by Fall, Carly
"Take the bodies upstairs and leave them for the sun. I'll wait in the car."
"Yes, father," they said in unison, and moved to do Victor's biding. Victor turned and headed for the stairs. He would have to put an end to the Dark Forces. They were getting in his way, messing up his plans. If only he knew where they were. He supposed he could hunt down that bitch Rusalka and get the answer from her, but he didn't want to spend the time or energy. He would also need to get on the Internet and see if any other female vampires had responded to the secret code he had forced that one female vampire to give to him. What was her name? Myla. Yes, that was right. If one had responded, then perhaps others would as well. And they would be off again on his mission to conquer the human population and also put him in charge.
He would also have to draw out the Dark Forces. He smiled as his plan came together in his mind. By the time his sons got in the car, his plan was complete. The streets of Reno were going to run red with human blood. Those Dark Forces wouldn't allow that to happen with their stupid beliefs of humans should be revered and should never know about the vampire race. He would draw them out, and then he would have his kids kill them.
Chapter 36
Holly felt as though she were struggling to come out of a black abyss. No, not an abyss, but something like black tar. The harder she tried to get to consciousness, the more difficult it became.
Then cold fear washed over her. She had to get out of the tar. She had to get out of the blackness. It paralyzed her. She had to reach consciousness so that she could fight. Her ears were roaring with white sound, her head humming. She would not let them . . .
Holly's eyes opened and she jolted upright. A hand grabbed her wrist, and she pulled away, lashing out, desperate to fight off her attacker.
"Holly!" a deep male voice said. She recognized the voice. Aiden. It was Aiden. It had to be a figment of her imagination because Aiden couldn't be here. He didn't know where she was.
Huge arms wrapped around her. She struggled to get away, and then caught a scent. Aiden. It was Aiden. She quit struggling and inhaled deeply again to make sure she wasn't dreaming. The scent was raw, hard, and male. Her hands tracked over the big chest covered with a soft shirt against her cheek, and then the buzzing in her ears and head began to clear, and she heard his voice, felt the rumble in his chest as he spoke.
"Shhhh, baby. I have you. You're safe, Holly," he said quietly into her hair. "You're safe, baby."
Holly felt the fight drain out of her, the fear subsiding. Tears of relief began streaming down her face, and they quickly turned into wracking sobs. She grabbed the t-shirt in her fists and pulled herself closer to the big chest. She didn't know how long she fisted that t-shirt, but she felt like it was her lifeline to safety and sanity.
Eventually, she let go and realized she was in her room at Thaddeus's house, and that she was also naked. She pulled away from Aiden and brought the sheet up over her exposed breasts. She looked around the room again, and eventually met his eyes.
"Would you like some water?" he asked in a quiet voice. She nodded.
He went to the bureau and poured water from a pitcher into a tall glass. "Just drink a little at a time. I don't want to see you sick."
She thought of a smart-ass comeback about how she was the one with the degree in medicine, but she didn't have the strength to spit it out. She didn't have the strength to do much of anything but lay back against the pillows. God, she was tired, and her body felt like it had been put through a meat grinder. Her mind felt slow and sludgy.
She sipped the water, memories snapping into focus in her mind. Walmart. The abduction. Waking up in that room. Wondering where Myla was.
"Myla?" she asked in a hoarse voice.
Aiden shook his head slowly. "Holly . . . "
Holly felt the tears start again. "Tell me, Aiden."
"We found another female vampire there, Holly. Not now, but we need you to do a picture I.D."
"What did she look like?" Holly said, tears rolling down her face.
"She was tall and thin with brown hair that came to her chin."
The rolling tears turned into a gushing river, and Aiden pulled Holly close and held her.
After a while, Holly sat back and closed her eyes. Those males. What they had said they were going to do to her. How she would be rutted over and over, having babe after babe that would become the future of the race that would rule humans.
And the fighting. She remembered taking a few good hits, and that was probably why she was so sore. Then they had pinned her down and put needles into her, and she had slipped into the blackness. Oh, sweet Jesus.
She wracked her memories for some clue on what had happened after the needles, and came up with nothing. She didn't know what was worse: not knowing and hoping that they hadn't touched her, or knowing that they had and dealing with that. She felt Aiden's arms come around her again as he lifted her from the pillows and held her to his chest.
"I . . . I don't know what they did to me," she said in a raspy voice that was barely audible.
"Holly, listen to me," Aiden said as he held her by her shoulders. "Look at me."
She opened her eyes, meeting that light brown gaze that seemed to warm the room.
"Baby, we had a doctor come in. He examined you while you were unconscious." Startled, she felt her eyes widen.
Aiden shook his head. "He's a friend of Thaddeus. He is one of our kind, a doctor at a hospital in Texas. Thaddeus had him flown in. Those fuckers didn't touch you in the way you're thinking. You're bruised up all over, but there wasn't any . . . "
Holly closed her eyes again and leaned back in the pillows. She hadn't been raped. Relief washed through her.
