Younger, Bree - Burn [All American Vampires 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) (29 page)

Quinn touched his arm. “I had someone go and get the truck. It’s out front.” Ty nodded and rose with Libby in his arms to begin making his way outside so that he could take Libby home.

He looked down into her face. It was so hard to believe that he’d only known her such a short time. A week didn’t seem like nearly long enough to find the love of your life, but he had done just that. And now…

Her eyelash moved. Jerking to a stop, he looked again. Had he imagined it? Had his mind just shown him something because he wanted it so badly?

No. There it was again. “Quinn? Quinn, she’s moving. I think she’s still alive.”

Hawk walked up. “That’s impossible, Ty. She had no pulse. She wasn’t breathing. She’s dead.”

Ty stopped and turned around. He walked back inside and moved through the house until he found a sofa. Setting Libby down gently, he studied her face. Had he imagined it? No, there it was again. Just the slightest flutter of an eyelash.

“There, did you see it? He turned to look up at Quinn and Hawk who were hovering anxiously.

“Ty, don’t do this to yourself.” Quinn’s eyes met his, and he could easily read the sympathetic disbelief on his brother’s face.

“I swear, Quinn. I’m not hallucinating. She’s—”

At that moment, Libby’s body began jerking in hard wracking shudders.

“Oh, shit. She’s changing.”

“What the hell—”

Distantly, Ty was aware of Hawk’s observation, but all of his focus was on the body writhing and contorting in front of him.

“Hold her down, Ty. You have to keep her from hurting herself.” Quinn reached out to help hold her arms down as she went into an even stronger convulsive seizure.

Chapter Nineteen

Libby hurt. Everything had been black and empty, and then there was the pain. It had come from nowhere. Wrenching her body. Slamming through her like a knife. And it was everywhere—head, gut, legs, arms. It was as though she were being slammed against a rock over and over again. No relief. No pauses. Just constant, piercing pain. Her body arched against the hurt, trying to escape if only for one moment.

For a while, all she knew was the pain. She could hear a distant sound of screaming and vaguely realized it was her own voice. Then came the cramping, low in her stomach, that had her rolled into a tight ball of misery. Nausea as she’d never known made her heave and expel whatever food she’d had in her belly. She was so miserable she just wanted it to end. If she was dying, then why didn’t she just go on and die?

Gradually she became aware of hands holding her down while her body contorted. She could hear someone speaking soothingly in her ear as she was turned over so the vomit would not choke her. Then a cool rag was wiped across her face before the whole thing would start over again.

Voices she couldn’t recognize spoke in concerned whispers. She thought she heard someone say, “Doc,” but she wasn’t sure if it was real or if she’d only imagined it. Was she in a hospital?

She didn’t know how long the agony lasted. It seemed an eternity before the cramps and seizures slowed bit by bit to a trembling exhaustion. She thought she recognized Ty’s voice as he said her name over and over. She tried to answer him. Wanted to let him know she was all right. She could hear the pain in his voice, but her teeth were chattering together so hard she couldn’t get a word out.

Someone wrapped her in a blanket. The wool was rough against her skin, but warm, and the shivers also began to fade away. At last she had enough control to separate the voices that she heard into something recognizable.

“But she had only four bites, Doc. Surely that wasn’t enough to turn her.” That was Ty.

“You’re forgetting something. You bit her yourself. There was still some venom in her system from that earlier bite. Combined with the additional bites tonight, obviously it was enough. She’s definitely turning.” She recognized that voice as the doctor who had tended her at the casino.

“Damn it. I never meant for this to happen. God, it’s all my fault.” She heard the guilt in Ty’s voice and wanted to reassure him, but she was just too weak.

“Ty, don’t do this to yourself.” Quinn’s voice of reason interrupted Ty’s self-condemning rant. “If you hadn’t bitten her earlier, she would have died tonight. Would you have preferred that?”

“God, no, of course not.”

“Then quit acting like an idiot. It’s done. She’s alive. Be grateful for that.”

“She’s alive, but she’s a vampire. How is she going to feel when she finds that out? She’ll hate me.”

A vampire? She was a vampire? Then she remembered the vampiress with the French accent ordering the other vampires to bite her and kill her with their venom. They must have turned her instead.

“She won’t hate you.”

“Why not? I love her, but look what I allowed to happen to her. I promised her I’d keep her safe, and instead I allowed her to be kidnapped and turned by those—”

She couldn’t stand it. Couldn’t bear the anguish in Ty’s voice. Exerting great effort, she forced her eyes open. With a trembling hand she reached over to touch Ty’s fingers where they lay on her stomach. Immediately his gaze shot to hers. “Libby? God, Libby, you scared me.”

“You love me?” The words were whisper-soft, but she knew he heard them because of the look on his face as he bent to her.

“So much, Lib. So damn much it scares me. If you had died…”

“Good. Love you too.” She managed to get the words out.

She saw him close his eyes and then his lips touched hers in a delicately sweet kiss that, though void of passion, still managed to convey to her just how much she meant to him. She let her eyes drift closed again.

Fading in and out of consciousness, she was dimly aware that Ty lifted her up and carried out into the cool night air, which helped to revive her a bit, but she still felt incredibly weak.

The whole ride back to the casino, Ty held her snuggled close against him, not saying anything, just occasionally brushing a soft kiss against her head and moving his hands over her as if to reassure himself that she was really alive. When they finally stopped, he scooped her up again, ignoring everyone and everything else, and carried her back up to the penthouse apartment. He didn’t stop until he’d laid her down on his bed. He efficiently stripped her and himself, and then she felt him follow her down and pull her back against him, enveloping her in a soothing warm embrace.

