Sucking Bites (San Francisco Vampires Series #3) (6 page)

“Help!” I scream, but it comes out in a gasp because the creature’s wiry, furred arm has hold of my throat.

The monster clamps onto my shoulder. This time my lungs fill and I scream. I hear Aidan yell my name and then feel a whoosh of warm air. The beast on my back falls off and runs. I see a glimpse. It looks like a naked human man. Then the world gets blurry and black around the edges. A human runs up to help me. In a frenzy fueled by adrenaline and fear, I bite. Savagely. Before I feel like I have enough, Aidan is pulling me off and transmanifesting us back home.

“Aidan, what’s wrong?” Julian is at our side instantly.

“I don’t know. Something attacked her. I think it’s related to the other attacks in the city. It’s what I meant to talk to you about yesterday.”

“Lily!” Helena arrives at vampire speed. “Put her on her stomach on the sofa.”

I feel them gently tearing my dress off my back. There is a collective gasp as I let out a groan.

“It’s foaming,” Helena says. “It’s poisoned, or cursed.”

“What in hell did this, Aidan?” Julian demands. I’ve never heard Julian sound so vehement.

“She was hunting and I didn’t want to disturb her so I didn’t see what was happening until it was too late. The thing looked human but was covered in hair. I had to blast it with a plane disturbance because it was attached to Lilith and I didn’t want to hurt her. There were people in between us,” Aidan speaks quickly. “I heard her scream and came running.”

I start crying. Oh God, I did it again. I killed someone. I bit into that person so ferociously. I had to have killed him.

“Aidan, I killed him. Oh my God…”

He moves to my side and brushes the hair from my forehead.

“No, love, you didn’t.” He reassured me, stroking my arm. “You were fighting for your life, in full vampire mode. I pulled you away in time. I’ve never seen you like that. You scared me.”

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I could’ve killed him.” What a nightmare. What happened? “Thank you.”

“Anything, love.”

“She fed?” Julian asks.

“Yes,” Aidan says. “I reached her just as she started to feed.”

“That’s good,” Helena says. “It will help her heal faster. We have to find out what bit her so I can tend to the wound. Julian, look up bite marks on Voogle.”

“Already there, dear,” Julian says from behind his computer.

“What’s Voogle?” Aidan asks.

“Google for vampires. It lists all paranormal occurrences so that we can have a comprehensive database,” Julian says as he motions Aidan over to his laptop and starts searching with his vampire speed. “It’s a member’s only search engine of course.”

“Of course,” Aidan says, rolling his eyes.

Helena rings for Andrew.

“Andrew, will you bring me hot water, towels and gauze pads? I don’t want to use any purifying agents until I know what has caused this. I think that blessed water will be safe though,” Helena says, uncertainly. I wince. Helena’s cures are effective but not pain free.

We hear a car drive up. Sebastian is home.

“Helena, have you heard from… What happened?!” Sebastian sees me on the couch with everyone gathered around me and roars. “Dammit Aidan, what did you do?” Sebastian doesn’t wait for an answer before he grabs Aidan by the throat, fangs out and slams him into the wall. I can’t believe that Aidan has let him touch him. He feels guilty, dammit.

“Not his fault,” I say as clearly as I can manage.

Sebastian kneels beside me.

“Cherie, what happened?” he asks softly.

“Smelled like an animal, followed me and jumped me from behind. Quick … very strong… couldn’t break free. Bit me. Aidan blasted it.”

“Aidan says it appeared humanoid and excessively hirsute,” Julian summarizes.

“Have you fed?” Sebastian asks me.

“Yes, I was hunting when it happened.” I shift my body to take some pressure off the wound. “I tore someone… I could’ve killed him but Aidan pulled me away.”

“Good girl,” Sebastian says, not really hearing me. He seems more concerned with inserting himself between Aidan and me. Aidan’s eyes narrow but he concedes his place for now. “Julian, what bit her?” Sebastian demands harshly.

“I think it was a werewolf,” Julian says slowly as his eyes scan the text and pictures. “But I want to be sure.”

