Conversion Book Two: Bloodlines

by S. C. Stephens

  Teren disrupted my thoughts by easily picking me up and carting me off to the kitchen. He plopped me down at a chair by the kitchen table and asked about my shopping trip while he prepped a plate for me. My stomach rumbled as I eyed the steaming pile of lasagna before me, and not waiting for him to join me, I hungrily dug in, telling him all the details about the trip that I could. I mentioned I found a dress for me, but kept back the details of it. He could wait.

  He laughed at my hunger as he poured a glass of blood for himself from the steaming carafe, eerily similar to the kind his mom used at the ranch. He sat next to me, leaning back casually in his chair as he sipped his dinner. I watched him while I ate, wondering how a liquid diet could possibly be as satisfying as the calorie-leaden food currently plopping into mine. He watched me with an odd grin as I watched him. Taking a break from inhaling my food, I asked, “Do you miss it?”

  He tilted his head as he took another sip. “Miss what?”

  I raised a forkful of cheesy goodness. “Food. Real food. Well, human food.” Human food which I continued to shovel down my throat with abandon.

  He grinned lopsidedly and then shook his head. “No.” His pale eyes pulled away from my mouth to look into mine. “Surprisingly, no, I don’t miss it.” He shrugged his shoulders and indicated my plate with his glass. “It doesn’t even sound good anymore.”

  I smiled that at least he didn’t miss something that he couldn’t have anymore. I mean, he couldn’t exactly digest the incredibly heavy food I was starting to get full on. “Well, that’s good that you don’t have to endure a lifelong…yearning.” I shrugged and then laughed at my choice of words.

  He laughed too and took a long drink of the blood, closing his eyes as he relished it. Slowly he opened them, the blue depths looking as satisfied as mine probably did. “No, I don’t yearn…for that.” He grinned devilishly, his fangs only intensifying the look, and I felt a flush creep into my cheeks.

  He took a long draw of his drink and then smiled contently. “Besides, you wouldn’t believe how good this is.” He closed his eyes and inhaled a deep breath. A concerned look entered his face as he cracked an eye open. “Not as tasty as you, of course.”

  I laughed around a mouthful of food that he was actually concerned that I’d be offended that he enjoyed his cow drink more than he enjoyed me. I raised my wrist, the bandage on it reminding me vividly of this morning. A slow smile spread on his face as he remembered it too. “Oh, I know that, Teren. Don’t worry, you make that painfully clear.” I smirked on the end of that and he chuckled as he took another sip.

  Then his eyes grew speculative and he cocked his head at me. Slowly he said, “Do you… Would you…want to try it?” He extended his glass to me.

  My eyes widened at that and my stomach tightened. Ew. Why would he think I wanted to try that? “No, Teren…gross.” His eyebrow lifted at that and I quickly amended with, “No offense.” He laughed, and started to pull his glass back.

  As he did, a fragrance hit me that I’d never smelled before. I grabbed his hand, and pulled the glass back to me. I inhaled the top of it while Teren scrunched his brows again. It smelled better than the meal I was ingesting. My mouth started to water as I imagined that thick, warm, fragrant liquid running down my throat. Grossed out at my own desires, I shoved his hand away from me and plugged my nose to keep that delicious smell back. “Oh my god, Teren.”

  He tilted his head as he took a sip. “That bad?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “No…that good.” I made a disgusted face and he laughed at seeing it.

  Extending the glass again, he said, “Are you sure you don’t want to try it?”

  I forcefully shook my head. “Ew, no.” He shook his head, chuckling at me while I frowned at his reaction. “Hey, it’s not me that wants it.” I placed a hand on my stomach, hoping the hormones in my body were really what were causing my craving. “These little bloodsuckers are the culprits.”

  He busted out laughing at that and stood at the table to lean over and give me a deep kiss. The blood on his tongue…was fabulous, and I hated myself for enjoying it. Pulling away, he sat back down and tilted back the rest of his dinner. “You’re adorable, Emma.” He gave me a love filled gaze. “Don’t ever change,” he whispered. I did flush at that and smiled shyly as I finished the rest of my meal.

  When I was done, Teren cleaned up after me, sweeping my plate away as speedily as his mom did. Before I could stand to join him in the adjoining kitchen, he’d blurred back to the table and set a box right in front of me. I stared at it, seeing the small, velvet encased container, knowing perfectly well what fit inside boxes that size. My eyes started to water as I continued to stare at the thing.

  Teren squatted by my side, his voice soft in my ear while I was entranced. “It has occurred to me, that in the rush of all of this, I’ve missed a step.” His hand reached out for mine but I still couldn’t tear my eyes away from that box. My heart was hammering.

  “I love you so much, Emma. I know we’ve rushed things, but I wouldn’t change a second of our time together.” I finally tore my eyes away and looked at him, a tear finally dropping to my cheek. His eyes were overly wet as he gazed back at me. The level of love on his face took my breath away.

