by Helen Bright
Alex nodded then left. I turned to look at Josh, who was cradling Keeley in his arms as he sobbed into her blood soaked hair.
“Do you think she can be saved?” asked Nik as he gestured to Keeley.
“She won’t be human,” sobbed Josh. Nik closed his eyes tightly, but not before I saw the lone tear fall down his cheek. My heart broke for these vampires and the women that they loved. What they had gone through today should never have happened. I should have followed Maxim and made sure that he left. I should have put him on a plane back to Moscow myself, and made sure my team in Russia knew to intercept him at the airport and force him to stay in Kiev.
“You need to take his head, Gregor. When all your builders have gone you need to make sure his head and body are burned,” Nik growled.
“I will call Sergei and Yuri in to do it when you leave with Gina. I don’t want her to see any of it,” I told him. Nik nodded and placed a kiss on Gina’s cheek. She was sleepy and pale but looked better than she did a few minutes ago.
“Keeley can have one of the guest suites for now. You cannot take her home until she has transitioned fully and she can be trusted to be near her child,” I murmured.
It broke my heart to think that we had to keep her away from her daughter, but everyone here knew that a newly made vampire finds the blood of children too tempting to let her near them.
Chapter Seventeen
Alex
I dismissed all the building contractors and made my way to the blood store in the old pantry. Ryan, the decorator, had followed me in, asking why I had just told everyone to take a few days off.
Reluctantly I told him what had happened. Mostly so he didn’t go to the coach house, and also so that he wouldn’t be around later when we disposed of Maxim’s body. He was really upset, but I didn’t assure him that everything would be okay.
At this point in time, I could never see things being okay again.
Just yesterday I was looking at Joshua and seeing all the love he had for his new little family, and a bright future was on the horizon for us all. Now there would be many tears and heartache for Keeley, Josh, and that innocent little girl whose mother would have to be kept away from her for a long time.
I had switched off the bond I had with Julia when I heard Gina tell Nik what had happened over the phone. It seemed through the panic that Gina hadn’t been able to communicate through her bond with Nik. But it was probably for the best as she was able to concentrate all her energy on fighting Maxim. Who would have thought that a human as little as Gina would be enough to disable a born immortal bodyguard like Maxim?
Nik had done the right thing in training Gina, and I vowed right there and then that as soon as Julia was able to, after the birth of our baby, I would train her, also.
As I made my way back over to the coach house with the bags of blood, I called Freya and explained what had happened. She was devastated and set off back to Rothley straight away.
We discussed what would happen to Daisy in the immediate future, and Freya said she would take her back to Aldbrough with her. She also asked about Daniel. I knew we had to tell him what had happened as soon as possible. Maggie would be heartbroken, too. I had Daniel’s number on my mobile, so I sent him a text and asked him to meet me at my cottage in an hour.
When I got back inside the coach house cottage, the smell of blood hit me hard. I think fear and adrenaline had not let it affect me earlier, but now it seemed to knock me sideways. I was glad I had brought as many bags with me as I had, and I set to work handing them round to Josh, Gregor, and Nik before taking one myself.
I explained to everyone about my phone call to Freya and her plan to take Daisy. Josh never commented, but Gregor and Nik agreed it was for the best. I think that Josh was barely holding it together at this point, so I tried to put some sort of plan in action to get us all out of that building.
Gregor had offered Keeley and Josh a room at the Manor for however long they needed it, and I was glad. I didn’t want a newly turned vampire anywhere near Julia, and as we lived on the works compound, I didn’t want any of my workers near Keeley, either.
“Josh, do you need any help carrying Keeley to the Manor?” I asked even though I knew what the answer would be.
“No, I’m good now that I’ve had more blood.” I watched him stand with Keeley in his arms and wobble slightly to the left. Gregor held him steady while he took a few deep breaths. I wondered just how much blood Josh had given Keeley to make him as weak as that.
Glancing at Keeley, I could see the holes in her neck were virtually healed, so she wasn’t losing any more blood at least.
“I will make sure that I book you in for a blood delivery as soon as I can Gregor. In the meantime, I will bring you some from our stock,” I said as I made my way over to Nik and Gina.
Gregor nodded and waited until Josh started walking to the door with Keeley held tightly in his arms.
“I will bring you some clothes over later Josh,” I shouted as he walked towards the Manor. He didn’t turn and acknowledge me, but I didn’t expect him to. His body was weak and he was emotionally drained. The sad thing was, there was no quick fix for the latter.
I held the door open to the back of Nik’s SUV, and I took Gina from his arms as he got in, then I carefully handed her to him, and covered her up with my jacket.
Nik nodded his thanks, and I closed the door and walked round to the driver’s side. I had Gina’s blood on my hands and shirt, so I quickly wiped my palms on my trousers before I started the car up and drove home.
Pulling up outside Nik’s cottage, I made my way around to his front door and left them once they were inside. I walked the few steps to my cottage and took a deep breath before I went inside and faced Julia and little Daisy.
Julia walked towards me and gasped in shock as she saw my bloodstained shirt.
“Alex, you switched off the bond, what’s happened?”
