Just as the realization sank in, the side of my face erupted in pain and the force of the blow knocked me off my feet. I had just enough time to notice the ratty sneakers on the feet of my attacker before everything went dark.
Chapter 2
Nicholas
“You promised.”
I winced, glad we were doing this over the phone and not in person. If I had to see the look of disappointment on Adrienne’s face as I blew her off again, it would have broken my heart.
“I know I did, but something’s come up and I can’t go anymore.”
“No, Nicholas. That’s not acceptable. There are twelve other members of the Board and any one of them can take over for you while you take one weekend off.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Then make it that simple!”
Her voice was loud enough that I had to pull the phone away from my ear. There was a knock on the door, and I turned just as a blood bank employee poked his head in. I held up a finger, asking him to wait as I turned to finish my conversation.
“You know I can’t do that,” I said softly, aware my conversation wasn’t private anymore.
“Then you should have kept going last night!”
I winced again.
Last night had been a close call.
It was common for Adrienne to feed from me, especially when we were intimate, but I’d been careful not to bite her back. I knew if we drank from each other simultaneously for too long, it would start the bonding process.
Something I’d been putting off for months.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to bond with Adrienne. I knew without a doubt she was the love of my very long life. My only worries lay with her.
Adrienne was so young. Only twenty-two. She’d barely experienced anything. Especially in my world. As far as her vampiric life, she was an infant.
But my insecurities went even further than that.
What if I was just a convenient option? I was the first vampire she’d ever met, and she’d had to lean on me heavily in the beginning. I’d been the rock she’d needed in a time when things were so scary and confusing for her.
What if that was the only reason she wanted to be with me? What if this was just infatuation and lust and not real love?
I couldn’t bear to bond with her now, only to have her resent it and me in a couple decades.
But Adrienne had been persistent. She’d told me over and over again she wanted to bond. Only my demons kept me from fully believing her.
From fully believing in us.
“I promise, we’ll get up there soon. Just not this weekend.”
“No, Nicholas. You’re not pushing this off again. Get home so we can get up there by sunrise.”
“Adrienne, I don’t even think I can come home tonight. I’ve been planning to stay at the prison during the day.”
“Change your plans.”
“Adrienne–”
“No. You figure it out and you march your ass in here before dawn or don’t come home at all.”
My heart seized in my chest, my voice softer now. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying if you don’t come home tonight, you might as well just stay the weekend there too because I don’t want to see you.”
I opened my mouth to respond, not even sure what I could say at that point, but the line went dead, the silence mocking me. With a growl, I shoved my phone in my pocket and ran my fingers roughly through my hair.
I hated making Adrienne upset. I’d promised after the hell she went through a couple months ago that I’d do everything in my power to make her happy, no matter what the cost.
And I was failing miserably.
The only thing she wanted from me, the only thing she’d asked for constantly, was to bond. And as much as I wanted to make her mine forever, the fear was greater, and it threatened to drown me.
“Sir?”
I whipped around to face the blood bank worker who I’d completely forgotten about.
“Would you just give me one more minute?” I asked the vampire still standing there, tray in hand, with what smelled like a bottle of O positive.
He nodded. “Of course, sir.”
I spun back around and dialed a number I’d been dreading to call for weeks.
“Hi, you’ve reached Bea. How can I help you?”
“Hey, Bea. It’s Nicholas Talbot. How are you?”
“Nicholas! I’m doing good up here! Getting ready for next season already. What can I do for you?”
I breathed out a giant breath, hoping I’d expel the worries fluttering around inside me too. “I was planning on coming up to the training facility this weekend with my progeny. Would that be an issue?”
“Of course not! You know we’ve got the room!”
I knew I should have felt relief, but all there was inside me was dread. “Okay. We’ll head up there first thing tomorrow night.”
“That sounds great! We’re looking forward to seeing you.”
I wish I could say the same.
“Thanks, Bea,” I said before hanging up and letting out another deep breath.
It was something so small. Just a phone call. Just a promise to head upstate the next evening, but it felt like so much more.
It felt like the beginning of the end.
“Sir? Would you like to feed before you leave?”
I turned to the prison employee again, my eyes darting to the thick red liquid in the bottle. It called to me, but not as loudly as Adrienne did. Even if I knew I’d be walking into a war zone when I got home.
“Thanks…” I paused, waiting for him to supply his name.
“Ivan.”
I nodded. “Thanks, Ivan. But I need to head home for the night. I’ll have someone else here tomorrow evening to pick up where I left off.”
I wasn’t sure why I was explaining myself to a low-level employee, but the longer I talked, the longer I had before facing Adrienne. And as much as I loved being with her, I hated fighting, and I knew that was exactly what awaited me.
“Are you sure, sir? It’s getting close to dawn. Maybe you should stay for the day and leave tomorrow evening.”
I puffed out an unamused chuckle. “Yeah, that’s not an option.”
