The doctor glanced up at Kara, her eyes widening, as if Kara’s reaction to the news was the strangest thing she’d ever seen. “You care about her.”
Kara scowled at the woman. “No. I just… Just do you job, Liv.”
Liv smiled, amusement dancing in her brown eyes. “I think it’s sweet,” she giggled, ignoring the look Kara gave her. “How did you clean the wound?”
Kara shrugged. “Frank didn’t have much. I think they used liquor.”
Liv nodded. “I have antiseptics and antibiotics in my bag. I’ll clean and redress the wound, and then, I’ll give her some antibiotics to fight the infection.”
Rose frowned. “But…human medicine doesn’t work on vampires.”
The doctor smiled at her, a hint of intrigue and excitement in her brown eyes. “It does when it’s in human blood,” she corrected, holding up a syringe from her medical bag. “It’ll wear off quickly, but I think it will still help you.”
Kara laughed, “You’ll have to excuse Liv. She finds this all fascinating.”
“Oh, you have no idea,” the doctor said. “It’s so much more interesting than anything I learned in medical school. I mean, these are actual discoveries.”
Rose laughed at the doctor’s excitement. “It is pretty interesting.”
Liv smiled and looked at Kara. “I like her already.”
Kara laughed, “I figured you would.”
“All right,” Liv sighed as she dug in her medical bag for supplies. “Let me start by getting some medicine into you. Some antibiotics and pain medicine would help you quite a bit, I think.” She pulled out two vials of medicine, a blue tourniquet strap, and two needles. She spread the tools across an empty space of the bed and then rolled the sleeve of her long, white jacket up to her elbow.
Rose frowned at the medical supplies. “What are you doing, exactly?”
“Well, from what I understand, alcohol, drugs, and human medicine do seem to have some effects on vampires if it’s ingested through human blood. Right?” Liv explained as she tied the blue tourniquet strap around her arm. She picked up the syringe and smiled at Rose. “And…I happen to be a human.”
Rose’s eyes widened as she realized that the doctor was planning to inject herself with the medicine. “No,” she grunted, once again trying to raise herself up…and failing miserably. “Don’t do that. I’m not taking your blood.”
Kara pressed down on Rose’s shoulder again, forcing her to lay back down on the bed. “Would you stop moving before you worsen your injuries?”
Liv froze and glanced down at Rose with a puzzled frown. “Kara is right. You really shouldn’t be moving right now,” she said. Her frown deepened. “May I ask why you don’t want my blood? I can assure you that it’s not…unsafe.”
Rose shifted her gaze from Kara to the doctor. “No, no, I know that. It’s not that,” she quickly assured the doctor, hoping that she hadn’t offended her. “I just… I don’t want you to go through so much trouble for me. I’m fine.”
“You have a hole in your chest, Rose,” Kara argued. “You’re not fine.”
Liv smiled at Rose. “I appreciate your concern, but,” she paused, shrugging, “this is my job. I help people, and I’d like to help you, too. Kara cares about you, and Kara has helped me more times than I can count. So, I owe her this.” She grinned excitedly. “Besides, I want to do it. This is all so interesting.”
Kara leaned over Rose, a mischievous gleam in her light blue eyes. “You wouldn’t deny her that, would you?” she teased Rose, grinning playfully. “Being such a curious person yourself, I’d assume that you’d understand her curiosity.”
Rose stared up at Kara, her lips twitching into a smile. She tilted her head so that she could look at the doctor. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“Of course,” Liv said as she injected herself with the first vial of medicine. “Don’t worry. I already know how my body reacts to these medicines. I’m not allergic, and there are no terrible side effects. I know what I’m doing.”
“I still don’t feel comfortable feeding from you,” Rose tried to explain.
“Rose,” Kara sighed, her brows creasing with worry, “you need this.”
Rose scowled at Kara. “I’m a young vampire, and I’m also injured.”
Kara nodded as she understood. She looked up at Liv and explained, “She’s afraid that she’ll take too much of your blood. Young vampires, like Rose, often have less control over their hunger, and injured vampires definitely have less control.” Her piercing, blue gaze shifted back toward Rose, and she pushed a strand of red hair out of Rose’s face. “But I’ll be right here, by your side, Rose. I can stop you, if you start to take too much. I would never let you hurt her.”
