CHAPTER ELEVEN
~
“Faith!”
When Lex appeared in her path, she tried to veer to the right, but he moved with her. The same thing happened when she stepped left. She stood in place, lowered her chin and eyed him from beneath her lashes with annoyance. “This doesn’t work for me.”
“You look pretty good…”
“You, annoying me, doesn’t work for me,” Faith said, anxiously tapping her bare toes against the concrete while a strange need for something she hadn’t yet identified clawed inside her.
Lex nodded slowly while considering her dilemma. “This,” he said, motioning to her body. “Will pass.”
“This,” she said, motioning down her body. “Only needs to pass by you, so get out of the way.”
“Jennifer is fine; it takes a village, and there is half of one in that hospital,” he assured her.
“And yet here I stand on the outside,” Faith said, her top lip curling in annoyance.
“Yes, that might be a position you need to get used to for a little while.”
Faith sighed. “And why would I need to do that?”
“Think about it,” Lex said with a teasing tone that grated on her nerves and made her want to kill somebody, anybody, just so long as she could sink her fangs – realisation dawned with a weight like lead, and she snapped to attention. “Now, you’re getting to the fangs and claws of the matter.”
Faith pulled on her magic, but that warm glow inside her belly didn’t manifest, nor did the buzz of magic at her fingertips. She pulled harder, for longer, but nothing came. “I died.”
“Yes.”
“And your blood was in my system.” She bit down on the need to rip off his head and hand it to him.
“I snuck some into your drink every day – on the off chance this might happen.”
“You son of a…” Faith didn’t know her own strength or speed. She barrelled into him, taking him down before she had even blinked. The rush of awareness at how powerful she had become made her feel invincible.
Lex was up and away from her a heartbeat later. “Not around the toddlers,” he said, wiping blood from his split lip against the back of his hand. “You know better than anyone humans are…”
Faith ran at him again, but he was ready for her this time. His hand hit her shoulder, and she spun on her feet, turning away from him and allowing him to grab her from behind, locking her in place against him. “Play nice…”
The back of Faith’s head hit him square in the nose—the force of the blow rattling his brain. The backward elbow she delivered into his gut guaranteed her release, and as she spun, she had one target in mind. As Lex was doubling over from the pain of the blow, she brought her knee up into his groin. The pain registered on his face, and she found a sense of enjoyment in watching him drop to his knees on the concrete before her.
“I would have thought you had learned by now – I don’t play nicely with others,” she bit out, grabbing a handful of his hair, wrenching up his head, and bringing her fist down in his face.
Faith held him there for a moment, unconscious, before she opened her hand, released her grip on him, and let him fall to the ground. The moment of euphoria had gone, and she hurriedly looked around the back lot of the hospital to see if anyone was around. Then she reached down, fisted his jacket and yanked his weight onto her shoulder. “Just taking out the trash,” she said with a wicked smile as she ran into the woods as fast as her legs could carry her.
~
“Are you okay?”
Faith turned at an unfamiliar voice. Her stomach was angry at her, and she was hotter than hell. Something terrible was crawling inside her veins that needed to be ripped out, and her head was pounding.
Thirst, she would have killed her grandmother for a drink to quench it, not literally – or maybe she would. She couldn’t think straight. “Fine,” she bit out, unable to raise her head as it felt like it weighed more than her body.
“Let’s get you inside,” the woman said.
Faith managed to raise her head a little, enough to eye the nurse coming in her direction. Her head pounded harder, the need festered and grew, and the thirst was undeniable.
Instinct took over, blurring her mind and turning her thoughts into dreams of what if. A heartbeat later, Faith had the nurse pinned against her body; her fangs were down. A fever struck her body that couldn’t be denied and a thirst that couldn’t be quenched.
“Faith!” Lex demanded her attention, but she was in the full bloom of a bloodlust. He had no choice; he could see the life draining from the human before his eyes, and he couldn’t let that happen on his watch.
Lex delivered a punch to Faith’s back that dislodged her fangs from the human’s neck and dropped her to her knees on the ground. Faith had fed and would heal, but he needed to save the nurse.
With one strong arm, he held the woman in place and bit down into his wrist, tearing at his flesh, and as the blood spilt down his arm, he pressed it to the nurse’s lips.
Even in the presence of death, the older woman fought against him. She had neither the strength to win nor the ability to deny him, but she fought to what would have been her dying breath.
“Newbies,” Lex grumbled, tossing a look over his shoulder to where Faith was trying to make her legs work. “Mind control is there for a reason,” he informed her.
