“I don’t think that will be necessary.” Lucan dips his head down to kiss the side of my neck again. “Aren’t you curious about how things will be now that the trifecta is complete?”
“It will be different? Because it was pretty amazing before.”
“Let’s find out.” He steps back from me to remove his jacket and shirt.
“Let me.” I reach for his top button. I can’t keep my thoughts from replaying the events that led to our completion of the trifecta in my head. With the buttons undone Lucan shrugs the shirt and jacket off his shoulders and onto the floor. His face wears an expression of uncertainty. “What’s wrong?”
“I'm testing our mental connection. You can hear me, can’t you? We will be able to tune each other out in time, according to Zaid. But apparently in the beginning it’s pretty constant. Or at least it was for Amelia.”
“I’ve been so spazed out today that I forgot that was even possible,” I laugh. I try to still my mind and listen. What I hear is disturbing. Lucan is singing the words to Hanson’s Mmm Bop. “Oh lord, now that is just wrong. Is that what I have to look forward to, a lifetime of bad song lyrics stuck in your head? I can’t believe you even know that song!”
“The late nineties had some great music,” he defends. “I can’t believe you haven’t heard me all night. I guess that brain of your is too focused itself to listen.”
“You’re probably right. I can’t hear you over me. Have you been able to control hearing me more?”
“I can hear you at a longer range now and even through walls if you’re close enough. Zaid says I will be able to shut it off easier now as well. Eventually, it will be something we have to choose to do.” His hand wonders over my side as he talks. “Now, I believe you were in charge of removing my clothing.”
I unfasten Lucan’s belt as he kicks off his shoes. “Almost done.” I drag my finger down his washboard stomach, thinking it will catch the waistband of his boxers but there is nothing there. “Why Mr. O’Reilly, I see you’ve gone commando as well,” I tease.
“I didn’t want you to be the only one.”
We waste no time seeing if the Sodalis bond has changed anything for us. Lucan no longer amps me when we touch but there is definitely still a connection there. The feeling of completeness that I felt during the ceremony washes back over me as soon as our bodies join. Lucan runs his hands up my arms as he raises them above my head.
Our Sodali markings glow as our wrists touch and my skin feels a little warmer there. The air around us begins to vibrate and hum. I open my mind to Lucan’s, joining us on yet another level. We make love for hours until the pink light of dawn begins to edge its way across the horizon.
“That was different. I can’t really put into words how, but it was different. Better. Amazing.”
“I agree.” Lucan rolls onto his side to look at me. “I'm a little worn out between the ceremony and this. I’m going to need to, ah, feed before I’m of any use today.”
“Well, you can feed from me now, right?”
“Ah, well,” he stutters. “Yeah, I guess I can. I mean, if you’re willing. I would never assume.” He lowers his eyes in deference to my decision.
“I’m willing if you are. Are you more of a neck or a wrist man?” I ask dangling my wrist in his face.
“Abri,” he chides. He’s quiet for a few seconds and then answers, “The wrist is easier for the donor.”
“Wrist it is then. This way I can watch too. I'm curious.”
Lucan bends over my wrist and kisses it where the veins show a faint bluish green under my skin. The coolness of his touch makes them contract. His extended fangs shine white even against his pale skin. My breath catches in my throat as he strikes against the thin skin. I feel the release as the blood flows out of my body and into his. Lucan looks into my eyes as he takes a tentative pull. His expression is full of concern. “I’m okay. Keep going as long as you need,” I think to him.
Abruptly, Lucan’s fangs retreat from their hold and he licks the wound to seal it.
There is a small, wet smear of blood trickling down my arm when he releases it that I want to lick clean. He was right about needing less blood after we were bonded; he’s barely taken a mouthful.
The gnawing in my stomach returns and I try to ignore it. Of course, I’m hungry; we’ve been up all night exerting ourselves. Pancakes sound good. Pancakes and, well, blood. I refuse to acknowledge that last part as anything more than morbid curiosity. Too late. Lucan is looking at me with eyes wild with fear.
