by Zenia, Zara
“Pet, I will explain later—for now, we need to clean Bella up and get her a different shirt. The paramedics will be here any moment.”
I nod and bounce to my feet, scurrying to Bella’s room. Running in the bathroom, I rinse off my hands and dry them quickly. I move back to the bedroom, open her dresser and pull out two shirts, one for her and one for me. I rush back to the living room and see Bella propped against the back of the sofa, still out of it. James has mopped up the blood, and I can see he’s pushed the bullet into the decorative pillow that was on the couch. He takes the light blue shirt from my hand and gently puts it over Bella’s head. He pulls her arms through the sleeves and tugs it down over her stomach. He presses the shirt against where the bullet hit her and a little bit of blood soaks the shirt.
“What are you doing?” I tug on the shirt I grabbed for me.
“Making it look like she was grazed by the bullet.” He grazes his fingernail, which I had no idea is that sharp, over the material, and it rips a little.
Sirens sound, heading our way, and I look outside to see if they are as close as they sound.
James lifts her up and sets her on the sofa. “Sit with her, pet, while I remove these.” He lifts the soaked with blood shirts and speeds off to the kitchen. I hear the sink faucet run, and then he returns with a wet rag.
As the cop cars and ambulance pull up, he lifts Bella’s shirt and presses the rag to the wound which now doesn’t look like a bullet hole at all, just a slight tear in her skin, but it is still bleeding a little.
“Tucson PD! Open up!” one of the officer’s shouts.
“Come in, Officer!” I call, worry still filling my voice. “We’re in here!”
They rush into the room, weapons drawn, but seeing us, they look around, and ask, “Ma’am, sir, where is the perpetrator?”
“He left, Officer. He was driving a black SUV. I didn’t get a look at his plate, I’m afraid, as he was shooting at me at the time,” James answers.
The officers put their weapons away and wave in the paramedics. “If you’ll back away, we’ll see to the young woman. A detective will be with you in a moment to take your statements.”
“I believe she was just grazed by the bullet and is merely passed out,” James offers, backing up and pulling me up into his arms.
A few minutes later, a man with a medium build walks into the house. He’s got dark brown hair and a mustache, and he’s wearing a brown plaid sports coat over his rotund belly. “I’m Detective Short. Can someone tell me what occurred?”
I nod, taking a calming breath. “Yes, sir. My friend and I were at a club—”
“And you are, ma’am?”
“Carolyn Grant, sir. We got back here to her place at about ten-forty-five. We were sitting on her sofa, talking, and suddenly she jerked, and put her hand to her side. She was bleeding, and then she fainted. I looked out the window and recognized my ex-boyfriend, Marvin Shea, in the yard, waving a gun. He was shouting at me to come out. I grabbed Bella and pulled her behind the sofa where we hid while I called 9-1-1. Then James showed up.”
“And what’s your full name, sir?”
“James Silver.”
“And why did you show up, sir? Are you a neighbor?” he asks.
James smiles. “No, I am Carolyn’s boyfriend,” he answers smoothly. “I noticed Mr. Shea following the girls as they left the club. I attempted to call Carolyn, but her phone was off. She has had trouble with Mr. Shea and has taken out several restraining orders against him over the past four years. When I couldn’t reach her, I followed the girls here in a friend’s vehicle. Mr. Shea took a few shots at me when I pulled up, and then he fled.”
“I see. And when and why did you file these restraining orders, Ms. Grant?”
I blink, frowning. “The first one was filed after he beat the shit out of me four years ago. I nearly died. That was back in California. I pressed charges, but he got off on probation. I spent four years, moving every few months because he kept tracking me down. Seven months ago, I moved here, changed my name, and thought I was finally away from him. Unfortunately, he tracked me down again, and I filed a new restraining order with the Tucson PD. They pinged his phone at the time and said he was still in California. He didn’t stay there, obviously.”
