Blood Rose (28 page)

My door opened as usual because he moved so much faster than I could. I climbed out of the Jeep, holding his extended hand as he grabbed my duffle bag out of the back seat with his other. Still in Italian. “This things a Hummer.”

He chuckled. “It’s a Rubicon sweets. Not a Hummer.”

“Well then it’s a baby Hummer.” Utter defiance!

“Sweetheart, Hummer’s are not even made by the same company as Rubicon. Rubicon’s are Jeep.” His lips were fighting a grin.

Mine grinned devilishly back up at him. “Baby Hummer.”

“If you want to see a Hummer then you should see my brothers. Now he- has a Hummer. I prefer the Jeep myself.” His lips could fight me no longer.

We teased and played cat and mouse around the Jeep. He chased me into the house. Pinned me to a wall in the foyer where he dropped my bag. He chased me to the stairs where he pinned me again. Neither of us could stop smiling.

He nipped the straps of my shirt against the flesh of my shoulders. Took a hold of me and pulled me against him. Silently I wished he’d never let go. His lips hovered against my ear. “Do. Not. Move.” His lips brushed my cheek and then he was gone.

I sat on the stairs waiting patiently in the exact same sprawled position he’d left me. I listened to the front door. Car door. Front door. Fridge. I laughed.

“A promise is a promise.” He smirked innocently but the gleam in his eye said the subject was not as light as teased.

“Yes of course.” My arms wrapped around his neck as he came back to me. His hands slid beneath me taking a tight hold of my hips and lifting me up with him as he stood. My legs wrapped around him securely. He turned and rested against the wall, supporting me easily

with one arm.

I couldn’t hold it back any longer, I needed answers. “What is a blood promise, Damien? What did Neesa ask you to do?”

He sighed. Before I knew it we were at the top of the stairs. The move had taken less than a second. My arms were strangling him but he only laughed. It was a weak laugh.

He walked at a leisurely pace down a hall that I did not see and into a room I didn’t notice. Turning, he fell onto a bed that may as well have been invisible to me. All I saw was him.

Damien held me so that I sat on his hips. I couldn’t help but giggle.

His smile tugged at one corner of his lips. Bringing a hand up to brush my hair back from my face and behind my ear he let out a soft sigh. “I swore to her that I would take care of you and that I would protect you.”

“What did she make you do, Damien? Why did you bite your hand?” I shook my head, disbelieving and not understanding what he’d done nor why.

Damien sighed. “For Neesa, it was assurance. To swear in blood for a supe is binding in every way. There have been those who’ve died for breaking a blood promise.”

With my heart hammering loudly my breath caught in my throat. “Would you die? If you broke the promise?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged as if it didn’t matter. The pain of my realization was worse than any broken bone. His hands found my cheeks. “Honey, it’s alright.” I couldn’t breathe. “It was my decision to make. And I would do it again.” I was in morbid shock. “Lianna.”

“Why would you do it?” Shaking my head, I pushed off from him. “Where’s my phone? I have to call Neesa. She can’t do this. She-” Damien sat up his arms wrapping my shoulders.

“Lianna, I have no intentions of ever breaking that promise. Or do you still not get it?” His hand found my cheek and turned my chin so that I would look at him. There was a thick lump of unease balled in my throat. I was furious with Neesa and I was horrified for Damien. Neither thought nor cared what any of this implied for me.

I was feeling better physically but mentally I’d been put through a turbine. For a very long time I sat unmoving. Staring at nothing and seeing less than that. My mind was focusing very hard on not thinking of what he’d told me. It was difficult. I was hurt and angry. The subject had to change before my mind just collapsed in on itself from the weight of the chaos that was my life. As always, he gave me all the time that I needed.

“So what was the deal with the bloodstone?” I had wanted to know since it happened. He complied diligently.

“It’s because of our nature. It’s complicated to explain.” He sat beside me on the bed, leaning back on his hands and took a moment to compile his thoughts.

