Once Bitten

by Trina M. Lee

  The fact that he wanted permission to bite me spoke volumes in terms of respect. I didn’t need to answer, though, as I played with his feather soft black hair. Enough had passed between us that words didn’t seem important.

  After a moment, his fangs sunk deep into the fleshy underside of my breast. A sound escaped me that was both pain and pleasure.

  “Do you treat all of your lovers this roughly?” I asked with a hint of teasing. My breath was stolen as his fingers sought out the warm, inviting place between my legs.

  “Of course not. You’re a werewolf,” he replied as if that was explanation enough.

  His tongue lapped at the blood he’d spilled, and I strained against him, wanting more than he was giving.

  “You’re high. High on power and werewolf blood.” My voice sounded terribly lazy.

  Arys looked up at me with a crimson smear on his lower lip. His eyes burned with a predator’s glow.

  “Funny comment coming from a lady with such stunning wolf eyes. Howl for me, Alexa. I want to hear how much you love this.”

  I did love it. His touch rocked me in ways I never thought possible. As much as I wanted him to scratch the itch inside me again, I wanted answers.

  “Do you know what’s happened to us Arys? I need to know. I don’t know enough.”

  My words stopped, and I dug claws into the sheet beneath me as his mouth replaced his fingers, hot against my core.

  “What do you need to know? Power wants to be used.” He spoke slowly, and his lips never left my flesh. “And enjoyed in the meantime.”

  “Ok, no more talking,” I groaned. My questions temporarily forgotten, I urged him up so that he kneeled over me.

  A sinful smile curved my lips as I gazed up at his hard body. He was more than ready for me again, and I growled my frustration when he didn’t immediately take me.

  “Arys,” I murmured. “Don’t play with me, boy.”

  “Still not satisfied, Alexa?” He rubbed his rock hard manhood against me playfully, and I made a noise that could have been a purr. I had been satisfied three or four times over now, but the hunger for him was far from fulfilled.

  “Not yet. Why don’t you hurry up and satisfy me? Again.” The pleading note to my words made me grimace. The wolf would beg for it, under the right circumstance, like the woman in me never would.

  If his snake-like grin was any indication, he loved hearing it. He wasn’t as aggressive as the first few rounds. This time, the softness frightened me. I associated soft, gentle sex with feelings and emotion. After everything we’d willingly and unwillingly shared, insecurity was beginning to creep in.

  Arys’ room was heavily curtained to prevent even a sliver of sunlight through, so when the dawn broke, he paid it no mind. Around seven, I decided that I should be getting home.

  “You know, Alexa,” Arys said thoughtfully from where he lay on the bed watching me shimmy into my skirt. “This could be huge for us. Imagine what we could do with that kind of power.” He raised a sly eyebrow at me.

  “Like what? Wait. Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know what you’re thinking.” I slipped my shirt over my head and tried uselessly to finger comb the tangles from my hair. “Arys, about the uh, memory thing…”

  “I think that was a little traumatizing for both of us. Let’s just agree to keep it confidential.”

  I nodded, uncertain. “Speaking of keeping things quiet-,” “You don’t want the wolf pup to find out.” Arys nodded knowingly, and I cringed. “I would say I understand, but don’t worry, my lips are sealed.”

  “Thank you.” I suddenly felt uncomfortable. I didn’t know why it meant so much to me to keep this quiet. In part, the sex had a lot tied into it that maybe shouldn’t be public knowledge. Also, there were certain people, like Raoul and Shaz, that, for very different reasons, I didn’t want to know my personal business.

  I offered to help Arys pay for the electrical damages, but he waved me off saying that’s what insurance is for. I’d have liked to hear the story he planned to spin for that. He was clearly out of his mind.

  “I’ll see you later, Arys,” I called from where I’d stopped in the washroom. Pulling the glass sliver from my foot proved more painful than when the damn thing had gone in.

  I cursed and swore until the little shard had successfully found its way into the garbage.

  The debris and glass was appalling in the light of day.

  “You can count on it. Do you need me to call you a cab or anything?”

