by I. T. Lucas
“So why is Kian freaking out?”
Amanda shrugged. “I have no idea. Except—”
“Yeah?”
The elevator doors swished open, and Amanda let go of Syssi. “Maybe he wanted to keep his venom glands rested. You know, like a guy who wants to get his wife pregnant so he abstains for a few days to increase his seed’s potency.”
Syssi cast Amanda a disgusted sidelong glance. “That’s gross, Amanda. A really bad analogy. These are my brother and my husband you’re talking about.”
Amanda slapped Syssi’s back. “Don’t be silly. You know what I mean. And that would also explain what he needed Dalhu for. To get him primed before the fight. Andrew is not much of a challenge for Kian, and he might have thought that he didn’t get aggressive enough last time to produce the amount and potency of venom required to facilitate the transition.”
Syssi had to admit that Amanda’s hypothesis made sense. Even if Kian was totally off about this, and it didn’t matter at all if he used his venom glands the night before or not, he might’ve believed it did.
Kian cared about Andrew, a lot, and she had no doubt that his concern for her brother was at the root of his peculiar behavior. He was obsessing about giving it his best shot, and he might have gotten it into his head that refraining from sex was going to help.
When they reached the gym, Syssi took a quick glance around.
Nathalie was sitting on one of the three chairs positioned in front of the mat, biting her nails, her eyes not straying from Andrew. Next to the mat Kian was talking with Andrew and Bhathian. Only a few of the other guardians were present, and Syssi wondered if Kian had purposefully limited the audience this time. She would’ve found it odd if the others had just decided Andrew’s second ceremony wasn’t interesting enough.
Surreptitiously, she looked Kian over, checking for bruises, and then did the same with Dalhu. If they had sparred before everyone had arrived, they hadn’t gone at each other too hard. There was nothing to indicate either of them had been fighting, other than a slight sheen of sweat on Kian’s forehead that might have been the result of something else. Probably stress.
“Poor Nathalie, this must be really hard on her,” Amanda whispered in her ear.
“I know. Let’s go and cheer her up.”
“I don’t think it’s possible.”
Syssi sat next to Nathalie and clasped her hand. “How are you holding up?”
Nathalie turned a pair of wild eyes on her. “I’m not.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Amanda grabbed the third chair and put it down on Nathalie’s other side. “Everything is going to be alright.”
Her face pinched in an angry expression, Nathalie pinned Amanda with a hard stare. “How can you say that? Do you have a crystal ball or something?” Her voice quivered on the last word.
Amanda patted her knee. “I don’t, but Syssi does. And her foretelling predicted that you and Andrew are going to have a future together. Therefore, he is going to survive his transition and everything is going to be okay.”
It was Syssi’s turn to get the look. “You did? Tell me about it.”
Shit. Amanda and her big mouth. True, the little girl in her vision had looked a lot like Nathalie, but that wasn’t a guarantee that Nathalie would indeed be the girl’s mother. Maybe there was another dark-haired beauty in Andrew’s future. Not likely, but still, Syssi wasn’t going to tell her about it. Not exactly, anyway.
“I had a vision of Andrew playing with a child.”
Nathalie waited for her to continue. “And?”
“That’s it. My impression was that the child was his. Therefore he has to survive to father it.”
“You don’t know if the child was ours, though.”
Smart girl.
“No.”
“What if he got one of his many previous girlfriends pregnant? And he is not aware of having a child? Some women decide to go it on their own without telling the father.”
“He still has to survive to play with his child, right?”
That seemed to mollify her. “Right.”
When Andrew and Kian got on the mat and shook hands, the room turned deathly quiet and all eyes turned to them.
They embraced, and after holding onto Andrew for what seemed like a few seconds too long, Kian clapped him on the back and they separated, each retreating to the opposite side of the mat.