“Basically what causes it to cleanse and repair your blood cells kills ours. The more pure and unprocessed the stone the stronger they tend to be. Over all the results tend to vary depending on our exposure.”

One hand came up to brush my hair back. “For example-” His fingers stroked slowly over the curve of my lips. “If I kissed you deeply right now I would become weak if not quite sick, I’m sure. If I drank your blood-” His fingers slowly stroked from my lips down over the hollow of my neck. “It may even kill me, if I took too much. It makes us incredibly weak you see. It will take a couple days to clear from your blood stream.”

“And touching it directly?” His touch chilled me and lit me on fire all at once. My voice barely came out in a mere whisper. Damien was enjoying this far too much.

“Burns.” His fingers slowly pulled my hair back to drape over my other shoulder. Yeah, so did his voice.

“But touching me?” My voice quivered.

“Burns in an entirely different way.” Without directly touching me, he leaned closer. Breathing me in. So close, I could feel his cool breath tickle my flesh.

“How strong was the stone Neesa used?” My voice trembled still as his lips slowly drug over my flesh from my collarbone up just behind my ear.

“Very,” he mumbled between kisses.

“B-but you’re kissing me now?” My fingers began to tremble as they held tight onto my knees to keep them from shaking.

“Not really.” His lips brushed my neck with light laughter.

“Oh. Okay...” Was all I seemed able to say as my neck tilted to the side. As I did he pulled back, so suddenly it was like a switch in him had just shut off completely.

“I guess I just enjoy torturing myself.” He shrugged casually. His arms slid around my waist and pulled me closer to him as he sat back against the head of

the bed.

“Not just yourself apparently.” I mumbled while sinking back against him.

He chuckled. “Ah, sorry for that.” Uhu, sure he was. Idly his hand stroked my bare thigh from my knee up to the hem of my shorts.

“Okay then. So now what?” I took a deep breath to calm myself.

“Mmm. Well, you should get some sleep soon. Tomorrow we can get some things in order and then the next day we can leave. Italy perhaps?”

“Oh.” I swallowed on my dry throat. My body was ridged and tense from my fingers to my toes.

“What’s wrong?” He questioned, his fingers sliding easily up under my shirt to trace the tattoo on my side again.

“Nothing. Just not tired I suppose.”

Damien looked thoughtful a moment while his fingers traced the tattoo as if he knew precisely every vine. He probably did. Snaking his arm around me completely he readjusted us both. “So what would you like to do then?” I lay down on my back with him laid beside me. Damien lay propped up by his elbow so that he could look down at me. A smug satisfied grin spread his lips.

My first thought was out of the question. The second thought amused me. “Ask you questions that make you uncomfortable.”

The down side of this was they also made me uncomfortable. However with all things in life it is better to be uncomfortable than left dumb and blind.

His brow twitched and I swear I could feel him trying to read my mind but unless he had been lying we both knew my mind was running on autopilot at high speeds so he couldn’t. At least I hoped not. “Well?” He asked curiously, as he starred down at me.

His fingers tugged my shirt up above my belly button and traced patterns across my flesh light enough to tickle.

Nervous laughter fell from my lips as I turned to him a little more. “What’s the plan here? You run me around the world, for what? Just to protect me? What exactly is this?” To try and make him understand what I was talking about, and judging by his expression it was good thing I did, my hands motioned between us.

Were we a couple? Did I just get turned into a carry out dinner at his will? I just couldn’t compute everything that had happened in the last several weeks without blunt answers anymore. Thus the autopilot. What was happening? He said he loved me. What did that mean to him?

What did that mean for me?

He didn’t say anything. Instead, he starred at me for a very long very silent amount of time. All the while, a devilish smirk tugged at his lips.

Luckily for me, I had learned time had practically no meaning to him so sometimes it just took a very long time for him to answer. I didn’t like it, but I was learning to deal.

“What exactly do you want it to be?” He finally asked. His lips still twisted with amusement even though his intense peridot green eyes sparkled with pure curiosity. The fingers kept roaming.

