Descended by Blood (19 page)

He sat up and leaned forward, cupping me by the side of my head and rubbing his thumb against my cheek. His eyes moved back and forth, searching mine. It was so intimate, and he was so exposed. “But you’re just getting started,” he said and kissed me. His full lips caressed mine, but grew firm and urgent when I parted my lips.

Something stirred within me. Almost a flutter in my gut, but less gentle, like a lion stretching and flexing its claws into the earth. I didn’t want to push him away, so I didn’t. When my urgency matched his, he pulled me to him, laying us down on the bed and embracing me in both of his arms.

Everything about him was different than Jaren. He was hard where Jaren was soft. He even smelled wild and tasted distinctly wholesome where Jaren was sweet. My reasons for being drawn to him were contrary to the reasons I was lured by Jaren. But I was here with Mirko, and I wanted to be here with him like this. So, I let Jaren slip from my mind and filled it with Mirko.

He bit my bottom lip, and I made a sound that set his hands in motion. They wandered under my shirt, along my belly, and then his fingers hooked the hem of my shirt to pull it off.

I withdrew my lips from his.

His hands froze in place. His eyes raked mine, raw and open. “Will you mess up my bed with me?” he asked.

I sat up, pulling my body away from him. This was too much, too fast. And my hands shook because I wanted to.

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t know how to respond to that.

Mirko’s face hardened. “One of these days, you’re going to be over that punk and realize you’ve wanted me all along.”

I glared at him. “Well, it’s a bit early to assume today is that day, don’t ya think?” I didn’t wait for his response. I slid off the bed and stood up, pulling my shirt down. I didn’t look back as I marched out.

I slammed my door shut when I got into my room.

How could he be so callous? So much had happened and changed in such a short amount of time. And he acted as if I had no right to be confused, like I should’ve jumped into bed with him from our first kiss.

At least Jaren wasn’t pushy when it came to that. And I had a lot more to be conflicted about than my feelings with Jaren.

The only thing that remained constant through all of this was Kaitlynn. She had been my rock. Everybody else I knew had turned out to be different than who I thought they were, and everyone I’d met had so much more to them then they let me at first believe.

Mirko had started to let me in. He told me about his past with Jelena and his fear of going back into slavery. But he was so cocky. I couldn’t refuse him because I didn’t want to be with him in that way. Oh, no. It had to be explained by my messed-up emotions over Jaren, which upset me even more because that was exactly why I’d pulled away from Mirko.

I grabbed my bag and stomped into my bathroom. I turned on the shower as hot as I could stand it and stood on the warming tile, imagining my frustration and pain evaporating with the steam.

When I finally relaxed enough that I knew I could get some sleep, I got out and dressed into some comfy sleep clothes. I wrung my hair out and put it up into a messy bun.

I came out of the bathroom, stepping into my room, and jumped when I saw Mirko sitting on my bed. “What do you want?”

“I’m not big on apologies, so hear me out, please?”

I strode up next to him by the bed and leaned against the canopy’s frame. “I’m listening.”

“Look, Slatki. I’m sorry.” He squirmed a little.

I held firm. He also owed me an explanation.

“I shouldn’t have pushed you like that. I shouldn’t have said those things, either. It’s just that I’ve bared my soul to you, which is rare for me. And I could taste your temptation.” He flashed me a seductive grin and my legs trembled. I sat next to him on the bed.

He continued. “Regardless, I shouldn’t have treated you like that, and I’m sorry.”

“You’re right. You shouldn’t have treated me that way. I mean, how cold would I be if I could turn my feelings for Jaren off so quickly? I’m not going to lie to you. He was basically my first love. We didn’t have a lot of time to kindle it, but it was there for me, and it ran deep. So, the only thing I ask of you is that you try to keep that in mind. Because I’m seriously confused. And not only about him, or about you. But everything. I don’t really know who I am right now, or the world that I’ve been thrown into. So, if I don’t know how to respond to one guy not wanting me, and then another guy who does, don’t be too surprised.”

He sighed. “All right. I’ll give you time, because I’m confident you’ll end up with me. Plus you’re cute, so that helps.”

I laughed and relaxed against his shoulder. “I appreciate your apology and that you gave it to me now instead of in the morning. I probably would’ve been cursing you all night if you hadn’t.”

