I closed my eyes. "Too bright."
A moment later the light entering through my eyelids dimmed, and Edie asked, "Better?"
I opened my eyes again. I was in my own bedroom.
"Brain damaged?"
"I don't think so," Edie said. "You were low, but your heart continued to beat the whole time."
"Should have let me die," I said.
"No!" said Lady Dunn. "No."
"How could you?" I asked her. "How could you do that to me? Get away from me? You're an animal, worse than an animal."
"I'm sorry."
"Get away from me!" I began to panic again.
"Shhh," she said, "Calm down."
"Go to hell."
But I didn't have any energy left to fight her, and I slumped in her arms.
My whole body hurt, and I closed my eyes again.
"Why?"
"Cassius was murdered." And then from behind me, she began crying, then sobbing.
I was too lost in my own emotions to care about the vampire's. I looked at Edie. "Who was Cassius?"
"Her maker. She was lost in the rage and grief. She didn't know what she was doing, most of the time. When she was lucid, she tried to save you. Maria called me, but I was so far away, and it took time to arrive. She played with you as long as she could, hoping I'd get here to save you. She drained you slowly, hoping I'd get here."
"What language were you speaking?"
"Patois. She had a lucid moment, not very long, only a second or two. She ordered me to save you. I couldn't have acted otherwise."
"Why not?"
"She's my maker."
I looked over my shoulder. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she sobbed.
"I'm sorry for your loss, m'lady." I wasn't sure I was, but it wasn't in me to twist a knife into someone so clearly grief-stricken.
"Call me," she said between sobs, "Demetria."
"I'm sorry for your loss, Demetria."
She was lost in her grief, and I really couldn't move. I wasn't in a comforting mood, her insanity cured or not. I looked back at Edie.
"Everyone else?"
"I checked on them. They are in the safe rooms."
"Safe rooms?"
"Vampire proof, more or less. Rages happen. A vampire her age can be lucid long enough to order her staff to safety."
"It's over. They can come out?"
"I told them to stay. She isn't through the grief yet."
My eyes grew wide. "She'll take me there again! Edie, I can't go through that again. Save me!"
"I tried to lock her up, but she won't go. She won't leave you. She won't let me take you from her. I'm sorry. I can't act against her."
"Won't, or can't?"
"Can't."
I was more alert, everything making more sense. I tried to glance up at the blood bags, but I couldn't see them.
"How much?"
"So far, almost four pints."
I stared, shocked, surprised I had lived.
"You're probably pretty full, but I want to put one more into you. Your pressure is still a little low and your heart rate still elevated."
"It's elevated because she tried to drain me in the most horrible way possible."
"It was elevated even while you were still asleep. I need you to try to calm down, Melissa."
I turned snarky and sarcastic. "You find yourself trapped by the vampire who tried to kill you, dangling you over a stainless steel table and slitting your throat, then tell me about calming down."
"Nevertheless," she said, "You need to calm down to help keep her calm."
"Why should I care if she's calm, after what she did?" I tried struggling again, but Lady Dunn simply tightened her arm around me, and I surrendered.
"Melissa," said Edie, "Look at me!"
"You should have let me die."
"I couldn't. Now look at me."
I lifted my eyes. She didn't glamour me. Instead, she said simply, "Please, you must calm down."
I closed my eyes and tried to control my emotions, but it was difficult. Behind me, Lady Dunn grew still, her sobbing fading away.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I hope you can forgive me."
How do you forgive someone who did what she had done? I didn't say it, but I had one thought: fat chance.
"She wasn't herself," Edie said. "Melissa, a vampire's rages are very, very hard to control, and the death of a maker is the worst of them. She's now the head of our line, and that is a terrible burden."
I looked over my shoulder at my mistress, but I didn't come to any conclusions. She terrified me, but her arms around me felt good at the same time. I looked back at Edie.
"You are very resilient," she said. "You are very brave."