“Oh good God,” Helena whispers.

“Just what we need,” Aidan says.

“Loup-garou! Merde,” Sebastian says.

“Let me make sure. There are other candidates as well,” Julian says.

“Here is the water and gauze Miss Helena. Oh my God, Miss Lily,” Andrew says, setting the supplies down on a table next to me. I give him a weak smile. I know it will probably be my last smile for awhile considering what Helena is about to do.

Helena takes a moment to say a blessing over the water. I’m not looking forward to this. Andrew stands nearby chewing on a fingernail. Sebastian takes my hand.

Dipping gauze into the steaming, blessed water Helena dabs it onto the first scratches. I hear myself moaning. She continues to dab at the rest of the scratches. When she gets to the bite area I almost pass out. Intense mind-numbing, burning pain.

I come to on the sofa in a night gown. I don’t remember how I got it on. I think that Aidan zapped me into the clean clothes.

“I want to get you to bed as soon as possible, Cherie, but Julian needs you close by to compare the bite to his books and the computer results,” Sebastian explains. “He promises it will just take a little bit longer.”

“What about the werewolf?” I say hoarsely. “He attacked someone the other night while I was on the phone and I did nothing.”

Sebastian starts pacing. Aidan is staring at me, looking lost. I know he wants to comfort me and I also know he is restless to do something about the situation. It’s not like him to sit around. He leans forward on his knees.

“Lilith, there is no way you could have known he was accurately describing his situation. We’ll sort this out,” Aidan reassures me.

“I’m sorry, Aidan. I seem to be getting you into trouble quite a bit lately.”

“Hush, Lilith, rest. I can take care of myself,” he insists then winks. “Besides, a little trouble makes life worth living.”

Sebastian grunts, hands jammed into his pockets. “It seems I owe you my thanks for saving Lily’s life, Aidan. Thank you,” he says grudgingly.

“You don’t owe me anything.” Aidan’s eyes smolder. There’s a new edge to his voice since my fight with Sebastian.

“You’re right,” Sebastian shouts, going from reluctantly grateful to enraged in an eyeblink. “She was with you and you let her get hurt. Can’t you even protect her?”

Aidan glows as he launches himself at Sebastian. The two start swinging their fists and ripping at each other. Julian is a blur as he moves in to break it up. He separates them and they back off. Sebastian pulls at his shirt roughly to straighten it out. Aidan’s incandescence dims but his expression is still menacing.  

“Can I go back to my research now?” Julian asks, gauging the potential for mayhem.

Both men give stiff nods.

“Lily needs calm to heal not testosterone saturating the room,” Helena admonishes Bast and Aidan. Helena wipes my forehead and face with a cool cloth. It feels wonderful.

“She has a fever,” Helena says. She gives Julian a worried look. His vampire speed allows him to access his books and web pages simultaneously. Sebastian lays his hand against my forehead. He frowns.

“Vampires don’t get fevers Helena, yet she’s burning up,” Sebastian says in a low voice. “Can’t we give her something?”

“We can put her into a tepid bath and bring it down but it will be painful when those scratches and that bite hit the water.”

“Let me assist,” Aidan says.

He moves his hand around and summons two sponges. He hands one to Helena and the other to Sebastian.

“These are cool,” Sebastian says.

“Yes, and they will stay that way. This way you can cool her down but not hurt her.”

“You are brilliant, Aidan, thank you,” Helena says.

The sponge scrapes against my fevered, sensitive skin as she rubs me down. Bast pulls my gown up to my hips and starts rubbing my legs. I shiver as the cool sponges spread over my fevered limbs.

“I think I’ve found the most probable suspect for what bit Lily,” Julian says. “It was an American werewolf,” he translates as he reads. “First, we should cleanse the wound with a steeped tea of wolfsbane.  It will burn the wounds clean and then they can heal, otherwise they will fester and never heal completely,” Julian reads. Helena explains she doesn’t have any of the fresh herb needed.

Once again, Aidan offers to summon the solution to Julian and Helena’s specifications.

I clench my teeth and prepare myself. Sebastian kisses my cheek.

