9. Chapter 9
Icanhearher crying in the bathroom, the sound of the water pounding against the tiles doing nothing to hide it from my sensitive ears. I want to go to her, but I know she won”t appreciate me barging in where I”m not welcome. Instead, I stay standing outside the door. I want to make sure no one can go in there without her permission.
After Jax took her the towels and clothes, I think back to his words. I really don”t know what is going on with me. All I know is that I need to keep her safe. I will keep her safe, and I”ll kill anyone who tries to harm her.
When the water cuts out, I can hear her moving around inside. She shifts to the bathroom door, unlocking it before opening, closing, and locking it again. I hear when she finally leaves the bathroom, too. Even from here, she smells clean, the lingering smell of her blood, and that of her friend, has long since been washed down the drain.
As soon as I hear her footsteps approaching the bedroom door, I step away so as not to startle her. But the door never opens. Instead, I hear the lock on the door being engaged before she moves back towards what I assume is the bed.
Listening closely to her breathing, I hear when it evens out, and she drifts off to sleep. I”m compelled to check on her, to make sure she is okay, but with the door locked, the only way in is to break it down. I growl under my breath as I move back towards the door.
Placing my palm against the wood, I have to stop myself from smashing it to get to her. It”s not something I can do. After what she has been through, she will think I”m trying to attack her. Dropping my hand, I shift away from the door and head back to the living room. Jax and Diego are nowhere to be found.
I move to the fridge and grab a sachet of blood from inside it. There has been a lot of it spilled, and I”m actively fighting my bloodlust every step of the way. It”s something I”ve always had a problem with and part of the reason Jax keeps me on the door instead of working in the club.
The humans there only pass me briefly, not long enough for me to smell them and want to sink my fangs into their neck. But tonight was different. I caught Demi”s scent as she entered the club and it sang to me; I wanted to leave my position and go to her, to drown in her intoxicating scent. I wanted her.
It had waned as she entered and left me outside in the cold. I spent a few hours wondering if I should seek her out, but I did my job. A few fights broke out at the entrance when I refused to let some humans in, but they soon cleared off as soon as I bared my fangs at them.
It wasn”t until I went inside for a blood packet on my break and came back into the hallway that I realized something was wrong. My bloodlust shot to the forefront of my mind, and the girl”s scent pounded into my nostrils.
When I got outside, I found Diego kneeling over her. His fangs were down, and his heart rate was increased. The scent of her blood was overpowering, and I knew if I didn”t stop him, there was a chance he would bite her and drain what little blood she had left. We”d have been removing two dead bodies, not just one.
I gathered her up and brought her to Jax”s apartment above the club. Though, at this point, it’s more like our apartment. We spend more time here than we do at our own places; it’s easier after a long shift to come upstairs and crash than traipse across town to our own places.
Thankfully, Jax’s place has enough rooms to accommodate both me and Diego, and now our new guest. I even keep a few sets of clothes here to get by. After finishing my sachet of blood, I throw it in the trash, spotting her trashed clothing inside. I grab one of the dining room chairs, carrying it back down the hall.
Setting it up outside her room, I take my place on the hard wooden seat. I cross my legs at the ankles and lean back, letting my eyes slip shut as I listen to the sound of her sleeping.
I can hear Jax and Diego showering in their respective rooms, presumably to clean the blood from themselves. After we took Demi to Jax”s room, none of us left her side until all her wounds were closed. The blood on our clothes doesn’t bother us and as we didn’t want to leave her, we hadn’t taken the time to clean up. I”m still sitting here in my blood-drenched clothes, not wanting to leave her for even a moment in case she needs me.
My mind flashes again to what I found in the alley. Both women lay in a pool of blood, one completely naked and the other with her clothes in tatters. I wanted to rage, to punch and break things. To rip apart the ones who had hurt her - I wanted revenge.
When I find those wolves, I will make them wish they had never set foot in vampire territory. I will become their worst nightmare. I”ll make their deaths slow, and they will beg me for death before the end. I”m sure Diego will be right there with me. Jax, I”m not so sure about. He seems to want to know who hurt her and killed her friend, but I”m not sure for what reason.
I”m stationed in front of her door for quite some time before the whimpers begin. I can hear her thrashing around on the bed and the compulsion to go to her grows again. Standing suddenly, the chair scrapes back across the wood flooring, the sound echoing down the empty hallway.
I rush to the door and turn the handle, but it won”t budge. She locked it earlier before she crawled into bed and now it”s stopping me from getting to her.
”Ginny... no.” I hear her cry. Her heart is pounding within her chest, I can hear it effortlessly through the door.
Pushing on the wood, I feel the surface straining under my hands. Her cries of anguish grow louder and the need to get to her intensifies. Gripping the handle, I yank it back. It breaks off in my hands, and the door cracks open.
Jax is going to be pissed.I scold myself, but I can”t bring myself to care.
Nudging the door open, I can see her sprawled out on the bed in the dim light. The sheet is tangled around her limbs as she thrashes around like she is fighting off an invisible attacker. The stake she had earlier is still on the bedside table.
”Don”t... please, don”t.” She cries out again.
I’m by the bedside in less time than it takes to blink, but I”m not sure what to do. My hands clench into fists, wanting to reach out to her, to calm her, to try to take away her pain. Toeing off my boots and dropping my bloody t-shirt to the floor, I’m left in just my black tank top. I do the only thing I can think of and get onto the bed beside her. Keeping myself above the covers, I pull her into my arms, spotting the tears falling down her cheeks as I rest her head under my chin.
Turning so she is facing me, her fingers grip the material of my tank. She pushes against my huge body, but I don”t move. I rub my hand up and down her arm, attempting to soothe her. Slowly, her breathing evens out and she rests her cheek against my chest.
I can feel her tears soaking through the material of my top as her fists unclench. One rests above my beating heart and the other moves down to my side. Her skin connects with mine where my tank has lifted on the side and my whole body shudders.
Holding her close to me, my hand moves down her back, rubbing small circles over the top of the material. Other than that, I daren”t move. Instead, I close my eyes so I can rest. Vampires can get away with much lower amounts of sleep, but it”s been a taxing time for us all. With her gathered in my arms, at least I”m here, ready to protect her.
I hear movement by the door, my senses on alert. But I know it”s a friend, not a foe. I”d know Jax”s damp pine scent anywhere.
”Fuck.” I hear him whisper, probably surveying the damage I caused to the door.
He pulls the wood to the frame as best he can before his footsteps drift away down the hall to his bedroom, muttering under his breath as he goes.