He wrapped his arm around me and held my face in his palm. “Just make sure that whatever you decide, it’s what all of you wants, not just the torn part of you that speaks louder.” He brushed his lips against my temple then rose. “Sleep well, Slatki. Training bright and early.” And then he left, clicking the door shut behind him.

22

Your Body Will Require Blood

The nightmares stayed away. In fact, I slept better than I had since finding out vampires existed, and that I descended from one.

By the time I strolled into the gym, Mirko was already there. His eyes gleamed, and he gave me a crooked smile. “Nice of you to finally show up. I was beginning to wonder if you were thinking of calling in sick.”

I laughed, then sobered. “There’s no time for sick days.”

He responded with a terse nod. “Right. Let’s get to work.”

And we did. For the span of five hours, Mirko pushed me harder than before, and I pushed back. Again, I was faster than I was yesterday, but I still didn’t think it was fast enough to avoid shooting flames. There had to be another way to stop Jelena without either Mirko or I dying in the process.

Practice had also improved my claw swipe. Mirko charged at me with a left hook. When I dodged, he used his momentum to swing his body around, trying to clock his right fist up against my head.

I anticipated it, so when his back was to me, I swiped out my hand and scored it across his back. His shirt shred beneath my fingers.

“Aaahhh,” he growled.

“I’m sorry!” I flinched in regret. I stepped toward him and inhaled the spice of copper tang absorbing into his shirt, and my stomach rumbled.

I froze. My eyes bulged, and Mirko’s flickered with recognition. “What does it mean?” I asked, voice trembling.

“That was actually a great move,” Mirko said, ignoring my question and wiping at his back to catch the dripping blood.

“Don’t mess with me,” I snarled. “What does it mean?”

“It’s natural, Slatki.” When I wouldn’t yield, he rubbed his hand through his hair and shook his head. “It means that if you keep going at this pace, your body will require blood.”

That was a place I was not willing to go. I squared my shoulders. “And what if I deny it?”

“You’ll get weaker and grow feeble until you give in.”

“Well, we better hurry and kill Jelena then.”

“If you let it go too long, it becomes painful. Let it go long enough, and you could end up harming someone.” Always thinking ahead. That was Mirko.

“I’ll worry about it then. It’s lunch time. I’m going upstairs.” I grabbed my sneakers and shuffled toward the door.

“You should stretch,” Mirko hollered.

“I should do a lot of things,” I said and thought about eating real food, which was cooked and prepared for me by Lijepa.

I opened the door to the first floor, and cinnamon enveloped me with small wafts of vanilla lingering below. My stomach rumbled again, and this time, I welcomed it.

“Breakfast for lunch?” I asked Lijepa. I wasn’t complaining. It smelled delicious.

“Yes, dear, I realized the time, but since this is your first meal of the day, it remained appropriate. I hope you like palacinke,” she said, and I worried about what she was rolling into the dough.

Alarm filled my eyes, and she laughed. “They’re pancakes, dear. Same thing as crepes, as the French call them, but better.”

“Oh, well, what are you stuffing them with?” It smelled amazing, but I couldn’t be too sure.

“It’s a secret recipe, but there are yams and ham in it. You’ll like it. Where’s Mirko?” she asked, bending over to look into the hall.

I shrugged my shoulders and leaked a noncommittal sound.

She inclined her head. “Did training go all right today?”

“Yeah,” I exhaled. “I dunno. I sliced his back open with my claw thing,” I said, imitating the claw slashing movement. “And I’m not sure how to feel about my response.”

She rolled the last crepe. “Why? What did you do?” She put it on a plate and took it to the table.

I hopped off the stool and went to the drawer to grab the forks. “I didn’t do anything, but my stomach growled when I smelled the blood.” I stopped with the forks in my hand. “Let’s eat first and discuss this later.”

She offered me a comforting smile. “That’s fine.”

Mirko sauntered into the kitchen with a new shirt on and only the smell of
dried
blood clinging to him, which didn’t have the same effect on me as the fresh. He mumbled something in another language.

I creased my forehead. It was rude to talk in another language when someone present couldn’t understand it.

Lijepa laughed at my scowl. “He was merely showing me an honor by complimenting me in Croatian.”

