Charleston Past Midnight (16 page)

Can’t lose this life source ….

Deep in the recesses of my brain, I know that it’s Severin. He’s found a way and is either helping me or turning me—most likely both. I want to weep with gratitude for his act.

I sense my shoulders and back writhing against the grass. The warmth flowing through my body is invigorating. My fingers curl around the arm that is providing me nourishment.

He calls my name from above, asking if I can hear him. I want to nod, or at least look at him, but my body feels strangely different … it’s mine yet somehow not. I can only groan and hope that he understands that what he’s doing is working.

My last coherent thought is being lifted and settled into an enclosed space. It must be a car because it begins moving fast. I clasp his arm and take deep pulls, allowing the blood to replace the earlier misery. I can feel my shattered shoulder knitting together and the throbbing in my organs is nearly non-existent now. Deep down I have the distinct sense that I’m going to make it.
He did it. He saved me.

On that final thought I succumb to the stillness of sleep.

* * *

His voice. I catch the tail end of a single word, recognizing that it’s him, yet he somehow sounds
different.

Once again, I hear the lush rumble just above me. “My brave Calla. Open your eyes for me.”

I lean into the hand that is moving in a slow caress across my left cheek. The sensual touch seems amplified, far different from what I recall. I open my eyes and gasp.

I’m incapable of speaking as he stares down at me in all his stunning beauty. I feel like I never saw him before, like I was looking at him through dirty sunglasses. He’s radiant.

He grins at me and says quietly, “Welcome back,
ma belle fleur
.”

Even his voice is far more sensual, each word sounding like it’s part of a far greater composition. I blink and scan his face and hair before managing to say, “Thank you.”

His smile drops and his lips brush mine before he pulls back and says, “I couldn’t lose you, Calla. It would have destroyed me. Tell me, how are you feeling?”

I try to sit up, still a bit disoriented. I manage to prop up on my right elbow. I’m in the center of his bed and he is sitting on the side, hands planted into the mattress on either side of me.

“Better. Everything seems different, though.”

He watches me carefully before asking, “Different, how?”

I glance up at the Venetian glass light fixture that drops down from his beamed ceiling.
Did I ever notice those brilliant silver and black twists before?
Everything is pulsing with electricity, as if it has its own distinct vibe.

I struggle to explain it to him. “It’s all … heightened.”

He smiles and says gently, “Yes, that’s a good way to put it, Calla. Just wait until we go outside, my little beauty,
then
you’ll fully experience nature like you never could have before. Are you hurting anywhere?”

“No, I’m all right.” My mind is starting to swim with the new reality of being something else, something not human.
What the hell has happened to me?
I want to lash out, to scream at him, but I was there, knew what went down tonight. It was not like he had any choice.

My thoughts flick to my roommate and I freeze before asking in a shaky tone, “Wait, what about Kiana? Oh God, he could be after her right now!”

His hands stroke the upper part of my arms. “Shh, relax. She was at work when Case helped us earlier tonight. She’s fine. He’s with her right now. Trust me, he knows where your friend is at any given point each night and it is never far from him. In fact, I don’t know what she’s shared with you, but they’ve gotten quite
close
these past few weeks. It’s something that we are all a little apprehensive about, seeing as how she is human.”

I knew that she was wrapped up in him, that they were sleeping together, but I was too bogged down with my own issues to delve into it deeper.

“Wait, has he … bitten her? Does she know?”

He shakes his head. “He hasn’t shared that much with me. What I do know beyond any doubt is that he is very cautious and will guard her with his very life. There is no need to worry for her safety.”

I’m processing everything he’s just said when he says, “I need to know something, Calla.”

“Yes?”

“Earlier, you used your last breath to tell me to turn you. I need to know what made you so certain that this is the life you wanted for yourself.”

The answer falls from my lips without any hesitation, “Because I couldn’t go to my grave as mere poor white trash.”

Astounded, he whispers, “What?”