“That’s not fair. You don’t get to answer questions with questions. I’m pretty durable. You don’t have to worry about my feelings, so let’s hear it.” Not only was I durable but I have always been known for being stubborn.

“You’re not at all durable, Lianna. That’s the problem I’m having.” He sighed as his amusement faded away.

“Does the problem have anything to do with a certain blood promise?” He frowned at my question and shook his head. No? Or just disapproving?

“I’m sorry, I don’t know how to answer your questions. This is all as new to me as it is for you. All I am sure of is I need to be with you and I need to keep you safe.”

“Need to be and want to be are very different things.” Why was I trying to ruin this for myself? He was insanely gorgeous, sweet and he cared about me. The list could go on for decades. Hell, he didn’t have flaws that I could even identify.

“And the fact I’m a Vampire doesn’t make your list of flaws? Interesting.” He smirked again, looking all appropriately amused.

My eyes narrowed in some annoyance that also caused a heavy sigh. Though I didn’t comment, I knew he could read my mind, at least in part. No, it wasn’t a fault. If he hadn’t been a Vampire I’d be dead right now. So no, definitely not a fault.

Damien shrugged casually, as if a simple shrug explained everything perfectly. “And for your information need and want are the same things for me in this situation.” His expression read, “Hah. So there.” Combined with complete sobriety.

“Good to know. Where does this leave us exactly?” It was my turn to show smug amusement.

“I wish I knew. I’m sorry I don’t know what to say. There was never a plan, Anna. Certainly, it seems foolish but truly, I just want to be with you. It was only my hope you would be happy and safe with me.”

I caught the flash of sadness and worry in his eyes. Then just as quickly it was gone, replaced by utter calm and control. “I’m human... Do you plan keeping me this way?”

He had no answer. Damien looked away from me. Finally, after a few minutes his head shook. Fingers tracing circles around my belly button. “I knew this conversation was coming and yet even after all this time-” Gently he tugged my shirt up high so that it covered only my breasts. His arm wrapping around my hips he laid his head against my exposed stomach. “I have no immediate plans either way at this point, I suppose.” He didn’t seem done but seemed deep in thought. The weight of consequences could tip the balance in either direction.

“Turning you does seem so greedy. I’ve weighed the pros and cons and in the end I still don’t know what to do. Several times already I have asked myself what I would do in a dire situation. I tend to be a bit rash at times. It’s a question I’ve been asking myself since the night on the docks. I haven’t been able to come up with an answer yet,” his voice was dark. Only time would tell.

My hands lay to him, one to his shoulder while the other idly ran long strokes through his short shaggy hair.

I wondered how his thoughts played out through his mind. Let her die? Let her exist for eternity? Would he want me by his side for long? I hoped so. But for how long? He obviously wasn’t attached at the hip to whoever turned him. But would he feel burdened to keep me with him from guilt? Would he tire and move on? The possibilities were as endless as my thoughts.

Taking my hand from his shoulder, he kissed my fingers slowly one at a time. He never asked how I felt about it. Perhaps he knew or perhaps he didn’t want to know. His kisses trailed to the inside of my wrist and held there firmly a long time. I felt the slightest vibration as a faint moan rumbled his lips.

The kissing continued as he turned to lay over me gently. Propped on one arm, the other trailed taunting fingers up my arm and down. His lips placed over my heart another long moment. This time I heard his moan more than felt it. My hand running through his hair began to trace circles at the nape of his neck with the tips of my fingers.

His head lifted up and his eyes sought mine with a deep hunger. My hand placed to his cheek, the other still kneading his neck. He turned and kissed my palm without pulling his eyes from mine.

“Lianna, I really need you to believe me when I say the blood promise does not sway how I feel for you. It doesn’t make me tied to you. It only assures Neesa that for as long as you’re in our world you will have someone always willing to be there for you. I didn’t need a blood promise to want that. Nor does it mean your life is to be in danger as long as you are with me. We can go to Italy or anywhere in this world and I will give you as normal a life as you desire.”