Blood Rose (25 page)

Damien turned me so that I would be more comfortable on the bed rather than his hard body but that didn’t change our closeness in the slightest. His lips pressed over the small mark he had left from the bite.

I wonder if he realized Neesa knew. He gave that little
Mhmm
sound. He knew. Didn’t care. “I see. That’s not really strange though. At least your reasoning is not.”

“Well there is just a little more to it than that actually. When I was younger, I would try to copy the things she did in the dreams. Because they were just really cool and I thought maybe, it would help me understand her. Well there was one time it sort of worked. Just once though,” my voice was barely a whisper as I thought on the memory.

“Tell me about it,” he mumbled into my neck, just under my ear.

“I was sitting in my back yard, behind this big tree. All I remember is thinking about the dreams while playing in the dirt. I was really little. Around seven I think. I don’t remember what I was doing exactly but before long I was surrounded by dragonflies. Hundreds of them. Since then dark roses grew there all over that tree and still do to this day… Even in winter. The yards been filled with dragonflies by the hundreds every spring since.”

“Hm.” Damien’s only comment to the story. “Neesa’s back..,” he sounded so excited. That’s a touch of an exaggeration perhaps.

It was just a few moments later, she knocked on the wall outside the door quietly before stepping inside with a brown sack stuffed to the brim. “I got Chinese.” Neesa walked to my open kitchen and set the bag down on the counter.

Damien pulled me up with him to stand and swept my feet out from under me completely. He carried me over to the small island and set me on the counter top.

I couldn’t help but smile at the fact he knew I liked sitting there. He winked playfully, lips turned up into a small smirk.

Neesa ordered everything on the menu. Well, almost. It could have fed an army. Of course it was only her and I who ate anything. I went with noodles. They both threatened until I finished one whole box.

The next few hours were awkward with the two of them. Mostly Damien stood starring out the window while I got things ready for me to go with Neesa. She packed the rest of the things I needed and some of my art stuff too. The kit she’d bought for my birthday and the sketch book Damien had looked through. By then the huge duffle bag was busting at the seams.

“Okay here’s the key. The rest is yours.” She was more emotional than I was at this point.

I’d miss her. I regretted the strain this would put on Mike but I was ready to move on in my life. Whatever that meant. I was ready for a new life. I didn’t care what that meant at this point.

“For now. It’s your stuff, Anna. When you do come back-” She stopped to glare at Damien, as if this was his fault. “When you do come back, it’s all yours. I’ll hold onto it but it’s yours.”

“Well in the meantime it’s yours. Use what you will, do with it what you will. If you don’t want the furniture or anything just sell it. If I come back, you can pay me for it later. At least then you don’t have to deal with it.”

“I won’t sell anything. Sides, I could use a new bed. Ryce and I are still in the full I had as a kid. Yours is a king, he’ll be thrilled.” Her cheeks went pink as she spoke and nervously glanced at Damien.

She mouthed ‘Did you tell him?’ I shook my head. There wouldn’t have been much point in telling him. I was certain that he already knew, anyways. She nodded thankfully and looked around. “He’ll know if I lie to him. He always does but he usually doesn’t question me. Don’t worry. I promise to leave him out of this.”

Damien turned to glance at Neesa as she spoke of Ryce. One brow rose as if he questioned the truth in her words.

My hand took hers and pulled her to sit on the bed beside me. Turning to face her, I held her hand tight.

“I’m gonna miss you, Neesa. I know everything lately has been really hard on you too and I’m so very sorry for that. Please don’t blame Damien. He’s done nothing but take care of me and he’s been there for me. Protected me. He saved my life, Neesa. Never once has he been the one that put me in harm’s way. You need to believe that. I’m happy with him. I’ll be safe with him. You talked about trust but you forgot that it goes both ways.”

Neesa choked up and could only nod. Tears seeped from her eyes as she brushed them away quickly with the back of her other hand. “I know.” She took a deep breath. We talked like that for a while, mostly reminiscing.

“Okay, store’s closing now. I should get going I guess.” Neesa looked down at the key in her hand and sniffled a bit before looking back up to me.

“I’ll be back soon. You better not take off on me!” With one last look at Damien, Neesa’s eyes narrowed suspiciously as if he very well might.

“I promise we’ll be here.” Damien had been giving us some space and knowing how upset she was he kept his back to her.

There are very few people in the world who don’t mind being seen crying. Neesa was one of them. I on the other hand despised it. It made me feel weak. Pathetic. I really hated how much I’d cried around Damien. But in my defense before that it had been quite a few years.

Once she left, Damien made his way back to the bed to sit with me again. “Do you two hate each other?” There was so much tension between them that it was the only conclusion I could come to.

“No, not at all. Just neither of us trusts the other when it comes to you. Oh and if you were wondering, Ryce is a shifter. I have known about him since the first night I stopped in at Riads.” His lips curled into a smirk as my eyes widened.

“I thought you said they were loners. That’s really weird because Neesa said supernaturals and Descendants hardly ever got along.”

Damien just shrugged. “There is an exception for everybody.”

“Uhu. So what about what she said earlier, how most supes hate humans and think we’re garbage?” My brow rose as I turned to look at him accusingly.

“Yes, much like that. However, I don’t really consider you entirely human. You’re just in a league of your own.” He seemed to like the sound of it. I was unsure what to think of the remark.

“So you do hate humans then?” My shoulders slumped as I thought about it. Being called inhuman annoyed me I was coming to learn.

“I think more or less, humans tend to hate anything abnormal.” Well that’s true. “And we’re usually quick to dislike things that would prefer we didn’t exist. Thousands of years ago, we were not myths, Anna. Humans hated us as well as feared us because in every way we were more powerful. Eventually we turned truth into legend and here we are today- Hiding in the shadows behind fairy tales and scary stories because for everyone involved it’s safer this way.”