“It appears not, ma’am.” He writes in his notebook and looks over at the still passed out Bella. “I’ll get her statement at the hospital. We’ll have someone out patrolling the area, and we’ve got an APB out on Marvin Shea, so don’t worry, we’ll catch him. I hope the rest of your evening is better.”
I press into James’ side, and he pulls me closer. “You’re safe now, pet.”
“Am I?” I say softly. “He’s still out there, James.”
“Not for long, he’s not,” he promises.
Chapter 23
James
The paramedics decide to transport Bella to the hospital, and we follow in Augustus’ car. Carolyn’s hand is shaking in mine as I drive. I raise her hand and kiss it, my mind drifting over the events of the evening. I should have gone after the asshole and destroyed him right there. I turn my gaze to Carolyn and realize if I had, her friend may not have lived. I made the right choice, but I’m not happy about it. I’m not happy that I can’t protect her in the daylight against this human man. I contemplate asking her to stay with me, to be with me forever, but could I do that to her? Could I turn her? Would she want that? Would I be able to do it without her dying? I hope so. I decide to feel her out and see where her thoughts are.
“Pet, I will protect you until my last breath,” I start, allowing the worry I feel for her to fill my voice, “but I cannot be with you during the day, as I mentioned. That has me concerned for your safety. I do not wish to lose you, not now that I have found you.”
She looks at me and smiles. “I don’t want to lose you either, James. I… I think I’ve fallen in love with you. I know you probably don’t look at me in quite the same—”
I slam on the brakes, my heart filling with glee as I pull over on the side of the road and park. I look at her because I want her to understand how much she has come to mean to me. “Carolyn, it has been over two hundred years since I’ve felt this way about anyone.” I shake my head, understanding that those words aren’t exactly true, and look at her again. “No, that is not even true. What I feel for you even far surpasses what I felt for Mary. She was a lovely girl, and I enjoyed her company very much. We were never intimate though. My heart did not really understand what love truly was…. not until you.” My gaze connects with hers as I take both of her hands in mine. “I love you, Carolyn. Not because you are submissive to me but because you are strong, beautiful, sassy, and loving, and you make my pulse race. You are everything I could ever hope for in a mate.”
Her eyes light up, and she gasps. “Sir… James,” she murmurs, her hand going to my cheek. “I had hoped. You are everything I have ever dreamed of. I love you.”
I lean forward and kiss her, crushing my lips to hers. A few minutes later, breathing hard, I pull away and rest my forehead to hers, my hand cupping the back of her neck. “I never want to be without you,” I whisper.
She smiles. “I do not wish to be without you either,” she murmurs, and then her smile fades. She looks up into my eyes. “But… I’m not like you… I’ll age… I’ll die,” she whispers.
I move my hand around to cup her cheek, looking in her eyes. “You don’t have to. It’s dangerous, but I could turn you.”
No. I shouldn’t have brought it up. I don’t really want to turn her. It’s a dangerous and selfish thing to do just to keep her with me. I just can’t stand the thought of being without her.
“You could?” she asks, biting her lip and looking curious and interested.
Now that I gave that selfish thought voice, I do my best to talk her out of it. “No. Nevermind. I do not wish to influence you into it, pet. I did not have a choice when I was turned, and I won’t force this life on you no matter how much I want to keep
you by my side forever. Don’t worry, pet, I will stay with you as long as you’ll have me.”
She grins. “Even as I turn old and gray and wrinkly?”
I chuckle. “Even then, pet.”
“And if I say I want to be turned?”
“I’ll consider how and when we can transform you,” I reply, not wanting to tell her that I would only turn her when her human life hangs in the balance.
She nods. “I want you to turn me. I want to be with you. I want to be everything you are and be a part of your world.”
“You don’t understand. It’s risky. You could die. And there is no going back once you’ve fully transformed.”
“I know. I’m sure, James.”
“You realize that you won’t be able to go out in daylight anymore, no more sun. We get very fatigued and are practically comatose until the sun sets.”
