Contingency (16 page)

“Perhaps we should go ahead and make our way out the back door now that they’re gone.” I gazed into his eyes, willing myself to hate him as much as I hated the two female vampires I had met. If I hated him then I couldn’t have any feelings at all for him. Wait. I had feelings for him? I was pretty sure I was in love with Aldwin and here I was splayed on top of a freakin’ vampire and wondering about what
feelings
I had for him?

It was that thought that had me jumping off of Soren as quickly as possible. I felt so conflicted, how could someone have feelings for two guys at the same time? I wasn’t the type to mess around with guys’ heads, playing games with them, so what was my problem? I shook my head as I tried to clear my jumbled thoughts. Maybe I was just sexually attracted to Soren, I mean, no woman in her right mind wouldn’t be attracted to him. He was totally lick-able for crying out loud! That was it. If it had been normal circumstances, we wouldn’t have ended up locking lips.

That would have been an excellent excuse if I hadn’t felt the same zing of power shoot through me, just like the first time we kissed.

We made it to Soren’s home late that evening to send correspondences to Cerberus and the Preternatural leaders. I had stayed over at Soren’s large estate twice before, but it felt a little different since what had happened between us earlier. Soren was supposed to have gone to Dwennon’s without me, but changed his mind at the last minute and decided to accompany me back to his place first.

As soon as the carriage stopped, Soren started to get out, but I spoke his name softly and he become eerily still. “Soren, I wanted to talk to you about what happened tonight.” He turned around and I blinked, startled by the golden light that shone from his eyes.

“There’s nothing to talk about.” He stated in clipped tones. I reached over to touch his sleeve, but he flinched away from me.

“I think there is,” I said softly, not breaking eye contact as he stared me down. I sighed in annoyance when it was evident that he didn’t want to talk. I leaned over to come nose to nose with him and spoke as softly as possible, bottling up all my frustration for later use. “Fine, Soren, we won’t talk about this right now, but we
will
talk soon.” I stepped from the carriage feeling in control, getting the last word in like that and all. I guess I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings instead.

Chapter Twenty-Five

I had barely taken a step away from the carriage when I caught a slight movement in the shadows to my left. I reached in my pocket for my dirk just as a figure lunged towards me with a small dagger in their raised hand. I just barely missed being slashed through as I dove out of the way and my legs became tangled in my pale green evening gown. I pushed myself out of the dirt and swung around to find Soren with his knee in the back of my attacker who was face down on the ground. I felt a burst of pain on my left wrist and looked down and saw that I had been cut during the scuffle. Sweat broke out on my forehead as I made my way over to Soren.

I wasn’t prepared to see the face of my attacker. Soren flipped the person over and the earth shifted slightly beneath my feet as I looked into the familiar gray eyes. “Phoebe?” I sucked in a pained breath. I dropped to my knees, more worn out than I cared to admit. Phoebe looked at me through the tears that tracked down her dirty face.

“I’m...so...sorry, Sage.” A gurgling sound came from her chest. I glanced up at Soren. “What’s wrong with her?” I asked, dismissing my own pain. “I don’t know. She only has a small superficial cut from her own knife that she got it when I wrestled it away from her.” He narrowed his eyes at the woman on the ground.

Pheobe made a choked sound and her eyes widened with fright. “Poison,” she rasped out as a coughing fit wracked her body. My world tilted slightly on its axis and my eyes flew to Soren’s. His nostrils flared delicately and his gaze landed on my wrist. “Phoebe, who are you working for? Whose orders were you carrying out?” I asked quickly before my pain could incapacitate me.

I grabbed her shoulders and shook one hard time. Her pale face looked drawn and defeated. Her lips moved slightly and a small sound escaped as she tried to form words. “Please, Phoebe, you must tell me.” I begged. She opened her mouth and blood trickled out. Her words were barely audible. “I...had...to...I loved...him.”

Travis.