"I was so scared. I wanted to die, I have for two years, but she glamoured me and ordered me to fight her, ordered me to live."
"She was doing what she could to protect you."
"Why didn't she send me to a safe room?"
"It was all she could do to save the staff. If she had seen a blood slave going into a safe room, she would have killed everyone there."
"Why?"
"Because," said Lady Dunn -- Demetria. "It was a blood slave that killed Cassius." She paused. "Edie. Edie, don't let her die. Do not let her die." There was a great deal of power in her words, and then she softened. "I'm sorry, Melissa." And then she sank her fangs into my neck.
I cried out, struggling. It hurt.
"Edie!" I screamed.
"Shh!" she said, moving closer to me, right in my field of vision. "Melissa! Listen to me. Calm down. Don't fight her. Let her feed, she needs to feed from you to bury the grief. Calm down."
"It hurts. Oh it hurts!"
"I know."
Then Demetria worked her jaw, burying her fangs deeper, and I felt the blood flowing freely from my neck. She attached to me like a remora, sucking the blood into her.
"She's killing me, Edie. Make her stop!"
"I can't," she said. "I can fight to save you. I have to follow her orders. Listen. You must relax. You must not fight her. If you fight, she'll fight back, and she'll win. Relax. Do not struggle."
I fought my own body, fought my terror, and I found myself whimpering in fear. My body was stiff in panic, but I stopped trying to scramble away from her.
"There," Edie said. "Look at me, Melissa."
I moved my eyes, looking into hers.
"She's only feeding, just like she always does. That's all. She's feeding."
"It hurts."
"Relax. Think kind thoughts. This is grief, horrible grief beyond anything a human feels. Negative emotions are deeply enhanced for a vampire, and this was her maker. Think about your mother times ten."
I tried to imagine the murder of my mother, and how enraged I would be, how out of my mind I would be. If a vampire had killed her, I would have launched myself at any nearby vampires, regardless of guilt or innocence. I admitted that to Edie.
"Exactly," she said.
"But I wouldn't expect the vampire to forgive me!"
"Sure you would. She'd catch you and hold you, understanding your rage until you reduced to grief instead."
"After what she did-"
"She was that lost in rage, out of her mind with rage, just like you would be, but with a vampire's intensity of negative emotions."
The vampire worked her jaw, and I whimpered.
"Try to relax. Relax your muscles. Start with your hands. They're clenched. Concentrate on relaxing your hands, just your hands. Good. There you go, Melissa. Relax your hands. There, isn't that better? Now your arms. Feel the muscles relax."
"She's killing me, Edie."
"I won't let you die, Melissa. We have more blood. But I need to go get it. I can't go if you can't relax. You have to relax for me, and I'll go get more blood. One of the bags is nearly empty. We'll keep pumping it into you, and I can pump it in faster than she's drawing it out."
I closed my eyes and tried to fight the natural reaction. I nodded
. "Go," I said.
And like that, she was gone.
I concentrated on relaxing. I thought about the grief Demetria must be feeling.
"You gave me your name," I whispered. "You told me someday you would, and you gave me your name."
And slowly I calmed while a vampire fed from me. While my vampire fed from me.
I lay in her arms, my head against her shoulder, and I realized her legs were spread on either side of me. I found a leg and squeezed it gently, then moved my hand under the bedding, feeling for her bare skin. She was wearing pants, slacks of some sort, but I caressed her leg through the thin fabric, then the other leg, too.
I swallowed my own fear. I think I even forgave her, at least a little. "I'm so sorry, Demetria," I whispered. "I'm sorry. Take what you need, m'lady. I am your blood slave, your property. I live for your needs." As I said it, I felt myself surrender to whatever would happen.
And, slowly, the pain in my neck lessened, and then I felt her tongue move, and a soothing lassitude settled into me. It wasn't the pleasure she normally gave me, but I relaxed more fully against her.
