Amy Blankenship - Addictive Blood

He smirked at the slowness of Michael’s steps and the way he cast a longing glance back down the hall. “Come on lover-boy, you will only distract her from her studies. You want her to make straight A’s don’t you?”

Michael turned his head and gave Kane a mock glare, “I know how to behave.”

“So says the man that has sex in subway tunnels,” Kane shot back with a grin having read Michael’s wishful thoughts of bare skin before he’d even opened the door.

Back in the library, Skye shook his head when Aurora started flipping through the pages of one of the books, her eyes bright with curiosity. He sat down on the floor beside the stack of books Michael had set out and pointed at the spot in front of him, “Right here bright eyes… and bring the book.”

Aurora giggled at Skye’s choice of words and sat down facing him to where their knees were touching. She held the book out to Skye anxious to get started and wondering how he was going to teach her. However, instead of taking it from her, he gently pushed her hands down until the book was lying on the floor in the little circle between them.

“The first thing I want you to do is touch the book with your fingertips,” Skye instructed and smiled at her when she instantly obeyed. “Now, remember what we used to do when I’d go hunting or exploring with the boys from the tribe and you had to stay behind with the girls?”

“Yeah,” Aurora said with a conspiratorial nod. She leaned toward him and lowered her voice as if it were still their little secret. “You used to show me your memories when you got back. The memories were so vivid that I always felt like I’d been with you… sometimes I could even feel the rain on my face or smell the flowers.”

Skye nodded, “That’s right, and that’s exactly how I’m going to teach you to read. I’m going to give you my memories of learning how. Clear your mind and come into me.”

He smiled when he saw that she’d already closed her eyes. Reaching out, Skye laid his hands over hers and let his mind drift back into the past… more specifically to when he’d first found the storage room under the library. He felt Aurora’s hands flinch when she felt his loneliness but he couldn't hide it from her.

He was lying on the old dusty sofa that had been stored in the basement of the building and out of boredom started flipping through pages of one of the many books that had pictures in it. His eyes snapped up when he heard the door above him slam followed by footsteps. Skye had promptly hid in the darkness on top of one of the high bookshelves as an elderly man came downstairs with a stack of books.

He listened as the old man muttered to himself, complaining about the wonderful classics being hidden away like something obscene and set his load of books down on one of the many boxes, coughing when a small cloud of dust rose from the impact. The man stood there a moment before lifting the top book from the pile and reading some of it out loud.

Skye was mesmerized by the spoken words enough to let his aura stretch out and touch the man’s mind while he read. Hearing the words and learning to navigate the letters using the intellect of the old man, Skye realized he’d opened a whole new world of vast information and contentment.

After the old man left the large storage area, Skye approached the stack of books and began to look through them more closely this time. It was no longer the pictures he was interested in. He’d spent the following days teaching himself to merely understand the contents of the books word for word just by letting his aura reach for the books the same way he’d reached for the man’s mind.

The words flew through his mind like a breeze of knowledge. The more he did it the faster he became until he could read an encyclopedia within the span of a few minutes and then topped it off with a work of fiction to stimulate his imagination.

“Oh wow,” Aurora breathed as she absorbed Skye’s knowledge through their link.

Skye left the past behind him and opened his eyes, “Now I want you to try it.”

He smiled again when Aurora tilted her head to the side and turned her attention to the book under her fingers. He quickly came into her mind and shared the experience as the first words she’d ever read began to drift through her mind and into his.

Needing something to do, the boys had made their way to the kitchen where Michael poured both of them a glass of red wine.

Michael inhaled deeply, still feeling a slight rush of power from the demon hunting he’d done earlier in the day. He smirked in satisfaction knowing he could give that rush a boost as soon as he got the chance to get back out there among the demons. He glanced up and caught Kane watching him closely then frowned when the blonde quickly lowered his eyes to the drink and picked it up.

“So,” Michael picked his own glass up becoming suspicious, “how is it that you showed up at the same time that Aurora and Skye were coming to visit?”

Kane shrugged, “Kriss and Dean invited Tabatha and I over for dinner and they showed up so we turned it into a dinner party. They mentioned they were headed over here and I figured since I haven’t really had a chance to talk to you I just wanted to… check in.”

Michael frowned, “You weren’t getting smokes this time?”

“Not this time,” Kane answered with a grin but his humor abruptly vanished. Since Michael was already becoming paranoid he might as well do a little fishing. Not one to beat around the bush he opted for the truth. “Dean told me he saw you earlier today.”

“Yeah, he did,” Michael said evasively, already not liking the direction the conversation appeared to be heading.

“He also said you were drinking from a demon,” Kane said bluntly and set his glass down. “When did you start doing that?”

Michael didn’t miss a beat with the lie, “When the thing decided to bite me first.”

Kane’s lips parted to say something but what could he say to that? Picking his glass back up, he took another drink while he thought about that one.

Seeing Kane’s sudden frown Michael laid it on a little thicker by adding some of the truth. “I caught the thing watching Aurora when I went to visit her earlier and followed its scent into an alley. I figured it would be an easy kill so I didn’t exactly have my guard up. The next thing I knew, it had latched its teeth in to my shoulder. It pissed me off so bad that I decided to bite back… I don’t think it was expecting that.”

“Probably not,” Kane murmured trying to hear Michael’s thoughts but the only feedback he was getting was a sense of guilt and craving which was kind of confusing so he quit trying.

Michael smirked as if the whole thing was funny. “It just so happened that its blood healed my wound almost instantly so I drank until it was dead. Problem solved.”

Kane cocked an eyebrow and saluted Michael with his glass before tipping it back and draining the rest of the red beverage. It sounded like a reasonable explanation but it still didn’t answer the question of why he’d been such a hard ass with Dean. He started to ask Michael what the demon’s blood had tasted like but decided to hold off for now. Besides… if he wanted to know bad enough, he could just bite one himself and find out.

For some misguided reason Misery’s rotting face flashed in Kane’s mind and he had to turn his back to Michael to keep his brother from seeing the disgusted expression that was twisting at his lips. He headed toward the refrigerator to find something that would wash the imaginary flavor out of his mouth.

Michael slid onto one of the barstools when he felt cold chills crawl across his body and he inwardly cursed when a thin film of perspiration formed on his forehead.