“Not always. Most are a mix like you,” Tave said. “My sister is their mom. We’re half Serpentine, but our family is mostly human. When these two were born, both had that clear blue eye and brooding brown, and we knew their destinies. Though I’m seriously doubting whether or not you’re the right fit for this job, Alexander.”
“Gutted. You’ve just gutted me,” Lex said as he dramatically put his hand over his heart and fell against the tree. “I can’t go on now, knowing I’ve disappointed the greatest auntie in the world.”
“You’re such a clown. Just tone it down for me, okay? AJ is my goddaughter and she’s barely eighteen.”
“I’m not a baby, Auntie Tave. Besides, he might be hot and British, which, as he’s figured out, are two things I’m really into, but he’s also a total dick, so you don’t have anything to worry about. He’s just not my type.”
Lex’s voice rang in my head: I consider that a challenge.
Be prepared for great disappointment, I thought back.
He laughed as Auntie Tave eyed us both.
“Can I stay and watch?” Oz asked.
“Me too!” Rayden said.
“Us too!” the twins chimed in.
Lex nodded. “All right. But you’ll need to be on your toes. It may get a little rough, and you might have to move quickly or get hurt.”
Robbie was heading back our way, carrying a black satchel. Ryan and the kids pulled up some lawn chairs by the driveway to watch.
This was not going to be fun.
“I disagree. I think it will be loads of fun,” Lex said.
“You’ve got to stop doing that,” I said, brimming with frustration. “I’m not having a conversation with you if I’m just thinking something. Stay out of my head.”
“Sorry, you’ve got to make me. That’s the point. Either block me or get used to me.”
Fucker.
“Potty-minded little thing, aye?” He laughed. “Here comes Robbie now. C’mon, sailor, let’s get started.”
“Sailor? Oh, because I have a mouth like one. Hah! You should do stand-up.”
“I do.” You should try it with me, he said in my head. Heat scorched my face, and I swallowed. No innuendo there at all.
“Dream on,” I responded.
“You don’t have to worry about that one, sailor. I will.”
“If you two are through with this foreplay, I’d like to start working with AJ. I’ll let you know when she’s ready, Lex, then you can begin to pound each other into dust,” Robbie said, making me jump. I had completely forgotten he had joined us.
Lex smiled, and my belly flipped.
This was going to be very messy.
“You can teach me to block him from my thoughts?” I asked Robbie as Lex walked over to talk to Tave.
“I can. But it won’t be easy. He’s good. And he likes you, which is bad. The more you interest him, the more determined he’ll be to stay in your head.”
“I’m a fast learner. Get him out.”
“Okay, but in order for you to learn, you’ll have to take these. They’re basically an empath inhibitor. They’ll help you while you physically train, but it won’t do all the work for you. You’ll have to learn to block him while you fight. I’ll work with you during your downtime.”
Robbie handed me a couple of grass-green horse pills. I eyed them suspiciously. There was no way I could swallow these things without something to drink. To my surprise, he pulled a bottle of water from his bag and handed it to me.
“You’ll take these pills before each training session until I think you’re strong enough to go at it drug-free. I’ll be working with you and your sisters on fine-tuning your other extrasensory skills, like hearing, night vision, smell. Ana and Ainsley seem to function on their own frequency, and I haven’t been able to find it. If I can’t find it, then chances are others won’t be able to, either,” Robbie said.
“I can feel Lex in my head, but you’re like a stealth bomber.”
“Most people don’t feel me. Lex doesn’t have the mental discipline to do stealth.”
I grinned, then choked down the pills. “Now what?” I asked.
“Have you been taught how to focus?” Robbie asked.
“Yes. And Auntie Tave has been trying to teach me to take it deeper, but either I’m a difficult student or she’s a terrible teacher, because we haven’t gotten very far.”
