Fallen Hearts

by Angela Colsin

  Getting out of bed, she quickly donned a robe and moved swiftly to find Mathias, or anyone who might be able to help. Thankfully, a passing servant directed her to the vestibule where she found her sire speaking with two other vampires, though he immediately dropped their conversation when he saw her coming.

  “Maddox? What's wrong?”

  “It's Stephan. He's passed out with a fever, his heart's slowing down, and I think it might be due to our blood exchange. He was fine before he drank from me.”

  Nodding, Mathias directed, “Go wait with him. I'll find Wesley.”

  Maddox wasted no time doing so, immediately returning to Stephan's side. While waiting, she found a clothe and wet it with cold water to place over his forehead and cleaned the blood away from his face, hoping the activities would keep her relatively levelheaded until Mathias could bring the alchemist.

  But Stephan's erratic heartbeat made the task arduous, and it felt like hours had passed before her sire finally arrived.

  Maddox immediately invited them in, and the tall, thin alchemist wasn't the only person in Mathias' company. Behind him was an older, balding human he introduced as Herman Moore, a mortal doctor, and Maddox watched as he settled a bag of medical tools on the bed next to her lover.

  At the same time, Wesley asked, “You said he didn't get this way until after you'd exchanged blood?”

  “Yes.”

  Wesley thought it over, suggesting, “Your blood must've worsened his condition.”

  “What? How?”

  As if it would help him think, the alchemist began pacing back and forth at the foot of the bed while giving an explanation. “It's in the conversion. Vampire blood converts other blood types, except draconian's. Their blood is poisonous because it actually kills your blood cells off. So what I did with … Ithrim as they dubbed it, was use vampire blood to charge draconian blood and cause a type of consumption in the victim.”

  Maddox stared at the mage blankly, and in seeing her confusion over his explanation, Wesley stopped pacing and stated more simply, “As Stephan's mortal blood is turning vampiric, it's giving Ithrim more to consume, speeding it's progress.”

  “You didn't know this would happen before?” Maddox demanded.

  “I didn't even know it would infect humans before, so no, but that's the only logical explanation.”

  Maddox groaned, glancing at Stephan just as Herman wiped away another line of blood seeping out of his nose, then took the thermometer and shook his head. “His temperature's way too high, and his blood pressure is down. I hate to say it, but there's not much I can do in the face of this illness. He doesn't have long.”

  “No!” she yelled, looking to her sire in desperation for some kind of plan. “If he's becoming more vampire, couldn't we give him the vampire's cure now?”

  “That might help,” Wesley admitted. “But would it be enough to save his life until his change completes?”

  “I'll do whatever I can,” Maddox spoke determinedly, locating the vials containing the cure that were still settled on the table next to the bed, and grabbed one of them.

  “Maddox, wait,” Mathias interjected. “If he gets the remedy now, you'll only reinfect him with your next blood exchange. So you have to finish his turning whether he's ready or not, then administer the cure.”

  Maddox stared at her sire with a significant amount of dread churning in her stomach. It was much too soon to take all of Stephan's blood and replace it with her own, but Mathias was right, a second blood exchange later would only reinfect him.

  “Why don't I just take the cure now?” she suggested.

  “Because it takes time for the infection to clear,” Wesley informed her. “So he's right. It's the only way to ensure there's no further contamination.”

  Her heart nearly stopped at the thought, clutching the vial tightly in her hands as she stared at the man she loved more than anything. Why is this happening?

  “Maddox, there's no time,” Mathias prompted during her thoughts, moving beside her to add more gently, “Stephan doesn't have it to spare.”

  “I promised I'd never hurt him,” she whispered.

  “And you won't. He's strong enough to endure this, you just need to have faith in that.”

  Did she have faith? Maddox knew Stephan was strong, but this?

  “Maddox?”

  Taking a deep breath, she spoke sternly, “Everyone get out. Now.”

  “As you wish,” Mathias agreed, nodding to direct Wesley and Herman to the exit, and the doctor helpfully left his supplies on the bed in case Maddox needed them.

