“No.” The man spoke calmly.
Did he just hear my thoughts? Addison opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“Sweet, it wasn’t me. The man you met in the forest was my twin brother.”
Met? Is that what you call it? She wanted to scream and yell at this man, maybe even hit him. She couldn’t. His stare was calming, in a very uncomfortable way. Addison jerked her chin from his hold and started to crawl further into the corner of the bedroom.
The man made no attempt to stop her or restrain her. Addison continued on the floor, slowly moving away from the man, but as she did, she watched him closely. She was momentarily lost in the stranger. She let her eyes wander over his body. He was lean but very muscled. His face was the same face as before in the forest. Addison inhaled hastily and unconsciously as his beauty filled her mind.
She noticed that his face was boyish but dangerous at the same time. His hair was still tussled and a bit wild, but it was off, somehow. Something was different there. With curiosity, she watched as he adjusted himself. He was kneeling on the floor, just before her. The man inched back some and straightened his back while watching her closely, reading her. It seemed like he was waiting on her.
Then it hit her. This man’s hair was slightly lighter. The man from the forest had very black hair. This man’s hair was still dark, but it was a shade lighter. A dark brown. Could it be true? My attacker and my savior are twins? Twins that are exactly the same in every other way? Addison thought if this was a movie, she might enjoy it. Real life, though, not so much. It also struck her as odd that she knew but wasn’t shocked that the attacker must have been a vampire. Why did that feel almost normal to her?
Something suddenly drew her attention away from the savior. A girl, about Addison’s age, walked into the room. The man also noticed and looked up at her. She had a distinct look of displeasure. She frowned at the man and frowned even deeper at Addison.
“Now that it’s awake, it can go.” She said the words like they were poison.
“Brooklyn, stop. Now.” The man’s tone was a warning laced with annoyance.
The tall brunette rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. For a few seconds, she just stood still, letting her stare bounce between the two of them. Finally, she huffed out an exaggerated breath and left the room. As a final note, she slammed the door behind her with more force than one would have expected possible from a woman her size.
Addison jumped at the loud sound, and this brought the man’s attention back on her. His eyes made her feel ugly and beautiful at the same time. She couldn’t explain the feeling to herself any better than that.
Chapter Nine
After a few tense moments of silence, the stranger held out his hand in a gesture for Addison to take it and come near him. She didn’t. The frightened—but growing more and more curious—girl stayed in the corner. However, as a sign of goodwill, she unfolded her legs and sat straighter.
The man’s expression didn’t change, still serious and devoid of any real feelings. His eyes changed, though. They were the exact vibrate blue as the other man’s, but right now, Addison saw disappointment spread through them. Was it disappointment in her, or himself? How was she so certain of this feeling in him? Addison couldn’t answer either of those questions.
The man dropped his proffered hand and moved up to sit on the bed.
“My name is Luke. I’m not going to hurt you.”
He waited. Addison said nothing and did nothing.
“Fine, I understand that you need some time and probably answers. The man who—”
“The vampire.” Addison corrected him and surprised herself with the amount of distain in her voice.
“Yes.” He paused and entwined his fingers together in his lap. “Vampire, but we actually don’t use that term.”
Fuck you! I was attacked and you don’t want me to hurt the creature’s feelings?! Some of Addison’s fear was rolling into anger. She came away from the wall and inched just a bit closer to Luke.
“His name is Gabe and as you can see, he is my identical twin brother.” Luke tilted his head to one side as if to say “look at me.”
Addison did just that. She came up onto her knees and got even closer to him. She moved slowly and with caution, but as she came up, calmness washed over her. It seemed to be flowing from Luke. It was very similar to the bouts of calm she felt with her attacker.
“Gabe attacked you and I’m sorry about that. If I had been there sooner, I would have stopped him.”
Addison was trying to let that statement sink in when another thought pushed its way forward.
“Stopped him? You’re a vampire, too.” It was more of a statement than a question.
Luke didn’t answer but his eyes did it for him. His stare was instantly apologetic and maybe just a bit sad.
“And that girl?” Addison pointed at the closed door and she could feel her anger building. Her hand started to shake just slightly. “What the fu—”
“And you.”
Addison froze. Was he fucking joking? “What do you mean, ‘and me’?”
“You were dying.”
His face was so somber and cheerless that Addison actually choked on the ball of emotions in her throat.
Is he saying what I think he’s saying? I have to be dreaming or dead. Is this my personal hell? Well, if it is, at least I got a hot demon to keep me company.
It struck Addison as odd that part of her brain was lighthearted about this whole thing. Was this fate? Was there such a thing?
Luke continued to stare at her with little to no emotion. Addison thought that he was waiting for her to freak out. Well, shouldn’t she? She had been walking in the forest when an attacker had drunk her blood. Talk about crossing fucking boundaries!
“It was either leave you to die or change you. I know it’s not ideal, but it was the best choice at the time.”
“Not ideal!” Addison’s tone increased in volume and anger.
