Passion For Hire (Passion #5) (25 page)

“Do not worry about that son. Even if you get it into her lungs, they will absorb the blood. Remember she doesn’t need to breathe, so you won’t drown her if the blood ends up there rather than her stomach.” His mother assured him.

Relieved that he couldn’t fuck this up, Adrian continued feeding the tube into her until it met resistance and he could only assume it was as far into her as it would go.

“Oops son, I forgot this. You’ll need one of these.” His mother snapped her fingers and a funnel appeared, dropping down by his side.

He fitted it to the end of the clear plastic tube that was mostly inside Faith now and carefully poured the blood from the jug into the funnel, watching it coat it before turning the tube red as it disappeared into her.

Vaguely as he carefully poured the vital life force into her, he heard his mother’s angry voice and the sound of skin on skin as she slapped Nadine to make her watch her blood being used to hopefully save Faith.

When the first jug of the healing blood was in her, he turned to see what his mother was doing. She’d obviously knocked Nadine around quite a bit as the woman wasn’t looking so good. One eye was bruising, and her lip was cut slightly. Lucas still held her but he wasn’t looking too good himself and Adrian suddenly realised that holding the injured woman when he was an empath was probably proving to be torturous for him.

“Father, will you please swap with Lucas? He is an empath and being so close to Nadine while she is obviously not only afraid, but dying is hard on him. He feels everything she feels.”

“Of course my son.” Fabian stood. “I’m sorry Lucas; we should have considered what this would be like for you.”

They swapped positions and Lucas dropped to the floor by Faith, placing one hand on her blackened cheek. Instantly his body stilled and his eyes closed. Adrian watched him, nervously, wondering what had brought on that kind of reaction in his son. When tears began to roll down his cheeks and he bowed his head, silent as they dripped off his chin and landed in Faith’s hair, suddenly Adrian panicked. Had they failed? Was she gone to them?

Finally Lucas lifted his head and reached out to touch his arm. “She loves you so much father. She loves you freely and with such total devotion, it consumes every inch of her. You are her everything. She’s waited her entire life for you, and from the moment you appeared in her dreams, you were all she could focus on. Finding you, getting to you was all that mattered. You have torn at her heart a few times, and yet she has still stuck with her unwavering belief that you two are meant for one another. She loves you selflessly, unconditionally, eternally. She has only one wish for you father. She wants you to see what she sees, what your parents see, what I see. She wants you to love yourself.”

At Lucas’s words, Adrian closed his eyes and dropped his head, the tears welling up and like his son, he couldn’t control them. They fell rapidly, dripping onto Faith, each one almost seeming to clean her, to reveal a small patch of her skin that didn’t look burnt. Normally he would have been embarrassed at his lack of control, at his open display of emotion, but this time he didn’t care. He only cared that this woman before him, who had endured his abhorrent behaviour loved him. This woman who had tried to convince him that he was the man she wanted to spend eternity with. The woman who had given up being human for him, believed in him, loved him, made him want to be everything she saw in him.

Adrian wasn’t sure how long he sat there by Faith, weeping, when he felt something. It was the briefest touch, feather light, but his eyes opened and he lifted his head to see her. His Faith staring at him, tears flooding her eyes, making the brilliant blue of them seem to shimmer.

It took a few stunned seconds for it to register in his tired brain that she was conscious, aware and looking at him. She looked so much better. Not herself yet. There were still some areas where the skin looked angry and red as if severely sunburned, but the blackened look was gone.

“Sweetheart; Faith, you’re alive? Oh fuck, you’re ok, you’re ok. Wait you need more blood, I’ll get you more blood.” The words kept flying out of his mouth as a mix of emotions flowed through him. The one emotion that dominated the others though was relief, overwhelming relief. It had worked, Faith had been saved.

“Adrian. I can’t talk for the tube in my throat.” Her voice filled his head and he started slightly at the clarity of it. She sounded so much better, but then her words registered, and gently he pulled the length of clear plastic out of her. Her voice when she spoke now the tube was out sounded raspy but that was quite common when a large volume of blood was consumed quickly. “More blood, I need more blood.” She told him.

He bent down and kissed her cheek, noticing the skin felt smoother under his lips. “Of course sweetheart but you’re alive. Fuck I was so scared I was going to lose you.”

“So did you enjoy that?” At the sound of his mother’s voice, Adrian turned to her. “You wasted your time, you almost killed Faith, and now you are going to die because my son could not love you. You are mad, completely mad to think you could change how Adrian felt about you, by killing Faith. Well, now you have had the opportunity to see your blood saving her. Now you can watch as the last of your life drains from you.” She gave Nadine one final twisted smile before releasing the tourniquet and immediately the blood began to flow again.

