by Melody Raven
Oh, and the knife he was still holding jammed in her side was pretty good incentive to stay standing, too.
“Stay back,” warned Wesley.
She wanted to give Dante some form of comfort, but all she could focus on was the pain. There wasn’t a lot of blood. Should there be more blood? Maybe it was a good thing the knife was still in.
Alyssa tried to avoid looking at Dante. She didn’t want him to see her like this. She didn’t want to be a stupid damsel in distress. There wasn’t anything much more distressing than having a homicidal man sticking a knife into your side. But more than that, she really didn’t want to be another one of Dante’s lost loves.
“Stay back,” warned Wesley. “You might be fast, but if I even twitch the wrong way, Little Miss Blueberry is gonna bite it.”
Oh God, he deserved to die for calling her Little Miss Blueberry. If nothing else, he deserved to die for that.
“Think about your next moves very carefully,” said Dante.
Alyssa still wasn’t looking at him. He sounded calm, assured, as though he were in control of the situation. Did he not see the knife in her side?
“I know you’re a strategic man. Think about your strategy here. If you kill her, we’ll catch you. If you don’t kill her, we’ll catch you. Alyssa’s fate drastically affects what we’ll do to you after we catch you.”
She could feel Wesley take a nervous gulp. Good. He should be nervous. Because what he suspected, and she knew, was that Dante was going to kill him no matter what. If not for what he was doing to her, for what he’d already done to Cora.
“I didn’t kill your daughter,” he pointed out. “In fact, I was pretty damn hospitable to her the whole time.” Alyssa would’ve laughed at that if she wasn’t trying so hard to not move. “So if you let me walk out of here right now, I’m going to do my best to make sure Blueberry makes it.”
For fuck’s sake, he was really committed to this blueberry thing.
“All right.” Alyssa’s eyes shot open in shock toward Dante. “If you give me Alyssa, I’ll let you walk out of here. I will still hunt you down and kill you, but I’ll give you a head start.”
Alyssa’s gut instinct was to disagree, but because her gut was currently impaled, she kept her mouth shut. Her surviving was more important than revenge. She knew that, but the fact that it was more important to Dante shocked her.
“You’re lying,” accused Wesley.
Alyssa stared intently at Dante. Was he lying? His poker face was way too good to read.
There was a vampire next to him. She recognized Talon. He looked a little bit worse for wear. Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead, and he leaned against the wall for support. Maybe that was good? Obviously not for Talon, but Wesley would only feel like he had to get away from just one Vopura.
“You got yourself a deal, vampire. You better keep it.” All of a sudden, he tossed her forward, and she slammed into Dante. The pain shot through her as if she were being stabbed a thousand times over.
Her eyes immediately shut with pain, but she forced them open, not wanting to be ignorant to what was happening around her. Wesley, of course, immediately went for the door to the outside, but as he shoved it open, it didn’t budge. He put all of his weight behind it, but still nothing. He was just left there shoving uselessly for a few long seconds before he gave up and then ran past them.
Dante could’ve killed him at any moment, but he appeared to be sticking to his word as he cradled Alyssa tightly against him. “I know you’re not going to want to,” he said quickly, “but I need you to drink from me. I need to make sure you recover from this.”
Good grief, it was gross, but did he really expect her to fight him on this? She nodded quickly, or what she thought was quickly. Her mind seemed to be working better than her body at the moment. “Please,” she croaked out.
The next thing she knew, his wrist was at her mouth. She didn’t remember him cutting it in any way, but the coppery taste of blood quickly spread across her taste buds. It didn’t feel gross, though. It was warm, and in an odd way, comforting. As soon as she took the first swallow, the pain felt marginally better. At least it did until he pulled a knife out of her while she was still drinking.
She let out a groan but didn’t stop. It tasted amazing. The most delicious thing she’d ever had. Better than chocolate, better than ice cream, better than the most expensive steak. If Dante hadn’t pulled his hand away, she never would’ve stopped. She blinked in confusion as the world came back to her. “What was that?”
He bent down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “It’s a bond thing. You’ll get used to it.”
She reached up and wiped away excess blood from her lips before sucking off her fingers. “God, I hope not.” Then she paused as she realized all that had just happened. “We need to hurry. If we run, we can catch Wesley now.”
Dante reached up to cup her face. “You might feel better, but you still have some healing to do. Wesley will get his later. I promise. It will be my wedding gift to you.”
She blinked a few times in shock. “What? That’s a terrible wedding gift. Give me diamonds. Or computers. That’s what I want. Killing Wesley can be a side gift. Like instead of buying me flowers. And hold on. Aren’t we already married?”
“I figured you’d want a human ceremony.”
“And by the way, it’s way too early to be talking about weddings! I only just met you.”
“Maybe, but it is going to happen. I know that, and I know you know that too.”
“How about we see how our first date goes and then we’ll talk about it?”
“Deal. And our first date definitely will involve taking Talon to a vampire hospital.” He motioned over to Talon. He was leaning against the wall and if possible, he looked even paler than before.
Dante helped her up before turning toward Talon and reaching an arm out. “You don’t look too good.”
