Chapter 1 #3
I wrapped my arm around him carefully, holding him up, keeping him squished against my chest.
Holding him felt so right. His scent surrounding me was heaven on earth, but it wasn’t supposed to be like this.
I had wanted to protect him, and now he was high out of his mind because I hadn’t been careful enough. Because I had given him the drink, not ever considering the fucking bartender would drug him.
And why?
For fucking funsies?
Oh, he was so going to pay for this, no matter how old he was.
“Calm down, man,” Bennie said, suddenly appearing at my side, carefully placing a hand over the one I was still clutching the bar stool with. “Let’s get the two of you out of here before something happens.”
“He drugged him.” I nodded to the bartender, who was back to fulfilling drink orders like nothing had happened. “He needs to pay. Why the fuck would he do that?”
The metal of the backrest gave with a squeaking sound, and I suddenly found myself holding a dented metal bar in my hand. Perfect. I could use it to poke his fucking eyes out.
“Oh. Oh, shit. Eric, do you not know about the special?”
Did I not know about the… “What?”
“The special,” Bennie whispered. “You know, ‘the special,’ a couple of special customers can order if they feel like having a snack but don’t want to deal with the hassle that comes with it?”
I froze.
I had ordered the special, hadn’t I? The bartender had even been doing some ridiculous gestures and expressions to sell it to me.
He had drugged Finn at my command.
I swallowed, the rage inside me dying down with the horrible realization that I was the monster here.
“I didn’t know,” I mumbled, looking down at Finn, whose head was lolling against my chest, his eyes heavily lidded, his constant smirk gone as his mouth was lax, hanging open a little.
“That much is obvious,” Bennie said. “So, here’s what we’re going to do.
First, you will let go of that metal pole in your left hand, and you will not stab Aries in the gut using part of his club’s interior.
Got it? This is a good place for all of us—you too—so you will not do anything to get us banned. Capisce?”
He waited for me to nod, which I did, albeit reluctantly.
“I didn’t want to stab him in the gut, okay?” I sounded a bit petulant, even to my own ears.
Bennie raised an eyebrow, and I sighed. “I wanted to gouge his eyes out,” I admitted before placing the metal bar on the bar top.
“I wouldn’t try that if I were you,” the bar owner—Aries, apparently—said from the other side of the bar.
“Sorry, youngling, but you’re no match for me.
I’ve been manning bars for three hundred years.
Trust me, I know how to handle rambunctious crowds of every species.
A single vampire youngling is no match for me. ”
Baring my teeth at him, I felt a fresh wave of anger hit me. What business did he have running around and covertly offering to fucking drug people?
“Ah-ah-ah,” he said, shaking his head condescendingly, his eyes flashing a deep, dark red before turning back to pale blue. “Listen to your friend, youngling. You will not cause a scene lest I ban you and your sire from all my clubs for the next fifty years.”
“And I will fucking beat your ass if you get us banned,” Bennie added, his voice laced with steel. He rarely used that tone with me, hadn’t had to in months. My control was good; he didn’t need to use his bond with me to compel me into obeying.
Finn moaned quietly, a mumbled mess of words falling out of his mouth, not one of which I could understand.
“We need to get him home,” I said, glaring daggers at Aries.
“Do you have his address?”
“Sure.”
Bennie raised his eyebrows, a bemused glint in his eyes. “Oh, do you now? And here I thought you’d never even talked to the guy.”
I wanted to throttle him, and myself for falling for this cheap trick. But getting Finn out of here was more important.
“What exactly did you give him? What dosage?” I asked, turning back to Aries.
He shrugged. “Little bit of this, little bit of that. The effect usually isn’t that strong because most people don’t finish their glass. I didn’t expect him to down it like that.”
Fuck.
“Thanks for the info. We’ll be on our way. Now.”