“Abri?”
“Yeah?”
“We need to go see Dr. Steinman. Now.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” There is no obvious injury to my wrist. “I feel fine. Just a little hungry myself. I'll go make some breakfast.”
I am half way out of the bed when Lucan grabs my wrist again. “There’s something wrong with your blood.”
“I told you, I'm just hungry. We’ve been up all night. Not to mention I drank a lot last night. What you taste is probably about 80 proof,” I laugh. “Nothing to go see a doctor about, especially a vampire doctor.”
I feel a little unsteady on my feet. “Weird, you didn’t take that much. I must really be dehydrated.”
“No, I stopped because there was something wrong.” He pulls me back down to the mattress. “Your blood tastes like mine—like vampire.”
The room spins and the air rushes out of my lungs on par with being hit in the chest. “You didn’t say it tasted like that yesterday,” I scream. “You said it wouldn’t turn me.”
“For godsake, Abri, I didn’t turn you. I took even less today than I did last night. What you ingested last night is gone from your system by now so I still couldn’t have turned you.”
“Then what the fuck’s happened? What am I?” I am still screaming. “A fucking Halfling? An abomination the Council will want to punish you for. Sure, they liked Mark and all but it’s not like they’re going to let this keep happening.”
“There’s no way…” His voice trails off.
“Finish your thought. It’s not like you can hide it from me now anyways,” I retort.
“Get dressed.”
“I’m showering first,” I yell back. I am too pissed to focus my attention on his thoughts to see if I can make out anything.
I make quick work of showering and find some jeans and a sweatshirt to put on along with proper underwear. I am in no mood to be sexy this morning. I feel betrayed. Had Lucan, Zaid, and Amelia lied to me about the bounds of Sodalihood? Had they conspired to trick me into doing this for Lucan knowing I would become some sort of freak?
No, that couldn’t be true. Amelia said last night that she didn’t like blood. And if Amelia was really a Halfling, surely that would have had come up by now. There has to be a logical explanation for all of this. Like I’m just friggin’ hungry.
“We’re stopping for bagels then,” I yell out unnecessarily. “I’m friggin' hungry.”
***
Lucan and I screech to a stop in front of the Enclave about twenty minutes later. There is no valet this early in the morning so Lucan hits the emergency flashers on the Evora and gets out.
I resist verbally commenting on his daring to leave my car $90,000 car on the curb just in time for a careless street sweeper. He dutifully ignores my thoughts. I lick the schmear off my fingers while Lucan goes through the motions of getting us into the Enclave. I feel a lot better with some food on my stomach but I am still angry.
A man who is in all things a doctor—and a vampire—meets us in the lobby. He is middle-aged distinguished with a graying beard and little round glasses. He wears a buttoned up vest and a bow tie under his starched white lab coat. His face doesn’t look exactly friendly and caring like you’d expect in a doctor, but maybe it’s just the early hour.
“Luke, what’s the emergency?” he asks, using Lucan’s nickname. “You both look fine to me.”
“Dr. Steinman, this is Abri, my Sodalis. We were just bound ye
sterday and there have been some interesting developments.”
“Abri, it’s nice to meet you. I'm sorry I missed the ceremony, I was assisting with a birth upstate.”
“Nice to meet you too.” I pop the last of my bagel in my mouth and extend my hand after wiping it on my jeans. “Sorry, I was starving.”
Dr. Steinman and I shake hands and he motions for us to follow him towards the elevators. We get in and go up this time instead of down. Lucan has stayed quiet since our introductions. I try to read his thoughts but all I’m getting is the Brady Bunch theme song.
We step off the elevator and into a normal doctor’s office type waiting room. “This way,” Dr. Steinman directs. “There’s no one here on Saturday to check you in.”
We follow him down a narrow hallway into a small lab. He washes his hands in a sink attached to the wall. Pointing to a cart that holds blood-drawing supplies, he grumbles, “I'm going to have to stick you myself. No nurse.”
