The Turning (22 page)

It took me a few more minutes to finish the drink. They had gotten me a huge forty-eight ounce cup that they had filled. When I got to the bottom of it, Charles took it away quickly and disposed of it somewhere. He was back in an instant, and I was already feeling much better.

Actually, I felt pretty damn good. Their blood was so charged, like Julie’s, it was like drinking liquid energy. I sat up with a smile and planted a big kiss on Brian’s lips, and the other boys’ cheeks. “Thanks, guys, you’re life savers,” I told them.

“Well I know a way you can repay us,” Andre said hopeful. “You gorgeous ladies can put on a nice fashion show for us.” I looked at Charles who nodded but didn’t meet my gaze and then at Brian who was trying to hide that he didn’t like that Andre was the one who’d suggested it.

“Sounds fair. Jules, Nicole, you in for giving the guys a fashion show?” I asked, getting two very excited nods from them. “We sent you guys off on your way because we thought you would get bored. Okay, let’s go pick out some more dresses. Julie and Nicole are size eight or ten, and I’m ten or twelve.”

We spread out searching for some that looked good, but Brian stayed at my side, holding my hand. I knew he was making sure I didn’t faint again. I thought it was so bizarre. I seem to be frailer as a vampire than as a human. How could I have known I wasn’t drinking anywhere near the right amount of blood?

We met back at the dressing room and exchanged choices until all the right dresses were in the correct stalls. I looked through the dress options. Very easily I could pick out the ones that the guys chose. They showed about as much as a bikini would. I put on one of those to get the ball rolling and to tease the guys.

I heard Julie and Nicole emerge from their stalls, so I joined them. The chorus of howls and whistles had us all acting like goofs. I did my little turn in the mirror and then walked up to Brian seductively, put my hand on his chest, and slowly circled him pressing my body against him.

The small moan I got from him exhilarated me. “Kelly, you could get a castrated man hard,” he growled with a smile. I started laughing and broke my sexy persona.

“That was graphic and revolting,” I decreed and ran back into my stall. We went through several more rounds, and Julie and Nicole had set aside some that they liked. With everything Brian had already gotten for me, I felt guilty even looking, plus most of these were so far out of my price range. On the other hand, it’s not like I had to ever worry that I wouldn’t fit into them later, since I would never lose or gain weight again.

The next was a long pink strapless that had sequins on the bodice and a long skirt that had multiple revealing slits. I would never have thought I would like this one, but damn I looked good! I walked out of my stall and checked myself out in the triple mirrors. Yeah, this one worked really well.

Suddenly Andre was standing by me and whispered in my ear, “I would give anything to get you that dress and watch you wear it all night.”

I laughed. “Aren’t you going home soon?”

“Well now you have a reason to visit New York as often as possible,” he said with that wicked grin.

“If you don’t behave, I’ll tell Charles or Brian, and they’ll kick your ass,” I threatened, trying to keep my tone light but not happy Andre kept cornering me like this.

“Brian’s already here and heard every word,” Brian sneered. “And I am going to kick his ass.” Andre put up his hands and started moving away slowly to show he was withdrawing his flirting. Brian turned back to me. “I do agree with his assessment of you in that dress and I would like to buy it for you.”

“I have enough dresses thanks to you. I don’t need any more. But I appreciate the offer.”

“Please, Kelly, you look amazing in that,” he begged, but I just shook my head and walked back to my stall. We tried on the rest of the dresses and Julie grabbed her
yes
pile, while Nicole and I left ours and walked to the register. Someone who worked there grabbed all our purchases and we headed back downstairs to the limo.

“Sorry we had to cut this short, guys. You all can go on if you want,” I said to them. “I need to go home and get some rest.”

“No way, babe,” Nicole scoffed as she put her arm around my shoulders. “Where you go, I go.” We all piled in the car and chatted politely about what to do tonight. “How about a movie and take out?” Nicole suggested.

“Fine with me.” I shrugged, looking around, hoping they got that we had to play the charade of needing to eat. We all agreed on Chinese and Nicole helped Brian order delivery, which made me laugh. How much was he ordering when five of the six didn’t eat?