Bennie’s words left no room for disobedience, so I carefully helped Finn off his stool, but he couldn’t stand at all, his legs limp like noodles. Grabbing his ass with both my hands, I hoisted him up.
“If you’re good, I’ll let you out through the back,” Aries said, giving me a pointed look. “No funny business.”
He was the one with shady business practices, not me, but I still nodded. Carrying Finn through the crowd while he was basically unconscious was a risk in and of itself. Anyone could think I was the one who had drugged him, and I did not want to have to talk to the police tonight.
“I’ll get my car and meet you out back, okay? And Eric, I trust you to be civil. I get it, your precious… whatever… got in the middle of a misunderstanding, but he is okay. He’s breathing just fine. Nothing a good dose of sleep won’t solve.”
I nodded begrudgingly, hoisting Finn up a little more.
Having his ass in my hands should’ve been a religious experience. My holding him like that should’ve led to him wrapping his legs around my waist and us humping against the nearest wall.
Not like this.
“Come on, youngling.”
I rolled my eyes. That term again. Of course, he was right. By official standards I was a youngling, but calling me that felt condescending. Still, I followed him through the door next to the bar into the back of the club.
Two minutes later, I was sitting in the back of Bennie’s car, cradling Finn’s head in my lap, carefully brushing his light brown hair out of his face.
He was breathing deeply and evenly, which pointed to him being asleep rather than unconscious.
Not actively overdosing. His pulse was strong too.
I didn’t need to actually feel for it; I could hear the blood pumping through his veins.
“Eric…” Bennie began, but I shook my head.
“Not now,” I said, my eyes firmly trained on Finn’s lax face. I couldn’t look away. What if his state worsened? What if more of the drugs hit his system, and he went into overdose after all?
“I really…”
“Not. Now.” I knew my eyes were flashing red, my anger simmering just below the surface. I was angry with Bennie, angry with Aries, angry with Alaric, but most of all, I was angry with myself. Because I hadn’t protected Finn better. Because I had given in and talked to him.
And just like I’d known it would, the minute I’d entered his life, everything went to shit.
Now he was drugged, and on the radar of multiple vampires I probably wouldn’t win against in a direct fight.
I caressed his cheek, studying his face intently, taking in every inch of skin, every single pore. He looked so fragile like this. Guilt swamped me, making me almost bend over from the intensity.
“Can I talk now? Damn, I never wanted kids, you know? As a human, I watched my older sister with her demon child, always getting interrupted and having to start over a thousand times to get one sentence out. I never imagined siring a vampire would feel the same. I mean, you’re an adult, you know?
Yes, you are a youngling, but you were considered grown up before I turned you. ”
If I’d been in a better mood, I probably would’ve rolled my eyes.
But I wasn’t in a good mood. I was angry.
Worried. Right now, my control seemed as fragile as the beautiful human lying half on top of me.
The one I couldn’t stop touching. The one who—even in this state—looked so enticing.
His blood was calling to me, singing a siren song, luring me in.
Just a little bite.
Just one nibble.
I wanted it more than I’d ever wanted anything aside from Finn himself.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Okay. So, here it goes.
It’s not your fault. I can feel your inner turmoil, can feel bits and pieces of the guilt that’s tearing you to shreds.
Which, as you should know, tells me something about the intensity of your feelings.
I have no idea why you feel so guilty or why the fuck you’re so possessive over a random human you’ve never even talked to before today.
And trust me, we’ll come back to that later.
But it’s okay. Your guy is okay. Listen to his pulse. ”
I did.
I couldn’t not listen to it.
The even thump-thump of his heart, the blood pumping through his veins. It was turning into my favorite song of all time.
“If it weren’t for me, he would still be out there dancing.”
“If it weren’t for you, Alaric would’ve taken him out back, fucked him from behind, and bitten him just as he was about to come. You know, the way normal vampires do it?”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’m not normal.”
Because I didn’t want to fuck humans. Or other vampires. There was only one person I wanted. But I couldn’t have him without ruining his life. Having him unconscious in my lap was proof of that.