“You did this to me,” Faith bit out. Her mind was clearing from the fog; the pain in her stomach had gone, replaced by the pain in her back that was easing with every breath that she didn’t need to drag in, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she was disgusted with what she had become.
“Watch and learn,” Lex said, turning his attention to the struggling human. His gaze locked on hers as she begged him to stop, but he had right on his side and was doing this for her benefit, not his.
Lex wove a story of what had happened should she be discovered, covered in blood from the wound that Faith had delivered and was already healing thanks to his blood. He gave her suggestions on avoiding people when entering the hospital, finding fresh clothes, and cleaning herself up. Then he sent her on her way, certain in the knowledge that she would live and not remember a thing about the attack.
“And that is how you do it,” Lex said, turning to find Faith gone. “Ah, damn it, I should have let the nurse die!” he grumbled, scenting the air and finding Faith’s presence close by. “Not so fast, speedy.” He took off into the woods after her, determined to find her before he had another mess to clean up.
~
True was nervous. Faith had always been a force of nature; now, she was a newbie vampire. She’d be looking for blood, and she knew there was nothing sweeter than a witch.
Heath sat beside her in the driver’s seat, and in the back, Jennifer sat between Evie and Parker. The young witch had been given a clean bill of health, and Evie had been informed of what to look out for to bring her back to the hospital. All was right with the world again, except Faith was a damn vampire.
“Oh, look, it’s Aunty Faith!” Jennifer exclaimed.
The nervous energy in the car exploded as all eyes turned to Faith, finding her running at speed towards them across the open field on the road to pack land.
“Holy crap,” True bit out.
“I want to learn the magic to make me that fast!” Jennifer exclaimed excitedly. “Stop! Stop! Let her in.”
Heath shot a look at True. “Drive faster!” True bit out.
“But, Aunty True…” Jennifer said, unsure what was happening but sensing that something was.
“Not now, Jennifer,” Evie said, pulling on her magic in case Faith did something stupid. “I’ll explain later.”
True couldn’t pull her gaze away from her sister. It wasn’t right; it wasn’t Faith anymore. “Faster!” she urged as her sister raced ahead of them. “Slower!” True said, unsure what Faith would do until she stopped facing them in the middle of the road.
“True,” Heath warned.
“True,” Evie echoed from the back seat.
“Don’t stop – go faster,” True demanded, reminding herself repeatedly that it wasn’t Faith, not the sister she knew.
Evie gasped and twisted in her seat. She slapped her hands over Jennifer’s eyes. “What gives?” the child demanded, trying to pry her aunt’s hands from her face, but Evie wasn’t about to let that happen.
“Crap,” Heath bit out, gaining fast on Faith, who was showing no sign of calling chicken and getting out of the way.
“If you stop, I will kill you,” True hissed in a low whisper so she didn’t alarm the child in the back seat.
“It’s Faith,” Heath hissed back, his foot lifting from the pedal.
True pulled on her magic and unleashed it on Heath’s foot, slamming it down on the pedal as the car picked up speed.
“True!” Heath growled. He had a car full of the people he loved, and he knew he couldn’t swerve off the road to get around Faith. All he could do was pray his sister-in-law got the hell out of the way before he got there.
~
“Get ready to hit the brakes,” Hope said, backseat driving in the car”s front passenger seat.
“I’m ready,” Drew assured her.
“They’re going to stop,” Hope said, certain of it.
“Still ready,” Drew said, sounding as easy as a Sunday morning but as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof inside.
“Any minute now,” Hope said, nodding, willing the car in front to hit the brakes.
Amy leaned in from the back. “I’m not sure they are going to stop,” she said.
“True will stop,” Hope said, biting her lip, not sure at all.
Dani leaned in. “Are you sure? Because it doesn’t look like it to me,” she said, adding her two cents.
Hope nodded, but that nod turned into something of a circle. “Sure, I’m sure. It’s True.”
“But Heath is driving,” Amy said.
“He’s not going ram Faith,” Hope said, and then it dawned on her. “Oh, he is going to ram Faith.”
“Yeah, he is,” Amy said. “Hold on for a flying vampire; who knows where she’ll come down.”
Dani jabbed Amy in the side. “Stop that!” she snapped.
“He’s not stopping,” Drew said.
“He’s not swerving,” Amy added.
Hope couldn’t believe her eyes. She was waiting for tail lights to signal that True was in control and they needed to brace for their car to practically stand on its nose, and she was unsure why it hadn’t happened already.
“Oh crap!” Dani said, saying what everyone was thinking but shocking them with her words more than the thought that True would allow Heath to drive into Faith.