“You guess?” he whined. “You hurt me!”
“You tried to bite me,” Rose said. “Try it again, and I’ll hurt you worse.”
Erik suddenly burst into hysterical laughter, his head falling back against the wall as he laughed obnoxiously, his fangs clearly visible in his open mouth.
Rose crossed her arms. “What’s so funny?”
He snorted, “I am a dangerous vampire, and you threatened me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “It’s not funny.”
“It is extremely funny,” Erik argued as he finally stood. “And kind of hot.”
She grimaced at him. “Do you flirt with all of the women your best friend brings home? Because that doesn’t seem very best-friend-like to me.”
“There’s a difference in flirting and fucking,” Erik stated.
Rose stared at him blankly. “Wow. Did you really just say that?”
He cocked his head, grinning at her. “And what do you mean all of the women he brings home? I think you’re overestimating your boyfriend’s sex life.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Rose muttered, glancing away nervously.
“It sure as hell looked like he was earlier,” Erik argued.
“Says the man who has sex with women he doesn’t even know,” she said.
He laughed. “Having sex with a woman does not make her my girlfriend,” he said, smirking at her. “Cuddling with her, on the other hand, does.”
“That’s a terrible philosophy,” she said. “And we weren’t…cuddling.”
“Of course not. You were just lying all curled up around each other,” he said sarcastically. He snapped his fingers. “Oh! That is called cuddling, isn’t it?”
Rose frowned at him. “Why are you so determined to convince me that Kallias is my boyfriend?” she asked curiously, her eyebrows lifting.
He suddenly became intensely serious. “Because your life is too short for you to be embarrassed about what you feel. Even if you survive all of this, you will die of old age. Either way, your life will be over before you know it.”
Rose blinked in shock. “Aren’t you supposed to be the optimistic one?”
“I can feel what you feel,” Erik explained. “And you are obviously in…”
“I think we should get back to practicing!” she squeaked, interrupting him before he could finish that sentence. She wasn’t ready to hear the end. She wasn’t ready to accept it. “I need to be prepared for when Theron attacks me.”
His eyes softened with sympathy. “Okay. If that is what you want.”
21
Damaged
The weight of the sofa shifted slightly as someone sat down.
Erik didn’t look away from the television. “Find anything?”
Kallias pulled his weapons from their sheaths and holders and tossed them on the coffee table, the daggers clanging as they hit the wood. “Not a thing,” he muttered as he propped his legs on the coffee table, his boots inches from the daggers. “As a matter of fact, I didn’t even find a single vampire in the bad parts of the city, the hotspots for vampire activity. What the hell is going on out there?”
Erik turned toward his friend who now occupied the other side of the sofa. “That’s how it’s been the last few nights. I have a bad feeling about it.”
Kallias leaned back, his head resting on the back of the sofa, as he stared up at the ceiling. His leather jacket fell open over his black shirt. “How is Rose?”
“Don’t know,” Erik said as he drank his whiskey. “She went to bed.”
Kallias frowned. “She’s not asleep. Her breathing’s uneven,” he realized. He leaned forward. “I should go check on her. Something could be wrong.”
Erik chuckled. “You don’t have to make up reasons to go see her. Just admit that you missed her while you were gone. I won’t make fun of you. Much.”
Kallias stood and shot a peeved glare at him. “You’re an ass.”
“Love you, too,” Erik teased, grinning.
Kallias grabbed his weapons from the table and headed upstairs. All of the lights in the entire house appeared to be off, even the hallway lamps, which seemed strange to Kallias, since Rose, unlike Erik and him, needed the lights to see. She’d left the guest room door cracked open, but she’d turned off the lights in the guest room as well. He pushed open her door and stepped into the room.
“Kallias, is that you?” she asked nervously as she heard the door creak.
He stared at her. “Yeah. Do you want me to turn on the light?”