I soldier on, “I struggled my whole life for the opportunity to become something other than what I was born into, Severin. I was nearly there too, with acceptance into med school. My dream, my
only
dream, was to pull myself out of that sordid past that clung to me like a foul smell.” I shake my head slowly and continue on, “I wasn’t about to go out like that, no fucking way, and especially not at the hands of that monster Valdon.”

“Calla, you’ve never been and you
never
will be poor white trash. Not to me. I never want to hear you say those words again.”

I stare at him pointedly. “Hard to shake it off. You can’t understand it unless you’ve lived it, Severin. And don’t think for one second I’m telling you any of this for pity, because I’m
so
not.”

He leans in closer and in a scary whisper speaks inches from my lips, “I don’t. I refuse to have the woman I love ever refer to herself in such a demeaning manner. If you feel that way then it is my mission to change that fact. Beginning now.”

I watch him carefully, wondering if I possibly misheard him. “Did you just say what I think you said?”

His hot stare melds to mine before his head lowers. A long, slow swipe of his tongue licks up the side of my neck, stopping just at the base of my ear. The sexiest purr I’ve ever heard brushes against my skin in a whisper, “You heard me. I love you Calla. I have, ever since the night at the lake. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I’ve had others in the past. But that’s the past and I assure you the words I just spoke to you have never left my lips before tonight.”

I begin to tremble at the intensity of his words, rocked to the core as he continues on in his sensual whisper, “Even if you hadn’t asked, I still would have turned you. I’m a selfish bastard, Calla. The thought of living centuries without you is unfathomable. I’d rather you hate me than visit a piece of stone that serves as a marker for what you used to be. I detest Valdon worse than you can imagine, and what he did tonight only adds to the long black tally that I have racked up against him. I
will
avenge what he did to you, of this you can be certain my love.”

He pulls back, but I want nothing more than to crawl into the familiar safety of his wide chest. Twining my arms around his neck, I lean in and answer his passionate statement with a sensual kiss, hoping that he can feel it to his core. Our tongues lap greedily as the kiss turns fierce and more potent.

“Oh!”

Before I can blink, he lifts me up, legs wrapped around his bare waist. He’s moving in a near blur, and before I realize where we’re headed he has me inside the dark enclosure of his shower and he’s shoving the handle impatiently to ‘on.’

“Severin … I need you.”

A low sound close to a growl vibrates throughout the shadowy room as he grates out, “I jacked off thinking about taking you in the shower. Be warned, Calla. Now that you can take it, this time I’m not holding back.”

Don’t ever hold back!

As the spray tunnels down from overhead I feel a telling gush of wetness between my legs. Still held against him I glance down and am stunned by the blood that’s saturated in my hair and down my once white dress. But at this point I’m beyond caring. The need for him to be buried inside me is throbbing hard. My bare feet touch the wet stone floor seconds before I’m spun around, and that dark voice commands me, “Brace your hands against the wall and don’t move.”

My heart is thundering as my hands fly out to press against the warm, slick wall.

“God, yes!”

With one wrenching pull, my dress is torn down and off of my body. This is the real Severin, unleashed in all his pure ferocity. A dark shiver works its way straight down my spine as my feet are kicked open. My head is whirling, craving his perfect touch as I hear him shed his clothes. Silently he steps in between my parted legs. His hand is wrapped around his thick heat, and I feel his wrist brush against my ass as the smooth head teases first my clit and then back farther to my already eager core. I can’t help it; I bump my ass back a few inches, silently begging for him to thrust right into me.

His silky wet hair caresses my shoulder as his chest presses up against my back. His thrilling voice envelops me, “Now, Calla, I’ll finally able to give it to you how I’ve always wanted to, my love. I’m warning you—it will be anything but gentle.”

My screams rise up through the steam as he slams right into me and instantly begins a savage, driving rhythm, unlike anything I’ve ever known. All I can do is remain plastered against the wall, clinging desperately to the wet stone as each hard stroke urges me closer to the edge of sanity. He speeds up the punishing rhythm, and I can’t resist working my feet out wider so he can take me deeper.

