CHAPTER 11
I was dead. I was completely sure I was dead. No one survived an attack like that. No one just walked away from a hungry vampire with a point to prove unscathed, not even this, until now, pretty lucky girl. I hated that what a whacked out maniac had failed to do a few months ago, a lone CPA looking vampire had managed. I also hated that Teren would be devastated. He’d be so upset with himself, like he’d failed me again. I didn’t blame him for my death though; fast as he may be, he couldn’t have known what was going to happen. I hoped that his family helped him through my demise. I couldn’t imagine how wrenched he was, losing me…and the children, all at once like that.
A new horror struck me at that thought. They were gone. We’d struggled so hard to conceive them in time and now they wouldn’t even get the chance at life. They’d never know how much we loved them, how excited their father was to hold them. They’d never know…
As I dwelled, my thoughts turned to my family, and how much pain they were going to be in. My poor sister. I’m sure Teren would tell her the truth of what happened. I wondered if she’d have a different opinion of vampires after that. Maybe she wouldn’t want to know the truth anymore. Maybe she’d ask him to wipe her mind of all of them. I hated that Teren would lose her too. He’d be so alone.
My mother would have to be told a lie; an animal attack maybe? I couldn’t imagine how she’d get through burying another family member. That was just too horrid to comprehend. I thought of Tracey and Hot Ben – maybe their grief would bind them. Maybe Halina wiped him immediately after the incident, so he wouldn’t have to know what really happened. I’d imagine that he’d go mental with fear, if he’d watched his biggest one happen right in front of his face. That was, if the vamp didn’t get him too.
Speaking of that bastard, I hoped Halina rammed her hand straight through his chest, ripping out his heart. Drastic, I know, but we are talking about the creature that took the life of my children. No punishment could be grand enough for him. On second thought, I hope she took him to the ranch and staked him out in a field; let the sun burn away his sins.
A little surprised at my dark thoughts, I raised a heavy hand and scratched an itch on my nose. Odd. I wouldn’t think a dead person would still have the occasional itch. As my heavy hand thudded down to land on a soft, springy surface, I thought that was pretty odd too. Why was my afterlife feeling like waking from delirium?
I experimentally inhaled. My lungs expanded and the scent of iodine burned my nostrils. I choked on it and coughed, and that’s when the pain hit me. I forced myself to stop coughing, my eyes stinging in protest, but that was preferable to the tearing sensation that moving had seared through my neck. Why would pain follow me in death? Shouldn’t I be pain free, lounging with my deceased father and grandmother on some fluffy white cloud, while a window to earth let me keep an eye on the loved ones I’d left behind?
Unless, of course, I’d somehow survived? But that just wasn’t possible. I’d felt the hole ripped in my throat, I’d felt the warmth of life being stolen from me. I’d felt my body give in, succumb to death. There is just no freaking way I lived through that!
But I couldn’t ignore the awful sensations running through my sore body. My head felt like it might split open. My throat was dry and aching. Even keeping my neck perfectly immobile, it still throbbed where that bastard bit me. But most of all, over all of the painful sensations I was definitely feeling, was an overriding sense that my body was foreign. Maybe that’s why death had seemed a more logical conclusion; I almost didn’t feel real.
My skin felt stretched tight over limbs that were suddenly too long, muscles that were too sculpted. I felt the air in the room brushing across my flesh, like someone had left a window open. It was a tad icy and a shiver went through me. My eyes felt heavy and lidded, like I couldn’t possibly open them, and my mouth felt…full, like my tongue was too big and my teeth had doubled in size.
I stretched my body carefully and felt dull aches and tensions releasing. I opened my jaw and it cracked loudly in my ear. My jaw ached and I brought a hand to the joint and massaged it a little while I tried to open my eyes. Well, I guess I wasn’t dead. The room was too real, nothing ethereal about it. It was dark, nighttime, but light was filtering in from under the door, highlighting it in orange. The effort was too much and I closed my eyes again. I hated being in pain and a tiny, tiny speck of me, preferred the idea of me being dead, like I’d originally thought.
Confused as to how I wasn’t, I moved my hand to my neck and felt the bandage there. A thick bandage - hospital grade. I wondered vaguely if that’s where I was. If Teren had scooped me up and sped me to the local ER. Now that I was sure I was alive, I wanted to see him, and make sure he was okay too. I wondered where he was. For some reason, I felt like he was close by, and I’m sure he was. I doubt he’d leave me, knowing I was hurting.
Hurting…
That thought made me immediately bring my hand to my stomach. The skin there was tight too and worried, I pressed down, first on one side then the other. I was rewarded with a light kick and a jostling bump as the twins responded to my touch. They were alive…I was alive…we were all fine. Somehow, we were all fine.
I inhaled deep again, my nose more prepared for that hospital smell, and held it in for a few seconds before letting the exhale go. Despite the pain, I felt cleaner, more alive than I’d felt in a long time, maybe ever, but still odd. My throat burned and I swallowed; it was hard to do. With my hand still protectively resting over my babies, I listened to the sounds of the room.
Everything was muffed at first, like my ears were waking from delirium too, but as I concentrated, clarity filled me. Surprisingly, I could actually hear Teren’s deep voice and in answer to him, a woman’s musical one. I knew the strange female’s voice almost immediately, felt instantly connected with it. He was talking to Alanna. I wondered what she was doing here at the hospital and then, for some reason, I knew that all of the vampires were here. I frowned and wondered why they’d come all this way. Knowing that even I had thought I’d died, I suppose it had been pretty touch and go for awhile. Maybe they’d all come to support Teren. Maybe my mother and sister were here too, all to grieve me with my husband, if I didn’t make it. I cringed at the thought and held my abdomen tighter. No longer wishing death over pain, gratitude filled me that I hadn’t lost them, that my horrid vision of them never seeing their father wasn’t going to come true. Tears stung my eyes as I silently thanked the fates for their safety.
Suddenly the questions were too much. I needed someone here to answer them. Maybe a someone with pain meds for the fire burning on my neck, and water, for the fire burning in my throat.
“Teren,” was all I could croak out.
It was enough. I heard the door immediately swish open, felt the difference in the air current as it was swished closed. Air eddied around me and I shivered again with the ice I felt in it. The bed compressed near me and I felt Teren’s presence, even if I couldn’t open my eyes yet to look at him.
His cool hands brushed over my face, tucking hair behind my ears. I was sure I looked atrocious and I was equally sure Teren didn’t care. I felt him lean down to kiss my forehead, his cool lips comforting on my searing skin.
“Hey, you’re awake. It’s been a few days. I was so worried…” His voice was strained, like he was nearly overcome with emotion. He must have really been scared for me. I could hardly imagine how awful waiting around for me to either live or die must have been. I idly wondered what he’d told the doctor.
I forced my heavy eyes open and took in his concerned pale ones, glowing faintly in the darkness of the room. His face was oddly lit in a way I couldn’t understand, but I was so happy to see him, that I didn’t really care. The tears in my eyes threatened to roll down my cheeks as I took in the perfect face I was so sure I’d never see again. He reached beside him to the lamp on a nightstand and flicked it on. As soft amber light filled the room, and I blinked in the harshness of it, I finally noticed that we weren’t at a hospital, we were at the ranch.
I scrunched my brows as I looked around with only my eyes, careful to keep my aching neck still. “Why are we back here?” My words were coming out sounding all weird, my tongue still seeming like it didn’t fit in my body correctly and my throat raspy, like I was a lifelong smoker all of a sudden.
