by Crymsyn Hart
“What happens if I want you to turn me tonight?”
Shock peppered his eyes. “I’m glad that you’re ready to accept the prospect of eternity, but I still want you human. You’ve ingested a lot of my blood. If you did, then you’d miss your shopping session with Stephania and she’d kill me for that. Come on. Let’s get out and get you something to eat.”
Keaton wasn’t going to budge. However, I gave him another quick kiss and then let the now cold water wash over us. I climbed out of the shower and dried off. In the bedroom, I pulled out an outfit. When I glanced at the clock I saw it was seven in the morning. I must have been asleep for longer than I thought. Keaton came in after and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. He seemed out of place not being in a button down shirt, but I liked the t-shirt because it hugged his form. Just staring at him, I wanted to fuck him on the bed. A devilish smile turned up the corners of his mouth as if he knew how much I wanted him.
I shook my head and turned from those thoughts. My stomach grumbled. I kissed him lightly and then grabbed his hand. We both went downstairs. Down at the end of the landing, the curtains were opened. The sunlight would eventually stream in. When we got to the bottom, I smelled something fetid, like rotten meat. Keaton’s hand tightened on mine. He moved before me.
“Stay put.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Something’s not right here.”
He growled and then stepped down into hallway. He gazed around and then slowly went to the door. Keaton motioned for me to stay put. I peered around the corner. Keaton opened the door. Once he did, the stench came into the room. It smelled like burnt leather. Smoke billowed from a box on the front porch. My mate bent down and picked up the contents in the box and drew out a blackened head. When I saw the head, I screamed. It was Ivan. Keaton growled and threw the head outside. I cringed when he came in and slammed the door. It bounced back and reverberated throughout the house.
“Damn it, Trenton.”
“What happened? What’s the matter?”
“This is his answer to my proposal. Damn him!” At that instant, the phone rang. Keaton grabbed it. “Hello.”
His face morphed from that of the man into the monster. His fangs elongated and hung over his lips. His nose scrunched up and his eyes became slits. They went to a red hue. I watched his nails sharpen and darkness surrounded him. It pulsated and consumed the light. I understood now how the other vampires would be drawn to him, as that was the energy that I had tasted before. That he had talked about. I shrunk back into the landing.
“You didn’t have to kill him. I wanted to work this out. Trenton, we used to be friends.”
A chill went through me. Something else descended over the house. The shadows were growing. The darkness surrounded me. It was cold. I tried to fight it off.
“Keaton!” I cried.
“Madi,” He raced over to me, still clutching the phone
The shadows crept under my skin. They pulled at my flesh and wrenched at what was in me. The pain was excruciating. “Leave her alone. Trenton. She is my mate. I would never desecrate yours.”
The shadow fingers scraped along my face. And then they stopped. Keaton held out the phone to me.
“He wants to talk to you. He doesn’t believe me.”
I took the phone with shaking hands. “Hello.”
“So you’re Keaton’s whore.” The voice on the other end was suave.
“I’m not his whore. I’m his mate. He just wants you to leave me alone. Leave us alone and he will do the same.”
“If only that were the case. He’s self-righteous enough that he’ll hunt me down and slaughter me. But maybe we can come to some understanding.”
“What kind of understanding?”
“Meet me for a drink, and we’ll talk.”
Keaton ripped the phone from my hand. “You will never meet with her and talk. We will settle this another way.” He hung up the phone and gathered me in his arms.
“Are you okay?”
I sniffled. The impressions of the shadow fingers lingered on my flesh. “What was that? What did he do?
“He has more of the power of shadows than I do. It was one of his specialties. He must be close by or he wouldn’t have been able to get in. I’m sorry you’re in the middle of this war between us. I’ll take care of it once and for all. You’ll be safe here after you line the openings with salt. He won’t be able to get in. It will keep his evil out.”
“Won’t it keep you out, too?”
“That doesn’t matter. I can deal with that. As long as you’re safe and if you invite me into the room then I can come in. Come on. Let’s get away from here. Grab your things and we’ll go someplace else.”
“Where? He can find us.”
Keaton smiled. “Trenton might know a few of my secrets, but there are many more that have been kept hidden. Come on.”
I got up and went back upstairs. I packed my bags. Keaton collected a few of his things. Back downstairs I gathered what I could of the salt. He stood before the door to the basement and motioned me down. I followed him down the stairs and found that it wasn’t a true basement. It was a passageway that went below the house.
