“Sounds like someone is infatuated,” Melina could not decide whether she was amused or annoyed when she noticed a reddish tinge to Nadia’s wrist. “He fed from you?”
“It was I who offered! He had collapsed and looked quite sick… It had been quite a while since he—”
Melina leapt to her feet and clutched Nadia’s wrist close to her face. “You have been under Vincent’s roof for many years and never has a vampire fed from you. You hated the idea, and so I forbade anyone to touch you. Yet less than one night after meeting him, you wanted him to bite you?”
“I…it was…I felt it was an emergency. And he has been truly gracious. He bit out of instinct and didn’t take much. When he collected himself, he thanked me but said he promised to only feed from another. He was actually very gentle…”
Melina raised Nadia’s wrist and inhaled. “She obviously isn’t doing her job then, is she?” Though Dante had healed the wound, she could still smell his mouth on the skin’s surface.
Melina’s fangs snapped down. “You enjoyed him, then?”
“Oh…well, I—” Nadia said, suddenly flushed.
Melina dropped Nadia’s hand with a dismissive gesture and retracted her fangs. “Calm yourself,” Melina said, to herself as much as to Nadia. “What once was there is long gone. Destroyed by betrayal. He is pathetic. A worthless human-lover. I would prefer to never see him ever again,” she said, turning her head, listening, then snapping. “And just where is he then?”
Nadia frowned. “He had to go to T, I believe.”
“So he left us here? He left me all alone? Not even giving me the chance to tell him I do not intend to stay one minute longer? Fucking typical.”
“It was an urgent call, from what I gathered. Some kind of emergency. But, my lady, you said you didn’t want to see him…”
“I know what I said,” Melina snapped, storming out of the bedroom.
*
Nicole held the letter tightly in her hand. She couldn’t read it again, not the whole thing. She felt tears welling in her eyes but refused to cry them. She ran her gaze over the most important parts.
Department of Education…notification of misconduct…serious allegations…violently abusive…cannot be tolerated…treats cases with the presumption of innocence…suspension must be handed down…investigations will start immediately.
Nicole threw it away. With the act, she truly felt her entire career would follow. No matter what the letter said about presumption of innocence, she knew in her heart her career was over. Everything she had worked for was gone.
She picked up her phone and dialled Dr. Sarsky before she lost her nerve. She reached only his voicemail, and so tried to explain everything she could at a rapid pace. After a moment, she started to apologise, but the words didn’t feel right, so she simply ended the call.
No, she would not apologise after all. She did not feel like she had done the wrong thing. Miller had deserved the slap, not that the school board would understand that. The system that she fought for was trying to pin her down, but she wouldn’t let it. She would fight to clear her name.
The only thing she regretted was the fact Nick was in the middle of all this. At least he hadn’t let her down; he hadn’t shunned her. All he wanted was to be closer. So what was she so afraid of? Her reputation? She had ruined that all by herself. He hadn’t made her do it. But she did do it because of him, that she couldn’t deny. She wondered what else she had missed out on because she was so work obsessed. Right now it was a handsome boy that really liked her. Made her smile. Drove her crazy. Kissed her like she was his salvation.
A rapping from the door made her jump and march towards the entrance.
She opened the door and was struck momentarily dumb. The figure opposite her was heaving, sweating, looking very sick.
“Nick? Are you all right? You look terrible. And how did you find where I lived?”
“I…followed your scent.”
“What? My what? What are you—”
“I’m sorry. Please, I don’t know where else to go. I need your…” Nick didn’t finish his plea before he tensed, looking past Nicole’s shoulder. Felix, the family’s white cat stood at the foot of the stairs, back arched and hissing in Nick’s direction.
“Don’t worry about him. He just doesn’t like strangers,” Nicole said. She hadn’t seen Felix react quite this strongly to people before, but shrugged it off. Maybe it was just because her parents weren’t home. “Come in.”