The end didn’t take long. Nadine kept watching them for as long as she could, that final defiant look in her eyes, until eventually they lost all emotion and became blank and lifeless looking. As the last of the blood drained from her body, Adrian watched her eyes roll back in her head. When she started to sag in Fabian’s arms, he held her up, his gaze on Sirene’s. She gave him a barely decipherable nod of her head before raising her hand and with one violent lunge; she buried the knife blade deep into Nadine’s chest, right over her heart.

It was probably a move that could be considered over kill at this point. She was as good as dead anyway with next to no blood left in her. Her heart would have stopped, it had probably only been moments off beating for the last time.

Fabian’s arms dropped away from her and she would have fallen to the floor, but before she could even end up in a crumpled, lifeless heap on the carpet, Sirene yelled. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

With a bright flash Nadine’s body seemed to ignite, flames flaring up but just as quickly, they were gone again. He saw a cloud of what looked like dust rise up, but he realised it was ash and his mother blew it, causing it to swirl around her briefly before with a sudden blinding flash of white light, it was gone.

“She’s gone my son.” Sirene smiled sweetly at him. Her face filled with contentment, a look of serenity that belied the way she’d so calmly killed Nadine. He smiled back reminding himself never to cross her. She was small but scary and she could take down any one of them any time she felt like it if she wanted to. “Now get the rest of the blood into your woman, there’s a good boy.” She told him, holding out the bucket, and Adrian couldn’t hold back the chuckle that burst from his lips at her words.

I drank the last of Nadine’s blood from the glass that Lucas had gone to get for me. Now I was awake, and could drink for myself rather than having it fed to me through the tube, it was easier to sip it from a glass.

By the time the blood was all gone, I was feeling considerably better. Not quite my old self but close. It was still hard to fathom all that had happened from the moment I’d discovered Adrian’s car keys. Being followed, talking to Nadine on the beach, but not knowing who she was; to the horror of being left to die in that blazing, unrelenting sun. She had wanted me to die, and for a while I feared I would. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t yell, I couldn’t do anything. I was effectively paralysed by whatever had been in those chocolates.

It had been incredible that I’d finally been discovered lying there in that long reedy grass, but it was a miracle that it had been Adrian who discovered me. He’d almost tripped over me, and it made me realise just how badly burned I must have been when I’d seen his face through the narrow slits of my eyes, as that had been as far as my eyelids would open. Obviously it was bad since he didn’t even recognise me straight away.

What I’d never expected though was his reaction, and what he’d said to me. My guess was he’d thought I was dead and faced with the realisation I was lost to him forever, he’d broken down. God his sobbing had torn at my heart. I’d wanted to hug him to me, tell him I was ok, but most importantly tell him I loved him. Thanks to Nadine and her poison I’d been unable to do anything but lie there feeling the effects of that burning, unrelenting sun, and listen to my poor Adrian weep like a broken man.

“Adrian, please, could you help me up? I feel like I’m strong enough now.” I reached out and touched his arm, feeling the solid, reassuring strength of him under my hand.

“Hey my sweet girl.” His voice was so gentle, his endearment so totally uncharacteristic for him, I smiled. His eyes filled with such warmth, I swear I could almost feel that heat over my body, plus there was something else, a light in them that I’d never seen before. Was this his love he now admitted to feeling for me, or was it relief? It was only as I curled my fingers around his arm more firmly that a flash of his face filled my head. He was laughing in the image, his head thrown back and suddenly I knew what it was I could see in his eyes, it was happiness. Adrian was happy. For what I guessed was the first time in his short adult and vampire life, he was happy.

He straightened, sliding his arms under me and climbed to his feet with me cradled against his chest. I wrapped my arms around his neck feeling for the first time like it was ok to do so. When he was standing he gently lowered me to my feet.

“You look so much better sweetheart. You look like you again.” He raised his hand and brushed my hair back off my face. “You are so beautiful.” He trailed his fingers over my cheek, his eyes following the movement as he seemed to take in every inch of me. This new Adrian was going to take some getting used to that was for sure. “What do want? Can I get you anything?”

I too raised my hand and traced his full bottom lip with my fingernail. “I’m exhausted Adrian. I’d really just like to go and sleep. Now that I’m well and she’s gone, I would like to sleep please.” As if on cue, I yawned widely before stepping out of his arms and going to Sirene. I hugged her, kissing her soft cheek, then Fabian who stiffened slightly when I kissed him and finally I gave Lucas a big hug, feeling his arms close around me briefly.