“What I’m saying is that he would’ve ended up as a snack one way or another. So, take a bite out of him already. I know you want to.” Bennie grinned at me while I considered cutting off his head and placing it on a stake. I’m sure he’d stop fucking laughing then.
“I’m not gonna bite him. He needs all the blood he has inside his body.”
Bennie rolled his eyes. “Since when are you into playing the good Samaritan?”
I raised my eyebrows pointedly at him.
“Okay, sure. When you ran into the alley to save me. I mean since then.”
“I wanted to become a doctor. The whole point of being a doctor is to save people.”
Bennie snorted. “For some, sure. Others… not important. If you need a reason to bite him… taste his blood to make sure the drugs are wearing off.”
I knew he was just trying to goad me. I knew it.
But his suggestion… well, he wasn’t wrong. I could taste drugs… Maybe if I took a little bite now, I could check on him in a few hours to make sure the taste was getting fainter and fainter.
Wait… what?
No. I was not going to bite him.
Was I?
My fangs elongated, the sharp, pointed teeth sliding out of my gums, poking my bottom lip.
Bite him, a voice inside me chanted, my vision zeroing in on the fluttering vein in his neck, the steady thump-thump of his heart all I could hear. I felt his pulse beneath my fingers—so tantalizing, so invigorating.
Just a little nibble to make sure he was doing okay. It wouldn’t hurt him. He wouldn’t even remember. And maybe, just maybe, I’d be able to let go of him afterwards.
My eyes were still transfixed by the fluttering vein in his neck, but I reached for his wrist instead. I pulled his hand close and reached for his ring finger. I wasn’t going to drink from him. I just needed a little taste. One tiny little droplet.
I carefully pierced the skin on his fingertip with the sharp tip of my fang and gently massaged his finger until a drop of blood had formed at the wound. Then, and only then, did I raise the finger to my mouth and lick it off.
The taste hit me like a freight train, punching the air out of my lungs—not that I needed it to breathe. He tasted better than anyone I’d ever tasted, his blood better than the finest of wines out there. Rich, full of life, full of him, but… also wrong.
There were the drugs, for one—a mix of several flavors that made his blood taste off, giving it a chemical note—but also…
I massaged his finger again, raising another droplet of blood just to make sure, but yeah…
His blood definitely tasted off.
Licking off another droplet before letting go of his fingers, I tried finding the exact thing that was wrong with it.
“Eric?”
“Shh, I’m thinking,” I said, waving at him. What was it? The drugs, but beneath that, there was something wrong with his blood. The taste was… not metallic enough. “I think his iron levels are low.”
“What?”
“I think his iron levels are low,” I repeated, furrowing my brow. “Which is not good.”
“Have you lost your mind? What the fuck are you talking about?”
“His blood doesn’t taste metallic enough, which suggests that his iron levels are low. For me to have noticed it with the first drop, I think they are really, really low.”
Bennie blinked at me through the rearview mirror. “Are you playing doctor with him?”
Worry tightened my gut.
“Low iron levels in males can indicate gut issues. Gastritis as a best-case scenario, but also blood loss due to ulcers or even tumors. He needs to go to the doctor.”
Bennie sighed. “Eric…”
“No, I know. I can’t take him to the hospital and tell the nurses on shift that I tasted his low iron levels.”
However, I really, really wanted to.
“I’m just saying. He needs medical attention.”
Bennie heaved another sigh. In my periphery, I saw him shake his head in exasperation. “We’re getting him home. Drink your fill of him now and let it go. His health is not your responsibility.”
I huffed. Now that I knew about his iron levels and possible health concerns, I definitely wouldn’t take another single drop of his blood. He needed it all.
Caressing his cheek, I took another look at the bags under his eyes and his pale skin. Yeah… he needed to get a thorough checkup.
I just needed to figure out how to get him one.