Lovers' Spats (Panthan's Abyss)
Today's excerpt is from my young adult paranormal Panthan's Abyss, which is a work in progress still.
*Spoiler Alert*
If you're waiting for this book's release and don't want to read any possible spoilers then pass by this one, please.
Characters: Laura and Grayson
Past tense told in 3rd person from Laura's point of view for this scene.
The mouth let out a moan and she covered it with her palm. The vessel was in pain. She could stop pain. She was supposed to stop pain. Using her free hand, she wrapped its bare neck, releasing her endorphins to seep through its skin and into its bloodstream.
No longer hurting, it fell silent. She wrapped her legs around the waist and sucked in another mouthful. And another. It took five deep pulls before the legs gave way. They tumbled to the dirt and she let out a chuckle. From now on, she would take all her vessels standing because she’d liked the rush of the fall.
This one was full of blood and she had been starving. Her chest rested against its ribs. Her heartbeat was rapid, the vessel’s faint. Hot breath oozed across her hand, still covering its mouth. Soon, though, the breath grew weak as well. The heart sputtered to a stop, the steady stream of blood on her tongue flagging. She sucked harder, trying to pull every ounce of the liquid velvet into her.
It was then she was yanked away, some unseen and unknown force snapping her from her kill. She came up hissing, her claws slicing through empty air. As she kicked, her feet found something solid so she had at it once more, whatever it was. A grunt muddled through her foggy hearing.
“No!” Gray yelled. “No, you can’t!”
She was shoved against the wall, crumbles of dirt spewing in every direction. She threw a hand up, ready to slash his face, but midair caught his growl as one of her own diamond blades stabbed the middle of her palm. Fiery pain zapped across her hand and up her forearm. She slammed her head back, tasting gritty soil as she let loose a high-pitched scream.
Using her only free hand, she twisted, yanked the dagger loose, and dropped it to the ground. “My God, you’ll pay for that,” she gritted out between her front teeth.
Grayson snarled in return, ready to lunge, but she never gave him a chance. With both hands, she attacked, picking him up and tossing him across the passageway. He crashed into one of the wooden braces, knocking it in half, but took no notice as he rolled from the raining dirt and lunged for her again.
Prepared, she spread her legs for balance and waited. As he neared, she threw out a punch. It landed hard and sharp across his cheek. He stumbled, but righted in seconds, swinging his leg around. She ducked under the kick. A stupid move on her part, because the instant she popped up, he clamped both her wrists and shoved her hard into the wall between two braces. Like lightning, he drove a dagger into each palm, nailing her solidly against the wooden columns.
“No…No!” she cried. “Don’t you understand? You’re not real. None of this is real. And I am nothing.” She laughed, twisting in her painful hold. “Do you know what they used to say? They used to say you were mutations. A government experiment gone wrong. Science. There was no God in their equation. No Satan. And I believed them. We all did.”
He stood before her, huffing, tears streaking down his filthy face. “You fed from him.” He leaned over, resting his opened palm against his thigh. With his other hand, he pointed at her. “You fed from him. Took his lifeblood, sucked him till he ran dry.”
He straightened, swiping at his cheeks, leaving mud smears. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
She had no idea what was wrong with her, if there was even anything wrong with her at all anymore. She’d lived in a horrible fog for the past seven months.