About a Vampire (14 page)

Justin paused at the door. “Gia's had no more than a short nap since yesterday and Holly is a new turn. They'll probably both sleep for a while.”

Both men nodded and then Tomasso asked, “Life mate?”

“Yes,” he said grimly.

“She's married,” Dante put in solemnly.

“I'm aware of that,” Justin growled, feeling his jaw tighten with tension.

“Tough break,” they said together.

“No shit,” Justin muttered and pushed out of the room. He was halfway up the hall when a knock sounded at the door. Moving a little more quickly, he opened it and peered out at the man in a black jacket with a rental agency name on the pocket.

“Justin Bricker?” the man asked.

“Yes.” He accepted the pen and clipboard the man offered and glanced over the rental agreement on it. Lucian had rented an SUV for them to use while here. What he held was acknowledgment of having received the vehicle. Justin glanced out at the SUV now parked in the driveway, then to a white car with the rental logo on the side and a man behind the wheel. He quickly signed the bottom and handed pen and clipboard back.

“Thanks.” He took the pen and clipboard in one hand and held out a set of keys with the other. “Have a good day.”

Justin muttered a thank-­you as he took the keys, and then closed the door and returned to the stairs. He considered looking in on Holly, but Gia wasn't the only one who had been up for quite a while and he was exhausted. Too exhausted to even want to think about the situation he found himself in for now. A life mate with a mortal husband.
Tough break indeed
, he thought grimly as he dragged himself upstairs to his room.

H
olly opened her eyes and found herself peering into darkness. Biting her lip, she sat up and reached out blindly to her side until her arm bumped into something. A quick exploration proved it to be a lamp and after a bit of fumbling she found the switch and turned it on. She peered around then, releasing a little relieved sigh. It was the same room she'd woken in when Gia had been there. The last thing she recalled was watching that horrid, boring nature show in the living room and for a minute she'd feared she'd find herself in yet another strange room.

She didn't recall coming up to bed again. So either she'd staggered up here half asleep, or Justin had carried her up and put her in bed. That thought had her glancing down and quickly shifting the blankets and sheet off herself. Much to her relief, she was fully dressed, only her shoes missing. Sliding off the bed, she paused to stretch her back and arms, then moved to the bathroom to relieve herself, run a brush through her hair, splash some water on her face and then quickly brush her teeth before heading through her room to the hall door.

The sound of squealing wheels and explosions met her ears as she stepped into the hall. The television, Holly guessed as she made her way to the stairs and down. She moved to the door to the living room, expecting to find Justin and Gia there, but instead there were two of the largest men she'd ever seen inside. One was draped over the chair Gia had previously sat in, turned sideways, his legs over one chair arm and his back up against the other. His eyes were fixed on the television screen, where a car chase was in progress. A second man lay on the couch, his feet overshooting the end of it by a good foot. They were the only thing she could see of him from where she stood.

Holly couldn't see the face of the man on the couch, but the other man sat in profile to her, revealing a hard face and roman nose. Gia's cousins, she guessed, and recalled that they were twins. Gia certainly hadn't been kidding when she'd said big, and yes the black leather they wore made them appear bad. The long hair just added to that image.

Shy about meeting them, Holly eased back from the door to avoid drawing their attention, and then turned and made her way into the kitchen. She'd expected to find Gia and Justin there, so was surprised to find it empty. Gia had been complaining that she was exhausted when they'd sat down to watch that horrid wildlife show, so Holly supposed she was probably in bed.

Wondering where Justin was, Holly moved to the refrigerator. She was starving, her stomach aching with it. Thanks to their shopping trip there was plenty of food, but unsure what the plans were for supper, she didn't want anything too heavy. Just something to ease the ache would be enough, she thought, and grabbed an apple. After polishing it on her borrowed top, she took a bite and moved to peer out the glass doors at the backyard. While it was dark, there were lights on in the yard, enough for her to see a large pool.

Wondering how deep it was, Holly eased the door open and stepped outside, then moved to sit cross-­legged at the edge of the pool. She leaned forward to dip her fingers into the water, surprised at just how warm it was. The water still retained the day's heat.

