Bloodborne Awakened (Borne of Blood Book 1) Read online

  At first, I was shocked, then a sudden wave of awe swept over my heart. However noble Jacob’s intentions were, he was and would always remain a Bloodborne. By their laws, there was no way we could be together.

  “Jacob, you above all others can’t go against the laws that were created to protect Bloodbornes.” I tried to reason, even though I really wanted to find a reason that we could be together. I did like Jacob, and now I knew the feeling was mutual.

  “I don’t care about traditionalism. They go against their ‘tradition’ when it suits them. Jessie,” Jacob took a step closer to me and took my hands in his, “just give me a chance. I know in my heart we can make this work.”

  I looked up into his weary eyes, and suddenly, I felt his heart. The pain that swelled so deep, a genuine desire that brought a fresh of breath air into a stale cold world. For just a glimpse of a moment, I had seen the world through Jacob’s eyes. His wisdom beyond his years weighed heavily on his heart; it wasn’t some schoolboy crush. Jacob was as sincere as anyone I’d ever met. It wasn't loved at first sight, either—this was an honest, old-fashioned ‘get to know you’ kind of situation. Attraction, yes, I could clearly see he was attracted to me, but not in the physical sense. Jacob was drawn to me by my actions, my ways. For me, I was shocked to learn he had these qualities, but more so the fact that I was now an empath.

  “Jacob, what are you going to do about your family? You’re a Royal Heir.” I tried to reason, but my reasons were more to make him convince me of what I already knew.

  “I can handle them. Jessie, let me be the one for you, just give me that chance.” He stepped closer and slid his arm around my waist, then pulled me closer to him. “I promise you, I won’t let you down.”

  I lifted my eyes to him as my heart fluttered rapidly. I gave him a long pause as I waited for that voice in my head to say something—anything that might be helpful. The damned thing didn’t speak, but kept quiet during my life-altering moment. I was a teenager, and not to be left alone to make all my decisions. I could fail. I could make a mistake. But the choice was mine to make, regardless of mistakes or not. It was time to make my own decisions and work through any potential problems that may arise.

  My lips broadened into a gentle smile. “You realize that you are breaking their laws, and they could potentially throw you out.”

  Jacob’s eyes twinkled with delight as his lips pursed together, then broadened into a smile. “Well, they’ve burned witches for a lot less.”

  “They might burn you at the stake for consorting with the enemy.” I leaned a little closer into his arms.

  “Well, I’m a demon hunter, Jessie. I think I can handle a little fire for you.” He leaned closer, his lips only inches from mine.

  “I guess—” My eyes traveled to his lips, then back to his eyes. “I will trust I’m in good hands then.” I closed the distance between our lips, brushing mine softly against his.

  The door flew opened, which caused Jacob and me to jump. Tristan stood there with a popsicle in his hand; his eyes widened, then his face brightened with humor.

  “Well, damn. Looks like my timing is just off.” Tristan shoved the popsicle in his mouth and pulled it out slowly. “Which reminds me, where’s Kyle? We probably should leave soon.”

  Jacob took a step back from me and cleared his throat. “Leaving? That’s right, you’re going to Socotra. I’m going with you.”

  “Jacob, that’s not a good idea. I mean, your dad said Bloodbornes are forbidden to go to that island.” The last thing I wanted was for Jacob to break another law. But it seemed he was on his way to breaking each one of them.

  “Look, we can make this work. We can just pop over there, and be back before dinner. No one has to know anything but us,” Tristan offered, then bit the end of the popsicle and crunched it loudly.

  “I do like the way he thinks.” Jacob gave Tristan a nod. “No one will know I’m gone, and it will be a perfect getaway.”

  “Ooh—” Tristan clapped his hands together. “I’m getting excited! Let’s do this before my thrill wears off.” He pushed through us to my door and opened it. As he walked through, we all followed him.

  “Wait!” Jacob whispered, and we turned around. “Does everyone have weapons?”

  Everyone nodded except me. “I don’t.”

  “Then we’ll have to get your daggers.” Jacob’s gaze traveled around the group.

