Vampires and Vixens (Psy-Vamp)

by Lawson, Cassandra

  The nurse’s tone went from dour to cheerful. “Oh, my! We’re calling her our miracle.”

  Hannah sat up. “Miracle?”

  “Yes, indeed. Now keep in mind that she is still in a coma, but she’s breathing on her own now. We can’t guarantee that she’ll make a full recovery, but she is certainly moving in that direction.”

  “Thank you,” Hannah said through her tears.

  “How is she?” Noah asked.

  “She’s breathing on her own, but still in a coma.” Hannah was smiling, laughing, and crying all at once.

  “Now aren’t you glad you called?”

  Hannah nodded. “Thank you again for all that you’ve done.”

  Noah stood up and moved the chair to the side of the room. “You need to eat some breakfast.”

  “I’m not really hungry,” she replied.

  “You have to eat,” he said gently, “for the baby.”

  “Oh my God! I hadn’t even thought about that since last night. How am I going to tell Nathaniel?”

  Noah ran his fingers through his hair. “How much have you and Nathaniel talked about things.”

  “We talk about a lot of things,” Hannah said hesitantly. “What things are you referring to?”

  “Things about your future,” Noah continued. “Have you talked about what your life would be like together? His family? Have you talked about children?”

  The whole conversation seemed strange to Hannah, and she wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to know. “Nathaniel asked me to marry him.”

  Noah looked taken aback. “You’re engaged?”

  “Not exactly,” Hannah replied as she climbed out of the bed. “You’re confusing me.”

  Noah gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m sorry.” He took both of her hands and pulled her into his arms.

  Hannah leaned into him. “Do you think he’ll be happy about the baby?”

  “Yes,” Noah assured her. “I called him about Lydia last night, and he’ll be home this morning. I told him that I’d bring you over to the main house.”

  “I think maybe I should just walk over on my own.” Reluctantly, she pulled away from Noah. “Maybe this is a sign that I should accept his proposal.”

  Noah pulled back some, but held one of her hands. The look on his face confused her. He seemed like he wanted to say more, but wasn’t sure how.

  “Why don’t you go take a shower,” he suggested as he released her hand. “I’ll fix you some breakfast, and then shower while you eat. We can walk over together later.”

  “Okay, I’ll go shower now.” Hannah still planned to talk to Nathaniel alone, but she didn’t want to argue with Noah.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  After her shower, Hannah quickly dressed. She waited for Noah to climb into the shower, before slipping out the front door. As much as she wanted him with her, she needed to tell Nathaniel about the baby alone. She’d heard Nathaniel’s car before her shower so she knew he was home.

  On the short walk to the house, Hannah tried to think of a way to tell Nathaniel about the baby. She was pretty sure he would be happy, but she was also convinced that he would insist on getting married right away. As much as she hated to admit it, she just wasn’t sure she wanted to marry Nathaniel. She turned and stared at Noah’s cottage. A big part of her wanted to go back there. She wanted to talk to Noah about what she was feeling, but she knew that was unfair to Nathaniel. With a sigh, she turned and started walking again.

  When she reached the main house, the veranda doors were open. She called out from the doorway. No one seemed to hear her, so she walked in. There were angry voices coming from upstairs. Suddenly she heard Nathaniel’s shout. The sound of his raised voice frightened her a little.

  Her curiosity made her walk toward the commotion, but she stopped just outside of the door it originated from. It wasn’t nosiness, she assured herself. She just wanted to make sure he was okay, and find out what had made him angry. Well, that was only partially true. There was some nosiness involved. Lydia’s accusations, followed by Noah’s cryptic questions, had roused Hannah’s suspicions.

  The door to the room was only slightly ajar, so it was hard to see. There were at least four, probably five men in the room. She knew one of them was Nathaniel, because she recognized his voice.

  “What the hell were you thinking, Dom?” Nathaniel’s voice was lower but the intensity of his rage still cut through the air, sending shivers down Hannah's spine. “Never mind, you don't need to answer that question, because I already know that you weren’t thinking at all!”

