“And do you think Tori will forgive me for the neck?”
“It’s o—” Jonas didn’t have time to finish.
She let out a short yell as Michael sank his teeth deep into her wrist. Tendons popped and her skin burned, but LeAnne muffled her yell with her other hand. This bite wasn’t close to the pleasing one Dorian had given her, and Michael felt like a gigantic parasite suckling at her wrist with his cold lips and razor-sharp teeth. Nausea rolled up her throat.
She closed her eyes to focus, to gain control over the pain. The pain dulled after a few seconds. Within a minute, a warm, tingling sensation snaked up her arm, up to her head, and flowed down her body through her veins, which relaxed every muscle it touched. She felt the tension unwind her muscles until her knees gave way.
“Michael!” Jonas yelled from close by.
Someone caught her, but she couldn’t see who. Her eyes wouldn’t open. There was chaos around her, Dorian’s voice screaming something, and Michael was still drinking. But that was just fine. Although a voice inside her yelled to fight, to wake up, LeAnne was tired. She’d been too tired for too long. First while she stressed from the bad marriage, then from living alone. Now, she just wanted to sleep. Since she hadn’t been this relaxed in years, she breathed out the last of the tension and drifted off on a river of darkness.
Chapter Eleven
The easy ride down the dark river faded into a sharp blackness that reminded LeAnne of the taxing world she’d left behind. It enveloped her in a heavy, aching sheath of a body. Pain pinged through her body like someone set off a bottle rocket inside her. She gasped, and that simple act brought a completely new agony. Her throat burned as if she had swallowed flaming razor blades.
“Swallow, LeAnne.” That was Michael’s voice. He sounded scared, but it was hard to tell with the sound of a cell phone ringing so close to her ear.
LeAnne tried to look at him, but she still couldn’t muster the strength to open her eyes. She swallowed as he commanded, and it made another flame blossom in her throat. She screamed this time, as loud and long as her lungs would allow. But her ears didn’t hear the sound.
“I can’t believe you fucking did this!” she heard. The words carried a disgust that made it hard to tell if it was definitely Jonas. “Goddammit!” Something that sounded like wood splintering came from her right. “You had to have Tori for yourself. Now you can’t even turn her. She’ll be help—”
“Enough!” Michael growled. “Shut your damned mouth or get out.” Then he leaned closer. LeAnne could feel the heat off his skin. “Swallow, LeAnne. Please.”
Michael’s begging in word and tone surprised her. It scared her. As the burning dulled and despite the pain, she swallowed again to put him out of whatever misery caused him to beg. This time, something warm radiated from her chest. It flowed in hot ribbons down to her fingers and toes, and made her teeth ache. Suddenly, she was aware of her mouth filling with something akin to a mix of honey and the Red Hots candies she’d eaten as a kid. It was sharp, metallic, and threatened to spill over her lips.
LeAnne swallowed again. This time the warmth surged through her body and brought strength to the muscles. Without warning, her hands worked. They grabbed onto the thing at her mouth. Her fingers wrapped around a thick wrist and large hand. She swallowed again, taking in as much as she could.
“She’s back.” Michael tugged at his wrist.
After another tug, LeAnne let go. She licked her lips and swallowed down the last of the sweet liquid. With a breath that brought the scent of Michael, she opened her eyes.
Are you okay?” Michael stared down at her.
She nodded and wiped her mouth with the fingers of one hand while Michael used the other hand to pull her to her feet. She looked down at her wrist. It was healed and scar-less. The rest of her looked unharmed.
“How do you feel?” Michael looked her over, his eyes narrow and jerky, as if he expected to see a wound.
LeAnne took a mental assessment of her body. Head felt fine. Arms and legs fine. But standing there, she realized how weird she also felt. The muscles of her appendages felt too strong, as if she could whip Jonas’s butt. She’d never felt fierce before. “I feel great.”
“I can’t believe you fucked this up.” Jonas’s voice pulled her attention toward where he stood. A chair lay in pieces at his feet.
