by Fall, Carly
Ten minutes later the scientist removed the needle. "It may take some time to go through your blood stream, but I'm pretty sure I've succeeded."
Victor nodded, and waited. He didn't have the energy to keep up the cloak of Victor Marano, a male in his prime, much longer. It took extra effort for him to walk like a male in his early 30's, and frankly, he was exhausted.
A few more minutes ticked by.
And then it happened.
He felt his muscles becoming stronger, his senses became clearer. He flipped open his eyes as his heartbeat became stronger. He flexed his hands, and felt the raw power of a full-bred vampire flowing into them. He smiled. He felt like fucking and killing.
He sat up on the bed and looked at the scientist. "You have done well," he said. Keeping his cloak as Victor Marano was now easy, more of a second skin. "How many days between treatments do you think I'll need?"
The scientist smiled. "I don't know, sir. My guess is for the next couple of weeks we play it by ear and you give me a call when you feel the symptoms coming back."
Victor nodded. "Please show yourself out," he told the scientist as he headed for the door. "I have a dinner date in downtown Reno, and I don't want to be late."
Chapter 46
At the Dusk Meal, everyone was present and the questions flew around about the impending arrival of Rohan. No one was sure when that would be, but everyone hoped it would be soon. The boys were excited about a new uncle, and the females of the house were excited to meet him and hear about his life in Greenland. Everyone was excited that he was bringing his two dogs.
Hugo had whipped up a high calorie meal of pot roast with potatoes and carrots as he knew Aiden and Thaddeus would be heading out for the night. He also baked a cherry pie. Of course, it was delicious.
After the meal, Aiden went to get dressed. Holly watched him from the bed as he pulled on his camos and black long sleeve t-shirt. He ran his fingers through his dark, shoulder length hair and pulled it back into a band at the nape of his neck. He laced up his boots and then went to the closet to get his gun holster and knives.
As he methodically put his weapons in their correct place, Holly felt a mixture of pride, fear, and awe while she watched him. Her raw, powerful male made a formidable figure as his weapons hung from his body, and she felt sorry for whoever crossed his path. She could feel his dark side rippling around the room. He was looking forward to going out tonight, to fighting, to dealing death. She was proud that he did this to protect his race. Well, her race as well. He may be a killer, but he did so for a noble cause. He killed for everyone in this house, and she knew he would avenge Myla's death.
The fear she felt as she watched him was that he would come home hurt. Or worse. She had finally found a place she belonged. She had fallen in love. She didn't want any of that to disappear before she had the chance to experience it. She didn't want him to disappear before she had the chance for them to fully experience each other.
She sighed and got off the bed. She went behind Aiden and wrapped her hands around his waist, leaning her cheek against his hard back, careful not to accidentally hit a gun trigger or blade.
He turned around and looked down at her. She basked in the whiskey glow of his eyes. "Please be careful," she said quietly.
The corners of his lips upturned, and he put his hands on each side of her face.
"Of course. I have you to come back to." He leaned down and their mouths met.
The kiss went from gentle to hot within seconds.
"Thaddeus's waiting for me," he said gruffly.
"Then you better get moving," she said, stepping away from him. She could feel the flush of desire creeping into her cheeks.
"We're going to finish that kiss later," he said.
She smiled and nodded.
Thaddeus and Aiden walked the streets of downtown Reno. Cy decided to stay at the house because his new computer program was very close to tracing the owner information of all the corporate shells Victor Marano was buried under. If they found that last address or phone number, it was their best shot at finding Victor. Unless he just happened to be walking around the streets of Reno, which was a long shot, but Thaddeus and Aiden weren't sure what else to do. They also had to try to find and stop those vampires that were doing the killings that had been all over the news.
Finding trouble didn't take them long. It was looking for them.
As they turned the corner down an alley Sierra on street, Aiden's sixth sense went haywire. He turned around just in time to catch a baseball bat whizzing through the air and ready to connect with his head. Thaddeus caught a knife to the shoulder from the friend of the Pete Rose wanna-be.
