I take four long pulls before the sounds in the room start to filter in, as does the light.
Blinking a few times, a face comes into focus as I continue to drink.
“Miguel?” I ask with my mind.
“Yes, it’s me, gorgeous. Glad to see you’re back in the land of the living.” He smiles down at me as I continue to drink from his wrist. His chocolate eyes are warm and crinkle at the corners. Wavy brown hair hangs down onto his forehead.
“Why are you here? And why am I on the floor?” It’s uncomfortable. The tile against my spine unforgiving.
“You fainted. Ford called me and I came over. When was the last time you fed?”
Fed?
Oh no.
Blood.
Ladon.
My eyes widen and my heart races as I remember what happened to put me in my current situation.
“Easy,” Miguel says in his thick Italian accent as he strokes my hair. “I’ve got you. You’re not moving until you’re nourished. Relax.”
“Ladon…”
“He’s here. Don’t worry.” Miguel turns toward someone or something behind him then focuses on me again. “Okay, maybe worry a little. That male looks like he wants to harm me. He’s human, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Then I have no worries.” He smiles again. Perfect straight teeth. His skin is flawless. No one would know by looking at him that he’s six hundred years old.
When I first met Miguel, it was in a restaurant in Spain. I was eating alone, and he knew with one look I was a vampire. He came over and introduced himself. Turned out he lived in Italy, too, only a couple hundred miles from me.
I read his thoughts, of course. He hadn’t had an easy life. One of torture. Abuse. One where he wasn’t a born vampire but rather made into one. His family thought he was dead. At times, he wished he were. The sadistic vampire who stole him when he was eighteen and turned him, kept him chained up. Used him, his bloodlust, even his body at will.
Someone finally rescued him. I didn’t find out until our second time having dinner that the someone was my Aunt Eloise.
9
Ladon
Helpless. There’s no other way to describe how I felt when Genevieve fainted right in front of me. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t teleport or open a portal. So I grabbed my phone and called Ford. He showed up in under a minute.
Gen needed to feed. She hadn’t in a while, only living on human food. It’s not enough. Vampires need blood. I still don’t know why she wouldn’t feed or why she didn’t want me in the room when she did. I thought we were finally going to talk. Then she collapsed.
My mind keeps playing back the way she looked at me when we were in my bedroom. Something changed. Shifted between us. Something powerful. Like I was on the cusp of finally getting an explanation for her behavior.
Now I have to watch as she feeds from another vampire. One I’ve never met before. One who keeps looking at me with mirth. I want to punch him in the throat. I want my knuckles to meet his jaw then each eye. I want to see him bruised and bloodied for knowing Gen better than I do. And none of that is fair to him. He didn’t do anything wrong. Just the opposite. He’s here helping her.
Gen and I are friends. Nothing more. This is what I needed to see to understand how that’s all we’ll ever be. I can’t offer her my blood. I can’t offer her much of anything, except my friendship.
Was she not feeding because of me? Even when we weren’t together she could have gone to feed. We were with each other a lot. Many hours but it wasn’t twenty-four seven.
I don’t understand it, though. I would if she explained it to me. We didn’t get the chance. And now I can’t unsee what’s in front of me. The stark realization of how I’m merely human. I’ve hated it since I knew what my mother was. More so when we moved into the pack house with Merrick and I was surrounded by paranormals. Yes, there are human mates, but those mates have the long lifespan of the shifter they are mated to.
Then there’s me. Outside of the people the pack hires to help with cleaning and cooking when Mom or one of the pack doesn’t do it, I’m the only human. The pack’s purely human member. And it sucks.
The only way to fix that is to have a vampire bite me but I won’t. Mom doesn’t want it for me. Merrick certainly doesn’t. I’ve been good by not taking Sol up on his offer to gift me powers. I wish I had, then Genevieve would be drinking from me. She’d look at me like she is Miguel, the one who is sustaining her life. Ford said his name when they arrived. I have no idea who Gen and Miguel are to each other. Not in a relationship but they could be sleeping together.
Ford didn’t offer any explanation. As soon as he knew what Gen needed, he was gone. He didn’t return for five minutes. It wasn’t long but it seemed like an eternity. During that time, I sat on the floor next to Genevieve with my hand holding hers, scared out of my mind.
Ford returned with him—the other vampire. I moved away to give them room and that’s where I still am—against the far wall. The only thing holding me up.
Ford offered to take me home, but I can’t move. I’m rooted to the spot. If I’m Gen’s friend, which I am, that means understanding her. Accepting everything about her, including how she has to drink blood to survive. Doesn’t mean I have to like watching her do it from another male. One I have no doubt she’s drank from countless times.
After what feels like an hour, although is probably minutes, Gen’s fangs retract from Miguel’s wrist. He runs his fingers through her hair then licks the excess blood from his wrist. The wound closes immediately.
Miguel helps Gen slowly stand. She’s no longer shaking. Not trembling with a force unlike anything I’ve ever seen. There’s no sweat beading on her forehead. She glances around the room from Miguel to Ford before finally settling on me, holding my gaze for a few beats of my heart before she glances at Miguel again.
“Thank you,” she says. “All of you. Ladon for getting me help. Ford for finding Miguel. Miguel for feeding me. I-I shouldn’t have done what I did.”
“No, you shouldn’t have, but you had a valid reason,” Miguel states with a hint of humor in his voice.
Ford nudges the other vampire aside to embrace his cousin. “I don’t agree that your reason was valid. Don’t scare me like that again.”
“I’m sorry. I won’t.”
They hold each other and no other words are spoken, at least out loud. I wonder how much has been said between the three of them that I haven’t heard. Another negative for the human across the room. Can’t read minds. Can’t speak to others using my mind. More failings.
Ford leans back and holds Gen by her upper arms. “Are you good?”
She nods. “Yeah, much better.”
“I’ll check on you soon.” He teleports away before she can respond.
Miguel turns to me and strides over. He’s a good-looking male. He has this presence where you feel naturally at ease. Not like the menacing way the Verascues can make anyone who looks at them wrong cower in fear. Miguel is the opposite.
He holds out his hand to formally introduce himself. “I’m Miguel. It’s nice to meet you.”