Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Few things gave Elena more joy than telling people she was a vampire. She rarely got to meet an ignorant human first. Librada had been handling the task of initiating humans for decades. Elena rarely got to have that kind of fun.
Elena only wished that it was under different circumstances. That she had the luxury of time and clean hair. She’d make those hazel-green eyes staring at her brighten with wonder. With awe.
But she had to make do with what she had. Right now, all she had was a witch sprouting shimmering transparent wings and healing her body and brain so she could get out of there and figure out how she’d ended up in a human hospital, broken and alone.
Drawing on the well of influence within her, Elena held the nurse’s gaze. Influencing was nothing like compulsion. She wouldn’t force Marisol to believe her, but she could soothe her from the shock. She could make her more receptive, prone to believing her so they could cut through all the useless confusion.
“Sit,” Elena said, voice low but commanding.
Marisol hesitated before looking around the glorified stall. There was nowhere for her but Elena’s bed.
“There is a vast world out there,” Elena began when Marisol finally sat at her side, butt barely on the bed. She exhaled, her essence wrapping around Marisol to urge her body to release a spike of endorphins and serotonin. When Marisol’s stress dropped and oxytocin joined the party, Elena continued. “Humans live such myopic little lives.”
She smiled, attention drifting over Marisol’s lovely face. Her eyes looked greener against the garish color of her clothes, but it was the compassion that bled from them that pulled Elena in. More than her athletic body and full, sinful lips unpainted and begging to be put to good use. It was her eyes that made Elena not want to scare her.
“Humans?” She pulled her eyebrows together.
“How I wish I could take my time, darling. I hope you know that I would absolutely savor the experience of enlightening you,” she confessed with a sigh, lamenting her continuous disappointment. “I’m a vampire.”
Marisol laughed, legs poised to carry her away.
With an eye roll, Elena opened her mouth and called down her fangs, relieved that they still responded to her commands—unlike most of her body.
Instead of pulling away, Marisol leaned forward. Medical curiosity driving her to inspect Elena’s mouth. “What kind of trick is that? Do it again.”
Elena smirked before retracting and extending her fangs. She let Marisol look at her mouth from any angle she liked. Let her inspect until she was confounded.
“Vampire? Like from a movie?” Marisol crossed her arms over her chest, sitting more completely on the bed. “That’s not real.”
“I assure you I’m very real.” Elena found she was amused, in spite of herself, at the nurse’s stubbornness. “If you come a little closer, I’ll show you just how real I am.”
Instead of recoiling, Marisol gave her an adorable glare. “Are you trying to use some kind of irresistible smolder power?” She raised a brow to show she wasn’t charmed, but Elena sensed the truth under her warming skin.
“I’ve always been this irresistible.” She let her gaze drop to those pretty lips again.
“Does it make you more attractive?” Marisol’s expression shone with something playful. “Being a…” She pointed at Elena’s mouth.
At the unexpected change, Elena ran her tongue over the point of one fang and watched Marisol track her movement. She hadn’t expected there to be so much flirting from the woman who’d bolted from her room the night before. As a test, she let the reins of her influence go slack.
“My appearance is exactly as it was in my first life,” Elena replied after a beat, voice low and intentionally sultry. “But if you had to look at someone for all eternity, you probably wouldn’t choose anyone who looks like a foot.”
“So how does that work?” Marisol scanned her like she regretted not being able to put Elena under a microscope. “Shouldn’t you be cold if you’re dead?”
“I’m very much alive.” Elena chuckled. “But you noticed my heart beats slowly. I essentially stopped aging.”
“That’s not possible,” she said, more to herself than Elena.
“Just because you’ve never seen something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” she replied, exerting her influence again when the nurse’s anxiety returned.
“And you think I’m a witch ?” She whispered the last word like it was a curse.
“I don’t know,” Elena admitted begrudgingly. “You are not like any kind of healer I’ve ever seen. And I’ve never seen anything like the wings you projected behind you.”
Calm again, Marisol smirked. “Not seen in how long?”
“Rude to ask a lady’s age.” Elena retracted her fangs. “How about you get me the hell out of here instead? Turn on your built-in first aid kit and get things going.”
“Why do you think I can heal you?” Marisol’s voice was fragile glass.
She was deciding to believe that Elena hadn’t hit her head too hard. Deciding to believe her, Elena was sure. Dropping her influence again, she met Marisol’s conflicted gaze. How could she not know her power?
“You woke me up,” Elena said, skin prickling with unusual warmth. “Or did I misunderstand your colleagues’ conversations?”
Marisol tipped her head to one side, considering.
“And when you helped me into bed last night, you brought back some of my strength.” Elena watched her without blinking. “Not nearly as much as I hoped, but here we are.”
Looking down at her hands, Marisol seemed to run through a hundred possibilities. None of them appeared to suit her. “So you think it’s my touch?”
“I’m very happy to test that theory.” Fangs itching to unleash, Elena quirked a brow. “Where do you want to touch me?” She pushed down the blanket she didn’t need but kept to cover the hideous gown she couldn’t wait to burn.
Ignoring her charm in a way that was insultingly easy, Marisol stood. Her hips swayed with a rhythm that was pure torture while she moved to the foot of the bed.
Sure that Marisol wouldn’t do anything but fall to her knees if Elena weren’t in such a shitty state, she tried to focus on her more immediate concerns.
