Descended by Blood

Author:Angeline Kace [Kace, Angeline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780983803706
Publisher: Accendo Press LLC
Published: 2011-08-22T04:00:00+00:00

16

I’d Rather Die

I struggled to get up the next morning. My life as of late had taken a toll on me, and I was drained. I wanted it all to go away.

Mirko wasn’t hearing it, though, when I asked for a day off. He wouldn’t even budge to my pleas of postponing our training until later in the day. He kept going on about having other stuff to do, so I’d better get with the program.

In the gym, Mirko punched me in the shoulder hard enough to knock me down.

I jumped up and counterattacked. I hit his jaw as hard as I could without tapping into my vampire strength.

“Oh, come on! You’re not even trying!” Mirko scowled at me.

That infuriated me. “I am, too! It’s not like I enjoy getting bruised, Mirko,” I panted, swiping a stream of sweat off my forehead. “I wouldn’t exactly consider this fun.”

“It’s not supposed to be fun. The whole point in doing these exercises is to strengthen your Pijawikan side, to bring out the predator within you.” Mirko used the tone one would use with a child.

“I don’t want to strengthen that side! The last time I fully tapped into it, I killed somebody.” The man I’d killed was about to strangle Jaren, but I still had a point. “What makes you think I would be all gung-ho about doing it again?”

“Did you forget you almost died at the airport? If I hadn’t been there, you would have been killed, and your friends would have been slaughtered. Or worse. And until we can figure out how to stop Jelena, nothing is going to change.”

I felt depleted. “I didn’t ask for this. I never wanted any of it. The only things that have come my way from being a dear, blessed Pijawika, or more accurately, a cursed abomination, is that I lost my home, my school, my friends, who knows when I’ll get to see my mom again, and my boyfriend broke up with me. You think dying is going to be a good motivation for me to tap into my other side? Well, you’ve got another thing coming, buddy. I would rather die than continue on this way, or worse, strengthen the good ol’ lucky charm that is my Pijawikan side.”

I grabbed my shoes and turned toward the door. I had enough for the day. Maybe for the rest of my life. What I was giving now was going to have to be enough. There was no way I was going to embrace my other side fully and risk losing myself in the process. I could already feel it happening.

“We’re not done here.”

“Tootles.” I reached the doors and made a sharp right turn down the hall to my room.

* * *

I hoofed it along the carpet, thinking of ways to get home. I wanted to be done with this place.

The lights above me flickered, and I halted. “Stupid government building.”

I started walking again, and Zack stalked around the corner. “Well, aren’t you good enough to eat,” he said, pushing me up against the wall, causing me to drop my sneakers.

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