Blood Debt

by Heather MacKinnon

“I’m glad you like them. I thought we could go hunt first before beginning your training. That way we’ll have no distractions for the rest of the night.”

  I nodded, and he pulled me across the living room toward the front door.

  “Are you two heading out?” Bea asked from the doorway of the kitchen. I watched her eyes assess our clasped hands before she raised a delicate brow.

  “Evening, Bea,” Nicholas greeted her. “We’re going to hunt but should be back soon.”

  “All right. You two be safe,” she called behind us as we left.

  We walked around the side of the house until we came to a large garage where Edmund had parked the Suburban the previous night. Nicholas walked over to the passenger side and opened my door before releasing my hand. I hopped in and fought to remove the goofy grin from my face.

  When Nicholas slid into the driver’s seat, he clapped his hands together once before outlining his plans for the night.

  “We’ll drive into town and over to a local bar where there should be plenty of people to choose from.” Nicholas looked over at me for my opinion and I nodded. “After that, we’ll come right back and get to your training. Usually the program here lasts three weeks, but we only have one before I need to get back to the city. I think you can handle it though,” he added with a wink in my direction.

  My heart beat so wildly I knew he must have been able to hear it from where he sat. I nodded again to prove I’d been listening and then reached forward to turn the music on. After a few songs, Nicholas leaned forward to lower the volume.

  “Adrienne? Is everything okay? You’ve been quiet tonight, and that’s very unlike you,” he added with a smirk.

  I rolled my eyes, feeling more like my old self. Clearing my throat, I said, “Yes, I’m fine. I just have a lot on my mind.”

  We sat in silence for a few minutes before Nicholas spoke again. “Is it about last night? If you regret what we did, we can pretend like it never happened. I don’t want to jeopardize the relationship we’ve built, and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. If–”

  I held up a hand to stop his rambling. He really was adorable when he was nervous. “I guess it is a little bit because of last night,” I began but hurried on when I saw Nicholas’ shoulders tense. “But I don’t regret anything. I’m just having trouble acting normal around you. I don’t know if I even know what normal is anymore. Was how we acted before normal? Is there a new normal that we’ll have to adopt now after our… after we… you know…” I finished lamely.

  From beneath my lashes, I snuck a peek at Nicholas, who was grinning from ear to ear.

  Damn him.

  “Adrienne, nothing has to change between us. Except I’d like to kiss you again at some point. If that’s all right with you?”

  He was asking for permission? As if there was any other answer besides, “Yes, I’d like that.” My voice was quiet, and I averted my gaze once more.

  “Well, that’s settled then,” he announced before turning the music back up. His hands tapped out the rhythm of the drumbeat in the song, and I watched him surreptitiously from my seat. After a few minutes, I loosened up enough to enjoy myself and sing with him.

  It wasn’t long before we turned onto what looked like a main road and followed it down past closed storefronts and empty parking lots. About a mile down, we came upon the local bar, complete with motorcycles parked outside and a red neon light in the window that read BAR.

  We drove past the entrance and parked a few buildings down. Nicholas turned and asked, “Ready?”

  I nodded, my mouth pressed tightly closed. I could do this. I’d already fed twice, and each time was a little easier than the time before.

  As luck would have it, there was a couple leaning against the wall outside, well past first base and racing toward second.

  When we got closer, Nicholas called out, “Good evening.”

  The two broke apart, the man stepping towards us in agitation before Nicholas’ glamor stopped him in his tracks. The woman he’d been with peeked out from behind her partner, and she too received a healthy dose of glamor.

  They both stood there, eyes glazed and arms limp at their sides. The man was in ripped jeans, a Harley Davidson t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. I snorted at his stereotypical appearance before I took in the woman. She was tall and skinny, her hair a mess, probably from her friend’s wandering hands, and her small black dress had ridden up on her thighs almost indecently.

  “Which one would you like?” Nicholas asked me.

  “I’ll take the woman,” I stated abruptly, which earned me a chuckle from Nicholas. He could laugh it up all he wanted. I wasn’t going to let him put his hands on a half-naked woman right in front of me if I could help it.

