“So, again, how do we do this?” Nick asked.
Reluctantly, Taris began to explain the process. First, Nick had to be fed from to diminish his own blood supply. Afterward, he would feed from someone himself, and then they would just sit back and wait.
“I can’t watch this,” Sarah blurted out. She ran for the door and disappeared into the hallway.
“Let her go,” Taris said quietly, more to himself than to anyone else. His every instinct was to run after her and comfort her. He wanted so badly to promise her everything would be okay, but deep down in his gut, he knew he had no right to do so. If things didn’t go well, the freshness of their relationship would sour instantly. It was better for him to stay put and make sure he had great news to bring her instead of scarring himself again and preparing yet another tomb.
“She has to handle this in her own way. I’ll go to her when this is finished,” he said. “We can do it here.” Looking around, he motioned to Achan and Judah. “You two, move those tables back as far as you can against that wall. Zillah, go upstairs and get as many blankets and towels as you can find. Rhiannon, water, if you please, and lots of it.”
The time it took the others to follow his orders went by in a flash, and before they knew it, the room was empty in the middle, only the cold tile floor remaining. Zillah positioned all the towels and blankets on a far table with the case of bottled water that Rhiannon had lugged downstairs.
“Now, who’s going to do this?” Taris asked.
“I will.” Zillah’s steady voice echoed through the room. “I want to—”
“No, let me,” Rhiannon cut her off before she could say anything else, stepping in front of a tight-as-wire Judah.
“I’m so happy right now I could kiss the guy. I’ll damn well do it.” Achan stepped in front of Zillah, who was muttering curses at him.
“Shut up, all of you!” They all turned to see Kalin, standing directly in front of Nick. “None of you are going to do it because I am. So get out. Now!” She turned to Taris and pointed her delicate finger toward the door. “That means you, too.”
* * *
The sun was beginning to set outside. Faint traces of pink and purple radiated into the studio and bounced off every reflective surface. It was deathly quiet, save for the subtle thud of pacing just outside of the door.
“I’m nervous,” Kalin whispered from her seated position on the floor across from Nick.
“It will be okay. No matter what happens, this will all be okay.” He rubbed the top of her hand, smiling at her, trying not to shake.
Kalin nodded and took in a deep, steadying breath. “Don’t you need to drink something or inject that stuff first?”
Nick shook his head. “Sarah and I both injected ourselves with it. It was the only way to get it to spread uniformly through the bloodstream for the initial testing. Everything is done on my end. We just need to…you know.”
“I know,” she whispered. Kalin cleared her throat and inched closer to him, doing everything she could to calm the storm pounding in her chest. Closing her eyes, she could feel the heat between them grow greater, the distance fading. With fumbling fingers, she gently drew back the thin T-shirt over his collarbone. Her lips shook as she came closer to his tanned skin. Just below the surface of his flesh, she could see the threading pulse of the vein that sat at the edge of his collarbone. The need in her grew more and more ferocious with every pounding pulse it took.
“Do it,” he groaned, pulling her down to his skin.
The moment her teeth touched his flesh, she sank them in. A hiss of pain came from him, but she couldn’t stop. His blood was warm and heady, like tannins twirling around on her taste buds. Every lap she took in, every savoring pull, made him draw her closer to him. His pulse was wild, and it filled her mouth with heat.
She was hesitant to stop, but she knew if they were going to take the next step, it had to be now, while she still had a moment of sanity about her. She slowly withdrew her teeth, licking the wound before placing a slightly bloody kiss where her mouth had just been.
“Do this now, please, before I forget what we’re here for.” His voice was heavy as he pushed her off him. His arms on either side of her torso, she watched him hungrily eying her as she drew her wrist to her mouth.
“No, not there,” he said. “Here,” he pointed to the swell of her breast. “I need it to come from as close to your heart as I can get it.”
