Blood Prize (Bloody Dance #1) (10 page)

FIFTEEN

The haze was slowly starting to lift and I found myself surrounded by bodies. Their blood flowed like a river and I was bathed in it. My body shifted as I reverted back to my human form. Looking at the red life that dripped from my fingers I didn’t know where I was. I had no idea how I had gotten here.

My head snapped to the side as I heard the soft sobs of another. Looking down my feet were bare and the only thing I had on was a long t-shirt. What was I doing here? My body felt so heavy. As if the blood of these people weighed me down.

The sobs grew louder as I pulled one of the sliding doors open. There was a small child hiding in a closet. She couldn’t have been older than ten. She shook her head screaming as I reached in and grabbed her. I could smell her fear. I could hear the way her heart raced. It made me . . . hungry.

My fangs pressed down and the girl screamed again. She begged me for life. My finger pressed against my lip in the universal sign to be silent. She covered her own mouth trying to quiet the sobs coming from her.

Letting go of her, she took off down the hall. I could hear the wet slaps her feet made as she rushed away from me. The sound of her retreat was suddenly cut off. I turned to see another in the hall. It was as if I was looking through a tunnel. The edge of my vision was black as things slowly trying to snap into focus.

Someone was holding the girl up. I could see her feet dangling off the floor. I forced myself to look at this new person. Who was it? Who else was here with me? My eyes rose until they took in red hair. The redhead drank from the girl.

When she was drained of her blood, the man tossed her away as if throwing away trash after finishing a meal. Black eyes locked me into my spot as the beautiful man walked towards me. Gentle fingers pressed through my hair when he reached me. This touch was so familiar.

“Ban,” I whispered and could feel my feet being sweep from under me.

“You’re such a messy eater, Natsu.” Ban spoke into my ear carrying me down the hall. Where was he taking me? A part of me was screaming not to go with him. The fog was trying to press down on me again. The blood that hung to my flesh made the hunger ever presence. How could I be hungry? Had I not eaten? Was it not I who murdered those people?

I wanted to feel something. I wanted to feel the guilt that came with killing someone. I couldn’t though. There was only the numbing ache of hunger at the pit of my stomach. Even for the little girl. I had let her go and still she was dead. Ban killed her. Ban killed . . .

The thought was snatched away before it could be fully formed. Who had Ban killed? In the fog of hunger, it hardly seemed to matter. Nothing but the blood seemed to matter here. My eyes shifted down to my hands. I was covered in blood. It should have made my stomach twist, it should have made my eyes swell with tears. Instead, it just made me hungry. What was I? What had I become?

There was a fuss around me. Clothes being yanked from my body. Hands moving over my flesh. The sound of rushing water from somewhere. I gasped as the hot water touched me. Shaking my head strong hands held me under the spray. I could see the red running the drain. I could feel my mind slowly coming back to me. The hunger was lifting and I took in my surrounding. I was in a shower. The person behind me was Ban. The demon who murdered my family.

Turning around Ban pushed me into the wall of the shower. He was looking down at me. A look in his black eyes was something I couldn’t read. What was it? What did he want from me? His long slim fingers reached out pushing into my hair again. I could feel his hand move from my hair to trace along my jaw. His thumb touched my lips pulling down the corner.

“Why are you here?” I asked looking up at him. Why had he come here? Why was he helping me? He held up his other hand and I could see the chain that held a ring on it. The silver band dripped water as Ban held it up in the air. I knew the ring well, it had been a part of mine since the day I died.

There were four jewels evenly spaced around the band. A ruby, an emerald, a diamond, and the last stone was a sapphire. Between each stone was words carved in gold. The words weren’t in any language humans knew. Inside of the band, only one word was carved. Ban.

I reached for the ring, but Ban yanked it away from me. My fingers pressed down and I watched as Ban leaned closer to me. He unfastened the chain before placing it around my neck. Reaching up I touched the ring at the end of the chain. It heated softly, the same way it always seemed to when Ban was nearby.