  I walked through the house calling back that I was fine with walking. I wanted to walk home rather than call for a ride because I needed the time to think. The night had revealed so much but had created more confusion as well.

  Because of the sunlight that found its way through the kitchen windows, he was sanctioned to his bedroom and the living room, which was probably for the best if I wanted to finally get out of there. As I closed the door on the mess, I felt guilty about not cleaning up, but he’d insisted it was no big deal.

  The second I closed the front door behind me and turned to face the day, my eyes burned and watered madly. I fished around in my purse until I produced sunglasses, which didn’t do much to help other than hide my wolf eyes. I spent the first ten minutes of my walk furiously wiping my eyes. To passing motorists, it must have looked like I was crying.

  I started feeling shaky and nauseous. I hungered, and it wasn’t a fat, bloody steak that I longed for but the taste of human blood. My stomach hurt, and I had to pause near some brush where I heaved but threw up nothing. What was going on?

  My shaking hands were again becoming claws, and I felt my fangs fill my mouth.

  The wolf was fighting to break free, and I wasn’t sure why right now. I felt little control over myself suddenly, and I was scared. I began thinking that perhaps Arys and I truly had played with fire.

  Chapter Eight

  I didn’t know how I made it home, but I did. I felt increasingly worse as I walked.

  More than once, I had to stop, wracked with pain in my abdomen.

  Shortly after eight, I fumbled my way into the house with clawed hands. Claws are a real bitch for opening doors. The more subdued lighting inside was a relief to my burning eyes.

  Removing my shoes proved such a difficult task that, in the end, I gave up and just kicked until they flew off. Each one smacked the wall with a thud that broke the morning stillness.

  I was dizzy, and everything began to spin. Rocked with bloodlust, my stomach churned. It wasn’t my hunger. I wasn’t the one who thrived on the blood of the living.

  I staggered to my bedroom; my clawed hands left scratches on the walls as I went.

  After hugging the toilet in my en suite bathroom did nothing to ease the pain in my guts, I crawled to my bed. I was overcome with weakness before being overwhelmed in a sea of black.

  I was out for a solid nine hours during which I had the strangest dreams. Sometimes, I saw Arys’ memories through his eyes, and others, I watched as a bystander. My brain seemed to be trying to make sense of the multitude of information that I’d absorbed earlier.

  I saw Arys as a man, a human man. He’d been engaged to be married more than three hundred years ago. His fiancée had been rather plain, but he loved her dearly; she reminded him of his mother.

  His mother… Everything changed, and now I saw his mother with her rouged cheeks and highly pinned hair. I was confused, and I wanted to wake up. Nothing was making any sense to me. It was so random.

  I got a taste of Arys’ horror and fear when he realized the woman who’d hired him for the evening was a vampire with wicked intentions. Something was missing. What happened to the fiancée, and why was Arys working the streets in the 1700s?

  My sleep was fitful and disturbing, and when I finally awoke, I was slick with sweat.

  Kylarai was sitting at my desk using my computer. I sat up and threw my blanket off. My tongue was dry when I tried to speak.

  “How are you feeling, Lex?” She asked
. She approached me tentatively and perched on the edge of the bed. I could see the flood of questions in her eyes. “You better have a damn good story.”

  I still wore the clothes that I’d worn last night, but I was thankfully free of fangs or claws. I struggled out of my shirt and threw it on the floor near the laundry hamper. Then the skirt followed before I met Kylarai’s eyes.

  When I sat in my under things, I turned to her. Like a true best friend, she held a glass of ice water out to me.

  “Thanks,” I said, after wetting my parched throat. The word came easier than I’d expected. “I feel … awesome.”

  “Seriously Alexa, what happened to you last night? Did Arys hurt you?” Her gaze was fixed on the wound near my collarbone, and I could see the assumptions forming.

  I reached up and touched the bite. It was crusty around the punctures, and it ached at my touch. I made an attempt to get off the bed, but my head spun, so I sat back down.

  “No, he didn’t hurt me. I really need a shower.”

