Passion After Dark (28 page)

His eyes snapped open and he met the shocked gaze of Francesca. She was staring down at him open mouthed and she shook her head at him. “
Oh Nicky, what have you done?”

“
What is it Francesca? What are you doing here? What’s wrong?”

“
Look at what you’ve done Nicky. God, why didn’t she call me and tell me she was coming to see you? I could have stopped this happening. You’ve killed her I think.” Fran said, and Dominick stared up at her, not accustomed to seeing her looking so shaken up.

What on earth was wrong with her? “
What are you talking about Fran? Fuck, I feel so much stronger. You made me feed, I told you I wanted to die but you got me such sweet blood, why did you do it?”

“
I did nothing Nicky but you’ve done something terrible. Look at what you’ve done?” She pointed to something at his side and slowly his head turned towards whatever she was pointing at.

The first thing he saw was hair, lots and lots of long hair, like Allegra
’s hair. God she had hair like his bellezza. Suddenly he felt nausea roll over him tightening his stomach and his body broke out in a cold sweat.

With shaking hands he pushed the hair back and he gasped. It was his bellezza. Fuck, fuck, what had he done? Why was she here? God she was so pale.

“
No, fuck no, no, no, NO!” He sobbed, dragging himself upright and with hands that shook he turned Allegra’s body over until he could see her face.

She was deathly pale and he could see a wound on her wrist where a thin trickle of blood still flowed. Th
ere were puncture marks on her neck which confused him as he didn’t remember biting her there but then he didn’t remember biting her at all. He remembered the blood and he thought he’d heard a familiar voice but he was convinced it had been a dream.

As he
stared down at her he realised his dream was a nightmare instead. What had he done? What the fuck had he done?

“
Cara, please cara wake up, god I’m so sorry, forgive me, please forgive me.” He sobbed, tears tracking their way down his face and dripping onto her prone body.

“
Nicky, Nicky, snap out of it, you have to do something. Is she still alive? Check for a pulse. There might still be time. Come on Nicky, listen to me.” A palm hit him on the cheek, hard and painful snapping him out of his panic briefly as he looked up at Fran.

“
Come on Nicky, check her pulse, is she still alive?” She asked him and he sat up, turning Allegra until he could press his fingers against her neck while he dropped his head to her chest listening for her heartbeat.

At first he co
uldn’t hear anything or feel anything and fresh tears began to fall as he faced the enormity of what he’d done. He’d killed the only woman he’d ever loved.

“
Listen Nicky, be quiet, listen, you can just hear it. Can you hear it?” Fran shook him, to get his attention.

He did as she said and listened and finally, only just, but he could hear it, the faint, slow, dying heartbeat of Allegra.
God she was still alive, only just, but there was still hope.

“
You know what you have to do Nicky. She could hate you for this but you have to decide. Turn her while you still can or lose her forever because she’s dying and you will have to live with that. She could still be lost to you forever anyway if she hates you for turning her. Tough decision brother dear but you have to decide and you have to decide now. She’s running out of time. Hurry up and make your decision.”

At Fran
’s words, Dominick’s stomach tightened. He was doomed either way or he could be. He knew Allegra didn’t want to be made vampire, she’d made that perfectly clear to him but if he did nothing she would die. He would spend the rest of his sorry existence knowing he’d killed her. He should have died, he should have died before she came to him and he wouldn’t have hurt her the way he did.

Why was she here?
She’d told him she couldn’t be with him, it had been over between them so why was she here?

“
I don’t understand why she’s here. She told me she couldn’t live my lifestyle and yet she’s here. Why?” He whispered.

“
That was my fault Nicky, I’m sorry but she wasn’t supposed to come here alone. She had my number, she should have rung me first. You have no idea what’s been going on with her, Dominick. I told her you were dying and she’s obviously decided to come to you. She was supposed to call me, she should have called me.” Fran’s eyes rested on Allegra. “Come on Nicky, make your decision. Her heart is slowing, I can hear it. You’re running out of time. She’s going to die.”

Dominick stared down at his bellezza. Did he turn her? God, but she could hate him for i
t and he would still lose her and he’d have to live with seeing her and her hating him and not wanting him. She might turn to his brothers or god help him, Fabian instead and that would destroy him. The alternative was to lose her forever and as he pictured a future without her, he suddenly realised that a future of her hating him, but him still having a chance of making her love him was better than to lose her forever, to let her die.

“
She can’t die Fran. Help me. I have to turn her, even if she hates me, I have to turn her.”

“
I’ll hold her mouth open Nicky, you get that blood of yours flowing.” Fran took charge, helping him get Allegra comfortable on his pillows. God but she was so pale, so deathly pale. Would this work? Was it too late? If she couldn’t swallow, it was over. He couldn’t get the blood into her otherwise. He needed to run it straight to her veins through a drip but that was impossible. He just had to hope that this would work.

Dominick bit down on his wrist, tearing a chunk of flesh away s
o the blood began to flow heavily and Fran pulled Allegra’s mouth open so he could hold his arm over her, just poised above her lips. Anxiously he watched as the inside of her mouth turned red from his blood and began to fill. Fuck but she wasn’t swallowing, they were too late. He was going to lose her.

Tears rolled down his cheeks
as despair settled like lead over him but still he held his freely bleeding wrist over her, convinced he was too late but unable to allow himself to give up just yet.

“
It’s too late, it’s too late.” He whispered as he struggled to see Allegra through the tears nearly blinding him. “I’m so sorry cara, so sorry. I’ve destroyed you and I’m so sorry that we ever met and that I did this to you.” Nearing defeat he dropped his bleeding wrist over her mouth and began to weep in earnest as the reality of what he’d done began to drag him down into complete and crushing despair.