Kalin closed her eyes, and with a sharp fingernail, she pressed in and split open the skin above her breast. Shaking fingers brought his head down as the blood began to pool. His mouth touched her, hesitantly at first, but then he latched onto her skin. The painful connection between the two of them was different and yet seemed to be the most perfect thing in the world. Tears welled in her eyes as she let her head rest on the cold tile. Please let this work, she thought, trying to keep it together. Please do not let me lose him.
A deep moan came up from his chest and vibrated through her bones. As he lapped, she could feel his skin growing hot beneath her fingers. He’d had enough. They needed to separate, fast.
“Nick, stop.”
“I can’t,” he muttered against her chest.
“You have to. It’s starting. Please.”
As soon as the last word fell from her lips, Nick’s body arched back of its own volition. Before she could get to her feet, his body smacked against the cold floor. A horrifying scream escaped his bloodstained lips. His fingers began to contort, his body shaking violently.
Dear God, I’m watching him die.
The convulsions were so tremendous that they literally shuffled him across the floor like a rag doll. She could do nothing but sit there and watch. From behind her, she heard the doorknob jiggling, the people outside desperately trying to get in. She couldn’t let them see this, see him like this. As his body was still writhing around, she placed a chair under the door handle to prevent it from opening.
Suddenly, there was silence. The screaming stopped. The convulsions had dissipated. She didn’t want to turn around. Not when she knew that they had failed yet again. But she had to. She knew going into this that if he didn’t make it, then neither would she, and it was time to face it. Her feet slowly padded across the floor, closing the space between the door and where Nick’s body landed. Hayley’s death had taken an emotional toll on her, and she’d loved Hayley like a daughter. The way she loved Nick had no description.
His body was still hot. She could feel the heat radiating off of him, even standing above him. His eyes were closed, and aside from the trace amounts of blood on his lips, he looked calm and peaceful. She bent down, brushing a lock of hair from his brow.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. But as she leaned in to place a final kiss on his lips, a groan escaped his mouth and she jumped back.
Another groan echoed in the room and then another. Kalin watched, wide-eyed, as his chest began to slowly rise and fall. She sucked in a deep breath, nervously observing every noise and subtle movement he made.
“Ow,” he moaned. “That sucked.”
Kalin screamed with joy and ran to him. Just as she fell to his side, the door busted free of its hinges, the large contingent of anxiously awaiting vampires clumsily stumbling over one another to get in.
“You made it,” she said, placing frantic kisses all over his face. “Sweet mother of God, you did it.”
“Yeah, and it hurt,” he whispered. “Hey.”
“What?” she said, threading her fingers with his and still peppering his face with kisses.
“Marry me?”
She stopped and stared down into his beautiful eyes. “Yes,” she said, pulling his mouth up to hers for a deep kiss.
* * *
Taris sat outside of the room. Watching. Smiling.
He had no doubt from the moment Sarah showed them the slides that this would work. Okay, maybe some doubt, but in the deepest recesses of his old heart, he knew there might finally be a way to heal the broken parts of Kalin. He knew
when he placed them together that there was something special between the two of them. They had an instant connection that couldn’t be ignored.
It was the same way he felt about Sarah. Only the love he had for her before was a moon-cast shadow to what he felt for her now. Now it was more than just the need to be with her every waking moment. It was more than just the subtle nuances of her very being that captivated him. Watching Kalin and Nick embrace only made him realize that his love for Sarah was something written in time itself. It was eternal, compassionate, and unshakable, like standing stones or the tide. It was because it was meant to be. And the great thing was that now, he didn’t have to simply love her for the rest of her life. There was a real and tangible possibility that he could love her for the rest of his, as well.
First things first. Find Sarah and give her the good news. Then bury himself in her as far as he could and never let her go.
Chapter 26
Bane wasn’t one to take in the beauty of nature. His opinion was that even if it were razed and completely turned to ash, it would still be fun to kick the shit out of. But he did have to admit: Asheville was gorgeous. Well, as gorgeous as a town full of meat bags could be.
