“Serena. It’s just me.” Flynn said from his position curled up behind me. “Jesus. You know we have super strength hearing right?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t sleep well. Lots of nightmares.”
“Yeah, we know. You never stopped tossing and turning.”
I moved up the covers and looked around. “Where are the others?”
“Downstairs. Only once you’d properly fallen asleep in the early hours you slept like the dead. Their vamp stealth helped them get out of bed without disturbing you. I said I’d stay.”
“Thank you.” I patted his hand.
He propped himself up on the pillow. “So, do you want any breakfast?”
I shook my head vehemently. “God, no. I’ll vomit.”
“Coffee.”
I shook my head again. “I’ll get a few sips of water.”
Flynn chuckled. “Now I know it's bad.”
That did actually make me smile.
“That’s better.” He stroked a fingertip down my cheek. “I’m not leaving your side, babe. We got this.”
I swallowed. “I’m so damn scared.”
There was a beat of silence.
“Serena. Do you trust me?”
“Of course.”
He lifted my hair from my neck and lowered his mouth there, licking across my flesh until it goose bumped. “I’m going to take the slightest pull on your blood. It will release my vamp venom into your system and calm you, like a balm. I’ll not do too much or you’ll just want to sleep again.”
“Okay.”
Flynn bit down and my core pulsed wanting to be sated once more. But as fast as he bit he licked over the wound sealing it.
“Done. Give it a moment.”
I could already feel it. Like a calmness moving through my veins. I felt much more relaxed and although I remained nervous, now I didn’t feel like I was going to have a cardiac arrest right there and then.
“Let’s get you showered and to the clinic.” He said.
The medical facility was a fifty minute drive away in Santa Clarita. Built on a secluded estate at the end of Iron Canyon, the house was entered through a gated driveway and to its neighbors just appeared to be a residential property in the area. But to those in the know it was where people were turned into vampires. We drove down the long winding driveway for a few minutes before pulling up in front of the property.
I shivered as Flynn opened the car door. Stepping outside I breathed in the fresh mountain air and took in the views. It was certainly a good place to recuperate.
Jayden took my duffel from the trunk of the car and Smith walked on ahead. As we were about to walk inside the clinic, another car sped up to us blowing dust in its wake. Carter had brought his own car as he would be leaving here partway through my treatment to attend his audition. The others had given him a hard time, and I’d had to remind them that this was a huge deal to Carter and I still had the three others to fuss around me. To be honest, with how much they were fussing I wondered if I’d have been better off just getting on with things on my own.
“Okay, the reception’s this way.” Smith pointed straight in front of us.
“Really? The reception is at the front of the building with that big sign on it saying reception. Wow. Complicated.” I pushed on Smith’s arm laughing at him.
He picked me up and flew toward the entrance with me in double quick time. “Put me down.” I squealed.
“Are you going to behave yourself?” He held me up in the air as if I weighed nothing. Of course here in the seclusion Smith could be entirely himself.
“I will for now. Help me.” I shouted to the others.
“Smith, put her down for God’s sake, and try to act even a little professional and like an adult.” Flynn almost growled at him.
“Loosen up, man.” Smith pouted.
But my serious man couldn’t because he was worried about me. I knew they all were in their own way. Smith was hiding behind his humor; Flynn serious, Jayden helpful; and Carter… well he was so nervous about his forthcoming audition he made me look brave.
We were greeted by a receptionist who took my details and then a nurse came and showed me to my suite. As I walked inside I cast my eyes around the room. There was a Queen bed, and the walls were positioned so that although it was all part of one room the bedroom was screened off. In the rest of the room was a closet, a fireplace, and a large bathroom with a walk-in shower. There were views over the mountains to the left of my bed and also from the bathroom. A balcony wrapped around the outside, entered from the patio doors at the front of the room, again giving breathtaking views—a couch placed in front for me to relax and look.
“Once you are in recovery you will stay here. Now, I understand your circumstances but only one person is permitted to be with you at a time.”
“Yes, Mr. Kelly will remain here with me the first evening.” I told the nurse who introduced herself as Maria. She was a middle-aged woman with a red bob, of medium build, and with kind eyes.
“You’re in good hands, Serena.” She said, patting my arm. “I’ll leave you to get settled in and the doctor will come through to see you in around thirty minutes.”
“Is there a coffee machine?” I asked, not having seen one and now being desperate for a mug of steaming nectar.
“No. Anything you need, you ring the buzzer at the side of your bed and it will be brought to you.”
Maria left.
“All this and no coffee machine.” I laughed.
“Most people who come here don’t require a coffee, babe.” Smith stared at me.
Oh God, of course.
It was another stark reminder of what was to come. Yes I’d still be able to drink it and enjoy it, but from then on the caffeine would give me an extra buzz to the blood I’d have consumed.
“You’ll enjoy it, but you’ll not crave it anymore.” He said. “You’ll be satisfied by the blood and if you crave that then you aren’t consuming enough, or we’ve taken too much.”
