Chapter 37
G abriela walked in, her eyes on Matteo, and the door barely made a sound as she closed it.
He knelt before her. “Thank you, my Queen.”
She had a scent similar to Matteo’s. I wondered if it was the vampire I could smell. It wasn’t human, and I wasn’t sure how I even knew that. A musk that made me think of predators. Her heart beat slowly, like his, while my own raced like a jackhammer.
“I was happy to hear from you. I can’t say I enjoyed your rudeness last night,” she said. “Remember your place, Matteo. After that, now you come to me for help.” She was enjoying this, flaunting her power over him. “Get up, I don’t have all day. Carlos is displeased with me, and I need to address his defiance.”
Matteo had told me she was a Queen in his clan. Something in me recognised that, but she wasn’t my Queen, and a growl burst from my throat. Her eyes turned red as she faced me.
“Be careful,” she warned me. “Know who you’re growling at, little human.”
But I didn’t care. The deep need to make it known to her that she was in my territory overcame me. I growled again.
“She doesn’t like my presence at all,” she commented to Matteo, amusement curving her lips.
It annoyed me that Gabriela was talking about me as if I weren’t right there. She raised her eyes to me again. “What is he to you?” she asked me and trailed her hand across his chest.
“Gabriela,” Matteo pleaded. “Please don’t.”
“ Mine. ” I didn’t understand why I said that. Nor the growl coming from me.
The woman shook her head. “I can already tell a lot of your blood is in her. Let me guess, you gave her your blood for some reason, and the two of you fell into a pleasure-induced bloodlust feeding off each other well into the night.”
“Something like that,” was his reply.
“You lost control, didn’t you?” She asked. “Bit too deep?”
He said nothing, his eyes on me.
“I see. I’d like to know why you wouldn’t just let her turn. You’ve denied yourself a companion for centuries. Why would you give her your blood if not for that? She must be something special to you. Maybe I can have a taste, see what all the fuss is about.” She flashed fangs at him .
His eyes turned red, and his growl rumbled, a low sound that almost echoed as he turned all his attention to Gabriela. I felt a protectiveness in him, mixed with rage. “She’s mine! ” he growled, his fangs visible.
Laughter burst from her. “You’re a perfect match, just as bad as each other.” She held her hands up. “Okay, I won’t touch her, but you need to let me look at her. Will you calm down enough to do that? I can’t have you attack me when I’m here to help you.”
It took him a while, but slowly his mind relaxed, and his fangs retracted. “Look at her,” he said.
She stepped towards me. I stepped back. She sighed, lifting her glare to Matteo. “I need you to calm her down, too. She’s likely to try to take my fingers.”
Matteo was in front of me then, his eyes filling my whole vision. “Quinn, she’s not here to hurt you. She’s just going to look over you, like a check-up you’d get at the doctor.”
His words took a hold of me. Somehow, I knew he was using his vampire ability to calm me, but it wasn’t to force me to do anything I didn’t want to do. He only wanted me to become calm. I let his sway wash over me and nodded.
She was there then, her fingers gripping my chin. “Open your mouth,” she commanded.
I opened my mouth, and her fingers pulled back my lip. “Baby fangs. Matteo, how much blood did you give her? She’s practically one of us already, just one more drink away from it being permanent. ” She glanced over at him. “Either yours or human blood, she is on the cusp here.” She leaned in, breathing in deep. “She still has a human scent, though, so there might be enough of her left to remain as such.”
Her head turned towards my door, examining the blinds, and my own gaze dropped to her throat. I wanted to bite down and drink deep, hunger making me dizzy. I started to lean forward. Her hand wrapped around my throat. “No!” she spoke to me as if speaking to a child. “I am not for biting. Not if you want to hold on to your humanity. My blood is old and will complete the change already tearing through your body.”
“So, she is turning?” Matteo asked. “Is it too late to stop it?”
“Open the blinds,” she told him.
He was next to me one second, by the window the next, and harsh sunlight poured through the door. I pulled back, throwing a hand up, whimpering. It hurt. Not in a way that burned me, as I had seen in movies, but it hurt my eyes. The blinds dropped, and I was relieved to be plunged into cool darkness again.
Gabriela gripped my chin again, looking deep into my eyes. “How do you feel?” she asked me.
“Hungry,” I responded without thought.
“Describe your hunger,” she said.
That one I did have to think about. “It’s deep within, with a pain I never thought I could feel over being hungry. I keep visualising blood gushing, as I bite…” I stopped. “The people in this building smell delicious. My teeth hurt.” I met her eyes. “Matteo won’t let me leave, I just want one bite. Please, tell him I need to go.”
Her hand left my chin.
“Do you realise what you’ve done?” she asked Matteo in a low voice.
“I didn’t mean to. Is there any hope?” His voice was pleading .
“She obviously has some hold over you. You don’t resent what you are, why don’t you want her to be as you are?”
“Because she doesn’t want it,” he said.
She looked at me. “Clearly, she does. I don’t feel any resistance to what’s happening to her. With her line of work, it’s not as if she’d be short of groupies to feed from.”
“Damnit, no! She made it clear, before I gave her my blood, that it’s not what she wanted.”
“Then it must be the blood, is that it?” She smirked.
“Yes! You know it is!” He boomed.
She shook her head sadly. “What you’re seeing is not because of your blood or her hunger Matteo. There is a deep yearning that she was probably unwilling to admit to, a morbid fascination maybe. Perhaps she wasn’t fulfilled in her life. It was there before you bit her. If you let her turn now, she will not resent you for it. She’s already animalistic, and has laid claim to you, so I think she’d be a natural. She might have a hunger that rivals yours.”
“Does she have a chance?” he asked.
“Yes. A small one. You’ll need to stay with her until she’s back to her old, boring self.” She actually looked disappointed.
“How many days?” he pulled me towards him as a pang of hunger hit me.
I pressed my face into his chest, breathing him in.
Gabriela sighed. “A week, maybe two? You understand what you’re doing, don’t you? There is no leaving her alone. She will take any chance she can get to feed. There will be no hunting for you. In that time, you could easily lose control again. This time she will die or turn.”
“That won’t happen.” His hands rubbed up and down my back.
I pulled away, suddenly restless.
Her eyes met mine again. “That’s a shame. I like her.” She smiled. “This will certainly damage your reputation. The great Matteo, finally tamed by a human woman. You really are something, child. Appreciate that.”
She was gone, leaving me reeling. “What did she mean, ‘tamed’?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing. Come on, let’s go back to bed.”
The idea of it appealed to me. I followed him to my bedroom.
“Get into bed,” he said, and I didn’t fight the command. Then he knelt beside the bed, running his hand through my hair. “Quinn, I need you to go to sleep.”
I fought his command then, with difficulty. “Won’t you come to bed with me?”
He smiled. “I will. There’s something I need to do first. I’ll be back.”
I sat up. “You’re leaving? She told you not to.”
“Not for long. It’s best that you sleep while I’m away.” He caught my eye again. “Sleep, Quinn.”
This time his voice broke through, and I closed my eyes.