by Lisa Olsen
“Is this all a bloody joke to you?” Rob demanded, taking a threatening step toward her and I held him back, remembering his emotions were riding high.
“Hey, she’s only trying to keep things light,” I said, trying to diffuse some of the tension in the room. “Look, I’d better get going if we’re going to do this tonight before it gets too late. Just don’t eat anyone until I get back. In fact – will you be okay here?” I looked to Laveda who gave a confident nod.
“Course I will.”
“I won’t touch her,” Rob promised. I wasn’t so sure, but there wasn’t anything to be done for it. “Where are you going then?”
“I won’t go far, I just need to find a good strong candidate. Any ideas?”
“My neighbor’s a bit of a wank but he’s healthy enough. You could start there,” she suggested.
“Does he live with anyone? Have a girlfriend who might be staying over?”
“Not bloody likely. I’ve never seen him with more than one of his mates before. You want me to come with?”
“No, you stay here.” Without knowing if my compulsion would work, it was too risky for her to take part in it. I’d have to rely on other skills to get into his apartment and nothing but brute strength to keep him still if he fought back.
“Be careful, yeah?” Rob caught my eye before I left and I gave him a confident smile.
“I got this.”
Chapter Three
It didn’t prove too hard to get into the guy’s apartment, even at that time of night. Luckily, he was still up, or at least the TV was still on. From the bleary look on his face, I thought maybe he’d dozed off on the sofa for a while. Eddie was only too happy to invite me in to use his phone after I spun a story of car trouble and low battery on my phone. He even offered to share his Cheetos with me with a wave of orange stained fingers to the couch, but I had something more filling in mind.
“Bring me your phone now,” I said, dropping the smile as I sent a burst of compulsion, hoping like hell it worked.
“My phone now…” he mumbled, fumbling in his pocket for the device, and I suppressed the happy dance that threatened to emerge by pressing him up against the wall.
“On second thought, I think I will have a bite after all.” Confident I still held him under my sway, I nudged his head to the side with mine and exposed the throb of a pulse at his shoulder. “This won’t hurt at all,” I murmured against his skin, my teeth elongating and sharpening to pierce his flesh. I pulled sharply against the wound, my moan of satisfaction rivaling his.
In the back of my mind, I knew Rob wouldn’t like the way I pressed against Eddie, but it seemed like a fair trade for what I needed. The count started in my head, matching the pulse of his heart to keep time as I drank and drank, already feeling stronger and more in control. When I reached the magic number I pulled away, proud of myself for stopping in time, but not so cleanly that I didn’t go back for another lap of the blood before I had a chance to heal the wound with my own.
I stood there a few moments longer, slowly becoming aware of the way his hands fisted in my shirt and the bulge against my hip while I caught hold of myself. “Hey now, take it easy, tiger,” I said softly, carefully disentangling myself from his embrace. “I have to be going.”
“Wherever you’re going, take me with you,” he groaned, even as I put some much needed space between us.
“No, you’re too tired to go anywhere. In fact, I think you should go right to bed. You never saw me tonight, you watched TV and then went to bed by yourself.”
“By myself,” he nodded, turning to head for the bedroom as near as I could tell, leaving the lights on and the TV blaring.
I followed along, turning things off so it wouldn’t stand out as too strange. By the time I reached his bedroom, he was already lying face down on the bed, snoring softly. Tugging off his shoes, I left him like that, turning off the light. As an afterthought, I went back and took one of his t-shirts and a pair of jeans from the dresser by the door for Rob to change into later.
I felt strong and whole, more like myself with my legs working properly again. I was fairly confident I could keep Rob from hurting Laveda and keep from taking a bite myself once her blood was spilled, like I’d planned. So why then did I hesitate at Laveda’s door?
Because I was a big fat coward. Not that there was any going back at this point, not if I wanted Rob to live. But after he did this… our relationship was about to change, forever. We would be joined by a bond greater than any I’d felt before, even greater than my ties to Jakob, because I’d never loved my Sire the way I loved Rob. It might be wonderful, but I couldn’t trust that, not with how many ways my life had turned to suck since I’d first woken up in the morgue. The first time – you know what I mean.
