Chapter eighteen
Her blood was divine, it was so rich, and he couldn’t get enough as he drank in greedy gulps aware that she was slipping away from him. As her blood coursed through his veins he felt strong again, ready to break out of the prison of his crypt. He felt Paige go limp in his arms and he laid her down on the stone floor of the crypt, any other time he would have tossed his victim aside, but he had liked that girl, but it was him or her.
Marcus woke from the dream in a panic, he looked over at where Paige was curled up nervously, scared that he might not have been dreaming, but to his relief she was there and very much alive. He got up and lifted the heavy lid to his coffin and lay down inside.
“Close the lid, bolt it up, and no matter what happens do not let me out,” he ordered.
He could not trust himself, it had only been a dream, but what was to say the next one wouldn’t be real, it was too much of a risk, he was a liability.
Paige frowned at him and pulled herself up so that she was looking at him lying in the coffin, “Why?”
“Just do it!” he growled, his voice thick with hunger.
She didn’t argue with him and closed the lid securing the heavy bolts, she looked at the bolts and grimaced wondering if it would be enough to stop him. She was all alone, he was alright in there; if Isabella and Ipes came back, she would be dead for sure. She slumped back against the wall and started to sob, how had her life come to this she wondered looking around still unable to see properly.
Marcus was struggling to contain himself, that bitch Isabella had it planned out, she stopped him from feeding so that when she finally got her hands on Paige he would be starving. Despite the fact he liked the girl the monster inside was taking over and he doubted the lid of the coffin was going to stop him from getting to her.
Paige sat close to the entrance to the crypt praying that someone would come and get them; she jumped in fright as she heard Marcus banging against the lid of the coffin. Shakily she limped over to the coffin, “Marcus?” she whispered.
As one of the bolts flew off the coffin she screamed and jumped back in fear hitting the hard floor with a painful thud, her heart was pounding as another of the bolts flew from the coffin and bounced across the floor banging against the wall. She pulled herself up nervously and crept over to the coffin, she looked down at it, he must have managed to calm down she thought as she took another step back, but the moment she moved, the lid flew off and Marcus climbed out. His eyes were as black as the night sky, the hunger obvious in them as he stalked towards her looking more ferocious than she had ever seen Seth. She scrambled away from him on her hands and knees, sobbing and gasping for breath, his dark laughter only intensifying her fear.
Marcus smirked coldly as he watched her try to get away from him, it was always more fun when they tried to escape, and he loved their feeble attempts to fight back before he finally gave in and killed them.
The sound of the heavy stone moving had her rushing to the entrance, and as it opened and she saw him she cried harder, but if she thought that was going to stop Marcus she had another thing coming as he pounced on her, she screamed and slammed her eyes shut. The heaviness of his body on hers was gone within seconds, the crypt shook and the rotten bricks crumbled further as Seth slammed Marcus from wall to wall.
Paige crawled outside and collapsed onto the wet overgrown grass outside, “Seth wait!” she screamed hoping it wasn’t too late she knew it wasn’t Marcus’s fault.
Seth threw Marcus outside the crypt and pinned him against the floor, “I’ve always wanted to do this!” he growled baring his fangs.
He was annoyed that Marcus had given up trying to fight back, he expected a bigger battle than that, but either way he was going to kill him, so if he wanted to give in without a fight so be it.
“Isabella tricked me,” Marcus admitted feeling like a fool.
Seth huffed loudly, “So?”
Marcus lowered his head in shame, “She put off the hunt and then kidnapped Paige and threw us in there together, before she left she cut Paige’s wrist I tried so hard to stop myself.”
Seth looked over at Paige but when he took in her state it only fuelled his anger and he exploded once more, “Tell someone who gives a shit, she can weep over the pile of ashes I leave!”
Paige knew she had to do something, Seth was going to kill him and she couldn’t stand by and let it happen, “I doubt she will care she was kissing that demon thing!”
Seth looked at Paige as if she was a lunatic, a vampire would never touch a demon in that way it was disgusting, and went against everything they stood for, “You must have hit your head girl.”
“She’s telling the truth,” Marcus confirmed.
Marcus and Paige both watched in apprehension as Seth let go of Marcus and paced around swearing and muttering, he stopped occasionally checking that Marcus wasn’t anywhere near Paige.
Seth narrowed his eyes at him, “What else aren’t you telling me, you’re blocking your thoughts again old friend?”
When Marcus didn’t answer Seth stepped towards him menacingly, but Paige stood in front of Marcus protectively, he looked up at her in surprise, and Seth roared with laughter, he picked her up and placed her to his side with a shake of his head.
“Your honour is misplaced my love,” he snarled.
Marcus knew he had some explaining to do and that Seth was playing games with him, he was going to kill him he just wanted to torture him first.