  “What have I done that is so wrong, Nathaniel?” Dominic stood in the corner, and she could see him pretty well. His eyes shifted between Nathaniel to the strange man standing close to him. Hannah assumed the other man was another one of Nathaniel’s cousins. It was hard to make out his features, but she was sure that she had not met him before.

  When Hannah saw the bruises on Dominic’s face she nearly gasped. The entire left side of his face was swollen, and there was a large cut next to his right eye. A trail of blood went from the corner of his mouth down to his chin. Her eyes shifted to Nathaniel’s hands, and his bloodied knuckles.

  “I ordered you to stay away from Lydia, not once but twice,” Nathaniel growled. “Your defiance is inexcusable. You know damn well that you only need to feed a few times a year at your age, not a few times a month.”

  He struck Dominic to the ground, and kicked him in the ribs twice. “You nearly killed her! You have betrayed your family, and you deserve to die!”

  Dominic clutched his rib cage and gasped for air.

  The strange man interrupted. “Who else is aware of the unfortunate situation with the girl?” He had a thick accent that Hannah couldn’t quite place. It was similar to Dominic’s accent, but he didn’t seem to struggle with English like Dominic did. When this man spoke he held everyone’s attention. Hannah had no idea who he was, but he scared everyone in the room.

  Dominic stood, almost trembling with fear. “It has already been taken care of. Is that not right, Justin?”

  Justin nodded, but did not look at Dominic. “I took care of the records at the hospital.”

  “No one is questioning Justin's loyalty to this family,” Nathaniel said in a much calmer tone. “It is your loyalty that is under scrutiny at the moment.”

  Dominic stepped back. “There was no harm done.” He turned to the strange man. “Please, I did nothing to endanger the family. Humans are fragile, and they die every day. I would never betray you, Uncle.”

  “No harm! Is that what you think?” Nathaniel’s rage was escalating again. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. “That kind of reckless binge feeding almost wiped out our kind. Do you remember the hunters that tried to eradicate our people? You should remember, Dominic, after all, you lived through it. You saw your own father butchered!”

  Dominic smiled nervously and shook his head. “The death of one human girl won't cause suspicion.”

  The strange man rested one hand on Dominic’s shoulder. Dominic paled, as if touched by the hand of Death. “We already know the girl isn’t merely a human,” he said. “Luckily for you, Noah discovered that fact. Had the girl died, you would already be dead. I still may kill you for your insolence.” His voice dropped even more. “This might be a good time for you to discover religion and pray that the girl survives.”

  Terror seized Hannah. They were all insane. Then it hit her that they were saying Dominic had nearly killed Lydia. None of this was possible. She knew that she should run, but fear paralyzed her.

  Nathaniel grabbed Dominic by the collar of his shirt. “If your mistake causes me anymore trouble, you won’t need to worry about the natural aging process.” His warning was chilling, and he glared at Dominic for several seconds in silence before releasing him.

  The strange man nodded at Nathaniel.

  Hannah turned to flee, but in her haste she dropped her purse.

  The sound of her purse hitting the
floor startled Nathaniel, and he walked into the hallway. Hannah stared at her purse, as the shadow of his figure loomed over her. Her eyes were wide with terror, and she felt her heart pound against her rib cage.

  Nathaniel bent down to pick up her purse, but did not return it to her. “Hannah, I didn’t hear you come in. Noah told me about your cousin, and I came home right away. Have you eaten?” His voice was thoughtful and polite. Something in his eyes told her that he knew she’d heard part of the conversation, but he wasn’t sure how much.

  Instinctively she took a step back; her hands trembled as she glared at him. “You son of a bitch! Who, or should I say what, are you?”

  He took a casual step forward, and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Why are you so upset, Hannah?”

  A shudder went through her as she felt his hands on her body. His touch suddenly felt unnatural. She pushed his hands away, and took another step back.

  “Take your hands off of me, you bastard.” She met his gaze. “You disgust me!” She looked around at the others who had filed out into the hallway. “You all disgust me! I want to know what you did to Lydia.”

