Craved (27 page)

I heard a click of a gun and saw a red
laser dot on Ian’s chest. I turned my head to see that Micah was
holding some sort of fancy handgun with its aim on Ian. “You stop
when I say, otherwise I’ll pump you full of silver,” he said. I
couldn’t help myself, I laughed. Surely the stress was causing me
to go insane because the situation I was in was no laughing
matter.

“You…sound…like some…kind of…gangster
from the twenties,” I said between hysterical chuckles. I kept
picturing Micah in a pinstripe gangster suit with a thick New York
accent. When it seemed no one was finding Ian’s death threat as
funny as I, I regained my composure and got back on
track.

“Sorry,” I said, holding back my
laughter. Ian raised my arm toward his lips and all of a sudden,
nothing was funny. I was in a real life dangerous situation, not to
mention sexual. The memory of what Aiden’s bite felt like made me
question whether or not I should share something like that with
Ian. We were in a hospital; I could have a nurse draw blood for
Ian. As much as that sounded like an excellent plan, we were
dangerously close to sunrise and if we didn’t hurry, Ian would zonk
out for the day.

My heart beat strongly against my
chest as I waited for Ian to sink his fangs into my wrist. He
captured my eyes and hesitated to bite. He was enjoying my nervous
anticipation and drawing it out for as long as he could, or so I
thought. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me into his
chest, leaning down so that only I would hear his words.

“Are you sure you’ll do anything for
your friend?” He whispered. I nodded my head, unsure what he meant.
“Once she is brought back, remember you said that and remember that
I confirmed it.” He stepped back and lifted my arm, leaving me
utterly confused as to what the hell he was talking about but
before I could question him further his fangs sunk into my
skin.

I let out a yelp as waves of warmth
washed through my entire body, leaving me yearning for more. His
lips against my skin as he sucked blood from my body were a dark
seduction I couldn’t get enough of. Ian’s bite was different than
Aiden’s, stronger. I moaned and worried that my knees would give
out with the pure delight that overtook me. Ian pulled me closer to
help hold onto me and I happily leaned into him. I rubbed my body
against him with my lust in overdrive and my only thoughts were of
how to get our clothes off as quickly as possible.

“That’s enough!” Micah ordered from
beside us. Ian growled and reluctantly let go of my wrist. He held
me for a few moments as the waves of sexual pleasure wafted through
my body and finally allowed me to stand on my own. Once
clear-headed, I pushed away from him and put the table between us.
I was so embarrassed I couldn’t look at either one of the men in
the room and was very thankful Aiden hadn’t witnessed what
happened. If the shoe were on the other foot, I wouldn’t have been
able to watch Aiden have an orgasm with another woman.

No one said anything about our blood
exchange, luckily. Ian placed both of his hands on Fiona’s temples
and closed his eyes as his lips chanted an incantation that I
couldn’t understand. It was bizarre to see a vampire doing magic,
unnatural.

I thought I saw Fiona’s hand twitch
out of the corner of my eye and the breath in my lungs caught in my
throat. I stared wide-eyed at my best friend’s body, willing her to
wake up with silent prayers. Ian continued to chant and my
impatience was getting the best of me. I stepped up to the
stainless steel table and said, “What’s happening? Why isn’t she
waking up?” I looked back at Micah but his thoughts showed all over
his face; he didn’t expect her to wake up. I turned back to Ian and
Fiona and grabbed her hand, tears falling down my cheeks as I
waited for her to come back from death.

When it seemed all hope was lost, and
that Ian had been lying about his talents, I hung my head in
defeat. Deep down, I knew that it was improbable but I had pushed
the doubt aside and held on to every ounce of hope I had. Hope that
was now squashed like a bug.

Fingers trembled against my own and I
looked at mine and Fiona’s joined hands. Her fingers moved lazily
but they moved! I was utterly speechless, full of disbelief and
happiness that something was happening.

“Fiona?” I said softly but didn’t get
a response. Ian said one last round of chants and all of a sudden,
Fiona gasped loudly and her eyes popped open. It was like the world
stopped moving and everything was in slow motion. I watched Fiona
sit up on her own and look around the room in confusion. My feet
were firmly planted to the floor and my mouth gaped with my
surprise. I stared at her like she was something my brain couldn’t
comprehend and in truth, she was. She was death that had been
resurrected, something that shouldn’t have been
possible.

“Gwen, what am I doing in the morgue?”
Fiona asked with a scratchy voice. As soon as I heard her speak, I
was brought out of my shock and encased her in one of the tightest
bear hugs I could manage. Her body was slightly cold but otherwise
normal.“I…can’t…breathe!” Fiona choked out. I loosened my grip but
didn’t let her go. I was laughing and crying all at once, if there
were such things as miracles, Ian had performed one.

“Can someone please tell me what is
going on? Why am I in a body bag?” Fiona’s voice trembled with
fear. I broke our embrace so that I could look into her eyes. I
wasn’t sure how to explain what had happened. How was I supposed to
tell my best friend that she was stone cold dead only minutes
ago?

“You were…dead,” I said cautiously. I
expected her to start crying or hyperventilating; I didn’t expect
her to burst out laughing. I eyed both Ian and Micah worried that
Fiona had lost her mind. Surely, she was entitled to be a little
insane with what had happened; I know I was on my way to
insanity.

“Fiona?” I asked. She held up one hand
and waved me off while she tried to control her giggles.

“I’m…fine. You really got
me.” She laughed again. “Dead.” My eyebrows scrunched as my
confusion took over. Did Fiona think that
I
was playing a trick on
her
?

