Why couldn’t he get them now? It would only take him a few moments. He’d be back before she’d awaken. Decided to do just that, Cooper sent himself to the facility where Gabriella had slept for the past twenty years.
He couldn’t wait for her to wake and begin their life.
***
Gabriella fought to open her eyes and couldn’t understand why they felt as if they were laden with lead. Struggling, she pushed them open and blearily tried to look around. It was all so fuzzy, as if something were coating her eyes, blurring them. She scrubbed her fists over them and blinked away the fog.
Where was she?
Her body felt…odd. Heavy, different. Energized.
She took a good look around. It was a bedroom. She was in a bedroom.
Cooper’s bedroom.
How had she gotten here? Her mind seemed as foggy as her eyes. Her mouth was as dry as the desert. She pushed the blankets aside, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. They were bare. Well, of course they are, you were in bed. She caught sight of the rest of her body and gasped. She was completely naked.
Then it all came barreling back into her mind.
Cooper had woken her. He’d bathed her. He’d made love to her.
He’d made her a vampire.
Her hand flew up to her neck and she felt the distinct impression of two marks just below her ear. He’d bitten her. While he’d poured himself into her, he had bitten her, drank in her blood, and made her like him.
“It’s the only way.”
She bolted out of the bed and her legs gave way, nearly sending her tumbling to the floor. Plopping back down onto the bed, she took a few deep breaths, then slowly got to her feet. Though they wobbled, her legs managed to carry her as she walked to the mirror over the dresser. The room was utterly dark yet she saw with perfect clarity. Her eyes were a translucent blue green with a tint of yellow. Opening her mouth, she saw the fangs penetrating from her gums
She gasped, backing up, and bumped into the bed.
Whirling around, her heart racing, she felt panicked.
She needed to get out of here.
In a desperate search, she ran about the room looking for her clothing. It was nowhere to be found. How was that possible? Spotting a robe hanging on the back of the door, she yanked it down and quickly slipped into it. It hung off her like a droopy sack of silk but she did her best to belt it up to cover her nudity.
He’d made love to her, then made her a vampire.
Why would he do that?
Carefully, she opened the bedroom door, peering through the crack. She saw no one and heard nothing. Throwing the door open, she bolted. She didn’t know where she was going, or what she was going to do, she just knew she had to run.
“Gabriella.”
She screamed and spun around to see Cooper standing before her. Her heart raced with both fear and love, and in the conflict of emotions, she was momentarily frozen.
“Are you all right, my sweet?”
“Don’t touch me,” she blurted out in a voice much too frail to be hers. Spinning around, she searched for an exit.
“You should be resting.”
“Leave me alone.” Seeing an escape, she bolted for the door, throwing it open as she ran. Her bare feet slapped on the paved steps leading down to a small cobblestone path. Everything was so dark. It felt so…unnatural.
“Gabriella, please, come back inside.”
His voice startled her and she ran a little faster. “No, leave me alone. Leave me alone,” she screamed as she ran.
“Gabriella, stop.”
She jumped when he appeared in front of her, and screamed even louder.
“My stars, love. What has gotten into you?”
“Don’t touch me. You turned me into a vampire. Just leave me alone.” Spinning around, she darted off, not knowing where she was or where she was headed.
“Gabriella. Please.”
Her blood curdling scream echoed in the still air as he grabbed her arm and stopped her. “Leave me alone. Please, please, just let me be.”
“What is going on?”
Her head twisted to the male voice behind her and she saw a man with dark hair and beautiful, glowing blue eyes. “Help me. Please, help me. Save me.” Jerking her arm free, she raced to the gentleman. She didn’t know who he was, but she hoped he would help her. “Please, don’t let him near me.”
“Gabriella. What has happened to you? It’s me, Cooper.”
“I don’t know what’s going on but I know this woman is terrified. Did you just turn her, Cooper?”
“Yes, yes, he did. You know him?” If he knew Cooper, then odds were he was…like him. She pulled away in fear, then saw the woman running towards her with hair as red as fire flying out as she ran. “Help me, please.” She ran right into the woman’s arms.
“You turned her?” the man gasped.
“I had no choice. Gabriella, please, just calm down and let me explain.”
She clung to the woman, shaking her head rapidly. “Please, don’t let him touch me. Won’t you help me, please?”
“I don’t know what’s going on but I know when someone is afraid. I’ll take her up to the house while you figure out what’s happening. Come on now.”
Feeling comforted by the woman, Gabriella went with her willingly.
“What the hell is going on, Cooper?” she heard the blue-eyed man bellow.
“That is my wife.”
Gabriella felt her legs weaken and the air around her stir. The world began to spin. She went down and everything went black.
Chapter Seven
“She’s your what?”
Cooper didn’t have time to explain and moved past Basil in a rush to get to his wife.
“You’re not going anywhere until you explain.” When Basil grabbed his arm, Cooper rounded on him, snarling.