Standing by the parked car in the pitch black, he looked up at the stars. The night was completely dark, and the sky looked like it was littered with pinholes. Flanking the side of the narrow ribbon of road he was currently pissing on were majestic mountains, covered in all manner of colors. Even in the dark, he could make out the reds and yellows of the trees.
“So where to next?” the voice from the car boomed.
“Hell if I know,” Bane gave himself a shake and tucked back into his leather pants. “I’m tired of riding around this pisshole of a place. I could care less.” He turned toward the passenger door of the black classic Caddy and slid in.
“I saw the nasty all over your back, man,” Stellan smirked at him from the driver’s seat. “You may want to go back and tell that nice mean lady that we didn’t find anything, but you’ll do it alone, my friend. Alone.”
Bane tapped the dashboard, and Stellan hit the gas pedal, kicking up gravel behind them. He was right. It didn’t matter how long he’d driven around or how much time had passed since they’d left. If they didn’t go back with something, she would kill them all. He wasn’t worried about her taking him out. At that point—with the conflict of conscious he had going on—he didn’t care if she cut him open and left him out in the desert. He was a little bit concerned about the new guys she’d hired. It was pointless for them to die.
Wait, what the hell was he thinking? Since when had he developed moral fiber? Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Morrigan finally dropped the straw that broke the camel’s back. Perhaps it was the very surreal fact that history was literally repeating itself, and this time they might not be so lucky. Glancing over at Stellan’s thick arms and the maniacal tattoos that played over his skin as he danced with the wheel of the heavy car, he thought to himself that maybe, just maybe, it could have something to do with the fact that he was actually attracted to someone other than Morrigan for the first time in forever.
Fuck if this wasn’t just a peach of a situation. All at once, his internal moral makeup was changing. He hated his wife, didn’t want people to die, and was hard for another dude. And he didn’t want to kill his brother. When did that happen? The whole mess was making his insides burn. Literally. Somewhere deep down in the recesses of his gut, he could feel the beginnings of a slow fire starting.
Only it wasn’t situational or in his head. It was real.
“Stop the car,” he said with barely a whisper.
“Don’t mumble,” Stellan replied.
“Stop the bastard car. Now!”
Stellan screeched the giant metal vehicle to a halt, barely putting it in park before Bane jumped out.
“What gives?” Stellan popped open his heavy door as if it weighed no more than paper and walked around the back to the side of the road.
“Shhh,” Bane lifted a finger to his red lips. “Just keep your eyes open.”
He began taking slow, methodical steps toward the tree line. He stopped, crouching down on all fours in front of a narrow strip of gravel. Relief and terror welled up inside of him, and he couldn’t stop himself from laughing. He’d found them.
“Listen, man, I understand that she jacked you hard, but are you sure you’re okay?” Stellan slowly made his way over to Bane and placed a large hand on his shoulder.
“Back to the car,” Bane said, standing up straight. He turned to face Stellan and smiled. “We’ll need about ten men,” he said as he slid into the passenger seat.
“Anyone in particular?” Stellan sat in the driver’s seat and put the car in drive.
“Armed,” Bane said. “Armed and reckless enough not to care if they live or die.” He paused. “And you can’t go.”
“Piss on you, I’m going,” Stellan said.
“I’m fairly open-minded, but even I draw the line somewhere.”
“Fine then, how’s this. Fuck you, I’m going.”
Bane smiled at him and licked a fang. “Funny, you didn’t strike me as a man-love type of fellow.
Stellan quickly cut his eyes at Bane. “Getting a little flirty there, aren’t you, Glitter?”
“Just drive,” Bane said, his voice dark and heavy.