Rose’s eyes slid closed as Kara’s soft, gentle fingers slid soothingly over Rose’s face and into her hair. It took almost all of her willpower just to remember her argument beneath that soothing touch. “Kara, I can’t,” she sighed. “I don’t feed from humans. I’m just not comfortable taking that kind of a risk.”
Kara pursed her lips. “Fine.”
“I don’t understand,” Liv said with a frown. She’d just finished her second injection of medicine and now leaned with her hip against the bed, as if she were suddenly tired. She disposed of the needles and returned the equipment to her bag. “How will she get the medicine if she doesn’t feed from me?”
Kara crossed the room and grabbed an empty wine glass from her desk. Then, with the sure, determined steps of a predator, she prowled over to Liv and grabbed Liv’s wrist. “Rose is afraid that she will take too much of your blood,” Kara explained, lifting Liv’s wrist to her face. “So, I’m eliminating the risk.”
Liv moaned quietly as Kara pressed her face against Liv’s wrist and inhaled, her lips brushing against the soft, sensitive skin. “How?” Liv breathed.
Kara’s gaze shifted up to meet Liv’s gaze, and a flirty smirk pulled at one side of her lips. “Like this,” she murmured against Liv’s skin. Then, with no other warning, she sank her fangs into Liv’s wrist, blood spilling around her lips.
Liv moaned as Kara bit into her wrist, and her knees buckled, causing her to fall against Kara. Kara caught her with one arm and then pulled her mouth away from the doctor’s wrist. She planted a soft, blood-soaked kiss on the side of Liv’s head and then propped Liv against the bed again as she moved the wine glass beneath Liv’s wrist. She turned Liv’s wrist in her hand so that the blood would pour into the wine glass, the dark, red blood swirling and splattering in the bottom of the glass. She licked the blood from her lips as she waited for the blood to fill the glass. Rose watched, mesmerized by the way Kara moved and behaved like a predator. Even now, when Kara was not actually feeding, there was something so sensual and predatory about the way she so casually bit into the doctor’s wrist, the way she held the wine glass, the way she licked her lips…
Kara didn’t pull the glass away from Liv’s wrist until the blood overflowed and poured over the top of the glass, crimson rivulets streaking down the glass, like something out of a horror movie. Then, she pulled Liv’s wrist back to her mouth and licked the wound slowly and thoroughly, healing the bite wound with her saliva, of course…but also clearly being a bit indulgent with it, if Liv’s moans were any indication. Finally, she winked at the doctor and released her wrist. Liv leaned heavily against the bed, her breath coming in quick pants.
Kara left Liv to recover and approached Rose with the wine glass. Rose watched Kara apprehensively, overwhelming hunger already burning throughout her body at the mere scent of the blood. To her surprise, Kara didn’t hand her the glass or stop beside the bed. Instead, she crawled onto the bed, the mattress sinking beneath her weight. She swung one lean, leather-clad leg over Rose, straddling Rose’s hips as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Her lips twitched upward knowingly as she noticed Rose’s bright blue eyes darken, her hunger automatically intensifying from the sensual contact with Kara.
Kara’s
piercing, blue gaze shifted to Rose’s lips. “Open your mouth.”
“I’m more than capable of doing this myself,” Rose bristled.
“Are you?” Kara challenged, smirking. “Fine. Take the glass from me.”
Rose tried to lift her hand to grab the glass, wincing as her entire body protested the movement. She managed to lift her arm only half the way before her muscles seemed to give out on her, and her arm fell back against the mattress.
“See?” Kara said, lifting her eyebrows. “You’re injured and weak. Maybe you should set aside that adorable stubbornness of yours, and let me help you.”
Rose sighed in frustration. “I don’t need… Wait. Did you say adorable?”
Kara shrugged one shoulder. “I’m kind of fond of your quirks, actually.”
Rose couldn’t help but smile at that. “Fine,” she grumbled, “but this is extremely humiliating, just so you know. I don’t like needing anyone’s help.”
“I know you don’t,” Kara murmured, suddenly serious. Her intense, light blue eyes softened with sympathy. “But I am more than happy to help you.”
Rose sighed and glanced up at the glass. “It smells good.”
Kara grinned. “It is,” she assured her. “It’ll taste a little strange because of the medicine, and it’s much better straight from the source, but…”
“But this is safer for her,” Rose reminded Kara.
Kara shrugged. “If you say so.”
Rose licked her lips reflexively, her hunger growing more intense each moment they waited. “Okay,” she sighed, nodding to Kara, “I think I’m ready.”
