Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
Sloan
“So how does this work, exactly?” Harrison squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. “Does it feel like a needle? I hate needles.”
“It’s really not that bad.” Babs gave Harrison a reassuring smile. “When Sloan bit me before she left to fight the mage engine, it was painful but quick. It felt like being drained from your life one second, then filled in a way you never thought possible the next.”
“I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or worse.” Pia leaned against the far wall in the living room. “But I’ll go first. I want to get this over with and move on.”
Sloan and the four members who would make up her crack squad of vampires sat in the living space of their designated house.
It was a simple two-story building with the bare furnishing essentials: tables and chairs, dishes and utensils in the drawers, but no extra decoration, nothing to make the living space homey or comfortable.
Sloan ignored the lack of décor for the time being, with more important things to worry about than nonexistent pictures on the plain, white walls or rugs over the hardwood flooring.
She sat in a large, leather chair, staring at her friends.
She had turned Babs before she left, but the three escaped New Hope soldiers needed to be turned next.
Pia stood ready, but nervous. Harrison continuously wiped his sweaty hands on his pant legs, and Doyle hadn’t said a word once they had settled into the house.
“All right, Pia.” Sloan stood. “You can go first. If anything goes wrong, I’ll need the rest of you to pull me off, especially you, Babs.”
“What are you talking about?” Doyle asked. He’d also stood from his seat next to Harrison. “What could go wrong?”
It was something Sloan had debated telling the others, but if they were going to survive as one unit, there couldn’t be any secrets between them. Not now, not ever.
“When I turned Babs, I had Aareth and Croft next to me to pull me off in case I couldn’t stop.
Once the blood hits your mouth, it takes a hold on you.
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to bite Babs and let go.
” Sloan looked down at the floor. “If anything goes wrong, you’ll need to pull me off.
Babs, mostly, since she has the strength to do that now. ”
“Nothing is going to go wrong.” Babs put a hand onto Sloan’s shoulder. “You were fine when you bit me. It took a few seconds, then it was all over.”
“I was far from fine.” Sloan looked up into Babs’ kind eyes. “But I did it. It’s not easy. Imagine finally grabbing on to the one thing your body has been craving, and then forcing yourself to let it go a few heartbeats later.”
“My decision still hasn’t changed.” Pia walked closer to Sloan, unbuttoning the top two buttons of her shirt. She pulled down the left side, exposing the soft skin on her neck. “Let’s do this. This needs to happen if we’re going to have a fighting chance against what’s coming.”
Sloan took a deep breath. She searched inside for that urge she was still learning to control.
It was a part of her now, something like calling that extra piece of her that lived way deep down.
The closest thing Sloan could compare it to was an extra urge, a driving force of determination you needed when lifting heavy weights at the gym, or forcing yourself to do something once you were incredibly tired.
She found that power inside now. At once, her vision reddened and the canines on the top of her mouth lengthened. Strength coursed through her body.
Harrison’s eyes widened. Doyle and Babs took steps closer to pull her away if things didn’t go as planned.
Sloan could hear Pia’s heart pick up in tempo. The woman was scared, but to her credit, she remained still, jaw set, although the hand pulling her shirt away from her neck was trembling.
Just a second. You need to bite her for just a second. Sloan bent her neck and opened her mouth wide. As much as she repeated the mantra in her mind, there was another voice, one just as much herself as the other.
Drain her. Imagine how amazing all of that blood will feel sliding down your throat. Sloan did her best to drown out this voice as her razor sharp teeth sunk into Pia’s soft skin. Feast on her. There is nothing anyone can do to stop you. You need this.
Pia nearly stumbled, but Sloan caught her. The warm blood gushed down her throat with all the blissful sensation a dying woman would feel in finding a cold spring in the middle of a desert.
“I think she’s had enough.” Babs put her hand on Sloan’s right shoulder. She wasn’t gentle this time. “Let her go.”
The first thing that flashed in front of Sloan’s mind was to rip Babs’ hand off her arm. The second thought was that she was right. Mustering every ounce of willpower she possessed, Sloan forced her jaws open and took a step backwards.
Pia wobbled on unsteady feet. Doyle and Harrison guided her to a chair where she sat, eyes wide, blood still trickling down her neck.
“You’ll feel weak and strange at first,” Babs instructed Pia. “That will pass soon as your body accepts the change, and then it’s all uphill from there.”
“I’ll get her a cloth for her wound,” Harrison suggested. He left the room, giving Sloan an uneasy glance.
Sloan licked her lips, reminding herself over and over again that she was done with Pia. No matter how much her body craved the blood, she was done. She had controlled herself thanks to Babs. One down, two more to go.
“Well, I guess I’m up next,” Doyle said, unbuttoning the top of his own shirt like Pia had before.
Harrison reappeared with an armful of white hand towels and thick tape. “I know it’s not exactly medical tape and gauze, but it’ll have to do. I’m a bleeder.”
Turning the two men was just as difficult as turning Pia. Both times, Babs was there to remind her when to stop. By the time everyone had been turned, Sloan was mentally exhausted. Reining herself in took more out of her, psychologically, than she realized.
The three newest members of Sloan’s vampire squad sunk in their chairs as exhausted as Sloan. Not surprisingly, Babs was the only one energetic enough to go around and make sure no one needed anything.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Sloan jolted in her seat as the heavy knocks from the front door echoed into the sparse house.
“Sloan? Sloan, are you in there?” Edison’s familiar voice came through the door. “There’s trouble!”