Blood Of Kings (Transfusion Book 3)

by Stephanie Hudson

  “Right, well in that case, it’s time to get your ass in the seat…sweetheart.” I huffed and folded my arms after first plucking my tablets out of his hand and said,

  “Nice to see you’re back to playing my bossy manhandling boyfriend that wishes to be called my eternal life partner,” I said making him growl at me playfully.

  “Get your ass in the car, Amelia!” he snapped, now only pretending to be grumpy. Then I watched him walk around to his side and I gave him a salute and said,

  “Sure thing, Boss man Hippy.” At this he growled louder this time and I laughed as he grumbled under his breath,

  “Shackles and a gag…I am getting shackles and a gag.” At this I folded into my seat trying in vain to keep the smirk from my face, because well, teasing Lucius was almost as much fun as when he teased me. Which is why I couldn’t help but ask,

  “That could be fun, did you want my help putting them on you? As I can imagine at least one of them being tricky to do on your own.” Again, this granted me a lip twitch before a full blown bad boy grin emerged as he pressed the start switch, then he revved the engine, telling me what revenge he had planned.

  “Lucius, don’t you dare…AHHH!” This ended in a shout as he sped out of the gas station like he was coming out of the pits on a racetrack. Smoke bellowed around us as the tires burned on the tarmac and he spun the car, now doing donuts and making me grab onto the door just for something to hold onto as I screamed. I mean there was no danger, I knew this, as it wasn’t like there was anyone else here but still, the action kind of made you want to hold on for dear life!

  Then he pulled out of the continuous circle and the car whipped around before straightening up so he could drive up the slip road before rejoining traffic, still doing so with speed. Then, once we had joined the fast lane, he opened her up and drove with ease.

  “I think you are safe to let go now, Amelia,” Lucius said with humor in his tone.

  “I would but I am afraid I would kill you and if I throttled you to death then we would crash.” At this he laughed and said,

  “Still think I need those shackles, sweetheart?”

  “Most definitely, actually no, make it an iron maiden only without the spikes, because lucky for you, I like your handsome face,” was my witty reply.

  “Lucky for me then,” was his cocky retort, one I couldn’t help smile at. Then he asked,

  “How’s your ass, still cold?” I could tell he was also trying not to laugh but failed when I growled at him.

  “Cold enough not to feel you spanking it!”

  “Well, we can’t have that now, can we.” Lucius then flicked a switch and was soon making me moan in pleasure,

  “Heated seats, oh my, there is a God, and wouldn’t you know it, he works in the car business,” I remarked, making Lucius chuckle back,

  “Amen to that.”

  After this, Lucius actually made a conscious effort to slow down, at least somewhat. But then, just as I was about to speak, I noticed flashing headlights behind us, as a car seemed to come out of nowhere.

  It was weaving in and out of the lanes at speed and I swallowed hard, knowing that once again, our time was up…

  The bad guys had found us.

  Chapter 9

  A Drive to Remember

  The second I saw them my whole body went ridged and I was in half a mind to scream, ‘not this shit again!’ and the other half of me wanted to curl up and pretend they weren’t there. Seriously, could we not catch a break!

  “Amelia, what’s wrong?” Lucius asked me as it was obvious by his concerned tone that he had felt my unease and no doubt heard my heartrate kick into high gear and speaking of high gear,

  “I think you should go faster!” I said in a panic.

  “What?”

  “Go faster, as in as fast as this thing will go!” I screeched suddenly wishing we were in a James Bond car with every corny gadget known to man!

  “Amelia, you’re not really making sense here…oh,” he said once he finally caught sight of the car behind as it flashed us one more time, only what it hoped to achieve by this I didn’t know. Were they trying to intimidate us, or warn us that if we didn’t stop, they would ram us off the road?!

  “Yes oh! So hit the damn gas would ya!” I shouted making him reach over and place a hand at my shoulder, so he could tap his thumb on my pulse point, before saying my name, this time in a comforting way,

  “Amelia, sweetheart…just relax, there is no need to wor…”

  “No need to worry! Are you joking, they are…”

  “My people,” he stated quickly before I could hit XL on the panic mode.