Michael let out a growling roar that echoed off the walls. “Mind your own compagna and I’ll mind mine, garante!”
She watched them, realizing her mouth was filled with the taste of Michael. She swallowed again. With the sensations came the reality that she had just been drinking his blood. The guys had panicked. Now they were fighting. Something had gone wrong in the marking.
“Fuck you!” Jonas stepped up to him. “I’m not standing behind this. And I’m not—”
“Choose your next words with care.”
LeAnne took a step away from Michael just in case the fists started flying.
Jonas didn’t. He stood his ground in front of Michael, challenging him. “I am not letting her be taken by someone else. Consider it a warning.”
The vampire boss didn’t move. His face was blank, which looked considerably more frightening than the anger had. Jonas glared at him, then pushed past him and walked out the door. When he slammed it, the door and frame shattered out into the hallway.
She looked at Christiana, who just stood there with her hand over her mouth, then at Michael. “What went wrong?”
Michael stared at her but pointed to the door. “Leave us and don’t let anyone back here until I tell you otherwise.”
Christiana was suddenly gone.
Michael walked over to the desk. He leaned against it and covered his face with his hands. His shoulders dropped. Overall, he looked deflated.
“Michael, please talk to me.” LeAnne walked over and put her hand on his shoulder. She felt it then, a heavy depression that made her want to slit her own throat. The weight of the emotion made her gasp. Although it was inside her head, she knew it wasn’t hers. Instinct kicked in then and she jerked her hand back. The feeling only lightened a few shades.
“What the hell is that?” She stared at her and as if she expected to see some visible clue.
Michael opened his mouth, but she couldn’t hear what he said. A wounded howl ripped through the room, coming from the hall. It was a man, but she couldn’t tell who.
Michael grabbed her and pulled her behind him and to his right. Just as she stopped moving, Dorian appeared in the room. He grabbed Michael’s shirt. “You told me you wouldn’t!” The words changed from English to another language that LeAnne didn’t understand.
Then Jonas was back, pulling Dorian away from Michael. He held him around the waist, but Dorian swung, trying to get loose.
It hit LeAnne then. Jonas’s disgust, Michael’s depression, Dorian’s rage: it all pointed to just one thing. She could feel it too. Her body was dying. She’d heard those she’d loved who died of cancer say they’d felt it when they took chemo and radiation, but she’d never known how exact they’d been. Every fiber in her body grew hollow, sad. Dead.
Michael had turned her.
As she watched, the world seemed like it was in slow motion. The men were arguing, but the sound was gone, like someone had hit the mute button. Michael looked like he could kill Dorian, who looked equally enraged. Since Michael was the boss, he probably would and could kill Dorian without repercussion. He would be ended over something that, in the end, wasn’t that bad. She was just a vampire now instead of human. They all were too, so it sure wasn’t worth Dorian dying.
And she wasn’t going to let that happen. LeAnne walked over to Dorian, between him and Michael, and touched his face with her fingers. In that instant, she wanted more than anything else to simply calm him.
He looked at her and his eyes softened. His mouth, which had been twist
ed with a snarl, relaxed. His hands and legs stopped struggling against Jonas.
“It’s okay.” LeAnne smiled, leaned forward. “I’m okay.” She kissed him on the cheek, then leaned back and looked up at Jonas. “Let him go. He’s okay.”
Jonas nodded and did as she said without arguing.
“Dorian, please go out and wait for us. I’d like to talk to him.” She jerked her head toward Michael, who had his face in his hands again.
“I’ll be right outside that door. Scream if you need me. They won’t stop me.”
She smiled. “I know.”
“Come on.” Jonas tugged Dorian’s arm, and he went along.
She turned and walked toward Michael, listening to the others leave the room at human speed. LeAnne put a hand on her new creatore’s arm. “What happened?”
He looked up to her, his eyes the only sign of how utterly agonized he felt. “I lost control.”
“How?”
