Chapter 46
Chapter Forty-Six
I click my tongue annoyed, while Addie slides some food over to me and a plastic fork. I start eating while Addie watches me.
"Why are you looking at me like I am dinner?" I ask, and she chuckles.
"Sorry, I can smell them on you. Demons are a breed of their own. Latham drove me insane when he stayed with us for a few days."
"I don't mind them."
"Well, of course not. They are your mates or taints, whatever the heck their demon lovers are called." She shivers before grabbing her Chinese dish and eating some noodles.
"So, when are they going to change you?"
"Huh?"
"You know, make you immortal. They wouldn't have tainted you if they didn't plan on keeping you around."
"Unsure. I barely gave it much thought."
"But you have thought of it?"
I nod, chewing slower. I am not really sure what it involves, but I know I want to be with them.
"Well…" She reaches into her bra, pulls out a vial, and offers it to me.
"Breast blood. Gee, thanks. So thoughtful of you," I tell her. Taking the vial, I look at it. She laughs softly and points at it.
"Just in case," Addie says.
"Why hasn't it congealed?" I ask her, and she shrugs.
"I am a vampire, not a supernatural specialist. I have no idea, and it won't. It must be something with vampire DNA or something. I will have to ask Cyrus. That man is like a supernatural encyclopedia."
I sigh. "So I drink this, and then I become like you?"
"Ah, no. Um… they didn't explain?"
"They may have, but lately, I am having trouble with what is real and what is not," I tell her, placing it in my handbag.
"Maybe I should let them tell you," she says, chewing her lip.
"Honestly, I am just glad to be away from them, even if it is only for a few hours."
"Why? I can't stand being away from mine too long."
"Just nice to be on my own, without them meddling with my emotions and feelings and making me.."
"Horny?" Addie chuckles.
I clear my throat awkwardly. "Yep, that would be the word."
"Well, you drink it, then they just gotta break ya neck, and voila, you are a vampire."
I choke on a piece of chicken. Addie jumps up in a panic and pats my back. I wave her off, managing to swallow it down. I reach for the water bottle and drink some, washing the spicy satay chicken down.
"Maybe you should drink it now. I would prefer it if you didn't die at work. That would be way too much paperwork," Addie laughs, and I chuckle.
I process her words. I would die, but then undie? Yet as shocking as it sounds, it honestly doesn't scare me as much as I thought it would. Honestly, my life can't get any crazier.
"You can have kids afterward, right? You had your son?"
"You want kids?"
"I don't know. Can demons have kids?"
She shrugs. "Latham said he has a brother, so I assume they can."
"Once in this form, your body can't change, so you would have to have kids before you transition, but—"
"But what?"
"I am not sure they will wait that long."
"What makes you say that?"
"Latham isn't like other demons, Bella. He can be dangerous."
"I know that, but I don't need to change right now; maybe I could in a few years. I am not that old yet."
Addie nods, but I can tell she doesn't think that would happen. I scratch my thigh. That burning itch started about an hour after I got here. I don't know what is happening with Xavier's mark or these damn stockings, but I have been scratching that spot like crazy.
"Speak to them," she says before returning to her food.
We wat in silence, and afterward, I clean up my desk and head down to my car.
Rummaging for my keys, my fingers brush the vial, and I pinch it between my fingers and look at it.
Shaking my strange mood away, I grab my keys and look up to unlock my car when I notice Tank, my brother's friend leaning against the shop wall across from me.
He waves and a creepy smile splits onto his face.
"I told you I would come to get you," Latham says, making me jump as he wraps his arms around me. I look up at him before looking back at Tank; only he is gone. I glance up the street in both directions, but he is nowhere.
"What's wrong?" Latham asks, plucking my keys from my fingers.
"Nothing, I just thought I saw my brother's friend," I tell him.
"Where?"
"Doesn't matter, let's get home," I tell him, opening the passenger door and climbing in.
"Why didn't you wake us?" Latham growls as he starts my car.
"I am not a baby. I don't need you holding my hand, and it's not my fault you slept all day," I snap back at him, not liking his tone. My leg itches and burns again, and I scratch at it. My stocking irritates my thigh worse.
"You shouldn't have left. Demons kind of hibernate after marking. Some call it nesting, fazing. You should have remained with us," he says, and I can feel his annoyance, like I’ve done something wrong. I scratch my leg, Xavier's mark burning hotter.
What the fuck is wrong with my leg?
Halfway home, the burning itch becomes too much, and I yank my skirt up.
Latham glances at me questionably, but I shake my head before forcing the stockings down my leg.
Only when I do, Latham jerks the car to a stop on the side of the road, and I gasp.
Xavier's mark is glowing red on my pale skin.
And the faint scar on my leg earlier is now black as coal.
Latham grips my knee, pulling my legs open to look at it, and he growls, making goosebumps rise on my arms.
"Latham?"
"That's not possible."
"Ah, it itches," I whine, scratching at it.
"I need to get you back home," Latham says, pulling back onto the road, his foot jamming on the accelerator, making me lurch forward in my seat.