The Reluctant Vampire taf-15

by Lynsay Sands

  “I’ll get the cooler out of the trunk and put it into the backseat before we leave. She can feed on the way back,” Harper murmured, ushering them toward the exit nearest to where he’d parked.

  “I don’t want to feed,” Stephanie complained, sounding as cranky as a five-year-old.

  “I said you need to feed. Want doesn’t come into it,” Drina said firmly.

  Harper couldn’t help but notice this made Stephanie’s lower lip protrude rebelliously. He suspected they would have a fight on their hands getting the girl to feed at this rate, and then noted the way she was rubbing her stomach, and said, “It will make your cramps go away.”

  “Whatever,” Stephanie snapped, leading the way outside in a stomp.

  “She just needs to feed,” Drina murmured, excusing her behavior as if worried Harper might think badly of the girl.

  “I know,” he assured her, and then, finding it adorable that she would defend the girl like a mother bear with a cub, Harper slipped his arm around Drina’s waist and drew her to his side to kiss her forehead. “You’re going to be a good mother.”

  She turned a stunned face to him, then quickly looked forward again, and Harper smiled wryly. He supposed she hadn’t yet considered the possibility of children. Not that he had, either. He hadn’t really considered much at all yet.

  Anders’s words the night before had shaken Harper sufficiently to send him back to his room and into bed, where he’d lain contemplating the possibility of losing Drina to death. He’d been so wrapped up in his own emotional struggles, he hadn’t even considered how it might affect her. Oh, certainly, she’d made him consider that if he didn’t claim her, he might lose her to some possible alternate life mate, but that had seemed a far-off thing. Harper supposed, in his arrogance, he’d also imagined that he would have a chance to win her back in that distant future if his actions drove her away now.

  But Anders’s words had made him worry about her actually dying, killed as a direct result of her emotional upheaval and distraction. The possibility had scared the crap out of him and made him face what was important here. Jenny was dead, and while he felt responsible, there was nothing he could do to bring her back or rewrite what had happened. He had grieved and been wracked by guilt for a year and a half now. How much longer would his conscience demand he suffer for a death he never imagined, let alone intended? Did he really feel he needed to lose Drina, even temporarily, to make up for the loss of Jenny? And did he really want to risk losing her permanently to death just to satisfy that conscience?

  The answer had been no, and Harper had finally gone to sleep around dawn having decided he wasn’t going to avoid her anymore. It was time to put his guilt aside and embrace his good fortune, because he was definitely one lucky son of a bitch to be given a second chance at the brass ring of happiness with a life mate, especially so soon after receiving it the last time.

  Harper wasn’t foolish enough to think it would be easy. Deciding not to feel guilty was a first step, but he knew he would have to fight on occasion to keep to that decision. However, he was determined and felt sure he could do it. . for Drina.

  “Hurry up you two. Gawd, you’re as slow as snails,” Stephanie complained, shifting restlessly beside the car.

  Harper heard Drina sigh with exasperation at the teen’s moodiness and briefly tightened his arm around her waist in sympathy. He then dug his keys out of his pocket.

  “You two get in. I’ll get the cooler,” Harper said, moving toward the back of the vehicle.

  It was Drina who’d thought to bring blood along. Which was another reason he felt sure she’d be a good mother. It hadn’t even occurred to him that Stephanie needed to feed more often than they did. As he lifted the cooler out of the trunk, he smiled at the thought of Drina with a little Drina in her arms. Or a little Harper, he thought as he closed the trunk and moved around to open the back passenger door and set it on the seat behind his own. Or both even. He grinned as he closed the back door and moved to open the driver’s door.

  “How am I supposed to feed? I don’t have any straws,” Stephanie snapped, as he slid behind the steering wheel.

  “We’ll stop at a drive-thru and buy a couple of drinks. You can use the straws,” Harper said calmly, starting the engine.

