by C. L. Quinn
The helicopter landed too slowly for Koen, and he toyed with the idea of jumping from the damn thing. They’d already had to overnight at a hotel because of daylight, which delayed him almost beyond his ability to cope.
He knew where she was, he had to go get her. Now!
But the intense tropical sun had stared unblinkingly as he hid himself behind solid walls until darkness fell.
They finally arrived outside a big, rusted shed-like building that hadn’t been in use for many years. It cut an ugly silhouette against the forested landscape surrounding it. It was isolated and manned by two of Windari’s blood-bonds.
They were no threat for a first blood like Koen. He swept the first one away as the blood-bond stood outside prepared to defend the building.
Once Koen and his team entered the building, the light dropped off, the interior barely lit by infrequent bare bulbs hanging haphazardly on wires from the high ceiling. The large area appeared to be empty until he noticed some items parked around a pole near the back.
Koen moved with vampire speed to the pole, where he saw another man leaning over a bundle on the floor. The smell was acrid and sour. He grabbed the man and threw him away from the bundle to crashland on the hard concrete a good fifty feet away.
The bundle moved and moaned. Koen’s heartbeat threatened to fell him, it raced so fast, as he knelt and pulled the blanket away.
Tears poured out of his eyes as he gathered the emaciated woman in his arms. The love of his life, the only woman he ever called mate. Alisa. Finally back in his arms.
She looked horrible and beautiful at the same time. Her condition was worse than he could have imagined, and he’d imagined some awful things.
“Sweetheart,” he said tenderly. “Alisa, it’s Koen.”
Her eyes opened, unfocused, and he saw her try to smile, then the eyelids dropped and stayed there.
“Baby, I’m taking you home. You’re going to be okay now.” Koen made the decision right there that, whether she had any idea what he was or not, she needed his blood to heal.
The blood-bond that had been with her started to stand and Koen nodded to Johnson, who grabbed the man and hauled him over to Koen.
“What the fuck have you done with her? Why is she like this?”
“She’s sick, sir. I don’t know why, but I promise you I’ve tried to take care of her. Honestly, I wanted to get her out of here. I tried to. But I had no choice. We were all trapped here by a woman who is, well, I don’t know what she is, but she isn’t normal. God, I’m so grateful you finally came for her. She’s dying.”
“I see that,” Koen said, using his fangs to rip open his wrist. “I’ll deal with you later. If I find out either of you hurt her, you’ll die an ugly death.”
Sealing his wrist over her mouth, Alisa did not fight him at first. A few moments after he begun, she began to choke, her eyes opened, and her hands came up to grab his, but there was no strength in them. He could see she wanted to fight, but couldn’t.
When some color began to return to her face, she became more aware that someone was there. Suddenly her eyes began to move back and forth, focusing on his face. The moment she realized that the man holding her was Koen, that he was really there, holding her, her eyes lit up. Her hand felt like rubber as she tried to push his away from her mouth.
“You can’t be here. I’m dreaming again. Oh.” She paused and tried to put her hand on his cheek, but couldn’t raise it that high, so Koen lifted it and held it to his face. Her hand was ice cold.
“Oh. I didn’t remember right. You are so much more beautiful than I remembered,” she said.
Koen buried his face against hers, brushing back her tangled hair. “You’re all right, my love. I’m taking you home right now. Right now.” His voice broke on those last two words.
He lifted her carefully, keeping the filthy blankets wrapped around her because he thought she must be cold, considering how her hand had felt. As he passed Johnson, he glanced at Martin.
“I don’t know what I want to do with you. Not until I find out if you hurt her.”
Alisa’s eyes opened and landed on Martin, then shifted them to Koen. His blood had already improved her ability to speak.
“No. No, Koen, he was good to me. Martin took care of me. He wouldn’t let Brian hurt me. This wasn’t Martin’s fault.”
Satisfied, Koen moved closer to Martin. “Look at me.” When Martin did, Koen undid Windari’s commands.
