Passion For Hire (Passion #5) (24 page)

When he heard their harsh intakes of breath, he knew that it was finally registering with them too as to what they were looking at. He couldn’t do anything but stare down at her, shock, horror consuming him. Feeling how much damage the lengthy exposure had caused to her, how dry and fragile she seemed was almost too much for him to bear.

It was only when in the midst of the pain that ripped through his body, leaving him feeling raw and exposed, when he heard his mother’s soft cry and the utter devastation in her tone that he collapsed. Not physically. His body still kneeled in the sand, his arms hugging her to him but something about that tone in Sirene’s voice was the catalyst for him.

He threw his head back, tears blinding him that he hadn’t even been aware of at first. With his face turned up to the brutal, destructive sun, he howled, he cried and he bellowed out his sorrow and his agony. He cried, loud, broken, ugly sobs that tore at his throat. They left him raw, hurting him and still he cried. Screams of outrage finally had him collapsing over her body and a voice kept shouting over and over again. “NO, NO, NO!”

It was only when he felt a hand on his shoulder that he realised that the voice he’d heard was his own. Gently, reverently, he lowered Faith’s lifeless, burned body to the sand again and bowed his head over her as he continued to sob. No one said anything more to him, but he felt their presence flanking him as they dealt with Faith’s destruction at the hands of Nadine in their own way.

Even when his sobs were finally little more than shudders that racked his body, he stared at her, unable to look away. There was nothing left of his Faith. Fuck it, when she was dead, now he could think of her as his? Why couldn’t he have given her that when she was alive? That was all she’d ever wanted, was to be his like she’d seen in her visions, and he’d done nothing but push her away. Fuck her and push her away. Confuse her emotionally, fuck her and push her away and now she was gone. There was nothing left of the beautiful blonde woman with the stunning blue eyes and the sweet dimpled, infectious smile.

Nadine had won. She’d taken away the only woman he’d ever known who had been able to penetrate the walls he had erected around himself over the last two years. When he considered the future, the endless, eternal future with Faith’s death on his conscious, he felt another brick in that wall around him crumble, and he dissolved in a fresh round of tears, his hands reaching out to her again. He took one of hers in his, the skin all dry and leathery to touch, and he raised it to his lips.

“I’m sorry sweetheart, I’m so sorry that I hurt you. I’m sorry that you probably felt like I was just using you.” He watched his tears fall onto her parched and blackened skin. “But most of all, I’m so sorry that I didn’t see what you had been trying to tell me since we met, until it was too late. You were right, you are mine. You were meant to be mine but I was too much of a fucked up, self-absorbed, anal bastard who thought I could just lock myself away from everything and everyone. I let you into my heart but then I would panic and throw you back out. When you told me you loved me, I really panicked because you are so good and sweet and beautiful, and I am not. I didn’t run because I didn’t want you. I ran because I felt unworthy of someone like you. I thought you would wake up one day and see me for what I am. I am what you told me I was. I’m a fucking coward. Too scared to step out of my comfort zone, too much of a coward to tell my family what was going on with me, and too fucking scared to let the walls down in case I was seen for what I am, a spineless coward. You came along and you wanted me. I took what you offered and kept telling you to stay away, but you are a stubborn, tenacious one.” He let a hint of a smile touch his lips at that. “Thank you for never giving up on me my sweetheart.” He bent closer to her, the scent of her charred skin filling his nostrils. “I love you Faith and I’m sorry I couldn’t say that to you when you needed to hear it most.” He whispered and silently his tears began to fall again.

He felt the hands of his parents’ on his shoulders; he was aware of Lucas behind him, and he could hear sniffing. Of course everyone would be upset. Faith had that kind of personality that made everyone like her, even tough, cold hearted Fabian. Her death was going to affect them all for a while, and Adrian didn’t want to think about how they were going to tell Flame what had happened.

It was then that he heard it; just a sound, something, a whisper on the wind, or the crash of the waves. He couldn’t work out what it was at first. He wasn’t sure when it was, or how long it had been happening for, but faintly, ever so faintly, a sound began to penetrate his head. It got louder and louder, finally drowning out his mother’s and Lucas’s quiet sobs.

He froze, his tears drying on his cheeks under the hot sun and he listened, straining to hear the voice which for a moment he’d thought was calling his name.

“Adrian.” It came to him again, faint, like it was coming from a long way off and again he froze, struggling to pinpoint what it was. Was he finally going fucking nuts? Losing Faith was going to tip him over the edge into insanity?

“Adrian, Adrian, it’s…it’s…me…Faith.” He heard the voice again, and this time he was sure it was real and not just a figment of his imagination. His eyes shot to Faith. She still looked horribly still, burned, dead, gone to him though. It had to be the grief, the shock, the agony of not being able to save her in time that was messing with him.

