“Emma…”
His voice was tense with the restraint he was maintaining, focusing intently on doing two opposing actions, driving and lovemaking. While I stared down at him, I watched his fangs slip out. I smiled, working over him harder, turned on even more by the fact that he couldn’t maintain three all-consuming activities. He sucked in a quick breath as his hand tightened on the steering wheel. I could hear the leather creak in protest at the amount of pressure being applied to it. A part of me hoped he didn’t break it; most of me didn’t currently care.
My drunken body wasted no time getting to the good part and before I knew it, I was exploding, clenching him tight to me as I ground myself into him. He panted and groaned with me, his free hand on my hip fisting the loose material of my flowy dress as he released too. The car sped up and swerved, just fractionally, before he got it under control again.
Kissing him languidly as we both came down off our high, I thanked him.
He laughed while he fought to regain his breath. “Um…you’re welcome?”
As I slid off of him, fixing his pants, he groaned and laid his head back. “Oh my God.” Adjusting his seat back to where it had been, he looked over at me with a forced scowl, his fangs tucked away again. “While I’m not complaining, remember what I said about you worrying about yourself? I could have wrecked us.”
I giggled, completely satisfied with my evening. “I trust your abilities.”
He rolled his eyes but smiled charmingly. Under his breath I heard him mutter, “I need to get you drunk more often.”
By the time we got to the ranch, my high had faded, but I felt no regret over my actions. Nothing I did with Teren ever made me feel anything but happy, not even when we’d christened Hot Ben’s car or had sex beside a dumpster.
As we pulled up to our beautiful second home, a vehicle turned into the mammoth driveway behind us; I could hear its tires crunching up the road, even under the soothing low jazz playing through the speakers. Halina rushed out from the main doors and tilted her head at us, then at the car as it came into view. I couldn’t sense any other movement in the house and figured every other immobile blip on my radar was asleep.
Teren’s brow furrowed as he looked over at a black sedan with dark tinted windows pulling up beside us. Looking at me for just a second, he opened his door. Feeling my head clear considerably, I got out of my side as Teren walked around to join Halina. The ranch didn’t often receive visitors during the day, and as it was well after two in the morning, it was a little outside of standard visiting hours.
The car’s taillights brightened then blinked out as the vehicle was shut off. Just as I was planning on how to grab my kids and get out of here, if things turned violent, the sedan’s doors opened. Surprise flitted through me at who stepped out. Surprise and a trace of fear.
Her face splotched from what looked like hours of crying, her eyes completely bloodshot, an obviously distressed Starla stumbled out of the door. Blinking at seeing her, I watched as Gabriel popped up from the other side. Stepping out of the driver’s side was a familiar blond mixed vampire that I’d briefly met in L.A. a few years ago, Jacen.
Looking between the three of them, I felt a sobering ice flood my veins. They all had serious expressions and glum faces. Starla sniffled, seeming to be on the verge of losing the tenuous hold on her composure.
“Gabriel?” Teren asked.
“What is it?” Halina immediately added.
Gabriel smiled briefly at her before swinging his emerald eyes to me. My heart nearly stopped from all of the anticipation swirling in the air. “Emma…we need your help.”
Chapter 8
Please Help Me
Stupidly dazed, my head swam a little bit as I stepped forward. Cursing myself for getting carried away with my birthday celebration, I pressed my fingers to my temple. “Gabriel?” I croaked out, sure I was having some sort of alcohol induced hallucination.
He tilted his head at me while Halina calmly walked to his side. “Are you…inebriated?” he asked curiously, inhaling me from where he stood.
Feeling heat flush to my cheeks, I was preparing my mouth for the brilliant response of, “No,” when Jacen leapt forward.
“You have to help her. You owe her!” he nearly shouted at me. Teren moved in front of the mixed vampire, shielding me. Jacen sort of resembled Starla, with a slight build, over-styled hair and blue-green eyes. Those eyes were wide and fearful as they stared at me.
I had a feeling Jacen would have flung Teren over the Prius, stormed over to me and lifted me into the air, demanding my assistance for whatever his problem was, but Gabriel blurred over to him before he could move. Lightly touching his fingers to Jacen’s shoulder, Jacen reluctantly straightened. In a more subdued voice, he said, “Please,” and slunk his arm around Starla’s waist.
It was a little surprising to see the affection, since those two snarked more with each other than legitimate brothers and sisters did, but Starla buried her perfectly spritzed-in-place head into his chest as she stared at me, teary-eyed.
“Help her with what?” I said slowly, proud that I didn’t sound the least bit slurred, although, even I could smell the alcohol on my breath. I smoothed my hands over my hair, just in case I was at all frazzled from my romp in the car with Teren.
One of Gabriel’s hands reached around Halina as she stepped into his side, the other lifted to the open front door of the house. “May we come inside?”
Teren blinked out of his stupor, placing his arm around my waist in a steadying way as I minutely stumbled. “Of course, please, come in.”
