Passion By Control (Passion Series Book 2) (25 page)

Geez, there was nothing wrong with his attitude, obviously. Even as a human he was still a bossy arse, same as he’d been as a vampire.

“If you would shut up for a little while, I’ll explain what happened Fabian. Trust me, this was not my idea but there was no alternative ok?”

I scowled at him as he stood breathing heavily, glaring at me. It was so odd to see him breathing, to hear him breathing, but if he didn’t stop ranting at me, he wouldn’t bloody well be breathing for long. Of course the irony of that was not lost on me but he was pissing me off.

Naturally I wouldn’t do anything to harm him, as tempting as it was, when he was being an annoying asshole. I had him back, even if he was angry, ranting and raving at me. He was gorgeous, glaring at me with his brows drawn together, and I suddenly realised that being human again, hadn’t detracted from his looks. He was stunning as a vampire and he was still stunning as a human.

“So what do you mean you had to do this? What happened? Why am I human? I haven’t been human in almost 600 years and fuck it, I’m hungry now. Food, god, I can eat food. Damn, I’m not used to this modern crap you all seem to shovel down these days.” He continued to rave on and I had to fight the urge not to laugh at him. He was so wound up, rambling on and on. I’d never seen Fabian so unsettled, it was adorable to watch.

“Fabian do you think you could just shut up for a few minutes so I can explain to you what happened? If you don’t stop ranting and raving at me I’m going to start wondering why the hell I bothered bringing you back.” I snapped.

I didn’t mean that of course. I’d have done anything to try and save him. I noticed he’d stopped and was staring down at me in confusion.

“What do you mean about bringing me back? What the hell is going on? Fucking well tell me now.”

“Get in the car, mine, yours, I don’t care which one, but I’m not standing here in the club’s car park for this conversation ok?”

He glowered down at me for a few moments before giving a deep sigh. “Fine my car then.” He stalked over to it, pulling open the passenger door for me, before stepping back. “Well are you going to just stand there or get in the fucking car?” He snapped.

I glared at him before climbing in, my lips pressed firmly together as I watched him walk around the car and get in the driver’s seat. He turned to me, and I stared at him, still finding it hard to believe he was back, that he was alive.  

“Well, I’m waiting.” He raised his eyebrows at me and I smiled.

“You know you really do make a cranky bad tempered human Fabian. If you’re just going to be an arse, I’m not going to tell you.”

I heard a loud sigh from him and his fingers tightened around the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. “Fine, I’m sorry.” He said, sounding like it was killing him to be polite. “If you could please tell me what the fuck happened, it would be greatly appreciated.”

I ignored the obvious sarcasm in his voice and turned to face him. “Ok, well since you’re asking so nicely, I’ll tell you what happened.” My tone dripping with exaggerated sweetness. With a deep sigh, I began to tell him the events leading up to him becoming human, all the time watching the myriad of expressions that crossed his face.

Chapter Fourteen

Fabian

Fabian’s head was spinning. He felt sick and he wasn’t used to feeling sick. He’d been free of all the typical human emotions and medical complaints for nearly 600 years and he liked that. Now suddenly he’d been flung back into a human body, with all its weaknesses and failings and it was scaring the crap out of him. He’d lost all the control and power he had as vampire, the moment he’d come back as a human. Everything had changed and he knew already that he was going to hate it. He didn’t want to be human. He was officially in hell.

He didn’t know what had happened, why it had happened, but he knew Sirene had something to do with it. He’d seen what she did to that car. It had appeared to be coming straight for them as if the driver was out of control, but then she’d done something. Light had shot from her fingers and suddenly the car was gone.  

“Do you remember everything about your life while vampire?” She asked him and he thought about it. He remembered that they had spent the night in his bed, that they’d fucked several times and he’d been dropping her off at her car.

“Yes, I know we spent the night together and I was bringing you back so you could get your car. I remember some big black car coming at us and I pushed you away to protect you but you did something to the car and it disappeared. Why Sirene? I don’t understand why?”

“You might have trouble believing me, but I promise you, what I am about to tell you is true and what has happened to you, happened because I had no choice.” She took a deep breath.

“You remember the car coming towards us, but what you don’t know, is that it was not the first time it happened.” Sirene started to explain.

Fabian frowned. “What do you mean it wasn’t the first time?”

“The first time the car came at us, you pushed me to my car and I panicked. I called to you; you turned to me and…and the car hit you. It crushed you between your car and the front of it. It was the most horrific thing to see and it was my fault, I distracted you. If I hadn’t called to you, you might have had time to move; I don’t know, but seeing you disappear between the two cars was awful. It was truly the most frightening thing I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m not sure what you’re saying. I don’t remember being hit by the car. I only saw it when you made it disappear or whatever you did to it.” This conversation was confusing him more and more.

“You don’t remember the first time Fabian because…I…I turned back time.” He watched her take a shaky breath as if remembering something distressing. “That car backed up and you dropped to the ground badly injured. You were vampire though, so technically I think you could have survived it, if they had left you alone. They didn’t though, they charged at you again with the car. God it was horrible.” He could see the pain in her eyes as she talked. “The car went over the top of you. It dragged you underneath and then…and then…it…it…my God but it…it decapitated you.” Her body slumped as she said it, tears rolling down her cheeks and he felt his newly beating heart jolt in his chest.

“I died then, didn’t I? That’s why you used a spell to turn back time?” He whispered and she nodded.

“Yes Fabian. You died and I had to watch you die.” Her voice choked on her tears. “I couldn’t let you die, to be lost forever. I had to try and bring you back, but I didn’t know what to do. You were gone. Only your jacket was left. I was on the ground holding it, when the men got out of the car.”

