The Crimson Bond (14 page)

            “Oh, thank God”, I breathed in relief.

            Ethan eyed my sexy attire and smirked. But not before I saw a flame of lust flicker in his eyes. “Are we playing hide and seek now, or is there some other reason you’re hiding in a closet?”

           
Oh gosh, this is so not going the way I planned.

            Caught off guard and completely forgetting my plan of seduction, because really I probably would have sucked at it anyway, I threw my arms around him. I was so relieved it was him and not some other vampire that found me that I was hugging him with all my might. He froze, startled for a second, and then gently set me back from him. His voice turned serious. “Brooke, what are you doing?”

            “Look Ethan, here’s the deal. I had come here to….well, to be honest, seduce you. But it didn’t work out the way I planned, so I’m going for honesty now. I need you to get me out of here. I can’t be stuck with Lucien for an eternity and it’s obvious that Alex has forgotten all about me.  And I need you to turn me so I can protect myself. I know these vampires are not going to forget I exist just because I escape, so I need to be a vampire too, if I’m going to stand a chance. Please Ethan. Please.” I was begging now but I didn’t see any other way.

            After a pause, where he eyed me as if contemplating his next action, he finally spoke. “Brooke, first of all, Alex is the only person who can turn you or the bond will not be completed and you’ll both parish. And as much as I would love to take you up on what you had obviously planned on offering up, I can’t let you do this. I’m not usually so self sacrificing, but if there is another being in this world that I owe, it’s Alex. So I can‘t turn you.”

            I threw my hands in the air. “Oh great!” I said sarcastically. “So, I get to be the martyr to keep Alex alive so he can live happily ever after with Ophelia and I can live a miserable existence with Lucien. I don’t freaking think so!” I yanked the door to his room open and tumbled out into the hall with Ethan closely behind.

            I shrieked when I slammed into a hard body and looked up straight into Alex’s steely blue eyes.

            His hands wrapped around my upper arms to keep me to steady me and then to restrain me from taking off. For a few seconds, I thought he was going to shake me. And then he turned his glare on Ethan. “What the hell is going on?”

            I glanced frantically at Ethan who was looking at Alex with lazy amusement. “I was saving your mate here from herself.”

            Alex’s hands felt like vise grips and I struggled to free myself. I looked him straight in the eye. “Let. Me. Go.”  All I could think about was getting some space to think-- and if I was being honest-- hurt him the way he had hurt me.

            Alex released me and I wasted no time storming off to my room. I didn’t owe him an explanation or anything else, or at least that’s what I kept telling myself. For all I cared he could think Ethan and I were lovers or whatever conclusion he had made when he saw us come out of Ethan’s room. 

            Once in my room, I slammed the door and threw myself onto the king size bed, all of the sudden feeling completely drained of anger and left with a slow spreading guilt. I was really going to have to work on this teenage like behavior. I buried my face in the bed
. I can’t believe I attempted to seduce Ethan into turning me.
I rolled over to stare at the ceiling and rubbed my hands over my face in frustration.

            I’d just felt so hurt and abandoned when Alex hadn’t fought the council’s decision. I probably wouldn’t have been able to go through with it. No matter what the council’s decision--Alex was becoming such an essential part of me that an eternity without him was painful to even think about.

            It was all so surreal. I had gone through so many extremes in the past month. Moving from my small town, with all kinds of hopes and dreams, discovering that vampires were the real deal, that I had one for a father, and then the even bigger shock that I was in the process of bonding with one. A gorgeous, successful, and sexy as hell one, at that.  Really, I was pretty sure that after all I’d been through, I deserved a do over.

            The sound of the door startled me out of my thoughts, but that was nothing compared to the way my heart dropped and my stomach dipped when I turned around and saw Alex. His tall muscular frame was illuminated in the doorway. The look of pure anger and hurt on his face made my heart skip and then race full speed ahead. The hard look on his face was scary and for the first time since meeting Alex, I was seeing him as a threat to my safety. Seeing him like this reminded me of what he was--something I had probably fantasized into a much less scary thing. My heart that was racing away came to a pure stop when he started advancing toward me like a lion with his prey-- with so much stealthy grace and determination that I gave up immediately on escaping. What finally broke through, even more than the fear of this angry vampire Alex, was the unadulterated hurt on his face. Just knowing I had made him feel that way-- that I had hurt him so badly, felt like a knife cutting straight through my heart. That scared me more than the threat to my safety.

            My lower lip trembled and my voice shook slightly when I whispered, “Alex. Please.”

            And then he was right in front of me, our face inches apart, with his hands gripping my shoulders. I held my breath as his anguished eyes looked straight into mine, soul searchingly deep. What I imagined he saw was a mixture of fear, heartbreak and the deepest love I’d ever felt. His voice was tinged with hurt when he finally spoke. “Brooke, I don’t know what else to do to convince you to trust me-- to trust that what I feel for you can not be described in words. Love is just not strong enough. You are the air I breathe, the essence that gives me life, and the only thing that makes living an eternity worth it.” He closed his eyes in pain and they were bright with hurt when he opened them and pinned me with a pleading look. “Please don’t destroy us by letting jealousy and mistrust get in the way. It hurts too much.”