As Andrew assumed a fighting stance, Syssi wondered if he was going to last longer this time. For his sake she hoped so. Losing didn’t come easy to Andrew, he wasn’t used to it, especially not so quickly. It must’ve been humiliating for him to be brought down in seconds, even though it shouldn’t have been. He was facing off with a much more powerful opponent.
Kian was the first to move, his fangs already showing as he advanced on Andrew.
Well, what do you know. The abstinence actually helped. It was too early in the fight for him to be already pumped up enough with aggression for his fangs to lengthen.
Andrew surprised him with a roundhouse kick, sending Kian staggering backwards. Now Syssi had a problem; who was she going to cheer for? Her brother or her husband?
Amanda solved her dilemma. “Give us a good show, boys!” she called out. “The best immortal against the best human!”
It sounded silly, but it was better than choosing sides or not cheering at all.
Andrew backed away, experience teaching him that pinning Kian down wasn’t going to work.
Kian flipped himself back up and resumed a fighting stance, waiting for Andrew to make the next move.
“Come on, Kian, what are you waiting for?” Andrew stood his ground.
Kian smiled, but given his protruding fangs it looked more scary than friendly. “For you to show me what you got.”
Why was Kian goading Andrew? His fangs were ready, his venom glands primed, he should get on with it and finish it.
Andrew came at him pretending to kick, but punched Kian in the face instead, then quickly jumped back before Kian could grab a hold of him.
Kian wiped his bleeding nose with the back of his hand and shot forward with a punch of his own.
Andrew’s reflexes were excellent, and he turned in time to avoid getting his nose busted, absorbing the punch on the side of his face instead.
This time Kian didn’t wait for Andrew to regain his balance, following the punch with a kick to the gut.
Andrew flew a couple of feet backwards, but managed not to fall on his ass. He was doing much better than last time. He’d figured out that avoiding getting grabbed was his number one priority. He just wasn’t strong enough to get Kian off him or wiggle free.
The thing was, holding on for more than a few seconds might have been good for Andrew’s ego, but not so good for his face. A big purple blotch was spreading over his cheek, and Nathalie’s distress was growing with it.
Kian should end it already.
He must’ve reached the same conclusion because a split second later he grabbed Andrew and slammed him down to the mat.
Ouch. That must’ve hurt. Kian wasn’t as careful with Andrew this time, and her brother would be bruised as hell after this was over.
Not a big deal, the venom would take care of it, and in a few hours he would be as good as new. A tear landed on Syssi’s hand, the one that was clasping Nathalie’s. Syssi gave it a little squeeze. She wanted to offer the girl a few words of comfort, but there was no time. Kian followed Andrew down, pinned his shoulders and arms to the mat, and bit down with a loud hiss that would’ve curdled her blood if she wasn’t so used to it by now.
Nathalie whimpered.
Syssi leaned and whispered in her ear, “It’s okay. In a second, he will feel no more pain. Watch his face.”
Together with everyone else present, they watched as Kian kept pumping Andrew with venom for what seemed like minutes instead of seconds. The longer he was at it, the faster Syssi’s heartbeat was getting.
Wanting to do it right this time, Kian might kill her brothe
r.
“That’s enough,” she whispered, hoping he heard her.
Kian retracted his fangs and licked Andrew’s wounds closed, then sat down on the mat next to him, watching his face and listening to his heartbeat.
Syssi’s focus was on Andrew, but it was hard to ignore Nathalie trembling like a leaf beside her. “Breathe,” Syssi commanded in a whisper. “You don’t want to faint and miss him waking up.”
Nathalie pulled in a shuddering breath and straightened her shoulders.
That’s my girl.
It took forever, or at least it seemed like it, until Andrew’s eyelids lifted. The sigh of relief was shared by everyone in the room including Kian. In fact, he looked like he was about to pass out himself.
Syssi pushed up to her feet and pulled Nathalie with her. “You can go to him now.”
Nathalie ran and dropped to her knees in front of Andrew, pulling his head into her lap, crying and smiling at the same time.
