Oliver's Hunger (Scanguards Vampires #7)

by Folsom, Tina

  “I live only a few blocks away,” the doctor continued. “Oliver did the right thing to bring you here.”

  Ursula looked at her arm and noticed the bandage that was wrapped around it where her skin had met with a metal rod from the fire escape and lost the uneven battle. It was true, the doctor had patched her up. She also felt better, not as woozy, and stronger too. In a hospital they couldn’t have done any better either. She was well enough to leave.

  “I thank you very much for helping me.”

  She swung her legs off the couch and pushed the pillow and the blanket off her lap, then pulled herself up. Instantly she swayed. Oliver jumped up from his crouching position and caught her just as her knees buckled.

  “Got you.”

  His muscular arms reached around her, holding her up, reminding her of their earlier embrace. Heat suffused her cheeks, because a desire to rub herself against him to find release overwhelmed her even now in the weakened state she found herself in.

  “Woah, woah,” Maya called out. “I said I took care of your injuries, but that doesn’t mean you’re fit to get up yet. You’re still too weak.”

  “I’m fine, I just need a moment.” She pushed against Oliver, but he didn’t release her. Instead he held her even tighter. Their gazes collided.

  “Don’t you remember what you said to me?” he whispered. “Not even what you did then?”

  She knew he was alluding to her offer and her kiss, but as much as she wanted to admit the truth, she couldn’t, because it would also mean admitting that she was running from somebody, and to explain why she had two puncture wounds on her neck. Anybody who’d ever watched a Dracula movie would know what this meant. All she could do was to deny she knew anything about it, so she could leave and return home. Home. See her parents. Feel safe again.

  “I need to call my parents. I need to talk to them.”

  The doctor moved closer and addressed Oliver, “Let her sit down again.” Then the doctor smiled at her. “You’ll need to rest a bit first. You can talk to your parents a little later. First, I’d like to ask you a few more things.”

  Somewhat reluctantly, Oliver helped her sit down on the sofa. When she felt the soft cushions support her back, she let out a breath of relief. One more second in his arms, and she would have started panting. It was clear that the sexual arousal the vampire’s bite had caused in her, had still not left her body. Even after what must have been an hour or even two after being bitten by the leech, she still felt the need to touch and be touched.

  “You said you were walking home from a class. Where was the class?” Maya asked.

  Frantically, Ursula scrambled for an answer. She knew nothing about San Francisco. But every large city had to have a college. Holding her breath, she answered, “The community college.”

  “Out in Sunnyside? That’s far from the Bayview.”

  Ursula shrugged.

  “Do you know how you got there?”

  “I told you, I don’t remember. It’s like my memory was wiped clean.” She looked away, wanting to avoid her scrutinizing look.

  “Fine, I believe you. It must be the shock. It’s not uncommon.”

  Relieved Ursula lifted her head and caught how the doctor’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Oliver. His jaw set as if he was clamping it down tightly, and he glared back at Maya. It appeared as if a silent battle was raging between them.

  Then the doctor turned her head back to her and pasted on a smile. “Why don’t you rest for a little while?” She snatched the blanket from where Ursula had dropped it earlier. “Here. You’ll probably be a little cold, but that’s normal after the blood loss.”

  To her surprise Oliver reached took the blanket from Dr. Giles’ hand and spread it over Ursula’s legs. Then he gave her a sad smile almost as if he had a difficult chore ahead of him.

  “Oliver, a word,” Dr. Giles said.

  He looked up at the doctor, then back at her. “You’ll be safe here.”

  She quickly lowered her lashes. Had he realized that she hadn’t really lost her memory? Did he know she was lying and wanted to tell her that the people who were chasing her would never find her here? Or were his words of reassurance simply a casually thrown away sentence?

  8

  Deep in thought, Oliver stepped into the library across the hall. Why was the girl lying? Why didn’t she admit what had happened? Was she too embarrassed about her wanton behavior that she’d decided to pretend it had never happened? As if she were afraid that he would collect on her promise of a night of sex if she admitted that she’d made it. Was that why she pretended to not remember a thing? It was the only thing that made sense. Maybe he could somehow explain to her that he wouldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t wanted to do, if only she would tell the truth.

