Chapter 15 – Bogdan's POV
He's fragile now. With every shallow breath, and with every shiver that wracks its body, it shows. He's no longer the fierce warrior that suited him as a vampire. He's reverted to human form, and he's weak. My human knows it, too. What he doesn't realize, however, is how close Kelly is to knocking on Death's front door.
He can't sense Kelly's emotions – the warring depression and confusion while he sleeps. He can't smell Kelly's blood and the way it's slowing down and losing its vibrancy of life. The Secondary medics see his health is deteriorating, but they can't see what I see either.
They're living their lives ruled by the side of them that's human. Most of them probably haven't tasted a drop of blood in centuries. If they did, they'd be able to smell the change in Kelly's life source. They'd be able to sense the shift in his blood. His body is resilient enough to fight; his strength as a vampire was proof enough of that. The sudden onslaught of emotions and sorting through memories is too much for him to handle, though. It's taking a toll on his mind.
One of the Secondary medics leans across the bed to take Kelly's vitals. He flinches to her touch as she places her fingers against the inside of his wrist.
"Seventy-five," I mutter to her.
The woman's green eyes snap to my face. I've startled her. "What?"
"His pulse," I say. "Is seventy-five bpm."
She doesn't seem convinced. Her fingers remain on the inside of his wrist. She waits a minute before withdrawing her hand and scribbling down a number on her notepad. She writes a seven. Then she hesitates before putting another six – purposely adding a beat to his heart rate to prove I'm not right. Even though I am.
The Secondaries have a stronger ability to hide their emotions from me, but this particular woman is struggling to keep her trepidation intact. She writes down a few more notes. Her eyes focus on the dark rings nestled beneath Kelly's eyes. She's realizing what I've known since the minute I stepped into this medical unit. Kelly is slipping away.
A deep frown settles in between her brows, and I take the opportunity to give her a gentle reminder of the importance of her role.
"You did this to him," I mutter. "I don't care what it takes, but you will keep him alive."
She shudders at the tone of my voice. Alright, perhaps not as gentle as I'd intended.
"I...I don't know why he's deteriorating so fast," she whispers under her breath.
My expression doesn't change. "Fix it."
She doesn't ask for the reason behind my command. If she was thinking clearly, however, she'd realize it has nothing to do with me caring for him. Kelly was a phenomenal immortal, but his presence in my life makes little difference to me. He does, however, mean a great deal to my human.
Much to my confusion, my human's sadness and worry concerns me. It causes an odd sensation to settle in the pit of my stomach, a feeling I didn't experience until I started consuming his blood. It's here now, though, and I can't seem to make it go away. Therefore, if keeping Kelly alive fixes my human's emotions, I will see to it that he remains safe.
A prickling heat slides across my knee. I glance down at it, waiting for it to go away. It doesn't. My jaw tightens as I narrow my gaze on my knee. Time seems to stand still as I wait for something to change. Almost a minute passes before the heat subsides. My shoulders start to relax...until the heat moves to my bottom lip.
I jerk into a standing position. The tingling sensation slides across the supple skin. It's a phantom touched I've experienced before, and it's just as unwanted now as it was then.
"I'll be back," I growl at the woman. "Keep him alive while I'm gone."
She flinches again, but this time the intensity behind my tone has nothing do with the impotent skillset of this Secondary or Kelly's waning condition. Instead all my focus is now on the invisible touches I'm experiencing. Touches that, at this very moment, my human is actually experiencing.
Someone is kissing him.
And there's only one foolish Secondary with the nerve to do that.
Red winks in and out of my vision as I leave the medical wing, slamming the door behind me. The pace I've tried to maintain while living in this Secondary world crumbles, and I move at my immortal speed until reaching the Primary's door.
The two guards stationed at his door startle at my presence before quickly regaining their composure and blocking me from gaining access to the Primary's room.
"Move," I say, my voice a deathly calm.
The guard on the right seems willing to comply to my request, but the one on the left holds his ground.
"Do you have an appointment with the Primary?"
I reach forward and curl my hand around his neck. The heavy pulse in this neck thuds against my palm at a steady – though increasing - rate. I cock my head to the side, squeezing the air from his throat until his face turns a light shade of purple. He drops the weapon from his hand and frantically scrapes at my arm to release him. His feet start kicking and twitching.
"O-ok," the guard on the right says in concession. "You can go in. Please – please just let him go."
I turn my gaze, nodding for him to open the door for me before I drop his buddy. He scrambles to unlock the door and shouts to his leader that 'the vampire has arrived.' It's not quite the epic introduction I was expecting, but it'll do. I release the Secondary still within my grasp. He gasps for air as his large body hits the floor.
I kick the door closed behind me, not bothering to check on his condition before entering the room. Instead my eyes are trained forward. The tingling sensation is gone from my lips, but the rage is far from dissipated. My human's eyes widen into saucers as I approach the two of them. I can already smell his overwhelming emotions of fear and relief.
Reyo stands from his crouched position and squares his shoulders. He doesn't at all seem surprised by the interruption. His emotions are guarded, but I catch a whiff of what I can only assume to be smugness. It makes something in me snap. All I want to do is grab my human and toss him over my shoulder. He is mine.
"Hello Bogdan," Reyo says calmly. "What do we owe this unexpected visit?"
