17. Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Seventeen
Benji
“ W hat the hell is happening?” I asked Acheron as we returned to the Morozov Mansion.
“Nothing,” he replied, his voice a little higher pitched than normal. Nothing, my ass.
I followed him into the lounge where he went straight to one of the cabinets and poured himself a drink. “Don’t lie to me, Acheron. We were having fun and then all of sudden we had to leave. Where’s Damyr? Where are the others?”
He drained his glass and turned to face me, his expression suspiciously blank. “Just looking at something.”
“Are they in danger?” Fuck, why did my insides feel like they were being pulled out in different directions?
“They’re always in danger,” he said, his words clipped.
Urgh, this was ridiculous. “Enough with the fucking riddles. Just tell me.”
“It’s not my place, Benji. There are secrets here that I can’t—”
The door burst open, and Vlad rushed in, Damyr in his arms covered in blood.
“Holy fuck!” I scrambled towards them. “Put him on the sofa.”
He did as I asked and Damyr grunted in pain as his body hit the couch. My God. My stomach dropped as I got my first close look at his injuries. His chest was in ribbons, completely cut to shreds.
“He needs a hospital,” I said, my training kicking in as I catalogued the damage.
Several shrapnel wounds.
Gunshot wound to right shoulder and upper thigh.
Possible stab wound to lower abdomen.
“No,” Damyr gasped, his face contorted with pain. “No… hospital.”
I brushed his hair from his forehead as I knelt next to him. “Damyr, please. You need a hospital.”
Aleksey stormed into the room, gun waving in his hand, his blonde hair tumbling around his face in a tangled mess. “Where the fuck is the doctor?”
“I’ll live. It’s just a scratch,” Byron grumbled as he hobbled into the room, his hand clutching his side. I could see blood seeping through his fingers.
“At least your scars will match,” Aleksey stated with a sly grin whilst Byron tentatively perched on one of the armchairs.
“Fuck you, Aleksey,” Byron hissed.
I zoned them out. I couldn’t focus on anything other than the way Damyr was bleeding all over his sofa. There was so much blood.
Too much blood.
“You need a hospital, Damyr. I can’t… I don’t…” Fuck. Why had this guy got me so twisted inside? I should be using the chance to run, not kneel here and hold vigil by his bedside.
Damyr’s bloody hand squeezed mine. “You should go.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “If you think I’m leaving whilst you’re dying, and the rest of these guys are injured, you’re ridiculous.”
He chuckled, well, tried too. It was more of a wet rasp which meant there was probably a load of fluid in his lungs.
Fuck, fucking, fuck.
His eyes flickered and started to lose focus.
I tapped his cheek. “No. Damyr. Stay with me.” I looked at Vlad over my shoulder. “Call an ambulance, dammit!”
The big guy just stood there, staring at me and chewing his lip. Acheron had vanished, probably to find this doctor that Aleksey was complaining about and the others all had grim expressions.
“Why aren’t you doing anything?” I yelled.
Damyr’s hand brushed my cheek, and I turned back to look at him. He was so pale. “Because the only one who can save me, is you, Benjamin.” There was a sadness in his eyes, a resignation to the fact that he was going to die, and it affected me more than I ever thought possible.
“Then let me help,” I pleaded, tears brimming in my eyes.
He shook his head then winced as another bout of pain waved over him. “No.”
And then he was gone.
What? No. That couldn’t be it. This guy couldn’t kidnap me, threaten me and torture me and then check out because he got shot.
Not today.
Adrenaline had my body kicking into action. I ripped open his shirt and peeled it carefully away from his chest. Jagged wounds littered his torso, but the biggest one was across the centre of his abdomen. I went to put pressure on the wound, but before I could, large hands wrapped around me and pulled me away.
“No. Let me go,” I said, trying to wriggle free.
“That won’t save him,” Vlad whispered softly as he hugged me tightly to his chest.
“He said I could save him. Let me try,” I begged, tears rolling quietly down my cheeks. “Please.”
Vlad’s eyes were soft when they met mine. “It’s not what he meant, Benji.”
“Then tell me!” I yelled, my heart breaking in a way I didn’t understand. I couldn’t seem to get my thoughts in order. I wanted to run and scream, but I also wanted to curl up next to Damyr just to try and save him with my touch. “Just fucking tell me.”
I was falling apart, and I couldn’t seem to catch the pieces to put them back together.
Vlad exchanged a look with Aleksey that was filled with pity and something else. Worry? Anxiety maybe?
“Just tell him,” Aleksey finally said. “We can deal with Damyr later.”
And still Vlad remained stone-faced. I wanted to the shake the guy even though he looked like he was going through some internal crisis. He sighed and the tension left his shoulders. “There’s no going back after this, Benji.”
Jesus fucking Christ. Were they trying to kill me?
“You guys are fucking idiots,” Byron said, surprisingly calm for someone who’d clearly been shot. Again. He stood from his chair with a wince, and I went towards him to help but he threw his hand out with a stern expression, bringing his eyebrows down in a sharp slant. Okay, noted. Byron didn’t like help. “They’re all vampires and you’re Damyr’s mate so he can’t feed from anyone but you to heal.”
What.
The.
Fuck.
I blinked. Then laughed. “You can’t be serious.”
No one jumped in with a ‘kidding’ and jazz hands.
Fuck.
They really were serious.
Nope.
“Is this some kind of blood cult or vampire wannabe group or something?” I asked, clinging to the hope that maybe they were just deluded.
“Sorry, but no,” Byron said bluntly. “Took me a while to process the idea and I’d been with them two fucking years before they told me.”