She lay on her side in the bed, her red hair fanned out on her pillow, curling around her face. Her skin looked paler than usual, and her forehead was creased with pain. The blankets were pulled up to her neck, and she clutched them to her, as if she were freezing. “No. Please don’t. The lights make it worse.”
His weapons clanged against the dresser as he dropped them, and his boots thudded against the hardwood floors as he crossed the room toward the bed. The bed dipped with his weight as he sat down next to her. Then, he began to run his fingers gently through her hair, feeling the silky red strands slip through his fingers. Rose made a soft moaning sound in her throat and curled around him, resting her head on his thigh, as he continued to play with her hair.
“Are you sick?” he asked, his voice quiet and melodic in the darkness.
“Mmmmm-hmmm,” she murmured. “I felt fine until an hour ago.”
“What do I need to do?” he asked anxiously. “I don’t remember anything about human sickness. Do you need water? Soup? Tell me what you need.”
“Mmmmm. What you’re doing right now feels amazing,” she moaned.
He smiled and continued to run his fingers through her hair. He noticed the cold sweat gleaming on her forehead. “What is this sickness? Do you know?”
“Not sure,” she mumbled. “Lots of things cause headaches and nausea.”
His lips curved downward. “How severe is the headache?”
“Migraine,” she grunted. She snuggled closer to him. “You’re so warm.”
He placed the back of his hand against her forehead. “And you’re cold.”
“Hence the blankets, genius,” she teased with a weak smile.
He didn’t laugh. “And you’re experiencing light sensitivity as well?”
“Yeah,” she confirmed. She giggled, “Maybe I’m turning into a vampire.”
“Doesn’t work that way,” he muttered. His voice grew increasingly anxious. “Are you vomiting? Was there blood? Rose, are you vomiting blood?”
Rose frowned at the sudden interrogation. “Uh…I don’t want to discuss my puke with the person I…uh…kiss and stuff,” she said, her cheeks warming, despite her clamminess. “How could I ever hope to seem sexy to you after that?”
“You will still be sexy,” he muttered under his breath. Her eyes popped open. “Rose, please. This is something I need to know. Are you vomiting blood?”
“Is this a fever-induced hallucination? Because it sounded like you said still. Still implies that you think I am sexy now. But that can’t be right. Because I’m me: Unsexy Rose,” she rambled. “I bet you’re not even really here right now.”
“Rose. Blood,” he said impatiently. “Was. There. Blood?”
“I don’t think so. Well, maybe a little,” she sighed, shrugging weakly.
Kallias stiffened, and his hand suddenly stilled in her hair. “Erik, get your ass up here. Now.” He didn’t yell it out. He barely even raised his voice.
She frowned. “Why are you calling him? And how is he supposed to hear…”
“What’s wrong?” Erik asked before she could finish the question.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Kallias growled. There was a strange note to his voice, a hint of nervousness or fear. “You knew this could happen.”
Rose frowned in the direction of his voice, suddenly feeling extremely confused. It didn’t help matters that she was literally in the dark. She attempted to pull herself up into a sitting position, as
if that would help her see in the dark.
Kallias pushed her down. “Don’t waste your energy. You need to rest.”
Since she couldn’t actually see him, she settled for directing her murderous glare at the hand that pressed gently but firmly on her shoulder.
Erik glanced at Rose and then at Kallias. “I knew what could happen?”
“She has a headache, and she’s throwing up blood,” Kallias told him.
“Oh,” Erik said, wincing. “Sorry.”
“I said it was a little blood. Sheesh, it’s not that big of a deal,” Rose complained, shoving his hand off of her as she attempted to sit up again. “And what is Erik apologizing for? Will someone please tell me what is going on?”
“How could you do something so stupid?” Kallias snarled at Erik.
Erik shrugged. “I do stupid shit. You’ve known me for twelve hundred years. It’s not like this is news to you. Remember that incident with the princess?”
