by Honor James
“I can understand why your people would want to naturally keep them suppressed then.” She looked up at him and smiled. “Tell me what you’re thinking. What goes through your mind when you look at me as you do?” She was about to go on, but he was saved by the server bringing in their food. She paused but didn’t pull from him, but waited for him to pull from her, and when he didn’t, she just leaned into him more. She watched as the food was laid out, and then when the server left, she smiled. “This is a lot of food. Are you sure we will eat it all?”
“It is doubtful we will, but I wanted you to have a few more foods to try and see what else you may like or not,” he told her quietly. “Our wedding meal was rather short. This is my way of making it up to you, Xandra.” And he knew from the smell of everything that it was all safe. Touching her cheek lightly, he looked into her eyes. “I see a lovely, elegant woman with a grace that has no comparison. You are magnificent, Xandra,” he told her honestly. Even though he was extremely uncomfortable with speaking of such things, he was trying to give her a bit of what she wanted and needed, as she was trying to give him what he wanted and needed.
She smiled and blushed. “Thank you, Andries.” Reaching up, she cupped his cheek with her hand, ever so gently touching him as she did so. “We are alone, aren’t we?” She knew they were, which was why he chose this restaurant, and she knew that now. “Will you kiss me again? Before we begin our substitute wedding feast?”
“As you wish, my lady,” he said softly before leaning in toward her. Gently, he kissed her, teasing her lips with his for long moments before he took it deeper, letting some of his need come through. Pulling back after a time, he stared down at her. “We should eat, my lady.” Before he did something that would not go over well with the restaurant management.
“Xan. Call me Xan, Andries.” She touched his lips, the moisture from her lips still clinging there. “We should eat.” But she didn’t want to. She wanted to kiss him again and again, to lose herself in him. “We should eat before I do something that really will make management very, very angry with me.”
“That would be most wise,” he murmured. Shifting slightly, he pulled the platter closer and held up a piece of her favorite cheese for her to take. “Since we did not get to truly enjoy our wedding feast, I’ve gotten a wide array of foods as well as quite a bit of the ones you had said you enjoyed.”
She took the offered cheese and chewed it slowly, a thoughtful look on her face. “Thank you for doing all of this for me.” She lifted a piece of fruit before his lips and offered. “For giving me the chance to be able to have a moment where I can eat in peace with you, enjoy a simple meal, and just have time alone with you. No eyes watching us, watching me for some sign of damage or slippage, but we can just be happy.”
Taking the fruit right from her fingers, he curled his tongue around her slim digits to catch all the juice and watched her face as he did it. Chewing, he sat back and picked up a piece of bread with a light coating of butter and thinly sliced meat on it, offering it to her. “I know this has been hard on you, Xandra, and believe me, I do not expect you to understand or even like anything of my world. But you are trying and you are showing amazing respect for a culture not your own, so an hour here or there where we can be alone and just have some time seems the very least I can do to help your transition.”
Giving him a bright smile, she shook her head. “This is to be my culture, Andries. I no longer have a home world, so I have decided to adopt yours.” She nodded happily as she took a bite of the bread. “Because believe me”—and then her face showed the pain she was feeling—“my home died when my father killed my mother. I never want to go back, Andries. Sure, I will miss the little things, but I will not miss him or anything to do with him, which seemed to be the whole world. I will find the little things here, with you.” She offered him a small sliver of meat on what appeared to be a cracker.
Taking it from her, he let his mind process what she’d told him and what had been revealed by her words. Swallowing, he drank some of his chilled water before he offered her some fruit. “This is new. You’ll have to tell me if you like it. It’s quite bland until you swallow and then, depending on the person, it will either be very sweet or quite tart.” As she took it, he wiped his fingers on the cloth napkin. “What sort of little things will you miss, Xandra?” he asked her softly.
“I will miss the little things like the countryside, riding on the horses, or walking through fields of flowers.” She shrugged and took the bite from him. She shivered as she licked her lips. “I like that a great deal, Andries.” Leaning in, she licked the juice from his fingers, her eyes on him the whole time.
“Is there anything else you’ll miss from your home?” he asked softly as he fed her another piece of the fruit, his eyes watching as her tongue darted out before vanishing. Before she could answer, he leaned in and kissed her, the taste of the fruit still on her tongue. He tasted it as he slid his over hers slowly.
Her hands fisted in his shirt and tugged him closer, kissing him back with all the desire and need that he was giving her. When they parted, she licked her lips and smiled. “Nothing else at all. I don’t miss anything else, Andries. I have everything that I could ever want and need right here in you.”
Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he leaned back from her and began to feed her again, letting her try some of the new foods that were based on her previous likes. Some she loved, others she liked, and at some she wrinkled her nose and told him “no thank you” ever so politely. Dinner was a long affair of touches, food, soft light, and low conversation. Over an hour after they had sat the last course, the palate cleanser came to them with silence as all the previous courses had, too. “This has little taste,” he told her, lifting some of the faintly green foam on the miniature paddle, “but it will clear your palate and ensure that your meal settles. It has herbs in it that are unique to our world and, if you finish any meal with this, you won’t ever have an upset stomach.”
