Wicked Games - Moon Kissed Part 24

She would want him to hold her, to rea.s.sure and kiss her, to give her proof of his love.

For a long time he'd sat in the bathroom after scrubbing furiously at the wound on her neck. If only he could have washed away any trace of damage, taken the bite from her with the cleansing water.

What now would he feel when he again looked upon her?

"I love her," he growled at his insensitive thoughts.

Could he love a vampire?

A minute possibility remained that she would not change. To do that, she had to survive till the next full moon. Elvira had planned this so well. The moon had been waning but a day. There were four long weeks till the next full moon.

"She'll never survive without going mad."

Exhausted, and knowing that Severo was busy with the cleaning and security crews, Bella slept through the day. After she'd showered, the wound had stopped bleeding. She crawled naked into bed and fell instantly asleep.

A fitful sleep. She'd been aware when the water in the shower again beat against the tiles, and then when Severo had carefully tiptoed about the bedroom, selecting clean clothes and leaving her alone.

All she craved was spooning against his body and knowing that everything was going to be all right. But the dread that their relationship would never be the same kept her in bed, even when her stomach growled for food.

When the noise from the cleaners ceased and the sun had again set, she decided to sneak out for a morsel. At least now she wouldn't have to see piles of ash or signs of the struggle she'd been through.

Pulling on a black silk robe, Bella combed her hair and leaned toward the mirror. The bite mark was swollen and red. She couldn't conceal it with makeup. It didn't hurt, only ached.

"How did you do it, Seth? This is not my idea of a good time."

Of course, when the wound healed, she could get on with her life. She suspected Severo was avoiding her for the very reason that she bore the mark of the vampire on her neck. It couldn't heal fast enough.

Answering her hunger pangs, she headed to the kitchen. It was spotless, with no sign of broken dishes or the wooden stool she'd thrown at a vampire and had broken across his shoulder. She opened the fridge and grabbed the plastic bottle of pomegranate juice.

When she closed the door, she dropped the juice. Tall and strong, Severo posed as if ready for a challenge, head lowered and fingers coiled, ready to fist. She thought she could smell the fury on him, and his eyes appeared even darker.

The vampire's eyes had been so beguiling. Blue, deep and seductive. She couldn't remember anything after looking into them.

"I'm sorry. I was hungry." She picked up the plastic bottle. To run into his arms felt wrong but she so desired it.

"How are you feeling?" "Better. Much. I think this stupid bite mark will heal in a few days. I know how it must make you feel. I understand you haven't had time for me. You've been busy all day, I'm sure. Can I make you something to eat?"

His inhale stabbed her in the heart. Bella closed her eyes. Please, touch me. Hold me.

"We need to talk, Bella."

Call me sweet. I am yours. You won't abandon me after you realize this bite means nothing.

"Sure." She screwed off the bottle cap and took a slug. She didn't realize how achy her jaw was until she swallowed. "Let's sit over there."

Drawn to their favorite chair, she waited for him to sit and pull her onto his lap. "Severo?"

He nodded as if jerking himself out of busy thoughts. "Yes."

He sat, and when she wanted to climb onto his lap, he allowed it, but he didn't cradle her as he usually did, only sat stiffly, as if he wouldn't push her away but would like to if he could.

"Are you angry with me?" she asked.

"Never. No. I'm sorry, Bella."

"It's the bite, isn't it? It reminds you of them. It'll soon be gone-"

"It's going to change everything, Bella."

"No, it won't. When it's healed, you'll forget all about this stupid incident."

"It will heal. But you will not. You will be transformed."

She pushed against his chest and leaned back to study his face. He couldn't meet her eyes. How dare he not look at her, to make her feel as if she were contagious. Now she wished she would have found a scarf to tie around her neck.

"Transformed? You mean...? But Seth didn't change when he was dating Elvira. Not until she wanted him to."

"Because a vampire usually licks the wound after it takes blood from a mortal. The infusion of vamp saliva seals the wound and keeps back the vampire taint. A bite that isn't sealed introduces the taint to the mortal's system. It will stir up the blood hunger in you, Bella, and you will change with your first taste of human blood."

"No." She shoved off from his lap and paced toward the opposite wall.

The now gla.s.sless picture of Aby and Severo had been rehung there. In the ten years they'd been together, why hadn't Elvira gone after Aby? Was it because he'd never made love to her?

"I don't want to be a vampire. I don't want-" To be the one thing her lover despised. The thing that would always remind him of his family's tragic suffering. "There must be some way to stop it."

"There is."

The warm weight of his hand on her shoulder made her flinch. Bella did not turn to him. Aby's bright smile taunted her. She had had Severo for an entire decade. Would Bella lose him after but a few months?

"You can wait for the full moon." His voice hurt her heart. So calm. Yet not affectionate, as it had been. More removed, clinical.

"If you don't drink human blood before then, you'll be in the clear. But you'll be mad from resisting the intense hunger. d.a.m.n it, Elvira planned this well. It'll be another month before the full moon comes again."

"But you said if I drink human blood. Maybe I could...drink yours?" She winced at the thought of doing something so reprehensible.