Nick took a step toward the door and the cat began to meow angrily, ears pinned back, looking frightened and angry.
“Felix, what’s with you?”
Nick growled softly, taking a step back.
“Hang on, I’ll just be a second.” Nicole moved towards the incensed feline. Felix swatted the air with a paw.
“What the hell has gotten into you, cat? HEY!” she yelled as Felix tried with all his might to fight off her grip. Swatting, kicking, even biting. “That does it,” she said, holding him out at arm’s length. She went to the back door and dropped him on the wooden veranda, quickly closing the door before he got back inside.
She returned to Nick, who collapsed into her arms, and she partially dragged him inside. As she swung the door closed with her foot, she glimpsed a partially cloud-covered full moon, shining through the treetops.
Chapter 30
I Would Do Anything For Love, Except That
Nicole pulled another soaking sheet off Nick’s now bare torso, her hands shaking in unison with the spasms of his body.
“What’s happening to you?” she asked despondently, cooling his forehead with a wet towel. Her curtain suddenly fluffed and waved as the clouds rolled outside, thunder not too far away. She moistened her lips with her tongue, tasting several beads of salty sweat. Nicole’s first thought was to close her window, but the sudden gust of wind was the only cool air she was receiving. His body was giving off extraordinary heat.
“You…” Nick croaked, trying to find the words or the strength to speak them, Nicole wasn’t sure. She leaned a little closer and gently placed the towel over his mouth, before resuming her effort. “Don’t talk,” she whispered. She continued to cool his head and face, but Nick was determined, breathing, “You are so beautiful.”
Nicole paused in her motion of squeezing the towel into the ice-water filled bowl beside her, and lifted her eyebrows in bemusement. “It’s a good thing we are just friends, otherwise I might believe you. But you’re obviously delirious.”
“I’m dying” he replied, voice thick. His eyes, raw and red, leaked tears.
“No you’re not. It’s probably just a bout of the flu. You’d better not make me sick,” she said in a mock threat, forcing another laugh and trying to make light out of the situation that was scaring her more and more.
“I need to tell you…before—”
“Shush! You’re not dying! I don’t care what you think this is, I won’t let you!” She resumed her work with ferocity, clenching her teeth together to keep her lips from trembling.
“I’m sorry…don’t mean to be a…” Nick paused as he looked at her, trying to smile. “Drama queen”
“So you should. You’re a pain in my arse,” she snapped. Her reply was much more forceful than intended, but fear could do that. She slowed her movements with the cloth over his chest and stomach, sliding the damp fabric over his sculpted muscles. The water traces and the low light from the bedside lamp gave his physique an almost luminous glow, the long shadows cast surely exaggerating the muscle definition. She had noticed the past few days how tight his shirts were, but seeing him now, completely naked with just a sheet covering his lower half, she was almost startled at how much he looked like a glossy magazine model whose abs had been airbrushed to perfection.
His body began to twitch again, bringing her attention back to his condition.
“I feel like I am on fire…”
Nicole could no longer joke as she moaned with worry. “Please tell me wha
t can I do.” She was unsure if she was asking Nick or the universe in general. It didn’t matter, as long as she could get an answer. She debated calling an ambulance, but didn’t dare leave Nick’s side just yet.
It took several seconds, but Nick became still. His blue eyes met hers and held her gaze. “Kiss me,” he whispered, a hint of a grin on his otherwise strained face.
“What, now?” Nicole could not help but smile as she shook her head. “That’s crazy. You’re sick. Something’s wrong with you. Besides, it would be…wrong.”
“You’ve done it before.”
“That was to say thank you. This is…very different.”
Nick focused on her, his eyes probing. “You really don’t want to kiss me?” A line of worry appeared on his forehead. It was almost too endearing to resist.
“I…” Nicole said, not sure what this sickness was doing to Nick, but found his newly discovered bravado quite surprising. “You’re not well.”