  I stalked towards her and asked her, “What’s your name?”

  “Carrie,” she intoned.

  “Carrie, go stand against the wall and show me your neck.”

  The woman took jerky steps back toward the building but did as I asked. I walked over to her, and without hesitation, bit into her neck.

  I pulled and pulled on the wounds, willing the blood to flow faster down my throat. Just as I had the notion to quit, I felt a familiar tap on my shoulder and pulled my mouth off the woman’s throat. I quickly bit my tongue, licked her wounds, and gave her new memories of the past few minutes.

  I turned to find Nicholas a few feet away, watching me. Suddenly shy, I stared at my shoes as I walked over to him. When I got close, Nicholas reached out to pull me into his arms and I relaxed in his embrace.

  “I was just about to stop when you tapped my shoulder,” I told him, my voice muffled against his chest.

  “You’re doing exceptionally well, Adrienne. I’m very proud of you.” His words had my heart soaring and my stomach tightening. I realized it meant a lot that he was proud of me.

  We made our way back to the Suburban and spent the ride back listening to music and chatting amicably. Nicholas parked in the garage once more and led me to the grass behind the large house. The lights in the house cast a soft glow on the green grass, but I could have seen without them.

  Nicholas walked over to a large rock about the size of me. “Here’s your first lesson: rip that rock in half.”

  I stared up at him, completely dumbfounded. “Rip it in half?” I repeated.

  Nicholas nodded and waved a hand for me to proceed. If he thought I could rip a small boulder in half, then I guess I should at least try.

  I leaned over, put one hand on either side of the uneven surface and pulled in opposite directions. At first nothing happened, but suddenly, there was an ear-splitting cracking sound and the two sides of the boulder fell apart.

  I stared down at the split rock and then at my hands. I couldn’t believe I’d just done that.

  “Again,” Nicholas instructed.

  I picked up one half of the rock and pulled it in two as well. Before he could tell me to split the other piece, I picked it up and tore it in half. This was actually kind of fun.

  “Keep splitting the rock until you have a piece roughly the size of your fist.”

  I did as he asked, the sound of the splitting rock lessening with every fissure. When I had a fist-sized piece, I held it in my hand and looked up at Nicholas.

  “Now, crush it.”

  I looked down at the jagged piece of rock and squeezed my fingers around it, gently at first and then harder. Under slight pressure, the rock only bent to fit the indentations of my fingers, but with more, it crumbled into sand that seeped through my grip and piled in the grass at my feet.

  “Good. Now the rest.”

  I sat there for the next few minutes, grinding the rock into dust and reveling in my vampire strength. I felt like I really could lift a car and toss it for fun, like I’d imagined doing when I first found out about my increased strength. When there was nothing but sand in front of me, I looked up to find Nicholas watching with a smile on his face and his hand behind his back.

  “Now, I want
you to peel this orange,” he said before tossing me the bright fruit.

  I caught it in my right hand and it exploded on impact, the sticky juice running down my hand and dripping onto the ground.

  “What the hell?” I asked.

  “You must learn to use your vampiric strength to its full extent when the situation calls for it, but also to soften your grip and do things delicately when in the presence of humans. Again,” he called before tossing me another orange.

  This time, the fruit didn’t explode, but my fingers still crushed it. I sighed and heard Nicholas chuckle. When I looked over to him I saw he had a large sack full of the bright citrus fruit. “Good thing I brought a whole bag.”

  By my fifth attempt, I could catch the fruit without damaging it. However, once I stuck my thumbnail into its flesh to peel it back, my finger shot through to the center and ruined another orange. I held my hand up, and without looking, caught another one and began again.

  It was another dozen oranges later before I successfully peeled the skin off the outside without damaging the tender fruit within. I held up the naked fruit with a triumphant grin, and Nicholas clapped his hands for me.

  “Well done! Luckily for you, we’re done with the fruit portion of our evening.” Nicholas clapped his hands together. “Okay, we’ll do a little jump work before we call it a night.”