“You are free to go back to your life. You will remember nothing about these last months. When you arrive home in Chicago, you will tell your family and friends that you don’t know where you’ve been. Until we arrive there, sleep until you hear my voice say ‘awaken Martin.’”
The man dropped for the second time to the concrete, and Johnson motioned for two of his men to collect him and get him on the helicopter.
The second blood-bond, who Alisa had called Brian, waited beside another member of Johnson’s team. He looked like bad news to Koen, but since Alisa said he hadn’t hurt her, he would release him from bondage as well. But the way she said that Martin hadn’t “let” this man hurt her upset him.
“You,” Koen said to the surly blood-bond. “You are free from any blood compulsion to return to your life. You will remember nothing about anything that happened after you met your mistress. And you can make your own way home from here.”
Koen carried Alisa out of the building and carefully loaded her into the helicopter, holding her close the entire time. Once they were seated in the back, he kept his lips against her forehead and whispered, over and over, “I love you, baby.” He intended to spend the rest of his life making sure she felt loved and safe every moment.
Alisa sighed from her dream. Koen was holding her and telling her he loved her. She lived for her dreams. Her imminent death made it okay now to live in her mind. It was all she had left since her body wasn’t working anymore anyway. So she nuzzled up to his warm body and just listened to her dream lover tell her, over and over, how much he loved her. It wasn’t the worst way to die.
TWENTY FOUR
Alisa was dreaming again and this time, her little puppy was licking her face. She batted at the wet tongue and her hand landed on soft fur.
Oh, this was a lovely dream. The puppy whined and put a paw against her chest, lying right on top of her. She opened her eyes to see his huge shiny eyes staring straight into hers.
This was her most vivid dream yet. She brought her hands up to curl her fingers into the cream-colored fur and they worked perfectly. Holding up one hand in front of her face, she moved the fingers back and forth quickly. They moved effortlessly with no pain.
When she looked around her, she was in her own bedroom, warm and safe. She smelled good! All she needed was Koen and this would be the dream she wanted to have just as she died.
Oh, please, she thought, don’t let me waken. Let this be my last memory!
Samson squirmed and snuggled in closer. Living the dream, Alisa pulled him up under her chin and kissed his forehead over and over.
“I’ve missed you, little dog. I’ve missed you so much.” And although he seemed much bigger than the last time she saw him, she knew it was the puppy Koen had bought her so long ago.
A laugh interrupted the silence from the doorway and she raised her head. Her dream lover was smiling as he leaned against the door jamb.
“I love watching you. I could never tire of it.”
He walked over to her, his eyes locked on her and got onto the bed, pushing the puppy lower as he took her face in his hands.
“How do you feel?” He asked.
Alisa shook her head. “Like all the Gods in the world got together and decided to give me the perfect gift. Memories of how I used to be, of you. I wonder if there really is a heaven, because if there is, I think I’m already there.”
She pushed herself upright. “This feels so real.”
“Baby, this is real. You’re home. I found you and brought you home. You do
n’t have to be afraid anymore.”
She knew it wasn’t real because her body was perfect. Everything worked. It didn’t matter now.
“If you say so. Come closer.”
Koen scooted up until every part of his body pressed against hers. She kicked off the light blanket over her legs and rolled over to wind them around his.
“Look at me, able to crawl on you. I missed this.” Her voice cracked. “I missed this most of all.”
She lowered her head and kissed him, immersing herself in the feel of his tongue moving in her mouth, his hands sliding across her cheeks, his cock responding and pressing against her belly. Somewhere she heard the pup whining below her.
This seemed so real! The details of her life so perfect, the physical sensations, Koen. So real it almost hurt to know it couldn’t be.
He lifted his head and pulled her upright.
“Baby, I searched for you every moment you were gone. You have to know that. You’re my world.”
“I know that. I don’t blame you. I would have come back to you, if I could have. But we have this perfect moment. I could wake any second, so could you just make love to me?”
