by Tina Folsom
“You’re not alone. We’ll take care of you.” He would take care of her. He alone wanted that responsibility. He would make sure she would never have to cry again. He’d made the decision to keep her alive, so the responsibility fell to him. But this was more than a responsibility to him. He wanted to take care of her.
With every breath she took, new sobs left her chest. Her tears soaked his white shirt as she clung to him like a drowning woman.
Gabriel had no experience with women’s tears, but he didn’t shy away from hers. She had every right to cry. Her whole life had been uprooted. Nothing would be the same again. Choices had been taken away from her, and she didn’t even know the half of it yet. Not only would she have to drink human blood and stay out of daylight, her life as a woman had changed irrevocably with that one fatal bite. The least he could do was comfort her and give her whatever she needed.
“Why?” she sobbed, taking a big gulp of air into her lungs.
Gabriel stroked his hand over her silky-soft hair and brushed a light kiss on top of her head. “I don’t know, baby. But I promise you, we’ll punish whoever did this to you.”
He wasn’t sure that she’d heard him since her sobbing continued uninterrupted. But he hoped his voice would soothe her, so he continued to talk to her, whisper meaningless words to her, if only to reassure her that he was here, that somebody cared. Word after word spilled from his mouth, soft words full of emotion. He didn’t understand where they came from. He’d never been a man of many words, and he’d never had the occasion to utter sweet things to a woman.
His hands roamed freely over her back, her hair, even her legs, and she didn’t push him away. All he did was soothe her, show tenderness and caring, because he knew she needed it at this moment when her whole world had shattered into a thousand pieces. He wouldn’t let her bear the pain on her shoulders by herself. He would carry the burden with her as much as she allowed him to.
“I won’t rest until justice is done,” Gabriel promised, not just to her, but to himself. A rogue vampire had hurt her, and he would have to pay for it. No one should be allowed to hurt a woman like Maya, a creature so perfect, he shouldn’t dare desire her.
But he did.
Holding her in his arms, feeling her sweet behind in his lap and her head buried against his chest was the most divine feeling he’d ever experienced. She felt small against his body, so vulnerable, even though now, as a vampire, she was physically stronger than she’d ever been as a human. There was little that could hurt her physically now: her heart was another matter.
“What am I gonna do?” she suddenly wailed.
He rubbed her back softly, trying to reassure her that everything would turn out all right. “We’ll figure it out together. I’ll be with you all the way.”
Gabriel wanted her to trust him. Him, the stranger she’d stared at with horror when she’d awoken. Her look hadn’t escaped him. Her eyes had widened with fear and shock when she’d seen his scar. She’d been unable to tear herself away from the sight, and he’d seen that look before many times. But to be scrutinized by her in that fashion had hurt somewhere deep down. Had he really expected she would look at him differently? Had he really thought she would be able to look past the physical disfiguration and see the man underneath?
Gabriel knew it was dangerous to dream. If he allowed himself to hope, he risked an injury more severe than any knife could inflict. It was better to forget about the feelings this woman stirred up in him, the desire she invoked, the lust she unleashed. He would help her get through this—no matter what. Whether she would see more in him than just a mentor was doubtful, and it shouldn’t matter. She needed him, and he wanted to be there for her—in whatever capacity she desired.
Maya shifted in his lap and instantly made him aware of the tightness in his pants. Merely by holding her in his arms, he’d gotten hard. He cursed himself for his inappropriate response. The last thing this woman needed right now was a horny vampire. And damn, was he horny.
He took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on getting his erection down, but with the air he sucked in her sweet scent. It nearly undid him. Her essence was pure and tempting. With a sigh, he buried his hand in her hair and gave himself over to his body’s wants. Just for a moment, he would allow himself to feel before he had to bury his desires in the deep recesses of his heart.
Whether he tilted her head up to him, or whether she did it herself, he didn’t know. But when her face was opposite his and her big tear-soaked eyes looked at him, time stood still. He saw a flicker of red in them and knew that her vampire side had taken hold. And then he saw the passion within her, the wonder in her eyes. The moment her lips parted, he was lost.
Without haste, Gabriel brushed his lips against hers, expecting her to pull back at the last minute. Instead, she accepted his lips, even nibbled on them. He did nothing to force her, only held still to savor the softness of her mouth. When he felt her tongue slide over his upper lip, he slanted his mouth and took charge.
He knew he wasn’t the best kisser in the world. He sure hadn’t had much experience—prostitutes in general didn’t kiss much, and most other women had shied away from him, repulsed by his face. But with this kiss he watched carefully for her body’s cues, hoping she would guide him to do what she liked.
Maya’s lips parted wider, and he took it as an invitation to explore her with his tongue. Slowly he slid into her mouth, tested and stroked. A soft sigh told him she approved, and he did it again, stroked his tongue against hers. Her taste was even sweeter than her scent.
Wanting more of her, he pulled her closer and deepened his kiss. When he felt her hands on his neck and in his hair, he knew she wanted more too. He’d never had a woman respond to him with such passion. His heart beat faster, and he felt the rush of blood pump through his veins.