“Okay,” I reply without emotion.
Dr. Steinman is either not one for words or is extremely put out at having to come into his office this early on a Saturday. That makes two of us. I dislike needles and blood drawing, but I figure I’m not in much of a position to argue given that I’ve willingly allowed myself to be bled twice in the last twelve hours—and by much less sanitary or conventional means.
After Dr. Steinman draws my blood, he ushers us into an examination room to await the results. Lucan paces the floor while I flip through a months old magazine someone left on the examination table. The paper cover crinkles and crunches under my butt as I scoot back to get comfortable.
Dr. Steinman returns about twenty minutes later with a print out and a puzzled look on his face.
“Abri, are you adopted?”
“Ah, no—at least not that I know of. My parents would have told me by now, I assume. Why?”
“Then is there anyone in your immediate family who’s adopted?” he asks as he flips through the pages of the report again. “One of your parents perhaps? Grandparents even?”
“Ah, well, my great-grandmother on my dad’s side was. Her family died in the Galveston hurricane in 1900 when she was just a few months old.”
“Did she ever meet anyone from her family, I mean after the storm?”
“No, they were all lost. She was found on the beach a few days after the storm. She wouldn’t have known who to look for if she’d wanted to. No one ever came looking for her either. Why is this important, Doc?”
“Well,” he begins. “Luke, you might want to stop pacing and sit down a minute.”
Lucan obeys and plops down on the examination table beside me. The metal creaks in protest of the force.
“Abri it would appear your great-grandmother was a vampire, well at least born of one. She never knew it, I'm assuming. I am assuming because if she had known it, chances are you would have too and I wouldn’t be here at the ass crack of dark thirty on my day off explaining it to you.”
His irritation is not lost on me even though his tone is light. I choose to ignore it, focusing instead on his diagnosis. “I'm… I’m part vampire? Vampires can have children?” I stammer out, gripping Lucan’s leg for support. “How in hell is either one of those things possible?”
“The easy explanation? Sodalis must run in your family. Your great-great grandparents were Sodali. Specifically, your great-great-grandmother was a human and your great-great-grandfather was vampire. Your great-grandmother was born human, I’d guess, and passed on the vampire genes to your family line. It’s not surprising it’s been dormant until you. Sometimes the human offspring, such as your great-grandmother, your grandmother, and your father, never exhibit any vampiric traits. The blood exchange last night must have kicked it into gear. You’ve probably never had reason to drink another person’s blood before, right?”
“Right…” I answer reflexively. My mind is trying to process what the good doctor’s just said.
Lucan looks green beside me. “If that was true for Abri’s ancestors, then it’s true for us as well, right?”
“Luke, my boy, I'm guessing there are a few things you didn’t know about finding your soul mate.” Dr. Steinman is laughing hard now. “Here I thought you knew damn near everything. Long as I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you this way. Damn boy and you went to medical school.”
“Doc, I’m pretty sure Lucan and I know how babies are made, medical school or not. But how can vampires have children? I thought the whole dead thing kinda took that off the table.”
“That’s what you’d expect. But if a human woman is with a male vampire it is possible, nearly impossible to avoid if the same parties are Sodali. The children are either human or vampire, it selects just like eye or hair color. You never know what you’re going to get. The baby I delivered last night was vampire. Cute little thing, sharp teeth though,” Dr. Steinman chuckles, showing us a bandaged pinky finger.
“Mother and baby are doing fine now. Probably on their way back to northern Canada as we speak. Anyway, even the human babies carry the vampire gene and can pass some of the traits along. Long story short, that’s why the blood affected you like it did, Abri. Why it tasted, well, like vampire blood. I’m sure you would have known sooner if you two hadn’t been waiting for the ceremony to take a taste.”
Lucan lets out a string of Gaelic curses. “I tasted it last night too, but I figured it was because you had taken my blood at the same time. It doesn’t take much to be detectible. But then you told me that you were hungry afterwards. And then this morning, when I tried to feed, all you could think about was wanting to do the same.”
