Bites Turned Black

Damon POV

"Slow down!" Fucking pig-headed, big-nosed freak. "Damon!" Motherfucking, blood-sucking dumbass. Come into my space, threaten my girl, push my buttons.

"Fucking hell, Damon!"

Nick drops the padded hands and gives me an exasperated look. I shake my head and grab my water bottle from the corner of the ring, taking a long swig from it.

"Jesus, Damon! What the hell got up your ass since leaving the hospital?!"

Absolute fucking douchebag. What the hell goes through his mind to think he can treat a human being like that?! Treat her like that?! To push her around and insult her and violate her. What makes him think he has the right?!

"Hey! Numbnuts! What's happened?!" My glass bottle shatters as it hits the far wall, a muscle in my shoulder burning in pain as I pull it. My scream, a purely rage-filled scream, echoes throughout the training room.

"Calm down, Damon." Nick's voice is now quiet and calm, and it just makes me angrier.

"He's screwing with her! He's screwing with me! I'm gonna stab a fucking stake through him!" Pacing around the ring, I ball my fists into my hair, tugging and tugging to try and find some sort of a release. One that doesn't involve hitting something, or someone.

"Damon!" I whirl around to look at Nick, who is calm as can be, staring at me intensely.

"Breathe. Five and five and five," he reminds me. I don't want to. I don't want to listen to a person who I'm in charge of. But that person is Nick. And he is also in charge of me. So I let the icy cold air freeze my nose as I inhale deeply through it, letting my chest expand as I hold it for five seconds, and tingle my mouth when I exhale for a third five.

"Again," Nick instructs me. Wanting to hit him, I flex my fingers and focus on doing the breathing exercise again. Five in, five hold, five out. Afterward, I still feel my heart pounding rapidly. So I do it again. And then again.

"You need to bake more, listen to music. It helps your temper, you know that. Now, is this about that girl?" Immediately, my frustration rises again. Nick's face falls a little. He's always been the one person that could force me to calm down, keep my temper at least kind of in check. Enough that I don't hurt someone. However, just like everyone else, I can get angry with him quite quickly.

"Her name is Amaya, not that girl. That fucking bloodsucker, Joshua. He just won't stay off her, he's making her life hell for no reason whatsoever. And there's someone else that's beating the shit out of her, and she won't fucking tell me who!" Nick's face remains blank, a smart move when my temper is rising.

He asks, "Has he fed off her? Compelled her?"

Trying to distract myself, I make my way over to the shattered water bottle, clenching my teeth together. I squat down and pick up the many shards of glass as I shake my head.

"No," I say. "He's never done any of that. She's never had venom in her, never been compelled, nothing. But their scents are so strongly entwined, they must have sexual encounters almost every day."

"And someone else is beating her? You haven't mentioned that before." He takes off his hand pads, setting them on the floor as he sits beside them. He kicks a leg out in front of him and reaches for his toes.

"Like cuts and scratches? Bruises? Anything broke?" After disposing of the shards in the nearby rubbish bin I take a seat in front of him, beginning to stretch out my now aching arm.

"I don't know. She's always so covered up. From what I've been able to tell, it's both. But I can't be sure. She's just so thin and little, she barely weighs anything. It's like holding Aaron when he was a toddler. And she's so bloody secretive and quiet. She wants to tell me, I know that much, but she never does."

He exhales, leaning back on his hands, "And she agreed to your date tomorrow?" I nod. "Well, find out then. Shoot your shot."

I almost scoff. I've shot my shot. Dozens of times. Not just this year.

I nod again, springing back up to my feet and unwrapping my hands, "Yeah, okay." I just don't know what to do about Joshua. I don't know how she'll react if I hurt him but I also don't know if I'll be able to control myself much longer. The last time . . . I needed to blow off steam, he was the perfect excuse to do it. But I can't do it again. Especially not after yesterday. I still don't know how to feel about her asking me to leave, telling me she doesn't want my help. She has to be lying.

Sighing, I turn on my heel and look back at Nick desperately, looking for answers. But really, I haven't even told him how much power Amaya has over me, how she has me at her beck and call, wrapped around her fingers. No one can know. If anyone finds out, Lucky will use her against me. He'll hurt her or worse. I can't have that happen.

Nick shakes his head at me, chuckling as he stands, "Don't look at me, dude." I chuck my roll of bandages at him, calling him a dick. He just laughs.

"I'm serious," he says, chucking it back, "This shit is on you. I've got no clue."

"Dick."

Shaking his head and smiling, he climbs out of the training ring to grab his things.

"You'll figure it out. Keep planning for Saturday and go with it. I'll see you Sunday."

We say quick goodbyes and he leaves in a hurry, me probably having made him late for his and Sonja's breakfast arrangement. I'll have to apologize next time I see them both. Just because I'm their Alpha doesn't mean I can disregard common courtesy and manners.

My phone suddenly rings from across the room, making me jump. Knowing who it is, I rush over, knowing he'll have my head if I miss his call. I press the phone to my ear after pressing the green answer button.

"Lucky," I greet him.

