Amaranth (11 page)

I stumbled and tried to stand, but couldn’t make it onto
both feet and held onto the table for support. Andrew stood still, scowled as I
fell, his eyes frigid coals. Lunging toward me, he flew through the air,
pounced like an animal moving in for the hunt. A sinister hiss escaped his
mouth as razor sharp fangs came into clear view and my eyes zoned in on them, fought
to reject the reality in front of me. He slammed into me and grabbed my
shoulders, pinned me to the wall. With one swift slam to my face, he knocked
the wind out of me. My jaw was on fire, though I didn’t have time to feel the
pain that followed; he took hold of my torso and slammed me backward again.
Drawing on one last breath, I let out a scream as I felt a rib snap.

“Just think
darlin
’, this is the
last time you’ll ever have to feel this kind of pain,” he whispered, and
sniffed the side of my neck before he let me slump in agony to the floor. “Your
blood is intoxicating,” he inhaled again. “Don’t ask me how I refrained from it
for so long.” I shuddered when he crouched down to take in my scent again, let
out another loud cry as I tried to pull away. “Truly, it was nothing short of
torture,” he said, and grabbed my aching jaw with his fervent hand. His
piercing fangs inches from my neck, he breathed one solid, steady breath. “Hold
still, sweetheart. It’ll all be over soon.”

With a victorious expression, he moved in. His black eyes
beamed, and I noticed a hint of the familiar green push through the blackness,
glowing. I felt his teeth graze my flesh, then halt before they punctured my
neck, as though savoring the final instant before they tore through the flesh
there.

He was there, and then he wasn’t, as simple and as
instantaneous as that. A resounding and invisible force had suddenly thrown him
away from me and was hauling him straight into the kitchen window. A loud bang,
and with my head pounding, I saw the windowpanes shatter and heard Andrew
growl, enraged at this obstacle. Repositioning himself to attack, he sprung to
his feet, his eyes now glued to something near the doorway. Shock was making me
light-headed, but I scanned the room with hopes of seeing whatever force had momentarily
repelled him from me.

Senses hazy, I rolled my eyes to the left, near the doorway,
following Andrew’s icy stare. I worked to focus through the dizziness and
spotted the dark, blurry figure of a man in black. My heart stalled, ready to
die a dreadful death, right there in my body’s core. My heart sank when I saw
Gavin, as though knowing it didn’t have the strength to survive this.

There stood my beautiful contradiction, glaring at me,
warning me not to move. The same harsh, onyx eyes and terrifying, serrated
fangs that Andrew bared. I came to the sobering realization that I was not
making it out of here alive, no matter what. I was bruised and bloodied in mind
and body, surrounded by the most literal interpretation of monsters, and a
final nail in the coffin—I was in love with one of them. The love and loss
alone would kill me, if not for the mythical creatures standing in front of me,
ready to beat love and loss to the punch.

Andrew shifted his eyes from me to Gavin; I cringed and
reached for my broken rib when I met his gaze. Faster than my eyes could
follow, both men flew forward and collided in front of me. Gavin managed to
fight Andrew up against the kitchen counter, his hands clutched around his
shoulders. “How dare you!” he roared, in a way I never thought possible. “You
violate the laws and mock them, with the nerve to end it like this?”

Although I thought it inconceivable, I became more nauseated
when I saw Gavin reach to his side and withdraw a long silver blade. He aimed
the weapon at Andrew’s chest, clearly ready to end his life.

“I wouldn’t do that, Mr.
Devereaux
,”
Andrew
singsonged
, raised his eyebrows as he
struggled against Gavin’s death lock. “Samira knows what you’re doing, you
know. Knows about your precious pet,” he smirked, held up his hands and peered
down at the dagger that threatened his life. “You know killing me would only
make things far worse for you and your …” The smirk widened. “Your damsel in
distress.”

“Your scare tactics won’t work with me, you worthless leech,
what about you?” Gavin tested, provoking him. What does Samira know of you and
Camille? Does she know how you’ve manipulated her laws, abused your powers,
using and abusing a mortal like this?”

“Ah, the stench of hypocrisy.”