“If you and Paige completed the bond then you would be more powerful than Isabella is. You’re already starting to feel the power and each day you grow stronger she grows weaker, but she hasn’t realised how much of a part Paige will play in it because if she knew then she would have killed Paige,” he explained with a sigh.
Paige looked at Seth, he looked positively furious at Marcus’s revelation, “I didn’t think I could possibly hate you anymore, but yet again you prove me wrong!”
Paige was still sympathetic towards Marcus, but when she stepped forward to comfort him, she didn’t expect the loud, rumbling growl that came from Seth or the arm that snaked around her waist pulling her against her.
“You stay away from him, do you hear me?” he demanded his warm breath on her neck sending shivers down her spine.
Marcus nodded his head at her to agree, and with a defeated sigh, she agreed to Seth’s order, “We need to go,” Seth told her.
“What about Marcus?” she asked warily as Seth picked her up and carried her to the car he had hijacked.
“What about him? Leave him, he’s lucky to still be alive!” he growled, walking faster to the car.
“He tried to kill Isabella to save me,” she informed him as he opened the door and slid her into the seat, fastening her belt.
Seth let out a deep breath, slammed the door, and turned to face Marcus who was still sitting where he had left him, “Come on!”
Marcus walked over to the car, but Seth placed a hand on the door stopping him from entering the car, “I’m doing this for her, I won’t think twice about killing you if you cross me again, am I clear?”
He wanted to make sure that Marcus knew he wasn’t forgiven, he would have happily killed him back there in the cemetery, but his mate had been through enough. The poor girl was traumatised, and he didn’t want to be the cause of her nightmares, at least not tonight, but as soon as she was back on her feet, it was back to business, his fangs dug into his tongue as he thought of all the ways he could kill Isabella and Ipes.
Paige smiled at Marcus sadly then thanked Seth, he rolled his eyes and started the engine, he drove as far away from the town as he could get, he knew of an old abandoned church it was a place that Ipes’s could not enter now he had gained full control of Zak’s body. He took the turning and pulled up outside, carrying Paige in with Marcus following behind, he chose that church in particular because it was boarded up, blocking out the harsh rays of the sun, and still had running water.
Seth carried Paige through into the vestry and lay her down on the soft bench. He left her there and went back out ignoring Marcus, and retrieving some items from the car, he had broken into a store on the way there for some things for Paige. He went back to Paige and shut the door, she sat up, and he knelt down in front of her passing her some water to drink and laying some clean clothes out next to her.
“Can I look at your ankle?” he asked softly.
Paige nodded her head, and he grimaced, “It’s not broken, it’s dislocated. This is going to hurt I think.”
He didn’t know if it would, he had forgotten what human pain felt like, but as he took her ankle and snapped it into place the scream that left her mouth confirmed what he had thought. He pulled out a bottle of whiskey from the bag and passed it to her, she unscrewed the lid and gulped it down, but he snatched it back with a chuckle.
“It’s not for you to drink,” he informed her as he pulled her T-shirt off and poured the whiskey over the deep scratches on her arms and stomach, she cried out in pain again as the whiskey stung her skin.
He wiped her skin with the T-shirt cleaning away the dried blood and pulled the fresh T-shirt over her head, when his hands moved down to remove her jeans she placed her hands on his, her cheeks flushing pink.
“I’m not trying to get into your knickers Paige, I’m just...” that’s when he realised what he was doing, he was looking after her, the way he cleaned her cuts, fixed her ankle and undressed and dressed her as though she were a child in his care wasn’t like him at all.
“Thank you,” she whispered squeezing his hand.
Seth let her undress herself and clean the other cuts on her legs, she cleared her throat when she was finished and he turned back to face her, “I got you these,” he mumbled uncomfortably, passing her the bag of crisps, chocolate and sandwiches.
She beamed at him, it was such a thoughtful thing for him to do, the thought that he had actually stopped to think about her needing food and something to drink was so sweet that she wanted to throw her arms around him, but he seemed tense, pent up, and slightly scary so she scrapped that idea.
“I was so scared,” she admitted to him.
Seth sat down next to her and put his arm around her awkwardly, “It’s okay now, I’m not going to let anything happen and this time I mean it.”
He really did mean it, Marcus was lucky and the only reason he had spared him was because he had saved Paige, and deep down he knew it wasn’t his fault, he knew what the hunger was like. As for Isabella, she had it coming and he was going to take great pleasure in killing her as slowly and painfully as possible.
He lay down on the bench and pulled her on top of him, her legs resting in between his, and her body laid over his chest with her head on his shoulder, her curly hair just brushing his cheek. He inhaled her scent and sighed with contentment.
“You’re safe now,” he whispered moving her curls from her face.
What she said back nearly made him fall off the bench, “I think I might love you,” she mumbled sleepily.
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