  “Jump work?”

  “Follow me and I’ll show you.”

  He walked away from the mashed pile of pulp I’d left on the ground and toward the line of trees surrounding the house. I followed him over to a thick pine, its branches starting at about twenty feet above my head and continuing up another thirty at least.

  “Hop on up,” he told me.

  “Hop on up… there?” I asked, looking up.

  With a smirk, he bent his knees and sprang straight up, easily sailing past the lowest branch and landing on one another dozen feet higher than the first. The smug jerk had the nerve to smile down at me from his perch.

  With a growl, I crouched low like he’d done and pushed off the ground hard. I wasn’t aiming for the lowest branch, and with a whoop of laughter I caught the one above Nicholas’ head. My leg swung over the rough bark and I pulled myself into a sitting position.

  “How was that?” I asked, feeling mighty proud of myself.

  “Not bad,” he conceded. “But now it’s time to climb. First one to the top wins!” he yelled before he stood from his branch and leaped toward the next one up the tree.

  I scrambled off my own and dug my fingers into the thick bark, dragging myself up the trunk as fast as I could. Unfortunately, I was no match for the hundreds-of-years-old vampire.

  He made it to the top without breaking a sweat and I crawled up minutes later, cursing him. With a laugh, he grabbed my wrists and hauled me up the last few feet to sit next to him on the sturdy branch he’d found.

  “I won,” he said softly.

  “What is it you won, exactly?” I asked. “We never set the terms.”

  “Oh, it was implied that the winner chooses his prize,” he said with a grin.

  “Oh, it was, was it?”

  He nodded and slid an arm around my shoulders. My heart picked up its pace, and I whispered, “What’s your prize?”

  His gaze left mine and fixated on my lips. One corner of his mouth ticked up, and he said just as softly, “A kiss.”

  I gulped once before his lips found mine, pressing with an urgency my body immediately responded to. His free hand caressed the edge of my jaw before trailing along my neck and tangling in my hair at the base of my skull. He tilted his head to deepen the kiss, and I couldn’t help the moan that escaped my throat. My heart felt like it would jump out of my chest and I shivered as goosebumps covered my exposed flesh.

  The hand that held my shoulders slowly dropped to my waist where he gripped me as if afraid I’d run off. Like I could have pried myself away from this man. The kiss lasted for several long minutes that had me forgetting where we were and what we were doing. I might have even forgotten my name for a minute or two.

  When he finally pulled away, I noticed his breathing was just as labored as mine and my stomach clenched deliciously with that knowledge. Knowing I affected a man like Nicholas in such a way was a heady thing.

  “We should probably get down,” he whispered, the hand in my hair gently scratching my scalp.

  “Huh?”

  His chuckle made its way through my stupor, and I blinked to clear my vision. That was when I remembered that we were sitting near the top of a very tall pine tree. The old children’s rhyme came to my mind, and I bit back a laugh. We certainly were sitting in a tree, and we’d definitely just been k-i-s-s-i-n-g.

  The laugh died in my throat as I recounted the last seventy-two hours and how easily Nicholas had wormed his way into my heart. The heart I’d been guarding since I was sixteen. It felt so natural to be this close to him, but I’d learned the hard way that what felt too good to be true often was. When would the other shoe drop? Would I make it through another heartbreak?

  “Should we climb down?” I asked him quietly.

  Nicholas shrugged. “Or we could jump.”

  My eyes whipped to his as I tried to decipher if he was telling the truth or messing with me. His guileless eyes told me he’d meant it, and I looked down incredulously to the grass below us. With a laugh, Nicholas wrapped both of his arms around my waist and tugged me onto his lap.

  “How about I jump, and you hold on to me?”

  I thought I could do that, so I wrapped my long legs around his hips and secured my hands behind his neck. He tensed, and I squeezed him hard as he tilted forward and off the branch. The air rushed passed us quickly, but I saw every branch, every pine needle we passed with startling clarity. Moments later, I felt a slight jolt as Nicholas’ feet landed securely on the ground. Without letting him go, I met his eyes.