"Your next target's information is in your locker. You've got 72 hours."

He hangs up the second he's done talking. I don't let myself dwell on it, I decide to leave it in the locker till tonight, I have to get to school. I pack my things quickly and head over to my car.

Parking my car in the student lot twenty minutes later, I notice that I'm the only person in the lot filled with cars. So I'm late again. Knowing I have Drama, I quickly grab my bag from the backseat and roll my long sleeves back down before jogging to class. Something I never thought I'd be doing. I'd rather go home, shower, change out of these sweaty, smelly clothes, and track down my next target. But I promised her.

Walking into the open classroom, I don't see Aya. Scanning the room, my shoulders begin to drop as I don't spot her. I was really hoping to see her before our date tomorrow. Sighing, I contemplate leaving, knowing I probably should. I have to find my next target, I usually get more than 72 hours. I shake my head at myself and step into the classroom. I've got to work on our assignment. I don't want her to fail. So I stride into the crowded room. No seats or tables, just props and costumes laying around and people sitting in groups or pairs doing their assessments or slacking off. Most are just doing the latter I guess since Ms. Dwyer isn't in the room.

As I attempt to skirt around Melissa and her friends she spots me and scrambles to her feet to stand in my way. I can't help my frown, watching her chew gum with her mouth wide open, both looking and sounding like a cake-faced giraffe.

"Hey, Damon. What you been up to?" Every single one of her snobby friends are trying to look flirty and giggly, but they're anxious. I can hear their rapidly pounding hearts, all their shoulders are high, their lips gnawing and their eyes frantic. Melissa also clicks her fake nails together repeatedly. Fidgeting due to anxiety. She'd only be anxious if she knew something I didn't.

"What are you hiding from me, Melissa?"

She giggles, her voice shakes as she speaks, "Why would I hide anything from you, silly?" Sighing, I go to step around her only to have her step with me. Anger rising, I try the other direction. The same thing.

"What the fuck are you hiding from me?" She pales at the sound of my voice going gruff, at the look on my face.

"Nothing. Nothing. I'm not hiding anything from you, silly. I just want to talk."

"Will you let me pass, or shall I make you let me pass?" She swallows hard and makes the mistake of beginning to look over her shoulder. I almost immediately spot Joshua. Standing over Amaya. My insides twist and my wolf howls at the sight of her. She looks like she's been hit by a truck. She's sitting curled up in the corner, arms around her knees, staring into space. She looks terrified. Her eyes are bloodshot, her face leeched of even more color than usual, even her rosy cheeks have vanished. There are horrible purple and black bags under her eyes.

Joshua stands over her, practically growling at her, but smiling. Proud of himself.

An icy rage shoots through my veins, everything going hot as I, without thinking, shove Melissa and almost run over to Joshua. My fist closes around his collar and I yank him backward, throwing him a few meters behind me. He gets up and foolishly goes to come at me, he doesn't get far. Grasping his collar, I growl at him. With that growl, he's told exactly who I am and what title I hold. His face pales at the sound of it.

"One step close, nightcrawler and you'll be shitting teeth for a month." Even though he tried to step back, his recent behavior earns him a broken and bleeding nose. Turning back to Amaya, I lift her off the carpet, counting my five and five and five as I leave the room with her.

Inhale . . . . . Hold . . . . . Exhale . . . . .

Out of the classroom, I put her down and lead her through the corridors, towards a part of the school where minimal people go.

Inhale . . . . . Hold . . . . . Exhale . . . . .

Stopping us at the end of the dead-end corridor by the sewing rooms, I gently guide her to stand against the wall. She stares at our shoes, her hood hiding more of her face than before.

Inhale . . . . . Hold . . . . . Exhale . . . . .

As my heart finally slows I talk to her, "Can you look at me?" She doesn't respond, barely moves. I can hardly see her breathing.

"Amaya?" She's not even blinking, she's just staring like a thousand thoughts are flying through her head at once. Sliding my finger under her chin, I lift her head to get her to look at me. The first thing I see is the purple handprint on her cheek, and then the one around her neck. I get a better look at her eyes and I know something is very wrong. Her eyes are puffy and bloodshot, yes, but her pupils are enormous. I go to take out my phone, resting my hand on her shoulder as I do so. It immediately snaps her out of whatever trance she's in. She hisses, batting my hand away and gripping her shoulder. Confused to all hell, I go to pull her hoodie aside to look but she bats my hand away again.

I try again and she bats my hand away for a third time, sliding down to the floor as she repeats, "No, no, no, no, no."

Pressing my lips together tightly, I squat to keep to her height. She stares at me, shaking wildly and lips wobbling. She's scared. Terrified. It breaks my heart to see it. Knowing she won't listen to my words, I wave my hand and her attention snaps to it. Whilst she's distracted, I pull her hoodie to the side. The second her hoodie unsticks from her skin, I smell it. The smell hits me like a truck. Blood and venom. It's an effort to stay with her, to not go back to the classroom and rip out Joshua's throat in front of everyone. I grip her hoodie as hard as I can in an attempt to keep myself here with her as I pull the hoodie further to the side, revealing nine other bite sites, eighteen different puncture wounds. Grasping her wrist, I shove up her sleeve, revealing the healing slice and another few bite sites. Every bite is extremely recent and all have small black veins leading from them.

