Mandy frowned thoughtfully and then shook her head. “Because I can’t run a mile in three seconds flat, I don’t have fangs, I’m going to med school, and the idea of drinking blood is about as appetizing to me as eating dirt. Actually, I think I’d rather eat dirt with worms.”
The woman continued to stare distrustfully at her. She lowered her hand to her side, but kept it fisted. “Are they forcing you to do this?” she demanded.
Mandy’s forehead creased; she glanced at him and Stefan again. “No one is forcing me to do anything,” she replied.
“They would make you say that,” Paige muttered. Her eyes roamed over the pretty young woman before her. She didn’t see any bite marks on her or any other signs of abuse, but the woman may have been coerced into helping by the vampire’s powers of persuasion.
“I’m here of my own freewill. I volunteered to help.”
Ian watched her intently as the woman glowered at him and Stefan before turning back to Mandy. “Do you know what they are?”
“Yes,” Mandy answered. “They’re my friends.”
Paige’s mouth fell; her gaze flitted over them as she tried to figure out what was going on here. Mandy attempted to take hold of her wrist again but she jerked it away. “They’re monsters,” she whispered fervently. How could this woman not see that? She was going to be a doctor, yet she was helping these things. Well, she supposed technically Mandy had helped her, but what awaited her once she was healthy again? “They’re killers.”
“I’ve never killed a person,” Ian grated from between his teeth. He had killed a few vampires, but he had a feeling the murder of vampires wouldn’t matter to this woman and might actually be something she’d appreciate.
Paige snorted, “Liar.”
Stepping away from the bedside, he grabbed hold of the curtain next to the bed and jerked it open. Early afternoon sunlight spilled into the room and over him. “Since you think you know so much about our kind, then you should know I wouldn’t be able to stand in the sunlight if I was a murderer of humans.”
Her eyes narrowed; her gaze ran over the sunlight filtering over him. “That’s not possible, no vampire can stand the sun. I saw you, in the alley, I saw your true face.”
“I am a vampire, I am not a murderer. You’d do better to learn the difference.”
Ian jerked the curtain closed again. This girl was going to be a lot tougher to get to trust him than he’d realized. His gaze traveled to the scars on her neck. Her hand fluttered toward the same spot. Her fingers froze for a minute before moving over the two scars there, the only marks left upon her flesh.
“I gave you some of my blood to heal the wounds before you bled out,” he explained.
Her eyes widened in horror. “I’m not… I won’t…”
“You won’t become a vampire,” he assured her.
Her shoulders slumped, her head bowed as she inhaled a shuddery breath. He could feel the relief washing out of her and over him. “You shouldn’t have.”
“You would have died.”
Her eyes slid toward him, her chin jutted out. “There are fates worse than death.”
Ian shook his head. “I don’t know what you’ve been told, or what you’ve experienced, but it’s not true. Only the worst of our kind, the brutal murderers amongst us, are unable to tolerate the sunlight. The rest of us are perfectly capable of walking about in the day, crossing large bodies of water, tolerating holy water and crucifixes. We are essentially the same as you, only stronger and we feed on blood.”
Paige glanced at the curtain and the sun peaking around its edges. Her mind spun as she tried to comprehend what he’d just told her. Had Nabel and the other survivors she’d met been wrong? Were all vampires capable of walking about in the day, or was he telling her the truth and only those who didn’t kill were. But what vampire didn’t kill? They had to in order to survive, didn’t they?
They all lied, she reminded herself. Their entire existence was built on lies.
But she’d seen him leave the bar with three different women and each one of those women had been alive the next night. She’d seen them. All the vampires she’d come across would never have allowed those women to live, after covering their tracks, they would have left them battered and lifeless in a ditch somewhere.
“It could be a trick, you’re lying to me,” she muttered.
“It’s no trick,” he told her. “There are those of us who kill, and those of us who don’t. Apparently, you don’t know as much as you think you do about us. Now, let Mandy take a look at you.”
