Free Bitter Sweet by Lennell Davis Page A

ripped down the middle and soaked in blood. However, everything seemed fine.
     
                  “May I?” asked Alik, kneeling, holding his hands a few inches from my skin.             
     
                  “Sure…” At the promise of his touch, I forgot the seriousness of the situation. His hands were cool on my skin and gentler than I expected. They moved first up my stomach to just below my breast and then around to my back, feeling my ribs. Then to either side of my neck and down to my collar bones and just above my breast, checking for sore spots I was guessing. All I felt was his cool, smooth skin on mine, and I liked it. Then a few small pricks of hot pain fired in spots, but he was there to cool them with his touch.
     
                  “I’m sorry, but you had broken ribs and a collar bone snapped, they have healed nicely.
     
                  “Broken ribs? Broken ribs don’t heal in a few hours."
     
                  “They can with help," he said, taking his hands from my skin and buttoning the jacket back.
     
                  "What the hell happened?" I asked again, looking up and meeting his eyes. I grabbed his hand and noticed it was ice cold to the touch; I reacted to the cold, but didn’t let go.
     
                  "A side effect of drinking my blood. Your skin temperature is much closer to my own around your injuries. It will go away soon, I hope," he said, moving his hand and averting his eyes.
     
                  "Why would I drink your blood?"
     
                  "Memory loss… another side effect. Give it a moment and try to focus on what you lost, you should remember…"
     
                  I sat there for a moment and tried to remember what happened… It all came back in a painful unfocused flash: Jessica kicking me, the fight, Jason’s head rolling on the ground, bodies crumbling into ash, and a childlike face. Then Alik catching me, cold, soft fingers on my skin, and then a wonderful taste… I couldn’t help but lick my lips, tasting a faint echo of whatever it was. I had an urge to raise my bloody palms to my mouth and lick them, but I think Alik saw me moving my hands up slowly and caught them. I looked into his eyes filled with concern and then thought about what I was going to do and pulled away."I’m sorry," he said and I think he thought he scared me. It hadn’t been him, but I wasn’t thinking and said the first thing that came to mind.
                 
    “Okay… I’m calling a cab to take me home.” I started to stand.
                 
    “I... I have started all wrong, just give me a moment,” he said behind me. By this point, I was halfway up the little hill. “Please, Vanessa… you don’t even know where you are; it’s late and New York can be a dangerous place at night.”
     
                  “Apparently, where you are is worse; I will take my chances,” I said, just coming to the top of the little hill.
     
                  “You’re probably right… but nothing will ever harm you again when you are around me; I won’t allow it.” His voice, full of conviction, made me stop, and when he took my hand, I turned.
     
                  “How did you...” I said confused as to how fast he climbed up here.
     
                  “Please, just listen to me for a moment; you can choose to believe me or not, either way, when I’m done, I will take you home. Here, you can even hold the key to the car,” he said, handing me a small square crystal. "If you still think I’m crazy and want to go home alone, you can have the car and I will stay out of your life as much as possible." How he had said that made me believe him completely, but I took the key all the same. There was a part of me that wanted to run, a large part. There was also a small part of me, a very