“Fuck, I’m going nuts. I thought I heard Faith’s voice.” He whispered more to himself than to the others.

“You’re not going nuts you great buffoon. It’s me, I’m alive but I won’t be much longer if you don’t get me out of this sun. Don’t question your sanity Adrian. Nadine drugged me but it isn’t meant to kill me. It’s supposed to make everyone think I’m dead. I think she wanted humans to find me, and for me to end up at the morgue and possibly buried alive or cremated alive. Perhaps she wanted me to die slowly under the sun, I don’t know. Don’t let go of my hand.” She cried out louder. “I can’t talk to you, I’m too weak. I need to touch you. I’ve never been able to talk by using my mind before but I think it’s because we are as one now. I am yours and you are mine. It was always meant to be. Finally when you think I’m dead and I can’t hear you, you confess your thoughts to me. You confess your love. I love you too my beautiful, kind, caring, gorgeous vampire.” She faltered, her voice growing weaker. “Quickly, get me out of the sun. I’m going to die if I don’t get blood and a lot of it soon but first I need to be out of this sun. We all do.”

“Son?” Adrian felt his father’s hand on his shoulder again and he turned, not letting go of his hold on Faith’s hand. He smiled up at them, his face lighting up with his joy through the tears that still rolled down his cheeks and clung to his long black eyelashes.

“Father, Mother, my son, we have to get out of this sun but we have to get Faith to safety. She’s not dead, she’s not dead. Do you hear me, she’s not fucking dead.” He almost shouted, and suddenly became conscious again that they were on a public beach.

“Blanket us.” Sirene spoke quietly. When everyone looked at her she shrugged. “It’s a spell to hide us from everyone’s sight. How do you know Faith is still alive my son?”

“She is talking to me with her mind mother. I’m not crazy, she told me that Nadine fed her something, a poison I guess that makes her appear dead to everyone; it paralyses her. She suspects that Nadine hoped if the sun didn’t kill her, that her body would be discovered and taken to the morgue. If she can’t move or talk and being vampire means there’s no heartbeat anyway, she would pass for dead. She could have been buried alive or cremated; I hate to think what might have happened. Come, we must move her to safety. Don’t stare at me like that. I’m not fucking crazy. Faith…is…alive!”

I don’t know what had given me the strength to communicate with Adrian using my mind. I was exhausted, in agony, trapped in my own private hell. Hell for me was my charred body and the unrelenting, intensity of the sun which steadily worked on destroying me.

How did I end up here? How could that woman, Nadine have done this to me? I could understand her pain, I’d experienced unrequited love. I understood how horrible she must have felt at being rejected by the one she loved; but trying to kill me? She blamed me for Adrian’s behaviour. The irony was, he hadn’t wanted me either. Well, he’d wanted me sexually. His urgency as he’d torn my panties from me and slammed me against the fence, plunging into me with none of his customary control, proved that. He just hadn’t wanted me in the eternally yours sense until now.

Maybe it was the shock of thinking I’d died, I don’t know, but I wasn’t going to spend too much time wondering why. He loved me and he’d cried for me. Huge, heartbroken sobs for me. That was all the proof I’d needed that he loved me. That was all I needed to fight to live to not let the pain, the anguish and the drugs in my body pull me under. That was all it took for me to throw that last little bit of dying strength I had into trying to communicate with him. I had no idea why he could hear my thoughts, but something told me it had to do with him. Now Adrian had opened his heart to me, admitted his feelings and some of that huge wall he’d erected around himself had started to fall, he’d opened up to me. We connected, not just physically anymore; this was spiritually, emotionally, mentally. This was the ultimate connection. This was the connection two people had when they loved with everything within them, when that love was of an almost profound level. I’d found my soul mate and he had found his but now we had to move because I could feel myself slipping away. I was exhausted, burnt and severely weakened from not only the drugs but from the unrelenting sun’s rays. I needed to feed; I needed a miracle right now.

“Save me Adrian, please.” I put everything I could into that thought, and felt his reaction. He tore his hand from mine and although I couldn’t open my eyes, I literally couldn’t move a muscle; I knew he’d stood up.

“Quickly we have to get her out of here. She’s going to die. She’s weak. Please mother, help me save her.” I heard the urgency in his plea to his parents, but I couldn’t respond in any way. In fact I couldn’t do anything anymore now. I heard a roaring sound in my ears which sounded like the ocean. Kind of ironic I thought, but then the darkness pulled me under and I could no longer feel the harsh rays of the sun, in fact I could feel nothing.

