Blood Ties (The Edge of Forever Book 2)

by D. C. Gambel

  I grinned at him. “I’ll keep that in mind, but tomorrow I’m going to start looking for something else. We both know being a housewife isn’t my forte.”

  Grayson tilted his head to the side studying me. “You know you don’t have to. I mean, if you like, you can take a break. Enjoy a breather. Just relax. When you’re feeling refreshed, start job hunting or don’t. I make...”

  “Don’t even go there.” He frowned when I cut him off. “I appreciate the offer.”

  “Just think about it,” he suggested and I agreed.

  After dinner and our nightcap, which Grayson looked at in disgust, we headed to bed. I figured it would take a while for him to wrap his mind around the idea of blood. When he was feeding from me it was instinct mixed with lust. He didn’t have the time to over think it.

  “I’m exhausted and I know this is such a woman thing to say, but can we just cuddle,” Grayson beseeched as I crawled into bed.

  I giggled as I moved into the crevice his arm was making for me. “We don’t have to have sex every night, Grayson.”

  He sighed. “I know, but we’re just so amazing at it. It seems like a waste when we don’t.”

  I poked him in the chest and he chuckled. “Was today hard for you?” I inquired. Grayson had an empire to run, but his cravings wouldn’t care about that. They were in charge, especially for a newbie. I hoped the blood I sent him with was enough.

  “It wasn’t easy.” He adjusted to look at me. “Do you know how wonderful people smell and how different?” I nodded, biting my lip to keep from smiling. “I never noticed before,” he added.

  “It gets easier. Soon you’ll be around them and be able to see them as people instead of walking lunchables. Did the blood help?”

  “It did,” he noted looking away mortified. I wasn’t sure why. “I took a little sip before anyone walked into my office. And you were right. It even got a little easier throughout the day.”

  “Other than the blood, anything else bother you? Silver? The sun?”

  Pressing out his bottom lip, like he was thinking, he shook his head. “No, everything else was good.” I heard his heart speed up a little, but I ignored it.

  “Well that’s good.” I leaned up to kiss him and was careful to not push it further. “I love you, Grayson.”

  “I love you more, Gaby.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  The next morning, I woke up early, like usual, before realizing I no longer had a job to get to.

  “Sleep in. Just enjoy the day,” Grayson voiced while readjusting his tie in the mirror. Why did he have to look so damn delicious?

  “I’d enjoy my day more if you’d climb back in this bed with me.” I flipped back the blankets on his side beckoning him in.

  Grayson chuckled strutting towards me with a wicked twinkle in his eye. For a moment I thought I’d won. “I’d love to.” He leaned over my body pressing me into the mattress, his words whispered across my lips. I tilted my chin in hopes to claim them. “But I got to get to work.” With a quick kiss, Grayson blurred across the room before I could grab him.

  “I don’t appreciate you using you’re newfound vampire powers on me,” I scolded.

  “Hey, before it was only unfair because I didn’t have them too. Now it’s all fair game.” He blurred again just as a pillow went flying at him.

  Once Grayson left, I dressed for the day. That, on its own, took longer than normal. What did I wear? Not one of my business outfits. But they tell you to always dress for success. I settled on simple black dress with a higher neckline cutting off just below my collarbone. The skirt hung to my knees, but flowed when I walked. It was both business and casual. It was the perfect outfit for the semi unemployed worker.

  Just as the microwave dinged, signaling my blood was heated, there was a knock at the door. What’s the point of living in a building with security and codes if people can get in with exceedingly little effort, I thought to myself. I unlocked and cracked the heavy door exposing Shawn cradling a pastry box with Laduree printed on it. He knew just how to win me over and was pulling out the big guns to do it.

  “Gabs, I’m sorry about yesterday. I was way out of line with the Grayson moneybags comments. I know that with your family ties, you’re after his money. I don’t know why I acted like a douche.” He stood there with his eyes averted as the words spilled out of him.

  When he finally looked at me, I stood there with my arms crossed my chest glaring at him. He appeared nervous for a minute thinking neither his words nor is offering had persuaded me to forgive him. Then I cracked a smile glad to have made him sweat a bit. “You were just looking out for me. I get it. And I’m sorry I shut you down.” I grabbed the box from him and headed back to the kitchen.

