The Turning (5 page)

Then it was my turn to laugh, men could never handle women crying, even vampire men it seemed. I walked over to the couch with him and we sat back down.

“You should get that shirt off. I could get you another one if you’d like?” He unbuttoned it while looking me in the eyes the whole time. Then slipped it off to reveal the most beautiful chest and abs I have ever seen. Before I even realized what I was doing I had my hand on his pecs, rubbing them ever so gently… Then it hit me. “Shit, sorry. I’ve just never, well, seen such a wonderful chest before, sorry.”

I removed my hand slowly and looked into his eyes at the same time. It seemed my new vampiric speed had me physically doing things before I realized I was doing it.

Gotta get used to that one fast or I’m
really
going to get myself into trouble. Just because I think it does
not
mean
do
it.

“Do not dare take your hand off. I very much enjoyed your touch. I even want more,” he whispered. Brian pulled me onto his lap before I could even blink an eye, and had his hands in my hair stroking the length of it. “Your hair is even silkier than I thought it would be. It is like lace between my fingers. And your lips just call to me I want so desperately to touch them. May I kiss you?”

“You keep doing that to my hair and you can do just about whatever you want to me,” I groaned. “I’m not sure I have ever had a man ask to kiss me before. What a gentleman—” I barely got that last part out before his lips were on mine.

They were cool like a fall day. When the kiss got deeper my hands ran up his neck and through his hair. His hands, on the flip side, ran up and down my back.

Brian lifted my shirt and slipped it over my head, and when his hands touched my back and hips, it made me shudder. I sat back, looking into his eyes to find they were filled with longing and desire.

Shit, he’s gorgeous
. He cupped my face and pulled me back to his lips. Brian gave me a heavy, deep kiss that I felt throughout my entire body. When his hands ran down my back and onto my ass, I finally pulled away.

“Wait, wait—this is going too fast. I don’t even know you. I’m not hooking up with you,” I decreed. Hopping off his lap, I moved to the other side of the living room. “You turned me into a vampire. You’re not getting sex from me too!”

Giving a heavy sigh, he rubbed the back of his neck. “Kelly, I came here with no expectations of any such thing. You touched me, remember?”

“Yes, I know. I lost my head for a minute because you’re attractive,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my bra. The smirk on his face told me all he heard was the compliment. Which made it even more difficult to act casual since I was also shirtless. “Hey, I’m not that kind of girl. Just because you’re hot, doesn’t mean I can’t control myself. I can count the number of men I’ve been with on one hand. This is the most action I’ve gotten in like a year. Okay, can I
stop rambling now
?”

His laugh rang out through my entire apartment and it didn’t seem he could even stop himself either. “Kelly, I never thought you were some cheap strumpet. I merely know I am very attracted to you. If you do not want anything to happen, then nothing happens. I never have and never will force myself on a woman.”

“Well that’s good to know. I’ll just go grab you a shirt,” I grumbled as I pulled mine back on. I stormed out of the living room and grabbed an Illini T-shirt for Brian. I stood in my closet for a minute, thinking.

This wasn’t something I ever did, but a lot had also changed.
I’m attracted to him
. I couldn’t get an STD anymore, and I couldn’t get pregnant… So what was stopping me? I hadn’t touched a man in a year. I’d just aced my finals and never got to celebrate. Why not celebrate with Brian?

“Brian, can vampires drink alcohol?” I yelled from the bedroom.
God knows I could use the distraction and processing all of this would be easier with booze—lots of booze.

“Yes, we can even get drunk, but I would stay away from recreational drugs. Human organs trap the toxins and work them out of their bodies. That doesn’t work for vampires,” he guffawed.

With that I made a decision. I was a new woman, well, vampire. And I had a gorgeous man in my living room who thought I was beautiful, who looked at me like I was the best thing on earth. I grabbed a deck of cards, walked back through the living room into the kitchen, and grabbed a bottle of rum. I rejoined him, threw the shirt at him, and sat on the other side of the coffee table from him.