  “Girl—I got you,” Tristan called out and walked back toward me. Once in front of me, he placed one hand on top of the other then opened his hands slowly.

  We all watched, and half-expected the daggers to appear in his hand. When it didn’t, we all stared at him with blank expressions on our face. Then a wave or tremor moved up and down his image, and then suddenly there he was with both daggers in each hand.

  “Magic?” I held my hands out.

  “Girl, please don’t make me slap you. I told you I don’t do magic. I left and went downstairs to retrieve those daggers. You’re not the only one with super speed around here. Now let’s go, girls! We’ve got a date with a badass demon.” Tristan took the lead. Kyle finally caught up with us as we followed behind Tristan to the courtyard.

  At first, he carefully looked around our surroundings, then he walked directly over to a spot near the pond and motioned for us to join him. Once we gathered beside him, Tristan opened his hands out in front of him and closed them together. Then he slowly looked as though he were folding a piece of paper. Much to our amazement, a tremor appeared in front of him—a portal.

  “This will take us directly to the place where they had seen the dragons. And yes, I already knew about this. I’ve been there before.” Tristan looked at Kyle. “Is this your first time traveling through a portal?”

  “Kind of, I guess.” Kyle’s gaze drifted around the group.

  Tristan reached out and pulled Kyle to him. “Well, stay close behind me.” He paused, then pursed his lips together and then disappeared through the wavy doorway.

  Kyle followed, and I looked to Jacob, who urged me to go before him. I stuck my hand through, and it felt cold at first, then I felt the warmth on my hand. With a smile on my face, I turned to Jacob.

  “It feels nice there. I feel the humidity on my hand, though.” I laughed like the excited little girl I was.

  I stepped through the curved wall and was met head-on with a severe blast of cold. Much colder than I’d felt when I stuck my hand through. A bright light slapped me in the face, and I closed my eyes as my world spun out of control. My brain felt as though it would burst. I would describe the feeling as being at the top of an extremely high spot and shooting down on a roller coaster ride. When the spinning stopped, I felt the ground under my feet, and due to my sudden dizzy state, I fell to my knees. After I opened my eyes to see Tristan and Kyle coming to help me, my stomach twisted, and I hurled out everything I felt I had eaten in two days.

  Jacob wasn’t far behind me when I heard him hit the ground. He took it better than I did. He coughed one time and held his stomach. I had never had any type of motion sickness ever in my life. I’d been on boats and airplanes, but nothing like this. I motioned for everyone to leave me alone in my illness until I had a better grip on my stomach. After I had everything out, I thought it was over, but no, I had the dry heaves.

  “Here—let me help you,” Tristan commanded and pushed away my hand, which I used as a guard against them. He placed his hand on my head, then my stomach. A warmth swirled around what felt like my head, and in my stomach. When he removed his hands, I instantly felt better.

  I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, then looked up at Tristan. “What did you do?”

  “You had a type of motion sickness that sometimes happens when you travel through portals.” He rubbed his hands together, then stood and offered his hand to help me up.

  “You are just full of surprises. Thank you.” I was grateful to Tristan because I felt better than I’d felt all day. The sickness was gone, and I even felt a bit mor
e energetic than usual. “Is this it? Socotra?” My mouth dropped opened as I gazed around the area.

  “Yes.” Tristan’s voice softened. “It reminds me—” He shook his head as he joined me in astonishment. “Home,” He uttered softly.

  The place where we landed was nothing like I’d ever seen before in my life. I had to inhale a long breath, just to make sure the air I breathed was still oxygen. The island looked like an alien world, filled with its towering red mountains, strange green bubble-like plants, and the trees. There were these trees that stood bold and tall, with what looked like limbs growing upward and topped with green foliage. They looked just like mushrooms, only in tree version. Even the rocks that scattered about the beach were a blend of smooth stones and red stones. There was also a plant that grew on the beach, shorter, fat and with little sage-greenish leaves prickling on top. The fat plant resembled a gigantic version of a Mandrake root.