  “So can we do lunch and have a redo for yesterday.”

  “I’d love to,” I spoke around the pastry I just bit into. “You wait long for these?”

  Shawn fidgeted shaking his head. I raised my brow assuming he was lying. I knew how long I normally waited for anything from there. “Not as long as you’d think,” he finally admitted. I nodded, figuring as much.

  Noticing it was still before ten, Shawn and I decided to do some walking around Central Park after stopping by Starbucks first. The city was alive with people going about their day and even though the park didn’t allow much of an escape it was still a nice reprieve from the chaos that was the Big Apple.

  “So how are things with the new guy?” I pried.

  “His name is Clive and good, I guess.”

  “What do you mean you guess?” I inquired taking a sip of my coffee.

  Shawn shrugged and seemed to be intently studying his feet. “It’s just hard, you know, being in a relationship,” he confessed.

  “I do know.” Neither of us had much experience in the relationship department. Grayson was my first boyfriend; practically my first everything. I had never shown interest in anyone until he came along, much to my previous nest master’s discontent. There was something about Grayson that appealed to me. He stood out before I even knew who he was. His essence drew me in and for the first time in my life made me want something more.

  Shawn’s issue had been different than mine. He had always been so preoccupied with instant gratification that he never put forth any real effort to lay down the foundation needed to build a relationship on. I was glad to hear Clive was different.

  “Do you know he won’t even let me spend the night with him? Seriously? Like that’s to intimate,” Shawn explained while waving his hands around in dramatic gestures then shook his head clearing his aggravation. “I just don’t get.” I couldn’t help but giggle. “What?” he asked.

  “It’s just funny,” I shrugged. “As women, we always think that it would be easier to get inside a man’s head. You know? Understand how they tick, yet here you are, a man, sharing the same thought process as all the other men and you’re still confused. If you can’t figure out men, what hope is there for all the women in the world?”

  Shawn took a moment pondering my words before he started laughing with me. We were interrupted by the sound of Bubbly, coming from my clutch. I recognized it as Grayson ringtone.

  My brow furrowed. “It’s Grayson.” It was a little unexpected to be hearing from him. I wondered if he was just checking to see how my first day as a lady of leisure was going for me. Shawn nodded letting me know he was okay with me answering. “Hey baby.”

  “Gaby?” Grayson hissed. I could hear in that one word that something was wrong. Everything came rushing back from the night Anton had kidnapped him. The panic, the helplessness, worry, the regret, and the pain I felt when I thought I was too late.

  “Oh my god, Grayson! What’s wrong? What happened?”

  “Hurry.”

  Oh, no…

  I arrived at Alexander Holding Incorporated in minutes. Shawn had tossed me his hoodie so even if people noticed me, they weren’t seeing any details of me. I would appear as a gray streak. It was risky, but Grayson was too importan
t to me to follow the rules.

  It took everything in me to walk calmly into the building and to the elevator, and by calmly I mean at what a human might consider brisk. The stairs would probably have been faster, but I knew for certain that Grayson had cameras monitoring the entire building.

  The ride up to the top floor was nerve racking. I had nothing to do but tap my foot and hope that Grayson wasn’t hurt. By the sound of his voice, I knew I was probably deceiving myself. Not knowing what was wrong, all I had was my imagination.

  As the elevator doors opened, I rushed from the car at a quick human pace. When I approached Grayson’s secretary, I didn’t pause. “He’s expecting me,” I announced as I rushed past her without a second glance.

  I looked around the room instantaneously taking everything in. It appeared the same. Nothing was out of place. There was the floor to ceiling glass wall that showed off the city. A huge mahogany desk fit for a king, yet no one sat behind it. To the left was a door that led to a full size bathroom, complete with a shower, but it was closed.

  I strolled across the gray carpet into the small room. Twisting the knob, I eased open the door and heard Grayson hiss as a single ray of sunlight entered the dark room grazing him. The room was completely black otherwise. There were no windows and the lights were turned off.

