Dragan's Redemption Book One of the Manor at Echo Lake Trilogy (19 page)

“Aaron, what the hell?”

Dragan looked
with disbelief
down at Amira being held tightly
in his
brother’s
arms and at the blood now coating the bare chest
and arms
.”

“What the hell did you do brother?”

“Shut up
,
Dragan, I didn’t do anything.  She got shot in
the woods, and she is bleeding….
bad.”
  Dragan heard the panic in his brother voice.

“Take her to the blue room, I will get my bag.”

In a
flash,
both brothers disappeared in opposite directions.  Reaching the room,
Aaron
gingerly laid her on the sheets as she moaned in pain.  Within a minute, Dragan was beside them
quickly rolling
h
er onto her
back,
he
pulled the
makeshift bandage
away from her head.
 
Frowning
at seeing the bullet wound
,
h
is fingers probed the
area
causing fresh blood to flow
.

“
Thank
you Jesus -
it is not
as
deep
as I thought
and will only need stitches
. 
Aaron, p
lease
find James and tell him I need my other bag from my office, he will know which one I want and ask for boiling water.
”
Fingers
stilling, Dragan’s eyes
raged,
as he looked into his brothers eyes.   “When you
are
done with that, you are to go find the one that has done this
and bring him back here
!”

Relieved that she was going to be ok, Aaron ran to find James.  Several minutes later Dragan caught a flash
through the window
as he saw his brother head
ing
back into the woods
with Shadow running by his side.

Amira
woke to
a room that was
pitch
black.  In an attempt to sit up
,
she
fell
back as her head throbbed
uncontrollably
. 
Hearing a click, the room was bathed in a soft light.  Shielding her eyes, she could not make out the figure sitting in the chair.

“Where am I?”

“You are at the manor miss
.  My name is Daphne.  I am a friend of the family
.”  A motherly figure walked over to the bed. 
A round, kind face bent over her.
“You gave us all a fright you did.  Let me see if I can track down Dr. Reynolds for you.  He will be so relieved to see you awake.”

Before Amira could say anything,
the heavyset woman
waddled out of the door.  Amira weakly slid up on the pillows glancing around the room. 
The
four-poster
bed was huge with fabric draped around the top loosely.  On the end of the
bed,
she saw a small chaise and
directly
ahead was a fireplace.  There were several overstuffed chairs and a couch.  As large as the room was, it felt cozy to Amira.  Turning her
head,
she took in the large double French doors that looked like they led out to a
balcony
.  She knew she would have to check out the view when it was light out.  There was a small table next to the bed.  She was surprised to see an I.V. drip hanging from the wall.  Looking down at her
arm,
she realized that it was attached to her.  Frowning, she tried to remember what happened.

“I had to give you fluid
s
and antibiotics.  You lost
quite
a bit of blood.
”

Turning her
head
, she watched as Dragan entered the room.  He wore a white dress shirt that was unbuttoned part way down.  He looked tired
.

“What
happened? 
One
moment I was talking to your brother
,
and the next….” She
hesitated
remembering the shot.  “Was I shot?”

Sitting down on the bed, he took her hand in his.  “Yes
,
Amira, we tried to track down the hunter, but we could not find him.  You were struck in the
head
with the bullet
,
but
thankfully,
it only grazed your skull
.  You are a
very luck young lady.”

Wide eyed
,
she stared at him.  “
That’s
it? 
Who would want to shoot
at
me
?
”

“I don’t think that you were the target.  It was probably just some stupid hunter seeing movement
thinking you and Aaron were a deer
.
”

Aaron walked into the room sitting on the other side of the bed. 
Catching his brother eyes, he shook his head.  Amira saw Dragan’s face harden.

“When can I go home?”

Both brothers looked down a
t her then at each other.  
Dragan cleared his throat. 
“First of all it won’t be tonight.  You need to rest
,
and I want you to finish that bag of liquid first.  Then in the morning
,
if you like
,
you are more than welcome to go back to the cottage.”

“But you are not to walk in the woods again.” 
Aaron’s
voice was like steel.

“You can’t be serious!?”

“What Aaron meant to say is that we are asking you not to walk alone until we figure out if this is an isolated incident.”

Amira relaxed against the pillows looking from one brother to the next
.  They were so beautiful
,
and they were vampires.  Her life felt very surreal.

Catching Aaron
’
s eyes her head furrowed.   “I bled all over you.  Did that bother you?”

Laughing Aaron looked at Dragan.  “Can I answer that, or do you want to?”

“She asked you
,
but I will warn you, she won’t stop until she gets her answer.”

Dragan stood walking around the bed to the I.V. pole, checking the line, purposefully turning his back to the two.

“I wanted to lap it all up.”

Wide eyed
,
she stared at him.  “Are you being serious right now?”

