CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Mark was pacing in his hotel suite thinking about what to do with Serge. He was not going to step around his nearly lifeless body for the next few weeks until it healed. It was a two-bedroom suite but he’d had about enough of Serge and his constant bitching after only a few days.
“Don’t you have friends or something?” Mark said to no one in particular. Serge was asleep on the couch—apparently the bed was too soft. Mark resolved that he was going to have to pay for another hotel room for Serge if he wanted to have any peace. He picked up the phone to call the front desk.
“You don’t have any rooms available?” Mark said with a little more force than he’d intended.
“No sir.” The voice on the other end of the line remained nonplussed at his tone. “But we do have a furnished apartment on the top floor that has just become available. We normally don’t use residences as hotel rooms, but I could offer you that at the same rate as one of our deluxe suites since you are one of our extended stay guests. It’s not a penthouse but it does have two bedrooms and a full kitchen. How long did you say you’d need it?”
“A few weeks.”
“Perfect. Unfortunately, it does not come with maid service as it’s a private residence, but I could arrange for an outside service.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Mark replied. He didn’t need to worry about plump little maids wondering into Serge’s trap. “Can you send up the keys now?”
Maybe things were looking up after all. A top floor apartment with no interference from the outside world was the perfect place to stash Serge while Mark figured out what to do next. Mark would have to bring Serge blood to keep him on the path to health and keep him from eating other the residents—hopefully. But that was a small price to pay for not having Serge in his personal bubble.
Mark quickly dismissed the thought of just letting Serge rot alone in the apartment. He was not in the mood to deal with a police interrogation when someone eventually found the body. What happened to vampire bodies when they died anyway? He wished he could ask someone about that. If they just disintegrated into thin air like in the movies, it made the whole leaving him to rot scenario a lot more realistic. Maybe he could call Abri Cole and get her to ask her boyfriend—and apologize for outing her in his letter, if it had actually reached Sarah.
***
Mark opened the door to the apartment and looked around. It was furnished, but just barely. A couch and lamp, a bed, a breakfast table and two chairs. There was an old tube TV and a queen-sized bed in one of the bedrooms as well. It looked like whoever had owned the place had moved out in a hurry and left behind all the things they couldn’t fit in their trunk. Serge had managed to haul himself into the elevator, refusing Mark’s attempts at help, and was now feeling his way along the wall outside the apartment. Mark had some misgivings about letting him make the trip under his own power but figured the blindness would keep him from wondering off after some unsuspecting human out for an evening stroll.
“It’s not much but it’s better than your old place,” Mark said as Serge rounded the corner into the entry way.
“I’ll take your word for it,” Serge snapped. “Now help me inside. I’ve made it this far just by smelling your rotten stench.”
Mark led him to the bed and helped with his shoes. While he would have preferred the cushy hotel suite to a barely furnished apartment, keeping hidden was about the only vampire rule Serge followed. He didn’t want to be subject to a well-intentioned hospital trip when the cleaning staff found him looking mostly dead, eyes gouged out and hand missing, on the bed. There would be no convincing a human he was on the mend and didn’t require assistance. He was still too weak to kill or drain anyone, unfortunately; but he wasn’t going to let Mark know that, he liked keeping that moron on his toes.
“I’ll be back later with some blood. It won’t be human because I don’t know how to get that up here without robbing a Red Cross or kidnapping someone off the street.”
“Either one of those would work,” Serge garbled. His throat was still open, making his speech difficult if he didn’t keep his hand over it. He was too worn out from his trip upstairs to care at this point. Mark had managed to procure a pint or two from a local blood drive the day before but it wasn’t enough. Serge needed what only a live human could provide. Like a junky in a jail cell, Serge had no choice but to lay back and dream of his next hit.
Mark walked back through the living room and left the apartment, locking the door behind him. He had no intention of going out for blood tonight. Serge could wait until tomorrow when he made his daily butcher shop run. He’d have to make do with the stuff they sold to make blood sausage, something Mark had never known existed until he became a Halfling. Serge would be pissed, but he was at Mark’s mercy since he was weaker than he probably cared to admit. For some reason that made Mark smile.
