Taken (M/F/M red-hot menage shifter romance) Standalone (Shadow Creek Shifters Book 2) (8 page)

“I can’t blame you. I’ve often wondered what it would be like to have a child of my own, but unfortunately, the chance was taken from me in one fell swoop.”

“The night you were bitten, you mean?”

“Yes, but it’s hardly a talk for the dinner table. Suffice it to say that it was many years ago. Don’t let my youthful appearance fool you. I’m a very old vampire.”

“I’d love to hear the story, and it doesn’t bother me hearing the story over the dinner table.”

Paige stood up and stretched. “Tessa and I are not so different.”

Katlyn stiffened at the sound of heels striking the wood floor of the dining room. Tessa’s black hair was brushed back and her curls bounced along her back. “No, Paige. We’re nothing alike, you and I.”

Paige tucked a few strands of her spiked hair behind her ears. “Oh, look who just showed up. I guess hell did freeze over.”

Tessa took a menacing step toward Paige, but Katlyn scooted her chair back and stood up between the women. “Perhaps we should adjourn to the great room where we can talk about this like civilized adults,” Katlyn suggested.

“Great idea, if that’s what Tessa wants to do,” Paige said.

“Oh, why not. What else do I have to do but while away my hours in the darkness,” Tessa said as she strutted into the next room with her head held high.

Brendan pulled Katlyn aside for a moment. “Perhaps you should go along home. There’s no sense in you getting in the middle of those two.”

“Not a chance. If I don’t stay, they might just rip each other’s throats out.”

Katlyn left the room, leaving Brendan and Chase to trail after her. When she hastened into the room, Paige was tossing logs on the fire. The stone fireplace was quite large, with no trophy animals hanging above it. This was shifter territory.

Tessa stood, tapping her foot on the wood floor until Paige gave her a look, and only then did she sit in a chair, crossing one leg over the other.

“Would anyone like some beverages?” Paige asked.

“Yes, please. Do you have type O negative?” Tessa asked with a tilt of her chin.

“I’m sure you have plenty of that already.”

“Why do you insist I drink blood straight out of a bag when I so long to sink my fangs into a living, breathing human? I’ll be sure to just drink enough to turn them into a monster, too, just so I won’t be lonely.”

Paige sat and just shook her head. “How many times do I have to say that I’m sorry about that?”

“An eternity, which it looks like I have plenty of.”

Katlyn’s fingers clenched into fists. “Please, does this conversation have a point?”

“Oh, Katlyn, of course not, but you’re the ones forcing me to be here tonight.”

“Don’t look at it like you’re being forced. It’s just that your actions last night were uncalled for. You simply can’t bite a human or animal since most are shifters in the area,” Brendan said.

“Unless you want humans hunting you down like an animal,” Paige added. “Believe me, you won’t like the end result.”

“I want to know why, Paige? Why did you turn me into a vampire?”

“I told you I didn’t mean for it to happen.”

“Possibly,” Katlyn began. “But why bite her in the first place?”

“I don’t know, really. We were drinking and the next thing I knew we were kissing. Well, that brought the vampire in me out, and I just had to have a little taste.”

“If that’s the case, you could have just eaten my pussy and left it at that,” Tessa said.

“Oh? I didn’t really think you’d be up for something like that.”

“Does it matter now? No. How was biting me one time going to equal me forgetting all about it? I would have known then what you were and told Katlyn, who I’m quite sure would have left this ranch.”

“Most people ... I mean, I’ve heard that once you’re bitten by a vampire you simply forget all about it,” Paige said.

“What?” Katlyn asked. “What do you mean, you heard? Have you ever bitten anyone once who wasn’t turned after one time?”

“Actually, no. I didn’t realize that my bite would turn a human after just one time until much later. The thing is when I was bitten in London in 1952, I sure never forgot about it, and was turned that night.”

“And what about your sister?” Katlyn asked. “Tessa said you had a sister, too, and that she had been bitten that night as well.”

Paige swallowed hard. “Sadly, yes, but Arielle had been bitten too deeply. I did manage to get her home, but she was very sick and died during the night. She was only sixteen and very fragile.”

“How did this happen, exactly?” Katlyn pressed.