“I do have self control
,
Amira.  It is not easy having someone bleed all over you
,
but it is manageable.  How do you think that Dragan can be a doctor, if he couldn’t manage his urges?”

“I have no idea, this is new to me.”

“Let’s get a few things straight
,
Amira.  I am not sure why my brother told you about who we are, but understand it was not our choice but forced on us.  Everything you know about vampires through movies or books is 90% wrong.  We love garlic, and looking at ourselves in mirrors
, especially when you are a handsome specimen such as myself
.  The older you are
,
the stronger you are.   Dragan and I are pretty strong. 
Thankfully, b
ecause of our age, we do not feed as much as we used to
mainly because we don’t have to.  Go to
o
long without a feeding
,
we weaken tremendously.
  We need sleep, but we don’t sleep in coffins.
”

Seeing he had her rapt attention, he held back a laugh.  “Did I cover everything?”

“You eat food.”

Sighing, Aaron held tightly to his patience.   “We love food.  Eating does take some getting used to when you are first turned because everything is heightened; your sense of smell, touch, taste.   If you disliked something before
you were a vampire, you abhor
it after you
are
turned
.  But, if you loved something before you were turned….”  Aaron shivered as if in ecstasy causing Amira to laugh.

“Can you die?”

Dragan glanced quickly at his brother making eye contact again, while holding up a syringe, which he quickly slipped into her I.V. extension.

“Yes
,
Amira, we can die.  Stake in the heart, starving, beheading; those are all great ways to end it.”

Amira’s eyelids started to close, her voice sleepy.  “I hope you both never die.”

Dragan reached down stroking her head
as she slipped into a deep sleep
.  Aaron watched the tender touch.  “Falling hard brother?”

“I don’t know
,
Aaron.  I am open to it.”

“Why did you give her something to make her sleep?”

“You looked like you were enjoying yourself way too much.  I am not ready for her to know everything right now.”

Standing
,
he stretched.  “I think I might go for another run, see if I can catch a scent of this idiot.”

“I would appreciate that
and
,
Aaron, thank you.  I have work to do in the office.  Let me know if you find anything.
”

Amira walked down the darkened
hallway,
grateful for the light that was left on
.
  Her head no longer
hurt
.
  She knew Dragan would be upset if he knew she was up by herself.  Barefoot, her toes wiggled on the soft carpet
,
loving the feel of the
thick
pile between her toes.  Walking down the stairs, she turned into the
first doorway searching for the
kitchen, fumbling along the wall for a light switch, lifting when her fingers connected.  The kitchen was
illuminated
and she ha
d
to blink at the brightness.  Opening the
refrigerator,
she found
a
bottle of water and walked back into the hallway.  Her foot touched the first step
when she head a
noise behind her
.  S
he turned to see Shadow standing in
another
doorway leading
off
the stairwell.  Patting her leg, she knelt down as he walked up to her.
  He sniffed at her
the bandage covering her
wound before p
lacing his large head on her
shoulder whining. Wrapping her arms around
his neck
, her voice was soft.  “Don’t worry
Shadow;
I am going to be fine
,
just a little scrape.”
    Glancing at the door
the wolf walked out of
, she saw a light on.  Easing back up to her feet, she tiptoed to the door and peeked around the
corner
stifling a giggle as Shadow did the same thing.  Her heart
constricted
in her chest seeing Dragan sound asleep in a chair.  A book had fallen to his chest.  Both
were
rising and falling rhythmically.
  He did not look very comfortable to her.  Stepping in
to the room, she w
alk
ed
over to him
lifting
the book
.
 
His hand swiftly reached out grabbing her wrist. 
Looking
into each
other’s
eyes
,
Amira felt his thumb rub against her
skin
gently before tugging on her so that she toppled down on
to
him.  Her mouth opened in surprise when her body made contact with his
,
and she
lay
sprawled
across his chest
.  She
watched as
his eyes
moved down her face to stare transfixed at her mouth. Everything
was quiet in the room
.
Dragan’s
eyes darkened as he slowly
lifted
his head
up
to hers to nip her bottom lip with his teeth as his hand
went behind
her head
.
  Pulling her down to him, he ran his lips
along her skin, n
ipping at her shoulder with his teeth
before running
his mouth back up her
neck
nipping at her ear lobe. 
Amira
was lost in what he was doing to her.  Her breath quickened wanting
so badly for
him to kiss her. 
Trying
to
reach
his mouth, his fingers tightened in her hair pulling her head away from him so that he could run his mouth down the other side of her neck and do the same thing that he did to the first side. 
 
After several minutes of this, he put
his hands on either side of her hips
lifting
her up
off him
.
Standing
,
he s
coop
ed
her up in his arms,
carrying her
over to the armless chaise on the other side of the room
before
gently plac
ing
her down
before
lying
beside her.