A Mate for Griffin (16 page)

She pulled his mouth open and held her arm above his lips. Her blood dripped slowly. At first there was nothing. Then he swallowed. A while later, he swallowed again, this time groaning softly as he did. There was the sound of a phone alert. Must be Earl’s. She glanced at his pants. She would need to check it. It was more than likely the others returning.

Wincing, she squeezed her arm and fresh blood dripped between his lips. Something Earl had said worried her. He’d told her that they didn’t have much time. The others could come back at any moment. Chester had been in charge of burying Griffin, so if Griffin was here then he was most likely dead.

The other two would be back soon though. Shit! She pulled away from Griffin and picked up Earl’s gun, placing it on the bed. Then she found her panties and put them back on. Sarah fixed her bra. She looked around the small bedroom but there were no items of clothing in sight. She remembered seeing some bags in the living room, but the thought of wearing these men’s clothing didn’t sit well with her. There was no time to worry about it.

Sarah didn’t know very much about guns. There was a safety, which would need to be released. Unless Earl had done that already.

“Sarah,” Griffin whispered. His eyes were closed.

She rushed back to him. “Are you okay?” Then she felt stupid for asking the question. Of course he wasn’t okay. He’d just been shot. He was dead not so long ago. “I’m here and I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

Griffin smiled. His eyes opened just a smidgen. “Stop that.” He grimaced.

“Stop what?” She touched his cheek and he sighed like her touch was the best thing he had ever felt. “Stop throwing yourself between fighting males.”

“Stop fighting then and you’ll have yourself a deal.”

He frowned. “That’s not going to happen any time soon.” He tried to rise but fell back on a loud groan. He cursed.

“They’re coming,” he whispered. “I can hear the vehicle. We don’t have very long. A few minutes at best.”

“Oh shit.” Sarah heard the panic in her voice. So the message had been an alert that they were on their way in. She tried to scramble up, but Griffin grabbed her wrist.

“I need blood…from your vein and I need it now.” His eyes were open. They shone with determination but the glassy look belied the pain and exhaustion he was feeling.

She nodded, holding her arm over his face. The wound was sealing.

“From the vein, Sarah.” He locked eyes with hers. She nodded and watched in fascination as he opened his mouth and pulled her hand to him. His fangs were long and sharp looking, they pierced her flesh easily.

She gasped, feeling a pinch. His lips closed over her and he sucked hard. His eyes closed and he groaned. His grip on her wrist tightened as he sucked again. His throat worked as he swallowed down her blood in big gulps.

Sarah could feel her blood rushing through her veins. Could feel as it left her body. A feeling of calm and contentment came over her. Her eyes drifted shut just as she heard a vehicle pull up and the engine switched off. “Griffin,” she whispered unnecessarily.

He released her, his eyes closed as he licked his lips.

“Get into the closet.” He cracked them open, rising to his elbows. She could see that it cost him a ton of effort just to move.

“What? No. There are two of them. I will help you.”

“No way! Not happening. I’m not arguing with you. Get into the damned closet and stay there.” He sat the rest of the way up and picked up Earl’s gun. He pointed to a switch on the side, which he flicked. “This is the safety. I just deactivated it so it will shoot. The bullets are silver, so all I ask is that you don’t shoot me. I will let you know when I have killed them.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Then and only then can you come out.” He clicked the safety back on. “Deactivate it as soon as you are in place.”

There were voices now. Just outside the front door. One of the guys called to Earl. Shit! They were out of time.

He cupped her chin. “If I don’t call to you and someone opens that closet, I need you to kill the bastard. Can you do that?”

She nodded.

He brushed a kiss on the side of her lips and her heart rate picked up a whole lot. “Good.” he whispered, much softer this time. The front door creaked open and once again, someone called to Earl.

Griffin rose to his feet. Quickly and quietly, he reminded her of a big cat. Powerful, graceful, deadly. He squeezed his eyes shut for a half a second, belying his pain. His eyes were clouded when they opened back up. He might be big and powerful, but he wasn’t very strong at the moment. He pulled her up with some effort.