“Is the sun the only thing I’ll have to give up?”
“Pretty much, but you’ll have to have permission to go into someone’s home,” I comment, trying to think of all the things that might dissuade her, and can’t help but be truthful. “You can still pray, you can still go to church, you can still be blessed with holy water. We aren’t unholy, simply different. More creature than human. Garlic doesn’t hurt us—that’s just a myth. Silver isn’t an issue, so you don’t have to give it up.”
She nods again. “I’m glad I don’t have to get rid of my silver. That would suck. I don’t want to have to ask Bella to invite me in... that will be weird. I’m glad I can still eat Italian. I really love pasta.” She grins.
“Eating food is a pleasure, but I admit I do not indulge often.” I purse my lips trying to come up with more ways to deter her from wanting this now. “Vampires are not romantic figures. We can be sadistic creatures and often fight amongst ourselves.”
“Humans are just as bad. Look at Marvin.” She shrugs. “Look, I want this, James. I want to be part of your world.”
“I know you do. I could lose you though, trying to turn you.” I brush a strand of her hair from her cheek and tuck it behind her ear. “I’ve never turned anyone before, so this is only what I’ve been told and discovered over the years. You must drink from me three times within the same moon cycle. You’ve already drunk once. After the third time, you must die in order to live. That is the hardest one.” I look at her with concern. “Sometimes it doesn’t work. Sometimes, no matter how much one wishes it, the person being turned is killed by the virus and doesn’t awaken.”
“Oh.” Her lips twist and her brow furrows. “I don’t want to die.” She looks up into my eyes and smiles. “I just want to be with you forever.”
I can’t deny that the thought of having her with me for eternity sets my heart ablaze.
“I am.” She nods confidently. “You mentioned that I already drank once. What about the second?” she asks.
“You have. There is no rush… not right now. We can wait until it’s absolutely necessary—”
She raises her eyes and meets mine. “Sir, Marvin is still out there. He’s not going to stop coming after me. I don’t want to die, but if you say I have to drink from you three times before I can be turned, and if Marvin kills me first…”
Her pleading gaze breaks my heart. She isn’t wrong. Marvin could find a way to take her from me before we have a chance to truly be together as a couple. “Very well, I don’t see the harm in allowing you a second drink, just in case. Though we have plenty of time to actually transform you. A whole lifetime.”
“I don’t want to be old and frail when you turn me, James.”
“You won’t be.”
“Can we do the second now?” she asks, her worried gaze steady on my face.
“If you wish it.”
“Please? I will feel safer if I know you can turn me if Marvin finds me again.”
I kiss her, and nuzzling her neck, I bite her, drawing in a mouthful and then closing the wound. She moans and presses closer to me. I can smell her arousal and want nothing more than to take her back to my house and make love to her, but I know she wants to go see Bella and make sure she is all right. Lifting my wrist, I bite it again and press it to her lips. “You’ll need to take at least two mouthfuls, pet.”
She grips my wrist, and I feel her sucking upon it. My cock throbs in tune to her pulls, and I shift in my seat. After her third pull, I remove my wrist from her mouth, and she licks her lips, her eyes sparkling in the moonlight. She smiles and moves to me, pulling my lips to hers, being the aggressor instead of the submissive. I kiss her back, taking control and then releasing her, settling her back in her seat.
She pouts, and I chuckle.
“Pet, if you’d like, we can return to Club Toxic, and I can go ahead with those punishments, or we can go to the hospital and check on your Bella.”
She draws in a sharp breath. “The hospital! Oh my God, I nearly forgot about her. I’m a terrible friend.”
I shake my head. “No, you are just hyped up on my blood at the moment and turned on. I suppose I should have waited to give you the second drink.” I buckle her seatbelt across her. My hand brushes across her nipples, teasing both of us.
She looks at me darkly. “Sir, if I can’t fulfill my lust right now, then neither can you,” she says in a sassy, teasing tone.
