“Hungry,” I answered, trying not to smile. He smelled delicious and I had to purse my lips together to keep from licking them. His pulse pounded in my ears, teasing my body into a state of arousal I wasn’t used to. Actually, Calliope and Rose smelled just as good. The standing crowd outside the smoldering library was a feast my starving body couldn’t ignore.
“You’ve got it bad,” Calliope chuckled. “Better get her over to the café before she starts sampling all of us, Viking.”
“I wouldn’t!” Would I? Surely I had more control than that. I mean, the hunger was hard to ignore, but I wasn’t about to go biting people without a second thought.
“Oh, Bailey. I know, sweetie,” Calliope replied. “But you’ve got that look that says, dear gods in heaven and hell, please feed me!”
“I just ate.”
“Your appetite is stronger for the first two weeks or so.” Erick wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me a step away from Garrett and Travis, both of whom were grinning at me without shame.
I wanted to bite them just for looking at me that way. A throaty growl tore its way between my lips and I lunged at them, even angrier that they could make me lose my cool.
Erick’s arm cinched around my waist, yanking me back to the ground.
“When you’re ready for your tattoo, let me know.” Travis said, turning to leave.
His brother followed a moment later, but not before throwing one jab. “It’s a shame I can’t get into that pretty head of yours anymore.”
“You are a mind-reading asshole,” I spat back.
I sucked in a deep breath, taking a moment to process. My tattoo? The Protector tattoo. Travis did them … I’d have to let Garrett’s brother sit over me for hours with a needle full of ink!
Shit.
“I could always do your tat,” Garrett answered, a grin splitting his face. “I’d even throw in a drink on the house. Bet you’d like to get a tas—”
“Garrett, that is quite enough.” Rose’s voice cut through the racket of voices like a sharp knife, making everyone turn and look. “Travis will be doing her tattoo and you will be on the far side of town helping clean up the mess Darius made of the Winters’ place.”
He snorted, but nodded his head and turned down a different road than his brother.
Rose looked back at me. “Get something to eat. Raven stashed some blood in our refrigerators as well. If you are agreeable, I’d like you to get the tattoo as soon as possible.”
Erick started to speak, but she held up her hand and he snapped his jaw shut with a snarl.
“I promised I wouldn’t pressure you, but we have a situation. Darius is untouchable with that ring and that is a very big problem for Sanctuary. The only thing we have besides the vault that he wants—”
“Is me,” I whispered.
Chapter 16
I’d already decided I wanted the tattoo, wanted to become a Protector, but hearing Rose point out that I was the only bait they had to draw out Darius made my skin crawl. The moonbeams highlighted the gooseflesh pimpling my arm. I knew I was their best bet to catch him, but it didn’t make it any easier to swallow.
“I’m ready. Let’s do it now before he shows up again.”
Rose nodded. “Erick, take her to the shop. Travis was headed that way. Call me when you finish. I’ll meet you at the Castle.”
Erick’s hand pressed against my lower back and turned me across the circle until I was staring at the Castle. Why? Why did she need me to go there? I’d already agreed to let Erick help me work through my … personal issues. I didn’t need to have any more exposure to the dragons’ dungeon than absolutely necessary.
“The tattoo shop is down a block behind the Castle.” He pointed to the street that cut between the monstrous stone building and the strip of weather-beaten shops making up the face of the town circle.
“Wasn’t I supposed to get to eat first?”
“I’ll get you some after I get you situated at the shop.”
“Okay.” Damn. So much for avoiding the obvious.
We hurried across the grassy circle, avoiding the large, stone disk in the center, and down the dark alley next to the Castle. A light touch on my right shoulder guided me down a block and then around a turn. Another tap stopped me in my tracks in front of a small, white brick building. A large, blacked-out window covered most of the front wall, and a red neon light that read Tattoos and Piercings hung in the top right corner. The ratty, wooden front door was scuffed and most of its red paint had peeled.