Within a few seconds she was crouched in the closet, and not a second too soon. The door opened. There was a crashing noise, a thud, another thud and a gun shot rang out. Then someone fell. Something clattered to the floor. Sarah had to grit her teeth to keep from screaming.

“Fuck you.” A human snarled. “I’ll fucking kill you!”

There was a ton of grunting and groaning. “Not so fucking strong…bloodsucker.” It sounded like Lewis. There was another loud crash. Another thud. The sound of items falling onto the floor followed by a weak sounding snarl.

“You’re dead, asshole vampire…fucking dead.” There was a meaty thud followed by another meaty thud. Then another and another.

It didn’t sound good. There was no way she was sitting holed up in a closet while some jerk hurt Griffin. The door creaked as she opened it. She pointed the gun. Lewis straddled Griffin. He was punching him in the face. He was so busy that he didn’t notice her. If he turned his head ever so slightly to the right, he would see her. He didn’t.

She looked down, suddenly realizing that the safety was still on. She’d forgotten to deactivate it again. She flipped the switch and aimed. Her arm wavered. What if Griffin suddenly sat up? His only request had been that she not accidentally shoot him. What if she missed? The gun felt heavy and awkward in her grasp.

Sarah stuck the weapon under a pillow, not wanting to leave it in the open. She knew where it was and would only have to fight Lewis long enough to get back here if she really had to. Sarah ripped the side lamp out of the wall, took two strides to a shocked looking Lewis and swung. He put his arms up but the wooden part of the lamp still hit the side of his head. Unfortunately, his forearm took the brunt of the force. He grunted.

When she swung a second time he grabbed the base and ripped the lamp from her hands. One of his eyes was swollen and his lip was a bleeding mess, but he still looked strong.

Lewis smiled as he gripped her wrist. Blood leaked from the wound. Flip it! Sarah wasn’t quick enough to get away from him. She tried to tug her arm out of his grip, but with no such luck.

A fist connected on the side of the asshole’s head and he fell to the right, grappling for the hunting knife that lay on the floor. Sarah wished she had more time. More reach, as she hit him on the back with the lamp. Lewis grunted but it didn’t stop him from crawling forward.

Griffin groaned, as he moved into a sitting position. Sarah could just make out how he shook his head. It was like he was trying to wake himself up. She hit Lewis again. Putting everything she had into it.

He fell with a yelp, but when he turned, the blade was gripped tightly in his hand. Sarah scrambled backwards. Lewis was between her and the bed. Maybe leaving the gun hadn’t been the best idea. At the time it seemed like the right choice. She had no business trying to use a weapon and it wasn’t like she could’ve tucked the thing in her dental floss thong. If they got out of this she was going for shooting lessons.

Griffin still sat where she had left him, he was half in a daze.
Oh no! Shit!
He was in no condition to defend himself. Sarah screamed his name, as Lewis raised the blade. The asshole had switched his focus from her to Griffin.

Every muscle, ligament and tendon strained as she tried to reach him before Lewis did. In an almost casual move, she watched in horror as Griffin lifted an arm. The blade sliced across Griffin’s forearm. In a wild swing, she felt the wood connect against Lewis’ skull in a hard crack which reverberated up her arm. He flew back, his head bounced against the floor as he landed.

Like a crazed Amazon woman, she leapt onto him using the momentum to bring the makeshift weapon down onto his head. The noise it made as it connected with his face made her gag. It was a popping sound. She imagined a ripe melon striking a hard floor would sound very similar.

Lewis’ arm twitched. She knew that he was dead or would be soon.

“I told you to stay in the closet.” Griffin’s voice sounded weak. She turned to him. He swayed, his head hung like it was too heavy for him to carry.

“What, and watch you get beaten to death?”

He made a snorting noise and smiled. “I was perfectly fine.” He grimaced.

“Like hell! He was beating you and would have killed you.” She pointed a finger at him.

