Chapter Twenty-Five
I HAD BARELY TAKEN A STEP AWAY from the carriage when I caught a slight movement in the shadows to my left. My hand reached into my pocket for my dirk just as a figure lunged toward me with a small dagger in their raised hand. I just barely missed being slashed through as I dove out of the way, my legs becoming tangled in my pale-green evening gown. I pushed myself off the dirt and swung around to find Soren with his knee in the back of my attacker, who was face-down on the ground. Feeling a burst of pain in my left wrist, I looked down and saw that I had been cut during the scuffle. Sweat broke out on my forehead as I made my way over to Soren.
I wasn’t prepared to see the face of my attacker. Soren flipped the person over, and the earth shifted slightly beneath my feet when I looked into a pair of familiar, gray eyes. “Phoebe?” I sucked in a pained breath and dropped to my knees, more worn out than I cared to admit. Phoebe looked at me through the tears tracking down her dirty face.
“I’m… so… sorry, Sage.”
A gurgling sound came from her chest. I glanced up at Soren. “What’s wrong with her?” I asked, dismissing my own pain.
“I don’t know. She only has a small, superficial cut from her own knife that she got when I wrestled it away from her.” He narrowed his eyes at the woman on the ground.
Phoebe made a choked sound, and her eyes widened with fright. “Poison,” she rasped out as a coughing fit wracked her body.
My world tilted slightly on its axis again, and my eyes flew to Soren’s. His nostrils flared delicately, and his gaze landed on my wrist.
“Phoebe, who are you working for? Whose orders were you carrying out?” I asked quickly, before my pain could incapacitate me.
I grabbed her shoulders and shook one hard time. Her pale face looked drawn and defeated. Her lips moved slightly, and a small sound escaped as she tried to form words. “Please, Phoebe, you must tell me,” I begged.
She opened her mouth, and blood trickled out. Her words were barely audible. “I… had… to… I love… him.”
Travis.
I felt Soren pull me off the ground and away from Phoebe. “She’s dead,” he whispered.
I looked back down into her lifeless, gray eyes, and all I could feel was pity.
“So am I,” I muttered, feeling fire licking my wrist. I felt Soren lift me into his arms like I weighed no more than a child and march up the steps of his grand home. I felt so tired that by the time Soren laid me on a large bed, I could have sworn it had taken us hours to walk up the single flight of stairs.
“Soren, if I die, will you miss me?” I whispered. Heat encompassed my body, and an invisible fire licked my skin. I prayed someone would put it out before it consumed me.
“You’re not going to die, Sage. I won’t allow it.”
I snorted and immediately regretted the action when pain shot through my skull. I cried out. Soren hissed in a breath and wiped my brow with a damp cloth.
“Listen to me, Sage. I need to get the poison out of your blood. In order to do that, I am going to have to suck the wound and hope I get all the infected blood out.” He spoke urgently, and I knew time was against us.
“I bet you just can’t wait to sink your teeth into me, vampire.” I tried to smile, but I’m pretty sure it was a grimace that adorned my face.
“You wish, warper,” Soren quipped.
I looked into his eyes and spoke from my heart. “I trust you.” It came out a whisper, but I knew my vampire employer would be able to hear me. I had some bizarre faith that he would be able to save me, as well.
Soren didn’t waste any time. He took my left arm gently in his hands and sank his razor-sharp fangs into the cut at my wrist.
I flinched at the sharp pain. My right hand shot out to grasp a handful of his hair out of reflex. My body began to feel weightless as I slowly relaxed my grip. I stroked his head and neck to encourage him to continue, to let him know I was okay. A shudder ran through his body, and its vibrations shook my equilibrium.
Floating away bit by bit, I was soon unable to open my eyes. I drifted in and out of consciousness and caught only tiny glimpses of what was happening around me—Soren speaking to me with fangs peeking out of his mouth and blood dripping from his chin; Soren puking somewhere close by, ridding his body of my tainted blood; Soren’s shaky voice, telling me he was going to discard my dirty dress. I couldn’t have cared less if he had stripped me naked—as long as I got to sleep in peace.
