"Yes. Feeding has many pleasures…"
I nodded and smiled lazily at her.
"Are you ready to try to stand again?"
I nodded, lifting myself from my bed and sitting up. "Wow. That's a lot better."
"Good. Your wound looks much better, too. The green hue is gone, and the scars faded. You do have two white lines but if you weren't looking for them, they wouldn't be noticeable."
She was looking at my neck as she spoke and reached out, tracing her finger down the scar. It sent a shiver down my spine.
"Sorry," she mumbled and pulled away, offering me a hand to help me stand.
She is so beautiful.
I gasped.
Did I offend her? I must apologize. Why is she staring at me?
The thoughts weren't mine. I knew it from the first moment they raced through my head. Each one of them had echoed in my brain in Yuki's voice.
"I can hear you."
"The blood might have amplified your senses. You might be able to see and hear better for a short time."
"That's not what I meant."
What is she saying?
"I'm saying I can hear your thoughts…"
"I'm sure it is just your imagination." Maybe I gave her too much and it is affecting her, causing hallucinations. I remember having long conversations with my deceased grandmother the first time.
"Thank you. I think you're pretty, too. You didn't offend me, so you have nothing to apologize for. I was staring because I could hear you. I think the smallest amount of your blood would have had the same effect, and speaking to the deceased is a gift, a chance to say goodbye."
No. She can't…
"Yes. Yes, I can. What is going on?"
Great green globs of greasy grimy gopher guts…
"Little bloody birdy butts, mutilated monkey meat," I finished the child's song in her head. She gasped and slid back away from me. "Yuki, what happened?"
"I do not know, but this is not good."
"Why? Because I can hear your thoughts?"
"Think something at me. Can I hear you?"
Yuki! What the hell did you do to me?
"Are you thinking anything?"
"Yes. I'm screaming your name in my head."
"Well, your thoughts are safe apparently." She has my blood flowing through her veins, but she should not be able to hear me. I need to guard my thoughts.
"Well, I can hear you. Every word. And try guarding your thoughts. See if that helps. Try to keep me out."
I hope this works. Please don't hear me, there is a wall between us. A wall you can not breach. I am a fortress.
"Apparently a fortress of glass."
Shit fuck.
"Language."
She blushed.
"I'm teasing."
This can not be possible. This is horrible.
"Why? Maybe it will wear off once your blood leaves my system. It's probably just a temporary thing."
I hope so. I have a bad feeling.
"It's okay, Yuki. Want me to call Mr. Abernathy and ask him?"
The fear in her eyes was all the answer I needed. I didn't need to hear her thoughts.
"Okay, I won't!"
Nobody can find out about this. "I will see if I can find out what went wrong. You are a witch. I did not think this would be a possibility. I've given blood to a human before, but I have now trodden into unfamiliar territory. Forgive me." She bowed from her waist.
"Stand up straight, Yuki. You were only trying to help. Are you okay?"
She had stopped bowing and was standing rigidly in front of me with a horrified look on her face.
Release me, please!
"Relax! What the hell is going on?"
As soon as I told her to relax, she let out the breath she had sucked in and stood there limply. "We are in so much trouble."
"What? Why? What just happened?" Fear started to creep into my stomach.
"Tell me to do something."
"Calm down."
I could see the worry and fear fade from her face, and she began breathing normally.
"Now explain to me in detail what just happened to you."
"I had been bowing, begging your forgiveness. You spoke and told me to stand up straight. When the words left your mouth, it felt like they settled in my flesh. Every muscle in my back forced me to stand rigidly upright at attention. I lost complete control of myself for a moment. I don't think I've been that afraid in a very long time. Even now when you told me to explain in detail, I must convey every nuance of what transpired as well as my emotional state during the events in question."
She looked to me to see if that was enough.
This is as bad, or worse, than I feared. Not only can I hear her every thought, she is being forced to obey me, I thought to myself. She's almost acting like a familiar… Oh no!
"Oh, shit," I said aloud.
She knows what has happened. Hopefully she knows how to fix this.
"Yeah. I do know. But there's good news and bad news."
Yuki's face fell.
"The good news is it's not as bad as you think. You've met my Mother's feline familiar, Ichibod?"
"No? Your mother and I have only crossed paths twice. She was alone both times."
"Well…how do I put this…we can bind certain creatures to us, to be our eyes and ears. They protect us and…are devoted to us."
"We have similar relationships with wolves and sometimes bats– Wait. Out of curiosity, how do you bind these creatures to you?"
She was catching on. "We um…it's a complicated magic ritual, often taking hours or sometimes days if the creature is strong. And it involves imbibing a minuscule amount of their blood to complete, freely given…"
Blood. Freely given. She drank my…
I heard her thoughts and saw the light flicker on in the attic. I desperately tried to drown out the string of mental expletives that followed, as well as the swelling of anger flowing from her. I let her carry on, wincing at every word and nodding. When she was finished, she stood there in front of me, panting.
"What's the good news? Please tell me you can break this."
I sighed. She wasn't going to like this. "That was the good news. The bad news is it cannot be undone. Where do you think the words, 'Til death do us part,' came from?"