“What is the rum for?” he inquired with a raised eyebrow as he put on the shirt.

“The way I see it, you turned me into a vampire and I missed my finals party.” I smirked, knowing there wasn’t any way he could deny that. “So you are going to be my finals party, right now. You play poker?”

“Yes, I do, and I would love to have a finals exam party with you.” Brian studied me and crossed his arms over his chest. Yeah, I was throwing him for another one-eighty. He’d live. “How did your tests end up going? Are you a doctor now?”

“Yes, I aced them and the second part of my boards. I start my internship in two weeks. I have some blood in the fridge, do you want any?” I stood standing again when another thought hit me. Remembering there was a lot I still needed to ask him, I continued. “How do you get your blood?”

“By drinking from humans, how else?” He glanced at me like I was the silliest person for asking.

“Do you kill them?” I could barely get the words out of my mouth.

“Sometimes, but normally not. I set them in a trance-like state, and they allow me to drink from them. Then I tell them that they cut themselves or whatever story I make up. They believe me and they go on their way. I only kill when it is like that man for you last night.”

“I didn’t kill him—he killed himself by trying to stab me,” I stammered, freaked out that anyone had seen what happened with the man in the alley.

“But you drank blood from him, and you were very smart the way you did it. There would be no evidence of you being there, and you restrained yourself from drinking it all. Yes, I would like a glass of blood if you are offering,” Brian finished, smiling widely at me. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to wipe the smile off his face or kiss him. Honestly, in my current state of mind, I was leaning towards the first.

I went into the kitchen and poured two glasses of blood. When I came back, I handed one to him and set the other on the table as I sat back down across from him. “You were watching me? Why didn’t you come to me last night and help me then?” I balked as the underlying meaning of his words sunk in.

“I was amazed at how you were handling this change. I would have stepped in if there was a problem or you needed help. I just found myself watching your every move, wondering what you were thinking. I hate to ask, but I need to know. I heard you say you had a rape test done. Who did you go to?” he inquired before taking a sip of blood.

“I went to my doctor. I’ve known her for about thirteen years and trust her implicitly. She knows exactly what I am. She helped me figure it out and got me the blood. She wants me to call her tomorrow to check in or if I need help. She knows not to tell anyone and she won’t. I didn’t know about you or that you would show up. I had to pick the logical conclusion on where to get help and answers,” I stated firmly but in a slightly panicked ramble. I looked him over as I said this to make sure everything was okay and I didn’t have to worry for Dr. Warshak’s safety.

“I trust you.” He shrugged. “If you know this will not be a liability, then I understand. I would recommend you not tell anyone in the future, things can get very hairy when you do.”

“I understand. I’ve not told anyone else anything, and I wouldn’t want to burden anyone else with this. I just knew being a doctor she would be rational. She’s also from Poland and I guess has heard a lot of stories about vampires from her grandma. I think that helped her to not be too scared. Though she said she was when I was talking about being thirsty and blood,” I clarified before a thought hit me. “What happened to me? I mean why don’t I remember the last three days?”

“I comprehend why you did what you did. Under the circumstances, I’m not sure I would have done anything differently. You do not remember because you were turned. No one remembers their turning,” he explained with what I deduced as a forced calm tone from the way his neck was tense and he smoothed out my shirt. Damn it looked good on him and I found the gesture quite endearing.

Good to know I can make him squirm. Might come in handy later.
“Okay, please fill me in. I need to know what happened.” I didn’t exactly want more on my plate but I couldn’t
not
know. I looked him over suspiciously then remembered I would know if he was lying.

“I bit you at the bar. You were startled and almost passed out. But it looked more like you were very inebriated.” Brian slid from the couch he was sitting on to the floor. “So, no one noticed when I put my arm around you, helped you out the door. Then we went back to my condo. I drained you almost to the point of death and then had you drink my blood, making your body go through the transition.

“It is incredibly painful, so I put an IV in you with blood and morphine to help with the pain. The pain is from your body dying. Then your body adjusting to my blood and making some of the final changes. I laid with you that night, not in a sexual way, but a maker needs to be very close to the person they are turning.

