Bloodlust (The Blood Series #1)

Chapter 27

  Blood Manor looks exactly as creepy as can be expected. It is home to the most feared family in town so creepy is pretty much a necessity.

I shudder when I think that poor Nathan has always lived in this place. I try to picture him as a little kid running around the spacious yard, catching fireflies and pretending to be a pirate but I just don't see it. There's something about the Manor that makes me doubt that there has ever been kids in here. You know, actual kids and not like those terrifying little kids every horror movie seems to have in them who always have some chilling song or a saying they keep repeating. But Nathan grew up in this house, everyone knows that the Bloods have lived here since the beginning of time so there must have been kids here, Nathan and his siblings at least. I wonder what his childhood has been like. Not a normal one, that much I can guarantee.

And on top of all the other creepiness it's starting to rain. A low rumble of thunder can be heard in the distance. Chills run down my spine and I feel a little iffy. Okay, who am I kidding? If it weren't for Nathan's hand holding me in place I probably would have run as fast and as far as I possibly could away from this place.

"So this is home?" I ask to win more time to find something nice to say.

"This is it", Nathan admits and waits for my response.

"It's, uh, big", I say when I can't think of anything else to say. What are you supposed to say when someone takes you to the scariest house you've ever seen and calls it their home? Admire the way the house's Gothic structure makes you think about evil spirits and medieval torture chambers? Seriously, it looks like the Addams family could live here.

I stifle a shudder and turn to smile at Nathan. "It's beautiful", I say and that's not even a lie. If this place didn't have all this bad mojo on it, I'd think it was charming. I usually love old houses but this place gives me the creeps.

Nathan chuckles quietly. "It's okay, Haley. I know it can be a little... overwhelming. But my family has owned this place for centuries, it's a place for all the Bloods to call home, our Mecca. The one place where we can be exactly who we are."

Aww. That actually sounds kind of nice. To have a home away from home. Except that when Nathan says 'a home for all the Bloods' it sounds like the invitation is both for the living and the dead. Ugh. I don't know how the hell one can sleep in this place, let alone live in it. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive due to all this Seer crap but be that as it may, the Blood Manor makes me uneasy and that's that.

All of a sudden it's raining cats and dogs. Nathan starts to hurry inside but I hold him back. "Time to be really corny", I smile when he turns to look at me questioningly. Then I stand on my toes and kiss him in the pouring rain like in every romantic movie ever made.

He smiles against my lips and kisses me back, lifting me up a little so that my feet aren't even touching the ground. He leans back and I wrap my wet hoodie covered arms around his neck even tighter so I'm as close to him as I can be. I can feel every drop of rain on his forehead when we lean against one another. I look him in the eyes and count the little crystal beads on his eyelashes. He looks back at me and for a small eternity we are the only thing that matters. Everything else is background noise, unimportant chatter in a masterpiece.

"Done having a Nicholas Sparks moment?" he smirks then, light blush on his cheeks.

"Oh yeah, I'm freezing", I admit shaking from the icy October rain and cold wind circling us. He takes my hand and I don't even have the time to be afraid of the house anymore when we run up the steps to the porch and then through a magnificent mahogany door to a warm huge lobby where my house could easily fit in.

We are in the middle of a heated kiss when we hear someone quietly clear their throat. I quickly let go of Nathan, even back up a few steps as my face flushes to the shade of tomatoes or firetrucks. "Good afternoon, kids", a man says. He must be Nathan's father because he looks a lot like him.

Nathan recovers fast and introduces us. "Father, this is Haley Roberts. Haley, this is Gabriel Blood, my father."

"Hello", I try to smile politely.

He shakes my hand. "It's nice to meet you, Haley", he says in a deep voice. He gives me a friendly smile but suddenly I feel cold like I'm still standing outside the house in that tempest. "Any relation to Amanda Roberts?"

"Um, yes, she's my mother."

"Is she now", Mr Blood says but it's not a question. I think that he knew who I was even before Nathan said my name and for a reason or another my name did not please him at all.

"Honey, come meet Nathaniel's friend", he calls out but doesn't raise his voice. Soon Mrs Blood appears in the room. She is an attractive woman in her late forties, still fit even if there is a little roundness around her waist from giving birth to four children. What really strikes me odd about her is her hair. It is the color of ominously orange, like a burning fire.

I can easily see the family resemblance. Nathan looks a lot like his father: they have a similar build although Nathan is a little thinner and less muscular than his dad. His hair is also a little darker shade of brown. There isn't much of Mrs Blood in Nathan's appearance apart from his eyes. Nathan definitely has his mother's green eyes. But whereas Nathan's eyes seem vibrant and beautiful, his mother's are dark and unreadable.

"This is Haley Roberts, sweetheart", Mr Blood tells her and somehow the way he says my name makes my stomach tie into knots.

"Really?" Mrs Blood asks and regards me with her eyes like I'm an antique marble table that she wonders whether to buy or not. "I'm Colleen Blood."

She reaches for my hand and squeezes it in a heartfelt way. "So you're Haley", she says with a hint of smile on her lips. Nathan's parents are being perfectly polite but I can feel something boiling under the wraps in the looks Mr and Mrs Blood exchange after she lets go of my hand. "Don't you have any manners, my son? Do not let her stand there with wet clothes looking like a rag doll."

