She nodded, and knew that he would feel it; her head was against his chest. She could feel the soft thumping of his heart beneath her ear, and she closed her eyes and pictured Mitch holding her. She was almost positive the next time he pulled her spirit to him, that he would be as nice as he had been in his dream.
"I'm really tired, Dane. I need to lie down awhile, I think," she said.
He pulled back away from her, tilting her face up by her chin to study her better. "You need to feed. I'll get you a bag of blood from the…"
Ciera scrunched up her nose. "Yuck." She shook her head. "I can't feed like that; it's cold."
"All right." He sighed as he thought. "We will go out and find something. The nearest town is about fifteen miles from here. I'll just run up and get my…"
"No," Ciera said, and grabbed his hand as he began to walk away from her. She shook her head. "I don't want to go out."
"Ciera, there are no humans in this house. I don't know what else to tell you. You are in the early stages of starvation. I don't think you can make it until we leave tomorrow. What do you want me to do?"
Ciera glanced back at the room they had just walked out of, then looked back at Dane. "Have you ever done…that?"
He looked away from her and let out his breath. Telling her that he'd participated in a blood orgy was certainly not going to win him any brownie points with her. But neither would lying to her. When she found out the truth, she would hate him. He nodded. He wasn't proud of the things he had done in his life before he met her, but he couldn't undo any of them. "Yes." He waited for her to stomp off from him, and when she didn't, he looked back at her. He was expecting her to look disgusted with him, but again she surprised him. She actually looked curious. She held her hand out to Dane. He eyed it for a moment, then looked back up at her face. She couldn't want to go in that room with all of those vampires. There would be no way that she would come out still a virgin. He couldn't fight them all off of her. And thinking of just one of them touching her naked body was quickly pissing him off.
"No!" he shouted at her, and she jerked her hand back with wide eyes.
She stared at him a few moments before hurt filled her eyes, then she turned and ran through the crowd.
He only stood there a second before he went after her. He had to rudely push vampires out of his way to catch up with her, but he finally did. He turned her to face him and there were tears streaming down her face.
"You can't possibly want to go back in that room Ciera. I can't protect you from that many vampires. You will lose your innocence, and then you will be mad at me because you will think that I let it happen. I would rather you be mad at me now for not letting it happen at all."
She stared at him with wide eyes. He thought that she wanted them to join in with the festivities in that room. She shook her head and her eyes danced with laughter. She couldn't stop the escape of giggles as they came out of her.
Dane looked at her like she had gone mad with insanity. "What is so damn funny?" he finally asked.
She caught her breath enough to answer him. "I didn't want to do that with them, Dane. I wanted to feed from only you, and … for you to feed from me."
A feather could have knocked him over, he was so dumbstruck. "But I uh…"
Ciera held out her hand to him again. He looked at it with his eyes still about to pop out of their sockets. "Is your answer still a no?"
He shook his head slowly.
"Then will you show me to our room please?" she whispered.
He took her hand, then closed his eyes with a sigh of relief. He opened them to a smile on her face, and led her up the stairs to his room.
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Chapter 48
Mitch was walking alone to what appeared to be a homeless guy sitting on a park bench with a bottle of Jack in his hands. It was cold out tonight, but the frozen chill didn't seem to bother Mitch like it used to.
Lazarus had given him the instructions he would need to complete the task. He was to do it the same way that he had compelled that blond girl to forget him. If he had the gift of compulsion, the guy would do anything he told him to do. If he didn't have the skill, the guy would only look at him like he was crazy. He didn't know how compelling someone to do something was any different than making them forget about you, but he would soon find out if he was strong enough to pull it off.
He dropped to his knees in front of the old man. The man looked up a little startled, and clutched at his bottle, like Mitch was going to take it from him.
Mitch ignored the bottle and looked deep into the old man's eyes. The man was instantly captivated. Images flooded Mitch's own mind of people he did not recognize. There was a woman and two small children there, with a much younger version of the old man sitting in front of him. Mitch shook his head and blinked several times, and when he took his gaze away, the man spoke, "Are you an angel? Did you come here to take me home to my wife and children?" he smiled. "I'm ready to go," he nodded. "I've been ready to go for such a long time now." His voice drifted off at the end in a sad tone.
Mitch growled internally. He thought about draining the poor man, and giving him exactly what he wanted. But it wasn't his call to make. God would take him out of his misery when it was his time to go home.
But God never would take Mitch out of his misery. He was forced to live in this purgatory that Ciera had created for him, for all eternity. His own personal Hell. He would live day in and day out in misery, because he wanted Ciera more than anything in the world, but he didn't know who was telling the truth.
He had told her before the crash that he only wanted to be a vampire if they could be together; if she loved him and believed that they were soulmates. Had she lied to him so he would agree to become like her, so she could use him as a vampire puppet for herself? If that was the case, things had not gone at all like she'd planned. He sighed. He knew just how the old man staring at him felt, because he was miserable without Ciera. His family had been taken away from him, and he wanted to go to heaven to be with them. Mitch's heaven was here on earth, but he couldn't go to her. He couldn't ever be with her again.
