The door opened with a blast of cold air as Mike, Doug, Liam, and Jack piled through. "Shit, it's cold!" Mike called, dropping his arm full of bags on the floor.
Kathleen grinned at him and playfully bumped his hip as she walked past him. "It is winter," she said.
"Actually, Miss Wise Ass, it technically still is fall," he retorted.
"Where do we put this stuff?" Jack asked as Doug slammed the door.
"Just leave it there for now. I'll get the fire started. The heat takes a while to warm up this place."
"Awesome place," Doug said. He took in the large staircase before him and the chandelier over his head before turning to follow Kathleen into the living room. "Sweet," he said, plopping onto one of the couches.
Sera grinned at him as she placed the logs next to the fireplace. Kathleen began to stack wood carefully inside of it. Liam sat on the other couch, while Jack slid in next to Doug. Mike plopped into the recliner and popped out the footstool. "I could stay here forever," he said as he closed his eyes and leaned back.
"I'm sure my parents would love that," Kathleen quipped as she lit a piece of paper and placed it under the logs.
"Do they know we're here?"
"They know Sera, Danielle, and I are here. They wouldn't appreciate you guys, but what they don't know won't kill them, right?"
"True, true."
Kathleen stood as the logs began to smoke and a flame sputtered to life. She shut the grate and stepped back with a look of pride on her face. "Hot chocolate's done!" Danielle called from the kitchen.
"Great," Kathleen said as she held her hands over the fire. "Who wants some?"
"I do," everyone said at the same time.
"Jack or Bailey's?"
"I'm in heaven!" Jack cried. "What could be better?"
"You actually getting laid," Mike retorted.
"Screw you."
Mike laughed and leaned further back in the chair. Sera shook her head as she headed back to the kitchen to help Danielle carry out the pot of hot chocolate and cups. When they came back to the living room, Kathleen had pulled out bottles of Jack, Tequila, and Bailey's from the bar and set them on the table.
"There are three bedrooms upstairs," she was saying. "One down here. The little bathroom's down the hall, and the full bath is upstairs."
"So what are the sleeping arrangements?" Mike inquired, his eyes focused on Kathleen.
She grinned at him flirtatiously. "Well now, we'll just have to figure that out later, won't we?"
Sera put the hot chocolate on the table, poured herself a glass, and added a generous shot of Bailey's to it. She sipped it as she slipped onto the couch next to Liam and kicked off her shoes. The fire crackled and sputtered as it filled the room with warmth. Liam slid his arm around her shoulders, and she snuggled closer to him.
"I figured Sera and Liam could have the room down here." Kathleen sipped her hot chocolate as she settled onto the floor. "Danielle and I will take my room, and the three of you can figure out the other two."
"Sounds good to me," Danielle said as she sat next to Sera.
She glanced over at Liam as he sat watching the flames. The light danced across his face and reflected in his eyes. A wave of possessiveness swept through her. He was hers, and she was never going to let him go. No matter what happened, no matter what she had to give up for him.
She looked back over at the flames, feeling completely at peace in Liam's warm embrace. No one spoke as the fire crackled and the room steadily heated. The grandfather clock in the corner chimed ten o'clock. "This is wonderful," Danielle finally said.
"Yeah," Jack agreed. "I can't wait to go skiing tomorrow."
"The ski hills are about two miles down the road; we'll take the snowmobiles out there. There's a hill right behind the house, I've come down it a few times, but it's not very big, and it's a bitch to climb."
They fell back into a lulled silence, watching the flames as they started to sputter down. Kathleen got up to toss more logs onto the fire then settled back down. An hour drifted by with little conversation.
When the clock chimed eleven, Sera stood and stretched her legs. "I'm pretty beat," she said.
Kathleen stood up and stretched. "I'll show you the room."
Sera followed her back to the main foyer. She stopped to pick up her bags as Kathleen walked to the side of the staircase. "We don't use this room often," Kathleen was saying. "But it's private," she added with a sly grin and a wink.
