by Lisa Olsen
“Will do,” I nodded. That answered the question about the cravings. He’d just delayed them until it was convenient for him to take a drink. It made me wonder how long he’d been a vampire for, but I was far more interested to hear what my sister had to say. “So, what’s up?”
“I know you’ve had fairly strong opinions about my staying out of vampire stuff as much as possible.”
“And I stand by that,” I nodded. “You have to admit, you made a less than favorable splash in the pool when you came to the party.”
“Hey, that party was all kinds of messed up and it had nothing to do with me.”
“That might be true, but drunkenly insulting the Elder of the East is never a smart thing.”
“Oh, but it’s cool for you to insult that little bald kid?”
“Is there some kind of point you had in mind here? Or were you just apologizing for blowing your first step into vampire society?”
“I want you to let Mason turn me.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” Her eyes rolled up to the ceiling as if she was dizzy, and she swallowed again before looking back at me.
“There’s no need for that, I told you, you’re going to be fine.” I know, I’d been ready to turn her if it came down to her dying, but she seemed well on her way to recovery now.
“It’s not about that. It’s about making a choice, and I want Mason to make me like him.”
“Mason can’t turn you, he’s a member of the Order.”
“So?”
“So, that’s one of the oaths they take, they’re not allowed to have progeny. Why else do you think they’re working so hard to keep you alive here instead of taking the easy way out and turning you? The fact that you don’t know that shows me how little you know about the choice you’re making.”
“Ugh.” I couldn’t tell if she was rolling her eyes at me or having trouble focusing. “They’re not allowed to get married either, but you didn’t object to that one.”
“That didn’t end up with you joining the undead club. Hanna, this is a very serious step, and not one you should make while flying high on morphine.”
“This isn’t just about what happened tonight, we’ve been talking about it for a while now.”
That brought me up short. “You have?” What else had changed since we’d had time to sit down for a heart to heart?
“You know me, I’m not the type to make a snap decision like this.”
“Not ordinarily, but you have to see that this isn’t the best time to act on it. Get better first, and then we can talk about it.”
“What for? If I become a vampire then I’ll heal right away, won’t I?”
She had a point. When I’d turned Rob all of his injuries had completely healed by the time he’d woken in the morgue. But that’d been an emergency and this wasn’t. I had to know that she’d really taken the time to weigh all the consequences, not just the perks that Mason shared with her.
“Hanna, I need you to understand what it is you’re choosing. Do you really comprehend what you’re giving up?”
“Any more nights like this?” She smiled weakly.
“No, just because you can heal doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt like a motherfrakker when you’re in pain. You’ll be stronger and harder to kill, but you can still be hurt. Trust me.” My experiences being tortured by Volkov had taught me that.
“No old age, no sickness, no dying. Seems like a decent trade off to me. I’ll never be hotter than I am right now. Nothing’s sagging yet, I’m wrinkle free, and my skin’s cleared up.”
All good points, but being pretty for eternity didn’t sound like a good enough motivator to me. “You’ll have to break off communication with Mom and Dad after a while.” Eventually it would be hard to explain away why we wouldn’t age.
“I thought you were pointing out the down sides,” she cracked.
“Funny, but I’m trying to be serious here. They’ve already lost one daughter and they don’t even know it yet. Do you really want to deprive them of both of their children?”
“Ouch, when did you get Mom’s guilt genes?” she winced, her eyes staying closed longer than they had to be. “I can still keep in touch with them. That’s what long distance calls are for.”
“What about a family?”
Her eyes, the exact same shade of blue as mine, looked up for an instant, before they slid away to study her hands. “I don’t have that option with Mason anyway.”
“And you’re sure, one hundred percent irrevocably sure that having kids is something you want no part of?”
“You’re not having any either.”
“And I honestly don’t know how I feel about that yet,” I sighed, my gaze flicking back to the window where I could see Bishop talking quietly with Mason. “No, I can’t imagine my life with kids right now, but it’s not an option for me anymore. In a few years, who knows, it might really bother me that it’s something I can never have. But most of all, it sucks because I wasn’t given a choice.”
“Well, I have a choice, and I’m making it.”
“You say that now, but…”
“But what? I know what I want, and it’s to be with Mason.”
“Then be with him. Nobody says you have to be a vampire to stay with him. And what if things don’t end up working out with Mason?” I hated to suggest it, but nobody knew better than I did how life could throw you a curveball and how everything you thought you wanted in life could suddenly change.
Hanna shook her head, drawing another wince and her head fell back against the pillow again. “He’s the one. I choose forever with him.”
“Forever is a long time,” I murmured, wishing I could make her see that.
Then again, if someone had given me the choice, would I have given up my old life for a chance at the one I had now?
“Okay, if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right.” My fingers itched to draw up a list of everything to consider, but I was without pen and paper. “You’ll want more privacy and comfort than you can find here, and I’m assuming you’ll want some time to see your last sunrise and sunset, that sort of thing. So we won’t even think about doing this until tomorrow night at the earliest. That should give your body more time to heal too.” Less chance of her dying that way.
Her brow puckered in confusion. “What’s all this we business?”