“We’d been invited to a party, and I really didn’t want to attend, but Arielle was so excited. We had a great time until a few men showed up who wore long trench coats that really made me very nervous, to the point that I insisted we leave posthaste. It was quite foggy that night and we got turned all around. It was in December of ’52, and that fog ended up being called The Great Smog of ’52. It ended up killing thousands of people by the time it lifted. Anyway, we were followed and heard someone pursuing us, and we ran and ran until two men jumped out of the alley at us.”

“The same ones from the party?” Katlyn asked as she bit her lip.

“Yes, when they revealed their fangs, we ran for our lives, but these men caught us easy enough. Here we were, on the ground trying to fight them off as they ripped our clothing down. At first, I thought they meant to rape us, but they simply were trying to get at our necks.” Tears glistened in Paige’s eyes. “When I was bitten, I stared over to my sister and the man who bit her mucked it up. She was bleeding so badly and I was unable to help her. After the man who bit me drank his fill, he thanked me, thanked me like I was allowing him to do that to me. He whispered to me, ‘that he’d see me soon’ and I knew right then that this was only the beginning of my nightmare.”

Katlyn grabbed a box of tissue from an end table and handed it to Paige, and she continued, “Here my sister was, quite hurt, and I had to half carry her all the way back home. When we finally were home, I did my best to stop her bleeding, but there were huge marks in her neck that gaped open.”

“Why didn’t you take her to the hospital?” Katlyn asked.

“I just didn’t know how to explain any of it, but I did call for an ambulance a few hours later. Unfortunately, since the smog caused so many people to die and need medical attention, by the time the ambulance actually arrived, it was too late for Arielle,” Page cried. “I’ll never forgive myself for taking her to that party, but she so wanted to go and I just didn’t want to disappoint her. Our parents had died in a car accident the year before, you see.”

Tessa’s face softened now, but her eyes were still guarded.

Katlyn straightened her back when it began to ache. “Did they ask what happened to your sister?”

“No, and I don’t think they cared since London was having a crisis with so many fatalities. Arielle had a simple funeral and she was buried at the light of the full moon since I was already having problems of my own. It started quite slowly, at first, for me. First, I became quite light sensitive and then the stomach cramps began. I can’t explain to you in any way that you’d understand, Katlyn, but they are so painful that I could barely handle it. One day, there was a knock at the door, and when I opened it, there was the man who had bitten me standing there. I tried to slam the door shut, but he forced his way inside. He’d brought a fresh steak and tossed it at me, encouraging me to feed. He told me that if I didn’t, the pain would only worsen. It tasted awful, but I did what I had to until I fled the city, traveling only at night. I refused to accept any help from Gerome, the man who’d bitten me, who wanted me to come with him to his estate in Sussex. Luckily, he left me alone, but every time I looked out my window, he was always waiting in the shadows. He told me he’d bit me so that he would have a mate all his own, but I refused to submit to him. Gerome was quite the cocky bastard and told me that I’d never survive without him, but he underestimated how determined I was to avoid him at all costs.”

“Where did you go?”

“The country. I fed on livestock animals for a time before I took the job as a nanny for a family who were leaving for the United States. They believed me when I told them about my deadly skin allergy and we traveled at night. I spent most of my time in my cabin on the ship, and when we arrived in Boston, I quietly slipped away. I just couldn’t trust myself with an innocent child so close. I eventually found myself in California, working as a maid for an heiress, where I stayed until she passed away fifty years later.”

“How were you able to feed?”

“We lived in the mountains and I became quite good at hunting wildlife until that fateful night in 2002 when I was caught feeding on a tourist. Later, they found quite a few others that I had fed on, leaving quite a body trail. I hadn’t planned to feed on humans and kill them, but if I simply fed on them, there would be far more vampires then there are now. I was caught by the locals, but once they figured out I was a vampire, they came up with the perfect punishment. They took me to Devil’s Tower here in Wyoming and threw me into a hole that was impossible for me to escape from. I was trapped beneath a large rock they threw down on top of me and all I could do was stare high above at where the sun would burn me alive when it rose. Luckily, though, I was lying in the shade, but the humans didn’t stick around to find out. I’m not sure how long I was there, except that I fell into a deep sleep and went into a brumation like the lizards do. It’s like hibernation. I didn’t wake up until Brendan and Chase freed me. The blood from their fresh kill awoke me, and when I fed from the deer carcass, they never even flinched.”