She turned away from Luke and sat down on her ass. She needed to think. Was this really happening? She had been attacked by a gust of wind, sucked dry, and then turned by her savior. Addison retreated to her mind and tried to pull up her last memories from the forest.
The echo of pain still ran through her body. She felt the hard ground under her and…something on her lips. He put something on my lips and I took it in!
Again, it was like he knew what she was thinking. “Yes, I placed some of my own blood on your lips and in your mouth. This is what changed you, saved you.”
Addison turned and stared at him. Her mouth popped open, but nothing came out.
“I know you have a lot of questions, but right now, you need to feed. You have been through a great ordeal and you will crash soon without replenishments.”
A great ordeal? I’ll fucking say. I don’t even want to know what he means by “feed.”
“Don’t worry. You won’t be sucking on any humans. We have fresh animal blood here. It won’t taste the best, but it will do the job.”
Is he kidding? I am NOT drinking blood. Addison’s mind started to race. In her mind, up sprang a picture of a large glass of dark red blood. She started to gag uncontrollably at the mental picture. Addison rolled up onto her hands and knees, continuing to gag as tears started to fill her eyes. She tried to inhale between gags.
Just then, a strange thought popped into her head. How does this vampire thing work? She had tears and was breathing, although she could tell it was more just habit now. It was comforting, but not completely necessary.
“You will learn in time that you can slow your breathing. You need much fewer breaths an hour. Also, your heart is much slower. It still needs to pump blood through you, but not as much. Your body is far more efficient now.”
Addison concentrated on holding down her next gag. Then, she listened for her heartbeats. She thought back to earlier in the woods, hearing the harsh beats in her ears. She waited. Addison didn’t hear or feel anything
. She lifted a hand to her chest. Nothing. She then moved the hand to her neck. Nothing, still.
Addison sat back on her heels and closed her eyes. She blocked out everything except just feeling her body. After what seemed like a couple of minutes, one beat. That was it. One strong beat and then nothing.
“Come,” Luke stood and held out his hand. “Let me feed you and then I will answer any questions you have.”
Addison hesitated and stared up at him. His face seemed kinder to her, at the moment. What choice did she have, anyway? She had no clue where she was or what she was. The newly changed human stood up and started to take the vampire’s hand.
Just before he could get a hold of it, Addison panicked and pulled back. He reacted at lightning speed and grabbed her hand. This caught her off-guard and she stumbled, falling into him. Luke brought his second arm up and wrapped it around her back, to help steady her.
With her whole body pressed up against his, electricity raced through Addison. The small breaths that she had been taking were gone. Everywhere her skin touched his, it felt like magic. She briefly thought to herself that that sounded dumb, but there was no other way to describe it. His touch felt like home and foreign soil wrapped into one. His body pressed to hers felt sinful but just right.
Their eyes locked onto each other’s and something strange and unprecedented happened to Addison. In Luke’s eyes, she saw a flash of her future. Just a short flash, and it was gone, but the images were lasting. The first image she saw was of a shirtless Luke holding her face. The second image was much uglier. She was looking down at her own chest and it was blood-soaked with more blood than she had ever seen before.
Addison blinked rapidly trying to shake that last vision. She hastily pulled herself from Luke and he let her go without a fight, almost pushing her away at the same time. As she got her bearings back, she stopped to study him. He looked almost as shaken as she was. Did he feel and see what I just did? She stared at him with wide eyes. Luke blinked several times then coughed lightly, almost as if he was trying to drive the tension out.
“Please, follow me.” With that, Luke swiftly walked toward the door.
Chapter Ten
Luke opened the door and hesitated. What the hell had he gotten himself into? There really was no choice, though, even if Brooklyn thought differently. He couldn’t have just left this girl dying in the woods. First, just because he had pity for all mortals, but also, he felt some bit of responsibility. It was his brother, his twin that had caused her pain and suffering. Luke couldn’t walk away from that even when he had tried.
He turned back around to look at Addison. She hadn’t moved from her spot across the room. Luke knew the emotions that were swirling inside her. For one, he had been there himself. That was another story. For two, when a Revenant turned a mortal, they had a mental and emotional connection. This faded, however. The connection Luke had had with his Turner had only lasted a few days, which was plenty for him.
Luke turned back to face the hallway and closed his eyes. He concentrated on sending Addison calming waves, calming energy. He could feel her fighting the sensation but then slowly giving in. He had to admit that this felt different. The connection with Addison felt stronger than any he had had in the past. Another thing that was slightly off was her strength. Most humans that were first turned were like babies. This girl already seemed on his level.
Luke sent out another calming wave and felt Addison completely give in to it. He then could sense her walking toward him and the opened door. As she neared, Luke stepped out into the hall and turned to face her. As he studied her expression, the visions from earlier replayed in his mind.
He had never experienced something that intense and real. Luke had had a few visions before but he could always tell that that was exactly what they were. The scenes he had gotten from Addison felt real. Yes, gotten, almost forced from her. He had actually had to convince himself that they weren’t recent memories.
