Rise of the Fallen (22 page)

"Micah, you've always been one of my favorites,"
Josie said, her voice soft. "Probably because you're the most damaged by
your past. Well, except maybe for Malek. But he's dealt with it better than you
have. Not by much, but still better. Anyway, it warms my heart to see you
happy." She paused, smiling at him. "The fallen has risen. Back from
the dead to walk among the living once again."

It was true. Micah felt different. Not even while he had
been with Jackson had he felt so happy. His gaze fell on Sam's sleeping form
and he saw her in a new light. She really had saved him in more ways than one,
hadn't she?

"That's right, Micah. You found your mate, sweet
cheeks," Josie said.

With a fake scowl, Micah rolled his eyes at her. "Only
you get away with calling me that," he said.

"What? Sweet cheeks?" Sam's weak voice drew both
his and Josie's attention. She was grinning, her eyes blinking against the
light. "Wow, that's a bright light. And a great nickname."

Josie hopped up and turned the dimmer down. "I'll let
you borrow it with Micah." She laughed.

Micah shook his head. "Great. Just don't let the guys
hear you call me that." He turned toward Sam. "Your sensitivity to
light will get better."

"What do you mean?"

Josie started for the door. "I should go and leave you
two alone."

Micah got the sense she thought it would be better if she
left so he could explain what had happened. "No," he said, stopping
her. "Can you stay? I mean, I'd like you to stay."

The look he gave her must have made it clear he thought he
would need the support himself, because Josie slowly nodded and made her way
back to the bed.

"How are you, Sam? My name is Josie. I'm mated to
Micah's boss." She held out her hand.

Sam reached out and clasped it.

"Oh," Josie said, flinching. "Wow, that's
some grip you've got there."

Sam glanced between Josie and Micah, confusion crossing her
face. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize…"

"No, it's okay," Josie said. "You're just not
used to your new body, yet."

"Huh?"

He took Sam's hand and brushed the damp wisps of hair off
her forehead. "Do you remember at the hospital, Sam?"

Her brow furrowed as if she was concentrating then she
nodded. "Yes, I think – didn't you bite me?"

He nodded. "I had to give you my venom. It was the only
way to save you."

For several seconds, Micah watched the thought processes
play across her face, and then, "What are you saying? Am I a
vampire?" She started to jerk her hand away from his and Josie took her
other one, trying to calm her.

"No, but you're not human, anymore, either," she
said.

Sam looked at Josie like she was a Martian, then darted her
gaze to Micah. "If I'm not a vampire, and I'm not a human, then what am
I?"

"Alive," Micah said. "And that's all that
matters." He brought her hand to his mouth and pressed his lips to each
knuckle, slowly, one-by-one, conveying all his love in each tender caress.

* * *

When Sam had awakened to the sound of a strange woman
talking to Micah, she had felt different, but she never would have guessed that
the reason was because she was no longer human.

"Micah," she said, struggling to sit up. Her body
ached head-to-toe, like she had a bad case of the flu. She even felt feverish.

He lifted his face and moved her hand to his cheek, holding
her palm against his skin. The gesture melted something inside her.

"Okay," Josie said, hopping off the bed.
"That's my cue. You two need to be alone right now. Micah," she
flipped her fingers through his long hair. "We need to talk about this
real soon. My scissors miss you."

After she walked out, Sam pushed her fingers through his
thick, silky hair, loving how Micah dipped his head into her palm and purred.
"I like it long," she said.

"Well then, I won't cut it."

"Josie might get mad." She smiled.

"She'll get over it. Your opinion is all that
matters."

"Oh? Why's that?"

He stared at her, holding her gaze like she was a cherished
treasure. "Because I love you."

Sam's breath caught at the declaration. "We barely know
each other."

"I know enough to know that much," he said,
crawling onto the bed beside her. He drew her against his body. "I love
you. I can't live without you. I haven't felt this whole in a long time, and
it's because of you."

She curled into his embrace, laying her head on his chest.
His heart beat evenly, a cadence that seemed to call to her. "Vampires
have heartbeats?" she said, realizing that this defied what she knew about
them.

