Younger, Bree - Burn [All American Vampires 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) (30 page)

He saw her nod.

“You’ll need to blur the pain of the bite. Remember, I told you that before? It’s easier the first few times if you’re looking into the donor’s eyes, so that rules out the neck until you’re more comfortable with it. The wrist will probably be easiest for now.” He took Gerard’s hand and turned it so that the veins in his wrist were facing up. “When your fangs are down, you should be able to feel the venom in tiny swellings right behind the teeth. Use your tongue and gently brush it over the gums. Do you feel it?”

“Yes.” Her voice quivered a little, signaling her nervousness, but he knew that she could handle this.

“Good. When you bite, you have to use your tongue to press against those sacs to release the venom. So it’s something you deliberately have to do. There are only two times you want to release your venom. One is to kill. The other is to turn. Tonight be very careful not to press on the sacs. You’re just feeding. About three or four swallows and then use your saliva to close the wounds. Are you ready?”

“I guess so.”

He could hear the trepidation in her voice but smiled encouragingly. He lifted Gerard’s wrist to her mouth. “Remember, meet his eyes and give him a little mental push to blur the pain. It should come pretty naturally.”

She hesitated a moment before bending down. After she caught Gerard’s gaze with her own, she struck quickly. Ty watched as Gerard’s lids dropped slowly, obviously in no pain. He counted out her pulls on the human’s vein. “One. Two. Three. Four. Good, now close the wounds, Lib.”

He watched as she followed his directions and then moved back. Gerard’s arousal was obvious, but Ty had warned both donors that there would be no sexual contact. That was one reason why he had chosen this couple. Already in a relationship with one another, they could relieve the tension of the sexual arousal caused by the vampire bite with one another.

“Okay, baby?” Wide-eyed, she just nodded, licking her lips, and he indicated for Maggie to step forward. He watched carefully as Libby repeated the same process. When it was over, he thanked the couple and they left quickly, obviously eager to be alone. He pulled Libby into his arms. “You did so well, sweetheart. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“I’m not sure. It was weird. No. No, it was okay, I guess. I didn’t think I would like the taste, but I did. Isn’t that strange?”

He grinned. “No. Not strange that a vampire would enjoy the taste of blood.”

She tentatively smiled back. “I’m babbling, aren’t I? I guess it’s gonna take me a little while to get used to all this.”

“We’ve got all the time you’ll ever need, babe.”

“Yeah, I guess we do.”

“Centuries, in fact.”

She shook her head. “I can’t even wrap my mind around the idea.”

“Do you hate me for getting you into this, Libby?” He studied her face, trying to detect the truth in her expression.

“No. I don’t hate you at all. I love you. And I want to be with you—forever.”

He bent down and caught her mouth in a lingering kiss, full of all his love and lust and dreams for their future together. When they broke apart, they were both breathing heavily. “Forever, Lib.”

He kissed her again and knew that the long years ahead would now be shared with the woman that he loved more than he loved life itself.

Chapter Twenty

A few hours later, a self-conscious Libby joined Ty, Quinn, Hawk, and RJ, and the werewolf alpha Ricardo Diaz in the living room to discuss everything that had happened the previous night. She took her seat on the sofa next to Ty and tried to relax, but it was obvious that the others were curious about how she was handling the change. She could feel their eyes on her, but whenever she would look at them, they would quickly look away.

“Okay, guys, enough, please,” she said when she’d reached the end of her patience. “I’m fine. I’m not freaking out or having some sort of meltdown or anything. I’m doing as well as can be expected. Now can we get on with this. Please?”

Quinn laughed. “Sorry. I guess we are a little curious how things are going. It’s been a while since we had a newly turned vampire with us, and especially not one who was family.”

She flushed with pleasure at that. That he and the others thought of her as family made her feel as though she belonged. “I understand. But honestly, Ty says I seem to be handling things pretty well, all things considered.”

She looked at Ty who rolled his eyes. “Yeah, she’s still having a little trouble adjusting to her new body, but I told her if she just gave herself a few days, things would be better.”

“What’s the problem, Libby?” RJ wanted to know.

“Well…” She didn’t really want to tell them the about the stupid accidents she was having. “You know, vampires are really strong.”

She saw them exchanged puzzled glances.

 
“Yeah. So?”

“So I might have accidentally—I mean, it could have happened to anyone.”

“Oh, for crying out loud, she broke the remote to the television in my room. Just smashed that sucker into little pieces. Then she accidentally broke the corner off my dresser.”

She heard a chuckle. Then another. When she sent them all the evil eye, the chuckles stopped.

Quinn coughed and said, “Don’t worry about it, Libby. We all went through the same thing. It won’t take long for you to figure it all out.”

“Yeah, and we can always baby-proof the place until she gains a little more control.” RJ snickered.

She speared him with a look that shut him up.

“Seriously, Libby, we completely understand. Now, guys, let’s get serious for a second here.” Quinn turned to look at Libby. “I need you to tell us what you can about when you were taken.”

She shrugged. “All right.”

She proceeded to tell them everything she could remember. When she told them about finding the dead were, she looked at the Alpha. “I am so sorry about what happened to him. He didn’t deserve that. I really liked him.”

Diaz nodded. “I appreciate it, Miss Shaw. Enrique was a good soldier. It is not a bad thing to die protecting someone.”

She licked her lips and continued with her story. When she’d finished, Quinn stood and paced over to the window. “A vampiress with a French accent. It has to be Simone. There can be no doubt. Unfortunately, it’s still not enough for the Council to act on, and with McElroy and the others dead, we’re right back where we started.”

“At least we saved those bloodslaves. And they know we’re onto them now. Plus, we’ve taken out some of their top people.” Hawk reminded everyone of the night’s accomplishments.

“What about the bloodslaves? Do they know anything?” Diaz wanted to know.

Hawk stepped forward. “From what we can understand, they were kept pretty isolated. We’ve learned how they were brought in, and we’re going to follow up on that, see if we can find out who else might be involved.”

“One of the bloodslaves was a were-female. I’d like to take her back to my pack,” Diaz told Quinn.

She saw Quinn nod. “I hoped that you would say that. She doesn’t speak much English and is very uncomfortable with just a bunch of vampires for company.”

“Will you be able to return the humans to their homes?” Libby wanted to be sure that the kidnapping victims were taken care of.

“We’ll try, but it might not be possible. For some of them, they have nothing to go back to.”

“How many are there?”

RJ spoke up. “There were five humans and the one were-female.”

“I just feel so sorry for them.”

Ty pulled her closer. “We’ll make sure they’re taken care of, Lib.”

“I know.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. He really was a good guy, vampire or not.

“This isn’t over.” Quinn spoke and the others nodded in agreement.

Libby studied the serious faces of the gathered men and realized that she would trust any of them with her life. Then she felt Ty lean down to give her a brief kiss.

Even though her world had been completely rocked on its axis. And even though she was unsure exactly what it would be like from here on out, still there definitely were some silver linings.

* * * *

Later, after everyone had left, Quinn stood at his window overlooking the gleaming waters of the Gulf Coast as they reflected the moonshine. Though they hadn’t been able to take McElroy or any of the other vampires alive, the bloodslaves were a different story. Their conditions had been pitiful, but luckily they had been found in time. With time and care, they would heal.

And Simone…she was still out there somewhere. He knew she would be furious at this latest turn of events. No, this definitely was not over. He was sure they would have to deal with her eventually. Only this time, he and the others would be prepared. She’d better watch out because there was no way in hell Quinn would ever allow anything to harm those that he considered his. Never.

THE END

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