“Fiona, this isn’t a joke, you were
really dead. Ian brought you back.” She stopped laughing and looked
between Ian, Micah and me and then took in her surroundings and
finally stared at the black body bag she was currently sitting
in.

“Oh my God! Am I a zombie? Am I going
to start craving brains?” Fiona was past her confusion and was now
heading to the paranoia stage. I held back my laugh because I could
see the horror all over her face and knew she wouldn’t appreciate
me laughing, even though it was difficult not to.

“No, Fiona you are not a zombie and
brains are not on the menu,” I told her. “Somehow Ian was able to
bring you back and you look like yourself, and you feel like
yourself, right?” She thought for a few seconds and then nodded her
head. I knew her personality was all her so that was
good.

“But how did I die?”

“They thought I killed you,” Ian
chimed in. I shot him a look, still not convinced he hadn’t had
something to do with it. At the very least, he knew who had killed
her.

“Ian wouldn’t ever hurt me,” Fiona
said. I silently grumbled that my best friend still seemed to be
enamored with the devil’s advocate. I had hoped that coming back
from death would put her self-preservation mode in overdrive, but
it hadn’t affected her whatsoever.

“Yeah, he’s a peach,” I said, glaring
at Ian. “We’re not exactly sure what happened to you but Ian knows
and he’s not talking.” I had hoped that the new information would
set Fiona’s inner diva off, but did it? NO. She pulled her legs out
of the horrible black body bag and hung them over the side of the
table, bracing her hands on the edge to steady herself. She took a
couple of deep breaths and then hopped off the table. I stepped
closer to help and she grabbed my outstretched hand. I pulled her
into a hug again, too overwhelmed with happiness.

“Whoever…killed me must be dangerous
and Ian doesn’t want to put us in anymore danger by telling us who
they are,” Fiona said, pulling back from me. I rolled my eyes at
her faith in Ian Despereaux but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t the
time to fight with my newly resurrected best friend about her bad
taste in men.

“That is correct,” Ian
agreed.

“We’ve got to get back to the FPD, the
sun will be up any moment,” Micah said. I glanced at him,
forgetting that he was in the room; he’d been so quiet. Maybe he
was freaked out about seeing the dead come back to life.

“We?” Fiona asked. Her eyes looked
like they were tired and her body seemed to struggle to hold up her
weight. I laced my arm around her waist and helped steady
her.

“Ian is still in custody of the FPD
until he tells us who is behind your death and the other witch
killings.” Ian mumbled something angry but it wasn’t clear enough
to make out. He held out his arms, with his wrists together, so
that Micah could put on his silver bracelets again.

“That’s crazy, Micah, Ian didn’t do
anything wrong,” Fiona said lazily, like it was a huge effort for
her to speak.

“We’ll figure that out later, we
should get home so you can rest,” I told her. Luckily Fiona’s inner
diva wasn’t up to fighting at the moment. She let me escort her out
of the room and outside. We had driven there with Micah, so I had
no clue how we were getting home. Nor had I any clue as to where
the hell Aiden went. He had been pretty pissed, so he’d probably
went home or to get dinner. Micah led Ian outside and noticed that
we didn’t have a car so he ushered us into the SUV.

“I’ll drop Ian off and then take you
guys home, is that alright?” I nodded my head and settled Fiona
into the front seat so that she wouldn’t be anywhere near Ian and
then climbed in the back.

After driving for five minutes, Fiona
was sound asleep. I imagined it took a lot out of a person being
brought back from the dead. Ian leaned over so that his lips were
close to my ear and I tried not to think of how his bite had felt.
I was putting that experience in the denial department, it never
happened.

“You can start paying me back tomorrow
night,” he whispered. Micah glared at us through the rearview
mirror but I ignored him.

“You’re not feeding off me again,” I
said with authority.

Ian smiled. “As much as I’d love to,
you are delicious and powerful, but I have other ideas in mind.”
His blue eyes watched me with interest but I quickly looked away,
not interested.

“We’re not having sex either.” Ian
laughed and Fiona stirred in the front seat. I glanced up at her
but she had already gone back to sleep. I crossed my arms across my
chest and looked out the window.

“You said you’d do anything if I
brought your friend back, remember?” I looked over at Ian with
disgust. He was right, I had said I’d do anything for Fiona to be
brought back but that didn’t mean I’d give up my life to act as a
blood whore to Ian Despereaux. I’d kill him before that
happened.

Ian must have noticed my unease
because he said, “Don’t worry, little witch I prefer my woman to be
willing. You will meet me tomorrow night to put an end to the big
man in charge.” My eyes shot wide and my mouth hung open in
surprise.

Ian wanted me to help him take down the man
behind the brew distribution? He didn’t need to ask me twice, I
nodded my head. “Alright.”

I felt like my life revolved around
vampires. I had stayed up all night with them which left me to
sleep it off the next day. I called Penny to see if she would open
the store for me. I’d have to give that girl a raise for all the
help she gave me.

It was just after the sun had set. I
sat at our kitchen table, eating a bowl of vegetable soup. I
couldn’t even remember the last time I’d eaten, which tended to
happen whenever I was around creatures that don’t eat regular food.
I dipped a cracker into my soup and scooped up vegetables onto it,
then placed the whole thing in my mouth. I was either starving or
the soup was the best vegetable soup in the world, probably the
latter.

Fiona trudged into the kitchen and sat
across from me, leaning her head on her propped up arm. She looked
like she hadn’t slept at all, dark circles shadowed her eyes and
her skin was pale. My worry overtook my appetite and I pushed the
bowl of soup away from me.