Refugee Page 0,16

different. He's not going to put up much of a fight if he's malnourished, he'll get injured."

It was those last three words that spurred her forward. She had to go quickly, or she wouldn't go at all. If she stopped to think about it...well no, she couldn't think about it. She just had to focus on getting him to feed, getting him strong again and making sure that he didn't get hurt.

She found him outside, leaning against the house, his arms folded over his chest and his legs crossed before him. "Braith." She broke off, unable to get the words out as her chest and throat constricted. It took her a few tries before she was finally able to speak. "Braith you must." He kept his head bowed, refusing to look at her. "Braith..."

"And you would approve of this?"

She swallowed heavily; her eyes burned. She tried to tell herself it was from all the sand and dust, but she knew it was from the tears she was struggling not to shed. Not in front of him anyway, not if she had any hope of convincing him to do this. "I don't like it." She hedged, unable to lie to him. "But you're weakened, and you need blood. If it can't be mine..."

"Then it will be no one's."

"You can't deny yourself. You need it to survive."

"I need you more."

"Braith..."

"I'm not arguing with you on this Arianna. It won't do any good anyway."

She started in surprise. "Of course it will."

He lifted his head and finally looked at her. "No Aria, it won't. Yours is the only blood I crave. None of them, none of those blood slaves after you satisfied me." The words were almost purred; they caused the hair on Aria's arms to stand up.

"Then take mine."

His nostrils flared and though she had sensed his interest in the woman, it was nothing compared to the blast of hunger that vibrated from him now. Her mouth went dry. She thought self-preservation should kick in, that she should run screaming back into the house and away from him, instead she found herself wanting to run to him. She was losing her mind, and it was all because of him.

"No."

She inhaled deeply, straightened her shoulders and thrust out her chin. "If you're going to be stubborn about feeding from others, then you can't be stubborn about this. You don't have to take much, just enough..."

"It's never enough!" he snapped. "That's what you don't understand. It's never enough. Every time I taste you I think maybe my thirst for you will weaken, that maybe it will ease, and I won't crave you so badly. But the yearning only increases and I find myself insatiably craving more and more."

She was stunned speechless. She hadn't known, she hadn't understood, she couldn't understand, not as a human anyway. But she did know one thing, he needed nourishment, he was stubborn, and she was here. Without thinking, she pulled at the knots on her arm as she stalked toward him. The cloth fell free, exposing the gashes as she thrust her arm out to him. Yes, she had completely lost her mind, tempting him like this, but there were some things that needed to be done, even if he couldn't see that. His weakness could get them all killed, it could get him killed. Her life was a small thing compared to their far greater goal, and the lives of so many others.

"You being unable to fight won't do us any good. I will not stand by and watch you starve yourself because you think you will hurt me. You will not hurt me. It's either me or her Braith."

Though shadowed by his glasses, she knew his eyes were latched onto her arm, and the droplets of blood that glimmered on her skin. "Either way I upset you Aria," he grated.

"I am offering my blood to you and so is that woman. You have to pick one." She tried to keep her face impassive, tried to control the beat of her heart as she stared stubbornly up at him. She couldn't reveal how much it would upset her if he went to that other woman, it would only stop him if he knew, and he couldn't be stopped. Not this time.

He clasped hold of her wrist, his long fingers gentle as they wrapped around her. He could kill her; with a simple flick of that hand he could kill her so easily, but he would kill himself before he