“But this isn’t possible…” And yet… something niggled in the back of my mind telling me that maybe it was.
Maybe, just maybe Vlad had some kind of compulsion skill that had wiped my memory. Maybe I’d brushed passed the possibility that they moved faster than I could process when they’d been chasing Charlie.
And maybe my world had just got a whole lot bigger.
And scarier.
And holy fucking hell.
“Vampires are real.”
“Yep,” Byron said as he wandered towards me, blood dripping onto Damyr’s plush rug. I hoped the guy had a good house cleaner. “I’m still human though. Acheron is a glorified wizard and—”
“Shut up,” Aleksey growled at Byron.
Jeez, those two squabbled worse than a pair of teenagers.
I looked at Damyr as he lay on the sofa. He was deathly pale and looked more like a fresh corpse than a vampire. Was this really possible? Was the man in front of me a blood sucking creature of the night?
Fuck. Did he sparkle? That I definitely could not get on board with. I also couldn’t get past the way my heart felt like lead in my chest. Like it had sunk to the bottom of the ocean without Damyr there to help me navigate whatever this was between us.
I looked up at Vlad and swallowed past the nervous lump in my throat. “What do I need to do?”
He smiled warmly. “Well, first you need to—”
“Stop pussyfooting around the fucking details,” Byron groaned. He lunged for me, knife in his hand. I instinctively stepped back, but he grabbed my wrist and sliced through the black material, cutting my skin in the process. Blood instantly began to pool from the cut, bright against my pale skin. It was a few moments before I even felt the sting which meant Byron’s knife must be wicked sharp. Couldn’t say I was surprised.
“Byron!” Vlad shouted.
I was thrust toward Damyr and Byron manipulated me until my arm was dropping blood onto Damyr’s lips. It was almost like I was in a daze, watching myself from somewhere else.
Time stood still as I waited, my heart in my throat, my body trembling with anticipation. There was still a part of me that thought this was all madness. That it couldn’t possibly be real and the fact that I was feeding someone my blood was evidence of my own psychotic break.
But then Damyr twitched, and my heart soared.
“Lower your wrist to his mouth,” Vlad said, pushing Byron away and helping me get more comfortable. He got me a chair to sit on, so I wasn’t knelt on the floor, and he came to sit next to me. I had to admit, having the giant next to me was oddly comforting. There was a strength about Vlad that was quiet and unassuming. Like he was in your corner and ready to help if you needed it. And boy, did I need some support right now.
“Will it hurt?” I asked.
“Possibly,” Vlad answered. “I don’t know how far gone Damyr is. Normally, when we feed it’s a pleasurable experience for both, but he’s badly injured so I can’t say how that will affect him.”
“Oh.” My stomach churned. Was I doing the right thing?
“I will stay, Benji,” Vlad said. “I won’t let him hurt you or take too much.”
“Thank you,” I said gratefully, and a little relieved.
“Aleksey, help Byron find the Doc and if you see Acheron, tell him to stay away,” Vlad ordered They grumbled and groaned about it, but they followed his orders.
Aleksey looked over his shoulder at the doorway. “Let me know he’s okay, Vladimir.”
Vlad nodded and Aleksey closed the door softly behind him.
“Why did you send them away?” I asked with a frown.
Vlad’s warm eyes held mine. “Because feeding is an intimate thing, and I didn’t think you would appreciate the others watching.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what to make of that. “I have so many questions.”
“I know and I’m sure Damyr will answer them all. And if he doesn’t, I’m sure—”
I yelled as pain beyond anything else erupted in my veins. It was like lava travelled through my blood, searing my insides and I was surprised, when I looked down, that my skin wasn’t melting off.
Damyr had sank his fangs into my wrist and his hands held me in place. His gulps as he swallowed my blood were loud. How much was he taking?
I threw a pleading look at Vlad, and I was glad to see that he was perched on the edge of his seat, ready to intervene if Damyr took too much.
I watched in horror and fascination as the jagged wounds on his chest knitted back together. “Holy fuck.”
“It shouldn’t be much more now,” Vlad said.
But it didn’t seem to hurt as much now. The pain started to fizzle out into a warm buzz that thrummed along my skin. Like small vibrations setting my very core alight.
It was unsettling and delicious all at once. My clothes felt too tight, hell, my skin felt too tight. My mind started to float, and I wasn’t sure if that was from the feeding or the blood loss, but I could see why people could be obsessed with the idea of a vampire’s bite. The whole sensation was intensely blissful.
Damyr slowed down and eventually stopped. He swiped his tongue along my wrist and let go of me. He was looking a more normal colour now and the only sign he’d been injured was the blood that had dried on his skin. When I looked at my wrist, there wasn’t even a mark. Guess some vampire lore was true. I suddenly wondered what else was true.
I rubbed the spot on my wrist absentmindedly as I watched Damyr sleep.
“He will probably be out of it for a while,” Vlad said as he texted someone on his phone. Probably Aleksey to let him know Damyr was alright. I envied them all a little. I didn’t have anyone besides Maya, and I couldn’t even reach out to her because she thought I was on a fucking cruise.
“Can I stay?”
A warm smile curled the tanks face. “Of course. I’ll get you something to eat and drink.”
“Do I get a cookie for making a good donation?” I said with a snort.
“Something like that,” he said with a grin. He patted my shoulder as he went past. “Thank you, Benji.”
I nodded, but almost without conviction. Had I done the right thing? Or had I doomed myself? As I looked at Damyr, something seemed to hold my gaze. I couldn’t look away and I couldn’t convince myself that I had done the wrong thing by saving him. Now that I’d saved his life though, perhaps I finally had some leverage.