Scent of a Vampire (29 page)

"Oh my God Roberto, I'm so sorry, I let him, no I wanted him to pleasure me, I needed it so bad." I cried. Roberto sighed, "I am not going to tell you I like this. The thought of you and Alexander being intimate, even in your imagination makes me angry. But, I don't know enough about your abilities to make judgments. And I am secure with the knowledge that you love me."

Roberto grabbed my shoulders a little roughly, "But you will promise me you will never make a connection with him again unless I am with you."

Scent of a Vampire – Jude Stephens

Page 148 of 172

"Of course. It frightened me. I didn't like the feeling of not having control over myself." I promised. Roberto kissed my forehead, "Good, now did you get anything from the connection with Alexander?'

"No, not really, just well you know," I said embarrassed.

"You will have to make the connection again. I will be right beside you this time." Roberto said rather gruffly. I couldn't blame him. I still couldn't believe what I had done. I was no better than a tart, flitting from one man to another. When we found Alex we would have to find a way to break this bond. I nodded at Roberto and laid myself back down on the bed.

"Do you have to lie down to do this?" Roberto asked through gritted teeth.

"Um, yeah I think so. I need to relax. I will be careful though." I promised him.

I cleared my mind and pictured Alex. I forced my mind to picture a time when we were not sexually excited. I thought back to when he found me in the bathroom crying and carried me back to bed. How he wrapped my in his strong arms and stroked my back until he fell asleep. I turned my face up towards his. I lightly stroked his jaw. I sighed, remembering how content I had been in his arms. All of a sudden I felt like something was tugging on me. It wasn't only a mental tug but a physical one as well. I felt myself come out of dream like sense and saw Roberto frowning at me.

"We need to go, south. I'm not sure how far yet but we need to head south." I turned with urgency and headed for the door.

Roberto grabbed my arm and stopped me, "Piccolina, are you all right?"

I smiled at him, "Yeah I'm okay. Actually I feel great. We found a way to Alex."

He looked hard into my eyes, "But you were crying when you were laying there."

I hadn't realized I had been crying, "Hmmm, I don't know why I was crying." I lied to Roberto.

Some things were personal. I didn't think it was necessary to tell him about something as simple as Alex comforting me in a time of distress.

Roberto looked as if he would continue with his questioning but instead shrugged and followed me out the door. Juan and Cristoforo were leaning against the side of the building but came to attention when we exited. Mark was, as usual, hanging back by the car. Without even looking at either of them I said, "You both can get the smirks off of your faces. I'm sure you heard everything and you know I'm sure we can find Alex." I didn't wait for Roberto to open the car door but opened it myself and hopped in. I saw Roberto say a few words to Juan and Cristoforo before getting in the car. Before he could say anything I said, "I know that was rude, but I'm getting really tired of apologizing for things that are beyond my control. I didn't ask for any of this you know. Not you. Not Alex and certainly not for my parents being murdered or for my damn Sensay abilities. I am dealing the best I can."

Scent of a Vampire – Jude Stephens

Page 149 of 172

Roberto didn't look at me and started the car. "It was a little rude. You have to understand we are also dealing the best way we can. We have never had a Sensay in our midst and it takes some getting used to."

"Getting used to?" I asked in what I was sure was a highpitched voice. Roberto sighed, "I didn't mean it like that. But try and imagine someone going into a hotel room to do some investigation and a few minutes later we hear her cry out in orgasmic relief. I mean who does something like that? It's natural they would find it amusing." I said nothing. I was really angry. I could feel the orange glow of it inside my belly. How dare they judge me?

Especially Roberto. He knew how I was struggling with my emotions and my abilities. Amusing!!

They find me amusing. Would they find it amusing when they found my foot up their ass I thought? The picture in my mind of myself doing just that made me want to giggle.

Roberto pulled the car out of the parking lot and headed for the interstate.

