Conversion Book Two: Bloodlines

by S. C. Stephens

  Teren sighed and rolled onto his back. I twisted all the way around to face him. “What happened?” I asked, my hands running over his chest.

  He looked over at me, his brows bunched. “He defended his girl’s honor, knocked me around a little.”

  I sat up on an elbow and gaped at him. From downstairs, I heard a deep growl coming from Halina and Ben asking her if she was okay. Teren sat up with me, a hand going around my neck. “I’m fine. He didn’t even leave a mark.” He smirked at that and showed me his bare body. I frowned, knowing any “mark” would have healed by now anyway. That didn’t mean he hadn’t been hurt.

  He sighed and rested his head against mine. “I’m fine.” He pulled back, his fingers running through my hair. “Eventually, I got them talking to me, explained what I was looking for.” He sighed, his pale eyes flicking over my face, his own suddenly apologetic. He shook his head. “They didn’t know anything.” He sighed again and looked down at the floor, at Halina. “Nothing about others like me anyway. They had another name.” He looked back up at me. “Another nest of purebloods.” He shrugged. “But that’s it.”

  I exhaled a held breath and shaking my head, pulled him into me for a tight hug. My arms around his neck ran through his hair, pulling his head into me. I never wanted to let him go. I closed my eyes and bit back the tears, knowing that I had to let him go. I had to, or we’d lose everything.

  He sighed and held me tight. “I love you, Emma,” he told me again.

  I sighed and nodded. “I love you too.”

  I heard Halina start to grill Ben over the details of this new nest and heard his startled reply that she knew about that. She didn’t tell him that she’d just heard Teren mention it, and I was sure Hot Ben was now wondering if she was a mind reader too. I’d imagine that would freak him out, to think that.

  Teren and I exhaled softly and relaxed back to the pillows, content to stay with each other while Hot Ben explained the details to the others. He went downstairs and repeated it to Alanna and Imogen, who had probably heard it the first time, and then he asked for a ride home.

  I sighed and snuggled into Teren’s cool shoulder, glad that he was with me, if even for just one night. In fact, he only left my side to grab a glass of blood from the kitchen. Throwing some clothes on before he left our room, and looking a bit sheepish at our door that would no longer close properly, he ran into Ben as he was leaving with Imogen, who’d offered to give him a ride back to his house.

  I heard laughter and playful ribbing, as Ben chided him on our “reunion” in the parking lot, telling him that he’d have to get his car fixed again since I’d ruined the door, and then Ben left the house, muttering that he wanted some hot sex like that. I grinned, knowing that he probably had more adventurous sex on a day to day basis with Tracey, than most men got in their entire lifetime.

  As quick as he could, Teren was back in bed with me, sipping on a tall, steaming glass and handing me one of my own. Even though I’d gorged myself at dinner, I greedily took the glass and began chugging it down, once again feeling guilty over how much I drank. Teren laughed at my enthusiasm, his fangs red and extended, and sat by my side on the bed, throwing an arm around my shoulders. I relaxed into his side, loving how deeply we were connected, and hoping it lasted. Hoping I lasted.

  I felt Teren’s eyes on me as we drank and turned to see him smiling at me. Tentatively, he reached out and ran his finger down one of my fangs. It was like an instant jolt of electricity though me when he did that. I half closed my eyes and wondered if my sort of sore body could handle a round two.

  “These are beautiful,” he whispered, removing his hand.

  I blushed, opening my eyes and looking away from him. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better about this. I know I look…” I couldn’t finish that and sighed softly, a hormonal sadness sweeping over me.

  His fingers came around to my jaw, turning me back to him. He opened his mouth wider, showing me his teeth, licked cleaned and once again pearly white. “You don’t find these attractive?” he asked, as he smiled at me with a self assuredness that took my breath.

  I sighed, smiling myself. “You know I do.” I grinned and ran my finger down his. He shuddered. “These are very sexy.”