“She’s just confused and scared. Once I hold her, explain this to her, she’ll feel better. But you need to let me go in order for me to do so.” He tugged his arm but Basil held it firmly. “Please, don’t make me do something I will regret.”
“What has gotten into you, Cooper? I demand an explanation.”
“I have no time for one now. She needs me, needs my blood.”
“Trinity will make sure she’s taken care of.”
Cooper’s temper was steadily rising. “She needs mine. I must feed her so our bond is secured. Release me, Basil. Now!”
“What the hell is wrong with you? This isn’t like you to take an innocent and make her yours.”
“She isn’t an innocent. She’s my wife.” Knowing what he was about to do would start an avalanche of questions, he chose his fate and did so anyway. He sent himself into the house to his wife’s side.
Trinity gasped when he appeared before her in the guest room, her eyes wide as she stared at him. “How the hell—”
“I must feed her. Leave us be.” Sitting down beside Gabriella on the bed, he stroking her face. Cooper wasn’t surprised when Basil appeared in the room.
“How the hell were you able to transport yourself, Cooper?”
“Leave me be. I must tend to my wife.” Gently he stroked her face, confused as to why she’d reacted in the manner she had.
“Your wife? What the hell is going on, Cooper?”
When Basil’s hand clamped on his shoulder, Cooper growled, making Basil take a step back. Lifting his wrist, he bit into the flesh, drawing his own blood, then, turning to Gabriella, he pressed it to her mouth. “Drink from me, my sweet. Drink.”
Her lips latched on like a baby to its mother’s breast and she suckled. With each intake of his blood, he felt her body strengthen.
“This is crazy. For fuck’s sake, Cooper, what is going on?”
“Leave us,” he bellowed, startling Gabriella.
Her eyes shot wide open and she bolted back, pulling her mouth from his wrist. “No!”
“It’s all right, my love. Everything is fine now. Just relax.”
“No, no, stay away from me. Please, Cooper. Just leave me be.”
“Can’t you see how terrified she is, Cooper?” But when Basil touched his shoulder, Cooper rounded on him. “What the hell?”
Cooper blinked several times and knew his contact lenses had shifted. His secret had been discovered. “Just leave me with her for a moment and then I will explain myself.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“I will not harm her.” He focused his attention on Trinity. “I love her. I would never harm her. Please, trust me.” He knew it was wrong but he did it anyway. Using his mind, he soothed Trinity and convinced her to take Basil from the room.
“They need time, Basil.” She took his arm in her hand and looked into Cooper’s eyes. “We’ll be right outside the door in any case. Just give him time.”
Cooper saw Basil’s skepticism and wished he didn’t have to do what he was about to do. He controlled the mind of the man he thought of as his son.
“We’ll be right outside,” Basil stated to Gabriella with comfort in his voice.
They left together and Cooper instantly locked the door. When he turned back to Gabriella, his heart ached at the fear he saw in her eyes. She sat on the bed, her legs curled up to her chest, her hands clutching his robe. She wore his robe.
“I love you,” he said simply as me moved closer.
“How could you? If you truly loved me, you would never have done this.” She bore her fangs, her eyes shimmering with tears.
“It was all I knew to do. There is no cure, my sweet. I could not bear to be without you any longer. I saw no other way—”
“Than to kill me?”
Those words were like a dagger to his heart. “You aren’t dead, only reinvented.”
“Into something you promised to never do.”
He let out a long breath, knowing it was best to remain where he was rather than try to get closer to her. “That was a different time.”
“But you promised.”
“What else was I supposed to do? Let you die?”
“Find a cure.”
“I tried. There isn’t one. Cancer is as deadly today as it was the day I put you to sleep in your glass case.”
“Then you should have waited until there was one.”
“I was tired of waiting.” He blew out a long breath. “I missed you. I longed to have you in my arms, to taste your lips, to hear you call my name. I needed you.”
“So you broke your promise and made me a vampire.”
“I had no other choice. Please, Gabriella, can’t you understand that?” He jumped when the door burst open. Turning, he saw the fury in Basil’s eyes. In the flash of a second, Basil was before him, his fist raised. Cooper’s vision blurred when Basil slammed his fist into Cooper’s jaw.
“Cooper!”
“Basil!”
“I’m fine,” Cooper reassured Gabriella, minimally relieved when she dashed to his side. Then she pulled away again. “I had that coming.”
“You definitely did. You bastard!” Basil rounded on Cooper. “How dare you use mind control on me.”
“It was for everyone’s benefit.” Cooper wiped the sickly gray blood from his throbbing nose.
“Now you sound like my father. You’re part of him. Aren’t you?” Basil demanded firmly, his blue eyes glowing.
Cooper nodded, drawing in a deep breath. “Yes,” he said quietly.
“You’ve lied to me. All these years you kept this from me. Why? No, I don’t want to know why. I just want you to leave.”
“Basil!”
He shook Trinity off with a flick of his hand. “I mean it, Cooper. I want you gone.”