Gavin ignored the jab and inched the blade to Andrew’s
chest, pressed it against his skin. A sizzling sound followed a faint trail of
smoke that radiated off Andrew’s chest when the blade made contact. Andrew’s
face flinched and Gavin stuck his forehead to his, infuriated.

“I highly doubt Samira would have more of a problem with my
dinner for the evening than she would with your alternative lifestyle and
forbidden love affair,
Romeo
.” Andrew leaned
forward to let the blade burn his skin further, meeting Gavin with a menacing
challenge. “That goes for good old
Gabriel
,
too.”

Without a second thought, Gavin thrust the knife forward,
ready to send a hard jab to Andrew’s chest. Dodging the deadly blade, Andrew
jumped back and shoved his body onto the counter behind him for leverage, then
kicked Gavin into the wall I cowered before. Gavin dropped the knife but caught
it before it hit the floor, then rebounded. By then, Andrew was armed with his
own shiny blade, ready to attack. Their postures animalistic, their stares
lethal, they crept toward one another.

“Gavin. Think of Camille. Focus.”

My mind was barely processing what I was seeing, but I had
enough sense left to realize this low, husky voice was a new one. A familiar
one.

A blurry vision of Gabe came to stand near Gavin, a third
monster now hovering in my kitchen, with the same alien eyes and deadly
canines. My eyes struggled to bring the inhuman version of Gabe into focus.

“That’s right, Gavin. Focus,” Andrew mocked, still dancing
toward Gavin, ready to kill. Gabe hissed loudly and tightened his fists, placed
one arm in front of Gavin to hold him back.

“My words are more than some petty scare tactic. You know
what I say is true.” Andrew spit out the words even as he relaxed his defensive
posture, letting the knife fall from his hand to the floor with a thud. He
strolled toward the kitchen door, his back to his enemies. “I must say, you are
right, Mr.
Devereaux
. I might have defied the laws.
Might have disobeyed beyond the point of exception,” he pointed to the ceiling,
giving credit to Gavin’s accusations. “Ah, but
you
,”
he turned to peer at Gavin, his eyes restored to their natural green color,
fangs no longer visible. “
You’ve
done so much
more than that,” he glared at Gabe, including him in his condemnation. “You’ve
changed the
order
of things. You’ve not only
defied
the laws, you’ve rewritten them entirely! I
believe it’s safe to assume that’s something that is
strictly
forbidden by our kind, wouldn’t you say?”

Gavin clenched his jaw, fury burning in his eyes as he
leered back at the monster that threatened him. “I shall truly enjoy watching
Samira destroy you herself.”

Slowly opening the door to make his escape, Andrew grinned
at me one last time. Gavin hissed, resentfully following his gaze, while Gabe’s
arm still held him in place.

“
Bonne chance
,” Andrew said,
winked at me, then flew out the door.

“Camille, it’s okay. Take it easy.” Audrey wrestled me to
the couch, restrained my shoulders; her wide eyes darted toward the kitchen,
looking for help. “I caught a late flight from Seattle; I’m here to help you.”
My body felt heavy, my mind elated. I had never felt so strange in my life. In
shock and extremely angry, I somehow managed to laugh at the mess that was my
life. Swinging my arms, I fought Audrey’s grasp and shoved my feet forward to
kick her away from me. Pain pierced my side as I twisted, and a crushing
convulsion moved through my torso when I breathed in deeply, preparing to yell
some more. Gabe dashed from the kitchen and wrangled my rebellious legs, shot
Audrey a look as he worked to hold me back.

“Hurry, Audrey,” was all he said.

“Get the hell off of me.” I hoped my high octave threatened
their eardrums. “I mean it, let me
go
!” I took
note of their glowing skin, in disbelief at how angelic they looked, their
bodies statuesque.

“Listen to me, Camille. I will let you go, but you have to
calm down.” Audrey spoke evenly, tried to maintain eye contact with me. “We
can’t talk until you’re being rational. You’ve been passed out for a few hours
now. It’s almost sunrise and you’re going to have to miss work today, you need
to stay home for a while until you heal.”

Another breath, but this one to help me not yell. “You
idiot, how do you expect me to be rational when you’re holding me down like
this, like a, a crazy person?”