  He rubbed the back of my hand as he searched my face. “I know we don’t have the kind of time together that I wish we could have.” He shook his head lightly. “I would keep you for all of eternity, if I could, if I could keep you just like you are.” His other hand came up to rest on my heart and I understood the reference. He meant if he could keep me mostly human, like I was now, but immortal, like him. I swallowed back the emotion as more tears fell on my cheeks. A tear fell from his as he continued. “But, even still, I will live every day that you have, trying to make you happy. And I won’t ever take our time together for granted.”

  He swallowed as another tear dropped from his eye. With an achingly adorable smile, he moved his hand from my heart and opened the tiny box. In it, was the most incredible ring I’d ever seen. The diamond was round, flawless, and huge. The platinum band it was set in was lined on either side, all the way around the band, with small, blood-red rubies. I let out a soft sob at the symbolism. The ring was the perfect representation of him and me. Gently sliding the ring up the finger of my left hand, he whispered, “Will you marry me, Emma Taylor?”

  I could barely speak through the sobs, but my nodding and throwing myself into his lap was pretty much answer enough. I was a little startled at how emotional the actual proposal was to me, to both of us really. I mean, we’d already decided to get married, and picked a date, and I even picked out a dress today. But him placing that ring on my finger…something about that, made it all finally seem real, and I could not stop the torrent of tears.

  God, I love this man.

  Chapter 5

  What Some People Will Do, To Appear Normal

  Between my mom and Ashley coming over three to four times a week to go over wedding details (and visit Spike), finally catching up on the backlog at work, tracking the babies progression daily on a baby calendar (they were the size of limes now), and somehow fitting in Christmas shopping, those first couple weeks of December flew by.

  Teren and I had gone out to the ranch the weekend before, helping Alanna make sure everything was prepped, but upon arrival, we’d realized that our visit really wasn’t necessary. Well, I realized that. Teren had been telling me the whole trip up that we were just going for a friendly visit, that they’d have everything good to go already. And they had. Alanna showed me the rooms containing all the decorations, just waiting for the following weekend. She showed me the flowers that she and the girls had arranged and were being stored in their massive fridge, since they didn’t need to keep a whole lot of food in there. I shook my head when they told me that their hired hand, Peter, had even become an ordained minister…just so he could marry us. They really had thought of everything.

  We’d spent the entire weekend just relaxing, visitin
g with his family and talking about the two biggest events upcoming in my life - the wedding and the children. They had all taken turns with their heads against my stomach, relishing the sound of life within me. I again felt that jealousy that they could hear what I couldn’t, but I pushed it back. I’d hear those heartbeats again soon enough.

  That last week before the wedding weekend had been filled with tracking RSVPs, getting the final accessories and having everyone’s dresses fitted one last time. As I felt like I was slightly bigger than when I’d tried it on, I worried that my dress wouldn’t fit me. Luckily, it had, and Ashley had carefully packed it in her bag for the trip.

  Before I could really stress about the upcoming ceremony, it was the Thursday morning before the wedding. It was also my last day of work before the wedding. Much to Clarice’s annoyance, Tracey had gifted me one of her days off, and she and I were done in eight short little hours. The entire wedding party - Ash, Tracey, and Hot Ben - were going to spend the entire weekend out at the ranch with us. I was a touch nervous about that, but what had my stomach in knots on this beautiful, crisp December morning, was the fact that the girls were taking me out for a bit of ‘last time your single’ girl fun and Ben and some of Teren’s coworkers…were taking him out.

  I wasn’t in the least bit worried that he’d do the whole ‘one last screw before your tied down’ thing, Teren was much too loyal for that, but I was worried about him “drinking” all night with a group of guys. I obviously had an excuse not to drink, but Teren didn’t really, and bachelor parties usually didn’t stop until the groom was passed out in his own vomit.

  I had no idea what he was going to do.

  When I asked him about it before he left for work, he shook his head at me and said, “I’ve been acting human for a really long time, Emma.” With a raised eyebrow he added, “I even know how to play drunk.” I sighed as he left, but mentally grinned, wishing I could watch Teren act like an idiot to fool his friends. Shaking my head, I prepared for my last day of work as Emma Taylor.

  Clarice made no comment over the fact (no surprise, really), and I wondered if she even remembered why I was taking a long weekend. Tracey however, brought it up every five minutes and was practically giddy as she described the club she wanted to take me to tonight. Ashley went to lunch with us and blushed heavily when Tracey started gushing about these male dancers she’d seen there a few months ago. I sighed and rolled my eyes, already a little tired at the prospect.

  But I should have known that Tracey would make the night…memorable for me. She’d gotten us as all wedding veils to wear - her, Ashley, my mom (which really made the night interesting for me, at seeing my mom drool over hot, nearly naked guys), a few other friends from work and the gym, and me - and positioned us all right in front of the stage.

  Now, I wasn’t one to get all hot and bothered over a guy thrusting his hips in front of my face…even if the body was ridiculously defined, but watching my friends and family get sloppily drunk , and more and more friendly with said guys, was enough to have me in a nearly constant stage of gut busting laughter. It got especially intense, when the tallest, darkest-skinned man I’d ever seen, came over with a remarkably attractive Latino, and started dual grinding my mom. Oh my god, I’ve never laughed so hard.

