Origins (A Black Novel, #1) (17 page)

“It’s none of your goddamn business what I feel,” I snap as I climb to my feet.

“Shall we play our old games darling? Is she the prize? We could take turns torturing her, bleeding her, to see how long she lasts.

Have you already tasted her?”

My hands automatically clench into fists at my sides and I turn my head away to keep from responding. “You have then! Naughty, naughty,” she chides. “Was it good? Did she taste of honey and sunshine and innocence? Shame on you for not waiting so I could play too.”

“She’s not for playing with,” I snarl.

“Well, looky here, Vraiden Black has a heart after all! Did you tell her about your past? About all the girls you’ve tortured and killed?” Teeth clenched I respond flatly, “Yes.”

“And she still wants to be with you? Bravo! She’s not as innocent as I thought then. So, what now? You’re going to turn your life around, be a ‘better man’, for her?” She asks snidely.

I consider lying but I’m more than fed up with her games. “That’s the idea, yes.”

“Oh!” she laughs. “Wow. I never knew you were so naïve! Vraiden, dear, I think that deep down you know that’s never going to work.

You’re a monster, just like me. You enjoy killing too much to stop.

I’ve seen the look on your face as you take a life. Do you really believe you can just quit? You think the demon living inside you will just sit back and let you?”

“And what about her? Is she going to make the change, become Immortal? Help you kill, feed beside you? Or will she stay human?

You remember what happened to our dear, sweet Lucien when he tried to deny his nature, don’t you? I bet he still blames you for that too… Are you going to let her become Immortal, ruin the rest of her innocence? You know she’ll have to murder someone to do it, don’t you? Or are you going to convince her to stay human so one day, not long from now, when the bloodlust consumes you, you can kill her yourself?”

“What I do, and who I choose to do it with, is none of your fucking business.”

Eris stands, eyes cold, her face expressionless and cocks her head to the side, regarding me silently for several moments before speaking.

“Forget about her, before it’s too late. You don’t want to push me, Vraiden. I will not stand by and watch you throw everything away for a goddamn human! One way or another, I’ll make sure she doesn’t destroy you. The choice is yours – we can do it your way, or mine, but believe me when I say I will enjoy killing the little whore.”

“Lay a finger on her and it’ll be the last thing you ever touch,” I roar.

“This is going to be fun!” She squeals, spinning gleefully in a circle, her dark ebony hair floating out around her. “You’ll change your mind once she’s laid out before you, dripping with blood. You’ll see how weak, how unworthy she is and maybe, if you’re a good boy, I’ll let you taste her again.”

I fly across the room and ram into her, propelling the two of us across the floor with my momentum. We crash through the sofa, sending it splintering to the ground, and collide with the wall, cracking the plaster. My hand wraps around her throat, squeezing as I try and choke the life out of her in blind rage. She looks at me and laughs – Laughs! – enraging me further.

“Oh, Vraiden, you’re going to have to do better than that! Have you forgotten I made you? All of you! I’m more powerful than all of you combined! You can’t hurt me, let alone kill me!” Eris raises her arm and backhands me, sending me sprawling halfway across the room.

She’s on top of me, pinning me down, before I even land completely. She brings her mouth down over mine, kissing me deeply, before sitting back and raking her nails down my chest, shredding my shirt. I feel a sting as wetness begins seeping from the wounds she’s inflicted. She grabs my arms, pinning them to the floor, and leans over to slowly lick the scratches, sighing with pleasure. She relaxes back and looks at me, her lips stained red with my blood.

Releasing my hands, she digs her nails into my chest and rips, splitting the still bleeding gashes further apart, before scraping down my chest again, flaying the remaining skin off. I howl as hot white agony consumes me, turning my vision red and then black.

I am vaguely aware of her climbing off of me and laughing. “Let that be a reminder… and a preview of what is to come for your innocent mortal,” she vows before she stalks out of the room.

Not long after I hear the sound of the door clicking into place all the sound in the room rushes out and my head is filled with the echo of my own silent screams.