Her face fell and bloody tears began falling from her cheeks onto the pretty area rug I had picked up at a reasonable price.
No.
"Yes. I'm sorry, Yuki." I toed the rug beneath my foot, not wanting to see the look in her eyes.
"Answer me truthfully, please. You owe me that much. Did you know this could happen? Did you plan this?"
"Absolutely not." I sat back down on the bed. "I wasn't kidding when I said it was a complicated ritual. Most of our magic is just words, intent, and magic. Some require complex diagrams that require long periods of time to perfect. One mishap cannot only cause the spell to not work, in can cause it to work incorrectly or even backfire. We're talking insane amounts of magical damage. There is also a reason we can only bind small animals or smaller magical creatures to us. The larger the creature's will, the greater the chance it won't work."
"So how the hell did you bind me then?"
"I have no idea. I'm sorry, I've never heard of this happening before. Ever."
Lucky me.
I sighed and put my head in my hands.
If the others find out about this… If Lord Abernathy finds out… I may as well move to Alaska. They might not be able to find me there. To be controlled by a witch would not be taken lightly.
"Then we won't tell them. You carry on as if nothing is different. I'll do the same. The coven, my mother, everyone will be left in the dark. And you can rest easy, I will never control you."
Is she serious? She told me to relax and I almost took a nap.
"I will never purposely control you and I will make a conscious effort to be careful what I say around you."
"Dot. Don't take this the wrong way, but
I need to stay far away from you. My life as a vampire is on the line–"
She must have noticed the look on my face.
"What, now?" She sighed and sat on the bed away from me, staring at me intently.
"You saw my face?"
"No. I could feel your fear. I might not be able to hear your thoughts, but I can feel your emotions, apparently."
"The…creatures–no, I'm not calling you a creature–that become our familiars often gain power and abilities from the binding."
"So, you're saying this could happen to me?"
"Yes. Be careful."
"What aren't you telling me."
"That our familiars are driven to be by us. Any length of time away and they start to…suffer."
Fuck me.
"That's one thing I will never do. You don't have to worry about that."
She blinked and then figured out what she'd said, blushing furiously.
I scooted closer to her and tentatively reached over and stroked her hair. "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."
"Why does your hand feel so good right now?"
She was looking up, unable to see my hand. I pulled it away. "Sorry. It's why witches pet their familiars. It's a mingling of power and actually feels comforting to us, too."
"That could get awkward. But, do it again."
I laughed and stroked her hair again, sighing. "I'm sorry, Yuki."
"I know you are. You didn't do it on purpose. All I ask is that you help me keep it from the others."
Epilogue
I stood up and looked down the length of the festive tablecloth covered dining tables. I'd had to buy another one to accommodate the eleven witches in our coven, plus Herb and Marge. I'd found out they were planning on dining alone at home. They'd gotten up and prepared a hundred turkey dinners, loaded them in their delivery van, and distributed them to a list of people who needed them. I had promised them help at Christmas, I just don't think they understood what that meant. I almost cackled gleefully thinking about it, as I'd already started making preparations. Well, Jason had, but they were my ideas.
I smiled at Alista. She had already joined our coven and would be flying back to Ashville with Bill and I in the morning. She and her brother would be closing down the bakery, the sale already going through. We'd found them a nice location to set up on Main Street, right by the bookstore. We were actually going to sell their treats in the bookstore, too. Hopefully driving business to them by putting a nice display case in the café. Alista was changing before my eyes. Gone was the shy wallflower, leaving a confident, talented witch in her place. She giggled when Dennis whispered something in her ear.
Everybody stopped whispering as they noticed me standing and holding my glass of wine up. "To the Coven of the First Moon, the Lady has blessed us, bringing us together for this feast. I am so thankful that she brought me to you and brought all of you into my life. And also, to our first human friends who know what we are and still came tonight anyway." I winked at Herb and Marge. They laughed and pointed at the engraved seat placards sitting in front of them on the table. Fair was far. I had a seat in their restaurant and they had ones in my home. "Blessed be."
I raised my glass to them and took a sip, letting the white wine calm my nerves as I waited for the sun to set. Even asleep, I could feel Yuki's anxiousness to come join the festivities. While she couldn't eat, we discovered something amazing. When around me, she could taste any food I ate, much to her amazed satisfaction.
That alone had softened the blow of the binding. To taste food had almost made her cry. She'd been trying to talk me into taking her into Syracuse one night to a sushi restaurant. I'd reluctantly agreed. The thought of eating raw fish didn't sit well, but I owed her at least that much. I just hope she didn't pick an all you can eat buffet…
I would be seeing Mr. Abernathy while we were in Ashville, too. Candace had come through and gotten me the exact information he and I had been looking for. The Cedar Falls Blood Bank supplied the hospital some quantities of blood, but had been struggling with poor management and a lack of donations. I had little doubt he would purchase it cheaply, and bring new life, for lack of a better word, to it. He planned on supplying blood to surrounding hospitals for a large profit, as well as supplying the needs of our small vampire population.