Talon let out a forced laugh. “You’re supposed to lie to me.”
“I’ll do that next time you volunteer to be a test subject.”
“Just get me to the van. Stefan knows—”
The door swung open, and all three of them jumped in surprise. Except the vampires jumping in surprise was more like them racing over to the door and blocking her view. Whoever was there must not have been much of a threat because Dante immediately relaxed and stepped aside. “Stefan,” said Dante harshly. “You’re supposed to be with Cora.”
“About that.... I tried to stop her. She was too fast.”
“You tried to stop her from what?”
Stefan motioned with his head for Dante to come into the hallway. Dante immediately pushed past him, and Alyssa forced herself to follow.
What the hell had happened now? If they went through all this and Cora still ended up hurt, Alyssa would never stop blaming herself.
But when Alyssa reached the hallway, it became very clear that Cora wasn’t the one they should be worried about. The girl had shot up, guilt filling her eyes. She stared up at Dante.
But she didn’t look quite as Alyssa remembered. It was hard to look innocent when blood dripped from your lips, with a general at your feet.
“I’m sorry,” she said in that same soft, nonthreatening voice that Alyssa was used to. “I couldn’t let them hurt us again.”
Alyssa snuggled in closer to Dante. It was the first time in weeks that she felt as though she could breathe. The first time in years, for that matter.
Funny enough, there was still so much she should be stressed about. Her official first day as government liaison, for starters. She was officially listed as an employee for the Department of Homeland Security, but she was actually on loan to pretty much any government office that wanted to work with the vampires or the two Vopura who were in contact with the government.
Dante had accepted the offer with the army and was working with them on a consulting basis. Until his citizenship was worked out, he couldn’t be anything more than an under-the-table empl
oyee, and she had a feeling that bureaucratic nonsense would take years to sort out.
“What are you thinking?” asked Dante.
“I was thinking about how much we have to do still.”
“I’ll take care of the rest of the moving. You can stay here and get a break.”
“Nooo.” She pushed herself up. “I want to help.” Though she had to admit that his super strength was a plus when it came to lugging furniture around. This was by far the easiest moving experience she’d ever had, even only moving things around at night. “And I can’t sleep. I want to be awake when Cora comes home.”
In the three weeks since they’d gotten Cora back, Dante had been in ultra-overprotective parent mode. And Alyssa couldn’t blame him. But he had finally been convinced to take a chance and let Cora take a tour of the local vampire setup.
If she weren’t surrounded by vampires, he would’ve never agreed to let her go. But as much as Alyssa was enjoying getting to know Cora, it was nice to finally have some alone time with Dante.
She hadn’t exactly wanted an instant family, but it was easy enough treating Cora like a friend. Dante was more than qualified to take on the disciplinarian role.
“I agree that we should finish moving. Or, counterpoint, we stay in bed and get to know each other better.”
Dante smiled as hunger quickly filled his eyes. “I know you pretty well.”
“But how can you be sure that you know everything?” She leaned back on her elbows. “Don’t you want to double-check?”
Dante was immediately on top of her, devouring her mouth in a deep kiss. Well, that hadn’t taken much convincing. She kissed him back and ran her fingers through his hair when the loud chirping of a phone cut into their passion.
Dante was off her and across the room in a heartbeat. “Are you okay?” There was a pause before Dante took the phone away from his ear.
“What’s wrong?” Alyssa pushed back up. “Is Cora okay?”
“That wasn’t Cora. It’s Talon. He said if we don’t save him in the next two hours, he’s going to die.”
~~~THE END~~~
Start reading Blood Cure today! Click here: https://amzn.to/2WXQwa8
He was like nothing she'd ever seen before. Impossibly strong. Impossibly dangerous. Just plain impossible. And also dying.
Mia Bishop has lived a sheltered life surrounded by her studies and under her father's watchful eye. But when her father brings home a sick man who seems to defy the laws of physics, everything she thought she knew about the natural world will be tested.
Talon is just another casualty in the war between the Vampires and the Vopura. His pride and impatience got the better of him and because of that not only did he almost die, but he brought death straight to Mia's doorstep.
He knows Mia will never forgive him for what she's lost. He knows Mia will never forgive him for what she's become. But she's going to have to get over it. Because when all hope is lost, the knowledge inside her mind will be his species' only chance at survival.
Start reading Blood Cure today! Click here: https://amzn.to/2WXQwa8
Start reading Blood Cure today! Click here: https://amzn.to/2WXQwa8
Mia was never a heavy sleeper, so when the thunderous pounding reverberated through the lake house, it was impossible to ignore it.
As she sat up in bed, she glanced at the clock, which blinked bright-red numbers. Midnight. It was never good when an unexpected guest showed up in the middle of the night. Even though she was very sure it was bad news, she smiled as she slid out of bed and into her slippers. She couldn’t remember the last time something this crazy had happened.
She was about to go downstairs when she heard hushed voices. She knew her father well enough to recognize that if she went downstairs, he’d immediately clam up about whatever drama was going on. So, instead, Mia knelt and poked just enough of her head above the railing to her loft, looking down at the backdoor where her father was talking to someone.