Kathleen stopped in front of the door behind the staircase and swung it open. Sera hadn’t seen this room the last time she’d been here. Stepping inside, Kathleen flicked on the light switch. Sera looked in the small room and smiled. An oak bed, dresser, and an antique nightstand furnished the small room. A brass lamp with a rose-colored shade sat on the nightstand, and the entire room was done in a pale, rose color.
Liam appeared in the doorway behind her. "Very nice," he said as he rested his hands on Sera's shoulders.
Kathleen grinned. "I knew you'd like it. I'll leave you guys alone. See you in the morning."
Sera had to fight the urge to grab her and tell her to stay away from Mike as she left the room. She kept her arms by her sides though as Kathleen left.
"What's wrong?" Liam inquired as he placed his bags by the dresser.
"I think Kathleen is planning something with Mike."
He looked up at her as he opened a bag and pulled out a sweater. "That bothers you?"
"Yes. I don't want him to hurt her."
"They're both adults."
"That's not what I meant." Sera put her bags down and walked over to the small window. "How do you survive?" she asked. She hadn't asked yesterday because her mind hadn't thought of the question, but it did now, and she needed to know.
"Sera..."
She folded her arms over her chest as she turned back to him. "You said no more secrets, no more lies."
He ran a hand through his hair as he studied her. "I know what I said, and I meant it, but there are some things better left unexplained."
"I want to know," she whispered.
He leaned a hip casually against the dresser. "You won't like it."
"I don't care. I need to know."
"Fine," he relented. "It's easy enough to survive in a frat house. Plenty of drunken girls, parties almost every night of the week. At first, it feels like an annoying hickey, and then it goes away."
Sera blinked as she contemplated his words. The thought of it disturbed her. How many girls had he done that too? She hated to think about it. Then, another more hurtful thought occurred to her. He had never taken her blood. Suddenly she felt as if there was something wrong with her, something about her he didn't want.
She turned her mind from those thoughts and focused her attention back on him. "Did you sleep with them all?" she whispered.
"Sera, come on," he groaned.
"Did you?" she asked.
His eyes flashed as he clenched his jaw. "Most, but not all."
Sera closed her eyes as pain clenched around her heart. Why had she even brought any of this up? All it did was upset her, and yet she couldn't stop herself from asking, from knowing. "How often," she had to stop and swallow heavily before finishing her question. "How often do you have to... to ah do this?"
"At least four times a week, preferably every day. Are you happy now?"
No, she wasn't happy. The thought of it turned her stomach in ways she hadn't thought possible. That was a lot of girls. A lot more than she ever wanted to consider. "How did all of you become like this?"
He blinked at her, obviously thrown off by her change in topic, and from the look on his face, more than a little relieved. He pulled out another sweater, opened a drawer, and dropped it in. "I've known Mike, Doug, Jack, and David since we were kids. We went to school together, lived near each other, and joined all the same teams in high school. We were never apart. During our senior year, I met this girl at a party. She was beautiful and vibrant, and she could have had an
yone she wanted. For some reason, she wanted me.
"I saw her at a few more parties after that, and then she vanished. Last year, I ran into her again. She was at a frat party at my house in Buffalo. At first, I was amazed she even remembered me. It wasn't until later I realized she’d been looking for me."
He broke off as he bent and grabbed another sweater. "Why?" Sera prompted.
Liam shook his head. "Honestly, I don't know. For some reason, she fancied herself in love with me. She kept tabs on me over the years and always knew where I was. She came back for me last year because she thought I was finally mature enough to be changed. Of course, I didn't know that at the time.
"I left with her that night. However, unlike the last time, she didn't just feed off me and leave. She changed me. She was lonely, and she wanted someone to spend the rest of her life with."
"And you didn't want to be that person?"