Aiden grabbed the bat in mid-swing, and at the same time pulled the knife from the sheath at his back. The male was tall and thin with dark short hair. He bared his fangs at Aiden. Okay then. Game on, vampire.
Aiden wanted to pull him close to gut him, but they needed information. They had to find out where Victor was and what his plans were.
Aiden pulled the male in close and dislodged the bat with a cut to the male's wrist. The male hissed, but kept coming at Aiden. Aiden re-sheathed his knife, deciding a little hand-to-hand would be a good idea about now. Incapacitate him. Do not kill him. Get the information they needed.
Repeat: Do not kill him.
He glanced over at Thaddeus who obviously had the same idea as he was blocking, kicking, and moving with quick efficiency on the bulky, blonde male vampire with the knife.
As they fought, Aiden thought that the males he had encountered the past few days were stronger than the usual vampire males he came across. And they had been trained to fight, just as those boys who had been shot in the alley. Aiden's opponent was almost as strong as he was, which could only mean one thing: he was fighting a first generation half-breed. He wondered which cocksucker on The Council had sired these bastards. His guess was Victor.
As he swung a roundhouse kick at the male, he caught a glimpse behind him where the dark alley ended. Four males appeared out of the shadows, coming at them. It was a trap if Aiden had ever seen one.
"Company at six o'clock," he said to Thaddeus. He quickly unsheathed his knife, backed away from a fist to his sternum, and smiled revealing his fangs. Things were about to get really interesting. Just the way he liked it.
Chapter 47
Aiden and Thaddeus arrived back at the house a little worse for wear. It had become apparent very quickly that those males who attacked them were to do one thing: kill them. When they had become outnumbered three to one each, they had scrapped the "let's get information" plan, and moved on to the "let's not go home in a body bag" plan. That, of course, meant kill and destroy.
Which, they had done. It took a lot of effort, the suffering of a couple of holes that weren't supposed to be there, some blood, and maybe a broken bone, but Aiden wasn't sure yet. His arm hurt like a bitch. They had disposed of the bodies in the back of the alley to turn to dust with the rising sun.
"Try not to bleed on the leather," Thaddeus said as he flew down Highway 395.
"I can't help where I bleed."
"Just try to keep it off the leather. That's all I'm saying."
"Piss off."
The rest of the ride passed in silence, except for the call Thaddeus made to the house alerting Hugo that medical care would be necessary upon arrival.
Hugo met them in the garage, his large frame illuminated by the headlights. Thaddeus killed the Range Rover before he ran the male over, and hauled himself out of the car.
He limped around the car and Hugo put his arm around his waist. Thaddeus accepted the help and they went around the car to get Aiden.
Aiden had taken a couple of stab wounds to his side. Thaddeus thought it looked a lot worse than it was, and bit back a curse as he saw blood on the plush, tan leather. He wondered if it would come off.
Hugo positioned himself to haul Aiden out of the car and wrap his other arm around Aiden's waist, acting as a crutch for both o
f them.
"Holly's waiting," Hugo said as he maneuvered them to the elevator.
They rode up in silence.
And when the doors opened, controlled chaos took over with Holly in charge.
She briefly looked over both of them with narrow eyes, quickly assessing injuries. She nodded, as if she had made a decision.
"Emily, get Aiden horizontal on that cot. Pack those wounds on his side. They're bleeders, but I don't think they are critical. Thaddeus, get over here and let me look at the cut on your forehead. I'm concerned about a concussion. Hugo, help Emily and take a look at Aiden's arm. You should be able to feel if there's a serious break."
Aiden blocked out what Emily and Hugo were doing as he felt gauze packs going into his side. He wanted to watch Holly.
He loved watching her. The little concentration wrinkle that appeared between her eyes as she examined Thaddeus, the way her hands moved so swiftly, yet so gently. Then there was the way she glanced over at him, her worry becoming evident in her eyes. He smiled at her and nodded. The corner of her lips turned up, letting him know she got the message—he was okay.
