Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Samantha
“Samantha,” a voice calls.
“Sweetheart,” Rafael chokes out.
“Samantha, darling… ease up,” Santiago says and runs his hand over my hair and caresses my neck. “Nice and easy, let go.” His thumb runs over my cheek and jaw over and over again. It distracts me enough that I ease my fangs a bit and curl my hand into his hair instead of hitting Rafael again.
“That’s it, beautiful. Come back to us. Easy,” Santiago keeps murmuring and massages my jawline. It’s only then I realize how tight it feels, almost painful.
“You are doing well, sweetheart. Now just pull back,” Rafael murmurs softly, but there’s pain in the layers of his voice.
That more than anything snaps me back to myself and my fangs slide free of his skin.
Horrified, I look at the deep gashes I made.
They are nothing like the previous pricks I left on him.
These are ugly, red tears that go down to his muscles.
I gasp, trying to jerk away, but he doesn’t let me go.
“Shh… It’s all right. They’ll mend soon. It’s all right,” he soothes me, while Santiago keeps running his hand over my hair and neck.
“Just relax, darling,” he murmurs. “We’ve got you.”
“Wh-what happened?” I stutter when they both press even closer.
“You got angry at Rafael and lost control,” Santiago says. I can’t detect any reprimand in his voice and when I turn to look at him, his expression is gentle. “After biting him, you let go of your venom. From the looks of it, yours is quite… potent.”
“I—”
“It’s all right, sweetheart,” Rafael interrupts me. “I should have taken better care of you.”
“We should have taken better care of you, little fangs.” Santiago jumps in and leans in to kiss my cheek. “Let’s get you to the bedroom so you can feed and rest. Expending all your venom like that is draining even to older vampires.”
As soon as he says it, I sense the exhaustion and slight stabs of hunger. I try to shake my head, but the men are already on the move. In no time, we are all back in Rafael’s bedroom and piled on the bed. They set me in the middle and worriedly look over me.
I apparently attacked Rafael with my venom and they are worried about me. Guilt drowns every other emotion I have and tears prickle in my eyes.
“It’s all right, Samantha,” Rafael says.
“No, no, it’s not.” I shake my head sharply.
“Yes, it is. Now, drink from Santiago so you’ll feel better. I need to work your venom out of my system before you can drink from me again and I’m not willing to wait that long for you to have a drink.”
“Yes, darling. Take from me,” Santiago murmurs and leans closer.
Panicking, I pull back and turn my head away.
“It’s all right, Samantha. You won’t harm him now. You have no venom left for a while.”
“No, no. I can’t!”
“Yes, you can.” Rafael tries to calm me.
“No!” I push at both of them hard enough that I get some space. “I won’t. I can’t.”
“Samantha—”
“I’ll get sick! I can’t drink from him.”
“What?”
“What do you mean sick? Vampires don’t get sick.” Santiago sounds worried and confused.
“I do.” I gasp. The panic brings the headache with it and the idea of Santiago’s blood makes me nauseous.
“I drank from a blood bag when I woke up and it hurt like hell… No, tasted my own blood first, right after I crashed through the first door. I didn’t mean to, but I was so hungry.
It was enough to make me sick. Then I found the blood bag—”
“Samantha, breathe,” Rafael says and gathers me back into his arms. I’m shaking and rubbing my temples, trying to organize my thoughts.
“I can’t drink from him. I can’t drink from anyone but Rafael.” I try desperately to explain so they don’t make me drink from Santiago. “Only him. Everything else makes me sick. It hurts so bad,” I manage to say between gasps and bury my face in Rafael’s chest.
“Shh, sweetheart,” he murmurs, soothingly rubbing my back.
“That’s why I got so angry. I realized I can’t drink from anyone else. Please don’t make me drink from Santiago. Please,” I plead with him.
“I won’t. Hush, sweetheart, look at me. I promise, I won’t force you,” he continues once our eyes meet.
“How did you realize that you can’t drink from me?” Santiago asks, and he’s now keeping more distance between us. “Earlier, you were eyeing my neck like it was your personal candy store.”
I take a couple of calming breaths and turn my face so I can look at him.
“When I had your finger in my mouth, I thought about taking a sip. I tried to prick you with my fangs, but something held me back. Then the nausea hit, just from the idea of drinking your blood. I didn’t have any problems thinking about sex with you or licking your skin from head to toe, but the idea of even a drop of your blood made me want to hurl my guts out. ”
Santiago’s face screws up, like he’s trying to hold back laughter, and I frown at him. This is not funny from where I’m sitting. He must realize that I’m getting pissed off again because he points behind me and I twist to look at Rafael.
