Bloodlust (The Blood Series #1)

Chapter 39

Nathan looks up as soon as he sees me. "Hey", he says quietly. He probably can guess that I'm mad at him and has decided to take what's coming for him like a man.

I want to yell at him, punch his chest for once again dumping me like a sack of rocks, and kiss him until he can't breathe anymore, all at the same time. But I don't do any of that. Instead I turn away from him and decide to take another way out. I'm not stupid; I know he'll follow me. But if I get into this right here right now, I'll wake up the entire hospital, including the people in a coma because I have a feeling that once I start to rant there'll be no stopping me.

Once he catches up with me I never slowing down ask curtly: "Where is he?"

"Where is who?"

I scoff at Nathan's innocent tone. "Jimmy Hoffa, who else. No, where's the guy you've assigned to track my every movement?" I snap.

"I haven't assigned anyone to track your every move."

Does he honestly think he's being clever? Like I wouldn't notice the way he says 'your EVERY move'?

I shoot him a miffed look. "Don't play me for a fool. There is no way you could be standing there had you not have me followed. No one knew I was coming here tonight, not even me. So you must have had someone watching me."

Nathan cracks under my hard stare. "I'm just trying to keep you safe. Is that so horrible?" he huffs at me.

"I don't need your stupid protection, I need you!" I exclaim a little louder than I had meant to which makes his green eyes widen.

That's when a nurse I recognize from my earlier visits walks in on us. She looks shocked to see someone other than a white coat in here but when she realizes it's me her expression changes to scolding. "You shouldn't be in here, Haley. I know you're worried about your friend but you simply can't --" she starts lecture me but then her eyes get stuck on Nathan who is standing behind me and suddenly she has nothing else to say.

"How do we get out of here?" Nathan asks then like the sudden silence doesn't affect him in any way. Maybe it doesn't. People in this town either fear or admire his family so silence might be a normal reaction to his presence. Well, it never has and never will be that way with me.

"Through that door, then make a right and down the stairs", the nurse advises monotonically like she's afraid of letting any kind of emotion slip into her voice.

"Thank you", I tell her but she simply shoots me a suspicious look.

"You know I have two children who aren't yet in school", she says sternly out of nowhere. I just stare at her in response. What? Why is she telling me this?

"Come on, Haley", Nathan commands and drags me by the arm when I still just stand there. I'm still weirded out by that nurse. Did she tell me about her kids so I'd keep Nathan from harming her or something? It sounds too ridiculous to be true, it's not like I have any control over Nathan, but I can't think of another reason for why she'd say that to me.

"I'm so tired of everyone letting you do whatever you want", I complain while we walk. It may be petty but it really does bother me. Nathan doesn't use his Blood authoritative often but when he does he gets whatever he wants. "You know, maybe they are right about something. I should--"

"Fear me?"

I stare at him. Out of all the things I thought he'd say that was certainly not one of them. "No, never!" I exclaim. I might hate that he's in a gang, I might fight his stupid rules and I might not want to live my life "the Blood way" but I could never be scared of him. Not ever. Nathan would never physically hurt me, I just know it.

"I meant to say that maybe they are right to stay away from you. It hurts like hell when you keep ditching me", I say as we walk out of the hospital. No one bothers us and I no longer feel so worried about getting caught. I have a feeling that the nurses won't come to complain to a Blood if they possibly can avoid it.

Nathan shakes his head and quickly denies it: "Haley, I had to push you away. I knew you'd be mad but I'd rather have you hate me than be dead. I couldn't take any chances when we had a visitor from downstairs. I didn't want him to get any ideas about the Seer involved with me so I tried my best to stay away."

I gape at him. "Did Lu--"

"No, he's not allowed on Earth. And for future reference don't say the name, he doesn't like it. He sent a messenger to work out our punishment for messing with Hell. There was a price to pay", he tells me ominously and I get a bad feeling. I search him for new burn marks but I can't find any. Then again, he's wearing a dark winter coat and jeans, only his face, neck and hands are exposed so I can't be sure.

He notices my search and shakes slightly his head. "No physical damage this time. But there was a punishment and it's far worse than any physical pain. He... he stripped me of my powers", he says and by the end of the sentence his voice has gotten so low that I have to really push myself to hear him.

"What? Can they even do that?" I ask worriedly. What does this mean? Is he like a human now or...?