  His smile turned devilish, his teeth only emphasizing it. “I feel the same about yours. I find them equally as attractive. ” He tilted his head and ran some of his cool fingers back through my hair. “Now, you can take my word on that…” he bit his lip, his fangs still extended, “or I could show you, again, exactly what you do to me?” He raised an eyebrow suggestively at me and I felt my skin flush.

  I bit my lip carefully, so I didn’t actually bite my lip. His eyes tracked the movement. My eyes locked onto his teeth. “I believe you,” I said softly, replaying our last encounter. Then I shook my head nestled in his shoulder. “But mine just don’t look natural to me yet, not like yours.” I sighed as I looked over his smiling, attractive face, his eyes still focused on my mouth. “Yours are very beautiful too,” I said quietly. His eyes flashed up to mine and he smiled warmly at me. I grinned and added, “Some vamps can have thin, reedy teeth, or wide, ugly teeth. Yours are very nicely proportioned.”

  He laughed at my description and then said, “You’re checking out other vampires now?” He took a sip of his blood while I laughed.

  “Just on TV.”

  He grinned and shook his head, setting his empty glass on the nightstand. With a playful twist of his lips, he leaned in to kiss my neck. “Well…my teeth aren’t the only beautiful and well proportioned things about me.”

  I laughed huskily at that, but my breath quickened and my body let me know that, yeah, I could so handle a round two…or three, or four… Swallowing as he pulled my glass out of my hands, I muttered, “Beautiful? Really?”

  Laughing into my skin, he muttered, “Just going with the theme of the evening.”

  I started to laugh, but then his mouth and hands were on me and I found I couldn’t focus. I heard him inhale me, inhale my desire for him, and a shaky breath escaped from the both of us. As his fingers brushed over my bare body, I heard Halina mutter, “God, I’m not listening to this again.” After that, I felt her leave the house. Good riddance.

  My breath sped up as I looked over the desire building in his face. “I want you, fangs or no fangs.” He looked over the desire building in my face and grinned crookedly. “And I think you want me too.”

  Boy, did I ever.

  He carefully pulled my bare body over onto his lap and I straddled him, my knees on either side of his hips. Making love with my giant stomach between us wasn’t exactly the most romantic thing in the world, but the hormones in my body weren’t exactly shouting moonbeams and sonnets, if you know what I mean. I had an acute ache, an ache that was growing larger by the second, and I needed him to fill it. Luckily, he didn’t seem to mind the girth between us, and by his breath and his face, he was feeling the same ache I was. I found my confirmation of that when I lowered my bare hips to his lap. He had a very profound ache.

  He sat up with me, stringing his fingers through the hair at the back of my head as he pulled me in for a deep kiss. His tongue matched the pace of my hips as I rocked against him. He groaned in my mouth, his tongue very carefully stroking my still extended fangs. I moaned at the sensation and ground harder into his hips, needing him much deeper.

  Suddenly a rumble sounded loudly throughout the room, startling me. I was used to low feral noises from Teren when he got in that mood, but these noises had been different than the growls I associated with him. These were different, because I could still feel the lingering vibrations along my ribs, along my skin. These were different because they had come from my chest, not Teren’s. I sat back on his lap, breaking our intense make out session.

  “Oh my god, I growled at you!”

  He smirked and leaned in for my neck. “I know, it was hot.”

  I pulled away and twisted my lips at him. “How is me growling at you hot
?”

  He raised an eyebrow and I felt myself flushing. I knew what he was going to say – ‘isn’t it hot when I do it?’ And it was. That always got some sort of response from my body; I just wasn’t used to being the one making the animal noises. He started to reply and I cut him off with my lips, leaning back into his body.

  “Don’t say it,” I muttered and I could feel him chuckling beneath me.

  Chapter 16

  Obsession

  After that amazing night of reconnecting over and over again (a feat that eventually also drove Alanna and Imogen from the house), my husband became a ghost. Not literally, but for as much as he was around after that night, he may as well have been a vague spirit in the house - sensed but never seen.