What had she been doing with his jacket? He looked down at himself, at the jacket he was wearing, and still found it hard to accept not only that he had died, but that he was now human.

“What I don’t understand is why I’m human and why did those men want me dead?” He asked.

“Oh Fabian, one of the men said you killed his little sister. They saw you on surveillance cameras about a month or so ago. You took her and fed from her and apparently had sex with her. She was a virgin and too small for you. You damaged her and they said you gave her some of your blood, but it wasn’t enough, or it didn’t work, I don’t know. She was not right physically apparently and she became really depressed. They said she took her own life. Do you remember a young woman from around that time? Big J, that was his name, he looked like he was from the bloody mafia or something. God, you don’t mess with them but...” Her eyes suddenly grew really wide. “I just killed a few of them so they could come after me. No they couldn’t, they won’t know what happened; well not unless they said something to someone else.” Her voice drifted off and she began to nervously chew her lip.  

Fabian could see she was getting herself all worked up now, thinking she was about to become target number one on the mafia hit list.

“Stop panicking. How can they come after you? No one knows what happened. We’re alone here. Did you really kill them? God, I vaguely remember the girl. I had no idea. She was under age or something was she?” He narrowed his eyes at her. “That was when you put the fucking spells on Cassandra and Chloe so I couldn’t touch them. You had me trolling for blood and sex again. She must have been one of the ones I picked up in the clubs. Shit, so she died? It was an accident. I don’t kill people. Well, I don’t intentionally kill people.”

“I just hope I don’t have a bunch of pissed off members of the mafia after me.” She said.

“You haven’t explained why I’m back and now human.” He tried to get her to focus and steer the conversation back to what happened to him. “Stop worrying that they will come for you. No one knows what happened. There’s no one here.”

“You died and I had to try and bring you back. I didn’t know what spell to use, I was really upset so I rang my Gran. I told you about her. She’s a witch and she’s the one who taught me that I was one too and how to use my abilities. She told me I couldn’t do a reincarnation spell since I had no body. You went up in flames, literally. I had nothing but your jacket left. My Gran suggested a time reversal spell and she told me what to say and what to do. So that’s what I did. I had to take us back to a point not long before the men kill you but this time I was able to stop them before they got to you.”

“But why am I human?” He asked her.

“I don’t know, but Gran told me that the price paid for going back in time was you would come back human, if the spell worked at all.” Suddenly her eyes widened. “Oh fuck, I told Gran I’d ring her and let her know if the spell worked.”

Fabian watched her dig around in her bag and pull out her mobile phone, quickly calling her Grandmother.

“Gran, it’s done.” She nodded. “You want to know if it worked. Hang on.” She turned to him. “Say something.” She whispered.

“Say what? Hello?” He said tentatively and heard an older woman’s voice over the phone since Sirene had put the phone on speaker.

“So it worked? That’s wonderful. Does your man forgive you for him coming back human?”

Fabian quirked an eyebrow at Sirene. “Your man?” He mouthed.

She turned her back on him and continued to chat to her grandmother for a few more minutes before getting off the phone again. While she had her phone out, she quickly sent a text to Dominick and told him what had happened and then she dropped her phone back in her bag and turned her attention on him again.

“Now what? Can you live with what’s happened? Do you think you can adjust to being human? What do you want to do now?” She asked him.

“I don’t know what to think. I liked being vampire. I’m not strong now; I’m weak and what about my home, Fran, Damien, Lucian? I don’t know if I can even live in my own home anymore and I certainly can’t control them. I’m not vampire. This situation is not ideal to me. Humans are weak, fragile, they break, they grow old and frail and they die.”

He felt her cup his cheek and her touch tugged at him. He was still attracted to her; he still cared deeply for her despite what had happened. “I’m sorry this has happened, but I couldn’t let you die, even if it meant you coming back human. What can I do for you now? What can I do to make it better?”

He turned to her and thought about it for a few minutes before finally saying. “Food, I want something to eat.”

Sirene

Well so far Fabian was taking what had happened to him better than I could have expected. He still seemed a little spooked though, like a skittish colt but I think that was him panicking over no longer having the power and the strength that he’d had as a vampire.

I had to convince him that he could live in this world as a human and survive. Plus he had me. As a witch, I could protect both of us.

Right now as I sat opposite him in the booth of the fast food restaurant, I was more worried about whether he was going to eat himself to early heart disease with the amount of food he was shovelling down his throat.

“Slow down Fabian. You don’t need to try out all the meals from every fast food shop, ok? You need to remember when you were vampire; the blood was a low fat diet. This human food is high fat and you could gain a lot of weight on it if you don’t moderate your intake.” I tried to tell him.

He paused for a minute, looking at me while he chewed the mouthful of burger in his mouth. “Are you telling me I’ll get fat?”

I rolled my eyes at him, trying to imagine him as anything other than the perfect example of well defined, muscled male flesh that he was now. “Yes you could. If you’re going to eat like you are, you will need to exercise.”

“Do you exercise?” He looked over at me.

“No I don’t but then I don’t eat a lot of junk food.” I tried to tell him.

Fabian stopped eating for a moment and studied me with those unusual pale eyes of his. “Why did you want to save me? I was a vampire and I don’t think many people would give a shit about the world having one less vampire in it.”

“You know why.” I whispered. “It’s because I love you. I told you that last night. I’ve fought these feelings but I can’t fight them any longer.”

“How can you love me?  I was vampire and far from good. Fuck, I contemplated killing you at one stage, and now look at me? I’m human, weak and unable to protect myself or even you anymore. I have no physical strength, nothing. There is nothing to love about me. You should get out of my life because I am useless to you now.”