She leaned in, her eyes on him as she moved in close to him. Taking a bite from the spoon he offered, she licked her lips and smiled up at him. “Delicious.” It wasn’t the offering. It was him. He had made the experience so much more than what she ever could have dreamed it would have been. She was in heaven with him. He was perfect for her, in every way. Leaning back, she watched him as he took the spoonful as well and with a shaky hand reached out, curled around his neck, and pulled him in for a deep kiss.
Going willingly, Andries kissed her, his hand moving up to cup her cheek, gently letting her guide the kiss. Her taste was just as intoxicating as ever, and he was not sure he would ever have enough. To go without was going to be hard. He was ever so grateful he’d decided she had to come with him on the mission. A month without her would be worse than years without blood.
When she pulled back, she smiled up at him and licked her lips, nodding. “Thank you for a wonderful meal.” She knew they had been there for a long while, but she hadn’t realized how many hours had actually passed. Moving closer to him, she laid her head on his shoulder and smiled. “I very much like these times with you, Andries, these perfect moments.”
“We will see about creating some more for you, Xandra, so that your life here with me will be all that you want and need,” he told her softly. Leaning his cheek to her hair, he wrapped his arm around her and held her close. They would only have a few more minutes alone as the restaurant was closing, but he wanted to have those moments with her.
She held onto him as well, and when they pulled apart, she smiled. “We need to leave, don’t we, Andries?” she asked softly as she heard the staff outside their curtained-off cubby cleaning the room. “I think that I’m ready if you are ready as well.” Looking up at him, she didn’t refuse her inner voice that leaned up and brushed her lips to his lightly before pulling back. “I needed that.”
“Yes,” he murmured softly. “We do need to go. Otherwise they may ignore my reputation and kick us out forcibly,” he said. Ge
tting to his feet, he helped her from her chair and gently led her from their table. Stopping, he thanked the owner for the meal and ensured that he was well tipped as was the rest of his establishment. Leading her out into the night air, he had them into their shuttle quickly and on their way home in seconds.
She laid her head back against him and closed her eyes. “I’m exhausted,” she whispered in the darkness as her hand moved up to cover his heart. “Thank you for such a wonderful night, Andries. Thank you for giving me this time.” And for allowing her to love him.
“You are very welcome, Xandra. I am pleased that you enjoyed the meal and the time we had together,” he said quietly. “I wanted you to have a nice time, Xandra, and have a happy memory to look back on. I hope that I can give you more memories like tonight.” But they would not be very often.
“Every moment that you have given me so far, Andries, is perfect, happy.” And it was. Looking up at him with only the glow of the onboard computer to light her features, she spoke softly. “You have given me happiness, Andries. You have shown me something I never thought to have.” But that she would leave for later. For now she was more than content to simply be in his arms, where she was always meant to be.
“Then I am pleased, Xandra,” he told her quietly, shifting slightly to look at her. Lifting a hand, he touched her cheek. “I know that our future is uncertain to some degree. But I hope you know that if anything displeases you or you are upset in any way, you will be free to speak with me about it so we can resolve it between us.”
“I will, Andries. I will come to you if there is worry or upset.” She nodded. “And when we get home, we will talk more, but for now I just want to be here with you. I just want to be right here in your arms being held close to you.” She moved so that she could rub her cheek to his chest and sighed happily. “Later we will talk more.” Later, if she had her courage up, she would tell him how she felt, maybe.
Wrapping his arms around her, he held her close to him, rubbing his hand slowly up and down her back. The shuttle was near-silent, so there was no sound in the small capsule but for their breathing and heartbeats. Not too much later, the shuttle slowed and parked in their spot. “We’re home, Xandra,” he said softly, knowing she had been lightly dozing. As she lifted her head, he stood and helped her out of the shuttle before moving slowly with her to the building and up to their suite.
She was walking with him closely, side to side and arm to arm with her head on his shoulder. She was in peaceful, blissful happiness, and everything else around them simply seemed to fade into nothingness. It was with a smile on her lips when it happened. A woman stepped from the shadows and looked at the way that Xandra was all but draped over Andries. “Her father sends his best to you both,” she said only a moment before pulling a hand laser pistol and firing it straight for Xandra, hitting her in the upper right of her chest and laughing as she watched the woman fall.
Chapter Sixteen
Stunned, Andries didn’t react as he normally would have, but then he’d never had anyone he actually cared for harmed. Catching her as she started the tumble, Andries looked to the woman and, with a flash of hatred, swore he’d kill her when he found her, and he would. He had her scent and knew her face. She’d not live for much longer.
