The Love Curse [boyxboy]

Chapter Twelve

"I don't know what you're talking about," I snapped angrily, jerking at the cuffs, "I never killed anyone! I don't drink from humans directly! I use blood bags and tablets. I've never bitten a human before." I left out the man that Storm had hunted down back in Red Field.

We'd been starving and there were no more blood bags or tablets. Storm insisted we feed off somone who was dying already, but that man couldn't have been Nathan's brother. He was far too old. Nathan's brother was a couple years older than him, not a couple dozen.

"Not you specifically," Nathan responded calmly, "Your parents. They needed to feed their precious son blood so he could grow just as big and strong as the rest of you freaks. And blood is only extremely powerful straight from its source. So they hunted down the first healthy human they could and that just happened to be my brother."

"B... But my parents told me those were--"

"Blood bags from the hospital? Precious donated blood? Willingly donated blood? Right. They lied to you. You've been drinking the blood of murder victims." Nathan answered, his voice cold and hard. I suddenly felt icy cold. My stomach churned and I wanted to puke. I squeezed my eyes shut behind the blindfold, then tilted my head to find Nathan.

"Nathan, I didn't kill your brother. If I had known, I never would've drank it. I--"

"Of course not," Nathan cut in sharply, "But you did. And now both you and your parents can pay the price. I'll kill their precious gift from above, then go after Vladimir. The man who told your parents to feed you fresh blood."

I felt like I was dying already. My mind whirled with everything Nathan was saying. I felt sick. I felt hurt. I felt confused and betrayed. Why would Vladimir do that? I wanted blood from willing victims. I wanted donated blood. I didn't want anyone to die as a result of what I was.

At the same time, what Nathan was saying made sense. All my life I had felt alive. I felt powerful, but unable to use it because of my parents. Then after the whole thing last fall and when I went to college, I suddenly felt weaker. I didn't feel as energized. It had to be because of the switch in blood.

"Well," I managed, both angry and hurt, "I hate to break it to you, but my parents couldn't care less if you killed me. They won't even speak to me." Nathan snorted, making me wince when I felt his hand on my jaw.

"They're your parents. They can pretend to hate you as much as they want, but when they find out that they're son was killed, slowly and painfully. They'll be in as much pain as my family was after I found out my brother was nothing, but a piece of meat to you monsters." He seethed, then roughly let go of my mouth for a split second before shoving the blocks back into my mouth, forcing my mouth open. I writhed until I heard some clinking around, making me cock my head to the side.

"And my first order of business is to get rid of those demonic teeth." Nathan muttered from somewhere a few feet away. My eyes widened behind the blindfold in realization.

He was going to pull my fangs out.

Panic gripped me as I jerked frantically at the cuffs, breathing hard as I tilted my head back and to the sides to avoid anything that was coming near my mouth. I lifted my back off the back, trying to pull at the cuffs.

"It's all right," Nathan said gently, "Once those are out, you'll be one step closer to being human. After that, we'll try feeding you normal human food. You can live on that instead." I wanted to call him an idiot and tell him that wasn't even how the process worked, but I couldn't care less what he thought anymore.

I just wanted to get out.

No. I need to get out.

Our fangs were something important. Something special. They were a gift, not a curse. They were powerful, but as Nathan said, they were also our weak point. Removing our fangs was like castrating us. And it was going to be even more painful since our fangs were also extremely sensitive.