Awakening (The Magic of the Black Forest Book 2) (15 page)

Lying on my back, I could feel a stitch or two had ripped open on my thigh. It felt like it was bleeding so I pulled a cover over myself, hoping to dull the odor. It only took a few seconds for me to start to drift off again.

I woke up on my belly to Bradley whispering, “Natalia, please forgive me,” right before I felt his lips press against my thigh.

Bradley licked and suckled on the open wound on my thigh, and it turned me on. I realized that I should have stopped him, but I couldn’t. My heart rate accelerated and my breathing quickened. My hips gyrated, reacting to his touch.

Slowly, his hand moved up the inside of my other thigh. My breath shuddered, anticipating his next move. One then two fingers slid up into my pussy. Moaning, my hands clutched my pillow, while I pushed against his hand, pushing his fingers deeper. Whimpering, my hips moved in sync with his hand, in and out. The pleasure had me wanting more, wanting his cock inside me.

“Bradley, please…” my voice strangled by the intensity of his touch, “I need you inside me.”

Pulling his fingers out, they dug into my left thigh and his lips pressed harder against the wound on my right thigh. The sound of him sucking my blood filled the air. Reaching down I grabbed him by the hair, trying to pull him off. At first he growled, resisting my request. I said his name again, pulling at his hair, trying to get him to look up at me.

When our eyes finally met, the gold star around the pupil of his blue green eyes looked red. And, although he was looking at me, I got the distinct feeling he didn’t see me. A chill ran up my spine at the thought.

Bradley, cupping my breasts with his hands, squeezed them together, teasing and tantalizing them with his mouth and tongue. Again, I gave into his ministration, wanting to feel his touch.

My hands explored his luscious body. He positioned himself between my legs then, unlike anything he ever did before, he jammed his shaft aggressively into me. I gasped, stunned by his unusual behavior. The shocked look on my face didn’t stop him from pushing himself in and out vigorously. As he moved his hips, his eyes held mine with an empty stare. When I saw his wicked vampire smile, I realized he’d lost control of the vampire within.

When he said my name in a tantalizing seductive way, I immediately became aroused.

“Aren’t you enjoying this?” he asked. But, before I could respond he pressed his lips roughly against mine.

My body started moving with his as I clawed at his back to pull him tighter to me. The need to be held tighter had me pleading, “
Tighter Bradley, tighter.
” He did as I requested while pushing harder and deeper into my core. Losing control, my moans grew louder.

Suddenly, he jumped off, flipped me over onto my stomach and entered me from behind. Pulling my hips up towards him, he continued to thrust inside me. Although I didn’t like what was happening I couldn’t get myself to stop him. It felt too good. The fire was out of control and I was about to come. I tried to pull away so that we could look into each other’s eyes but he kept going, ignoring me thrusting his hips hard against my ass. Shoving me down onto the bed, he braced himself with my cheeks and thrust forcefully one last time. Screaming into the pillow, my orgasm ripped through me. His release followed.

When he didn’t immediately remove himself from me, I demanded he get off of me. He chuckled and did as I asked. I wrapped myself up in the blanket and went to the opposite side of the bed. I wasn’t angry with him, I was angry with myself. More like disgusted. Although I had enjoyed it, it hadn’t been intimate or satisfying. Not like when we made passionate love. He savaged me. I just wanted to go to sleep and start a new day tomorrow. It would be a day I would never speak about again. Not even to Bradley.

As I lay there in the dark, unable to sleep, I heard the sound of Bradley’s breathing change. It slowed, unlike before when it seemed to have some urgency to it.

“Natalia, please forgive me,” he said, placing his palm on my shoulder.

“No not again, Bradley. Not ever again. Not that way.” I firmly grabbed hold of my covers prepared to fight to keep myself covered up.

He rested his head on the back of mine, “I don’t know what got into me. It was like I was looking down on us, I couldn’t stop myself.” For a while he just laid with his head on mine, not making any other advances towards me.

“Natalia, I love you and I am so sorry. I thought I could make up for earlier when you wanted to be with me and I acted like such an idiot. You said you liked it before when it was your lip. But, I didn’t think about the size of the cut. I shouldn’t have allowed myself to feed on you. It was exactly as I feared it would be.”

He rolled away from me and sighed. “I’m so sorry I lost control with you.” Darting to the other side of the bed, I felt his hand brushing my hair from face, “Natalia, did I hurt you?”

When I opened my eyes, his head was down resting on his arm. I wasn’t mad at him, I was mad at myself for not stopping him, for letting him manhandle me that way. It ruined it. My eyes starting to tear up so I closed them again.

“Natalia, please? I know you’re not sleeping. This is driving me insane. Please tell me, did I hurt you?”

