The Blood Will Run Read online

  He could barely control his emotions. But he had too. She needed him to suppress her anger.

  He drew in a deep breath as he held her gaze and concentrated.

  Almost instantly, her eyes flickered under his control.

  Alivia… the name flashed in his mind.

  When he had finally released her eyes from his trance, she turned away from him and ran toward the woods. His mind immediately began to probe for any signs of danger.

  When he found nothing, he stared and watched her as she ran along the edge of the creek and disappeared in the woods.

  It took every ounce of force that he had to stop himself from chasing after her. If her friends hadn’t gone after her seconds later, he would not have been able to resist.

  “Now, come on Devin,” Chace said. “That girl is quite out of your league.”

  Devin shook his head and frowned.

  “Oh, don’t look so heartbroken Devin.” Chace smiled. “Alivia Marks is not the girl for you. I’m only going to warn you just this once to stay away from her, understood?”

  Chace walked off before Devin could say a word.

  Devin could hardly believe it. It was his first night out in the moonlight and it had proven to be a strange night indeed. Even

  Wolfjack who was setting up on stage during the fight bolted the minute the fight started.

  His thoughts drifted back to Alivia.

  That name…Alivia. That breath-taking beauty with the eyes of emeralds and that perfect olive skin had captured his very soul. He had to have her.

  He would not stop until he did.

  ☼

  The next day, Chace was sitting in the Grand Coffin Cafe with Alivia at booth nine. They were sharing an order of Blood salsa and nachos when they reached for the hot sauce at the same time and her hand touched his. Her touch caught him by complete surprise. His lifeless body could actually feel her slender fingers on his hand and it caused goose bumps to run up along his arm. Then the weirdest thing happened. Images of her life began to flash in his mind.

  “Chace are you alright?” Alivia asked.

  Her expression was full of concern for him.

  Chace couldn’t handle it. All the emotions, all the pain that she was feeling for a long time rushed through him. What sent him spiraling out of control was how she really felt toward him.

  “I’m sorry Alivia, I’ve got to go.” Chace slid out of the coffin booth and rushed out the door.

  He sped through the woods at top speed. He could feel the raven inside of him struggling to break free. The gripping ache of hunger seized him and within minutes, he was a raven soaring through the woods seeking someone or something to satisfy his uncontrollable thirst.

  Moments later, he passed in front of the Newgrave cemetery. The familiar thumping of a human heartbeat caught his attention.

  The intoxicating scent of blood filled his long beak.

  He landed on a slab of stone and eyed his prey. The girl was leaning against a headstone, surrounded by lit candles, reading a book and she seemed to be unaware of his presence. Her innocence disgusted him. Her fearless attitude made him furious.

  He moved in closer as he shifted back into his natural form. Only when he shadowed over her did she look up at him.

  “You will not scream,” he persuaded gazing into her eyes. “You will not move or put up a struggle of any kind. I am going to kill you and you are going to let me.”

  The girl shook her head and let out a horrific scream. Chace couldn’t understand why the compulsion didn’t have any effect on her.

  But it didn’t matter to him one way or the other. His thirst had overpowered him and he needed to feed. He felt a sudden rush and pounced on top of her immobilizing her body.

  He pushed her head aside and sank his fangs deep in the vein of her neck. “My brother will kill you when he discovers what you did to me!” She screamed.

  The invigorating feeling of lifes’ essence exploded inside of him. For a brief moment, the warmth rushed through his body.

  “Miles,” the girl whispered with her last breath, “help me.”

  He rose and stood over her as he stared at her lifeless body. His eyes danced a bright sparkling blue and his lips curved up into a satisfying grin.

  His victim was Miles’ sister.

  Could life be any more gratifying than it was right at this very moment, he thought.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “I can’t believe it,” said a man sitting in one of the coffin booths at the Cafe. He was speaking to another man in a dark suit. “According to the Coven Daily, the Supernatural Special Task Force officials are confirming it. They found the girl dead in the Newgrave cemetery with two fang wounds on her neck. Her identity is being withheld from the public because of her age.”

