Black Blood (Series of Blood Book 4) Emma Hamm (popular novels txt) 📖

might accidentally mouth a stray plant in the hallway while she was whizzing by in her chair, but poison?

“Do you-” she stammered, “do you have many poisoning accidents in this house?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then why are you worried about me being poisoned?”

“I don’t know.”

He seemed just as confused by the sentiment as Lydia. His brow wrinkled and for a moment she watched him disappear behind the shadows of his eyes. The sight was utterly terrifying. Pitch’s expressions were always difficult to read, but his eyes were expressive. Now they were nothing more than darkness.

Until they weren’t. He shrugged.

“That’s the answer you’re giving me?” she asked him as she took the offered grapes. “Just a shrug?”

“There is no other answer.”

“A shrug isn’t an answer.”

“And yet it is the only one you are getting.”

Lydia left the question hanging between them but did not push. She knew men like Pitch. They did not react well to pushing and buried their heels even deeper into the sand. She would only make him hide his secrets further.

It was a shame, she decided, as he filled both of their plates with food. A man like him had such interesting secrets, and she wanted to know them. She wanted to know him.

Apparently, his thoughts were following a similar path.

“Why were you in my club that night?” he asked.

Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. “Excuse me?”

“You do not have the look of someone who frequents my establishments.”

“No I suppose I don’t.”

“And yet, I found you on the highest floor surrounded by people whom I do not believe you likely enjoy being around.”

“You don’t know me all that well.”

The silence blooming between them was a jagged thing. Pointed edges dug at her ribs and heart, but she did not apologize for the barbed words which had spilled from her lips. They were the truth. And although the truth was a painful thing, it was sometimes necessary.

Pitch stilled. His long fingers twitched once, and he continued to cut up everything on his plate into precise segments. “I suppose I do not. But I am trying to.”

She couldn’t fault him for that. She put her fork down on the table and resolved herself to answering his questions before she ate. “It wasn’t my first choice. Or even my last. I honestly didn’t know you or any of your clubs existed before my friends told me about them.”

“Ah yes, the Gorgon and the Wisp.”

“Yes.”

“Unusual for the two of them to be interested in being friends with a Red Blood.”

Lydia gulped a mouthful of water before she nodded. “Yes it is. They didn’t give any other Red Blood the time of day, but me? There was something about me they enjoyed. So they kept me.”

“Kept you? Like a pet?”

“More like a treasured object,” she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “They were… well I suppose the best of friends anyone could ask for. They took me places. Dressed me up. Laughed at my jokes.”

“A friendship or a game?”

“No, it wasn’t like that. They care about me. Or… they did?” She looked at him for confirmation. The question hid in the words like a blade beneath a loved one’s pillow.

He hesitated, his dark eyes flicking over hers before he slowly nodded.

A great rush of air whooshed from her lungs. Logically, she had known that they wouldn’t have lived this long. They were human. She might be lucky enough to find the creatures again, someday, but she wouldn’t find the human women who had been her friends.

It was a bittersweet thought. Her friends must have had a good life. They wouldn’t have settled for anything less. But she had not been there to experience it with them.

His voice broke through her silence. “But you were in the club that night for a reason, no doubt.”

“Oh,” Lydia blushed bright red. “Well, yes there was a reason. But it’s embarrassing and I’m certain you don’t care to hear it.”

“I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.”

She had the strangest urge to itch at her arms if only to hide the fidgeting of her fingers. Finally, she blurted out, “Juice.”

“Juice?” He pointed at another pitcher.

“No not that kind of juice. It was… Juice. We were looking to buy some, and you had it.”

“Ah.”

“It was a drunk thought,” she told him. “We knew it was stupid. But a young man had told Marla that Juice was the next best thing. She experimented in more things than I could count. Gorgons don’t feel the same things we do, not for drugs. Anything that was new was exciting to her. They forget so easily that something ‘fun’ for them can be dangerous for me.”

He wasn’t talking. He was barely even moving, but she could feel his eyes on her like a physical touch. Her hand raised to rub at her forearm.

Her mouth wasn’t done talking. “I didn’t like them to remember that anyway. A Red Blood is already fragile, let alone a Red Blood who is allergic to the world and asthmatic to boot. So, I didn’t say anything when she wanted to go into a dark club where she had to disappear with the bodyguard at the door for a while. I know what she was doing to get us in, but she didn’t complain so neither did I.

“That’s just how it was with her. What Marla wanted, Marla got. There was no question. No hesitation. She just did it. She absorbed life through a straw at every chance she could get. Just because that’s how she lives. Don’t just grab life by the balls, she used to tell me. Rip the balls up and sew it onto yourself so you never forget who wears the pants.”

He lifted an eyebrow at her. Lydia shrugged in response.

“I never said she was entirely sane. She’s a Gorgon.”

Pitch waved a hand for her to continue.

“Anyway, we went up to the highest section of your club to watch everyone. First, we went right up to the bar like they would give us