  “Oh,” was my calmer reply.

  “It’s Clay driving, I called when you were using the bathroom to let them know what had happened,” he told me softly, and thankfully not mocking me for my brief moment of panic. After this I didn’t say anything as he explained most of his people had been ordered to leave Transfusion, now that it had been compromised. Instead they were all to meet at Lucius’ stronghold. Which was basically, on all accounts heard, a mammoth castle hidden inside an actual mountain!

  Clay and Ruto had been the last to leave after tying up loose ends, which I gathered was getting rid of the bodies before the ‘human officials’ were allowed to enter. What this job actually entailed I really didn’t want to know, but for some reason visions of a great big vat of green steaming acid came to mind, with body parts melting on the surface. Of course, the less gruesome part of this vision was that it was painted in my mind in a cartoon style. Admittedly not quite Disney but leaning more towards Looney Toons, as come on, that shit was violent! It also made me wonder out of the two, who would be holding the big stick, getting to stir the dead bodies?

  Now to Lucius, my silence during this time obviously meant that I was worried, which was why it was a few minutes later he said,

  “They won’t get you again, Amelia, I can promise you, for nothing can break inside my winter home.” Yes, and nothing can break out of it either, I thought without saying anything. No, instead I nodded, and Lucius then left me to my thoughts, ones from the looks of things, he knew what they focused on.

  Ten minutes later and my headache reminded me of what I still held in my lap. So, I opened up my water and took two tablets, after first gulping down half the bottle. Lucius watched me out of the corner of his eye and waited until I was done before telling me,

  “I will heal you once I get you home.” It was such a caring statement I almost kicked myself for saying,

  “Home?” Then he shot me a look and said,

  “I’m sorry, did you want me to unearth that can of worms you so intently wanted buried?”

  “Good point, moving on,” I replied knowing that if he wanted to refer to his home as such, then that was fine…fine, fine, just dandy, in fact and wasn’t even freaking me out in any way, shape or form…yeah right!

  “Are you in a lot of pain?” he asked, and I found it sweet how this big broody Vampire King, who was a total bad ass and was, let’s face it, rude to most people, was now fussing over me because I had been hurt. So, I reached across the centre console and placed my hand on his thigh to squeeze before saying in an equally tender tone,

  “I’m fine, really.” He didn’t comment at this, but simply nodded as if accepting it. Besides, it might not be completely true at the moment, as I was most definitely sore. But it would be fine when the tablets kicked in, so I didn’t think there was any harm in answering prematurely.

  After this we sat in silence for a bit and I wondered why he kept glancing over my way, or more to the point at my lap.

  “Are you waiting for something?” he finally asked and at first, I had no clue what he meant until he then nodded down to the bit of food I still had nestled in my lap.

  “Do you mind if I eat in here?” I asked, to which he just gave me a pointed look.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked in return.

  “Yeah.”

  “Then do you r
eally think I would care more about this car than about my woman gaining substance and erasing some discomfort, something she would need after jumping into a freezing, fucking river from a Gods forsaken helicopter?” was his pissed off reply, making me want to ask if he was Bipolar at all.

  “Erh…no?” was my own unsure reply.

  “Fucking eat, Amelia,” he said making me now question,

  “And if I hadn’t jumped into a…and I quote, ‘freezing, fucking river from a Gods forsaken helicopter’ would I get the same answer?”

  “What do you think?” was his curt reply.

  “Erm…no again?”

  “Nice to know you catch on quick, Princess,” was his naturally dry response.

  “I thought we agreed you wouldn’t call me that anymore.” At this he smirked and teased,

  “No, we agreed that I would and often, but wait, what did you hear…not something different I hope?” he mocked making me sneer at him.

  “Yes, because the way I heard it, every time you slipped up and did say it, then you had to bend over and let me spank your ass.”