I chuckle. “I’m going to enjoy turning your bottom red again, pet, and filling that sassy mouth of yours with my cock.”
She squirms in her seat, and her cheeks turn pink.
I pull back onto the road and finish the drive to the hospital.
Chapter 24
Carolyn
As turned on as I am, I can’t help but feel guilty. Bella is hurt because of me. No, because of Marvin. First rule I learned from my counselor is that I can only take responsibility for my own actions. It is also something I speak about with my patients, those who have faced abuse, who believe that they are to blame for what their abuser did to them. They may be victims of abuse, but they are not to blame for that.
My fault lay in the fact that I should have left as soon as Marvin began his mental abuse. But I made excuses, told myself he was right—I was stupid. I wasn’t pretty. I tore myself down harder than he did. That was my fault. Bella is the one who made me realize what I had been doing. And having gone through all of that is why I chose to go into psychology, so I can help others who are going through what I did.
We pull into the hospital parking lot, and James comes around and helps me out of the car. We walk into the emergency room together and go to the front desk.
“Excuse me—”
“Anything broken? Are you bleeding and need attention immediately?” the woman behind the desk says in a bored voice without even looking up.
“No, I—”
“Then have a seat and fill this out. A doctor will be with you shortly,” she says, lifting up a clipboard, still without even looking at me.
I push the clipboard back at her. “No. We are here to see a woman who was just brought in, Bella Goss.”
She frowns at me, finally looking up. “Are you family?”
“I’m her sister, Carolyn Grant,” I lie.
She narrows her eyes at me. “She’s in room five.” She presses a buzzer and says, “Go through the doors, down the hall on the left.”
“Thank you.” I take James’ hand, and we move through the doors. “Well isn’t she a peach,” I mutter. We get to the room, and I knock on the door, thinking she might be with a doctor.
“Come in,” Bella calls.
“Bella, I’m so glad you’re awake! You scared the shit out of me!” I rush to her, throwing my arms around her.
James leans against the doorframe and smiles. “I’m glad to see you are well, Bella. You gave Carolyn a fright.”
“What the hell happened? I woke up in the ambulance, and the paramedic said I’d been shot!”
“You don’t remember?” I frown at her and look over at James.
“No, I remember getting home and sitting with you on
the sofa, talking about—” she breaks off and her gazes flies over to James, and she grins, “You and James and the kinky scene you did. Next thing I know, I’m waking up in the ambulance.”
I sigh. “It was Marvin. He followed us... I’m so sorry! I should have been paying attention.”
“You aren’t responsible for his actions, remember?” She arches a brow at me.
“Right. Anyway, he shot you through the bay window, and—”
“He broke my window! That fucker! Damn it! Do you know how much they cost! How the fuck am I going to replace that?”
“I will take care of it, Bella, it is the least that I can do,” James says.
“What? Why? You didn’t shoot through my window. In fact, how did you even get to my house?”
“I noticed Marvin following you, and because of an earlier incident with my car, I was slow in following him to get to you both sooner. Augustus gave me your address and the use of his vehicle.”
“He tried to warn us, he called, but my phone was dead because it went right to voicemail.”
Bella sighs. “Well thank you for the offer, James. I appreciate it.”
He nods. “Do you need a ride home?”
“I don’t know when they are going to let me out of here. They think I might have a concussion, that I might have hit my head or something. And my shoulder is bruised and sore. They don’t know why.”
“Oh, that might be my fault,” I say, frowning. “When you fell, I pulled you around the back of the sofa. Sorry.”
Bella grins. “You were doing what you thought was needed to save me, so you’re forgiven. The bullet only grazed me, apparently, but it bled quite a bit, or so I’m told.”
I nod. “Yes, you were bleeding,” I agree. “You had me very worried.”
“Well I feel fine now. I wish they’d let me out of here.”
“Pet, I know you will wish to say here, but I need to return Augustus’ vehicle. Let me arrange a car to pick you both up and return you to Bella’s when the doctor releases her.”