“I told you, Mason can’t turn you, it’s against his oath.”
“He doesn’t care about that.”
“He will when the Order kills you both for breaking it. If you’re going to turn, it should be my blood that does it.”
“Eewh, that kind of creeps me out.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, you’re my sister.”
“And I’m stronger than Mason is, from an honorable bloodline.”
“Sure, if I want Jakob as a grandpa. That didn’t work out too well for the last guy you turned.”
She had a point, but I wasn’t willing to let it go so easily. “That was before I broke the curse, it should be fine now.”
“Thanks, but I’ll pass. I can’t imagine sharing anything so intimate with my own sister.”
“Well, I’m not offering Gunnar up as your Sire.”
“Uh yeah, no kidding. Talk about awkward, I barely know the guy.”
“Which is why it should be me to do it. Now, we’ll need a human for you to feed on to complete the process. I wonder if Maggie would be okay with that?”
“What? I don’t want to feed from Maggie.”
“We’d keep you from hurting her too badly, and it’s better if it’s someone we can trust. Somehow, I don’t think Laveda will be up for it. She’ll start to think I only call her when I need to borrow a meal.”
“Why can’t I find my own human to feed from?”
“Because you’ll be extremely vulnerable after you drink their blood. We need to do this in a controlled environment, not out on the hunt. And like I said, it’ll be better
if it’s someone we know and can trust not to flip out.”
“I never thought of that before.” Her brows drew together as she came to a slow conclusion. “You really do know what you’re talking about, don’t you?”
“What do you think I’ve been up to for the past year, playing dress up?”
“It’s just weird to hear you talking about finding me a person to eat so calmly.”
“This is the reality of being a vampire. You’ll have to feed every night for a long time, years maybe.”
“Mason said I’d get stronger if I fed from him.”
“Yes, but Mason won’t always be there. It’s okay, I can teach you how to hunt and how to control the hunger so you don’t kill anyone very often.”
Her eyes widened. “Very often? How about never?”
Ah, to be so naive again. “Yes, that’s the goal, but it will happen eventually. You won’t mean for it to, but once you feel the call of the blood, it’s very, very hard to ignore. Sooner or later it happens to all of us.”
“I’m not gonna. I have you and Mason to look out for me.”
“Yes, you do.” I smiled at her optimism, giving her hand a light pat. “Now let me make some calls, and we’ll see if we can’t get this going for tomorrow night.”
“Tonight, it has to be tonight.”
“Why such a rush?”
Very slowly, she pulled back the sheet, revealing her naked torso. The skin on her abdomen was almost completely covered in a mottled purple bruise, her belly distended as the blood and fluid gathered faster than the shunt could drain it. “Because I don’t think I have all that long.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I didn’t care what the doctor said, as soon as I saw that growing stain inside her, I knew she was right. My sister was dying and we didn’t have a lot of time. “We’ll do it tonight then,” I agreed, carefully peeling back the tape so I could get the IV out of her arm and get her out of there.
“What are you doing?” Mason demanded, bursting into the room, until he saw the bleeding in her belly. “Shit.”
“Go and get the car,” I ordered, but he wouldn’t leave her side.
“No, I need to be here, in case…”
“I’ll go get it,” Bishop volunteered, and I gave him my silent thanks. The doc must not have gone too far, because he was back by the time I had the monitors and leads disconnected.
Colt’s eyes widened when he saw what I was doing. “I feel like moving her would be extremely dangerous right now.”
“And I feel like leaving her here is extremely dangerous right now. You said it before, you’re hoping for the best, but there’s not a lot you can do for her other than administer more blood, isn’t that right? She could easily die here at any time.”
“That’s true, but if we’re patient, there’s a distinct chance she could survive the night.”
“I don’t want to be patient. I had a heart to heart with Hanna, and she told me that she wants me to turn her.”
“She did?” Mason looked more surprised than anyone, but I couldn’t fill him in on my plan there.
“She did, so I intend to honor that before it’s too late. But not here. Not like this.” I ignored Mason’s incredulous stare, thinking on my feet. “Doctor, thank you for everything you did to help strengthen her, but I can’t take the chance that she’ll die before I get to do this right. It needs to be my blood in her veins when she dies, isn’t that right? Otherwise Mason will be her Sire.”
“Act quickly then,” Colt said, laying his palm against Hanna’s brow. “If the morphine wears off, she’ll suffer horribly.”
“Let’s get a move on then.”
It didn’t take long to get her loaded up into Bishop’s SUV, but I told him to drive to Mason’s place, not mine. Gunnar followed along behind us, even though I said he could go back to the house if he wanted to.
“Did she really tell you that she wanted you to turn her?” Mason asked, cradling her broken body carefully.
“No, she told me she wants you to do it. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
“He can’t,” Bishop objected, his eyes on the road.
“Bullshit. I don’t care about that stupid oath. This is what we talked about, this is the next step. It has to be me. I’ll quit the Order if that’s what it takes.”
