Derek excused himself and followed his brother outside. He was on the phone with Axel, letting him know they had the vampire situation handled and he could take on the next assignment. "I hate lying to him," Wade said as he ended the call with their eldest brother.
"Do you think I like it? We don't have a choice."
"That's the thing, Derek. We do have a choice. We're supposed to follow protocol not go half-cocked in the other direction. What are you and Cassandra thinking?" He took off his Stetson and brushed back his hair. "For God's sake, our sister is shacking up with a fanger, and you…" he waved his hand at him. "You're damn well considering it."
Derek opened his mouth to deny it, but his brother was right. He wanted to be with Sloane and he knew damn well her future wouldn't be pretty. She was destined to become a vampire… There was no way to stop the process. Her body was already changing. Her eyes flickered to red when her adrenaline spiked and he knew soon she would sport a pair of pearly white fangs. "Fate's a bitch."
"No, bro, for it to be Fate, it would mean all this messed up crap was meant to be. This is a detour from Fate's plan. Fangers shouldn't exist."
"What are you trying to say, Wade? We're Fate's enforcers and we have the right to do her bidding?"
Wade had the decency to flinch.
"You've slept with preternatural beings," Derek accused. "Don't go denying it. What makes you all high and mighty now?"
"I might have dabbled, but I'm not pledging my undying love to one of them. We're hunters. We take down the freaks of nature. It's kill or be killed with them."
"You dabbled? What a tool you are. Sleep with the enemy and it's okay. Well, Sloane isn't a freak of nature—as you like to say. She's a young woman who had her life taken from her. She didn't ask to be changed. What if it had been Cassandra? Would you be able to snuff out her life so easily?"
Wade slammed his hat back down on his head. "I would make the right decision." Which didn't exactly say he would slay his sibling or not.
Wade would have stridden by without a backward glance, but Derek grabbed his arm, halting his retreat. "After this is finished, what do you plan to do?"
Wade's jaw muscles worked, indicating how close he was to losing it. "I'll walk away from this madness. You and Cassandra can deal with your mistakes. But remember, if the vamps turn on either one of you and it all goes to bloody hell, I won't hesitate to dust you. Sibling or not, a vampire is a vampire. Got it?"
So he had his answer. Derek let his hand slip away. "As you wish." He didn't want to lose his brother and he was sure Cassandra would feel the same, but Wade left them no room for negotiation.
Chapter Sixteen
Sloane kicked off her boots and propped her feet up on the couch. Tremayne insisted she relax and save her energy. He didn't want anything to speed up the process of her transformation until it became unavoidable. She still hoped her body would reject Tim's bite and she would remain human. Yeah, she knew it was a fantasy, but she really liked fairytales where the couples lived happily-ever-after.
She could hear Derek and Cassandra in the kitchen, preparing a meal for the humans. She supposed she would have to get used to using the correct terms. She would be joining: Team Hybrid. She wondered if they made T-shirts.
"That's too much cheese," Cassandra complained from the other room.
"You can never have too much cheese," Derek argued, but it was all in good humor.
The siblings' banter made her smile, reminding her of her brother and how they would tease each other. She didn't want to give up her family, but she knew if she turned, it would be a must. It was the only way they would remain safe.
Resting her back against the armrest, she took in the décor of Derek's living room. No pictures adorned the walls except for an old Star Trek poster the one with the original cast. Her lips curved. Derek was still a Trekkie. She remembered discussing the crews of each of the series and who their favorites were. She still liked Bones and his snarky attitude. Derek had liked Captain Kirk. She wondered if he enjoyed the new movies where they reintroduced Kirk and Spock.
She smiled and then focused her attention on the journal Derek had given her to look over. His notes were his observation about supernatural creatures he'd hunted. She didn't recognize half of the creatures listed let alone knew they existed. A púca was an Irish spirit who could use its ability for good or bad. It seemed the one Derek and his family hunted thought leading people to a cliff in the fog was a good thing, especially if they tumbled over the edge. Really twisted.