Then again, I never would’ve met Rob at all if I hadn’t been dumped in the middle of vampire intrigue central. Maybe we could make it work? He was better prepared for it than most. I only hoped Jakob didn’t go completely ballistic. But then I remembered that it was his fault for keeping us in the dark about Lodinn for so long and I realized I didn’t care. Whether he accepted us as a couple or not, he had to acknowledge the ties I had to Rob now as his Sire. Maybe this could be a good thing after all?
I barged in without knocking, glad to find Rob sitting patiently on the sofa, his eyes at half mast as though exhausted until he caught sight of me.
“Everything go fine?” he asked.
“Smooth as silk,” I replied, glad to be able to say so with no reservations. “Where’s Laveda?”
“Shower.” His head jerked toward the bathroom. “She got all bent when I told her she smelled of two minute noodles and beer.”
“That wasn’t a very diplomatic thing to say,” I frowned, plopping onto the couch beside him.
“It was all I could think of to get her out of here. Her pulse was driving me to drink.”
I could relate. “Ah, well then, that was extremely diplomatic of you. I approve.”
“What’s this?” His hand tugged at an orange smear at the bottom of my shirt.
“Oh. Cheeto dust. Trust me, you don’t want to know.” I grimaced, wishing I’d thought to steal a t-shirt for myself. Maybe Laveda had something I could change into later. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
“As I’m going to be,” he answered honestly enough.
“I’m sorry it had to be this way. I wish…”
Laveda came striding into the room in a cloud of cucumber melon steam. “There now, fresh as a daisy,” she beamed. Now she smelled like a delicious Spring salad on top of her natural scent. Cool beans. It was time to get the show on the road before I lunged for her myself.
“Let’s get this started, shall we?” I suggested, holding my breath as I strode past her. “We should do this in the bedroom, I think.”
“You want us in bed together?” Laveda’s lips pursed into a speculative grin and I started to understand some of Rob’s frustration with her sense of humor.
“No, but Rob will be more comfortable there after I pull him off of you,” I clarified. Plus, it was all the better to be closer to the bathtub when I needed it. While I thought of it, I drew a bit of cool water into the claw foot tub and helped myself to a stack of fluffy towels from a rack hanging over the toilet, placing them on the edge of the counter, at the ready.
“I think we’re good in there, we’d better get these restraints on you,” I said, picking up the set of leather cuffs.
“I think I’ll have m’self a drink,” Laveda murmured, and I could hear the flutter of her heart as she started to realize the very real danger she’d placed herself in.
I approached Rob with the cuffs, unable to keep from smiling as I wrapped the stiff leather around his wrist. “Not exactly the way I pictured us trying something like this,” I admitted with a faint smile and he raised a single brow.
“But you have pictured it?”
“Hey, you’re the one who tied me up first.”
His j
aw dropped. “I never…”
“In that shared dream, don’t you remember?”
Now his lips curved into a lazy grin. “How could I forget? But it don’t count, wasn’t real.”
“It felt real enough to me.” Everything about that dream still stuck fast in my memory with sharp clarity from the instant he’d first tied my hands above my head with my own long glove to the moment he’d slid into me, fast and hard. From the hitch in his breath, I could tell he remembered it too.
“Go on the two of you, playing tie me up tie me down in dreams of all things. Now who’s the bawdy one?” Laveda teased from the doorway and we ignored her, savoring the shared memory a moment longer as I worked the last buckle. When the cuffs were securely on, I grabbed the carabiner and slipped it through the D ring of one and reached for his other wrist.
Rob shook his head, pulling his hand free. “Put them behind my back, not in front.”
“It’s just to get your hands out of the way, I’m not arresting you.”
“I can still hurt you six ways from Sunday with them in front of me. You’d best secure them behind my back.”
