Blood Obsession (A Vampire Paranormal Romance) (Deathless Night Series Book 3)

by L. E. Wilson

  Physically. She felt like she'd been punched in the gut.

  "Where is he now?"

  "I don't know," he admitted. "He, Waano, wasn't very happy about me dragging him out of his dimension. As a matter of fact, he'd straight out ordered Leeha not to bring him here. But in typical selfish Leeha fashion, she'd completely ignored his wishes and brought him here anyway. He nearly killed her, but I stopped him, and then he took off. We don't know where he went."

  "In Aiden's body?"

  He nodded once.

  He sounded so calm about it all. Didn't he even care? Didn't it bother him at all that he was ruining lives? Taking loved ones away from their colony? Their families?

  She felt ill for wanting his hands on her earlier. "What kind of a monster are you?" she breathed.

  He stiffened, the muscles of his jaw clenching in anger at her judgment of him. "I'm not like Leeha. I have my reasons for doing what I do."

  Her mouth twisted in disgust. "No reason is worth messing with those things, possessing living beings with demons. Are you mad?"

  Standing up, he pushed the chair back under the table, and then dropped down onto his haunches directly in front of her.

  He was so close, she could feel the warmth coming off of his skin. She immediately recoiled from him and shrunk back into the corner as far as she could, afraid he would touch her and the excruciating pain would come.

  And even more afraid that he wouldn't, in spite of everything he'd just told her.

  He ran his eyes over her cowering form, making her skin heat everywhere they touched. Then he glanced away and clenched his teeth. He didn't speak, or try to touch her.

  Her hand started to reach towards him of its own accord, but she caught herself and clenched her fingers into a fist before he noticed.

  Giving her one last searching look, he rose and left the room, grabbing his cloak from the hook on his way out.

  The raven gave her a disapproving look from one beady eye, then left her perch to fly after him, swooping low to get through the doorway.

  Everyone and everything can leave this fucking room except me.

  Chapter Seven

  "I have the key." Grace told him as they arrived at her high-rise apartment. "Put me down a sec."

  Aiden set her carefully down on her good foot and waited until she'd fished the key out of her front pocket and unlocked and opened the door.

  But before she could hobble inside, and possibly injure her ankle more, he scooped her back up into his arms again and waited patiently for her to invite him in.

  She heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Um, are you going to stand here in the hall all day?" she asked. "If so, put me back down so I can go in. 'Cause I really have to pee."

  Surely, with her family knowing so much about vampires, she knew their limitations?

  "Seriously, dude. The bathroom is like, right there. I think I can manage it."

  Guess not. "You need to invite me in, poppet."

  She snorted out loud. "Since when do you wait for an invitation to do anything?"

  What was that supposed to mean? "Since...I can't enter your residence without you inviting me to do so."

  An adorable crinkle appeared in the middle of her forehead. "Really? I thought that was just a myth made up by Hollywood."

  "No, it's unfortunately true in real life also." He fought to keep his face serious, but didn't quite succeed. "I thought you 'knew all about' vampires?"

  "Obviously not as much as I thought I did." A rebellious gleam appeared in her eyes and she lifted her chin defiantly. "What if I don't want to invite you in?"

  "Then we'll be standing in the hall all day."

  "Your arms will get tired."

  "No, poppet, they won't. You weigh about as much as that silly pet of yours to me. Luckily, you don't have as many prickles."

  She looked longingly towards a door just inside her apartment, back at him, and then scowled. "Fine," she grumbled. "Come on in."

  He gave her a cheeky grin. Perhaps she did have one or two prickles.

  Enjoying her discomfiture maybe a bit more than necessary, he strode into her one room apartment and kicked the door shut behind him. Setting her down on the couch, he pushed his hood back off his head and planted his hands on his hips as he took a look around.

  "Cozy." He nodded with approval. "I like it." He turned in a circle, taking it all in. "Very en vogue."