I pulled open the door, expecting to see a messy shop I could balk at, a reason to refuse to get the tattoo. Instead, a pristine, white tile floor met my scrutinizing gaze. The walls were painted a bright, canary yellow and were decorated with gorgeous, life-sized photographs of completed tattoos in sharp, glossy black frames.
Shocked did not even begin to describe my state of mind. There was a small, glass counter to the side of the curtained-off hallway. The case held all styles and sizes of studs, rings, rods, and other things I didn’t recognize.
I heard his heartbeat before Travis pushed aside the curtain and stepped into the main room of the shop. He glanced up and smiled at me. His scent was pleasant, earthy. I wondered what his blood would taste like. Would it be rich and thick like Erick’s or sweeter, like the human blood from the bags?
“Ready?”
No, I wasn’t.
All thoughts of hunger vanished as the reality of what I was taking on solidly slammed into my conscious mind. I gulped. Would it hurt? I took a step backward and grunted when my back hit Erick’s solid chest. It couldn’t hurt worse than anything I’d already been through. I stood a little taller and gathered myself.
I could do this.
Compared to everything my body had endured, a tattoo should be a walk in the park. “What do I do?”
He gestured back through the curtain. Erick’s hand resting lightly on the curve of my ass propelled me forward. We turned a corner and ended up in another brightly lit room. White tile floors and white walls with floor-to-ceiling mirrors were the only décor. A line of glossy, white base cabinets with a stone countertop lined the far wall. Two tinted windows gave a view out into a small green courtyard area.
The room was quite large and there were three different chairs. One looked like a massage table, another looked like a dental chair, and the last one was designed to straddle, facing away from the artist. That was the one Travis patted.
“Sit here, sweetheart. Let me get the straps.”
“Straps?”
“Just to keep you from flinching and pulling away.” He opened a drawer and pulled out several leather strips.
“I don’t need them. I promise I won’t move.” My eyes blurred from the tears welling in them. “Erick, please. I can’t …” I started to back away from them both.
“It hurts, Bailey. It’s just to help hold you steady.” Erick’s voice cut through the panic flooding my brain, but it wasn’t enough to stem the tide.
I felt my fangs descend and scrape against my dry tongue. My body was preparing to fight even though I wanted to turn and flee.
“You are strong enough to pull free of anything he uses. But the tie helps you focus on staying still.”
“I’ve never seen anyone get strapped down for a tattoo,” I snarled, taking another a step backward. How could he think I would be okay with this? He knew what I’d been through. He knew how I felt about restraints. This wasn’t an option for me. Not now. Not ever.
I would never let anyone tie me down again.
“Hey, girl. It’s okay.” Travis dropped the ties back in the drawer and shoved it closed with his hip. “We can try without the ties, but it’s gonna hurt like a hot poker in the eye. Vampires heal too fast. I have to use a special silver-plated needle to keep the wound open long enough for the ink to set.”
The storm inside me calmed slightly at the explanation. My emotions were a rollercoaster between scared shitless and pissed off. Erick said every
thing would be enhanced, but this was far beyond anything I could’ve imagined.
My brain knew those ties didn’t present a challenge to my new supernatural strength, but the wounds to my psyche screamed in protest, reminding me how stupid I’d been to trust Kevin.
“I’m going to need Erick to hold you, at least for the first few minutes until you adjust to the pain.”
“No.” I shook my head, clearing it of the raging storm of emotions. “I won’t move.” Taking a few steps, I seated myself astride the chair and leaned against the chest panel. For such an odd looking contraption, it wasn’t as uncomfortable as I thought it would be.
“Kjaere? Are you sure?” Genuine concern flowed from his ocean blue irises. He was worried about my well-being, not trying to chain me up and take advantage. It was consideration, not control I was shying away from. In my warped mind, control was all I’d learned to see.
“I won’t move.”