“I don’t really feel much like a vampire,” she said to him after they’d been lying there a while.

She felt his jerk of surprise. “You know—”

Nodding her head, she snuggled closer against him. “I heard you and Quinn and Doc talking about it.”

“How…how do you feel about it?”

She rolled over so that she was facing him. “Surprisingly okay.” Her hand came up to smooth his hair back from his face, and he caught it in his own, holding it against his cheek.

“I love you.”

She smiled. “I love you, too.”

“It’s my fault—”

She shook her head, pulling her hand from under his to place a finger over his lips, stopping him from saying another word. “Don’t. It’s not your fault that some crazy vampires tried to kill me. You saved me. I don’t want to hear another word about you blaming yourself for this. If you do, I’ll be really pissed. A really pissed-off vampiress. I don’t think you’re going to want to go there, do you?”

He chuckled and then kissed her fingers as they rested on his lips. “No. I guess I don’t.”

“So when am I going to get really strong and fast? Because right now I just feel awful.”

“When you take your first drink, your vampire powers begin to kick in.”

“My first drink of—” She swallowed. How had she forgotten about the—

“Blood? Yeah.”

“It takes a while for your body to adjust to the change, but a few hours after the conversion, you’ll start craving blood.”

She nodded, draping her arm around his neck. “You’ll have to help me with all the…rules and stuff.”

“It will be my pleasure, sweetheart.” He pulled her so that her head lay against his chest. “But right now, I want you to close your eyes. It’s almost dawn. Can you feel it? And when you wake up, well—you’ll see.”

She closed her eyes. It surprised her how calm she was about the whole vampire thing, but for some reason it didn’t bother her as much as it probably should. She felt amazingly accepting of her new circumstances. With that as her last thought, she fell asleep.

* * * *

Ty woke first. Easing himself from the bed, he stood staring down at Libby, who was still soundly asleep. He wondered what her reaction was going to be when she awoke. She’d been calm last night, but he knew that the newly turned frequently experienced an initial euphoric serenity before the turning was complete.

Stifling a regretful sigh, he went to take a quick shower before dressing casually in jeans and a T-shirt. Then he went to find Quinn so that he could take care of some necessary tasks before Libby awoke.

When he got back to the bedroom several minutes later, Libby was no longer in the bed. After a quick glance around the room, he headed toward the bathroom. Libby was there. She was standing in front of the vanity. Her face was pale. When her eyes met his in the mirror, he could see a look of panic there.

“Libby, are you okay?”

He could see her throat move as she swallowed. “I—I have f—fangs.” Ty caught a glimpse of the long canines as she spoke. Her hand drifted down to cover her stomach. “And I—I’m very—hungry.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and he reached out to pull her back against him, his eyes meeting hers in the mirror.

“It’s okay, baby. I promise, it will all be okay.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think I can do this, Ty. I really don’t think I can do it.”

“You can, Libby. You’re one tough customer. You can handle this. It’ll just take some time. Some adjustment. But I will help you. And Quinn. And everyone here. I swear to you that you will not have to deal with anything alone. I love you.”

She let out a little cry and turned to press her face into his chest, her arms going around to clasp his waist tightly. “Oh, Ty. I love you, too, but I’m so scared. My body doesn’t feel like mine any more. I could hear you coming from all the way down the hall. And I think I broke the door handle on the medicine cabinet when I was going to open it.”

He shot a glance toward the cabinet, and sure enough, the handle hung crookedly. “It will take a little time to adjust, babe. Luckily we all know what you’re going through. We’ve all had to deal with the same things ourselves, so you’re not going to shock or surprise us.”

“What about my friends? My family? My job?”

He leaned back and put a hand beneath her chin, tilting her head up so that her gaze met his. “I’m not going to lie to you and say that there aren’t going to be some difficult adjustments, baby. What I’m telling you is that you’re a strong and determined woman, and together we can get through this. I swear to you.”

Lips trembling, she managed a smile and he could see the edge of her fangs. He knew she was hungry. Luckily he had planned for that.

“Who are the people in the hallway?”

Her hearing was definitely working just fine. “Come with me. I’ll introduce you.”

After leading her back into the bedroom, he opened the door and ushered in the man and woman who’d been waiting outside in the hall. “Libby, this is Gerard and Maggie. They’re employees of the casino, and they’re also blood donors.”

Her eyes widened, and she met his gaze before turning back to the couple. “Donors?”

“Hi, Libby. Yes. We help to supply the blood needed by Quinn and Ty as well as their friends and employees.” Gerard smiled at her.

“I don’t understand.” Her confused eyes met Ty’s.

“There are several men and women—humans—who help supply us with blood, Libby. In return they are generously compensated for their time and support. These donors are loyal employees and are aware of the fact that we are vampires. Some of them are the sons and grandsons of other donors. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement that we have with them.”

She licked her lips, and he could tell from the way her eyes focused on the pulse beating in Gerard’s neck that her need to feed was becoming stronger.

“And why are they here?” she asked, but he knew from the expression on her face that she was already aware of the answer to that question.

He took her hand in his. “You need blood, sweetheart.”

“Can’t I just drink from a bottle like I’ve seen you do?”

He turned her to face him. “Not this time. At first, you’ll need to drink straight from the source. You need the nutrients. Plus, I need to help you learn to feed, baby. To teach you how. Gerard and Maggie are both quite willing. They’ve helped several new turns learn to feed properly. Okay?”

It took a minute or two but finally he saw a hint of that pure determination he knew she possessed in spades. “Okay. Let’s do it then. Teach me.”

Gerard stepped forward first.

“Okay. There are several good places to feed. The neck, of course. Also the wrist and the bend in the arm. That’s where most people give blood from. Okay?”