  “You didn’t think I would let you get hurt, did you?” he asked, his eyes wide and clear. I shook my head with a bone-deep realization that I could trust this man with my life. Could I trust him with my heart too?

  Chapter 14

  The next day was structured similarly to the day before. When I opened my eyes for the night, I dressed and found Nicholas waiting for me in the living room. We went hunting at the same bar as the night before. Tonight, it was only me who had to hunt.

  When we returned to the training facility, Nicholas parked the SUV in the garage and walked around to open my door for me. My heart fluttered at his chivalry as I slid out of the car. The door closed behind me and his arms reached out to press against the car on either side of my head.

  He leaned in, pressing his chest against mine, his lips following swiftly behind. The kiss was gentle and exploratory. Before my heart had time to speed up, he pulled away with a smile.

  “You’re so warm after feeding,” he whispered in my ear, his breath sending shivers down my spine.

  I answered by pulling him back for another kiss. Kissing Nicholas was becoming my new favorite thing to do. After several long moments, he pulled his lips away from mine and moved his mouth to my ear.

  “If you keep this up, we won’t get in any training at all,” he murmured with a nip to my earlobe. I gasped and felt him smile against my neck.

  “What training?”

  He chuckled against my collarbone as he pressed feather-light kisses along the neckline of my shirt. With a groan, he wrenched his lips from my skin and took a step away from me. I watched him run a hand through his thick brown hair and exhale a huge breath.

  I smiled up at him, loving the powerful, sexy way he made me feel. Straightening my clothes, I took a step away from the car and clapped my hands together once; a habit I’d picked up from him.

  “All right then, what’s my training for tonight?”

  Nicholas shook his head and took a look around the garage we were in. “I think this place could use a little rearranging.”

  Arching a brow, I willed him to continue.
>
  “I want you to take each of these cars out of the garage and place them back in a different order.”

  “Are you saying I’m actually going to get to pick up cars and toss them around?” I asked excitedly.

  Nicholas’ smile vanished behind a scowl. “There will be no ‘tossing’ the cars.”

  I rolled my eyes but couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. “Okay, fine,” I relented. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t allowed to toss them around. Just being able to pick up a car was exciting. Were there any limits to what I could do now?

  I walked over to the smallest car first, a white compact parked at one end of the garage. I circled the car, trying to figure out the best way to do this. Nicholas stood to the side, arms crossed and face pensive. Clearly, I’d get no help from him.

  With a shrug I walked to the front of the vehicle and crouched low. I reached under the bumper and stood, lifting the front of the car. With the front wheels off the ground, I simply rolled the car backwards until it was out of the garage.

  Proud of myself, I dusted my hands off and walked over to the next smallest vehicle. A silver sedan was parked near the middle of the garage, and I used the same tactic, rolling it out like a wheelbarrow.

  Next to where the sedan had been parked was a bright red sporty SUV. I bent low and lifted the front end as easily as the last two. However, when I tried to walk it backwards, the rear wheels stayed locked. I heaved, and the rubber wheels slid against the ground, producing an ear-splitting squeaking noise. I dropped the front end and placed my hands on my hips. What the hell was I going to do now? The vehicle must have had all wheel drive, and the wheels were locked in park.

  I made a lap around, trying to figure out how to move it without making that awful sound again. With a shrug, I concluded the only way was to just pick it up and walk it out. I looked up at the ceiling of the garage, grateful it was high enough to allow me to maneuver the vehicle.

  I positioned myself at the back of the SUV, gripped the top corner, and tilted the whole thing toward the left side. Once it was balanced on just two wheels, I made my way to the driver’s side and crouched low to grip the vehicle below its door, letting it rest against my chest. With a deep breath, I leaned back and caught its weight in my arms. When I was sure I had a good grip, I stood up, taking the whole vehicle with me. I walked confidently out of the garage and set the SUV down next to the other two cars.