  Once more he stepped forward, bridging the gap between them. “You must have misunderstood our conversation, Hannah.” He smiled confidently.

  His hand touched the side of her face, but she pulled away from him again. “Liar!” she spat out.

  “Calm down, Hannah.” Nathaniel, once again, placed his hands on her shoulders. “Tension is not good for you or the baby.”

  Hannah's jaw dropped. “Noah told you about the baby?”

  He looked confused. “Noah knows about the baby? How did he find out?”

  “If Noah didn’t tell you, then how do you know?” Hannah looked over her shoulder, and noticed that Drew and Justin had moved behind her to block her escape route.

  “Come sit down, and let me clarify what you think that you heard.”

  She shook her head wildly. “I don't want to listen to any more of your lies. I just want to get as far away from you as possible.” She turned to the stairs, and glared at Justin and Drew. “Get out of my way!” she shouted. When they didn’t move, she spun around. “Tell them to move!”

  The strange man stepped forward and scowled at Hannah. “You won’t be leaving, so I suggest that you calm yourself and do as you are told. Life will be much more pleasant for you if you learn how to behave appropriately. You really should show more appreciation for the gift you’ve been given.”

  The words were like a fist to the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Hannah turned and tried to push her way through Justin and Drew, but they wouldn’t budge. Both men towered over her, and she suddenly felt very helpless and alone.

  Nathaniel’s hands massaged her shoulders from behind. “I can’t let you leave. I know that you’re upset, but soon you’ll understand that we belong together. You are not going to leave me, ever.” His voice was just above a whisper. “You know I will always take care of you.”

  Gathering all of her strength to respond to his eerie declaration, she turned to face him. “I thought I knew you, but I was wrong. I saw the real you today, and you are a monster.” She fought back tears.

  “How can you say such horrible things to me, Hannah?” Nathaniel asked, oblivious to any wrong doing on his part. “You just don’t understand what I’m offering you.”

  The strange man spoke again. “These hysterical fits will stop at once.”

  Nathaniel looked at the man. “Please, let me handle this, Father.”

  He gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “This begging for forgiveness is totally unnecessary. She will not leave, despite her current wishes. Whether or not she forgives you is entirely irrelevant at this point.”

  Hannah began to tremble. This man couldn’t possibly be Nathaniel’s father. She couldn’t imagine him being older than his early thirties. None of this seemed real.

  Nathaniel looked into her frightened eyes, and spoke quietly. “Trust me; our life together is going to be wonderful.”

  “I would rather die than spend the rest of my life with you,” she spat out.

  He flinched as if she had struck him. “I have given you the gift of eternal life. From the beginning of time, humans have longed to possess that and it’s yours.”

  Hannah let out a dark, humorless laugh. “Eternal life? You are completely insane.”

  The sound of her phone ringing startled them all into silence. She reached quickly for her purse, but Nathaniel pulled it farther from her reach. He took out the phone. “I’m going to answer this phone. If you say one word, I will have to send someone over to make Trish believe you were never friends. It won’t work with Caitlin so I will just have her brought here.”

  “No!” Justin shouted.

  Hannah turned to stare at him for a moment, and then returned her attention to Nathaniel.

  “Please,” Hannah begged. “I promise that I won’t say anything, just leave my friends alone.”

  The phone started to ring again.

  “Hello,” Nathaniel said as he answered the phone. There was a brief pause while he listened. “Hi, Trish.” He paused longer. “No, she’s sleeping. She was pretty sick this morning. Did you hear that I’m going to be a father?” He paused again to listen to Trish. “I couldn’t be more excited. We were already planning to get married, but now I think we’ll bump up the date.” This time there was a much longer pause. “Sure, I’ll tell her.” He hit the end button, and then put her phone in his shirt pocket.

  A sick feeling came over Hannah as she realized how effortlessly he’d just lied. Had he ever been honest with her? She moved closer to Nathaniel, and looked up into his eyes. “Please let me go, Nathaniel.”