  When the most attractive man in the place focused his attentions on my wildly blushing sister, I nearly cried for her. I could tell at the way her eyes never left him that she liked him, and he never once looked at her any differently than any of the other women, even admittedly hot Tracey. He treated Ashley the same, or maybe even a little better, as everyone else. I tipped him obscenely well for that.

  As the night went on, and I took my bachelorette attentions with as much dignity as I could, sipping on my plain ginger ale, I started to wonder how Teren was fairing with Hot Ben and the guys. I thought about texting him, but then thought better of it. That might look like I was checking up on him to his friends, like I didn’t trust him or something. And I couldn’t have trusted him more. My concern had nothing to do with a woman.

  As we piled into the limo Tracey had rented for the night, and I checked my phone to check the time, I saw several awaiting texts that I’d missed while in the loud club. With nervous knots in my stomach, I opened them as Tracey plopped down beside me.

  “Who’s that from?” she muttered drunkenly, as she looked over my shoulder.

  I tried to shield the phone, but I was too worried to really do it very well. I just knew something was wrong. I opened the first one without answering Tracey. It simply read, ‘I love you. Have a good night.’

  I smiled and relaxed fractionally as I opened the second one. ‘Love you, just got to the club.’ They had gone to a strip club, of course.

  The next one made me smile. ‘Ben bought shots…and lap dances. I turned down the latter.’

  “Hey, what’s that say about Ben?” Tracey asked over my shoulder and I quickly opened the next one.

  ‘Miss yuo…’ I grinned at his purposely misspelled message. Tracey frowned. “Either I’m drunk, or he’s drunk.” She giggled at his next message. ‘I cnnot wait be you husbnd.’

  She lightly bumped against my shoulder as the rest of our group clued in on what we were doing. “What’s up, Em?” Ashley asked.

  Tracey answered for me, “Teren drunk texted her.” Ashley raised her eyebrows at that, knowing perfectly well that Teren couldn’t get “drunk.” I lightly smiled and shook my head at her, reading the next one. Tracey busted up laughing and I turned bright red. ‘Cnt wait to fuk you.’

  Oh, I was so smacking him for that one. Teren didn’t generally talk to me like that…and, while I kind of liked it, I knew he’d done it mainly to amuse my girlfriends. Drunk texting. Just another form of his near constant charade to convince the world he was just a typical guy. How little the world knew.

  Tracey beside me was doubled over with laughter as she repeated the text to the entire car. Everyone joined in on the laughs, my mom including, which made my blush deepen and I considered reading the rest when I was alone. Tracey jerked the phone away though and typed in a quick reply. I could only imagine what she’d just told him. Before I could get the phone back, she opened and read the last one. ‘Ben’s sick…going home.’

  I smiled when I saw the message was just ten minutes ago, he’d be home when I got home. Tracey frowned though. “Ben’s sick?” She looked over at me, peeved. “How am I supposed to have drunk sex, if he’s sick?” She stuck her lip out as she handed me back my phone. “Jerk off,” she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

  The laughing car turned their attention to her and I relaxed. Teren was right, he could fake being drunk, and, except for Hot Ben, everything was fine.

  When I finally did get home, I found him in our bedroom with his head tilted to the side, listening intently to something. I knew it wasn’t me, since I was clearly in the room with him, and I furrowed my brow for a second. Then he shifted his attention to me and the look of concentration faded as he grinned at me like an idiot. My confusion fell off of me as I took in the adorable look on his face. I raised an eyebrow curiously, as I set my purse down on my nightstand. “What?” I said quietly.

  His grin not leaving him, he raised his phone in his hand, the text Tracey had sent open on the screen. Not looking the least bit drunk, since of course, he wasn’t, his grin turned devilish. “Really? You’re gonna do…that, to me tonight?”

  I causally walked up to him standing next to our bed and glanced at his phone. Seeing what Tracey had told him I’d do, my cheeks heated, but looking back at his eager face, I tilted my head and gave him a seductive grin. Not answering him, I simply dropped to my knees.

  Teren had the most adorable grin on his face as we got ready to leave for the ranch early the next morning. I really wasn’t sure if his grin was because we were getting married tomorrow, or because of what I’d done for him last night. I couldn’t keep the grin off my face as I thought about that. Tracey would be so proud of me.
/>
  We picked up my sister and then met the others at a gas station on the edge of town. Tracey had on the darkest sunglasses I’d ever seen, and her face was the look of someone who’d already thrown up a couple times this morning. I did sympathize with her; I’d thrown up a couple times this morning as well, just for completely different reasons. We leaned up against each other companionably as Teren filled up his car.

  Ashley slung her arm through mine, looking tired, but not nearly as green as Tracey; she hadn’t nearly overdone it as much as Trace, or Hot Ben for that matter. The three of us girls watched Teren laugh at Ben and smack him on the shoulder. Ben winced in pain, his eyes covered by equally dark glasses and a hand on his stomach, like he was going to lose it on Teren’s shoes. I laughed, remembering what Teren had confessed to me this morning. He’d sneakily switched out all of his drinks for Hot Ben’s empty ones. The rest of the guys had either been so drunk, or distracted by the nearly nude girls, that no one had even noticed.