Flowers and Fangs (Stake and Dust series, Book II) (15 page)

For a moment, Wade's features softened and
she could imagine his jovial personality Derek claimed he
possessed. She was saddened to think she would never know that side
of Wade's character.

"I'll take care of it," he finally said.
"That's a promise."

She glanced at the coffee cup and reached for
it. She didn't want to drink in front of Wade. He probably would
appreciate the gesture, too. She turned on her heels and headed for
the door.

"Sloane?"

It was the first time Wade had called her by
her name. She glanced at him with an arched brow.

"I perhaps can see why my brother is taken
with you. Well, besides the fact you're a looker." He gave her a
lopsided grin, putting her off guard.

"Thank you," she said, not sure it was a
compliment or not, but Wade nodded.

"You really do care for him, don't you?" Wade
asked.

"I do. I know you won't believe this, but if
we had time… If we had met again without all this… I could have
easily fallen in love with Derek. He's one of the good ones."

"He is," Wade agreed and meant it. "But how
do you know?"

Her brows furrowed. "Know what?"

"That you'd fall in love with him? How could
you be so sure?"

She gave him a ghost of a smile. "Because I'm
halfway there already." With that she left Wade standing on the
porch, staring after her. She thought she heard him swear under his
breath.

Yeah, she didn't like it any more than Wade
did. Falling in love shouldn't have to be so difficult, but here it
was all screwy and wrapped in a bow.

She spotted Derek standing in the hall with
Tremayne. They were waiting for her.

She glanced at the contents in the coffee cup
before lifting it to her lips. She gulped down the wine and blood
still expecting it to taste like the worst kind of medicine, but it
went down smooth like all the other times she'd indulged. The pain
in her stomach lessened almost immediately.

She stared into the cup with a frown.

"It's what your body has been craving,"
Tremayne said as he gently took the cup from her hands.

Her gaze landed on Derek and he strode toward
her, taking her into his embrace. She slipped her arms around his
waist and pressed her cheek to his chest. She could hear his heart
thumping strong and sure. "I'll be right here," he kept telling her
over and over again, but she wasn't sure if it was to comfort her
or to convince him. When his arms were around her it felt like some
of the burden had been lifted off her shoulders, making what she
had to do a little easier.

She pushed away, wanting to look him in the
eyes. She didn't worry about dying or about changing as much as she
feared Derek would loathe her. In such a short time, she came to
realize his opinion meant a lot to her. Her gaze shifted to his
lips and he must have read her desires. He crushed her to him and
pressed his mouth to hers. His kiss was divine, and for a moment
she forgot the horrors that awaited her and let her heart ach with
longing, but then the kiss ended all too soon. When he stepped away
once more, she felt the loss instantly like he took part of her
life force with him, leaving her drained.

"Are you ready, lass?" Tremayne asked in his
soft Irish lilt.

She glanced his way. "No."

His lips curved in a sympathetic smile and
offered her his hand. She took it and oddly felt comforted by his
touch. She glanced at Derek over her shoulder as Tremayne led her
into the bedroom.

Bottles of the synthetic blood were on ice,
waiting for her transition to take place. Her gaze took in the bed,
stripped with only the bottom sheet. She was thankful for that. It
made it appear less intimate.

Her eyes met Tremayne's again. He didn't
really want to do this, but he would because Cassandra asked him to
and because Derek was her brother. She bravely strode to the bed
and sat down on the edge.

Tremayne took a seat beside her and brushed
the hair away from her neck. She glanced at him, her gaze drowning
into his as he spoke. "Think of Derek and what you feel for him,"
he told her. "Reach for those thoughts and hold onto them. It will
help you to awake."

She had a vague feeling his words were a
command, but he didn't have to order her. Her thoughts were already
flooded with her need to be with Derek.

Before she could respond, Tremayne had moved,
his teeth sinking into her neck. Tremayne's bite was different than
Tim's frenzy need to connect to her. After the initial strike, her
body relaxed. Her gaze drifted to where Derek stood in the doorway,
looking as if he wanted to come to her rescue, but was helpless to
do so. She had believed his eyes were what she liked most about
him, but she was wrong. His honor and his sense of chivalry were
his best qualities. Those thoughts went with her when darkness
became her world.