I felt Soren pull me off the ground and away from Phoebe. “She’s dead” he whispered. I looked back down into her gray eyes and all I could feel was pity.

“So am I,” I muttered, feeling fire licking my wrist. I felt Soren lift me into his arms like I weighed no more than a child and march up the steps of his grand home. I felt so tired that by the time Soren laid me on a large bed, I could have sworn it had taken us hours to walk up the single flight of stairs.

“Soren, if I die, will you miss me?” I whispered. Heat encompassed my body and an invisible fire licked my skin. I prayed that someone would put it out before it consumed me.

“You’re not going to die, Sage. I won’t allow it.” I snorted and immediately regretted the action when pain shot through my skull. I cried out and Soren hissed in a breath and wiped my brow with a damp cloth.

“Listen to me, Sage. I need to get the poison out of your blood, in order to do that, I am going to have to suck the wound and hope I get all of the infected blood out.” He spoke urgently and I knew time was against us.

“I bet you just couldn’t wait to sink your teeth into me, vampire.” I tried to smile, but I’m pretty sure it was a grimace that adorned my face.

“You wish, Warper.” Soren quipped.

I looked into his eyes and spoke from my heart. “I trust you.” It came out a whisper, but I knew my vampire would be able to hear me. I had some bizarre faith that my vampire would be able to save me as well.

Soren didn’t waste any time, he took my left arm gently in his hands and sank his razor sharp fangs into the cut at my wrist. I flinched at the sharp pain. My right hand shot out to grasp a handful of his hair out of reflex. I slowly relaxed my grip on his hair as my body began to feel weightless. I stroked his head and neck to encourage him to continue, to let him know that I was ok. I felt a shudder run through his body and its vibrations shook my equilibrium.

I floated away bit by bit, and soon I was unable to open my eyes. I drifted in and out of consciousness and caught only tiny glimpses of what was happening around me... Soren speaking to me with his fangs peaking out of his mouth and blood dripping from his chin. Soren puking somewhere close by, to rid his body of my tainted blood. Soren’s shaky voice telling me he was going to discard my dirty dress. I could’ve cared less if he had stripped me naked--as long as I got to sleep in peace. 

I woke in my shift with my heart pounding and a vampire lying deathly still next to me. I guess I survived the night. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand but  I was as weak as a kitten.

“Do you need something?” My heart almost stopped. Now, that would have been a waste. I turned to Soren and tried to act natural. It wasn’t very often a girl found herself in bed with a vampire.

“I was just going to find a drink of water, my throat is parched.” I realized how pale he looked and it hit me how much he’d put himself through to save me. I crawled over to him, and placed my hand on his clammy brow. “Are you okay, Soren? Is there anything I can get you?” I furrowed my brow in thought. What if he hadn’t rid his body of all the poison he’d taken from my blood. I couldn’t let him die because of me.

“Sage, stop thinking so much. I’m fine, I’m just... thirsty.” he rasped out.

“Well, why didn’t you say so? Let me get you some wa-- Oh.” I searched his eyes and found the answer he didn’t want me to see. He had spent all night throwing up all the blood he had sucked from my body to make sure he didn’t become poisoned. He was dehydrated. He needed blood. I got off the bed and went to the night stand and poured myself a drink from the pitcher sitting there. I gulped it down.

I got back into the four poster bed and crawled over to Soren’s side. “You saved my life, Soren. Please let me help you in return.” I didn’t give him time to argue. I laid down next to him and he allowed me to pull him over onto his side to face me. “Sage, this isn’t necessary...you’re still weak from the blood loss from last night.” I put my finger over his lips and the ring around his eyes began to glow softly.

“Don’t talk, just nod your head. Can you take just a little blood for now?” His eyes narrowed. He wasn’t used to taking orders. Tough luck. He nodded his head one time in a jerky movement. “Good. I want you to take it from me. No arguing, I owe you and I’ll be sure to eat a ton of iron filled foods later today. My wrist is very sore, so can you take from my neck without leaving nasty marks?” I asked the last a bit shyly. I’m pretty sure there were no vampire etiquette classes that could help me in this situation.

