ReAwakened Read online

  As his head connected with the cold concrete, a small female vampire lunged at me. She grabbed a large syringe from the medical stand next to one of the beds. Before I could get out of her way, she descended on me. Instinctively, I raised my arms, blocking her first attempted stab. Grabbing her wrist, I flipped her to the ground as another vampire advanced on me. He was older and somewhat weaker, but by the time I’d managed to disarm him and slam him against the wall, the small female vamp had moved in on Sebastian.

  In my rush to intercept her rabid attack, I forgot about the weapon in her hand. A sharp pain shot though my arm as the poisonous syringe jammed into me, dispensing a thick, red liquid into my body. The right side of my body seized from the impact, forcing me to drop my dagger. It fell to the floor with a loud clank.

  Wide-eyed and panting, the vampire paused, waiting for the effects of the poison to overtake me. From my experience with vamp blood, I expected to soon be completely incapacitated. I tensed my body, preparing for the weakness and dizziness that was sure to come. Seconds passed, but nothing happened. The female vampire looked at me, her mouth twisting in confusion. When she realized that I wasn’t going to stop fighting, ferocity returned to her eyes, just as I delivered a kick to her stomach. The hit sent her soaring through the air, crashing directly into one of the operating tables. Shiny medical equipment tumbled to the floor, setting off a musical echo throughout the small room.

  I looked down at my arm. The syringe was still embedded there, only a few drops of blood remaining in the container. I pulled the needle out, fully expecting its toxic effects to kick in. One thing I knew with certainty was that I wasn’t immune to the crippling consequences of blood poisoning. No one was.

  Before I had a chance to contemplate my inevitable demise, the small vampire recovered and came at me again. A kick to her stomach doubled her over, and an elbow to the spine sent her tumbling to the floor.

  I hated killing. My training had always taught me to leave my attackers alive, but if we were going to live, these vampires had to die. Regardless, it was one thing to kill someone in self-defense as I had killed so many in the attack, but I hesitated as I regarded the fallen vampire in front of me.

  My dagger teetered hesitantly between the fingers of my right hand, the syringe in my left. I raised the dagger, aiming it at the woman’s heart. Her moss green eyes widened, growing completely translucent, exposing the fear within her soul. At the last second, I had a change of heart and stabbed with my left hand instead. The syringe embedded deep in her shoulder as I drained the last drop of its contents into her body. I didn’t know what I expected to achieve by stabbing the vampire with a clearly faulty syringe. I intended to scare her, but to my surprise, she cried out in pain. Her body writhed in agony, then stilled. She collapsed to the floor, unconscious from the effects of the poison.

  I raised my head in confusion, relieved to see Razor taking care of the last attacker. Only Lena and Sebastian’s labored breathing broke through the silence of the room. I allowed my eyes to drift over to them. The vat containing Lena’s blood had cracked during the fight. The thick red liquid seeped out of it, staining the floor. Sebastian hadn’t fared any better. He was swimming in a sea of crimson. His raspy, swallow gasps sent a chill through my body. I took a deep breath, finally forcing myself to assess his injuries as Razor bent over Lena.

  “She’s going to be fine,” he breathed a sigh of relief. “Since she’s a Born, she’s healing extremely fast.”

  Lena had gained consciousness. With Razor’s help, she was slowly trying to rise to her feet. Some of her wounds had even ceased bleeding. Sebastian, on the other hand, was slipping away.

  “Razor! We’re losing him!” I cried, unable to conceal the terror in my voice.

  When Lena was stabilized, Razor rushed to my side. With steady hands, he gently evaluated Sebastian’s injuries.

  “The cuts are too deep,” he whispered hoarsely. “Get me some gauze. STAT.”

  Before he even finished saying the words, I was back at his side with a handful of bandages. He swiftly patched Sebastian’s wounds, his fingers moving expertly over the deep gashes.

  “This is just a temporary solution,” he said gravely. “We need to get him some blood right away.”