  “Ok, he didn’t hurt you; you’ve just recently become a donor?” There was no denying the vehemence in her voice.

  “Ky, please. Don’t be like that.” I made a second attempt to get off the bed, and this time my head didn’t swim.

  “Well, forgive me for being suspicious, but wouldn’t you be? You look like shit.”

  “Fantastic.” I pulled some clean clothes out of my closet and turned to the bathroom.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but honestly, I don’t think it was the physical nature of things. I think it was the metaphysical.”

  “How so?”

  “If you’ll be the best friend a girl could ever ask for and make me some coffee, I will tell you all about it after my shower. Promise.”

  The hot shower felt great even though it set fire to every sore spot I had. I shampooed my hair and lathered my body twice, careful to remove any trace of Arys’

  scent from my skin.

  The vampire bite, however, had just barely begun to heal. If I arranged my hair just right, I could most likely hide it. The bite on my breast looked the same but both wounds were clean and should heal as if they’d never happened.

  Kylarai stared daggers into me when I entered the kitchen. She looked at me as if I was hiding something. She listened attentively as I recounted the previous night’s events from the time I left her.

  I left out the most private and unnecessary details, but her raised eyebrows said she could guess. When I told her about the energy overload in Arys’ house, her eyes really widened.

  “I’ve never heard of any such thing. That’s amazing.”

  “And bizarre. I don’t know what to make of it. I felt terrible after. And so …

  hungry.” I was hesitant to tell her that I had actually hungered for human blood, but I trusted her, so I shared.

  She looked thoughtful for a minute, chewing her pouty lower lip. “Interesting. That could be something to play with.”

  “Could be dangerous, too. It really freaked me out. I’m going to ask Lena about it.”

  “Lena, she’s the witch you work with?”

  “Yeah. A damn good one, too.” I finished my first cup of coffee in a few large gulps and poured a second. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this but-,” “I know. Don’t say anything. But, you still have to face Shaz with that bite mark. Better think of something good.”

  “I’ll tell him its work related.” Even as the words came out of my mouth, I felt bad about them.

  “Do you think anything weird happened to Arys after you left?”

  “No idea. Only one way to find out.”

  “He was an equal participant too. It should work both ways.” Kylarai pointed out.

  My biggest concern was that he would dream of me as I had of him. It kind of creeped me out to picture it. “Therefore, he would probably experience some of your weaknesses like you did his.”

  “But what are our mortal weaknesses to someone who has passed beyond that?” It nagged at me because something didn’t fit. She shrugged. She had no more to offer than I did.

  I spent a lot of time hovering over the bathroom sink, splashing cool water on my face. My body was conflicted, and it shifted back and forth between a cold and hot sweat.

  I cursed a series of things all the while, needing a place to point the finger and lay blame.

  I began by blaming Arys. This had to be all his fault. If he hadn’t been after me, pursuing my living power as if it were a treat to snack on, this wouldn’t have happened.

  From there I moved to pinpointing the moon. The lunar cycle had influenced my poor decision. Inevitably, I came to rest my accusations solely on my own half-assed attempts to resist temptation. But, the power had called, and after several months of successfully resisting, I gave in. Like a fool.

  My face was still dripping over the sink when the doorbell rang. I sucked in my breath and willed my stomach to stop flip-flopping. I dried my face and prepared to leave the security of the bathroom. I sure hoped our visitor wouldn’t mind my t-shirt and sweat pants attire.

  “Shaz is here,” Kylarai called. “It looks like he brought us dinner.”

  I expected my stomach to oppose the thought of food, but I should have known better. I’m a werewolf. I eat twice as much as a human female in a day, easily, but I metabolize twice as fast, too.

  When I rounded the corner of the kitchen and was greeted by Shaz’ characteristic grin, my hand actually flew to my neck to ensure the bite was hidden by the t-shirt.

  Ky was already digging into the greasy bags of Chinese food and pulling out Styrofoam containers. The scent of ginger beef, rice and steamed vegetables teased my senses, and I was suddenly starving.