  Alivia held the serving tray with one hand. “One vampire special with a blood twist and one, Anne Rice special with a cherry Stoker,” she said as she slid the plate of spaghetti with the vegetable juice in front of the man wearing the dark suit onto the table.

  Then she slid the two chilidogs and cherry coke in front of the man holding up the newspaper. The man holding the newspaper folded it and placed it beside his plate. “I bet you hear a lot about this sort of stuff working at this particular restaurant,” he said eyeing Alivia.

  She smiled politely. “No, this is the first time.”

  “Have you worked here long?” the man in the dark suit asked.

  “I’ve been waitressing here for about two years now.”

  “Aren’t you a little young?”

  Alivia eyed him and smiled. “I’ll be eighteen in a few weeks.”

  “Do you believe the story about the recent vampire sighting at the Newgrave Cemetery?” asked the man in the dark suit.

  “Personally I don’t believe in vampires. But hey, if they want to print that sort of garbage it’s really good for business.”

  “I bet. How long has the Grand Coffin Cafe been up and running?”

  “Twenty years. My parents had this crazy idea that a vampire themed restaurant would attract customers.” She laughed.

  “Well it looks like they were right, this place is packed.”

  Jules, her older sister rolled her eyes at her. “Come on Alivia, really? Stop bothering the customers and get back to work.”

  “Please excuse me,” Alivia said to the two men. “I have to get back to work before my sister has a stroke due to all the stress she inflicts on herself.” Both men laughed and Alivia rushed off and headed to the service counter.

  “You grab booth nine and I’ll take booth seven,” Erica said and rushed off with a smile on her face.

  Alivia nodded and glanced at the booth.

  Her eyes widened when she saw Devin and Chace sitting together. She drew in a deep breath, grabbed two menus’ from the counter and walked slowly to the booth.

  “Hi, can I get you a drink to start off with?” Alivia kept her eyes on her order-pad and slid the menus’ on the table.

  “We don’t need to see the menus’,” Chace said. “I’ll have the blood chili trio and Devin here will have the fang burger trio.”

  Alivia nodded. She grabbed the menus’ off the table and scribbled their order on her order-pad.

  She wanted to stare deeply into Chaces’ incredible blue eyes and remember how he made her feel so special, but she just couldn’t. Alivia blushed and looked at Devin instead.

  He was beautiful, she thought. Every girl in drama class went crazy when Devin was near them. He had this unexplained gift when he was around any girl or teacher, but he never dated anyone.

  This puzzled Alivia. He wasn’t homely looking. He was actually quite beautiful. His eyes were a pale, grayish-green and when she gazed into them, she found herself deeply attracted to him. This puzzled her too because it was Chace that she really wanted. Then Devin smiled at her. That’s when Alivia began to slip into that all knowing trance that he put her under a few times before. She felt her knees begin to weaken as the burning de
sire to feel his lips pressed against her own began to overpower her. She tried to resist and suddenly she felt as if she were going to lean in and kiss him. Erica was suddenly coming toward her at top speed. She grabbed Alivia by the arm and pulled her toward the employee door.

  Alivias’ heart was pounding in her chest. She was concentrating on breathing in and out slowly. “I don’t know what it is Erica, but every time I’m around Devin, I feel strange.”

  Erica smiled. “I know.”

  “What do you think he is doing to me?” Alivia asked.

  “I think it’s you. I think you’re attracted to him, but you won’t admit it to yourself.”

  “You’re crazy Erica, how could I be attracted to Devin De Luca if I don’t even know him all that well?”

  “I see the way you stare at him when he’s sitting in the booth. I see that glossed over look you get in your eyes. I also see the way Devin stares at you. Anyway, who in their right mind isn’t going to stare at you? Have you taken a good look in the mirror lately? You look like a picture perfect, Italian goddess.”

  “You’re crazy. I’m not attracted to Devin at all. He does something to me when I’m near him. It’s like I lose myself, like I’m somehow drawn to him.”