Mark was still smiling as he rode the elevator down to his hotel suite. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t see the elevator open across from him.
“Mark?”
He nearly jumped out of his skin. No one knew where he was staying besides— “Sarah?”
“Hi,” she replied. “I know I shouldn’t be here, and Abri will absolutely kill me when she finds out, but I need to talk to you. I read your letter.”
Oh, fuck. “My letter?” he said in disbelief. So the maid had mailed it. He would make sure to leave her a nice tip this week—assuming this conversation went well. “Yeah, my letter.”
“Can I come in?” Sarah asked, looking down the hall towards his room. “The front desk told me what room you where in when I said I was your wife.”
Wife. It was nice to hear that word coming from her. “Of course. I'm sorry; I'm just shocked to see you here.” He started walking towards his suite thinking about what perfect timing he had in stashing Serge fifteen floors away. He just hoped there wasn’t any blood left on the patio or the couch. Even though she was here to talk after reading the letter, he was sure she wouldn’t be too keen on seeing a bloody mess in his room. He held the door open and let her into the suite ahead of him. The smell of her skin made his fangs run out a little as she walked past. Shit. He held his breath and walked in behind her.
“What did you want to talk about?” Mark asked trying to sound nonchalant as he talked around his fangs. They begrudgingly retreated back into his skull.
Sarah didn’t answer. She just looked around the room, blinking wildly as if she was trying to hold back a flood of tears. She sat down on the edge of the couch and placed her purse on the coffee table. “Do you have any water?” she asked.
Mark raided the mini fridge and found a bottle for her. He handed it to her and made the bold move of sitting beside her on the tiny love seat. Mark couldn’t smell any blood, thank God. He was about to say something to break the ice when it happened.
Sarah let out a little squeak and tears spilled from her eyes as threw her arms around him. Mark gasped in surprise and tried gently to push her away, afraid of what he might do. “Sarah,” he cried out.
She held on tighter. “Mark, I'm so sorry. I love you. I don’t want to leave you. I don’t care if what you say in the letter is true. I don’t care if it’s not true and you’ve really gone crazy,” she blurted out in one long breath. “We’ll figure something out…if you’re crazy.”
“You don’t? We will?” he managed to say without taking in a breath. Her scent this close was torture. He nearly lost it when she crawled onto his lap and stared at him with pleading eyes. He tried not to notice that her movements had made her dress inch too far up her thighs. His reaction to that had nothing to do with being a Halfling and everything to do with being a man.
“No,” she sniffed. “I mean, is it true? Can it be true?”
“Did you talk to Abri?” He wasn’t ready to give a direct answer. Her hair fell over her shoulder and he wanted so badly to reach out and touch the dark strands.
“No, well, sorta. I told her what
the letter said but she said she doubted if anyone would believe it was true. I don’t know why, but I felt like she knew something and wouldn’t say. Noncommittal is so not her thing. So I decided I needed to talk to you.”
While he was glad Abri hadn’t told her the letter was complete insanity, he was a little sad she hadn’t said more. Mark thought about how to proceed. He could stall and just tell her that he’d missed her and wanted to get back together; or he could spill it all and see what happened. The most likely results involved her either slapping him with a restraining order or having him committed to a mental institution…or both. That letter was just the handwritten proof of his demise Abri Cole would need to assist Sarah in the matter. Hell, the attorney had probably already asked Sarah for a copy of it. “If it was true, what would you do?” Mark asked, testing the waters.
“How would I know it was true?” she replied, settling herself back on the seat next to Mark. He was grateful for the extra space if he was actually going to go through with this. “What proof would I have?”
Mark sighed. He had proof all right, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to show it to her. The longer he waited though, the more it looked like he was just crazy and the more likely she was to leave and never talk to him again.