“Rose is human. She doesn’t heal like we do,” Kallias reminded him.
“Hello! I asked a question!” Rose snapped. “What is going on?”
“It’s actually her fault,” Erik said defensively. “She asked me to do it.”
“I don’t even know what we’re talking about!” Rose reminded them.
“She didn’t know what would happen,” Kallias said. “You did.”
Rose groaned in frustration, trying her best to ignore the throbbing pain in her head. “Kallias, if you don’t answer me right now, I will… Well, I don’t know what I will do because you’re a vampire, and I’m sick. But…it’ll be bad.”
“Wow. You are just terrifying,” Erik said sarcastically.
Kallias turned toward her. “Do you remember how I told you that I get headaches when I overuse my telepathic abilities? That overuse debilitates me?”
She leaned heavily against the wooden headboard as she stared into the darkness. “Yeah. At the hotel. It was after you tried to control my mind.”
“Yes. Your power is what allowed you to resist my telepathic control. Your willpower,” Kallias explained. “That headache that you felt afterward was a side effect of overuse. Your body was warning you to stop using your power.”
“Warning?” Rose repeated worriedly. “What was it warning me about?”
“There’s a reason that Erik and I try not to depend on our psychic abilities too often,” Kallias said hesitantly. “There are limits to special abilities. The mind is not meant to do everything that we can do with it. Overusing psychic abilities causes side effects. Damage. It usually starts with the headache. That’s the first warning sign. If you keep using the ability after that, it just gets worse. You will start vomiting blood. And then, after that, you start to…bleed….”
Rose straightened at that. “Bleed? What do you mean?”
“The nose. The ears. The eyes,” Kallias listed.
“Oh. That sounds pleasant,” she said sarcastically.
“For a vampire, it can severely debilitate us and weaken us. We could even fall unconscious. But we heal. Eventually,” Kallias added cautiously.
“But I’m human,” she said, swallowing. “What does it mean for me?”
Kallias just stared at her, as if he couldn’t bring himself to answer her.
Erik answered her, instead. “It means you could die.”
“This is one of the reasons that I didn’t want to tell you about your ability. I knew you would push yourself past your limits,” Kallias sighed regretfully.
“I just want to be able to defend myself. Somehow,” Rose explained.
“I know,” Kallias said. “But what is the point if it kills you?”
Rose froze as she felt a warm liquid on her face. She reached up and touched the wetness above her lips. A warm, sticky liquid poured steadily from her nose, coating the skin and pooling into her hand as she touched her nose.
“Wow. That smells…amazing,” Erik stated, “really, really amazing.”
Before she could even react, she felt someone brush her hand away from her face and press a warm, wet washcloth against her nose. Kallias tilted her head back as he wiped the blood from her face and then pressed the cloth to her nose.
“Kallias, stop,” she said. “I can do it. You shouldn’t be so close to it.”
His hand stilled, the cloth still pressed to her face. She couldn’t see him, but she had the distinct impression that if she could see him, she’d see a hurt expression on his face. He returned to cleaning her face. “Don’t be afraid,” Kallias said, his voice strained. “I won’t bite you. I can control it. I won’t hurt you.”
Her chest tightened as she realized why he’d seemed so hurt. He assumed she was afraid of him. “I’m not worried about myself, Kallias. I’m worried about you. I know it hurts you to be this close to it. I don’t want you to torture yourself.”
“Uh, speaking of…” Erik mumbled. “I think I should probably leave.”
“Go,” Kallias said as he continued to hold the washcloth to Rose’s face.
“Goodnight, Rose. See you when you smell less appetizing,” Erik said.
She blinked. “Uh…” she stammered as she heard the door close.
Kallias continued to steadily wipe the blood from her face. Rose realized that he must have acted instantaneously when she began bleeding because before she had even realized that her nose was bleeding, he’d returned with a wet washcloth. He sat next to her, his right hip touching her left hip, his body turned sideways so that he faced her. She couldn’t see him, but she felt his closeness. She heard his breath coming quickly and sharply as he held the rag to her nose.