  “If you’re drawn to him, then ask him out on a date.”

  Alivia looked at her surprised by what she said. “I’m not asking anyone out on a date.”

  “That’s the problem, you don’t date. Guys ask you out and you always ignore them and walk away.”

  Alivia stared at her in disbelief. “I’ve been out on dates.”

  “Umm…news flash Livy, hanging out with your friends at a creek party while you ignore the guy who asked you out, doesn’t count as a date.” Erica laughed. “Besides, when you went out with Jordan you made him meet you at the party and didn’t even acknowledge his presence. Who does that?” Erica laughed again.

  “It’s not funny. I feel really bad about what happened.”

  “It’s not your fault that Jordan got drunk.”

  “Well maybe if I paid a little more attention to him, Jordan probably wouldn’t have drank so much and fallen in the creek. He almost drowned that night, remember?”

  “I remember. Still, it wasn’t your fault.”

  “If Chace hadn’t been there, Jordan probably would’ve drowned.”

  “Well Jordan didn’t. And that dreamy, sexy Chace is now the town hero.” Erica smiled.

  “And by the way let’s talk about Chace for a minute. There was something happening between the two of you that night.”

  Alivia turned away from Erica and started filling the ketchup bottles.

  “I saw it with my own eyes, Livy. Chace put his arm around your shoulder. What surprised me was that when you started to cry, he pulled you to his chest and held you. What blew me away was that you let him. You never let any guy touch you, ever. I even saw Chace lift your chin up so that you were looking right at him. I watched him wiped away your tears with his thumbs. It was so romantic. I thought for sure he was going to kiss you. I was so excited. Then Bex interrupted the two of you and pulled him away. I wanted to kill her.”

  Alivia wanted to kill her too. When Chace stared in her eyes, she could see that he cared for her. As fast as that beautiful moment had began to escalate, was as fast as that moment had ended. All thanks to Bex.

  She remembered that night and how upset she was when Jordan almost drowned. She blamed herself and watched Jordans’ friends carry him up the hill to their car and rush him to the hospital. Then, there was Chace. The sexy handsome guy who was comforting her. When he cupped his hand under her chin and slowly brought her up to look in his eyes, she wanted to kiss him.

  Ever since that night, she had fantasies about Chace. She envisioned his comforting arms holding her close to his chest. His sensuous inviting lips so close to hers that she felt his warm breath against her skin. And those sea blue eyes that twinkled in the moonlight stared right through to her very soul. That was the first time she ever felt like that about any guy and it scared the crap out of her.

  Alivia shook the thought out of her head.

  “I can’t believe it.” Erica grinned. “You have a thing for Chace.”

  “But you just said I was in love with Devin,” Alivia teased.

  “That was before I knew you were really in love with Chace.”

  “Come on Erica, leave me alone. I don’t have any extra time for boys. Besides, look at what’s been going on around here in the last couple of months. If it wasn’t for you helping out with the Cafe, we would’ve been closed down for business all this time. Anyway, I’ve decided it’s time to give Jules some decent help around here. So, that means I only have time for the restaurant. That’s it.”

  “You keep using the same old excuses. I know that things have been hard for you since the accident. But when are you going to start acting like a normal teenager?”

  “I do act like a normal teenager. I go to most of the parties with you don’t I?”

  “Only because I force you to go.”

  Alivia began to fill the coffin shaped napkin holders.

  “Speaking of parties, the party tonight is the end of the school year blowout celebration and you’re going to come with, right?”

  Alivia shook her head and frowned. “I have to work. Now that summers’ here, Jules has extended business hours. I can’t go.”

  “It’s Friday, Livy. Jules will understand. I’ll talk to her for you and I promise I’ll find a replacement or get Jules to close up early.”

  “I’m not going to any party Erica.”