His hands cupped my cheeks as his eyes watered. “Do you remember…anything?”
I carefully lifted my hand and placed it over his, my warmth seeping through his coolness, so that I felt it on my cheek. “Don’t be scared, Teren…I’m fine.” He tried to adjust his face so he looked carefree and untroubled, but I saw the lie behind it. I saw the tension in his jaw, the tightness of his eyes; I could almost smell the fear on him. “I remember…a little. I remember being held down and I remember teeth…”
I closed my eyes as the memory of the attack seared through me. I’d thought it was over. I was positive when I’d felt the viciousness and brutality of the bite, nothing like Teren’s love nips, that I was done. Teren’s cool head came down to rest on mine. “I’m so sorry, Emma. It happened so fast. I didn’t see it coming. I didn’t know he was going to…”
I switched my hand to his chest and pushed him back so I could look at him. “It’s okay, Teren…I’m fine.” Dead thirsty and like I was in a possessed body, but fine. I was alive at any rate and so were our children. That equaled fine in my book.
A look passed over his eyes that I swear was guilt, and he looked down at the pillows. Feeling an odd tension building, I jokingly muttered, “Did anyone stake the bastard?”
He looked up at me, a slight crooked grin on his lips. “You won’t believe me.”
Preferring that face to his worried or guilty face, I dropped my hand back to my belly and gave him an odd-feeling smile, or tried to anyway. “Tell me.” Pain seared through me, but I tried to ignore it, not wanting Teren to feel bad, and not wanting him to leave my side just yet. I’d been too close to losing him once tonight already, when I’d been sure I was dead.
He sighed at the look of restrained pain on my face and oddly avoided looking me directly in the eye, but he continued with his story, maybe also not wanting to leave me yet. He lightly shook his head, his wry smile returning. “Ben.” My brow furrowed and I tried to shake my head, but immediately stopped at the jolt of pain that gave me.
Teren bit his lip as he looked over my face, but explained before I could ask him to. He sighed and rolled his eyes, a small grin returning to his otherwise almost tragic face. “I guess Ben has taken to arming himself when he goes out.” He shook his head, his eyes locking onto my neck. “This time…it was warranted.” He looked up at me, and I got the feeling he was making himself meet my gaze. “The whole time he was watching the…conversation, he was clutching a stake in his pocket. When that vamp moved, he automatically swung.” Teren raised an eyebrow at me and lost what little grin he’d had. “He pierced his heart, through his back.” Then the smirk returned and he nodded his head towards the door. “He’s still here, downstairs…drinking heavily. He won’t leave until he knows that you’re okay.” He shrugged and sighed. “I think he’s just too freaked out to do anything else yet.”
My mouth dropped wide open. I cringed at the wave of pain that ran through my shoulder up to my jaw and Teren averted his eyes. “Ben?” I croaked out, momentarily ignoring my pain over my shock. “Scaredy-cat Ben staked a vamp?” From somewhere, I swear I heard a husky laugh. I also thought I could hear the sounds of people rustling and lowly talking, but I pushed out my imagined hearing as I focused on my husband. Teren looked up at me, a half-smile slipping off his face as he looked me over. I carefully closed my mouth; it felt odd to do so. “You’re right, I don’t believe you.”
Teren’s eyes were oddly locked onto my mouth, so I tried to smile for him, to reassure him, since he seemed to be having major guilt over the attack. My mouth still felt odd and thick though, so I gave up the feeble attempt, that didn’t appear to be reassuring him anyway. I reached over and grabbed his cool hand, lacing our fingers together.
He raised his eyes to mine and swallowed. He also tried a brief reassuring smile, but it quickly fell off of him too as he swept his eyes over my face. I wasn’t sure what he was seeing, but it must have been bad. He bit his lip and he looked on the verge of actually crying. “Emma…” He stopped and swallowed again. “I…I don’t know how to…” His voice trailed off and he sighed and ran a hand down his face.
I reached my other hand out weakly and stroked my thumb over his cheek as I pulled him towards me. “I know, Teren.” He’d been gone from my arms from too long and I needed him closer. Whatever guilt he was feeling over me being assaulted, he needed to let it go. I needed him. I needed his reassurance. Understanding my need, or maybe needing it to, his arms carefully went around me and he held me tight. The coolness of his body felt good on my aches and pains and I sighed and relaxed slightly at the comfort of his familiar touch.
With his head buried in my uninjured shoulder and no longer able to look at me, Teren finally found the words he was looking for. “He bit you, Emma…there was so much blood loss. I heard it…I heard it all being taken from you.” I felt a sob break free in his chest and clutched at him. I hadn’t considered what the attack would have felt and sounded like to Teren. Being so attuned to my blood, he was probably aware of exactly how many units I’d been depleted of. He must have been so scared for me, much like the time I’d been terrified for him, during his conversion.
I stroked his back as I comforted him. “It’s all okay now, Teren.”
His head rested in the crook of my neck and he started lightly shaking it back and forth. “He took so much blood, Emma…” I kissed his head, as best as I could with my mouth that felt full of marbles and tried to shush him, but he said it again. “He took so much blood. I’m sorry.”
There was so much guilt in his voice when he said that, that my nerves shot right through the roof. I suddenly had a horrid feeling that everything was not fine. I tried to swallow again, but my throat was fire. I wanted water…or a milkshake, something thick and creamy. I wanted to ask Teren for something to ease my throat, and the fire radiating from my neck, but adrenaline was pouring through me now and I was almost too terrified to speak. Everything was not fine.
Somehow, I found the courage to say his name. “Teren?”
He pulled back to look at me and again his eyes flicked over my face. Did I really look so awful to him? Did he really feel so guilty that he’d let a vampire get close enough to nearly drain me dry?
Nearly…
My brows scrunched together as Teren repeated softly that he was sorry. “Why…what did you do?”
He closed his eyes and I felt like I’d hit the proverbial nail on the head. He wasn’t confessing his guilt over the attack, which I’m sure he felt a huge amount of guilt over, since he’d sworn repeatedly that he’d never let anyone harm me – an impossible to keep promise. But that wasn’t what was making his eyes fill to the brim with tears. That wasn’t what was making it difficult to look me directly in the eye. No, he was torturing himself with guilt over something he’d done, not the vampire…something after the attack. My brows scrunched further as I tried to understand. I couldn’t. We were all alive - surely that was a good thing.
“Emma…” His voice was shaky and a tear finally broke over the surface of his beautiful pale eye and splashed on the sheet over my aching body.
My stomach twisted into painful knots while I tried to decipher his mixed messages. He was glad I was alive and he felt guilty. Why? “Teren, you’re scaring me…”
He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, gathering his thoughts and his strength. “You lost…a lot of blood. When his body was pulled off of you, even before, I could hear your heart slowing…your pulse slowing.” He slowly opened his eyes and they looked aged, and for once, what they really were, dead. “You needed more blood…”
He swallowed noisily and ice filled my veins. “What did you do?” I whispered.
He sat up more, his hands going to my upper arms, almost like he was afraid that once he told me, I would make a run for it. Like my pain-riddled body could even do that right now. I braced myself for whatever he was going to tell me. “I’m so sorry, Emma…I wasn’t thinking. You were going to die, all three of you were going to die…I panicked.” He shook his head as he repeated, “I panicked. I’m sorry.”