Adrian

Adrian dropped to take Faith’s hand again calling her name but she didn’t respond. Icy fear gripped his dead heart and he was suddenly scared he’d lost her. With the drugs and the damage from the sun, he couldn’t be sure but he suspected she was exhausted now. Fuck he hoped so. He hoped she was simply exhausted which given what she’d been through was understandable. He couldn’t let himself think that he might lose her. He’d fucked about and refused to face his true feelings for her, and the ultimate kick in the teeth would be to have found her, truly found her, then to lose her.

“Come, we have to get her home.” He slipped his arms under her body ready to lift her and stood, noticing how light she was as he cradled her against his chest. She was so horribly dehydrated. He wasn’t even sure she would live, but sure as hell he wasn’t going to give up without trying first.

“We can’t just walk out of here. There are not a lot of people on the beach, but there’s still too many to not be noticed. Faith is horribly burned son. If people see her, it’s going to raise questions we can’t answer, plus we’re all starting to look sun affected, we have to do this so no one sees us. The blanket your mother put on us is hiding us now, but she’s going to have to extend it so we can avoid detection until we’re all in the car.”

“Your father is right Adrian. It would be disastrous for anyone to see you with Faith. I will extend the blanket so we are all contained within it. We will be invisible to everyone.” She murmured something before smiling. “Ok, we can go now.”

The drive home cradling Faith’s horribly sun affected body was the longest journey of his life. He was exhausted from the lack of sleep, but mostly from all that had transpired over the night and now part of the day. All the way as Fabian drove them towards home, all he could think, was ‘don’t let her die.’

He was relieved that it was daytime and that the others would be in bed. He didn’t need a screaming, ranting Flame attacking him and blaming him right now, not until Faith was well again.

When his father finally pulled up in the driveway of the house, they all climbed out, still under the invisible blanket his mother had over them and hurried inside.

In the living room, Adrian lowered Faith carefully to the floor and plucked at the fragments of burned clothing still clinging to her body. He needed to see how extensive the burns were, if they covered her entire body or not.

“Let me get something to cover her, you know, so she’s not on display.” Lucas said and left the room.

“Faith told me she needs blood but I don’t know how we’re going to get it into her. She can’t move, swallow, talk, nothing. I’m worried we’re going to run out of time.”

“We need to get her blood Adrian. We can’t all feed her, it won’t be enough. She is going to need a lot of blood to come back from this but if she can’t swallow, she won’t be able to ingest it.” Sirene pointed out. “I could try a spell to reverse the damage?”

Adrian frowned. “Reversal spells don’t always go well though mother. You said so yourself. You reversed time for the spell you used on father when he died and he became human again. Won’t that happen to Faith if you do that?”

“I can’t be sure. We will try to get the blood into her first. A reversal spell will be our last resort.” Her tone was vague as if she was deep in thought. “We need to get a human here for the blood and perhaps run a tube into her stomach. My guess is that as the blood goes in and it rehydrates her, it will heal the horrific burns she’s sustained from the sun.” She raised a questioning face to them all. “So who is going out to hunt for a human or two for us to feed to Faith?”

“Couldn’t we just use the one we have downstairs?” Lucas asked. Adrian looked at him in surprise. In all the panic to get Faith home, he’d almost forgotten about Nadine.

“Nadine’s blood in Faith; I’m not sure I like the thought of that. Still, I did drink from her many times before I knew what she was capable of. I assumed we would kill her anyway. She doesn’t deserve to live for what she has done and she can’t ever be released. Her silence is not guaranteed. In fact I’m sure turning us in and exposing us would bring her the ultimate satisfaction.”

“She is not going anywhere son and I too confess I hadn’t thought of her either. Getting your girl to safety has been my only concern.” Sirene gave his shoulder a squeeze.

“Fabian, please go and bring our prisoner to us and hurry. Keep her tied up. She may be aware of our intentions since she’s a seer and will probably not be very cooperative.”

Adrian watched his father leave the room, indicating that Lucas should follow him too. He suspected it had been done to give him some time alone with his mother.

When they were alone, Sirene dropped to the floor where he sat with Faith. She reached for him, drawing him into her arms and he allowed her to do so, feeling them tighten around his shoulders. For so long he’d kept himself distanced from everyone, his parents and his siblings. He felt unworthy of anyone’s love. If he kept everyone at arm’s length, in his mind they couldn’t show him any kind of affection, they wouldn’t love him.

Why he suddenly felt different, he wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was Faith. Her name was so appropriate. She had so much faith in a lot of things, but mostly she had a lot of faith in him. She made him believe that maybe, just maybe he wasn’t as bad as he’d always considered himself to be.