  Stephanie muttered under her breath, but didn’t comment otherwise and Harper shifted the car into gear, then reached out to place his hand on Drina’s leg as he steered them out of the parking lot. Her thigh was as hard as steel at first, telling him Stephanie’s behavior had put her on edge as he’d suspected, but some of that tension left under his massaging fingers, and by the time he steered the car into the line at a fast-food drive-thru, she had relaxed considerably.

  “What do you want?” Harper asked as he nosed up to the speaker. “Coke?”

  “Whatever,” Stephanie muttered.

  “Coke it is,” he said cheerfully, and quickly ordered three.

  The moment Harper received and passed over the drinks, Drina passed Stephanie hers along with the straw from a second one. She then set the third drink in the holder for him, and took the lid off her glass to drink from the cup itself.

  They were silent for a bit, Harper glancing in the rearview mirror occasionally to see that Stephanie actually was feeding. The fact that she went through three bags one after the other, stabbing the straws viciously into them and then grimly and steadily sucking back the thick red liquid, told him how badly she’d needed the blood.

  They were nearly to Port Henry by the time she’d finished the third one, and Stephanie heaved an audible sigh as she scrunched up the empty bag and tossed it back into the still nearly full cooler.

  “Feel better?” Drina asked, turning in her seat to smile tentatively at the girl.

  “Yeah,” Stephanie admitted, sinking back in her seat with a sigh, and then, sounding embarrassed, she muttered, “Sorry if I was cranky.”

  Drina shook her head. “I should have kept better track of the time and thought to feed you sooner.”

  Stephanie smiled wryly. “Well, it’s not like you’re used to having kids around. Everyone in your family is old.”

  Harper glanced to Drina to see a cloud of worry cross her face and guessed this wasn’t something she’d told the girl but another sign of Stephanie’s skill at pulling information from their minds. It was growing increasingly obvious that Stephanie had some mad skills, beyond anything he’d encountered before.

  Turning back to the road, he saw that they were approaching the first set of stoplights on the way into Port Henry. He eased his foot down on the brakes. . and then applied more force when nothing happened.

  “What’s wrong with the brakes?” Stephanie popped into view in the rearview mirror as she abruptly sat up. He had no idea how she knew, probably a stray thought from his mind, he supposed, but didn’t have time to work it out.

  “The brakes?” Drina asked with confusion.

  “Hold on,” Harper ground out, reaching for the emergency brakes and cursing when that had no effect. He tried to shut off the engine then, but knew it was too late; they were already flying into the intersection on a red light. . and a semi was roaring toward them from their right, unaware of their problem and rushing to make his green.

  The next moment seemed to pass both with the speed of a heartbeat, and crawl by like a slow-motion hour for Harper. He was vaguely aware of the girls’ shouting, of roaring Drina’s name himself and reaching desperately for her, and then the truck barreled into the passenger side and the scream of tearing metal joined the chaos. Blood, pop, and glass exploded through the interior of the car, and they were slammed about, and then moving sideways, screeching up the road on burning rubber and then rims, propelled by the semi. That seemed to last forever, though it was probably only a minute or two before the semi driver managed to stop his vehicle, and consequently the car as well, and then everything went silent and still.

  Chapter Ten

  Harper opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling ove
r his bed, then a vision of Drina covered in blood filled his mind, and he sat up abruptly.

  “Settle down, boy. You’re safe,” Teddy Brunswick said, hefting himself out of a chair beside the bed.

  Harper stared at the man blankly, the crash replaying in his head; blood splashing, glass flying, and the smoke from burning rubber all filled his vision, accompanied by the sound track from hell. Shouts, screams, screeching metal, shrieking brakes, and then dead silence and stillness.

  He recalled being dizzy from hitting his head. Barely holding on to consciousness, Harper had turned instinctively to Drina and moaned at what he’d found. Her bloodied body had appeared partially encased in metal, and what wasn’t-including her face-had been shredded by the flying glass.

  “Drina?” he growled, shoving aside the memory along with the blankets that had been covering him, and shifting to get up.

  “She’s alive. You know you people don’t die that easy,” Teddy said grimly.

  Harper relaxed a fraction, but continued to his feet, asking, “And Stephanie?”

