Essence (Nectar 3)

“It was the only fuckin’ thing I could do, goddamnit. She wouldn’t stop shaking until I fed. But then it started again…”

Sasha raised her hands defensively, “Okay. Yes, I can sedate her.”

Tristan blew out a breath of exasperation, “Alright. It’s happening more and more often.”

“She looks rough.” He saw that Sasha’s eyes were on the floor, looking at the torn underwear.

“Yeah, and yes we just had sex.” He answered her unspoken question, “It felt like she was pleading for it.”

“Have you been having a lot of sex since the turning?”

“No. This was the first time for that.”

“Based on her temperature earlier, I’d say that was probably safe. I don’t think she’s ovulating.”

Fuuuuck. That’d just take the fucking cake.

“Good,” Tristan was relieved. He hated this not knowing. He’d taken his diagnostic skills for granted for all this time. The last thing that he needed to worry about was Kyla being weak like this, a zombie, as well as fucking pregnant.

“But to be safe perhaps you should refrain or use protect…”

“I’m not a fuckin’ animal, fucking my comatose pet senseless while she can barely hold her fucking head up by herself!” He roared this and thrust his hands through his hair, “She needed me. I read her when I fed, which is the only time I can but I’ve got a split second to do it because she’s so weak that I can’t take a full feed, and she practically attacked me and she needed me to…” he stopped, not sure how to articulate it.

“I’m not judging. But condoms might be a good idea. I don’t have any here but I’ll arrange to have my brother go to the mainland and get some. It’d be safer.”

Bullshit. She was judging.

“She needed it,” he defended, “When she climaxes, her eyes are lucid for a second. Or they were last time. I don’t know about this time because I couldn’t see them…” He stopped. He knew he was rambling, giving out too much info, “I know you probably heard of my reputation, my tendencies, and they were true but with her…” he couldn’t finish past the fucking pain in his chest. No one else he’d fucked since turning vamp had meant a thing. It’d all been empty until her.

“Tristan, I know you’re just coping with the circumstances in front of you. I’m not here to judge. I’m only here to try to make some sense of this so I can try to help fix it. I’ve got some feelers out…”

“Feelers?” His rage was rising. He shrugged her off, she’d tried putting her hand on his forearm reassuringly.

“I’m only talking hypothetically to an elder. I’ve sent an encrypted message asking for information about anomalies regarding enchanted and bonded humans being turned. He’s travelling so it might be a few days but this elder is someone who could be extremely helpful to us. He’s the oldest vamp of my acquaintance who is part of our coalition. He’ll be here next week but for now I’m just asking for general info.”

“I haven’t joined your coalition, Sasha, and I sure as fuck hope he doesn’t figure out who you’re talking about.”

“I’m aware it’s dangerous but we can trust him. I know I haven’t won you over yet and I’m aware I could help you and you could take your pet and Kyle and head off with them both anyway, decimating what has been built here and then taking efforts to dismantle us, destroying me in the process.

But based on what my brother has said, the vouching for you he’s done, and based on what I’m reading from you myself, I know I’m doing the right thing taking this big risk here but I’m doing it for Kyle, for Kyla, and for the cause I believe in.

So far you’ve said or done nothing to make me feel like I’ve made anything but the right choice. He’s far older than most of the elders on your councils, older than Dr. Constantin, from Eastern Europe where there are a lot more vamps, a lot more recorded history, and he could be helpful.”

“Right,” he muttered and folded his arms. They were quiet a beat.

She finally broke the silence, “I want to set up to run Kyle’s blood through her. I’ll run it slow and we’ll get data continuously while it runs, with you present, so that we can assess her. You said her blood returned after a few days from the attempt at turning so hopefully the worst that will happen is that if this does nothing, her blood regenerates within a few days. That’s not a guarantee and it doesn’t mean we’re without risk. I’ve already tested and they have the same overall blood type, though there are nuances. She’s got far more vampire markers than he does. Her markers read almost completely vampire but there’s something there that isn’t. It’s really odd. I’d like to wait a day or two, if that’s okay, to see if I hear back from this elder. Would that be okay? If she’s in discomfort I can give her sedatives to make her more comfortable.”