Chapter 161
AMELIA
“Oh, Goddess! I’m glad you’re back.” I threw myself at Ryden without knowing he was hurt until he hissed. “Oh, no. Were you beaten? I trusted him. I thought he’d watch your back.”
“He did, my love. I wasn’t bitten. Just clean it up for me later.”
“Where’s Ren?” My eyes immediately widened as I saw Lucius carrying unconscious Ren while Chance had Archibald. “Are they okay?”
“Nora, call Zarah to come here quickly,” Ryden told her while I just stared at them.
“Boss, are you hurt?” Drak asked Lucius.
“No, I’m okay.” He looked at me. “Bring Archibald the blood. He needs it or he’s gonna die.”
I blinked rapidly to process what he said. “What about Ren?”
“Those motherfuckers drunk on him. He lost a lot of blood, but he’s alive,” Chance said.
“This is all your fault, asshole!” I lunged into him only to be caught by Lucius. “Let me go! Let me kill him myself.”
“You can’t kill him or we’re gonna have another enemy, Amelia. Calm down.”
“Just let me go, Lucius. I swear to the Goddess!” I struggled to get off his tight arms around my waist. Considering he was big, tall, and with substantial weight, the only way I could get out of him was if I used my power, but I didn’t wanna hurt him.
Ryden came so fast, searing eyes glaring at him. “Lucius, let my mate go!”
“She’s acting through her emotions. She’s gonna get us all killed if she won’t use her head,” he told Ryden. “I’ll let you go, but promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”
“Fine.” I gritted my teeth. “I hate you right now.”
“The ship has sailed on that matter, sweetheart.” He finally let me go, but the blazing glaze was still pinned at Chance who assisted his brother to the sofa.
Drak came with the ice chest of blood and gave one bag to Archibald. I couldn’t watch it anymore.
It shouldn’t be queasy considering we had animals inside us but drinking fresh blood was another story.
Archibald was growling in pain so pale, red eyes narrowing with dark circles around them. His sharp and long white fangs extended.
Zarah walked in from the portal. “What’s going on?”
“Ren is unconscious. The bloodsucking assholes drunk from him.”“Oh, Goddess. When are you, kids gonna stay away from trouble?” She stared at me. “Where have you been?”
“Long story, but can you help Ren?”
“Do you really have to ask me that? Where is he?” She scanned the living room.
“He’s with Theia in the guest room. Down the hallway on the left,” Lucius directed Zarah. “How about you?” he asked Ryden. “Get that cleaned up before you get an infection.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at him as I grabbed Ryden’s hand. “Is Baldy gonna be okay?”
“He lost a lot of blood,” Chance explained.
“Will he live?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“I hope so.” I felt the guilt in his reply that pissed me off.
“You should be the one in his position, asshole.” When he didn’t reply anymore, I gripped Ryden’s hand. “Baby, you should go and get your wound cleaned up?”
He hesitated at first. “Don’t—”
“Do do something stupid, I know. I love you.” I kissed him on the lips. At the corner of my eye, I watched Lucius look away.
Once Ryden was gone to the hallway, I went to sit before Archibald. “Do you need my blood?”
Chance’s eyes lit up and sniffed me. “I see. So you’re the one they were talking about.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Nephilim.”
“Why did you kidnap my best friend, bloodsucking pig?”
“It wasn’t me. They told me they wanted to teach the werewolves a lesson about killing and hunting our kind. I later on realized when it was too late. I shouldn’t have been involved, but if it wasn’t for me, your best friend would have been dead by now. When Archie called me earlier today, it was misinformation,” Chance explained.
“It wasn’t misinformation. A group of individuals led by the man who’s been after me for two decades has been creating chaos in the underworld, destabilizing relations between beings.” Lucius stepped closer. “Your coven has been compromised. I don’t know how, but somehow they are under the influence of Imperium. Unless they take drugs, then that’s how they were able to be controlled.”