“Then, open your mouth,” Kara said again, a seductive smile pulling at the edges of her lips. Then, she leaned forward, her sleek, black-and-blue hair falling around them, like a curtain, and slid her arm beneath Rose’s head, helping Rose lean forward. Her fingers found their way into Rose’s soft, auburn hair as she tilted the wine glass against Rose’s lips. She watched as Rose’s nostrils flared at the scent of the blood, and a flash of red sparked in Rose’s eyes. “Drink.”
Rose immediately placed her lips on the edge of the glass and began to gulp down the thick, crimson blood. The blood tasted sweet and salty and a little funny because of the medicine, but it didn’t matter how it tasted, honestly, because at that moment, with the injuries weakening her so severely, her hunger had never been more powerful or more ferocious. She moaned lowly as the blood soothed that painful, ravenous hunger, blood spilling from the corners of her lips as she tried to drink from the glass as quickly as possible. She noticed Kara watching her drink the blood, her eyes dark with hunger and desire, and blushed under Kara’s heated gaze, but she couldn’t rein in her hunger enough to slow or stop. Instead, she drained the blood from the glass without stopping.
Kara watched as the violent, crimson haze overtook Rose’s previously blue eyes. A nervous thrill shot through Kara as she watched the red haze glow and swirl within Rose’s eyes. It was the most unnerving thing Kara had ever seen, but aside from that slight anxiousness and excitement, Kara felt no different. It was certainly a terrifying sight, but Kara wasn’t afraid. And perhaps that was the truly scary part—that Kara trusted Rose so much that even this didn’t scare her. Kara had only made the mistake of trusting one woman, and she had paid dearly for that mistake. And yet, for reasons she didn’t understand, she trusted Rose.
Rose growled at the empty glass, and her feral, crimson gaze shifted up toward Kara. She watched the pulse of the artery in Kara’s neck with those inhuman eyes, and as Kara watched the red haze darken and dance like fire within Rose’s eyes, Kara felt as if she could see the potent desire that Rose felt.
“If you want more,” Kara offered, “you’re welcome to take my blood.”
The crimson haze within Rose’s eyes seemed to flash a darker red, shifting and swirling violently, like a fire that had been doused with gasoline. Her mouth fell open, revealing her blood-soaked fangs, and her chest heaved with each harsh, erratic breath. Her glowing red gaze traced its way down Kara’s body, traced its way over her muscles and curves, darkening with hunger and desire.
“Wow,” Kara breathed, her icy blue eyes widening. Heat rushed to her skin, pulled to the surface by Rose’s fiery gaze, and an ache of arousal pulsed at her center, where their bodies met. “The way you’re looking at me right now…”
That seemed to pull Rose out of her daze, and she blinked slowly, the red in her eyes fading to blue. “Oh,” she said, blushing. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t…”
“No,” Kara interrupted. She set the empty glass aside and leaned over Rose, bracing her hands on the mattress, on each side of Rose’s head. Her eyes darkened with desire. “Don’t you ever apologize for looking at me like that.”
Rose swallowed hard. As weak and injured as she was, it seemed impossible that she could feel desire as strongly and painfully as she felt it now, but she couldn’t deny that she did feel it, pulsing feverishly in every cell of her body. “Thank you,” she managed to say after a long moment, “for helping me.”
“Anytime,” Kara murmured. That word seemed to have weight behind it, as if it meant much more than it should. But then, the moment passed, and Kara rocked back and lifted herself up off of Rose, climbing off of the bed.
Kara glanced toward the end of the bed, raising an eyebrow in amusement as she noticed Liv still leaning tiredly against the bed, watching Rose and Kara with wide eyes. “Are you all right, Liv?” she asked with a playful grin.
Liv’s face reddened. “Yeah,” she said, dragging a hand through her short, brown hair. “Sorry. It’s just…one vampire is hot. But two vampires…”
Kara’s eyebrows lifted even higher, and her smile widened.
Liv winced. “Sorry. That was really unprofessional, wasn’t it?”
Kara winked at her. “I prefer unprofessional. It’s so much more fun.”
Liv giggled, her cheeks flushing, and then, she straightened, seeming to regain her composure. “Okay. I should get started,” she sighed, shifting her gaze toward Rose. “How are you feeling? Is the medicine lessening the pain yet?”
Rose blinked slowly as her eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Although it was still intense, her pain did feel less pronounced and less unbearable. “Yes,” she said, a slow, lethargic slur in her voice, “I think the blood is affecting me.”
