Immortals And Melodies (Blood And Guitars #2)

by Heather Jensen

  "It's a great sign," Mark said, clapping me on the back as we walked inside. He went back to check on Aurora with me, but she was sleeping when we reached the room. “She’ll come around,” he said, giving me a reassuring smile.

  “Is Hana doing okay?” I asked. “She made it through the storm?”

  “She’s fine,” he said. “You know, you should try to get some rest, too. You're still new to the change. You need to keep your own strength up through all of this.”

  “I will,” I said. “You should try and get some rest, too.”

  He didn’t argue with me. “I'll leave you alone. I'll be across the hall, if you need me."

  Mark closed the door as he left the room and I climbed up onto the bed next to Aurora, getting comfortable. I watched her for a while, worried that if I closed my eyes I might miss something. But even that wasn’t enough to keep sleep from taking me after a while. I hadn't slept since before Aurora and I had met Damir at her place so he could witness that I'd been changed. I don't know how long I slept, but when I opened my eyes again the sun was setting outside. Mark was watching it from his position in the bay window. I sat up slowly, which got his attention.

  "Did she come to again?" I asked. He shook his head. "Oh." I didn't try to hide my disappointment. I wanted nothing more than for her to wake up and tell me that she was okay.

  "It's still early," Mark added. "Her vitals are strong now. Her body is just regenerating. It's a process. Give her time. She’ll come around when she’s ready."

  "Sure." I said, swinging my feet down to the floor and standing to stretch.

  "Speaking of regenerating," Mark said as he watched me. "How are the ribs?"

  I took a second to assess how I was feeling, taking a deep breath and finding that the discomfort in my chest was considerably less than it had been last night. "Getting there," I told him.

  He smiled. "I'm glad to hear it." Then he got to his feet and poured a glass of Vidic Vineyard blood-laced wine, offering it to me. "Drink up."

  I took a sip and felt the rejuvenating burn and the incredible taste as it ran down my throat. "Where's Beck?"

  "Still asleep."

  "Hmm ... " I took another sip and sat in the chair at Aurora's bedside. "Hey Mark, I can't thank you enough for this," I said. "For everything. I don't know what I'd have done - what either of us would have done if you-"

  Mark cut me off with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Don't mention it. Besides, I haven't really done anything."

  "Can I ask you something?"

  He looked at me for a moment and then said, "Sure."

  "When we were in the car on our way here," I began. "You said that coming here was risky, even if Stanislav agreed to help us. What did you mean by that?"

  Mark met my gaze, and I couldn't read the look on his face. When he spoke his voice was low, like he didn't want to be overheard. "Stanislav Vidic is an exceptionally powerful Elder," he said. "Not the kind of vampire one usually asks a favor from." Then he sighed, like he was afraid he wasn't explaining himself well. "What I mean is, it would be nearly impossible to resist, if he decided to call in a favor in return."

  Chapter 47

  Trey

  AURORA NEEDED HER REST, and rather than risk keeping her up, I took a walk to clear my head. The vineyard was quiet this time of night, with the moon having just taken its early position in the dark sky, but I suspected it wasn't always that way. The place was crawling with vampires, though none of them seemed to be too powerful. Then again, what do I know about vampires? I'm still so new to this vamp thing, I could be completely wrong. I wandered without a destination in mind, aimlessly roaming the grounds. I passed by a large gazebo that could easily seat a hundred people. I wondered if the vineyard held wine tastings here. After all, they produced the blood-free kind of wine, as well. It was a strange mental image, picturing all those humans sitting around and tasting wine, utterly clueless to the fact that they were surrounded by blood-sucking vampires, their host included. Surely that would make it easy for the vineyard's occupants to feed. With a steady stream of humans coming and going, there would be no need to leave the vineyard for fresh blood. I wasn't sure whether to be sickened or amused by the simple genius of it. A chill ran up my spine, and I moved on, letting my feet carry me in a new direction. I found myself missing Cowboy as I walked. He would have loved running around here, with all the open space. I hoped he wouldn't be too mad at me for leaving him behind, but he was definitely better off with Jonas and Tara right now. At least I knew he was getting the attention he deserved. Tara was no doubt spoiling him rotten. I'd probably have some reprogramming to do when I got back.

