Chapter 15 Reno #2
As Shirley bent over to hug me, I wished I could lay my head down too. “Jackson might heal. The, uh, stuff around their neck was glowing a minute ago.”
“Damn, I hope so.” Tucker stroked their fur. “Simon’ll be okay?”
I sighed, and there was definitely a hint of a sob in it. “I think so. His magic is still bright. But I don’t know how long it’ll take, and I feel like I should give him some blood, but I don’t know how when he’s unconscious.”
He frowned. “There’s bagged blood in the fridge. That might be easier to pour down his throat.”
I shook my head almost instantly. “Not for this. It needs to be mine. I can’t say why. Maybe it’s a mate thing.”
“Okay, okay. It was just an idea.”
Shirley leaned over to peer at Nicky. “When was the last time either of you had some water?”
“Uh... I don’t remember?”
She shook her head. “I’ll be right back.” She straightened up and started toward the kitchen right as the back door slammed open and three Hunters came in, guns and knives aimed everywhere. Four more came in the front door, also armed to the teeth.
Shirley, Tucker, and I raised our hands. “Don’t shoot! The fight’s over.”
“Stand down, everyone. I repeat, stand down!” Dominic took off his helmet and came over. “Y’all okay?” He grimaced at Jackson and Simon. “I guess not. Sorry. We were following up on a possible sighting across town.”
“Cal said the Hunters guarding us were killed?”
He took a deep breath and glanced out the back door. “Yeah. Carter and Franklin.”
“I’m sorry.”
He nodded in short jerky movements. “Thanks. Can you tell me what happened from your perspective? After that I promise we’ll get the dead vamps out of here. Um, shit, we need to take their heads off, don’t we?” He started gazing around, possibly to find a sword. Tucker looked alarmed as well.
“No.” I held my hand up. “Normally, yes, But it’s not necessary for these guys. Their magical cores are gone.” Not to mention I’d really rather not have more blood to clean off the floor.
Dominic eyed me with disbelief, but he didn’t comment, just went to get a chair from the kitchen table to sit on.
Shirley came over and shoved a bottle of water into my hand, then she sat next to Nicky and made Tucker prop him up against his shoulder so they could get some water into him.
I kept one hand on Simon as I told Dominic and the others about the fight.
Shirley glared at me to remind me to drink my water, and she brought me another bottle when the first one was empty.
Dominic kept his face expressionless the entire time I spoke, but when I finished, he rubbed his jaw and shook his head. “Y’all were fucking lucky.”
“Trust me, I’m aware.”
One of the Hunters took photos of everything before they wrapped the dead vampires in some tarps and took them away. Dominic told me they’d be doing a reconstruction of the fight for training purposes. I shuddered. I didn’t want to know.
“Okay, if you’re done with me, I want to move Simon to my bedroom so I can give him some blood and get him cleaned up a bit.”
“I’ll help carry him.” Tucker started to stand, but Shirley put a hand on his shoulder.
“Stay with Nicky. He needs a familiar face if he wakes up. I’ll carry Simon.”
Dominic got up from his chair. “Do you want me to leave some Hunters here overnight?” He examined the blood and goo on my floor and the bullet holes in my walls. “Or we can take y’all to a hotel.”
“No. We’ll be fine. The danger’s over and tomorrow’s soon enough to clean up.” I needed to be in my own space with Simon. No, I needed Simon to be in my space.
Dominic followed the rest of the Hunters out the door, and the house was quiet again. I stood, wishing I were strong enough to carry Simon myself. I gestured at Jackson and Nicky. “Do you think we should move them too?”
Tucker gave me a horrified look. He pointed at Jackson’s neck. “We don’t know if that’s even... together!”
I shut my eyes. “Okay, yeah. Sorry, I’m tired.”
“I’ll order some pizza or something.”
I swallowed. If Tucker could think about eating right after discussing what might happen if we moved Jackson, more power to him. Maybe I’d be hungry by the time the food actually arrived.
Shirley carried Simon up the stairs to my bedroom. I put a towel over the pillows until I could clean his poor head, and she helped me get his shoes and jeans off. His shirt was covered in blood, so she just shredded it with her claws to remove it.