He laughed and the low rumble seemed amplified in her ears,
and not just because she was lying on his chest. All her senses were more acute
than they had been.

"We aren't like what you read about in books or see in
movies," he said. "We're warm-blooded, have heartbeats, can see our
reflections, can eat garlic, don't blister from Holy Water," he paused,
then said, "And Trace can even go out in the sun. Sev can, too, from what
he says. Day walkers are quite common among vampires nowadays." He said it
like at one time that hadn't been the case.

"It's not always been that way?"

"No."

"Why the change?"

"Because of people like you," he said, kissing the
top of her head. "And because vampires do mate with humans and produce
offspring. The vampire gene is dominant, but what ends up being produced is a
vampire young with unique abilities, such as Trace's. His father was a vampire,
his mother was allegedly a witch. He has some unique powers I've never seen in
a vampire, as you've already seen, but he's got a good heart, so I'm never
worried he'll go rogue on us."

"Rogue?" She was fascinated by all this. Why
hadn't they discussed this yesterday? Well, yeah, that might have been too much
and would have overwhelmed her.

"We actually call them mutants, but it's all the same.
We not only have to watch out for drecks, but also the occasional vampire who
succumbs to his powers. That's why it's usually the day walkers who turn. They
have unique powers full-bloods don't have. But don't worry, it doesn't happen
too often, but when it does, it's bad. Something shifts in their biology. The
change is physiological, makes their venom poisonous even to us
full-bloods."

"I have a lot to learn about your world, don't I?"

"Only if you plan on staying in it, which I hope you
do, or I'll die without you."

"We can't have that, can we?"

He shook his head. "I love you." He said it like
she hadn't heard him the first time.

"I know. You told me." She smiled and burrowed
closer to him, loving how he felt holding her.

He turned her face toward his and kissed her. "You
don't have to tell me you love me now, but promise me you'll tell me
someday." His navy eyes glistened with adoration.

"Are you going soft on me?" she said.

"Just promise me, and quit being difficult."

How could she not laugh at that? "You'll just have to
wait and see, dear."

"Never a straight answer from you." He flopped his
head back against the pillow in fake exasperation.

She fought against the protestations of her muscles and
pulled herself up to kiss his neck.

"So impatient." She kissed him again as he blinked
his gaze toward her, brow arched.

"You're trying to sidetrack me," he said.

"Uh-huh." Despite feeling like she'd fallen eight
stories off a roller coaster ride, Sam felt ready to take on the world. What an
odd way to describe it. She felt like shit, but felt awesome. "Tell me
more about what I am. I'm beginning to think there's more to it than just the
simple fact that I'm neither vampire nor human."

"Maybe I should blackmail you. Your promise for my
information."

She playfully slapped him and he winced. "Damn, Wonder
Woman. Fine, I'll tell you. For starters, you're a lot stronger now."

"Oh." The word dragged through the air as it all
clicked into place. Josie flinching as she shook her hand. Now Micah rubbing
the place on his arm where she'd slapped him. "Good to know."

"You'll get used to that. But, here's what you'll
really have to get used to." Micah's face sobered and he waited until he had
her full attention to continue. "You won't age, anymore. You won't die.
That's the gift of my venom."

Sam rewound and played over, not quite sure she heard him
right. "Are you saying I'm immortal?" she said.

He nodded. "Something like that. As long as I live, you
live. My life is your life now."

Wow. Immortal. Sam thought about all the possibilities. No
fear of dying.

"Oh, you can still die," Micah said.

Sam glared at him. "I thought we had decided that my
mind was off limits to you."

He shrugged. "Sorry, habit."

"Like I said before, break it." She would get him
to stop poking around in her head if it killed her. Bad comparison since she
couldn't die, anymore. Well, according to him she still could. "Since you
brought it up, though, tell me just how I can die so I can be sure to avoid
said mortal bombardments."

"Drama queen." He ruffled her hair. "Well,
the standard decapitation or knife through the heart kind of shit. That would
kill you."