Chapter Nineteen

Derek backed away from his bedroom door and
settled against the wall. His hands fisted at his side and it took
all his control not to charge into the bedroom and throw Tremayne
away from Sloane. Thoughts of pounding his fists into the vampire's
face came to mind. He knew it was an irrational thought, but he
felt so inept. He wanted to keep her safe, but it was so
frustrating to think he'd been too late in that regard. Tim had
taken her innocence before he could save her. He couldn't fix this
and the solution didn't sit well.

To be fair, Tim hadn't asked for his fate
either, but the wanker had embraced it with vengeance and that
really pissed him off.

He looked up when Wade and Cassandra joined
him. Cassandra stood on his right and Wade took his left. He felt
comforted by their presence.

"Tremayne will take good care of her,"
Cassandra reassured him.

Wade thankfully kept his opinions to himself.
Derek wasn't sure how he would respond if his brother made one
wisecrack remark about vamps and slaying.

Time ticked away and with each passing
moment, the heavy weight centered in his chest pressed down
further, making his heart ache. This was a new sensation, this
grief for what he and Sloane could have had, for the life she had
to give up, and to the new life that would change everything.

He stood up straight when Tremayne strode out
of the bedroom. The vampire met his gaze first with a nod before he
glanced at his sister. Tremayne's face had aged in the last hour.
He had not thought siring a person would affect the vampire in such
a way, but Tremayne had used his blood, not the synthetic blood to
help Sloane through the transformation. He was depleted and would
need to rejuvenate.

Cassandra went to him, wrapping her arms
around his waist in a hug.

"Now what do we do?" Derek felt foolish for
asking, but he didn't know about any of this. Stake, behead—the
end, but turning someone on purpose? He'd never experience the
event and hoped to never again.

"We wait," Tremayne said simply. "She may
sleep for hours. It is not the same for everyone." Cassandra and
Tremayne strode away, their heads bent toward each other in
conversation.

Derek took a step toward the bedroom.

"Do you want me to wait with you…in the
room?" Wade's question halted his steps and he glanced over his
shoulder to stare at him. "You know. Just in case…" His brother's
words trailed off.

He knew what his brother meant and he was
positive his glare spoke for itself. "No."

Wade looked like he wanted to argue the
point, but instead, he pursed his lips together with '
it's your
funeral expression'
and leaned against the wall to wait. Wade
wouldn't stop him, but if he needed to intervene, he'd be in the
room with his dagger poised and ready.

Derek wanted to close the door behind him,
lock the world away. Somehow it seemed like Sloane should have
privacy when she turned, but he'd promised Tremayne he wouldn't be
alone with her.

She lay as still as death and he supposed in
a sense the statement was true. Her hands were shackled. The metal
contained the slimmest amount of iron. It would not harm her for
the short duration, but it would keep her from lunging for the
first warm body she spotted once she awoke.

Five bottles of synthetic blood gleamed dark
red, sitting nice and pretty next to the bed in an ice chest. When
she awoke, she needed to feed immediately.

He scooted his chair closer to the bed and
plopped down to wait no matter how long that would be. After a
while, his eyelids grew heavy. He would just rest his eyes for a
moment, but sleep claimed him.

He knew he dreamed and he welcomed it. It was
more of a memory he'd tucked away, a time when he hoped to have a
normal life.

He didn't want to be homeschooled like his
siblings. He wanted to go to high school and experience what it
felt like to be a teen. Of course he had to promise he would keep
his distance. He could be friendly but he was not to form life-long
friendships. He didn't see why he couldn't have a friend or two—at
least for the duration he spent at high school. He was there for
the full experience. If it involved singing
kumbaya
with the
natives, he wanted to join in. He remained confident he could end
the friendships when it came time to leave high school behind.
Yeah, he'd been a fool. At the time, he hadn't realized that
friends would leave tattoos imprinted on his heart. The memories
shared were always there, inked into his subconscious, and no
matter how he wanted to forget them they could not be scrubbed
away.