Behind me I heard a growl and suddenly Lucas was no longer holding me. When I looked up at Adrian he was glaring at his son. “Come Faith, I will take you to bed so you can get some rest.”

I couldn’t help myself; I snorted and hit him on the arm. “Oh for crying out loud Adrian, first you rejected me all the time, now you’re jealous because your own son hugs me? His destiny is already decided. I just wanted to thank everyone for all you have done for me. You saved my life and I’m so grateful.” I turned my gaze to each of them.

“We’re just glad you are home safe, and now well little one, and that, that woman can no longer do anything to harm any of us.” Fabian nodded to me before turning to Adrian. “Sirene and I will go to our room now. It is very late and we have much still to discuss with you son. We also need to get Katherine established in her new home.” He put his arm around Sirene. “Come my beauty, we will retire now.”

With a final nod from Fabian and a smile from Sirene, they left the room. “I will go to my room too now father, Faith. It is good that you are safe and it pleases me to see you happy father. You have chosen wisely letting Faith into your heart.” He flashed him a brief smile, then turned to me briefly before leaving the room.

“Come Faith. It is so late. We are not meant to be up this long without sleep. Let’s get to bed.”

I looked up at him not sure what his intentions were now. “Do you mean together or you in your room and me in mine?”

With a low growl he suddenly scooped me up, tossing me over his shoulder and with his long strides he took us down the hall to where all the bedrooms were. When he stopped at a door I could see from my upside down position over his shoulder that we were at his door. He didn’t stop though, opening the door and once inside, he kicked it shut, before carrying me to the bed and dropping me onto the mattress.

“So I’m sleeping in your bed then?” I asked giving him a wide eyed and what I hoped, innocent look.

“Oh hell yes sweetheart. My life is still fucked up, and because of me you nearly died, but no way are you sleeping anywhere but with me. My mother spoke to me tonight and I know they want to speak to me soon, but they said some things that got me thinking. Then Lucas told me what he felt in you when he touched you and dammit Faith, it was humbling, heart-warming, a little painful but it made me think. It made me believe that maybe I’m not so bad and that maybe it was ok to be loved and to love.” He began undressing me, carefully almost reverently. There wasn’t that much left to remove. My clothes were hanging off me in not much more than strips of charred fabric anyway. “I realised when I thought I’d lost you that I’d been a fool. I had a woman who was prepared to love me unconditionally. You already knew what I was before we met, and yet you still came for me, you still wanted me. I knew that if you lived, I couldn’t lose you. I couldn’t push you away any more. I’ve fought these feelings for what feels like so long now, but whether it’s selfish to want it, given what I’ve done and all the women I’ve been paid to have sex with, I still want you. You are too good for a man who had been nothing more than a male whore for two years sweetheart, but I can’t let you go. I want to know if you can look past all that I’ve done, if you can forgive me for what I’ve done to you, for what I’ve been, for what I am.”

My heart ached at his words. He talked of having a better understanding of how everyone felt about him but underneath, despite the strong, in control persona Adrian portrayed, underneath, he was far from those things. I pushed his hands aside from where he was still trying to remove what was left of my clothing and cupped his achingly handsome face between my palms. “You are everything I could ever want in a man Adrian. You are strong, dependable, sexy, gorgeous, kind, caring, loving, considerate, gentle, beautiful and most importantly, you...are…mine. Everyone loves you, your parents, your brothers and sister. Your son loves you and I love you. Can’t you see? You are worthy of everyone’s love. I can forgive you because you have done nothing wrong. You took care of your son and Katherine when you could have walked away and let Lucas die, and let Katherine lose her son. You didn’t. You have spent two years caring for them both, and you heard what Lucas said, his mother is much better off since you came into their lives. Sadly she is going to die due to the cancer, but she has been given a better quality of life, and has lived longer thanks to you. Now she is going to go into a beautiful home where she can live out the rest of her days. She will have plenty of other people to talk to and laugh with.” I dragged his head closer to mine.

“You…are…a…good…man. I love you Adrian. I dreamed of you for so long and now I finally have you, the man of my dreams.”

He stared into my eyes for a few moments before pulling back from me and continuing to remove my clothing. When I was naked, he climbed off the bed; stripping out of his own clothes and scooping me back up into his arms. Gently he touched his lips to mine before allowing his gaze to move over my face.

