by Tamara White
Dev nods with a smirk. "Yep!"
"Okay, fine. Let’s do some window shopping."
We walk the streets for a while until they lead me to a set of shops known as the Loop. I let them guide me into each shop to try on various articles of clothing, taking pictures of the ones that I like the most.
I’m getting tired of looking at clothes, so Nik leads us to a nightclub to have a drink. We’re sitting at a high table and the music is pumping, but I feel a bit awkward since everyone else is dressed in club clothes, while I’m just sitting here in jeans and a shirt. It’s a wonder they even let me in. I thought human clubs were strict on these things, but Talon knew the bouncer who just waved us right in.
Talon and Dev are sitting on either side of me, and I can tell they must have done this kind of thing before to feed. The way they watch the humans heightens my own desire to feed.
Nik disappeared a few minutes ago to grab us drinks, and when I see him making his way back to us, he’s surrounded by half a dozen drunk chicks! Oh, hell no!
I slide out of my seat and make my way towards him. I push the girls out of my way, using more strength than I probably need to. Nik gives me a relieved smile and I guide him back to our table, with the girls unfortunately still following after him. I roll my eyes as they fawn all over my guys. Once Nik sets the drinks down, I grab his hand and lead him out onto the dance floor. He raises a brow in question when I start moving to the sultry beat, the song screaming of sex as I move. He watches as I run my hands through my hair, before trailing them down my neck. Slowly, I undo one of the buttons on my shirt, revealing my neck to him.
I can tell the moment he understands my intention from the way his blue eyes darken with lust and hunger. He moves behind me, pressing himself to my back, and I can feel just how excited he is to be there. We move to the beat of the music for a moment before he stops us, pointing in the direction of our table. I lift my head to see Talon and Dev watching us. The girls are still around them, trying to get their attention, but the guys are one hundred percent focused on me.
Nik moves my hair out of the way, and I arch my neck, eager for what is about to happen. I glue my eyes on the others as his fangs plunge into my neck. Talon and Dev both visibly jerk when his canines pierce into me. My moan is drowned out by the club music as my arousal quickly builds within me. Something about being fed on while the guys watch is making me hornier than ever.
Nik lets go of my neck just as Dev reaches us in a burst of vampire speed. He steps in front of me, and I tilt my head, giving him access to the other side.
He eagerly strikes, and I moan in ecstasy. The humans dance around us, oblivious of what’s happening around them. After taking his fill, Nik steps back and I'm left staring into Talon’s intense green eyes. He leans in, but instead of biting me, he whispers, "Let's go home."
The promise in his voice has me nodding, more than eager to continue this in a more private setting. We walk quickly through the club, my hand gripped firmly in his. We leave and start a hurried walk back to the coven.
We’re about two blocks away when I freeze, my hand slipping from Talon’s as he keeps walking with the guys, talking about some patrol shift they have for the wolves that live in the area.
I tune them out, looking down the street, trying to make sense of this feeling. My beast is telling me something isn’t quite right. The guys seem to notice I’ve fallen behind and turn back to look for me.
“You ok, Em?” Dev asks, taking a few steps towards me while my gaze darts side to side, my beast sensing danger. All thoughts of my earlier arousal have been thrown out the window in the presence of a threat.
I ignore Dev’s question, cocking my head to the side to listen carefully. The guys notice my change in mood and have only a split second to prepare before we're attacked.
Seven – Zombies
Emerald
Talon moves faster than I've ever seen, coming to stand in front of me protectively. "Em, stay behind me," he growls.
I roll my eyes and step out from behind him. "It's not like they can kill me," I scoff, gesturing to the small group of misshapen corpses that are stumbling towards us.
They look like something out of a low-budget horror movie. I wonder if I walked over to one and gave it a good hard shove, if it would just fall to the ground like a ton of bricks?
Nik and Dev move to cover my sides, flanking me.
"What could zombies even do to a vampire? They're just corpses."