As the ice and confusion flooded my system, somewhere my voice broke through the pain and dryness of my scratchy throat and found volume. “What did you do!”
He cringed away from the heat in my tone. “I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to save you…like you saved me…” His eyes, still tired and remorseful, searched my face.
I was on the verge of grabbing him and chucking his dead ass out the window if he didn’t tell me exactly what he’d done. “Teren!”
Maybe noticing my patience was virtually gone, he quietly said, “You needed more blood…I gave it to you.”
I cocked my head, not understanding what the big deal was. “Yeah, so…like a transfusion or something?”
His twisted his lips. “Or something…”
The look on his face, the guilt in his voice…a past conversation filled my head, shouting through every fiber of my sore body and reverberating through every aching joint. My hand instinctually went to the wound at my neck as my body suddenly felt on fire and words tumbled through my mind in a never-ending loop:
“
…drained of all her blood…replaced by a vampire’s. Drained of all her blood…replaced by a vampire’s…
”
Replaced by a vampire’s. A vampire had drained me…or nearly so, close enough that my heart had been beginning to fail, and Teren had replaced the blood…with his, with his vampire blood. My mouth dropped wide open again. Teren was against turning anyone, and he’d turned me? I couldn’t comprehend that. I couldn’t believe he’d do that to me? Even dying, I couldn’t believe he’d do that to me. We’d never talked about me becoming a vampire, nothing beyond him wishing that I could be like him. But that wasn’t possible. It didn’t work like that. Did he save me, by killing me?
“What did you do to me?” I asked, stupefied. “Am I…?” I brought a hand to the other side of my neck, trying to find my heartbeat. His eyes tracked my movement as I found my pulse on my skin easily. I could even hear its fast pace in the room. Nope, it was definitely still ticking.
He shook his head. “No, no you’re still alive. Your heart is still beating. The babies’ hearts are still beating.”
Now I shook my head. I was rewarded with a surge of fresh pain as my neck protested the movement. I cringed and my voice came out laced with an edge of that pain. “But…did it not work then? Was your blood just blood after all?” He cringed and looked away. I felt the guilt come back into the room and saw it again, all over his features. “Teren…what did you do? What am I?”
He looked back to me as another tear dripped to his cheek. “I don’t know, Emma…I’m so sorry.”
Before I could say anything else, Alanna and Halina breezed into the room. They left the door open and I could see the familiar hallway of the Adams family home behind them. He’d brought me back to his home after he’d…replenished me.
Alanna held a travel coffee mug out to me and I slurped it down without looking. I was so thirsty…coffee didn’t really sound appealing at the moment, and I had been staying away from the stuff, but at the moment, I didn’t care. It was warm and thick, and tasted better than any latte I’d ever been given, sweet and intense in flavour…and a little tangy. My mouth still felt odd but the warm liquid was soothing it, and my aching throat. I even felt the pain in my neck subside and thought maybe Alanna had dosed the coffee with painkillers.
I watched them over my cup as I slurped down my drink. They were all looking at me oddly, like I was some science experiment. Teren finally looked down, clear guilt still on his face. Alanna only looked thoughtful, and perhaps a little sad. I shifted my gaze to Halina, who looked the most curious of all of them. Their stares were starting to annoy me.
“Quit looking at me like that.”
I went back to my soothing drink while Alanna looked away and Halina smiled and continued staring. Once I got to the bottom of my drink and was tipping it back for the last of the coffee, Alanna finally spoke. “Would you like some more, Emma?” Her voice had an odd, curious edge to it.
I ignored it and nodded, my neck feeling better already. “Please…I’m still really thirsty and whatever you put in that, it’s really helping my neck.”
She cocked her head to the side as she absorbed that. Putting a hand on Teren’s shoulder, they met eyes for a moment and then she flitted out of the room. Feeling more put together, once my throat and body weren’t aching so badly, I put my hand over Teren’s in his lap. He flinched slightly at the contact and looked up at me.
I smiled warmly for the first time since he’d walked in here. It still felt odd, but I managed to do it pain free. “Well, it obviously didn’t do anything to me, Teren…your blood. I’m fine. Sore and feeling kind of odd, but fine. I’m not undead or anything.” I managed a weak laugh and expected him to laugh with me at my joke, but he didn’t, he looked down again. He looked guilty again.
Halina smirked at me and then shook her head. I got an uncomfortable feeling looking between the two of them. Eventually Alanna came back with more steaming coffee and Imogen was right behind her. “Is she really…?” Imogen let her sentence trail off as she stared at me on the bed. Her mouth opened wide. God, did I look that bad. I put my hand over my neck wound reflexively.
Alanna handed me the drink and I started gulping down my second cup of Joe. As Teren sighed and locked gazes with his mother again, I concentrated on my pain-reducing coffee. The warm, thick treat got easier to swallow with each loud gulp I could hear going down my throat, but, as wonderful as it was, I was about to chuck it on Teren if he didn’t stop looking so solemn. I was obviously just fine, heart still beating and everything. Something about me seemed to be freaking them all out, I just didn’t know what. Maybe they were just surprised that his blood really didn’t do anything to me, but save me. Maybe they were just startled that a mixed vampires’ blood only acted as some miracle healing potion. Although, it had only kept me alive, the residual pain in my neck assured me that the skin there was still torn, healing at a normal human pace.
I still couldn’t believe what he’d done for me. As I watched him look between Alanna and Imogen and watched Imogen place a reassuring hand on his shoulder, I pictured what must have happened in that parking lot. After Hot Ben had dispatched the vamp, and I still couldn’t wrap my mind around that one, Teren must have blurred to my side and swept me into his arms. I pictured him crying and moaning my name; he was very grieved in my mental movie. I pictured Halina scanning the area and warning him that they had to leave immediately; she was not so grieved. And I pictured Ben staring at my bloody near-corpse and peeing his pants (yeah, I was really having trouble with seeing him any other way, but terrified).
Then I imagined Teren’s fangs coming out and ripping open his own wrist. I imagined him bringing that wrist to my mouth and my nearly deceased body automatically swallowing the cool liquid of his foreign blood. In my mind, I imagined Halina and Ben screaming at him to stop, but overwhelmed with grief, he couldn’t, and he continued giving me his miraculous blood until his wounded wrist healed. I had no idea why vampiric blood pouring into my stomach had kept me alive, or kept any vampire “alive” for that matter, but then, there was a lot about vampires that I didn’t understand. Hell, there was a lot about the human body that I didn’t understand. Some things you just have to go with. But it had, and it hadn’t changed me. I couldn’t see why they weren’t all doing a vampire jig.
I closed my eyes for a second, to wipe away the stomach churning image of Teren feeding me his blood, and concentrated even more on the yummy coffee I was drinking. As soon as I finished this cup, I was demanding some answers from the oddly quiet vampires. As I neared the end of my second helping, a happy noise left my throat. Dang, Alanna makes good coffee, so much better than Starbucks.
Teren dropped his head to his hands and Alanna put her hand on his shoulder again. “God…Mom…” He spoke something else, but it was in Russian and I couldn’t make it out. She responded in a solemn voice, also in the foreign language. He dropped his hands to his lap and shook his head, looking a little defeated.