As she remembered their hands on her, she realized she wanted a shower. She wanted to scrub her skin raw to get them off of her. As the drug wore off, she became more aware of her body. She could place where every slap, every fist connected with her skin. The need for soap and water was so intense, but she didn't have the energy to stand up, let alone walk across the room and stand in a shower.
"You want to get cleaned up?" Aiden asked. It was if he could read her mind, know her thoughts, her wants and needs.
She opened her eyes and nodded.
"I'll help. Wait here."
He went to the bathroom and ran warm water in the tub. He didn't want it too hot because some of those abrasions were a little deep, and they would sting in the hot water. He then found some bubble bath in the cabinet and poured in half the bottle. Gardenia scent quickly filled the room. He looked at the mirror, which was across from the tub. He thought Holly probably wouldn't want to see herself, so he lit some candles that cast enough light to see around the space, but not enough to illuminate it. He then turned off the light and went back to Holly.
Without a word, he gathered the sheet around her and lifted her up as if he were carrying a pillow. He strode back to the bathroom.
"Can you stand?" he asked.
She nodded, and he gently put her down and then turned his head.
She let the sheet fall, and stepped into the tub. The water burned in spots, and she hissed. When she was fully submerged, she felt the bubbles begin to wash away everything. She looked up at Aiden, who still had his back turned.
"Let me get you some food," he said, heading for the door. She couldn't imagine eating, but maybe, just maybe, after her bath she would be able to manage it. That was if she could get past the nausea caused by Myla's death.
Chapter 37
Aiden found a few slices of roast beef in the refrigerator, along with some green beans and some of that chocolate cake that was going to make everyone in the house fat. He loaded up a tray and headed back to the room.
He knew at some point he needed to borrow a pair of nuts from someone or find his own and tell Holly how he felt. He needed to tell her that he had been nothing but a bastard when he told her it was nothing but sex.
He had lied.
And unfortunately, it had taken h
er abduction to get it through his skull that he was a rat bastard liar and he was in love. If he were honest with himself, he needed her like a fish needed water. Like grass needed the sun. Like a bird needed wings to fly. Like the queen needed her tea. Like he needed to kill. Okay, enough of the metaphors. He needed her, end of story.
And it terrified him. After Natalie's death, he swore he would never let himself get close to another female. He promised himself he would remain the cold killer he was born to be. No one would touch his heart again as Natalie had. He would raise his son to the best of his abilities, and when Robert was grown, Aiden would offer himself up to the sun or eat a gun for lunch. He would be gone.
It wasn’t the small woman with the black, unruly hair he was afraid of; it was the emotions within himself that scared the ever loving piss out of him. Holly was good and kind and strong, and he was just an outright pussy. She had somehow wormed her way around his determination that he would never have another woman in his life, and then set up shop in his heart. He was afraid to love again. He was afraid of losing her, and he had almost lost her, hadn't he? Yeah, he was torn wide open here, but he wasn’t afraid of her. He was afraid of himself, and that was one thing you really couldn't escape. You could do your best to ignore yourself, turn a blind eye to your true being and feelings and go through life day by day. You could try to escape through drugs or alcohol, maybe even sex at times—anything to take your mind off yourself—and that may work for a while, but once sobriety hit, or even just a quiet moment, you were still there, still left with what was eating you up to begin with. And that was where he was, staring at the man in the mirror and not liking what stared back at him at all.
He knew it was about far more than sex for him, far more. The trick was trying to find the words, not to mention the courage, to tell her so. He did know that if he didn't grow a set of balls soon and spill his feelings to Holly, she would leave and never look back. Hell, she might do that whether he told her how he felt or not. Meeting him hadn't exactly made her life easier. She had lost the relative safety of her life, been kidnapped, been beaten, and had a friend die.
He arrived at her bedroom door, took a deep breath and knocked softly. He heard a weak "come in." He pushed the door open and decided he would lay everything out on the table sooner rather than later.
Chapter 38
Holly had finished her bath, pulled on a big pink robe, and made her way back to the bed. She didn't bother brushing her hair. Instead, she just ran her fingers through the wet strands. As she fell onto the mattress, she knew that she desperately needed to feed, but she didn't have the energy to set up the IV stand. Perhaps Aiden could do that for her, and if he was going to be a jerk about it, then maybe Emily would help her.
God, she was so tired and sore.
Myla.
The tears started up again as she thought of her friend. She hadn't seen or heard from her in a hundred years, but the loss still broke her heart.
She didn't know what type of person Myla had been when she died, and Holly realized she was missing a memory of a person, not the actual person.
This made her cry harder.
The knock on the door made her jump. She told herself she was safe here, and she needed to relax.
Aiden stood in the doorway with a tray, just as he had done the other day. His enormous frame filled the entrance, he whiskey eyes taking her in with so much heat, she felt like she had a spotlight on her. He walked toward her and set the tray down on the nightstand.
"You should have waited for me to help get you out of the tub," he said quietly, sitting down on the bed.
"I'm a big girl, Aiden. I can take care of myself. I don't need you to play nursemaid to me." She had thought about the "just sex" scene while in the tub, as well as her dead friend.
It hadn't made for a pleasant bath.