This was it. His only chance to make it right.
He took a deep breath, inhaling Sarah’s scent again, and closed his eyes, savoring it. This was probably the last time he would be close to her, or anything else outside of a padded cell. He thought back to their wedding day and how beautiful Sarah had looked as they committed their lives to one another. Then he thought of how she had just looked straddling his lap, dress hiked up almost to the point of indecency. The thoughts made him smile and his fangs ran out to their full length as he exhaled.
He heard Sarah gasp and his body tensed as he waited for the scream that as sure to follow. Slowly, he opened his eyes; maybe she had passed out. Her face was only inches from his, her brown eyes wide. Her mouth drew into a slow, sultry smile as she closed the distance between them. Sarah grabbed his face and pulled him in for a kiss. Mark’s brain short-circuited. The numbness he’d felt for the last six months was gone. He felt alive as her mouth pressed against his fangs.
He wished he could will the cursed things back into his head before they cut her mouth. Of course, the thought of her blood only made them strain harder against his gums. “Holy shit, Sarah,” he managed to say between her mad kisses.
“Oh Mark, it is true. It is,” she gasped. She was back straddling his lap again and Mark could barely contain himself. “All of it?”
“All of it,” he replied, holding her face with his hands to stave her off a bit. “But Abri wasn’t lying, no one will believe it.”
“How exactly does Abri know?” she asked, resting her hands on his chest, which was heaving as he tried to take in enough deep breaths to calm himself.
“If you can get off me, I’ll tell you. I'm really sorry, but I’m not exactly sure I can control myself much longer with you…so close.”
“Sorry.” She moved back to the seat next to him and pulled her dress back down over her knees. “Is this okay?”
Mark nodded and took a few more deep breaths for good measure. “I hate to throw Abri under the bus again, but it’s not going to make much sense if I don’t,” he began. “Abri’s new boyfriend is a vampire. A real, full blooded one.”
“Does she know?”
“I'm sure. The asshole that turned me is also trying to kidnap Abri. He’s obsessed with her. So her boyfriend, Lucan, is trying to kill him to protect her. I just hope they’re not trying to kill me too. A Halfling isn’t something anyone wants around exactly.”.”
“Oh Mark! I won’t let that happen. Abri won’t let that happen.”
“I'm not so sure she’s a fan of mine either,” he replied. “I sorta broke into Lucan’s apartment when she was there a few weeks ago. It was before I figured out how to take care of myself, I was really messed up in the head then. Serge, that’s the asshole, had talked about her so much and then she turns up as your lawyer. I thought it was a good idea to find out who she was and what all the hype was about. I didn’t mean to scare her and I didn’t hurt her. In fact, her boyfriend took a few chunks out of me when he saw me leaving. So, yeah, I doubt either of them like me very much.”
“I’ll talk to her. I mean I'm going to have to tell her the divorce is off and she’s going to want to know why. I can’t very well tell her I’ve had a change of heart without telling her I know what you are. Especially since she knows, she’d wear herself out trying to talk me out of it without actually telling me why.”
“Wait. Tell her the divorce is off. You mean you still want to be together. Even knowing what I am now?” Mark asked, tears forming in his eyes. “There isn’t a cure for this as far as I know.”
“Of course I do, I love you. I only wanted a divorce because I thought were cheating on me or had become an alcoholic or drug addict. I mean if Abri can date a vampire, why can’t I be married to a half vampire?”
“Okay, but I think this may go beyond the usual ‘for better or worse’ stuff.” Mark said, bracing for her to realize he was right and change her mind. “I mean, I appreciate your logic on this, but it might be pretty flawed.”
“If Abri’s with a vampire it can’t be that bad. She’s a smart girl.”
There was so much Mark wanted to say. Mainly that he didn’t know how bad what he was, was or what he could expect out of this new existence. Serge hadn’t told him anything. “But I’m not really a vampire, or at least I don’t think so. Serge the Asshole didn’t finish the job apparently, and now I don’t know if it can be completed. Or if I want it completed, being a real vampire might be worse than this. I wish you could convince Abri to get Lucan O’Reilly to talk to me. I need some answers.”