A population, I'd found, he intended on increasing. Yuki had let the thought slip one night in conversation. Vampires kept flocking to Ashville for safety. His clan had grown too large and Yuki and George were to be the first of a larger group. I didn't mind, as long as all of them kept their fangs to themselves. Yuki wasn't worried at all and I trusted her. She couldn't lie to me.
We tore into the food. I wasn't the greatest cook in the world, but turkey I could do. An addict needs to be able to supply themselves. Everyone else brought the side dishes. Herb made a mean green bean casserole and jellied cranberries with walnuts and orange liqueur. Bill's mashed potatoes were lumpy and had the skins still on them. I could eat them with enough gravy. I smiled at him as I took a bite. Jimmy's sweet potatoes were yummy for sweet potatoes, but at the end of the day they were just that. Sweet potatoes. They ranked right up there with sushi.
Candace, on the other hand, had made tiny stuffed pumpkins. She'd scraped them, stuffed them with chopped nuts, herbs, and veggies, baked them and covered them with a candy like coating. She made four of them since she didn't eat turkey and insisted that I try one. I watched her as she took her spoon, whacked it to crack the candy shell, and pulled the small lid off with a puff of steam.
I did likewise, and the smell was amazing. She smiled as I reached in with my fork and took a bit, making sure to get some of the pumpkin flesh with it. The taste almost made me cry. She had taken every aspect of fall, ground it up into a crunchy fluffiness, and baked it into something that was half-dinner and half-dessert. I finished it off before cutting into my turkey.
She looked so happy. After the kidnapping, Bill had paid a visit to the hospital to give them a watered-down version of what had happened. When Candace called to take a couple of weeks off, at my suggestion and almost insistence, they had eagerly told her to take all the time she needed. I was glad they did. I wanted to spend my first holiday in Cedar Falls with my entire new family. Even Dennis, who was supposed to be working, managed to switch shifts.
Once the holiday was over, I wanted a few days away from them…
Since I had gotten munched on and almost died, to call them clingy would have been the understatement of the year. I hadn't had a moment alone since. I understood their fear of losing me, but I wasn't going to the Lady for a long time. I promised them. Even if it killed me. They didn't appreciate my humor.
I winked at Josie sitting next to Candace. She had been a bigger mess for a few days. We had gotten Candace back unhurt, but then she blamed herself for not only letting her get kidnapped, but for my injuries, as well.
I'd broken her out of her funk to tell her I wasn't just fine but had actually gotten something out of it in return. A shiny new familiar with pointy teeth and piercings. Yuki had been a little upset at me telling her but got over it. Josie was not only my best friend, but also a part of who I was. I couldn't keep it from her. She would have been pissed as all hell if she found out on her own.
My doorbell rang in slow motion, sounding distorted to me. I turned my head slowly in the direction of the living room. A sense of unease washed over me. Everyone seated around me turned their attention toward me.
"I'll get it," I said with a horrible sense of déjà vu.
Lady, if you're listening, don't let it be a werewolf, or anything like that, needing help. I can't take it again. Not this soon…
I reached out and unlocked the door, turning the brass knob and pulling it open, peeking around the edge of the door.
The man standing in my door wasn't overly tall, a few inches under six-feet. His normally shoulder length wavy brown locks had been pulled into a messy ponytail and was a lot longer than the last ti
me I'd seen him. His soft green eyes squinted in amusement. Delicate lips curled up into a smile as he roughly said, "Surprise!"
His voice touched places it had no business touching as my knees went a little weak. The last time I'd seen him had been decades ago. His mother had grown bored with America and wanted to go back to Dublin to open an apothecary. He was just a few years older than me but had been just as inexperienced the first time I'd given myself to him, or anyone. We'd dated for months before he told me they were leaving.
"Derek? Derek Flynn?"
"In the flesh. Sorry to drop in unannounced, but yer mother said I should surprise ye."
"She did, did she?"
He must have sensed something or saw the look in my eye. "Should I not have?"
"No. Not a fan of surprises and she knows that. You should have told me you were back the moment you got there. Then I would have told you to come see me." I reached out and hugged him, nothing more. He felt as good as he smelled and had filled out nicely in the forty or fifty years it had been since I'd last seen him. "Come in and grab a seat and a plate. Happy Thanksgiving."
"Thank ye, Dorothea. It's good to see ye. I've missed ye."
He walked past me and began greeting my coven as he rounded the corner. I slowly shut the door and turned my eyes upward. "I'm grateful for that, too."
"Who is this?" Jimmy asked me, sounding a little suspicious.
"An old friend," I answered, blushing uncontrollably and unable to meet his eyes.
"I wouldn't call the guy you gave your virginity to an old friend, Dot," Josie answered, being her usual unhelpful self.
I kicked her off my best friend list and replaced her with the glass of wine in front of me.
Bonus Scene!
Enjoy the Lambresco's restaurant scene in Chapter 15 from Chief's point of view!
The Chief of Lambresco's
Second Blood: A Reverse Harem Tale (Lovin' the Coven Book 2) Page 19