Maya kissed him with such enthusiasm, he wondered whether he’d read her initial reaction to him correctly. Had she really looked at him with horror in her eyes? Was this kiss merely her way of dealing with the news she’d been dealt? And even if that was true, why shouldn’t he allow himself to savor these few moments of joy. Relish them even as he accepted that more was never going to happen, that this was all she’d ever give him?
Realizing that this could be the only time he would taste her, he ravished her mouth with the fervor of an invading barbarian. If he’d expected her to pull back, he would have been disappointed, because she matched his ferociousness with her own. Her tongue dueled with his, alternatively stroking against him, then withdrawing so he would come after her. By God, the woman could kiss. Only now did he truly realize what he’d missed out on all his life.
She was like fire in his arms, sizzling, burning, consuming. Nothing else compared. He’d never imagined he’d meet a woman with so much passion inside her. A passion she seemed more than willing to share with him.
He wanted this, wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything else in his life. Even more than he’d wanted Jane so many years ago—and that shocked him. He pressed her closer to him, and had she been human, he could have easily crushed her the way he held her tight. Too late he noticed a change in her. Gabriel pulled away just as she pushed against him to free herself.
Then he tasted his own blood on his lips.
Maya had bitten him.
Six
Maya stared at the blood on Gabriel’s lip, and all she could think of was to lick it off him and swallow it. The scent of his blood assaulted her senses, and she recognized irrevocably that she was thirsty—thirsty for blood. While she’d never been squeamish when it came to blood—as a doctor she certainly couldn’t afford that luxury—she’d never liked the smell of it, let alone felt the kind of inexplicable craving she felt for Gabriel’s blood.
Confused, Maya scrambled off his lap.
She couldn’t explain why she’d kissed him, kissed the very man who’d scared her when she’d first seen him, whose disfiguration had repulsed her. When she looked at him now, howeve
r, she felt no disgust. Only a deep attraction to him.
Gabriel stood and looked at her with an unreadable expression on his face. “Maya, I’m …” There was regret in his voice, or was it shame?
She stepped back and turned away from him before she could jump him and take his blood. She wanted to ask him so many questions, but in her present state she couldn’t guarantee she could keep her hands off him. And all her fragile ego needed right now was another embarrassing situation like the one that had just happened. “It was my fault. It won’t happen again.” All he’d done was comfort her, and she’d bitten him in the process. How ungrateful was that?
She looked at the bathroom door, searching for an escape to be alone with her thoughts and to get away from his tempting scent. If she stayed in his presence any longer, she would succumb to it and maul him like a hungry tiger. “I need to take a shower.”
Gabriel cleared his throat. “I’ll send Yvette in to bring you fresh clothes.” She heard his footsteps as he crossed the room, and seconds later the door closed behind him. She was alone – more alone than she’d been in her entire life.
When she stood in the shower, rivulets of warm water ran down her body as if they could cleanse her of the shocking news she’d been handed. She hoped against all hope that she was still in a dream—a completely wacko-makes-no-sense-at-all dream—and her life was still the same: she was a doctor, a pretty decent one, with aspirations to advance her career in medical research and the desire to make a difference.
Her research in the field of human sexuality, or more precisely sexual dysfunctions in both males and females, was going well. She was on her way to breaking new ground, and her chances of winning a major federal grant to support her work were high. She couldn’t just flunk out now. This was her life’s work.
Maya touched her arms and legs and could feel no difference in them. They felt just as human as before. And her skin color was still the same. Weren’t vampires supposed to be all pale and pasty because they couldn’t stand the rays of the sun? Or would her color fade with time?
Maya stared at the glass enclosure of the shower and watched tiny streams of water descend along it onto the white marble beneath. There was no reflection of her in the glass. Was it enough to prove her a vampire? Couldn’t there be another explanation? As a research scientist, she knew better than to jump to conclusions or take other people’s statements at face value. She would have to tackle this whole situation the same way she approached her research: with logic, not emotion.
Her stomach rumbled, reminding her of how hungry she was. But instead of salivating for a nice big steak, she visualized the blood on Gabriel’s lip. She’d seen the shock in his eyes when he’d realized that she’d bitten him. Gabriel had stared at her as if she’d gone crazy. And maybe she had, but she’d craved his blood. The memory of its smell made her drool even now.
She opened her mouth and let her finger slip over her upper teeth. They were still the same, only … there, one of the incisors felt pointier. She rubbed against it trying to see if someone had stuck some plastic onto it to make it pointy, but she couldn’t detect anything wrong—the tooth was intact. Did she really have fangs? Maybe the tooth had always been that way and she’d never really noticed.
She touched her finger to the teeth on the other side of her mouth, and the same structure greeted her there. But the sharp edge wasn’t enough to qualify as a fang. She remembered that she’d seen no fangs on either Gabriel or his friends. Could it be that fangs didn’t always show, that they only came out when you needed them?
Maya closed her eyes and thought of her hunger, visualizing Gabriel’s blood again. To her surprise, she sensed a tensing in her jaw. Something was happening. Slowly, the two incisors lengthened and drew into sharp tips. Her eyes flew open. This couldn’t be happening! No, there had to be another explanation.
Was she really a vampire?
