Tainted Love

by Livell James

  “This is your fate, son, and so it shall be done.”

  Running from the chamber most likely wasn’t the best way for me to handle things, but it was just too much for me to take in all at once. Hearing that my father had lied to me for so many years. Suddenly finding out that my grandmother is still alive, and the little fact of, Oh, you’re becoming a vampire Austin, it’s no big deal.

  Yeah, that might be just a little too much for me to take in. After sitting outside the chamber for twenty minutes, I have to go back in and face the music. Running from it isn’t going to solve anything. Just before I open the door, I hear Eva speaking to Haley.

  “Haley, have you two noticed anything strange when you get close to each other? Like a spark, maybe a source of energy that ignites between the two of you when you touch. Your eye color may become clearer or even appear to be darker. Have any of these things happened over the past few days?”

  “We think that you two are fated, bonded mates destined to be together from birth. It’s been shown in all of the card readings I’ve done, and seeing that Austin has started his change before death just proves that it’s fate. You being his one true mate has caused him to change. Other than death, it’s the only way one can go from dhampir to vampire.”

  This is like being suddenly married in the human. world. Vampires think this is normal, while I on the other hand may be a little taken aback with all this—okay, a lot taken aback. But I have these feeling for her that I cannot explain, and deep in my soul I know everything they are saying is true.

  Maybe a little weird, but true. And, strangely enough, I don’t mind the idea of being mated to Haley at all.

  When I walk into the chamber, the older woman was standing before Haley with her staff upon her forehead. “You are gifted, child. You can hear things from the other side, but you can’t see the things that are happening right before your eyes.”

  Inhaling deeply, I walk up to join Haley in front of the beach. I’m greeted by the Elder brothers, telling me to come join them, as their sister takes her place in front of Haley and I.

  “Take her hand, Austin.”

  Once I touch just the tips of her fingers, I can feel my energy leaving my body. It’s the same as before when we touched, but this time it’s even stronger. Once I’m holding her hand and our fingers are locked, she has my full strength. I can feel her life force surging through my veins. Her eyes, once blue, have now turned grey. They’re cold and still like ice. The need to fuck her overcame me. I felt a light in my eyes, and just when I got lost in her eyes—

  The two brothers grab our hands, one Haley’s and one mine, pulling us apart. Once my hand left hers, I felt like part of me was gone. Like I had given part of myself to her. It was the feeling of emptiness.

  “You two must try not make any contact until Austin has completed his change,” Drake speaks.

  Those were not the words I wanted to hear after what I just felt from touching her. But telling us to wait for my change and then we must mate to complete the bond between us sounded great to me. It kind of felt like I mated with her just from touching her hand. I can’t imagine how it’s going to be once we bond.

  Wait, why am I talking as if this is normal? I’m about to become a vampire, and just got fated to mate and bond with a girl that I only just met. But like I thought before, it just felt right, as strange as that sounded.

  Her dad gives her a speech about how he didn’t see his daughter being the one true mate of a homeless guy, and it really has me standing here feeling not so good about myself—until he looked over at me with a half ass grin on his face, making it clear he’d been teasing. “After meeting Austin, I knew nothing could break the bonds between you two, and you have my blessing,” he tells Haley.

  Thankfully, because the last thing I want to do is get a vampire lord on my bad side—not today or any other day, for that matter.

  I really need to have a talk with my grandmother at some point, but she seems in a hurry to go after she tells Haley to take care of me, and that she will need her when I’ve given her my full energy source. I shouldn’t be thinking dirty with my grandmother standing next to her, but all I can think of is, I will give her my full energy source, all right.

  The staff in her hand then comes down upon my forehead, breaking me from my thoughts.

  “This is your fate, son, and so it shall be done,” she tells me as she turns to leave the room. I start to speak, but she stops me before I can get a word out. “Austin, it will all come to you. We have many things to discuss, but now isn’t the place or the time to do so. I’m sure the Elders have had enough of us for one day. Now, you go with these fine people and get some rest. You’ll need it for the hell you are about to endure. For now, I shall leave you be.”

  She closes the door behind her as she leaves the room. The Elders leave the bench to follower her, but not before Eva turns to say, “We will be seeing you again real soon.”

  Once they have all left the room, I turn to look at Haley and she looks just as shocked as I am.

  “What the hell just happened?” I ask.

  Haley’s mom comes up behind me and puts her hand on my shoulder. “It seems that what we knew all along has happened. The two of you are mates, and there’s nothing we can do to change it.”

  Suddenly, I can feel the cold of the marble beneath my feet. It’s so cold, my feet start to sting, and it’s rising up my legs and now into my waist. All the heat from my body feels as if it’s leaving me. Shivering, I fall to my knees and wrap my arms around myself. The words come between chattering teeth. “Haley, I need you. I need to feel you. Please warm me.”

  I try to continue speaking but the words don’t come. And then the world goes dark.

  “Come sit for a while, Austin,” I hear a female voice say. My eyes open and it’s my mother, sitting on a tree stump next to a creek. “You’re safe here; the change is upon you. It won’t be long now. You must know I had nothing to do with your father’s decisions. I just wanted to protect you, and he died trying to hide the truth from you,” she says, just before my eyes closed and the world went black once again.