She couldn’t tell much about the man from where she was. All she could see was a dark head, holding a large bundle in his arms. Biting her lip and willing her heart to beat quieter, she tried to hear what they were saying.
“—you expect me to do,” said her father in a hushed, annoyed voice.
“Fix your mistake, Bleeker. You never should’ve given out an experimental serum.”
“You can’t do this! My daughter is—” Her father suddenly looked over his shoulder and right to where she was spying.
Mia ducked down. She held her breath for a few long moments, hoping her father hadn’t seen her.
She finally heard them talking again, but this time much quieter. Too quiet to make out any of the words. Whether her father had seen her or not, he must’ve realized she could hear. Shoot.
After a few moments of mumbles, she heard shuffling. She poked up her head and saw that they had both disappeared. Great. The most exciting thing to happen to this place in years an she’d missed it.
And she was certain her father would never tell her what had happened. Dr. Walter Bleeker was never known for over sharing, especially when it came to her. Even though she was twenty-six, he still liked to treat her as though she were a fragile child. Considering her past, it was hard to fault him on that, but it still got tiring.
She was just about to give up and go back to bed when the door to the basement clanked shut and more footsteps sounded from below. She poked her head up in time to see the strange man leave, now with nothing in his hands, and Walter shut the door behind him
What had they done in the basement?
“Mia, come down here,” said Walter, confirming that he was more than aware of her spying.
She took a deep breath as she reminded herself that she hadn’t done anything wrong. It was natural for her to be curious. This was her home too. Walter couldn’t get mad at her for being curious.
She repeated that to herself as she slowly made her way down the stairs and tried to not look like a guilty child. “Is everything okay?”
Walter wasn’t known for being calm under pressure, but his brow was especially furrowed. A pang of concern shot through her. “What’s going on, Dad?”
He ran a wrinkled hand over his mouth and she could practically see him debating what lie to tell her. She would’ve thought that by now he’d know her better than this. He might be a great liar to anyone else he was trying to manipulate, but she knew all of his tricks much too well.
His prematurely white hair was still frazzled as if he’d been sleeping before their guest had arrived but he was still fully dressed. She’d bet that he’d fallen asleep in his lab downstairs. Hardly the first time it’d happened. She kept on telling him that he should just move his bed down there already.
“Everything is... I need to show you something.”
She blinked in surprise. That wasn’t the lie she was expecting. Nor the reassurance. “All right. Then show me.”
A look of concern and resignation was plastered on his face as he turned and crossed to the stairs. “Come on then.”
Mia wrapped her arms around herself to keep out the chill as she followed her father down the stairs. She was preemptively getting cold because she knew that Walter’s lab was kept at a chilly sixty degrees. She could never work down here unless she was bundled up in layers and sometimes even gloves and a scarf. She’d never handled the cold well.
She didn’t know why her father liked it so much down here. She enjoyed the work they did too, but after the day was over, she wanted to get out of the cold dungeon and relax in front of the TV or curl up with a good book. Walter didn’t seem to know the meaning of the word “relax.”
The basement lab was the exact opposite of the natural and rustic upstairs. The lab was clean and minimalistic, just like Walter liked. The concrete floor had been coated in a gray epoxy coating and the stainless-steel tables lining the outer edge of the room only added to that sterile hospital feel.
But something was very different this time.
One of the far tables was currently occupied by a man. A very large and unconscious man.
Her heart leapt in her throat and she stopped in her tracks. She was in her slippers and nightgown. Walter could’ve warned her! “Who is that?”
“His name doesn’t matter,” said Walter hastily. “I need you to know he’s here and he’s dangerous.”
Mia immediately took a step back. Not that she’d been that close to him originally. Even before Walter had said anything, she’d known this man was dangerous. It wasn’t just his size, though that did make the normally sizable table seem tiny.
It was everything: The worn leather jacket. The long hair around his face. But most of all, the brown flecks around his face. Anyone else might think it was dirt, but she’d been around enough blood in her life to recognize it immediately. Walter might not be known for being honest, but she knew he was telling the truth about this.
“What is he doing here?”
“I’m doing a favor for a friend. He’s sick and we’re going to try to make him better.”
She shifted her weight. Sure, she wanted more adventure in her life, but maybe not in the form of some scary-ass man unconscious in her basement. “Okay...” she said carefully. “Maybe if he’s dangerous he shouldn’t be here.”
“I worked something out with Stefan. It will be worth it.”
“Who’s Stefan? And please just tell me what’s going on. I swear, your overprotectiveness is going to get me killed.”
“My overprotectiveness is the only reason you’re still here,” he snapped. “And I don’t expect you to forget that.”
She held her ground, more than used to her father’s outbursts. A mild one like that was barely enough to faze her. He reminded her on a daily basis how hard he’d worked to keep her alive when she was younger. She wasn’t exactly immune to his guilt trips but she was much more resistant to them than she’d been when she was younger.
Fine. She’d approach this in another way. He was only going to give her need-to-know facts so she’d have to increase the amount she needed to know.