  Sebastian’s dark lashes fluttered. He opened one eye slowly. Then the other. When his gaze focused on me, he smiled slightly, but the smile was quickly overcome by a coughing fit. With each spasm, more blood poured into the bandages around his neck, staining the white gauze.

  Razor cursed. “He’ll never make it out of here. He’s lost too much blood, too fast.”

  Vampires’ bodies had the ability to heal at an exceptionally accelerated rate, but even we had limits. The Born could handle intense amounts of blood loss better than the Made. We had the ability to regenerate blood cells internally. The Made, on the other hand, needed an external blood source to do so.

  “Is there any human blood in this godforsaken place?!” Razor yelled, pulling out surgical equipment from the wall cabinets. I jumped as an overturned medical table came crashing down.

  “I have some blood capsules,” I told him. After Hunter’s injury, I’d made sure to stock up on a supply of the tiny energy pills.

  “Those won’t do when a vampire is dying!” Razor shouted, kicking over an operating table.

  I looked down at Sebastian, fighting the stinging in my eyes. “Hang in there,” I whispered as Razor continued to rummage through the room.

  Suddenly, he was beside me, seizing my shoulders with both of his hands. “You!” His dark eyes wide with frenzy. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before!”

  “What is it?”

  “Give him your blood!”

  “What?” I gasped.

  Sebastian coughed again.

  “You can heal him!” Razor cried.

  “What?” While I seemed to have witnessed an anomaly today, I was certain that vampire blood was still poisonous to our kind.

  “You’re a Born, right?”

  He didn’t wait for me to respond.

  “You were cloned from that Aurora chick, right?”

  Again, he didn’t wait for an answer.

  “Aurora made Sebastian.”

  He had been paying attention to everything I had told him in the car.

  Razor was now talking a mile a minute. “The only vampires who can exchange blood without harm are a Born and the vampires she sires. They need to be compatible so they can create a child. Don’t you see?”

  “You think I could heal Sebastian?”

  “You have the same DNA as Aurora. I don’t think. I know that you can!”

  I averted my eyes from Sebastian and looked down at a cut on my arm.

  “We don’t have time for you to think about this!” Razor handed me my dagger as Sebastian began to cough again. “Please!”

  “Okay.” I nodded. I used the blade to deepen the wound on my arm. Bright red liquid rushed to the surface of my skin, then slowly began to trickle down my arm.

  As I brought my arm to Sebastian’s lips, Razor shot me a grateful look. “Drink,” he urged his brother. His voice was soft, but commanding.

  Sebastian obeyed without hesitation. He wrapped his dry mouth around the cut and slowly began to draw on my blood. As he drank, the clouds in his eyes cleared, and recognition flashed within them. He gasped, looked down at my arm, up toward my eyes, then back down at the cut he was drinking from.

  Immediately, he withdrew his lips, jerking away from me. The action was instant, but a flicker of reluctance emitted from both of us as his lips parted from my skin. It was as if my blood had somehow garnered a hold over him and was unwilling to release him. Or perhaps, it was the other way around—perhaps he was the one that didn’t want to let me go. A dark look crossed his bruised face as he winced and moved farther away.

  “That’s not enough,” Razor barked. “You barely drank.”

  Sebastian ignored his brother. His eyes were still on me, his express
ion so very anguished. He seemed to be fighting an urge his body was clearly begging for.

  Razor knelt next to us, grabbing Sebastian by his shoulder. “Listen to me—both of you.” He shot us a stern glare. “It’s only a matter of time before more of them come. If we’re gonna get out of this place alive, you’re going to need to drink.”

  Razor’s commanding voice seemed to defeat Sebastian’s internal struggle, pushing him over the edge. With a heated look, he lunged toward me. I expected to feel his mouth against my arm once again, but instead, he placed one hand around the back of my neck and pressed his lips to my throat. With his other hand, he gripped the small of my back, pulling me deep into him. I tensed as his sharp fangs pierced my skin, then relaxed into the euphoric sensation that followed.

