Shades of Red

by T L Christianson

  He grasped my ankles and pulled me down to the middle of the bed, where he knelt between my bent legs.

  I poked him with my foot. "Come back."

  His eyes sparkled with mischief in the low light, as he captured my wayward ankle, bringing it to his mouth and kissing the soft skin on the inside of my foot.

  It tickled, and I giggled.

  His golden eyes turned on me, and my breath caught. I could only watch in rapture as he kissed and sucked my tender skin to the knee.

  I surrendered to his mouth as it wandered, building up heat inside me, making me reach for him.

  The kisses continued up my thigh until I felt his warm breath on my already blazing center. When I realized what he was going to do, I pulled my legs up in surprise, pushing him away.

  "I thought you would like to…" Owen's curious expression calmed me, and I relaxed.

  "Oh, I do. I've just never done… that." I felt my already heated cheeks blush crimson.

  I shook my head and tried to pull him toward me. Except instead of kissing me, he smiled ruefully and kissed the goose-bumped skin beneath my belly button, making me yelp and laugh.

  His arm was supporting him, making the veins stand out beneath his skin as his other hand slid the length from my hip to cover my breast. I was familiar with that and moaned my pleasure.

  My fingers ran the length of his back to his firm butt. Our breath came heavy and fast again as we pressed and rocked against each other. I arched my back, wanting him inside me, and he nudged my entrance.

  His face was flushed, lips swollen. The promise of what we were going to do was making me lose my mind.

  "Why did you stop?" I pleaded, my tone breathless.

  "I don't have any condoms, but I'm clean."

  I felt like my eyes were going to cross with need, and I arched up into him. "Please, just… "

  He pressed into me, and I couldn't think as he filled me.

  My breath stuttered, and my hands pressed against the headboard for leverage behind me to push back into our synchronized movement.

  I realized afterward that it must have been a long time for both of us because our peak came quickly.

  I gasped as stars exploded behind my eyes and pleasure swallowed me.

  We laid there together in each other's arms, not moving.

  After a little while, Owen pulled the comforter from underneath and covered us from the winter chill in the air.

  It was late, and we were both sleepy, but when I began to sit, he held my hand and pulled me back into bed.

  "Stay."

  "But what about…?"

  "I want you to." As I lay back down, he pulled me into his chest.

  Waking a little after five a.m. I got out of bed and dressed quickly, pulling on Owen's undershirt. My own shirt was still in the study.

  "Hey." Owen's whisper startled me as my hand rested on the door lever.

  I turned back toward him. "Hey." I smiled at his contented expression. "I have to go."

  He sat up. "That's right, your flight leaves this morning."

  "Yeah." I’d bought the plane ticket for Thanksgiving week, back in August, thinking I’d use it to wrap up the Emilie stuff. Now that the time had come, I didn’t need to go, but knew I still had a few things I should wrap up.

  "I'll take you." He began to get out of bed, but I held my hand up.

  "No, stay here, it's okay."

  "Are you sure?" he asked me, concern in his voice.

  "I need my car at the airport for when I get back anyway."

  "I can pick you up," he offered, running his hands through his hair.

  The corner of my mouth turned up.

  I smiled at him. "Go back to bed. You need the sleep."

  Tiptoeing to my own room, I dressed and lugged my bags to my car. I stood there, in the snow-covered driveway, and looked up at the house.

  I was falling in love.

  Chapter Eleven

  Getting off the plane, I made my way to the bus stop. I usually flew into JFK, but this time, I flew into LaGuardia and had to take a bus to the subway stop.

  When I got off the bus, a dirty woman with alcohol-laden breath grabbed my arm. I shook her off, but by the time I got free, the street was empty. All the other passengers were halfway up the stairs to the subway platform.

  A strange sensation passed over me, and I turned to see a large SUV with dark tinted windows screech to a stop between the stairs and me.