T
he next few days pass by in a blur and, throughout them all, Luc remains a permanent fixture. He would constantly shadow me wherever I went- even though I hardly ever left the house. He even tried to follow me into the restroom by using a bevy of well thought out excuses:

“What happens if you slip in the shower?”

“What if you choke on your toothpaste?”

“You could stab your eye out doing your makeup…”

“I don’t want you to electrocute yourself with the blow dryer…” He was relentless yet even I had to admit that he was pretty clever.

It got to the point that whenever I headed to the restroom I would just shake my head and shut the door on his protests.

“Don’t you need to feed?” I ask one morning around a mouthful of blueberry muffin.

“Huh? I thought I was,” he replies as he holds up his own half eaten muffin.

“No, I mean blood. Don’t you need blood?” I clarify.

“Why, are you offering?” he asks suggestively.

“Absolutely not,” I reply resolutely. “I just thought you needed it to survive.”

“We do.” He shrugs carelessly before biting off another mouthful of muffin.

“But you haven’t fed, that I know of, since you’ve been here.” I point out. “Wait- you haven’t, have you?”

He laughs at my alarmed expression. “No, I haven’t. Didn’t Vraiden or your mom teach you anything? Pure Immortals, like myself, don’t have to feed as much as those that are made because our blood is

‘pure’, undiluted by human blood. We last longer without it. Of course, there are some Immortals who still feed on a daily basis so they have more strength.”

“Then shouldn’t you be feeding every day in case Eris decides to try and kill me?” I raise a skeptical eyebrow.

“There won’t be any ‘trying’ involved.” He sits down the rest of his muffin and turns to face me. His expression is scary-serious when he continues, “If Eris wants you dead, then that’s it. It’s over. There won’t be anything I can do about it.”

“Then why are you here?! Why’d you vow to protect me if you can’t? Why did you agree to that?”

“I didn’t agree to it exactly. It was my idea.” He lowers his eyes towards the table, either too afraid or too embarrassed to face me.

“What do you mean it was your idea?” My voice comes out pinched.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath to steady myself before looking at him.

“The blood oath was my idea. Vraiden wasn’t going to let you out of his sight so I had to do something! It would’ve only pissed off Eris more if he’d stayed with you and then she definitely would’ve killed you!”

I was afraid to ask the question on my mind but I wanted to know the answer. “So Vraiden just walked away?”

“He didn’t have a choice, not if he wanted you to live.” He stands up, voice raised, with his fists clenched at his sides. “This was his only option. Do you think he wanted to watch you die?!” He looks at me, eyes softening slightly. “He cares about you, more than I’ve ever seen him care about anything before. Now, are we done yelling so I can finish eating?”

“Yes,” I nod. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” he replies as he picks up the rest of his muffin. “I’m here because I care about you and my brother. I don’t want to see either of you get hurt and this was the only solution I could think of.”

“Then thank you,” I say as he shoves the remainder of food into his mouth.

“You’re welcome,” he grumbles.

“My birthday’s tomorrow,” I reply, more to myself than to him.

“I know,” he answers with a smile. “Just think, in roughly fifteen hours you’ll be free of me. Whatever will you do?” he teases.

I take a deep breath and, exhaling loudly, announce, “I’ve made my decision.”

“And?” he urges as he stares at me, a skeptical expression on his face.

My voice comes out shaky when I answer, “I can’t stay here. I’m going home- to my dad. He needs me. He already lost my mother, I don’t know what he’d do if he lost me too.”

“I understand,” Luc nods, gazing at me intently.

I lift my eyes to meet his. “Can I see Vraiden before I leave?”

“When? Today?” he looks at me, confused and I nod in response. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Eris is still here.”

“Please?” I beg.

“Adelin—”

“I’ll go without you,” I cut in defiantly. “I’ll sneak out the bathroom window if I have to.”

“All the more reason I need to go into the bathroom with you,” he says pointedly.

“Luc, please? How do you think he’s going to feel if I leave without telling him?”

He sighs heavily, defeated. “Fine. Finish your breakfast then go change and we’ll go.”

“Thank you!” I squeal before stuffing the rest of my muffin into my mouth and racing out of the room.

