No one bothered to turn the lights on and Samuel was grateful for that. It wasn’t like they couldn’t all see perfectly anyway, and the light would have woken up the drummer in Samuel’s head that was currently taking a little siesta.
“I brought the guys,” she said. “The women didn’t think they would be able to help much in this department so they are seeing to the children instead. They did say to send their love and tell you that they would be in soon to see you.”
“Thank you,” Samuel said.
“Well,” Jacque said as Angel, Rebel, Sebastian, and Gage found places to lean against the walls. “I suppose now is as good of a time as any. Let’s hear what you have to say.”
Samuel took a moment to get his thoughts in order. “I know I don’t want to take treatments. I would rather die sooner than later, being sick all the time.”
“That’s a respectable decision,” Rebel said.
“I think I could get over the grossness of drinking my man’s blood here,” Sam continued, “But I have… some err…”
“Apprehensions?” Angel offered with a quirk of his brow.
“More like scared shitless,” Samuel admitted. “I don’t know what to expect and that scares the shit out of me. I don’t know that I would want to be a vampire if that was the end result.”
“Can’t say that I blame you there,” Gage said. “Not knowing is the scariest shit there is.”
“What if the blood kills me?”
“I think we need to explain to you how a vampire works, for lack of a better term,” Angel said. “I am no good at explaining it, but Jacque has spent years studying our kind and he can explain it in a way you could understand.”
Jacque nodded and began. “Vampires are a different breed. Much like there are many breeds of dogs, there are different breeds of humans. You are a homosapian. Werewolves are homolycanthropes, and vampires are homovampirians. We are all breeds of human. Vampirism is a genetic anomaly that has been around for thousands of years and has evolved into what we are now.
Our system does not replace red blood cells. If we bleed out, we die. We are not immortal really, although we could potentially live for many, many years. When we are injured, we heal due to the high count of white blood cells. Our kind developed the fangs and digestive system that would be most effective in ensuring our survival. When we drink blood, our body pulls the red blood cells from the blood and it is nearly instantly absorbed into the blood stream.
In order to consume blood, our bodies developed in other ways as well. In the beginning, we did have the power to control minds, or else we would never have survived. Our speed, our mind, and the other gifts a vampire has was all originally intended to allow us to find and drink from our prey.
With the development of technology, we no longer have the need to bite for blood, but we keep the fangs. We do on occasion still feed from the source and they are paramount in the marking of our mates. The sensitivity to light is also a genetic anomaly. With the advanced growth of our minds and speed, our bodies suffer intolerability to light.”
“Well, some of us,” Rebel interjected.
“Fuck off,” Gage retorted. Yeah so, they were all a bit envious of Rebel’s ability to go out in the sun unharmed.
“As I was saying,” Jacque continued, raising his voice a bit to silence his brothers, “We are still human.”
“I see,” Samuel said. And he did. Never had he asked how exactly a vampire came to be. But what he didn’t understand was, if it was genetic, how did one get turned?
“I was getting there,” Jacque said with a crooked smile. “When our blood is introduced to a human, it has the same effect as a powerful aphrodisiac. In larger quantities, it has some much different effects. If a human is close to death, a vampire can introduce his blood to that person. The extremely high number of white blood cells begin to attack and repair the damage. More blood is needed to replace the red blood cell count. This eventually replaces all of the original blood in the human and his or her body must adapt to the change or die. This can be and usually is very painful, and can often times cause death. The human body can only take so much abuse.”
“And how does your blood heal?” Sam asked.
“My blood seems to have the healing quality due to the white blood cells, plus a rare enzyme attached to my proteins that most vampires do not have. What can I say? I’m weird.”
“But you said that you would have to introduce a large amount of blood into the system for it to change a person. And you said you might accidentally change me by trying to heal me?” Samuel asked. “For a tumor the size of yours,” Jacque said, “It would take more than one shot of my blood to heal it. Probably several shots. That may be enough blood to start a change and once it has started, there are only two options.” Jacque hung his head and drew in a deep breath.
“And those are?” Samuel urged him to continue.
“The first option is to stop the change. The only way to do that is to allow the person to bleed out.”
“Death.” Samuel said. He didn’t need to pose it as a question. He already knew.
“Yeah,” Jacque said.
“And option two?”
“Promote the change. Give you more blood via IV and extra human blood once the change has occurred.”
“If you are considering the change,” Angel said, “we would be proud to welcome you into our family.”
“You would be giving up your human life,” Gage said. “You would not be allowed to be on the human police force anymore.”
“You could be on our force, though,” Rebel offered.
Samuel had already made his decision before he saw Frankie take Jacque’s hand. Man, that woman loved him. Samuel felt a familiar emptiness in his chest and he knew he wanted that kind of love. He also knew there was no hope for him to find it if he pussied out and just died like nature had intended for him. He was terrified of what his life might become, but he was more terrified of that damned baseball growing in his head.
“I know what I want to do,” he announced. “I don’t want to try Jacque’s blood to heal me. I want you to change me.”
