“Oh, God,” Katarina groaned. “You’re not back to sympathising with him, are you? Have you completely forgotten that he’s a murderer?”
“Oh, shut the fuck up!” she snapped, furious that the female cared more for humans she’d never met than for her own brother’s suffering. “You try spending your entire youth starving and then tell me you wouldn’t kill a million humans if it meant you didn’t have to go back to that!”
Katarina’s eyes flared with anger, but Knox intervened before they could get into a heated debate.
“Alright, alright,” he said, holding up his hands. “Chill out, would you? Let’s just agree to disagree about the whole thing and give it a rest. We’re supposed to be keeping an eye on Jacob, not arguing the moral decision of whether a Lion should be free to be a Lion to the detriment of the Antelope.”
As if her best friend had purposefully chosen that moment to transition, they all heard an agonized scream emanate from the direction of his bedroom.
9
Sienna’s heart practically jumped into her throat as Knox and Greyvian took off. She wanted more than anything to follow them but figured she’d just be in the way and probably a huge distraction. Looking to Lucas for reassurance, she felt herself calm as she met his unperturbed gaze. He smiled at her to show that it was nothing to worry about and she found herself relaxing a little more. Katarina, on the other hand, sat bolt upright, her horrified gaze glued in the direction of the hallway.
“Is he supposed to be screaming like that?” she asked, wincing, as another agonized scream rang out.
“I take it you’ve never been involved with one before,” Lucas spoke.
It wasn’t really a question, but Katarina shook her head, finally dragging her gaze from the doorway to look at the half-breed.
“There’s a reason why so many die during a transition,” he explained, quite relaxed about the whole thing. “It’s agonizing. So bad, you wish you were dead. Mine was a century ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday.”
Sienna raised an eyebrow at him. “You don’t seem too cut up about it now.”
He shrugged, green eyes vibrant. “What’s done is done. I survived. No use dwelling on things you can’t change, is there? That’s a sure-fire way to drive yourself into a depression.”
She smiled, impressed with his positive attitude and then remembered something Greyvian had said.
“Hang on,” she said, confused again. “I thought a full-blood’s transition was worse than a half-breed’s.”
“Not especially,” Katarina replied, puzzled. “Who told you that?”
“Greyvian.”
“Oh.” Katarina looked troubled as she shook her head. “No. A full-blood transition is not really all that painful. Uncomfortable, yes, but not painful. But perhaps that is because we are already drinking blood when it hits… I drank from many sources before and during mine, so that may have helped.”
“But Greyvian would have had no one, right?” Sienna said, frowning as she pieced a few more things together. “Did he even know about the transition?”
Greyvian’s sister shook her head slowly. “No. I don’t think so. It’s generally not mentioned until you’re old enough to need to know, and Grey was sixteen when he… left. Given his condition beforehand, there are probably a lot of things that my brother never had the opportunity to learn.”
From the mournful look on Katarina’s face, Sienna wondered if maybe Greyvian’s sister was finally starting to see things from his perspective.
* * *
Jacob wanted to die. The pain that wracked his body was both searing and complete—leaving no inch of him untouched. He couldn’t control himself as he writhed around, his limbs twitching and jerking, his torso twisting and bucking as it tried to flee from a pain from which there was no escape.
He thought he might be screaming, but he couldn’t hear any sound but the deafening beat of his own heart as it tried to cope with whatever the hell was happening inside of his body.
Time meant nothing. He could have been in this living hell for one minute or one hour. It felt like an eternity.
As the pain began to escalate even further, launching him into a new stage of torment that threatened his sanity as his blood began to boil him alive, he was suddenly pulled onto his back and something hard was pressed against his open mouth. A warm, thick liquid dripped steadily into the back of his throat. He swallowed convulsively and groaned in relief as a tide of coolness swept down his oesophagus and spread throughout his body, numbing some of the pain as it went. The more he swallowed, the greater the relief.
Pretty soon, his body turned liquid and relaxed into the plush carpet.
He was saved.
* * *
Greyvian held his wrist to Jacob’s mouth and felt nothing but relief that the waiting was over. As Jacob sucked at his skin and groaned in gratitude, Greyvian looked up at Knox who was leaning back against the door like some kind of sentinel. The half-breed returned his gaze, expression neutral for once.
For as long as he had known the male, Knox had always shown what he was thinking by his expression. The half-breed was an open book; honest to a fault. The fact that he was now guarding his thoughts spoke more than words that Knox was struggling with something.
“What is it?” he asked, although he wasn’t entirely sure he really wanted to know. Knox had some peculiar ideas when it came to life.
“Now is not the time,” Knox said, shaking his head.
With a shrug, Greyvian focused once more on Jacob.
He had not had the time, nor the focus, to truly process the fact that Jacob was his flesh and blood, but now, as he looked down into the fever dampened face of the young male, the features that were so similar to his, the knowledge slowly started to sink in that he had a son. He was not sure what that would mean for the future, but for some reason it made him feel something deep in his gut. Something he hadn’t felt for a very long time.
Hope. Perhaps he had not been cursed to spend eternity alone after all.