Irritated by the let’s-keep-Emma-out-of-the-loop Russian, I stopped drinking, and feeling a little saucy as Alanna’s miracle coffee made me feel even better, I spat out, “What? Why do you all look like that? I’m fine. In fact, I’m feeling better every second.” Looking at each vampire pointedly, I more calmly said, “I’m normal. The babies are fine. Teren saved us all…where’s the celebration?”
They all shared a look between each other, but no one spoke again. I sighed irritably and was about to speak, when Jack and Hot Ben entered the room. Jack looked at me with the same odd, curious reaction that the vampires did, as he walked over to stand beside his wife. She looked at him and clenched his hand. A thoughtful look past between them that I couldn’t even begin to place.
My attention was redirected to the door frame when I heard Hot Ben say, “Whoa, Emma.” His face was pale and his eyes were wide as he stared at me. He stumbled slightly and I recalled Teren saying that he’d been spending his idle time drinking heavily. I tried not to take offense at his reaction to my - I’m sure - horrid face. He was probably barely seeing straight at this point.
He looked about to say more, one hand running through his highlighted locks, but Teren shot him a glance that had a clear warning in it. Teren obviously didn’t want him mocking my appearance right now. Regardless of my irritation at him, I squeezed his hand appreciatively as Hot Ben shut his mouth, leaning against the doorframe as he stared at me relentlessly.
Teren looked at my hand over his and then up at my smiling face. Holding my cup out to him, I said, “This is really helping, can I have some more?”
Teren looked pained and focusing on his mother, spoke to her in Russian again.
“No! Stop that, right now!” I was getting more used to my odd feeling body and had brought a little heat into that sentence. Damn their secretive language anyway, I was tired of being kept out of conversations that were clearly about me. They all looked over at me, a little stunned at my outburst. “What? You are all looking at me like…I don’t know. What is it?”
It was long seconds of everyone looking at everyone else before anyone would finally look at me. Just when my patience was about was high as it could go, Teren finally sighed and looked at me with resignation clear on his face. “Emma,” he began slowly, like at any moment I was going to lash out at him, “please don’t freak out.”
Even more irritated, I spat out, “I’m already starting to freak out. You can’t ask me to not do something I’m already doing! What the hell is going on?”
Teren sighed, but it was eventually Halina who handed me a small hand mirror off the vanity behind her. Confused, I took it and looked at my reflection. Ugh, I was as horrid as I thought I’d be. Deep circles under my eyes and my hair a wild mess. The bandage on my neck was huge and although a more manageable amount of pain than before, still tugged at me whenever I shifted; maybe I should still ask for that pain pill. But other than that…I looked the same.
“Okay, I don’t get what the…”
I stopped talking once a flash of my open mouth showed in the mirror. My jaw dropped nearly to the sheet and I stared at myself with a mix of wonder and horror. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, what they had all been staring at, why Teren was having trouble looking directly at me. For one, my tongue was red, blood red, but more importantly than that, so much more importantly than that…
I had fangs.
“Holy shit.”
To Be Continued on Next Chapter … … …
金髪女捕獲！絶叫中出しレイプ地獄！！第10章:嗜虐嗜好～淫獣の生贄・肉便器となり、犯され続けた金髪美 女達の残酷な末路～
Tag: Amateur, Creampie, cum inside, Humiliation, Creampie, cum inside
監督:
メーカー: スパルタン/妄想族インターナショナル
レーベル: スパルタン（スパルタン/妄想族インターナショナル）
ジャンル: 中出しレイプ凌辱白人女優海外輸入
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CHAPTER 12
Every sound in the room stopped, or maybe, I just stopped listening. Either way, I could have suddenly been in space for all the silence in the room. My pain was suddenly gone now too, like my body had shut off all other sensations to focus solely on my vision, more specifically on the oddity that was my mouth, and that, I could not stop staring at.
I ran a finger down a canine and felt the long tooth that dropped down to a sharp point. It was coated with a slight twinge of red which rubbed off with my finger, leaving a shiny, white surface underneath. It looked new, slightly brighter than the teeth around it and I had no idea if my old canines had fallen out, to be replaced with these ones, or if these were in fact my old ones, just somehow sharper and noticeably longer. When I got to the end of it, I experimented, pressing the pad of my finger against it. I broke the surface easily, a dot of fresh blood welling on the tip of my index finger.
Something inside of me wanted to bite down harder, to make more fresh blood ooze from the wound, and I quickly pulled my hand back. Startled at my own reaction, my eyes instinctually locked gazes with myself in the mirror. My eyes were a warm, brown color that normally were bright and alive with whatever underlying emotion I was feeling. If I was happy, I was told that they seemed lighter, the flecks of gold in them overpowering the darker shade. If I were angry, well, one ex-boyfriend had confessed that my eyes darkened to rival the pits of Hell. I really didn’t like that comparison, or the boy who’d said it. As I stared at my eyes today, the color was the shade of darkly stained oak, sort of in the middle of the two spectrums. But the whites of my eyes were huge, as the shock I felt was evident, even to me.
“Emma?”
Teren’s voice brought all sound rushing back in on me. It was a sudden cacophony assaulting my ears. The rustle of everyone moving. Jack and Alanna whispering worried words back and forth to each other. Imogen rushing out the door as she went to get me more coffee, although, by the color of my tongue, I had a horrid feeling that the world’s best coffee wasn’t what I’d been enjoying. Hot Ben stumbling noisily near the door, his hand reaching out to brace himself on the frame; the sudden movement sounded like a jackhammer in my brain.
It was all too much and I wanted to cry, I could even feel tears well up. A cool palm rested on my flushed face. “Hey, relax. I’m here, Emma.” Teren’s deep voice pushed away all the other sounds as I focused on it. I drug my eyes back to him, watching his lips move as he spoke more soothing phrases.
“It’s too loud,” I whispered.
He nodded and glanced up at his mother. She had heard me as well and ushered Jack to the door. He hadn’t heard me or understood, but he followed his wife’s lead unerringly, as if he was aware that a vampire had spoken to her from somewhere. I suppose he was just used to not being in on all of the conversations. Halina, the only one who been stone silent (she wasn’t even breathing as she studied me) nodded at Teren and turned to leave the room, grabbing a clumsy looking Ben by the arm on her way out the door. I heard him fall and curse on the other side of it, then heard Halina laugh and pick him up, much to his loud dismay. Not used to hearing so much, so quickly, I closed my eyes to try and shut the sound off again.
Teren’s lips were cool on my forehead and cheeks as he leaned over me, comforting me and whispering apologies. His lips brushed mine and I stiffened, not ready for that sort of contact. He sighed, but didn’t press the issue, instead sitting back down on his space on the bed, his hand removing the mirror from mine before clasping it.
“You changed me?” I whispered, now understanding why my mouth felt so odd. I was speaking around fangs. I had no idea how to retract them.
I opened my eyes and watched him cringe and give me an apologetic smile. “It would seem so, although, I have no idea why your heart is still beating.” He shrugged and shook his head. “I’ve been waiting for days for it to stop.”
His eyes glanced down to my stomach when he said that and his face seemingly aged right before me. I suddenly understood his real fear. He’d thought he’d converted me. While a conversion would be okay for me, in the long run, it most certainly would not be for the two lives dependant on my survival. I put a hand on my stomach and one of the twins kicked me, almost as if to let me know they were still there. “You’ve been waiting around for me to die? For them to die?”
He looked back up at my eyes, tears in them again. “Yes,” he whispered. “I was so scared.”