There's no other word for what they are. Pasty-faced corpses in various stages of decomposition, still wearing the clothes they were buried in.
Dev looks around behind us before coming around to stand at my back, so we’re defended on all sides. "Just because they can't kill us, doesn't meant their master can't."
Master? I look around for the master he speaks of, but see nobody other than the reanimated corpses.
Nik pulls a sword from somewhere with an irritated sigh. "I had hoped for once, the night would go uninterrupted, but I guess that was too much to ask."
Talon chuckles darkly. "What, Nikoli, you don't like a little action to build up the anticipation? Just imagine the adrenaline rush when we dispatch of the threat."
"Now is not the time for your dark humor, Tal. Let's just protect Emerald and find the idiot who thinks it’s fun to play with the dead."
Dev sighs and rolls his shoulders. "I'll take the two on the right, Nik you’ve got the two on the left, while Talon protects Emerald. Everyone clear?” The guys nod their agreement. “Good."
Dev and Nik move faster than I could have expected, striking at the zombies. Energy hums within me, strange and powerful, demanding to be released, but Talon is holding me back.
His attention is focused on the guys as they hack at the zombies when my beast alerts me to a new threat. Someone's close by.
Ever so slowly, I back away from Talon, looking for the source of my unease, but not wanting him to notice my disappearance.
I breathe in deeply and follow the foreign scent to an alley across the street. The longer I stare at the shadows, the more I can see within their depths. The shape of a man hiding among the dark shadows catches my attention. His hands dance and jerk like he has marionettes attached to them.
I look back at Talon before sneaking across the street, while the man remains oblivious. I walk towards the entrance of the alleyway, acting like I'm just on a nightly walk. When I pass the spot where the stranger is hiding, I react, swinging my fist in the dark and aiming for his face.
He falls to the ground in a heap, and I grin down at his unconscious body. "Guys, I got him."
I look up in time to see Talon whip around towards me, and I smile smugly over at him. Who's in need of protecting now?
Just as I'm about to start boasting, Talon’s eyes widen, and I'm sent flying. I hit the alley wall hard, my head smashing into it with a resounding crack.
Dev moves with his super speed, snapping the witch’s neck before the man can even react. Talon and Nik appear above me and I sit up with a groan. Talon crouches down and scoops me into his arms. "Emerald, what were you doing?" he growls angrily.
Nik and Dev disappear for a moment, and when they return, they hold out their wrists to me. I can taste the blood in the air and know they went to feed on humans, to ensure they have enough to heal me.
Nik slices his wrist using the sword at his side. Blood wells, but it doesn't have time to even run down his hand before I latch on, inhaling as much as I can. After a minute, Talon pulls me off, and my beast takes over. Dev is the next to offer his wrist, and even after feeding from Nik, I still take almost twice as much from Dev. Why am I so hungry?
That's when I feel it. My head is no longer in agonizing pain; it’s reduced to a dull, more manageable throb.
Talon sets me down on the ground and looks me over before holding out his wrist. "Take what you need.” I press him against the wall and push his wrist to the side, rising on my tippy toes to get to his neck instead. He groans, allowing m
e the access I want. I nuzzle my face into his neck, breathing deeply before sinking my fangs right into the pulsing vein there.
Nik and Dev give us space and focus instead on cleaning up the mess in the street, hiding the zombie parts down this alley safe from human eyes.
Once I've finished feeding, I pull away and lick the blood off my lips. I see Nik take his communicator out, pressing it to his ear as someone answers on the other end. "This is Nikoli of the Princess’ guard. We need a clean-up crew on Academy Avenue, just behind the blood blank. We encountered a witch who was controlling the dead. We took care of the problem, as well as the witch. Oh, and bring a few bags with you. We had no choice but to cut them up into pieces."
I look down at the body parts that litter the ground around us and feel absolutely nothing but relief that none of the guys were hurt.
