His Dark Embrace

“Blood? Are you crazy?”

“You’re a vampire now. It’s what you’re craving. The pain won’t stop until you feed.”

“Right. I’ll just call room service and order a pint of O Negative.” Stumbling to the bed, Sam fell back on the mattress, his hands clutching his stomach.

“Kaiden? Is it okay if I come in?”

“No!” Sam spit the word through clenched teeth. “Go away, Sky. I don’t ... Don’t see me like this.”

But it was too late. Opening the door, she switched on the light, then moved quickly to her brother’s side. “It’s all my fault this is happening.”

“Your fault?” Squinting against the light, Sam rolled onto his side, his legs drawn up. “Why is it your fault?”

“I asked Kaiden to turn you.” She pushed a lock of hair from her brother’s forehead, then sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m so sorry, but I couldn’t lose you, too.”

“Sky.” Thorne spoke to her quietly. “Maybe you should go back into the other room.”

She shook her head. “I can’t leave him.”

Sam looked up at her. He could hear the rapid beat of her heart, smell the blood flowing in her veins. His gaze zeroed in on the pulse fluttering in the hollow of her throat, and he didn’t see his sister. All he saw was an end to the pain that tormented him.

With a low growl, he reached for her, his only thought to bury his fangs in her throat and ease the agony burning through him.

But Thorne was moving, too. Grasping Sam by the shirt collar, he hurled him across the room, then stood in front of Skylynn, all vampire glamour gone so that when Sam looked at him, he saw a very old, very angry vampire.

“You will not touch her,” Thorne said.

“I didn’t mean ... I couldn’t stop ...” Sam looked at his sister, his expression filled with self-loathing. “Skylynn, I’m sorry ... I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

“I know,” Thorne said. “Skylynn, go in the other room. I need to explain a few things to Sam. Then I’m going to take him hunting.”

She stared up at Kaiden, a dozen questions running through her mind, but the feral look in his eyes, the harsh tone of his voice, sent her into the other room without an argument.

When she was gone, Thorne closed the bedroom door. “Okay, this is how it is. You’re a vampire and there’s no turning back. You can accept it and learn to live with it, or I can end your life for you here and now. It’s up to you.”

“You’d kill me, just like that?”

Thorne nodded. “There’s nothing more miserable than an unhappy vampire. Or the people he preys on. I’m going to feel responsible for anybody you might kill, and I’ve already got enough deaths on my conscience. So, what’s it gonna be?”

Sam clutched his stomach again, his face twisting in agony. “I don’t want to die.” He forced the words through clenched teeth.

“You’re already dead.”

“Vampire humor. Very funny.” But there was nothing funny about the pain that engulfed him. He had to be dreaming, Sam thought. It was all just too bizarre to be real.

“Trust me,” Thorne said, “you’re not dreaming.”

Sam’s head jerked up. “Don’t tell me you’re a mind reader, too?”

Thorne nodded. “Comes in handy, from time to time. So, back to vampire basics. The three most important things you need to know are these: you don’t have to kill to survive. You don’t have to be a monster. And if you go on a killing spree, I’ll destroy you without a qualm. Got it?”

“Yeah,” Sam muttered. “I’ve got it.”

“Okay, let’s go. The night’s not getting any younger.”

Sam followed Thorne out of the hotel. Staggered might have been a better description. He couldn’t think of anything but the searing pain in his gut. It was worse than the torture his Iraqi captors had inflicted on him.

He listened with as much patience as he could muster while Thorne explained how to call prey to him, how to feed without ripping his victim’s throat out, how to tell when it was time to stop, how to wipe the memory of what had happened from his prey’s mind.

It all sounded easy until he stood in the shadows with a young woman in his arms. She looked up at him, her eyes glazed, her body limp. Earlier, he had been ready to attack his own sister, but he was thinking a little more rationally now.

He looked at Thorne and shook his head. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“Sure you can. Just listen to her heartbeat and do what comes naturally.”

Sam did as he was told, surprised to find his revulsion waning. He had no way to explain the manner in which her blood called to him, or the way her heartbeat slowed to beat in time with his. He knew the thought of biting into her throat and drinking her blood should have repulsed him. Instead, he licked his lips, willing to do whatever it took to end the searing pain in his gut. Feeling more than a little self-conscious, with Thorne watching his every move, Sam bent her back over his arm, then ran his tongue along the length of her neck.

And did what came naturally.

Chapter 37

Skylynn checked her watch for the tenth time in as many minutes. Kaiden and Sam had been gone for almost an hour. How long did it take vampires to—she swallowed the bile rising in her throat—feed?

She went to the window and peered outside. It was raining. Feeling as though the room were closing in on her, she opened the window and took a deep breath. It hadn’t been this hard to accept that Kaiden was a vampire. Why was she having such a hard time where Sam was concerned? Silly question, when it was her fault her brother was no longer human.

She closed the window when a gust of wind carried the rain inside. She turned on the TV, only to switch it off a few minutes later. How could she concentrate on some silly movie when her brother was out there in the storm, looking for someone to eat?

She blew out a deep breath. Where were they? She needed to talk to Sam, find out if he was angry with her, ask his forgiveness for what she had done.

She told herself there was nothing to worry about. Kaiden had been a vampire for hundreds of years. He knew what he was doing. He wouldn’t let anything happen to Sam, so why was she so worried?

If anything happened to her brother, she would never forgive herself.

Thorne nodded his approval as Sam licked the wounds in the girl’s slender throat to seal them. A few words wiped the memory of the last twenty minutes from her mind, and she left the park, smiling.