Roberto finally turned to me, "I'm sorry piccolina. I know this is not your fault. I apologize if that's what I inferred. I really just wanted to point out that it is difficult for all of us." When I still didn't say anything he continued, "It's about three am right now. We can only go about another two hours safely, before we will need to find a place where we can sleep for the day. There is a safe house about an hour south of here in Delaware. I think it's best if we stay there and get a fresh start tomorrow night. We don't know how far we will need to travel yet."

"Not that far." I replied.

"How do you know that?"

"I feel like Alex is with me now. And the feeling grew stronger when we headed south. He's not far. I'm not sure how I know I just do. It's like instinct. I'm going to be quiet now and concentrate on Alex. I think he somehow knows I'm coming. I don't want to break our connection." With that I turned slightly to face the passenger window. I really didn't feel like talking to Roberto. All of a sudden I wished I was by myself. I let my mind picture Alex. Now that we were moving closer to him I could feel he was in pain. They were taking his blood.

Slowly so they wouldn't kill him. They were cutting him open in different areas so they could watch and study his healing abilities.

The pain was beyond imaginable. I felt it, as if the cold steel knife was slicing into my abdomen.

Oh my God, it hurt so much. I felt Alex pushing me back but it was too late, I was going to die.

That was the last thought I had before blackness overtook me.

I came to with the sound of shouting in my ear. It sounded as if someone had a mega horn up
Scent of a Vampire – Jude Stephens

Page 150 of 172

against my ear.

"Oww, stop yelling at me." I said

"Grazie Dio, she's coming to." I heard Roberto say.

"Thank goodness I knew CPR. You owe me big time chica." Juan smiled into my face.

Juan gave me CPR? Ewww, what the hell happened?

"Cara, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so. What happened?"

"I don't know. We were driving and all of a sudden you grabbed your stomach and doubled over. Then you blacked out. Did you have a pain? Should I take you to the hospital?

We are pulled over on the side of the road."

"No, no hospital. I'll be fine." I croaked out. I didn't want to tell Roberto what happened in front of Juan and Cristoforo. I was learning the less someone knew the better off I would be.

Roberto must have guessed at my hesitation because he said, "Let's just get her to the safe house where she can rest. Juan, thanks for your help. I don't want to think what would have happened if you hadn't been here."

"Yes, thank you Juan. I am in your debt." I added.

"Well, chica, in that case maybe a kiss wouldn't be out of the question."

"JUAN!" Roberto shouted.

I smiled, "No it's not out of the question." I leaned up and kissed his cheek.

He smiled and walked back to the car. During all of this Cristoforo said nothing. He was probably disappointed I hadn't died.

Roberto returned to the driver's seat and when we were safely on our way again he said, "Okay, tell me what happened."

I explained to him about Alex being slowly drained. I told him about the pain and the knife and how it felt like I was being sliced open.

"Fuck!" Roberto said loudly. "This is not good. I've never heard of such a strong connection after a blood exchange. It must be because of your Sensay abilities. God how I wish Alexander hadn't taken your blood!"

Scent of a Vampire – Jude Stephens

Page 151 of 172

"I'm sorry, we had no choice. I couldn't let him die. Surely you understand that Roberto."

"I know piccolina, I don't like it. I don't want to see you tied to Alexander this way. I hope there is a way to break the bond."

I let myself relax against the seat. I felt exhausted. Roberto noticed and pulled me over to lean against him. I let myself relax and was drifting off to sleep when I felt myself being lifted in a pair of strong arms. I struggled to lift my head off of Roberto's chest but he said, "No, relax cara, we're at the safe house. I'm going to put you to bed. You will be safe here. Mark will watch over you while we sleep."

"When will Mark sleep?" I asked concerned for the quiet man.

Roberto shook his head at me, "Don't worry piccolina, Mark will get some rest."

