Bloodlust (The Blood Series #1)

Chapter 15

Nathan is waiting for me in the hallway. I pass him without even glancing in his direction. He is up on his feet, only a heartbeat after me. "What did she say?" he asks as soon as he reaches me. I don't reply, I try to find my way in this maze of hallways. Geesh, who designed this place? I wonder as I speed up. From outside the building looked so straightforward and now I just feel lost in its vastness.

Nathan's tone is more urgent now. "Haley?" When I still don't answer, he raises his arms at me. "Okay, I get it, you're mad. What did I do now?"

I finally reach the end of the hallway and find the lobby. I march up to the reception desk. "Hey, do you know where I can purchase these medicines?" I ask the receptionist guy while Nathan looms over me trying to make me answer him.

The receptionist nods. "Yeah, there's a drug store next to us", he says and I thank him before walking out. I look around for awhile, Nathan hot on my heel, before I find the right building in the sea of endless grey cement. They give me my medicine, Nathan being Nathan tries to pay for them but I cut him off and then I leave.

"Where are you going, Haley?" he calls out after me. I ignore him. I pick up my phone and dial Andrea's number but the phone is taken from my hand and the call ended before I can even say don't. I glare up at those bright green eyes but the deep concern in them makes it hard for me to stay mad at him.

"Give it back", I snap.

Nathan shakes his head. He looks at the phone in his hand and reads the name on the screen. "Why are you calling Andrea?"

I roll my eyes. "Isn't it obvious? To ask her to come get me."

"I'll take you home."

I snort. "I've heard that one before."

"This time I mean it. I'll drive you home and you can call me every nasty name you know on the way there", he offers sheepishly and I fight a smile. Come on, Haley, who cares how cute he is? You're angry because he's keeping things from you! I try to psych myself up but my hazy mind has a hard time grasping on reality and staying focused on one thing for long. I reluctantly follow him to his car and sit down.

As soon as he starts the car, I begin to bombard him with questions: "Why didn't you tell me I was a Seer? How long have you known anyway?"

Nathan blows air out of his lungs. "Honestly? I've had my suspicions since kindergarten."

"What?" I exclaim. Kindergarten? I was not a Seer in kindergarten. If I had been, I wouldn't have gotten into so much trouble in my time there. I don't think of myself as a wild child but when I was little, I did come close to being one. But not a Seer, no way. I just started having these dreams like a month ago.

He nods. "We were about five when you had a seizure, that's at least what I thought. But your eyes changed color and you told me that grandpa Alan was going to die. Then you went limp and said nothing. The caretakers told us that you had had an epileptic seizure but when you never had another one after that, I began to question that. And that weekend two weeks ago my suspicions were confirmed when you had another vision near me."

"A vision?" Another vision? What am I, a Seer ATM?

"Yeah, we were in a bar talking and then suddenly you reached out to me and told me that someone was hunting me down", Nathan recalls. I try to remember the events he's telling me about but I get nothing. I wonder if he's lying again but it doesn't seem likely. Then again, I'm starting to think that I can't trust my instincts when I'm around Nathan.

"Did I say who it was?"

"No, but I figured it out. He's an old enemy of my family's. His name is Oliver Knight."

I arch a brow. So Red Eyes has a name. "What does an old enemy of your family's want with me?"

Nathan is quiet for awhile, he tries to choose his words carefully. "Because he knows that he can hurt me through you. That's why I have been trying to keep my distance from you. I figured that if I acted like I didn't care, he'd let you be. Obviously that was a miscalculation."

I'm trying not to scream at him. "A miscalculation? Nathan, I haven't slept more than fifteen minutes at a time for over a week because you miscalculated some psycho's train of thought? You left me to fend for myself and just went out on your own? Where were you all week, any way?"

"I was trying to find the guy that attacked you. And of course I didn't leave you unprotected. After what happened last Wednesday you honestly think I'd leave you to fend for yourself? I told Callum to watch out for you. Hasn't he done that?"

I'm thrown off track by the familiar name. "What does Callum have to do with this?" I question.

"He's a prospect. He wants to be one of us. A Blood", Nathan states matter-of-factly as if that is a normal thing to want when it's everything but. Well, I guess in his world it is.

"Idiot", I blurt out without thinking. Nathan's eyes narrow but he doesn't say anything. My thoughts are still on Callum. That stupid little rich boy! He has no idea what he's getting himself into. He's a prospect? That's why he wanted to 'hang out' with me. That's why he was at Hunter's Head. He wants to join the Bloods. When I get a hold of him, I'm going to give him an earful.

And Drea...

Nathan seems to read my mind. "You can't tell Andrea about him."

"Of course I'm going to tell her! She needs to stop dating him and fast! He could be dangerous", I exclaim.