I got lost under the many twists and turns that he took, going lower and the walls shook from the rumble of the subway. We were close to it. We finally came to another set of stairs. When we emerged, it was in a garage. Keaton clicked his keys and one of the lights blinked. After we set the bags into the trunk, we climbed into the car. I sank into the seat and wasn’t sure where we were going and didn’t much care. Once we got out into the light, it burned my eyes I couldn’t look at it.
“Light sensitivity?”
“Yeah.”
“It means you’re in the first stage of turning.”
I didn’t respond, but let him whisk me away to safety.
Chapter Nine
I must have drifted off because when I opened my eyes again, I was in a different bedroom. Familiar laughter drifted from the other room. I got up slowly and smelled bacon, potatoes, and eggs. The enticing aroma drew me into the kitchen. Inside I found Stephania and Keaton sitting at the kitchen table. She got up and swept me into her arms. I returned the hug.
“You look wonderful. I can already sense the coolness of the change on you. You should eat.” She heaped food onto the plate and then led me back to the table. Keaton stood behind me and began to rub my shoulders. I took a few bites of the meal and then sat back in the chair.
“Thanks.” I glanced back at Keaton. “Why are we here? I thought we were going someplace else?”
He smoothed the hair on my head. “Well we were, but Stephania called and told me that you would be safer here. She can keep out Trenton and protect you while I’m gone.”
“Gone? Where are you going?” It dawned on me what he was going to do. I stood up. “No. You can’t! I won’t let you.”
“It’s the only way to keep you safe.”
“And I can’t lose you.”
“And you won’t. Everything will be okay. Now finish eating. I’ll return soon.”
He pressed his lips to mine and thrust his tongue into my mouth. I held him to me. “Please don’t leave me.”
He bit into his wrist and held it to me. “Drink, Madi. I can’t say it will completely turn you, but it will get you there eventually. Drink.”
I took his wrist and drank in his blood. I took a few swallows and then pulled away. A cool chill zinged through me. I shivered from the blood moving down my throat. It was working into my system. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to think about the consequences, but this way at least I would be close to him. I could feel that I was close to changing. It was odd feeling two energies fighting within me.
Keaton took me in his arms and hugged me close. It was nice to have him with me. All I wanted to do was keep him near. He kissed me again and then let me go. I saw the panic in his eyes, but he quickly left and I was alone with Stephania. He was gone before I could even put my hands around him again
.
Tears streamed down my face. She wiped the tears from my cheeks and led me away from the table and into the other room. The light hurt my eyes. When it touched my skin, it seared it. I shied away.
“I can see you’ve consummated your relationship and accepted your fate.”
“Who knows what’s going on?”
She sat next to me on the couch after she drew the curtains. “It will be fine. Keaton will reason with Trenton.”
“I hope so. If not, I don’t know what I would do without him.”
She chuckled. “It’s amazing to see how far you’ve come in such a short time. Now, you’re on the cusp of turning.”
“Yeah it’s odd, but it just happened. I love him.”
Stephania patted my hand. “I know you do and that’s a wonderful thing. Come on. Get some more rest. Later we can go shopping. Keaton said you needed some new clothes and he left me this.” She withdrew a credit card from her pocket.
Hopefully by the time I got back from shopping, Keaton would be back. Time passed slowly. Stephania finally dragged me out of the house when the sun was not at its apex. When I stepped out into the light, it didn’t hurt as much. We drove through the center of Boston to a little hole in the wall shop that was hidden on a back street. It was an exclusive lingerie store. When I went inside the clerk was fawning over Stephania without a second thought. They embraced. I sensed something about the clerk and I realized that she wasn’t human. She looked human, but she was something else.
“Stephania, it’s nice to see you again. And you’ve brought a friend,” the saleswoman said.
“She needs something sexy to entice her mate. Something red, I think.”
“No. I don’t look good in red.” I eyed the other panty and bra sets that were around the shop. Emerald corsets and others with fancy lace and see through were hanging about. Leather masks and whips.
The clerk came over and eyed me. She pushed the hair out of my face and then took my hand. “Sapphire. Yes something with blue and black. I can see that. Twilight. A little bit of crimson. I know just the thing.” She raced into the back room. After a couple of moments she emerged with a corset. It was a dark blue cut with silver lace around the top and tied with crimson. She held it up to me and smiled.
“This is just your size. I finished it the other night. I dreamed about it being worn by a great lady of the night. It will cup your breasts and the lace will hide your nipples. There are garters that go with it. I have other things too that will go in the making of it.” She fluttered around the shop and heaped me with things to wear.
“I can’t get all of this.”
“Of course you can. Keaton will love it. Trust me. He loves to undress anyone. Have you found he was insatiable?” Stephania teased.
