Chapter 19

I'd Rather Go To Hell

The red, warm liquid dripping from my neck and staining the front and back of my shirt made me feel dizzy and sick to my stomach. Cassy stood at the doorway, only snorting and shaking her head in distaste. Rylan was staring at my blood as if he didn't know what to do.

"I-I can't die…" I choked, hot tears burning my eyelids. Cassy chuckled.

My words seemed to bring Rylan back to life, because he leapt off the bed and left the room in a matter of two seconds. I was left with the psychotic woman who wanted me dead anyways.

"It's unfortunate, really, Avanni dear. If we daywalkers were anything like nightwalkers, we'd turn you into one of us, but…we aren't nightwalkers and we have no way of changing you."

I didn't even look at her. My eyes were glued to my front, where my blood made little rivulets between my breasts and darkened my light colored shirt. My head spun dangerously, and little black specks shrouded my vision. God, I was going to die by bleeding to death, I realized.

What could get worse than this? Why wasn't I panicking? Was I just too weak?

My stomach turned suddenly, and my bloody hand went up to cover my mouth so I wouldn't throw up. I groaned and collapsed against the mattress, tightening my hand over my mouth and then covering my bleeding neck. The world feinted around me, and everything went dark. I was absolutely sure I was dead.

"So now what will you do?" An unfamiliar woman asked Jakobi. He was sitting next to a body laying on the ground motionless, face up. The hair was spread around the girl's head like billowing smoke, and there were bloody bitemarks all over her naked body. Jakobi looked up at the stranger woman and smirked, his mouth coated in red liquid as well.

"I'm going to allow her to die, firstly." he replied, slowly reaching to touch the unconscious girls' bare chest. He stroked her ivory flesh, as if savoring the way the blood contorted the beauty into something dangerous.

Why did this dream seem so familiar?

"And then what? What do you think the Darquecaster's would say, hnn?" the woman demanded, crossing her arms. Jakobi sent her an irritated look.

"You mean what would they do? Though they couldn't achieve much. Not with her life at stake after all." Jakobi stroked upwards, nonchalantly cupping the wounded girl's chin and tilting her head upwards toward the light. Her face came into view, and Jakobi's chuckle sounded through the room like rain clashing against aluminum foil.

My eyes snapped open. I had had that dream before. The white ceiling above me tilted in my vision, causing me to squeeze my eyes shut again to keep from getting a terrible headache. That was when my hearing focused in on the voices.

"She's going to need more vampire blood soon." a male's voice stated in the distance. I couldn't recognize it, but for some reason I was sure he was talking about me.

"That would be my job." Alec's voice said. He sounded slightly annoyed, but just hearing a familiar voice relieved me. I wasn't in enemy territory. What had happened to me, again?

I thought a moment, wracking my throbbing head for an answer. I heard soft footsteps coming towards me, and I suddenly remembered Rylan and Cassy. I had been in Rylan's room, he had bitten me, and I bled to death.

No, no, no. That's impossible. I was alive.

"You're awake?" Alec assumed. My eyes snapped open again, but I winced, adjusting to the light and the sudden twirl of Earth. I focused in on the vampire boy, who stood next to the bed I was laying on. He had one eyebrow raised as he looked down upon me.

"I-I should be dead…" I murmured. My voice felt scratchy and throaty. I grimaced. How uncool.

Alec pulled over a stool to sit next to me, and I realize we were in a hospital. How would the hospital people know about vampires?! "You should be dead. You got lucky though because of Rylan's blood circulating through you. Half of what bled from you was his." Alec told me. I stared at him in miraculous wonder. Seriously?

"But…he was drinking from me…" I muttered, raising a trembling hand to the side of my throat.

"Sure, your human blood. But when his mouth left your throat, the vampire blood came through." Alec shrugged his broad shoulders. "Don't ask me how it happened. I was actually with Cassidy on that whole topic."

I narrowed my eyes at him. My hand felt the large gauze pad attached to the column of my throat, probably covering two fang marks. "Wow, I feel so secure." I muttered dryly. Alec smirked.

"Back to your old safe, eh?" he mused. Without warning, he slipped an arm under my shoulders and neck and pulled me to a sitting position. I pulled away from him, not enjoying how his touch felt against my bare skin.

Hold up.

Bare skin?

Again?

…Really?

I looked down at myself in disbelief. "What the hell is with you vampires undressing me until I wear nothing but my bra and underwear?!" I hissed.

Alec lifted a wrist to his mouth, but paused so he could reply, "It wasn't us, it was the doc."

I looked toward the door, making sure it was closed, and then I heard the sound of flesh being bitten into. It was the same sound I had heard when Rylan had bit into his wrist. It caused shivers to slither down my spine and I resisted looking at Alec.

"How long was I asleep?" I managed to ask in a shaky voice. I didn't really feel dizzy, just disgusted with having to continuously drink vamp blood, even though it tasted heavenly. In my state of nervousness, I began asking more questions, "How does the doctor know about vampires? Were you serious about being on Cassy's side? Because if so, I won't be able to feel safe with you, you know that? Not that I could in the beginning but-"

"Shut up." Alec shoved his wrist to my mouth and I had no choice but to taste his blood as it crept into my already open mouth. I groaned in irritation, but when the strangely flavored-unflavored blood touched the tip of my tongue, my irritation dissipated. Was it just me, or did Alec's blood taste even sweeter than Rylan's?

I unintentionally leaned against Alec as my hands went up to grasp his arm tightly to keep it there so I could drink his life force. I barely comprehend the fact through my hazy mind that Alec wrapped his other arm around me and buried his face into my hair.

I drank until he finally pulled back. When he did, I whimpered in response, trying to reach back out to his blood. I felt like I was on a high or something. He tasted so good, I wanted more. He stood just out of my reach as his wound healed up. He smirked at me.