She stared at the list of organizations involved in keeping Otherworldly beings in line. Warriors for the Light or WFTL were Nephilim. It was a fairly new organization if she read the notes correctly. They were the PIs of the supernatural world.
Then there were the Guards of Judgment or GOJ that were…well as far as she could tell they were supernatural assassins. They took care of the riffraff by eliminating them.
Finally, there were the Hunters like Derek and his family. They were the PRB. They hunted Otherworldly creatures, but as far as she could tell by reading Derek's notes, they didn't save them.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, overwhelmed by everything. Waiting proved torturous. Waiting for Tim to call. Waiting for her body to change. Waiting…
"Sloane?" Derek called to her and she opened her eyes. He stood in the archway between the kitchen and the living room, looking way too cute with the chef's apron he wore with a body builder's body for the decor. "Dinner is ready," he told her with a sheepish grin. "Nothing too special. I haven't shopped in a while."
She gave him a grin. "I'm a fast-food junkie on most days. Anything home cooked is special." She rose to her feet. Her stomach rumbled reminding her she hadn't eaten since breakfast and that had been toast and a cup of coffee. Her stomach was still bothering her.
Once she neared the kitchen the aroma of cheese and herbs hit her nostrils. Her stomach churned and she thought she was going to be ill.
"Are you all right?" Derek asked her in alarm.
She took a deep gulp of air, which proved a mistake. "Excuse me." She whirled around and dashed down the hall to the bathroom, falling to her knees beside the toilet. She heaved, but nothing came up.
A few seconds later, Derek's footfalls followed. "I know my cooking isn't the best, but I didn't think it would make you ill without even taking a bite," Derek teased, but there was a note of concern in his voice. "You okay?"
She tried to reassure him with a smile and a nod. She stood, using the toilet seat to lean on, but she teetered on her feet anyway.
Derek flew to her side, taking her elbow.
"I feel…weird," she told him.
"You need to lie down."
"I don't want to lie down." She tried to shake off the feeling of nausea, but she was doing a poor job of it.
"What's wrong?" Cassandra asked, hovering in the hallway.
"Nothing," Sloane insisted.
Derek felt her forehead. "You feel warm." He exchanged a look with Cassandra and she hurried to the back of the house.
It wasn't long before Tremayne made an appearance. It was getting rather crowded in the bathroom, but she wasn't ready to leave just in case she needed to empty whatever was churning her stomach.
"Do you mind if I check your pulse?" Tremayne was large and intimidating, but he had manners. She nodded. Derek stepped away, letting Tremayne take his place. The vampire's fingers felt cold against her neck. "Your heart is skipping beats," he told her and met her gaze.
"I take it that's bad." She half chuckled.
"I'm afraid your human body is dying faster than I had predicted.
She shook her head. "No, not yet." She never thought of herself as a fainter, but death didn't become her. She saw black before her limbs failed to support her.
Chapter Seventeen
"Sloane? Can you hear me?" Derek pressed the wet washcloth to Sloane's forehead. When she fainted, he carried her to his room. She was lying on the bed and hadn
't come around yet. Her pallor was a nice shade of milky quartz tinged with blue, giving her a deathlike appearance. He didn't like it.
Wade stood at the doorway with his iron-based knife clutched in his hand.
Derek frowned with annoyance. "Jesus, Wade. Do you have to hover?"
"Damn straight, I do. The little lady's body is giving up the ghost. You heard the verdict the same as I did. I'm not going to wait until she sports fangs to find out if she's a good vampire or a bad one."
"She's still human," Tremayne said from where he stood with his arms crossed against his chest. He leaned against the dresser in a nonchalant pose with his ankles crossed.
Wade harrumphed and kept the weapon visible. "Yeah, but for how long?"
"Give it a rest, Wade," Cassandra warned. She lounged in the only chair in the room with one leg draped over the armrest.
Derek didn't blame Wade for being cautious. A few days ago, he would have been just as shortsighted.