“Do you mind?” Mandy asked and gestured at Paige’s wrist.
Paige hesitated for a minute before shaking her head. She couldn’t argue with allowing a human to look at her, and though the idea of his blood pulsing through her body caused her stomach to turn, she was glad to be alive. It could have ended so much worse. She shuddered; her hand fluttered back to the two scars on her neck. She’d been living on borrowed time for four years now; it was only a matter of time before the sand ran through her hourglass. Last night was a close call, but she would not fail at her mission before her time was up.
Mandy took hold of her wrist. She held it in her hand as she stared at her watch and counted the beats. Nodding, Mandy released her wrist and rested her hand on the needle embedded in her arm. “This is going to hurt a little.”
Paige braced herself and turned her attention away as Mandy gently removed the needle from her arm. Mandy placed a cotton ball against her arm. “Hold this,” she instructed.
Holding the ball in place, she watched as Mandy pushed away the IV stand. “Can you put this outside?” she inquired.
The vampire from the bar nodded and wheeled the stand out the door as Mandy returned to her side. Mandy took the cotton ball away, she placed a bandage on her before grabbing the blood pressure cuff. Paige remained mute as the cuff compressed around her, pinching her skin before Mandy released the valve.
“Much better,” Mandy said and pulled the stethoscope from her ears. “You’ll make a full recovery.”
And then what will become of me? She bit back the question; she wasn’t ready for the answer, and she had a feeling she would find out soon enough.
“I’m Ian, what’s your name?” he inquired.
The woman’s turquoise eyes were as inflexible as stone when they met his again. “What are you going to do with me? What am I doing here?”
“You’re here so we could keep you alive,” Ian replied. “And you’re welcome for that.”
Her jaw clenched and unclenched. “Thank you.”
“Was that so difficult?” he teased in the hopes of coaxing her into relaxing a little. The smile he gave her had lured a lot of women into his bed, but she simply stared back at him. He’d met briars friendlier than this woman. Yet, something about her had him enraptured, and it had nothing to do with her pretty face.
Paige refused to be swayed by the twinkle in his sky blue eyes or the smile easing his handsome features. She could almost believe he was human, almost believe he was a good man, but he survived on blood, and he wasn’t a normal man. “What are you going to do with me?”
“We’ll get you back to your family, to where you belong,” he assured her.
She stared doubtfully at him. “With my memory intact?”
“You know that’s not an option,” Stefan said from the doorway.
Paige tilted her chin up as she met the shark-like eyes of the man in the doorway. There were great whites that radiated more sympathy than him. “I have a right to keep my memories,” she replied with more bravado than she felt.
“We have a right to keep ourselves safe,” he retorted.
The ringing of a phone silenced her protest as Stefan pulled it out from inside of his pocket. The strange looking phone reminded her of a walkie-talkie. She’d never seen anything like it before. He looked at the phone and winced at the caller ID. A smile lit his face though when he lifted it to his ear. “Hello love,” he greeted and turned on his heel to walk ou
t of the room.
Paige frowned at the endearment and the abrupt softening of his tone. Someone loved that man? And apparently he loved them too. She supposed even a shark had to kiss another shark once in a while.
“I don’t envy him,” Ian said.
She pursed her mouth as she fought against asking the question he knew was on the tip of her tongue. Finally, she broke down and asked it, “Why not?”
“My sister is a little annoyed with him right now, and she can be worse than a bear when she’s in a mood.”
“He’s in a relationship with your sister?”
“It’s far more than a relationship between them.”
Paige glanced over at him, her forehead furrowed as her gaze ran over him. “Were you and your sister turned at the same time?”
Ian shook his head. “No.” He debated not elaborating further, but he didn’t see what damage it could do. She’d never remember this conversation anyway. “My siblings and I are all born vampires.”
“How awful for you,” she muttered.
“You definitely had a bad experience tonight with a vampire, and apparently at least one other time in your life, before tonight.” His gaze flicked pointedly toward the scars on her neck.