“You are
acting
like a crazy
person.”

“There are monsters in my house. How do you expect me to
act? Am I asleep? Please God, tell me I’m asleep.” I squirmed on the couch,
felt agonizing pain as I contorted my body, then stopped because of the head
rush. My breathing was so rapid I felt on the verge of hyperventilating, but I
forced myself to focus on what Audrey was saying. I stared at her, my arms
pinned to my aching sides. “Ah … ugh.”

“You have a cracked rib.” Audrey slowly released my arms
when I stopped struggling, turned her head to motion to Gabe, giving him
permission to let me go.

I lay still for a moment and worked to steady my breath,
gently pushed myself up to prop my back on a pillow. “
What
is going
on
?”

“Do you want something to drink? You look—”

“Tell me. Now.”

“Andrew broke in while you were sleeping and tried to kill
you.” The words poured from her mouth.

“Tell me something I don’t know. Am I dead— Are
we
dead?”

She fought back a laugh, kept her eyes glued to mine. “No.
Well,
you
aren’t, no.”

Excuse
me?”

“Gabe just wanted me to tell you this, to get it over with.
But I think it’s better if we take this slow.…”

“Now. Before I pass out.” I attempted to sit up, placed my
hand on the side of head. My temples continued to throb.

She swallowed, exchanged a wary look with Gabe. “Gavin and
Gabe …
and I
… we’re not completely
human
as you might have guessed by now.”

I dropped my head back on the pillow, rested my arm across
my forehead. “Not
human
. What a twisted world.
Well, are you a new species, government weapons, what?”

Audrey glanced at Gabe, who sat on the loveseat looking
amused and shocked at the same time. “She’s not right yet, she needs to rest,”
he said.

“I’m fine, Gabe, thank you. I’m just recovering from a
monster or alien attack—I’m not exactly sure which yet. So please do excuse me
for not sounding
right
quite yet.”

“She’s okay. Same old Camille,” Audrey assured him, then
turned to me again. “This isn’t easy to explain. It’s not going to make any
sense.…”

“Explain anyway. I can’t be any closer to losing my mind
than I am at the moment.”

Her shoulders tensed and her lips parted; she nodded. “I’ll
try to keep it simple. Gavin saved you from Andrew. We’re … something our world
considers to be a myth.”

“Why isn’t Gavin here to tell me this himself?”

She looked away, so I glanced at Gabe. He’d suddenly found
his shoes fascinating.
Cowards
.

“He didn’t want to hurt you anymore than he already did,”
Audrey said. “I’m the one who needs to tell you this, Camille.
I’m
the only one you’ll listen to right now.”

“But you just told me you’re one of these
things
too. Why would I listen to you?”

“I’m still your best friend. I wasn’t changed into
this
until just recently. I’ve been meaning to tell
you, but there’s so much … it’s
too
much.”

“So please put things into perspective for me, then. I’m so
pissed off that none of you told me the truth. I have zero patience right now.”

“Clearly,” Gabe muttered.

Audrey shushed him. “What I’m trying to say is, pardon the
dramatics, but everything as you know it is about to change, do you understand
that?”

I blinked, dizzy from seeing double. “The story of my life.”

She rolled her eyes again at me. “Are you ready for this?”

She followed my gaze as I examined my sore side and new
bruises. I waved my hands in the air, surrendered. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Okay,” she said, adjusted her position on the couch. “We’re
vampires. They do exist in this world, and they
are
dangerous. But it’s different from what the films and books say it is, got it?”

“
Got it?
” Gabe mocked her.
“Audrey, what kind of explanation is that?”

“She can take it, trust me.” She didn’t bother to look at
him, instead kept her eyes on mine, waited for my reaction.

I was oddly comforted by the fact that although clearly not
mortal anymore, distinctive remnants of her personality remained. She still
sounded like herself. The room started to spin again and I groaned, watched the
blades on the ceiling fan push me further into vertigo. Or perhaps insanity.

“We won’t hurt you, Camille.” Careful not to frighten me,
she reached out and rubbed my arm.

I sat up, felt the spinning slow, and stared at her, fuming.
“I am
not
afraid of you.”