When the clean-up crew arrives, I'm surprised to see that one of Britt's husbands, Blaine, is with them. He spots me and smiles, before coming straight towards me. "Hey, Emerald. Britt gave me strict instructions to come to you before I start the clean up and deliver a message. She threatened to put a hex on me if I don’t, so here's the message. 'I'm coming by later so we can have some girl time. Be ready.' And that's it... I think," he says with a look of contemplation and worry. For his sake, I really hope that was the entire message.
I nod, giving him a smirk. "Okay, you can tell her the message was received."
He smiles, looking relieved for a brief moment, before taking in my appearance. I imagine I don't look my best with blood stuck to my neck from where it has dripped from my head wound.
He reaches a hand out and places it on my cheek before closing his eyes in concentration. I feel a warm tingling sensation run through me and then his eyes snap open. He steps back with a sheepish smile. "Sorry, Britt heard through our connection that you looked hurt and demanded I check you over."
I laugh at the way he's standing there awkwardly, obviously trying not to upset my guys for having touched me. Surprisingly, none of the guys seem to be bothered by it, probably because they’re too busy drinking their bags of blood that the clean-up crew brought with them to pay much attention.
Once everyone who needs to has fed, the guys start to walk me back to the coven, but instead of it being just us, we have four other guards accompanying us. When I try to complain, Blaine makes it clear that they won’t deviate from their orders, which came directly from my mother.
The moment we're back in the coven, the guards lead us straight to our quarters. When we open the door, I see my parents are already inside, pacing back and forth.
I shrink back into the body behind me, but Nik pushes me forward into the room. "You're a grown woman, Emerald. You have to deal with the consequences of your actions."
At Nik's voice, my parents both turn and immediately abandon their nervous pacing to descend upon me.
My mother reaches me first, and I have to fight to hold still. The instinct to run is strong. Give me evil attacking zombies over concerned parents any day. At least I know how to handle the undead hordes. Worried parents? Not so much.
My mother grips me by the shoulders and looks me over carefully while my father stares daggers at Talon, Nik, and Dev.
"What happened?" he grits out. His eyes shift to amber, a sign of the difficulty he's having reining in his wolf.
Talon looks at me with narrowed eyes before speaking. "The witch was hiding off in the shadows when Emerald attacked him. He dropped to the ground and she began bragging about it. However, she didn’t actually bother checking whether he was actually unconscious or not. Of course he was faking it, and when she was distracted, he got up and threw her against the wall. We heard her head crack, and we all reacted. Dev reached her first, and snapped the witch’s neck."
Dev stands tall as if waiting for some kind of reprimand for his actions, and when it doesn't come, he relaxes. Instead, my father turns to look at me.
He sighs and joins me and my mother as she offers me comfort I don't actually need. My father gazes down at me intensely. "Please be careful out there, Emerald. You may be a hybrid, but that doesn't mean you're invincible. Even if some higher power says so, there’s no telling whether you coming back to life was just a fluke or not.” He runs a hand over my hair, gingerly as if I’m nothing more then delicate china. “I don't know what your mother and I would do if we lost you. We only just got you back."
I nod, heaving a sigh of relief. Then I pull my mother into a hug, reaching out with an arm to bring my father in closer. We stand huddled together for a long moment. This feeling of happiness wells up inside me, and I don't want it to end. Reluctantly, I sigh and pull away before it gets too awkward between us. My parents both wear serene smiles on their faces, which makes it all worth it.
Dev moves between us and wraps an arm around my shoulders. "Okay, now that we have that all cleared up, we're going to go to bed for a bit. I think we're all a little exhausted after our activities and could use the rest."
My father glares at him, and I shake my head at his boldness to intervene.
"Sorry, but I think Dev's right. I'm about ready to drop, and Britt's going to be popping by soon. I'd like to get some rest before she drags me out for whatever she has planned."
My mother smiles and nods in understanding. "Of course, sweetheart. Go get some rest, and we'll talk tomorrow."