“And if the change turns out to be fatal?” Angel asked seriously.
“Then so be it,” Sam said. “I’m a dead man anyway. I won’t go to God without being able to tell him that a woman looked at me the way she looks at Jacque.” He motioned toward Frankie with his hand.
“Ok,” Jacque said. “Sleep tonight, and in the morning, we will begin.”
Samuel didn’t say anything else after that. He felt the strings of sleep pulling at his mind and he knew that Jacque had hit him with the drugs again. He tried to send a mental eye roll to Jacque just as he lost the battle and drifted off into oblivion.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Serena paced her bedroom. Back and forth, forward and back. She walked so many times from the door to the window that she was certain the plush carpet was beginning to wear under her feet. Delia had gone to see Rakimesh and had been gone for some time now. She couldn’t help but wonder what they were doing. She knew what she hoped Delia was doing.
Delia had entered the prince’s room under the guise of checking on him after his unfortunate bathroom experience. She announced herself at the door and he bid her to enter as he always did. She didn’t see him immediately, so she made herself comfortable on one of the chairs by his desk. The chair was way oversized and the pillows in it were stuffed full of the finest down, so they were super soft. She sank right into the chair and couldn’t resist a contented sigh.
She could hear him banging around in his personal bath and wondered what on earth he could be doing that would make that much noise. For a split second, she feared Serena had struck again, but heard nothing that spoke of pain coming from the door. In fact, the door wasn’t closed all the way.
She got up and walked over to it. “Is everything alright?” she asked through the cracked opening.
“Yes,” he called back to her. “Come in please.”
Delia pushed the door open and stepped inside. Rakimesh was standing in front of the mirror, beautifully naked, trying desperately to see his man parts. He had one foot on the sink and his hand holding his penis back so that he could inspect the underside.
She choked back a laugh.
“Can you see if all the redness has gone away?” he asked with the most serious tone. He looked up at her with a pleading look and she almost lost the urge to laugh at his ridiculous position. Almost.
Instead of letting that laughter out, she bent at the knee and cocked her head to the side to examine his sensitive skin. There were no remnants of the sticky glue concoction that had plagued him a few days earlier. She lifted her hand and gently ran a finger across the skin covering his testicles. He groaned and the skin broke out in goose bumps from her touch. She loved that she had that kind of effect on him.
“What are you doing?” he asked on a groan.
“Taking advantage of what time we have left,” she said as her hand covered his sack. She felt the heavy weight in her palm and cupped it gently.
“What do you mean?”
“I have spoken with Serena,” Delia said, forgoing her task and standing. “I know that she does not desire to wed you. I also know that if she is forced to do so, she will demand complete loyalty. She was very honest with me and I appreciate that. She sent me to you.”
“She did what?” he asked.
“She said I should enjoy you while I could, so I am.”
Rakimesh looked into Delia’s chocolate brown eyes and knew she told the truth. He then thought of never making love to her again and his heart crumbled right there in his chest. He had known that this very thing may happen, but he still held on to hope that he could persuade his new wife to be more open. He had known that he favored Delia above the other women in his palace. but the thought of losing them didn’t make his chest constrict and feel like a knife was wedged firmly between his ribs.
He looked at her. Really looked at her. Her eyes were framed by thick black lashes. giving her an exotic look that many women needed kohl to achieve. Her long black hair reached almost to her ass and was as smooth and shiny as the finest silk. Her cheekbones were high and her oval face had a regal air that would do any princess proud. But she was not a princess. He knew at that moment that the beautiful woman in front of him held his heart and she was not to be his. Could he really fault his future bride for her actions? No, he could not. If anything, he held her in higher regards now, for sending his woman to be with him.
He didn’t say anything, but took her face between his hands. He kissed her mouth gently and sucked her bottom lip into his mouth. She tasted of the sweetest ambrosia to him. Her arms wound around his neck and he moved his hands to her back so that he could pull her body against his own.
Their tongues dueled and their breathing became erratic as the kiss went on. Rakimesh wished he could just crawl inside of her and never leave. But he would have to leave, and the thought urged him further to make the most of his time with her.
He kissed down her neck and pushed the fabric of her simple dress aside to expose her shoulder. He kissed his way down and across that shoulder, savoring her perfect skin under his mouth. She let a moan escape and he knew it was time. He used one arm to slip under her knee and pull her leg up around his hip. He used the other to push his hand between them and into the juncture of her thighs. He found her already wet and waiting for his touch. He slipped his finger inside of her and she tossed her head back. He continued to lavish kisses on her exposed neck as his finger curled inside her. His palm was putting delicious pressure on the sensitive nub at her opening, and he knew it was only going to be a matter of seconds before she came undone for him.
“Rakimesh,” she breathed, “Please, I need you.”
He needed her too. He moved his hand out of the way and let her leg fall to the floor. He jerked her dress up around her hips and shoved her panties down her legs. As soon as she stepped out of them, he walked her backwards until her back touched the cool tiles of the bathroom wall. He picked her up and she wound her legs around his hips. “I need you too,” he said as he entered her.