  Eventually, I found myself standing in front of a large building. I stared at it for a few minutes, wondering what secrets hid behind the large barn-style doors. I didn't know Stanislav was standing behind me until he opened his mouth and spoke. Even my new vampire hearing hadn't picked up the sound of his steps in the gravel. I wondered if that was an Elder thing, or something any full, adult vampire could pull off. I made a mental note to ask Mark later.

  “How is she doing?” he asked.

  “She’s improving,” I said. “She came to briefly.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.” Stanislav smiled as he stared up at the large building in front of us. "Curious?" he asked, although I suspected the question was a rhetorical one. "Would you care for a tour?"

  "I ... uh, sure." It would be rude to turn down his offer, right?

  Stanislav smiled, pleased with himself, or my answer. I couldn't be sure which it was. He pulled a key ring from his pocket that held only three keys. He fingered the keys until he held the one he wanted and stepped forward. He unlocked the doors and swung one open, gesturing for me to step inside. I had no idea what I would find inside, but Stanislav was right about one thing. I was curious.

  "Have you ever been inside a winery, Trey?"

  "Once," I replied. "We played a little acoustic set for a charity at a winery, but I'm fairly certain that one didn't offer a bottle of 1930 A Negative."

  Stanislav laughed and patted me on the back, urging me forward. "We have something in common, Trey,” he began. “We’re both artists, each in our own right. You see, there’s an art to creating the perfect blend of wine and blood. A vampire's pallet is more than a hundred times more sensitive than a human’s. We have 10,000 grape vines on the property. We only open the wine-tasting room and gift shop a few days a week to the public. As you can imagine, running an enterprise such as this is not without its complications, but I take great pride in what we’ve accomplished here.”

  It didn’t take long to figure out that the building we stood in was where the bottling took place. The corner to my right contained two large holding tanks, and I wondered briefly if grape juice was the only thick, red liquid they held.

  Stanislav chuckled, and I looked up at him. “Don’t worry,” he said. “This building isn’t on the list of stops for the regular tour of the winery the public receives. It wouldn’t be good for business if the humans were frightened away on their first visit. No. We have a separate building for the regular wine altogether.” As he spoke, he moved toward the holding tanks, resting his hand on the side of one of them. “Our secret ingredient will remain a secret, as it has for all these years.”

  I stepped forward to more closely inspect the bottling equipment.

  A large bottling machine was positioned off to my left. The clear, long-necked bottles it cradled were deceivingly normal. Someone less informed would never have believed they'd soon be filled to the brim with delicious wine and blood. I considered asking the Elder more detailed questions about where the blood came from, but decided against it. Some things are just better left to the imagination.

  "I hope you know you're welcome to stay as long as you need for Aurora to regain her strength and heal."

  "I appreciate your generosity," I said to him.

  Stanislav smiled, and then his face grew serious, like he was lost in thought. I knew
better than to reach out to him, not like I would have been able to break through the mental fortitude of an Elder. I watched him as he glanced around the bottling area fondly. There was a level of underlying sadness in him that I didn't quite understand. Maybe he was just lonely. Stanislav had been a little hesitant to help when we'd shown up at his door with Aurora near death, but once he'd agreed to help us, he'd been more than hospitable toward us. The more I thought about it, he just seemed really eager for companionship. From what Beck had said on the way here, Stanislav's wife died tragically over a century ago, and his only son doesn’t speak to him. It was pretty obvious to anyone who paid attention that Damir was more interested in Stanislav's position on the Synod and climbing the proverbial latter than having a real relationship with him. As I stood there watching him, I actually felt sorry for the Elder vampire. In a way, living forever might just be Stanislav’s own personal hell. Without the winery to keep him somewhat occupied, the vampire could just lose his mind.