* * *
The fire was slowly dying. Sarah inched closer to the open hearth and wrapped the worn plaid around her shoulders even tighter. No matter how hard she tried or what she did, she couldn’t seem to shake the shiver that consumed her. Thermoregulation was simply not possible at that point. She did her best to stoke the embers in the metal grate, but every time she prodded them with the poker, what remained of the logs seemed to collapse in on themselves. She tried putting more wood on the fire, but that just snuffed it out. As a last resort, she’d soaked some newspaper in a glass of old whisky and lit it below the logs. It managed to catch, and for a few minutes, she thought it would spread, but once the booze burned up and the paper was nothing but ashes, only embers remained.
With her feet and her butt planted onto the cold stone hearth, she could feel the last remnants of warmth beginning to fade.
It was a fitting personification of how she felt inside. The fire of a life she never knew existed seemed to have consumed her completely, and the last few days had been absolute insanity. Kidnapped, fired, thrown into an existential fairy tale. And if the hideous noise coming from upstairs was any indication, she was also losing her best friend.
She could hear the sickening smacks against the floor, the screaming and thrashing that undoubtedly were the last moments of Nick’s life. She tried to bite back a sob. He was a big boy. He knew what he was getting into, and he was going to die soon anyway. After running tests that morning, they had both discovered he wasn’t just HIV positive. He also had aplastic anemia, and if his bone marrow wasn’t producing enough blood to begin with, then his already-shot immune system was a sitting target for just about anything.
How could she have been so stupid? To believe all of this? To buy into everything that was in front of her? The last seventy-two hours had been one big infomercial, and she was ready and waiting by the phone with her maxed-out credit card.
Then there was the whole falling in love mess. When and how that happened, she wasn’t sure, but she knew that Nick being dead and the serum not working was going to put a gigantic damper on whatever weird-ass thing was blossoming between her and Taris. They’d both managed to let the bugs in their asses die, which was great, and the feelings she had for him were apparently mutual. It was pointless to fight against it or argue it to the contrary, because there were some things that just had to be accepted. The sun would rise and fall every day. The winds would change. Politicians would always argue…
And she’d fallen in love with an eight-hundred-year-old, six-foot-three, tattooed, broody, and sexy-to-the-soul vampire—in less than a week. That had to be some kind o
f record.
A somber hush seemed to emanate from the floor above her. She cast a glance toward the ceiling, listening for any sign that something other than the inevitable had happened. Her heart dropped into her stomach when she heard a door close and the thudding of boots on the stairs.
“Oh, Nick,” she whispered, burying her head into the plaid that was wrapped around her. She tried to fight the tears, but there was no point. A wave of terrified nausea hit her when she heard the large oak door to the room push open.
“Thought I’d find you here.” Taris’ deep voice was hushed.
She didn’t reply. The fact that he was there confirmed her fears, and the sobs she’d tried so hard to contain came flooding out.
He clicked the door shut, and in a few strides, he was next to her, wrapping his thick arms around her as he lifted her up and walked to the leather wingback chair. Setting down gently with her on his lap, he tucked the worn paid in tighter around her.
“I’m sorry,” she blubbered. “I don’t…normally…cry.”
Taris kissed the top of her head. “Let it out,” he whispered. He gently pulled her hair free of the black hair tie, letting it fall loose against her back. His hands weaved their way through the curls in long fluid motions. “I have some news for you that may make you feel better, though.”
“How…could…I…feel…better?” her words were broken between sobs.
Taris shifted, bringing his hands to the sides of her face. He tilted her head until they were eye to eye. He wiped her tears away with his thumbs and leaned in to place a delicate kiss on her lips.
“He made it,” he whispered.
Sarah cocked an eyebrow. “What?” Her nose was so stuffy she could barely breathe, let alone speak.
Taris smiled down at her, his eyes narrowed and full of more emotion than she could possibly take in. “He made it. The process wasn’t a pleasant one. But,” he paused and pulled a strand of hair away from her tear-soaked face, “he’s alive.”
Sarah felt like she was going to pass out. The edges of her eyes were blurry, and the heat she’d so desperately tried to find earlier was swirling around her.
Chaos and Moonlight (Order of the Nines Book 1) Page 21