  I gripped my suitcase by the handle and made a move to walk around the vehicle when I was yanked off the street from behind. I struggled and began to scream when I couldn't break free. My attacker was large, and my feet dangled off the ground.

  The tingle in the back of my head intensified, and I realized that my attackers weren't human. They were vampires.

  I continued to bite, claw, and yell while they chained my wrists together, and ice cold fear seeped into me. I was thrown into the waiting SUV and sandwiched between two massive vamps.

  I'd had this tingling sensation before but never like this. My senses were going crazy, my fangs had extended completely. I was pissed off. I watched through the front windshield as we drove through the Bronx and toward Connecticut.

  "Where are you taking me?" I hounded. "What's going on?" I breathed deeply, before yelling, "Talk to me!"

  My questions were met with icy stares and then a gag. I watched out the front windshield as we followed the turnpike north.

  My anxiety built the further away from the city we drove.

  Eventually, the SUV slowed in a small town and turned off the main road. After a while, we wound down a lonely driveway toward a large modern house that sat on the bluff overlooking the ocean. The compound was all looming glass and concrete mansion. I dragged my feet in protest until one of the guards just picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

  My group entered a side entrance on the lower level that opened up into a living area with sweeping views of the water.

  “Where should I set her, Dimitri?”

  The leader must have pointed because I was unceremoniously dumped onto a couch, my hands still cuffed.

  He leaned down toward me and untied my gag.

  "Bastard!" I spat. My bravado was only for show. I was terrified.

  I knew in my gut that whoever lived here was a vampire. A very, very powerful vampire.

  All these people were vampires.

  That tingle? It had now become a live wire.

  I didn't have to wait long before two well-dressed vamps entered the room. They sat directly across from me, a man and a woman. His gaze shrewdly examined me, and I boldly returned the gesture.

  He was tall and thin, with black eyes and dark hair. He looked to be a teenager, which was probably deceptive because power seemed to radiate off him

  The woman was tall with dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes. They both wore suits and would have fit in with the business crowd in the city.

  They didn't seem hostile, just curious.

  The female turned to the leader. "Aiden, why wasn’t she protected by Chronos? Dimitri says they were able to look up her flight and just pick her up off the street."

  "Chronos Corp?" I butted in.

  Was Chronos run by vampires? Owen… he didn't feel like they did.

  "Don't play dumb. We know you're part of that clan," the leader, Aiden, said softly.

  "What? No, I'm not. It's not like that." What was it like? Chronos Corp was a vampire clan? My mind churned. What would be safer? Telling them I was with Chronos or alone?

  "All right, tell us what it's like, Emilie." The woman knew my name.

  I looked around the room. Dimitri and the goons still loomed on both sides of me, watching the exchange. So, did they abduct people a lot?

  "What’s this about?" I asked sharply.

  The dark-haired woman spoke, "We want detailed information on the plague your people created. All we're trying to do is save our clan. We don't want to hurt anyone."

  The leader
narrowed his eyes and looked at the female vamp. "Iona, she must be his watcher."

  I blinked and shook my head, my gaze switching between the two. "No, I'm not… that is… I teach his kids."

  Iona wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I smell him all over you."

  "Okay! It's true we're together, but I'm not… his watcher or whatever! I'm just a teacher!"

  She pressed her lips together, and Aidan motioned to the guards. Dimitri held my handcuffed hands out, while the other held my shoulders tightly. Watching, the leader pulled a silver dagger from inside his suit jacket as if it were a business card.

  I shook my head as he approached. "No, no, no, no!" I wriggled in their grasp and tried to pull my arms in.

  "We won't hurt you if you cooperate."

  The silver dagger hovered above my bare arm, and I screamed when I thought it was going to touch my skin.

  Unfortunately, the myth about silver and vampires was true. It burns our flesh, it stings, itches, and whatever it touches heals slowly.

  The tall man questioned the woman, "Iona?"

  She looked troubled but nodded. "Aiden, we need more information. It's either her or us." Then she looked at me and asked, "Don't you care that Chronos is killing off rival clans? We just want to be left alone, but we need an antidote."