  She looked at him sideways as she fished Mojo out of her shirt and set him on a pillow, smiling at the little bastard with warm eyes when he yawned, showing his little rat teeth.

  He wished she'd smile at him like that.

  "In vogue?" she asked.

  He turned away before she could see the longing on his face. "Yes, you know, doing the whole minimalist thing," he swept his arm in an arc, indicating her complete lack of stuff.

  Her place was definitely small, yet modern: just one main room and a galley kitchen. The cabinets were fronted with clear glass, the appliances were small, and a large island with a granite countertop divided the two spaces.

  The living area contained what he presumed to be a pullout couch (as he didn't see a bed anywhere, mores the shame), a T.V., and a small bookshelf. Bamboo floors and large windows behind the couch completed the contemporary look.

  The entire place was clean and uncluttered, giving it a less than lived-in look. The only homey spot was a sitting space in the corner by the windows that contained a small desk with a lamp. A book lay face down on its surface next to an empty teacup, and a fuzzy blanket was thrown over the chair.

  Surprisingly, the place smelled like fresh-baked bread - warm and yeasty - but in a good way.

  He went into the kitchen and found the fresh bread wrapped in cloth to keep it warm. Pulling open drawers, he found the one containing more towels on his third try. Filling it with ice from the freezer, he turned to find she had taken off her sandals and was slowly hobbling her way back towards the front door to the loo. Dropping the makeshift ice pack in the sink, he rushed over to assist her.

  She jumped when he suddenly appeared at her side.

  "Jesus, Aiden! Don't do that!"

  He wrapped an arm around her waist and ducked a bit so he could lift her arm up over his shoulders, taking some of her weight off of her bad ankle.

  "Sorry, luv. Didn't mean to startle you."

  She glared at him out of the corner of her eye. "I can walk on my own, you know."

  He smiled down into her rebellious expression. "I know, but my mum would box my ears if she saw me standing around like an oaf when there is a lady in need."

  She gave him a funny look, but didn't protest any more as he helped her across the room and through a large walk-in closet, leaving her in the loo on the other side of it. Propping her by the sink, he closed the door behind him when he left to give her some privacy.

  As he waited for her to finish, he wandered over to the small bookshelf by the window and glanced at the titles. He whistled softly as he read some of them: A Practical Approach to Cardiac Anesthesia, 4th edition, Cardiovascular Physiology Concepts, 2nd Edition, and Cardiopulmonary Bypass (Cambridge Clinical Guides) were there among others, all pertaining to the heart.

  Was his spunky little female a cardio doctor? Somehow, it didn't surprise him in the least.

  The bathroom door opened behind him and he rushed over to help her, moving at human speed this time...sort of.

  "Like to do a little light reading at night?" he asked as got her settled on the couch again.

  She frowned up at him, and his heart sank. He wished she would smile again.

  "Your books." He waved a hand in their general direction. "Not one for easy reading, I see."

  "Oh. That. Those are my books from school. I graduated a few years ago."

  He went to sit down next to her, but changed his mind when she looked pointedly at his dusty clothes. He wandered into the kitchen instead. "Are you a doctor then?"

  "I'm a Cardiovascular Perfusionist. I work at a hospit
al off of Zhongshan Rd. by the People's Square."

  He raised his eyebrows in silent question.

  "Basically, I operate the circulation equipment during heart surgeries, when the heart needs to be artificially supported."

  "So, you're not a squeamish girl." If she was in the operating room during surgeries, it meant she wasn't grossed out easily by let's say, oh...blood, for instance. He knew there was something he'd liked about her the moment he'd seen her sweet tush sticking out of that doorway.

  Other than her sweet tush, of course.

  "No. I'm not squeamish at all. And it's a good job. There's only about two thousand of us here in China, and more than twenty thousand hospitals, so we're in high demand. Hey, would you mind getting me a drink of water, please?"

  He blinked at the change of subject. "Water...yes."

