by Tara Sampson
When Shelby opened her eyes, the first thing that she noticed was how incredibly dry the back of her throat was. When she tried to swallow, she realized it wasn’t just dry, it actually burned. It felt almost as if someone had scalded it with boiling hot water, making the unfamiliar pain that much more intense.
“W-water,” she croaked, trying to pull herself up.
Leo was at her side in an instant. He touched her cheek and searched her half-lidded eyes. There was nothing but sincere concern written in the depths of his face.
“You’re finally awake,” he commented, his voice barely above a whisper. He had been so worried about her, knowing that since she was only a newborn, she needed to feed. He had already planned to wake her himself if she hadn’t roused by the time the sun set. “How’s your head, my love? Does it still hurt?”
Shelby brought her hand up to her neck, desperately needing something to soothe it and tried to once again sit up.
“Thirsty,” she stammered. “I’m just so thirsty.”
After watching her struggle, Leo slid over to her side and helped her sit up.
“You need to feed, Shelby. You’ve been out for three days. That’s far too long after the stress the summons put on your body.”
Shelby turned towards Leo, her face scrunched up in confusion.
“Three days? Are you seriously telling me that I’ve been unconscious for three whole days?”
“Yes,” Leo agreed solemnly. “Alex had to put you under so that you could heal from the summons he sent to you. For some reason,” Leo scowled, “one that I have yet to understand, he seemed to think that I needed to be put through some sort of test and that test was you, my sweet.” He palmed her cheeks with both of his hands and turned her towards him. “I’m sorry,” he told her, guilt swimming in his eyes. “I am so damn sorry that you had to experience that. If I could have taken the pain from you, I would have. I would have soaked up every drop of it if it meant that you wouldn’t have had to suffer. The last thing that I ever want is to see you be forced to endure that kind of pain again.”
Shelby believed him. She believed every word that he said because the honesty that he spoke with was defined clearly in his tone.
“It’s okay,” she said hoarsely. “I’m fine now, just very…thirsty.”
On cue, there was a knock at the door. Leo glanced over her shoulder and nodded his head.
“That would be your dinner,” he announced, already moving to get off the bed.
Shelby was too exhausted to formulate any kind of response so she decided to lie her head back against the pillows and close her eyes for several minutes while it was blessedly quiet. Lying there, she inhaled deeply to see if she could pin point what kind of dinner Leo would have brought up to her. She was thinking that a nice tomato brusque sounded pretty good right about then with a tall glass of refreshing ice water to wash it all down afterward. Just thinking about the cool water as it slid down the back of her throat made her mouth water for more. The problem was she didn’t smell anything. Even with her new sense of vampire super smell, all she could decipher was Leo’s individual scent which was tantalizing to say the least, her own scent and she wrinkled her nose as she picked out an overpowering lemon scent; probably reminiscent of some sort of cleaner.
“Open your eyes, my sweet. I have a surprise for you.” Shelby did as she was told and once again tried to push herself up. And once again, the ever attentive Leo was there, fluffing her pillows and doing his best to make sure she was comfortable. “Are you comfortable?” Shelby looked up at him and offered a weak smile.
“Yes,” she said, wondering where the food was. “At least as comfortable as I can be,” she added subconsciously touching her throat and feeling like it was on fire.
Leo turned towards the door and called out.
“Come in. She’s ready now.”
She turned her attention to the door and was surprised when a twenty-something year old girl walked through it. She was paler than most and wore a plain navy blue slip dress that hit her mid-thigh. It was nothing fancy and she even had her auburn colored hair pulled back in a simple pony tail. She could barely be a year or two older than herself and she wasn’t carrying a dinner tray.
Leo stepped out of the way.
“Over here,” he gestured towards Shelby.
The young girl slowly made her way toward the bed. She kept her head bent down and didn’t meet either Shelby or Leo’s gaze. Hesitantly, she sat down on the side of the bed and tilted her neck to the side, offering it to Shelby.
At first Shelby wasn’t sure what to think and then it all sort of clicked.
“What is this?” she asked and turned to Leo. Her stomach was already turning over as it was so obvious by what it was meant to be.
“You need to feed,” he said as if it was the most normal thing to do in the world. And maybe in his eyes it was but to Shelby, it wasn’t right. She couldn’t do it. “She’s a blood slave. She enjoys the high that she gets from the bite. You don’t have to drain her Shelby but you need to feed directly from the source. You’re starving.”
Shelby closed her eyes and took several long deep breaths. Leo was right about one thing; she was starving; starving so much that she could hear the girl’s heart beating rhythmically in her chest. The beats seemed to echo in time in her head and it was driving her crazy. What this girl was offering her was a temptation that she was sorely struggling to abstain from.
The biggest problem was that Shelby was scared to death that once she started to feed, as thirsty as she was, she wouldn’t have any control. Leo said that she didn’t have to kill the girl, but she wasn’t confident enough in herself to say that once she started, she would be able to stop.
“I’m not biting her,” she screamed in outrage and made a weak attempt to get off the bed.
“You need food and you will eat Shelby. Your health is my only concern right now. This isn’t up for discussion,” Leo took an intimidating step forward and crossed his arms over his broad chest, “now…enough with the nonsense and feed Shelby.”