“I very much enjoy your friend,” Charles said from the other side of me, quiet enough where Nicole wouldn’t be able to hear. “She is a wonderful person and loves you more than I have ever seen unrelated females before.”

“Yeah, she’s been my friend for a long time and I value the bond we have.” I thought it was an odd thing and timing to talk to me since Charles barely paid me much attention. Maybe he was as socially inept as Brian?

We pulled back up to Brian’s place, got out of the limo, and realized Nicole and I were the only ones who picked up bags. We caught each other’s eye and smiled. Well I guess the driver would have to get the rest. When we got upstairs, we started going through the bags, separating the purchases. I took some of the dress bags and hung them in Julie’s closet, but there seemed to be a lot more than I thought she got.

“Julie, how many dresses did you get?” I yelled to the living room.

“Five, why?” she asked as all potential dress wearers came in the room to sort out the matter.

“There’re ten dress bags here.” I started opening the bags and they joined in. With all ten revealed and Julie put the ones she bought on the bed, there were five extra including the pink one I tried on that Brian loved. “Brian, get your ass in here!”

“Yes, my love,” he said calmly as he joined us in the bedroom and wrapped his arms around me.

“Don’t
my love
me. How did these extra dresses get in with the purchases? Either you bought them when we weren’t looking, or you hid them under your shirt as we left.”

“I purchased them for you and Nicole. I am sorry. I know you said no, but I was worried that it would be gone by the time I talked you into letting me get it,” he explained.

“Brian, I’m too tired to argue with you. I appreciate you getting me presents, helping my friend, and everything else. Start pacing yourself a little please, okay? We’ve talked about this, and I know you do it out of love, but you’re going to end up driving me crazy.”

“You are correct, and again, I am sorry. In my defense, I only got the pink one for you. I got three of them for Nicole and Julie got one for Nicole,” he defended.

“Wait—For me?” Nicole yelped, looking through the dresses again. “Wow, these are the ones I wanted. Why did you guys do this?”

“I purchased you the one I thought you looked best in as a thank you for helping me with the makeup,” Julie confirmed and Nicole gave her a big hug.

“It was my pleasure to help you and I had a great time, Julie. You didn’t have to pay me with a dress,” Nicole told her.

“I know I did not have to, and I did not mean it as a form of payment, just a way to show my appreciation,” Julie argued. Nicole smiled and gave her another hug.

“Why did you, Brian?” Nicole asked him

“Well I plan to be seeing Kelly for a long time,” Brian hedged. “And that means I will be seeing you as well. Which I do encourage. I like your company, and I wanted to make sure we did not run into the problem where you had nothing to wear to join us. I am looking ahead to the future.”

We all started laughing at one of the lamest excuses we had all ever heard. He got an
A+
for effort in trying not to incur my wrath, but the wave hit me as soon as he said about looking into the future. Which proved he was full of it.

“Do you have a Victoria’s Secret catalog around here, Brian?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s how I picked out what I wanted sent to your house,” he replied.

“Well, Julie, we get to do lingerie shopping with you after all. Ladies, to the sofa,” I proclaimed and we were all smiles again. Then I realized Nicole went back by Brian and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He smiled down at her and told her she was welcome.

We all sat cross-legged on the sofa and picked out options as Nicole wrote them down in size and color. Brian came back into the living room. “Kelly, can I see you for a second?”

I got up and walked to him. “Yeah, babe, what’s up?” I asked as I closed the bedroom door behind me.

“I want you to drink some blood from me. You need to get your energy up, especially with what’s going on tomorrow,” he explained. I nodded, and he sat on the bed. I straddled him, giving him a quick kiss and then kissing down to his neck. I stopped for a while and nibbled on his ear, and then sank my fangs into him. I drank for a long, long time before I stopped.

“Why didn’t you stop me?” I asked Brian.

“I can take it. You could have drunk more from me, and I would have been just fine. I’ll drink extra blood tonight and you can drink again from me tomorrow.”

“Oh shit, what about the blood in the fridge? What if Nicole goes in there?” I hissed as I went to jump off of him.

He wrapped his arms around me tightly and stopped me. “Already taken care of, my dear. I put it in the other fridge and some in the little fridge in the corner over there. Please make sure you drink that tonight too, okay, sweetie?”

