Chapter 36
Sam
Jesus fucking Christ.
I pierced Raf’s vein, the warmth of his blood resembling that of a human. His grip on me was still firm, but he didn’t make any other advances. As I drank, his body began to cool, continuing until it matched the ambient temperature.
Footsteps made me pull back, but Joseph was already standing in the hallway with Ryan at his side. Two sets of wide eyes were locked on me and Seraphim. He released me, stumbling when he moved away. I was worried about him, but with my head clearer, I felt a wave of nausea at what had just happened.
Realistically, all I’d done was feed from him, but it was intimate. Our lips sort of touched and his hands had been in what I would classify as a ‘nope’ zone. The whole vibe was far from innocent. Lock was not going to be happy about this.
Dragging my attention away from Raf’s weak appearance, I grimaced at the two men lingering outside the door. Joseph was clearly very confused; it was Ryan that worried me most. I knew he was terrified of Lock and I wasn’t sure how much he knew about this freaky connection.
“I was feeding from him,” I explained, wiping some blood off of my lip with my thumb. “It’s just a Nexus thing. Don’t worry about it.”
“Sam, I don’t like this,” Ryan admitted. “I’m worried.”
“Oh, fuck off,” Raf grumbled in a weak voice.
“Don’t be rude,” I chided.
“I can’t stand a self-righteous vampire.”
“That’s rich coming from the guy that has to incapacitate his victims to eat them.”
The annoyance I felt was more than welcome right now. If I could feel something negative toward him, that meant things were going back to normal. Just the thought of the jabby thing in his pants made me shudder.
“I don’t need to,” he replied coolly.
“Then why do it? Do the screams hurt your ears?” I asked in a mocking tone.
“I don’t owe you an explanation for how I choose to live, just as you don’t owe me one for why you enjoy inflicting pain.”
“Ugh. Do I have time to scrub off every layer of skin you touched just now?”
“Sam,” Ryan said.
Turning to him, I pursed my lips, but nodded for him to go on.
“I’m not sure what to do.”
“There’s nothing to do except head out,” I decided.
After grabbing my phone, I started back toward the door, but he was still standing there, looking back and forth between Raf and I.
“What?” I asked.
“It’s just that I’m supposed to be protecting you.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “From what?”
His gaze darted over my shoulder. “Anything. It’s literally why I came here. Why Lock wanted me here.”
“Everything is fine, Ryan. I promise. It’s just the dumb Nexus bullshit. We’ll figure it out.”
“Is that how Lock is gonna feel?”
“Look, I get that you’ve been entrusted with this super important task and all that, but let’s be real here. Lock didn’t bring you out here to be my bodyguard. More than likely, he wants you to snitch if I start doing dumb shit because he knows you care about my wellbeing. He also knew I’d be more comfortable with you than one of the others. When it comes down to it, though, what the fuck are you going to do against something if it’s too strong for me to fight?”
“Wow,” he said on a breath. “I’m trying to be here for you as a friend. Fuck Lock and his ulterior motives.”
Swiping a hand down my face, I tried to center myself. Lashing out at the only friend I was able to keep from my mortal life? Not my best move.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Things have been…”
“I know. I’m just telling you to be careful.”
Unsure what else to say, I simply nodded. Joseph took a deep breath and forced a smile.
“I wasn’t given a plus one and I’m sure things will get rocky when four pluses show up, but fuck it, right? Apparently, I’ve found myself on the side of vampires. Since it’s you, I guess I’m okay with that.”
Something in my chest felt like it cracked. We were going to have a long talk about the past at some point before I left this place. Regardless of his own actions after his sister ratted us out, he’d been just as young and scared as I had been back then.
A clatter startled me out of my thoughts. I turned to find Raf leaning against a nightstand.
“I need blood,” he muttered.
“Fuck. Let’s find you something.”
He shook his head. “We’re already late. I just need a bit to get me going.”
“We don’t have any bottles.”
“We have better.”
Even in his weakened state, he was fast. Once I realized what he was doing, an intense panic awoke inside me. Ice felt like it flooded my veins before frosty blue smoke sprang from my skin and dispersed throughout the room. I had no idea how cold the room actually was, but I could see Joseph’s breaths puff in front of him.
Raf came to a sudden stop, gritting his teeth as his face contorted. Bringing his own smoke into his palms, he tried to counteract mine, but he wasn’t in any condition to fight me off after I’d taken so much from him. After a moment, he growled and let go of his magic.