  “Austin, Austin, Austin!” I feel my body shaking and the voice of an angel calling my name. Then a slight tap on my cheek causes my eyes to open once more. It’s Haley, wearing dark colored mitten looking things on her hands, shaking me and tapping my face. “You had another black out Austin, are you getting weaker?”

  I was by no means getting weaker. If anything, I was getting stronger. I could see colors so strongly; it was as if I could feel them. The shirt Haley’s wearing is so brown, I can see the orange tones peeping through. The white of the room now shines as if a light has been lit behind it. The tap of her gloved hand feels like it’s pushing into my face. I can smell the coconut from the shampoo she used to wash her hair. The perfume of the ladies who just left the room. The copper smell of blood envelopes my nose.

  “Holy fuck, my senses have been sent into hyperdrive. This is unbelievable. I’m not sure this is a good thing. Will this be how it is for the rest of my life?” I ask Celina as I pick myself up from the floor.

  “It will be, yes, but you will learn to control it. You will learn to control many things. The most important is your thirst for blood. That has to be at the top of your list of things to learn to control. It can be dangerous in many ways if you don’t. Now, let’s get you back to the lair, so you can get that rest your grandmother says you need,” she replies as she puts her hand on my back to turn me in the other direction.

  We walked back out of the tall double doors, and I marveled at them. I had no idea how big they really were when we came in before. They stand at least ten feet tall. Walking out into the passageway, I can now see the parts I missed while I was being carried. This part of the Other World looks much different than that of the area with the lairs. It’s much wider here, more like a street. They have no cars, bikes, or trains down here. They don’t need them. They have the ability to flash from one place to an
other. No transport needed when your body can move at super speeds, I suppose.

  I’m surprised at how well maintained everything is. Cobblestone streets even pave the way. Nothing like the concrete and dirt over near the bookstore. You could tell they took pride in keeping it nice around the chambers. I think we’ve walked a mile when the path starts to narrow, and it gets a bit darker. I feel my eyes get wider and adjust to the darkness, making it as bright as the light we just left. The stones beneath our feet become fewer the farther we walk.

  “Is this the way we came before?” I ask.

  “It is, Austin. You were blacked out, remember? It will become darker as we go from one passage to the next, for about five blocks or so. Then we’ll be back to the place we were right before your change started,” Haley replies.

  She was right, it became completely dark with no light source of any kind. Yet I could still see. I could see just as well in the darkness as I could in the daylight above. My sense of smell seems to be even stronger in the dark as well. I can smell the blood, so much I can practically taste it. I crave it. Then I hear the voice of a female being taken sexually by someone. They’re fucking against the wall just as we passed, and I then realize it’s her blood I smell. The sweet coppery smell washes over me, and I want to push him out of the way and taste her for myself.

  This isn’t right, control yourself. Austin, I think to myself. Haley is my mate and I’d hoped her blood to be the first blood I taste.

  But that’s not all I want to taste. I want to taste her. I want taste every part of her body, of course spending as much time between those thighs as I can. I can’t wait to make this woman my mate. It’s fated, so it must be done.

  The fucked-up part is having to wait. Some shit about if we choose to mate before I change, it could fuck up our bonds, was what the Elders told us. I think waiting to fuck her will be harder for me to control than my thirst for blood is going to be. My dick, whether it should be or not, is rock hard just thinking about it.

  I have made sure to keep myself in front of them so they don’t notice. Hopefully before we get back into the light, it will have gone down.

  The change is upon you, it won’t be long now, keeps repeating over and over in my head. I’m craving blood, the taste of raw flesh beneath my tongue. How the hell did I become one of the not so lucky ones to be changed before my death?

  I’m so pissed at my parents for hiding this from me my whole life, and I have to find out from a bunch of strangers. A vampire was damn sure not on my list of things I wanted to be when I grew up.

  Once Austin falls to the floor with another blackout, I can feel my energy being drained from me. It feels like my life source is being pulled from me. I move to put my hands on him, to hold him, to take away his pain. Just as I go to put my hands on him, my mother pulls me back.

  “You can’t touch him yet, Haley,” she says as she pulls a pair of mittens from her purse. “Put these on before you touch him.”

  Putting these things on feels weird as hell, but I do it, even though I’m afraid to try to touch him now, even with the mittens on. I reach to shake his shoulder first and call his name. When that doesn’t work, I poke him in the face with my mitten covered fingers, finally causing his eyes to open.

  This time the grey had taken over. His eyes have gone cold. Not in a bad way, but in the most beautiful way possible. So beautiful they draw me in, and it’s all I can do to control myself from leaning in and taking him right then and there.

  Good thing my parents are here, or the bond would be broken already. I have to learn to keep myself under control until Austin has made his change. The more he changes toward his vampire side, the more I’m drawn to him. And once he’s off the floor, I can still feel his energy, even though we aren’t touching.

  The walk back home is long. Austin seems to be a new person, pointing out every little detail in the pathways. Even when we reach the darkest point, he still seems to see as clear as day. He also seems to know where he’s going and stays in front of my parents and I for most of the walk.