  It started the very next night when he followed up on the lead that the scorned vampire had given him. I was worried when he called and told me he that he wouldn’t be home until tomorrow. That worried me for several reasons. One, was the fact that the nest was so far away that he had to stay overnight somewhere, promising he’d be back late Saturday afternoon.

  Secondly, I was worried because Teren was anxious, too worried that he wouldn’t find the nest in time to wait the few hours until sundown when Halina could go with him. He assured me that she would catch up with him when she could, but he wasn’t going to wait for her. As it was still daylight when he left, he couldn’t take any of the mixed vampires with him either. Alanna maybe, but even she wouldn’t feel good, riding in a sun-filled car for hours. That meant he had to take Hot Ben again. Yeah, I still didn’t know what to feel about that, other than worried.

  But lastly, I was afraid of him facing more vampires. Maybe that one asshole vamp that had bitten me had put me off on the whole species, but I was filled with anxiety over him going out and knocking on the doors of potentially dangerous people. I mean, as strong as he was, he was a third generation mixed. Strength-wise, that was comparable to a teenager going up against a WWE wrestler. Well, maybe not that drastic, Teren was incredibly strong, but he would be outmatched if things turned violent before Halina got there, Hot Ben guardian or no Hot Ben guardian.

  And I couldn’t help the thought that this scorned vampire had sent him to some biker gang vampire nest or something, just to have him be ripped to pieces, to send a message to Halina. I was pretty sure that if that were the case, Halina would retaliate by frying the woman, but who knows, maybe she’d consider that a risk worth taking. All of it made me nauseous.

  So the twins and I muddled around the house, reading, helping Alanna with housework, when I begged her for something to do, making phone calls to my friends and family, and having conversations with the vampires, in-between their research project of saving my life, or more importantly, the twin’s lives.

  With Teren gone, I poured over the journals as well, my stomach battling itself over whether to feel revulsion over what I was reading, or fear over Teren’s overnight trip. Imogen stroked my arm as she read beside me, her pale, youthful eyes giving me concerned glances. Jack and Alanna talked in the corner over a particularly nasty section in the book that involved eradicating a group of “breeders” – humans, wives and husbands – and I put a hand on my stomach and sighed, looking at the stone wall of Halina’s room to where my Teren-sense told me he was, miles away from me.

  “He’ll be fine, dear.”

  I looked back at Imogen after she said that. Noticing her tight smile, I thought maybe she was just as concerned as I was. “I know,” I whispered, wanting to comfort her as much as she was trying to comfort me. At least we were all in our fear together.

  “He’d better be,” I heard Halina growl from the other side of the room, pacing as she waited for the final rays of sunlight to fade. “I will hold that bitch personally responsible if she led Teren into a trap.” Halina’s eyes flashed pure anger as a low growl rumbled from her throat. “And she knows better than to mess with me.”

  Alanna put a hand on her arm and the teenage-looking vampire straightened and silenced. I nodded, oddly reassured by that, and continued pouring over the lunatic’s ramblings. Ten minutes later the sun apparently set, because Halina darted out of the house and zipped away at a brisk pace.

  My eyes closed a few hours before dawn as my head dropped down to the grimy paper.

  After hours of looking at horrid acts of cruelty, my sleeping mind replayed a night that I hadn’t visited for awhile in my dreams. I started having a nightmare of that man and his cruelties to both of us. And since it was a nightmare, my mind only increased the horrors. Instead of him ruthlessly kicking Teren’s shattered shins, I visualized him plunging stakes through them, pinning him to the ground as he screamed. And since being pregnant now felt more natural to me than not being pregnant, I imagined myself swollen with life, chained to that wall beside Teren. As Teren screamed, unable to help me, I watched the man come up to me with a cruel smile, and with a flick of his wrist, cut a deep slice along my abdomen, viciously ripping that life out of me. Slumping to the ground in a fog of pain, I saw their perfect, pink faces, their tiny fangs just visible on their newborn smiles as he coldly snapped their necks.