  I heard footsteps outside the building, crunching on the gravel, and I turned to see Beck enter through the large doors.

  "Let me guess," he said. "You're getting the tour."

  I smiled, and Beck stepped forward, greeting Stanislav with a handshake.

  "It's good to see you again, Beck," Stanislav said warmly to him. "How are you adjusting to life outside the vineyard?"

  "I can't complain," Beck said. "Besides, I've been hanging out with this guy." He nodded in my direction. "Maybe some of that insane talent will rub off on me, if I'm lucky."

  "Don't count on it," I teased as we all stepped back out into the crisp night air.

  "I have some business to attend to," Stanislav said as he locked the building up behind us. "I hope you don't mind if I leave you to explore on your own for a while. Besides, you don't need an old man hanging around, anyway." He smiled, and just like that, he was gone, leaving behind only a light trail of dust in his wake. Beck and I slowly made our way back in the direction of the mansion.

  "What are you going to do now?" I asked him, eager to get my mind off of my own problems and find a distraction.

  "What do you mean?" he asked.

  "Well, you seem to be adjusting to life on the nocturnal side of things pretty well. What are you going to do with the next hundred or so years of your life?"

  Beck chuckled and shoved his hands in his pockets as he thought about my question. "I need a job," he said, which just made both of us laugh. "I can't go back to school, at least, not like I was before. I don't know what to do anymore."

  "Well, it's obvious you're a big music fan," I said. "Have you thought about a career in the music industry?" Beck's face lit up at the prospect of it, and he stopped in his tracks to face me. "I happen to know some people," I said, giving him a light shove on the shoulder to get him walking again. "I could introduce you to a few people, put in a good word. Maybe the label could use a new intern, if that's your thing."

  Beck was grinning now. "I ... I don't know what to say."

  "It's the least I can do after everything you've done for Aurora and me," I added. "Just cross your fingers that she wakes up soon and things can get back to normal - whatever that is."

  "I lost track of normal a long time ago," Beck said in agreement. "Who needs it?"

  A few hours later on the other side of midnight, after my tour of the Vineyard with Stanislav had ended, I was sitting in the chair at Aurora's bedside. My attention was focused on the design on my wedding band, and I was completely lost in my thoughts, when suddenly I heard Aurora's voice inside my head.

  I don't remember doing this before, her voice echoed. Is this real?

  My head jerked up in response, and I couldn’t believe it, but she was looking up at me in concern.

  "Aurora," I said, jumping to my feet. I grinned like an idiot, leaning down to touch her face. "I’m real,” I assured her. “You don't know how much I've missed those beautiful green eyes." She sighed and leaned into my touch as I caressed her cheek. "How do you feel?" I asked.

  "Strange," she said. Her voice sounded rough even though she spoke just above a whisper. "What happened?"

  "You went through the banister at Club Sanguin," I said. "You were hurt pretty bad. Mark and I brought you to Stanislav Vidic. He saved you by giving you his blood."

  Aurora's face showed disbelief at first and then surprise as she glanced around the elaborate guest room and realized I might not be joking. "Stanislav Vidic?" she asked. "You … you really brought me to see an Elder?"

  "I know it's crazy," I said, sitting on the edge of her bed, cradling her hand in mine. "I would have done anything. I ... I almost lost you."

  She squeezed my hand, and I bent down, kissing her softly. My vampire heart was reverberating in my chest, physical evidence of the overwhelming level of gratitude I was feeling in that moment. I couldn't have explained in words how amazing it felt to kiss Aurora and have her kiss me back. Just hours ago, I wasn't sure I'd ever enjoy that feeling again. When the kiss ended, she grinned up at me, and I smiled right back.

  "Mark will want to know you're awake," I said to her. "I'd better go and get him." I got off the bed and headed for the door. "Don't go anywhere," I teased. "I'll be right back." I went across the hall and knocked on the door. It opened just a moment later, and Mark was standing on the other side.

  "She's awake," I announced. "She's talking and everything."

  The relief on Mark's face almost mimicked what I was feeling as he followed me back across the hall and into the room.

