Aura

Treacherous Doubt

My blood pooled to the vein between Michael's fangs, as if by his will alone. I began to tilt in his arms, becoming light headed. Thoughts hazily flitted through; this wasn't right, no very wrong, I wasn't Davis's daughter. My vision blurred in and out but always in Nash's direction. If these were my last moments as a human, I wanted to at least see something beautiful one last time.

Nash couldn't decide where to keep his eyes, golden specks danced within his hues begging for his wild side to break through. He inched ever closer while crouching lower, ready to spring. His transformation would waste time, we all knew his only hope was to fight his urge to change and get within arm's reach. Nash bared his teeth in a threat, elongated canines poking against his lip. Michael tightened his grip which had begun to cradle my jaw, cutting off more oxygen. A fleeting impression haloed around Nash in my addled state, disappearing as my vision teetered.

Michael inhaled, the sound amplified by his closeness. A distant thought acknowledged this being his first time breathing around me. How strange. He sniffed again, the tip of his chilled nose touched my skin. "They drugged her." I had thought once that nothing moved slower than my mother in the morning, but the time it took for his fingers to peel away from my neck seemed impossibly slower. With care, Michael laid my body down. A layer of frost, once a barrier between my body and the Earth, melted into my skin and leather clothes. Everything felt colder to the touch than normal, yet I didn't feel feverish.

Nash fell to his knees, shoving Michael away in the process. His body caged mine as he inspected every inch of exposed skin. "You nicked her!"

"What?" Michael sounded surprised by the accusation. Nash continued to push Michael away but the vampire didn't give up easily. "Let me see if I can help, you mutt! Obviously I didn't mean to."

"Then explain the stunt you just pulled off! You threatened to turn her into a walking corpse!" I wasn't sure why Nash's raised voice made my body involuntarily flinch but when Michael matched his tone and volume it was as if he whispered the words instead. My senses were off, that would explain the faint gleam pulsing from Nash and Michael. Both men yelled in panic, but only Nash's voice rang loud through the haze. "Bluff? Why?" The glimmer was vivid one moment but faded within an instant only to return again. "Well it worked. I'm not going to thank you for endangering her life though. Here, help me bleed out whatever venom may have gotten in." I was shifted onto Nash's lap, his fingers tangled in my hair as he finger combed through it. A firm hand massaged from my shoulders up. My fingers reached out to touch the pulsing color radiating from within Nash's chest. Pretty, what color is that? "Her heartbeat is returning to normal." On cue the strange light permanently faded. A moment of déja vu cleared my thoughts, before in the pack the mist had surrounded me with the sound of drums but in a moment of clarity I had realized the pounding in my ears was just my heartbeat accelerating. This too had been a mirage. My hand was firmly at my side, not touching the strange light I believed had emanated from Nash. A single word caught my attention, wouldn't the drugged tea have been out of my system when I woke up?

"How long would the effect last? Seth gave me that tea two days ago." I sat up with Nash's help.

"What tea?" Michael asked it, but Nash seemed to already know the answer.

"No the tea just puts you in a deeper state of sleep, like a sleeping pill. It wouldn't have any affect now." Nash pulled us to our feet. Consternation pulled his brows together. "The scent is strongest in your hair; did you inhale anything strange recently?"

I shook my head and repeated in detail everything that had happened from the kidnapping to the moment I met them in the forest. I flinched at the terror lining Nash's features. Sudden awareness struck as I pushed away from both men. Michael just tried to turn me into a vampire, and Nash was a murderer. While recalling what Seth had said Nash didn't deny it. "Stay away from me."