“I need to stay with you,” he told her. “I need to know that you’re okay.”
“Am I okay?” she asked nervously. “Will my ears and eyes bleed next?”
“You will be okay,” he stated. “I will make sure of it.”
“How?” Rose asked. “If I’m dying, what can really be done about it?”
“If you are dying,” Kallias said slowly, “I will give you my blood.”
She grabbed his hand and pulled the rag away from her face. “What?!”
“No matter what is wrong with you, my blood will heal you,” he said.
Her eyes widened in horror. “I am not drinking blood! Besides, didn’t you say that you would never give anyone your blood? That it would create a bond?”
“A blood bond,” Kallias confirmed. “You’re right. I don’t want to do it. The last thing either of us needs is a bond that will link us together for the rest of your life. But if it’s the only way to save you, I will. I am not letting you die.”
“Couldn’t I just go to the hospital?” she asked.
“What could they possibly do for you?” he asked. “They won’t even understand what is happening to you, much less know what to do about it.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger to dull the throbbing ache in her head. “How will we know if I’m dying or not?”
“I don’t know. But I won’t take any chances. If it gets any worse, I will give you my blood,” he stated. “I think your nose has stopped bleeding now.”
“I need to splash some water on my face,” she mumbled tiredly.
Kallias leaned over her and switched on the light. She winced at the brightness, and her head seemed to pound harder than before. She staggered out of bed and shuffled toward the bathroom. She leaned over the sink and glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Kallias had cleaned most of the blood from her face, but faint red stains under her nose proved that there had been blood on her face recently. Well, that and the bright red bloodstain on the front of her shirt.
“Ugh. Great,” she groaned, scowling at the blue and black flannel shirt.
“You could be dying, and you’re worried about your shirt?” Kallias asked.
She turned to find him standing beside her, the blood-soaked rag in his hand. “It’s a coping mechanism. When people are scared, they would rather worry about th
e insignificant things than think about what is actually bothering them.”
His eyes softened at the impersonal answer. “You’re scared?” He stepped forward and tossed the rag in the sink. He placed his hands on her arm and turned her to face him. “Listen to me. I won’t let you die. If this worsens, I’ll feed you my blood. I swear that I will do whatever I have to do to make sure you are okay.”
She stared up at him, seeing the sincerity in his brown eyes. “Why?”
He looked away. “I wish you wouldn’t ask that question so much.”
Her lips twitched. “Why?” she asked again, half-joking but…also serious.
“Because it’s best if neither of us answers that question,” he stated.
For a moment, she just stared at him, watching the flicker of nervousness in his eyes, the hint of something else…something intense… She swallowed uneasily and turned back toward the sink. She glanced at her reflection, grimacing at her sickly complexion. Then, she turned on the water and cupped her hands beneath the stream of water. She closed her eyes and splashed the cold water on her face. The water felt refreshing and eased her headache for a moment or two.
“If you don’t mind, I would like to stay with you tonight,” Kallias said hesitantly as he watched the water drip from her eyelashes. “I want to be as close to you as possible in case this gets any worse. Is that all right with you?”
She smiled. “Yeah. I want you to stay. Yesterday, I…I liked that.”
Rose gasped in surprise as Kallias suddenly stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her, crossing his arms across her stomach as he held her against him. His lips brushed her ear. “Baby, you should already know that you are welcome in my bed anytime you want,” he murmured. She felt his lips curve into a smirk against the shell of her ear as he added, “to sleep, I mean.”
Despite the sickly paleness of her skin, her cheeks still managed to redden. “Right. I’m sure that’s what you meant,” she said sarcastically. She immediately grimaced in horror as she realized how flirty that had sounded.
He laughed. “Come. Let’s get you to bed.”
The Stone of the Eklektos Page 60