“All right,” Travis answered. He sat on a stool and rolled up behind me. “You’ll have to take off your shirt, the neck is too high.”
No way was I stripping for the brother of the horniest werewolf in town. I’d never hear the end of it from Garrett.
I closed my eyes and willed the shirt to change. Calliope said the clothes would change for the person. Time to test that theory. The soft t-shirt fabric tightened around my waist and I felt the neck widen in the back and open up. In the front, it rose to my throat and I watched in the mirrors as the fabric in the back dropped into a loose cowl, baring all the skin above my bra. My skin was so … smooth? How?
“Well, that works, too.” Travis chuckled and leaned forward.
“Wait!” I jumped from the chair and grabbed the hem of my shirt, pulling it up baring most of my stomach and the bottom of my bra.
They were gone.
How had I not noticed?
I’d been dressed when I woke up, but still … I should’ve felt different. Tracing my fingers across my skin, I felt for where the scars had been. But nothing remained. No discoloration. No raised scars. Nothing. It was as if it’d never happened.
But it had. I remembered where every single jagged white and red stripe had been. They would forever be imprinted in my mind.
“Bailey. Your transformation healed your human body. All imperfections are erased when you become a vampire.”
I stared at Erick in the mirror. My once brown eyes were the same ocean blue as his.
So strange.
It was me, but it wasn’t. Bailey Ross, or D’Roth, the human had ceased to exist. Kevin had killed her. Now I had the chance to have a different life. Maybe a better one.
I sat back down and Travis’ hands brushed against my back. I sucked in a deep breath of air. His fingertips felt like fire against my cold skin.
Erick moved to stand in front of me as Travis continued.
“Did I feel like this when I touched you … before?”
“Not to the same degree. Wolves run about ten degrees hotter than humans. It will pass as you get used to it.”
“Sorry,” Travis murmured.
“It’s okay.” My gaze flitted to one of the mirrors across from me and I watched him draw an outline. The design was a beautiful one. Almost a play on a sunburst, but with a lot of extra filigree and markings in a language I couldn’t read. I’d studied Erick’s, but never asked for any specifics about it.
“Will mine look just like yours?”
Erick nodded. “All our tattoos are the same, except yours will have the number five in it.”
“What number are you?”
“Two.” He folded his arms across his hard chest and I licked my lips. His nostrils flared and he narrowed his gaze, flashing me a wicked grin. No doubt even though I was a vampire, he could still smell my arousal.
“Who was first?”
“Sita. The Sisters found her in Greece before they fled to the north.”
“Then you?”
“Yes.”
“What about you, Travis? When did you join Sanctuary?”
“My pack was killed shortly after the Riots. My brother and I were deployed with the U.S. Army. When we got back … there was nothing left. I may not be a Protector, but I owe Rose everything. She made me feel like I belonged somewhere again.”
“I’m sorry. I know how hard it is to lose family.”
He grunted something unintelligible.
A squeak of his chair and the absence of his hands on my back snapped me out of my thoughts.
“All right, sweetheart. Whatever you do, don’t move.” He reached for the needle on the counter and flipped a switch. A small motor whirred to life and I steeled myself.
The needle touched and pain radiated out from my neck in white-hot streaks. I screamed and cursed his name, but I did not move a millimeter. It hurt, but so had Kevin’s whip, and his crop, and his cane, and his baseball bat. I’d been through so much. The fire of the needle felt cleansing in a way. My scars were gone. This was a new beginning.
I could start this new life with a group of people that needed me. Relied on me. Fought for me.
The tattoo wouldn’t hurt forever. I wouldn’t have a constant ache from it reminding me of my mistakes. It was a symbol of my rebirth. My new life. A life I would fight hard to protect.
The whirring sound was constant and time moved ever so slowly until the whole of my back felt like it was ablaze. I couldn’t feel the needle so much as the heat of where the silver had been.