“You're letting your hunger control you, Natsu. You almost lost something important. Stop denying what you are.” His body pressed closer to mine. I squeezed my eyes shut against the memory of him. The last time I met Ban was five years ago. He had killed my sister-in-law.

“What am I?” I asked looking up at him. His fingers dragged down my chest catching my nipple. I hissed out the pleasure it causes. I could see that perfect smile on his face.

“You’re a demon, Natsu. Start acting like one.” I was a demon. I knew that. I died at the hands of this man. When woke up three days later wasn’t the same boy I had been. I was different. I was a demon now. My fingers reached out towards Ban. My palm spreaded across his chest.

I begged to live and Ban still killed me. Now I was hungry all the time. I wanted blood as the hours went by. I didn’t know how to pull myself from the fog of hunger. By admitting what I was? I shook my head. Even if I was a demon, I was something more. I was something different. I wasn’t like Ban. I had been human once.

I could feel his fingers grab my chin. He made me raise my head to look at him. I could feel his body rubbing against mine. It awoke a new desire inside of me. One that had nothing to do with blood and everything to do with the burning need to touch Ban. To be touched by Ban.

“Natsu, one day you’ll understand.” What would I understand? That there was no use holding on to what I once was. That my human life was over and I needed to be a demon. I hated demons. How could I be something that I loathed?

“I’m not like you.” I refused to be like him. Or maybe I was just lying to myself. After all, I had killed everyone in this place. Yet I felt nothing for their deaths. The guilt that should have crippled me no longer existed inside of me. I was hungry. They had been my meal. I didn’t feel guilty about the cow who died to make my burger. Why should I feel guilty about the human whom blood I drank? Was it the same thing?

“You’re right,” Ban spoke and I looked into his black eyes. I was right? “You’re so much more.” He leaned down pressing his lips to mine. Under the spray of the hot water, I could feel myself yield to him so completely.

My eyes snapped open and there was a weight against my shoulder. My eyes shifted to see strawberry blonde hair. My lips pulled up into a slight smile as I brushed some of Soji’s hair out of his face. He shifted in his seat beside me snuggling up closer.

Why did this make me happy? Why was the fact that he was sleeping peacefully against me . . . familiar. It felt as if something was pulling at my brain. It demanded that I remembered something important. Every time I tried there was only the fog and the haze of going in and coming out of the hunger.

The memories I had of my clarity only Kaleb and Ban was there waiting for me. So why did something inside of me want to remember Soji? It didn’t make sense, but few things in life ever do. My eyes shifted from Soji to the front of the car.

Emiko was driving with Rai in the passenger seat. Fang was behind me in the last row of the truck. My eyes locked with Emiko’s through the rearview mirror. I could see the hatred she held for me as she glared. It only made my lips twitch as I leaned over pressing a kiss into Soji’s forehead.

The smaller boy shifted around again before lifting up. He rubbed at his eyes before yawning. We had been on the road for nine hours. The Soul Demon Azul should be near the town we were heading to. After we killed Azul, I would get Rai back home. Then . . . Then I wasn’t sure what my plans were.

“How was your sleep?” I asked and Soji smiled. He opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes shifted towards Emiko. I could see the horror on his face as I turned to look as well. Emiko was so busy glaring at me she didn’t see the demon in the middle of the road.

He wasn’t moving as the car barreled down the road towards him. There was a set of large horns on the top of his head. Tusk jolted from his mouth. He was huge, at least eight feet tall and just as wide. More importantly this wasn’t just any demon. It was the same demon we made this trip for.

Emiko didn’t stop. What was she thinking? Maybe she was going to run the demon over. It had bad idea all over it. There was a moment when nothing seemed to happen. Then the car flipped. The sound of breaking glass and crunching metal was deafening.

I grabbed a hold of Soji using my body to protect him as best I could. I could feel the car hit the ground and roll once, twice, three times. When it stopped, there was silence. All of it felt like a lifetime but in truth it all happened very quickly.

Our bodies and things had been tossed around the car. Most of it was thrown from the car. I could feel the warmth of blood running from my arm. The scent of blood mixed in the air giving me a clear picture that everyone in the car had suffered from some kind of injury.

