CLUB NUMBER FIVE (Immortal Blood) (22 page)

“If there
’
s anything to dump, then yes
.
”
Hi
s face was expressionless.

I jumped up and punched him. “No! You can't do that!”

“Watch me,”
he
said with steely eyes.

I punched him again. “No! You changed me. You made me like this
,
and you are my creator and you're responsible. And that means you're stuck with me just like I'm stuck with you, okay?”

He
laughed. A cold, chilly laugh that froze my guts. “Will you just go
?
”He moved to the door and opened it. “Please?”

I collected what was left of my self-respect and marched out. He slammed the door shut and I started to cry.

I managed to reach the kitchen before my nerves totally broke and I fell on
to
the kitchen floor, crying my soul out. Two women, who had been baking, left the room quietly and I cried even more. This was awful. I was a leper and Jonathan was the only one who talked
to
me anymore. The others didn't want anything to do with me. Well, except maybe Kate, but where was she?

“Kate!” I cried miserably, but she didn't hear me.
“Kate!” I cried louder, but no one answered.
I hit the floor and sobbed. What good was it to be free of Jason's leash if it was like this? I cried for what felt like forever before I heard steps coming closer. The door opened and someone gasped in horror. I felt friendly hands around me, and somehow I knew Kate had finally come.

“Where have you been?” I asked, sniffing, and couldn't keep the blame out of my voice.

Kate shrugged and I let it go for once. What did it really matter where she had been? She was here now.
She
cleaned my face and made me drink a bottle of blood before we left the kitchen. She held my hand as we went to my room and sat on a lounger.

I sighed heavily and
look
ed at her. She didn't meet my eyes and I looked closer.
“Kate, what have you done?”

“Nothing,”
she
said, faking a smile. “Much.”

“Kate,” I warned quietly.

Sh
e jumped up and started to walk back and forth restlessly. My suspicions grew bigger with her every step and I was sure I wasn't going to like what she had to say. I got up slowly and stopped her by the window. She sighed
in
surrend
er
, but refused to meet my eyes. I squeezed my eyes closed for a second. I had too many problems of my own and I didn't want to add Kate's problem to that. But obviously I had to. I loved her and I was her creator, so no matter what problems she had, I had to solve them.

I opened my eyes.
“Okay,
s
pit it out.”

Sh
e glanced at me as if to confirm I was serious and I nodded. She took a deep breath and started to babble wildly.“I've
-
been
-
home
-
oh
-
my
-
G
od
-
Sam
-
you
-
have
-
no
-
idea
-
how
-
good
-
it
-
felt
-
to
-
hold
-
them
-
in
-
my
-
arms.”

“Stop
!
” I grabbed her by her shoulders. “I didn't understand anything. Now start all over again and this time slower, please.”

“I've been home
.
” Kate smiled radiantly. “I've seen them and held them in my arms and I didn't bite them or anything. I just held them in my arms.”

I stared at her open
-
mouthed
. “Are you crazy?”

“No, Sam
,
I'm not
.
”
Her
eyes begged me to understand.

I fell back on
to
my safety lounger and took a long, calming breath. “You cannot go there anymore, okay?”

Kate sank on
to
her lounger, too, and looked really pale.
“But I have to,” she whispered.

“No
.
” I shook my finger fiercely. “No, no, no. You don't have to do anything. At least not that. Can't you see how dangerous that is? What if someone sees you? Or what if you accidentally bite someone? Think of that.”

Sh
e shook her head desperately.
“That will never happen. Sam, I've been extra cautious
,
and besides, I could never feed from them. Gosh! They're my family!”

“I know that,” I soothed her. “But there's always a possibility that you will.”

Sh
e stared at me, horrified, and I felt really sorry for her. I almost waited for her to challenge me
,
as I could go to my home
freely
and live there if I wanted, and yet I was denying that for her. But how could I explain to her that her precious daddy was a hunter? A hunter that had almost killed me and who knew exactly what I had done to Kate. A cold man who wouldn't see Kate as his daughter ever again. For him
,
Kate represented everything he hated and he would not hesitate to kill her. The answer was crystal clear. I couldn't
,
a
s
sh
e would never believe me.

“Sam, please,”
sh
e pleaded
,
and I braced myself. “Let me at least go there once more.”

“No,” I said coldly. “It's better if you don't.”

Kate moved next to me and took my hands in hers. I couldn't look at her. She told me about her baby brothers. How she had been there at night and wiped away all their nightmares. How she had held them and whispered stories in their ears and made them sleep peacefully. And I have to admit, I admired her. She was a newborn vampire with the strongest will I knew. And I knew that once in a while it must've been terrible for her. The blood thirst was the worst in the first few days and you wanted to bite everything. Okay, maybe it had helped that she could feed freely in the vampire house, but still. Who could resist a pulsing vein if it was right under your nose?