  The deep, crisp blue ocean lapped gently at the island’s edge. I could only imagine what type of creatures or other vegetation lay hidden within its depths.

  “This place looks like an alien planet.” Jacob picked up a smooth red stone and rolled it around in his hand before giving it a toss out into the ocean.

  “In some ways, it is,” Tristan added. “This place maintains many ancient and old species. Some are believed to be of alien descent, much like the Dragon Blood trees you see.” He pointed to the mushroom-like tree. “Among them, legends have been told of many mythical creatures that reside here. One of which? The dragons.”

  I turned to Kyle, who shot me a glance, then back to Tristan. “How did they survive the Bloodbornes’ massacre?”

  “We need to move quickly. I think it’s around five in the evening here, and we should take advantage of the daylight while we can.” Tristan looked up at the red mountains and paused, my question sinking in. “I don’t know.”

  “I’ve never been here, but I’ve heard the stories about this place.” Kyle walked over to one of the Dragon Blood trees and touched it gently. “Legend has it, a woman who was infertile desired a child. She had heard that these trees contained mystical properties because they believed them to grow from dead dragons. She obtained the Dragon’s Blood and drank it. Nine months later, she gave birth to a son, who is the father of all Dragonbornes. The blood of dragons ran through his body, as did the dragons who gave their lives to these trees.”

  “Ironic. This is our origins, the legendary trees where dragons have died. It gave birth to us from afar.” I looked around and spotted some small trees, and some towering to what appeared around thirty feet. They were utterly beautiful, as was all the other alien plant life.

  “Jessie, each Dragonborne has this blood running through our veins. It is what makes us as different as this island is to the rest of the world.” Kyle looked out among the other trees. “Where are we going to find these dragons?” His gaze shifted to Tristan.

  “I’m not sure. I’ve been scanning the area, and haven’t seen anything. This is where the jump was first made.” Tristan knelt and examine the ground.

  “What are those—” I pointed at the marks on the Dragon Blood tree that Kyle stood beside. “Are they cuts?”

  Kyle twisted around and looked closer at the marks on the tree. He placed his hand across the four slice marks on the trunk of the tree. “Interesting. They appear to be claw marks.”

  “What?” Jacob moved closer to the tree and touched the marks. “Wait—what if—Jessie give me your dagger.”

  “What are you going to do?” I pulled the backpack off, dug into it, and pulled out a dagger. Slowly, I walked over to Jacob and handed it to him.

  Jacob took the dagger and sliced into one of the claw marks. Instantly a red liquid ran from the cut and dribbled down the trunk onto the ground. Jacob slowly looked to Kyle, then his gaze drifted toward me. A slight shiver splintered up my spine, and the hair on my neck stood on its ends. As a subtle wave of nausea swept over me, I remembered that feeling all too well, and knew something wicked came this way.

  The air around me seemed dense, still even as if it knew danger had come. I turned to Tristan, who had already gone on the alert status, with his sword drawn and eyes darting from area to area. As my heart rate picked up, I noticed some new happen—a slight burning in my chest. Nervously, I laid my hand on my chest and realized it was the necklace, the red eye glowed. My attention shifted to Kyle, whose dragon eye on his chain glowed as well.

  “Whatever it is…” Kyle stood and pulled his staff to the ready. “It’s gotta be big, because the hair on my neck is standing on end.”

  “Mine too.” I tossed in for good measure and knelt to retrieve the other dagger.

  Jacob followed and pulled out his katana. “You ain’t lying about that—the hair on my arms is standing straight up.”

  For reasons unknown to me, we all turned to Tristan as if waiting for him to reply. Tristan looked at us with his brows raised.

  “What?” Tristan threw his hands up in the air. “I shave my body hair! The only thing I have that would stand up is my mass—”

  We all groaned at once, cutting Tristan off as the ground shook again, this time harder than the first time. Without warning, the ground gave way beneath my feet as two hands emerged upward and grabbed my leg. I moved forward and made a futile attempt to free my leg. Jacob grabbed my wrist and pulled me as Kyle stabbed the unknown hand with his staff.