The emotions were raw and strong. When he had held her face, he felt love and lust. When he had seen her bloody, he had felt rage and loss. Luke never wanted to face any of those again. They were too strong. The visions and emotions had felt like an illness wrapped in pleasure. But that pleasure didn’t seem to come free or clear.
* * * *
Addison felt some of her fear melt even further away as she neared Luke. She was still unwilling to call him her savior. Would being a vampire really be better than being dead? She guessed she would soon find out.
Without speaking, Luke motioned to the right and then started walking in that direction. Obviously, she was to follow. As she walked behind him, she could feel his uneasiness. Did he not like her here? Addison felt like all his thoughts and feelings were sitting just on the edge of her mind as if, with a little effort, she could dive straight into his head. That was exciting and scary. She decided to try and shut that part down, for now.
Suddenly, as if she had walked into a brick wall, Addison’s body stopped. The walls were spinning and her legs felt like jelly. She reached out an arm to catch herself from falling. She wasn’t balanced enough and fell into the wall, with a bit of force.
“Damn it. I told you that you were going to crash soon.”
Addison could tell by his voice that Luke was genuinely concerned for her. She could sense, though, that he was fearful for himself. That didn’t make much sense to her, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it now. She tried to push herself off the wall, to stand up straight, but her arms were too weak and her vision was blurry.
Her stomach lurched and again she felt that vomiting could be in her near future. Addison closed her eyes and took some possibly unneeded deep breaths. When she opened her eyes, her vision had cleared and she felt some of her strength returning. She looked up at Luke and was confused by his expression.
There was a severe look of guilt with a small amount of panic playing in his bright blue eyes. Her whole body shuddered when she saw that silver streak play in his eyes, the same streak his brother had showed during her attack.
Luke reached out a hand but then pulled it back. He seemed to be fearful of touching her. Is it the visions? Addison made a rash decision, then. She pushed her back off the wall with one arm and grabbed the vampire with the other. Her hand quickly took hold of his forearm and she pulled herself closer to him.
“Fuck me. No. Don't.”
It was Luke’s voice in her head, his lips never moved. Addison gasped and withdrew her hand swiftly. Her eyes felt as big as dinner plates as she stared at him. Before she could stop it, she felt her body absorbing Luke’s feelings. A concentrated masculine feeling of nervous lust was quickly followed by a wave of self-loathing.
Addison took a step back and cupped her hand over her mouth. Without trying, she shot out a mental cry. What the hell? I don’t want this. The pair stared at each other for a few seconds before they were interrupted.
“What is this?” Addison looked over Luke’s shoulder to see the girl, Brooklyn, glaring. “Let’s fucking get this over with so she can be on her way.”
Chapter Eleven
“Yes, Addison needs nutrients right away.” Luke never looked at Brooklyn as he spoke to her.
Addison? I don’t think I told him my name. Addison blinked rapidly, trying to get her mind straight. She could feel Luke’s presence in her own mind, but she did her best to ignore it. She couldn’t deal with psychic bullshit and blood-drinking at one time.
Luke gave her a half-smile of understanding. His blue eyes pulled her in once more. Damn, why do the twins have to be so fucking beautiful? He waved at her to follow him again and started to walk down the hall. Brooklyn had already turned away from the pair and was just disappearing around a corner.
Luke whispered over his shoulder. “Sorry, she doesn’t like houseguests.”
“I’ll say.”
The two turned the same corner and came into a large, open space. Addison tried to look around slowly so as not to get dizzy again. The room was
a large living room that changed into a kitchen area. The whole place had a rustic, outdoorsy feel. The walls had exposed wooden beams with a layer of natural rock around some parts.
There were a couple of huge windows on one wall. Addison could see dense forest just outside. From what she could see, they were nowhere near another house. That thought made her feel comforted and nervous at the same time. By the sunlight she saw, she suspected it was late afternoon.
“How long have I been here?” Addison asked cautiously as they entered the kitchen area.
“Not long. A day,” Luke answered.
That’s good news, she thought. Then, a few flashes of her normal life flashed into her mind. School, her car, Joe. How was this going to fit into her life? Could it? A flare of panic tightened her chest and her steps became unsure. Addison took a few stuttered steps and then stopped. She felt like she was going to hyperventilate.
Luke instantly turned around and took a few steps back toward her.
“Sshhh, not now. You’ll have time to figure all that out later.”
This reading-her-thoughts thing was starting to feel less creepy. Addison managed a weak smile and then composed herself. As they slowly came into the kitchen, Brooklyn slammed a plastic container onto the counter she was standing against.
“Luke, I’m not fucking kidding! We are not taking her on as a pet. Get her square and send her on her way. I’m sick of this brotherly guilt shit.”
Brooklyn stomped from the room, but made sure to stop just long enough to stare down Addison. The female vampire gave her a look that could kill. Her nostrils flared as her green eyes flashed with contempt.
Addison knew instinctively that she didn’t want to cross this one. She kept her expression flat as Brooklyn finished her dirty look and then left the room. Addison and Luke didn’t move for a few seconds until they heard a door slam shut.
Once Bitten, Twice Seduced [Revenants 1] (Siren Publishing Allure) Page 4