Syssi gave Kian a hand up, and as soon as he was on his feet he wrapped his arms around her and crushed her to him, burying his face in her neck.
She stroked his head and murmured, “Shh, it’s okay. You did well and everything is fine. Andrew is going to make it.”
Chapter 43: Andrew
“Do you need help getting to the car?” Syssi’s forehead was furrowed.
Andrew had his arm wrapped around Nathalie’s shoulders, and he was leaning on her only slightly to steady himself.
He was fine.
“I can walk. I’m just a little wobbly, no worse than after a night of boozing. Your hubby double-dosed me this time.” Andrew didn’t remember much, but according to Nathalie he’d woken up mere minutes after Kian had retracted his fangs. The venom-induced euphoria kept him down for much longer, though, and half an hour had passed until he could lift his head and stand up with Kian’s help. The guy had practically carried him to a chair.
While he’d sat in that thing feeling like a very happy zombie, Amanda had brought him a bottle of water to drink and a cold compress to put on his cheek. In the meantime, Bridget had gone through her standard routine before clearing him okay to go—checking his vitals and taking another blood sample to add to her growing collection.
Syssi shook her head. “Don’t be a stubborn fool, Andrew. If your knees buckle, you’re going to drag Nathalie down with you. She can’t hold you up.”
That managed to penetrate his foggy brain and he nodded. “Fine. You want to do the honors?” Syssi was strong enough to carry him over her shoulder if she wanted.
“I’ll walk you to the car.” She leaned to whisper in his ear. “I think Bhathian is feeling left out and is too shy to approach either of you. Let him help you.”
Nathalie cast her father a sidelong glance. “You’re right. Tell him we need his help.”
“Gladly.”
Syssi walked over to where Bhathian was talking with Kian, put a hand on his bulging bicep, and said something while pointing at Andrew.
Perking up, the big guy looked their way, then he turned back to Kian and the two clapped hands. As he came over, Bhathian shook Andrew’s hand. “Good job. You didn’t make it easy for Kian.” He lifted Andrew’s other arm and brought it around his massive shoulders. “You can let go, Nathalie, I got him.”
Reluctantly, she did.
Andrew leaned his weight on Bhathian but held on to her hand. “I might have learned a thing or two, like not letting him grab me, but he could’ve ended it in seconds. He chose not to.”
Bhathian shook his head. “Just take the compliment and shut up, how about that?”
Andrew chuckled. “Whatever you say, big guy. I’m not going to argue with you.”
The walk to the elevators took twice as long as it should have because Andrew was shuffling his legs like a drunk who was about to pass out. When they got to Nathalie’s car, Bhathian helped him into the passenger seat. “I’m going to follow behind. I want to make sure you can get up that flight of stairs.”
Nathalie turned on the ignition. “Jackson is there. If needed, he can help Andrew.”
Bhathian grimaced. “Are you telling me I’m not invited?”
Nathalie blushed. “Of course not, you’re always welcomed. I just didn’t want to inconvenience you.”
“I’ll see you there.” He shut Andrew’s door closed.
Letting his head drop back on the headrest, Andrew closed his eyes and the world began spinning. “Your eyes are red-rimmed,” he said.
“I know. I lost it there for a little while.”
Andrew put a hand on her thigh. “What happened? It wasn’t much different than the last time. Just a couple of minutes longer. You were fine then.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I was all worn out by the stress of waiting for the transition to happen, dreading it, then hoping for it. I felt as if I had no reserves left.”
“I’m so sorry you had to go through this again, baby.”
She cast him a glance. “It’s not your fault. Besides, I’m starting to suspect that the other time Annani had something to do with my calm, and this time I was freaking out because she wasn’t there. Do you think she did something to me? Some small thrall of relaxation?”
Andrew wouldn’t put it past the mischievous goddess. He had a feeling Annani did whatever Annani pleased, and the rules by which her children lived did not apply to her.
Who would hold her accountable?
