Bloodbank

Twenty Nine

The sun was gone. The sand underfoot was still warm from the recent day, the nocturnal critters coming alive and singing to the night. Pinkish hues stained the clouds, a reflection of the sunset. The pink was echoed on Scott's bloody and broken face as he lay on the ground.

The vampires had stopped beating him and busied themselves by packing up the camp. I knew they were listening, waiting to see how I would react. Scott was doing the same, calculated green eyes awaiting my judgement.

Mason's grip on me released, but he also watched me.

My heart was pounding in my ears, the world tilting as a thousand questions rushed to my thoughts. Losing control of my legs, I knelt before Scott, the sand warm and scratchy on my legs.

"Ebony," Scott began, his voice rough. This was the weakest I had ever seen him, yet I had no pity for him, "you're smarter than this, think about it."

"Tenebris is your father?" I felt tears prickling at the back of my throat, clogging my words. Tears had no business in a desert, yet here they were again.

"I wanted to tell you."

"No you didn't."

He exhaled into the sand, swirls of yellow particles decorating his tired face.

The tears were bubbling up to the surface now, hiccups interrupting me, "were you going to take me to him? Were you using me? Like- like Mason did?"

"No-"

I was shaking uncontrollably, tears running down my face and splashing onto the dune. They disappeared instantly, drunk by the parched sand, "I trusted you."

"Ebony, please-"

Hand outstretched, I pushed his face into the dune. His breathing shallowed, then stopped as all he inhaled was sand. It didn't take much effort - he either didn't have the energy or didn't want to fight me. Tears were continuing to run down my face as I pushed harder, with both hands now, burying him.

Mason pulled me off of him. I was sobbing as I was carried away to continue the journey.

*****

I was thankful as we continued through the desert that Scott was kept away from me. I wanted to hurt him. Worse than he had hurt me. But more than that, I wanted answers.

"Tell me about him." I asked Mason.

"Who? Tenebris?" He responded. I had expected him to ignore me, or to taunt me. But I was already at my wit's end.

"And Scott."

"Well, Tenebris is by far the richest Lord in the desert," Mason began, "he came by his fortune by capturing anyone with a rare blood type - it's like he has his own private Bloodbank. He trades in bottles of the rare blood, but never sells his producers. That's you."

I swallowed, but felt I already knew this. Scott had warned me of my role to Tenebris - I had just ignored the obvious. The only way he would have known how Tenebris operated, or that Tenebris had a Devil's Claw in his garden was if he had known Tenebris personally. I felt like an idiot. Again.

"He's had two children. Both were accidents. His eldest left to pursue her own fortune and Scott, when I first met him, was still living in Tenebris' mansion. They never got along, he was the black sheep of the family, and he ran away to escape his father. He's kept away from the family name, I didn't hear from him for years. Imagine my surprise when it was him who poached your bunker out from under me."

"So he isn't working for Tenebris?" A flutter of hope.

"I wouldn't say that. It looks to me like he's crawling back to daddy's money after all," Mason laughed. 

We continued through the desert without another word exchanged between us.

I figured that there was more to the story than Mason knew. I had to ask Scott, but I could barely look at him. No matter his intentions, no matter if he was going to betray me and sell me to Tenebris, he had lied to me. I couldn't trust him, and yet he was the only one who could save me from the poison that was already well within my system, and that made me nauseous with each step.

I felt hopeless. 

I yearned for Nathan again. Nathan, who had tried to warn me. A warning that I had ignored.

Lost in my thoughts again, I stumbled, falling just before the crest of another dune. The poison was making me weaker than before - Scott had said I'd have a few days before I needed an antidote. Though I could no longer believe a word he'd ever said to me, he had no reason to lie to me on this. A couple days, two at most, were left in me. I prayed that we weren't far from the mansion, but I supposed that Scott would have planned for this. He would know how long it took to reach his childhood home, after all. Anger flared in me, as it did every minute that I remembered his lie.

Mason pulled me up, to the top of the sand dune, and that was when I spotted it.

"We're here."

A huge, sprawling, dark mansion appeared out of the night. The windows were all lit, and each felt as though it was watching me. Turrets rose from the sand dunes. Immense green gardens, an impossible sight in a desert, spread as far as the eye could see. The sight sent a chill down my spine.

I would soon meet the man who had bought me.