The Embrace (30 page)

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Gabriel didn’t taste her for a while, which surprised me. I had expected him to be as eager as me to taste Dahlia but it seemed he was holding back.

Instead he wrapped his arms around me and we lay together while her neck wound healed. The blood had started to dry in a long trail on her neck and I could hear her breathing pattern return to it’s normal state.

After we fed Gabriel’s excitement always seems to be raised. He would shower me with kisses and act like I was irresistable. There was something primal in the hunt that lent itself to being aggressive and passionate. One desire seemed to perfectly compliment the other.

“Don’t you want to feed on her?” I whispered into the crook of his neck. I wanted to taste Dahlia again but I knew it was only fair to let Gabriel have a try as he had been the one to capture this tantalising morsel.

He smiled at me and kissed my forehead. “Not right now. I want you to enjoy yourself first. That’s what this is all about.” He whispered.

I had underestimated Gabriel’s intentions. He had been thinking about me the whole way through. I regretted doubting him while he had been away. I had no reason to worry about him, that was clear to me now.

Gabriel brushed my hair away from my face in that familiar paternal gesture. “Do you want to taste her again?”

It was a stupid question. Dahlia’s blood was the only thing in my mind since the second it had hit my lips. I nodded and slid across the tiles towards her body.

She was still under our control and hadn’t even noticed the blood drying on her neck. I licked the red trail from her throat, savouring it like a fine wine. I wanted to change my method, try out a different area of her skin.

Her skin was pale and the veins were protruding through the surface. Sometimes that happens after a kill. With the rapid, unnatural blood flow to the surface the other veins are drawn out. They have to work harder to pump the blood around the body and try to keep the organs running.

I picked up her wrist and licked it, tasting the remnants of the sweat on her skin. I ran my fangs along her wrist, opening up the veins and letting the sweet red liquid trickle from the wound. I didn’t want to puncture the skin like I had before. I wanted to watch the blood fall before I tasted it again.

The blood was a deep shining hue that almost hypnotised me. I licked the bottom of the trail, right up to the source of the wound.

The taste was just as strong as it had been the first time, which I hadn’t expected. Usually the sensation dwindles and loses it’s appeal after the inital high but Dahlia’s blood was different. She tasted just as strong as she had before and she still had a powerful effect over me.

Eventually Gabriel pulled me away. I needed him to watch over me or else I wouldn’t be able to stop myself. Luckily he pulled me back just in time, and we lay together once again as I enjoyed the taste of Dahlia’s blood lingering in my mouth.

Gabriel had never been an early riser up until Dahlia’s arrival, but within days we returned to the usual sleep pattern. I would wake up and watch him sleep for a few minutes until his eyes flickered open.

Gabriel tasted Dahlia on her third night in our nest. I could see from his reaction that he enjoyed the taste of her blood but there was something missing. He didn’t seem as passionate as he usually did, and something about his attacks lacked the power they had once had.

I didn’t spend much time thinking about what could be wrong with him. I was too concerned with my own appetite to worry about his dwindling thirst. Just a small drop of Dahlia’s blood was more than enough to satisfy me and it was all too easy to become wrapped up in myself.

He had managed to restrain himself from taking any business trips since returning and for a while it felt as if everything was back to normal. We seemed to have regained the relationship we had once lost, all because of Dahlia.

The night after Gabriel first tasted our new guest, I woke up earlier than usual. I had been watching Gabriel’s face for a few minutes but he was yet to wake. I decided to walk around the apartment to kill time. Although we had been living there for a while it still comforted me to take a look at our possessions. It made me feel as if I was part of something, as if I had a family and a home to keep me safe.

Dahlia was sleeping, still tied to the railings by the window. Our power over her had lasted all this time, and she spent the hours either sleeping or calmly waiting for us. I didn’t want to taste her when Gabriel wasn’t there so I took a seat on the floor next to her instead. Her scent was fading but there was still a hint of it around and I breathed it in eagerly.

I saw her head fall limply to the side, her eyes staring blankly at me. She was awake now but still clearly under compulsion.

While I waited for Gabriel I stared out over the city through the windows. There was so much going on, so much happening under the surface. I could feel the people buzzing around from place to place, unaware of what could be lurking in the shadows around them.

“Louisa.”

The word pierced through the night like a knife. I had grown used to the silence but within a second it was disturbed. I looked around the room for the owner of the voice but Gabriel was nowhere to be seen.

“Louisa.”

There it was again. It was a croaking voice that would have been barely audible to a human ear, but it was loud and clear to me.

I looked to my side and saw Dahlia. She was the only one who could have said something, but that made no sense. She was under compulsion so she had no control over herself. I locked eyes with her. There was something more going on there. I expected a blank stare with nothing behind it but I saw a tiny spark in her eyes. She had broken the compulsion. That was the only possible explanation.

“Dahlia? Can you hear me?” I asked her. I had no idea how much control she had wrestled back and how long she had been free. If she was fully conscious again then that could be very dangerous for us.

She nodded her head just a little and I could tell that she was still groggy from such a long spell under our influence. Luckily we had a short while before she could fully break free from compulsion. I decided to wait. I didn’t want to act without Gabriel, and to be honest I was intrigued by what she had to say to me.

“It’s nice to see you again.” There was no expression on her face but her voice was becoming stronger and I could almost hear a smile in it. She was beginning to seem more like the Dahlia I knew.

“Dahlia, do you know where you are?” I needed to know how much she was aware of to assess how much of a risk she held.

Her face screwed up in concentration. “No. Where am I?”

I couldn’t tell her. It wouldn’t be safe to reveal too much to her, just in case. I had to wake Gabriel and let him know. He would work out what to do. I still didn’t know what his plan for her was and I didn’t want to act without consulting him.