  The hand released me, and I fell forward into Jacob’s arms. Quickly, I turned to see Kyle still staring down at the ground. He looked up at us and paused as if he knew something terrible was going to happen. Behind him, a demon creature burst forth from the ground. Before Kyle could turn around, the beast grabbed him with its talons and picked him up off the ground.

  My heart leaped into my throat, and a shiver ran through me as I released a low growl. A flicker of light flashed before my eyes as my fangs descended. Just as the creature opened its mouth and brought its head back to bite Kyle, I jerked free from Jacob.

  In an instant, I moved, sprinting toward Kyle and the creature. I did a leap into the air with the dagger firmly clasped in my hand and shoved the dagger into the creature’s jaw as I came down. It released Kyle and staggered backward. Kyle gained his footing, and I backed up beside him as we both crouched into position for another attack.

  Kyle leaned forward and growled as the creature roared at us. I narrowed my gaze and hissed back at the demon thing, then charged forward to attack. Somewhere in my mind, I wasn’t sure why, but my goal was to rip the neck out of this creature. I wanted to kill it before it killed me.

  “Jessie! NO!” I heard Jacob shouting.

  There was no way I could stop in midair, so I folded my arms against my chest and kicked the creature in the face, then pushed myself into a flip backward. When I landed, I dropped down on one knee and growled back at it as it swung for me.

  “Tell me how we're supposed to get a sample again?” I said, my blood boiling inside my veins to kill this creature.

  “Keep it busy for a minute.” Tristan ran to my backpack and grabbed the test tube.

  “I’ve got a better idea.” Kyle hissed at the creature, then began a circle dance of death with it. “Jessie, get the tube, I’m going to slice it open. See if you can collect the blood that way before it dissipates.”

  “Tristan!” I turned and held up my hand for him to throw me the tube. He did, and I caught it, holding it firmly in my hand as I pulled off the plastic top with my teeth.

  Kyle looked to me as I gave him a nod, and I watched closely as he made his move. He moved fast at the creature, then grabbed its left arm and swung himself around its back. Once Kyle was behind the beast, he used the razor-sharp ends of the staff to slice down its back, cutting deep enough to paralyze the creature.

  The demon-hybrid screeched out as its body fell to the ground with a hard thud. I moved quickly toward it and placed one foot on its shoulders while I ran the tube up to the cut skin. It wasn’t full, but enoug
h for Mia to run her sample. I nodded to Kyle for him to finish off the creature. Gracefully, Kyle twisted his body as he lifted the staff up, then brought it down into the creature’s head. We both stepped back, away from the beast before it went up into smoke.

  “Well, we got what we came for.” I placed the plastic top on the tube and looked up to see not one, but at least twelve more demon hybrids on their way. “Oh, Shit!”

  Tristan and Jacob moved with Kyle and me to form a line against the creatures. This didn’t look good, but I knew there was no way we could jump back and take the chance they would follow us.

  “What’s the plan, guys?” I took the other dagger from Jacob.

  “We fight. We can’t take the chance they would get through,” Jacob replied.

  “It’s not that bad.” Tristan twirled his sword in his right hand.

  Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, a loud roar came from behind us. Slowly I turned and looked behind us. At first, I didn’t see anything, then I heard the roar again and followed the noise as I looked up into the sky and seen two fully-grown red dragons fast approaching from the red mountains.

  Demons in the front, dragons in the back, and there we were stuck in the middle. If Fate had played her cards, she was a bitch—because this had to be a serious joke. The whole thing felt more like a nightmare, and I wanted nothing more than to wake up. That wasn’t going to happen, at least not today. Today, on an alien-looking island, I would stand and battle with my friends. If it was the will above, we would live—if not, we would surely die today.

  CHAPTER TEN

  ∆

  Hyacinths, and their fragrance, unlike no other flower, were what came to my mind as I vividly remembered my mother’s flower garden as a young child. Memories flashed through my head of those flowers, and how I loved their beautiful aroma, but dared not break them because they would eventually die, and their fragrance would only be a memory.