Lowering my voice so that Daisy wouldn’t hear I began to explain what had happened to Keeley.
Sergei was sitting at the table with Daisy, and they were doing some drawings. When he heard Gina’s name mentioned, he got up immediately and came towards me. He looked like he was going to ask me some questions, then he suddenly stepped away in shock.
“That’s Gina’s blood,” he said making his way to the door, “Where is she Alex? Where is my Gina?”
“Home with Nik,” I yelled after him. But he was already going inside Nik’s cottage before I could finish the sentence.
Chapter Eighteen
Nik
I was standing under the warm shower stream trying to rinse the blood from Gina’s hair and arms, when the bathroom door flew open and Sergei stepped inside, staring at Gina’s torn, bloody clothes on the floor. He slid open the door to the shower and stepped directly inside, fully clothed.
“Sergei what the fuck are you doing? Get out,” I yelled while trying to keep Gina from falling.
But Sergei didn’t move. Instead, he looked Gina over from top to bottom before he asked, “Where was she injured Nik? Did you give her enough blood?”
“Yes Sergei, she’s had enough, for now, she can have more later. Gina cut her wrist to try and get blood into Keeley, but she cut into it too far.”
Just then Gina seemed to become aware that Sergei had joined us.
“Sergei,” she said, sounding way too out of it for my liking. Then Gina burst into tears as Sergei turned her around and held her tightly.
“My Gina,” he said kissing her cheek before breathing in her scent. “You are okay now. You are safe and we will take care of you.”
What scared me the most about this situation was that Gina had not been the slightest bit bothered that Sergei was not only seeing her naked body, but was holding her, too. Gina was so self-conscious normally because she hated her body and the fact she was a little overweight, so seeing her not being bothered in the slightest by Sergei’s presence while she was naked, made me realise how far she had gone into
shock.
“Wash her quickly while I hold her Nik, then we can get her into bed with a hot drink,” said Sergei, checking her wrist once again.
I was angry at him for taking over with his commands, but also grateful to be able to have him hold her up so I could wash all of her and Keeley’s blood away.
A few minutes later Gina was thoroughly clean, and Sergei told me to wait a few moments while he cleaned the bloodstained clothes away from in front of the shower.
As soon as he stepped out of the shower he removed all his wet clothes, then bent down to pick up the bloody ones before wiping the floor with his own wet shirt.
I saw him exit the bathroom with the dirty wet clothing, then I switched off the shower and carried Gina out.
I stood Gina up so she was able to lean toward the wall for support, then I towelled her dry as quickly as I could. I helped her into bed and pulled the quilt up as high as I could before finally drying myself.
Sergei was wearing a dry pair of boxer shorts when he came back into the bedroom with the quilt from his bed, which he placed over Gina. Then without saying anything he went back out to the kitchen. He returned a short time later with Gina’s favourite hot chocolate drink before getting into bed beside her.
“Nik, hurry and get into bed. You need to hold her and keep her warm.”
“Sergei, thanks for helping, but I would appreciate it if you got out of bed. Gina is naked under there and when she finally gets her full bearings back, she will go up the bloody wall when she knows you have seen her without her clothes.”
“Nikolas, I do not care what Gina gets angry about when she is well again, I just want her to feel better and at the moment, she is still in shock.”
“I can hear you both,” said Gina in a weak voice.
“Gina, sit up a little and drink this hot chocolate,” Sergei said as he reached over to the bedside drawers to retrieve the cup.
I helped Gina to sit up so she could drink, but her hand shook so much that Sergei had to take the cup away before she spilled any. She laid back down and turned towards me.
“Hold me Nik, make me forget what happened today.”
I held her close and rubbed my hands up and down her back to generate some heat. Within a few minutes, Gina seemed to warm up, and soon after she fell asleep in my arms with Sergei at her back.
“Did you finish Maxim?” asked Sergei.
“No, I didn’t want to leave Gina. She was too weak, even though she had blood from Gregor, then me. She must have been so frightened Sergei. I could feel some of her fear through our bond, but I think she held some of it back from me.”
“Our Gina is brave and good Nik. She is always thinking of others before herself, but you must make her think of herself, too. I cannot lose her Nikolas. I would not wish to be in a world without Gina.”
I didn’t want to be in a world without her either, but she was my woman, my bonded mate, and pretty soon she would be my wife. I suddenly felt that there was more than friendship for Gina in Sergei’s heart.
“Sergei, what are your feelings toward Gina?”
“I love her. She is my best friend.”
“I thought I was your best friend,” I joked.
“You are my brother Nikolas. We may not have had the same parents, but our mothers were cousins, so we are blood. You have been in my life from when I was born and we have shared many times good and bad. You are my best friend too, but Gina is more than that to me. She is everything. I can tell her anything and she does not judge. She is a beautiful woman inside and out and she makes my life worth living.” He kissed the back of her neck before resting his head on her shoulder.
“Are you in love with her Sergei? I know you won’t lie to me and I need to know exactly how you feel.”
Did I, though? Maybe I should keep in the dark about this because I honestly didn’t know how it would affect my feelings towards him at this point.