I got up to make my way to the bedroom, but as I did I heared Dahlia’s croaking voice again.

“Where’s Gabriel? He told me...” She seemed to give up by the end of her sentence.

I slowed my pace but I couldn’t answer her. I didn’t know what to say.

“He told me I’d be one of you.” She whispered

That stopped me in my tracks. Gabriel told her she’d be a vampire? That couldn’t be what she meant. She must still be delusional after so long under a vampire’s control. He wouldn’t do that. I told myself I trusted him but part of me was less than convinced.

I crouched down to her level. My body was shaking but I needed to find out what was going on, for better or for worse.

I brushed her hair aside like Gabriel always did to me. Maybe in her groggy state she would feel comforted by the gesture, just as I usually did.

“Did Gabriel tell you about us?” I tried to phrase the question so that I didn’t reveal too much. If it turned out that she didn’t know about vampires then I couldn’t risk revealing our true nature accidentally.

I saw her nod her head slowly. I felt a rush of panic surge through my body. My face was becoming hot and I felt my head pounding. I had no idea what I was getting in to. 

“Can you tell me more about you and Gabriel?” I asked her.

She cleared her throat and when she finally spoke her voice was noticeably clearer. She was becoming more lucid and so I hoped her answer was quick. I was running out of time.

“I helped him with his legal issues. He needed some advice. I can’t remember...” She faltered and her brow crinkled up as she tried to remember.

I rubbed her arm sympathetically. “ I know. It’s ok. Just move on.”

“I met with him and he told me about you. You’re vampires. I thought he was mad at first. He asked me if I wanted to be his mate, and then he kissed me.”

Each word she spoke felt like a dagger. Not only had Gabriel asked her to be his mate but he had kissed her. I knew my sire, or at least I thought I did, and I had never pictured him betraying me with a human. He may not have been perfect but I never thought he would do that to me.

I was stunned. I could hear a soft movement and I knew Gabriel was waking up but I was frozen to the spot. He had betrayed me. Even if I somehow managed to forgive him, which seemed unlikely at that moment, I knew our relationship would be damaged.

He stood behind me for a while. I could hear him talking but none of the words he said made any real impact. It didn’t matter what he was saying. There was nothing that could change the way I felt.

I turned to face him. I felt my blood boiling but I couldn’t even look at him. I didn’t want to see his beautiful eyes because I knew he could talk me out of my fury with just a look. I needed to be strong for our confrontation.

“You told her you would make her a vampire.” I heard my voice coming out in a whisper. I had no power behind me anymore.

I’d never seen fear in his eyes before but when I finally locked on to his gaze I saw a flash of panic. This momentary lapse of control confirmed to me that everything Dahlia had said was true.

He tried to walk towards me, making some pathetic effort to win me over. I backed away quickly and he stopped in his tracks. He could sense how mad I was.

“Please, just listen to me.” he pleaded in a whisper.

I wasn’t interested. I could feel my eyes filling with tears. It was a pathetic, human thing to do but I couldn’t help myself.

“Just tell me why. Why would you do that?” I could feel the power rising behind my voice. I was speaking with a new found conviction and he knew I meant what I was saying.

He opened his mouth but no words came out. He was trying to work on his performance, perfecting his role as the apologetic lover, but I wasn’t interested anymore.

“It wasn’t like that.” He didn’t look at me. He was too much of a coward to look me in the eyes.

I felt every cell in my body raging. There was a fire growing in my stomach and my fangs began to protrude through my gums. Any strong emotion can bring them out, and this fury was almost suffocating me.

“Don’t lie to me.” I heard my voice but it didn’t sound like me. It was a harsh, grating shriek which made my skin crawl.

My hand was reaching out before I even realised it. There was a small coffee table near the wall with glass decanters displayed proudly on it. It felt like a stranger who reached out and picked up the heavy glass, but it was me.

The anger and adrenalin pumped more furiously. I could no longer hear, it felt like I was trapped underwater. Gabriel was talking to me now that he could see the glass in my hand, but I couldn’t hear him anymore. His voice was muffled, but either way nothing he said could stop my rage.

I threw the glass at him. A moment from my past flashed through my head as I did it. Just after I had been turned into a vampire I had thrown a glass at his head, enraged by the new sensations in my body. Back then my aim had been shoddy and I had missed, but I was stronger now.

The glass collided with his head and fell to the ground in jagged shards. My body was still in a predatory state of tension, but there were no more tears.

The rusty smell of blood hit my nose. Gabriel was bleeding from a shallow wound on his forehead. It would heal quickly but that wasn’t the point. I had finally been able to hurt him the way he was hurting me.

“I’m bleeding.” He said, touching the wound in shock. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I could feel the waves of fury coming from him, and my confidence was almost shattered.

I felt as if he was towering over me from across the room. There was a dark shadow over him in a way I’d never seen before. I was scared of him, more than I ever had been.

Before he could even move towards me the moment was interrupted by our forgotten house guest. In all of the panic I had forgotten that Dahlia was becoming more lucid.

She began wailing and shouting, her sounds puncturing the tension. Gabriel and I had managed to intimidate our neighbours but we didn’t want to draw attention to ourselves if possible. Dahlia’s screaming could put our secret in jeopardy.

Gabriel redirected his gift for intimidation towards her as he threw himself down to her level, slapping his hand over her mouth to silence her.

She began to calm down and eventually he removed his hand. The way she looked at him jarred on me. There was something tender between them, a look that was more than just a victim and her kidnapper. She had real feelings for him. I had never had to share my love for Gabriel with anyone else and I was already sick of it.