“Lucius, isn’t one of the council at the SEO a vampire?”
“I heard of it,” Archibald mumbled. His voice was weak, and he could barely open his eyes.
“Oh, fuck.” I rolled my eyes as I stood up. “Fine. I’ll give you my blood, but you won’t bite me. If I didn’t know, maybe you let yourself get bitten.”
He managed to smile. “I can’t take it if it is not offered heartily.”
“So you’d rather suffer or die than take my blood? Go ahead. Die in vain.”
“Come here.” Lucius went behind the bar. “Let me help you.”
“Are you going to cut me?” I hid my arms, making him smile.
“No, sweetheart. I know how to draw blood with a syringe.”
“Oh.” I offered my arm. “Just don’t make it painful.”
“It will sting, but it won’t kill you.” He prepared the syringe and a disinfectant.
“You’re not helping. Do you always carry them with you, like the stake earlier?”
“I always go to battle prepared. Gripped your arm. I don’t have a tourniquet.”
“Or this syringe is for drug use.” I did as he asked and hissed as he inserted the needle into the visible vein in my arm and easily withdrew blood.
“Ten mL is fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Angel, your blood is like a drug to them. It’s addicting. They will crave you if they get the taste of your blood. In his case, it has an opioid effect so he won’t feel the pain for a few hours while he’s healing.”
“Noted.” I folded my arm once he was done. I looked at my bloody shirt. “I’ll clean up.”
“If you and Ryden need some clean clothes, I have them upstairs. Feel free to change.”
I smiled gratefully. “Thank you.”
I went to check Ren in the guest room. “How is he?”
“He’s hanging in there,” Zarah said. “It may take a while for him to heal.”
“How about they hold each other’s hand? Their powers will help Ren heal.”
“Really?” Ryden looked at me with hope in his eyes.
“Yeah. Just focus on your energy. You will feel it, but first, let me clean your wound. Lucius offered his clothes if you need to change.”
“You should, Amelia.” He looked at my bloody shirt. “Go change. We’ll figure it out. Zarah will patch my wound.”
“No. I’m good. I’ll clean up later.” I went to the nightstand with an emergency kit. “Take off your shirt.”
He did it without an argument. His cuts were deep, but not long. “You’re lucky you weren’t bitten.”
“You’re saying about Nick guy earlier. Who’s he?”
“I can assure you, he’s not my ex.”
Theia chuckled. “A pop culture reference. Nice one, best friend.”
“Oh, okay.” He hissed as I wiped his wound with antiseptic.
“Don’t be a baby.” Once it was clean, I patched it up with a clean bandage. “You’ll heal faster. Now hold Ren’s hand and Nora. You, Nora, grip Ren’s other hand.”
“I’ve never felt so useless earlier while you were fighting those blood-suckers.” I could feel the guilt weighing in Nora’s words.
“Hey.” I gripped her shoulder. “Your purpose is to save your strength to speed up Ren’s recovery. And if we needed your help earlier, I would have called you, but saving Ren’s life is more important than risking one of you or getting killed.”
“Me? I don’t even know what to do, and I’m not fast enough to kill a vampire.” Theia chuckled. “I guess, my energy is reserved to take Ren down and drive him far.”
“That’s true,” Zarah agreed and looked over her shoulder. “Now let them concentrate. Go change. The blood on your shirt stinks, making me throw up.”
I crunched my nose. “You’re right.”
I hadn’t made it upstairs I was pinned down against the railing. My heart went to my throat. “Get off of me or I will turn you to dust, Chance.”
As he leaned in, his nose was just a thread to my neck, sniffing me. “Oh, baby. I got the taste of you, I don’t think I want more in my life than to have you as my—”
I barely pushed him on his chest, and he went flying. His back hit the wall and he fell on his ass. “How about that?”
He arched his back, groaning, still wearing a smirk on his face.
Lucius shook his head in amusement. “I did warn you.”