Paige fought the urge to touch her scars again. She felt inexplicably exposed before him. Most didn’t know what the scars were from, and the ones who did recognize them, rarely mentioned them. They were proof she was a survivor, that she had seen the darkness within this world, endured it and lived to see another day. That was all most of the people she dealt with now wanted, or needed, to know about her. She had no idea what he saw when he looked at her scars, but he appeared to have sympathy for her. Something she absolutely did not appreciate from his kind.
“But I can assure you,” he continued. “We’re not all like the vampire who attacked you tonight, or before.” She wasn’t about to tell him they were one-in-the-same. “My family is far from awful.”
“I’ll second that,” Mandy muttered as she finished storing away her blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. “I might be dead right now if it wasn’t for them, and Emma most likely would be too, or she may be something worse.”
“Who is Emma?” Paige inquired.
“Emma is my sister-in-law,” Ian answered. “She’s also here. So is her husband, my brother Ethan, and some of our friends.”
Paige really didn’t care to learn anything more about him, but her curiosity niggled at her. She’d never heard of a vampire being born before, and she’d definitely never heard of a family of them, with friends. But then, he could be lying to her; she wouldn’t put it past him. It was what his kind did after all. Even if they did believe they could change her memories, she didn’t believe anything they told her was the truth.
She still couldn’t stop herself from asking, “How many siblings do you have?”
“Nine.”
“Nine?” she squeaked and wrapped her hand in the blanket.
“And every single one of them would never mistreat you,” Ian assured her.
Movement in the doorway drew his attention to Emma as she stepped into the room. At five foot four she was small in stature, but she radiated warmth far beyond her size. “Hi,” she greeted and strolled across the room toward the woman. “I’m Emma Byrne.”
The woman recoiled when Emma thrust out her hand, her hand fisted on the bed, but before anyone could react a blur raced into the room. Ian barely detected Ethan before he stood between Emma and the woman. His eyes danced with flames of red as he glared at the woman who had quickly retreated to the far corner of the bed.
Ian stepped forward and placed his hand on his brother’s chest. He shook his head as he nudged Ethan back a step. “Back off,” he warned.
“It’s fine, Ethan,” Emma said, her hand encircling his arm.
Ethan’s eyes became their normal green color again as he stared at the woman. “I know you’ve had a rough time. You have every reason to be distrustful and frightened, but if you hurt her, or anyone else in this house, I’ll tie you to that bed until it’s time for you to be returned.”
The woman’s mouth had dropped at Ethan’s abrupt arrival, her mouth closed as he spoke. “Animals,” she murmured.
“If I was an animal I would have torn your throat out and not thought twice about it,” Ethan replied.
Some of the color drained from her face, but she thrust her shoulders back. “Not everything is what it seems, and sometimes what you think you know is wrong,” Ian said quietly.
She glanced at him, but her mouth remained clamped shut. “I’m Emma.” Ethan tried to push Emma’s hand down again, but she elbowed him in the stomach. “And Ethan here is a giant, mushy teddy bear wrapped in an overprotective shell.”
Mandy laughed, it took all Ian had to keep his smirk suppressed as his brother scowled. The woman stared at the hand Emma kept out. “I was once human too. Once frightened and overwhelmed by these guys, and their family, but believe me I’ve met the vampires that kill, you wouldn’t still be here if anyone in this cabin were one of them.”
The woman swallowed and hesitatingly took hold of Emma’s tiny hand. Ethan bristled, but didn’t move to intervene. Ian kept his body protectively in between the woman and his brother just in case. He didn’t want to fight with his brother; he understood Ethan’s drive to keep Emma safe, but he would protect her if Ethan made a move to harm her.
“Paige Dryer,” the woman replied. Ian speculated if it was her real name, but he didn’t get the impression she was lying about it.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Paige,” Emma said and released her hand. “You are safe here, for however much time you need to be.”