“There is some magical part to it. We do not even know why to this day, but it helps give you some of my strength and essence. If this is not done properly, then we have what we call rogue vampires, like in the legends. They are completely savage beings, closer to animals than anything human or even vampire. Rogues kill everything and anything in their path: human, animal, rodent.

“If the turning is not handled right, all they think about is blood. They burn through it at a horribly accelerated rate and they need to feed about twenty times their body weight a day. Unfortunately the elder of that area has to handle the situation and put the rogue down,” he sighed as if speaking from experience.

“What happens to the maker can vary—ranging from the turning being an accident and the maker being educated so it does not happen again, all the way to the other extreme being it was done on purpose for whatever reason and forfeiting their life for not adhering to our laws. This will not be anything for you to worry about for a while. You cannot be a maker for some time, a few years most likely. That might be actually pushing it, but possible depending on your progression and how you adapt to being one of us.

“The turning takes about two days total. After your body turns, you are still incredibly weak and need to be replenished. The first twenty-four hours is the body dying and transforming into what you are, the next twenty-four hours you are hooked up to an IV and fed about a dozen pints of blood. Once that happened, you were given some pain killers and some blood throughout the third day to make sure you were turned properly and could handle processing blood.

“After I determined that you were fine, I brought you back to your apartment. And not having your purse or keys, I went to break in to your apartment. I heard someone coming and did not want to complicate your life additionally and figured it might have been someone looking for you so I left.

“I regret my decision, but as you can see my social skills are not the best and I did not think I could talk my way out of the situation. While I could have put them in a trance, I couldn’t know I could do that before they screamed or alerted others. Though in a way I am glad I did it, it was amazing to see how much you figured out all on your own,” he finally finished, looking quite pleased with himself.

“That’s a lot of information to process. I’m going to need some time before I respond to that,” I muttered, nodding like an idiot, trying to keep my composure. Mostly one point had me shaken. I was dead. He’d said it, and while I’d guessed that from the lack of heartbeat and pulse, hearing the words… It was harder than I would have imagined.

“How about five card stud?” Brian looked me up and down like he knew he would win that. It made sense, centuries alive had to make him a pretty damn good card player.

“Actually poker’s not really my game.” I glanced away from his intense stare. I needed to process what he said before dealing with the signals he was giving me. “I know I’m going to sound like an old lady but how about gin? One shot or one item of clothing for the loser?”

He laughed again. Shit, his laugh was almost as good as his accent. “I agree to all terms on one condition. I want one more kiss and another kiss after every round, winner gets the kiss or not.”

A satisfied smile grew on my lips as I slowly sat up, knowing he would immediately look for a better view down my v-neck. Brian’s eyes darted down my shirt and he licked his lips. Those soft, soft lips. Yeah, being
forced
to kiss him would be horrible.

“I agree to your terms.” I leaned over, gave him a small sweet kiss, and placed the cards in his hands. Then I sat on the floor with him on the other side of the table. “You deal. I also get to ask any questions that pop into my head.”

“As you wish, my lady.” His eyes twinkled and I wasn’t sure if it was with mischief, mirth, or something else. Guess I would find out? “You go first, but I get to ask questions as I want too.” He dealt the cards, and we took turns picking up and discarding in silence for a bit. “Why did you want to become a doctor?”

“I like helping people and challenges.” I shrugged as I studied my cards. “I don’t get squeamish around blood and I think quickly on my feet.” I picked up a card then, smiling when I saw what was in my hand, discarded. “Gin. Shot or clothes?” He took a shot of rum, so that answered one question. “I choose to skip the kiss this time.”

“As you wish. Your deal.” He snorted and I got the distinct impression he didn’t think I would be skipping the kiss again, that I simply didn’t want to look too eager.

Oh was he in for a surprise. I was a stubborn, stubborn shit.

“Where are you from?” I picked up a card and frowned, trying to throw him off that I was almost ready to call gin again.