“I’m with you, Cherie,” he whispers.

“I could put you in a trance, Lilith. I’m not sure what you will feel through it. Do you want me to try?” Aidan asks.

“Yes, please.”

He moves closer to me and touches my forehead. I feel a tingle go through my body. I sink. It feels like my body is swimming through deep water with my legs weighed down. I feel Helena start to cleanse my wounds with the mixture she’s created and there is a dull pain but I feel it from a distance. Then I am aware of Aidan whispering to me and I am coming up out of the water. I try to talk but everything is on fire and I can only manage a whimper so I clamp my jaw shut. Vamp up Lily, I tell myself, toughen up buttercup.

“Easy, ma petite. Helena is mixing a potion for you that might help the pain,” Sebastian says.

“Here, Lily, sip this. It has a lot of willow bark in it. I’m not sure how much it will help, but it’s worth a try. I cast a spell that should relieve you,” Helena says.

I take a few sips of the hot bitter tea.

“Sugar,” I squeak, hoping Andrew can make it potable.

Andrew, his former experience as a coffee barista showing, reaches for the sugar bowl and doses the tea based on experience with my sweet tooth. I lay my head back down and wait for the charms and potion to take effect.

“Thank you, Aidan, the trance really helped.”

“Anything, love. I’m sorry I can’t lessen the pain altogether.”

“What kinds of side effects is she going to have from the bite, Julian,” Sebastian asks, glaring at Aidan.

“I don’t know. Because she is vampire, none of the rules apply. This is serious though. Usually, the bitten victim turns into a werewolf or their body isn’t able to adjust… and they die.” Five faces swivel towards me. “The illness manifests at the full moon. From what I have been reading tonight, the sufferer can have a relatively normal life in between cycles of the moon.” Julian leans over his desk, straightening his papers. That was a lot of bad news. “Silver may be an issue. Then again, Lily may be entirely different. Her body may fight the virus completely. We have amazing regenerative powers,” he concludes, although he doesn’t sound very confident.

“The wounds have almost healed,” Helena says, underscoring Julian’s last hope-filled comments. “We can turn you on your back and put you to bed now, Lily. It’s almost dawn.”

“Please put me in Bast’s room. In fact, I can walk, I think.”

“Nonsense, I’ll carry you, ma petite.” Sebastian whisks me up the stairs.

“You didn’t let me say goodnight to Aidan. That wasn’t very considerate.”

“Aidan, will you come up stairs for a minute,” Sebastian shouts ungraciously.

Aidan swooshes in.

“Aidan. Thank you for saving me. You mean so much to me, my friend.”

He nods, but his eyes glow.

“Good night, Aidan.” Touching the warm hand he holds out to me, I squeeze it gently.

“Good night, Lilith, and rest well.” I don’t even feel a change in the air pressure as he melts away.

“Thank you, honey, I feel better now. If he hadn’t been there I would have had the true death.”

“Let me help you into a clean gown.” Sebastian doesn’t comment further. He slips me into a fresh nightgown, helps me into bed, and props the pillows up behind me, then lowers to one knee.

“I know we haven’t talked everything through, but would you do me the honor of marrying me?”

Bad timing. I really have things to consider. I stall. “Sebastian. Now? I don’t know what is going to happen to me. You need to think about that. We both need to think about that”

“Lily, maybe I want this because I am afraid after what happened tonight.”

“Sebastian, my father had a mistress…”

“Lily…” he interrupts.

“Shhh. Let me finish. My mother suffered great indignities because of it.” I pick at the quilt as I work my way through the things I want to say. It’s easier than meeting his eyes. “He flaunted the woman around town and then took my mother to church on Sundays like nothing was wrong. My mother was supposed to keep house, breed children and attend social functions. The other women were for fun. He would trade up after a year or two.”

Sebastian looks away out the window at the near dawn. We’d never discussed this before. I’d never told anyone this before. Sebastian shakes his head once before he turns back to me.

“Lily, I’m not your father. I’ve had my fun.” He turns back to me and his fingers run lightly down my face.