There had been a rumor that Azul stalked one of the roads close to the town he was said to be in. They said he ate anyone who was unlucky enough to find themselves crossing his path. I didn’t think we were unlucky at all. I liked it when we didn’t have to hunt for our prey.

“Everyone okay?” I asked kicking out the door that I had been sitting near. Soji and I climbed out of the hole stumbling back to our feet I touched my shoulder. My blood coated my fingers when my hand came away. I would heal it later right now I needed access the damage.

Soji had a few cuts, but it seem that I took the worst of the beating. I could hear the others still in the car moaning in pain as I turned around. Azul was walking towards us. I growled at him threatening him to stay away. I knew that he could sense my powers. He knew that I was the stronger demon of the two of us.

There was another groan as Emiko was crawling through the window. Her nose was broken probably from getting smashed in the face by the airbag. I rushed to the other side of the car to see Rai. She was alive, but her seatbelt had her trapped in place. I couldn’t see how Fang was at the moment.

“I’ll take care of the demon.” Soji spoke as he reached into his pocket pulling out a cross. I frowned at him. Didn’t he know that it was just a lie? A cross wasn’t actually going to do anything against a demon. It was all just myths from old movies made when I was still human. Soji was a white mage though, maybe a cross in his hands would actually be dangerous.

“Get the others out the car.” Soji went on to say. I looked at him and then at the demon who was edging closer to us. Could he take on a demon by himself. My eyes shifted to Emiko, but I didn’t think she was actually going to be much help in this fight. I should have been fighting with Soji. It was dangerous for him to try to take on a demon alone.

“I’ll fight the demon. You should help the others.” I told him moving towards Soji. I couldn’t let him fight a demon alone. I was supposed to protect him. This probably wasn’t Mother Fate’s idea of protecting the white mage. Soji smiled as he turned around. Standing on his top toes he pressed his lips to mine.

Kissing me deeply for a moment he pulled away from me. He turned away pressing a kiss to the cross that he held in his hand. I wondered if Soji believed in God. The church his people were in had many Gods. My family was never big on going to church. We worship at the football stadium or on the sofa in front of a tv. God never had a place in my life when I was human. After all where was God when Ban came into our home and murdered us all.

The cross in Soji’s hand started to glow a soft white before it seemed to change. Soon there was a sword in his hand the handle of that sword was the cross that he had drawn from his pocket. Was this his power? I never actually saw a white mage fight before.

“I’m a white mage, Zero. I have been performing exorcisms for too many years to count. This demon won’t be a problem. You need to help the others. I won’t be strong enough to pull them out.” He had a point. I doubt he would have the strength to pull anyone from the car. Letting him fight alone still left a bad taste in my mouth.

“If only Ban could see you, Zassago.” I growled when Azul used my demon name. Names were powerful things. For some lesser demon to speak that name it made me want to rip his head off his shoulders. “Letting a human fight for you, coward.” I laughed at him. I wasn’t a coward. I trusted in Soji. If he thought he could kill Azul alone, I would put my faith in him.

Soji bounced lightly on his feet before rushing towards the demon. I pulled my attention from him long enough to rip the door from the truck. I grabbed the seat belt that was pinning Rai and ripped it away from her. Scooping her up into my arms I pulled her from the truck and sat her beside Emiko.

Glancing at the battle that was unfolding Soji was flipping away as Azul swung his massive fist at the tiny boy. I noticed that Soji was quick on his feet. He moved around Azul like a bee buzzing around a human’s head. Only this bee had a very deadly sting. I could already see the wear the battle was having on Azul. He was bleeding from a few wounds and having a hard time keeping Soji still long enough to actually hit him.

I saw Fang kicking out the back window of the car before he crawled out. He was holding his arm to his chest as he stumbled away from the car slightly. Maybe his arm was broken. I couldn't tell. He met that we all were alive and out the car now.

Azul was down on his knees trying to catch his breath. Soji was still as well, his hand folded around his cross as his head was bend. I could see his lips moving in a silent prayer. I would have questioned if now was really time to pray but I could see the pinpricks of light that were surrounding Soji.