Sloane groaned and finally her eyelids fluttered open. "What happened?" She bolted upright, but the sudden movement cost her and she grabbed her head with a groan.
Derek gripped her shoulders to steady her. "It's okay."
Tremayne stepped closer to the bed. "The Nosferatu blood is taking over. We need to introduce my blood to counteract it," Tremayne said. He had explained the process to Sloane so she knew what to expect.
"Oh, hell, no," Wade cursed.
Derek forgot he hadn't been around for the discussion on how they would control Sloane's transformation. It was just another thing to get his brother's dander up.
"Be quiet," Cassandra snapped. "If you can't handle this, you know where the door is."
"Gladly. Create your Frankenstein's monster, but leave me out of this." He whirled on his heels, muttering more curses as he made his way down the hall.
Derek stood to go after him, but Cassandra intervened with a heavy sigh. "I'll go. I think Sloane would prefer you were here."
"You want to change me now?" Sloane asked, her voice hitching in panic. "But what if Tim calls? What if I'm not ready to meet with him when he does?"
Tremayne's gaze didn't falter. "You can't wait any longer. In your condition, you couldn't meet with Tim anyway. It's better we proceed and put you on the right track before it isn't possible."
She licked her lips with indecision. "I could still fight this," she insisted.
Derek sat beside her on the bed and took her hand, giving it a quick squeeze. "If there were any other options, Tremayne would have offered them. I'm sorry, sweetheart. There isn't another way."
She took a ragged breath and a tear slid down her face. "I'm really going to die." Her voice caught in her throat and it broke his heart. He wished he could spare her. He wished he could tell her everything would be all right, but he wouldn't lie to her. Her life would change. Only she could decide if she could make the best of it.
He reached for her and pulled her into his arms, letting her mourn her impending loss. Her life as a human would end, but if everything went according to the plan, she would awaken as a hybrid, and hopefully with more of the Oiche Sith traits than the Nosferatu.
Earlier, Tremayne made a call and consulted with one of his own—Sheerin Graystone. Sheerin had been one of the vampires who had come up with the synthetic blood concoction most of the clans purchased to slate the desire to feed off humans.
Derek had considered himself an expert on vampires until Tremayne set him straight. It shouldn't surprise him that his family's preternatural reference books were jaded. Why hadn't he questioned any of this before now, but he knew the answer. His family indoctrinated him. Told him what he needed to know and trained him to be a killer. Sure, he had a free pass for being a killer since he only took out preternatural beings, but he couldn't help but second-guess some of his hits. Had they all deserved to be eliminated?
He knew the moment Sloane accepted her fate. Her body stilled and she pulled away, drying her tears with the back of her hand.
"May I have a word with you, Derek?" Tremayne asked and stepped out of the room fully expecting him to follow.
He glanced at Sloane. "Rest for a while. I'll be right back."
She nodded and lied back down, turning on her side. He covered her with a blanket before he left the room.
Tremayne was in the hall, leaning against the wall. His blue eyes were a shade not quite human, but then again what did he expect? The guy wasn't human. "I take it you wanted to speak to me alone."
"Aye. The ritual you wish for me to perform can be… There is no other way to say it. It can be sexual in nature."
Derek narrowed his eyes. "What exactly do you mean by sexual?"
"We did not introduce the blood exchange gradually and when I take her to the brink of death and bring her back, everything will be heightened for her, even more so than it is now. She'll want to feed and she won't care whom she feeds from or how much she takes. It's all about the blood and sometimes the sex drive is heightened as well."
His hands balled into a fist. "Are you planning on having sex with her?" He heard rumors vampires were sexual creatures, but he never had a heart to heart with a vamp to find out if the rumors were true.
Tremayne must have noticed he wasn't keen on the idea of him getting down and dirty with his girl and was quick to explain further. "I have no wish to bed the woman you care about and your sister would be sharpening her weapons if I did."
Despite the dire situation, Derek grinned. "Cass never did like to share. So what are you trying to tell me?"
