Dragon Blood

Chapter 27

Rhia's phone vibrated, interrupting her music again. She silenced it without looking at the caller I.D. She knew it was Nolan. He'd been calling more and more frequently since she'd left the city. A few minutes later, a message shone up at her. I understand if you don't want to talk yet, it said. Just tell me you're safe. Constantine is acting strange.

Ah. That explained it. He already knew she was struggling. He wanted to give her space. But he was terrified that Constantine was already up to something. She tapped out the words; I'm safe. I'll call you later.

Her thumb hovered over the send button. 'Safe' was probably not the most accurate term. The coordinates Rowan had given her led her to one of those highly concentrated areas of magic, creating a landscape she wouldn't believe possible if magic didn't exist. She was standing in a dark forest in the middle of the desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The trees were thicker than she was tall and glowed an eerie dark green, the canopies blocked out any view of the sky, and dim blue lights flitted among the lower brush like fireflies. The map on her phone, that still somehow had service, told her that she was about half a mile from her destination, and she had no idea what was waiting for her.

"I mean," she said slowly to herself, dragging out the word and tapped the send button. "I'm not currently in danger. It's not currently a lie." She stared at the screen. "Aaaand I'm talking to myself. Might not be mortal danger, but I've definitely crossed the line into crazy... If I haven't already by dating a vampire... Who said he was in love with me..."

It finally sunk in. The enormity of his words weighed heavily on her shoulders. She sat down on a root of a tree and stared blankly at a group of the weird blue lights without really seeing them. It had to be a mistake. A moment of passion, maybe, like her mother said. Or maybe something a lot... deeper.

Fuck.

What the hell was she supposed to think? It had taken Church over a year to finally spit it out and he'd made it an entire evening out of it. At the time she had thought it was sweet but completely unnecessarily over the top. Nolan had said it a split second before biting her while they were having sex... she didn't even have a chance to acknowledge his words before the euphoria hit. Maybe he was expecting her not to remember.

She lowered her head in her hands and groaned. "I am so fucked." She muttered.

"Not yet, you're not."

Rhia stood up sharply at the female voice. Two females and a male walked through the dark trees. The edges of their eyes were glowing red. The woman in the middle was licking her lips, long fangs elongated to sharpened points. Vampires. "His majesty was right," the male said, his eyes boring into Rhia. "She's pretty. I wonder what she tastes like."

"I don't think she's that pretty." The female on the other side of the first snarled. "His lordship has done better."

"Jealous?" Rhia snapped, a rush of fear-fueled adrenaline went coursing through her veins.

She didn't know what was going on in her head to antagonize the vampires, but it had a definite effect. The second female let out a violent hiss, spittle and venom spraying from her mouth. The first female reached out to grab the second. "Calm yourself, sister." Her calm voice was an uncomfortable contrast to the crazy glint in her glowing eyes. "We're not here to hunt. Not yet."

Rhia's legs moved faster than her brain could catch up. She ran. Somewhere, she knew logically that there was no way to outrun any ancient, let alone ones that hunted humans, but logic had vanished a long time ago. Her mind registered laughter behind her, spurring her to run faster. The male appeared in front of her out of nowhere, and she skidded to change directions. A small, rock-hard something slammed into her, and she went flying into a tree. The first female pinned her against the bark, her face uncomfortably close to Rhia's. She licked her lips again. "Why are you running?" she panted, even though she hadn't put any actual effort into the chase. "We weren't sent to hurt you. His majesty just wanted us to pass on a message."