Liam ran a hand through his hair. "No, I didn't. I didn't know her, or what she was. When I found out what she did to me, I freaked out. I took it about as well as you did. The last thing I wanted was to see her again, let alone spend eternity with her."
Liam grew silent as he seemed to drift off to another place. It appeared he forgot she was there as he relived his own, tortured memories. "What about the others?" she prompted.
Liam's gaze remained briefly unfocused before settling on her again. "The others are my fault," he mumbled bitterly.
"You changed them?" she blurted.
"No. She did."
"Then how is that your fault?"
"She changed them to get to me. When I refused her, she went after them. She thought if the others joined her, I would come to her too."
"But they didn't?"
"No, they didn't. Their reactions were just as strong, and volatile, as mine. When I found out what she had done, I swore I'd kill her if I ever saw her again."
"Have you seen her since?"
"No. She changed David last, probably because she found him last, and then she disappeared. None of us have seen her since."
"Is that why you came back here to college?"
He picked up another sweater and dropped it in the drawer. "Yes. David's coming back at the end of this semester. It's easier when we're all together, and the frat house is a perfect place for us."
"Why?"
Liam winced as he realized the mistake he’d made. They had just gotten off this topic, and he knew he was going to have to tell her the truth. "Because there are lots of girls who we can control, and attract to us, even if they're sober. But when they're drunk it's easier to make them forget we fed off them."
"They remember?" she asked in astonishment.
Shrugging, he grabbed another sweater. "Sometimes they know what's going on, but we can make it so they don't."
Her hand fluttered to her throat. "Have you ever done that to me?"
The sweater dropped from his hand. "No, I haven't. I wouldn't do that to you."
"Well, why not?" she demanded.
"Because those girls are more like cattle. I care way too much about you to do that to you."
She was suddenly very confused. She didn't want him drinking her blood, yet she didn't want him going elsewhere for something she could give him. Mostly, she just didn't want him not to want her that way.
"Is there something wrong with me?" she inquired.
"Are you serious?"
She nodded, unable to speak.
"There is nothing wrong with you, Sera. Would you have preferred it if I took it from you, without your knowledge?"
"No."
"All right then."
"But—"
He sighed angrily and slammed the bureau drawer shut. "There are no buts, Sera. I wouldn't drink from you without your permission."
Sera couldn’t meet his gaze. She felt like a fool. She was acting like an idiot.
"I can tell you I've been very tempted," he said.
Her eyes flew back to his as she gaped at him. He gave her a sly smile as he leaned against the bureau and folded his arms over his chest.
"Seriously tempted,” he said. “Your neck is very delicate, appetizing, and I can smell your blood, even from here. It's amazingly sweet."
The feral gleam in his eyes was utterly thrilling, and terrifying. A shudder worked its way through her as she instinctively responded to him.
She forced herself to take a deep breath. There was still so much she wanted to know, and she couldn't allow herself to be distracted now. "Did you attract me to you?" she asked.
"No. I talked to you; it's different."
Sera's forehead furrowed as she recalled how the world seemed to disappear the first time she’d seen him. Had he used whatever powers he possessed to make her feel like that? Had he been using his powers on her all along? "I have never used anything on you."
"That first time I saw you..." her voice trailed off as her throat constricted.
"Never, Sera. I felt something the first time I saw you too, but I have never used my powers on you. I could have made you forget what you saw the other night, changed your memory, but I didn't do it."
"Why not?"
"Because for better or worse I wanted you to know, I needed you to know who and what I am."
Sera's heart melted, and she found herself suddenly able to breathe easier again. "Then what is this ability to attract people?"
"There's a power inside me that draws people in, but they don't do anything they wouldn't want to otherwise."
"Even letting you feed off them?"
"We have to survive, Sera, what would you suggest we do? Kill them?"
"No!" she cried in horror. "But it seems wrong."
"Because it's not the nicest thing to do to a person, but most of them don't know what we're doing, and the ones who realize it, well, we just bend their will to ours and force them to forget it. No one leaves unhappy."