She had fangs, fangs to bite people, fangs she’d already used to bite Gabriel. Wasn’t that proof enough? She’d bitten him, tasted his blood and liked it—no, loved it. What kind of creature would do such a thing if not a vampire?
Maya tried not to think about what had led to the bite, but it was hard not to remember the kiss they’d shared. Well, maybe shared wasn’t the right word—she’d basically thrown herself at him like some starved-for-attention teenager.
She’d always been aggressive when it came to dating and sex, but the way she’d acted with Gabriel had been purely wanton. His arms had been gentle enough to comfort and soothe a child, yet she’d reacted with lust and passion. She remembered how hesitant his kiss had been, how reluctantly he’d given into her advances. But the more he’d held back, the more she’d gone after him, pressing herself against his muscled body like a bitch in heat.
The tears she’d shed in his arms had taught her one thing: she was not dead. Whatever she was now—vampire or not—her heart hurt as much as a human’s, and her emotions were as deep as always, if not deeper.
What her new life would bring, she didn’t know, didn’t even want to guess at this point. What would she tell her family? She thought of her parents. She was an only child. How long would she be able to hide from them what had happened to her? She wondered whether she would be a danger to them, if she would attack them when she was hungry like she’d practically attacked Gabriel.
Would she have to stay away from her parents to keep them safe? Never see them again? She couldn’t do that. She loved her parents. They’d given her every opportunity in life, supported all her endeavors. She couldn’t divorce herself from them. The thought hurt too much.
And her work? If she was truly a vampire, she could kiss her job goodbye—she couldn’t remain a doctor if the sight of blood made her hungry and think of dinner. Just remembering the few drops of blood on Gabriel’s lips made her salivate. She’d never smelled anything so delicious. Her stomach growled at the thought. Oh God, how she wanted blood. This was more severe than any of her chocolate cravings had ever been.
Besides, who wanted a doctor who could only work when it was dark? She wouldn’t be able to serve her patients when they needed her. She would have to hide what she was. For sure, nobody would want to come close to her once they knew she was a vampire. Hell, she herself wouldn’t want to get close. She couldn’t really blame anybody else.
They would see her as a monster that hurt people. And wasn’t that what she would have to do? Instead of helping people, she would have to hunt them and feed off them. An ice-cold shiver went down her spine at the disturbing thought. It was probably what Gabriel had meant
when he’d whispered to her that he’d take care of her and teach her everything she needed to know. Teach her to bite humans?
Frustrated, Maya slammed her fist into the tile wall. It instantly cracked. Stunned, she pulled her fist back. With horror, she stared at the tile, then back at her fist. She felt no pain when clearly the impact should have hurt a little. She was too strong. She could easily hurt somebody without even wanting to, without knowing what she was doing. No, she could never see her parents again—what if she crushed her mother just by hugging her?
She pushed the tears back, not wanting to fall apart again. Somehow she had to deal with this, come to terms with her new life. Gabriel and his friends seemed to have themselves under control. So, somehow they must have managed to deal with their lot. There was no reason why she couldn’t. She expected full well that it would hurt, that her transition wouldn’t be easy, but she was a strong woman. Somehow she had to try.
Maya swallowed hard. She had to forget what her old life was like. The more she cried over it, the harder it would be to settle into this new one. She tried to cheer herself up by reminding herself that the attack—of which she had no recollection– could have killed her.
As hard as she tried, however, she couldn’t remember what had happened. All she recalled was the sound of her heels on the pavement, the thick fog that night, the darkness. Even thinking back now, a cold shiver ra
n down her spine despite the hot water of the shower. Why couldn’t she remember? Had she been so traumatized by the attack that her mind blocked out all recollection of it?
She’d heard of patients who’d temporarily lost their memory of a traumatic event. Was that what had happened to her? She closed her eyes and forced her mind back to that night. She’d parked the car, then she’d walked to her apartment building. And then, nothing. Only fog, darkness—a burned out light. Maya concentrated and tried again until her shoulder tensed and she spun around and opened her eyes. The white of the tiles was all she saw.
She reached for the faucet and turned the water off. It was useless to try too hard. Things would come back to her when she was ready, she was certain. She would take it one day at a time. Or maybe that was one night at a time: days were probably off-limits to her from now on.
She had questions, hundreds of them, and somebody better be answering them very soon.
As she dried off, she heard the bedroom door open and light footsteps echo in the room. A scent drifted into her nostrils: it wasn’t Gabriel. She would have recognized his scent anywhere. It was strange and fascinating how her sense of smell, as well as her sense of hearing, was so much stronger now.
Maya wrapped the towel around her torso and walked into the bedroom.
Yvette stood next to the bed and laid a few pieces of clothing onto it. Without turning, she spoke. “You’re about the same size as Delilah. I’m sure she won’t mind if you wear some of her stuff.”
“Thanks. Yvette?”
The woman turned and Maya had another chance of admiring her beauty. Her model looks were only diminished by the slightly sour look on her face. “Yes?”
Maya shifted from one foot to another. “I’m thirsty.” She felt as if she’d just confessed that she needed a shot of heroine. And in her own eyes it was just that: forbidden and dark.