It was a scary thought that one person had so much power, and what she did with it was dependent only on her goodwill. Luckily, Annani was all heart and kindness.
When Nathalie parked her car in the alley behind her shop, Bhathian was already waiting. He opened Andrew’s door and helped him out and up the stairs.
Jackson jumped off the couch to make room for Andrew. “What’s going on, are you okay? Why is Bhathian helping you? Oh, that’s a nasty bruise you got there.”
Andrew let out a chuckle. “I’m fine, kid. You’re stressing like you’re my mother. Relax, it’s just the side-effect of all the venom Kian pumped me with. I think I’m slightly overdosed.”
“Good, I hope this will do it.” Jackson turned to Nathalie.” Is there anything else you need me for?”
“How is my dad doing? Did he give you any trouble?”
Jackson waved a hand. “Not at all. We watched porn and then I tucked him in for the night.”
Nathalie huffed. “No you didn’t.”
“Yes I did. He’s sleeping like a baby.”
Obviously, the thing about the porn wasn’t true—even in his impaired state Andrew heard the lie loud and clear—but how on earth was Jackson managing a straight face?
Nathalie shook her head. “I swear, I never know if you’re joking or not. Could you make us some coffee?”
“With pleasure.”
Bhathian rubbed his chest. “I’ll go down to bring up a couple of chairs.”
“Come here.” Lying on his side and propping his head on his elbow, Andrew tucked himself against the back of the couch and patted the space he made.
Nathalie sat down, and he pulled her closer, so her glorious ass was pressed against his stomach.
She leaned sideways and kissed his lips softly, careful not to touch the bruised side of his face.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore. The venom also acts as an anesthetic.”
Her eyes sad, Nathalie smoothed a finger over the bruise. “It looks bad. The purple is turning yellow.”
“That means it’s healing.”
Bhathian’s heavy footfalls on the stairs were no doubt intentional, but Andrew wasn’t going to let Nathalie move even an inch away from him. “Stay,” he told her as she tried to scoot forward.
She sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I keep forgetting that Bhathian is not like Fernando. Different attitude toward intimacy.”
A chair in each hand, Bhathian entered the den and positioned both across from the couch. He then unfolded one of the table trays to make room for the coffee Jackson
was bringing and sat down.
The kid got there a few moments later, poured coffee for everyone and planted his ass in the other chair.
“You feel anything?” he asked Andrew.
Andrew rolled his eyes. “Would you guys please stop asking me that? I promise I’ll tell you as soon as there is something to tell.”
Jackson pouted. “Shish, I’m just making polite conversation. No need to chew my head off.”
Bhathian dropped two little cubes of sugar into his coffee and stirred. “I want to fly out to Rio as soon as you come out on the other side of your transition. I just wanted to make sure that I have all the information and that there is nothing more you can tell me.”
Andrew shook his head. “I sent you everything I had.”
Bhathian put the spoon away and took a sip. “Basically, all I have is the bank name, location, and Eva’s account number. That’s not much to go by.”
As Nathalie handed Andrew his coffee, he pushed up into a sitting position, leaning against the couch’s armrest. “It might be enough. There was no address listed with her account, but she must be nearby to make withdrawals. You’ll need to stake out the place. But you don’t have to do it all by yourself. Make a few copies of the picture Nathalie gave us and hire a few local kids to take turns watching out for Eva. It won’t take long.”
“How often does she make them?”
“Once or twice a month.”
“If your hacker can find out when was the last time she took money out, it could be a great help.”
“Good point. I’ll call Tim tomorrow and ask him to talk with the kid. I’ll call you as soon as I know anything.”
“I can come with you and help you out,” Jackson offered, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
Bhathian lifted a brow. “To Rio?”
“Yeah. You’ll need help and I’m more than willing.”
Bhathian patted Jackson’s shoulder. “I know. But I need you to stay here and help Nathalie. She needs your help more than I do.”
Jackson’s shoulders sagged. “I guess.”