"Bella, listen. There are three options for a mortal bitten by a vampire when the wound has not been sealed. You can answer the blood hunger-which should emerge within days-and complete the transformation, thus becoming a vamp."

"What are the other two?"

"You could kill yourself."

She gasped.

Severo punched a fist into his palm.

"Door number three, please?" she asked softly.

"You could try to wait out the full moon. If the victim can go without drinking blood until the next full moon is over and the moon begins to wane, then the vampire taint will pa.s.s from their system, leaving them completely mortal."

"Well, that's my pick. See, this won't be so bad."

"One problem."

"There's always a but."

"Bella, I don't know of anyone who has been able to resist the insistent blood hunger. If they did resist the insatiable need, madness would generally take hold before they made it to the full moon.

"There is a legend of one man who survived until the full moon-at the expense of his mind. His family, after committing him, decided to attempt to have him bitten again, in hopes of curing the madness. He'd changed to a vampire and yet remained mad.

"Bella, what's been done to you is irreversible. You are destined to become a b.l.o.o.d.y long-" He stopped.

"Longtooth," she whispered. Then she spun about and insisted boldly, "Say it. I know you hate them. And now you will hate me."

"No, I love you." But she heard so little conviction in his tired tone. "I could never..."

"Never look me in the eyes again? You won't. You can't. My G.o.d, that b.i.t.c.h really did know what she was doing."

She paced the floor. Wanting him to wrap her in his arms wouldn't earn her the reprieve from the horror she could never shake.

The patio door had been boarded up, and the smell of fresh paint made her wonder which wall she had seen her own blood splattered on last night, as the vampire had bent to bite into her neck.

A bite she recalled wanting.

She shivered as she recalled a memory. "It was the same ones who originally chased me." Severo had been there that night to rescue her. Why hadn't he been there for her last night? "Where were you?"

He leaned forward, hanging his head.

"Severo?" "I was out back. Elvira and a dozen vampires detained me with some kind of silver whip. I had no idea they had infiltrated the house, or that you were even home, until it was too late."

"A silver whip? Are you hurt?"

"No more than my pride."

His pride. And while he'd been suffering a pride-busting tete-a-tete with the mistress of the night, Bella had been getting her throat chewed on.

"I'm sorry, Bella. This would have never happened if I had not pursued you after that night in the warehouse. If I had not kept you in my life."

"Don't say that. Seth was already dating Elvira then. It would have happened much sooner, is all. I'm glad you followed me home and seduced me into loving you, Severo. Do you..."

She wanted to ask.

She could not.

He could not love her now. It would be cruel to ask it of him after all she had learned of his past.

"So what are we going to do?" she asked instead. "Do you want me to pack my bags?"

He narrowed his gaze but still did not meet hers. Did he look at Aby's picture?

"That's ridiculous. This is your home. I swore you would be my mate-" He fisted his fingers and the air in the room shifted as if a ghost had just breezed through. Bella felt the chill. "We'll get through this."

"I want that. But I'd feel much better if you'd hold me and...and kiss me." She waited for his eyes to find hers. They did not.

"The security crew is still outside working at the terminal. I need to go out and check on their progress. I'll return soon, I promise."

"You don't want to touch me now, do you?" Tears slid down her cheeks. Bella resisted the shivers that threatened to shake her body uncontrollably. "Will you touch me when the bite has healed?"

"It's not like that, Bella."

"Yes, it is! Don't lie to me. Everything has changed between us now, hasn't it?"

He didn't answer. And that was answer enough.

Chapter 19.

H e was being a b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Two days had pa.s.sed since the attack and Severo had used the excuses of installing new windows and rechecking the grounds and restocking the a.r.s.enal as means to limit his time with Bella.

h.e.l.l, he wanted to go to her. To hold and kiss her, to make love to her, and find his place inside her again.

But the vampire's scent lingered on her, and he didn't want Bella to know that. To sense that he was repulsed by her. He was, and he wasn't. Yet he was stupid to think she didn't already sense his reluctance.

Rationally, he knew nothing had changed between them. She was the same woman he had fallen in love with and had wanted to mate with for as long as their days would allow.Illogically, his brain found her offensive. He cringed every time the fading red bite mark on her neck was revealed as her hair swept over a shoulder.

Vampires had viciously murdered his parents and enslaved him. They had gone to war with the witches with little respect for human life. Vampires were filthy, nasty creatures.

And soon Bella would become one.

He couldn't push her away. And yet he knew ignoring her was far worse. She needed him as much as he wanted her. She wasn't yet a vampire.

If he could not accept her now, how could he possibly do so after she changed?

Because it was starting. Last night she had moaned in her sleep, a deep, wanting whine that wasn't s.e.xual. The blood hunger had begun to infiltrate her system.

Each night, after she drowsed off to sleep, he'd sleep on the chair in the bedroom, or rather, sit there with one eye open. He hadn't slept for days, and though exhausted, he would continue to keep watch on her. For any changes. For her needs.

Kiss me.

She said it every night before slipping between the sheets. But she wouldn't look at him, as if she knew he could not meet her gaze.

"Idiot!"