"So because he's joining us, you think your friend should dump him?" Nathan summarizes. His voice sound strange. I open my mouth to say something along the lines of 'HELL YES!' but then I notice the hurt in his eyes. Oh no. I keep forgetting who Nathan is. When I'm with him he seems like a different person, not the quiet Nathan Blood who never talks to anyone but his crew. Not the Nathan Blood who I've passed by in the hallways of elementary school, middle school and now high school. Not the Nathan Blood everyone has always warned me not to anger. But no matter what, he'll always be a Blood, it's literally in his veins.

I drop my gaze and stay silent. I know I've hurt him by saying that but I can't find the words to apologize. I meant what I said. Callum is dangerous. You don't get to be a Blood without staining your hands. I'm startled when I realize that goes for Nathan as well. I wonder what kind of awful things he must have done and suddenly I don't feel all that calm anymore. It was an awesome idea to let Nathan drive me home and then insult his family while stuck in a small space with him. Really brilliant plan, Haley.

"You can just drop me off here", I mutter when the silence between us gets from awkward to maddening. We are now at the town square, it's not that far from my home. I'd walk there in thirty minutes.

Nathan doesn't look at me. "I'm not leaving you to walk with a serial killer on the loose."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to badmouth your family. I just..." I start to apologize when his silent treatment makes me want to jump off a moving car. But I'm cut off very soon.

Nathan interrupts me. "You know what? I've always liked you, Haley. Even when we didn't talk. You know why? Because you've never treated me like a Blood. If you had to deal with me, you were always nice. Most people don't bother. They either hate me or fear me, usually both. But you didn't. That's why I punched Troy. He is an asshole and you aren't."

I feel ashamed. He's right. I'm judging him based on what other people have told me about him, something I have tried my best not to do. It melts my heart when he says that he has always liked me. I didn't think he even knew my name yet he has noticed a lot more than my name about me. I guess it's true what they say. 'The quieter you become, the more you can hear.'

"You punched Troy?" I ask just to keep the conversation going. "When?"

He half smiles. "Why do you think I got suspended?"

My eyes widen. "Tell me what happened."

"Well, you caught Troy boy kissing that annoying frizzy haired girl who leads the Bible Group."

"Missy Cadogan? You have got to be kidding!" I shriek. Missy Cadogan is the most pretentious girl in school. She always makes such a show about being so pure and innocent and waiting until marriage and now she freaking goes and kisses my boyfriend! I've never liked her and now I hate her. What a phony. No wonder she has been M.I.A. for the past two weeks. This scandal must have been quite a hit to her good girl image.

"The next time I see her..." I mutter bitterly. I turn to him. "Then what happened?"

"You walked into the cafeteria and he followed you there. He tried to get you to forgive him but you wouldn't listen. You yelled: GO TO HELL, YOU FUCKING TRAITOR." This part seems to entertain Nathan greatly. "The douchebag tried to drag you out with him so I swung at him. Unfortunately, the principal was right behind me and suspended me on the spot."

"Oh, I'm sorry", I murmur. I'm surprised to hear that he did that for me.

Nathan shrugs. "Like I said I've always liked you and then again I have never liked Troy so it was kind of a lucky break. I've wanted to punch that asshole for ages so I was just happy I got to kill two birds with one stone."

I change the subject because my annoying habit of defending Troy is about to resurface. "You mentioned that I had a vision of you when we met in a bar? When was this?"

"That Friday night. You were out with your friends and you came by to, I don't know, thank me or whatever and then when you touched my hand, you got all Seerish and told me I was in danger."

"Why didn't you tell me I was a Seer sooner?"

"Well, I thought you knew and when I figured you didn't I didn't tell you because you had enough of weird things to deal with."

We are now at my home. The house is still dark so mom isn't home yet. She has been "at work" a lot lately. She claims to be doing extra work but I'm not buying it. I think that she might be dating someone and for reason or another doesn't want me to know that just yet.

"Do you want to come inside?" I ask on an impulse. I don't want Nathan to go yet. He's being nice and open for once and I'd like to savor every last drop of it because who knows when he's going to turn from just Nathan to Nathan Blood again.

I can feel Nathan inspecting me, trying to read me. "Are you scared that Oliver is there?"

"No!" I deny but I gotta admit I am a little. I haven't gotten any visions of him while hanging out with Nathan so I'm pretty sure that when I'm alone and go to sleep I'll be bombarded with images, the next one always more cruel than the previous. But Oliver Knight isn't the only reason I want Nathan to come up with me. "I'm not, I just..." I trail off trying to come up with words to say. "If you don't want to..."

Nathan laughs quietly as if it's a stupid thing to say. "Are you kidding? Of course I want to", he says eagerly and gets out of the car. Before I have even gotten my bag back on my shoulder, he's already opening my door. Then he gives me his hand and I accept it because my feet feel a little wobbly. He leads me up to my door and on our way there I can see the curtains in Mrs Grundwald's house move. She will without a doubt report all of this to my mom but right now I don't care. Tonight I want to be a little rebellious and will probably regret it tomorrow. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.