The Blood Reader

The Blood Reader Chapter 9

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Garreth snatched the empty glasses from the bleached men's hands. "Thank you, gentlemen. Now you can just go." He shooed them away.  Out the door and keep walking."

Empty-eyed, the men turned and started toward the exit.

Now that we were alone, Garreth focused his attention on me again. The playful way he smiled at me warmed my insides. "What?"

I cleared my throat after conjuring the proper words. "How do you know..."

"Your name?" Garreth shrugged nonchalantly, and I nodded. "I know almost everything about you."

My stomach dropped. I was unable to digest what he meant. "I'm sorry, but this makes no sense at all."

Even though there was something familiar—natural, genuine—about him, it wasn't feasible that he knew as much as he claimed. Right?

He leaned close, propping an elbow on the table. Blocking my view of everyone and everything else, from this angle all I could do was gaze into those amazing green eyes. Just watching those golden flecks flittering around his irises had me mesmerized. That was probably his intent.

"Are you trying to read me?" he asked.

I blinked. "What? Read you?"

What was he talking about? Read him?

The music stopped, sending everyone shuffling about the room. Garreth stood straight and dragged his immediate focus from me as he said, "Not like you have hardly any of your powers while you're still in that getup." He paused, pointing to my blue form. "Hence, the reason I need you to hurry up and drink this."

Without anyone touching the cup filled to the brim with that disgusting, frothy liquid, it moved across the expanse of the table. One second I was staring at it and the handsome fellow trying to sway me to drink it, intently, and then poof! they both disappeared only to manifest before my very eyes.

My nerves were already a jangled mess. "What did you just do?"

Garreth smiled, revealing a mischievous, lop-sided one dimple crinkle. "How about we make a deal?"

A clump of apprehension rose in my chest. "How is making a deal going to explain." I stalled, only to wave at our strange surroundings first, then to him and the drink in front of me. "Any of this?"

He held the cold glass to my lips. "Easy. For every drink you take, I'll answer a question if I can." The long pause enabled him to glance at his watch again. "But you need to hurry up. We only have..."

Already, the pungent wafting scent of rotting trash accosted my nose. "Ick. I can't." My hands rose in defense as I stepped back. Answers weren't as important as holding down my food.

Garreth didn't seem to notice, and instead, his concentration fixed across the vast room. "Ahh, shit. Why didn't you tell me that they were here?"

"Who?" I followed his gaze, pointing at that woman Melinah along with the gold man and the pink woman I recognized from earlier. "Them?"

He looked from them to me and then back again. "Yes, them!" His booming voice was a little brusque in tone and garnered the attention of a few orange tentacled beings as the breezed past. "Don't any of you know what tonight is?"

My eyebrows scrunched together without any prompting. "A...party?"

Garreth heaved an aggravated sigh while raking a hand through his dark brown locks. "Not just a party. It's a sacrifice, princess."

"I don't..." The blank expression on my face added to my confounding state.

He cackled. "Of course you don't. You don't understand half of this conversation we're having, do you?"

That was the first thing he got right so far. I shrugged to answer.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Garreth thrust the cup toward me. "I'll be right back, but I need you to stay right here and drink this while I'm gone. Just don't finish all of it. Do you understand?" he instructed while taking a few steps backward.

I opened my mouth to retort when he disappeared into thin air. As much as I wanted to blame everything that was happening on some basic rationale, I couldn't. And against my better judgment and also assaulting my taste buds, I swallowed down half of the creamy beverage in one slurp. Thick, sour and ice cold, the substance hit my stomach with a bang. I lurched forward as my insides roiled and clenched.

A tap on my shoulders pulled me from my turmoil. I stood straight, faux smile in place to appear unaffected by anything. By that foul drink. By Garreth. By this place.

"Hello, miss," the tall blue man that escorted Melinah and me into this place greeted. He flashed me a bright blue smile; teeth, tongue and all. "Would you care to dance?" His sudden bowing had me slowly reflecting the action.

No. "Sure," I lied. "Of course." Now how was I going to dance like all those other blue people on the dance floor? The sea of blue started to reassemble on the dance floor and as the music picked up tempo they increased their gyrations and flailed themselves at each other.

What did I just agree to?

"I'm Karam." The man patted his broad chest and gestured at me to continue the introduction.

"And I'm." I hesitated briefly. Alana? Astra? "Alana."  

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