"Bend their will?" she croaked. "How?"
"It's easier when someone has been drinking. You just make them forget. It doesn't hurt them, and they don't even know we're doing it."
Sera wished again she hadn't started this conversation. Her mind was beginning to spin. She didn't want to know what else he could do. What all of them could do, but there was one more thing she had to know. "How have you been feeding since we got together? Are you still sleeping with all these girls?"
"No!" he cried indignantly. "Of course not. Sleeping with them was a bonus. It was a bigger rush, more power, more thrilling."
Nausea twisted in her stomach as she shook her head, attempting to clear her befuddled mind. "More thrilling?"
Liam was silently kicking himself in the ass. He should have kept his big mouth shut, but she was being so obstinate and aggravating right now. His brain wasn't having enough time to tell his mouth to stay closed.
"Sera, come on; you don't want to hear this."
She bit her bottom lip. No, she probably didn't want to hear this, but she had come this far, and she couldn't turn back now. "Yes, I do. I need to understand."
He groaned as he straightened away from the bureau. "Because we're pleasing ourselves in more than one way. The blood is a giant rush, and sex on top of it makes you feel like you could rule the world. Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted to know?" he demanded savagely.
She blinked back tears as her stomach threatened to empty itself. "No," she choked out.
The distressed look on her face was enough to help calm him down. "It's my past, Sera. I haven't slept with anyone since I met you, I don't ever want to, but I cannot change my past. No matter how much I wish I could now that I know you."
Sera took a steadying breath. "How are you feeding now?"
"I don't have to have sex with someone to feed from them. I can make the marks go away almost instantly. I can feed on them, and ten minutes later send them back into a party as if nothing happened. Their neck may be a little redder, or they may appear to have a tiny hickey, but no one is ever the wiser. They don't even know I
was there."
Sera felt even sicker. She closed her eyes as she tried to block out the nausea in her stomach. She felt as if he was cheating on her, even though he wasn't. But she couldn't help feeling he was going to someone else for something she could give him. Something he had never asked her for or seemed to want from her.
What had she gotten herself into? What was she doing here? With him? With all of them? And now Kathleen was vulnerable to Mike. She wanted to run from the room, grab her friends, drag them out of the cabin, and flee back to safety. She opened her eyes to find Liam staring at her with a mixture of resentment and indignation.
"Changing your mind?" he sneered.
She’d wanted to know, and as promised, he'd told her the truth. She had brought this on herself. She knew what he was when she stayed in his room yesterday. She had made her choice and wasn't going to leave now. He needed to survive. She couldn't turn her back on him because she didn't like the way he did it.
"Kathleen," she whispered.
"Mike won't hurt her. I know he likes her and cares about her as a friend. If things progress, I'm not sure if he'll feed on her."
Sera felt like she was abandoning her friend, but there was nothing she could do. She couldn't go barging up there and tell Kathleen to stay away from Mike. It wouldn't happen. In fact, it would only make Kathleen more determined to go after him.
Liam turned away from her. His shoulders slumped as if the weight of the world rested on them. She walked over to him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and rested her chin on his back. He remained rigid before his hands enclosed hers. He turned around, and she tilted her head to look up at him. He was so unbelievably gorgeous it made her tremble with longing. She ran her hands down his shirt and slipped them underneath to feel the warm skin pulled taut over his ridged abdomen. She pushed the shirt up. He lifted his arms so she could tug it over his head and toss it to the floor. Stepping back, she took the time to admire his solid chest.
She smiled as she stepped closer. His muscles rippled beneath her touch as he stopped breathing. Her smile deepened as she realized the full extent of the power she had over him. The power only a woman could hold over a man. She dropped a kiss on his chest and tasted him. His hands wrapped into her hair as he pulled her head away and lifted her mouth to his. She kissed him passionately, her tongue entwining with his as her body tingled with anticipation.
The Vampire Awakenings Bundle: Books 1-5 Page 16