“I’m not going to kill him,” he said.
“I don’t care. We’re not feeding from friends.”
“He’s not my friend.”
“It’s okay,” Joseph said, stepping forward and putting a hand on my arm. I was immediately startled by how cold his skin was and when I looked at it, there was a bright pink hue to it.
“Shit,” I muttered, attempting to draw the power back inside me.
“He can do it if he needs to. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Raf stepped forward and I automatically moved to block his path. “Go.”
“Excuse me?”
“Leave. Go find someone to eat. I don’t care who.”
“Then let me take a bite of this guy. He literally offered.”
My nostrils flared, a thousand icy needles nudging at my skin from the inside. It was so uncomfortable, I’d probably be freaking out if it wasn’t for the threat in front of me.
“Go outside, get your fill, then meet us there. Maybe find a place to get your dick sucked so it stays far away from me.”
His brow furrowed. “What is your problem right now?”
“You’re not touching him.”
“Fine. Jesus. Just don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone, like use up all your energy, or we might end up where we were a few minutes ago. It would be a bit more awkward with Lock’s eyes on us.”
Before I could give him another princess nap, he shifted and fled out the vent. Once he was gone, I let out a sharp breath, feeling exhausted from either the situation or the magic.
Joseph put his hands on my shoulders. “Are you okay?”
“I should be asking you that. It’s too cold for you in here and I don’t know how to completely fix it.”
“What about fire,” Ryan suggested.
Checking in with my body, I reached for something else, but all I found was cold. It was infuriating that I’d been getting the hang of my fire magic just for this one to get jealous and take over. If my emotions started going haywire, I’d be screwed.
“Let’s just get out of here,” I said, taking Joseph’s hand and letting him lead me to the door. “I’m sorry about turning your guest room into a meat freezer. I have no idea if it’s permanent.”
“It’s fine,” he replied with a soft laugh. “You know I like the cold.”
“You always wanted to move north.”
“Maybe I will, actually.”
“Why now?”
He threaded our arms together as we walked down the street. In my short dress, I would have been cold as a human. While I could tell the air had a chill to it, I couldn’t quite feel it in the same way the sun didn’t actually warm me. I could smell it, though, which was always the most satisfying thing about winter.
“You,” Joseph murmured. “I think, even though I didn’t know it, I was stuck because you were gone. We were always supposed to leave together and it didn’t feel right without you.”
“But I wasn’t here anymore.”
“No, you weren’t. It will always be one of my greatest regrets that I didn’t stick it out with you. We should have done it together. Yet, now that I’ve seen you and your life, I can’t hold to any delusions that we were meant to be. I think everything happened exactly how it was supposed to, even if we had to survive through some pain for a while.”
My eyes burned and I squeezed him tighter. “You know I’ll always love you, Joseph. In that pure, innocent way we existed with each other.”
“I’ll always love you too, Sam. Even though you’re an immortal being with some terrifying tricks up your sleeve.”
“More like under her skin,” Ryan chimed in, looping his arm through my other elbow.
“What else can you do, badass?”
I hummed thoughtfully. “I can make a thunderstorm that would make Zeus look like a weatherman in straight leg khakis.”
“I’d love to see that.”
“It’s a work in progress,” I grimaced. “Vas said I have three abilities.”
“Who’s Vas?”
“Some grungy, creepy vampire that’s older than this town probably,” Ryan explained with a shudder.
Shooting him a reassuring smile, I thought about the strange guy. I wondered where he was now. Probably back with his lord and master, the hobgoblin.
“At least he was hot,” I said. “The man was downright pretty.”
“Well, I hope you smite him someday.”
“Ugh, you sound like Lock with the smiting bullshit. I’m not a god. It is pretty hot, though, when he kneels and-”
“Nope,” Ryan nearly shouted. “Find the filter, lock that bitch in place, and let’s go crash a wedding. Anybody that is an enemy of Samara Byrne’s is an enemy of mine.”
Joseph rolled his shoulders, then lifted his chin. “Agreed.”
Well, here we were. Three harbingers of death ready to fuck up a lot of people’s day. With the remainder of our party, we could turn this entire town to ash if I wished it. Everybody that would be standing beside me today was prepared to follow my lead, to carry out my will.
Maybe Lock wasn’t completely out of his mind. This sure felt like divinity.