Shelby narrowed her eyes in warning.
“No!”
Leo took one more step so that he now towered over the two girls. What struck Shelby odd was the fact that the other girl just sat quietly beside her with her head cocked to the side like a sacrificial lamb without muttering a single word.
“I don’t want to have to force you but I will if I must. You need to feed Shelby,” he said, his voice softening. Leo pushed the girl closer to Shelby, so close that the pulse in her neck was too much for a starving newborn to ignore. “Come on; be a good girl and take what you need. I would offer you myself but you need human blood to completely heal.”
Shelby zeroed in on the girl’s neck. She wasn’t even really seeing the girl anymore. All she saw was the tiny blue vein pumping hard just beneath her translucent skin.
“Please,” she begged Leo, “Don’t make me do this. You know how I feel.”
A single blood red tear slid down her cheek but Leo wouldn’t budge. Not on this.
“And I know how I feel, my sweet. I know how much that I love you and need you to be strong for me. This is one time I cannot give in.”
Holding the girl still with one hand, Leo nudged Shelby forward with the other.
Feed. He sent the one word command in her head. Feed, for me.
Unable to resist any longer, Shelby felt her incisors begin to elongate. The fierce burning in her throat multiplied. Her dark beaded eyes locked onto the pulse point in the girl’s neck and before she could think twice about it, she struck. She struck hard and fast, sinking her fangs into the girl’s skin as easily as if she was cutting through melted butter.
The cool rush of the red liquid gave her immediate relief. She moaned at the sweet taste as it tickled her taste-buds and rejuvenated her body. Drinking from Leo was heaven, but this…this was euphoric. She could feel the girl’s life force racing through her own veins. She moaned and in the background she he
ard the other girl moan as well.
“Shelby, that’s enough,” Leo warned.
Shelby heard Leo speaking to her but she couldn’t pull back—not yet. She needed just a little more.
“Shelby!” Leo said louder this time, his tone inflecting that authoritative annotation that he liked to use at times; that same authority that she was beginning to not like.
“Shelby,” Leo jerked his bride back when he saw the blood slave’s body go limp. If he didn’t stop her now, then she would kill the girl and Shelby would never forgive him. “You have to stop,” he said, pushing her back on the bed. Leo grabbed the unconscious girl and quickly swiped his tongue over the pin pricks that Shelby left in her neck to stop the bleeding. She still had a pulse…barely.
Standing back up, Leo spun around when he heard the warning hiss.
“Mine!” Shelby declared her voice raw and cannibalistic.
He held up his hands.
“Sweetheart, you’re not thinking clearly. You're in blood lust,” he reminded her. “Just try and breathe through it—slowly.”
Shelby’s predatory gaze slipped to her quarry lying still on the floor. She could still taste her in her mouth. She needed more.
“Mine,” she growled and lifted her head to Leo. “Mine!”
Leo shook his head and slowly moved towards her. There was no reasoning with her in this state. He needed to offer himself to cool the blood lust. He held up his wrist and unleashed a claw, slicing through his own skin.
“Here,” he said, offering it up to her. “Drink this.”
Shelby scrunched her eyes closed. All she could think about was how sweet that girl had tasted on her tongue. She didn’t want his offering. She wanted her.
When Shelby opened her eyes again, Leo saw her intent.
“Shit!” he cursed and just as she dove for the girl on the floor, he intercepted her, tossing her back on the bed. Straddling above her, he grabbed both of her wrists and pinned them down to the bed. “Shelby, listen to me. You have to come out of it.” Shelby thrashed her head back and forth. Her eyes were glazed over and a trail of red blood dribbled down her chin. She let out a screech that played hell on the eardrums and had Leo wincing while he held on to her even tighter. “Shelby, snap out of it!” he ordered. “I will not let you drain that girl dry.”
Shelby wasn’t listening. She couldn’t see past the haze of the blood lust. With one heave, she felt the necklace heat on her skin and hefted Leo clear across the room. He landed against the wall, destroying a small wooden end table before sliding to the floor.
“What the hell?” he muttered, pushing himself up. He was over a hundred years old. She should have never been able to overpower him like that. Then he remembered the consecration necklace. It was protecting her from him.
Glancing across the room he saw Shelby hovering over the blood slave, her teeth firmly entrenched in the girl’s neck. She was glaring back at him, daring him to try and take her quarry from him.
“Damn,” he muttered and was already preparing himself for round two. He would do whatever he had to in order to prevent her from killing an innocent. She would hate herself come morning when she was back to her loving self. It was unfortunate that the bewitching necklace did its job when it came to protecting her from him but what about when she needed protection from herself? Where the hell was the power then?
“Shelby, love,” he drawled out, steel determination on his face as he stalked towards her. “I hate to be the rain on your parade but I need you to put the girl down and take a step back.” he said with all the calm that he could muster. Her eyes dilated and she matched his determination with one of her own and that’s when he knew that he had his hands full. “Alright,” he murmured, and rolled his shoulders back once. “Looks like we’re going to have to do this the hard way,” he said and lunged in her direction.
