CHAPTER 25
Lena groaned as she slowly returned to consciousness. She felt sore everywhere and couldn’t immediately remember why. She wanted to open her eyes, but her strength had deserted her. Nothing appeared to work.
“Lena, are you okay? Please, sweetie, talk to me.”
For a moment her addled brain couldn’t figure out who was speaking, though the voice sounded familiar.
Then it came rushing back, all of it. Gauge had stung her, but something had gone terribly wrong.
She remembered feeling such pleasure as she had never known before, but then Gauge’s worry had crept in, distracting her.
Then pain, horrible pain. As if every muscle in her body had locked up.
“Oh, Lena, we are so sorry. Seraphym had to shock Gauge, but the two of you were still connected and I guess the shock went through you too. Please tell me you’re okay.
Your uncle is beside himself. It was all we could do to keep him from frying Gauge’s ass.
He still might if you don’t wake up soon. ”
She could hear the soft rustle of Aaliyah’s beads and knew it was her speaking. Lena swallowed hard and tried to clear her throat. She couldn’t open her eyes yet, but she might be able to say a few words. “I . . . I’m okay. Not hurt.”
“Oh, thank God. Let me go get your uncle.”
Lena took a deep breath, feeling as if even her lungs hurt. Hopefully she wouldn’t start to cough as she didn’t really want to move at all.
“Seraphym, slow down. You’ll scare the poor girl.”
Lena almost chuckled. It was her uncle’s mate scolding him. Nobody in their clan would ever have dared, but this little Catalan female had him wrapped around her finger.
“Lena, are you okay? Aaliyah said you finally woke up,” Seraphym said. She flinched when he grabbed her shoulder, shaking it lightly. “I’m sorry. Are you in pain?”
“Not if I don’t move,” she murmured, not sure if it was loud enough for anyone to hear.
“What do you mean by that?” Seraphym growled. “Did the vampire hurt you?”
Lena sighed, knowing she would have no choice but to open her eyes. She almost sighed again when she realized someone had anticipated this. She could tell by the flickering light that it was only a fire lighting up the room. “Gauge didn’t hurt me, Uncle. I’m not sure why I’m so sore.”
“Well, I do,” Samantha said sarcastically. “You got hit with a pretty hefty dose of electricity. Enough to knock both you and Gauge out. I’d say that’d be enough to make anyone sore. I’ll try to refrain from calling out the dumbass who did it. He panicked and jumped the gun.”
Seraphym growled, the sound coming from deep in his chest. Lena knew this meant he was very angry. “Gauge deserved it. He did not tell me the shock would go through to my niece.”
“As I said, you jumped the gun, sweetheart. I could have told you to wait until they were separated, but oh no, the mighty Seraphym wasn’t going to listen to anyone, especially his mate.”
Seraphym released another low growl.
Lena turned her head enough to see her uncle kneeling beside her, his wings rustling behind him. Someone had moved her out to the couch. “Where is—?” She had to stop to cough. “Where is Gauge?”
Samantha stepped up and stood behind Seraphym, her hand on his shoulder, her tone less sarcastic when she answered.
“He’s still in the bedroom. We called Jax down just to be safe.
He’s got some special cuffs they’ve used to tie him up with.
He’s also keeping him drugged for now. We needed to make sure you were okay before we decided whether to transport him back to the ship. ”
“I’m fine. I don’t know why you think he would hurt me.”
“He told me he lost control, Lena,” Seraphym said, his tone not quite so growly now.
“He was taking your blood and he lost control. We were only worried about him asking for sex. None of us thought blood might be an issue.” He glanced behind him at Samantha.
“Gauge asked me for help. I told you that, Sam. I think he was afraid he might injure or kill Lena.”
“Take me to him. I’m not sure I can walk yet.”
Seraphym and Samantha continued to stare at each other, their expressions worried.
Samantha finally said, “Maybe you should wait for a little while, sweetie. We said Jax was keeping Gauge drugged, but he’s not all the way out.
Gauge is not acting himself. We don’t know what’s wrong, but something sure as hell is. ”
Lena swallowed again, her throat dry and sore. “Could I have a glass of water?”
“Sure, I’ll get it for you. Seraphym, why don’t you help your niece sit up. It might make her feel better.”
Lena groaned as her uncle put his arm beneath her back and lifted. “S-stop!” she screamed when her muscles began to cramp.
“What is it?” Seraphym asked, freezing with her halfway sitting up.