  After everyone left, Mathias stopped at the door and whispered, “Maddox?”

  She turned her head to look at him—and he smiled.

  “I spoke with Stephan while you recovered, and he has a strength of character you don't see everyday. So things will be fine.”

  Though Maddox put stock in his assessment, she couldn't quite shake her doubts as she answered, “I hope so, because I can't live without him. Not anymore.”

  “I know, and I'll be by periodically to check on you both.”

  Nodding, she watched as Mathias took his leave, then climbed onto the bed with her lover.

  Trying to ignore just how clammy his skin was, she pressed a kiss to his temple and whispered, “I swear I'll take care of you.”

  With her promise given, her fangs sharpened as she hoisted him up, then tilted his head and quickly sank them into his neck. Stephan's blood pressure was so low that she had to suck, and with each pull, his heartbeat slowed even more as her grip on him tightened.

  The situation reminded her of something Mathias said not long after she was turned. Fate has a strange way of putting us precisely where we need to be by making us do the last thing we'd ever want to do. As Stephan's heart slowed to a stop, she knew exactly what he meant, praying to whatever god might listen to a vampire that this was what fate intended.

  Lifting her head with his blood staining her lips and teeth, Maddox inhaled a deep breath, raising a shaky hand to bite into her wrist. But this time, she tore her flesh open with an inhuman growl to make the blood well more quickly.

  Covering Stephan's mouth with the wound, she held her love close, humming the song they'd danced to at the masquerade as her blood drained into his mouth. Even when she began feeling too faint to give more, she didn't stop, allowing her eyes to turn red with bloodlust as her own heart stilled in her chest.

  Only then did she remove her wrist to open the vial containing the cure, and shakily lifted it to his lips, sobbing the entire while. If this didn't work, if Stephan didn't come back to her … she didn't want to think about it, no matter how close at hand such a fate could be.

  Instead, with the cure administered, she pulled his arm around her and rested her head against his chest, waiting with more distressed eagerness than she'd ever experienced to hear his fallen heart beat once again.

  38

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  “Well, aren't you a resilient one.”

  There was no way of telling who'd spoken those words, and in fact, Stephan barely even registered them. Consciousness was fleeting, as was his awareness of the fires burning beyond the crumpling walls after an explosion had rocked the foundation of the vampire lair.

  The once cold, dark chamber was now warm and well-lit because of it—not that Stephan could see it, even if he'd been fully aware of his surroundings. The right side of his face was now covered in blood, and he couldn't get his left eye to open without pain.

  But whoever the unfamiliar voice belonged to, their masculine tone was deep, perhaps best described as the way darkness itself would sound if it could speak.

  And the next that voice addressed him, it was much closer.

  “Those vampires must've had you here for a while, no doubt partaking in their usual fun. I suppose, for their drink of choice, the screams of mayhem are like adding salt to a margarita.”

  A hand tilted Stephan's face up by the jaw as if he were being inspected, and
that voice added, “Yet, for as much as you've already endured, I'm afraid it's not quite over.”

  At that, his head was tilted back and his mouth opened. A thick substance with a slight copper tang then hit his tongue, seeping down his throat. But he didn't move, too out of it to even think of trying, not to mention his arms were still shackled to the wall, making an attempt at escape impossible anyway.

  As the substance hit his stomach, it churned—though strangely not in disgust. Instead, a hunger pang the likes of which he'd never experienced swept over him in a wave, causing his entire body to tingle, like sharp pins pricking his skin.

  And reality hit.

  Quickly, Stephan sat up in the middle of the canopy bed in the citadel, taking a deep breath. Had he been dreaming? If so, he couldn't recall anything that happened in it, the images fleeting as he looked around the bedroom in confusion.

  It was the middle of the night, and the fire was out, but he could see perfectly—complete with two eyes.

  Reaching up, Stephan pressed his fingers against his right eyelid. What the hell?

