Chapter 14 14. Chapter
Elijah
The black rage, the sheer, uncontrollable predatory fury, had been unleashed within me. My hands, clutching the wall, flexed, the words I had screamed at the filthy little bitch burning in my throat like my own venom. The mere fact that this girl, Aurora, the weakest link in her species, had poisoned me, Elijah, the Vampire Sovereign, was the deepest, most personal humiliation. I saw her helpless body on the bed, her eyes still clouded with the intoxication. Hatred overwhelmed me. I didn't hate her, I hated the fact that her blood had vanquished me.
With a single, brutal movement, I released the wall. My steps were heavy, violent, like the charge of a bull. I crossed to the bed and grabbed her arm, right where my existing bruises had already branded her skin. I felt the thin bones, her fragile, human body, in my palm. This fact, her weakness, infuriated me even more.
"AAAH!" Her scream was sharp, cutting my ears. I yanked her out of the bed; her blanket fell to the floor, and the towel that had covered her slipped down to her waist. I gave her no time to recover. I lifted her by the arm and slammed her against the rough wall of the room. The dull thud of her back and the hard impact of her head finally brought the painful tension I sought. The air instantly left her lungs.
My grip left her arm and clamped around her throat. Her windpipe flattened under the pressure of my fingers. I squeezed, relentlessly. The lack of air instantly brought a red haze before her eyes.
"Why are you immune?! What is in your blood that intoxicates me?!" My voice was deep, hoarse, my own neck aching from the shouting. "This cannot be a coincidence! I failed before the High Council because of you! Your blood poisoned me! What is your secret, Hunter?!"
She thrashed helplessly, but her strength was only that of a mosquito's flailing. I tightened my grip on her throat, but I had to release my gaze. For a moment, I surveyed her body. In the play of light and shadow, pressed against the wall, the slender yet muscular lines of her body stood out, the bruises on her thighs and arms, the red punctures of the bite marks on her neck. She was beautiful in her defiant, raw way, like a wild creature unaware of its own danger. But the blood! God, her blood...
I eased my grip slightly because the lack of air was clouding her mind, and I didn't want her to pass out before she answered. As she gasped for breath, her eyes instantly locked onto mine. Oh, those eyes!
Those green eyes... they were not the faded, pale green I had seen in many Hunters. These emerald-green eyes were now full of blindness-born fear, but in their depths was something innocent, an elemental truth. There was no lie in them. Her pupils were wide, and I saw my own face reflected in them, the face of the predator. The true beauty of helplessness! The enraged vampire in me growled with pleasure at the exquisite sight.
"I-I don't... know!" she hissed, the words barely making it out of her throat. "I... I'm a nobody!"
"You lie! Your blood... your blood intoxicates! Tell me, why did I feel that craving?!"
"I... I don't know anything! I'm the weakest! I have no... element! I'm a nobody!" The last words were desperate, defiant whispers.
My hand recoiled from what my own logic dictated. The girl was not lying. That pure fear, that helplessness, was the pure essence of truth. This girl truly did not know why her blood affected me this way. My downfall was not the result of a secret weapon, but a side effect of her unknown, pure being.
Hatred and desire merged once again. Hatred for my own weakness, desire for the last drop of her blood. The constriction on her neck was followed by a final, warning squeeze. Then I let go.
Rory fell down against the wall, coughing, gasping for air. The red marks on her body where my fingers had been were a living testament to my humiliation. I breathed deeply, hoarsely. The clean shirt on my back was damp with the sweat of vampire fury.
"I will find out what you are, Aurora," I whispered, and I moved to the other corner of the room. I did not look back at her. I clutched the Wall again. The cold plaster was now my medicine. "And until then, I will stay away from you. Our survival depends on this. If I touch your blood again, there will be no Sovereign, and no Hunter. Only a hungry, uncontrollable predator. And then we will both be lost."
The rage and desire were now only a quiet, throbbing pain burning in my body. I knew I had to sleep next to her, but her mere touch would be my death. The girl was there, vulnerable, and I was chained to the wall. The night was still long.