  “Oh my god,” I breathed. I blurred into the room shutting the door securely behind me. My eyes adjust immediately to the darkness and I saw Grayson resting on the edge of the bathtub. His head was bowed between his shoulders with his elbows resting on his knees, almost like he was ashamed.

  I could smell blood in the air. Was it the sun, I wondered. I couldn’t comprehend how the sun could suddenly harm him. It had been over a week and he had been fine. In fact, he had walked out the building that morning, into the sun like it was the most mundane thing. I just didn’t understand.

  Even though I could see in the dark, it wasn’t like normal vision. Everything was hazy. It was designed to hunt and catch prey, but to see details, I needed light.

  “I’m going to turn on the light now.”

  I could clearly see Grayson nodding. Without taking my eyes off of him, I flipped the switch and gasped. Suddenly, the smell of blood made sense. It looked like a murder scene in the once white bathroom. Blood was sprayed on the sink and on the mirror. It trailed across the floor to the toilet where there were hand prints smeared on the bowl and lid. The trail continued to Grayson resting on the edge of the tub. Blood dripped from his mouth; the whole front of his suit was covered.

  “Grayson are you hurt? Did you hurt someone?” I scanned the room, but saw no one else, just blood.

  “It’s not normally this bad,” he mumbled.

  “What’s not?” I was completely confused.

  “The blood,” was all he said.

  The blood? I inhaled sharply feeling enlightened. The first night after his transition, I was woken up by him in the bathroom, then the stale scent of blood the next morning. Could all this have come from him? My hands went to my mouth instinctively to hide the shock. “Oh God.”

  “I know I should have told you, but I just wanted things to go back to normal and not have another thing for us to worry about.”

  I didn’t know what to do. Shawn would be along shortly. He’d have a clear head and I prayed he would know what to do.

  After the phone call with Grayson, which Shawn heard, thanks to his pesky werewolf ears, he had taken charge when he noticed I was on the verge of losing it. “Gaby, listen to me.” He grabbed my shoulders bringing my attention to him. “Get to him as fast as you can. I’ll go back to your apartment and get blood and a blanket in case we need to get him out of there.” I nodded and did as he instructed. I hadn’t been in the position to make coherent decisions.

  Grayson looked up at me. I could see he was weak from the blood loss, even though he did his best to hide the effects. I carefully walked over to his side being mindful not to slip in blood. I wasn’t sure what to do. If I gave him blood he could just be sick again. I didn’t know what was causing it. Almost like he was reading my mind he spoke.

  “It’s the blood bag.” His gray eyes locked on me almost studying, waiting my reaction. “I don’t know why, but on the days that I just drink from you, this doesn’t happen.”

  “There’ve been days that you haven’t drank from the blood bags?” He nodded his confirmation. How hadn’t I noticed that? Probably because I had been so into losing myself in him that the blood exchange seemed completely normal.

  I bit my wrist and offered it to him. His eyes instantly turned to honey green, like he was craving it, before he pressed it to his lips.

  After a few moments, Grayson pulled back from my wrist. “What are you doing?” I scolded. “You need more.”

  “I know, but I’m not being able to pull enough. It’s coming out as a trickle.”

  I knelt down in front of him, shoving my hair back. “Can you bite me?” Once you were to far injured, your body would no longer let your fangs descend. I didn’t know if it worked the same from blood deprivation, but I assumed it would. Blood loss was blood loss no matter how it was caused.

  He nodded his attention glued to hammering pulse in my neck. I tilted my head, exposing my artery. I hissed then moaned as his fangs sank into me like a hot knife in butter. I tried to not let my mind wander to that naughty place where it almost always went when Grayson and I shared blood, but as his hands started to wander up and down my body, I couldn’t help but run my fingers up his neck, into his hair and pull it tightly. Feeling my reaction to him, Grayson grasped my thighs, lifting me, forcing me to straddle him as he slid down to the floor.

