Yes, I was. “I’m not doing this. I can’t stand here while you slice yourself over and over.”
“Then call the blood and get this over with. I’m not stopping until you do. Think about what you could do with this, Imani. It might not be an ability, but you can damn well use this in a duel. It can be a good thing. But it can be a bad thing if you’re accidentally calling the blood of people you care about. They could weaken or, worse, bleed out.”
God, he was so right. How annoying.
“Is that what you want?”
“Of course not,” I snapped.
“Then focus. Ready?” He didn’t wait for me to answer, just carved a deep line into his upper chest, a little beneath his collarbone.
My back teeth locked at the sound and sight, but I didn’t let myself think about who the chest belonged to or how fucking weird this was. I just concentrated on the blood, took the scent deep into my lungs, thought about how good it would taste, how thirsty I was starting to feel, and how—
“Well, shit.” Paige’s awed words pulled me from my thoughts. That was when I realised Butch’s blood had dripped all the way down to his waist.
“That was good,” praised Butch as he took a clean tissue from Reuben and wiped his chest clean. He looked at Sam. “Did you notice it?”
She nodded, face grim.
I frowned. “Notice what?”
“When you’re calling blood, the rim of your eyes have the slightest silver glimmer to them,” replied Butch. “It happened last night, but it disappeared so fast that I wondered if I’d imagined it.” He moved closer to me. “I think it’s because you drank Sam’s blood. I think it caused some changes.”
I shook my head, confused. “Vamps drink from each other all the time; it doesn’t change them.”
“That’s because vampires can’t change; their bodies are frozen. But during the transition, your body wasn’t. You were changing, and you had the blood of Sam, Jared, Antonio, and me running through you. That’s a powerful combination. It’s probably what kept you alive. It hadn’t occurred to me that Sam’s blood would cause any changes within you.”
“I’m different because of the serum. I’m not a hybrid.”
“No, you’re not a hybrid. Your system evolved into something that is stuck somewhere between human and vampire. But Sam’s blood triggered some changes.”
I didn’t see how calling on blood was in any way related to Sam.
“Look at the facts,” said Butch. “Your blood tastes different. You can call blood to you. And sometimes the rim of your eyes briefly glow silver…or mercury.”
Jared stepped forward. “You said her blood tastes different.”
Butch nodded. “There’s a slight fizz to it.”
“Sam’s blood has a sherbet-quality to it,” said Jared.
Butch looked at Sam. “You call on energy, in a sense.”
She shook her head. “I feed on it.”
“Since becoming a hybrid, you haven’t had to suck in energy to use it,” Butch pointed out. “It comes to you. You call it without trying.”
Her brows lifted. “Never really thought of it like that.”
Paige sidled up to me. “But Imani isn’t calling energy.”
“Of course not,” said Butch. “She’s not a Feeder, so her ability isn’t energy-based.”
“My gift isn’t blood-based,” I said.
He arched a brow. “Isn’t it? You can sever blood-bonds.”
I sighed. “They’re psychic constructions.”
“Constructions that are born from blood. Can you sever other psychic links?”
“No, only blood-bonds.”
“So, your gift is blood-based.”
Shit, he was right.
“I agree with Butch,” Jared told me. “Sam’s blood caused the changes.”
Sam winced. “Sorry, Imani.”
I forced a smile. “At least now I have an explanation.”
“Whatever gave you the ability to call blood, it’s a fucking cool ability, Imani—I don’t care what you say.” Harvey wasn’t the only one who looked impressed.
Denny turned to Butch. “How does it feel when she calls it?”
Butch rubbed at his nape. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Come on, dude, try,” said Damien.
Sighing, Butch said, “It was almost like a heavy weight was tugging at my veins, pulling at my blood…like a magnet. I could feel my heartbeat in my head, could hear it pounding.” He curled an arm around my shoulders. “What was the trigger for the call?”
“There wasn’t one. I just concentrated on nothing but the blood.”
“I know this is gonna piss you off…but you need to do it again.”
I froze. “Butch—”
“Doing it one time isn’t enough. We keep practicing until this is under your control. It needs to be second nature for you. Okay?”
“What-motherfucking-ever.”
“So charming,” chuckled Paige.