Blood Secrets - By Jeannie Holmes Page 0,80
name and his voice overlaid her brother’s in the memory.
Alexandra rolled onto her back, staring up at the monitor.
On the screen, Peter stood in the place of Stephen.
She frowned and sat up, intensely watching the altered memory.
“Step away from her,” Peter said, following the memory’s dialogue like a script.
Varik glared at him with bright golden eyes over her motionless form and growled.
On the screen, Peter moved forward and Varik retreated, hissing like a cornered cat. He continued to move away as Peter confidently closed the distance. Once Peter reached Alexandra’s side, Varik lunged. Instead of following the memory’s script, Peter changed it. He grabbed Varik’s throat and one arm, holding him in check as Varik’s other—clawlike—hand ripped at Peter’s arms and chest.
“You will not have her,” he said, jerking Varik to one side. A sickening wet pop sounded and Varik ceased his attack.
“No!” Alexandra gasped and reached for the monitor as she watched Varik’s lifeless body crumple at Peter’s feet.
The picture paused, showing a frozen image of Varik’s bloodied face.
“That’s not the way it happened!”
“But it could have,” Peter whispered, projecting his voice to appear as though he stood beside her. “It still could.”
“You can’t change the past.”
“According to whom?”
She didn’t answer.
“Who says the past cannot be changed?” he asked again. “Humans? Their gods? Your father?”
Color tinged her pale cheeks, and he felt the heat of her anger. “Don’t talk about my father.”
He chuckled, adding fuel to her anger.
“It’s impossible to change the past, not without altering someone’s memory.”
“Nothing is impossible when you believe anything is possible,” he quipped. He’d learned long ago that he was limited only by his imagination in the Shadowlands. The environment was different for each individual who found their way here, unless they knew how to manipulate its energies in such a way as to project their perception onto another individual. It was a skill he’d mastered, and one he would gladly teach Alexandra in time.
She searched the room, looking for him. “If you believe that, then show yourself.”
“No.”
“Are you afraid of me?”
“Far from it.”
“Then why not reveal yourself?”
“In time.” He projected a phantom version of his hand brushing her cheek and she flinched. “You aren’t ready.”
“Coward.”
Peter ignored her attempts to provoke him into revealing himself. “He doesn’t deserve you, not with the way he’s treated you.”
“Varik doesn’t hold me prisoner, doesn’t torture me.”
“Torture isn’t my intention. I merely want you to see the truth of what he’s done to you. How he’s corrupted you. You were pure and innocent until he seduced you and twisted you.”
Alexandra laughed and it was sharp and derisive. “That’s what you think? That Varik seduced me?”
“He corrupted you,” Peter insisted.
“I seduced him, you jackass!” Her laughter took on the strained notes of one close to madness as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Peter shook his head, refusing to believe her. “No, you were pure, innocent, and he—”
“He resisted,” she interrupted. “He tried to keep our relationship professional, but he eventually caved.”
“Stop it! He twisted you with his perversions.”
She flashed a cruel smile. “He didn’t twist me. Hell, he wasn’t even my first, but he’s certainly proven himself to be the best.”
Peter snarled and directed his attention to the monitor, shutting it off to reveal a flat black surface.
Alexandra glanced at her reflection. Her smile vanished, replaced with a look of horror.
In her reflection, a large gaping wound slashed across the left side of her neck from below the ear to her collarbone. Bruises, cuts, blisters, and bites covered her face, arms, and the upper portion of her chest visible above her shirt’s V-neckline. However, when she raised her hands to her neck, confusion replaced horror and she looked down at herself and then back to her battered reflection.
“I’ve shown you every injury you’ve sustained as a result of his callousness,” Peter said. “Will you continue this foolish assertion that he cares for you?”
Alexandra didn’t respond. She covered her face with her hands, turned from the monitor, and lay down once more.
Peter turned the monitor on and her scream filled the small room. Soon she’d see the errors of her ways and renounce her blood-bond to Varik. Once she did, they would be free to start a new life.
Together.
Emily held the towel against Janet’s neck, making sure to keep the pressure constant. She’d bandaged the wound as best she could but blood continued to weep through the dressing. The girl was pale and pasty and her skin was cooler now than it had been an hour ago. Janet was not only