  I had only given blood once—to Ethan when he had been injured—and I only drank blood once, while trying to save his mother. Both times, the feedings were a business-like transaction that had left me feeling uncomfortable. This was different. Gratifying. Intimate. Though Sebastian was the one taking my blood, a sense of satisfaction pulsated through me. Each drop he drained replenished the void in my body with a wave of pleasure.

  I tensed when I realized that my enjoyment would be short lived. Just like when I had given blood to Ethan, Aurora slowly began to slither out of the dark corners of my mind. But, unlike previous times when she had appeared to me in visions of the past, this was different. In this moment with Sebastian, it was as if she was actually awake in the present. I could feel her claw at my mind in an attempt to take hold of my body.

  As her deep emerald eyes flashed through my thoughts, I focused my attention on Sebastian. His arms clinging tightly around me, his lips against my neck, the soft sound of his barely-there breathing. An unexpected yearning to decrease the space between us overtook me, just as Razor wrapped his arms around my waist and gently pulled me out of Sebastian’s embrace.

  “That’s enough.”

  Broken apart, Sebastian and I collapsed to the floor, panting. My head was spinning. My blood felt like it had been set on fire; I could feel every tiny cell burning through my veins.

  “We better get going,” Razor said. The relief in his voice was evident, but a hint of gruffness slipped through. “Unless, of course, you two want to stay here and make little vampire babies.”

  I shook my head, avoiding looking at Sebastian. Out of the corner of my eye, I could tell he was also glancing away from me. For the first time since we had entered the room, he focused his attention on Razor.

  “You…” he whispered just before he lost consciousness.

  “Is he okay?” I asked as Sebastian slumped to the floor.

  “Yes.” Razor grinned. “Though, I have to admit, I usually only have this effect on the ladies.”

  Just like that, he had snapped back to his lighthearted self. Both the terrified rage as he had watched his brother fade and the brief instance of uneasiness brought on by my intimate moment with Sebastian were long forgotten.

  “He’ll be fine,” he assured me again, this time more seriously. “Thanks to you.”

  “We have to get out of here before more attackers appear,” I said, gaining control of my senses.

  Razor nodded. “I’m going to take Seb, you help the girl.”

  I glanced over at the injured redhead. She was sitting on top of one of the operating tables, clearly paralyzed from shock. Her teeth chattered as she mindlessly ran her hands over her body. I placed my arm around her waist, helping her off the table and leading her to the door.

  “Stay here,” I whispered, retreating back into the morgue.

  I had to ensure that we weren’t leaving behind any other survivors. Death called out to me from all corners; the smell of decay overpowered everything else. My heart shattered at the sight of Julie, a clever little Born girl I’d trained mere months ago, hanging lifelessly from the wall. Pale and withered, she was long gone. I undid her bindings and placed her little body on a table. Covering her with a white sheet, I bid a silent goodbye to my favorite pupil.

  A middle-aged vampire I didn’t recognize stirred from behind a mask of bloodied, matted down hair. I tore open her restraints, dragging her out of the room. Her wounds were deep, but there were fewer of them, indicating that she was one of the most recent abductees. Aside from Sebastian and Lena, she was the lone survivor of the bloodbath.

  Razor was waiting for me by the exit, holding onto Sebastian. He followed me out of the room, grunting as he towed Sebastian’s listless body across the debris-filled floor. I carried the older woman in my arms while Lena trailed after us, hobbling along as quickly as she could.

  “We took out at least twenty vamps. I think we’re in the clear,” Razor whispered. He winced as the door slammed shut behind us. “For now.”

  I nodded. “We should still be careful,” I said, looking over at the three wounded vampires. “The last thing we need right now is another fight.”

  We made our way down the long, narrow corridors, cautiously avoiding the rubble. Following the same path as on our way in, we pulled the injured vampires over the unstable chairs, managing to crawl out of the hospital without encountering any more attackers. Once Sebastian, Lena, and the old woman were safely in Razor’s car, I ran back inside the building.