  I shook my head and licked my lips, trying to process what they were saying. "I don't know anything. I'm not involved in any of this!"

  Iona gave the leader a shrug and nod.

  I struggled harder and screamed out when he touched the sharp blade to my skin and cut a two-inch line in my flesh. When Aidan stopped, I sagged and was held up by Dimitri.

  "Talk," Iona spat.

  I was thrown back to the couch. Tears were running down my cheeks, and my breathing was ragged.

  "Okay, okay." I held my bound hands in a stop gesture toward them. "I don't belong to a pack or group. You're the first vampires I've ever met! I swear!"

  Aiden retook his position on the edge of the couch facing me, and Iona looked to him for confirmation.

  "It's the truth," he said.

  "Of course, I'm telling the truth, you crazy…" his piercing cat eyes pinned me coldly, "...man who's going to let me leave and forget we had this conversation?" My voice squeaked at the end.

  "Hmmm…" He stroked his goatee. "You don't work for the city clan." It was more a statement than a question.

  "I swear, I don't. I won't tell anyone anything. We can go our separate ways and forget that any of this ever happened...."

  His black eyes narrowed at me, and I frowned and pulled my knees to my chest, my bound hands locking them in.

  Flicking a finger at the guards, Aidan had them remove my restraints. I rubbed my sore wrists. He then held out a handkerchief to me, and I pressed it against my arm, hissing as I applied pressure.

  Injuries usually don't hurt us like they do a human, but silver injuries? Yeah, they suck. Silver hurts.

  "We know that you're Emilie Edwards."

  Not only did they know my name, they knew my real name. I let out a sigh. "So?"

  "I'm sorry that we've had to manhandle you so much. It's just that we weren't sure you were a rogue Moroi. We do know that Dr. Bennett is contracted to do research for Chronos. We also know that he's working on the Moroi plague. All we want is to be kept in the loop."

  "What?"

  "We need the cure," Iona said flatly.

  I shook my head. "No way. I'm not getting involved in whatever this is."

  I stood, and Dimitri blocked my way. "The thing is, Emilie, we aren't asking."

  "He has nothing! There's no cure or…" I remembered his breakthrough and shook my head, watching them steadily.

  The leader, Aidan, looked me over as if he were bored, and sighed. "You’re going to collect any and all information and give it to us. We have ways to make you come around. It would just be easier for everyone if you cooperated."

  When I refused again, I remember a tilt of Aidan's head, and then nothing. I was knocked unconscious by one of the vamp goons.

  Awaking to a splitting headache in a concrete room, I groaned.

  There was nothing except a bucket in the six-by-six-foot room. It was dark, but I could still see clearly from the scant light coming in from under and above the thick reinforced door. I tried the handle and kicked at it, but the cell door had apparently been built to hold others like me, and after a good twenty minutes, I gave up. There was no access to the locking mechanism from inside, and the hinges were on the other side as well.

  Sighing, I sat against the wall, wondering what I was going to do.

  I knew three things after meeting my first vampires.

  First, Chronos Corp was a vampire company.

  Second, there were at least two vampire clans.

  And third, Owen was not a vampire.

  The only thing I wasn't so sure about was the disease. Why would Chronos release it without having a cure first? That didn't make sense to me. From what I understood, the Chronos clan was in the same situation as this clan, scrambling to find a way to treat it.

  Several days and nights passed. I banged and kicked the door. I screamed, I ranted, and it all came to nothing. I was abandoned and not only was I thirsting for blood, I just wanted some water.

  Finally, I lay on the concrete floor and watched a spider in the corner spin her web. A roach or two would scurry through to the drain, or under the door, but I didn't care. I felt like my body was drying out.

  I awoke the next morning to the smell of blood.

  Standing, I wished I knew how to fight like Owen when I heard the door mechanism rattle.