"I brought enough blood with me to sustain her urges, and rest assured I can get my hands on more if need be. So this is not a problem. We can keep her well fed, but the other…" Tremayne leveled his gaze on him and then it dawned on him what the vampire was suggesting.
"You want me to…" He ran a hand through his hair. Of course he wanted to sleep with her…again, but not on command, not when she wasn't herself, and definitely not when everyone in the house would know what they were doing behind closed doors. It didn't seem right.
"I don't want you to sleep with her," Tremayne said as if he could read his thoughts. "I want you to stay away from her."
Derek harrumphed. "Like that is going to happen."
"It wouldn't be safe for you to be with her. She needs to learn control and I'm afraid you shall be a distraction. Even with feeding her, she may still attempt to bite you. It is in our nature to feed from our mates."
Derek didn't even want to think of what that meant with his sister, but she was still human so he had to assume Tremayne controlled his urges. Then it finally sunk in what Tremayne had said. "Mate? I'm not Sloane's mate."
Tremayne chuckled. "Let me put it in terms you can relate to. You have the hots for each other. Is that better?"
"No," he grumbled.
Tremayne ignored his discomfort. "I know this is a lot to take in all at once, but I must know you'll control your desire to be with her. Because I know she won't be able to control hers."
Sloane had to go through the worse of all this, not him. He rubbed a hand over his face and inhaled deeply before letting it out again. "You can count on me to do whatever it takes to see her through the transition. I want her to be all right…or as all right as she can possibly be." Derek glanced toward the bedroom. "Have you explained all this to Sloane?"
"The blooding ritual, aye, but not what I've told you now."
He nodded. "Then before you start, let me speak to her. I don't want any of this to be a surprise."
"Of course."
He glanced at Tremayne. "Tell me something: Have you ever attempted this procedure before?"
For a moment Tremayne's features clouded. "Only once…a long time ago."
"And did she survive?"
"No." He didn't even sugarcoat it. "However, this was centuries ago," he added. The Oiche Sith clan has learned from our tragedies, but still there could be complications."
"She could still die anyway—permanently, I mean."
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"That would be the least of the complications, but Sloane is strong willed."
"What other complications?" He wanted to know.
"Let's not worry about that now. I have hopes her transition will go smoothly. Now go." He gestured toward the room. "Talk to her and let her know what to expect, but don't take too long. We must proceed as soon as possible."
Chapter Eighteen
Another day rolled by and Sloane could still count herself human, or as human as she could be with a blood fetish. She had to drink blood before the final ritual, Tremayne's blood since it was purer and would work quickly. Tim had already forced her to drink his blood. Forced being the word. She didn't sip it from a coffee cup with a splash of wine. Tremayne had assured her it would go down easier that way and it did. At first the thought of drinking blood made her want to gag, but in truth, since Tim had bitten her, she'd had no desire to eat food. Her stomach rebelled at the thought, and the smell of food nearly put her over the edge. Still knowing all this, she sipped the blood with caution. Truly expecting to be ill from the first sip, but the surprises just kept on coming. It had been what her body craved all along. The bouts of queasiness stopped.
Her feet took her outdoors. She'd spent most of her morning and afternoon already on the porch. She wanted to be in the sun for what would be the last time. The bright yellow orb already set low on the horizon. It wouldn't be long until it disappeared completely for the day…and from her life.
Derek had explained all that would happen to her or at least what would happen to her to the best of his knowledge. She feared what she would become. She feared the thought of harming Derek or anyone else in the house. And when her family returned home…what then?
She stared at the ceramic cup she placed on the railing. How many cups of blood had she drunk? The sixth? The seventh? She'd lost count. It sat on the porch railing, taunting her to indulge, and she loathed the temptation, when all she really wished for was to be normal. She wanted normal problems, live a normal life, love a normal guy. Well, maybe not a normal guy. Derek wasn't an atypical male. Far from it. She sensed that back in high school and she had it confirmed now.
Flowers and Fangs (Stake and Dust series, Book II) Page 10