My finger was still on his lips when he nodded again. I gulped and tried to regulate my breathing to show Soren that I could handle the whole situation. I removed my finger from his lips and moved in a little closer to my vampire. I lifted my hand so I could move my hair out of his way, but he caught it and pulled it down to rest on his chest. I gulped in a breath as Soren reached over and grasped my tangled mass of hair into his large hand and moved it over my shoulder to clear a pathway to the pulse point at my neck.

He took my chin in his hand and searched my eyes for any hesitation. Finding none, he angled my head to the left and leaned into me. His chest brushed mine and his hair caressed my face. I had prepared myself for the pain, but I didn’t realize I should’ve also prepared myself for pleasure.

My gasp echoed through the room when I felt the sharp pain of Soren’s fangs biting into my neck, the pain didn’t last long before a euphoric sensation swept through my body. Between the friction of our two bodies rubbing against each other and the pulling of Soren’s mouth at my neck, I felt like I would forever be marked by the experience. Only a moment later I felt him pull away from my neck and his tongue sweeping out to seal over the two puncture wounds he’d created. I was breathing heavily and realized that my hand had a death grip on his white night shirt. I loosened my hand and smoothed out the shirt before I met his eye.

I had no idea what to say. Thank you?
Wow
hardly seemed appropriate. Before I could ponder the correct thing to say any longer, Soren leaned over and softly kissed the corner of my mouth. “Go to sleep, Sage. A vampire needs his rest, you know.” I smiled and settled next to him to go to sleep. I didn’t even have to try. I was asleep before I could remember to worry about the upcoming evening.

Chapter Twenty-Six

When I woke up, it was to an empty bed. I stretched my stiff body and caught sight of a platter of fruit, cheese and bread sitting on the bedside table. With a grumbling stomach, I made my way over and devoured half the contents of the platter before I noticed a clean outfit draped over a large chair near the fireplace. Munching on an apple I walked over and found not only an outfit with an ecru colored high neck blouse and a deep red skirt, but also a set of my undergarments and even a bar of my favorite lemongrass soap. I shook my head. Soren certainly was efficient.

After satisfying my hunger, I washed quickly in the adjoining bathroom, and then paused to check the cut on my wrist and the bite marks on my neck. The puncture wounds were barely visible, and the cut on my arm was healing quite nicely. I bandaged my wrist lightly and dressed in the fresh set of clothes that Soren had procured for me. The long sleeved, high necked blouse hid both recently acquired wounds. As I was braiding my hair loosely down my back, Soren knocked softly at the door before entering with a glass of wine for me.

The whole situation felt a bit awkward and I fidgeted and cleared my throat in the silence. Fortunately, Soren decided to proceed as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Maybe for him, it hadn’t.

“I took it upon myself to write to Cerberus and Dwennon about last night’s events.” I raised my brow hoping he’d left out
some
of the details. “Travis has been detained and will undergo extensive questioning. As of right now, he is denying any involvement in the string of deaths and in the assassination plot, he seemed genuinely distraught to learn of Phoebe’s death. Some of Cerberus and the preternatural leaders will be coming here within the hour for a meeting to determine how we will proceed tomorrow when the President gives his speech.”

And just like that, we were walking down stairs to get ready to meet with everyone to discuss a course of action that would save the President of the United States.

Dwennon and his mate were the first to arrive, but not long after, Elaine and Aldwin joined our little meeting. I was standing with Soren in the foyer, greeting everyone as they entered when Aldwin walked through the door. I smiled and started to hug him before I realized something was happening. I heard a warning hiss come from the vampire at my side and immediately I found myself wedged between Soren with his fangs fully extended and Aldwin with a dagger drawn. What the Hell?