  “Oh yes you are. I am going home to change my clothes after my shift and I’ll be here at 8:00 to pick you up. So make sure you’re ready.” Erica didn’t give her a chance to argue. She rushed out of the employee room. Great, wasn’t this just great, another drunken teenage party. That’s all she needed right now.

  Lately, she seemed to have quite a bit of problems when she went to the creek.

  At last weeks’ party, she fought with Miles. She didn’t intend on hitting him, she just lost her cool. It never once crossed her mind that people around town were still talking about what happened at the gas station. It was a few months since her mother and brother died in the explosion. She tried to forget about it by going to school or reading a book.

  But no matter what she did, she couldn’t get the horrible images out of her mind. The memories flashed in her mind as she drifted back to that awful night …

  Alivia couldn’t hold it in another second. “Mom, I really have to go to the bathroom. Can you pull over somewhere please?”

  “Come on Livy we’re almost home, just another five minutes or so,” her mother said, staring at her through the rear-view mirror.

  “I can’t mom. I really have to go.” Alivia was whining now. Her bladder felt like it was going to explode.

  “Fine, Alivia.” Her mother glanced at the gas gauge. “I have to get gas anyway. I might as well get it now instead of having to fill up tomorrow.”

  As soon as her mom pulled into the Omar Station, Alivia jumped out of the car and ran inside the service station to get the key.

  “Hey, Mr. Grell could I have the key to the ladies room please?” She asked dancing around trying to hold it in.

  He smiled, slid it across the counter and handed it to her.

  Once she was outside again, she glanced quickly at the Honda

  Civic and saw Lawson at the pump starting to fill up the tank.

  Her mother was leaning between the two front seats, searching for her purse in the back seat.

  She ran around to the back of the station to where the bathroom was, unlocked the door, and went inside.

  Once she relieved herself, she stood in front of the wide mirror and washed her hands. She felt much better.

  She dried her hands with the paper towel and that's when she heard a loud crash.

  She opened the door and ran to the front of the station.

  She couldn’t bel
ieve her eyes. Her mothers’ Honda was where the gas pump used to be and gas was spraying everywhere. The pump hose that Lawson was using to fill the gas tank was bursting in roaring flames. Lawson was running around like a mad person screaming as the flames engulfed his body.

  The thick black smoke was drifting up in the air. There was shattered glass all over the ground from the stations’ window from the gas pump that crashed through it. She stared at the other car that was jammed up against her moms’ car door and it was on fire. She froze. Her mother was trying to push the car door open to get out. Alivia literally blinked her eyes and the

  Honda burst into flames.

  She glanced back at Lawson. Mr. Grell was trying to cover him with a tarp of some kind, but Lawson wouldn’t stay still long enough for Mr. Grell to smother the flames.

  She shifted her gaze back to the Honda and ran to help her mom. She grabbed the handle with her right hand and withdrew it quickly. The handle was so hot that it burned the outer layers of her skin. Within seconds, her mom was screaming frantically. Suddenly, Mr. Grell was shouting something and looking right at her, but Alivia couldn’t hear him. There was a loud thunderous explosion that shook the ground. The cement beneath her cracked and split open.

  The black smoke surrounded her and she brought her sleeve up to cover her face. Then something hot and hard hit her in the chest just below her right breast. Her body flew back and she landed a few feet away from the car.

  When her head hit the pavement, she passed out.

  Sometime later, when she came to, someone was pulling her along the ground. She tried to open her eyes but couldn’t. Her eyes were burning.

  “Over here!” someone yelled. “She’s in pretty bad shape.”

  “We’ve got it from here, son,” the voice said.

  “You’re going to be just fine little lady.”

  She tried to make out the voices but her ears were ringing.

  She felt them lift her up onto something and then she passed out again…

  Alivia placed the coffin napkin holders on the tray. She lined them up in rows of three. When she was finished, she stared at the scar on her right hand that ran from the tips of her four fingers right down to the middle of her palm. She rubbed the red waitress uniform where the other large scar was on her right rib. She couldn’t help but wonder, why she didn’t die as her mother and brother did that night.