  When Maya entered the room behind him, he knew she was pissed. If the glare on her face weren’t an indication for it, then the way she now stood, her legs in a wide stance, her hands placed at her hips, left no doubt.

  “Of all the despicable things you could do, you had to attack a young girl and leave her at death’s door?” The words spewed from her mouth like a fountain of poison. “You really think I’m stupid?”

  Oliver took a step toward her, squaring his shoulders. “That’s not true! I didn’t do it!”

  “Bullshit! Your handwriting is all over it.”

  He narrowed his eyes, getting angrier by the second. He’d done awful things in the two months since he’d been a vampire, but he hadn’t done anything to that girl. “I never touched her! I saved her from another vampire!”

  “Give it up, Oliver! Why do you continue lying when we both know what the truth is? You nearly drained her and then you wiped her memory so she wouldn’t remember you.”

  “I didn’t wipe her memory! She’s lying. She remembers what happened!”

  Maya shook her head, disbelief in her gaze. “She doesn’t remember anything! You made sure of it to cover your tracks!”

  He balled his hands into fists. “If I really wanted to cover my tracks, why the hell would I bring her here then? Tell me that, huh, why? And why would I call you for help?”

  She contemplated his question only for a split-second. “Because you felt remorse afterwards. It’s always like that with you. Haven’t you noticed that? You go on a binge, and afterwards you feel like crap because of what you’ve done. It’s not any different now.”

  “You have no idea how I feel! You’ve never been through what I’m going through.”

  Maya narrowed her eyes and went toe-to-toe with him. “What are you insinuating?”

  “You know exactly what I mean.”

  “No, tell me,” she challenged.

  “You never craved human blood. You have no idea what it’s like. All you wanted was Gabriel’s blood.”

  “And that makes you think I never went through what you’re going through now? That I never had those cravings? Grow up! We all have the same cravings, no matter whose blood it is we want. Your cravings aren’t any worse than anybody else’s. But you choose to act on them. You choose to show no restraint!”

  At the accusation, Oliver pressed his lips together. His chest heaved, and he felt the cords in his neck bulge. “How dare you accuse me of willfully acting the way I do?”

  “Oh, I dare a lot more!” She pointed her finger toward the door. “I also dare accuse you of attacking this girl and leaving her half dead! Is that how you want to live? Always a step away from killing an innocent?”

  Her words chilled him to the bone. Often enough he’d been close to doing just that, but tonight, Maya was wrong. Tonight, he’d rescued an innocent. “I didn’t bite her! Do you want to know what happened? Do you? Or will that shake your preconceived opinion of me?”

  “Go ahead! Dish up some more lies if it makes you feel better.”

  “They’re not lies! I don’t know why the girl isn’t telling you what happened, but I can venture a guess. She hasn’t lost her memory. She just doesn’t want to ad
mit what happened.”

  Maya raised her eyebrows, then crossed her arms over her chest. “Admit what?”

  He had to say it, as much as he wanted to keep this piece of information to himself. “That she offered me sex in exchange for helping her. She—”

  Maya’s laughter interrupted him. “Oh my god! I can’t believe you couldn’t come up with a better excuse. What is it? Has the blood gone to your head and made you dizzy? No girl like her would offer you sex in exchange for help. She’s not a prostitute. Have you lost your mind?”

  “She did! She offered me sex if I helped her and then she kissed me. And when she collapsed in my arms, I saw the bite marks of the other vampire. That’s when I brought her here.”

  “She kissed you? Stop Oliver, you’re just digging yourself deeper and deeper into a hole.”

  “But it’s true! You must believe me! She was running from somebody. She begged me to help her.”

  Maya let out a sigh, seemingly exhausted. “It’s me, Maya. You don’t have to continue making stuff up. Just tell me what really happened and I’ll try to put a good word in with Gabriel and Samson.”