The tattoo would spread across the entire base of my neck. The long spires from the sun-shaped design would reach out along my shoulder blades and midway down my back and right up to my hairline. The circumference would be about the size of Erick’s splayed-out hand when finished.
I closed my eyes and tried to focus outside the pain. He kept the needle moving, so at least the burn was constant instead of touch and go. I still wanted to scream, but it wasn’t worse than Kevin’s belt.
Erick’s hand on my cheek made me open my eyes. Not sure how much time had passed. Probably hours. I hissed out a breath as Travis stopped and the room fell into silence. I glanced straight ahead and focused on the reflection of my back in the mirror behind me. My skin was smudged with blood, but I could see the outline of the intricate black tattoo beneath it.
Travis pulled a white washcloth from a lower cabinet next to him and dabbed at my back, removing the smeared blood.
“Good thing about vampires healing really fast, you won’t have any redness or swelling. As soon as I wash you up, you’re good to go.” He turned the cloth several times, swabbing until my back was clean. “You were a trooper, sweetheart. The last vampire I tattooed destroyed my chair and I had to replace both of those windows.”
I sighed, simply glad the pain had subsided. “What happened?”
“He threw the chair through the wall.”
Erick chuckled, taking my hand. I stood and backed away from the contraption Travis called a chair. Stepping closer to the wall of mirrors, I turned and glanced over my shoulder, taking a closer look at the design that now covered the back of my neck and shoulders. At the center was a circle filled with markings I didn’t understand. Parallel wavy lines extending outward from the edge of the ring, in between the eight points moving out from the sun. Between the wavy lines were more small inscriptions in the same foreign markings. It looked exactly the same as the one on Erick’s neck and back. It was beautiful and it further cemented my place in this town.
Now I just had to get it activated, so I could be out in the sun.
“How do you feel?” Erick cupped my face in his palm.
“I’m good. The pain stopped as soon as it was done.” I leaned into his caress and breathed in his candied scent. “What’s next?”
“Rose casts the spell that binds your tattoo with the rest of the Protectors and shields you from the sun.” He dropped his hand and gestured to the doorway. “I’ll call Rose and let her know we’re on our way to the Castle.”
“Why there?”
“Arlea has the spell book.”
Of course she does. “Oh.” I moved through the door and into the front of the shop, leaving Erick to walk with Travis. The last thing I wanted was to go into the Castle again. I’d agreed to work through my fears, but that wasn’t really on my agenda for tonight.
“I’ll be here if you need me,” Travis called out as we exited the shop.
The Texas night air was warm, but pleasant without the sun beating down on our heads. I glanced up at the starry sky, surprised that I could see everything so clearly in the pitch-blackness of the night. The street we were on only had a single lamp on each cross street corner. Only Main Street Circle had lamps every few yards.
I could hear everything, from the bats flying high above my head to the crickets scrambling along the sidewalks a dozen yards away. As we got closer to the Castle, I could hear voices, conversations even, and the heartbeats of the beings inside. The smells were so tantalizing. Each body had a specific scent and my mouth watered at the thought of tasting them.
Ewww! I’d just thought about drinking other people’s blood. People I knew… and strangers.
“Kjaere, calm yourself. It’s natural to be hungry when you smell food, is it not?”
“Yes, but they’re people, not hamburgers.” I turned and glanced over at him. “How did you know?”
“I could smell them, too. As soon as we turned the corner. It’s natural. Don’t be so hard on yourself.” He grinned and slid a hand around my waist. “As long as you don’t tell them you are thinking it, they’ll never know.”
I laughed. Full on, from-the-belly, cracked up. I’m sure the whole block could hear me, but I just didn’t care. It felt so good to just let loose. The idea of walking around and imagining people as tasty treats was absolutely hilarious. Maybe I’d just lost my mind.
After I’d laughed enough to make the muscles of my abdomen hurt, I started to relax. The stress of everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours had my body in knots and my mind overwhelmed.
Sanctuary, Texas Complete Series Box Set Page 20