“He…” Santiago chokes. “His face when you said you thought about licking me from head to toe.” He can’t hold it back anymore and chuckles. The scowl on Rafael’s face returns and my lips twitch. He doesn’t need to say a word for me to get the jealous vibe.
“I’d say you don’t have anything to worry about,” I say, poking at his chest. “But relationships and commitment weren’t high on my list when there was a definite end day in sight…
Now you’ve taken that away and tying myself to one man for eternity…
I want a buffet, and I’m not going to be stuck eating one thing for the rest of my life—undead life. Whatever.”
When his scowl turns smug, I smack his chest, avoiding the gashes that are still open. “What?”
“Sounds to me like that’s exactly what you are going to do. You are going to drink my blood over and over and over again for the rest of your undead life.”
“Not very smart to antagonize her like that,” Santiago mutters.
I jerk away from Rafael and crawl to sit in Santiago’s lap.
“You seem to be the smarter one of the two of you. Since he’s being a jerk right now, how about you give me those orgasms?” I suggest and tilt my head.
“Rafael, do you want to do some damage control here?” Santiago asks over my head.
Rafael pulls me back into his arms and leans to kiss my neck. “I’m sorry, Samantha,” he says. “Can you focus on something other than orgasms for just a moment, and I promise I’ll make it worth your while?”
I mull it over and find that it’s actually quite difficult to focus on anything.
“I’m not sure,” I mutter and snuggle closer.
I know I’m still pissed at him, but it seems I’m not able to focus on that either.
All my brain capacity is used to absorb the feeling of his lips trailing down my throat and I arch, giving him better access.
“She’s way more in control than I’ve ever seen a new vampire be.”
“She is still right here,” I mutter or moan when Rafael nibbles my neck.
“I’m sorry, little fangs. But you are acting more like a two-year-old than two days old. It’s messing with me,” Santiago replies.
Rafael heaves a sigh and pulls back. He cups my chin and lifts my gaze to meet his. “Will you explode on the walls if I sip from Santiago? I need blood to fight your venom off before I can feed you.”
“You don’t need to feed me.”
“Yes, I do,” he says at the same time as Santiago growls. He then looks sheepish but doesn’t back down.
“He needs to feed you. Please don’t make this difficult for us, little fangs. It might not be a full moon, but our instincts are still riding us hard.”
“I thought moon cycles were a werewolf thing?”
“They are.” He smiles.
“Wait! Are there werewolves here?” I squeak. Thea always said shifters are volatile and can smell blood from long distances.
“Don’t worry. No mongrel will accost you under my watch,” Santiago replies with a smile. “Now, will you stay calm or do we need to distract you first?”
“What… oh right, Rafael drinking from you.” My brain thankfully catches up because Santiago using the word distraction in his deep voice should be illegal.
“I’ll be honest, I have no idea how I feel about that.
” I turn to look between them and try to figure it out.
“Are you two lovers?” I blurt out and Rafael smiles.
I bet he can now hear the jealousy in my voice.
“No. We were turned by the same vampire. It’s complicated,” Rafael murmurs.
“Not that we haven’t—”
“Not the time,” Rafael snaps at Santiago. It seems that they can’t decide whose turn it is to be the idiot. I raise my hand like in school.
“Yes, darling?” Santiago asks.
“I sort of get why Rafael is acting the way he is, but why are you…”
“Acting all possessive, protective, and like a general pain in the ass?” Rafael provides.
“Yep, that,” I agree.
Santiago laughs. “I feel a pull toward you, and you were turned by Rafael, so there’s a connection there too.
To top it off, you are a new vampire. We are hardwired to take care of the ones we turn, most of the time…
Anyway, I would hazard a guess that it is all those things and the fact that I can feel Rafael’s desperate need to take care of you seeping into our bond. ”
“So it doesn’t have anything to do with me, per se?” I’m not sure if I find that reassuring or not.
Santiago’s eyes frost over, the green fading behind gray. “It has everything to do with you, little fangs. Don’t kid yourself.”
“But you said—”
My protest gets muffled under his lips. Santiago kisses me hard, not giving me time to process one feeling before a new one surfaces. My eyes slide shut and I clutch at his shoulders. I see stars when his fangs scrape my bottom lip and my body jumps into overdrive.
Rafael decides to join in and kisses my neck. “Samantha,” he whispers. “You need to feed from me soon. Can you hold back so I can take blood from Santiago first?”