I spring to my feet, taking off down the hall.

"No No, no, no. No, no, no." My stomach twists in on itself at her voice, my legs no longer moving. My skin feels like it's crawling, my heart is surely going to beat right out of my chest. Turning, I throw out my fist, grunting when it connects with a locker. Once that venom reaches her heart . . .

Instead of going back to the classroom, I call Nick, fixating on my throbbing and swelling knuckles to keep myself on the spot.

"Hey, I'm still at breakfast dude. What's up?" I fist my hair with my throbbing hand, purposely making it hurt more, focusing on it as I speak.

"He fed off her. He did something to her. Put Sonja on. Now." He curses and fumbles around with the phone, mumbling to Sonja. As he does, I return to Amaya, finding her still sitting there, staring at the floor.

I lift her chin, "What did Joshua do to you? What did he do?!"

Sonja's voice comes through the phone then, "Is it just the bite? What does it look like?"

Ignoring Aya's hissing, I pull her hoodie to the side again, "Some are clean bite, some aren't. She's transitioning, but she's different. There's something else, I don't know."

"What do you mean? Describe, Damon."

My heart pounds harder against my ribs as I stare at Aya, as she stares almost through me. Like she's not even seeing me anymore, not hearing me, just lost in her own world.

"I don't know. She's just lost. I don't know if she can hear me or even see me. Her pupils are massive and bloodshot. She . . ." I trail off, only now noticing she's begun scratching her arms. I catch both her wrists in one hand. So thin and frail.

Sonja curses and my heart rate spikes, "What?!"

"How is her heart rate? Shaking, sweating, talking? Violent?" She mumbles something incoherent to Nick and begins moving. Reaching out, I place my hand over Aya's heart and am shocked to find it beating a hundred times faster than my own. Resting my hand on her forehead next, I find it burning hot. Pulling back her hood allows me to see how plastered to her head her hair is.

"It's way too fast. She's shaking and sweating and not talking. She won't talk to me."

"Take her home. I'll grab my med bag and meet you." She hangs up before I can get in another word and I waste no time obeying her orders. Knowing that walking will be a struggle for her, I scoop her up to my chest as I stand. She still doesn't utter a word, barely blinks, I'm doubting she even knows I've picked her up. Placing her in the car is difficult and I silently curse myself for deciding to lower the car when I got it. I know that the drive home is relatively fast but it feels like an eternity as I look between Aya, scratching furiously at her arms and freaking out, and the busy road.

"Cassian," she suddenly says. I whip back to her, confused and shocked that she's spoken. As I do, she starts coughing. My heart again begins hammering, my fingers turning white against the wheel. Without warning, she vomits everywhere and starts crying.

"Oh god. Come on, come on," I mutter, seeing that it's all over her legs, the seat, the dash, the floor, even the gearstick, and handbrake.

"Fuck!" Looking back towards the road, I see that we're just about there, only a few more turns.

"It's okay, beautiful. It's okay. We're almost there. It's okay, you're okay. We're almost there. You're okay."

Two minutes later, we are. I cringe as I put the car into park and pull the handbrake, the vomit hot on my hand. I slam the door shut and run around to Aya's side, wiping the vomit from my hand to my jeans. Cringing again when I wrap my arms around her, feeling the warm vomit smearing onto my sleeves and back onto my hands. Walking inside the house with Aya in my arms, I find Sonja and Nick already inside. I must have overlooked their cars.

"Put her here," Sonja instructs me, patting the couch. Nick throws a blanket over the couch before I do, keeping the vomit off the new couch.

"Aya, right?" I simply nod in response.

"Cassian," Aya suddenly mumbles, scratching her arms again. I don't have the time to be confused as I scent her nails finally draw blood. Reaching out, I kneel in front of her and take her wrists in my hand. It draws her attention to me.

"Cassian," she stresses as if trying to tell me something. "He's here. Don't let him leave. Cassian. Cassian!"

Sonja doesn't say a word as she takes Aya's chin, forcing her to face her. She shines a tiny light against Aya's eyes a few times and then down her mouth. She then stops short though.

"Give me your shirt," she instructs, holding her hand out to me. I obey her and take it off, letting her snatch it from me as I grab Aya's wrists again. She holds the shirt up to Aya's nose and gets the woman to look at her again.

"Blow, Aya. Tissue. Blow."

When the woman still stares at her, muttering that name over and over again, Sonja wastes no time in stuffing a bit of the shirt up Aya's nose. It causes Aya to sneeze and Sonja immediately takes the shirt from her nose. There's a heap of snot but more than that, there's also a mega-ton of this weird white powder. I'd think it was cocaine, but it looks . . different. Sonja just sighs.

When she says nothing further my anger finally resurfaces, "What?! Answer me, Sonja!"

"Drugs, Damon! Your girlfriend is on drugs!"