  “They’re both in their room being tended to by Beau and Tiny,” Teddy assured him, reaching out to steady Harper when he swayed on his feet. “I’m thinking you need blood. Your head wound didn’t look too bad, but you lost consciousness and have been out all night. Your nanos probably used up a fair amount repairing whatever damage was done.”

  “All night?” Harper muttered with surprise.

  Teddy nodded. “I was surprised myself. Once we cleaned away the blood, there didn’t seem much wrong with you compared to the girls, but the knock your head took must have caused some internal damage that needed repair or something. We fed you a couple of bags of blood, but didn’t want to give you too much and cause other problems.” He frowned, and asked, “If I go fetch a bag for you, will you sit your arse down and wait for me to get back before trying to-?”

  “I need to see Drina,” Harper interrupted impatiently, staggering past the man.

  “That’s what I figured,” Teddy said on a sigh, and caught his arm to help him to the door. “I’ll see you down to the girls’ room then before I fetch that blood.”

  Harper muttered a “thanks,” but then remained silent for the rest of the walk down the hall, the flight of stairs, and up the second floor hall to the girls’ room. He knew he definitely needed blood by the time they reached it. He was unsteady on his feet and exhausted by then. Obviously, there had been more damage done inside his head than it had appeared, but then his brain had probably bounced around inside his skull like jelly in a bowl during the accident.

  Teddy reached past him to open the bedroom door, and Harper staggered eagerly forward, almost desperate to see for himself that Drina was all right. He spotted an exhausted Mirabeau and Tiny sitting in chairs by the window, and then his gaze dropped to the first bed, and he let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Drina was pale, but otherwise appeared fine, with no sign of the shredded skin or smashed body he recalled in his memory.

  Of course, she was under the covers, so there might be injuries still mending, but she would heal, he assured himself, his gaze now moving to Stephanie. She had been seated directly behind Drina on the impact side as well, and had no doubt taken equally severe injuries, but like Drina, the girl appeared pale and still but otherwise fine. There was an IV stand between the two single beds; two bags of blood hung from it, each with tubing. One long tube dropped down, and then curved into Stephanie’s arm, the other trailed down from the second bag and led into Drina’s.

  “Sit down before you fall down,” Teddy said gruffly, urging him to the bedside as Tiny and Mirabeau stood up.

  “How are you feeling?” Mirabeau asked, coming around the bed toward him.

  “I’m no expert on your people, but I think he needs blood,” Teddy answered for him as he forced Harper to sit on the side of Drina’s bed.

  Mirabeau nodded and turned back toward the windows, but Tiny was already opening a cooler that sat under the window ledge and retrieving a bag.

  “What happened?” Harper asked as he accepted the bag, and then clarified, “After the accident. How did you get us out?”

  “I was first on the scene,” Teddy said grimly. “Got the call in my car and headed right over. Didn’t realize it was you three at first. Between injuries and the burst bags of blood all three of you were unrecognizable.” He grimaced at the memory. “I thought it was people at first and as good as dead, but then you moaned Drina’s name, and I took a second look. Once I realized it was you three, I blocked off the road and called the house, then started trying to get you all out. I thought we’d need the Jaws of Life, but then Beau and Anders got there and started pulling the metal away like it was toffee. Even so, it took a long time to get Stephanie and Drina out. They were both a damned mess. Never seen a body so mangled, let alone two, and it was hard to tell where flesh ended and metal began,” he added with a shake of the head. “Never want to see anything like that again so long as I live.”

  “I had no brakes,” Harper said fretfully, his old familiar friend, guilt, creeping over him as he wondered if there was something he could have done to prevent the crash.

  “Yeah, I know,” Teddy said, surprising him, and then explained, “I took witness reports, and when they kept saying you didn’t even try to stop, I knew something was wrong. I had the car towed down to the garage to be looked over. The mechanic, Jimmy, called me just a few minutes before you woke up and reported that the brake lines were cut.”

  “Cut?” Harper asked with a frown, and then muttered, “We didn’t have any trouble on the way into London. It must have been done in the parking lot while we were in the mall.”