He was quiet for a moment as I scrolled through my phone, deciding who I was going to saddle with this mess while I was away.
“Okay, sir. Can I get you anything else before you leave?”
I waved him off as I turned around. “No, thank you. I’m all set.”
I’d turned this conference room into a makeshift office for the day, so it took me a while to gather all my things. If I’d been paying attention, I’d have realized the blood bank worker hadn’t left when I’d dismissed him. But I wasn’t, so when I turned back around to find him watching me intently, I felt my brows dip with a frown.
“Can I help you with something else?” I asked.
Ivan’s eyes snapped to mine before widening in fear. “Oh. Uh. No. Thank you. I’ll just get out of your hair now.”
He turned to leave when I finally made a connection I should have made a while ago. “You’re the blood blank worker that was interviewed tonight, right?”
He spun back around slowly. “A lot of people were interviewed tonight.”
“Yes, but they were prison guards. Why were you interviewed?”
His eyes widened again as he shrugged. “I don’t know, sir. I just go where I’m told.”
I shook my head and waved him away again. “You’re right. Forgive me.”
Why I’d decided to ask an underling like him something like this was beyond me. I should have known he’d just been following orders. If I wanted to know why he’d been interviewed, I’d have to talk to the vampire in charge here, and I didn’t have time to do that. I’d just have to add it to the list of things the next guy would have to take care of the following night.
In fact, maybe I could get Alexander to come back and take over for me. He was certainly p
roficient enough to get the job done. And he should have been back from orientation with his human.
With a plan in place, I hurried through the prison and out into the sticky July air.
I knew there was an angry vampire waiting for me when I got home, and as excited as I always was to see her, I knew that night would be different, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. I just had to hope I could appease her with the news we were leaving for the training facility tomorrow night.
But as the miles sped beneath my truck, the anxiety built in my system. The next evening, I’d have to finally bond with Adrienne. Something that made me equal parts excited and nervous.
I just had to pray I was doing the right thing.
***
Adrienne
I heard his steps in the stairwell long before he made it to the apartment.
He always took the stairs when he wasn’t in a rush to get home. Which wasn’t often, but with the way we’d argued on the phone earlier, I wasn’t surprised.
I was sitting in the library, in my usual chair, when he finally came into view. Although I’d been tracking his progress up the many flights of the building and then through the apartment, I kept my eyes on my book as he stood there.
“Good evening.”
I flipped the page. “Hello.”
He sighed, but I kept my gaze on the little black words on the paper. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
Another sigh. “Isn’t it obvious?”
I shrugged. “I think there’s a lot of things you need to be sorry about. Which one are you apologizing for now?”
“Adrienne,” he said my name like a warning and a plea. Like he hoped he could dam this fight before it busted out of its confines. But he should have known by then that was pointless.
I jumped to my feet. “Just tell me one thing, Nicholas,” I began, my hands already fisting and my breaths coming in short, quick pants. “Is it just that you don’t want to bond? Or is it that you don’t want to bond with me?”
His eyes widened. “What are you talking about? Have I not proven my devotion to you over and over?”
His sincere words twisted my stomach until it felt like I’d be sick, but I didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. The earthquake had already struck, and I was the tidal wave of consequences.
“I’m just wondering if Victoria was right to warn me.” Even as I said the words, I wished I could take them back. But they were already out there. They furrowed Nicholas’ brows as a look of disgust filled his face.
“Why are you bringing up that woman?”
“Because she said you’d get sick of me eventually, and I’m just wondering if that’s what’s happening here. Because if it is, just let me know. I’ll be out of your hair before the sun rises.”
He tipped his head to the ceiling and took a deep breath before facing me again. “Adrienne, you’re being ridiculous.”
And for some reason, his calm tone made me even angrier. I wanted to make him as furious as I was. They say misery loved company, but so did fury.
“I am not being ridiculous! You’ve been promising to bond with me for over two months now! Two months I’ve been waiting for you to commit to me and you haven’t. You won’t. You always have an excuse to put it off another day. I’m sick of it. If you don’t want to do this, just tell me. If things between us are coming to an end, I just want to know.”
He blew out a frustrated growl before crossing the distance between us in the blink of an eye. Nicholas wrapped his big hands around my biceps and squeezed.
“You think I don’t want you?” he snarled, his face angrier than I’d ever seen it. “That I could somehow walk away from you? That I could even live half a life without you beside me?”
He jerked his head away from me, his jaw clenched tight and his nostrils flaring. Nicholas turned back to me and the look in his hazel eyes almost stopped my heart. “You are the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. You are the sunlight that I’ve been missing in my life for over two hundred years. If I had the opportunity to be bonded to you for the rest of my existence, it would be too short.”
His head fell, and I stared at his thick, dark hair as my mind swirled and my chest ached. Finally, I couldn’t hold the words inside me anymore. “Then why haven’t we already bonded?” I whispered. “Why do you keep putting it off?”