He shook his head at the man. "It isn't your time yet, old man. I'm sorry." Mitch patted the man's arm, and his eyes filled with tears before Mitch stood up and walked away.
"Did you even try?" Lazarus said as Mitch walked back to the tree line.
Mitch stopped and looked at the ground. "He thought I was an angel here to take him home to his family. I couldn't do it. I'll try again on somebody else."
Lazarus turned on Mitch. "Every human has issues, Mitch. You can't let their problems interfere with your task. Your freedom depends on it, son."
Mitch met his stare. "Yeah, but for me to get freedom, I have to take somebody else's. I don't know if I can do that to an innocent person, Lazarus."
Lazarus seemed to think about that for a minute. "Do you remember the case that we solved right after I started homicide? Daniel Miller killed his wife. She had been pregnant. Do you remember?"
Mitch's blood started to boil in his veins as he shook his head up and down. "The guy was insane. He had gutted her because he didn't want her to have a child."
Lazarus nodded once. "He got out of prison right before the murders started."
"What?! You have got to be fucking kidding me! How did I not know about this? He has only been locked up two years!" Mitch shouted in disbelief.
"So you agree that justice has not been served to Daniel?" Lazarus said.
Mitch's jaw clenched and his face lost every ounce of pity for the old man sitting on the bench not twenty-five yards from them. "Where do we find him?"
Lazarus smiled. "I figured you would ask me that. C'mon, let us go find Daniel."
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Chapter 49
Dane shut them in his bedroom nervously. He looked over at Ciera, who was looking around the room. "I am not going to feed off you, Ciera."
She turned to look at him with a puzzled expre
ssion. "Why ever not? You need to feed from a vampire if you want to be strong enough to go in there and get Mitch with me. Or have you changed your mind about that?"
He shook his head. "I'm still going with you, but I will be fine. I fed last night before we found you. If I take blood from you … I am not positive I will be able to stop when you tell me to stop. I already want you so badly, and taking your blood will only intensify that by like a million times." He walked to her and smiled. "You taking blood from me will make me happy enough. I promise not to take advantage of you."
Ciera nodded, then walked away from him to go to the bed.
"Um …" he began, and she turned to look at him. He hadn't moved an inch from where he was standing. "Maybe we should do this in the chair. The bed is a little too inviting. I am struggling enough as it is."
Ciera raised an eyebrow at him, but turned and walked to the chair. "Fine, whatever makes it easier for you," she said, and Dane walked to the chair and sat down, so she could get better access to his neck. He relaxed with his head back, and closed his eyes. Ciera admired his lean body before her. She didn't miss that he was evidently turned on by the fact that she was doing this with him. His manhood was swollen beneath his trousers. Heat rushed up her cheeks at the thought of touching him there. She had touched Mitch there, and the feeling that had given her at the time was indescribably beautiful. She looked away from his hips, to his neck before she did something that she would later regret.
There was no way she could have the same feelings for Dane that she did for Mitch. Mitch was her soulmate. She was meant to be with Mitch, not Dane. She had been around Dane for centuries and hadn't felt a thing for him. Why now? Why did she want to touch him … She looked at his sultry lips. … and kiss him now, when she had fallen in love with someone else?
Dane opened his eyes and looked up at her. "You chickening out?"
Ciera shook her head back and forth, and kept her eyes averted from his. Being this close to him, he would know exactly what she was thinking. He must not be trying, or he wouldn't have misunderstood her downstairs a few moments ago. "Just getting up my nerve. It's like the first time all over again. I'm nervous."
Dane smiled and closed his eyes again. "Take your time."
Ciera moved his head to the side, and he let her without resistance. Something took over her mind, and instead of biting him, she kissed his neck softly. Dane's eyes flew open and he jerked back and looked at her.
"Why did you do that? You aren't supposed to be influenced until the blood is in your system. You haven't even bit me yet, Ciera. Why did you kiss me?" He had stood up from the chair and was walking around it slowly to get to her. He had to know why.
"I'm sorry." She laughed nervously and shook her head. "I…"
"Did you have your eyes open, or were they closed?" Dane pressed.
Her brow furrowed. "Open, why?" She didn't see how that would matter about anything.
He sighed heavily. "Because I know the few times I have gotten the pleasure to touch you that you close your eyes and picture Mitch being me. If your eyes are open, you have no choice but to know that it is me."
Oh shit! Ciera backed away from him slowly, and he stopped moving toward her.
He put his hands up, palms out. "You really do care for me, don't you? All I have to do is look in your head, Ciera, but I really want to hear you say it. I have been giving you your privacy. I don't know what you are thinking now, but I have to know. I will look if I have to."
She huffed and dropped her head. "I care for you, but…" She shook her head. "It doesn't change the fact that I love Mitch, too. He is my soulmate, and I am going to get him away from his father. He doesn't know the truth." When she looked up at him, he was smiling. "What?" she said.