  Slowly, the past few days resurfaced in his mind, and he focused on his state of being while curiously running his tongue across his teeth to find … fangs.

  I'm a vampire now? How could that be? Wasn't there supposed to be another blood exchange?

  Yet, when he pressed his hand over his chest, his heart was still.

  Quickly getting out of bed, he moved to the mirror on the wall near the hearth and looked himself over. Not only were his scars healed, his eyes had regenerated and were now glowing red.

  “Holy shit,” he rasped, taking in his reflection. I'm … immortal.

  Yet he couldn't focus on the discovery when his senses were clamoring within him, a dark, predatory instinct urging him to hunt, to feed. It overwhelmed all other considerations just as the sound of a pulse hit his ears along with a knock at the bedroom door.

  Quietly, the entrance opened, and a short, balding man poked his head in as if to check on something. But the human didn't get the chance to ask any questions before Stephan grabbed him and pulled him inside, slamming his body against the wall.

  Immediately, the mortal's heart began racing with fear, and the sound was … tantalizing. The scent of his blood was hot, and as he tried to explain his presence, Stephan grabbed the human's head, jerking it to the side to expose his neck.

  “Stephan, stop!”

  Maddox's command broke through his daze of hunger completely, and he glanced up to see her standing in the hall outside in a black silk robe, staring at him with heavy relief in her golden eyes.

  “Let him go. He's just a doctor who came for his medical supplies.” To the human, she added, “I'll return them later, Herman. Thank you so much.”

  “No problems,” the human responded quickly, scurrying from the room the moment Stephan let go of him.

  But he was too busy staring at the most gorgeous woman he'd ever laid eyes on to care.

  “Maddox … what happened? I—”

  “Retract your fangs,” she directed sternly.

  Stephan blinked, then tried to figure out how. “I can't.”

  “Yes you can,” she encouraged. “You're in bloodlust, but you can do it.”

  Taking a deep, habitual breath, Stephan fought to obey her direction, cringing several times before he finally retracted them—and even then, all he wanted was to let them free.

  But the smile Maddox rewarded him with was more than enough to persuade him to keep them dormant.

  “That was the very first thing Mathias taught me,” she related, entering the room and shutting the door. “Keep them leashed for now. I want you to learn how to control them.”

  He slowly nodded, somehow feeling as if everything he knew as a human was still there, but it was all a distant memory, like another life entirely.

  “I feel strange,” he muttered, putting a hand to his head. “Like nothing's real.”

  “I'm real, and the rest will come back,” she whispered, coming to stand against him.

  The moment their bodies touched, he couldn't grab her fast enough as she laid her head against his chest, lamenting, “I thought I'd lost you, Stephan.”

  “Why? What happened?” he insisted. “I thought it would take another day or two.”

  “It's actually been longer. You were unconscious for three days,” she explained, her voice shaky with emotion. “Our blood exchange caused your illness to speed up, so I finished it and gave you the cure to hopefully ensure your survival. Then, about fifteen minutes ago, I woke and noticed your eyes had regenerated, so I went to let Mathias know.”

  Her grip on him tightened as she whispered, “But gods, I thought I'd killed you.”

  The pain in her voice was so vivid it ripped his dormant heart in half, prompting him to reassure her, “I'm fine, Maddox. Or … I think I am.”

  Finally, she looked up and smiled, relating, “Maybe this news will help; you're cured, and so am I. Wesley's continually tested our blood, and he hasn't found any traces of Ithrim.”

  Hearing this, a shaky breath escaped Stephan's lungs. I'm cured? It took several moments for the news to actually settle. Somehow, the unthinkable had happened, and the relief was overwhelming to the point that he momentarily forgot his insistent hunger.

  Cupping Maddox's cheeks, he gazed into her eyes—and that's when he noticed the strength of their blood bond. He could feel it just being in her presence, offering an extremely comforting awareness that they were tied together now, inseparable, and he leaned down to kiss her with all the love he had.

  Maddox moaned in response, and when her fangs sharpened against his tongue, he pressed it into them, purposefully cutting himself again.

