Life's Blood (The Cordelia Chronicles) (12 page)

I pressed my forehead into his shoulder to hide the tears that had started to flow from my eyes. I sobbed silently while Chaseyn rubbed his hands up and down the length of my back in a soothing gesture. I’d done a lot of crying lately, and I feared the tears would continue to come until we found a way to make Chaseyn well again.

“Hold me,” he whispered. He sounded so helpless, so lost, and I knew for the first time he too had realized the magnitude of the situation. I pulled my shirt over my head, and then did the same to him, pulling his down over my exposed chest. Then I slipped out of my pants and made my way to the bed, while Chaseyn tossed a log in the hearth and ignited a flame. I watched his muscles flex with every movement and enjoy how the fire’s glow accentuated the smooth planes of his sculpted chest. He was truly the most beautiful person I had ever laid eyes upon. Even Michelangelo’s David paled in comparison.

***

When I woke in the morning, Chaseyn was coiled around me, and to my surprise he was asleep. Fast asleep. He always woke before me, so I cherished this rare moment. He looked so young, peaceful, beautiful. I gently brushed my fingers through his soft, thick waves and caressed his forehead, the side of his face, and along his arm. He didn’t so much as stir.

I wriggled my way out from his embrace and made my way downstairs. For once, I would make him breakfast in bed. I went to work at creating a feast of his favorite dishes, starting with a bowl of Lucky Charms. A cinnamon bun topped with a massive dollop of cream cheese on top and a heaping helping of buttermilk pancakes drizzled with warm maple syrup rounded out the meal.

I arranged the spread on a tray and carefully climbed the stairs to our bedroom. Chaseyn’s eyes opened just as I reached the top step. He squinted hard against the sunlight shining bright through the slats in the blinds as I crawled into bed beside him.

“What’s all this?” he yawned and propped his pillows against the back of his headboard so he could sit up straighter.

“I thought I’d surprise you,” I said, swiping the tip of my finger through the cream cheese topping and popping it in my mouth. I repeated the gesture, only this time I let Chaseyn lick the frosting from my finger.

“This is my favorite kind of surprise,” he said, using his hand to shield his eyes from the light. “Does it seem extra bright in here this morning?”

“No more than usual,” I replied hopping off the bed and walking to the window, where I pulled the blinds tighter. “Is everything okay?”

“I think so,” he said, taking a bite of one of the pancakes.

“But you’re not sure?”

“I’ve never really felt anything other than fully refreshed in the morning, but today, I feel…”

“Like you could close your eyes and go right back to sleep?”

“Yeah. How did you know?”

Chaseyn never slept all night. In fact, some nights he didn’t sleep at all. And, now he seemed to be experiencing some sort of light sensitivity. It would seem his health was starting to decline, and at a fairly rapid rate. I paced the room a few times before I spoke again.

“Is there anything else I should know?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” Chaseyn replied, and he seemed genuinely confused. “What does achy feel like?”

And then, he sneezed. Chaseyn had never been ill a day in his life, and he was immune to allergies. Panic coursed through my veins. I glanced at the clock--half past ten. There might still be time to catch Mina before she got on the plane.

I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and dialed her number. Voicemail.

“Cordelia, I’m full. Do you want any?”

Chaseyn had barely touched his food. Normally, his appetite was insatiable, especially when breakfast foods were involved. Out of desperation, I searched through my contacts for Balthazar’s number. Luckily, he answered on the second ring.

“Is everything alright, Lia?” he asked in lieu of a greeting. “I know you wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t important, but if the flight attendant catches me on this thing I’m afraid she’ll toss us off the plane.”

“It’s Chaseyn,” I blurted. “I think he has a cold.”

I heard shuffling and murmuring on the other end of the line. The next voice I heard was much higher pitched.

“Lia, honey, everything will be fine,” Mina soothed. “You just need to help him through this. It’s his first time, so he might be scared, but you need to be strong. Can you do that? For him?”

I nodded even though I knew she couldn’t see my silent reply.

“One more thing--I know this will be hard for you, but you need to have Chaseyn drink a glass of blood with every meal,” she added before the phone went dead.

***

“Eli, you have to do me a favor,” I said the minute he answered the phone. “You have to go to Mina’s and get something for me.”

“Sure, Lia. You know I’d do anything for you,” he replied. “What is it?”

“A pint of blood…or more if you can manage.”

As I’d expected, Eli adamantly protested my request. But once I explained the situation, I knew he would never turn me down. By this time, Chaseyn had fallen back asleep, and I had moved to the living room so as not to disturb his slumber. I spoke quietly as I filled Eli in on our plans to leave for Romania as soon as we were able to make appropriate travel arrangements. I told him how scared I was and how I wished he and Addie were here with me.

“Give me an hour, and I’ll have what you need,” Eli said. “Where will I find it?”

“If there is any--please let there be some--it will be in the freezer in the basement,” I told him.

Mina had told me once where she kept her stash just in case we’d ever encountered an emergency. At the time, I couldn’t fathom what sort of emergency would require me to know where she kept bags of blood, but now I was thankful I hadn’t questioned her motive.

“Tell Addie the truth…well, part of it anyway,” I said. “Where is she now?”

“In the bath. She has been for an hour, so I don’t have much more time,” he replied.

“Okay. Tell her Chaseyn and I want you to spend the night with us,” I ordered. “Then, tell her you need to swing by Mina’s to pick something up for Chaseyn, but make sure she waits in the car--say something chivalrous, like you don‘t want her to have to go out into the cold for no reason. She‘ll eat that up. Grab a duffle bag from Chaseyn’s closet, and fill it with as much blood as you can get your hands on. Then, pile some of his art supplies on top. That way, if Addie opens the bag, that’s all she’ll see.”

“And I can tell her that’s why I needed to stop by his house,” Eli said.