“It’s not easy to trick a part of your brain into shutting down. At first, closing the door to your thoughts will be temporary. You’ll have to work on it every day and you’ll have to do it while being active. Fighting, running, doing schoolwork. You’ll get headaches and you’ll be angry and frustrated, but you have to keep working at it. The pills will help, but Lex will be ruthless. He’ll use your thoughts against you, do whatever he can to weaken you, and will laugh when he bests you. You’ve got a lot of work to do if you really want him out of your head.”
“Just tell me what to do.”
C’mon, sailor, ye can do better than that.
His taunts were incessant. Every time I blocked him he’d fly at me, and as soon as I dodged his assault, the door to my brain would open right up.
You’ve got to do better. The Bborim will eat you for lunch.
I jumped to the top of the tire swing, held on to the rope, and swung myself back and forth. Robbie said the best way to learn was to make sure I was doing something active while trying to block the empath. I had to learn to make my brain ambidextrous.
“C’mon, AJ! Kick his ass!” Oz yelled.
“Roscoe, I’ll scrub that tongue with bitters if I hear that again,” Aunt D scolded.
Ryan stood at the side of the house as rigid as a broomstick, watching.
Sweat trickled down my neck. For at least an hour we had been sparring with each other while Lex silently taunted me. I felt him inside my head, but when I pushed to get him out, he’d push right back in.
“Let’s go, children. Leave yer sister to her trainin’,” Aunt D said, forcing my audience to leave. I sighed in relief when Ryan walked away with them.
Now maybe I could focus.
I concentrated and rocked the tire swing higher and higher. Finally, a noticeable silence filled my head. I took advantage of the peace and leaped from the tire to a tree branch, grabbing with both hands and dismounting like a gymnast going for the gold.
Surprise lit up Lex’s face as I flipped midair and landed on top of him, taking him to the ground, flat on his back.
His pupils dilated and his breathing became raspy.
I inhaled, taking in his scent, and adrenaline surged through me. My fangs popped out and I began to salivate like a wolf over a fresh kill.
His pulse kicked up a notch, and suddenly I was ravenous.
I licked my lips when I saw a heartbeat thrumming in his neck. The temptation to bite him and feel the warm blood trickle over my tongue kicked my own pulse up a notch.
I lowered my head to his neck and slowly licked his pulse. He moaned, grabbed my wrists, and flipped me to the ground.
My control began to slip. I hissed and fought him, but he was much stronger and much more restrained than me. “Easy. Easy now,” he said in a soothing voice. “I know, love. The adrenaline does that to all of us from time to time.” I wriggled and writhed beneath him as anger and confusion collided inside me. “There, now. C’mon. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Focus, sailor. You can do it.”
As soon as he called me “sailor,” laughter tumbled out of me, until I was gasping for breath and tears were trailing down my face. It was an instant release, like nothing I had felt before.
Lex released my wrists and I slid out from under him, sitting up against the tree. The last of the giggling fit finally began to ebb. Lex scooted next to me. Smiling, he wiped the tears from my cheeks.
“You did good tonight,” he said.
“I could do better,” I answered.
“Yes, and you will.” He said it like there was no question. I would
do better.
“Um, sorry about the almost-biting-you thing.” My cheeks burned when I spoke.
He cocked a brow and smirked. “I was tempted to let you try. Have you never bitten before?” he asked. “Do you know how to feed without killing or creating a dichamp?”
“What?” My face must have betrayed my horror.
Lex chuckled. “So, that’s no, then? Another lesson for you, it seems. Every vampire needs to learn how to feed. There’s no guarantee we’ll always have hemoshakes available. What would you do then?”
I had no idea.
“Feeding for nourishment is not brutal. You can feed off animals and leave them alive and well when you’re finished. For flavor, I recommend cattle. For the hunt, I recommend grizzly bears. Ferocious buggers.”
“How will you teach me?” I asked.
He held up his wrist. “I’ll be your guinea pig, sailor. And if you’re in the mood for a hunt, I can be a grizzly bear, too.”
Was he kidding?