Now I was scared. Just because I hadn’t died yet, that didn’t mean I wouldn’t. After all, I knew from experience that the human side could only take the strain of vampire blood for so long. Did my twenty-six year stop watch start now, or was I already ticking away, only having the couple months until my birthday, before I literally became, just like Teren. “Am I going to die?”
I was pretty sure I knew the answer to that, as well as Teren did, but he shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know, Emma.”
Fear made my anger resurface. “You don’t know?”
He cringed under my tone and shook his head again. “We’ve never changed anyone, Emma. We just don’t know what will happen to you, or even really, what did happen to you.” A tear dropped from his eyes as he whispered, “We don’t even know if you will convert…if my mixed blood is enough to complete the change, or…if you’ll just…die. We just don’t know, Emma.”
My eyes narrowed at his lack of information. What I needed right now was information and, even though a part of me knew I shouldn’t blame him for his ignorance, I didn’t have anyone else to blame at the moment. “How could you have done that to me, without knowing what would happen? To me, or to them?”
His face saddened and he looked away from me, like that was something he’d repeatedly asked himself too. He hung his head and merely said, “You were dying…”
I had no response to that and only continued to unfairly glare at him. He didn’t look at me, his own guilt keeping his head down and his eyes firmly fixed on my stomach, the real question in this whole equation. If it were my time, then it was my time…I guess, but them…
Just as a new wave of anger hit me, Alanna quietly stepped into the room. Well, I’m sure to most it was quiet. To my new hearing, that I could only partially get a handle on, when she opened the door and my attention focused on it, every sound muffled behind it became crystal clear. Jack was asking Imogen what would happen to me. Imogen replied that she didn’t know. Halina was hoping the children could be spared before I died, sounding much less concerned over my fate, than that of the twins, and Hot Ben was throwing up in one of the bathrooms.
Alanna closed the door and apologized for the intrusion. Teren didn’t look up at her. I stopped glaring and tried to fix my face into impassiveness as she approached me and handed me another cup of steaming coffee. I sniffed it this time. My senses could distinguish every delightful thing about it, the headiness, the tangy sweetness, but nothing in it smelled as awful as what I suspected it was. Hoping I was wrong, I stuck my finger in the black looking liquid inside the black thermos. Teren sighed as I pulled my finger back. And of course, my entire finger was as darkly red as the one dot that had been on it earlier.
“You gave me blood?” I focused my disgust solely on Teren, even though Alanna had technically given me the mugs.
He cringed again and looked up at me. “Your body needs it now. It will help you heal, Emma.” His hand slightly lifted to point at the wound on my neck. “You even said it was helping.”
Not feeling any better about any of this, I yelled, “You gave me blood!”
Alanna reached a hand out and started saying my name at the same time that he did. Feeling overwhelmed and tired and on the verge of an emotional breakdown, I did the only thing that seemed sensible in the heat of the moment. Stubbornly raising my arm to the door, I pointed at it and snapped, “Get out!”
Teren cocked his head and furrowed his brows, probably wondering if I was seriously kicking him out of his family’s home. I was. “Get…out,” I repeated, my tone seething, as fear and anger and sadness swirled within me.
His jaw dropped and he looked like I’d just told him I never wanted to see him again. Biting back my guilt at making that look appear on his face, I pointed to the door again. He finally stood and walked over to it, giving his mom a sad look. Before he opened it, his eyes came back to mine briefly. “I love you, Emma,” he whispered, and then he opened the door.
Like before, the sounds hit me as my concentration shifted with the opening and shutting door. Before the physical barrier redirected my attention to just inside the room, I heard Imogen proclaim, “Did she really just kick him out? Are they through?” Halina answered her by complaining that she couldn’t wipe me now, since I had vampire blood in me. Jack insisted that things would be fine once I cooled down, and somewhere in the house, Hot Ben threw up again.
On the other side of the door, Teren sighed softly, told me he loved me again, and then sped out of the house. I heard one of the doors shut behind him and a sob broke out of me, finally.
Alanna sat down in the spot he’d just left, her thick denim jeans rustling as she adjusted herself beside me. She placed a cool hand over my arm as I silently cried. “You should go easy on him, dear. What he did…was very difficult for him.”
I looked up at her, her loose, black hair hazy in my watery vision. I scrunched my brow, not sure what she meant. She smiled softly and brought a knuckle up to brush aside my tears which were thankfully slowing. Her hand came down to rub my stomach reassuringly as she continued. “He feels horrible about what he’s done to you.”
As if to emphasize what he’d done to me, I lifted the mug and made myself take a drink. I knew from all the previous cups I’d had, that it would taste good, but my stomach still churned at the thought of chugging it down. As the thick, warmth passed my lips, I resisted the urge to both purr in pleasure and vomit in disgust. Alanna watched me with fascination as I took a few large swallows. “He should. He’s dead and I’m about to kill him again,” I said after my Mary-less Bloody Mary.
She tilted her head and sighed, her pale eyes exactly matching her son’s. Watching her was like watching a feminine version of him. It hurt my heart, knowing that I’d hurt him with my angry words. “Emma, he only wanted to save you, you and the children. You mean everything to him.”
I paused in my drink as I felt more tears roll down my cheek. As I focused on them, I swear I could hear them slithering down my skin. It was all so overwhelming. Anger was the only thing keeping me sane and I tried to hold onto it. Peeking up at her, I heatedly said, “But what am I now? What will happen to me, to them?”
Alanna looked down, taking her hand from my belly and placing it in her lap. Her eyes fixated on her still hands as she answered me. “I’m sorry, Emma, but we don’t have those answers for you.” She looked up at my stomach and shook her head, pink tears in her eyes falling to her cheeks. Her hand came up and rested on the bulge of the twins again and she closed her eyes and tilted her head, listening to them. “This is all new for us too, dear.” She opened her eyes, her wet ones meeting my wet ones. “We just don’t know.”
I nodded and tried to accept that I couldn’t force answers from people who didn’t have them. My hand went down to rest over hers on my stomach, my hot skin starting to warm her chill. She smiled at me, her youthful face still sad. Wiping tears off of her own cheeks, she spoke lowly, but my enhanced hearing easily picked it up. “What he did wasn’t easy for him. It goes against everything we believe.” She raised her eyebrows and gave me a serious look. “We don’t changeover anyone – not even our own spouses. We don’t have Halina bring people into this life that way, as pure bloods, forcing them into the shadows for eternity, like she has to.” Her look softened as her face saddened. “No matter what they mean to us.”
I took a long drink of my healing blood as I thought about that. I knew Imogen had watched her beloved husband sicken and die, never changing him, and knew Alanna was watching Jack age every year, and didn’t seem to be inclined to change him either. I’d known going into this that immortality wasn’t my end game, and I’d been fine with that. Really, it was Teren who had to deal with the loss. I’d have a full, happy, natural life with him; he was the one that would have to mourn me for an unnaturally long time. Thinking of his pain had kept me up at night sometimes. I didn’t know if I would have the strength, if our roles were reversed. But that was the way of things, the way things were supposed to go down. This was never part of the plan.
Alanna sighed softly as she seemed to read the emotions on my face. “Teren and I have had several lengthy conversations on how we’d deal with our loved ones dying.” I watched her face as she turned her head and looked down through the floor. Following her gaze, I could hear Jack speaking to Ben, making sure he was alright. She spoke as we both listened to her husband. “It’s a tricky thing, knowing that you’re going to live so much longer than the person who holds your heart, the person you want beside you forever.”