She looked at him and smiled. “Whatever the answer, we’ll get through it. It can’t be any worse than finding out that vampires actually exist, right?”
She was taking this all so well that he wasn’t sure she really understood what he was saying. “This isn’t some romance novel love story crap, Sarah. I’ll never be the same again.” Mark paused, waiting for her reaction. “I’ve been much worse than what you’re seeing right now, much worse. Hell, I don’t even know how I’m holding it together right now with you this close to me.”
Ignoring his warning she continued, “I’ll go see Abri tomorrow ask for her help and Lucan’s. I'm sure there’s something they can do. Until then…” she stood up, reaching for Mark’s hand. “I say we find some other way to pass the time.”
Mark froze. He wasn’t sure if he could still do that, if it was even advisable. What if he hurt Sarah? “I don’t know Sarah, I'm not sure I can. I mean I haven’t tried to or anything—”
“Mark, it will be fine. I know for a fact it won’t kill me, Abri’s living proof of that.”
She had him there and from what he could tell, being a full-blooded vampire couldn’t be any different from a Halfling in that department. Serge had talked about being with women, humans and vampires, during the few times they’d actually talked. Mark relented and took her hand. He’d missed his wife so much and if things didn’t work out for them in the end, he didn’t want to regret passing up one last time with her. She led him back towards the bedrooms. “Which one?” she asked, standing between the two rooms.
“This one.” It wasn’t actually the room he’d been sleeping in, but Serge had taken it upon himself to sprawl across Mark’s bed earlier and he wasn’t completely sure there wasn’t blood on the sheets. The second room was still clean from the maid’s last visit.
Mark ushered Sarah into the room and then excused himself to double, no, triple lock the door. Serge was probably pretty well immobile, but Mark wasn’t taking any chances. He double-checked the locks on the terrace as well. Sarah was already in bed when he made his way back, her dress draped over the wing-backed chair in the corner. Mark’s fangs ran out again at the sight of
his wife in a matching pink bra and panty set. She liked to match her undergarments, a habit he always enjoyed as well.
“Come here,” she purred, sitting up on her knees. “I’ve missed you so very much.”
Mark swallowed hard as he approached the side of the bed. Deep breaths were helping him keep calm. He didn’t feel the urge to attack her in a bloodlust/dinnertime kind of way, but there was definitely an urge there. Like it had always been, but more intense.
Sarah pulled him closer by his tie and then loosened it, and flung it across the room. Her hands went down to his belt and slowly undid it and his fly. His brain kicked into high gear, like he’d just taken down an entire rump roast, and he shucked off his pants, boxers, and all but ripped the buttons off his shirt. The last time they had been together was before—Mark stopped the thought before it formed completely in his head. This was not the time for such ruminations. Sarah laughed a throaty laugh as she reached to unclasp her bra.
“Let me,” he commanded, kneeling on the bed next to her.
She let her hands drop and bared her chest to him so that he could better reach the front clasp holding the flimsy lace in place. Mark growled. He’d never been one for the kinky sexplay, but something about his new nature urged him forward. He leaned down and used his fangs to pop open the little wisp of fabric between her breasts. Sarah giggled as the straps slid down her arms.
“Naughty boy,” she whispered. “What else can you do with those things?”
“I’m not sure,” he said honestly. He could think of a few options but wasn’t sure they were a good idea or if she’d be into them.
“Bite me,” she demanded, tilting her head to the side, exposing her slender neck. Oh, well, I guess she was into them.
Now rationality should have taken over in Mark’s brain but it didn’t. He should have seen all the reasons why that was a bad idea, but he didn’t. He could actually hear the blood pulsing through her veins, how it quickened as she looked into his eyes. His fangs grew longer and pushed against his lips. The thought of blood had never seemed so enticing.
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