From the look in his eyes I could tell he was absolutely serious and I gave a slow nod, clicking them together behind his back. “Here, take a seat on the edge of the bed for a sec, I want to talk to Laveda.” Easing him down, I drew her aside, giving her one last chance to change her mind. “Are you sure you want to do this? It’s probably going to hurt.”
Laveda waved it off. “I’m used to being bit.”
“Not like this. He’s not a vampire yet, but at that first taste of blood it’ll turn savage pretty fast. It’ll be all I can do to hold him down. Once he drinks you get out of here and stay gone.”
“I could help you with him.”
“No, the scent of you will be too much for him.”
“Do I offend?” She sniffed herself. “I took a shower.”
“No, it’s the opposite. He won’t be able to resist you. It’s best if you go and remove the temptation altogether. In fact, it might be better if you stay away until well after the sun goes down tonight. Is that alright? Do you have somewhere you can go? I can put you up in a hotel if you like.”
“Naw, don’t you worry about me, I can take care of m’self right enough. You concern yourself with getting him through the other side of this.”
“Okay then, I think we’re about ready to begin.” I couldn’t tell who was the most nervous in the room. Laveda’s eyes burned bright, her heart beating fast like a hummingbird’s wings as she approached the bed. For all the calm exterior Rob projected, I could hear his own heart like a jackhammer within his chest.
I took control of the situation, leading Laveda to stand against the bare strip of wall next to the bedroom door, the better to make her escape. “Rob, kick off your shoes, I’d rather not be booted if I can help it,” I added as an afterthought, helping him rise afterwards and leading him to stand before her.
“Wait… wait a second.” I squeaked, a flurry of panic setting in as Rob leaned in close to her, pulling him back and laying my head against his chest.
“If you don’t want to do it this way…” he started to say, but I shook my head.
“No, that’s not it.” I knew this was the best way to get it over with, I just needed a minute.
“What is it then?”
“Can we just…” I swallowed, drawing comfort from the rise and fall of his chest.
“What?”
“Shh, I’m listening to your heart beat for the last time is all.”
His arms strained against the cuffs, and I could tell he wanted to embrace me, but that would’ve been too much trouble after I’d taken the effort to restrain him. We stood that way and Laveda, bless her, stayed quiet as a church mouse until I was ready to let him go. Only this time he didn’t immediately step right up to her, he just looked at me, his eyes hooded with an emotion I didn’t recognize.
“What’s the matter?” I asked when he didn’t move on. “Are you having second thoughts?” What would I do if he decided he didn’t want to become a vampire? Could I truly say goodbye?
“Hush now, I’m seeing you with human eyes for the last time,” he rumbled, his gaze very nearly a caress in and of itself.
“Oh.” That was all it took to bring the sting of tears to my eyes and I blinked them away, giving him a watery smile. “Take all the time you need.”
It wasn’t long though before he shuttered away the tender feelings and stood before Laveda, hesitation marking his stance as if he wasn’t quite sure how to begin. His fangs hadn’t descended yet, and I knew it’d taken the scent of spilled blood to trigger mine that first time.
“Do you want me to get her started for you?” I offered and he replied with a short nod. “Do you mind?” I asked, not sure what I’d do if Laveda objected to it, but she shook her head.
“Not at all.”
Given the go ahead, my fangs descended on command, the lure of her pulse enough temptation enough despite drinking my fill from Eddie. In and out, quick like a bunny, I told myself, but I couldn’t resist a small taste of my own as I pierced her skin. Laveda’s blood was as rich as she smelled, even more heady than Rob’s blood to me, and I started to wonder if I’d made a tactical mistake in picking her to participate. I felt Rob tense beside me, and knew he’d scented the blood. He was the whole reason we were doing this and that gave me the impetus to stand aside, entranced by the sight of his fangs for the first time before they sank into her neck with a low growl.