He strode into biology class and spotted
Sloane sitting near the window. Her dark hair glimmered like
polished onyx in the sunlight and when she turned her gaze on him
he thought his heart had stopped. His lungs refused to draw in air
and his feet became glued to the floor. Her beauty captivated him
like no other girl his age had.

"Move it, douche. You're blocking the
doorway," one of the jocks said and pushed him into motion.

He headed for the only available chair in the
room, which happened to be next to this beautiful girl. She moved
her books to the side and allowed him to place his next to
hers.

"Hi, my name is Sloane." Her voice was
musical and sweet like he knew it would be.

And being the jerk he was he said, "Like I
care." He turned away and swallowed the lump in his throat. He
couldn't believe he said that when he wanted to know everything
about her, but the thought of opening up to her couldn't happen.
Not when she affected him in this way. Give him a three-eyed demon
and he'd take it down. Let a were-creature try to take him out and
he was ready to do some physical damage, but face a normal human
girl and talk? Now that scared the hell out of him.

"You may care when we have to work together
as lab partners." Her blue eyes could have frozen a fire demon
cold, and he so did deserve the look.

He closed his eyes and against his better
judgment he chanced a glance at her again. His stomach flip-flopped
and his breath hitched. She was about to turn away from him, but
his hand snaked out and he covered hers. Skin to skin contact only
upped the attraction. "I'm sorry."

She stared at his hand, but she didn't pull
hers away. "Having a bad day, are we?" She gave him a wink of a
smile. "It's only the first day."

He chuckled. "Yeah well, it looks like it's
about to get better." Before she could respond to his statement, he
squeezed her hand before releasing his grip. She sucked in a breath
as if she too had felt the connection and wished to have it back.
"I'm Derek Hayes," he told her.

This time she gave him a dazzling smile and
he knew it was all over for him. She'd captured his heart. "Derek
Hayes, it's nice to meet you. I'm Sloane McBride."

Chains rattling like the
ghost of
Christmas past
woke him with a start. The room was draped in
dark shadows, indicating at least an hour or so had passed. Sloane
stared at him. Her eyes gleamed red and she hissed, revealing fangs
long, pointed, and protruding like daggers from her gums. She
yanked at the chains and growled in frustration when she couldn't
break free.

He reached for his dagger on instinct, but he
never withdrew it. He flew to his feet. "She's awake," he called
for Tremayne, but the vampire had already known. He flitted to the
bed before Derek had finished his announcement.

"It is all right," Tremayne soothed her with
words, his voice was like silken oak, firm and enduring, but it
seemed to lull her into compliance.

"I have what you need." His fangs lengthened
and he bit his wrist before pressing it to Sloane's mouth. She
latched onto his flesh like a babe in need of nourishment. It was
difficult to watch, the act too intimate for his liking.

Tremayne would always have this connection
with Sloane, a connection he would never have. The vampire held her
close, encouraging her, to take her fill, but finally he had to put
a stop to her feeding or risk being drained. "That's enough, aye?"
He gently pushed her away, but she wouldn't release her hold. "Open
one of the bottles," Tremayne demanded and Derek hurried forward to
do what he bid.

He opened it and held it out to Tremayne, who
quickly exchanged his wrist for the bottle. Sloane gagged at first,
spitting the blood out. Her gaze landed on Derek and her nostrils
flared before she lunged toward him.

Tremayne glanced his way. "You're going to
have to leave the room. You're a distraction."

As much as Derek wanted to argue, there was
no room for negotiation. Blood dripped down the corners of Sloane's
mouth and her eyes were not the cornflower blue, but a fiery red. A
fiend's eyes not Sloane's.

"The blood is all she knows right now,"
Tremayne reminded him. "Go. Now!"

Tremayne's sharp tone propelled him into
action. He fled the room where both his siblings stood in the hall
waiting for him. Cassandra gave him a sympathetic look. Wade's gaze
clashed with his and he was sure his brother had a smart remark
waiting for him, but lucky for him, he had the good sense to stuff
a sock in it for now.