Hearing the agony in his voice made me long to comfort him, but instead I flicked my eyes open angrily. “I’m fine. I’m just tired.”

Before I knew it we were sitting in the rocking chair with me in his arms. He rubbed my back, apologizing over and over again. Feeling his arms lovingly wrapped around me made the tears start flowing. This was what I wanted and needed earlier.

“I’m so sorry, Nat…”

I cut him off from saying anything else. “Stop apologizing, Bradley. It’s just as much my fault as it is yours. I should have stopped you but I didn’t. On top of that, even though I didn’t like what you were doing, I still enjoyed it. What’s even worse is when it was finally over we didn’t finish in each other’s arms gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes. You got off me because I told you to and you laughed at me. You treated me like I was some girl you picked up at the bar.” The words flew out of my mouth before I even thought about what I was saying. The moment my words hit home, Bradley’s posture stiffened. We sat quietly, rocking back and forth. Eventually, I cried myself to sleep in his arms.

***

When I woke the room was bright with sunlight. Bradley’s arms were wrapped tightly around me with my face buried in his chest. He was fully clothed. I pulled him in closer wishing him a good morning. It felt like it was going to be a good day.

“Good morning.” He kissed the top of my head. “Natalia, I am so sorry about last night. Please forgive me.”

Until that moment I was feeling happy and had forgotten about last night. And, after we had discussed it, it will be forgotten again.

“Bradley, there’s nothing to forgive. We both made mistakes we’ll have to live with. How about we agree to never do that again?” Wanting him to know I was serious, I looked up at him. “Please let's never discuss it again… Please promise me.”

“I am sorry and I do promise it will never happen again.” He kissed me softly. “How about we see what our guests are doing?”

“Okay.” I got up and stretched. My body ached all over and my thigh burned. I twisted and looked at it and, from my point of view, it didn’t look too good. “Bradley, could you please take a look at my thigh?”

Slowly rubbing down his face with both hands told me it was bad.

“Natalia, I am so sorry.” When he ran his fingers roughly through his hair and begging for forgiveness, I knew it was far worse than I imagined.

“What, did I rip another stitch?”

“There are no stitches left. I think Jesse will have to stitch you back up.” He was about to turn and walk out the door when I stopped him.

“Bradley, please bring me the poultice we used on my lip so I can try to heal it with magic.” Until now, I’d forgotten the key ingredient to the spell, the potion. Silently, I hoped that was reason I couldn’t heal myself yesterday. “From now on we’ll heal all my wounds with magic.”

“Good idea. I’ll be right back.” He returned within seconds. “I’m glad we decided to make up a few batches for moments such as this.” He grinned shyly.

“It’s nice to see you smile. Please put it on then I’ll do the spell.” Immediately the spell and potion healed my wound, the aching pain disappeared. “How’s it look?”

“Good. We forgot the key ingredient yesterday, didn’t we?”

I nodded.

“It won’t happen again. Now let's go before I feel the need to examine the rest of your body.”

That made me giggle and blush.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too, Bradley.”

Chapter 7

Tonight, the plan that the guys had come up with would finally be put into action. It required Bradley to be away for a few days so that they could prepare. That part I didn’t like; us being apart was worrisome. It made me nervous. It made us both nervous.

A few of Dave and Bradley’s trustworthy friends were trailing our targets and confirmed that Andrew was out of state while Anthony was in the next town.

Knowing that we were free to wander without looking over our shoulder every five seconds, Bradley and I decided we needed to spend some quality alone time together while everyone else went home to start their preparations.

Since this could potentially be our last day together, I wanted to make it special, especially after yesterday. We took a long, slow walk into the woods before Bradley lifted me into his arms for a quick run. We ended up in our backyard where we decided to take a rest and relax in each other’s arms with the sun shining down on us.

We were having so much fun it felt like old times, before Andrew and Anthony came into our lives. We wrestled and flirted with each other. Of course, this all led to us having wild passionate sex right there in the middle of our backyard. Bradley made sure that everything was as it should be, ensuring there was no repeat of last night. The day had been perfect so far.

We lay naked, in each other’s arms, when out of nowhere he asked, “Natalia, do you remember what my mother said about me changing completely?”

We were so consumed with all the Andrew and Anthony drama that I had forgotten about it. “Yes. Though I’m not quite sure what she meant.” Caressing his scruffy jawbone with my finger, I stared adoringly into his beautiful eyes.

He slowly moved his fingers from my neck down to my belly where he traced the outer circle of my belly button, raising goose bumps. “The reason I’m going with Dave is to have him change me. Completely.” Once I realized what he meant by ‘change’ my body tensed and my eyes grew wide. “Dave and Jesse did some research. Since I’m already half vampire, it shouldn’t take too long for me to change. They’re thinking about a day or so.”