“So what are you two going to do while we’re stuck in here?”
Jayden turned to me. “I’m going to make sure the house is ready for your return.”
“I’m meeting Leonie.” Smith said.
5
Serena
“She’s coming to Carbon Beach already?” I asked.
“Yeah, along with her belongings. So I spoke with Ted and everything is good to go. I just need to make sure she’s organized and then once you’re back on your feet—hopefully in a couple of days—you can take over and rescue the situation.
“Well, in the meantime it will be good for you to practice a bit of humility.” Flynn told him.
The time waiting for the doctor to come through seemed to take infinitesimal hours although it couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes.
Eventually a knock came to the door and a tall thin man with salt and pepper hair entered.
“Miss Saxton?”
I nodded.
“I’m Dr. Ramone.” He held out a hand and I took it and shook it. He was slightly cool to the touch. A vampire for sure.
“So. I know you have already been told about what happens but I’m going to go through it all with you again now.”
“Okay, thank you.”
“After we have spoken, the nurse will come through with a gown for you to change into. You will come through to the theater where you will be sedated and then the process of changing over your blood will begin. This takes around four hours or so and there are usually no complications. Afterward you will rest in your room for a twenty-four hour period of regular monitoring and a course of medication to stop you rejecting your new blood will be started. If everything seems fine you will be able to go home afterward. Okay so far?”
“Yes.” I sucked on my bottom lip. My mouth felt dry.
“We will advise on an initial intake schedule. You live with vampires so you will be well cared for and they know what to look for in terms of complications.”
“And those are?”
“If all goes well then you will experience some discomfort as your body develops its new abilities: improved hearing, sight, etc. This can take a small amount of time to adjust to, which is why we have the rest period here. Should your body not accept the vampire blood you would start with shakes, temperature and flu-like symptoms. In that case we would return you to the theater and we would tranfuse your own blood back into your body.”
“And I wouldn’t be a vampire?”
“No, you wouldn’t be suitable for the turning.”
He smiled at me.
“But you have had no ill effects from the feedings of your partners and so we have no reason to believe there will be any complications, okay? No swelling to the sites afterward?”
“No.”
“So, you see, everything should go ahead as planned.”
“What about my succubus blood? Will that cause a problem?”
“No. Only for your partners who will not be able to resist you, but I guess they are like that anyway?” He laughed and the others joined in.
He stood. “Okay please say your goodbyes to your friends. They can wait in the waiting room but now you need to change and come through with the nurse.”
This was it. I wished I’d given myself more time to say goodbye to my human self because it was about to disappear forever.
The nurse led me through to a more clinical looking room. It was entirely white: the walls, the bed sheets. My gown was white, and the doctors were also dressed in white. It gave everything a surreal feel.
“Come, get onto the bed please, Miss Saxton.” Dr. Ramone pointed to it.
From there I was hooked up to drips and as the sedation hit… I faded away into the darkness.
Before I opened my eyes, there was the sound. I heard everything. The drip of the blood into my body. The nurses clearing things away. The doctor’s voice as he realized I was coming back to consciousness. My eyes opened, the brightness almost blinding me and I hissed, closing my eyes again. I felt my incisors descend and I licked my tongue across them.
“Increase the O-neg please. She seems thirsty.” It was like Dr. Ramone was shouting at a concert.
I heard him at the side of me and sensed he was close. “Your senses are currently in overdrive. They will settle over the next hour or so. Although they will be a lot stronger than before, you will be able to manage them. For now just try not to become too overwhelmed. Can you try to open your eyes again?”
I slowly let one lid open and scrunched it up, loosening it as my sight adjusted. Then I did the same with the other. “I’m thirsty.” I told him.
“Let’s try you with a bottle of blood instead of the drip.”
“Nurse. Let’s unhook Serena from the equipment. She’s doing well.”
I think he regretted saying that as I launched from the bed pinning him to the wall and tried to take a chunk out of his neck. But he soon overpowered me and darkness came once again after I felt a needle in my thigh.
This time when I came around, the light didn’t hurt so bad and I remembered what had happened and felt utterly embarrassed. “I am so sorry.” I told Dr. Ramone.
“You are not the first, although you took me by surprise. I didn’t anticipate you would do that. But I always have the sedative in my hand just in case. No harm done.”
“Well, again, I’m sorry.”
“I have increased your intake on the drip once more. Shall we try again to see if you can feed yourself, but by a bottle this time and not my jugular?”
I was unhooked from the wires and this time I stayed still. Then I was handed a bottle of blood. It smelled delicious, and I drank it down greedily, licking my lips. Then I stared at the bottle as if I couldn’t believe what I had just done.
“Yes, it will take a little getting used to. Your own blood will continue to replenish itself, but the vampire blood will now work alongside it. You will to all intents and purposes be a vampire now, but the small amount of your original make up should mean you keep the person you were before inside. You are like a car with modifications. Now with extra engine power.”