“Why would we?” Brendan asked. “You’re not so different than us. Well, possibly a little,” he laughed.

“I owe my life and future to you and Chase. I’m so sorry I disappointed you all when I bit Tessa, but I didn’t have much of a choice once I bit her. It’s not like I could kill her.”

Tessa stretched. “So you knew I’d be turned and you still bit me anyway? What kind of monster are you?”

Paige shook her head. “I know. It was a rash decision, and I’ll do everything in my power to help you adjust.”

“What about the others you bit? What happened to them? Are they, too, vampires?”

“Some managed to escape, and yes, I believe that they are, but others I killed so they couldn’t tell anyone what I was. I’m ashamed to admit that I did that, but the thing is that I was in survival mode. I know now that it was wrong.”

“I bet Gerome is a very unique vampire and when he bites a human, they are turned, and he passed that on to you, Paige,” Katlyn said.

“I know. That’s why I killed my victims. I just didn’t want to damn them to the life I have, or undead life, as it is.”

Tessa glared at Paige. “And what of Gerome?” Tessa asked. “Have you ever seen him since London?”

“No, but it’s strange. I keep expecting to see him just jump out of the bushes at me, but I guess I’ve managed to slip away.” Paige frowned as she met Tessa halfway. “I’m so sorry. It’s been so very long since I’ve had anyone like me to talk to, and now I’ve all but ostracized you.”

“Actually, I am very angry with you still, but I just couldn’t face you after we fed on those people who came to the house looking for Katlyn. I’m so glad the Shifter Patrol is squashed, but I’m shocked how I behaved that day. It was a vicious attack.”

“Yes, but if you hadn’t done that, they would have taken you with them, or murdered you since they were quite capable of doing that as revenge for Katlyn slipping away from them. Or they certainly would have tried to kill you.”

“It’s so hard to accept. I’ve done what you told me to, but the medication makes me so sick.”

“Tessa has horrible lesions on her arm, too,” Katlyn added.

Paige’s eyes widened. “Show me.”

Tessa tugged up the sleeves of her shirt and her entire forearms were covered with lesions now. “How long has this been going on?”

“Those look horrible.” Katlyn said, shocked.

“Ever since I began taking the medication and feeding off the blood from the blood bank. I also have bad headaches.”

“I need to see your medication. This shouldn’t be happening. I get that medication from Germany from a vampire I’ve known for over fifty years. The ingredients are pure. I’m sure of it.”

“Would it have anything to do with my strength? I tried to attack a wolf and I was easily overpowered. He wound up to be the werewolf alpha, Raphael. I thought as a vampire my strength would be off the charts. Sometimes, I’m too weak to do much of anything. That’s why I wanted to hunt for an animal. I hate the taste of the blood from the blood bank. It tastes metallic to me.”

“You should have told me this before. Let’s go back to your cabin, Tessa, and check it out right away.”

They all left the main house and soon were standing in Tessa’s kitchen. Paige first took the medication and dumped the pills out on her palm and smelled them, putting them back in the container. Tessa took out the bag from the blood bank and handed it to Paige, who opened the cap to smell the blood first, and then dumped a drop on her finger, tasting it. Her eyes narrowed to slits as she read the label on the bag. She then tossed the bag into the sink, the blood splattering the walls.

“Sorry,” Paige muttered, “but Tessa and I need to take a trip into town to sort this out. “This is not the same supply I have at all.”

“I want to come, too,” Katlyn said.

“I’m sure you do, but this involves us, not you. Besides, you’re pregnant and I’m sure your mates don’t want you involved in our affairs.”

“She’s right,” Brendan said. “Let them attend to their business.”

“But Tessa, are you sure you want to go with Paige?”

She nodded. “It’ll be fine. Paige is right. We need to handle this on our own. I won’t have you involved.”

Katlyn was led from the cabin and Brendan commented on the stars shining overhead, pointing out the big dipper. “If you’re trying to distract me, this isn’t working.”

“Fine. How about stopping by to see if Carrie has sobered up yet? You can check on Melody.”

She nodded her head as she smiled. They certainly knew how to get her mind off things. She was worried about Tessa now, though, but since Paige was going into town with her, Katlyn felt sure that it would be okay. She just knew that when they got back, she’d come straight back to Tessa’s to find out what had happened.