Is that even possible?
That thought left my mind the moment the memories of yesterday returned. When he gave into his inner vampire, it sent fear through my entire body. Rubbing my brow I asked, “Is that what your mom meant?” Uncertain about his decision I tried not to overact.

“Yes, it’s the only way that I’m aware of changing completely. It’s the best way to protect you.” He cupped his hand over my cheek. “Please don’t be frightened. It will be okay. I promise.”

I wanted to tell him how I really felt, but decided that it would be selfish to say anything. If becoming a vampire would save his life then it needed to be done. Even if it meant we could no longer be together, it wouldn’t matter because he’d be safe.

“If you think it’s what you need to do, then I’ll stand by you no matter what. I love you, Bradley.” A kiss, soft at first, deepened passionately and took my breath away.

“I love you, too, my sweet Natalia.”

***

As night started to fall upon us, Bradley insisted that we go back to the house. Lifting and cradling me in his arms, Bradley ran back to the house. It’s exhilarating to feel the wind against my face.

Everyone arrived at the house shortly after we did.

Sitting on Bradley’s lap, I held his hand tightly while we all discussed the plans one last time. Even though I was afraid that I might never see Bradley again, I knew he had to go.

We said our tender goodbyes.

“Natalia, please promise me you’ll be careful,” he pleaded with troubled eyes.

“I promise. Now you promise to come back home to me.” Naturally, tears blurred my vision.

“You’ll never know I left.” He chuckled.

“I doubt that. Please, Bradley, promise to come home to me and I promise that I’ll be here waiting.”

“I promise to see you in two days or less. I love you. You are everything to me.” He kissed me as if to leave me a reminder of what was to come when he returned.

“I love you and expect to be kissed like that again upon your return home.” I smiled shyly as my cheeks burned with embarrassment.

“I love it when you blush.” He gently touched my left cheek with the back of his right hand then turned and ran out the front door, followed closely by Dave and Cheryl.

Since there was someone watching Andrew and Anthony at all times, we felt comfortable leaving me alone for the night. Plus, I had Seager and my magic to protect me.

Colleen and Jesse left shortly after the other three, promising to be back tomorrow. “Whatever you do Nat, don’t go outside,” Jesse reminded me.

“I won’t,” I promised before hugging them goodbye, saying, “Take care of each other. Be safe.”

That evening I thought about Bradley and wondered how things were going, eventually falling asleep on the couch. In the early morning hours before the sun rose, I awoke to the sound of chimes. Still dark as night, I peek through the curtain and couldn’t see anything.

Lying back down on the couch, I lay awake listening to the strange eerie sounds coming from my backyard. Thoughts of Andrew and Anthony had me on edge. What if they were able to get away from the people Bradley had tracking their every move?

Noticing Seager’s unusual behavior, pacing back and forth, nails tapping on the tile floor, between the back door and window, I sat up. His whines and growling became urgent, warning me that someone or something was out back.

To protect him, I refused to let him out to investigate. If I lost him, I would never recover.

“
Can you see anything?
”

“
No.”

Since neither of us could see who or what was out there making all that noise I decided to investigate it on my own.

Of course Seager wasn’t happy about that,
“You promised, Nat,
” he reminded.

“
It’ll be okay.
” As the words left me, my stomach clenched. That was never a good sign.

I’d forgotten that we still hadn’t set up the lights outback. With no moon lighting up the night, it was pitch black and scary. Walking down the steps I considered using my magic to see into the darkness, but not knowing who was actually out there, it wasn’t safe.

Several feet away from the bottom step, I felt it; I knew I was in danger. Immediately I regretted not listening to Seager, and my gut.

There was someone or something out there, stalking me. A chill raced up my spine. Turning, I ran back to the house. But, before I got up the steps someone grabbed me from behind and I screamed. It threw me to the ground, knocking the wind out of me.

“Seager, help me.”
Even when speaking with telepathy, my voice shook.

Anthony stood over me. “Hello, Natalia. Miss me?”

“No,” I grunted trying to kick him away from me.

“Stopping fighting. Why don’t you take a walk with me?” Grabbing a fistful of my hair, he started dragging me towards the trees.

Using my craft, I murmured a spell to force his hand open, to release my hair.

“What the hell is hap…” Before he finished his question, I sent him flying through the air. When he landed, he cried out.

Hearing the sound of a window being smashed, I turned and saw Seager landing on the patio. Growling viciously, he raced past me and went after Andrew, attacking his feet.

“SEAGER,” I yelled over my shoulder, running back to the house. Thankfully, he listened.

With us both safely in the house, I knelt down beside Seager, “Are you okay?” My voice cracked from worry. After making sure Seager had no injuries, my nerves settled.

