Blood & Lust [Book Two of The City of Eternity Series] [✔]

2.22: Tarnish

I'd never considered a vampire dying. They were such unworldly creatures that the simple truth of death had never crossed my mind. Those many occasions of sitting in a club with such overwhelming forces of nature swarming in packs seeking prey had left me ill-prepared for the reality of it.

The stake that was sitting at my eye level was protruding from Dom's chest, but it wasn't long before that stake was pulled from its place painstakingly slowly. Every inch that was removed resulted in a horrifying grunt leaving Dom's mouth; hollow sounds that meant he was clinging to life.

Then they stopped. As soon as the stake had been fully removed from his chest the bright gleam in his eyes faded. A moment later he'd collapsed on top of me, his corpse pinning me against the ground. It seemed I couldn't escape the torment he was so eager to provide me.

The pressure his body was putting against my chest was a dignified distraction from the pulsating pain that was radiating from my thigh. The quick work Tilda had performed on my wound had been undone in seconds, and not only that, Dom had made it severely worse. If I thought my wound would kill me earlier, that was nothing on the pain now. It took all of my might not to scream, my teeth grinding down on my lip instead.

The anguish I felt gave me the strength to push Dom to the side, just enough that I could pull myself free and look up at who'd essentially saved me from a fate I hadn't chosen for myself.

What I hadn't expected was the crouched, red locked figure in front of me. There was a devilish smile curving her lips as she perched on her toes. She leans her head on her hand as I pull myself up so I'm sitting, shoving the remainder of Dom's body off of my legs.

"I did say you'd see me soon, Vee," Thana says softly, twirling the stake in the air and catching it without any effort, much like Dom had done before. She'd suddenly shifted her eyes down to his body and rolled her eyes, "Although, you weren't meant to get yourself killed by such useless flesh."

I took in my friend slowly, analysing the drastic changes I could see at a glance; her hair had been cut shorter, what were once chest-length curled locks were barely hitting her chin now, and the pretty daisy patterned dresses she often adorned had now been replaced by a bleak collection of black leather. What made this a more harrowing change was despite being kitted out in an all-black outfit I could still see the bloodstains that were embedded into the fabric.

Putting aside my desire to get up and find someone to stop my bleeding, I couldn't help but feel a need to get to the bottom of this. To find out where my Thana had gone - because this certainly wasn't her; and even further why this version of Thana was so intent on harming me.

"You're thinking why. Right? Why is she doing this to me?" She said confidently, the ground crunching as she raised up. I froze in place, my eyes widening slightly, "You're so easy to read. Always have been."

She looked down, staring past the stake in front of her to grin at me. I swallowed thickly, and nodded briskly, hoping to prod some answers from her in a quick enough manner so I wouldn't die in the process.