Eternally Blue (Sunset Cliffs Vampire #1) (Paranormal Teen Romance) (16 page)

My heart was thudding out of control now, surely my brother could hear it so what did any other noise I make matter, I thought frantically. I jerked out of his grasp and with a speed that surprised both of us I ran towards the way he came – the entrance to the cave, shouting to my brother the whole way.

At the entrance to the cave I paused, blinded by the lights he had inside. As my eyes adjusted I could make out torches and mini fires nestled into cracks in the walls of the cave, and a main campfire off to the side. It reminded me out of a scene from a movie, or an Egyptian tomb; queue creepy music, Spark’s song “Crave”.

I was trying to process the scene inside when something connected with my body full force and I was thrown to the ground, kicking and shoving and screaming “Get off of me!” as soon as I absorbed the impact. I was about five seconds away from biting when I realized it was Nikolai who had caught me. He hissed at me and told me to run before pushing off of me. He leapt through the air landing about 20 feet away – directly in the path of my brother who was attempting now to go through Nikolai, sneaking peeks at me where he could get them.

I tore my eyes away from the fight as I crab walked backwards putting more distance between me and the fight before jumping to my feet. The cave was wide so I was able to get deeper into the cave without getting close to my brother, and as if expecting my move, Nikolai immediately shifted his body again so that he was still between my brother and me. I said a silent prayer of thanks before heading around a slight bend, which put me in sight of Lainey, Ben and Noah; I gasped at the bloodied sight of him and ran forward crying to huddle next to him.

He took no notice of my arrival and from his pale features I wondered if he was dead. I started banging on his chest, “Noah baby, wake up, wake up please Noah, I’m so sorry, I’m so so sorry” I sobbed.

“
Untie me first Blue” Lainey spoke up weakly, “he is alive but he is very weak, let me go to him and give him some of my blood, it’s the only thing that will save him now”.

His brother lifted his head at that comment, and slightly widened his eyes, looking at me for confirmation I couldn’t give, that what she was saying was right. I didn’t even know if in this form I could take blood, or if like a human I would gag and throw it up. I grimaced but figured that a century’s old vampire that was in love with him enough to change him back (to as human as she could manage anyways), also therefore loved him enough to make good decisions for him, and so I went to her first, trying to undo the silver shackles that held her arms above her head, attached to the cave wall, as gently as possible since the silver had already done a number on her arms. I couldn’t help but to marvel for a second at the setup my brother had created here.

The shackles required a key I decided, frustrated. I glanced around frantically to see if I could find one just laying around. No luck of course, I had to fess up to Lainey. I whispered, knowing she could hear, but trying to avoid Ben hearing. She sighed slightly “Your brother keeps them on his waist.” I glared at her inability to see that I was trying to protect Ben from more fear, and she shrugged her shoulders indifferently as he let out a whimper.

I turned and ran back to the entrance where Nikolai had my brother cornered against a wall. Annie was laughing manically and I could barely see any semblance of my loving brother inside him. I glanced down at his waist and confirmed the key ring was there.

Nikolai was trying to talk to him soothingly, “Annie, let’s go home, be reasonable damn it! What are you going to do with a vampire princess and two other protected deaths on your hands! What, are you going to kill me and your sister now too to protect yourself?”

“
What sister?” He spat. He motioned at me with his head, “She doesn’t even smell like my sister anymore. She is a human lover.” He said ‘human lover’ like it was a disease, which I could understand. I used to prey on humans, they were play things, not something to covet and want to be. I thought back to the times he came to visit me and my heart ached for him with understanding, he just wanted his big sister to come home.

I stepped forward and put my hand softly on Nikolai’s arm to show him it was ok, “I’m so sorry Annie, that I didn’t consider your feelings. I should have taken your meaning more seriously when you came to check on me. You just wanted me to come home. I miss you too, and I know that if you just take a minute to think about it, you can love me in this form too!” I pleaded to his teenage side, “Think about the good sides of having an immortal sister, I have a whole school at my disposal and I am learning the inner workings of people in ways you could only hope to before. Anytime you’re hungry I can just point you in the right direction of whatever you’re craving”.

Nikolai’s head whipped towards me in surprise, and that was all the hesitation my brother needed to strike out at him. I groaned and watched as they grappled, trying to stick an arm in to grab his keys, but I kept having to pull my arm back because they were much quicker than me I was afraid I was going to get my arm broken.

“
Ouch!” I yelled, looking down at the arm I was trying to protect, I quickly shut up though, since I saw fall to my feet the key ring I was attempting to retrieve. I silently thanked Nikolai and ran off to release Lainey and the boys.

“
Finally” she muttered, when she saw me with keys in hand. I thought about just leaving her there out of spite, or at least untying the boys first but I then I realized that she was the only one that could possibly help me right now so I fumbled with the set, agitated, until I got the one I believed would be a match. (And before you go saying, ‘oh she just happened to find the match, how convenient, well if you’ve seen most keys to doors they all have similar characteristics, and if you’ve ever seen a key to real silver shackles (well have you??) you’d know they look nothing alike, thus making my job slightly easier. Granted, if I didn’t have that knowledge I suppose I could just touch Lainey with each key until she cried out when I reached the silver one).

Holding my breath I tried the key with shaking hands and Lainey and I both let out a deep breath when we heard the click that meant I had the right key. As gently as possible I opened and took the shackles off Lainey’s wrists. She only hissed once in pain so I considered that to be a success. That is until she leapt at my throat.

I pushed her away fairly easily since she was weakened, and I wielded the shackles like a weapon “Whoa - down girl.” I pointed at myself “Not food, remember?”