Nick continued to stare with an expression whose thoughts behind it Nicole could only guess at. What he would’ve said, though, was drowned by a dry, retching cough. He gave it up as a lost cause, whatever it was, and outstretched his fingers. “Hold my hand?”
She had no idea if he had seen through her response. She denied his request for a kiss, but as she enclosed his trembling hand in both of hers for the first time, and caressed his fingers with her own, the corners of her mouth upturned into a smile. She didn’t want to let go.
“What if I tell you a saying?” Nicole asked.
“Does it have mermaids?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t wanna hear it. I want mermaids…and pixie dust.”
Nicole rose and sat beside him on the bed. She placed his hand with one of hers on her lap and ran the fingers of her other hand through his damp hair. “It’s about wolves.”
Nick looked at her. “You don’t believe what’s happening to me.”
“What I believe doesn’t matter,” Nicole countered. “You do. You believe you are changing, that you are losing a battle. That something is fighting to come out. But you’re not alone.”
Nick gazed down at their interlocked hands. “I know.”
Nicole smiled. “That’s not only what I meant. Shall I begin? Very well. Dogs, even mad dogs, fight, and the losing dog, if he can, runs away. But no wolf runs. The wolf wins every fight, except his last.”
Nicole had Nick’s complete attention, she was sure, he was now propped up on his elbows, leaning his head and shoulders closer to her. Nicole had kept still as she spoke, then gradually turned her head towards him, unable to ignore her rushing heartbeat. Those lips of his had always looked good, but in the dull light of her room and with his body glistening, they were beginning to look irresistible.
“So…you want me to fight?” Nick asked, inches away from her and closing, refusing to be denied what he wanted.
“I want you to win,” she whispered, letting his burning face come closer.
Nick paused. For what reason, Nicole would never know. But a second later, both of their mouths came together.
“Wait,” Nick said, pulling away about an inch. “Are you sure?”
Nicole answered by accepting his kiss and returning it with as much enthusiasm. His question showed the maturity and respect she had always seen glimpses of and she realized she had neglected to say the key phrase she’d long been encouraging students to utter when she and the school counsellor’s office provided lectures on mutual consent.
Pulling back briefly, she placed her hands on either side of his face and grinned. “Yes means yes!” She kissed him a third time and felt the skin beneath her palms draining of heat. Was he cooling off just by touching her? For whatever reason, the kisses seemed to be helping him. She stopped wondering at it and leaned in. Despite all her attempts throughout the year of deciding this was wrong for her, just now it could not have felt more right, more natural. All reasons for resisting were absent from her mind.
With a ruffle, the curtains blew aside again, and the storm clouds covering the moon shifted. A ray of moonlight shone down on the two of them, and Nick rocked back in an agonising grimace. Nicole screamed.
His teeth flared, his back arched and he bellowed from the base of his spine. Nicole could make out only one word from his roars of pain.
“Run!”
Nick rolled off the bed and crashed to the floor, crawling towards the door. Nicole rushed to his side and found him unconscious, heat once again rolling off his body in waves. She wrapped her arms around him, kissing his forehead. “I’m not going to leave you.”
Nick went limp in her arms, suddenly at peace. Nicole bolted to her phone and dialled 000. A new gust of wind brought her attention back to the window.
The storm clouds had covered the moon again. The moon…what the? she wondered.
“—the nature of your emergency? Hello?”
Nicole snapped out of her thoughts and brought the phone to her ear. “Hello? Please send an ambulance. I think my boyfriend is dying!”
Chapter 31
Can You Fill Me In
Nick opened his heavy eyelids and spotted a thin ray of black skyline outside an unfamiliar window. As he cleared his head from the fuzziness of sleep, his ears pulsed with the beeps of a heart monitor. Another early morning in a hospital room.
It’s a strange feeling indeed when there’s no pain in your body, yet you felt weak and stiff at the same time. He leaned side to side to stretch his aching back muscles and saw Nicole curled up on a couch next to his bed. The sight of her sleeping form alone made him think he may be dead and this was heaven.