Delia loved the way he felt inside of her. He was just the right size, filling her completely but not too much. He moved his hips in the perfect rhythm that had her on the brink of orgasm in seconds. She smiled, because she knew he knew it.
“Come for me,” he said in her ear.
Oh and she did. Her nails bit into his back and she cried out his name with her orgasm. When her walls tightened around him, Rakimesh knew she was coming without her saying so. He slammed into her body harder, growling into her neck. Damn it, she was his! He shouted with his release and held her tight to his chest.
“I hadn’t planned on taking you here,” he said when he could finally breathe.
Delia smiled wickedly at him. “I’m glad you did,” she said.
He carried her out of the bathroom and into his bedroom, where he gently laid her on the bed. He removed her dress and then stretched out beside her. “I wish there was something we could do,” she said.
“As do I,” Rakimesh told her. “I feel like a monster that is stealing a woman. I do not wish for her to be forced, but it is the way things have always been. Her mother will never change her mind and I don’t see my father doing it either.”
“It just feels wrong,” Delia said, running her hands over his smooth chest.
“I know. It feels like life is flying out of control, like an asteroid on a collision course with the Earth. I don’t want it, but there is nothing I can do to stop it.”
“You’re a good man,” Delia told him. “I think she knows that.”
“Well, that doesn’t change anything now does it.”
“Is the date set?” she asked.
“Two weeks,” he said.
“Well, then we have two weeks,” Delia told him as she turned over to take his mouth in another kiss.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“You want to do what?” Samuel asked, his eyes as big as saucers. “Hell no.”
Angel studied his old friend for a moment, trying to gauge his sincerity. “It has to be done, Samuel,” he said quietly. “It won’t work otherwise. In fact, it is guaranteed to fail, Mon Ami.”
Samuel stared blankly at Angel for a minute. A full minute, which felt a hell of a lot longer when faced with death. He didn’t see any signs of malice in his friend’s face, but that did little to calm the panic roaring in his chest. He looked from Angel to Jacque, who was sitting beside him. He was waiting patiently for Samuel to come around; or not. Then Samuel took another good look around his room. He was lying in the same hospital type bed that he had been stuck in for the last several days. He was wearing one of those peek-a-boo nighties that the hospital supplied as well. He could deal with all of that. It was the straps restraining his arms and legs and the bucket under each of his wrists that bothered him.
Of course, Jacque sitting there holding a scalpel like a mad scientist didn’t help either.
“Explain this to me one more time,” Samuel said, because the previous explanation sounded a lot like the story of Frankenstein to him, minus the lightning bolt. Oh wait, that was already in his head. Yep, horror story complete, thank you very much.
“In order to turn you safely,” Angel started.
“As safely as possible,” Jacque corrected.
“As safely as possible,” Angel agreed, “You will need to lose most of your own blood before Jacque gives you any of his. There has to be more vampire blood than human in your system to initiate the change.”
“So he is going to slit my wrists?” Samuel asked, again.
“Yes,” Jacque said.
“Can you at least knock me out first?”
Jacque chuckled in his chest. “That would be easier, but no, I am afraid not. I will not do this if you are not absolutely certain this is what you want. I will not give you my blood until the last possible moment for you to change your
mind has passed.” They had already explained this half a dozen times to Samuel, but he wanted to hear it again none the less. He knew that they were prepared to change him, but they also had plenty of O negative human blood on hand in case he changed his mind during the draining process.
“I ain’t changing my mind,” Samuel muttered. “I just don’t feel the need to watch myself bleed to death.” “It is this way or no way at all,” Angel said with a finality that meant no more arguments would be heard.
“Wait,” Frankie said. “Shouldn’t Gage be here?”
“Why?” Samuel asked. “More people to the party? Sure thing. Call him in.”
“No silly,” she said, playfully smacking his arm. “Gage is a purebred, remember? His blood is stronger. I think that will help Samuel have much better chances of getting through this alive.”
Angel brushed his hair out of his face and thought on that for a moment. “I think you may be right,” he finally said. “Go get him.”
Watching Angel and his hair made Samuel think of something. “Hey, when I am a vamp, will my hair grow back?”
Jacque smiled at him. “I don’t know if it will grow back where it has already fallen out,” he said, “But our hair does grow.” He sat back in his chair. “You will notice a change in the way you look. Our bodies stay at our optimal size and performance. So you may lose some fat deposits or your skin may smooth out.”
Samuel nodded. He appreciated that Jacque told him what he wanted to know without calling him paunchy or old. Hell, that right there was reason enough to want to change. Young and skinny for the rest of his life? Heck yeah, sign him up.
It was then that Gage entered the room and took a seat beside Samuel’s bed. “So we gonna do this thing?” he said with a confident grin.
“Seems so,” Samuel nodded. “You gonna make me an awesome vamp?”
“Bet your ass on it.”
“Just think,” Frankie said, “You will be sired by the most powerful vampires in the world. Just like me. Who knows what kind of shit we can get in to!”
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