A swim would have been nice, Holly thought, taking another bite of her apple. Unfortunately, she didn't have a swimsuit. She wouldn't use the pool without permission anyway, so stood up and walked around it instead. A row of hedges made the pool seem secluded, but there was a gate in the center of the hedgerow and Holly moved to it now to peer out over a large lawn with something rippling beyond it.

The ocean, she realized after examining it for a minute. This house was on the beach . . . and yet they had a pool.

“Yeesh, talk about extravagance,” she muttered and opened the gate. A nice walk on the beach while she ate her apple sounded appealing. It might help clear her mind, and Holly could definitely use that. So much had happened, and all of it taking place so quickly . . .

It was hard to believe that only a ­couple of days had passed since she'd headed back to the office to get her forgotten purse, she thought, as she crossed the lawn to the beach.

Actually, it had been more than a ­couple days, she supposed. It was just that she'd only been conscious for parts of two of them. Or was it three?

She went over her memories as she reached the beach and started along it. She'd woken naked in that hotel and gone home, where she'd slept and rose the next day. She'd then gone to the hotel, where she'd been knocked out, and then woken up here today. All told, it had been three days for her, or parts of three days. At least that's how much time she'd been conscious. But it felt like a lifetime had passed. Although not really. It felt all at once like a long time and no time at all.

Weird. She thought, raising her apple to take another bite, only to find that she had finished it. She'd eaten the damned thing down to the core, but her stomach felt no better. It was still aching something horrible.

Holly turned and started back to the house, cutting across the lawn rather than walking back along the beach to where she'd started. Her mind was on what they'd bought today and what she might eat to satisfy her hunger, so she didn't notice Justin until she nearly ran him over.

“Whoa,” he said on a deep laugh as he caught her arms to steady her.

“Sorry.” Holly tipped her head back to peer at him and managed a smile. “I wasn't watching where I was going.”

“That's all right,” he responded. His voice deepened a bit as he said that, but she barely noticed. She was too distracted by the scent filling her nostrils.

She'd noticed before that Justin smelled delicious, and now she inhaled deeply, holding the aroma in her lungs. God! It was incredible, irresistible, soooo . . . yummy, she could just eat him all up.

Holly rose up on her tiptoes and leaned toward him on that thought, her hands knotting in the front of his shirt to pull him to her as she did.

J
ustin went willingly when Holly tugged at him, his heart racing, and mind awhirl. Finally!
Finally
, he thought. She was experiencing the life mate attraction and ready to give up her old life for her new one with him. He'd known she would. Nothing could beat life mate sex and she was hungry for it. He could see that in her eyes and he couldn't even be accused of influencing her in any way. In fact, he decided to let her do all the work and seduce him so that if his memories were read, it would be known she was the aggressor . . . and she was definitely the aggressor here. The woman was lusting after him like a cat in heat and he was more than happy to fulfill her needs, he thought, and closed his eyes, then started to let his hands slide down her arms but she was suddenly gone.

Blinking his eyes open, he found himself staring out at the sea. Confusion rising within him, he whirled to see Dante walking back toward the house, holding Holly by the waist, well out in front of him as if she were a baby with a dirty diaper.

“She wasn't lusting after
you
so much as your blood,” the other man announced over his shoulder and it was only then that Justin realized why the man was holding her as he was. Her fangs were out and she was clawing at his hands and twisting her head this way and that, blindly seeking something, or someone to bite into. She was in the throes of blood lust again . . . and a bit mad with it, he noted with a frown. The realization made him quickly work out how long it had been since she'd fed. They'd given her blood along with the sedative while she was sleeping after they'd first got here. That was hours ago now though, he realized, glancing at his wristwatch. Nearly twelve hours ago in fact.

No, it had been longer than that, Justin thought as he followed Dante and Holly back to the house. While they'd hooked up Holly to both the sedative and blood when they'd first got her here, they hadn't replaced that bag of blood when it had run out. As a new turn she needed to feed more than that.

