Blood Mate: A Paranormal Romance by Natalie Kristen

the blood
out of her eyes. But there was just too much blood. It felt as
though her face had split open and blood and gore was just oozing out
of every orifice.
    Bryn slumped to the ground,
and the attack finally ceased. She forced her eye open a crack to
see Elliott plucking her watch from her wrist. He aimed her watch at
her and snapped a photograph.
    “ Beauty,” was all
he said.
    The last thing she saw was the
door slamming shut after they had dragged her across the floor and
thrown her into a small, dark room.
    Bryn blinked rapidly in the
darkness, her vision sharpening with each blink. She hadn't been
moved from that small room. Elliott had knocked her out and left her
here. She groaned softly. How long had she been out?
    She touched her neck, and
found a ridged line at the side of her neck. Her horrendous wound
had healed, and she was feeling stronger. She couldn't have healed
so fast, not with her massive blood loss.
    She swallowed and tasted blood
on her tongue. She jerked up with a gasp. Someone had given her
blood.
    She twisted round and saw her
grandmother huddled on the floor behind her with her eyes closed. A
dirty rag had been stuffed into her mouth.
    “ Nana!”
    Bryn scrambled to her
grandmother and tugged the gag out of her mouth. Nana immediately
gulped in a mouthful of air and her eyelids fluttered open.
    With her fang, she quickly cut
the rope around Nana's ankles. Her grandmother managed a weak smile.
    “ Bryn...”
    “ Are you okay, Nana? Do
you feel...”
    “ I'm fine, Bryn,”
Nana answered with a feeble wave.
    Bryn narrowed her eyes at her
grandmother. “I smell blood.”
    “ They didn't hurt me.”
    “ They gagged you and
tied you up! Those bastards! I'll make them pay...”
    “ Ha!” Nana
smirked. “They had to gag me to shut me up. I told them what
they needed to hear. And when they didn't listen, I slapped them
over the head good and proper. I think I kicked one of them in the
nuts, too! I made them pay, all right!”
    “ You didn't!”
Bryn pretended to be appalled. “That's hitting below the
belt.”
    Nana chuckled, then coughed.
Worried, Bryn tried to check Nana for injuries but her grandmother
pulled away and closed her fist adamantly.
    Bryn eyed Nana's trembling
fist. What was Nana trying to hide from her?
    Bryn pretended to turn away
for a moment, then made a sudden grab at her grandmother's quivering
hand. There was a deep cut across Nana's palm.
    “ Nana!” Bryn
gasped. “You...you gave me your blood!”. Her
grandmother had cut open her palm and bled into Bryn's mouth while
she was unconscious. “How could you...”
    “ And why can't I?”
Nana's belligerent tone matched hers. “Why can't I give my
granddaughter some of my blood? You be a good girl now, and take
some more.” Nana pointed at her own neck. “You need to
keep up your strength so you can get us out of here.”
    “ Nana, I already took
your blood. I won't take any more!”
    “ Oh? And why is that?
Is my blood too old and stale for you? I know I won't die from your
bite, Bryn. You'll have to drain me to kill me, and you won't drain
me. You can't kill me, Bryn. I'm tough.” Nana gave her a
withering look. “Or maybe that's why you won't bite me. You
can't. My wrinkled old hide is too tough for your baby fangs. Bah!”
    “ I feeling fine, Nana.
Really really.”
    Bryn shook her head and Nana
huffed loudly. She sat down cross-legged beside her grandmother and
put her head on her grandmother's shoulder.
    “ I saw about fifty or
more mean-looking people out there,” Nana began as she stroked
Bryn's hair. “They didn't hurt me. They just locked me up in
this dingy little storeroom. But they hurt you bad.” Nana's
voice shook. “Who are these people, Bryn? Do you know them?
Have you been mixing with...”
    “ They're rogues, Nana.
We hunt them. Enforcers hunt these rogue paranormals down and
destroy them. These rogues abuse their paranormal powers, using them
to hurt and terrorize the innocent