Griffin groaned as he lay down. Right there on the floor. “I was biding my time. Conserving my energy. My face is fine.” His chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath. He looked like he had run a marathon. Funnily enough, aside from dirt and grime, his face looked unharmed even though Lewis had been punching him. “If he had tried to move away I would have killed him. Just needed more strength.” he groaned.

“Do you need more blood? What can I do for you?”

His eyes were closed and he didn’t answer.

“Griffin.” He was out cold. His chest rose and fell rhythmically. She needed to check and make sure that the other guy was dead as well. She’d watched enough horror movies to know that there was always one person that came back just when you thought the coast was clear.

Sam’s neck was twisted at a strange angle and his eyes were wide open. Even though she was sure that both Earl and Lewis were gone, she double checked anyway by checking for a pulse. They were all dead. She huffed out a breath.

She tried for a second time to wake up Griffin, but he wouldn’t budge so she put a blanket over him.

Her bladder felt so full that she was sure she would burst. She went to the bathroom and relieved herself. She washed her face. Exhaustion settled over her. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before. It almost felt like she was drunk. Then again, she’d been kidnapped, almost raped and had just killed two people in order to survive, but she was still alive. Griffin was still alive as well. If it weren’t for him. A shudder went through her. The sky was becoming lighter. It would soon be morning. No wonder she was so darned tired.

She went back into the bedroom. Griffin looked peaceful. His breathing was strong. His color already looked a lot better. Blood soaked through the blanket she had just laid over him. Sleep would have to wait. She crouched down beside him and removed the thin wool. The slice across his arm had been deep but she could already see that the wound was healing. It was crusted over and no longer bled. She peeled his shirt up his chest. It was wet with blood. Sarah gasped.

There were three holes in his torso. They were still raw and bloody. One of the holes on his chest oozed blood. She reached for the knife and cut away his shirt. She needed to get him cleaned up. Hopefully these assholes had a first aid kit somewhere. It didn’t take her long to find one.

It was a large green bag, with a tell-tale cross on it. She unzipped the bag and fished out a small bottle of disinfectant. After unscrewing the lid she caught the familiar scent of alcohol. The little bottle wasn’t going to go very far. His chest was crusted with blood and gore. On a sigh, she rose to her feet and headed for the kitchen. There was a plastic bowl in one of the cupboards. She poured the water out of a kettle on the gas stove and made her way back to the bedroom.

It took a good twenty minutes to clean his chest and to disinfect the wounds as best she could. She didn’t bother too much with his arm which looked better than the first time she had looked at it. The worst of the three wounds had stopped leaking blood.

None of the bandages in the kit were big enough and she would never be able to move him enough to get one on him, so she dressed his wounds, using the roll of tape to hold the dressing in place. Aside from groaning once or twice, Griffin lay still.

Sarah looked over to the three dead bodies. One by the bed. One right by them, and one lay sprawled in the doorway. The last thing she felt like doing was sleeping with a bunch of corpses, but beggars could not be choosers. She was too tired to try and move the bodies. There was no way she was leaving Griffin, so that didn’t leave many options. Sarah closed the bedroom door. She realized that there was little chance of someone coming, but she would rather err on the side of caution. Earl had said that it was only the four of them and that they would hole in until drop off, which was only at five this evening. He specifically said that no one was coming. She huffed out a breath.

Griffin was out cold. She was too exhausted to try and stay awake. She would hopefully wake up if the need arose, which was doubtful. She found fresh linen in the closet. She discarded the bloodied blanket and put a fresh one over Griffin. Then she made a makeshift bed next to him on the opposite side to where Lewis lay with his brains on the floor. She tried not to think about it. It made her feel sick.

He groaned as she moved in next to him. His face contorted for a second before he relaxed once more. Griffin was clearly suffering from his injuries. By the way he looked, it was a wonder he had been conscious at all, let alone that he had fought. Moving slowly and gently, she stroked his cheek feeling the stubble catch under her fingertips. His skin was warm. His lashes were long and thick. They fanned his skin. Even all dirtied and bloodied up, she couldn’t help but to notice how beautiful he was. She’d nearly lost him without telling him how she felt about him. She bit down on her lip, to stop it from quivering.