“She needs to feed a lot more than that,” Dante announced, pausing at the door to wait for Justin to open it for him. “She was diabetic while mortal. No doubt there was a lot of damage to different systems over the years for the nanos to repair. She'll probably need a lot of blood for quite a while to mend everything.”

“Of course,” Justin said with a sigh, as he pulled the door open for him to enter. Holly had calmed down somewhat now. At least she wasn't twisting her head about anymore.

“I'll get her a bag of blood,” Justin said as he followed him inside and pulled the door closed.

“You better grab several of them,” Dante advised as he set Holly in a chair at the kitchen table and held her there with his hands on her shoulders.

Justin nodded and moved to the fridge. He retrieved six bags of blood, set four on the counter and took the other two with him to the table. One glance showed him that her fangs had retreated during the walk inside and he expected to have to cut his finger or something to bring them back out. New turns usually had to have their fangs coaxed out in such a way, but he had barely raised his hand in front of her face with the intent to do so when she inhaled deeply and her mouth dropped open, her fangs suddenly sliding out.

Eyebrows rising, he immediately popped one of the bags to her upper fangs and prevented her attempt to push it away. It was just an instinctual reaction. After a moment, she calmed and let her hands drop. When the first bag was empty and he replaced it, she raised her hands again, but this time to hold it herself.

Nodding, Justin offered her a half smile and returned to the counter for the rest of the bags. When he saw that Dante was no longer having to hold Holly in the chair, he offered him a bag, then popped one to his own mouth.

“I'm sorry,” Holly murmured, avoiding Justin's gaze as she pulled the now empty bag from her mouth a moment later. “I don't know what I was thinking.”

“You were not thinking. You were in the throes of blood lust,” Dante said after removing his own bag. “It is difficult to think at that stage.”

Holly shook her head unhappily. “I was hungry when I got up, but I thought it was just for food, so I grabbed an apple and . . .” She shrugged helplessly.

“Then that will be our first lesson,” Dante announced. “Teaching you to recognize the difference between hunger for food and blood hunger.”

Holly nodded solemnly, and accepted the third bag of blood Justin offered. This time, she popped it to her own mouth. He smiled encouragingly at her, and watched her feed, his mind now considering ways to woo her. It seemed Decker and Anders explaining about life mates hadn't made much difference in her reaction to him. At least she hadn't broached the subject with him and wasn't treating him any differently. Which meant he would have to woo the woman. The next time she grabbed him and rose up on her toes, he wanted it to be because she was hungry for him, not his blood.

Anders had said she liked fish, flowers, wine, puppies, kittens, picnics, documentaries, nature shows and anything to do with nature, he recalled and ran through the list slowly in his head. Well, it was too late to get her flowers, take a picnic, or find a pet store, but there was plenty of wine here at Jackie and Vincent's. They'd got it in for Tiny while he was still mortal, but then he'd turned and so it sat languishing in a rack. He could make dinner and serve her wine to start and impress her with the knowledge that he knew how to cook. That was a newer skill. He'd always been more of an eater than a cook, but after trying to help Cale Argeneau claim his mate, Alex, who owned a pair of fine dining restaurants in Toronto, Justin had found he was interested in cooking. He'd been terrible at it at first, but between watching the Food Network and helping Sam at the house, he'd picked up some skills and was sure he could manage to cook Holly a meal that would impress her.

Justin was smiling widely at the thought, when he noted that Dante was looking at him with one eyebrow raised dubiously.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” the other man said and took a fourth bag of blood from him to replace the one Holly was tearing away. “Nothing at all.”

Justin frowned at him, then set the remaining bag on the table and turned to start searching the kitchen. They hadn't bought any fish when they'd been shopping, but with any luck, Jackie and Vincent might have some in the freezer or something. They were newly mated and both ate and he'd been here before and knew they had a huge freezer. Surely they'd have at least one fish in it, he hoped. He needed a cookbook too, though, or a computer so that he could find a recipe. Something gourmet, he thought, his mind planning feverishly.