Starla sniffled again, clutching Jacen tight. The cutely similar couple leaned against each other for support as Jacen led her up the granite steps to Teren’s family home. Gabriel looked down at Halina for a moment before they both followed. My head evening out in the crisp, clean, cattle-fragranced air, I took a deep breath as Teren and I followed our surprise guests.
Starla and Gabriel had both been here before, of course. Starla at times reluctantly driving Gabriel up to visit with Halina, and even more reluctantly spending the evening in the living room, playing board games with Jack, Alanna and Imogen while her “father” occupied himself with his girlfriend. But Jacen had never been. Surprisingly though, he didn’t even look around. His pale eyes were fixated on Starla; he didn’t seem to notice his surroundings at all.
Concern flooded through me as Halina led the group into the comfortably plush living room. Whatever was distressing Starla and Jacen had to be bad. As Halina draped her body across a lounge chair, Gabriel walked over to stand in front of the lit fire. The flue behind him was encrusted with stones that were shaped into a giant flame. I’d always thought it was an exquisitely beautiful piece of art, but as I sat down, I also noticed that it provided a fitting backdrop for what looked to be a speech.
Teren and I sat close together on a long couch, staring over at Starla and Jacen on a nearby chair. Jacen held her tight as she gazed at the floor, still looking like she was suffering from shock.
“We are very sorry to intrude on your evening,” Gabriel began calmly.
My heart rate increasing, I shook my head. “What is this about, Gabriel?” I didn’t need his formalities. I needed to know why Starla looked on the verge of an emotional collapse.
His eyes drifted over to his daughter, his child by responsibility, if not blood. The aged eyes seem to tire right in front of me. “There has been an…incident,” he looked back to me, “in my lab.”
I blinked, not expecting him to say anything like that. Behind him the fire popped and sizzled, the smell of mesquite swirling around the room, overlapping the scent of vodka seeping through my pores. Halina and Teren straightened as Gabriel sighed and shook his head. “We had a break-in. They destroyed…everything,” he said quietly.
Starla sniffed again, digging into Jacen’s side. Jacen, looking just as overcome with emotion as she was, leaned over to us. “She’s going to die unless you do something!”
Gabriel’s deep jade eyes connected with mine again. Before he spoke, Teren beside me sighed and hung his head, seemingly having pieced together what was going on already. I felt a little out of sorts that my fuzzy mind hadn’t yet.
“Emma,” Gabriel began slowly, a hand running through his dirty blond hair, “they demolished every vial of medication that I had.” He shrugged. “I can make more, I even left Jordan to begin the process, but it will take months for the first batch to be ready.”
As I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to picture how such a thing could have happened, Starla’s small voice filled the room. “I don’t have months, Emma.”
I gasped as my eyes flew to hers, icy understanding filling me. No, Starla didn’t. Unlike me, who was taking the shot simply because I wasn’t ready to die, Starla was taking the shot to stay alive. As she’d confessed to us once, she came from a line of “defective” mixed vampires. Her body wouldn’t complete the changeover. Once she began her conversion, she would never finish it, she would simply…die.
“Oh, Starla, I’m so sorry.”
She sniffled again as Jacen closed his eyes and buried his head in her neck. Gabriel sighed, dragging my attention back to him. “I have many vampires who will be converting in the next several hours, but Starla, as you know, won’t live through the process.” His eyes pulled away from where Starla and Jacen were cuddling to stare at me again. “You have the last of the remaining samples, the only supply large enough to see Starla through the interim of making a new batch. I’m so sorry, Emma, but we need your help. We need your medicine.”
All of the blood drained from my face, taking any remnants of alcohol with it. I’d never felt more sober in all my life. They were asking for my lifeblood. They were asking me to give up my heartbeat, so Starla could keep hers going. As I processed that, Teren beside me exhaling in a long, controlled breath, Starla quietly said, “I know that you probably don’t care for me. I know I’m sort of…bitchy.”
Her voice cracked and looking over at her, I watched fresh tears stain her cheeks. “But this is a death sentence for me, Emma. I won’t survive a conversion.” Jacen kissed her head, looking like he was going to start crying too. I instantly knew that the man loved her, deeply loved her.
“Of course it’s yours,” I whispered.
Jacen, in his concern, didn’t hear me. He looked up at me, his watery eyes fiery. “You can’t condemn her to death, not when you’ll survive. You can’t be that selfish!”
Having heard me, Starla shushed him and blinked at me. “You’ll give it to me?” She seemed genuinely surprised that I’d help her.
Jacen did too, once he figured out what I’d said. “You’ll help her?” he whispered.
I looked between the two of them. “Yes, of course.”
Teren lifted his head beside me. “Emma…”
I looked back at him, his perfect eyes torn. Lightly shaking my head, I smiled softly. “I won’t let her die, not when I’ll…survive.”
Teren’s fingers came up to touch my cheek, his eyes watery now too. “Are you sure?”
I nodded, emotion filling my own. No, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to die, who was ever sure of that? But I wasn’t going to let another person permanently die, just so I could hear my heart beat a little while longer. Looking back at her, I smiled through my hazy vision. “It’s yours, Starla, take it.”