Instead, Koen got off the bed and came around to her side. He lifted her out of the bed and carried her through the door, out into her living room, past all the things she loved in her apartment, and onto the balcony.
A warm gentle breeze lifted her hair.
“Does this feel like a dream?”
“It has to be,” Alisa answered him, although he was right. This felt so real, looked so real, seemed so real. “But it can’t be. Koen, I never had a chance to tell you the reason I ran away from you. I’m sick. I’m dying, Koen. I have a condition called ALS, and it is incurable. While abducted, my condition has gotten much worse. I can’t walk anymore, or even stand very well. I’ve lost most of the use of my hands. I have trouble breathing sometimes. I’m dying in South America. So this…”
She held up her hand and wiggled her fingers. “This isn’t real. It can’t be.”
“Unless I had a secret that I never had a chance to tell you.”
The door to her apartment opened, keys jingling. Koen carried Alisa back in from the balcony. It was Lauren, coming through with two canvas bags.
“Hey, you’re awake. Hi, lady. You scared the shit out of all of us,” Lauren said when she saw Alisa in Koen’s arms. “You look a whole lot better.”
Alisa felt confused. What was Lauren doing in her dream? She really liked the pretty florist, but she hadn’t ever dreamed of her.
Lauren set the bags down. “You’re wondering why I’m here. Koen needed some daylight help while you were recovering. I volunteered since he doesn’t know anyone else here in the city that knows what he is. Let me put these things away. Koen had me get three tubs of your favorite ice cream.”
This felt so real. How could it be?
Koen placed Alisa on the sofa and sat close to her.
“It’s okay, you really are home. You can believe it.”
Alisa looked around the room, at the puppy waiting in the hall, at Lauren putting groceries away in her kitchen, at Koen sitting here holding her still with his hands on her thighs. Was it possible? Was she wrong that her condition had worsened so much? Was that the dream?
“Baby, you look so lost. I need to tell you something.”
Lauren said something. Something strange. That nobody else in Chicago knew what he is. That’s what the crazy lady had said, that Alisa didn’t know what he is. A memory struck her suddenly of Koen coming to her in South America, of blood dripping from his wrist, of the taste of blood in her mouth. Her eyes sought his.
“What did Lauren mean by she’s the only one who knows ‘what’ you are?”
“That’s what I need to tell you. I was planning to wait until you were stronger, until you were completely recovered. But I can see you’re confused by the fact that you are not sick now, and it’s keeping you from believing that you are really home. I need to tell you this so that you will believe me.”
Alisa felt sick at her stomach. What could he tell her that was so serious? What could explain her improvement when it was impossible?
“Baby, you know I love you, right?”
Alisa nodded. “I do. That’s the one thing through all of this that I trust.”
“Okay. I told you I’m allergic to sunlight, but there is another reason I can’t go out into a beautiful sunny day. And you are a pretty analytical person, so you’re going to have some trouble with this. But what I am telling you is the truth, Alisa.”
Alisa’s eyes lifted to Lauren, who leaned against the opening to her kitchen. Lauren nodded and gave her a comforting smile. “I can vouch for him. It’s all true.”
“Baby, I am something more than human. I have gifts normal humans don’t have. I am immortal, or nearly so since there are very few things that can kill me. I have abilities that help me control much of the world around me, including humans. I can heal a sick or injured human with my blood, which is why you are well now. Before we left South America, I fed you my blood and you began to heal right away. That’s why you feel so well. I also need to take in human blood for nutrition, but, as you know, I can and do eat a lot of food. And sunlight, I didn’t lie about that. It burns me and with enough exposure, it can kill me. Believe me, I know this sounds crazy to you.”
Her eyes moving between Lauren and Koen, Alisa didn’t blink. Quiet, she dropped her gaze, started to speak and then stopped.
“So, I noticed you didn’t use the word vampire,” she finally said.