“I’m going to try, but I don’t think it’s going to work.” With a dramatic sigh, Marisol rested her palms on the sheet covering Elena’s lower legs.
Elena closed her eyes, focusing on the sensation of Marisol’s touch. It was warm and oddly comforting, but it didn’t spark the same energy as before.
“Nothing,” Elena said after a beat, opening her eyes to find Marisol staring down at her hands in confusion. No hint of a spectral display behind her.
“What did you feel when you touched me in the ER?” Elena asked, watching her closely.
“Fear,” she admitted after a moment’s hesitation. “I was afraid you were going to die.”
Elena’s chest ached at the unexpected confession. “And now?” she pressed, voice softer than she intended.
Marisol’s gaze met hers, those hazel eyes full of concern. “Now I’m afraid I don’t know how to help you.”
“Maybe you have to touch my skin,” she suggested again, body alive with desire. Flickering with curiosity and intrigue and a hungry ache she couldn’t blame on a need for blood.
Returning to Elena’s side, Marisol oozed how unsure she was. How incompetent she felt. Elena guessed that it wasn’t a sensation she experienced often.
“What’s the worst that could happen?” Elena teased, wishing she could get to her feet if only to pull Marisol closer. “A little jump in the pulse at the contact?”
Marisol tipped her head, taking her time before sitting again. “I thought you said your heart rate doesn’t fluctuate.”
“I didn’t mean mine,” she whispered, as if her lips were pressed to Marisol’s freckled ear.
Ignited at the shameless flirting, Marisol tried to suffocate her smile. “If I’d known you were so inappropriate, I would have left you unconscious.”
“Oh, it’s like that?” Elena presented her hand instead of telling Marisol where she really wanted her touch. Marisol liked Elena’s game, but she was scared to play it.
With a shaky breath, Marisol reached for Elena’s hand. The moment their fingers brushed, a jolt of energy shot through Elena’s body. It differed from the rush in the ER. This was pure, unadulterated desire and it was coming from Marisol.
Elena’s gaze locked with Marisol’s, the air between them crackling with a new thirst. Elena knew, without a doubt, that Marisol felt it too. The heat in her cheeks, the rapid rise and fall of her chest, the way her pupils dilated, swallowing the green of her irises. Her body was a symphony of want. A want Elena wanted very much to satisfy.
“Is it working?” Marisol’s breath was so heavy, her attempts to control the rush of curiosity pushing her toward Elena’s lips, making Elena forget her hurry to break out of confinement.
“Maybe a different kind of touch.” Elena released Marisol’s fingers. “Closer to where my pain is…”
Elena tugged at the hem of her hospital gown, pulling it up to expose her thigh. Following her movements, Marisol’s eyes widened when they landed on the smooth olive skin of her thigh. Elena knew her body was a goddamn masterpiece, even broken and useless. Knew that Marisol wanted to touch her as much as Elena wanted to be touched.
Breath hitching, Marisol raked her gaze over Elena’s body like soft hands gently pushing her thighs apart. Heat radiated from Marisol’s skin, her pulse a frantic rhythm Elena wouldn’t dream of taming.
And then Marisol’s palm was skimming over the outside of her left thigh with the lightest touch. Elena couldn’t feel it on her skin, but she felt it in the pulse of need rushing to her core.
“Can you feel that?” Marisol whispered, her body leaning in, her hand trekking toward Elena’s hip.
“I definitely feel something.” Elena rested her hand over Marisol’s, urging her to touch more of her. To touch her all the places Elena knew she wanted to explore.
Pulling back, afraid of her own desire, Marisol’s pretty eyes brimmed with conflict. She was telling herself that she shouldn’t want what she wanted, Elena was sure. She was letting herself be shoved in a box, deprived and needlessly hungry.
“I can’t do this…” Marisol breathed, her entire being focused onElena’s lips.
“Says who?”
It was the wrong challenge, Elena realized immediately. Marisol sprang shut like a trap.
“I’m your nurse.” Marisol stood, ripping away the closest thing to the sun Elena would ever feel. “Even if you’re not human, I have an ethical responsibility to take care of you. And that doesn’t involve crossing boundaries.”
“And is that what you want?” Elena’s voice was low and set to devastate. “To cross my boundaries? Because I can assure you, I don’t have any. Not when it comes to beautiful creatures like you.”
“I would lose my job,” Marisol said with unshakable conviction. “Maybe even my license.”
Watching her, Elena couldn’t contain her amused little laugh. “Darling, if you don’t realize your life here is over…” she whispered. “You are glorious and as soon as I can get out of here, I’m taking you with me.”She sat up, but left her body uncovered. “Whatever is inside of you, it doesn’t want to be stifled here. You can’t want to live some sliver of a life when you are so very obviously magnificent.”
She’d pushed too far, Elena knew, but she couldn’t stop herself. Couldn’t believe that anyone would choose to be small when they had a universe spinning inside of them. She should have kept her influence drawn around Marisol, but she’d been so sure of the fiery spark flickering in her heart.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you.” Marisol crossed the room, gaze unable to find Elena’s face again.
“My name is Elena,” she said, hoping it would make her stop and return to her. But when Marisol disappeared, Elena had to swallow her worry that she wouldn’t return.