"He's from Hell. They tend to have a lot less rules there", Nathan reminds me dryly. "But babe, due to my new fucked up status I need you to be patient. So please let me have people who still have their powers check up on you. I get worried when I know you're all alone and that I can't protect you anymore. It drives me crazy just to think all the things out there that could hurt you..."

His voice trails off as both of our minds start to wonder about those things. "What else is there?" I whisper.

Nathan takes a deep breath. "My brother", he answers with a painful expression on his beautiful face.

I don't understand his concern. I've met both of his brothers. I like both of them, although one might be harder to get to like me back but I'm getting there. What's the big deal? "Your brother? You mean--"

I'm interrupted before I can even ask the question. "No, I don't mean the twins. There's another Blood brother but no one likes to talk about him. He's not very popular. He never was because of the horrible temper he had. Even other Bloods were afraid of him. Things got worse when he lost his mate. He went completely insane when she ran away from him."

My head is spinning and I can only manage to utter one word. "Mate?"

Nathan shifts uncomfortably. "My brother was... is special. He was born with great powers and nearly no humanity whatsoever which is always good trait in a powerful physical demon. My father was so proud of him. He called him his favorite son and loved him more than anything in the worlds. But his temper cost us too much. A wise Seer such as yourself told my father that he could be contained - if we could find someone to absorb some of his darkness. And we did. We found him a mate who could take away some of the darkness, make him more stable. But it didn't go very well."

I snort. "Can't imagine why, that sounded like such a suave plan."

Nathan ignores my dig. "Things got really bad after Nikki left and in the end we had to lock him up. But we didn't kill him although perhaps we should have after the havoc he caused. But my father wouldn't allow anyone lay a finger on his precious son. You see, Father likes to have something terrifying lurking in the shadows to scare off potential competitors so he kept my brother alive - just barely."

"And your father wants to release the kraken on this town? Our town?" I continue the story on my own, guessing the ruthless thinking process of one Gabriel Blood. It's starting to snow for the first time this winter but whereas I'd usually be ecstatic about it right now I've got something more pressing on my mind and barely even notice the white flakes that get stuck in my hair and Nathan's eye lashes.

"He doesn't want to but he feels like he has to. He doesn't see any other way of getting rid of Oliver", Nathan explains. "I know you think my father is a bad man and sometimes he is. But he protects his own and he will fight to the death for this town."

If only I could be as sure of that as you are, I think to myself but don't say anything. Although Nathan recognizes his father's wrong ways it's obvious that in some level his dad is still his hero, all-knowing and all-powerful. Sometimes I forget that he's just a seventeen-year-old kid like me who still needs his parents.

Although I try to hide it he still notices what I'm thinking. He rakes a hand through his hair, obviously in a distress even though I didn't say anything. "My family means everything to me. They are the very reason I'm alive and they always have my back. But I'm tired of having to justify why I love the girl that I do", he suddenly slips out.

"Love?" I gasp.

Nathan casts me an irritated look that does not go well with his sweet words. "Yes, I love you, obviously! Why else would I put up with your insanity? You are so frustrating and stubborn and beautiful and smart and amazing and I don't know how I could not love you when you're pretty much all I think about because I can't get you out of my head!" he huffs, talking so fast that I have trouble understanding everything he says. He has never sounded so human before.

My heart flutters but I still mimic his annoyed tone. "Well, I love you too!" I snap back. Wow. I can't even confess my love to a boy like a normal person. I need to fight about it. Normal girls would have sat their boyfriend down to a romantic meal or gone stargazing or something and then spoken the beautiful words. But there has been nothing normal about our relationship so far, why start mainstreaming now?

"Good", he responds curtly.

"Good", I say with similar tone. For a while we just glare at one another until a foolish grin creeps on my lips when I truly grasp what he just said to me. "You love me."

He smiles back, not missing a beat. "And you love me", he says tasting the words in his mouth and then smiles even wider. He pulls me to him and simply rests his forehead against mine. It's a soothing position to be so I don't even attempt to move. Not even when the snow that was just dripping earlier comes down a lot harder and soon Nathan and I find ourselves covered in beautiful white snow.

"Happy December, may it be much better than our November", I whisper as soon the clock strikes signing that it's midnight and the beginning of a brand new month. But this time the enchantment doesn't end and the princess doesn't have to rush away, leaving behind nothing but a glass slipper. I can stay here with him in this moment for as long as I wish, nothing can take me away.