It all happened so fast that Xan barely had time to register that she had just had a hole blasted into her body before she dropped like lead. She was clinging to Andries, who had been on her left side, and felt her eyes trying to slide closed. She realized in those breaths she was going to die, and didn’t have the chance to tell him, “I love you.” It came out now. It was croaked and barely there, but it was there as she slid into the darkness, hearing his calls to someone to send them to medbay.
Cursing, Andries laid her out and pressed his hands to the wound to staunch the flow of the blood as people ran about. “You will not die, wife,” he told her softly as he leaned close, his ears tuned to her heartbeat that was sluggish but still a steady rhythm. If she lost much more blood it would be worse.
Knowing what had to be done, Andries turned his wrist up and, with a long sharp incisor, cut a thin line through the artery there. As the blood swelled, he let it drip into the wound, knowing that his blood, with the healing properties, would seal the wound and help it to heal even faster than anything medical could do. Once he was sure enough had coated the wound and the edges began to pull together, with a swipe of his tongue he sealed his own wound and shifted to cradle her in his lap. “You will not die, Xandra. You cannot. Hear me on this, wife,” he murmured to her as he watched her face, his fingers lightly resting on her pulse.
She hurt so badly that it was giving her trouble to simply breathe. She felt herself slipping and sliding from him, but his will alone, that indomitable and ironclad will of his, held her tight and fast to him. His blood sealed her wound, this was true, but it did more than that, and the fires that burned and battled in her bloodstream told the tale. Her fingers gripped him even as she felt herself being lifted and then flying away. She didn’t know where they were going but knew she wasn’t alone, and never again would she be alone. “I want to live. I want to live for us, Andries.” Her voice was thready, weak. Her blood loss was significant, but the battle that waged inside of her ensured that she would live another day.
Picking her up, Andries carried her toward their building and inside. He’d waited long enough for medical help to arrive, and obviously, they were not coming. Now he had a choice to make, and hopefully she would not hate him for it. In the lift, he looked to her. “Xandra, you need to listen for a moment. You are dying. What I did is merely a stopgap, wife. If you truly want to live, you will need to become what I am.” Gods, he hated having to say those words to her. “Are you prepared to live as I do, Xandra? Can you live as I do?” he asked her. “Be very sure, because it is not an easy battle you will have to wage, and there is still a lot of risk, especially with the loss of blood you already have suffered. Do you want to live and remain with me enough to become Vampire, Xandra?”
She had to fight for each heartbeat now. The blood was losing its battle, so she nodded her head as it lay on his shoulder. “I love you, Andries. I want to be with you. I don’t want to die, not now.” She had fat, hot tears falling as she spoke. “I want to be as you are, Andries, but only if you can live with me touching you, kissing you, loving you for the rest of whatever our lifespans will be.”
Pressing a kiss to her cheek, he swept from the lift and to their suites quickly, getting inside and shutting out the world. Carrying her to their bedroom, he laid her out and quickly stripped her down to nothing before collecting a wet cloth and cleaning her. Coming back to her side after she was cleansed and in a shirt that was his, he sat with her. The whole time he’d been taking care of her he’d also been preparing and now, now it was time. “I want you with me, Xandra,” he said softly, looking into her panicked eyes. “I do not have the words you need to hear, but in here”—he took her hand and pressed it to his heart—“is where you already reside.”
She nodded and felt her heart stuttering as she watched him. “Actions are better than words in this case, Andries.” Because she understood what he was telling her without the words.
Stroking back her hair, he moved closer. “I need to take almost all your blood, and then I will give you a lot of mine. Your body will burn, like a fever, and then you will sleep.” He left off the mention that it might be a sleep from which she never woke. Some things did not need to ever be mentioned. “When you wake in a few days’ time, we will be on my ship and I will be close. I swear this to you, wife of mine. For now, close your eyes and know that I will never let anything or anyone take you from me. You are mine.”
“And you are mine. Do as you need to, husband,” she whispered with her unsteady voice as she swept her eyes closed once more. “Know I love you,” was the last thing she whispered before she felt the bite of his teeth to her neck.
As gently as he could, he pressed his long incisors into her
throat and drank, carefully taking all he could without actually stopping her heart. When it stuttered and fought, he lapped at the wounds and lifted his head. Without thought or a flinch, he sliced his wrist open with his teeth and pressed the wound to her mouth. “Drink, Xandra. Drink and live for us both and our future,” he whispered in her ear.
And she drank. She drank like a woman starved, and one determined to live. As his blood filled her veins, gave life to the tissue and organs in her body, it, also, fed the smallest of dividing cells hidden away from every eye, from every thought. The smallest of cells divided over and over again and took the blood, the power in the blood, and infused it into its very makeup, fundamentally changing her as it gave her new life, renewed life.
Taking his wrist from her mouth, Andries swiped his tongue across the line and then moved to lie at her side. Propping himself up on an elbow, he stared down at her as he lightly stroked her hair back.
Finally she felt the burn in her body, just under her skin, and bit back the cry but looked up and into his eyes. “Andries.” It was all she said, all she could say as she was consumed with the burning of what was to come.