  Which reminded him, he'd left her homemade ice pack in the sink. Getting her drink and putting fresh ice in the towel, he took both over to her. Handing her the glass, he ordered her to put her ankle up on the couch.

  She did so, wincing slightly, and careful not to dislodge Mojo from his cushion.

  Aiden rolled up her pant leg and took a look. There was some swelling on the delicate curve of her inner ankle, and a small bruise was promising to be quite colorful, but with some ice it should be fine. Provided he could keep her off of it for a few days.

  And he knew just the way to do that.

  "So does this thing pull out into a bed?" he asked innocently as he propped the ice on her ankle.

  She squinted her eyes at him warily. "I'm fine sleeping on it like this."

  Was that a challenge he heard in her tone? Getting into this one's knickers may prove to be a bit harder for him than normal, unless he "persuaded" her to come around to his way of thinking. However, he rarely found the need to do that with females. He preferred to bed them only if they were willing.

  And he wanted Grace willing. Her stubbornness would only make it that much sweeter when he succeeded.

  "Aiden?"

  Thoughts of exactly what kind of knickers she was wearing drifted away, and he reluctantly came back to the present. "Hmm?"

  Grace looked down at her fingers, which were tangled in her lap. "Can I ask you a question?"

  "Of course."

  "What made you decide to be a vampire?"

  What indeed?

  Careful not to create too much dust, he perched himself on the arm of the couch by her feet.

  "I didn't 'decide' to become a vampire, per se. Well," he scratched his head, rethinking that statement. "I guess I rather did. I was given the choice. However, I was dying, so it really wasn't much of a choice. Not for me."

  "You were dying?" she asked. "What happened?"

  "I somehow managed to get in the way of a particularly nasty sword being wielded by a rather angry man. It was during the war."

  Her hands lay forgotten in her lap. He had her full attention now. "A sword? What war was this?"

  "The Great Northern War, in 1712. I found it quite by accident, while on a walk."

  "The sword?" she asked.

  He barked out a laugh. "No, luv. The war."

  She scrunched her forehead up in that adorable way she had. "How the hell do you find a war by accident? Didn't you hear the fighting? Or the screaming? See the uniforms?"

  "Well, it was a rather lengthy walk. My father and I had gotten into a row, and I went outside for some air. I ended up at the local pub until they kicked me out, and then decided to walk it off before I went home. However, I was so pissed...drunk," he clarified for her. "That by the time I had sobered up I was on the other side of the English Channel. I was also quite famished, due to my walk being rather spur of the moment, as they say. So I wandered up to a group of gentlemen to see if they had any food they could spare."

  "And you didn't notice that they were soldiers?"

  "They were sitting outside their tent, carrying on around their fire. I just assumed they were enjoying the outdoors, having a gentleman's outing."

  "That must've been before strip bars." Grace grinned at him.

  Staring at her lovely face, lit up as it was by a genuine smile, he completely lost track of what he was saying.

  "Sooo, they fed you..." she prompted after a moment.

  "Yes! Right." He cleared his throat. "They were quite generous. And all they asked was that I repay them by helping them with their little spat." He shrugged. "So, I did. A few days later, Luukas and Nikulas found me on the battlefield, lying amongst my deceased companions. I'll spare you the gory details."

  She stared at him a moment. "That's some heavy stuff, dude. Who're Luukas and Nikulas?"

  He picked up her ice pack and rearranged it on her ankle, saying distractedly, "Luukas is the Master Vampire that turned me, and Nikulas is his younger brother. Also a vampire." The swelling was already going down, he was happy to see.

  She snapped her fingers. "Oh, hey! Nikulas...that's the friend that you called, right?"

  "Correct," he confirmed. "He's my best mate. I'm his Guardian, and a Hunter for Luukas."

  She shook her head slightly. "You lost me again."

  "Ah, yes. Sorry." Rubbing his temple, he tried to explain. "Luukas is the Master Vampire, as I said, which means he is like the leader of our colonies in the States. He created all of us, and protects us, and Nik..."