“Yeah. Although that is what I am, what my people are, your cultural idea of a vampire is so wrong, I wanted to introduce the term after I explained exactly what we are. Alisa, I am a first blood vampire. By that, I mean I was born vampire, not made by converting a human into one, which is something that can be done. It’s who I am. I am not dead. We don’t sleep in coffins, we don’t live underground, we don’t kill people. We are not demons or evil. On a basic level, we’re still human, with a lot of incredible enhancements that let us live long, amazing lives.”
She was quiet again for another minute and he could see her sorting through his words.
“I have to say I didn’t see this coming. Although I really don’t feel as if I’m still dreaming, this is making it a little harder for me to believe that.”
“You are awake, I promise. You’re well now, and I expect you to be with me for many centuries to come.”
Now he was making her head spin. “Whoa. I am only half letting myself believe you because I can walk, I can move, I can talk and breathe again. So if this is a dream, I really don’t want to ever wake up. None of it matters anyway. Even if you are telling me the truth that you’re some kind of a monster…”
“No, baby. Vampires are not monsters. In fact, we’re more reasonable people than most you meet. We’re good people, Alisa. Just bigger, stronger, faster, sexier, and we live forever.”
Something else was bothering her now. He’d said she was no longer ill.
“So your blood healed me?”
He nodded. “Percy told me about your condition. You were really sick when we got back here. I gave you some of my blood in Brazil, but I just thought you were sickly then from poor nutrition and being imprisoned so long. Percy came to see you and he told me you were extremely ill, and it was fatal. I fixed it immediately. You won’t be dying soon, baby. I couldn’t allow that. You need to become my mate. It’s a lifelong position and we live
very long lives.”
“So you’ll make me a first blood vampire too?”
“I will convert you using my blood into my companion with nearly every benefit of being a first blood. But first blood vampires cannot be made. We are born. And we are a great deal more powerful than normal vampires.”
“So how do I fit into the life of a vampire?”
“Oh, baby. You are the woman I have waited ten centuries for. You’re my mate, Alisa. I will convert you, and we will have
amazing sex every night for the next ten or twenty centuries.”
Lauren coughed into her hand.
“And with that, I am out of here.” She walked over to the sofa and laid a hand on Koen’s shoulder. “Oh, I’d forgotten how hard you guys are. Anyway, Alisa, honey, I’m so grateful you’re okay and not dying. I would truly miss you. I need to tell you, this is a good man. He has an incredible family that you will love, too. So, keep your mind and heart open. Your world is now a thousand times grander than you ever knew it could be. I’ll see you soon.”
Grabbing a satchel decorated with three-dimensional fabric flowers, she left quickly.
Koen’s eyes caught Alisa’s. “All that matters is that we are together and we love each other. Do you agree?”
Alisa moaned. “God, yes. Listen, I’m overwhelmed and thunderstruck. I don’t know what I believe, except I do believe in you. So…”
Koen shot up and threw her over his shoulder, his hand sneaking up her nightgown to caress her buttocks.
“It’s been too long. I know one thing that we need to do right now. Nothing should convince you better that you’re home, you’re safe, you’re loved, and that this is all very real.”
Samson had jumped back into the middle of the bed while they did human things, but he cleared out when the big man came down on the mattress after he gently dropped Alisa there.
“Can I get inside you?” He asked.
“I really wish you would.” She answered.
The nightgown was discarded so quickly, Alisa didn’t even notice when he took it off her, but she lay beneath him as she brought her arms up to circle his torso and caress his strong back. She could feel her own ribs too easily as her fingertips moved past her body.
“I’m painfully thin,” she whispered.
“You’re beautiful. We’ll make love, and then I’ll order an obscene breakfast and we’ll eat until tomorrow night.”
He stopped talking as his mouth got busy nipping at her neck.
“Are you going to bite me?” she asked breathlessly, and found she was intrigued and curious. Suddenly, the idea seemed at once dangerous and sensuous.