That was, of course, dependent on Jacob; on whether he could accept Greyvian for all that he was—and more importantly, for all that he wasn’t.
A few minutes of feeding were all it took to drain Greyvian of a large quantity of his blood and numb the pain of Jacob’s transition. When the male was done, he fell still and all was silent in the room.
Wearily, Greyvian lifted his wrist and licked the wound closed, cleaning the area of blood as he did so. He felt especially tired after this donation. Sometimes the pre-trans took only a small amount of blood, sometimes more.
Jacob had taken more than any other.
He wondered if that was significant.
Sitting back on the bed, he looked up slowly as Knox walked over to him, wrist to his mouth. The scent of the half-breed’s blood erupted into the air and roused Greyvian’s thirst enough to cause his fangs to drop down into his mouth. He stared at the offered wrist, feeling the thirst as a burning ache throughout his body, but he couldn’t bring himself to feed from the half-breed. He knew what the taste would be like. He well-remembered the cloying sweetness of it, the thick texture, and he’d sooner starve than swallow a mouthful of the liquid.
There had been a time he had hoped half-breed blood would be enough to satisfy his need, as their blood was not quite as sickly to him as that of a full-blood, but unfortunately, fate was not that kind to him.
“Grey, you need to take some,” Knox said when he turned his head away. “Just a mouthful or two to start. We can take our time.”
“No,” he grimaced, pushing the arm away. “I’ll be fine.”
“Greyvian,” Knox warned, “you have to.”
“Why?” In the century that he’d been doing this with the half-breed, Knox had never before tried to force his blood on Greyvian. Why would he start now?
The half-breed paused—as if he didn’t want to answer him. Greyvian looked up at the blonde, taking in the unease on his attractive features and t
hen he remembered.
“Sienna.” Her name passed his lips on a breath of air.
* * *
A sudden thought struck Sienna and she looked at Lucas in alarm. “How much blood does Greyvian have to give Jacob?”
The half-breed didn’t even have to think about it. “Quite a bit. Why?”
“I’ve got to get out of here.” Leaping to her feet, she heard Jacob’s bedroom door crash open and Knox’s voice shouting Greyvian’s name.
A split second later, they all stood frozen as he appeared in the doorway, eyes black as night and his upper lip pulled back, revealing those ultra-sharp fangs of his. He looked truly terrifying as those hungry eyes locked onto her.
She had only a breath of a moment to attempt to flee as he flew into the room with a speed that was definitely supernatural. Thought was impossible. One blink and he barrelled into her, knocking her to the floor and pinning her to the soft rug, his heavy weight pressing her into the floor. She was so shocked, she didn’t even register the impact. Before she could recover, twin points of pain exploded in her neck. It was like being stabbed with a hot poker, the pain was that intense. She couldn’t tell if he retracted his fangs or not, but it didn’t really matter because a burning fire started to race throughout her body as he began to draw the blood from her veins in hard pulls.
She would have screamed, had she any breath.
Fortunately for her, the pain soon faded and turned to pleasure and she was able to focus on the sensation of his mouth sucking at her neck, not the burning agony of being bitten and fed from. The small sounds of ecstasy he was making served to heighten her enjoyment and pretty soon the feeding turned truly sexual as he lifted his hips, positioned the hard length of his erection at her groin and started to thrust demandingly against her pubic bone.
Closing her eyes, she grabbed a fistful of his hair, wrapped her legs around his waist and welcomed him against her core, giving herself over to the carnality of it all. The pressure and friction was a mixture of burning pain and pleasure. If she could have, she would have pushed his pants down over his ass so that he could do it right but she didn’t have the leverage, and she had the feeling the leather would prove a challenge. She didn’t even spare a thought for the audience that surrounded them.
Regardless of the clothing that separated them, each thrust seemed to rub in just the right spot and pretty soon she was ready to explode.
Hell, if she was going to die, it might as well follow an orgasm.
* * *
Knox had never seen anyone move as fast as Greyvian as he took off out of Jacob’s bedroom. It was almost like the vampires portrayed in movies.
The male had been holding out on them.
He followed Grey as fast as he could, but he simply didn’t have the speed to catch him. He came into the living room just as the full-blood tackled Sienna to the floor. A moment later, the sweetly intoxicating scent of her blood pierced the air and nearly sent him to his knees. It took a tremendous amount of self-control not to run over there and join Greyvian in feasting upon the human.
“Lucas! Katarina!” he yelled, snapping them out of the entranced stares they were aiming the couple’s way. “Help me get him off her!”
“What are we supposed to do?” Lucas asked, stepping up beside them and looking down helplessly. “If we pull him off, he could rip her throat out.”
“Fuck,” he cursed, knowing his son was right.
He’d known that this was likely to happen. No one could say that he hadn’t tried to get Sienna to leave before it could, but he also hadn’t protested too strongly when she’d refused because he’d thought he’d be able to stop Greyvian when the time came by feeding the male his blood. He’d been wrong. Dead wrong. And Sienna might just pay the price for his arrogance.
He stared at them for a moment, unable to keep himself from being aroused by the way Greyvian was grinding into the female, and tried to think. Was there something Grey would prefer over Sienna’s blood? Not fucking likely. So, what to do?