She finished with Thaddeus quickly, turning him over to Emily. Hugo told her he didn't think there was a break in the arm. She moved to Aiden as Emily escorted Thaddeus out of the room with Hugo's help.
"Hi," he said quietly.
"Hi," she said back, examining his side.
"Kiss me," he whispered.
She gently brought her lips to his in a quick kiss.
He growled, needing more. In fact, the urge to claim her as his, to put that bite mark on her neck was overwhelming. Yeah, he had thought about doing it before, but now, it was a desperate need.
Was it because he was hurt? Because while he had been fighting three first generation half-breeds he had realized how easily he could never see Holly again? The thought had surprised him as he had spent so much time in the past ten years thinking about offing himself to finally see Natalie. Tonight, it would have been so easy to let them get the upper hand, to have them deliver the death he had wanted so badly over the years. Instead, he found himself fighting for his life to stay right here on Earth so he could be with Holly. And that time on Earth meant that he wanted to claim his female as his own.
She ignored his growl and went back to seeing what his wounds needed.
He felt the prick of a needle, and his side went numb. Robert came in, and Aiden listened as Robert told him about their nightly adventure out into the woods. Then Hugo called Robert for the dawn meal, and then bedtime. Aiden tested the thought of food on his stomach, and came up with a no. The only thing he wanted was Holly.
"You okay, Dad?"
"Solid, my man. Solid. Just a couple of scratches."
Robert rolled his eyes, wise beyond his years. "Scratches don't need stitches, Dad."
Aiden smiled, not sure what to do when caught in the lie.
Hugo called him again.
"See you in the evening, okay?" Aiden said, holding his boy's hand.
"Yep. Depending on how you feel, do you want to play Wii when you get up?"
"Absolutely."
"Can I join in on that?" Holly said, looking at Robert.
"Yeah!" the boy exclaimed with a smile. He then bolted out of the room.
Aiden ran his hand over Holly's back. He loved the curve of her spine, her strong lavender scent, and the way her hair stood up from her head as if it were trying to escape her scalp. Mostly, he loved the way her dark eyes looked at him as if he were hers, and nothing else in the world mattered, except him. They bathed him in contentment, but at the same time set his body on fire. He loved her. His fight tonight had brought out the need for him to tell her everything about himself, everything that made him what he was.
"You're mine," he growled deeply. He didn't know the words were coming out of his mouth before he said them.
Holly didn't miss a beat with the needle and thread.
"Really."
"Very really," he said.
Holly finished the stitches, gave him a soft smile, snapped off her gloves and began to put all of the bloody gauze in a plastic bag.
“Well, vampire. You can sit there and tell me that I belong to you all you want. But if you're going to make a claim like that, you better be able to back it up.”
She then stood up, and began walking down the hall toward her bedroom. Aiden was determined to make it their bedroom for the rest of their days. He rolled off the cot and followed her, his fangs extending. His side didn't hurt any longer, but the erection in his pants was painful as hell.
Chapter 48
Many hours later, close to nightfall but still daytime, Holly felt like someone was giving her a light poke to wake her up. She did a lazy mental check around her. She felt the warmth of Aiden's body next to hers. He was lying on his back and she had curled her spine into his side. His hand rested on her head.
She did feel as though someone else was in the room. When the poke got harder, she sat up clutching the sheet to her chest, wide-awake.
At the foot of the bed stood a tall female with dark hair that fell to her shoulders. She appeared to be translucent, a slightly glowing form in a white robe. Holly knew immediately who it was.
Natalie.
Aiden had made love to her earlier and marked her on her neck, drinking her blood. She had never known such intense pleasure as he drank, such an incredible rush of heightened senses and fire coursing through her body.