  “I’m not lying! It’s the truth. I didn’t bite her!”

  She scowled at him. “Fine. Play it your way. Continue lying, but it’ll make it only worse. If you at least showed remorse for your actions, I could convince Gabriel and Samson to be lenient with you, but since you’ve decided to be a hard-ass about it, don’t expect to be treated with kid gloves.”

  In disbelief Oliver shook his head. This couldn’t be happening. He would be taken to task for something he hadn’t done. “That’s not fair! I’m innocent!”

  Maya rolled her eyes. “Innocent? There’s nothing innocent about you. The only innocent in this house is that girl in the next room. And you’ve robbed her of that innocence. You should at least have the decency to admit your guilt like a man.”

  Oliver closed his eyes. He knew it had been a mistake to help the girl. He should have followed his first instinct and turned around the minute she’d approached him. But no, knight in shining armor that he fancied himself, he’d wanted to help her.

  Liar.

  He cringed. Okay, so he’d only decided to help her after she’d made her outrageous offer of sex. Not that he would have ever held her to it anyway! It didn’t matter: he’d gotten involved, and now he was in a hell lot of trouble and as long as the girl didn’t admit the truth, it was his word against hers.

  The evidence was damning: bite marks on the girl’s neck and massive blood loss. Maybe if he could talk to the girl and assure her that he wouldn’t collect on her promise, maybe then she would tell Maya what really happened.

  He had to try it.

  “I’ll talk to her again. Alone.” He made a step toward the door.

  “Not a chance,” Maya objected instantly and blocked the door. “Do you think I don’t know what you’re trying to do?”

  “Do what?” he ground out and ran his hand through his hair.

  “You’re going to try and influence her, using mind control.”

  Oliver narrowed his eyes. “Maybe you wanna get your facts straight for a change: as Thomas will be able to confirm, I haven’t quite mastered the art of mind control yet.”

  In fact, he was having problems with it and assumed that his problems with being able to control his hunger for blood had something to do with it. They robbed him of the energy necessary to exercise mind control and being able to plant fake memories into his victims’ minds. He was, however, fully capable of erasing a person’s memory. It was a skill that required less finesse and was more instinctual than the art of mind control, even though the two skills were related.

  Thomas, Scanguards’ IT genius and master of mind control, was tutoring him to help him over his issues. He was making progress, but he was nowhere near mastering the skill. At best, he succeeded only fifty percent of the time.

  “Still, you’re not—”

  “Damn it, Maya!” he flared up. “What do you want from me? You’ve already made up your mind about my guilt, and now you won’t even allow me to talk to the only witness who can confirm my innocence. Even in a court of law I’d have a better chance than with you!”

  And he’d seen the inside of more than one courtroom. In his days as a human, before Samson, the owner of Scanguards, had taken him under his wing, he’d been in and out of jail for possession of drugs and other offenses. He’d never committed any violent crimes, but he knew if Samson hadn’t come along and taken pity on him, he would have gone down that road. The crowd he was running with was on that path already.

  “We have our own rules,” Maya insisted.

  Before he could reply, he heard the front door opening. Was the girl leaving? Panicked, Oliver fairly jumped at the door and ripped it open, peering out into the hallway.

  Relief and dread collided instantly. The person who’d opened the entrance door was Blake, and behind him, Cain entered. Their gazes immediately landed on him.

  “We’ve been looking for you,” Blake said, his tone accusatory.

  “Fuck you!” Oliver replied. He wasn’t in the mood to have another confrontation. The one with Maya was enough for one night. He turned away.

  A moment later, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He swiveled and faced Blake, shaking off his hand in the process.

  “I’m not done talking. Cain and I searched the entire city for you.”

  “You’ve found me. Now leave me alone.”

  “Not so fast, little brother. I wanna know where you went tonight.”

  “I don’t owe you any explanations.” And if Blake annoyed him any longer, he’d instead get a beating.

  Cain suddenly looked past his shoulder. “Hey Maya, what are you doing here?”