Frankly, she was confused by Aiden's attention. She had come to the conclusion that he was doing what he would do for any female he rescued. Most male vampires held the females of the race in high regard since they were almost extinct. Of course, he would want to make sure that a female vampire was well taken care of after being through such a terrible ordeal.
"I care about you, Holly," Aiden said.
Holly lay back on the pillows and closed her eyes. Whatever. She didn't have the strength to participate in this conversation. He cared about her like a male would care about a female he just rescued. He had misspoken. He didn't care; he was concerned. In the Dictionary of Holly, there was a huge difference.
"You need to feed," he said.
She nodded. "My IV is in the closet, and there's some blood in a cooler in there."
She waited to feel the bed lift as he went to the closet, but it didn't budge.
She sighed. "Forget it, Aiden. I'll have Emily help me."
"No," he said firmly. She opened her eyes and looked at him.
"What do you mean 'no?' You just said yourself I need to feed."
Aiden pulled up the sleeve to his t-shirt revealing his wrist. "You'll feed from me," he said with conviction, as if it had all been decided, and she didn't get a vote.
"I most certainly will not," she said indignantly. In her race, feeding from a vampire male was saved for those in a long-term serious relationship. They most certainly didn't have one of those. Just sex. He had made that pretty clear. She knew Aiden didn't play by the rules, and that was fine. She had a little bit of rule breaker in herself, but this crossed the line. It was like desecrating an important religious symbol.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Yes, you will, Holly. That's what—"
She cut him off. "No I won't. You may be comfortable going off the rails like that, but that tradition is important to me. I will not partake in something sacred like that and not mean it."
"Holly, he said quietly, "that's what a male does for his female."
Holly opened up her mouth to argue with him, but then what he said registered in her brain.
She said nothing.
Aiden's eyes met hers. "I was so wrong, Holly. Us . . . it's so much more. For me, anyway."
He rubbed his face.
"I was a complete asshole, Holly."
"Aiden, I . . ." Holly didn't know what to say. Never, in a million lifetimes could she have predicted this. What had changed? Why did he feel this way now, but not after they had made love?
More silence.
Aiden cleared his throat and ran his hand over his head. He looked uncomfortable, like he had just been caught in a public place without his pants.
"It's okay, Holly. I'll get you that IV."
He stood up and went to the closet. He set up the IV stand, hung the bag of blood, and turned to leave.
Holly watched his huge back as he made his way for the door. A small thrill traveled up her spine almost giving her exhaustion a little push to the side. Almost. She couldn’t get past her sore body, her lethargic mind. Was he saying what she thought he was saying?
Her brain still felt sludgy, like the bottom of a murky lake. All neurons weren't firing. She thought she had heard him correctly, but maybe she was hearing what she wanted to hear. She watched him as he went to the door and realized he was leaving. Well, duh, as Brandon liked to say. A male closed up tighter than miser's wallet had just tried to tell her that he cared about her, and all she could do was stare at him as he walked out of the room. She shook her head.
“Aiden.”
He stopped, his hand on the doorknob. He didn’t look back at her.
“Aiden, don’t leave.”
He looked at her over his shoulder and she reached her hand out to him.
“Aiden, we need to talk. But right now, I can’t do it. I'm exhausted, I hurt all over.” She looked at the dark blue comforter for a moment as if she was thinking about things for a moment. “And I need to feed.”
Aiden nodded, walked back over to the bed and didn’t hesitate to offer his wrist. This was what he wanted to do. He couldn't say the words he wanted, but p
erhaps he could show her what she meant to him through actions.
Her gaze met his. “Please, Holly. Take from me. Let me do this for you.”
She lifted her head off the pillow, and took his wrist in her hands. She inhaled deeply, then hissed and struck hard.
Aiden felt himself jump from the strike, the pain in his wrist flaring. Holly nursed from him, a little moan coming from her throat. As the pain subsided, he turned his attention to her. Her black hair glowed in the lamplight, almost a purple color, stood out from her skull. Her face was bruised, her lip swollen and cut. Her slender white arms were also black and blue. Even in her battered state, she was the prettiest thing he had ever laid eyes on.
He wanted to touch her, to bring her to him. A low simmer began in blood, and within seconds, it was raging heat.
He had never had a female feed from him. Natalie had been human, and there had been no need for it. Besides Natalie, there hadn't been another relationship.
He had seen the effects of having a vampire feed from a human. His thoughts went back to his most recent feeding from Holly’s roommate, Sara. The girl had an orgasm while he fed. His cock went rock hard as Holly drank from him, and he wondered if he was going to follow down the same path Sara had. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the lust tearing through his body, the urge to tackle Holly to the pillows and take her. He reminded himself that she had just been through a terrible ordeal, her body needed time to heal, and probably her psyche as well. He would give her that time. His own needs had to be set on the back burner for now. But when she was feeling better, he would make love to her over and over and . . .
He opened his eyes as she detached from his wrist. Her eyelids were heavy, and she licked her lips and sat back on the pillows. Aiden brought his wrist to his mouth and closed the puncture wounds with his tongue.
“Thank you,” she whispered as she reached for his hand. He held it and she closed her eyes.