Mixed Worlds

Chapter Twenty Two - It’s Not My Leg That’s Bleeding

    “Hey, can we talk?” Jack stands in my doorway, and looks like he’s upset. “There’s something I want to say to you.” He tries to walk in, and I set my hand on his chest to stop him.

    “Jack, I can’t right now. Whatever it is, it has to wait. I’m about to call my mom.” I walk past him, and he grabs my arm.

    “Ally please, I really need to talk to you.” He pleads. I cave, and walk back into my room. We both sit on my bed, and I look at Jack. “I love you, so much.” I can smell the alcohol on his breath, and notice that his eyes are a bit foggy. “I will do anything for you to not leave me for Alex.” 

    “Jack, I cant leave you if we aren’t together. I don’t even know what’s going on with him. That’s why I have to talk to Athena.” I cross my arms.  

    “I’ll do anything, please. Just tell me what you need and I’ll do it.” He takes my wrists, and holds them tight. I try to pull away, but he won’t budge.

    “Jack, what I need from you right now is to let me go, and let me talk to my mom. We’re not together, and you need to accept that right now.” I try to pull away again. “Jack, let me go.” I stand up and pull hard, and break free. I stumble back, and fall into the wall. “Nothing is going to work if you can’t let me do what I need to do right now. I have so much going on and this isn’t helping me. I know you’re upset, but you’re also really drunk right now.” I start to walk out, and Jack pulls me back in and pins me against the wall. He holds my wrist up to my shoulders, and I’m scared. “Jack, let me go, what are you doing?” I try to push free. No luck.

    “I’ll kill the bloodsucker. How can you care so much about the kind of monster that killed your family?!” He yells. His expression becomes dark, and he squeezes me tighter. “I can’t let you go that easily.” I duck down and slide away. I run out the door, and Jack grabs me in the hallway.

    “Jack I don’t want to hurt you, you need to let me GO!” I scream. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you’re not the Jack I know.  This is not the person I was starting to fall in love with!” I try to break free from his grip, and he pulls me back. I need help. If I yell louder, Alex and Lucas might hear me. “JACK! STOP THIS NOW! LET ME GO!” I scream.

    “No. I’m not done talking! Stop yelling at me! You don’t understand anything. You’re all worked up because Alex lied and said you were mates.” His face is red, and I’m starting to get really worried about what he’ll do. My senses are on fire, and Jack reeks of more than just booze.

    “Are you using again? Did you take more blood?” I smell the air. I can’t quite tell, there’s too much sweat and anger radiating from him. I worry even more because I’ve never been wrong about my trusting my gut. 

    “I need to be stronger if I’m going to end him. He doesn’t deserve you!” He pulls me back yet again and pushes me hard into the wall. My head snaps back, and I fall to the floor holding back the urge to throw up. “Ally, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you…” he reaches down to help me up, and I slap his hand away.

    “DON’T touch me. Get away from me Jack.” I back up, and try to lift myself up. Jack walks over to me, and pulls me in for a hug. He’s holding me so tight that it’s hard to breathe. “Jack, you’re hurting me.”

    “I won’t let him touch you. Never again.”  Right as he says that, Jack and I are knocked over, and he’s pulled away from me. I look up and Lucas has picked him up and is trying to hold him back, and Alex is running to help me up. He lifts me up gently by my arm, and his eyes have gone dark. I see Anna standing at the end of the hall, and she drops her bags and runs up to help Lucas hold Jack back. Alex turns towards Jack, and takes a step as he pushes me behind him. I take his hand, and turn him back to me.

    “Alex, your eyes are black. Look at me.” I take his other hand, and place it over my heart. “Look, I’m okay. My head hurts a bit but I’m fine.” His eyes clear up, and his beautiful blue eyes return. I hear Jack and Lucas struggling. “Stand behind me and take a breather.” He listens, and I walk over to Jack. “Hold him.” He nods. Lucas gets beside him, and he and Anna hold his arms behind his back. I place my hands on either side of his temple, and hold him in place. 

    “Don’t touch me! Just let me go!” Jack yells. He struggles to break away from me, but I hold his head still. I begin to focus. I remember reading about how you can push your emotions and thoughts to another person, so i close my eyes and focus on calming Jack down..

    I focus a little bit harder as he’s still struggling, and see my hands start to glow. I envision myself calming Jack down, and continue on. Jack stops struggling, and Lucas looks at me. His eyes are wide, and I raise an eyebrow. When Jack falls limp against Lucas, I stop. I pull my hands back and lean against the wall. I feel a burning sensation on the back of my neck, and sigh. Another tattoo.

    “Your eyes were glowing. They were white. Almost like a silver.” Lucas sets Jack down on the floor and props him up against the wall. He grabs me and pulls me in for a hug. He sighs. He pulls away and slowly slides his hands down my arm. “How are you? Did he hurt you? What happened?” He looks me over, and stops at my hands. They were starting to bruise. I pull my hands back and I cross my arms trying to cover them.