“You won’t have to quit anything,” I butted in before the argument got out of hand. “As far as anyone knows, I’ll be Hanna’s Sire. But Mason will be the one who turns her.” I caught Bishop’s gaze as he stopped for the light. “It’s what she wanted. Wants,” I amended, reminding myself that she was still alive, just passed out.
“It’ll come out, these things always do. Look at what happened when we tried to pass you off as Carys’ progeny.”
“Only because Jakob had to go and stick his nose into it.” And the whole Carys coming back to life thing. “Before that I did a pretty good job of pulling it off. The three of us are the only ones that have to know about it, and I’ll make sure the paperwork goes through.”
“I don’t like it,” Bishop frowned. “There are tests that show the markers for your lineage. If anyone were to sample her blood…”
“But they won’t,” I insisted. “Who would have any cause to question the word of the Elder?”
“It’ll work,” Mason said, pressing a kiss to her hair. “Nobody has to know about it but us. It’ll work.”
“I guess I’m outvoted then,” Bishop sighed, and I reached over to squeeze his hand.
“It’ll be fine.”
We got to Mason’s loft apartment without a peep from Hanna, and I went to see Gunnar as he pulled up behind us.
“Gunnar, I need you to wait outside and make sure we’re not disturbed.”
“Yes, boss,” he agreed without hesitation. “Your sister will be alright?”
“I hope so, I’m going to turn her.”
“Oh.” His face changed, the worry fading to a carefree smile. “Tillykke… congratulations to you both.”
“Thanks,” I smiled, not sure that I would’ve put it that way, but I supposed it was a cause for celebration. “I’ll call you after it’s done.”
“I’ll make sure no one bothers you.”
We got Hanna inside and laid out on Mason’s low bed. Her dog, Skittles, started acting like a lunatic as soon as we put her down, alternating between frantic barking and a distrusting growl. I had to get Bishop to take him outside for Gunnar to babysit. It was either that or lock him in the bathroom, and nobody needed that kind of ruckus on our already strained nerves.
“Thanks, Sis,” Mason smiled up at me. “I didn’t think you’d be cool with this.”
“I’m not,” I admitted. “But it’s not my decision, and I have to trust that she knows what she wants. You promise me that you’re going to take care of her, right?”
“I’d give my left nut to keep her happy and the right one to keep her safe.”
That was a visual I didn’t need, but I smiled at him. “I guess that’s all a girl can ask for.”
Hanna’s mouth gaped as she sucked in a ragged breath, her eyes flying wide with pain as the morphine stopped doing its job. “Ahhh…” she cried, unable to form coherent words.
“Shh, look at me, baby. It doesn’t hurt, do you understand me? There’s no pain,” Mason crooned, exercising his will over hers, and I could tell it eased the pain, but didn’t make it go away completely.
“You’d better do it quickly.”
For all of his talk about turning Hanna, he looked scared spitless now that the moment was upon him. “Just… give her my blood?”
“No, she has to be near death for it to work right,” Bishop said, appearing by my side.
“This isn’t near enough death for you?” Mason blurted out, more distraught than Hanna was from seeing her suffer.
“You have to drink from her,” Bishop said. “You’ll need her blood to sustain you when you give her yours.”
“But what if I take too m
uch?”
“Just listen to her heart,” I said. “When you feel it start to flutter, then it’s time to stop and give her yours.”
“Right,” Mason nodded, picking Hanna up in his arms. “This won’t hurt a bit, kitten. It’ll be just like sexy times.”
It was harder than I’d thought it would be to watch him feed from her, even though I knew he was only doing it to save her life. In the next instant, I was in Bishop’s embrace, his arms holding me tight.
“It’ll be okay,” he whispered into my hair. I closed my eyes, trying to block out the scent of her blood, the sound of Mason’s swallow, and the slowing beat of her heart, taking comfort in Bishop’s solid strength. Safe in the cocoon of his love, I prayed he was right. What if I’d made the wrong decision? What if I should’ve left her with the doctor? What if I should’ve compelled both her and Mason to forget about this stupid scheme and tried my best to keep her alive, instead of standing there while her heartbeat grew fainter and fainter?
“Drink now, Hanna. Drink for me.” Mason’s voice cut through my shame spiral, and I ducked my head under Bishop’s arm to see him lift his bloody wrist to her mouth. Hanna drank obediently, but far too weakly for my tastes. If she didn’t get enough blood in her, this would all be for nothing. She kept swallowing though, and that was the most important thing. But her heartbeat continued to falter, growing weaker, more irregular, until her lips fell away from his arm.
“No, keep drinking,” Mason ordered, shifting his hold on her to line her mouth up with his rapidly closing wound. “Drink, damn it!” He bit at his wrist to start the flow of blood again, but it was no use, the blood just smeared against her lifeless lips. “Hanna?” Mason cried, his hands grasping at her in panic. “It didn’t work. Jesus fucking Christ, I killed her!”
The fear sliced through me too, before I remembered the process. “No, you have to calm down. She has to die to be reborn. Don’t you remember?”
Mason let go of her, lying her back against the bed. “But how do you know for sure? She’s so… so broken lying there. What if it didn’t work?”
“We can’t think like that. You did everything right, now we have to wait and see.”