  I woke up screaming.

  Cool hands were on me in an instant, as a tall muscular body slid into a bed with me. I vaguely registered that one of the vampires must had carried me back to my room after I’d fallen asleep; good thing they were all strong. “Emma, it’s alright, I’m here.” Teren’s cool breath hit my ear as sobs continued pouring from my mouth.

  He pulled me into his chest, his body lightly shaking as he struggled to contain the energy we usually felt when we were reunited. I’d been asleep during the build-up and wasn’t riled up like he was, but he was gentlemanly enough to try and not ravage me while I was so obviously grieved. He only stroked my back comfortingly and kissed my head. I knew from experience just how much restraint he was using, and loved him all the more for it.

  I clung to every part of him that I could, knowing I was making that restraint harder for him, but needing his comfort. Through sobs, I muttered, “I’m so glad you’re back. I had such a bad dream.”

  He sighed in a way that sort of sounded like a groan. “It’s okay. No one hurt me, I’m fine.”

  I shook my head against his chest. My nightmare hadn’t been about him meeting with vampires. “No, I dreamt that that man had taken us again…and our babies. He…he…” I couldn’t even speak the horror out loud and started sobbing again.

  Teren’s light shaking stopped as he stiffened in my arms. “Did you read the journals last night?” His voice, while not angry, was not pleased.

  I bit my lip and looked up at his face. The room was dark, the early morning rays blocked out by the heavy curtains closed over them, and his eyes glowed soothingly at me. I took a moment to absorb that comfort before I answered him. He waited patiently, knowing that he was soothing me, and then I noticed that he was staring at my eyes too, and that his face seemed to be relaxing. Then I noticed that his features were being lit in an odd way, not from his eyes, but from an outside source. There were no lights in the dark room and I was horribly confused, until I realized that…my eyes were glowing.

  I widened them in shock and held a hand in front of my face. Sure enough, I could clearly see my palm, highlighted in a way that had nothing to do with Teren’s glow. I’d never noticed this before. I hadn’t realized I’d gotten this vampiric side effect too. I don’t know why I’d never thought of that. I guess I’d just had too many other things on my plate to notice.

  “My eyes glow now, Teren,” I said through hiccups, as my breath tried to stabilize.

  “I know, don’t change the subject.” His voice was slightly amused, but serious.

  I looked back up at him, his brows bunched as he watched me. I struggled to remember his question. “Um…yes, sorry. I wanted to help,” I said, a slight whine to my voice.

  He sighed and pulled my head to his. Resting his cheek on my hair, I heard him inhale me, inhale every trace of the world I’d encountered
while he’d been gone. I found myself doing the same with him, cringing a bit at the scent of cheap, imitation perfume; the vampire had been a girl again.

  “Do you think giving yourself nightmares is helping, Emma,” he said softly into my hair. I started to object but he pulled back, eyeing me seriously. “I want you mellow, relaxed.” His hand came up to lightly stroke my cheek. “Let me worry about finding the mixed. You…” his hand came down to rest on my belly, a child kicking him in response, “take care of our children.” He smiled as he rubbed my stomach. “And stop stressing, please?”

  I gave him a half grin and then finally nodded, relaxing into his side. We were silent for a few moments and then I asked him about the nest. He sighed and rested his head against mine. “They weren’t happy about me barging in on them, asking questions, but they did have an answer for me.” I lifted my head to look at him and he shrugged, the glow of his eyes shaking with the movement. “It wasn’t violent, Emma, I promise.”

  I nodded and asked, “And?” I hoped he’d tell me that they’d said something like, “Mixed? Oh, yeah, there’s a group of them that meet for hot fudge sundaes every Saturday morning at the Ghirardelli Ice Cream shop in the Square.”