She started sobbing in earnest, then flung herself away from Jacen to engulf me in a hug. She sobbed mercilessly into my shoulder while I held her, patting her back. Jacen ran his hands back through his hair and then down his face. “Thank God,” he murmured over and over.
Watching me comfort his child, Gabriel smiled warmly, fatherly affection in his face. “Thank you, Emma, for giving Starla a chance.” He looked down to his daughter as she clung to me like my very presence was keeping her alive. “She’s the only one that I knew for certain wouldn’t survive this.” As Starla sniffled and straightened, I handed her over to an eagerly awaiting Jacen. Gabriel watched the two embrace with a raised eyebrow as he said, “I am working on her problem, but it’s…complicated.”
He left it at that. I looked up at Starla and Jacen holding each other tight in front of me, not even knowing where I’d start to help her…genetically.
Starla smiled down at me, Jacen easing his grip on her reluctantly. “Yes, thank you, Emma.”
I nodded, flushing that they were actually thanking me for giving them back something that technically was theirs to begin with. Shaking my head, I muttered, “You don’t have to… You’re welcome.”
Narrowing my eyes at her, I examined her body more closely. Even my enhanced sight didn’t catch anything unusual about her. Aside from being disheveled from her earlier worry, she was picture-perfect as always. “Do you need a shot now? Have you had one today?”
She shook her head, her turquoise eyes filling and spilling. “The lab was trashed when we got back to it. We looked everywhere for a spare, but everyone kept their supply safe in the lab.”
Gabriel frowned at her. “I’ve told her to keep an emergency supply in her car, since she cannot afford to miss a dose, but it apparently…ran out and she never refilled it.”
Starla hung her head and shrugged sadly. Glancing between them, wondering how much time she had, I turned to Teren beside me. “Will you go and get her mine please?”
Teren eyed me for a moment, seemingly not happy about this, but knowing it was the right thing to do. He nodded, then blurred away upstairs.
Starla’s hand came out to touch my arm as she separated from Jacen. “Thank you, it took a long time to get here and I’ve already missed my evening shot. Father says I have another couple of hours, at the most…” Emotion locked up her throat and she shook her head.
I smiled and stood up to hug her warmly as my husband came back with the few vials that I’d brought for the weekend here. He immediately prepared one and injected her with it in the arm. Starla didn’t react to the sting, anymore than I did. After awhile of daily shots, you just get used to it. As he pulled away, she reached out and hugged him tight. Teren blinked at the snobbish vampire’s rare display of affection. I guess being that close to death can leave you with a different view on what’s important in life.
I was even more certain of that when Jacen stepped forward and shook Teren’s hand, then pulled Starla back into his arms. “Thank God, Starla. I don’t know what I’d do if you…” He sighed and clutched her to him like he was scared she’d vanish at any moment.
As they pulled away from each other and started romantically gazing into each other’s eyes, a feeling started to build in the room. It was an uncomfortable one, like we were intruding on a very private moment. Like any second, they were going to lean forward and kiss, quite possibly, for the very first time.
I turned away respectably. Halina snorted. “We have several guest rooms available, if you’d like to consummate this little love fest going on?”
Jacen’s eyes widened and he immediately stepped away from Starla. The tiny debutante twisted to Halina, the attitude I knew and loved, suddenly returning. “Bite me, Grandma.”
Halina slowly rose from her chair, tilting her head, like she was considering Starla’s suggestion. Gabriel grabbed her hand as she took a step towards Starla. Halina ran a hand down her forever nineteen body, a smirk on her lips. "Careful, child, you wouldn't want to have an accident… now that you're free to age again."
Starla sniffed defiantly and raised her chin. “I’ll ponder my slowly fading youth tomorrow,” she raised an eyebrow at the pureblood, “while I’m basking in the bright, California sunshine.” Her smirk rivaled Halina’s and I heard a familiar growl burrow out of the elder vampire’s chest.
I knew Starla was skating around very thin ice, and was about to whisper at Teren to do something, when G
abriel spoke up. “Enough, Starla. Please take the vials out to the car and wait for me with Jacen.”
Starla’s eyes sank to the floor as she immediately responded with, “Yes, Father.” Jacen took the few vials that Teren was holding as Teren stood between Starla and his great-grandmother. If things had gone down between the two snarky women, I wondered what Teren would have done? If it were me, I’d have run for cover.
After Jacen took the medicine, Starla grabbed his hand and pulled him away. The heavy smell of her hairspray marked her passing. As Jacen left with her, I noticed several emotions passing his youthful face. He seemed a little angry at Halina’s comments, a little embarrassed by the moment he’d been caught in, and grateful that Starla was going to be okay. But over all of that, he also seemed…intrigued. As his eyes firmly locked onto the back of Starla’s tight dress as she paraded him out of the room, I thought that they might do a bit more than just “talk” once they got in the car.
Conversion Book Three: 'Til Death Page 16