"Correct me if I am wrong, but you just said that you love Mitch…too. Do you love me, Ciera?" he asked and began to walk to her again. She didn't move this time so he kept going. He put his finger under her chin and raised her face up so he could see her eyes. They were shining with tears, and he felt his heart drop.
"I do…" Her voice trembled and her lips quivered. She looked away. "I don't know how this is possible." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
He pulled her to him in a tight hug. He was so happy that she loved him, but yet so sad that she was torn up this badly by her emotions. He didn't know what to tell her to make anything better. Someone was going to get hurt in this. It was inevitable. He wouldn't make her choose when the time came. He would take himself out of the equation and let her be happy. He would go away and never return. Her love for him would fade in time. His never would, for her, but Mitch would be there to distract her, so it wouldn't be quite as hard for her to endure.
He pulled back from her, then cupped her face in his hands. "I won't make you choose, Ciera. We will go get Mitch together, and then I will go away."
"What?" she said with confusion clear in her voice. She shook her head. "No, I don't want that."
He let her go and took a few steps back. "Then what do you want, Ciera? You can't have us both. Mitch won't allow it, and neither will I."
"You promised me you'd be in my life…"
"I lied!" He took a breath to calm himself, then continued in a lower volume. "I want you to be happy. But I can't stay there and watch you be with him, knowing that you want to touch me too. I can't do that, Ciera. I love you enough to let you go, but I am not strong enough to stay." He turned away from her, but not before she saw the tears welling up in his eyes.
She walked to him, then framed his face with her hands. She knew it wasn't a mistake what she was doing. She really loved Dane. She couldn't deny it any longer. "I may be destined to be with Mitch for all eternity, but …" She swallowed loudly, then smiled at him nervously. "I will be with you tonight. That is…if you will still have me."
Dane went very still beneath her hands. He couldn't have possibly heard her right. "What do you mean?" he managed to get out.
She brought his lips down to hers, and kissed them gently. A soft moan came out of his throat, and he shuddered. She pulled back and looked at him with more love in her eyes than she knew was possible. "I want you to be my first, Dane. I want you to make love to me."
He removed himself from her hold, and walked away quickly. He turned back to her and stared longingly at this beautiful woman that he had always dreamed would say those exact words to him. "You will regret it. You will see Mitch again soon, and you will regret ever having let me touch you. You are caught up in the moment. You may even miss his touch so much that you think you can actually pretend that I am him. I am not him, Ciera."
"I know who you are."
"Who am I? I need you to tell me, because if you look at me with regret in your eyes after it is done, it will crush my soul. I have wanted this moment to happen ever since I met you. And now that I know you really love me … I can't make love to you if I think you will be unhappy it happened."
She walked over to him, thinking that he really needed to stop running around the damn room like a chicken with its head cut off. "The only thing I regret is that I didn't let it happen sooner."
Dane closed the distance between them quickly, and didn't stop until his mouth was on hers.
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Chapter 50
Mitch stared at the trailer park. Daniel was in one of the rundown pieces of shit. Mitch had hated that two bit motherfucker from the moment that he hauled his ass into the station more than two years ago. He couldn't comprehend how they could let such scum back on the streets.
"His is the third one on the left. You go in and get him. South Shores Park is only a few blocks from here. You think you can make it with him without being seen? I'll go find a victim."
Mitch didn't want another innocent person to die so he could have his freedom. "Make sure you get a junkie or something. Someone who doesn't give a shit about their life, all right?"
Lazarus nodded in agreement. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Mitch."
He got out of the car. Concentrating on the task at hand seemed important somehow. All of the things that came along with becoming a vampire were overwhelming the hell out of him.
The volume level on his hearing sky rocketed as he got closer to the trailer park. The third one on the left came into his view, and he walked up to the door like he was a visiting neighbor. He closed his eyes and concentrated on only the sound coming from inside the piece of tin in front of him. All the other noises around him went away. The only sound he heard was a TV on, and the sound of Daniel Miller's heart beating soundly as he slept.
Mitch knocked on the door hard enough the guy would awake from his slumber. He waited a few seconds, then did it again.
"All right, all right! I'm fuckin' comin'. Shit!" Daniel opened the door and looked around. There was no one out there that he could see. He walked down the four steps in his sweatpants, wife-beater, and no socks or shoes. He had a baseball bat in his right hand. He twirled it once. "Fuckin' kids, stay away from my house!" When he turned back around, Mitch was standing only a foot in front of him with his hood up. Daniel jumped back a step.
"What the fuck, dude! You got a death wish or something?" He waited a moment, and when the hooded guy in front of him didn't move or say anything, he continued. "You the motherfucker that knocked on my door?"
Mitch nodded once, then pulled his hood back and took a step forward. His eyes locked with Daniel's before the guy could shout anymore profanities or run away. Daniel stood in a daze in front of Mitch. "Go back in your piece of shit trailer and put on some socks, shoes, and a coat. It's cold out tonight, and I don't want you going into hypothermia before you go back to prison."
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