“Your blood is very pure. I didn’t anticipate that. And I haven’t been feeding enough because Tori isn’t thrilled with the idea of me taking from other women.” Michael folded his arms over his chest and looked down. “He must have taken too much.” He shook his head. “You were just gone before I knew it was happening.”
“Dead?”
“Yes.” He let out a heavy sigh and let his arms fall to his sides.
“Then you saved my life.”
He cut his eyes up to her. “Do you think Tori will see it that way?”
“Not immediately.” LeAnne had to admit, Tori would probably go to her grave hating them both for this.
Michael laughed. “You know her too well for that.” He took a deep breath, then straightened his spine and stood. The depression went away, making LeAnne suddenly aware of how it had weighed on her.
“I’m sorry. I know she will hate me for this,” LeAnne said. “I should have told you he took too much. Tori kept trying to help me because I froze all day.”
“It would have helped to know, but I am responsible,” Michael said. “I am the padrone. There is no excuse.”
LeAnne swallowed and tasted that blood again. Hunger rolled back up in response. She closed her eyes and tried to make it go away. “Give yourself a break. You aren’t responsible for everything. I’m usually the problem anyway and I have no idea why.” She opened her eyes to see him looking at her strangely. “What?”
He stared at her another second, then shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Oh, come on. I’m glad to be the cause of your problems. Tori has been pissed at me plenty of times. She’ll forgive me.”
“I’m not so sure I can say the same.”
LeAnne nodded. As much as she hated to think it about her friend, Tori had a real problem forgiving men for their imperfections. That had to be the fault of her asshole father.
Michael grabbed LeAnne’s face and pulled her forward. She blinked but didn’t resist, despite her shock. Gently, he kissed the top of her head and then let her go. He sighed. “Forgive me, LeAnne. I’m afraid we don’t have time for everything that needs to happen right now. I have to deal with a problem Dorian has, even if he wants to stake me right now.”
“There’s plenty of time to deal with things another night, but shouldn’t I be going crazy with bloodlust right now or letting my body die? Something weird like that?”
He smiled. “My blood is strong enough to hold you for a while, and your body will die when the sun rises. You have a few hours.” He paused. “Just in case I’m wrong, you will go with us. When we get back, I will have Jonas help me get you settled.” Another sigh moved his chest up and down. “It’ll take all the power I have to keep Tori from leaving.”
“It will probably be ugly. I’m not sure if she’ll be angrier because you turned me or because you didn’t turn her.” LeAnne smiled. “But you can still turn her. You can find a way around this, right?”
“No.” Michael sounded defeated.
“Never?”
“Not before she’s on Social Security.”
“Why?”
“Our laws only allow one progeny every fifty years.”
“Shit.” LeAnne felt a twinge of guilt, but pushed it away. This was not her fault. She had to focus on the problems at hand, tackle them as they came.
He pointed toward the door. “Neither can Jonas, and he is the only other vampire she would trust to do it. She’s going to be pissed that I hung up on her a few minutes ago, but I couldn’t think of anything to say to her.”
“She’ll get over that the fact that you can’t turn her. She’s strong, resilient—a survivor—but she will see you turning me first as a betrayal. I don’t know how we can fix that.”
“Neither do I.” Michael groaned, shook his head, then changed the subject. “Maybe you should eat before we leave. I can feel your growing weakness.”
“No. I’m fine. It can wait.”
He glanced at is watch. “If you’re sure, we do need to go. You’ll tell me if it changes?”
“Of course.”
* * * *
Dorian leaned against an island bar in the kitchen of Michael’s mansion. He watched Michael and LeAnne walk down the hall toward them, still unsure of how she’d calmed him so quickly. He was glad she had. Anger still churned through him, but he remembered himself and his position now. If the padrone had been anyone else, he would’ve killed Dorian for threatening and attacking him. But Michael hadn’t. Under the circumstances, he didn’t think it would ever be mentioned again. Still, it was unnerving that she’d managed to do it. Controlling the emotions of other immortals right after being turned was unheard of.