Lena couldn’t lift her arms, both of them locked up tight, her fingers twisting into odd positions. “Help me,” she gasped. Her body jerked as more muscles began to cramp.
“Oh shit,” Samantha said, and Lena heard a glass shatter. “I’ll get Jax.”
Lena screamed over and over as her guts began to twist into knots. Never had she felt pain like this before and she couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Had one electrical shock done this?
“Stand back,” a male voice said. “Let me take a look.”
“I don’t know if I want anymore of you vampires near my niece,” Seraphym snarled, his voice deep again, angry. “Look what your friend did to her.”
“Seraphym,” Samantha said, sounding more reasonable. “Gauge didn’t do anything that Lena didn’t want. You know that. He told us things could go wrong before they ever started this. You’re the one being unreasonable. Now let Jax take a look. Let’s see if he can figure out what’s wrong with her.”
Smoke curled from Seraphym’s nose, but Lena felt him release her. Another presence stepped close, though she couldn’t open her eyes to see who. Even her eyelids felt like they were cramping. If it didn’t stop soon, Lena knew she might beg them to kill her.
“I’m sorry you are in so much pain, young one.
Let me see if I can help you.” Gentle hands touched both sides of her temples, then fingers ran down the sides of her neck, her shoulders.
He made a humming sound, then came back to her temples.
“Gauge took more blood than he should have, but this is not what is causing this. The way your body is reacting is more like the start of a conversion. The muscles will cramp as the old blood is destroyed. Did Gauge feed you any of his own blood?”
“N-no,” she gasped.
“He warned us this might happen,” Samantha said. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
“I would like to try something. If she is going through a conversion, it might help. If she’s not, it won’t hurt anything.”
“What do you want to do?” Seraphym asked, sounding suspicious.
“I would like to give her blood. My blood.”
“No!” Seraphym snarled. “What if you make it worse?”
“What if he makes it better?” Samantha said, her tone soothing. Even through her pain, Lena almost laughed. Samantha knew her uncle well. She knew how to handle his anger.
“Lena,” Samantha said. “Do you want to try? This should be your decision.”
“Y-y-yes,” she said, knowing she would do anything to make this terrible pain stop.
She smelled the blood first, shocked by the intense hunger that followed. Then the warm, thick wetness was pressed against her lips. She didn’t hesitate to open her mouth, her teeth latching onto that wrist. Lena knew she would have held on to his arm with her hands if she could have used them.
“Easy, young one,” Jax said soothingly. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She whimpered, fighting to swallow the sweet liquid.
When had she ever thought of blood as sweet?
Leviathan were serpent shifters. Their males sometimes ate things bloody and raw while in their serpent form, but the females always cooked their meat first. She had never craved blood before.
It felt warm as it hit her stomach, the warmth immediately spreading out.
Almost instantly her muscles began to relax, making it easier to swallow.
As soon as she was able, Lena reached up to hold Jax’s wrist in place, half afraid he might rip it away.
“Well, this does answer our question,” Jax said, sounding in pain himself. “Her transition so far is not quite so violent as it is with humans. Her mental shields are down, allowing me to hear her thoughts. She is thinking with reason instead of being driven insane with pain and bloodlust.”
“Does this mean she’ll become a vampire?” Samantha said.
“To be honest, I don’t know,” Jax replied.
“That would be my guess, but I have never heard of a serpent being converted. But then again, I’ve never heard of a Laizahlian mating outside of our own species.
The few human mates recently found on Earth already had Laizahlian DNA.
We are in new territory with Lena and Gauge. ”
Lena moaned as the blood in her stomach began to grow hot, but she couldn’t seem to make herself stop drinking, her small fangs sinking into Jax’s flesh when he started to pull away.
“You will make yourself sick if you take too much too fast, young one. I promise we will give you more as soon as we know you can keep this down. Now release me.”
Lena wanted to obey, she did, but she couldn’t. She bit down harder when Jax first entered her mind, but he was far too powerful for her to keep him out.
“Release me,” he said, and this time there was power behind the voice.
Lena let go, collapsing back against the couch. She immediately felt sick and rolled over, puking into the basket someone held beneath her.
“Is this normal?” Seraphym asked. “Why did your blood make her sick?”
“I’ve only witnessed converted humans, but this was a normal reaction for them.
She took too much blood too fast. We’ll be more careful next time.
Lena should feed from Gauge next. She needs to replace the blood Gauge took with Laizahlian blood to start.
After that, she can take more from any of you. ”