Chapter 7
I watched as the pulse at his wrist drummed slowly, like he had no concerns whatsoever. Like if I bit into him, everything would be just fine.
Like there was no possibility of me killing him, or changing him into a dichamp. Like I was a pro at this sort of thing.
“You’re out of your mind,” I said, throwing his wrist back at him. “I can’t just feed off you. That’s crazy.”
“You can. And you need to. Just remember, you don’t have to inject the venom when you bite. It won’t happen if you don’t want it to.”
Yeah, right.
His blue eye glittered in the moonlight as his dark eye blended into the night. “I know you can do this—just concentrate.”
“What if I break my concentration and accidentally inject you?”
“Then Robbie will fix me right up with one of his fancy potions. Plus, I’m a trainer. We’re built differently. We’re made of sturdy stock. Trust me.”
His voice touched me like an evening breeze as he held his wrist up to me again.
My hands were shaky as I took his forearm and inhaled deeply. His scent was an intoxicating mix of sweat, dirt, and clover. My fangs descended immediately.
I was in total control, but I was completely compelled to taste him. I had never wanted something so much before in my life. And besides, what vampire didn’t know how to feed? Seriously. I would be a disgrace to my species if I didn’t give it a try.
His pulse skipped a beat, but other than that, it continued at a slow and steady pace. Robbie had been wrong, Lex had plenty of mental discipline. I lifted his wrist to my mouth and licked along the blue vein that tempted me. If I was going to bite him, the least I could do was numb the area first.
“It won’t hurt. You don’t have to lick me first.”
I wanted to, I thought, allowing him to hear me.
His pulse jumped again but went immediately back to the steady thum-thump, thum-thump, thum-thump that my own heart began to mimic.
His scent and taste filled my senses as I lowered my fangs to his flesh. The skin resisted at first, but I pressed forward until it gave way with a tiny sigh, and the tangy smell of blood suddenly overwhelmed me.
My heart raced to warp speed. “Easy, there. Concentrate. Suck slowly and concentrate. Keep your venom at bay.” Lex’s voice was a harsh whisper, like he was in pain.
Am I hurting you? I asked silently as I slowly began to drink from him. The warm, metallic liquid was better than any hemoshake I’d ever tasted.
Not like you mean, he answered. Just a few more sips—don’t drain me, love.
I wanted to keep feeding. The rush that washed through me was better than any adrenaline high. I sucked harder, swallowing loudly, unable to stop feeding. My mind tried to tell my mouth what to do, but apparently my mouth wasn’t listening.
Lex groaned quietly, then whispered in my mind, I need you to stop or I won’t be able to.
Just one more drink. That’s all I wanted. I drew in one last drop, letting the flavors burst over my tongue. I licked his arm clean and forced myself to let go.
The broken flesh on Lex’s arm began to seal immediately. I had never seen a blood-weakened vampire heal so quickly.
I felt a trickle of blood trail from my mouth, and I flicked my tongue out to catch it. My eyes rolled to the back of my head as I enjoyed the last taste.
“I’m sorry,” Lex said. “I thought I was strong enough, but I’m not.”
“Did I drink too much? Shit, I knew this was a bad idea. I’ll go get you a hemoshake right now,” I said in a panic.
“No, sailor, that’s not it. I’m sorry for this.” Lex reached out and pulled me to him. He held my face a breath away from his and inhaled. “You smell complicated,” he said just as his lips touched mine.
I might smell complicated, but he tasted dangerous. And apparently, I was really fond of that flavor.
Lex’s lips sighed over mine, and I fell into him like he was a down comforter. There was nothing unsure or shy about the way he wrapped me up, laid me down, and took control.
My entire body lit up like a flare. He was strong and sure and so damn sexy that I completely lost myself to the kiss.
I never knew lips could be soft and firm at the same time. He didn’t rush it, but still my pulse sailed into orbit. Lex’s tongue touched mine and I hungrily responded.
Easy, he said in my head. The slower the better.