I swallowed harshly at the wave of emotions that sent through me, barely containing my need to release those emotions in either a sob, or a temper tantrum. Alanna shifted her gaze back to mine. “It’s even more difficult for Teren and me, knowing that we could possibly save them from that death with our mixed blood.” She sighed and shook her head. “And it is only a possibility. We really don’t know what our blood does to humans. So we resist the temptation. We let them die naturally, as we’re all meant to.” She gave me a wry smile. “Immortality isn’t all it’s cracked up to be anyway.”
A small smile lit my lips and she grinned wider at seeing it. I suppose that was the whole point of her comment. Her smile dropped as she shook her head again. “But you…” She sighed and looked down for a moment before lifting her gaze to mine again. “He wasn’t prepared…to lose you so fast. He thought he’d get a lifetime, and he reacted purely on instinct…and love.” She put a hand on my cheek as my tears fell freely. “Don’t fault him for that, Emma. What would you have done?”
I closed my eyes, squeezing out the last few tears welling. I know exactly what I would have done for him. The fact was, I’d done much worse for him already. I’d taken a life to save his. He’d only given me a chance at another, when mine had been ripped away. Sure, this new life may not stick, and either me or the twins, or all three of us, may die anyway, but then again…we were going to die anyway. He had, at the very least, given us a slim chance at survival. Even if today was all I got, at least I’d get to say goodbye.
No, on the grand scale of things, what Teren had done to save me was nothing compared to what I’d done to spare him. What I’d do again to spare him. I’d move heaven and earth to keep him, and I had to believe he would do the same for me.
As my fear and anger started dissipating, guilt flooded in. I’d had no right to snap at him, he’d done nothing wrong. He’d given me a chance, and without him, I’d be lying in a morgue somewhere, instead of a plush ranch resort, sipping on what could arguably be the best cocktail on earth.
I sighed and opened my eyes to find Alanna watching me intently. “I should talk to him. Where did he go?”
She tilted her head at me, curious. “Can’t you feel him?”
My brows scrunched. “No. Why would I-”
I stopped speaking as a nagging sense in my head shouted at me to listen. I focused on that and instinctually, I knew where he was. It wasn’t like I could see him in my head, I couldn’t. But if you’d blindfolded me and told me to point him out, my finger would just unerringly go to exactly where he was. In fact, I could sense the location of every vampire in the house that way. The way that some people just always know where north is, no matter how many times they’re twisted around, I knew where every Adams vamp was. Every single one of them was my true north.
My eyes widened and my mouth dropped at this new, odd feeling. “He’s in the east pasture, about a quarter mile away.” My eyes fixed on hers, startled beyond belief. “How do I know he’s a quarter mile away from me?”
Alanna smiled warmly, her suspicions confirmed apparently. Her hand turned one of mine over and traced the line of one of my veins from wrist to elbow. “Our family blood now runs through these veins. You’ll be able to sense all of us, just as we can sense you. You’re connected to our family now, Emma. It’s in your blood.” She smiled broadly and then reached over to hug me.
I was so startled at this, I hugged her back loosely, more out of instinct than anything else. I’d already been low jacked, thanks to the twins, but now he was low jacked as well. And this connection we shared wouldn’t leave when the twins left me. I’d been connected to the hive, so to speak, and we were blood-bonded for life now, however long that life may be.
Alanna left me still reeling over this new development as she went to go talk to Teren. He’d been too far away to hear any of that conversation and wasn’t yet aware that my anger had faded. I got a little nervous waiting for him to come back; I hadn’t exactly been real nice to him, and he had saved my life, even if it was only a temporary patch. A slice of fear ran though me at that thought, but I pushed it back. I felt fine right now, well, aside from the slight throb of my neck and the overall odd feeling of my newly enhanced body. At any rate, I was fairly certain I wasn’t dying today.
Oh boy, don’t I sound exactly like Teren used to now.
Actually letting a small laugh escape me, I settled in to finish my drink and let my ears and eyes open. My eyes were picking out dings in the furniture that I’d never noticed before. A gouge missing in the vanity leg, a slight crack in the mirror on one of the corners of the frame, faint spider-line breaks in the plaster on the ceiling. As my eyes took in the faint threads of blue running through the gold and cream colored quilt over my body, words floated into my head nonstop.
“Oh good, she wants to talk to him, I’m sure they’ll work it out now…oh god, I still feel sick…yes, they can’t ever seem to be apart for long…drink some water for a change, you’ll be fine…and Teren would be so lonely without her…no, don’t pass out by the toilet…right, he’d have to find someone else to scream his name when he-”
I sat up straight in bed, my neck irritated at me for that. “Halina! You know I can hear you now, right?” I felt my entire body flush with heat over the comment that I knew without a doubt came from her sultry voice.
I heard her laugh huskily and reply with, “Yes, I’m aware of that… and?”
I floundered for a snappy comeback, but couldn’t manage to come up with anything other than ‘shut it’. Not wanting to sound like a bratty teenager, I kept my mouth shut and fumed silently instead, setting my empty cup down on the nightstand. Even with the contents of the cup gone, and the mug itself a good foot and a half away from me, I could still smell the blood. The air in the room was so heavy with the lingering scent of it, that it nearly felt palpable on my skin. I tried to pull my fangs back, but I may as well have tried to retract my fingernails. Nothing happened.
Then I felt every sense in my body focus on one location - Teren was coming back to the house. There was something about his presence getting closer to me that my body reacted to. I didn’t know if it was because of our earlier spat, or if it was because he was directly responsible for changing me, but I was more attuned to him than the others. I felt a slight tingling sensation in the very core of my bones. I relaxed back on the cushions and inhaled a deep cleansing breath, the smell of blood mixing with the scent of antiseptic and lilacs. Letting it out slowly, I could feel him approaching me. Just the act of him drawing nearer gave me goose bumps and my body surged with energy; I felt like I was vibrating.
He paused at the door and I stared at the stupid obstacle, wishing I could see through it. I didn’t know why he stopped; I couldn’t sense his intentions, only his location. It was frustrating me that I didn’t know if he felt this energy too, or if he was just nervous to be near me. Wanting him to enter either way, I whispered, “Please come in. I need to see you.”
He twisted the knob and I focused solely on the sounds coming from him, to block out the rest of the house. Even though I could still make out Jack helping Ben into a bed, Alanna and Imogen have a tearful sounding conversation, and Halina tossing out suggestive one-liners, Teren’s slight noises pushed them all back into a dull buzz in a corner of my head. The sound of his strong hand twisting the brass knob, the creak of the wood frame as he pushed the door in, the rustle of his jeans as he stepped forward, the slow, deep breaths that he didn’t need to take, but faked so often that he did it as unconsciously as any living person, and my name, whispered off his tongue as he came into view.
The energy in my body almost came to a sharp point and I gasped when I saw him. It was an odd sort of feeling, like how I’d imagine lovers reuniting in an airport terminal after months, or maybe even years of separation must feel. I had no idea if my physical reaction to him was just because of the emotional day and everything we’d gone through already, the rekindling in the air as I waited to tell him that he did nothing wrong and I wasn’t angry, or if maybe, we did have a unique bond now and we’d feel this…electricity every time we were together.
