He kisses my brow. ‘Well, I did wonder…’
‘About what?’
‘You heal quite fast, you know.’
‘I do?’
‘Yep. I mean, the night when we went to the waterfall, when we came out of the woods, I dropped you. And the speed I was going at… well, you should have been hurt. But you weren’t. And today,’ he goes on, his hand under my shirt, fingers moving on my skin, ‘James took a lot of blood from you. Like, a lot. I wanted to rip him to pieces.’ His expression darkens. ‘You shouldn’t be awake right now, let alone be able to stand.’
I remember Danae, fainting as my father fed from her after the attack in the ballroom, how limp she’d been when she was carried away. Okay, maybe he has a point.
‘And finally—’ his hand slides lower, moving with more intent ‘—who says I like vampire girls, anyway?’
Oh.
Kissing resumes, Kyle’s hands, his body, erasing the touch of the guard, the horrid intimacy of him feeding from me. After, we lie curled together, his skin cool against mine. I’m almost asleep when a thought hits me.
‘Kyle?’
‘Hmm?
‘What’s a blood port?’
He shifts against me. ‘Did you see the mark, on Ruth’s elbow?’
‘Mm.’ The round scar, covered with a clear plaster.
‘That’s a blood port. Humans have to give blood every month. That’s how the Safe Zone works.’
‘It is?’ I mean, I knew that they somehow involved blood, and getting it from humans. But I guess I thought it was done with needles or something, like when people gave blood on the shows I watched.
‘Yep. Your family… er… you have to realise, Emelia, things aren’t like that for most vampires. Raven have livestock… er… humans, on demand, for everyone. Even the guards. That’s not how it is, usually.’
‘Right.’ The desire to sleep is gone from me. I stare into the darkness, considering. I’d watched old films, read books, learned about the human past in my lessons. I thought I knew what I was getting into, what living a human life would mean. Thought I knew what to expect when I got to the Safe Zones. But now, meeting Ruth, seeing the mark on her arm, and the way the guard treated me, makes me realise how wrong I was. I can’t go back home. But I’m also realising that things might not be quite how I thought they’d be. I wrap my fingers around Kyle’s muscled forearm as though he’s a lifebelt, keeping me safe. I wanted a life in his arms. But I wonder, now, how it will be when I’m out of them.
‘You sleepy?’
I can feel he’s ready again, hard against me.
‘Hmmm.’ I’m not. I just need to think without Kyle, lovely as he is, distracting me. I snuggle into his arms and slow my breathing. But he knows me too well. A predator, as I’ve said, misses no nuance in his prey.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’ He squeezes me gently. ‘Okay, well, will I have to get one of those?’
‘One of what?’
‘A blood port.’
Kyle kisses me. ‘No. We won’t be staying long enough for that.’
‘Right, of course.’ We can’t stay in this Safe Zone. It’s one of the first places my parents will look for me. My plan had always been to keep moving, to go to other human settlements, further away. But I’d only had a vague sort of idea as to how to do that, my recent thoughts consumed by my dream of a future with Kyle, one free of the weight of being Raven. ‘Where will we go next?’
‘Don’t worry about that.’ He kisses me again. ‘We’re here, together. Isn’t that all that matters?’
I don’t answer.
He pulls me, gently, so I roll onto my back. He lowers himself onto me, heat and coolness, soft and hard. ‘What else is bothering you?’