I got a couple of damp washcloths from the bathroom, and Shirley and I wiped the worst of the blood from Simon’s face and neck.
His hair would be a problem for later, after he’d fed.
At least the hole in his skull wasn’t as large as it had been earlier.
I hoped the bullet would come out on its own, because I really didn’t want to figure out how to go in after it.
Once I’d removed my own blood-spattered jeans and shoes, I climbed onto the bed and positioned myself next to Simon’s head. “Okay, here goes.” Then I looked at my wrist. “Ugh. I forgot to bring a knife or something. Um, Shirley, would you mind using one of your claws to make a cut?”
She leaned over Simon and lifted his upper lip. “No need. His fangs are still mostly descended. If you use those, maybe it’ll trigger some of his feedin’ instincts.”
Huh. “Good idea.” She snorted and rolled her eyes.
“Hey! I’m sorry I’m not a vampire expert after only knowing Simon for a few days!
” Grumbling, I stuck my right thumb into the corner of Simon’s mouth and eased his jaw open.
“Don’t bite down, now. I need my fingers.
” I carefully scraped the inside of my left wrist against one of his fangs.
The skin parted almost painlessly, and blood welled up.
I pressed my wrist to his mouth, hoping Simon’s subconscious would take care of the rest.
After about thirty seconds of nothing happening, I stroked his throat. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was doing, but I’d seen a vet do something similar to a puppy he was trying to feed a milk bottle to on one of those animal rescue reality shows.
It worked! Well, something did. Simon started sucking on my wrist. I grinned up at Shirley. “He’s drinking.” And each pull seemed directly connected to my dick, but I wasn’t going to mention that to her. I dropped my free arm over my lap, hoping she wouldn’t be able to smell my arousal.
She smiled back. “Don’t let him take too much. I’ll get you some cookies or somethin’ to keep your blood sugar up until the pizza comes.”
“Thanks.” I wasn’t sure I had any cookies. Jackson had eaten quite a few last night before bed. Indeed, when Shirley reappeared, she was carrying a plate of butter crackers with jam on them, along with a large glass of ice water.
“This was the best I could do.”
“This is perfect, thank you. Any change in Jackson?”
“Not yet. Tucker cleaned the floor, though, and we put Nicky on some couch cushions right next to Jackson so he could lie down.”
I exhaled loudly. “That’s great. I was worried he’d get a crick in his neck.”
“Same. I’m gonna run downstairs, but when I get back, you’d better be done lettin’ him feed on you.” She raised an eyebrow at me. The same one she’d been raising at me for over forty years when I did something she didn’t quite approve of.
“Yes, Shirley.”
She sniffed and turned on her heel to leave the room.
Keeping an eye on my watch, I let Simon suck on my wrist for another five minutes. The blood in my throbbing dick counted off the seconds for me. When I pulled my wrist away, his lips and tongue tried to reach for more, but he quieted almost immediately.
I jumped out of bed and hurried into the shower to get cleaned up. I didn’t want to give Shirley an eyeful of my erection. Fuck, Simon needed to get better quickly, because I wanted to sex him up like now.
But was that even fair to him, if I was still planning on asking him to sever our bond? A piercing pain went through my chest as my magical core expressed its opinion of the idea.
But my magical core wasn’t in charge. I was still planning to ask him to sever it.
Right?
I didn’t have an answer I was happy with by the time I’d showered and put on clean clothes.
I mean, I wasn’t enough of a dumbass that I didn’t know Simon was a complete catch.
Why he thought I was the guy of his dreams, I didn’t understand.
But if I were to be mated to anyone, he was the one I wanted.
I was just having a hard time letting go of my desire to carve out some time to just be me. To be selfish for once.
And then there was the fact that we'd bonded so I could call a vision, which had turned out to be impossible.
I still felt horrible about putting Simon through all this for no reason.
Although, if I hadn't been bonded to Simon, I wouldn't have been able to see connections like vampires did, and Nicky might not have been able to help me kill the rogue vampires.
So in the end I guessed I could justify our temporary bonding. But if we were going to sever it, we’d need to do it now, before we got even more emotionally entangled.
The bond and my magical core vehemently let me know they did not approve of that idea, and this time the pain lasted even longer than before.