Chapter 6
Chapter Six
M ikael couldn’t stop himself. He knew that Collin would taste good, but fuck, he’d never expected this. From the instant the first drop of Collin’s blood touched Mikael’s tongue, Mikael’s entire world narrowed down to nothing except for the sweet, addictive flavor of his prey and the soft gasping noises escaping Collin’s throat.
He couldn’t get enough.
The taste of him was like nothing else Mikael had ever experienced, and it made him feel like a fledgling again, like a fresh vampire who couldn’t control his urges. He’d forgotten what it felt like to be so consumed by his thirst, to lose his mind to the need for blood. His fangs itched with hunger, and he could feel himself slipping, falling, giving in to its call.
He drank deeper, drawing more of this delicious liquid into his mouth, swallowing down every single drop. He was vaguely aware that Collin was shaking and that Collin’s grip on him tightened, nails biting into skin as he clung desperately to Mikael, but the knowledge barely even registered. Nothing mattered except this incredible feeling of ecstasy and bliss that filled Mikael’s body. He wanted to drink more, drink forever, and it wasn’t until Collin went limp in his arms that Mikael realized that he’d gone too far.
That Collin couldn’t stay upright.
Mikael pulled back abruptly.
Collin slumped forward, and Mikael caught him before he fell to the ground, holding him up and cradled against his body, staring down at Collin’s face, pale from loss of blood. He wasn’t conscious, and his pulse fluttered dangerously weak in his throat, reminding Mikael of what he’d done. How much he’d taken.
Shit.
What the fuck was wrong with him?
He’d gotten so lost in the sensation of drinking Collin’s blood, that he’d completely lost track of everything else and nearly taken Collin’s life.
“No,” he whispered, his throat closing up. This was bad. This was worse than bad. He hadn’t even meant to do it, and it had almost cost Collin’s life. “Fuck…”
Panicking, he picked the boy up in his arms and held him close as he turned on his heels and hurried back into the club.
He’d acted like a fucking baby vampire during his first feeding, and like a baby vampire, he rushed to find his sire.
“Mordyn!” he called as he entered the building, though his voice was swallowed up by the noise of the club.
He didn’t care about the stares that the patrons shot his and Collin’s way.
“Mordyn!” he shouted again, searching for his sire among the crowd of dancers on the dance floor.
Finally, he spotted Mordyn’s purple-streaked silver hair to the side of the club, where he stood talking to a very attractive young lady.
Mikael elbowed his way through the crowd to get to him, thanking his lucky stars that his sire always chose hair colors that made him stand out. Mordyn frowned when he laid eyes on Mikael. “What happened?” he demanded immediately, striding over to get a better look at Collin.
“He needs medical assistance,” Mikael said quickly, not bothering to explain the situation in detail. “Now.”
Mordyn’s eyes flickered over Collin and then returned to Mikael’s face.
Mikael could read in his expression that he had questions, but that could wait.
“That’s a case for Sterling, don’t you think?”
Of course. Sterling was the coven’s doctor and if Mikael had thought instead of panicking, he would have reached that conclusion himself. “Right,” he managed to choke out.
Mordyn put his hand on Mikael’s shoulder, squeezing briefly. “It’s alright. Come.”
With a quick gesture, he motioned for Mikael to follow him as he headed toward the stairs. They went down, leaving behind the music and the crowd until they reached the private part of the building where the coven members lived. Mordyn led him to the small infirmary, which honestly, they only kept around for emergencies like this.
Accidents happened on busy club nights.
Mikael had never had to bring anyone here, though. He had perfect control of himself, and he never bit anyone while drunk.
But obviously, his control was not as perfect as he’d thought it was.
Sterling looked up as they entered. His expression shifted to one of concern as he noticed the unconscious Collin in Mikael’s arms.
Quickly, the doctor gestured at the closest bed. “Lay him down.” He didn’t bother asking what happened, could probably tell just by looking at Collin and the guilty expression on Mikael’s face.
As soon as Collin was on a flat surface, he started working. His movements were quick and efficient as he checked Collin’s vitals and hooked him up to an IV line. “What is he?”
“What do you mean?” Mikael asked.
“Shifter? Mage?” Sterling suggested. “You had his blood, you should know.”
“I don’t know,” Mikael admitted. “He doesn’t taste like a mage or a shifter. He doesn’t taste like anything else I've ever had.”
Sterling raised an eyebrow as he continued examining Collin. “Well, he needs a blood transfusion. I’ll give him mage blood for now. At worst, it’ll make him a little loopy.”
“Will he be okay?”
Sterling looked at him like a headmaster might look at a student who’d done something exceptionally stupid. “He won’t die.” He sighed as he checked Collin’s blood type and started a transfusion.
Mikael fidgeted, wishing there was something he could do. “I… Thank you. For your help.”
“Don’t thank me. Just try not to make a habit of bleeding your playthings out on our premises.”