  "Hey," she said. "It sounds like I've been a lot of trouble."

  "No more than usual," Mark said with a smile. "It's good to have you back."

  "It's good to be back," she said, squeezing my hand gently.

  "You could probably use a drink," he added.

  "I'll get that," I said. I poured a glass of Vidic Vineyard's finest and brought it over to the bed where Mark was helping her to sit up, propping pillows up behind her for support.

  "Is that what I think it is?" she asked, smiling as I handed her the glass of blood/wine.

  "It is," I answered. "Can you believe we've been forced to drink this stuff ever since we got here?"

  She laughed softly and took a sip, closing her eyes briefly to revel in the taste. "Rub it in, why don't you?"

  I grinned and laid my hand on hers. “I’ll buy you a supply of this stuff, if that’s what you want. We’ll fill the wine room at home with it.”

  She took another sip and then smiled. “Talked me into it.”

  Mark took a few minutes to assess the state of her injuries. She still couldn’t remember everything that happened at Club Sanguin, but Mark insisted that was to be expected after the extent of her head injury. Her femur and collarbone, both of which he had set back at the beach house, were already healing. Stanislav’s blood – blood with the power of centuries – was working miracles.

  Chapter 48

  Aurora

  ONE BOTTLE OF VIDIC Vineyard's finest vampire cocktail and two blood bags later, I was starting to feel more like myself. I didn't even mind that Mark had insisted I stay in bed and rest. It was enough just to have Trey sitting there on the bed with me, holding my hand and explaining the great lengths they had gone to in order to save me. I didn't know which part was harder to swallow, the fact that Malena really had been the cause of most of our problems and had managed to almost kill me in the process, or the fact that I now had the blood of an Elder pulsing through my veins. I couldn't remember perfectly everything that had happened at Club Sanguin that night, but I was starting to get it back piece by piece.

  "Malena hurt you," I said to Trey, reaching my hand up to feel the smooth skin of his neck. She'd torn into his throat with her fangs. I remembered that now.

  "I'm fine," he assured me. "I'm healing up already."

  I didn’t miss the fact that he wasn’t saying out loud that his neck wasn’t the only place he’d been hurt. "What else?" I asked, a little afraid of the answer. The though
t of Trey being hurt again was almost more than I could stand.

  "It's nothing," he said. The look on my face must have shown I wasn’t convinced, because he resigned to tell me after a moment. "It’s just a few cracked ribs. That's all."

  He'd broken bones in that fight, trying to pull Malena away from me. None of it would have happened, if I'd been stronger. I slid my hand through the space between two buttons on his shirt and felt the tape that ran along the side of his chest. I pulled my hand back out and began unbuttoning his shirt to get a better look.

  "I'm fine," he insisted. "It's nothing a little blood and time won't heal."

  I pushed his shirt aside and saw the giant, black and blue bruise that covered half of his chest. My voice was only a whisper when I tried to speak. "Trey-"

  "Hana taped me up," he interrupted. "I'll be good as new in a few days." He brushed a strand of hair away from my face and I met his eyes. "Come on. I'm the last thing you need to worry about."

  I sighed and gazed at the bruise again, this time realizing that his tattoo had completely faded away since the last time I’d seen it. Trey seemed to know what I was thinking because he shrugged and said, “I guess we’ll have to get that airbrush gun you mentioned after all.”

  “It’s at the top of our list,” I said.

  “You healing up is at the top of our list,” he corrected. “The tattoo can wait.”

  I let myself relax against him again. "You said Hana helped you when I was … you know?"

  "Yeah. Mark sent for her and Beck when I called him."

  "What's she like?" I asked. I’d only met her briefly at the Lunar Eclipse Ritual in Miami, but I definitely would have paid better attention if I’d known she and Mark would actually end up dating.

  "She's nice," he said. "She did what she could to help take care of you. She fixed my throat and made sure I was drinking blood from the stash so I could heal." He looked down at me and added, "I know you only met her once, but you're going to like her. Really."