She looked fairly embarrassed and whined “But Blue, I need to feed before I give Noah blood and if I feed off of Noah first since I am so attracted to him, I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop”.

“
Yeah” I scoffed, “and who knows what would happen if you fed off of me either? Ex vamp here, and I’m not risking turning back into one prematurely or dying or growing antlers because you’re hungry.”

She opened her mouth to either say something else snarky or else try to bite me again but we both paused at the sound of grunting from around the corner.

“
I’ll handle this, I’d rather not risk you biting my brother or my fia…’, She raised her eyebrows at me, “my friend” I finished lamely. I threw the silver key at her gaping mouth, “Here you unchain them and work on fixing up Noah as best as you can
without
biting him”.

“
But these are silver” she deadpanned.

“
Whatever, fine, go, but don’t bite anybody”. I scooped up the key and gently unchained both Noah and his brother. Luckily we didn’t suffer the same silver affliction that the three vampires around the corner did.

I tried asking Ben if there was another exit but he just shrugged dejectedly. They were both in serious need of medical attention. I kissed Noah lightly on the forehead after feeling for and confirming he still had a weak but still-there pulse.

I stood to explore a back way out of the cave but Ben stopped me with a hoarse “Don’t leave us, please Blue” I looked back and his eyes were filled to the brim with tears. My heart broke for him.

“
I won’t I promise ok? I’m just going to see if there is another way out”. I wasn’t sure what the purpose of my looking was, since there was no way I could get either of them down the cliff by myself, but I couldn’t risk taking them through the fight either, and as much as I cared about Nikolai, my brother looked ravaged and I was worried he’d gain the upper hand and then come looking for the rest of us, so I set off into the dark, grabbing a torch for light.

I didn’t have to go far to realize that there wasn’t an exit. The smoke from the torch started getting thicker and the flame was flickering threatening to smother and go out, so I turned back and heard the sounds of the fight in the front room increasing. I glanced back at Noah and his brother once more and pulled out my secret weapon - my four inch kitchen knife. Ben’s eyes got wide and he looked hopeful, which gave me the courage to inch towards the mouth of the cave.

What I saw though was worse than anything I could have pictured; I ran over to Lainey and tried to push her off of Nikolai, brandishing my weapon at her. “Stop sucking on Nikolai you freak!” She didn’t give under my weight so I knew she had rekindled her strength. I started kicking her and begging Nikolai to fight her off but he just moaned.

I whirled around to see my brother lying in a heap on the floor, and that sight was too much to bear and I started crying as I headed over to him. Lainey finally detached herself from Nikolai’s neck “I wouldn’t get too close to him if I were you – Nikki knocked him out and shackled him but I’d be willing to guess he’s still got some bite left in him”.

I whirled around to face her and saw Nikolai looking at me questioningly.

“
So now it’s Nikki to you? You don’t get to call him that!” I screeched.

She jumped up and was in my face in an instant “You can’t have both Blue, which is it?”

She threw me with that one. I looked at Nikolai, he was hanging onto the dead air I let hang there, waiting for a response that wouldn’t come. He looked away first.

“
I did it to have the strength to save Noah and his brother, since you were too selfish” She swished by me and went around the corner to Noah, leaving me speechless and awkward with Nikolai.

“
Thank you Nikolai, really. If it weren’t for you they’d all be dead”. He looked embarrassed, and sad, so I went to sit down next to him. I opened my arms for a hug which he gladly went into. We held each other for awhile, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I knew he wanted nothing more than for me to come home and marry him. I knew that he was the most honorable vamp I’ve ever known and was proud that I had the chance to grow up with him, to be his best friend, and to watch the man he’s become. But I was also sad that when I looked at him, as handsome as he was and as perfect, and as much as I knew he loved me, and that I loved him, I’d always wonder. The feel of being human was too electrifying to me, the sun was too beautiful, to have to turn it off again and live in a world of darkness, seemed unbearable.

Sensing my anxiety, Nikolai pushed my hair out of my face, and put his forehead to mine, “It’s ok Blue, I knew you were bigger than us all, I was wrong to propose to you – I just, I was a coward, I knew you wanted to leave and I couldn’t imagine my life without you, just like your brother I was driven to the edge of madness, I just handled it differently. You are irresistible you know”. He let his hand come up and slowly wipe away my tears “my best friend, my love, stay in the light where you belong”. His hand made its way down my cheek and brushed across my lips. I hiccupped through my tears and he pulled back and grinned at me.

“
Now let’s go check on Noah”, He stood and offered me his hand to help me to my feet. I couldn’t believe how mature he was being about this, no I take that back, actually I could, that was what made him everything Nikolai. It’s what made him the vampire that I was sure was going to run the council one day.

The sight of Noah drinking greedily from Lainey’s wrist caused my stomach to seize up and I stopped dead in my tracks. Nikolai reacted first jumping at them and swatting her wrist away from his mouth “What. The. Hell Lainey?!!”

“
What??” She asked, clearly annoyed.

“
Don’t you realize what you’re doing” he asked horrified. He grabbed Noah who was looking clearly more alert, if not a little sick at the realization that he had a mouth ringed in blood, and looked him in the eyes. “How are you feeling?”

“
Um, great I guess” Noah rolled his neck around and moved all his joints as if to check that everything was in fact intact, I could see him checking off bones in his head, knees, check, back, check, fingers, check check.

I breathed a sigh of relief and now it was my turn to look at Nikolai annoyed, “She was just helping him Nikolai” I smiled at Noah shyly “Hi”.

“
Hi” he mouthed back.