Chapter 39
I watched Quinn fight her craving. We lay in bed, mostly sleeping, with her clinging to me as the worst pangs took her. They came in waves, and I felt her pain. I’d known that hunger for centuries but couldn’t do anything for her. She buried her face in my chest, whimpering, clinging to me. Reminded of my own madness when I’d been in the same position, I pulled her tight to me, comforting her. Her lack of appetite for human food worried me. I’d made her something to eat, but she’d refused it.
Thunder rumbled outside
“Please,” she cried. “Let me feed, Matteo. It’s what you want, anyway.”
I wanted so much to let her, it would end her pain, and I did want her to turn. But she’d made it clear she didn’t want that. Yet.
“You know I won’t do that. I gave you my word,” I told her.
Her whimpers turned to growls and she started to fight me, trying to pull out of my embrace. “Let me go.”
I held tighter. She lifted her head and tried to bite into my throat.
“Stop,” I commanded, using the blood bond to make her obey.
I didn’t want to use our bond that way, but it was necessary. I focused on helping her to avoid my own hunger. It wouldn’t be long before that became impossible to ignore.
“I feel your hunger,” she said. “You should feed.”
“I won’t leave you,” I promised.
“But you need to feed.” She stroked my face. “Don’t you have a vampire Uber Eats or something?”
“And bring a human here for you to feed on?” A vampire Uber Eats? I tried not to laugh.
Tears streamed down her face. “I only wanted sex,” she blurted. “It was really good sex, but I didn’t think any of this would happen.”
Really good sex. Her words spread warmth within me.
“I just want to lie here,” she said. “But you need to feed.”
She was more herself again. The thought of leaving for just a minute crossed my mind. I could find my way into any apartment in this building. But she would probably call the human again. Finding him in her apartment had been unpleasant. I’d felt the control slip as my feral nature wanted to kill him.
“I’ll be okay,” I lied. My hunger was already starting to weave its way through my body, and I needed blood, soon. Or someone would die.
Her eyes met mine. “Feed, Matteo, please.” She tilted her head.
It was hard not to look at her throat when she was right there, so close. I leaned forward without meaning to, fangs lengthening. “If we do this, I’ll need to feed from you every day until this passes from you,” I said.
She didn’t say anything, just pulled my head to her throat.
I had never fought what I was, never resisted the call of blood, and always taken my fill. But in her arms, it took everything to only drink enough to take the edge off my hunger. As I pulled away, she closed her eyes with a smile on her face.
“It almost makes me forget how much I’m hurting,” she whispered. “Your ‘vampire’s kiss’ really is something.”
I licked my lips. “So is your blood,” She said nothing, and I thought she’d fallen asleep. I kissed her forehead. “You’re really something,” I murmured.
Her mouth widened into a grin that exposed her baby fangs, and her red eyes stared into mine. Once again, the sight of them made me wonder if I should just let her turn. She really would be a beautiful vampire, impressive with her green eyes and voice. She’d be irresistible. I’ve lived so long without a hunting partner. The craving for her companionship gripped me. I quickly pushed it down before she could sense my thoughts through our blood bond.
“So are you,” she said aloud. “Without all the vampire stuff, you’re quite alluring. Even with the vampire stuff, you’re hard to stay away from.”
I wanted to take her, but instead, I pressed my mouth against hers, and she moaned, suddenly rough in her kiss. We pulled apart, but she pressed forward, licking my lips.
I laughed, realising what she was doing. “Your own blood isn’t what your body wants.” It wasn’t what would be needed to turn her.
She let out a frustrated sigh, closing her eyes again. This time she fell asleep. I watched her face and could feel her start to dream. Curious, I let my mind into hers.
Inside, I found her on the ground, sitting in a corner, shaking in fear. “Quinn?” I ran to her.
She didn’t react to me but looked up at something behind me. I turned, to see another version of her, red eyes, fangs. I rose, standing in front of Quinn defensively.
“I know you want her to be me,” Vampire Quinn said. “You’re in the way of what you want, and what she wants.”
I couldn’t deny the sight of her as a vampire was an attraction hard to resist. I looked down at the terrified human part of her. “She doesn’t want it,” I said.