Sometime later, I woke in my shift with my heart pounding and a vampire lying deathly still next to me. I guessed I’d survived the night.
Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I tried to stand but found myself weak as a kitten.
“Do you need something?”
My heart almost stopped. Now, that would have been a waste. I turned to Soren and tried to act natural. It wasn’t very often a girl found herself in bed with a vampire.
“I was just going to find a drink of water. My throat is parched.” I realized how pale he looked, and it hit me how much he’d put himself through to save me. I crawled over to him and placed my hand on his clammy brow. “Are you okay, Soren? Is there anything I can get you?” I furrowed my brow in thought. What if he hadn’t rid his body of all the poison he’d taken from my blood? I couldn’t let him die because of me.
“Sage, stop thinking so much. I’m fine, I’m just… thirsty,” he rasped out.
“Well, why didn’t you say so? Let me get you some wa—oh.”
I searched his eyes and found the answer he didn’t want me to see. He had spent all night throwing up the blood he had sucked from my body to make sure he didn’t become poisoned. He was dehydrated. He needed blood. I got off the bed, went to the nightstand, poured myself a drink from the pitcher sitting there, and gulped it down.
I got back into the four-poster bed and crawled over to Soren’s side. “You saved my life, Soren. Please let me help you in return.”
I didn’t give him time to argue. I lay down next to him, and he allowed me to pull him onto his side to face me.
“Sage, this isn’t necessary… you’re still weak from last night’s blood loss.”
I put my finger over his lips, and the ring around his eyes began to glow softly. “Don’t talk, just nod your head. Can you take only a little blood for now?”
His eyes narrowed. He wasn’t used to taking orders.
Tough luck.
He nodded his head one time in a jerky movement.
“Good. I want you to take it from me, no arguing. I owe you, and I’ll be sure to eat a ton of iron-filled foods later today. My wrist is very sore, so can you take from my neck without leaving nasty marks?” I asked the last a bit shyly. I was pretty sure there were no vampire etiquette classes that could help me in this situation.
My finger was still on his lips when he nodded again. I gulped and tried to regulate my breathing to show Soren I could handle the whole situation. Then, I removed my finger from his lips and moved in a little closer to my vampire. As I started to lift my hand to move my hair out of his way, he caught it and pulled it down to rest on his chest. I gulped in a breath as Soren reached over, grasped my tangled mass of hair into his large hand, and moved it over my shoulder to clear a pathway to the pulse point at my neck.
He took my chin in his hand and searched my eyes for any hesitation. Finding none, he angled my head to the left and leaned into me. His chest brushed mine, and his hair caressed my face. I had prepared myself for the pain, but I didn’t realize I should’ve also prepared myself for pleasure.
My gasp echoed through the room when I felt the sharp pain of Soren’s fangs biting into my neck, but the pain didn’t last long before a euphoric sensation swept through my body. Between the friction of our two bodies rubbing against each other and the pulling of Soren’s mouth at my neck, I felt like I would forever be marked by the experience. Only a moment later, I felt him pull away from my neck, and his tongue swept out to seal over the two puncture
wounds he’d created. I was breathing heavily and realized that my hand had a death grip on his white nightshirt. Loosening my grip, I smoothed out the shirt before I met his gaze.
I had no idea what to say. Thank you? Wow hardly seemed appropriate…
Before I could ponder the correct thing to say any longer, Soren leaned over and softly kissed the corner of my mouth. “Go to sleep, Sage. A vampire needs his rest, you know.”
I smiled and settled next to him to go to sleep. I didn’t even have to try. I was asleep before I could remember to worry about the upcoming evening.
Time Warper: Fated, A Sage Hannigan Novel Page 26