“Yes, in a way. I love her more than I should do, I know that, but it is impossible not to.”
“How long have you loved her?”
“Around fourteen years. You told me that you had met her and knew she was yours. She had only just come to work here after I had gone back to Russia. You told me all about her and the fact that she had a husband and a family. You said you could tell she wasn’t happy, and you would wait until she left her husband no matter how long that would be. I came over to visit you three months later and you introduced us. I felt like I had been hit by a lightning bolt, I was so affected by her. I wanted to kidnap her and take her back to Russia with me, and if she had not had children, I probably would have done so.
“One day, during my visit I was driving Josh’s car through the village when I spotted her. She was walking to school to pick up her children and I offered to give her a lift. I could tell she didn’t really want to get in, but it was raining, so I persuaded her to let me take her. We chatted for a while outside the school gates and when she went in to get her children, I waited to give them a lift home. Her kids were happy to get a lift so they wouldn’t have to walk in the rain and they talked about what they had done at school that day. I started to imagine how it would be if they were my family and Gina was my woman.
“It was a happy thought, but I knew it could not be. You were already so in love with her and I would never risk our friendship, so I knew I could never have her, not like I wanted. But that day never left me. So I settled for whatever I could have from Gina, even if that were only the type of love that good friends bring.”
I was shocked. I felt like I didn’t know Sergei at all. I knew he thought a lot of Gina, but I didn’t know it went that far.
“Does Gina know about this Sergei? Did you ever tell her how you feel?”
“No. I tell her I love her often, but she does not know that I feel more than friendship towards her.”
“I won’t share her Sergei,” I stated forcefully. We had shared women in the past, but they were nothing more than a little bit of kink with women in one of Gregor’s clubs, or casual sex on a night out. I could never do that with Gina.
“I know you won’t. I’m not asking you to,” replied Sergei vehemently.
“This is so fucked up,” I said with a heavy sigh.
“It does not have to be Nikolas. I love Gina, and I will not do anything to upset her. We can go on just as we were; it does not change anything.”
“How can you say that Sergei? How can I go on knowing that when you look at the woman I love and tell her you love her that it means so much more than it should? How can I watch you cuddle her and kiss her cheek without knowing you want to take that further? Do you want to fuck her, Sergei? Do you want to taste her and take her blood?”
I was angry now thinking about Sergei wanting Gina in a sexual way, and my raised voice caused Gina to stir in her sleep.
“I do not think of these things anymore,” Sergei said getting out of bed. “I have gone past those feelings now. I accepted a long time ago that would never happen.”
“Then you never wanted her as much as I did, because I would never get past wanting Gina in that way. To never know the feel of her lips on mine, the way her body moves against me as I make love to her, and the taste of her cream when I make her come with my tongue. I could never not want that.”
“Then that is another reason why Sergei and Gina were never meant to be more than friends,” he said. “I have to go now and take Maxim’s head. I will make sure he burns well and has no chance of returning.”
He stood in the doorway to the bedroom for a moment before he turned back to me and spoke. “Do you want me to stay with Gregor for the rest of my visit?”
I looked at the man who had been my friend and my brother, and felt like I should hate him for what he had just told me, but I couldn’t. I had loved him for far too long for that to happen. He saved my life when we were boys, putting himself in harm’s way by doing so, and he didn’t act on his love for Gina because he knew I loved her first. I couldn’t hate Serg
ei; it just wasn’t possible.
“No Sergei, you can come back here. You are always welcome in our home; you know that. But if you are going to be staying in England more than Russia, you’re going to have to think of building your own home. We have the land out back that has planning permission. Speak to Alex about it when things calm down. Then we can come to yours and eat you out of house and home.”
“And you would be more than welcome,” he said grinning. Then he went to his room to get dressed before he left to dispose of Maxim’s body.
Chapter Nineteen
Sergei
I left Nik and Gina’s cottage and made my way over to Gregor’s home. Once again I had been called in to do the job that no one ever wants, only, this time, I was glad to take the vampire’s head and burn him.
My Gina’s life was put at risk because of him, and the lovely Keeley was no longer human. Maxim needed to die a painful death, but he was already staked. The quicker we got rid of him, the lesser the chance of being discovered. Russia tended to turn a blind eye to our activities, but I am not so sure you could explain it away to English police.
Yuri met me outside the cottage where Maxim lay. He looked confused and was scanning the area around the cottage quickly before coming towards me.
“Sergei, do you know where Maxim’s body is?”
“Yes, it is in the cottage on the left. Why?”
“It’s not in there, Sergei. I have checked both cottages in the coach house and they are both empty. I can see the blood from the two women, but Maxim’s body is gone. Did Gregor take care of it already?”
I made my way past Yuri into the cottage. The stench and stains from the dried blood were clearly apparent, but there was indeed no body. Something glistened in between all the dried blood, so I went over to see what it was. A pretty little blue pendant caught the fading sunlight, so I bent down to pick it up. It was on a gold chain that had been snapped apart, and I suddenly got a very unwelcome vision of Maxim tearing into Keeley’s neck and ripping the chain apart as he pulled away. What the poor woman must have suffered at the hands of that vampire.