“Safer?” I moved closer to him. Instantly he responded by pulling me into the same position we’d been in before Neesa had shown up with the food. The remains of which were now stashed in the fridge.

“You injured the Crossbreed with the rocks if you remember?” We’d discussed the details of the attack on the docks in length. I nodded. “We can be hurt, just as we can be killed. It’s just more difficult and we heal at a very rapid rate compared to humans. Still, they tried too much for our own good or theirs to be rid of us. More human’s died than supernaturals of course. So eventually, we decided to disappear. It was safer for everyone in the end.

“That’s sad but I can see the truth in it. There is a saying my history teacher used frequently, ‘A person has the potential to be understanding and intelligent. People as a mass are deaf, dumb and blind.” I always knew he was right.”

Damien’s shoulders shook slightly with bitter laughter. “That’s a good way to put it.”

* * * * *

It wasn’t long before Neesa came back. Damien went to the window when he heard her car to make sure she was alone. He disappeared out the door just as I heard her car door slam shut.

It wasn’t long before I could hear them in the hall, Neesa obviously louder than Damien. When they came through the door, Damien was carrying a huge box in his arms. She really did think worse of him than he deserved…

“Where do you want it?” He asked his voice back to its grumbly norm that he used while Neesa was around.

“By the bed is fine.” Neesa flipped the lights on at last. All the light of the day had faded and the room was too dark for her eyes. Mine were already adjusted only because I was used to it.

Neesa followed Damien to the bed where he put the box down on the floor. The first thing she pulled out of the box was a teapot and a small black wooden box, reaching up she handed them to Damien. He said nothing and stood there until she picked up a gallon glass jug, which seemed to be filled with water and rocks. Damien took it from her before following her to the kitchen.

“So will this really work?” I had to ask. How

could herbs and candles cure injuries like this?

“Well usually a single break or something I could heal almost completely. I’m afraid as badly as you’re hurt, you’ll be far from perfect but as I said before, way better off than you are now. I promise to put some hella focus on the facial bruising for you chica.” Neesa never did mind my skepticism. Mostly I think because she always knew she could prove me wrong.

Neesa’s magic was nothing like that
light as a feather stiff as a board
trick kids did in grade school. She always said her magic was as real as Mother Nature herself. Honestly I did believe her, but I still questioned everything nonetheless. It’s just who I am.

“So just that I’m clear. Badly sprained ankle, dislocated knee, something torn possibly, broken wrist, fractured cheekbone, busted lip, broken nose and black eyes. That it?”

There were some bruises elsewhere but they were minimal and not even on the radar as far as I was concerned. Some scrapes and cuts. Nothing big. “Yes boss. So, is any of this going to hurt?”

“You’ll only feel pressure. This is perfectly safe, I promise.” She filled the teapot from the jug before she set the kettle to do its thing. Once she was done, Neesa came back over to the bed and started digging through her box again with Damien right behind her as a silent helper.

It was a strange sight to see and I’m sure he wouldn’t go bragging about it to anyone in the future.

As she knelt by the box and began shuffling through things, she lift one large box out from the bottom with an overflowing bowl of rocks on top. A stone fell from the bowl as she bumped her elbow on my bed. Damien being closest, reached down to pick it up.

“Don’t touch it!” Neesa screamed just as his fingers touched the stone. It was too late. She was humanly slow. The second his skin had touched the stone, smoke rose from his flesh forcing him to drop it instantly.

Damien grit his teeth and turned away from Neesa and I to collect himself. I starred at Neesa in shock. “What the hell was that?”

“It’s bloodstone. Pure bloodstone.” She reached over to pick it up and quickly dropped it into a small black bag for safekeeping.

“It’s used to clear infections and illness in the blood. Your lip is blood red, which means it’s infected. The down side is most supernaturals can’t touch it. Damien, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” His chest rumbled slightly as he spoke. His hand flexed down at his side. The flesh of his fingers was black where the stone had touched him.

“I’m so so sorry. I promise to be more careful. I’ve just never been so flustered… It’s never been so personal to me before. I’m really sorry.” Neesa looked so nervous I thought she might cry any moment.

“Neesa, I am fine. Take care of Anna.” I starred at his hand and watched the black slowly fade away to red.

Finally, he turned back to her and kneeled down beside her. “Is there anything else that will incinerate me in here that I need to know about?”

Neesa shook her head, wide eyed with anxiety. “No. Well not that I know of.”

“Well then, we’ll just have to hope for the best.”

His smile was slight and forced but it was the best he seemed able to manage for her.

Neesa’s smile was timid and nervous. She wasn’t a fool when it came to dealing with supernatural beings. They were stronger and could be dangerous but I didn’t think it warranted being afraid of Damien. Then again, I was the one in love with him, not her.

“Raw Bloodstone, to cleanse infection and toxins in her blood. I’ll put the stone in with her tea. The water is from pure quartz crystal. The tea will be made from Angelica Leaves for healing and protection.” She was reciting as if recalling a written lesson.

It was strange to be sitting there and see the two conversing as if I wasn’t in the room. “I have a titanium mortar and pestle. If you will grind some Brazilian Agate, the dust and some magic will act like a pain killer.”

Damien nodded but when Neesa handed him the metal bowl and grinder he just raised his brow. Taking the bowl, he put the grinder back in the box. I couldn’t make out the words but Neesa mumbled under her breath causing Damien to chuckle.

Setting the small bowl of pebbles aside, Neesa fished through the metal box she had pulled out and handed him a big round rock the size of an apple. Damien held the stone in his fist and squeezed, splitting it into smaller pieces. He made it look as if it was nothing more than loosely packed dirt.