"You've been trying to get me into bed," I said quietly. "I didn't think it would be like this. I've wanted you, you know. I couldn't admit it. I couldn't ask. But part of me, a very big part, wanted you to make love to me. But I've never been the one to instigate. You met Pru."
Behind me, she stiffened.
"That's the type of woman I've been with, and you're her times a hundred, so dominant. I'm not with her, Demetria, I'm here with you."
Her tongue worked against my throat, not pleasure, but acceptance and something else I couldn't quite name.
Edie returned.
"Keep talking to her," she said. "You're doing well."
She was carrying several sacks of blood. She stepped past me, unhooking one of the sacks behind my head, and changed it out.
"Your heart is slower."
"She did something," I said.
"Ah, of course," Edie said. "I'm going to take your blood pressure."
She took my vitals and even checked my eyes for reaction.
"I don't like your pressure," she said. "It's dropping."
"Edie?"
"I'm going to turn the flow up." She moved around and fiddled with something. I couldn't see what. "Keep talking to her."
I spoke soothingly to Demetria. She didn't seem to register anything I said, but from time to time, I felt her tongue move against me, a fresh wave of lassitude flowing through me. I zoned out.
"Melissa? Melissa!"
It took a while to focus on Edie.
"She did something," I said slowly.
"She's trying to calm herself by calming you," she said. "But I need you to stay with me."
"Can't you talk to her?" I said. "I'm so sleepy."
"She won't hear me. She'll hear you, barely. She'll hear emotionally. Stay with me, Melissa."
"I just want to sleep," I said. "I've had a really bad day, and she feels so good."
And her tongue moved, giving me a moment of pleasure, but even more of the calming waves.
"Just let me go to sleep, Edie. Let me die."
"No!" Edie said. "I can't. I can't disobey her. Stay with me, or I'll make you stay with me. You won't like it."
I opened my eyes wider and grew crabby. "Who elected you bossy-pants?"
"She did," Edie said immediately. "Now talk to her."
"Nothing left to say."
"Then say it all over again."
So I did, slowly, but I ran out. And Edie replaced another bag of blood.
"Talk about something else then," she said. "Talk about one of your paintings. Your old paintings, not your new ones."
"You've seen those?"
"Everyone has seen those," she said, "and everyone is trying to hire you, but she's refusing. Now talk to her."
So I did. I talked about growing up, about drawing on everything. I talked about art classes, and learning how to paint. I talked about my first job and my first commissioned piece. I told her how excited I was when someone bought my early paintings, then reminded her she had some of them.
And Edie changed bags.
She picked up her phone, made a call. "I'm at Lady Dunn's. I have a patient with blood type A-positive. Leave enough for emergencies, but bring the rest of our entire, compatible supply. Immediately. Someone will be waiting."
"What's happening?" I asked.
"We're running low," she said. "I have more coming."
"She has to stop soon. Doesn't she?"
"She's burning through it to fight her grief," Edie explained. "It's better than going back into a rage."
"Can't you pop her off my neck and give her a bottle?"
"She won't take it right now. She wants it from you."
"This is ridiculous! She's going to kill me."
"I won't let you die. Keep talking to her."
I talked, and Edie changed one of the bags.
What Demetria was doing felt good. It shouldn't. The pain had stopped some time ago. I could feel my blood pumping out my neck, but it felt good. Not that amazing pleasure she sometimes gave me, just... right. It felt right. It felt right that I bleed for her.
"I'm an addict," I said to Edie.
"Yes, probably," she said. "Let's not worry about that now. Keep talking. Tell her about your friends."
So I told her about Tegan, and about Mrs. Benchley and Livingston.
"I'll be back," Edie said. "I need to get some help."
Then she was gone, and it seemed like she was gone for a long time. What if one of the bags emptied before she got back?
I felt myself drifting, and I wanted to sleep. I closed my eyes, just for a minute.
"Melissa!"
"Go 'way," I muttered.
She pinched my foot and I jumped, my eyes flying open.
And from behind me, Demetria growled in her throat.