  His eyes closed, and he sighed. When he opened his eyes, his face showed no emotion. “You are one of us now, Hannah, and you cannot ever go back to being what you were before. You will be my wife.”

  “So we’ll just be one big happy family with the man who nearly killed my cousin?” Hannah snapped.

  “He will be gone within the hour,” Nathaniel assured her.

  “Where?” Hannah asked. “Are you calling the police?”

  “What should we tell them?” asked Nathaniel’s father. Then a thought seemed to occur to him. “We could kill him if that would make you feel better about the situation.”

  Dominic took a step back, and stared at her wide-eyed.

  “Would that make this right for you?” Nathaniel asked. He was serious.

  It took Hannah a long time to process this question. They had really just asked if she wanted them to kill someone. “Are you joking? You can’t just kill him.”

  “There was a time when he would have already been dead,” Nathaniel’s father explained calmly.

  Hannah started to shake her head back and forth as if she could force herself to wake up from this terrible nightmare. When she looked up at Nathaniel, tears were streaming down her face. “I am begging you to let me go. I promise I won’t tell anyone what happened. No one would believe me even if I did tell them.”

  Nathaniel looked down, and shook his head. “I’ve already told you that you’re not going to leave me. When you became pregnant with my son you became one of us. Even if I wanted to let you go, you can’t survive on your own.”

  Her hands moved protectively to her belly. “What are you?”

  “We are superior to humans,” Nathaniel explained with pride. “Only a select few humans, like you, can ever reach this state. You’ll need my help to adjust, and to survive. I’m not sure there is a good word to describe what we are.”

  “I like the word vampires,” Drew added.

  “Vampire is a vulgar term,” Nathaniel’s father scoffed.

  “But it’s totally badass,” Drew argued.

  She let out one of those laughs that was more madness than amusement. When Nathaniel’s hand reached out to her again, she tried to take a step back but she was trapped between Nathaniel and his cousins. “Don’t touch me!”


  Her hand shot out to slap him, but his father caught her arm and twisted it down to her side. She cringed in pain. She had no idea how he had moved so quickly.

  Drew grabbed her arms, and held them behind her back. She didn’t struggle. The touch of Nathaniel’s father had paralyzed her with fear.

  Nathaniel smiled, and kissed her on the cheek. He caressed her face with his index finger. As she sobbed, Nathaniel continued to caress her cheek and run his fingers through her hair. “Once you’ve had time to think, you will realize how lucky you are.”

  A sudden thought occurred to him. “Maybe we should bring Caitlin here now. It would be nice for you to have a friend.”

  “You have no right to just kidnap my friends,” Hannah argued.

  They ignored her. Nathaniel’s father spoke. “The idea does have merit. It might make the transition easier for them both. Of course, the decision is Justin’s.”

  “I already said no,” Justin replied irritably.

  Nathaniel stepped away from her, and turned his attention to Justin and Drew. “Take her to her room, and have some lunch brought up to her.”

  Without another word, he walked away.

  His father pointed to Dominic. “I want him out of the country today. We will all dine together this evening.” He looked directly at Justin. “That includes your brother.”

  “I don’t think that would be-”

  When Nathaniel’s father raised his hand, Justin fell silent. “He will be there.” On that proclamation he walked off without another word.

  “Get your hands off of me,” Hannah said calmly to Drew. “I can walk on my own.”

  He released her and chuckled. “You are going to be so much fun to have around.”

  They walked in silence to a bedroom suite that she had never seen before. It was decorated in shades of jade green and gold. As far as prisons went, it was nice but it was still a prison.

  Justin opened the closet which was full of clothing. “You should have everything you need. Someone will bring up some food for you soon.” He sounded tired, and his voice held very little emotion. Of course, that was not too unusual for Justin. “I put some prenatal vitamins in the bathroom. If they upset your stomach you can take them at bedtime. There is also an iron supplement. It is very important that you take the iron pill three times a day. Tell me immediately if you can’t keep that down.”