I blush. “Well, at least there is a medical explanation for that and not because you turned me into something. Looks like I was already turned. I'm sorry for accusing you.”
Lucan squeezes my hand. “I'm sorry too.”
“Well, I guess you too have a lot to talk about. I’m going to head back home if there’s nothing else I can do for you here. Abri, you’re perfectly healthy according to your labs,” he says putting my chart away.
“Thanks, Doc.”
“You’re welcome. It’s a lot to take in at once, but, in the end, you’ll be fine.”
“Doc, will this blood lust thing continue with me?” I am comfortable with the notion of Lucan drinking blood, even my blood, but I’m not sure I’m ready to imbibe myself—in spite of what my genetic mutation is trying to tell me.
“Good question, dear. I have no idea. Each half-breed is different. Even the human ones retain some vampire traits, as you’ve learned. I think it’s safe to experiment and see what happens. I would just caution you against taking too much from each other at the same time.”
“Because Lucan could accidently turn me?”
“Precisely. Or worse, make you a Halfling. While you’re safe from being turned by other vampires, Lucan can still turn you. The fact that you already have some vampire tendencies might make that easier.”
There needs to be a manual for this Sodalis business. Maybe I’ll write one someday if I ever figure it out.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
Life is beginning to get back to normal, or as normal as my life will ever be bonded to a vampire. Mark and Sarah moved back into their apartment and Zaid and Amelia headed to California for a few weeks on an urgent containment mission. We are still on constant Serge watch, but things are a little more relaxed now that I am immune from his bite.
The Enclave guard was dismissed after the ceremony because I wasn’t going to rest until things were back to normal. Between the security system and my Sodalis bond, I felt I was pretty safe. Lucan wasn’t as confident but he’s coming around.
I am taking a few weeks off from work before starting as General Counsel at the new women’s shelter. Max and Linds are coming with me. Carson and Jones were a little upset at losing two attorneys and a valuable paralegal but they just couldn’t compete with the salaries we’d been offered. Lindsey jumped at the chance to leave because her relationshi
p with Brooks was getting harder to hide and neither wanted to break up or risk termination. I think Max can’t bear to let me dive head first into the vampire world alone, this is his way making sure I don’t get lost.
In the few weeks since our bonding ceremony, Lucan has warmed up to the idea of me being his primary food source. We are taking it slow, a sip here and there. I still have blood urges every now and again, but the fear of becoming a Halfling keeps me from acting on them for the most part.
We both are becoming proficient at the mental earmuffs, well at least I am. My constant mental chatter makes it easier for me to tune Lucan out. I stopped worrying what he heard in my head weeks ago, but it is still unsettling for him to know I can hear his thoughts. I hear him mostly when I’m falling asleep. He compensates by reading the latest investment prospectus before bed, which is guaranteed to put me out almost instantly.
I am enjoying my other pseudo-vampire abilities as well. My vision has improved so much that I no longer need contacts. I started a workout routine in Lucan’s home gym and after a week, I was able to run an eight minute mile. My strength has improved so much that I am currently benching more than my own body weight.
Lucan’s inner monolog interrupts mine as he walks down the stairs to the gym. He is thinking about dinner—and not of the liquid variety, which is strange.
“In here,” I call even though he always knows where I am.
“Mark just called. He and Sarah are going to drop by in a bit. He says that Sarah has been bugging him for two weeks to call us. She thinks you’ve had enough alone time with me, no matter what Mark says. They want to say thank you for everything we’ve done.”
“Awesome. I just need a shower.” I put down the bar with the two forty-five pound weights on either in and grab my towel. “What?”
“Nothing. It’s just that I’m surprised you can lift that much so soon.”
“Oh,” I blush.” I am just trying to see how much I can lift now that my inner vamp has been activated. I think it’s maxed out here at two twenty-five, although I did a few reps of two fifty the other day.”
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