 38

  I woke up to the smell of bacon. Once again, it took me a few seconds to realize where I was. I sat up and realized that my stomach was growling. It had been a while since I’d last eaten, and I was surprised that I hadn’t gotten hungry before. I jumped out of bed and went over to the closet. I was overjoyed to see some of my clothes there. I threw on jeans and a hoodie over my favorite bra and underwear set. I cautiously opened the door and searched around for the kitchen. I was shocked to see Marcus standing in the kitchen, cooking bacon and eggs.

  “I thought you might be hungry,” he said before turning around to look at me. He gestured to the table, where a cup of coffee and a newspaper were waiting for me.

  “What’s going on?” I asked nervously.

  “The human girls that have stayed here in the past appreciated this morning routine. I thought you might too.” I shivered in horror.

  “There have been other girls here in the past?” He nodded. Afraid of what the answer might be, I asked, “Why?”

  “I enjoy training women,” he replied calmly. “Convincing them without the use of my mental powers that I can be trusted, bending them to my will. It’s fun for me.” I shivered, thinking of the women that had been in my place before.

  “Are you trying to train me?” I hesitantly asked.

  “Among other things.” The cold look that terrified me was back.

  “What happened to them?” I was sure that I didn’t really want to know the answer to this question, but my curiosity got the better of me.

  “You don’t want to know.” I left it at that reply.

  “Did they all wear the dresses?” He nodded. I shuddered, thinking about wearing the same clothes as dead women.

  I took a deep breath before asking, “Does Christopher know about them?” I didn’t want to bring it up, but I needed to know if Christopher knew what was happening to me.

  “We used to pick twins, sisters, or best friends and train them together,” Marcus replied. I felt the bile rise in my throat. The thought of Christopher doing that to innocent women repulsed me. I ran to the nearest bathroom and threw up, picturing Christopher and Marcus, side by side, drinking from identical women. “You asked. I just answered your question,” Marcus called from the kitchen.

  After washing my mouth out, I headed back to the kitchen. “I did ask, despite not wanting to know the answer.”

  “If you’re wondering why I’m not punishing you for breaking the rules, it’s because I’m just not in the mood right now,” Marcus said. I was hoping that he’d just forgotten, though I knew it was unlikely. I sat down at the table and opened the newspaper, flipping through the pages. I’d just gotten to the sports section when he set a plate down in front of me. I briefly considered refusing it, but I was too hungry. I needed the food.

  “Thanks,” I replied quietly. I quickly at the food, trying to ignore who it was that had cooked it. I looked up to see him watching me
. “What?” I asked, not sure why he was staring at me.

  “I remember what it used to be like to eat food, to get my nutrients that way.” He almost looked sad. “There was so much more variety that way.”

  “You can have some if you want,” I offered. It was the least I could do after he made it for me.

  “Food has no taste for us. I would try, but I wouldn’t be able to taste anything.” He took a step towards me. The evil glint was back in his eye. “Though, now that you mention it, I am hungry.” He grabbed me, ripped part of my sweatshirt to reveal the gap beneath my collarbone. Then, he sank his teeth in, sending a shock of pain radiating through me.

  Chapter 39

  After a little while, he released me and sat back down at the table. Shakily, I finished my breakfast before asking, “What’s on the agenda for today?”