My human clutches the remains of a piece of citric fruit in his palm. His breath shudders as his gaze flickers between the two of us before lingering on me. I feel his eyes travel down my face and across my body which I know is poised for a fight. This Secondary leader might have his nation by the balls, but he doesn't have me.
"Is Kelly alright?"
My human's voice breaks. He has no idea why I'm here. Now that my human's attention is off Reyo, the ever-so-tactful Primary has the gall to glance at him, smiling in a way that makes me want to leave the imprint of my knuckles on his face.
"He's fine," I snarl.
"Oh."
Reyo smirks and crosses his arms over his chest, goading me with a tilt of his head. "Your barbaric vampire came to save you. Finn – are you in need of saving?"
I bare my fangs to him and feel the black liquid replacing the hungry red of my irises. "Careful, Mr. Primary."
Just a whisper of hesitation and fear flash across Reyo's gaze. He's a man of war. Therefore, he's smart enough to know when he doesn't have the upper hand. Yes, his army would have the strength to take me down, but they'd never get here fast enough to should I want to take him down.
And that want is growing by the second.
My human stands from the chair and sets his fruit on the table before approaching me cautiously. My gaze falls to his lips when he's within arm's reach. They don't appear red or swollen from a kiss. I know what I felt, though. In some form or fashion, Reyo found a way to touch his lips.
My brain mulls over the situation, the thoughts racing past in a frenzy of calculated possibilities. Maybe the touch was planned. A test. Maybe there wasn't any real affection behind it, and Reyo was simply testing the connection I have to my human. Bursting in the room seconds after an intimate touch is answer enough. Is that what he's after?
Or maybe he's already well aware of the connection I have to my human...and he was simply testing how much I care. The touch wasn't a threatening one, after all. Reyo already knows how far I'm willing to go to protect my human because he's my blood source. He wasn't testing that form of protection, though.
The touch was a sensual one. Perhaps he was testing to see if the attachment to my human bleeds beyond the carnal need to protect his blood. He was trying to find out if my human has become my weakness.
I swallow hard as my human's warm fingertips trail down the length of my taut bicep and forearm. His slender fingers inch their way into my palm, and he intertwines them with mine.
"I'm alright, Bogdan," he assures me.
Hearing my name on his lips makes my chest constrict. The reaction has only happened a small handful of times before, but it always leaves me panicked. It's overwhelming and vulnerable, dulling the other senses that I need to keep the two of us safe.
"Reyo and me were just discussing the war," he continues, gesturing to Reyo behind him.
His voice is flooded with a myriad of emotions. It's a voice I've come to know and expect. Even when my human is nowhere near me, his voice seems to remain in the back of my mind, speaking to me without cause or reason.
My human doesn't expand on the response, but he doesn't have to. He doesn't think I'm aware of his role within this war. But I am. I know he's agreed to be Reyo's personal blood bag to overthrow the entire vampire population. Of course, my human sees it as a means to an end this war and save mankind.
I know better.
Reyo wants him to believe that this is a mutual agreement. I must say, he's certainly acting the part. What my human doesn't know is that the Secondary population has been searching for the blood of a Nirv for quite some time. The fact that a world war broke out between the vampire and human world was merely happenstance to speed up the process.
Between asking Gabe a handful of fine-tuned, cautious questions and taking it upon myself to dig for answers in the Secondary's vast library, I put the pieces together myself. Reyo probably told my human that he's using his blood to convert the vampires back to their original form. Based on their hatred for the vampire species, though, I have my doubts.
Perhaps instead they'll store away the antidotes for safekeeping to prevent the vampire species from ever returning. To ensure they remain the most powerful species on earth.
Reyo gives a single nod of confirmation but smartly doesn't add to the conversation.
"Is your discussion over?" I ask, though it comes off as a harsh request.
My human chews on his bottom lips as he looks at Reyo for his input. It's one of his telling signs that the angst and nerves are spilling over his ever-evolving emotional tapestry. The primitive part of me roars to life, sensing the blood just beneath his skin. My stomach and mind growl with hunger, and I attempt to blink past the blinding need for a feeding.
Reyo nods again. "For now."
He hesitantly takes a step towards my human and takes his hand, bringing it to his lips. My grip tightens around my human's hand as I watch Reyo place a single kiss atop his knuckles. A tingling sensation simultaneously spreads across my knuckles as well. Reyo masks the grin hanging on the edges of his lips before backing away.
"I'll send for you soon, Finn. Have a lovely evening, the both of you."
I shake off my human's hand and find myself sliding my arm around his shoulders as we leave Reyo's room. He doesn't protest, and I smell the shift in his emotions. His fear is being replaced by lust and happiness. Just from my touch.
The hunger for his blood is suddenly met with a different kind of need. A need to touch him. To feel him beneath me, writhing with pleasure. A need to prove that he is mine.
I glance down at my human as he fights to keep up with my long strides. The flickering flames illuminate his gentle features. His perfectly, imperfect human features. He sighs with content when I hug him closer to my side. The sound makes my chest constrict. Again.
A sensation of dread trickles down my spine, and I sense the sudden shift in power. The upper hand silently slides over to the Secondary's leader. This was all a game to him, and I played right into his hand.
My human is my one and only weakness.
And now Reyo knows it.