  Oliver turned quickly, tossing her a warning look. “It’s none of their business.”

  “What’s none of our business?” It figured that Blake wouldn’t let go. Once he had gotten something into his head, he held onto it like a dog to a bone.

  “Nothing!” Oliver bit out. “Now get out of my house, all of you and leave me alone!”

  “Not gonna happen,” Maya insisted.

  “I live here, so you have no right to throw me out!” Blake interrupted.

  “Guess, I’m not wanted here,” Cain added and turned toward the door.

  But Maya stopped him. “Don’t leave, Cain, we might need you.”

  By now, Oliver was fuming. “The fuck we do! I’ll handle this! There’s no need for all of Scanguards to get involved.”

  Cain stopped in his tracks, his eyes suddenly narrowing as if he perceived a threat. “What happened?”

  Oliver thrust his chin up. “Nothing happened! Would you all stop meddling in my affairs and leave me alone!”

  He caught Cain exchanging a glance with Maya.

  “I want you to keep an eye on Oliver while I confer with Gabriel and Samson,” she said to Cain.

  Disgusted at her treachery, Oliver glared at her. “I can’t believe you’re doing this! I trusted you. That’s why I called you!”

  “It’s for your own good.”

  He raised his voice. “The fuck it is! I’m telling the truth! But you don’t want to see that. You don’t believe there’s any good left in me. You’ve given up on me, just like everybody else!”

  Maya put her hand on his forearm, but he shook it off. “That’s not true. You’ll see that when you’ve calmed down.”

  “I am calm!” But the tightness in his jaw belied his words. His gums itched, and he could feel the tips of his fangs extending.

  “Yeah, I can see that!” Blake mocked.

  Oliver pounced on Blake, before his last word had even left his lips.

  “Stop it now!” Maya warned, but Oliver ignored her.

  Instead, he slammed Blake against the wall and held him there, his body suspended in the air. “You little jerk! You wanna know what it’s like to be a vampire, do you? Maybe I should just turn you and see how you cope with it, huh? Is th
at what you want? Is that why you’re constantly provoking me?”

  “Get off me, you fucking bastard!” Blake ordered, aiming his fists at him.

  “You want a fight?” Oliver challenged.

  “Damn it, Oliver!” Maya cursed and grabbed his arm. “Cain!”

  A moment later, Cain attacked him from the other side. Furious, Oliver let go of Blake and spun on his heels. He felt his fangs extend to full length and caught sight of his hands: they had turned into claws. Yes, he was spoiling for a fight.

  Raising his head, he looked at his two attackers, whose fangs had also extended, when he caught a movement in the corner of his eye. His head whipped in its direction.

  Shit!

  Ursula, the girl he’d rescued from an unknown vampire, stood in the door to the living room, her eyes wide in shock, her hands gripping the door frame for support.

  “Oh God,” she said breathlessly. “You’re one of them. You’re all like them!”

  9

  With disbelief and horror, Ursula looked at the scene in the entrance hall. How could this have happened? She’d stepped from the frying pan into the fire. Nothing had changed. Her entire daring escape had been for nothing. She was still in the hands of vampires, only different ones this time. Despair spread inside her, pushing tears into her eyes.

  There was no use in running: all four of them blocked the entrance door. Besides, she was aware of a vampire’s speed and knew that if she tried to make it to the French doors in the living room that led outside to a terrace, they would catch her in no time. Particularly since she was still weakened from the recent blood loss.

  Gathering all her remaining strength, she stared at Oliver, the man who’d rescued her. Well, maybe rescue wasn’t the right word after all. He’d captured her. His eyes were red now, his fangs extended, and his fingertips were topped with razor-sharp claws. His mouth stood open, and his lips looked red and plump. And still inviting.

  God, no! Her stomach twisted as she remembered the kiss they’d shared. She’d kissed a monster, the very creature she hated most in this world. And she had liked it; even now, there was no denying it. Her body had burned with desire, and she could only hope that it was solely an aftereffect of the feeding she’d been subjected to a short time earlier. Because she could never desire a vampire.