"I don't think she liked that," I said to Edie.
"Then don't make me do it again," Edie said. "Why aren't you talking to her?"
"Where's your help?"
"At the main gate waiting for Davis. He better hurry. Last bag."
She replaced one of the bags and fussed at me until I talked to Lady Dunn.
She took my blood pressure. "Melissa, you need to get her to slow down. Your pressure keeps going down, and I can't pump it in any faster unless I prep I.V.'s in your legs, too."
So I talked to Demetria, but she didn't seem to understand, and still she drew the blood from me. I kept telling her to slow down, to savor her meal. "You're eating too fast. Taste it on the way down."
She moved her tongue against me, and I almost went to sleep from the lassitude she pumped into me.
"She keeps making me relax," I said, struggling to keep my eyes open.
"As soon as Davis gets here, I'm adding two more I.V's. I've never run more than two. Maybe they do it differently in an emergency room, but I never served in one."
I talked, and I drifted, but when Edie forced me awake, Demetria growled at her.
She worked her jaw, keeping my blood flowing, then rewarded me with pleasure and lassitude.
"Honey," I said, "if you don't slow down, you're going to kill me. Slow down, for me. I'll forgive you for earlier, but you must slow down."
She didn't slow down.
And then there were more people in my room, Maria and a man I didn't recognize.
"Edie?"
"This is Davis," she said. She turned to him. "I need two units prepped right away and a third shortly."
"Those are only half empty," he said, pointing.
"I need to run two more."
Maria was staring. "Lady Dunn?"
"She won't hear you," I said.
It took a few minutes, the covers pulled from my body, exposing me to Davis. I complained, and Maria tucked the bedding around me as best she could. Edie ran the I.V. needles herself, and soon it was like half an octopus of blood lines flowing into me.
I d
on't know how much blood they pumped into me. Edie's movements began to slow.
"Dawn is coming," she whispered. "I've got maybe twenty minutes more before I'm unconscious until sunset." She looked at me. "Melissa, I am so sorry."
"There's plenty of blood," I said. "You can get more. Maria can get more. You can sleep. Show her how to change them."
"You don't understand. She ordered me not to let you die. I can't sleep until I know you're safe."
"What are you saying?"
"I have to turn you."
"No!" I screamed, and Demetria growled.
"Calm her down. Melissa, calm her down!"
"It's okay, m'lady," I said. "Shh. Everything is fine." I spoke soothingly, but I could feel her work her jaw, and my blood flowing into her increased."
"Where's it all going?"
"Burning it," Edie said. "I'm sorry, Melissa."
"No! There are other choices."
"We're out of options," Edie said. "We can't transfer you to a hospital; she won't allow it. I can't trust the humans to take care of you. And I don't have anyone else to call."
I thought about it. "I do. Get me my tablet, Maria!"
It took her a few minutes to find it. It had fallen under the bed in the struggles earlier. I took it carefully and messaged Cathalina. "Demetria killing me. I need you."
* * * *
It took fifteen minutes for Cathalina to call back. Edie had changed out another bag and told me, "Two more minutes, then I have to do it."
"No. I'd rather die."
"I'm sorry."
The tablet chirped and it took me a second or two before I could push the right button to answer it.
"Melissa?"
I aimed the camera towards me, and I saw Cathalina's office. There was light behind her.
"Can you see me?"
"Yes, Melissa. What's going on?"
I aimed the camera at the I.V.'s, tracing them from where they hung until they disappeared into my body, then I pointed the camera at my neck.
"She's drinking. She won't stop. Edie is here."
"It's almost dawn, a few more minutes."
"She says she has to turn me, Madame Cathalina. Don't let her turn me! Help me!"
"Edie," Cathalina ordered, "Don't do it."
"I have to. She ordered me not to let the slave die. It's the only way."
"Trust me. I'm on my way, but it will be dawn before I arrive."
"I-" said Edie. She began to tremble. "I'll try."
Blood Slave Page 41