“You make me believe Faith. You make me think I am good enough for you, but even if for some reason you didn’t think I was, I can’t let you go. Thinking I’d lost you and that you had died nearly broke me. I treated you so badly in my garden last night, and all I could think was I would never get the chance to tell you how sorry I was for my behaviour. I can’t let you go. I will never be able to let you go.” He kissed my cheek before carrying me into the bathroom. Shifting my body in his arms so he could free one hand, he reached in and turned on the shower and stepped inside.

Slowly, reverently, lovingly, he bathed me, washing my hair until there was no more of the black smears on my skin from my burned clothing. Once he was finished and he’d quickly washed himself, he led me from the shower, dried me down and even took the time to towel dry my hair. He picked up a hairbrush and I watched him in the mirror as he brushed it, being so careful not to yank at my scalp as he untangled every strand.

I studied his gorgeous features, the small lines on his brow as he concentrated on what he was doing. Damn he was so incredibly gorgeous. It almost hurt to look at him he was so beautiful. I dragged my eyes from his image to look at myself, pleased to see my skin was clear and completely free of the burned and dried out look I’d had before from being out in the hot, blazing sun. It was still hard to believe that one of Adrian’s clients had wanted to kill me. That she had hated me that much, when it wasn’t really my fault that he’d been unable to love her the way she’d wished he could. I don’t know what she’d put in those chocolates but the affect had been frightening. It was just a relief that her blood had wiped away the paralysis caused by the poison. Kind of ironic that the blood from the person who’d tried to kill me had actually ended up saving me.

“What’s going through that beautiful head of yours?” Adrian’s voice penetrated my thoughts and I turned my gaze back to him.

“It’s nothing too deep.” I shot him a dimpled grin. “I’m just thinking how ironic it is that the blood from the woman, who wanted me dead, ended up saving me.”

Adrian’s face darkened. “I had no idea Nadine was like that sweetheart. She’s always been so nice, kind, but she certainly proved that looks can be deceiving. I’m just happy that you are ok and that you are well again and looking your normal, sexy, beautiful self.”

His words sparked a wave of desire through me and I gave him what I hoped was my sultriest look. “So what do you want to do now?” I asked, my tone suggestive, or at least I hoped it was.

Adrian caught on immediately and raised an eyebrow at me. “Oh no you don’t Faith. You will not tempt me with your beauty and your body. It’s very late and we need to sleep or we will become weak. You have been through too much for me to fuck you now. There will be plenty of time for that later.”

I pouted at him through the mirror. “Don’t you want me anymore?”

With lightning speed, he lunged, his teeth nipping my shoulder, thrusting his hips against me, his erection blatantly obvious as he rubbed himself up and down between my buttocks. “Does that feel like I don’t want you Faith? I will always want you. Fucking you is unlike anyone I’ve ever fucked before. I struggle to keep myself in control when I’m inside you. Haven’t you noticed that?”

I thought about the times we’d been together and images of him with his head thrown back, his long body shuddering over me flashed through my mind. Then there had been last night too. He had been out of control when he’d taken me against the fence in his front yard. When I finally realised that he had been quite obviously gripped by overwhelming desire, I nodded.

He kissed my cheek and then took my hand, dragging me from the bathroom. “I will always want you Faith, but now is not the time, despite this.” He wrapped a hand around his hard cock. “We need to sleep, and then we can fuck, ok?”

“Ok.” I smiled as we climbed into his bed. He pulled the sheets over us before tucking himself up against my back. I could feel his hard length as he slipped it between my thighs and as if unable to help himself, he gave a couple of lazy thrusts of his hips. When I heard his low, muffled moan, I smiled to myself again before closing my eyes.

Despite feeling Adrian’s erection between my legs and having every glorious inch of his hard, muscled body curled up behind me, he wasn’t enough to keep the fatigue from claiming me. With one final softly murmured. “I love you.” I drifted off to sleep.

Adrian

When Adrian finally opened his eyes, he was momentarily disorientated. He looked towards the window with the heavy window coverings and could see it was dark. He also knew by just how dark it was that he’d overslept.

The events of the previous evening and the day flooded his mind, and slowly he became aware of the woman lying beside him. Her blonde hair was fanned out over her pillow, one hand cradled under her cheek. She was still asleep from what he could see and he lay there simply staring at her. He couldn’t believe she was here, in his bed when it had seemed like she was going to be lost to him forever. Nadine had tried to kill her, and had almost succeeded. If it wasn’t for his mother’s abilities as a witch, she would be dead because they’d never have found her in time.