  Risking another attack, I rushed down to the morgue. I had to retrieve Julie’s body. The little Born was an orphan; she’d have no one to claim her. I couldn’t stomach the thought of leaving her all alone on the cold, metal table. Fighting back tears, I wrapped her tiny body in a blanket. Vowing that she would never again be alone, I decided to take her to Angel Creek and bury her in the old cemetery near the edge of town.

  Safely back inside Razor’s car, I let out a breath I felt like I’d been holding since we crawled through the door. The others were now fast asleep in the back seat. The older lady hadn’t woken up, but her breathing was slowly becoming stronger. According to Razor, with proper medical attention, she would make a full recovery. I called Sophie and asked her to notify Twitbrook of the bodies we had left behind in the hospital. If all those massacred vampires still failed to convince him that the situation we faced was extreme, then he really was coldhearted. I also contacted the funeral home in Angel Creek to arrange little Julie’s burial.

  Razor settled behind the wheel and remained silent for most of the ride back to Angel Creek. Every so often, his brow would furrow as a thought crossed his mind, but he never spoke. Having to sort out the tangled web of my own thoughts, I was thankful for the silence. The more I concentrated on decoding the evening’s occurrences, the less time I had to focus on my feelings.

  A few hours into the drive, Razor’s expression softened, and he began making small-talk once again. Most of it centered on trivial, lighthearted subjects, though every few miles he’d cross into inappropriate territory. Something had changed with him after we secured Sebastian’s safety, though I still couldn’t quite pinpoint exactly what it was. We continued chatting—or rather, I continued groaning in disgust as Razor chatted, until he finally paused and looked at me—really looked at me—for the first time since we began our drive home.

  “Thank you for helping my brother,” he said sincerely. “He wouldn’t have made it without you.” His serious tone and honest gaze caught me off guard. I was used to the playful Razor. I hadn’t even been surprised by the commanding, focused Razor who had appeared during the crisis in the morgue. But this Razor was someone new. Someone truthful, open—possibly even caring.

  He seemed to read my thoughts because as quickly as he had opened up, he shut down again.

  “I didn’t think I was going to be able to pry the two of you apart,” he teased, shifting back into his playful tone. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think this whole ‘Innocent D’ thing is just an act.”

  “If I didn’t know better, I would think you were jealous,” I shot back without thinking, irritated by his sudden shift in personality.

  “Good thing you know better,
” he simply said, and we fell silent again.

  I focused on the scenery outside. Within minutes, the forest surrounding Angel Creek appeared on the horizon, bringing with it the break of dawn. The sun spilled across the morning sky, painting the light canvas in bright orange, setting trees on fire as its glow showered their leaves in bright crimson. Looking away, I shut my eyes. The last thing I needed to see was more red. I had seen enough in one day to last me an immortal lifetime.

  Thoughts of blood stirred an idea within me. “The syringe I was stabbed with was filled with Sebastian’s blood!” I suddenly said, turning to face Razor. The mystery of why I hadn’t been poisoned when the small vampire sank the blood-filled syringe in my arm rapidly solved itself. “You said the Born and her Made can share blood, right?”

  He nodded. “Yup.”

  “Sebastian’s blood was everywhere—it was probably in the syringe as well!” I told him.

  “Makes sense.”

  “That’s why it didn’t affect me,” I said, exhaling. “I got lucky.”

  “Sebastian did too,” he said. “In more ways than one.”

  “Is this conversation going to go into the gutter again?” I moaned, crossing my arms. “Because if that’s the case, I’d like to tune out while I still have the chance.”

  Razor pretended to be hurt by my accusation. “All I’m saying is that it’s a good thing that you were able to give blood to him.” He couldn’t help himself, and added, “Especially since you both seemed to enjoy the process so very much.”

  “I was just trying to save his life!” I said, a little too sharply. “You made me do it, remember?”