  Losing what little control that was remaining; my fingers gripped Grayson’s hair, ripping him from my neck. I felt his fangs tear my skin, but I didn’t care. My lips fell on his tasting my blood on his tongue. It wasn’t as good as his, but it did something to me deep in my core. It was similar to tasting my arousal on his mouth. It turned me on. Between my thighs instantly grew wet. Grayson ran his tongue up my neck closing the wounds there. His fingers grazed over the damp fabric covering my sensitive flesh. Just the barest touch had me writhing uncontrollably. He tried to push the fabric aside.

  “No,” I protested with a small shake of my head. “I don’t want anything between us.” I could feel the faintest smile cross Grayson’s lips as he grabbed the fabric and with one hard yank, ripped them from my body. That one move sent me into a frenzy. I shoved Grayson to the ground. I gripped his shirt and ripped it apart in the same manner he had just done to my panties. The buttons scattered, rattling around before finally settling.

  Grayson shifted his weight, rolling us over, pinning me to the ground with his hips. “I need inside you now,” he groaned.

  “Yes…” I tilted my chin up and flicked my tongue lightly across his bottom lip. I heard the clink of his metal belt buckle and the rip of his zipper undoing. My back arched off the ground with anticipation. When I thought I couldn’t wait a moment more, Grayson eased himself inside my folds.

  “Oh, god,” I moaned, loudly not caring that someone might hear us.

  Grayson growled as his pace quickened until he found a steady rhythm, but I wanted more. I reached under the soft material of his shirt and ran my nails down his back deep enough to draw blood.

  “Ah!” He groaned before he started pounding into me. I clung to him feeling that familiar build starting deep inside.

  “Harder, please!” I shouted and he obeyed. Within seconds he had me crashing hard over the edge just as his body spilled into mine.

  Our momentary bliss was shattered when the bathroom door swung opened.

  “Gaby? What’s going… Oh GOD!” Shawn shouted as he spun away from the door leaving it open.

  “SHAWN THE DOOR!” I shouted. Realizing his error, Shawn quickly shut the door.

  “Sorry!” he whispered from the other side.

  Grayson eased off of me, readjusting his clothes.

  “You shou
ld have told me about this, Grayson.” I stated as I sat up looking over the blood stained bathroom. “This isn’t a normal side effect from the transition. Something could really be wrong.”

  “Are you just going to have me stand out here all day?” Shawn wondered from the other side.

  “No. You can come in.”

  “Alright then, I’m opening the door. Please let everyone be descent this time.” Shawn didn’t wait for a reply before the door swung open. “I thought the sun burnt you to a crispy fritter?” Shawn crudely asked. I shot him a menacing look, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was distracted by the room covered in blood. “Is this from you two and your...” He gestured to us resting on the floor.

  “No!” I spat.

  “Then why the hell does it look like a scene out of a horror movie? What the hell is going on?”

  “I’m not keeping blood down,” Grayson mumbled.

  “And what? You guys got turned on by all the blood and decided to do it?”

  “God no, Shawn!” I couldn’t believe how blunt Shawn was being.

  “Well, I don’t know Gabs. You guys are both vampires now. Everything I know about vamp sex I learned from True Blood.”

  “I fed him. That’s what triggered our...us...” My cheeks flamed crimson. I didn’t know what to say.

  “I thought you just said you couldn’t keep blood down?” Shawn spoke to Grayson, kindly ignoring my embarrassment.

  “Only the blood bags. Gaby’s is the only one I can keep down.”

  “Grayson,” I whispered drawing his attention to me. “Why don’t you tell me what happened.”

  He looked at me and nodded. “It started the night I turned,” he began. “I woke up in the middle of the night with what felt like food poisoning.” Shawn and I exchanged a look. Neither of us had ever had food poisoning to know what Grayson was talking about, but we had grown up with one foot in the human world and knew, somewhat, what he meant. So we both nodded and Grayson continued. “But it was nothing compared to this.” He waved his hand around the room. “I think it’s because even then I had some of your blood in my system, but last night I only had the blood bag. I didn’t think anything of it. You said the transition would make things different. It wasn’t until John pulled up to the building that I really started to feel ill, but I ignored it. Mind over matter,” he sighed. “I was sitting in my office when the first wave hit. It felt like my insides were being shredded.”