Sh
e also told me how she had sat and watched her sleeping parents. That made my alarm
bell
s ring. Thank
G
od
she
had no idea what kind of danger she
’
d been in. One wrong move and she'd be dead. That brought an open question to my mind. What had happened
to make
Kate's dad become a hunter? As far as I knew, the hunters were descendants of humans
that
had been turned. So maybe
,
and just maybe, Kate might have a vampire aunt or cousin or something that was out there somewhere. I glanced at
her
. She had stopped talking and looked as if she was waiting for me to say something.

“Please,”
sh
e begged
,
but
I shook my head determinedly.

“No.”I had no idea what she had asked this time, but it didn't matter. Whatever it was I was sure it concerned her family and the answer would always be no to that.

“Fine,”
sh
e snapped and walked to the window again.

I could see from her back that she was sulking, but so what. She would get over it. Or at least I thought so.

“Can I write a letter to my mom then?”
sh
e asked quietly. “What harm could that do?”

I measured her words. If that would help her to move on
,
maybe I should let her to do it. “Okay,” I breathed.

Sh
e turned quickly and smiled. “Really?”

“Sure. But I want to read it before you send it, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed and rushed to my desk. She sat down and started to write.

Someone knocked on the door and I went to open it. Jonathan stood
there
holding a pink rose in his hand. “Hi
.
”
H
e smiled.

“Hi
.
” I smiled back.

“Are you okay?”
He
handed me the rose.

I took it, smiling, and sniffed it with a shrug. “Dane left me.”

“I know,”
he
said quietly and pulled me
in
to his arms. “But don't worry, he'll come to his senses
,
and before you know it he'll be crawling at your feet
,
begging for you to come back.”

I didn't answer
,
as I wasn't so sure. Dane had made it pretty clear he didn't want me around him, and as much as I wanted him
,
there wasn't much I could do about it.

“That is if you don't want to switch him for something better,” Jonathan whispered softly.
I nudged him.
He laughed.
“Come on
.
Let's go downstairs and I'll make you a cup of cappuccino.”

I rolled my eyes, but let him lead me to the stairs. His cappuccino had nothing to do with the original one
,
as he mixed warm blood with milk and there wasn't a hint of coffee in it.

“Wait
.
” I stopped and glanced back.

Kate was still writing and hadn't even noticed I was out of the room.

“She'll be fine,” Jonathan said and tugged my hand playfully.

I smiled and nodded. And without glancing back
,
I went downstairs with him.

I placed myself on the couch and let Jonathan serve me. He whistled while making our drinks and I admired his attempt to cheer me up. So when he walked to me and gave me a mug of steaming blood I smiled at him warmly. He sat next to me and put his arm around me.

I crawled closer and sighed deeply.
“Oh
Jonathan.”

“S
h
h, everything will be okay, don't worry
.
”
He
pressed his face on my hair.

“I don't think so,” I whispered and tried to swallow
back
the tears. “Dane hates me.”

“No, he does not
.
” Jonathan kissed my hair.

“Yes, yes, he does,” I sniffed miserably and started to cry.

Jonathan took the mug out of my hands and placed it on the table. I turned and snuggled deeper into his arms and cried my eyes out. Why had I fallen for Dane? Why not Jonathan? I didn't buy that old cliché that girls always fell for the bad boys. No way. Besides, Jonathan was a bad boy, too. Maybe not as bad as Dane, but bad enough. So why
,
for heaven's sake
,
hadn't I fallen for him? I used to have a bad crush on him before Dane
,
so wouldn't it be easy to forget Dane and get back to that?

I inhaled shakily and sniffed Jonathan's shirt. He smelled heavenly. I sighed. I could never go back
,
and besides, I couldn't do that to Jonathan. Dane would always be my number one choice and I had better stay as friends with Jonathan. I liked him a lot and it would have been wrong to use him as a substitute, since in the end I would hurt him no matter what.

Jonathan stroked my hair gently and whispered some comforting words in my ear, but nothing he said could drag me out of my misery. I had lost Dane forever.

“He did it for you,” Jonathan said almost soundlessly
,
and I lifted my head angrily.

“Don't defend him!” I snapped. “Your cousin made it absolutely clear that he wants nothing to do with me
,
and I don't think he broke up with me because he thinks he's not good enough for me. More like the other way around,” I mumbled.

“You're adorable!” Jonathan laughed. “Are you blind or just stupid? He loves you, you idiot.”

“If that's your way of trying to make me feel better, it's not working
.
” I sniffed, hurt. “Calling someone stupid and an idiot is not nice.”

Jonathan pushed me further
away
and looked searchingly
into
my eyes. I stared at him helplessly. Why was he defending Dane? And why couldn't he believe the obvious fact that Dane did not love me at all?