He hisses at my movement and the hands that are clamped down intently on my hips are suddenly gone. I gasp as one fist locks tightly into my hair and the other snakes down in front of my legs to swirl expertly against my pulsing clit.

He grits out from behind, “That’s right, take it so deep for me … right there. That’s it Calla, fuck, yes!”

That was it, the
precise
words that set me free.

“Severin!”

My shattered cry drives him harder as his frantic pounding increases, perfectly in tune with the pulsing shudders of my powerful orgasm that’s swiftly consuming me in rapturous bliss. It’s far more intense now and I revel in the marvelous sensations that are exploding throughout my body.

I shiver in excitement as his hand leaves my clit to clamp down onto my left hip. He rams into me one last time, and I feel the hot cum flood deep within me. His powerful roar of triumph permeates the steamy enclosure surrounding us.

Still buried in me to the hilt, he leans forward, his head touching the stone directly beside mine.

He struggles to find his voice, “Look at me.”

Half-dazed, I slide my hand down from the wall and brush my saturated hair away before twisting my neck to look over into his eyes. His irises are pitch-black. Before I can say anything he speaks first. “Just as I thought.”
Are mine black as well?

He slowly pulls out of my core, and I watch his head tip slightly to the right. He urges in a seductive voice, “Take from me.”

With those three words slipping from his lips, I’m lost. I lick my lips and am stunned to feel newly dropped canines that have incredibly sharp points at the ends. Suddenly, I’m awash with need. I couldn’t stop or even hope for a second that I could rein in my swiftly mounting hunger. My hand reaches out in a blur of motion to glide through his wet hair. If I wasn’t so determined, I would be floored by the swiftness of my movement. I pull him close then with deadly accuracy I strike, piercing his neck with the foreign twin points that somehow feel so natural in my mouth.

Our groans blend together, his in pleasure, mine in greedy need. I nearly pull back, so surprised by the richness of his warm blood. Before, when I was turning, I was far too distracted to really appreciate it. It tastes so pure as I draw it into my mouth. I’m on tiptoes to reach his neck, and with my head tilted back, the blood had as easy path to follow. Gravity takes its course, and it slides down, nourishing me in its mouthwatering perfection.

The palpable energy surges through my body, ignited by his blood alone. I don’t know how long I have drawn from him when he cups my face with his palm and gently pulls me away from his neck.

“I’m sorry, Calla, I have to stop it until I can replenish my body. I’ve given you a lot of my blood tonight and I promise to give you far more, my love, but first I must refuel, so to speak. I hope you understand?”

Suddenly I feel absolutely selfish. I quickly swing my long wet hair around to one side and tip my exposed neck far to the side for his use, “Oh God, of course. Here, please ….”

His soft laugh surprises me, and instead of drinking, he pulls me tightly into his large arms. “I adore you, my sweet one. I do. But you are too newly turned and need every ounce of blood that is within you to thrive. No, I will go out to feed, but don’t worry, I will return before you’ve even had an opportunity to miss me. Besides, it will give you a chance to catch up with your new family. I’m sure that they will have some choice gossip to share with you about me.”

My new family?
Why does that simple statement bring tears to my eyes?

“Come, let’s get dressed, and we’ll find everyone. Sound all right?”

I’m one of them now. I struggle to take it easy, to not lose it. I need to go slow and steady, to process this new life a minute at a time. I trust him to look out for me.

I glance up at the nearly healed puncture wounds on his neck. He tracks my eyes and catches my chin between his thumb and forefinger. I lift my eyes to his.

“It’s nothing. I can’t even feel it.”

“Should I run my tongue over it?”

“No, there’s no need, Calla.”

I press my cheek against his chest, right over his heart. My voice rings out, clear and true, “I love you, Severin. Always.”

He pulls back and tips my chin up. His eyes blaze as he says in his steely, determined voice, “Yes, always.”

Chapter Eighteen

A Vicious Past

S
everin has just left to feed and I’m sitting in the cavernous living room of their underground home. He assured me that he’d return in a few hours and urged me to relax with Alina and Ambrose.