To keep him from getting into the house, to us, I chanted a spell that would reinforce the shield.

Wheezing, I realized I wasn’t as lucky as Seager. Once again, my actions had a price. The shortness in breath made me lightheaded. Holding my ribs, trying to inhale deeply to catch my breath, pained me. Knowing we were still in danger, I went and stood next to Seager, who was looking out of the back window.

“
Are you okay?
”

“
I will be.
”

“
If you hurt yourself…
”

“
Please don’t worry about me. I’m okay.
”

We watched in horror as Anthony repeatedly tried to break through the protection shield. Unsure of what to do, I called Jesse.

“Jesse, Anthony is here. Please hurry. He’s trying to get in the house.”

“We’re on our way, Nat. STAY IN!” he yelled.

Well, it was too late for that. I already went out and in doing so, made a mess of things. Anthony, getting angrier by the minute, now knew that I was different than other humans, that I wasn’t normal. They had to hurry we couldn’t let him get away especially now.

To keep him here until Jesse and Colleen arrived, I decided to taunt him by standing in front of the broken window.

Throwing his head back he laughed loudly. “Soon,” he pointed at me, “you’ll be suffering, praying for me to end your life.” Again he slammed against the shield, trying to break through.

“You can’t get to me, Anthony. You’re too weak to break through my shield. You’re a weak, poor excuse of a vampire.” Taunting him, my laughter echoed through the trees.

The chimes rang again which meant Jesse and Colleen were here. Fearing he would run, I ran out onto the back porch. And, just as I thought, he tried running when he saw them coming up the drive.

Raising both my hands in the air lifted Anthony off the ground. Holding him there, he cussed and yelled, demanding I put him down.

Jesse drove around the side of the house, to the back. They both jumped out of the truck and started laughing.

“Looks like you caught yourself a slimy eel, Nat,” Colleen joked.

“Screw you, bitch,” Anthony spit out, his arms and legs flailing.

“Oh, big tough guy.”

“Hold ‘em there for a minute, Nat.” Jesse added, “There’s a price to pay for speaking to my wife that way, vampire.”

I didn’t wait though. Something inside me snapped. Using my magic I tore each limb from his torso and dropped it to the ground, leaving only his torso and head dangling in the air.

Screaming in agony he threatened, “I’m going to kill you. You’re dead, bitch!”

Jesse and Colleen built a fire before gathering his still moving limbs and tossing them into the pit.

Right before I dropped the rest of Anthony in the fire I taunted, quite wickedly I might add, “No, Anthony, I’m going to kill you.” After dropping him into the flames, I turned and ran into the house. The last expression on his face before I torched his ass was complete horror and utter disbelief that I beat him. Nevertheless, he knew that his life had come to an end, that he would be no more.

While I watched from the kitchen window, Jesse and Colleen waited outside until they knew Anthony had been turned into a pile of ashes. Jesse started to walk up to the house when Colleen stopped him. I heard her tell him to call Dave and Brad, to tell them what happened, that she would check on me.

“Did he bite you, Nat?” She approached me cautiously.

“No.”

“Nat, when all this is over, you and I need to have a serious talk about your inability to listen to our advice. Please try to stick to the original plan. Remember, one down and one to go,” she said.

“Okay well until then, love ya, see ya and bye!” I giggled and hugged her goodbye.

After they left I was too hyped up to fall back to sleep so I used magic to fix the broken window in our kitchen.

“We did good, Seager!” I smiled proudly down at him.

“Yeah, we did. Are you going to call and see how Brad is? I was hoping we would have heard from him by now.”
I started dialing before he even finished the thought. The phone rang a bunch of times, making me nervous, before Dave finally answered.

“Hello, Dave, it’s Natalia. How’s Bradley doing?”

“He’s okay, Nat. How are you? I heard you had a visitor and you took care of him practically single handedly.”

“No, it was a team effort. When do you think he’ll be able to come home?”

“In about two more hours the transformation should be complete. It looks like he was more vampire than human. I thought it would take a little longer, at least twenty-four hours. Who’d have thought it could take just a few hours? Don’t worry, Nat, he’ll be home shortly.”

“Thanks, Dave. You’re a good friend to him. Thanks for that, too.”

He laughed. “I’ll take good care of him. When he’s done I’ll let him know that Anthony stopped by and you took care of him.” I heard someone in the background asking if Anthony was dead. It sounded like Cheryl.

“Well I’m going to go. Tell Cheryl I said hello and give Bradley my love. Talk to you soon.” After I hung up I told Seager everything Dave said.

“Since Bradley will be home soon I’m going to get in the shower. Watch my back, Seager.” He rested himself on the rug in front of the shower. After doing my hair and getting all dressed up, I still had an hour or so before the possibility of Bradley walking through the front door.