I smiled. The doctor laughed. “You might want to practice cleaning up after drinking before you smile at anyone human.” He handed me a mirror and I saw my teeth and fangs smeared in red. I looked like a lunatic.
“I have a lot to learn it appears.”
“We will monitor you in here for a few more hours yet and then transfer you to your room. I will go let Mr. Kelly know you have survived and handled the transition well. Now rest.”
I laid back against the pillow. I was a vampire! The change had been made and now whatever happened between me and my vampire boyfriends I would always be one of them. I could feel my new strength inside me. It was like my body was buzzing, desperate to get out of here and do something strenuous.
Were my lovers going to be able to keep up with the new me?
6
Smith
I left the hospital with Jayden once we knew Serena was okay. Flynn was staying there, and I agreed to come back for him and Serena when she was ready for discharge, which wouldn’t be until tomorrow evening at the earliest.
Once home, I climbed into my car and went back out to Bel Air to pick up Leonie.
It didn’t take long for me to help put her belongings in my car. She didn’t have much. It was a very different Leonie who climbed into the passenger seat than the one I’d met only a few days before. She was more like her old self.
“So I have a suite booked? I’m not in the staff quarters?”
“That’s right. Now once Serena is back, if you don’t like it and you prefer to stay somewhere else, well, you can discuss that with her.”
“What did you say Serena was doing again?”
“She’s had a minor operation. Nothing I can share with you but she will be gone for a couple days. It’s a shame it coincided with your arrival as she was determined to make sure you were settled back here in Carbon Beach. I shall do my best but my people skills aren’t my best feature as you’ve learned.”
“So what drove you to drink, Smith?”
For a brief moment the car drifted over to the other side of the highway and I quickly corrected my steering. Leonie’s eyes were wide. “Sorry.” She said quietly.
“No. No. It’s fine. You just took me by surprise is all.” I took a moment to ensure my driving was back under control. “It wasn’t one thing, Leonie. It’s a number of things, and it’s complicated.”
“I understand.”
There was no way I was telling Leonie about my past. I’d yet to find out if she could be trusted. Right now she was profiting from knowing me. When it stopped, what was to stop her taking all her knowledge and selling it?
“You don’t trust me.” She said.
“No. I don’t.” I admitted honestly. “But you don’t trust me either, so at least there’s that.”
I glanced across at her and she smiled. “True. Okay eyes back on the road.”
She talked to me about how her life had been monotonous since she went to live in Bel Air and how she’d enjoyed being a masseuse and was looking forward to taking her position back at the Malibu Dream Hotel.
“Yes, you were very good at it and I’m sorry that I took advantage.”
“Smith, let’s clear the air here and start again from scratch. You took advantage of me as a quick lay, and I took advantage of you as a potential billionaire husband. We did what we did, what happened happened. It’s done. Can we try to be friends and move on?”
“Yeah, I’d like that.” I said honestly. “I could use a genuine friend and I know Serena likes you.”
“You never know, maybe one day we’ll trust each other again.” She said. “But for now, let’s leave the past exactly there.”
She held out a hand and I took one off the steering wheel, quickly shaking hers before getting back to my driving.
I pulled up outside the Malibu Dream, exited and threw the keys at the val
et while a porter took Leonie’s cases. “I’m coming in to say hello to Ted and then I’ll leave you to get settled.”
“Okay.” She looked a little nervous.
“You’ll be fine.” I reassured her.
We walked inside where Ted waited in the lobby. “Smith, my man. How is Serena?” Ted was the only human who knew what we were. He knew my mother from way back and she had confided in him long ago. The man was a true gent and I would trust him with my life.
“Early days, but she seems to be recovering to the doctor’s satisfaction.”
Leonie made a little cough in the back of her throat. “It’s nice to see you again Mr. Johnson.”
“Call me Ted, please, Leonie. I know I’m a lot older than you but please, Mr. Johnson makes me feel about a hundred.”
I laughed. Ted was around his late-forties and Leonie was twenty-nine.
“Okay, Ted it is.” Leonie smiled.
“Come through to the office, please. You too, Smith.” We followed behind him until we reached his office. He opened the door revealing its ocean views. “Have a seat.”
We got comfortable.
“So, Leonie.” He said as he took his own chair. “I gather from Smith that it was some family problem that took you away from The Dream but that now, not only is it all settled but you have a better income in general. So with that in mind, I understand you want to take one of our suites while you stay in Carbon Beach?”
Leonie looked at me for clarification.
“Yes, that’s the case, but she also needs to maintain some kind of income and needs something to occupy her time. Right?”
Leonie nodded. “Yes, I could do with working part-time maybe, to supplement the funds I now have available.”
We’d never mentioned her being part-time. Looked like Leonie was good at a hustle. I couldn’t blame her. Who would want to work all hours living here in Carbon Beach? However, I’d already spoken with Ted.
Filthy Rich Vampire Husbands Page 3