Chapter 12
She winced as she turned over. Tomesha inhaled sharply and moaned.
She opened her eyes and blinked. The lights in her suite were low.
Someone had turned off the main ones and only left on the bathroom.
Without checking, Tomesha already knew Dru was gone.
The room was too silent. She reached out a hand behind her and confirmed what she already knew.
When had she left? The sheets were cool, so it must have been a while.
Her gaze fell on her nightstand, where the general’s weapons had sat, and found them gone.
In their place sat a stack of gold coins.
Tomesha’s eyes widened at the amount of money left for her.
She pushed up slowly. The skin on her neck was raw and ached.
She carefully reached out and picked up the gold to count them.
Ten royal gold coins.
Tomesha stared at them in disbelief. Her hands shook.
Tomesha had never received this amount of a tip from a client before.
This was enough money to pay her rent and bills for a full year and more.
The most she’d ever received before as a tip was one, maybe two gold coins.
It didn’t include what she received from the club.
But the coins were never royal.
The only reason she knew they were the royal gold coins, worth more than the standard coins, was because of the imprint of the vampire king’s profile on them.
She leaned back against the headboard and pillows in disbelief.
Why would the general—Dru—leave her this much money?
It was entirely too much. She pushed the blankets off her and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
The cool air caressed her naked skin. She winced from the tightness of the skin around her neck and the area between her thighs where Dru had fed as well.
She paused and drew in a deep breath. Her heart pounded. She frowned, unsure why.
She held the coins in one hand while she prodded the area between her legs.
There was going to be a bruise. There were two small pinpoint holes on her inner thigh where Dru’s fangs had sunk.
Tomesha closed her eyes as the memories of the night surfaced.
Her time with Dru had been something she couldn’t explain.
There had been something between the two of them.
A chemistry, so to speak. But Tomesha shook her head.
She was probably reading too much into it. Dru had come to the club for a reason.
Feed and to fuck. She gotten both last night, hence the reason she was gone.
Tomesha stood, a weakness in her bones. She carefully padded over to her dresser where she stored her tips.
She slid the money in the drawer with the rest. She made a mental note to take it home with her when she left.
She dragged in a deep breath again while holding on to the dresser. The room spun slightly.
Once it stopped moving, she headed into the bathroom to relieve her bladder.
It was screaming that she hadn’t emptied it in a while.
She hurried as best she could to the toilet and handled her business before she stopped at the sink to wash her hands.
She turned the water on and placed her hands underneath it and looked up at the mirror.
Tomesha froze at the sight that greeted her. The skin at the base of her neck was darkened on both sides. There was a trail of dried blood on the left side. She blinked, and her hands shook. She switched the water off and stared at the markings on her. Reality set in for her.
This was what she’d signed up for.
To offer her life’s blood to a vampire for money. She shouldn’t be surprised that it came with consequences.
Her knees shook. She gripped the edge of the counter and breathed in deeply.
She felt lightheaded again, and the room tilted.
Fear settled in, and she tried to hold herself up to keep herself from falling.
She turned around and stumbled to the door.
She leaned against it for a moment and reached for her robe that hung on a hook on the wall.
It took what little strength she had to slide the material on. Her breathing was rapid and shallow.
“This isn’t normal,” she whimpered. Tomesha closed her eyes; she had to get over to her bed before she fell onto the floor.
She moved with slow, easy steps. She celebrated the moment her hand touched the mattress.
She sat on it and groaned. The pillows appeared to be a long distance away. “I can make it.”
Panic set in. Was she supposed to feel this way after a feeding?
How did the others do this on a regular basis?
She crawled the few inches to where her pillows were and fell onto them.
She stared at the ceiling while attempting to focus on breathing.
A knock sounded at the door. Tomesha’s eyes fluttered closed. She barely had the strength to answer.
“Come in.” Her voice was weakened, but apparently whoever was on the other side of the door had heard her.
The door opened, and footsteps made their way to her.
“Tomesha?” a familiar voice called out. Starla.
Tomesha groaned in response. She couldn’t lift her head from the pillow. Warm hands rested on Tomesha’s face. They turned her head from side to side.
