A Shade of Blood (A Shade of Vampire #2)(24)

Of course, Ben found a way to milk his injuries for all they were worth and stir himself into becoming more popular than ever, but after all the sermons he got from Amelia, Ben never got into a fight again.

That’s also when he started having martial arts lessons at the local gym. It didn’t take long for him to drag me to the Saturday lessons. I obliged him, because at that time, I never could say no to him, but it was how I realized that I was a pacifist at heart.

As I rushed through the school hallways, I couldn’t help but smirk at how useless those classes were to me. Certainly no use against vampires. Then again, I never actually had enough presence of mind to use what I learned against Derek or Lucas. Stopping in front of the clinic’s door, I found myself bothered by the thought that I never actually fought back. As much as you chastised yourself to not become the victim, that’s still what you were at The Shade.

I was disappointed and angry with myself when I twisted the knob of the clinic door and pushed it open. I let out a gasp the moment I saw Ben. He had a large black, purple and blue bruise occupying nearly half of the left side of his face. He also had a deep gash lining the right side of his torso.

“Ben…” was all I could manage to say. It came out in a breathless whisper. I wanted to grab him by both shoulders and shake some sense into him. I made my way to his side and brushed my thumb over the line of his jaw.

“What the hell were you thinking?” He refused to look me in the eye.

Our school doctor walked in and gave me a curt nod. “Miss Claremont, kindly step aside. This won’t take long.”

I got out of the doctor’s way and watched as he dressed Ben’s wound. “May I ask how you came upon this cut, Mr. Hudson?”

“Coach already told you, Doc. I got into a fight.”

“And your teammates cut you?”

“No… One of them tackled me to the ground… don’t even remember who… it was so crazy. I was trying to get away from him and my side rubbed against one of the benches. It’s just a scratch. Barely even felt it.”

Pacifist or not, I suddenly felt the urge to take the violent route and sock him in the jaw. The sight of his bare torso and the “scratch” he’d just added to all the scars that were already there was making my stomach churn.

“How did you ever get such ugly cuts?” The doctor stepped back after finishing up bandaging the gash on his side. He stared at Ben’s body, his face marred with concern. “What happened during your absence, Ben?”

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told the police and that other doctor who did my physical exam. I’d rather not talk about it.” Ben even had the gall to add flourish to his statement by flashing his biggest smile. He grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his body. He got up from the clinic bed, made his way toward me and took my hand. “Come on, Sofia. Let’s go home.”

I wanted to pull away from him, but the last thing he needed was to be dragged into a fight with me. I forced a smile at the school doctor as we brushed past him. “Thank you, Doctor.”

“Oh yeah…” Ben nodded the doctor’s way. “Thanks, Doc.”

We were out of the clinic and a good distance headed for the parking lot when I stopped walking and pulled at him to stop.

“What? Let’s just go, okay? I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Since when did you start getting into fights again, Ben?”

“What part of ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ don’t you understand, Sofia?”

I pursed my lips and nodded. I pulled my hand away from his grasp and began walking. “Let’s go then.” I didn’t miss the wounded look on his face when I passed by him.

We reached the black pickup his parents recently bought him. He had his eye on it since summer and apparently, Lyle and Amelia thought that the best time to get it for him was a week after we got back from Mexico.

Ben tossed me the keys. “You drive.”

I got in the driver’s seat and started the car. I was already backing up when Ben asked a long overdue question.

“Why did you come back with me? Why did you choose me over him?”

“Since when was the choice between you and Derek?”

I flinched when he hit the glove compartment in frustration. “Can you really be so dense, Sofia?”

First I’m naïve. Now I’m dense. Great. “I came back because it was the sensible thing to do. You have no idea what I went through in there, Ben. There wasn’t a day that passed by that I didn’t think of escaping. Heck… I even tried as soon as I got the chance.”

“You tried to escape?”

“Yes – I thought I already told you that. I got as far as the wall lining the island before two vampire guards caught me.”

“What happened?”

“They were going to kill me. One of them was already licking one of my scratches when Derek showed up.” I could sense Ben tense at the mention of Derek, but I decided to ignore him. This was my story to tell and it was he who opened up this can of worms. Suck it up, Ben. “He asked who had a taste of my blood. One guard admitted to it. Derek ripped the vampire’s heart out and let the other one go.”

“And you still don’t think he’s a murderer?”

“I’m not saying what he did was right, but he did what he thought was necessary to protect me. Once a vampire gets a taste of a human’s blood, they will crave that particular human. Derek knew that as long as I was around, the guard would have an urge to hunt me.”