The Sweet Scent of Blood

After a moment he spoke again. ‘They brought you in and started feeding on you. She made me watch ...’

I looked at him, horror invading my mind. He wouldn’t have, would he? ‘What did you promise her?’ I breathed, not sure if I actually wanted to know.

‘I couldn’t let them do that to you,’ he murmured, and I heard other words echo as he spoke. I can’t kill the sucker, I’ve already tried. I can feel her in me, controlling me, feeding off me.

‘It’s not just the spell, is it?’ I whispered as shock settled cold and hard inside me. ‘You took the sucker’s Blood-Bond, didn’t you? That’s how she’s draining so much power from you—she’s combined them together.’

‘Gen, you have to get to Helen.’ He looked at me and the fear and despair on his face gave me my answer. ‘She can sort everything out. Fix this.’

Rio dead was the only way to fix this, and no way was Helen Crane going to kill her.

‘I know you think Helen can’t do anything,’ he continued, ‘but you’re wrong about her. Going to that sucker for help isn’t the right thing for you.’

Fucking shining knight complex! Even if I got him out of this mess he’d probably still come after me, still try and rescue me, thinking I was some distressed damsel he needed to save—and he’d get himself killed, or worse. No way could I let that happen. He had to know the truth.

I squeezed the slash on my arm again, forcing more blood out, concentrating on it instead of him. ‘When I said my father was human, Finn, I meant he was human, before he became a vampire.’ I kept my tone matter-of-fact. ‘So you see, there really is only one place I can go for help, Finn. And that’s to the vamps.’

‘That’s not possible; vamps can’t reproduce like that.’

‘My father found my mother at a fertility rite, got her pregnant, and then after I was born, he let her fade.’ Of course the story wasn’t as simple as that, but it covered the basics. ‘Vamps have their own magic, Finn. And the sidhe can breed with anything magic—and most things not—you know that.’

He didn’t answer, and I stared blindly at my blood as it dripped onto the stony ground.

A chill crept up my spine and my heart stuttered. I closed my eyes, ran my tongue over my teeth and sniffed at the air. A glorious miasma of pain and fear and the liquorice scent of venom had me shifting uncomfortably.

The shush, shush of his blood rushing through his veins, the fast da-dum, da-dum of his heart.

‘Gen?’

My eyes snapped open.

His pulse was jumping in his throat, his skin glowing with blood heat, and I was too close for safety.

‘Gen, I think it’s large enough now.’

‘What?’ I slurred.

‘The blood. You’ve got enough now.’

I looked down. The puddle was larger than a dinner plate. I brought my arm to my mouth and slowly licked the blood off. The sweetness muted my hunger and I sighed. Then I noticed Finn, an odd, indecipherable expression on his face.

Shit. I’d finally succeeded in frightening him.

As I staggered to my feet, the cave swung round me like a fairground ride.

‘Be careful, Gen.’ Finn’s voice was faint in my ears.

Frowning, I half-waved my hand. There was something else. What was it? Oh yeah. ‘I’ll come back, okay?’

His mouth moved, but my ears were ringing and I couldn’t hear him.

The blood looked wonderful. I wanted to fall back to my knees and lap it up. I dipped my toe. I felt it cool against my skin. I stepped in, then lifted my other foot and set it down.

Dark.

Cave.

Dark.

A figure.

Dark.

The woman stood, head thrown back to expose her slender throat, mouth open wide. The image flickered on and off, like a silent movie.

Thick carpet beneath my feet, smell of sex and blood in my nose, buzzing in my ears.

The vampire stood behind her, his face buried in the curve of her neck, his jaw working.

Hunger hot in my stomach, I snarled, the vamp in me clawing to get out. I pushed my wrist down towards my tattoo.

My arm stilled in midair.

A shudder rippled through the woman and she grasped the vampire’s dark hair and pulled him from her neck. She reached out and took my outstretched hand in hers.

She smiled, the smile of an angel, and that smile promised me whatever I wanted. Moving closer, she pressed her body up to mine. Her skin felt slick, hot with blood. Her heartbeat throbbed, pumping sweet life from the fang marks that pierced the swollen flesh at her neck. She tilted her head to the side and offered me her throat, the smile still playing on her face.

I shoved my fingers into her glossy dark hair and fed.

Chapter Forty-Two

The blood was hot and salty and thick—human blood—with an extra kick from a recent venom hit. And when that thought finally penetrated, so did another: the vampire sucking on her neck hadn’t been Malik. The blood door hadn’t worked, or at least not as I’d hoped.

I dragged my mouth from her throat and shoved her away. I threw my head back and stared at the ceiling, trying to calm the exhilarated thunder of my heart. I wanted more. I felt like I could feed on her forever. Clenching my fists, I looked down at my half-finished meal: Hannah Ashby, the ladylike accountant who’d delivered the silver invitations, aka Corset Girl, the vamp junkie from the Leech & Lettuce.

She reclined on the floor, a more normal smile on her face. ‘Well, that wasn’t quite as exciting as I’d imagined, but I suppose allowances should be made.’ She touched her hand to her still bleeding neck and pouted. ‘I really was hoping for more than a quick snatch and suck. You’re sidhe—I thought faeries were supposed to be hot.’

Ignoring her, I looked round at the stone ceiling, stone floor, steel door, thick navy rug and massive oak furniture. It all appeared horribly familiar. I was still in the same underground place, just in a different cave room. I strode to the door and waved at it. Nothing happened. A combination of anger, frustration and fear expanded like a whirlwind inside my head. I wanted to scream and cry, punch something, anything—

I concentrated on calming my thoughts. The blood had banished the hunger and the deep slice on my arm had almost healed, the skin knitting together in a raised red scar. Now I had to get out of here.

I wiped a hand over my mouth and walked back to where Hannah was sitting on the bed. ‘Let’s skip the after-dinner pleasantries, shall we? Instead, why don’t you tell me what I’m doing here?’

‘You need help, and I like to help people.’

‘Right. Hijacking me is being so helpful.’ I stuck my hands on my hips, ‘I have to tell you, it’s not working for me.’

‘Oh, I didn’t hijack you.’ She tapped her chest. ‘I felt the blood door open and offered.’

‘Come off it, Hannah,’ I snorted, ‘until now I haven’t had your blood.’

Her smile turned sly. ‘But you did, a tiny taste, maybe, but enough to still count.’ Reaching out, she stroked her fingers across the tattoo on my hip. ‘You may not be wearing the same body, but that’s a minor technicality. It appears that the two of you are becoming so entwined that there is almost no separation.’

I gritted my teeth. Had the need for blood pulled her—Rosa, my Alter Vamp—from—well, wherever she was,