  It was Aiden, who wore a different suit and smelled of expensive soap. In his hand was the glass of blood I scented from down the hall.

  "I've come with a gift." My hand shot out for the cup, but he held it out of reach. "Not so easy."

  "I'm not spying for you."

  "That's fine, because when you don't come back, the doctor will need someone to take your place, and we'll make sure that it's one of our people."

  He walked past me and into the room. "She'll share his bed, drink his blood…"

  "No!" I shouted at him. "You won't touch him!"

  He smiled. "When we have what we want, we'll drain every drop of blood from his body."

  I was tired, hungry, and thirsty. "I don't believe you!"

  From his pocket, he pulled out a mobile phone and handed it to me.

  There were pictures.

  I swiped through them, shaking my head. "No," I gasped with a sigh.

  There were photos of Jack, Becca, and Owen inside the house. There was a picture of Owen and I sitting on the screened-in back porch.

  Before I finished, the teen vampire pulled the device from my hands. "After we kill him, we'll start with the boy…"

  A cold chill went down my spine. I shook my head. "You're all monsters!"

  I felt my own blood drain from my face, and at that moment, we both knew he’d found my weak spot.

  "Chronos is killing innocent people. Don't you get it? They’re the monsters!" He shrugged and pulled on one of my blond curls. "You're going to do what we say, or we will torture and drain your little family." He pressed his lips together. "We are in the same boat, you and I. Chronos will let you die from their disease, just like they're letting the rest of us die from it."

  Aiden reached out to stroke my cheek, and I swatted his hand away this time before reaching for the glass.

  He let it fall, and it shattered on the hard floor.

  The blood covered the concrete, as it flowed into the drain.

  When I looked back up, the door was closed.

  My fangs ran out, and I screamed in anger and frustration. "You bastard! You did that on purpose!"

  I could hear him from outside my cell, "Miss Edwards… I mean, Miss Kepner. That is the name of the young woman you killed to take her identity, isn't it?"

  I screamed again and pounded the door. "I didn't kill her!"

>   Aiden's laughter sounded farther away. "If you say so, my dear."

  I shrieked again, kicking the door and banging my fists on it until my hands were raw, and my throat hurt.

  Sitting in the corner, I held my knees to my chest and cried. Finally, after an extended period of time passed, dread seeped into me.

  I was going to have to do what they said, or they would never let me go.

  I don't know how long I sat there, but exhaustion overcame me, and I fell asleep with my head on my knees. When I woke up, my stomach growled, and my fangs ached.

  The cell was dark, but I could see that the blood had been cleaned up. I didn't know if I should be thankful or wary.

  I paced the room, back and forth, trying to think of a way out of this. Even if I told them I would do it, and then didn't, they might hurt Owen and the kids.

  I couldn't allow them to be hurt. I couldn't.

  If Chronos was just trying to find a cure for all Moroi society, what did it matter? In the end, these vamps would get the cure anyway, right?

  I chewed my thumbnail.

  My mind churned, and I tried to justify what I would have to do. I grew tired and slept again.

  When I awoke this time, I found Iona squatting before me.

  "Hello." Her voice was soft, and she smoothed a wet washcloth across my forehead. "I'd like you to entertain the idea of working with us."

  I sat up groggily and wondered if they had gassed my room to make me pass out.

  I licked my lips and nodded reluctantly. "Yes," I told her in resignation. "Just promise me you won't hurt Owen or the kids."

  The sleek vampire nodded and held her hand down to me, giving me deja vu. Owen had reached down to me like that not too long ago, and my heart squeezed at the thought.

  I ignored Iona's hand, getting to my feet on my own.

  "Then, follow me. Let's have some breakfast…." She regarded my haggard appearance. "And blood."

  I began to follow her to the door, when she turned to me. "I expect you to behave. You know, accidents happen to children all the time...." I stood in stunned silence. "Do you understand what's at stake here?"

  "I'll only do what you ask as long as you leave Dr. Bennett's family alone." I stared her down defiantly.