  She tensed in response, opening her robe to let it fall to the floor before rubbing her warm, nude body into his, and Stephan heard an inhuman growl emanating from the back of his throat. If his heart were beating, he'd be as hard as steel at that moment, and his hunger was getting so painful that he couldn't focus, finally breaking their kiss to rasp, “Maddox, I'm … ”

  “I know,” she whispered, “You're starving.” Reaching up, she canted her head and swept her dark locks to the side, exposing her neck—and the pulse thrumming through it.

  Stephan's gaze locked on it, his fangs growing sharp before he could even think. He never believed he could be so ravenous for her blood, or any blood at all, but now, it seemed impossible to imagine how gratifying it would be to drink.

  Still, he retained just enough rational thought to point out, “I don't trust myself not to hurt you.”

  “Well I trust you, explicitly,” she smiled, “and drinking from me, it won't take much before you're satisfied. So don't worry.”

  Nodding, Stephan recalled how she'd kissed his throat before biting him during their first exchange, and attempted to mirror it, leaning in to press his lips over her pulse. Feeling it beneath his mouth was more alluring than he'd expected, and hearing it speed up had his arms tightening around her.

  As her hands stroked his back, Stephan parted his lips, the tips of his fangs lightly pricking her flesh, and when she whimpered his name, he groaned and pushed them in.

  The first bit of crimson welling against his tongue in response was like nothing he could've described, and he began to suck, taking her blood into his body with a renewed fervor.

  “Oh, Stephan,” Maddox moaned, pressing against him as close as she possibly could while he took another gulp of blood, then a third. Heaven.

  With the next, his heart began to beat, a steady rhythm sending life throughout his body that warmed him when he hadn't even realized just how cold he'd been a moment before. It was invigorating, and with the haze of hunger fading away, he felt much more like himself.

  Releasing her neck, he groaned, cleaning the lines of her blood seeping from his bite with his tongue. Maddox shuddered in response, then took his cheeks to tilt his face to hers and regarded him with a lovingly sentimental expression.

  “
What?”

  “Your eyes are green,” she whispered, tracing her fingers along his lips.

  Stephan released a breath, mentioning, “It's strange having this eye back, too. Afraid I might forget it's there and poke it out.”

  Laughing, Maddox qualified, “It would heal though, so no troubles, right?”

  Her joke had a smile on Stephan's face that wouldn't be wiped away. He'd survived, and most importantly, he was healthy. For the first time in recent memory, the threat of death wasn't looming over his head, leaving him free to pursue whatever life he pleased—a life with the woman he loved.

  It was simply fitting that Maddox had made his heart beat again, because she was the only one it beat for.

  He also noticed her own pulse speeding up at the sight of his smile, and the sound of it called to him. All he could think about were ways to make it pound, to make her scream in pleasure until she lost her voice, and he couldn't stop himself from pointing out, “You told me that one day we'd make love for hours, but there's a problem.”

  “What?” she asked, sincerely confused.

  Leaning, Stephan lifted her from the floor to carry to the bed where he settled on his knees with her before him, and gave a simple, honest answer.

  “Hours isn't gonna be long enough, sweetheart.”

  There was a ravening look in Stephan's emerald green eyes that made Maddox's heart thud—and he was absolutely right. After all of the worry, fear, and doubt, he'd survived his turning, leaving nothing to stop them from being together—for eternity—and words couldn't do her satisfaction justice.

  Or her lust.

  So she showed him instead, leaning up at the same time Stephan drew in, their mouths meeting in a fierce union that proved their need. Neither of them had the mind to take things slowly, their hands greedily exploring wherever they could reach.

  Slipping her fingers down across his broad back, she dug her nails into his hard ass until Stephan groaned, his muscles rigid as if barely hanging onto whatever control he'd mustered—and being a new vampire, she knew it wasn't much.

  In fact, he likely had only two things in mind just then; blood and sex. Fitting, because that's all I want, too.