Tears stung my eyes as the emotion in the room and the energy in my body mixed. Teren’s face had the same sort of surprised and emotional look on it that mine did. He softly closed the door and then closed his eyes and inhaled deep, almost like he was savouring the tension of reunion in the air, savouring the smell of us. I could sense it too. Even with all the other smells lingering in the room, like notes of a specific fragrance, I could pick out his. It was unexplainable. It was just a smell uniquely his own. Nothing on this earth compared. Nothing on this earth smelled as good, not even blood.
I was bristling with the need to touch him by the time he opened his eyes. Nearly ready to jump out of this luxurious-to-the-touch bed, I tossed back the covers at the same time that he blurred to my side. He scooted into the spot I’d just opened up for him, his hands instantly on my face, his lips instantly on my mouth.
The energy between us culminated as we connected: fiery, needy, unrestrained. Our heated kisses tapered, as the feeling between us finally subsided to a dull roar in the background. Returned to the more normal level of intense love we always felt for each other. His lips slowed on mine and it was only then that I noticed that his hand had drifted down my body to curl my leg around his hip, my fingers were locked tightly in his hair, and somewhere along the way, I’d managed to pull my teeth up.
We pulled apart slightly to look at each other and from down in the kitchen, I heard Halina’s throaty chuckle. Swallowing, I tried to steady my too fast breath. His was fast as well as his eyes searched my face, drifting over to the wound on my neck, a wound that until he looked at it, I hadn’t even felt. I felt it now and rolled onto my back, my leg sliding away from his hip.
He propped up unto an elbow and leaned over me, his brow creased. “I’m sorry, I just needed…to do that.”
A chuckle escaped me and I sucked in a quick breath as my neck throbbed. He laid a cool hand over the wound and I sighed as his touch calmed the area. Meeting eyes with him, I gave him a small smile. “Don’t be…I needed that too.”
He smiled in return and leaned down to kiss my forehead. “I’m so sorry, Emma. Please believe me.”
I sighed and cupped his face as he pulled back, his eyes down. Feeling those tears again, I carefully shook my head. “No, I’m sorry. You did what you had to, to save us. It may or may not have worked, but you had to try.” I gripped his face harder, making him raise his eyes to mine. “I love you so much, for fighting for us.” I reached up and grabbed his hand from my neck, placing our fingers over my stomach. The twins reacted to our joint touch and we both smiled. “I love you so much, for fighting…for them.”
He sighed, his smile not leaving him and I left his hand on my stomach to stroke his cheek again. “This may not have been the path I expected, but, I want us to be in this together, not pushing each other away.” The tears in my eyes fell freely as the uncertainty of my future loomed ahead of me. “I don’t know how much time I have, Teren. I don’t want to spend it fighting. I love you too much, for that to be how we end.”
The tears in his eyes fell too as his hand reached up to clasp over mine on his cheek. Leaning over me he whispered, “I won’t let anything happen to you, Emma. You or them.” His voice quavered as the emotion behind it threatened to crush him. “If we don’t have answers, then we’ll find those who do.” His mouth set in a firm line as determination filled him.
I scrunched my brow, feeling like I was a step behind. “What? Who would know about this? Who would know if I’ll be okay?”
“Other mixed.” He nodded as he stated that, like it was really just as simple as that.
I blinked at him. Mixed? Up until that maniac had taken us, the Adams hadn’t even known other mixed vampires existed; they’d thought they were the only ones. His revelation that they weren’t, had been quite a shock to them, and their existence was a shock to full vampires, as that bastard who’d created this mess had pointed out. He’d obviously never seen anything like Teren. But somehow…we were supposed to find these secretive vamps in time to save the children’s lives and mine, if they even could or would?
Teren’s face didn’t lose any of his determination as he watched my reaction. This was his hope. This is what he’d cling to, to save himself from despair. I swallowed. I wouldn’t snatch that hope away. Wouldn’t tell him he was grasping at straws. He needed this. “Okay,” I said quietly. “What do we do?”
He relaxed back and even smiled softly. I think he’d been prepared to have to convince me that this was a completely doable and realistic goal that he’d set for himself. He grabbed my fingers and interlaced them, stroking his thumb against me excitedly as he talked. “That man that killed me, Great-Gran kept all of his journals. She wanted to make sure he was working alone and that no one would come searching for him.” My eyes widened at that; I hadn’t realized they’d looked into his life. Teren shook his head. “We can’t find anything that says he wasn’t, so we’re pretty sure now, that he was on his own.” I nodded and swallowed again.
Teren put his hand back on my neck automatically and I realised I must have flinched when I’d nodded. He kept up his plan, obviously having done quite a bit of thinking about this in the past few days, when he’d been waiting around for me to die. “Great-Gran also wanted to know what he’d dosed me with, so she kept anything that looked like research.” His eyes brightened along with his smile. “I think I can use his notes to find others.” He shook his head, his eyes swimming with hope. “There has to be someone out there, like us, who’s tried to turn a human.” He shook his head. “There just has to be.” He nodded, his jaw set. “And I’ll find them.”
I put my hand on that jaw, trying to ease the tension I felt there. “We’ll find them, Teren. Together, remember?”
He looked away briefly and then looked back. “No, Emma. I’m sorry, but you have to stay here now.”
I laughed, and then realised he was serious and stopped.”What? No, I want to go with you. I want us to do this together.”
He sighed and ran a hand down my hair. “Emma, baby, it’s too dangerous. We don’t know…what sort of people we’ll find.” He looked down. “I’m not risking your life like that. Not when I’m trying to save it.”
I grabbed his arm as he pulled his hand away. “Then I don’t want you to go. If it’s dangerous…” My throat closed up on me and I couldn’t finish that thought.
He sighed again as he looked over my face. I could see the strain of the last few days in his countenance and hated everything that had happened to our merry family, changing it completely. I suddenly wished our biggest problem was the ex who remembered too much of him.
Finally, he softly said, “What choice do I have, Emma. I can’t just sit back…and not try and save you.” I looked about to protest again and he held up his hand, cutting me off. “I won’t go alone. I’ll take someone with me.” From downstairs I heard a flood of Russian and Teren chuckled softly. I hadn’t caught the comment (I guess magically knowing Russian wasn’t something passed along with his blood, darn), and Teren smiled softly as he explained. “Great-Gran just volunteered her services.”
I relaxed back into the pillows a bit with that news. Halina was strong, stronger than Teren, and as driven to save my children as we were. Plus she’d fight tooth and nail to keep Teren safe. As far as bodyguards go, she was a pretty good one.
Seeing my silent acceptance of that, his face brightened for a moment. I smiled at seeing the hope there. It didn’t ease the strain I saw underneath it, but it lightened the edges of it considerably. I wanted to let myself believe that he’d find our answers, that everything would be okay, but even with the madman’s help, finding others like Teren seemed impossible to me. At least finding them in time seemed impossible.
Exhaling in an attempt to distract my mind from my pessimistic thoughts, I felt my teeth stubbornly drop back down. They slid into my lower lip and popped right through the tender skin. “Ow,” I muttered, as I carefully sucked on my lip.
Teren gave me an odd, knowing grin and pushed back a corner of my mouth to look at my tooth. He didn’t seem at all weirded out at seeing fangs on me, now that I was aware they were there, but I felt a little weirded out by him examining me. He dropped my lip and brought his hand back to my stomach. “You need to be careful, those things are sharp.”