“You’ve only been here about two hours but she hasn’t left your side for a second.”
He jolted toward the speaker and winced at the pain. As it turned out all three of the women in his life were there in the hospital room.
Alex stood in the doorway, paper cafeteria-coffee cup in her hand. “So I’m guessing this is Nicole. You guys dating?”
“I wish.”
Margaret patted his shoulder. “You like her, huh? She’s very pretty.”
“She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. But it’s her brains and personality that drive me crazy.”
“A woman driving a man crazy? Who would’ve thought?” Margaret laughed at her own joke.
“Why do you say that?” Alex rolled her eyes in her mother’s direction, Nick noticed, wondering what might be going on there. He’d been pretty oblivious to things happening at home lately, he realized. Better to defuse the situation for now, he decided.
“I don’t really know where I stand with her. Sometimes she is adamant we can only be friends. I am teacher, you are student.” He moved his arms in a jerky imitation of a robot. “Yet others it seems like that’s the last thing she wants.”
“I’d say she is having a crisis of conscience.” Alex gestured to her temple. “You have to understand with her profession, it’s hard for her if she has feelings for a student.”
“Yes, I would listen to Alex, dear. It may be tough for you for a little while, but hang in there. Don’t move too fast as you might scare her off with impatience. I can’t speak for all girls, but as one at heart myself, no one stays by a man’s side in a hospital room all night for no reason. She obviously feels something.”
He glanced over to Nicole who had begun to stir and stretch.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realise everyone was here.” Nicole stammered and turned bright red when she noticed everyone looking.
“Don’t fret, dear. We didn’t want to wake you. I’m Margaret.” Margaret held out her hand and Nicole shook it, and then Alex moved to sit beside her on the couch. She put her arm around Nicole’s shoulder.
“Thank you so much for looking after him.”
“You’re welcome, but it’s nothing. I was in the right place and just called the ambulance. The doctor examined him and said it was a high fever but it broke almost as soon as he was brought in. I
t’s like the fever didn’t want to get examined,” she laughed. She turned to Nick. “Well, now you have your family here, I’ll…actually, before I go, I wonder… Could you please give us just a minute?”
“Absolutely!” Margaret gushed, whisking Alex away in a flash.
Once alone, Nicole moved closer to the bed and leaned over him, placing the back of her hand on his forehead. “How are you feeling?”
“Better. Thanks to you. But I’m sorry if I scared you.”
She took a deep breath. “You terrified me. I was so worried about you. But I wanted to talk to you while we have this time. What do you remember?”
“I don’t really know. It’s hazy. I remember you taking care of me and I’m pretty sure you’ve now seen me naked.”
Nicole smiled crookedly. “Anything else?”
“Are you asking me if I remember the kiss?”
“No, actually. But now that you mention it, I’m glad you do.”
“I could never forget that.”
She ran her finger under his chin. “Such a charmer. What I meant, though, was do you remember when you were at my front door, you said you’d followed my scent?”
“Your…”
Oh god. He didn’t remember that, yet it made perfect sense. Of course he would go to her, even semi-conscious for help. “No I don’t. But with what I think is happening, it makes sense. At least to me.”
“Well, that’s the point. What you think is happening to you. Look, I’m not going to pretend I understand. But I told you I have an open mind to pretty much everything. When you’re ready, I’d like for us to work it out together. What I’m going to offer, is help if you need it. Someone to talk to. I will have a lot of free time on my hands from now on.”
“Free time?”
“You deserve to know, that I’m not involved with the school anymore. I’ve been suspended, effective as of yesterday.”
Nick leaned back and closed his eyes. “Oh fuck…Miller.”
“It’s not just that. I got another complaint when I confronted a woman about Zach. It was vile what she said, but they’ve taken it on board. I’ve notified Dr Sarsky.”
Day Dreamer (Undeadly Secrets Book 2) Page 24