"Ah, I'd better sell my guillotine, then, because you
know how dangerous that can be around the house."

He chuckled then kissed her. "And, as I said, if I die,
that would do it, too. My venom. My life. You're bound to me forever."

"Hmm, so I guess I'd better protect you then,
huh?"

"What? With that puny Beretta?"

She smacked him. "Hey, I think that puny Beretta
already saved your life once."

Micah laughed at her, rubbing his arm where she had hit him.
"Have I mentioned that I love you?"

"Once or twice." She smiled. Oh, she loved him,
too. She knew it in her heart. But what fun would it be if she just came out
and told him when he was expecting it?

"How about that you're moving in with me. Have I
mentioned that, yet?"

Sam should have known that was coming, but it still caught
her off guard. "What?"

"Move in with me," he said, his eyes pleading with
her, full of longing and love.

Sam thought about her tiny, humble apartment with the
paper-thin walls and cramped bathroom. She was comfortable there, wasn't she?
Just barely so, though. There wasn't much room to move, no privacy—she
could
hear her neighbor snoring upstairs, after all. But it was home. What exactly
was he offering her? A place to live? A domestic partnership where she just
lived with him and they had sex? Or, after only a few days, was he ready to
make their relationship a more permanent arrangement? Going by the look on his
face and the sincerity in his voice, she suspected the latter.

"I know we hardly know each other, Sam," he said,
apparently attempting to win her over, "but love works differently with
vampires."

"So I'm gathering."

"It's not that I want to spend the rest of my life with
you—well, I do, but with vampires it's more a matter of need. I
need
to
spend the rest of my life with you. The want is implied." He took her face
in his palms and held her with a tenderness she had never known.

No one, not even Steve in the early days of their doomed
marriage, had touched her with such deference.

"I need you, Sam. I'll do whatever it takes. You can
have your own room if that will make you more comfortable, and besides, now
that you're…well, not the same person you were before…I can help you adapt
better if you lived with me, and—"

"Stop. Just stop, Micah." Sam sighed and shook her
head. "You don't have to try so hard to convince me."

He looked at her like he wanted to ask what in the hell she
was saying, the unspoken
Is that a yes or no?
shooting from his gaze in
a silent question.

"That's a yes, Micah," she said.

"Are you reading my mind?" The grin that spread
across his face was a better gift to her than the Mercedes Steve had bought her
on her birthday. She had sold that car for cash within a week of leaving his
ass and had never looked back.

"If you can do it, so can I." She smirked
innocently. "But I have a couple of stipulations if I'm going to move in
with you."

"Such as?" He gathered her closer. The aches in
her body were slowly dissipating. Moving around was working the pain out of her
muscles.

"Such as," she said, "We share a room, for
starters. If you give me my own room, the deal's off." She pulled herself
over his body, straddling him.

"Done." Micah sank back in the pillow, situating
himself under her.

"And you have to make love to me anytime I want
it." She rotated her hips over his. Mmm, he was already hard, and with her
new bionic senses, the sensation that vibrated through her core felt even more
delicious.

"Okay, I can live with that. Anything else?"

She shook her head. "No, but I reserve the right to add
to this list whenever I see fit." Her hands eased up his shirt and
revealed his ridged stomach as the fabric bunched against her wrists.

"Okay, my turn," he said, tugging her forward.
"When?"

"Is tonight too soon?"

"Mmm, I was just thinking that. You sure you're not
reading my mind?"

"Positive." She unfastened his belt. "Does
that door lock?" She jerked her head toward the door.

"No."

She paused for a minute, then grinned and unzipped his fly.
"Fuck it. I want you."

"Now I know you're in my head." He flipped her to
her back and pushed aside the medical gown she was wearing as she shoved down
his pants. In one smooth, fluid motion, he surged forward and sank himself
inside her, grunting as their bodies connected.

The loving was fast and furious, her body needing his in a
way that bordered on desperate. It appeared he needed her just as badly,
working furiously, shoving one leg up as he angled his body for deeper
penetration, as if he couldn't get close enough to her.