“That’s right,” I replied.

Once we’d agreed on the plan, I told him where to find the spare key Mina hid in the yard, and we said our goodbyes. I was thankful my two best friends would be by my side in just a few hours. In the meantime, I started Googling the hotels Mina had recommended in Romania. I needed to start booking rooms as fast as my fingers could surf the net.

Six hours after I’d hung up the phone with Eli, he and Addie arrived on our doorstep. Under normal circumstances, I would have felt badly for making them drive all this way just to do me a favor, but I had more important things on my mind. Chaseyn had napped most of the afternoon, and he‘d only dragged himself out of bed moments before the doorbell rang.

“If this is what it’s like to have the common cold, I can’t imagine how it must feel to have the flu,” he coughed as he came down the stairs.

He was still wearing his pajama pants, and though he’d pulled a worn Oxford sweatshirt--leftover from one of his earlier degrees--over his t-shirt, he was battling the chills. He swiped at his raw, red nose with a crumpled tissue and sniffed loudly.

“Let me make you some chicken soup and hot cocoa,” I said, wrapping a throw blanket around his shoulders. There was a fire burning in the hearth, and Chaseyn raised his hands to its warmth.

“That sounds nice,” he said, before folding himself into a ball on the couch. He seemed so miserable that I wished I could have the cold for him.

“I’ll take care of you,” I promised. “Just relax.”

Chaseyn cupped his hands over his ears when the doorbell chimed. I ran across the room to greet our guests before they had a chance to ring the bell again--Addie wasn’t known for her patience. I got there just in time, and Addie practically pounced into my arms.

“This was the best idea…ever,” she shouted as she bounced past me into the house. “We’re totally going to stay up all night talking and watching movies. I brought a bunch of our favorites.”

“That’s great, Addie,” I said sincerely. It would be nice to take my mind off of reality for a night. But first, I would have to fill her in on the fact that Chaseyn and I would be leaving for Romania in just a few days. I wanted to hear her suggestions for breaking the news to my mom.

While she and I were gabbing in the kitchen, Eli was in the living room chatting in hushed tones with Chaseyn. I wasn’t sure what they were doing, but I guessed it had something to do with the fact that I hadn’t told Chaseyn yet about the blood. Eli was trying to get Chaseyn to take a travel mug he held extended in his hand. Chaseyn was pushing the mug away and shaking his head adamantly. I excused myself from the kitchen for a moment to secretly assist Eli.

“I know you don’t want to, but you’ve got to drink it,” I whispered encouragingly in Chaseyn’s ear. “Mina told me it would make you feel better.”

“Come on, man. I drove all this way to get it to you,” Eli added.

“Mina said it would help?” Chaseyn asked, his eyes wide with hope.

I simply nodded and smiled. That was all it took, and I knew it was true what they say about a man--no matter his age--always wanting his mom to help him when he was sick. I didn’t care, so long as he did whatever he needed to do to get better. He lifted the mug to his lips and took a small sip.

“More,” I urged, and he gulped down some more. “You should start to feel better soon.”

It was hard to digest the thought that a bag of blood held the same healing powers as a pouch of NeoCitran, but judging by how quickly the color was returning to Chaseyn’s cheeks, it seemed hard to deny. In fact, his eyes seemed a bit brighter too. Despite the fact that he was becoming more in touch with his mortal side--illness and aging--it seemed he was also starting to identify with his vampire side and the need for the nutrients provided by drinking blood. 

“What’s up?” Addie asked as she crossed the short distance from the stove where she had been watching the water for the cocoa boil.

“We were just talking about Romania,” I replied quickly.

“That’s where Mina is, right?” she asked, genuinely curious. “She was telling us some pretty great things about it at Christmas dinner.”

“Well, then you shouldn’t be surprised to hear that Chaseyn and I plan to visit her there,” I said.

“Really? When--spring break?”

“We were thinking more like next week,” I said.

“Next week--that’s so soon. What about school?” Addie asked.

I spent the next fifteen minutes calming Addie. She was nothing if not melodramatic, and I blamed myself for not finding a more subtle way to break the news. I did, however, have the good foresight to come up with a viable reason for our quick departure.

“I know it sounds crazy, but we don’t have much of a choice,” I said.

“What’s there that’s so important?” Addie asked suspiciously. “Aside from spending some time with Mina and her super-hot boyfriend.”

“You know Chaseyn is sick, right?” I asked.

“Of course, he’s been coughing nonstop since we got here,” Addie nodded.

“Well, he’s really sick, Addie, and the only chance he has at getting better is a transfusion from a relative with a matching blood type,” I explained. I couldn’t stand to tell her any more lies, so I kept as close to the truth as I possibly could.

“Mina’s trying to track down a match, but she isn’t having a lot of luck,” Chaseyn added.

“She believes there might also be a homeopathic remedy for his disease somewhere in Romania, and she’s asked us to help her find it. You know there’s no way I’m going to stand by and do nothing. If there is a way to make Chaseyn better, I have to help,” I said. That wasn’t too much of a lie, I reasoned.

Addie seemed to buy my excuse, and in actuality, it wasn’t far from the truth. I nearly choked up, but I managed to keep it together while I explained how I had spent the day booking hotels. I made it sound like we were taking some time to tour the country before joining Mina in her quest. But the plan was to research some of the places that exhibited the richest vampire history in search of the missing pieces to our puzzle.

“Do you think there are more openings at those inns?” Addie asked excitedly.

“I know the country is still developing, but I’m sure the hotels have more than one room,” I laughed, perplexed by her question. “They looked like pretty nice places.”

“That’s great news,” Addie said. “It means we won’t have to stay in any more of those nasty hostels you made us stay in the last time we were in Europe.’

“We?” Eli and I asked in unison.