After what felt like an eternity and when Dominick has soaked the blouse Allegra wore, with his tears, Fran
’s voice began to penetrate the misery that was consuming him. “Nicky, snap out of it, look, can’t you feel it?”

Slowly he raised his head and turned to Francesca but she was watching Allegra. “
Look at her Nicky, look.”

He turned his head back to Allegra and he
frowned, he couldn’t see anything but then suddenly, there it was, the tiniest of movements, a swallow, fuck but she had swallowed and then he felt the slight suction on his wrist. She was sucking on him, she was drinking from him.

They both watched as s
he fed, slowly but she was feeding and Dominick let her feed until he thought she’d had enough to bring her back without her accidently emptying him completely.

Gently he pulled his arm from her mouth and a frown marred her features before she settled aga
in and her body went still. Now they waited, they waited to see if it was going to work, whether she had received enough of his blood to save her and that could take hours. It would take hours for her body to complete the change from human to vampire and for her struggling heart which sounded slightly better now to give up the fight and stop beating. His blood gave her heart a false moment of rejuvenation but it wouldn’t be enough. The process of draining her to near death then her feeding from him would bring on the change, but how long it would take was unclear to either him or Fran since they’d never actually turned anyone themselves.

“
Fabian needs to be here.” Fran said quietly. “He’s done this several times obviously, we haven’t. I know you aren’t happy with him and if you knew what he’d done earlier this evening, you definitely won’t be happy with him, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need his help now.”

Reluctantly Dominick had to concede that Fran was right. They
’d never done this. They knew the process, but whether it was right, they weren’t sure.

“
Call him then Fran then please, help me clean her up and prepare her for the change. She can’t lie there in all my blood stained sheets like that.”

“
Have you healed now Nicky?” Her eyes shifted to his hand and down to his cock although he was blocked from her gaze by the sheet.

He held up his hand that had been damaged before but the skin was smooth and blemish free again and when he raised the sheet to look underneath, his cock lay there, healed, the skin
returned to normal and the tattoo of the cobra undamaged too which surprised him that it had survived his brutal self mutilation.

“
I’ve healed but look at the cost.” He gently brushed the tangled strands of Allegra’s hair back from her face. “We don’t know if this is going to work.”

“
I’ll call Fabian now and get him to come here.” Fran stood, pulling her phone from her bag and moved away from the bed, her voice quiet as she explained what had happened to their sire. God was he going to be pissed at them for what they’d done, trying to turn a human into a vampire? Fabian might kill him for what he’d done, nearly killing Allegra and then trying to turn her. Dominick wasn’t a complete fool, he knew his sire wanted her. His guess was the puncture marks on her neck were from Fabian. Fran said something had happened that he wasn’t going to like but there had been no time to find out exactly what had taken place tonight.

“
Help me clean up Fran, please. I hate to see her lying in all my mess.” He climbed off the bed and hastily pulled on jeans from the chair by his bed.

He ripped
the blood stained sheets off his bed and threw them into the corner of the room. While he went to get more sheets, Fran brushed out Allegra’s hair until it lay around her.

Gently they remo
ved her shoes and then covered her with the clean sheets and Dominick stood staring down at her, captivated by her beauty. She looked so still, so serene lying there and he hoped to hell that she would be alright, that she would wake from this and be ok.

His gaze was drawn from her when Fabian strode into the room and brushed past him to go straight to Allegra.

“Can someone please explain to me why she is here now Dominick only a few hours after she had been at my home?” He turned to look between the two of them.

She had been with Fabian? Why? What had she been doing in his home? “
I don’t know why she came here. I wasn’t…well.” Dominick said.

“
I heard about your crusade to kill yourself Nick but that doesn’t explain why Allegra is here.”

“
That’s my fault.” Fran spoke up. “I told her that she had to do something to save Nicky. He might be a fool sometimes but I didn’t want him giving up his life for a human. She was supposed to call me if she was coming here, not just turn up alone. She came alone and she’s obviously tried to save Nicky from himself and he’s got carried away and drained her. We were trying to save her.”

“
She made it clear she had no wish to be a part of our lifestyle so you should have let her die. She may very well hate you for eternity son, are you prepared for that should it happen?” Fabian asked.

Dominick nodded. He wasn
’t really ready but what choice did he have? He couldn’t sit back and watch the last of her life slip away. He had to try and turn her and hope that she wouldn’t hate him too much.

“
I couldn’t let her go Fabian, I’m sorry but I love her and I’d sooner have her hate me for all eternity than live eternity without her in my life in some small way at least.”

“
We don’t know if we’ve done it right though Fabian.” Fran spoke up again. “Nicky had nearly completely drained her, her heart was barely beating anymore and he’s given her about half of his blood but is that enough?”

“
No it’s not. You have weakened yourself with your foolish quest to take your own life Nick so you can’t give her more blood. I shall have to give her some of mine. I fed from her earlier, it was part of a deal we made.”

Dominick felt rage surge through him. Fabian had tasted her, what else had he done with her? Why had she gone running to him? Did she want him f
or herself? God he hoped not. He loved Allegra but it would kill him to watch her throw herself at his sire. Fabian would just use her and toy with her. He never wanted any woman, vampire or human for more than a night and as a vampire Allegra could not be mind controlled so she would have to live with being nothing more than a play thing for Fabian. Maybe as vampire that would suit her?