A rag doll? Gee, thanks.

A voice cold like a February morning interrupts us. "Is that her?"

Down the stairs walks the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. She looks like she should be in the cover of magazines and not in this house. Her scowl matches her icy features to a tee and I honestly feel like I'm shrinking when she measures me with her eyes.

Then she nods for us to follow her. "Let's get this over with."

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Before we join her Nathan leads me up to his room in one of the towers. His room looks nothing like a typical teenage boy's. In Troy's room there are band posters taped on every blue colored wall. His room was always pretty messy although I could tell that he had tried to clean up for me a little.

Nathan's room is nothing like that. Like the rest of the house, it's big and perfectly neat. I guess they have people taking care of that. Or maybe as a demon he knows some kind of a cleaning spell. If he does, he'd better teach that to me. Who cares that I am a human with no magical powers whatsoever, it'd still be cool. I mean, if a guy without legs can run a marathon, I could totally pull of one lousy spell without magic, right?

The dark furniture in his room are slightly less decorative than in the rest of the house. It feels like a small admission to his age. No teenage boy wants to live in a museum room. Nathan walks up to his closet and hands me a pair of sweaters and a T-shirt of so I can take off the soggy dress I'm wearing. He turns his back to me without asking and I slip out of my dress. I'm thankful for the wardrobe change although his clothes are way too big for me.

When I say that it's okay to turn around he smiles at me. "I had forgotten how good you look in my clothes", he winks and I blush. Then he looks a little nervous. "Um, Haley, I'm sorry about them. I don't really bring outsiders in here so they don't know how to act around you."

I nod because I don't know what else to say. In my opinion, his parents are scary as hell and if I never had to see them again, that would be okay.

"And don't let Bianca intimidate you, although she'll surely try. She was really tight with my ex so she's not welcoming a new girl with open arms. Bianca is like that. When she finds someone she likes she'll hold onto them forever. She'll fight for them until her last breath. Luckily she loves me and is therefore willing to help you out."

I frown at him. "Aren't you coming with?" I ask.

Nathan shakes his head. "I have something that I have to do first. But I'll come back in an hour and then we can hang. You'll be safe with my sister. She's a handful but she won't let anything happen to you", he assures me. I follow him to another huge bedroom, this time decorated with shades of red and mahogany. In the middle of it all stands the blonde girl, in all of her scariness. I suddenly regret agreeing to come here. This girl looks like she could rip my throat open while doing her nails.

"Play nice, Bianca. Remember what we talked about", he warns her and my bad feeling deepens when Bianca rolls her eyes and flips her hair just like Andrea does when she doesn't want to hear it.

"I sort of got the sense that she was doing this voluntarily", I hiss at Nathan when Bianca turns her back.

He shrugs. "I may have something on her and I may have mentioned about that when I asked her to do this."

"Meaning you blackmailed her to help me. This ought to be fun", I mutter worry gnawing at my stomach. Nathan kisses my forehead reassuringly and starts to leave. I want to call him back and beg him not to leave me alone with his scary sister but I can't have Bianca see me crumble so I just smile at him and hope it doesn't look as painful as it feels.

"For one of us maybe", Bianca says chillingly as she shuts the door on Nathan's face. Her light gray eyes are shining with excitement. "Let us begin."

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If not for the little training I did with Troy, Bianca's little session of utter pain would have destroyed me. I know what to expect but it stings all the same. She keeps pulling the most painful memories out of my head and makes me relive them. Then, as if getting bored, she simply compels me into seeing my nightmares come true. Giant snakes try to eat me and skeleton hands reach for me. And during all of this there's a small hint of a smile on her face that makes me hate her. Yes, you heard me. I hate her. I can't help it.

I'm breathing heavily and feel deranged. It's getting harder and harder to know what's really there and what's not. There are shadows dancing around me, whispers in the air and ominous laugh in my ears. A gust of wind blows inside Bianca's room and somewhere far away I can hear melancholic piano music playing. Haley, Haley, Haley, someone who sounds a lot like Oliver whispers repeatedly. I know it can't be him, they'd never let him inside the Manor but I'm terrified nonetheless.

Bianca grabs a hold of me and my body goes berserk. I can feel a heat rising on my skin like a protective armor, burning away all my pain and exhaustion. Suddenly I feel more alive than ever before. Bianca lets go of me with a hiss and backs away with an incredulous look in her gray eyes. I stare at her oddly and open my mouth to ask her what just happened but I'm cut off before I get the chance.

Just then Nathan walks in. He takes one look at my sweat and tears covered face and realizes that something is wrong. He turns to Bianca and yells at her: "What the hell did you do?"

"It seems that your human isn't quite as human as you've made her out to be", Bianca snaps cryptically. "She just used Blue Fire on me."

I did what now? I think and turn to look at Nathan for an explanation as usual but his eyes are on Bianca. They have gone wide and worried. Blue Fire seems to be a really bad thing. Nathan's handsome face turns pale. "That's impossible", he whispers.

"That's what I would say too if I hadn't seen those tiny blue flames cover her skin when she tried to defend herself against me", Bianca says. She gives Nathan a hard glare and pats Nathan's chest as she passes him. "She's both a Seer and a Blue Fire user, Nate? You sure know how to pick 'em."