    “I’ll be fine.” Alex walks over, and stands next to me. “He came to my room while I was getting ready, and asked to talk. He looked really upset, so I listened. I could smell the alcohol on him, and he kept going on about how he doesn’t understand why I’m protecting Alex, and that he doesn’t want to lose me. He was holding me pretty tight, so I pulled away and ran out of my room. He got mad and grabbed me and slammed me into the wall. Then he pulled me closer to him and that’s when you guys showed up.”  I rub the back of my head, and feel something wet. I take a look, and my fingers are bloody. “Oh.” 

    “Oh my god, Ally! You have blood coming down your neck!” Anna looks scared, and she rushes to my side.

    Alex moves to stand right in front of me, and grabs my hand. He looks angry, and I can see his eyes go dark again. He drops my hand and rips off a piece of his shirt. He wipes my hand off, and then puts it on the back of my head where I’m bleeding. He looks over at Anna and Lucas.

    “Do you need me to take over?” Anna asks.

    “No, I’ll be okay. You’d better get him out of here, or I’m going to do something I’m going to regret.” He growls. Lucas quickly picks up a dizzy Jack, and takes him into Jack’s room. 

    “Anna, can you go with Lucas and make sure Jack stays put? I don’t want to see him.” She nods and I look back at Alex.

    “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” He says. I nod, and he lifts my hand up to hold onto the back of my head. He picks me up, and walks us down the hall. 

    “You don’t have to carry me you know. It’s not my leg that’s bleeding.” I say as I hold onto his neck. His eyes are still dark, but his face is soft. “Are you okay? Your eyes are still black.” 

    He looks at me, and gives me a small smile. “I just need you close to me. We need to get you cleaned up before you call your mom.” He holds me tighter. “As good as you smell right now, I’m not going to do anything. I promise. It would kill me to hurt you.” I rest my head against his shoulder, and hold onto my head a little tighter. We get into the kitchen, and he sets me down. I see him grab the little hand towel hanging from the oven door, and he runs it under hot water. I lean against the counter not sure what to do. He rings out the towel, and turns me around. “You can move your hand now.” I lower my hand and I hear Alex take a deep breath. “This might sting a little.” I steady myself against the counter, and wait. I feel him begin to move my hair out of the way, and then he presses the hot cloth against my head. I let out a small whimper and flinch. He rubs my arm up and down trying to soothe me, and the temporary sparks offer a pretty good distraction. He starts wiping, and I try to stay still even though it hurts. He reaches behind him and grabs a paper towel. He pats me dry, and sets a hand on my shoulder. 

    “Are you okay?” He whispers against my neck. 

    “I’m better than I was before. I didn’t think it was that bad, but man did that ever hurt getting it cleaned up.” I turn around, and he drops his hands to my waist. “Thank you for doing that. I know it must’ve been hard for you to… y’know.  Blood.” I stumble. “I’m sorry.” I lean back against the counter, and sigh.

    “Why are you apologizing for something that isn’t your fault?” He puts a hand on my hip, and sets the other on the crook of my neck. “You did nothing wrong Ally.” He caresses my cheek with his thumb and his eyes fall soft. “You are the sweetest thing I have ever come across. You’re strong, caring and beautiful.” I blush at his words, and press my cheek into his hand. I cover his hand with mine, and exhale deeply. “Yes, being around blood is hard. Especially yours.” He takes his other hand from my waist, and holds my chin up. “But, as badly as I wanted it, I wanted to protect you more. I will never do anything that you don’t want me to do. Ever.” 

    I hold his arms, and smile. I feel a tear fall down my face, and he wipes it away. “Your eyes are black again. What do you need?” I ask. 

    “Aside from the blood you gave me yesterday, I haven’t fed in almost 3 months. I don’t need it as much as normal vamps do.” He pulls back a little, and drops his other hand down to his side. “I didn’t even drink the bag you left behind because I didn’t need it. But now, after what happened with Jack, and the fact that my mate was hurt by someone, I need to feed.” Hearing him call me his mate sends a pleasant shiver down my spine. He pulls away, and leans against the island. “Anger drains me, and is sometimes hard to control. Seeing you hurt doesn’t help.” I look down at my wrist, and think.

    “What would happen if you drank my blood?” I ask quietly. 

    “One of two things… One is I get carried away and mark you, and the other, well the other is.. uh,”he stops. I raise an eyebrow and wait. He sighs. “The other thing, is we both may or may not get really horny.” He shoves his hands into his pockets. “Drinking blood is very…intimate. Usually you see people of opposite s*x being drank from, unless you’re gay, or you’re enraged and just drink to kill.” 

    “Ah.” My mouth hangs open a little as I try to register what he just said, and I blush. “So it wouldn’t help calm you down?” I ask. I take a step forward, and hold my wrist close to me. 

    “It might, it might not.” His expression darkens with lust, and my heart begins to race. He pulls his hands out of his pocket, and puts them on the counter behind him. “What are you doing?” 

    “I want to help.”