Chapter 29
Leo braced himself. He refused to let his bride kill the blood slave. He knew that when she realized what she had done, she would be devastated. As her life partner, it was up to him to take care of Shelby and protect her with all that he was; even if he had to protect her from herself.
“Shelby,” he crooned and made sure to keep his voice soft, “you’ve had enough, my sweet. I’m begging you to please not force my hand in this. It would be so much easier if you dropped the slave and took a step away.”
She slowly pulled her mouth away from the blood slave’s neck and her lips curled up in a wicked snarl but in no uncertain terms did she release her prey from her stronghold. She held the slip of a human tightly by the nape of the neck, glaring daggers in Leo’s direction.
“Mine!”
His entire body tightened with desire. Despite the fact that he was going to have to take her down, he couldn’t help but to notice just how gorgeous she really was. She was standing there in all of her true vampire glory. Her eyes glowed with the power from her recent feeding which hummed through her veins and her pointed newborn fangs shimmered brilliantly under the fluorescent lighting; both of them dripping with remnants of the crimson blood she had ingested. He was sorely tempted to hold her down and clean the tips of those beautiful fangs with his tongue.
Later, he told himself. His desire would have to wait until he could get his little bride under control.
“Shelby,” he repeated her name and took a step forward.
She took a step back and bent low, holding her prey closer to her chest. She pulled her lips back and hissed at him.
“Mine!”
He shook his head.
“No, she’s not. She was sent to you to use but now you’ve had enough. It’s time to give her back to the elders.”
“No!” she hissed again and dragged her prey even closer to her. Shelby sank her fangs back into the unconscious human and began to drink in large gulps.
“Alright, you can’t say that I didn’t warn you, sweetheart.” Leo said sounding resigned just before he lunged. In a move that was so quick that even Shelby’s pin slit eyes couldn’t track, he pulled her into his arms and left the human lying on the floor.
Her back was flush against Leo’s hard chest and he circled her midsection with his arms, chaining her hands to her sides. Shelby screamed out words that he couldn’t understand. She bit deep into his arm but he didn’t feel anything but his bride’s pain.
Holding her tighter, he whispered into her mind.
Do what you need to do, my sweet. Get it all out. Bite me, claw me, kick me; whatever you need to sate the blood lust. I’m here for you.
The whispered words acted as more of a trigger. He wasn’t expecting the burst of energy she used to break his hold on her. She threw her arms up and spun around, sending a kick to his stomach that sent him flying backward into the wall, landing him on his ass for the second time.
He held his head with his hands and tried to focus on Shelby. When he looked at her, there were two Shelby’s staring back at him, locked into a fighting stance. He blinked to clear his vision and very slowly went to stand up.
“Shelby,” he held his hands up, palms facing out in surrender, “please come to me.”
She answered him with a growl. He barely had enough time to sidestep when she came at him again. This time, she missed him and she went sprawling face first into the wall. The sound that she made was feral.
“Leo! What’s going on in there?”
Leo didn’t dare take his eyes off of his bride. He watched her every move as she stood back up and spun around.
“Alex, my bride and I are just having a little disagreement, that’s all.”
He saw her grab for the lamp on the end table and instinctively ducked when the blunt object came speeding towards his head. His options were quickly running low. He tried to talk her down, he tried to force her hand and neither of those tactics worked. His next option was to wear her to point of exhaustion. He just had to make sure he survived in the meantime.
“Come on, sweet. You can do better than that,” he taunted her.<
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“Leo! What the hell is going-” Alex barged into the room and closed his mouth when he saw Shelby’s savage state. His eyes went to the human blood slave lying on the floor and the disaster area that she had made of the room. “She’s in blood lust?” he finally asked when he found his voice again.
“That would be an affirmative,” Leo drawled out sarcastically while dodging a large crystal vase. The sound of the glass shattering drew Alex’s attention.
“Can you hold her still?”
“Don’t you think I’ve tried that already?”
Alex furrowed his brow, undaunted by the hissing noises that Shelby was sending his way.
“She’s just a newborn. You’re much older and much stronger. Why can’t you hold her?”
“She has a consecration necklace.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“At the time I was too pissed off at you for what you put her through. It didn’t cross my mind.” Leo grunted when Shelby charged him, putting his ass back on the floor.
Alex frowned. A consecration necklace was powerful and one that was strong enough to overpower a vampire as old as Leo had to come from an original coven. That probably meant that Sabrina was involved. She was the head Mistress of all the witched. Alex smiled when he thought about the very beautiful Sabrina. He’d been trying for centuries to wed her but every time that he’d asked her, she refused claiming that her duty was to her coven.
Letting out a small sigh, Alex turned back to Leo.
“Can you hold her for five minutes? Long enough for me to feed her a few drops of my blood?”
Leo’s head snapped up so fast that the cracking sound it made reverberated on the wind.
“Have you lost your mind?” he bellowed. “You’re a good friend of mine and I trust you but hell will have to freeze over before I let you feed my bride. That’s an intimacy that I will share with no vampire.”
Alex flashed in front of him.
“Not like that you fool. A few drops of my elder blood will soothe the lust. She will calm down so that you can manage her.”