I’d asked the questions dozens of times, but never like this. Never when the tension between us was already so high. Never when it felt like my heart was beating outside my body, just waiting to hear if it would break into a million pieces or keep pumping.
He finally looked up at me and my breath caught in my lungs. “Adrienne, I’m terrified you’re not making the right decision. That you’ll change your mind someday. That I’ll get everything I’ve ever dared to hope for, and you’ll grow to hate me.” Nicholas turned away, like he couldn’t bear to look at me anymore. “I know I wouldn’t survive that,” he said softly.
My heart was in my throat, making it difficult to speak, but I knew I had to. “Nicholas,” I said, my voice creaking as if from disuse. He slowly turned to face me again, and it was all the courage I needed to keep going. “Why don’t you believe I love you too? That I want to spend just as long with you?”
His gaze softened as he cradled my face. “You’re so young,” he whispered.
I closed my eyes and let myself revel in the gentle pressure of his hand on my cheek. When I opened them again, he was still staring at me. “If you met me two hundred years ago, would it have changed the way you feel about me?”
“Of course not.”
“Then why do I have to be hundreds of years old to know that I want to be with you?”
He blew out a deep breath and rested his forehead on mine. “Have you always been this smart?”
I chuckled, the sound airy as relief flooded my system. “Yes. You must not have been paying attention.”
He laughed and pulled me close until there was nothing between us but our clothes and pounding hearts. Nicholas leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine, the kiss so sweet it made my toes curl. When we finally pulled apart, we were both breathless.
“I love you,” he whispered. “I’m going to make more mistakes in the future, but nothing is ever going to change how deeply and entirely I love you.”
The tears pricked the back of my eyes, but I sniffed them away. “I love you too. And not just for now, for forever.”
He sighed and pulled me close again. “That’s all I needed to hear.”
Chapter 3
Alexander
“Charlotte,” I gasped as my body wrenched upward in bed.
I looked around the pitch-black room, but she wasn’t in there with me. All that was present was this bone-deep fear that wasn’t mine.
Without warning, a sharp ache radiated across my face, and I hissed in pain. But again, it wasn’t mine. It was like an echo of pain. And I knew exactly what it meant.
“Stupid bitch! Knew your mother should’ve aborted you when she had the chance.”
The venomous voice reached me through the walls, and even though I’d never heard it before, I knew exactly who it was.
There was another blow to my head, this one harder than before. It hurt, but not half as much as Charlotte’s little whimper of pain did. It was more excruciating than even bursting into flames in the sun’s rays. It sliced me open, salted my wounds, and then poured acid on them.
It was pure torture.
“None of this had to happen. If you’d been the one to tell me about your rich boyfriend, we could have worked together. But you’re too stupid for that.”
Another hit, this time to my ribs. I tried to climb out of bed, but my legs weren’t strong enough to hold me and I fell hard to the ground.
I was running on fumes.
Between the sunlight hours making me slower, and the injuries I’d sustained earlier making me weaker, I was next to useless. But I had to get to Charlotte. I had to help her. I had
to save her from this son of a bitch who’d hurt her too much already.
The next strike was to my gut again, and it knocked the breath right out of me. I laid there for a second before gritting my teeth and shaking off the pain.
I rolled onto my stomach and dug my fingers into the carpet, dragging myself as far as I could. It was only inches, and the panic was mounting in my gut.
“You weak-ass bitch,” he spat. “These years in the city made you soft. Can’t even take a proper fucking beating anymore.”
A loud series of crashes came from the living room, but I didn’t bother to wonder what he was breaking out there.
The anxiety was fading as the anger mounted.
This asshole had abused her for years, even tried to kill her once. She’d finally gotten away from him, only for this sick bastard to follow her.
I was going to kill him.
I was going to make sure it hurt.
I was going to guarantee he never laid another hand on Charlotte ever again. That not another single hateful word fell from his lips ever again.
“Bitch!” he roared before there was another ache in my stomach. “I’ve wasted enough time and money just tracking your ass down! You’re going to get the fuck up and show me where he keeps the money, or I swear I’ll make you regret it.”
That’s all this was about?
Fucking money.
He’d hurt his own flesh and blood, the embodiment of sweetness and kindness, just to make a buck.
Oh, his death would be slow. I’d make sure of that.
I was halfway across my room when the knob jiggled violently and there was a loud bang against the reinforced door.
“Don’t go in there.”
Hearing Charlotte’s voice was the sweetest relief, but it was short-lived. The sound had been too faint. Too quiet. Too full of pain.
I needed to fucking get to her.
“Why? Is that where the good shit is?”
More banging. More turning of the locked door handle.
“Where the fuck is the key, bitch?”
He was close. So close I could smell the day's old sweat and nicotine on his clothes. So close I could almost taste his worthless blood. So close, I’d just have to make it a few feet before I could get my hands on him.
Blood Lust Page 2