  “Most likely,” Teddy agreed. He then added, “The news, though, immediately made me wonder if that Leonius feller didn’t track down the girl here after all.”

  Mirabeau shook her head at once. “Leonius wouldn’t try to kill her. He wants her alive for breeding.”

  “Breeding?” Teddy squawked, his dismayed eyes shooting to the fifteen-year-old.

  Mirabeau nodded, her expression tight. “To replace the sons he lost taking Stephanie and her sister. He wouldn’t have tried to kill her,” she said firmly. “It couldn’t have been him.”

  “I don’t know,” Tiny said slowly, and when the others turned to him in question, he pointed out, “He’d know that a car accident probably wouldn’t kill her. And this Leonius sounds pretty twisted. He might enjoy torturing and tormenting her, along with anyone else he could, before taking her.”

  “The more I hear about this animal, the less I like,” Teddy muttered, staring at Stephanie with troubled eyes, no doubt still contemplating that some madman wanted to use the child as a broodmare.

  “Where’s Anders?” Harper asked suddenly.

  “He was watching over you with me,” Teddy informed him. “Just before you woke up, he left. In fact, I think it was the sound of the door closing that woke you.”

  As if having heard his name, the door to the bedroom suddenly opened, and Anders entered, phone in hand. His gaze skated over Harper, flickering as he noted that he was up and about, and then the immortal handed his cell phone wordlessly to Mirabeau.

  They all fell silent, simply listening. Not that there was much to hear. Mirabeau said, “Hello,” and then listened briefly, said “Yes, Lucian,” and hung up.

  “Well?” Teddy asked as she handed the phone back to Anders.

  “We’re to switch to feeding them blood. It’s faster than the IVs. Lucian wants Stephanie and Drina back on their feet as quickly as possible,” she said grimly, standing to move to the cooler and retrieve two bags of blood. Pausing then, she glanced to Tiny apologetically, and added, “And he wants you turned by nightfall.”

  Tiny frowned. “But Jackie wanted to be here for it, and she and Vincent won’t be here for another couple days.”

  “I know. I’m sorry,” she said regretfully.

  Tiny sighed and nodded. He took one of the bags fr
om her, but as she moved up beside Drina’s bed, asked, “Did he say why?”

  “He wants us all at top speed as quickly as possible and prepared for anything,” Mirabeau answered, bending over Drina. She opened the unconscious woman’s mouth and massaged her upper gums to force her fangs out. The moment they slid down, Mirabeau popped the bag onto them.

  “Hold this for me,” she said to Harper, and when he reached out to hold the bag in place, Mirabeau turned, took the other bag back from Tiny, swung toward Stephanie, and then paused, a blank look covering her face. Stephanie didn’t have fangs.

  “Will she swallow it if you pour it down her throat?” Tiny asked, seeming to recognize the problem.

  “I don’t know,” Mirabeau admitted on a sigh.

  Tiny hesitated, but then shrugged and moved around to the other side of Stephanie’s bed. Sitting on the edge, he slid an arm under her neck, raising her so that her head draped over his arm. Using his free hand, he then caught her jaw and pulled it open before glancing to Mirabeau. “From what I understand, she won’t choke or drown from it. Even if it gets in her lungs, the nanos will probably retrieve it to use. You may as well try.”

  Mirabeau hesitated, but then nodded and stepped forward. She held the bag over Stephanie’s open mouth and stabbed at it quickly with one fingernail. Blood immediately began to gush out.

  Drina had a serious case of dry mouth. It felt like she’d gone to sleep with glue in her mouth. A most unpleasant sensation, she decided, smacking her lips together with a grimace and rolling over in bed only to bump up against something hard.

  Opening her eyes, she stared blearily at the wide dark expanse before her, slow to recognize it as a man’s chest in a dark shirt.

  “You’re awake.”

  That mumble from above her head made her lean back slightly and peer up to find Harper lying facing her on his side. He was looking sleepily down at her, and the relief on his face was obvious. Her head was nearly tucked under his chin, or probably had been when she’d first rolled over, she realized, and smiled at him.