  “You came to feed us? Awesome! I was just wondering what to order for supper,” Kylarai said as she grabbed plates from the cupboard for the three of us.

  “Well, I figured, since I never really got a chance to talk to you guys last night and we haven’t done this in awhile, I should treat.” Shaz replied as he helped himself to our cold beer stash in the refrigerator. Was it wrong to check out his cute rear end while he bent over?

  “The bar was busy last night.” I tried to sound casual and wondered if I sounded suspicious instead. Despite having showered, I worried that he would somehow scent Arys on me. “Julie Price’s husband assaulted me in the parking lot. He was bound and determined to find Raoul.”

  “What?” Shaz looked up from the box of chicken balls. “Are you kidding?”

  “Hell no,” Ky laughed. “The bastard slapped her across the face so I broke his damn nose.”

  “You just beat me to it.” I interjected and stuck out my tongue at her.

  “Holy shit. I always miss the good stuff being stuck behind that damn bar.” Shaz shook his blonde mane so that it fell into his eyes.

  “It would have been better if Arys hadn’t shown up so soon. That chicken shit Price took off too fast.” My eyebrows must have risen in alarm at Kylarai’s mention of Arys’

  name because she quickly went on. “But I guess its best that he took off. Things could have gotten really ugly.”

  “I wonder if he ever found Raoul.” Shaz began to reach for a fortune cookie, but I playfully smacked his hand away. He knew it’s bad luck to eat the cookie before the end of the meal.

  “I doubt it. He didn’t seem to be too coherent.”

  “Mmhmm,” Ky nodded. “He was a mess. But, that makes sense considering he did just lose his wife.”

  “I would probably want a piece of Raoul, too, if I were him.” I spoke between mouthfuls of beef; I felt like I hadn’t eaten in weeks. “I already do.”

  “Well, you’ll have your chance tonight. I’m sure the death of an ex-lover won’t be enough to stop him from running during the full moon.”

  I looked at Shaz thoughtfully while I chewed. I could only assume Raoul would show up. Usually, we ran as a pack at midnight, which was still hours away.

  “So the cops were in
the bar last night, after you two took off.” Shaz’ tone was nonchalant, as if bar fights happened all the time, which they didn’t, not at Lucy’s. Ky and I wore matching raised eyebrows. “There was one hell of a fight. Blood everywhere. Two drunks fighting over a girl.”

  “Really?” Kylarai asked in the same breath that I said, “Who still does that shit?”

  Shaz replied. “Some liquid courage sure didn’t hinder the process.”

  “That’s so lame.” I chewed my ginger beef and savored every moment.

  The voice of the newscaster on TV carried to me from the living room. The news had been background noise until I heard the name Sheridan Boyd. I stopped chewing and, when they continued to chat, held my chopsticks up for silence. The news anchor rambled a little spiel about her body being found this morning in a dumpster behind a popular city nightclub.

  “Isn’t that another of Raoul’s exes?” Kylarai’s eyes were huge with incredulity. I merely nodded.

  When we had finished eating, I dialed Raoul’s number, effectively quieting Shaz and Kylarai. He didn’t answer, but he screens his calls.

  “I’m on my way over,” I said when the voice mail picked up. “If you have company, get rid of them. You don’t want witnesses for this conversation.”

  “The time has come…” said Ky in a melodramatic tone, “…for the ultimate confrontation.”

  “Yeah,” I couldn’t prevent the sigh that escaped me. “Lucky me.”

  Before I left, my curiosity won out, and I broke into my fortune cookie. ‘A new friend will prove too good to be true.’ That was reassuring; I didn’t have any new friends.

  They offered to come along, but I needed to speak with Raoul alone. Too chicken to ask Shaz for a ride to my car, I called a taxi from my cell phone once I was outside. I was glad to see my shiny red ride waiting for me at Lucy’s, untouched.

  Raoul’s house was dark except for one light that glowed faintly from deep within.

  The driveway was empty of cars so I took that to mean his Jaguar was in the garage. He couldn’t put me off with an illusion that nobody was home.