Afterward, Aiden had laid his head on her breast and started talking, trying to explain why he was the way he was. He told her everything about his childhood, about Natalie, about the pain and anger he had felt for so long. Holly listened, surprised by the words that flowed from him. She didn't ever think he would want to tell her what made up his soul, and she had been fine with that. She had the basic story, and that had been all she needed. She loved him just the way he was and didn't give a rat's ass what had made him that way. But hearing it from him, hearing his confessions of pain and anguish made her respect him more, and understand him a little bit better.
They had talked for hours. Finally, they had both ran out of words and fell asleep in each other's arms.
Then she had woken as though someone was poking her, and . . . look at that. There was ghost at the end of the bed.
"Hello, Holly," the figure said. Her lips didn't move, but the voice was crystal clear.
"Hi, Natalie," she whispered back, surprised Aiden hadn't woke.
"He won't," Natalie said. Holly didn't say anything, just looked at the tall, pretty female with the shoulder length dark hair and translucent skin and wondered where all this was going to lead. Did she come to exact some ghostly revenge for Holly moving in on Aiden's life?
"No. I came to thank you," Natalie said.
The statement perplexed Holly.
Natalie looked over at Aiden's large form sprawled on the bed.
"He's finally at peace with you, Holly. And that means that I can finally be at peace."
Holly still wasn't sure what to say. That didn't happen very often, but then again, she hadn't had a conversation with a ghost recently. Okay. Never.
"Both of us have been hurting for so long, but it's finally over. You helped him put an end to it."
The ghost continued to stare at Aiden. Was that a tear? Could ghosts cry? How could a ghost be in pain?
"Holly, take care of Aiden and Robert. They need you. Robert needs a mother. Aiden needs a mate. They both have fallen deeply in love with you in their own ways."
Holly found herself nodding, as though she were making a promise to Natalie, that yes, she would take care of the family Natalie had been forced to leave behind.
"Thank you, Holly. Thank you for bringing peace into all of our worlds." Then she disappeared.
Holly watched the spot where Natalie had stood for a long while. She had just had a conversation with a ghost. She didn't know if that reaffirmed her belief in Heaven, or scared the hell out of her.
&nb
sp; She lay back down, but sleep did not come for a long while.
Chapter 49
Aiden sat at the table in Central Control tapping his fingers. He watched Cy's back as the male hunched over the computer keyboard. Every now and then Cy would curse, but otherwise the only noise in the room was the Pink Floyd coming from the computer.
Cy had said his program was close to getting to the bottom of the shell corporations Victor had wrapped his holdings in. Aiden was waiting for the computer to spit out a list of addresses so he could get moving and go do something that would lead them closer to Victor. He was damn tired of just patrolling the streets of downtown Reno trying to keep the humans safe from Victor's bloodsuckers that were terrorizing everyone. They acted like rabid, feral, cats, and they had no regard for any life.
Aiden checked his watch. Ten at night. He still had lots of time to go hunting. He willed that damn program to hurry.
Rohan walked in and sat down across from Aiden. Aiden stared at his brother who had arrived just a few hours ago. His thick blonde hair hung to just below his ears, and he kept pushing back or tucking it behind his ears. His dark sunglasses were a stark contrast to his bone white skin. He stood at just under six foot five, and was leaner than Aiden and Thaddeus. Aiden imagined he could still be deadly if needed.
"How come it's so quiet out there?" Aiden asked pointing over his shoulder toward the rest of the house.
Rohan smiled. "Everyone is outside playing fetch with Murphy and Molly."
Aiden nodded. Murphy and Molly were the two dogs Rohan had brought with him. Their blonde hair, big brown eyes, and wagging tails had won everyone over within seconds.
"Glad you're here, Rohan," Aiden said quietly.
"Yes!" Cy stood up so quickly he knocked over the chair he had been sitting in. "Motherfucking yes!"
Aiden pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Thaddeus. He supposed he could get up and actually walk to the other end of the house, go down the elevator, go outside where everyone was playing with the dogs and tell Thaddeus to get his ass up to Central Control, but calling him would be faster, and frankly, he was feeling a little lazy.