Blood & Honey #1

*Chapter Twenty-Three*

"Whoa, you're like super good looking. Are you famous by chance? I was really hoping to see a movie star down here as I've been here visiting a friend but I never did. It's one of the things on my bucket list—meet a famous person and take a picture with them. You look famous. Actually"—Maya looks down at my blood stained clothes and skin—"you look like you just came off of working on a set. OMG, Is there an action thriller being filmed here right now?" Maya squeals excitedly.

"I'd put that cash in your purse before it catches the wrong person's attention."

"Hey, wait!" she hollers after me as I walk off toward the limo. When she sees me open the door, I hear her say, "I knew it! I just met a movie star and the asshole didn't even let me take a picture with him. LA blows."

When I get into the car, Kinley is right there, her neck stretching to see around me. "Where's—" she snaps her mouth shut, biting her lip as she looks down at the floorboard. She's remembering where's isn't a word in the two-word vocabulary I have allotted her.

"She's soon to be on a flight home."

If I didn't send Maya away this second, I would have ripped her heart out in my fury and as punishment for Kinley not minding. I shouldn't care about that either, but after seeing Kinley so broken in the alleyway over a loss that happened three years ago, I couldn't bear the thought of seeing her cry tears over Maya.

That thought makes me draw blood as I bite hard on the inside of my cheek. Clearly, I need to go hunting. I need to rip some human throats open and sink my teeth into a warm, beating heart. Yes, that is what I need. I need the blood and guts of my prey all around me. I'm not made to feel.

I need to stop feeling. Feeling is what caused me to rip Damian Norvak's heart out. Old Tristan would have ripped Damian away and taken the heart for himself. Instead, I protected it like some freaking guardian angel.

My stomach churns at the thought of me being anything like one of those winged, invisible bastards.

There was a time during the Dark Prince's reign when guardian angels walked among the humans. After the Great War, so much blood was spilled that light can no longer exist as it once had on Earth. The smattering of the guardian angels that survived are so weak now they may as well not be here.

Humans think they all have one watching over them. They don't. I've only felt a guardian angel's presence twice. Once was beside a nun and the other was near a little village girl who had wandered too far into the woods. You know when you are in the presence of one because the air around you gets all tingly and the whites of your eyes go black even if you aren't thirsty.

Kinley touches the window as the limo pulls away from the curb. I can tell by the way she watches Maya while we go by her emotions are crawling up into her throat.

"Good bye, friend," Kinley whispers to herself, and I swear by the humans' god herself, a bolt of electricity sears my insides as a small smile slips to Kinley's face.

The ice that thrives inside the pathway of my veins squashes the sensation. I'm worried about the war outside, but I should be more concerned about the war happening inside me. The beasts that reside in me as a dark being are fighting. One is after her cinnamon blood and the other is after Kinley's heart, but not so he can sink his teeth into the tasty life-giving organ. He wants to possess it like he wants to possess her body.

It's clear I've lost my damn mind. Tonight is proof of that. I've been trying to find answers for weeks, and I have none. All I have is a human I want to eat and take to my bed, a race on the brink of war, and a body my grandfather may be trying to take from me.