With that, my parents make to leave the room, but before I head to our bedroom, my father runs back in, holding his hand out to me. In his palm is a small communicator device, much the same as Nik's. "Here, Nik and I thought it might be a good idea for you to have one of these. It has all of our numbers programmed into it. If you need us for anything, you’ll be able to contact us. It’ll give your mother and I a bit of peace of mind knowing you have a way to reach us.”
He winks and pats me on the shoulder before hurrying back out of the room, closing the door behind him. I turn to Nik and smirk. "So, I should probably say thanks for the communicator, but you should know that you're gonna have to teach me how to use it. I'm not so good at technology." I flip it open and press a few buttons and a noise goes off at Talon's hip.
He sighs and looks at Nik. "Have fun teaching her how to use that. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy," he says with a chuckle.
I’m about to respond with something snarky when a yawn escapes me. Talon notices and scoops me up, walking me through the bedroom. "You are going to need a shower to wash that blood off your neck, and then you're going to get some much needed rest."
Talon gets into the shower with me and I rush through washing, far too exhausted to take advantage of our current situation. When I climb out, Nik is there to dry me off, and then Dev helps me get dressed in a loose tee and underwear.
Dev sits me on the edge of his bed and dries off my hair before running a brush through it. My eyes feel heavy, and I can feel myself slipping, falling sideways onto the bed. Dev cradles me and tucks me in under the blankets before climbing in behind me.
I let out a sigh of contentment as he encases me in his arms. My eyes close, feeling heavy with the need to sleep. I feel the bed dip as someone joins us and my eyes flutter open to see Talon crawling under the covers. Dev pulls me back a little to make room for him, and I settle in between the two of them, feeling completely safe and content.
Eight – Happiness Interrupted
Emerald
I don't want to wake up. I'm so warm. Something is telling me I need to, though. I sigh softly and open my eyes a crack, smiling at what I see.
Talon is sleeping in front of me, and the color in his face has returned back to normal. Feeding has done wonders for his complexion. I'll need to make sure he doesn't neglect his needs again. I'm also going to have to find a way not to feed on them. They keep offering, and I keep caving. If I can't accept blood from the bag, maybe I should talk to my mother about other donors. I can't keep draining the guys whenever I need to feed.
I roll over to find Dev laying behind me, his eyes stil
l closed in sleep. His eyes are shifting rapidly behind his lids as he dreams, and I notice a small scar over his left eye. I can't resist the sudden urge to reach out and run my fingers over it. I didn't realize vampires could even get scars. I wonder what happened to him? Did it happen while he was human or after he became a vampire? Having all these questions just goes to show how much I still don't know about each of them.
I withdraw my hand as my mind turns to thoughts of my mother. Does she carry the scars of my birth? I couldn't imagine the pain she must have felt if that were the case. They must have been horrible constant reminders of what she went through when she was taken, and of my supposed death.
She's an extremely strong woman, especially if she was able to live every day with a physical reminder of what happened to me, but still come out of it somewhat stable. I don't know if I could have that kind of internal strength, or if I could bear to go through anything like what she had.
I rub a hand over my chest, thankful that there doesn't seem to be a scar after my resurrection. I'm not vain, but the thought of a glaring reminder of my death makes me sick to the stomach. I still don't understand why Brendan staked me. I mean, I was no threat to him. Does he really think I'm the bad guy in this situation? Does he realize that what he's done could cause a domino effect that would affect all members in the supernatural community, possibly even resulting in war between the species?
Next I have to consider, if Brendan staked me once, will he come back to finish the job? I'm so hurt by his betrayal, but I’m still clinging to the hope that the younger brother I know and love is still somewhere inside that angry young man. I won't believe that all the good in him is gone. He's just been led astray. He thinks I'm the bad guy because he was so shocked when he found out what I am, that's all it is. There must still be a part of him that loves me.
I feel Talon's body shift, and I roll to face him. He frowns, reaching out a hand to wipe away a tear I didn't know had fallen. "Em? What's wrong?"