Plaything.
The word stung Mikael in a way he hadn’t anticipated. Collin was not his plaything. “I didn’t mean to hurt him. It wasn’t like that.”
“I’m sure.”
Mikael gritted his teeth at Sterling’s tone, but at least the man was helping Collin, so he swallowed his pride and his urge to explain himself further.
“He’ll need to stay overnight, but I’m sure he will be fine eventually. You can leave now.”
The idea of simply turning on his heel and walking away made Mikael’s stomach twist uncomfortably.
Mordyn stepped up to him then. “Let’s go to my room,” he suggested. “We need to talk.”
Talking wasn’t really what Mikael felt like doing, but Mordyn didn’t wait for his answer and just walked out of the infirmary, and Mikael knew that he was expected to follow—and that he wasn’t in a position to argue with his sire.
“You can come back to check on him later,” Mordyn said out in the hall, as if to reassure him. “But for now, I want you to focus on yourself. What happened?”
Mordyn’s question sounded innocent enough, but there was an edge of warning to his voice. As if he was saying that Mikael’s explanation had better be satisfying.
“I’m not entirely sure,” Mikael admitted as they reached Mordyn’s room, and the door fell closed behind them. “I didn’t plan this.”
“I figured as much.” Mordyn gave him a stern look as he sat down in his favorite chair. “Sit.” He gestured at the couch across from him, and Mikael obeyed, sinking down into the cushions. It had been a good long time since he’d had to come here for a lecture, but the decor of the room hadn’t changed at all.
There was a desk, some shelves with various magical knickknacks that Mikael could never quite figure out, like a toaster that was supposed to toast ice cubes and a pair of shoes that could walk themselves and ended up in a different corner of the room every time Mikael visited.
Mordyn liked weird things.
But he’d still want an explanation for the weird way Mikael had acted tonight.
“Your victim tonight was the streamer you told me about, wasn’t he?” Mordyn prompted.
Mikael swallowed and nodded. “Yes.”
“And you weren’t planning on draining him, so why did you?”
If Mikael only knew how to explain this. The truth was he wasn’t sure. “The way his blood tasted…” He searched for words. “It wasn’t like fae blood or mage blood, or even like shifter blood, which is my favorite. It was my favorite, anyway. Collin’s blood is better than that. So much better. I couldn’t stop myself.”
“So you lost your mind because of a tasty treat?” The words held a note of amusement, but there was a serious undercurrent.
Mikael grimaced. “It’s not a joke.” It was embarrassing, being reduced to this. “It just hit me unprepared.”
Mordyn studied Mikael’s face thoughtfully. “Were you particularly hungry?”
Mikael shook his head. “A little, but no more than usual.” Mikael thought back to the moment he’d shared with Collin outside the club. He’d wanted to bite the man so badly, not because he was hungry, but because he was Collin, and Mikael had been fantasizing about biting him for weeks. “He didn’t even smell particularly tasty.”
“What did he smell like?”
“Cheap cologne.”
“Nothing else?”
Mikael thought hard. In the end, though, he came up blank. “I don’t know what he is. He doesn’t smell or taste like anything I know.” Mikael ran a hand through his hair in frustration, gripping the strands tightly. “I don’t know what got into me.”
“Incidents like this aren’t like you,” Mordyn said. “You’re not a fledgling anymore. Your self-control is good enough for you to go on stream.” He paused and his expression hardened, betrayed only by a glint of sympathy in his eyes. “Don’t turn blood into your new drug.”
Mikael swallowed. Mordyn had turned him when he’d been twenty-two–a young, reckless idiot who’d been saved from the consequences of his overdose only by the vampire who happened to attend the same party. Mikael didn’t remember the incident clearly anymore, but he knew he’d gotten hold of a cocktail of drugs that would have killed a person twice his size, and that he hadn’t cared because he’d been chasing a high… because he’d wanted to self-destruct.
But if he went chasing highs as a vampire it wasn’t himself he would destroy.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and lowered his gaze to the floor. His sire had taught him better than this, and he was right to be disappointed. “It won’t happen again.”
“I’m counting on that.” Mordyn stood up and crossed the distance between them in two strides. He sat down next to Mikael, reaching for his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “I never regretted taking a chance on you, kid. Now stop looking so grim and get up. You can go back to the infirmary, wait for your crush to wake up and apologize.”
Mikael nodded and stood up, forcing himself to smile, even if it wasn’t entirely sincere. “Thanks… for understanding.”
Mordyn shrugged. “While you’re in the infirmary, you can also figure out what that boy’s deal is. You say he doesn’t taste like anything you know? I’m intrigued.”
That made two of them.
Mikael’s mind wandered back to the moment he’d bitten Collin, to the sweet sensation of warm blood filling his mouth, taking over his senses, taking over his goddamned mind.
He only hoped Collin wasn’t going to hate him for what he’d done.