“Oh. What did you say?” I asked Mirko.

He repeated it in Croatian, and he and Lijepa bubbled with laughter.

“Fine, don’t tell me.”

“I told her that her food is divine.”

“Oh, yeah, it is,” I said, looking to Lijepa.

“I haven’t had any good palacinke in a long time. Thank you for this.”

“My pleasure,” she said, eyes sparkling.

My teeth scraped against the fork, pulling a bite of palacinke into my mouth. My taste buds exploded with sweet and sweeter. “Mmmm, Lijepa. This is so good. You could package this stuff and make a fortune,” I said as soon as my tongue was free.

“There’s no fun in cooking for someone you don’t know or when you can’t see them enjoy it,” she said.

None of us said much after that. We were too busy enjoying our food. Mirko kept peering at me, and soon I forgot I was mad at him for trying to avoid the blood episode. I allowed my gaze to loiter on him. Usually, I squirmed, or tried to hide my anxiousness about his gazing at me, but now that I’d acknowledged my attraction for him, I enjoyed the grin he gave me when he knew I was staring. I could now read it for more than just the “Aha! I caught you!” I recognized that it also said, “And I like it.” Which made my insides clench.

Mirko cleaned up our plates, and I followed Lijepa into her den. “It’s melting,” I said, referring to the white blanket covering the ground outside. The only snow remaining lay in the pine tree’s shade.

“Yes, but we’ll get plenty here soon enough. Have a seat, dear.”

We took up the same position on the couch that we did yesterday. “What’s on the agenda?” I asked Lijepa, curious as to what she’d reveal to me in today’s training session.

She inspected me for a moment before she spoke. “I think we should work through a few things before we go any further.”

Lijepa was taking up a role in my life of many positions; she was a mentor, a friend, a nurturer, my teacher, and apparently, my shrink. It didn’t bother me, though, because she didn’t ask me questions in the same doctor/scrutinize/you’re messed up sort of way.

“All right,” I drawled, unsure of where she was going to focus on first. I had a lot of issues burdening me at the moment.

“Your reaction to Mirko’s bleeding. Why does it upset you so much?” Her face creased with concern.

“I dunno. I’ve been unsettled about the thought ever since I found out that vampires exist. And I’m trying to take all of this in and accept myself for who I am, but these are big changes, and drinking blood seems so taboo and dramatic.”

“I see. Humans have become very detached from nature. Things that made sense and were understood many years ago have now become unacceptable and frowned upon. However, there are many things now that people of the past would have fallen to their graves over if they knew of such things. It’s all relative. But are you aware that there are still humans, such as tribes in Africa, where the people still drink blood?”

I shook my head.

“They drink it for nourishment. Many of the tribes over there measure wealth by the number of animals they own, so they don’t slaughter them for their meat. Instead they drain some of the animal’s blood and drink it.”

I was glad we saved this conversation for when I was done eating. “Still. That’s animal blood they’re drinking. Not from other people.”

“It is only because the human digestive system is weaker than ours. If the human body were more tolerant, I am sure they would drink the blood from others instead of animals. Human blood contains proteins and peptides that animal blood does not. And it is within these molecules where true strength lies.” Her smile spoke of experience.

“I understand the why, but I don’t see myself wanting to do that anytime soon.” Which wasn’t entirely accurate, because a part of me already recognized it did want in on that action. I wasn’t willing to listen to that side. Ew.

“Just keep in mind that people try a lot of crazier, unnatural methods to get their bodies to do certain things—starve themselves to lose weight and inject steroids to become strong.”

“True,” I said.

“Now, let’s do a little work with Sanjam, and then we can move forward and touch on chameleon.”

I tried to touch the pathways in her mind, but I still couldn’t breach her walls. “Maybe it’s because I’m thinking about it, or because I’m not mad enough.” It always seemed like I could do crazy stuff when I was mad.

“That’s the idea of these exercises. You need to learn to be able to do it on command and to control the level of power you exert. You’re in the stage I like to call the ‘baby rattlesnake’. Young rattlers have yet to learn about the dose of venom to deliver with each bite, so they release a full dosage,” Lijepa said. She glanced up at the clock. “Let’s try for a little longer. Again.”