  “Yes, and that will be happening never,” he replied. I laughed and then folded my arms and asked,

  “Now how do you know if you like it or not if you have never tried it?” he raised a brow at my teasing and said,

  “I will remind you of that when walking you into my playroom.” At this I laughed, and in a way, I hoped wasn’t a foolishly naïve way of believing this was a joke, otherwise…oh Gods!

  “Wait, don’t tell me, you’re a secret pin ball junkie!” At this I received an unimpressed eyebrow raise.

  “Board games.”

  “Oh, there is a board, and once you step inside, most definitely something I will want to play with, now as for being considered a game, well, by the end of it I will most definitely consider myself the winner.” I had to say the erotic picture he painted now was one that had me swallowing hard and almost wishing for that room to be real…if it wasn’t already. Something that was starting to look more and more that way when he continued,

  “Now, as for being addicted, the door does have a lock, so I am well and truly covered when it comes to getting my fix.” This statement ended with him winking at me and smirking when he saw me squirming in my seat, something he had also told me he enjoyed watching. Which is why for peace of mind on my part I shouted,

  “You’re teasing!” A tone that said, I really hoped that he was, considering I was already nervous about walking in the place, let alone the potential surprises he had in store for me.

  “Am I? For I wasn’t aware,” he said mockingly making me now nibble my fingertip again. Naturally he saw it and grinned.

  “Now eat,” he ordered nodding down at my bag of chips and chocolate bar. So, I did as I was told, opening the bag slowly at least so the thing didn’t just explode open, spilling them all over what I already knew was a mega expensive supercar…because really, this was me here.

  “What flavour are they?” Lucius asked after smelling the air like some hungry cartoon character. So, I held the packet at arm’s length and read the front,

  “They are called, Chipsfrisch BBQ, so I am going to take a wild guess and say, smokey meat was involved.” This granted me another lip twitch, which I had to say, I was most certainly racking up tonight.

  “Mm, I wonder when they will bring out a rare meat flavour,” he said and I laughed and said,

  “What like the Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat, only I think Chipsfrisch may struggle with that one…what, you said rare?” I joked making him roll his eyes before pointing out the obvious,

  “I also meant bloody.”

  “Ah, but of course, I was forgetting your new pet name, my blood thirsty warrior man,” I said nodding to myself and then picking up a handful of chips and stuffing them in my mouth.

  “And may I enquire as to why you suddenly dropped the handsome?”

  “You may enquire, yes,” I answered with a mouthful.

  “And?” he pressed, continuing on the playfulness.

  “Oh, you wanted me to tell you…it’s so you stay pretty and don’t get a big head…I’ve never seen you in a hat and with Christmas not too far away, well then I have to think a’head…get it, A head!” I said laughing at my own joke and then muttering the punch line to myself again as I took another swig of my water. I noticed him shake his head to himself again in that typical, what am I to do with my goofy girlfriend/ eternal life partner.

  “Alright, well I will make it easy on you, I don’t wear hats and I don’t celebrate Christmas.” Okay, so talk about dropping a massive bombshell on a girl! He didn’t like Christmas?! Okay, so given what the origins of this particular celebration was, then yeah, I could understand considering I knew he had a real problem with Jesus Christ. But seriously, not even a tree?

  “Okay, why do you now look like you’re about to cry?” he asked giving me a double look after needing to look at the road as he overtook what he considered to be a slow car. I, however, considered it a normal speeding car but hey ho.

  “So, not even a tree, or a single stocking…not even one present?” I asked, with the sound of my voice telling him of my utter heartbreak.

  “Trees are for outside, stockings to peel off a woman’s legs and I can buy whatever the hell I want, whenever I want, so why would I wait until a single day of the year in hopes of receiving it from someone else,” he said making me go completely silent, not even a crunch which promoted him to look my way.

  “Gods woman, but you look like I just maimed your childhood teddy bear!”