He stood, and LeAnne walked straight to him. She slid her arms around his torso and hugged him close, resting her head on his chest. The feel of her lithe body was all he needed to turn the still-seething rage inside him into simple anger.
“We will discuss this all later, Dorian.” Michael looked tired.
He nodded, hugged her back, and kissed the top of her head. She was cool, and he missed the warmth she’d had as a human. Dorian leaned farther to look down at her. Usually the change forced healing of recent scars and changed appearance only slightly. In most, physical changes reflected the vampiric line and made the immortal family share certain physical characteristics. This was a little more obvious. Up close, he could also see that her hair was darker and smoother. Her skin was like porcelain. All of her features were more vibrant, exotic even. The undead LeAnne was stunning.
Jonas pushed away from the counter beside the fridge, twirling a dagger in his hand. “The others are waiting for us outside. Where are we putting her?”
“She’s going with us,” Michael said. “We can’t leave her alone or at the club under the circumstances.”
“Dammit.” Jonas grumbled.
“No, she’s not,” Dorian blurted out.
“Well, it’s that or she uses Jonas’s club as a buffet.”
LeAnne laughed aloud. “That might be fun.”
Dorian kissed the top of her head again and chuckled She had an eagerness and sense of humor about the entire situation that he never would have expected, and her attempts to diffuse the situation were admirable. He laughed harder, but this time it was at the contrast of her vegetarian life to this new bloodthirsty one.
LeAnne looked up to Dorian, catching his attention. “What are we doing? Do I need weapons?”
His heart sank farther then, which he hadn’t thought was possible. Not only had he inadvertently gotten her killed, he was taking her somewhere that might mean his and/or her final death. He was an asshole, no doubt about it.
“There isn’t time to explain,” Michael said. “We need to get rolling.”
The padrone put her off to give him time to think; Dorian appreciated that gesture even if there was a very real possibility that Michael turned her sim
ply to ensure Dorian didn’t let him die. If he found out that Michael had, he would find a way to destroy him without hurting LeAnne.
“At least give her a knife,” Jonas said.
Michael nodded and took a knife and sheath from where he’d tied it to his leg. “Take this. I don’t expect you to be involved, but let’s be safe.”
Dorian grabbed the weapon, knelt, and tied it around LeAnne’s petite leg. He glanced up at her as he worked. “Have you ever even been in a fight?”
LeAnne shook her head. “Nothing worse than a shove.”
“Then stay out of trouble.” Jonas stuffed the dagger in a leg sheath. “Just keep your butt in the Escalade.”
Dorian stood and took her hand. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“Don’t apologize.” LeAnne leaned up and gave him a soft kiss.
Michael put on a holster that held a pistol on each side of his torso. “Are you still okay, LeAnne?”
“I’m fine. Really.” She leaned over and whispered, “Where are we going?”
“Might as well tell her. She’s the only one who doesn’t know.” Jonas pulled a pistol from a holster and checked it.
“I forget he can hear everything.” LeAnne smirked.
Dorian groaned. The last thing he wanted her to know was why he was really there, but he had a feeling one of them would do it if he didn’t. If he told her, it would at least afford him the ability to control what information she got and in what order. He gulped and dove in headfirst. “Do you know what the agents are yet?”
“Yeah.”
“They have my…daughter, Grace.”
“A vampire daughter?”
“Vampiro,” Michael corrected from the bar.
“Yes,” Dorian said. “They are holding her hostage and sent me here to kill Michael to pay the price for her.”
LeAnne seemed to mull that over. She didn’t seem scared or angry, which was a happy surprise. “Why you?”
He thought about how to answer that and heaved a long sigh. “I worked as an assassin for a long time. I was very good at it.” Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t speak. He continued. “Michael uncovered my real reason for being in town. I’m bound to him now, for his protection. We have a plan. It took a lot of talking, but I convinced the man who has Grace that I could bring Michael to them alive. They were willing to let Tori go. They originally wanted her, too.”
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