“As you wish. Gabriella and I will leave momentarily.”
“I’m not leaving.”
His heart, already breaking, chipped even more with her words. “Darling—”
“I can’t. Please don’t make me, Cooper. I need some time. Please.”
Her plea sunk right to his heart. With a nod, he vanished.
What had he just done?
***
She was in a room in a home she was unfamiliar with, having two strangers stare at her. To say she was uncomfortable was an understatement. She knew who Basil was, Cooper had spoken of him enough times, but she had to admit she had no idea he was so gorgeous. The woman, Trinity, she was unfamiliar with. However, she seemed nice enough.
Still…they were strangers.
“Can I get you anything?”
Gabriella smiled politely at Trinity. “I’m fine, thank you.” The awkward silence continued.
Until Basil piped up.
“I need some answers.”
“Don’t push it, Basil.”
He narrowed a look at Trinity, then turned to Gabriella. “Are you Cooper’s wife?”
“Yes.”
She could see the pressure in the veins on the side of his forehead when he clenched his jaw. “When?”
She had to think about it. Her mind was still a little fuzzy and she had no idea what year it was. “What is the year?”
“Two thousand, twenty-six,” Trinity supplied.
Gabriella gasped. “Really? Wow.” Then she remembered Cooper telling her she’d been asleep for twenty years. “We were married in the year two thousand and two.” Basil’s jaw dropped in his shock. “But I’ve been in a cryogenic sleep for the past twenty years,” she explained, lowering her legs, smoothing out her robe. She really wished she had something else to wear.
“Trinity, see if you can find her some clothes. I picked up your thoughts,” he explained when she tilted her head in confusion. Trinity left the room as he continued. “I don’t read minds but sometimes others’ thoughts just jump out at me…well, it’s got a lot to do with body language too but that’s not a topic for now. Explain this cryogenic thing.”
Trinity reentered the room with what looked like a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Not exactly Gabriella’s style but beggars couldn’t be choosy. “I was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly before our marriage. After the removal of the lump and months of chemo I was told it was in remission. It only lasted three years when it was discovered I had ovarian cancer. It had progressed to the point that there was no hope to ending it. Cooper came to me with an experimental procedure that would freeze my body until a cure could be found. It was risky. We both knew the outcome could be bad, but I was willing to give it a try. I was going to die within months in any case. What did I have to lose? He woke me earlier today…I think it was today, and told me there still was no cure.” She swallowed, her hand coming up to the side of her neck to where the bite marks had been. She was surprised that there was no evidence of them now. “That was when he turned me.”
“You’ve been human all this time?”
She nodded at Basil, then let out a long breath. “He promised me, when I first discovered what he was, that he would never do this to me. I don’t…” The tears clogged her throat, preventing her from going on.
“I think she’s had enough for now, Basil.” Trinity sat down on the bed beside Gabriella, wrapping her arm around Gabriella’s shoulders. “Go talk to Cooper.”
With a deep growl, Basil vanished.
“Not all vampires can do that. Am I correct?” she asked Trinity, sniffling back her tears.
“Only those created by the two original vampires.” She handed Gabriella a tissue. “Which means…Cooper was sired by Avadur.”
“I don’t know who that is. I’m very tired. Would it be all right if I took a nap
here before finding a place to stay?”
Trinity stood, nodded. “You can stay here as long as you like. You rest. If you need anything…just call me.”
Gabriella settled down on the bed, drawing the covers to her chin. She closed her eyes, letting the tears flow after Trinity left the room.
She wept herself to sleep.
Chapter Eight
Everything had just gone so horribly wrong. All he’d wanted was to bring his beautiful Gabriella to life and cure her of that retched illness that had robbed so much of her life already. He had no idea doing so would create such a stir.
Why had she been so terrified of him?
He had never harmed her, not even so much as raised his voice to her, yet she had looked at him like he was a…monster. She hadn’t even looked at him in that way when he’d told her what he was. He thought back to that day when his true self had been revealed.
***
“Oh, Cooper, it is such a lovely evening. Look at that full moon, and the stars. It’s like the sky is excited and wants to share its joy with the world.”
The way she looked at him now took his breath away. She was such a beauty. He wanted her in his life for more than just the occasional evening or night that they managed to share together. But to have her in his life on a permanent basis meant revealing what he truly was.
Could he risk telling her and possibly losing her?
“What is it? You look troubled.”
“I am troubled. Come, sit with me.” Taking her hand in his, her fingers delicately resting against his palm, he led her to the lounge chairs on the back deck. He sat with her, still holding her hand in his, just gazing at her. His love for her was like nothing he’d ever felt before and what he was about to say may very well have her running from him in fear.
If that were the case, he could always strip her mind of what he’d told her. He didn’t like to have to do that, but he didn’t want to lose her either.
“You’re worrying me, Cooper.”
Her voice was like a birdsong whispering in his ear.. “Have I told you recently how much I love you?”
Shiela Stewart - [Darkness 05] Page 5