51
“Patience, Luca,” Ashton said, gazing thoughtfully at me. I refocused my attention to the dirt on the ground.
“I want to taste her blood,” Luca stated, bringing a cool hand to my face and resting it on my cheek.
I jerked my head away from him. “Don’t touch me.”
Ashton yawned, looking awfully bored. “Let her be, Luca. All in due time. For now though, I just want to speak to her.”
“About what?” I asked.
“A few things. First of all, I heard you’re the Rutherford’s new play thing.”
“I’m not a play thing,” I snapped.
He smiled. “They certainly have taken an interest you. Why else would they protect you so strongly?”
I shrugged nonchalantly. “My blood, maybe? Except instead of wanting to take my blood, they’re happy just letting me live my normal human life.”
“What a waste,” Ashton sighed wistfully. “Your blood is far too precious to go to waste.”
“It’s not going to waste when I’m living my life!”
Luca spoke up now. “Wait, we don’t even know if she’s a Blue Blood yet. We should test it.”
Ashton chuckled. “You just want to taste her blood, Luca.”
“Maybe,” he responded with a smirk.
“Very well. Cut yourself then.”
My whole body tensed when Luca produced a switchblade from nowhere. A sharp one, too. In one clean, swift action he cut down his wrist, following his vein. Blood immediately began to pour from his arm. Ashton turned to me. I locked gazes with him. His was calm, amused. Mine was scared, frantic.
Now was the time to panic.
Going against my early promise, I slid to the other side of the car, running around to the back of it. Ashton smirked, walking slowly toward me. My hand shot into my pocket and I prayed that Vincent was the first person on my recent calls list. I hit the call button twice and waited.
“Come here,” Ashton cooed, holding out his hand. “We just need a sample. Luca, go from the other side.”
Luca nodded, advancing on me. “Yeah. I don’t want to bleed out, girl. Get over here.”
“No!” I protested, swallowing nervously. Had someone picked up yet? Or did it go to voicemail? “Why would you bring me by the Rutherford Manor to do this? Why not in the mall parking lot, Ashton?”
He cocked his head to the side. “Does the scenery really matter?”
“Don’t come closer,” I warned, taking a step back away from him. Right into something hard. A gasp escaped my lips and I twisted around to see Luca towering over me. He easily pushed me into the trunk of Ashton’s car, pinning me into place. The phone fell from my hands.
“A little sample,” he promised, bringing his lips to my neck. “I bet you’re used to it, aren’t you?”
“No,” I pleaded, trying to shove him away. “Don’t kill me.”
.
.
“We’re not going to kill you, Emily,” Ashton told me smoothly.
I shook my head, trying to put Luca off. “Stop it, please! I promise you I’m a Blue Blood! I promise! You don’t have to try it out!”
Luca’s moist breath on my neck was starting to make me dizzy. It was giving me memories from when Joel had attacked me. It was making me remember the pain.
“Do it quickly,” Ashton told Luca. “You don’t want to lose too much blood.”
“Wait!” I begged, pounding on Luca’s shoulder. “Just wait! Please! Don’t do it! Please!”
Luca’s canines brushed against my neck. “I bet you’ll taste sweet.”
“No wait, ugh!” I groaned as I felt his fangs pierce my skin, just hard enough to break the skin. “Please,” I tried again, whispering now.
“Sorry, Babe,” Luca responded, sinking his teeth in the rest of the way.
A familiar burning spread through my system instantly. A sharp scream tore through my throat before Ashton quickly covered my mouth, quieting me down. “It’ll be over soon,” he told me in a soothing voice.
My feeble attempts at pushing Luca away ceased. Like a rag doll, I flipped back against the trunk, letting Luca suck my blood. Nausea washed over me as the sucking sound Luca was making met my ears. Wasn’t this supposed to be a brisk action? Why was he taking so long? If he drank too much, I would pass out like usual. I couldn’t afford to pass out when these guys were around.
“Luca,” Ashton said in firm voice. “Enough.”
Luca moaned in protest, his teeth still in me.
My breath started coming in short rasps. He was drinking too much!
“Luca!” Ashton tried again. “Your wound is healed. Enough.”
Luca still didn’t pull away. Why wasn’t he listening to Ashton? If he kept this up, he was going to kill me! My eyelids fluttered as wave after wave of dizziness crashed into me.
” Luca! ” Ashton growled.
Before my mind could process what was happening, Luca was across the field, wiping blood off his face. My knees collapsed and I plummeted to the ground. Within seconds Ashton had me back on my feet, holding me against the trunk again so I couldn’t fall. “No,” I said weakly, trying to push him away. “I… I’m ane-”
“Anemic, I know,” he stated, clenching his jaw. “It comes with the Blue Blood. Shit. Luca, do you see what you’ve done?”
Luca appeared at his side, a smug smile on his face. “She looks fine to me. Tastes pretty fine too.”
I didn’t even have the energy to glare at him. “Are you going to kill me now?”
“No,” Ashton said, frowning. “Why would we waste your blood like that?”
“Then what…?”
“If we keep you alive, you’ll keep producing the blood. Why we kill you?”
Horror spread through me. “You’re going to harvest me?” I asked, appalled.This text is © NôvelDrama/.Org.
He chuckled. “Something like that.”
.
.
“What makes you think I won’t kill myself?”
“Well, that’s where I threaten you a bit.”
It took a lot of effort to give him a flat look. The world was already starting to spin. I couldn’t pass out here! “W-what do you mean?”
He suddenly pressed against me harder, cutting off my breath. “Either you come with us, or we kill your precious vampire.”
“My…?” My eyes widened in realization. They couldn’t know how I felt about Vincent! Nobody knew but Vincent, and he only knew about the silly crush. Not the deeper feelings I was harboring for him!
“That’s right. If we kill Sebastian, not only will I have you, but I’ll also have the throne. Sounds like a good deal, right?”
Sebastian? They wanted to kill Sebastian? “No!” I protested, my voice coming out more loudly than I expected. “You can’t kill him! No!”
Ashton chuckled. “Then you’ll come with us?”
“No!”
“Did you not hear him?” Luca growled, closing in on him. “You have no other choices.”
“I… I…” My mind was reeling. And not just from the dizziness due to lack of blood. What was I supposed to say? What was I supposed to do? Give my life for a vampire who I’ve only known for two months? But it was Sebastian… But I couldn’t give up my life. I had a family!
But so did Sebastian. Vincent, Fiona, the King, the Queen… He had more family than I did. Could I really live with his death on my hands? Ashton wasn’t going to kill me. He just needed my blood… But there was no way I could deal with getting the blood sucked out of me all the time.
If they tried to kill Sebastian, wouldn’t his family protect him? They also had to have guards, or something. It would be difficult to kill him.