“Shit. Call for the healer!”
Starla released Tomesha, her footsteps fading.
Tomesha felt as if she were floating in an abyss.
She relaxed back and exhaled. She was exhausted.
She just wanted to rest. There was nothing wrong with her wanting to sleep a little.
Her trek to the bathroom had taken all of her strength from her.
She didn’t know why Starla was screaming for help.
She’d just take a nap, then she’d be fine.
“I said call for a healer!” Starla hollered. The bed dipped down near Tomesha, and hands took her chin in their grasp. “Tomesha. Open your eyes. Don’t go to sleep.”
“But I’m so tired,” Tomesha murmured. She tried to shake Starla’s hands from her face. Why was she making such a big deal?
“No, honey. I need you to stay with me. Don’t go to sleep.” Starla’s voice held a bit of a panic in it.
Tomesha frowned and tried to roll away from her, but her body wasn’t cooperating.
“Tomesha, open your eyes.”
Tomesha complied, but only one opened. She took in Starla’s frantic expression before it fluttered closed again.
“I’m fine,” she grumbled.
“You are not. I think that general took too much blood from you,” Starla said.
Another voice, one Tomesha didn’t recognize, joined her and began speaking with Starla. Tomesha couldn’t hear what they were saying. They spoke in low voices.
The bed dipped down again as Starla moved. “The healer is here. Let her check you out.”
“Tomesha. My name is Lamaya. I’m the healer. How are you feeling?”
“Tired,” Tomesha murmured.
Gentle hands took her head and moved it from side to side. Her robe was disrupted, but Tomesha couldn’t care less. She just wanted to go get some sleep.
“She was bitten here as well.” Lamaya prodded Tomesha’s leg. “Each bite has been sealed. I believe more was drained than her body could handle.”
“Will she be okay?” Starla asked.
“She needs to drink ifalla tea. It will give her strength and help replenish what she lost much faster than the kenaf weed will.”
The room fell silent.
Good. Now Tomesha could rest. They were worried for no reason. This was nothing a little sleep couldn’t fix. She burrowed down on the bed and felt herself drift off into a slumber. It didn’t last long before they were forcing her to awaken again.
“Leave me be,” Tomesha groaned.
“Sorry, my dear. You must drink this. Wake up,” Lamaya said.
Tomesha was brought to a sitting position. She opened her eyes to find an older woman with kind eyes and dark hair that appeared to be purple when she turned away from Tomesha. She brought back a small porcelain mug with steam rising from it. “You need to drink this.”
Tomesha frowned and took the mug from her. She brought it to her face and bent over it to sniff. She wrinkled her nose at the strong scent of herbs.
“I don’t think I can—”
“You must. That vampire drank too much from you. This must be drunk right away for it to work.” Lamaya gave her a stern look.
Tomesha glanced away from her to find Starla leaning against the wall with an expression of concern.
“You can do it,” Starla encouraged. She smiled, came over, and sat on the edge of the bed.
“I’m glad I came to check on you when I did.
The general has been gone for a while now, and we didn’t see you come out of your room.
I figured you’d be cleaning up, but then another hour or two went by and I didn’t see you and I got concerned. ”
Tomesha sipped some of the brew. It was definitely an acquired taste. It wasn’t anything she’d choose on her own. She shook her head and tried to hand it back to the healer, who gently pushed it back to her.
“More. You need to drink all of it,” Lamaya said.
Tomesha swallowed another sip then turned to Starla.
“Thank you for checking on me. I felt weak and shaky when I first awakened. But by the time I went into the bathroom, it felt as if all of my energy just left me.” She had another sip of the dreadful drink.
This time she did a bigger gulp to try to hurry and get this over with.
Even after a couple of sips, she already sensed her strength coming back.
But then something Starla said caught her attention.
“Wait, how long has Dru—the general—been gone?”
Just because Dru said she could use her given name, didn’t mean the others would be granted permission to do so. Starla and Lamaya glanced at each other for a brief moment. Tomesha grew concerned. How much time had passed?
“Don’t worry. After you finish the tea, we’ll get you home. I notified Mistress about what has happened, and she’s ordered you to go home to rest.”