"I wouldn't want you to get infatuated with my blood. It is, after all, highly addictive."

Sheesh, his pompous words totally woke me up from the high reverie. I snapped my mouth shut and wipe my arm over my lips to get rid of any excess blood, which was now smeared on my forearm. Then I glared at him.

"It wasn't addictive at all." I lied, laying back down and bringing the sheets up to cover my breasts.

Alec turned away from me. "Yeah, okay. I believe you." He said it sarcastically, which meant he obviously didn't. "Anyway," he added, before I could retort, "I'll get Claude and the doc in here to check up on you."

And then he left. I felt a part of me start hurting when he didn't even look back at me once. I told myself it was the stupid blood I had just drank.

So Claude had made a pact with a bunch of doctors at the hospital, and that was how they knew about vampires. Claude had threatened that if they didn't keep the secret, he was going to eat them all alive.

Okay, so, it sounded kind of deranged, but it had worked, and the doctors soon became his friends. That had happened years ago. The doctor that joined him was a nice, older man named Jonathon. He allowed me to call him Jonny for short.

Whoop.

He had checked my vitals, blood sugar, eyesight, hearing, and even offered to check for any brain damage that may have happened from the blood loss. I had still lost a lot of my own blood, thanks to Rylan. When everything turned out fine and I had no mental impairment that I probably hadn't already had, he allowed me to leave the hospital.

Claude, Alec and Brent had taken me. Lukas stayed with Cassy and Rylan. I sat up front beside Claude as he drove away from the hospital. "So how are you feeling?" he asked me. It was later midday, three-forty-five to be exact. The sun was bright in the sky from late summer still.

I realized I had been asleep for about a night and part of the day. I had obviously missed school as well today. I glanced at Claude with a smile on my face. "I'm fine. I just hope these fang marks heal soon so I can go back to school tomorrow."

Claude nodded. "Alec's blood will take care of that. Why don't we stop by Josh and Becc's house? They're worried about you. When they came to visit you in the hospital, you were still asleep. I didn't want them staying out for too late because of the nightwalkers though."

"So you sent them home, right? They're safe?" I asked unsurely.

"Of course. I would never let anything happen to Becc."

His words made me freeze, and same with the boys in the back of the car. They silenced from chatting quietly. Claude seemed to catch what he said and quickly added,

"And Josh of course. They're both my great friends."

I looked at the side of Claude's face. He looked slightly hurt, and I realized he was deeply in love with Becca. Did Cassy know that still?

We turned down the street to my adoptive parents house, and my heart leapt in excitement when I recognized the familiar house and my baby that was sitting in all her glory in the driveway. God, how I missed my car. Too bad I still had like eleven to ten months until I could drive her again.

As if hearing Claude's car, the front door to the house opened and Becc ran out to greet me as I climbed out. She wrapped her arms so tightly around me that I almost choked. Then she left a giant kiss on my cheek and grabbed my hand.

"Josh is making cookies for your return. Please, even though you vamp's don't eat, come in, come in!" She motioned for the boys to follow her as she dragged me behind her.

"I hope they're peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies." I warned her. She shot me a grin and nodded.

"Of course, darling. I would never forget your favorite treat."

I grinned happily. I loved Becc and Josh so much. They were the best parents anyone could ask for.

Claude, Alec and Brent followed after us, and Josh was in the kitchen pulling a tray of freshly delicious smelling cookies out of the oven. When we entered, he looked over and smiled at me toothily. He strode over and wrapped me up into a bear hug.

"Dear lord, I'm so glad you're okay. If I could kick Rylan's ass, you know I would." Josh joked. Claude chuckled.

"I'll have that taken care of, don't fret."

I smiled as Josh let me go. "I hope you didn't poison those cookies."

"Nope," Josh reply, taking one of the soft cookies off of the tray and handing it to me on a napkin, "they're hot and filled with love."

I grinned and allowed my cookie to cool off.

"So will she continuously drink vampire blood to heighten her visions?" Becca asked Claude. Claude smiled at her and nodded.

"Yes. Rory will be visiting with us soon this week to begin her meditation and thought processing." Claude explained. Suddenly, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach when I remembered that dream that I had had.

"Um… about that…" I muttered, setting my cookie down on the table. I felt kind of sick, remembering how the nightwalker, Jakobi, had me unconscious and bloody and naked on the floor.

Everyone in my room looked at me and Brent sucked in a sharp intake of breath when he crawled into and read my mind. "Are you serious?" he demanded, grabbing my arm and forcing me to look his way. I avoided his gaze and bit my lip nervously.

"Yeah… it was the second time I had had that dream, too." I murmured.

"Wait, what dream? I'm not following here. I don't have mind powers like you, son." Claude said, stepping towards us. Brent didn't look away from me, but I suddenly felt a weird feeling sweep through the room. I blushed deeply.

Oh God, he was sending what he saw from my mind to everybody else's minds. I was naked in that dream, dammit! The tingle in the air died down, and Becca cried out in shock, sitting down so fast in a table chair that Josh had to hold onto her. He had wide eyes and a shocked and scared expression on his face.

Claude's face went stoic and hard. Alec blinked in surprise and looked straight at me. I quickly looked away.

"We aren't going to allow that to happen to you." Claude said suddenly, breaking a long silence. Only Becc's sobs could have been heard. I turned to her and wrapped my arms around her. She gripped my tightly, and Josh kissed my forehead.

"Of course not. Ava is my only daughter. I won't let it happen. We will kill Jakobi." Josh said softly.

I buried my face in Becc's shoulder and tried not to cry. Someone was patting my back while Josh gently touched my hair. I didn't want that to happen to me, not one bit. I would go to Hell before I became a nightwalker.