The answering pain on her face as his instincts took over was enough to detract from the bright copper tang of her blood in the air. More than anything, I wanted to ease him to the side and share in the feast. Instead I held my breath until the worst of the urge passed, counting in my head. It wouldn’t take much – I knew I hadn’t tasted much of Bridget’s blood before Bishop had torn me away, but I wanted to be extra sure he had what he needed to carry him through the transition. But as she made a painful grunt I knew it was time.
“There, that’s enough.” Grabbing hold of his arms I pulled Rob back, dismayed when Laveda came with him, caught in his powerful jaws. “I said that’s enough!” Despite the unnatural strength his feeding frenzy lent him, I was stronger, and with some not so subtle pressure I got him to let go long enough to release her. Laveda fell back against the wall with a soft cry, her hand clamping over the wound at her throat.
Rob thrashed and kicked, the call of the blood too strong for rational thought. All he knew was that I’d deprived him of his feast, and he’d stop at nothing to get it back. So much for that famous self control. Tossing him down on the bed, I wished we’d thought of leg restraints, but I grabbed a pillow and shook the case free, binding his ankles together tightly. Knowing how averse he was to the ball gag, I did the same with the other pillowcase and tied it around his mouth to give him something to bite down on and muffle the worst of his snarling screams.
Laveda watched us, her amber eyes wide with shock and pain. Blood still pulsed from the injury at her neck, seeping between her fingers. I hadn’t counted on the savagery of the wound, and I couldn’t let her go like that. Satisfied that Rob would stay put at least for a few seconds, I pricked my finger with my fangs and smeared the blood over her jagged wounds, only keeping from pouncing on her myself by sheer force of will.
Rob no longer strained to get to her, but writhed on the bed as he slipped into transition, his pain eclipsing the need to feed now. I spared one last glance at Laveda. “Go now, get out and don’t come back until we’re gone.” When I turned back to Rob, I found his breath coming in fitful gasps, eyes held tightly shut in pain as sweat broke out across his brow.
“Shhh, it’ll be okay,” I crooned, slipping up behind him to hold him tight. His eyes opened at my touch, the fear behind them tearing into my heart even as he moaned against the makeshift gag. He shook from head to toe, t-shirt plastered to his body with sweat and I eased up on my hold as his skin became hyper sensitive, bu
rning hotter and hotter. It was time for the tub.
Freeing his legs, I got him into the bathroom and managed to set him into the deep tub, letting the cool water bathe his feverish limbs as he sobbed in my arms. His wrists were raw from straining at the cuffs, and he thrashed a lot less now, so I released the carabiner to allow him that ease of movement. His cries faded with the soothing water, and I removed the gag as well, using it to cool his neck and brow as he lay propped up in the tub.
His heart slowed, body growing weak as the fight went out of him. “I’m dying,” he murmured, his voice cracking and hoarse.
“I know.”
“I’m dying,” he repeated, agitation resurfacing, but he was too weak to offer much resistance to the idea.
“Shhh, it’ll be over soon and then the pain will stop. I promise,” I soothed. But as much as I hated to see him like that, I dreaded was came next even more.
“Going to hell.”
“No, you’ll be here, safe with me.” I gathered him closer, resting my head against his.
“Burn in hellfire and damnation,” he insisted. “Burning now…” A shudder went through his body and I climbed into the tub with him, pulling him into my arms.
“Shhh, you’ll be fine.”
“Don’t want to leave you,” he groaned, fighting to get the words out.
I started to sing, Rihanna’s Stay spilling out as I felt him grow weaker and weaker in my arms. We rocked together slowly, my song filling the space between his heartbeats that came farther and farther apart as I sang it over and over again.
“Can’t leave you…” The words fell nearly soundless from his lips.
“I want you to stay…” I sang, tears flowing freely as I felt him slip away, even knowing it wasn’t the end. I felt it the instant his heart shuddered to a stop and he went utterly still in my arms as the last flicker of life faded away. Dead and gone. A surge of panic went through me as the silence stretched on, not daring to breathe for fear I might miss some sign that he was on his way back to me.