I breathed him in and allowed myself to indulge in the feel of him. He moved from my mouth to my neck, nibbling up to my ear. A strange noise escaped from my throat.
This was so different. So new. And it was scary as hell. I had never felt such an instant attraction to someone I didn’t even know.
He must have read my thoughts, because he pulled back immediately. “I’m truly sorry. No excuse for what I just did. I’ve never done that before.”
“Well, that’s a lie,” I said with a nervous laugh.
Lex chuckled. “I mean, I’ve never lost control with someone I was training before. You’ve a bit of an effect on me, it seems.”
I sat back against the tree and really took him in. He had taken his shirt off during our training session. He was lean and muscular. Very defined. There was a tattoo on his left arm that covered almost the entire area between his shoulder and elbow. It was a wooden stake, wrapped in the Serpentine “S” piercing a heart.
I reached out and traced the “S” part of the design. “Is this your birthmark?” I asked. Even half-bloods like us got the family mark.
He nodded, drawing his eyebrows together.
“What is it?”
Lex looked up at Ryan’s window. “Your lad’s been watching, and he’s none too happy. He doesn’t trust me.”
Suddenly I felt Ryan’s eyes on me. After all those times watching him with Lindsey, I knew exactly what he felt right now. No matter how much you thought you were over someone, it was never easy to see them with someone new.
Chapter 8
Robbie gave me two more horse pills to take before bed, and I slept like the dead. Or would that be the undead? I couldn’t remember the last time I had a dreamless sleep, but this morning I woke rested and full of energy.
I also woke up sore as hell. My body ached in places that I didn’t even know had muscles. I took an extra-long hot shower, hoping to work out the stiffness in my shoulders and legs. And butt. And back. And sides.
I was one big ouch right now. I even had to sit on the bed to put on my jeans because I couldn’t manage the pain while standing up. I felt like Grandma Moses.
Someone knocked on my door as I was grabbing my backpack. I opened it to find Ryan hovering in the doorway like a dark storm cloud. His eyes were hard, his mouth grim, his jaw clenched.
“I don’t trust him,” he said, pushing his way through and closing the door behind him.
“C’mon in,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“I’m not gonna waste time. I don’t like that guy, I don’t trust him, and if yo
u want to keep the family safe, I think you need to stay away from him. He’s dangerous.”
My mind flashed to last night and Lex offering me his wrist to feed from. Then to Lex laying me on the moss and kissing me until I was wet-noodle limp. Yeah, he was definitely dangerous.
“You’re just jealous. And you have no right to be, Ryan. You’ve got a girlfriend. You’ve moved on. It’s my turn.”
“This isn’t about that. I care about protecting you and the baby. And that vampire is a threat to our security. I don’t care whose nephew he is. So move on, just not with him.”
The way Ryan spat the word “vampire” made my mouth sour. Like saying the word made him physically ill.
“That vampire is training me to use my abilities. Teaching me how to block the bad guys from my thoughts. You don’t get to tell me who is dangerous until you’ve had one of those evil bastards invading your thoughts and your dreams on a regular basis. Trust me when I tell you Lex is far from bad. Dangerous? Maybe. But not in the way you’re implying.”
Ryan’s face reddened as he processed my words. I pushed past him, not wanting to hear anything else he might have to say. But he grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
“You don’t mean that,” he said, his eyes finally softening. I wanted to be like the boy in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and dive right into those dark-chocolate pools and let them carry me away.
But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.
Sadness filled me when I realized that I had been holding back, holding out hope. I had been standing in my own way when it came to getting over Ryan. But not anymore.
“I’m sorry, Ryan. But I really do mean it. You were the only person I had ever felt truly connected with, until Lex. Something’s there, and I need to explore it. And you have no say in what I do. None.”
His eyes hardened. “I have no say in what you do, but I have every right to protect my family. I don’t trust him.”
“I do.”
“You trusted Mr. Charles, too, and look where that got you,” Ryan said as he walked out the door.
Love Sucks! Page 5