Jill materialized in the doorway. “Is everything ok?” she inquired.
“Fine,” Emma assured her. “I bet Paige is hungry though.”
“I’m not,” Paige replied, but Ian heard the rumble of her stomach. Emma must have too, as she turned away and said, “Jill makes the best grilled cheeses.”
“I do,” Jill confirmed with a smile. “and I’ll be happy to make one or two for you.”
Emma hooked her arm through Jill’s as they walked down the hall together. “I’ll bring you some coffee too,” Mandy offered. She patted Paige’s arm before following her friends from the room.
“I’ll be fine in here,” Ian told his brother.
Ethan hesitated before finally leaving the room. Ian settled into the chair as Paige’s eyes returned to him.
Chapter Five
Paige stared at the vampire sitting across from her. The casual air surrounding him set her teeth on edge. How could he be so relaxed when she felt like she was sitting on a bed of nails? She longed to punch him in his too handsome face, to throw him off in some small way, but he’d only heal back into the sexy man he was, and he’d probably just laugh at her. A small smile, more of a smirk, curved the corner of his full mouth. Eyes the color of the sky danced with merriment, as he seemed to guess at her thoughts. She may only be a human, but she was still deadly, something she would prove to this man if given the chance.
She had no idea what was going on here with this bizarre as hell vampire family, but she did know they were all monsters no matter what any of them said. She’d heard other male voices too, drifting from the main part of whatever house she was in, and assumed there were more than the three men she’d met so far. Maybe this was some kind of sick, twisted game they all played with their prey before torturing them, and finally putting them out of their misery. Maybe they lured their prey into a false sense of security and then laughed as they drained them dry. They may kill her, but they wouldn’t fool her into thinking they were decent; she’d make sure of that.
Thick muscles rippled as the man across from her leaned forward again. The three men she’d seen were all large, but he was the biggest of them all. She guessed him to be around six-four and easily two hundred and fifty pounds of solid muscle, if not more. He also knew he was good looking. He ran a hand through his hair an
d gave her a smile she had to admit was endearing. And then she hated herself for thinking it. She’d seen that charming smile work its magic on multiple women over the past few days. Refusing to be swayed by it, she icily stared back at him, but the smile didn’t leave his face.
Ian tilted his head to the side to watch her. Her eyes had shifted back to the door; her brow furrowed as she listened to the voices from down the hall. Trying to figure out how many of them are here, he deduced when her mouth pursed. Her eyes shot back to him when he shifted; her upper lip curled slightly before becoming a flat line again. She was the first female he’d come across who truly disliked him, also the first who fascinated him in such a strange way.
He enjoyed the subtle nuances fluttering across her features. She tried so hard to be brave, to remain as impassive as possible, but the beads of sweat on her upper lip, and the increased beat of her heart belied her stony exterior. He had to give her credit, she believed she was surrounded by monsters who would kill her, yet she didn’t back down.
“I’ve seen you around the past few nights,” she muttered.
He folded his hands together and rested his elbows on his knees. “I don’t recall seeing you, before tonight.”
Paige snorted, “That’s not surprising with the revolving door of women you maintain.”
He quirked an eyebrow at her statement but the smile didn’t leave his face. “You’ve been watching me closely then.”
“No,” she said far more briskly than she’d intended to.
“Do you go to the college?”
“No.”
“So you’ve been hanging around the bar?”
She shrugged and brushed back a strand of her messy, oily hair. A shower would be amazing for her aching muscles and to get rid of the sweaty, back alley odor she currently sported. People participating in triathlons smelled better than she did right now; it would be nice not to reek of death before her actual death.
Rubbing at her temples, she wondered if the loss of blood had caused her brain to short circuit. What did it matter what she smelled like, or how she felt before she died? She hoped she smelled so bad the taste of her would still be stuck in their fangs months after her demise. Maybe she’d give them heartburn, if vampires got heartburn.
The Vampire Awakenings Bundle: Books 1-5 Page 88