He looked over at the kitchen and it came to him. It was primitive, but it would probably work. After retrieving a frypan from a cupboard, he stood over Greyvian and took a swing at the male’s head.
With a resounding clang, the frypan clocked Grey a good one, causing the full-blood to hiss in pain and lift his head a fraction, thereby providing evidence that his teeth were out of her neck. Without hesitation, Lucas launched himself at the male, knocking him to the side, away from Sienna. Knox had thought the blow would knock him out, but Grey was already struggling against Lucas and it seemed as if his son was going to lose the fight.
His eyes snapped to Sienna as she moaned and reached a hand in Greyvian’s direction as if she wanted the male back atop her. Knox knew they couldn’t afford the distraction of her blood when his eyes locked onto the slowly seeping wound at her neck and he took a step toward her.
“Katarina!” he yelled, hoping the female didn’t disappoint him. “Get her out of here!”
Shifting his focus back to the two who were wrestling on the floor, he managed to jump on Greyvian just as the male got out from under Lucas’s body, sending the full-blood into a fresh wave of growling and cursing. It was like riding a bucking bronco and it took all of his concentration just to remain wrapped around Grey’s body, so he was only distantly aware of Katarina grabbing hold of Sienna and dragging her towards the door.
* * *
Katarina sagged against the apartment door and took a moment to catch her breath. Dragging the dead weight of a human female was hard work. Why couldn’t she have super-strength like the vampires portrayed in movies? It would have come in really handy right now.
Glancing around the hallway, she made sure that there was no one around before looking down at Sienna. Her eyes zeroed in on the bloodied holes in the human’s neck that were still seeping red blood, just as she knew they would be. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes as the intoxicating smell of it tantalized her senses. Her fangs had been out ever since Greyvian had knocked the female to the ground and released the full-strength scent of her blood, so kneeling beside the now unconscious woman seemed the natural thing to do.
In all of her centuries of life, she had only ever tasted human blood once out of curiosity, and that had been over two centuries ago. She remembered that it had tasted alright, but it had been nothing worth another attempt. Definitely nothing like what Sienna’s scent promised. The mere smell of it had her body tight and tingling with anticipation.
Before she could even think about what she was doing, her mouth was over the wound and she was sucking.
The first swallow was pure ecstasy, the pleasure radiating throughout her body, sending little jolts of energy into her clitoris. Another swallow set off an orgasm stronger than any she’d ever had before and sent her sprawling backwards as the waves of pleasure undulated through her system like a tidal wave.
Panting in shock and the echoes of pleasure, she lay recovering for a long moment, unable to understand how two little swallows of a human’s blood could affect her like that. Had Greyvian known? Was that why he hadn’t seemed able to take his eyes off the human?
Shaking her head to clear it of the lingering effects of the orgasm, she sat up and gazed down at the woman whose blue eyes were now open and watching her with a look of exhausted curiosity.
“You’re really something, you know that?” Katarina asked, and then slowly crawled back over to Sienna.
She didn’t know if she could take another orgasm like that so soon after the first one, but she had to close the wound before Sienna bled out all over the floor. As it was, the female’s face was deathly pale, the flow of blood too sluggish for the gravity of her wounds.
Bracing herself, Katarina focused on healing and licked Sienna’s neck, concentrating hard to keep from reopening it instead. It was the hardest thing she’d ever had to do. The pleasure threatened to overwhelm her control and she might have licked a few more times than was necessary for her sali
va to do its thing.
When there was no longer any trace of blood on the woman’s neck and the wound was fully healed, Katarina finally sat back, licking her lips in wonder. Who would have thought that a human’s blood could have that effect on a vampire?
After a long moment, logical thought finally returned to her brain and she realised that Greyvian could come bursting out of the apartment at any moment to finish the job. With a surprising lack of effort, she pushed herself to her feet, feeling energized.
Damn, Sienna’s blood was like a drug. Better than any stimulant she’d ever come across.
“Can you walk?” she asked the female.
Sienna’s limbs stirred, but Katarina could tell that there was no strength in the movement.
Hmm, what to do, what to do. She supposed she could drag Sienna to the elevator and then out onto the street and as far as she could manage to give Greyvian some time to recover his composure. But how long would that be? She’d be in real trouble if another vampire just happened to stumble upon them.
Gazing down at Sienna, she noticed that the female’s eyes kept closing. Maybe they wouldn’t even make it to the street? Damn Greyvian and his appetite. She was not going to let this human join the long list of his victims.
As she had done a hundred times over the past few centuries whenever a human was in need of blood, she bit into her wrist and pressed it against Sienna’s lips. Like a good little patient, the human opened her mouth without having to be told and swallowed. Why simply ingesting vampire blood worked on humans, she had never been inclined to find out. Knowing it worked was all that mattered to her.
Unexpectedly, Sienna’s body jack-knifed off the wooden floor and she moaned like someone had jabbed her with a Taser.
Alarmed, Katarina frowned down at the female. That was not a reaction she had ever seen before. Always in the past, humans had taken her blood without even a twitch to show that it affected them and then had recovered completely.
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