Ryder produced a small bag of blood.
No!Not blood. I couldn’t be likethem. I wouldn’t.
The moment I had that thought, he pricked the plastic bag, and asthe metallic tang filtered into the air, some sort of instinct knocked into me.I jerked hard against the chains and was relieved to hear them snap. There wasthe slightest burn in my gums, near the canine areas, and I could actually feelthe lengthening of my fangs.
But I was too far gone in the blood haze to care about that.
I popped up on two feet and stood on the bed looking down atRyder. He looked only mildly surprised by my rapid movement as he tossed me thebag. He then reached for a long stick which had been resting near the end of mybed, with some type of metal electrodes at the end.
Theblood bag was cool to touch, and as my eyes zeroed in on the dark red within,my stomach churned.This was gross. I was not doingthis. No, no, no…
Before I could stop myself, the thirst within roared harder and Ilifted the pouch, bringing it to my mouth. The fangs, over which I had nocontrol, slid out again and punctured the plastic. I began sucking the gloriousblood into my mouth and down my throat. Pleasure exploded on my tongue and Imoaned. I had a fleeting thought of Tessa. I would have to tell her thattouching an ash had not done shit, but drinking blood was most definitely amini orgasm. Even though my head was still saying gross, the rest of me was inheaven. For the first time in forever, my thirst was contained. Vitality pouredinto my body. My heart pounded in my ears and my muscles tightened. All toosoon the bag was empty.
“More,” I growled at Ryder.
He slowly pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt clip. “We need toput the south ward on lockdown.”
What the fuck?He wasn’tproducing the blood I wanted fast enough, so I leapt down from the bed, readyto rip his pockets open in search of more of that liquid orgasm. But before Icould get within two feet of him, his arm snaked out, grabbing me by the neckand slamming me back down on the bed.
I froze as both shock and arousal poured through my newlysensitized body. He leaned down close to my ear and I could smell him – cedarwoodand other spices, not to mention that something decidedly male and enticing. Ofcourse he would smell yummy too. I could not catch a break. His breath tickledmy ear.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
My thoughts of Ryder were distracted by a heady scent of metallicdeliciousness wafting toward me. That smell – someone had more blood nearby. Myleg kicked out hard, launching Ryder off of me. I got two steps to the doorwhen I felt a massive surge of electricity rock my body and I fell backward.
Strong arms wrapped around me just as the blackness took me.
It felt as if the jolt knockedme out for only seconds, but it must have been longer. I awoke in a differentroom, andeven though I should have had the mother ofall headaches after taking that much electrical pulse, I felt amazing. Mysenses seemed to be on overdrive, and it took me only moments to catalogue thearea. I had expected to be chained to the bed again, but in this room there wereno chains. A tugging sensation had me focusing on the IV in my arm. I followedthe cord to find a large bag of blood slowly dripping into my vein. I ran mytongue over my teeth. The canines were short again, and for the first time indays my mouth felt wet and hydrated.
Movementand a scraping sound caught my attention – two figures stepped into view. Thepair, who had not realized I was awake yet, were across the other side of thelarge room, but I could hear them perfectly.
“She needs more blood than most ash. Nearly the same amount as a vampirein the midst of the change. If you keep her hydrated, you shouldn’t have anymore outbursts.” A short-haired, strawberry-blond woman wearing a white labcoat was speaking to Ryder.On instinct I inhaled. Her scent was different to the male ash andhumans. She was a vampire. Somehow I knew this already, like I had an inbuiltradar that told me human, ash, or vampire.
My eyes fell then to the stick Ryder still held in his hands. Ihad a distinct flash of burning pain as I recalled how that bastard had electrocutedme.
I was an ash.Shit. I knew newly-turnedash could be dangerous. Something about needing large influxes of blood for thecells to adjust to the virus as it finally released and took root in your body.I could have killed my mom. Maybe I should be a little more grateful to be hereand not out there hurting someone I loved. Though what I really needed was anexplanation. How could this even happen? A female ash. I always wanted to beunique, but this was not exactly what I’d had in mind.
I stared down at my hands, only to find that they looked slightlydifferent, the skin tighter, paler, baby soft. Holy hell on wheels, I did notknow how to process this. I was legit a damned ash. What did this even mean forme? Would I ever see my mom again? Tessa? What about college? I was not readyto give my life up and live in the Hive.
My tumultuous thoughts were cut off as the lab-coat woman left theroom and suddenly Ryder was back by my side. His eyes locked in on me as hestopped about three feet from my bed. He didn’t seem surprised to see me awake.Probably he’d known the entire time.
I cleared my throat, unsure of what to say. “I’m a woman,” Iblurted out stupidly.
Hischeeks lifted then, the sides of his mouth quirking into asexy smile, full of dimples and straight whiteteeth. Until this point I had not seen the man crack even so much as a smirk,and now I was assaulted with that much sexiness all in one go. He was lethal inmore ways than one.
Thegods hated me today. I did not want to be attracted to an ash. I couldn’t be.
Hissmile faded then, morphing into an expression that was part heat and partcuriosity. His eyes drifted down my body. “Yes, I seethat.”
Well, eff me. “No, I mean … how can awoman be an ash?”
He took another slow step toward me, his hand still gripping historture stick. Whether I deserved it or not, I really wanted to get him backfor that one. Although, as I scanned his huge arms and graceful stalk toward me,I doubted I could take him on.
“We’re all a little mystified at your presence here. But there’sno doubt … you’re an ash.”
As fear flooded me, so did anger. “So I just give everything upand join your bloodsucker gang?” I spat the words out. There was nothing Ihated more than losing my freedom, my choices. Sure, I probably wouldn’t havefound the cure for cancer, but that wasn’t the point. The point was I couldhave, and now that chance was gone.
He lowered the stick to his side and I noticed his ankle was in awalking boot, like he had recently been injured.