            I couldn’t hold them back no matter how hard I tried. The tears, first one and then so many they blurred my vision, rolled down my cheeks. “Oh God, Alex. I’m so sorry. I love you. I do. More than I ever thought possible.” I was crying so hard I wasn’t even sure he could make out the words, but I kept going. “You’re just so wonderful--and I’m not. And I keep thinking you’re going to figure it out and move on- and I’m insecure. And I’m so sorry. You deserve so much better. Please forgive me.” I was crying so hard I couldn’t even see his face. So when his mouth came down on mine, kissing me with so much passion and all the pent up relief and frustration he‘d been feeling, it caught me completely off guard. Stunned at first, I froze, and then as soon as I realized he was forgiving me, I threw my arms around him and met his passion equally.

            And then somehow, we were on the bed, our clothes discarded and Alex braced above me. “Brooke, I never intended on letting them go through with their decision. I just had to make the council believe that I was cooperating until I could find us a way out of here. I thought Ethan was going to explain everything to you before the announcement was made. He just told me that he didn’t have time to say anything except that you needed to trust me.” He shook is head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you thought for a minute that I wouldn’t protect you. That I wouldn’t do everything in my power to keep us together.” He looked me in the eyes searchingly. “I think it’s time we complete the bond. The hell with what the Regency wants. This is about us.”

            My breath caught at his words but it took me all of two seconds to push back my fears and whisper, “Okay.”

            He stared at me a few seconds. “Really? You’re sure you’re ready? Because once we do this there’s no turning back.”

            I looked into his glowing blue eyes. “Has there ever been a chance to turn back with us?”

            Alex’s lips turned up into the familiar smirk. “No.”

            I smirked back. “I have one condition though.”

            Alex raised an eyebrow in question.

            “I want to experience everything with you that a human can. And there is one thing we haven’t done yet….”

            If it was possible, his eyes glowed an even deeper blue. “I think I can honor that request.”

            My fingers trailed lazily down his muscular arm and I met his eyes from under my lashes. “And then after….make me a vampire.”

CHAPTER 17

            What could have been seconds or years later, I opened my eyes taking in the lush surroundings of my familiar castle bedroom. I was disoriented in the way you feel only after waking from a long and deep sleep. The first thing I noticed was that I felt better than I’d ever felt. I felt energized, with none of the small pains and discomforts that are usually part of everyday life. I sat straight up in bed and jumped in surprise at the reflection in the mirror on the wall directly opposite me. It took me a full minute of staring at it to realize the girl staring back, was me. All of the features were the same but somehow sharper and porcelain looking. My cheeks had the perfect amount of pink color, my eyelashes were long, thick and dark, and my caramel colored hair was alight with just the right amount of highlights. It was thicker, longer and hung in the perfect curls that I had always tried to get with a curling iron, but could never get quite right. My lips were a just bitten red, yet there was nothing artificial about the color. I just looked naturally, breathtakingly beautiful. I stood quickly and walked towards the mirror in amazement. As I walked, I took in the creamy perfect complexion of my skin with that telltale underlying paleness. A look of confusion momentarily crossed my face and then I closed my eyes as my last memory assailed me. A flash of Alex and I finally physically committing our love to each other and then his teeth sinking into my neck, hit me. I gasped and opened my eyes again to look into the mirror. My hazel eyes were wide with shock. They widened even more when I took in my now much more prominent cleavage. It seemed even
that
had been enhanced with my change from human to vampire. I spun around, my eyes darting around the room looking for Alex. I jumped slightly when they came to rest on a shadowed figure sitting in the corner.

            Still confused, but hoping to see that it was Alex, I took a second to really focus on the figure in the corner. No, I knew it was not Alex. In fact, I felt some strange hunger and growing need at the thought of Alex.
Where was he?
My next thought came quickly
. If that’s not Alex, then who the hell is it?

           
Immediately on guard, I felt my body tense and my eyesight become sharper. My vision became incredibly clear as I focused my eyes on the unknown person. Within seconds I was able to make out Ethan’s handsome features.  His green eyes remained passive, per his usual, but I caught a slight glimpse of wonder as he watched me closely. He stepped out of the shadows and walking slowly towards me, stopping several feet in front of me.

            “You really are stunning as a vampire, you know. Quite breathtaking. Ophelia is going to be sick with envy. It’s too bad Alex isn’t here to see this transformation.”

            At the mention of Alex’s name, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach that could only be described as knifelike. It was so indescribably intense that I couldn’t hold back the small cry of pain that burst from my lips. Ethan’s brows came together as he scrutinized me. Finally he spoke.

            “I guess the Regency didn’t count on this type of severe reaction from your separation. I don’t know what they were thinking taking him so soon.” He grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and quickly typed out a message before slipping it back into his blazer.  “We need to feed you and soon. You‘ll have to drink at least once a day in order to survive. And really it would be better if this first feeding was straight from the source, but unfortunately that‘s not an option right now.”