I smiled at her and then looked away. Stephania laughed. When I thought about all of his touches it made me hot again. And then I realized that everything the salesperson was putting on the counter was something he would love. “Okay fine. You’re so bad.” I told Stephania.
“I know. Don’t mind me, I was just playing.”
“It’s okay.”
“Will that be cash or charge?”
Stephania handed me Keaton’s credit card. Her cell phone went off. She stepped outside, and I faced the clerk. “Charge please.”
“You’re going to love everything here. We make the corsets to fit. You’ll be back soon for something a little different. Yes, I can already see what I am going to be making you. I’ll get started on it straight away.”
“How do you know that?”
She shrugged. “Something that I kinda picked up.”
I leaned over the counter. “Not to be rude, but I know that you’re not quite human.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re very good if you know that. Don’t worry about it. Neither is Stephania. But you already knew that since you’re involved with a vampire. Soon to be turned into one. I’m Natalia.”
“What are you?”
She slipped the lingerie into a large bag and handed it to me. “I’m a little bit of an oracle. A little bit of a witch and a seamstress. I get along going through time. We’ll get together soon.” Natalia squeezed my hand and then Stephania came back in.
“Stephania, it’s nice to see you again.” Natalia reached out to hug her again, but she shied away. I glanced between them. Stephania winced away and grabbed my arm to tug me out of the store. Something passed between them.
Natalia’s gaze focused on my companion and darkened. “Oh sweetie. You can’t do that. Don’t listen to him.”
“Come on.” Stephania led me from the store. I wondered what Natalia meant by that last statement.
I waved goodbye to her and then went out to Stephania’s car. “Is everything okay? Natalia sounded like she was warning you about something.”
She gave me a small smile. “Everything’s fine. Her predications come and go. Did you get what you needed?”
I nodded. “Yeah. It was great. She’s great. Keaton will love them.”
“I’m glad.” She gripped the steering wheel. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
Stephania’s face morphed. Before I could stop her, she swiped at my face with a handful of claws. I felt the pain and then there was darkness.
When I woke up again, the agony on the side of my face was horrendous. I could only open one eye. I tried to move my arms, but they were tied behind my back. I was sitting in a chair in the middle of sunlight. My skin was on fire. Someone groaned next to me. When I looked over, I saw Keaton in the same position that I was in. He was tied to a chair as well. Blood stained the front and side of his shirt. From what I could see part of his throat had been torn out. It was healing, but slowly. His shirt was shredded at the arms, but I couldn’t see any more. I tried to get closer but couldn’t move.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
I glanced in the other direction and saw a tall figure standing in the light. He had long, blond hair. He was thin to the point he was almost emaciated. I tried to see more of him, but he stayed out of the direct sunlight.
“Why not? Who are you?”
“Don’t you recognize my voice?”
Trenton. “What have you done to Keaton? Why did you bring us here?”
“Actually, I’m the one who brought you here.”
Stephania walked into the light.
“Why would you do this?”
“Because she’s a traitor.” Keaton growled.
“I am no traitor,” she spat.
“Tell that to me when I get out of here,” Keaton barked.
“Then what am I doing here? Help us!” I pleaded.
A tear slipped down Stephania’s cheek. “I can’t.”
“You’re my friend. Please!”
The other woman ran from the room. Trenton laughed. “She won’t be able to help you.”
“What do you want?” I asked Trenton.
“To see Keaton suffer.” Trenton stepped into the light. He winced, but he didn’t withdraw.
“You leave her alone!” Keaton screamed.
Trenton grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. I stared into his eyes and saw the darkness that lived there. He wasn’t going to scare me. “Kill me and get it over with.”
Trenton laughed. “Oh no. If I kill you, then you’ll rise again. He’s given you enough blood for that. I can smell it in you. It’d be easier to watch you burn. That’d give me much pleasure. It would ease some of the heartache that I’ve suffered.”
I looked at him blankly.
“Oh, he didn’t tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“Don’t you wonder where the rule came from for not harming another’s mate?”
“It was an accident,” Keaton whispered.
Trenton growled and slashed at him. Blood exploded in the room. I screamed when I heard my mate cry out. “Leave him alone.”
Trenton spun around and bared his fangs at me. He grabbed my thro
at. “He killed my Juliette. I watched him. When he did, he cut out a part of my soul. She was the reason I would’ve done anything for the council. Anything for him. We were friends once. And then she was gone. It was grueling to live without her, but then I began to take lives. That filled the void in my soul. And now, I’m going to make him suffer the same fate.”