“You don’t know how happy it makes me Adrian my love to see you finally opening yourself up to others. To see you finally open your heart, to not only the love of a woman who has done everything to show you how important you are to her, but to hear you confess your feelings to her. Faith loves you; she loves everything about you, even all that you consider so wrong. Think about what she has done for you. She came to seek you out, a stranger to her because in her dreams, you were the man she was destined to be with. You are literally the man of her dreams. If she pulls through this, treat her well and give up the life you have lived in secret for the last two years. There is no need for you to continue to sell yourself for money Adrian. There never was. If you had only come to your father and me, we could have helped you. We could have shown you that there was never any need for you to service women for an income. Your father and I messed up. We let our own need for revenge absorb so much of our time, we neglected you. We didn’t spend the time we should have preparing you for life as a vampire. You were a child before the spell I cast on you, a toddler, totally dependent on us. Then suddenly you’re an adult and we forgot that the transition from human child to adult vampire would have required some adjusting to.” She kissed his cheek. “You just seemed so grown up, so masculine, so independent my beautiful son. We forgot that you weren’t those things at all. It was all new to you, everything.”

Adrian felt tears prick his eyes again at his mother’s words but before he could respond in any way to her, Lucas and his father returned, dragging a very reluctant and mutinous looking Nadine behind them.

Sirene gave the older woman a sardonic smile. “Not so tough without your poisoned chocolates now, are you bitch? Look at what you have done? Be happy about it, gloat about it if it makes you feel better. You are nothing more than a pathetic aging woman who thought she could latch onto a younger man, who just happens to be vampire. Did you hope that he might turn you one day and give you eternal life? That you would not have to continue with the ravages of aging? Well, you will get your wish, sort of. You are going to be used to save Faith. Your blood will give her back her eternal youth.” She smiled and nodded her head, the gleam of satisfaction in her eyes, and Adrian stared at his mother with newfound respect and a reminder to himself, to never cross her.

“We still have the problem of getting the blood into Faith.” He tried to point out quietly.

“If we can feed a line down into her stomach, we should be able to get the blood into her that way. I’m not sure intravenously would work on her when she’s so badly burned.”

“Where are we going to get the tube from to feed down her throat mother?” He touched Faith’s burned cheek. “We don’t even know if she’s still alive. I will try and get her to respond.” He took her hand in his. “Sweetheart, please find the strength to speak to me. I’ve just found you. I can’t lose you.”

“Adrian, my Adrian, please hurry, I can’t hold on much longer.” Her voice in his head was weak and little more than a whisper.

“She’s still alive mother but she’s very weak. She asked us to please hurry. Please hurry, she can’t die now.”

Sirene clicked her fingers and simply said one word. “Appear.”

With a brief flash a clear tube, bucket, jug and a knife materialised out of thin air. Adrian stared at them, still always impressed by his mother’s ability.

“Bring the bitch over closer.” She ordered Lucas, and he dragged Nadine closer. Her eyes were wide, almost bulging from her head but she was still gagged and bound by the ropes so could do little more than make some gurgling unintelligible sounds in her throat.

Sirene stood and calmly walked over to her, snatching up the bucket and knife as she passed them. Adrian waited, wondering what her next move would be. It still amazed him how tough she was. She was tiny, the smallest one amongst them, but she was the most dangerous one in a lot of ways.

“Still think it was a good idea to try and kill the woman that my son loves? Well, now you get to watch the man you love, saving the woman he loves, using your blood to save the woman you hate.” She gave a small, triumphant smile. “Now how does that saying go? Life’s a bitch and then you die?” She raised the knife. “Well…die bitch!”

She kicked one leg out from under Nadine and when the woman went down on her knees, Sirene dropped to the floor with her. Lucas also followed the two women down and held Nadine securely while she positioned the bucket under the older woman’s hand.

She couldn’t move much due to the ropes that still held her bound, but that didn’t stop his mother getting one of her hands into the bucket. With one fluid sweep of the knife, she opened Nadine’s arm up almost from elbow to wrist, and immediately Adrian heard the sound of the blood flowing into the bucket.

It didn’t seem to take that long before she began to sag, her complexion becoming waxy looking and pale, but Sirene slapped her hard across the face and gave some command which caused a strand of the rope around the woman’s arm to tighten, effectively acting like a tourniquet. “Make her watch this Lucas. I don’t care how you do, just be sure she sees this.” Once she was sure he would do as she asked, she turned to Adrian. “Pour some of the blood into the jug and your father can help you get it into Faith.”

He nodded, and managed to tip half the blood from the bucket into the jug without spilling the vital life source. It couldn’t be wasted as it was needed to save Faith, every single drop of it.

“Father, help me get the tube into her please.” He asked as he picked it up and moved to Faith’s head. While Fabian gently tilted her head back to open her throat up as wide as possible to them, he slowly and carefully began to feed the length of plastic into her. “How will I know if I’m in her stomach or her lungs though?”