Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,73
me,” I demanded, needing his word.
He exhaled sharply as though I were putting him in an uncomfortable position. Which I sort of was, but I needed to have his word on it. I couldn’t risk Gabriel getting hurt. Not when he was already in such a bad state because of me. “Fine. I promise. What happened to your neck?” he repeated, sharper this time.
I swallowed against the lump in my throat. “Gabriel lost control this morning—”
“Gabriel?” He looked confused for a moment, and then came the anger. “Gabriel did this to you?” he asked, his nostrils flaring as his gaze flicked down to my neck and then back up again.
“I should have never given him my blood. He wasn’t used to it. He’s only ever had animal blood—never human—and I gave him a cup of Slayer blood.” An actual cup, no less. Not a chalice or something exotic. An actual cup from Ben’s mother’s teacup collection. I ran a hand down my face, trying to wipe away the stupidity of it all. “It’s not his fault, Trace. It’s mine. This whole thing is my fault, but I’m going to fix it.”
Trace wasn’t saying anything, just staring at me with that unreadable, frosty look on his face.
“I’m sorry that I lied to you before, but he’s my Handler and my friend and I didn’t want anyone to know.” I studied him for a moment, hoping I could somehow lift his thoughts from his eyes, but as usual, he gave nothing away. “Can you please say something?”
Breathing out, he closed the remaining gap between us and moved in front of me. His hand lifted to my neck and I flinched away, unsure of what he was going to do with it.
“I just want to check the wound,” he said, his eyes softer now. “Make sure it’s cleaned properly and healing.”
I stared at him for a moment, still hesitant to let him see the extent of the damage, and then finally nodded. I watched quietly as he brought his hand back to my bandaged neck and gently lifted the covering. His jaw hardened into steel as he ducked his head down and examined the gaping gash. I didn’t need a mirror to know what he was seeing. I’d seen the damage earlier when I’d cleaned myself off and rebandaged the wound.
Where Dominic would have left two puncture holes, Gabriel had nearly torn a hole right through my neck; a very clear indication of his inability to feed without killing. Had it not been for my Amulet, I would not have survived his attack, of that I was sure.
“What are you going to do about him?” he asked as he recovered my injury and then met my eyes expectantly.
“I’m going to help him.”
He didn’t look impressed. “And how do you plan on doing that now that he’s in full bloodlust?”
That was the million-dollar question. Unfortunately, I hadn’t thought that far out yet. “I’m not sure, but I’m open to any suggestions,” I asked nicely, batting my eyelashes to help break the tension.
His gaze drifted over my shoulder and caught the scant afternoon sunlight. “The way I see it, you have two options,” he said, his eyes returning to mine. “You can put him on a blood fast and then slowly reintegrate animal blood into his system. He’s not going to like it and you’ll probably have to force it on him, but it could work.”
“That sounds good. Let’s do that one.”
“Except that you’ll always have the worry that he could fall off the wagon again and maybe next time, he ends up killing someone.”
My shoulders slumped at his words. “What’s the other option?”
He blew out a heavy breath, letting me know he didn’t like what he was about to suggest. “You teach him how to feed properly—build up his tolerance and control so that he learns how to handle human blood without going off the walls every time he comes into contact with someone. It’s not ideal, but it might be better for him long term.”
“Long term?” I asked, not following.
His eyes darkened. “The only thing more dangerous than a Revenant is a Revenant that doesn’t know how to feed.”
Right. Yikes. A chill spread over me as I thought about it. While neither option sounded like a great time—for me or for Gabriel—I knew I had to do something, and leaving him in this state was not an option.
The fact of the matter was, if he couldn’t control his bloodlust then he was a