Page 42 of Mortal Blood
“I tried to tell you, but you didn’t want to hear it. Shockingly, not every part of my life revolves around you,vampire.”
He curled his lip in a sneer. “We’ll just see about that. Since you didn’t show last night, guess I’ll just get the blood elsewhere.”
He twisted round to look back over his shoulder, and I looked past him to see Thessalia eyeing me coldly, but it wasn’t her who caught my attention. It was the human standing immobile with her vise-like grip around his arm. Sam.
“You wouldn’t,” I hissed.
“Oh, I fully intend to. I sure hope I don’t lose control anddrain him completely.”
“Thaden, no!”
He spun on his heel, shaking me off effortlessly as I grabbed at his arm.
“Thaden!”
“Brother,” Thessalia purred. “Come, feed.”
She shot me a look loaded with loathing and hatred and my step faltered. We’d never been friends, but we’d at least been allies last year.
Thaden grabbed Sam by his shirt and pulled him closer, yanking his head roughly aside to expose his throat. Sam’s jaw clenched for a heartbeat before he forced himself to relax. There was nothing he could do to fight back. Even if he’d the slightest chance against Thaden, resistance of any kind would get him executed.
“Thaden, don’t,” I said, my voice catching in my throat. “I’m sorry.”
He twisted his head to meet my eye. “Me too, sweetness.”
Then his mouth parted and he slammed his fangs into Sam’s throat. Sam jolted in his grip, gasping in pain, and I lurched a step forward, but the reality was that I was as helpless as him against Thaden. I might be a dhampir, but I didn’t have any kind of vampire strength. I was powerless to do anything but watch, and we all knew it.
Abruptly, Thaden pulled back with a hiss, spitting Sam’s blood from his mouth.
“Fuck!”
He shoved Sam away, sending him staggering towards me,and pivoted on his heel, slamming his way through the doors and out of the room.
I caught Sam, steadying him. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he said coolly, shrugging off my grip.
“You’re not,” I said, looking at the messy wound on his neck that was still oozing blood and showing no sign of stopping. “Your wound needs to be treated.”
“I said I’m fine!”
I glared over at Thessalia—or rather, where she’d been—but she was gone. Presumably running after her brother. Whatever. I had more immediate problems.
“Look,” I said, lowering my voice and hoping the rest of the vampires had lost interest in us. “You’re pissed off, I get it. And you have every right to be. I’m sorry you got caught up in this, I am. But he made a mess of your neck. It needs to be treated. Let me take you to the med wing, please?”
He glared at me for a long moment before his face softened and he huffed out a sigh. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“Thank you.” I wrapped my arm around his back, ready to steady him when the blood loss caught up with him. Which, judging by the mess Thaden had made of his neck when he’d yanked his fangs out, would not be long.
Ignoring what I had no doubt were derogatory stares from the remaining vamps in the room, I steered Sam towards the doors. We’d almost reached them when they swung inwards and a figure strode through, pausing as he caught sight of me.
“Where do you think you’re going with my human, dhampir?” Demir demanded.
“He needs a healer…sir.”
The instructor curled his upper lip in a sneer. “I’ll be the judge of that, Ellis.”
He gripped Sam’s chin between thumb and forefinger, twisting his head aside to look at the wound on his neck, then tutted in irritation.