We park at the far end of the long driveway leading up to the Black house. “We can’t just walk in through the front door,” Luc answers in response to my confused expression. As soon as I climb out I am overwhelmed with nervousness- I had no clue what I planned on saying to Vraiden. “Come on,” Luc whispers loudly. “This was all your idea.”

“You know its daytime right?” I say as I point towards the sun. “How are we going to sneak in when anyone could just look out the windows and see us? And why are you whispering?”

“Just be quiet and get over here,” he snaps at me, brows furrowed.

“Whatever,” I mutter, rolling my eyes and walking over to where he stands, waiting, next to one of the large trees lining the driveway.

I follow Luc’s lead doing my best to “blend in” as I hunch down and dart from the shadow of one tree to the next. At the fourth tree in I have to cover my mouth with my hand to stifle a giggle at how ridiculous I feel- and probably look. Luc shoots me an icy glare as he continues sneaking through the trees ahead of me and I do my best to maintain a straight face as I creep along after him. The Pink Panther theme song suddenly springs to mind and I have to take a moment to compose myself again before continuing.

Once we reach the end of the tree line Luc signals me to, on the count of three, race across the driveway and take cover in the bushes along the house. I nod my assent with a small sigh and, holding up three fingers, he silently begins counting down. When he lowers his last finger I shoot across the clearing after him and crouch down between two of the hedges. I follow Luc’s example and stand stiffly.

I flatten myself against the side of the house, sprigs of evergreen catching in my hair in the process. Luc begins slowly edging along the house and I scoot along next to him, making sure to duck beneath the large windows. Once we reach the end we slip around the side and continue onward toward the back of the house.

Luc’s hand reaches out and grabs me, holding firm. My mouth snaps open to ask why he’s stopped, but before I can speak his hand is over my mouth, silencing me. I glare at him angrily. He lifts a finger silently in response and presses it against his lips in a “be quiet” gesture and, eyes wide, points to the large window over his head. I nod my understanding and he lowers his hand from my mouth to sit on my collarbone in an effort to press me closer into the house. We stay that way for several minutes before his arm finally sags down, releasing me. I breathe in a sigh of relief and roll my shoulders to try and erase some of the tension left in them.

After a moment Luc continues on easing around to the back of the house, taking care to be as silent as possible. “Oof!” The air rushes out of me as I collide with Luc who is now standing, unmoving, in front of me. He turns and scowls at me as I regain my breath and points straight up to one of the terrace’s lining the back of the house. That must be where Vraiden’s room is.

“How are we going to get up there?” I whisper as I look around for a trellis or a ladder. Hell, even a drain pipe would work but I find nothing.

“Get on my back,” Luc whispers in response, a small smile lighting his face.

“Get on your what?” I ask confused.

“My back. Get on and hold tight.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” I mutter. Of course he’s going to try and jump up there, never mind the fact that its fifteen feet in the air. He’s probably going to get us both killed. I climb on his back, piggy-back style, wrapping my legs around his torso and securing my arms around his neck and close my eyes tightly. I take a deep breath, holding it, as I feel him crouch down and spring off the ground. The air whooshes out of me a moment later as we connect with something solid with a soft thud.

Opening my eyes I find Luc easily hanging onto one of the bars on the railing of the terrace. Holy shit, we made it. I smile in triumph as he hoists the two of us up and over the railing and slide down off his back once we’re on solid ground.

“You didn’t think we’d make it, did you?” he says with a smirk making me roll my eyes.

I ignore him and mentally prepare myself before turning and walking through the open terrace doors and into Vraiden’s bedroom. “Wait, where is he?” I ask as I look around the empty room.

Luc shrugs, glancing around. “Not here.”

“Obviously. What do we do now?”

“Now we wait.” He strides over towards the bed and plops down on top of the duvet. Kicking off his shoes he lies back against the pillows and lets out a satisfied sigh. I shake my head at him in disapproval before relaxing into one of the red armchairs on the opposite side of the room.

I’m not sure exactly how long we sit there- hell, I’m not even sure if Luc’s awake the entire time. From the looks of it, he appears to be sleeping but the second the doorknob turns his eyes spring open and he sits up, startling me. I glance towards the door and smile as Vraiden enters.