“But you do. I’ve felt it in your thoughts more than once. You seek a hunting partner. Let me feed, Matteo. You wouldn’t have to worry about hurting me or losing control with me.” Her eyes focused behind me, and I saw dream versions of myself and Quinn in a feeding frenzy. “Experience my first hunt with me,” Vampire Quinn whispered in my ear. “Teach me to hunt.” The dream versions rose up from their meal, red eyes, blood dripping from their faces. My apparition kissed Quinn before licking the blood from her chin. “Kill with me. I want to be your hunting partner as much as you want it. You wanted to claim me as yours, where else did you think that would lead?”
I wanted it. The sight of Quinn feeding, the idea of hunting with her, I yearned for it. I could let her feed and neither of us would look back. She’d be forever connected with me.
“I do want that,” I admitted. “More than anything, and I have since the first day I saw you.”
Vampire Quinn grinned. I looked down at the last of Quinn’s mortal self, holding on, terrified of her vampire self. I could kill it, and Quinn’s struggle would be over; she would embrace her new life.
“Please, Matteo. I don’t want that. You said you’d never force anything on me,” the human Quinn said.
I took a knee in front of her, reaching a hand out, pushing back her hair. Green eyes met mine, pleading.
“I claim you as mine,” I told her. “You’ve claimed me. There is no other way for us. It is the way of vampires to claim one another, to turn the humans we claim.”
She shook her head, tears spilling over. “ Please don’t. Don’t take that choice from me.”
I backed out of the dream and removed her arms from around me, climbing out of bed. She remained asleep.
“Matteo.” Gabriela’s voice called to me from the balcony, Carlos’ presence with her.
I walked out onto the balcony. Night had fallen. Gabriela sat on the railing, with Carlos leaning against it, watching me over his shoulder.
“Pictures of you and a human woman have many asking questions. We’re supposed to stay out of the public eye. I was happy to accept your little art gallery, but being with her isn’t staying out of the public eye. If she dies, you’re the first one the police pull in for questioning,” she said.
“She won’t die.” I replied.
“I hope not,” she glanced towards the window of the bedroom. “She’s more vampire than human right now. You’re really not going to take the opportunity that’s presented itself to you?”
“Turn her,” Carlos instructed, his hand on my shoulder. “I know you want to.”
I groaned. “Not you, too.”
“She will be one of us,” Carlos said. “From what I hear, you’ve claimed her, and she claimed you. You cannot protect her from what will be.”
Again, I wavered. He was right, and I had already made preparations for her to join me.
Gabriela twisted around leaning towards me, her red eyes on my chin where I knew Quinn’s blood remained. Slowly, with a glint in her eye, she licked at the blood. “She has a sweet tooth; I can taste the chocolate.” I pulled out of her reach. “Oh, Matteo. You used to like when I did that.”
Movement inside caught all of our attention. Gabriela smiled and leapt off the balcony. From below, her voice reached me. “Let her turn. It will be less painful for the both of you.”
“If you’re not careful, this isn’t going to end well,” Carlos warned, and he followed Gabriela.
I turned around as Quinn stood in the doorway. “Go back inside,” I told her.
“No, I’ve been cooped up inside for two days, at least let me stand on my balcony.”
It was not a good place for her to be, and I knew it. I could hear the same thing she could. The heartbeats. The delicious scent of blood. But I agreed anyway.
“I want to ask a question, but I’m almost afraid of the answer,” she said .
“Ask anyway.” I suspected it was about Gabriela. I detected a whiff of jealousy.
“I know what you said, but —” She hesitated, facing the city. “How do you know her?”
“She found me and pulled me from a dark place.” I explained. “I was feral after killing my maker. Severing the blood bond between vampires like that has an impact, and I was lost. I had no one to guide me in my new life, to teach me to control my hunger, how to feed without drawing attention. I fell into a blood-drunk feeding frenzy, and hunters probably would have killed me if it weren’t for Gabriela.” She wouldn’t meet my eyes, pangs of jealousy still within her. “You don’t have to be jealous,” I said. “She is my Queen. She was never my lover.” The very idea was laughable. “She spent years trying to pair me with others, but I never took her to my bed.”
She relaxed, and breathed in deep, joy on her face. “It’s so good to be outside,” she said.
My chest squeezed. “Quinn, perhaps you should go inside.”
She frowned. “That smell…”
“That’s why you should go inside.” I said.
I moved towards the door, reaching for her hand, but she jumped from the balcony before I could stop her.