"Okay," I murmured and once again fell back to sleep. I woke up at three o'clock. I hadn't slept so much in a long time. I had no clue where we were. I rolled over and was relieved to see Roberto beside me. I laid there for a while thinking about our plan. I knew we were close to Alex. I could feel him. The plan was for me to remain outside with one of the guys while the rest of them went in to get Alex. The less I was involved, the better position I would be in if I was to try and infiltrate the Guardians in the future. At least that was Roberto's explanation. I really think he didn't think I was ready for a mission like this. He was probably right. I had only trained for one day for Gods sake. I kissed Roberto's cool cheek and got out of bed. I opened two doors before I located the bathroom. I found my backpack on the floor, so I was able to change into fresh clothes after my shower. I opened the door that led to the hallway and went looking for the kitchen, hoping there was some food in the house. I was starving. I followed the smell of coffee. I found the kitchen downstairs. It appeared from the look of things, we were in a nice little Cape Cod house. When I entered the kitchen, I found Mark sitting at the table with a cup of coffee.

"Good afternoon Mark." I said cheerily. Mark grunted. This was going to be a long afternoon.

"Can I call Janel?" I asked Mark.

"No calls." Was all he said.

"Did you eat?" I asked him.

"Yeah."

Okay then. I can see we were going to have quite the conversation. I made myself some scrambled eggs, but found my appetite had fled. The first thing I was going to do when things got more normal was find myself a Starbucks and order a grande vanilla latte. I roamed the house for a little while and then turned on the television and watched a movie that barely kept my interest. I was restless. The need to get to Alex was strong. As I sat there I kept picturing Alex in my mind. I was trying not to because Roberto asked me not to go there without him.

Scent of a Vampire – Jude Stephens

Page 152 of 172

The effort was giving me a headache and I lay down on the sofa. That is where Roberto found me a few hours later.

"Piccolina, we need to get going. We have already fed." I was a little groggy, "What? We're ready? Okay." Roberto looked concerned, "Are you all right Olivia? You look pale and Mark says you have been sleeping all day."

"I'm okay, just groggy. I guess all of the late nights have caught up with me. I'll be ready to go in five minutes." I could feel Roberto's concerned eyes on me while I climbed the stairs. I still felt tired. It was as if I had come down with the flu. I got ready as quickly as I could and met everyone downstairs.

"Do you want to eat something before we go?" Roberto asked.

"No, I'm not hungry." I replied. I just wanted to get on the road.

We left the house a few minutes later and continued south. We were getting closer to Alex and the closer we got, the weaker I felt. I knew something was wrong. I didn't want to tell Roberto. I was afraid he may not want to continue with the mission. We made small talk as we drove, which I was glad about because I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle much more. We were just outside of Baltimore when my head began to pound so badly that I was going to be sick.

"Pull over" I said to Roberto.

"What's wrong Olivia? Are you ill?"

"I'm going to be." I choked out. Roberto had barely pulled over to the shoulder of the road and I jumped out and vomited. I heard Juan and Cristoforo asking what was wrong and Roberto telling them I was sick. I was grateful they hung back and let me be ill in peace. When I could finally stand upright again, Roberto came around and handed me a bottle of water. Grateful, I took it and thanked him.

"Are you sure you're all right Olivia? You look awful."

"Gee, thanks..." I managed a small smile. "I'll be all right. Can you help me into the car?"

Roberto helped me back into the car and after saying a few words to the others; he got back in the car. Roberto stared hard at me. "We are not moving until you tell me what's going on Olivia."

I lifted my weak head to look at him. "It's Alex. Something's wrong. I think I'm feeling his weakness. We need to hurry."

"Merde! Tell me where to go! Olivia? Look at me!" he shouted when my head drooped.

"Keep south, I will tell you ... when..turn." I slumped back.

Scent of a Vampire – Jude Stephens

Page 153 of 172

Roberto peeled out onto the highway, with tires screeching. I tried to connect with Alex but it was like our connection was growing dimmer. It was like holding on to the back of a speeding boat and the tie line was growing longer and longer. Suddenly it felt like the boat turned.

"Turn here." I said to Roberto. He took a sharp right turn off the interstate. "Where to next?"

Roberto asked.

"Keep going straight if you can." Roberto was speeding down the road. I hoped we wouldn't get stopped by cops. That would surely mean the end of Alex and maybe the end of me. Still, if I had to do it again I knew I would give my blood to Alex. It had brought me nothing but grief and yet I could never let him die while I sat back and did nothing.