  “This has been a crazy, long ass day, and I’m so happy to be back here at the lair,” I say as my dad reaches to unlock the door.

  My brother greats us on the other side. “The Thompson brothers came by earlier, beating on the door. They were asking me where your boyfriend was, Haley. They also called you my fine ass sister. They must need glasses.”

  “No time for you to be a smart-ass, Jonah. What did you tell them?” I ask.

  “Well, I told them I have no idea who the Austin guy was that they were asking about, and that my parents weren’t home. They also said that they would kill you and anyone else that stood in their way of getting to Austin,” my little brother says right before our father speaks up.

  “I will stand in their fucking way, and I dare them to lay a hand on any member of this family, Austin included.”

  I stand in awe of what’s going on before me. How the fuck did I just meet this guy, and then suddenly, today I’m his mate, and my father just instantly made him part of our family?

  “So, you guys don’t find it odd at all that two days ago I was your single daughter and today I’m being forced on someone as his mate?” I ask my parents. I probably should have thought that through a little before saying it in front of Austin—but it’s crazy that my parents are just playing it off as if it was a normal thing. As if Austin and I had been married for years, and not even speaking of the fact that I must mate with him after only knowing him for a few days.

  “Haley, in the human world this would not be normal at all, but here in the Other World, our world, it’s how things happen. You and Austin have been fated as mates since birth. As weird as it sounds, it’s meant to be and it shall be. It’s what some would say has been written in the stars.” Mother always seems to have the right words for everything.

  I push Jonah out of my way and walk over to sit on the couch. Austin comes to sit down next to me, but he pauses when I remind him that he can’t make contact, and he walks over to take a seat at the bar.

  “My parents don’t have a television in here, but if you get bored, Jonah streams live TV in his room,” I tell Austin.

  “Oh, that’s just great. Pawn your vampire boyfriend off on your little brother—who’s still human. Did you forget that, Haley? That vampires still like to feed on us humans?” Jonah laughs, waving his hand in my face.

  “You’re so dumb, Jonah! You know you’re not human by any means, and besides, who would want your nasty blood?” I tell him as he turns to walk to his room. He is so the typical little brother.

  “Austin, it looks like you get to sleep on a couch two nights in row. I’m not sure how comfortable you’ll be here, but still, it’s got to be better than your cold ass car. Speaking of, we need to contact Rob about your car, and Stacy as well, to let her know what’s going on. My phone has no service down here, so when we go back to get some clothes and things, we can call them then,” I tell him.

  “It isn’t safe for us to leave here until morning, Haley. Something tells me that danger is waiting on us just outside that door. I can sense it,” Austin replies, putting his face in his hands and rubbing his forehead. “When I blacked out in the chamber, I saw my mother, Haley. She told me that it wouldn’t be long and that I was safe now,” he continued.

  I don’t know what to say to him. I just wish I could hold him in my arms for comfort, to kiss him, to feel his emotions. “You’re right, Austin. We can wait till morning. And that’s normal—you will now have premonitions about things from here on out. Now, you should get some rest.”

  Everyone has gone to bed, leaving me here on the couch. I could have gone into Jonah’s room to watch television, but I decided to stay in here, in this dark room. Quietness over takes my thoughts, and my childhood flashes before me. The more I remember, the more nothing about my life seems normal. I guess this would explain why my mother’s side of the family wanted nothing to do with my father or myself. But why would m
y mom tell her parents she was married to a vampire?

  I turn on my stomach and drop my hand to the concrete floor beside the couch and start tracing the marks scratched into it. My finger begins to move faster and faster, and soon they’re moving faster than my eyes can follow. Whoa. I grab it with my other hand to make it stop and move my head closer to the edge, so I can get a better look.

  Not having any control of the motion my hand was making, I had drawn a logo of some sorts into the floor. I feel no pain in my hand or fingers at all, from the burn I have caused in the concrete floor before me. Curiosity flows through me, and I’m sure the others know what this is, but I’m not about to walk into a room with caskets filled with sleeping vampires.

  And if I go into the room with Haley, I’m sure I won’t be able to keep myself from crawling in her bed and having my way with her. As a matter of fact, I know I won’t be able to control myself if I go in there. My desire to mate rises with every hour of this change. I want to taste blood so bad it’s driving me mad. The craving is deep within my soul to drink and, most importantly, to take my mate, to claim her.

  What the fuck is happening to me? I have had sex; I have wanted to fuck girls before. This was not the same. I can’t shut it off, I can’t stop my dick from getting hard—I can’t stop the urge to mate, or the thirst for blood.

  I can’t let myself be overtaken by the darkness. I’ve read this shit in books, and I never thought it was real—but this is as real as it gets. How do I know the darkness is not what I crave? I close my eyes, forcing the thoughts from my mind, and I go blank. Fuck now I can control my thoughts, was my last thought before drifting off to sleep.

  When the morning comes, I’m woken by Jonah in the kitchen, banging pots and pans. I wipe the sleep from my eyes and go sit on the stool at the bar. “What is all that noise for?” I ask him.