  She interrupted him. "Created all of you? How many of you are there?"

  "At last count there were five hundred and thirty-one of us throughout the country, with a large portion of them living and working in the Pacific Northwest."

  Her mouth dropped open in surprise. "Luukas created five hundred vampires?"

  "Yes. He's one of the more conservative Master Vampires, unlike some of those over here in the East."

  Leaning forward, he took the tip of his index finger and gently closed her jaw.

  She stared at him mutely, and he could see her trying to wrap her mind around the fact that humans have been going around all this time with no idea that they shared the night with that many vampires.

  After a few minutes, she asked, "So, what did you and your father fight about? It must have been a doozy to cause you to react the way you did."

  He thought back to that day. It seemed so long ago, yet he remembered everything as clearly as if it had just happened. But as he usually did whenever someone asked about his family, he blew it off like it was no big deal.

  "Oh, something about him being a cheating bastard, I'm certain, or maybe his bloated sense of self-importance. My father tended to take on airs. He thought himself to be much more noble than he was. And," he added. "He was a cheating bastard."

  "What did he do? Like, for a living?"

  "He was part of what they used to call the 'landed gentry'. My family had money, but only because my father was particularly good at cheating at cards. He won most of it, rather than earning it honestly. Then he bought land with it, and we rented out the land. Our family's position was high in society, only immediately below the nobility. But to hear my father brag about it, one would think we were part of the royal family. He was eventually killed in a duel, and my younger brother took over the lands."

  Because I wasn't there to do so.

  He didn't like speaking of his father. It left a rather horrid taste in his mouth. His father was a liar, and a cheat, and a mean son of a bitch. And he didn't care about anyone but himself. Everything he did was for his own benefit. The only sound decision he'd ever made was using his ill-gotten gains to buy land instead of gambling it all away again. At least his family had gotten something out of that.

  However, in the end, all he'd managed to accomplish was to get his entire family killed.

  All of them except for me. Because I'd thrown a hissy fit and left home. Leaving my younger brother to try to clean up our father's mess on his own.

  Maybe if he had stayed...or come back to check on his Mum sooner...he could have protected them. Could have been there to appease the tenants. But the res
ponsibility had fallen on his younger brother, and they'd been beaten down for too long to think the son would be any different than the father.

  Their father had consistently raised their rent to fund his addictions, until the people on his land had become so poor and hostile that his mum had been afraid to leave the house. Whether it was because she was afraid of being attacked or afraid of seeing the proof of his father's ways, Aiden wasn't certain.

  His father's tenants couldn't afford the ungodly amounts of money and goods he charged them. But they were afraid to make a stand against him. Afraid that he would make them leave their homes and they'd starve on the road. They were barely feeding themselves as it was. So they didn't protest the high rents, however, they did talk amongst themselves. And then the talking turned to anger, and the anger turned to rebellion.

  When his father had died, and his inexperienced brother had taken over, the tenants had seized their chance. They'd formed a mob, and marched to the house to take out the family that had caused them so much misery.

  His entire family had been killed that night. He wasn't certain exactly what had happened, only that the house had been burned to the ground with his mum, brother and sister inside. He only knew it had been the tenants at all because he'd already been reborn as a vampire when he'd come back, and he'd used mind control on the nearest pretty wife to find out what had happened.

  If only he hadn't let his father get to him. If only he'd been thinking about someone other than himself...

  You're a selfish man, Aiden. Just like your father!

  His mum's voice echoed in his head. She'd told him that exact thing many a time. But she was wrong. He was nothing like that bastard.

  The empty hole in his chest, the one that never went away no matter how much time had passed since that fateful day, throbbed painfully.

  The night he'd found the burned remains of his family, Aiden had sworn to the gods that never again would he not be there to protect those he loved. And his impressive head collection was evidence of the fact that he had kept that promise. Every single one of those heads had been taken protecting his new vampire family.

  He pushed away the memories. "Let's speak of something else, all right?"