“Yep, no problem. Taking your advice or lead on this type of stuff is a given,” I agreed as I snuggled up against him. It was comfy sitting on his lap hugging him like that. It seemed to be the first time in a long time the world stopped spinning out of control.

“We should get back out there, my love.”

“Just a little longer please?” I whispered, leaning back and looking into his eyes. “Everything has been like a tornado for weeks. I just want to enjoy our moment of calm in between storms and appreciate feeling safe here with you.”

“
Mo mhile stór
, we can stay here as long as you want,” he assured me. “It is going to be okay, Kelly. I promise you will be okay and I will protect you from now on.”

“Okay.” I choked back some tears as I lay against his shoulder.

A while later my knees started to ache from being curled up in a ball on his lap so we went back into the living room, and I walked back over by the girls. I wish the myth of vampires not ever having pain was true; that would be a perk. They were still looking through the catalog when I sat down.

“Everything okay?” Julie whispered at a level Nicole couldn’t hear, ignoring Brian who was standing right behind the couch we were on.

“I think so,” I whispered back at the same level. “Still weak and shaken up. I guess it’ll take time for me to get better.” I caught Julie’s eye, and she smiled at me. “Oh, I like that one!” I said at a normal level, pointing to gorgeous lace demi-bra set Nicole had just flipped to.

“That would look fab on you,” Nicole agreed with me. “What color were you thinking?”

“I like the maroon. It’s different and I don’t have anything like it.” There was an underwire and thicker material at the bottom, and then thin lace on the top. The bottoms were very sexy lace that didn’t cover the butt fully, but didn’t ride up. It was made for shorter skirts and easy access. “What do you think, Bri?”

“Um, yeah,” Brian said, clearing his throat and unbuttoning the first one of his shirt. “That works quite well, and I like the maroon, black, navy, silver, and pretty much all the colors. I think we should order one set for each color, maybe two. Actually I think I never want to see you in anything but this or less of course.”

We all laughed so hard, and Charles and Andre moved over behind the couch to see what we were looking at.

“I agree with Brian,” Charles said, but then quickly amended his statement. “I think all of you should order every color in your size. How about we get some of these and you all can do your fashion show again?”

“Could we help you put them on and take them off as well?” Andre teased. We all busted out laughing. We were so loud, and I thought we were going to pee in our pants.

After that we put in the movie and the food had arrived so we all took a big plate. Since the lights were going to be off, Nicole wouldn’t see how little we ate.

About halfway through the movie, I started to drift off. “Okay, I’m going to bed. Goodnight, guys.” I gave them all a kiss on the head and two for Nicole. “Charles or Julie, can you make sure Nicole gets home okay?”

“Sure,” they both agreed.

“Hey, why not me?” Andre asked sweetly.

“Because I don’t trust you to keep your hands to yourself.”

“Thanks, Kel, but I can take care of myself,” Nicole drawled.

“I know you can, but it will help me sleep better after all the crazy that’s been going on. Night,” I chuckled as I went into the bedroom. I changed into some pajamas, and went to the little fridge Brian had shown me. He walked in just then. “Go back out there, Brian. You don’t have to go to bed just because I do.”

“I know, but I was not particularly fond of the movie, and I would much rather lie in bed with you,” Brian replied. I smiled at him and took two pints out of the fridge and drank them. I crawled into bed, watched Brian change, and started to get wound up. The view of him without clothes was spectacular!

“Please leave the shirt off?” I asked quietly. “I like lying on your bare chest, if you don’t mind.”

“Small price to pay to have you look at me like that,” he groaned. Then he pulled on pajama pants, tied them, and crawled into bed with me. I curled up next to him and put my hand on his chest and threw my leg over him, and that’s how I fell asleep.

* * * *

They came after me, biting me over and over. I pushed them off. I got up and ran again, but someone jumped on me and took out a few chunks of my flesh. I knocked them off, but someone else was there to take their place. I crawled because they had taken so many chunks out of me that I couldn’t even walk. They took the advantage and jumped me again. I couldn’t see any of their faces. All I could see and feel was their fangs.