I gave him as much of a lopsided grin as I could with my still overly large feeling mouth. “Well, I didn’t exactly mean to do that. I suppose I’ll get used to them. I hope I do okay at work with them.” I sighed and looked over his suddenly perfectly still shape lying beside me, still propped up on his elbow. “What day is it anyway, Teren? How much work have I missed?”
Watching his reaction carefully, I wondered how angry Clarice was at me for missing even more work. I seriously hoped she didn’t take it out on me by inundating me with records room work. My feet were starting to swell in the afternoons and the thought of standing on them all day made them ache already.
Teren sniffed and looked down, speaking more into the sheets than at me. “It’s Sunday. You only missed Friday.”
I sighed at that, relieved. The attack was on a Thursday night. If I somehow got through this with only one day missed, she may not can me. Feeling the dull ache at my neck return, I started to wonder how I’d explain that. I hadn’t looked at it yet, but I was positive the wound was much more than two tiny fang pricks that a turtleneck would easily cover. I’m pretty sure that bastard had used every chomper he had, and my skin looked like a pit-bull had mauled me. Swell.
Teren still wasn’t looking at me, and I thought some of his earlier guilt had crept back into his features. A bit of the ice crept back into my stomach too. “Teren, please tell me you called in for me on Friday?”
He peeked up at me from the corner of his eye. “I did.”
I exhaled again. “Oh, good. I wouldn’t want to get fired.” I chuckled, but he didn’t laugh with me. He bit his lip; that worried me a little. “What did you tell them? What’s my story?” I was fairly certain he didn’t tell them a creature of the night bit me.
He sighed and looked down again. I had the sudden image of a large hammer slowly lowering through the air. I wasn’t sure why, but I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like what he was about to say. He sighed, confirming my suspicions. “I told them you were in a car crash.”
I heard a gasp escape my lips as he looked up at me. Car crash seemed a little extreme for a neck wound. I suppose he was under a lot of strain at the time that he’d come up with it though, and I suppose I could hide my neck with a brace. Not exactly flattering, but, effective. He looked over my face and continued with, “I told them the crash put you into premature labor and the doctors were barely able to stop it.” My eyes widened even farther as the tale he’d spun grew. I didn’t see why he’d felt the need to expand on the lie. Wasn’t simpler, better? He swallowed and finished his cover story. “I told them…the doctors put you on bed rest until the babies are born.”
I felt that imagined hammer land squarely on my head.
“You what!” I yelled that, and my ears started ringing. Teren flinched and I’m sure his ears were ringing too. I guess I didn’t need to be so loud now, but some things can’t be helped. “They don’t think I’m coming back? Why would you tell them that?” I managed in a more level tone, and from where the vamps were still chit-chatting in the kitchen, I heard Halina mutter, ‘Here we go’.
Teren sighed and put a hand on my cheek. “Because you can’t go back, Emma. You have to stay here…at the ranch.”
His eyes looked sadly sympathetic. He knew I’d liked my job and had goals of moving up in the company. Being kept from there for months? Well, I wasn’t even sure I’d have a job to go back to, at least, not the same one I’d left. Clarice would most likely replace me. I’d have to start over, in the mail room or something.
Feeling stubborn and childlike, I whispered, “You don’t get to decide that for me.”
He looked away for a second, thoughtfulness on his face, and then twisted his head back to me. “I didn’t, you did.”
Confused, I stared up at the ceiling. I didn’t remember anything over the past few days, but surely I’d remember basically throwing my career away. “I’ve barely been conscious. When did I agree to that?”
He smiled and a cool finger traced the edge of my cheek before twisting to grab a long piece of my dark hair. With a half-smile he said, “When you told me I was foolish for staying in San Francisco, around all those innocent people.” I blinked at him and was about to start some sort of response when he lost his small smile and shook his head. “The fact is, Emma, we don’t know what’s going to happen to you.” He gave me a pointed look. “If you convert,” he looked down, away from me, “which is what I’m hoping happens, if your body can’t handle…”
He didn’t finish that thought and looked back up at me. “You’ll awake just as hungry as I did. You’ll attack anything that moves.” His small, wry smile returned as he twirled the lock of hair in his fingers. “And you are the one that convinced me that the safest place for a creature about to go through that kind of transformation, was here, at the ranch.” His eyes looked over the room, as if he were taking in the land outside. “Surrounded by yummy cattle,” he murmured.
I sighed softly, not really having an argument for that, since it was sort of my argument in the first place. Me and my big mouth. I never once imagined when I’d first said that, that I’d be referring to my own situation later on down the road. Yeah, the shoe on the other foot thing? Don’t like it.
His smile grew at my silence and his fingers trailed down the strand of hair in his fingers before he let it drop. I could hear the individual fibers sliding over his skin. He sighed and his fingers shifted to my face, a light scent of grass on the tips, like he’d been plucking it outside. “I know, I didn’t like it either, but you were right and here is the safest place for you.”
Knowing I’d sound foolish objecting, I tried to anyway. “But…I have doctor’s appointments to keep and the hospital is so far away now.” I knew I was spouting improbabilities. The odds of me surviving until my due date probably weren’t that great, but still, I was first and foremost a first time Mom, and I was a little worried about the whole “exiting” process. Doctors in white coats, with sterile equipment and vials full of drugs, were a very soothing thought. “I know you drive fast but-”
He tilted his head at me, his brow scrunched. “You…can’t see doctors anymore, Emma. I’m sorry, I thought you’d see that right away. Your blood is mixed now, like mine, and it’s just too risky. We can’t let them examine you too closely. And really…a hospital birth was never going to happen. They would test the children’s blood. I’m sorry, I thought you’d see that.”
Truthfully, I had made that connection, but I’d pushed it out of my head almost immediately. Denial was a strong thing. And so was fear. “Can’t see doctors? Can’t go to a hospital? I’m about to have babies, Teren. How do you expect me to do that without doctors?” And loads of pain meds.
He smiled softly and ran his hand down my hair again in a soothing fashion, like he thought I was on the verge of hyperventilating or something. I heard supportive encouragement coming from both Alanna and Imogen, but blocked it out, focusing on the stubbly jaw of the man who, quite rightly, was keeping me from my building full of well trained professionals. “You can do it, sweetheart.” His grin turned a little wry. “And you’ll do it the same way women have done it for thousands of years.”
I was about to roll my eyes and tell him he couldn’t possibly understand the turmoil that I was feeling over this new consequence to the events of a few nights ago, but he leaned down to kiss me softly and my objection died. “Besides, all the women here have experience in baby delivery. You’ll get all the help you need, right here.”
I heard Alanna and Imogen agreeing with him, telling me that they’d take the very best care of me. Even Halina, said everything would be fine. Of course, her concern was more on the infants, than my pain level. Thinking about having a child in my luxuriously rich bed, the satin sheets feeling like liquid along my skin, I felt my chest tighten in anticipation. I was not a “natural” birth sort of girl.
“Can my mom be here? She wanted to be with me for the birth.” Not that I was agreeing to any of this yet.
He looked down and then slid his elbow down the silky sheet to rest his head on his arm, his face directly in front of mine as I looked over at him. “Emma, I don’t know about that. She can visit as often as she wants, of course, but the actual birth, may be…too much for her.” I nodded, tears sprinting into my eyes. Being like I was now, I had no idea what to expect from childbirth, assuming I even made it that far. I guess I really was stuck with vampire midwives.
