Blood Betrayal

Chapter Twenty-Five

Ghanny jolted upright in the unfamiliar bed gasping. Eyes wide in the darkness, an ancient scream wedged firmly in her throat. She swallowed trying to rid her mouth of the sweet thick coating of phantom liquid. She shivered chilled to the bone and alone.

It was dark. There would never be true darkness again for her eyes. In a desperate need to not be alone she turned the television on and sat on the floor letting it fill her vision. The tiny pixilated figures played out their meaningless stories.

She fervently watched them dance around the screen in an attempt to wash the dream of a memory from her mind. Hunger twisted in her stomach. She pushed her hands against the emptiness while she mindlessly watched those tiny figures.

Every time she shut her eyes the image of that unspeakable thing invaded her mind. She kept them open until they ached. Only shutting them long enough for the sting to subside before tearing them open again.

She had been so focussed on the incessant drone of the television that she hadn't noticed the door open until a voice sounded.

"Really like that TV huh?"

The sudden question made her jump and turn towards its source. Surprised by her jerky movements Zion frowned.

"Didn't mean to scare you," he spoke quietly. His soothing tone was one usually reserved for coaxing terrified animals out of corners.

She knew what it was that caused him to speak to her in that way. Her eyes were too glazed, too wide and showing too much white. There was little she could do about it.

Nodding she tried to cover her haunted expression by turning her face to the screen.

"I had a bad dream," she murmured.

"You want to talk about it?" Zion asked while sliding down to the floor beside her. He reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder. The kind gesture came too fast.

She pulled away before he could make contact.

"Whoa, if you want me to go I will. Just wanted to check on you."

No! Being alone wasn't what she wanted at all. She wanted Dax but she had no way of contacting him. When she woke up screaming he had always been there to hold her and make the memories fade.

Zion was still watching her waiting for an answer. Maybe she could pretend he was Dax. If she could pretend then he could help her chase the dream away.

"Don't go."

He grinned at her showing off dimples. "Whatever you want."

What she really wanted was to taste him again. He asked her not to do that. It had been years since she had encountered an unwilling human. She wasn't supposed to drink from the unwilling.

If she couldn't feed on him maybe she could just hold him. She had liked touching the solid muscle of his stomach and would like to feel that strange silver ring set in his nipple under her hands again.

Daxus wouldn't be happy. He didn't even like the way she entertained the humans she kept for food.

Of course, she found him quite attractive, well-muscled but not overly so. He had soft pretty features. Sometimes he reminded her of the way Daxus had been, the way he was before. None of that was enough for her to consider spending time with a man for any reason beside food. Yet that was what she wanted. If only to settle her frayed nerves after having such an unsettling dream.

"I want you to hold me and make me forget."

Standing she let the dress she wore drop from her shoulders. She watched his eyes dilate as they lingered over her skin. Not the way that vampire eyes do when they feel lust, in the way that mortal eyes do when they think of more mundane mortal lusts.