  “You lay a fang on Mr Smooney and we are so over,” I warned making him laugh before saying,

  “Do I want to know why you slept with a spoon as a child?”

  “Oh, he wasn’t a spoon, he was a moose,” I informed him, and he rubbed his forehead a little before asking in a strained tone,

  “I know I am going to regret this, but why was he named this.” At this I laughed and said,

  “Because he used to smoon me and I will give you all of one guess as to who named him this and I will even give you a clue, the moose was dyed green by the same person.” Lucius chuckled and said,

  “Ah, it’s making sense now,” he said whilst checking his mirror to once again overtake.

  “I miss my aunty Pip,” I said mostly to myself as I continued to munch my chips. Lucius shot me a look but didn’t comment, so instead I decided to continue the Christmas talk, testing the waters so to speak,

  “So, it looks like I will be going home for the holidays then, oh but don’t worry, I will stay clear of the mistletoe,” I said before crunching some more and making him growl.

  “You will be going nowhere!” he snapped, obviously furious at the idea.

  “Well, it’s not like I can invite my family to spend Christmas with us, seeing as you are the Grinch’s long lost cousin and all.”

  “Amelia, what in the Gods names are you talking about!” he snapped, again having no clue.

  “What I am saying is what if I want a Christmas, are you going to refuse me something I have celebrated since I was born?” Lucius again looked thoughtful a moment and instead of giving me his answer, he decided to remind me yet again,

  “I think this also constitutes as that can of worms, sweetheart.” I scoffed at this knowing he was so using this as an easy way out. But despite this, I didn’t reply. As he was right, it was most likely another argument for another day, one in the long list of arguments that was currently growing longer by day. But then again, I had to ask myself, could I really see Lucius spending any time with me and my family? Not even bringing into it the awkward ‘mother thing’, but mainly my dad who I was pretty sure wasn’t exactly going to warm to the idea of us dating any time soon!

  Oh yeah, I could see it now, us all stood around the piano singing, with some very real nuts roasting on an open fire, although I could pretty much guarantee that they weren’t the type anyone wished to eat!

  Gods, but this thoug
ht actually made me shiver, because that was one family announcement I didn’t ever want to make! Maybe an email was going to be in order.

  A very short email. Something like…

  Mum, Dad,

  Guess what, I am dating…

  Lucius.

  Bye, love Fae.

  This was why the next thought to form and make it out of my mouth was,

  “Wow, we are going to have a lot of worms to sort out, aren’t we?” I commented making him mutter back in annoyance,

  “Or step on.”

  “I will pretend I didn’t hear that,” was my reply,

  “And I will pretend that you did, whilst naked…” I shot him a questioning sideways glance.

  “Well, whilst I am pretending, I might as well enjoy it to its fullest.” At this I burst out laughing, making him grin at obviously being able to make me laugh. I think this was one of the things that shocked me most about Lucius, he was actually a really funny guy, especially when he was teasing me. But then this was another shocker, how playful he was, and I had to say I was starting to become addicted to that side of him. Oh, but who was I kidding, I was addicted to all sides of Lucius even his growly side, because even when directed at me, it was still panties melting hot!

  Which was why I found myself more and more trying to either make him laugh or I was trying to encourage more banter between us. Reason being why I looked down into my nearly empty bag of chips and smirked.

  “Oh sorry, did you want any?” I asked now holding out the bag to him and like I said, after I had finished consuming most of the bag first. Lucius glanced over and then gave me a look as if I had just offered him dirt on a plate. Then he said,

  “Ah, I see I get the scraps, you must love me indeed.” At this I would have laughed but instead I blushed to my roots, remembering how he had first heard those words being said. Or more like shouted at some random person.

  “Aww come on, I will tell you what, how about I create a new flavour for you, I can let you bite my finger so I can bleed all over them and then we can call it BBQ Princess, Lucius Limited edition…sound good?” I asked loving the way he threw his head back and laughed, gifting me the sight of that sensational smile of his…another addiction of mine to confess.