Liv nodded. “Then, I should get started before it wears off.”
“What are you going to do?” Rose asked drowsily.
Liv unzipped her medical bag and began to slide on a pair of blue gloves. “I need to clean and redress the wound,” she said. “I’m afraid it will be painful.”
Rose lay her head back against the pillow and closed her eyes. “I have a hole in my chest,” she laughed tiredly. “I’m not afraid of the pain.” Then, so quietly that only Kara heard her, she added, “It’s not like I haven’t felt worse.”
The sensation of a warm, soft hand sliding into Rose’s hand startled her. Rose opened her eyes to find Kara by her side again, her hand squeezing Rose’s hand comfortingly. She stared, bewildered, into Kara’s light blue eyes, noticing the concern and affection that softened her gaze, feeling the softness of Kara’s palm against hers, feeling the light caress of Kara’s fingers on her knuckles.
“I won’t leave you,” Kara murmured. “Not again.”
Perhaps it was the blood or the medication lowering her inhibitions, but for whatever reason, Rose found herself threading her fingers through Kara’s, relishing the comfort that Kara’s touch offered her. “Thank you,” Rose sighed.
Kara watched as Liv gathered up rolls of gauze and cloth and a bottle of antiseptic and moved to the other side of the bed. “What do I need to do?”
Liv glanced up at Kara. “Distract her. Keep her mind off of the pain.”
Kara smirked. “I have a few ideas of how to do that.”
Liv blushed. “Please, keep in mind the fragile state of her body.”
Kara snorted at the warning. As Liv began
to remove the old, blood-soaked bandages and Rose tensed up in pain, Kara leaned over Rose, bracing her elbows on the bed to hold her weight. Her sleek, black-and-blue hair fell forward around her face, shielding both of them beneath a violet-scented curtain of hair.
Rose inhaled deeply, relishing Kara’s scent a little more than her sober self would have. Rose couldn’t help but realize how much Kara’s scent fit her. Wild and strong, but beneath the surface, so sweet. Rose tilted her head against the pillow, so that her face nearly touched Kara’s, and then, slowly, opened her eyes, blinking up at Kara’s piercing, blue eyes. “Hi,” she said with a goofy smile.
Kara laughed, “You gave her a lot of pain medicine, didn’t you, Liv?”
“I figured she’d need it,” Liv said as she cleaned Rose’s wound.
Kara still held Rose’s hand with one of her hands, but with her other, she reached up and traced the curve of Rose’s jaw with her fingertip. Rose moaned softly at her touch and pressed her face against Kara’s hand, nudging it affectionally, like an animal. Unlike Rose, Kara fully understood the animalistic instincts and tendencies of vampires, and she knew exactly what kind of emotions and feelings that kind of action implied. A soft, affectionate smile curved at Kara’s lips. “Do you know how irresistible you are?” she asked Rose.
Rose pressed her head back into the pillow, staring up at Kara with wide, bright blue eyes. “Yes,” she said, her lips pressed together. “I’m sorry. Everyone has trouble resisting my blood because it smells so powerful. But there’s nothing I can do about it. If it bothers you too much, you can leave. I’ll be fine by myself.”
Kara laughed—such a soft, pleasant sound.
Rose scowled, frustrated that she found even the sound of Kara’s laugh attractive. “What’s so funny?” she asked, a little grumpier than she’d meant to.
Kara lifted her eyebrows at Rose’s attitude but, thankfully, didn’t comment on it. “I didn’t mean your blood,” she corrected. “I meant you. Don’t get me wrong. Your blood is irresistible, but that’s obvious. What’s not quite as obvious is how irresistible you are.” Kara dragged her fingertip from Rose’s jaw down to the base of her neck, smiling in amusement as Rose shuddered in response. “First of all, you’re beautiful—all soft, luscious curves that I want to feel against me, beneath me…” Her smile widened as Rose’s breath hitched. “Bright blue eyes that practically glow when you laugh… And an adorable, contagious smile…” Kara’s voice grew softer and quieter as she spoke, and she bent further at the waist, closing the space between their lips. Her smile faded as she said the next part with the most serious tone Rose had ever heard her use. “But none of that is what entrapped me so thoroughly. What I really can’t resist is your kindness and gentleness.” Her brows creased, as if she were suddenly in pain. “I haven’t known a whole lot of kindness and gentleness in my life.”
The Tomb of Blood Page 45