chapter 6
Tess inhaled a deep breath and squeezed her eyes tighter as she felt, yes, felt, the evil presence enter the room. What she felt from this thing (Hansen, she had to remind herself) was more frightening than anything that she’d ever felt in her entire life. A loud growl erupted from the front of the room.
“State your duties, Hansen,” Colton shouted.
She heard nothing but more growls and snarling.
“Duties, state your duties,” Colton shouted again. Tess chanced a peek and saw a black-eyed, snarling Hansen, with claws for hands, hesitate in the center of the room. Hansen took one look at Tess and started to move his foot forward.
“Take another step closer and you will be relieved of your duties, permanently!”
Hansen again hesitated. His head tilted to the side, as if what Colton was saying was leaking into the part of his brain that was still Hansen. He took a deep breath, clenched his hands/claws and shook his head. Nothing changed. Another deep breath and a stronger shake of the head and Tess watched as his claws morphed back into hands. Hansen crouched down to the floor and grabbed both sides of his head. His head shook back and forth as he started to mumble, “Can’t stop, can’t stop, have to stop, can’t stop.” He got louder and louder until he finally jumped back up and shouted, “I. Can’t. Stop!” Then he started moving towards Colton and Tess again.
“State. Your. Damn. Duties, Now!” Colton growled.
Hansen stopped and jerked into attention. He appeared to force his words out of his mouth as he said, “To serve and protect Master Colton Renner at all costs,” he said in a rush of air through clenched teeth.
“And why do you do this?” Colton said.
“Because he keeps me from killing, from being a monster,” Hansen said. He blinked his eyes a few times. On the third blink, they changed back to his normal eyes. He scanned Colton’s naked body one time, “You’re injured sir, very badly. We need to get you home.”
“I know. I need to feed, Hansen. Did you leave anyone alive in this house?”
“I don’t know, sir. I’ll have to check,” he said as his eyes swept towards the door. When they came back and settled on Colton, he spotted Tess hiding behind him, “What the hell is she doing here?” he growled.
Tess watched every muscle in Colton’s back tense, but outwardly he remained totally calm, “Hansen, you will not harm her. She was a victim in this just as much as I was.”
“You must be delirious or brain-washed, Sir. We both saw what she did, I watched the playback from our security footage. She used you, lured you in. And I don’t see her beaten to a bloody pulp like you are, Sir.”
“She was hit with a magic spell that was cast by her sister. She didn’t know what she was doing, Hansen. It wasn’t her fault.”
“That’s my point, Sir. She didn’t know what she was doing so nothing that happened between the two of you was real. None of the feelings were real,” Hansen said.
“The feelings that developed between the two of us were, Hansen. The love that I feel for her and that she feels for me is very real. You have to trust me on this.”
“Apologies, Sir, but I don’t think you’re thinking clearly. None of us are. You’re starving and injured, so I know you’re not thinking right. She may have convinced you that she loves you, and of course she would – why wouldn’t she? She’s trying to protect herself from me so she came to you with some lame story about how she was put under a spell but that she really does love you. But she hasn’t convinced me. And my job is to protect you. So I say she goes.”
“She came to me days ago, Hansen, not just now. She came to me and fed me – risking her own life to do so. I almost killed her then and I’m dangerously close to killing her right now, yet she stayed then and she’s here now not to save her ass but to save mine – because she loves me. So I need you to swear to me that you will not harm her. Swear to it right now or I won’t let you help me.”
Hansen clenched his jaw and his hands squeezed tight, but he mumbled, “Fine, Sir. I swear I won’t hurt her. I won’t trust her, but I won’t hurt her either.”
“Good. Now will you please go check to see if anyone is still alive for me to feed on, and please bring both of us some clothes?”
Hansen’s eyes traveled up and down Colton’s naked body, almost as if he was noticing for the first time that he was naked. “Really, Sir? Was now really the best time to have sex?”
“We weren’t having sex, Hansen, not that it’s any of your business. They were trying to get me to kill her and they knew that throwing her in here naked with me would make it that much harder to resist her. It’s killing me right now with her so close to me. It hurts. I need you to get her away from me. And I need to feed, now,” Colton said. The desperation was clear in his pain-filled voice. The knee on the one leg that Colt could stand on started to give out. Tess tried to hold him up, but with her arms squeezed around his broken ribs, she knew she was hurting him. Hansen jumped forward and put Colton’s arm around his shoulder. “You can step out now, Miss. I’ve got him.”
Embarrassed by her nudity, Tess hesitated.
“No time for modesty now, Miss. I will do my best not to look. But please move quickly. He’s dying and I’ve got to work fast to save him.”
Tess bolted to the far side of the room, “What can I do to help?” she said.
“Take me through the house. I need you to confirm identities of the dead. We need to make sure no one is missing who might come after us later,” Hansen said as he helped Colton to the floor, sitting with his back against the wall, “You’ll be okay here for a moment, Sir?”
Colton nodded his head then closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall.
Hansen did his best to avert his eyes downward as he turned towards Tess. He politely walked out of the door first so that she would be behind him which would allow her some dignity until they could find her some clothes. “My room is at the end of the hall on the left,” she said.
“Then that’s our first stop,” Hansen mumbled.
Hansen stopped in front of her door, pushed it open, did a quick sweep of the room to confirm that it was empty then ushered her inside – all while keeping his back to her. “Thank you, Hansen,” she whispered as she walked inside. She quickly pulled on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt then slid some flip flops onto her feet. “Where to now?” she said as she faced him in the door way.
“We check the rest of the house, starting with the body in the room across the hall from yours. But I should probably warn you – people who have been killed by what I do, by having their life ripped out of them, well, they don’t look like regular dead bodies.”
“Wh, what do you mean they don’t look like normal dead bodies?”
“What I do to them is a horrible, violent assault to their core – and it shows on their faces afterwards. There’s really no way for me to describe it so that you can prepare yourself for it. Just know that you are about to see probably the worst thing you’ve ever seen or ever will see.”
Tess stared at Hansen for a moment before she said, “They haunt you, don’t they? Their faces, you see them in your dreams.”
“Every single one of them,” he said as he slowly pushed open the door.
Tess hesitated as she stepped inside. She could see the body of a man on the floor but his back was towards her. Hansen walked over and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. Tess tried to brace herself for what she was about to see, but when Hansen rolled him onto his back and his head flopped to the side until his face was looking at Tess, well nothing she could have done could have prepared her for the horror facing her. Tess tried to tear her eyes away from the complete agony that was staring at her – mouth frozen in a scream, cheeks sunken in, eyes turned completely black – but she was transfixed, frozen, unable to move anything but her lips – which began softly at first and then louder, “no, no, no, NO, NO, NO, NO!” Just as she was finally able to squeeze her eyes shut and take a deep breath to let out the scream that was demanding to come out, Hansen leapt to her side and clamped his hand over her mouth. “You can’t scream. Master Colton will think something is wrong with you and he will try to get up. He needs to stay where he is. I know it’s horrible and I know you need to scream, but you just can’t.”
A few sobs hitched in Tess’ chest as she looked at Hansen and nodded her head. He slowly pulled his hand away.
“Can I throw up?” Tess whispered.
“If you must,” Hansen said as he nodded. Not a split second later Tess was doubled over trying not to let vomit splatter on her feet. A few heaves later, Tess spit a few times then slowly stood up. Her entire body was shaking. She was on the edge of a full-blown panic attack with her mind screaming at her to run – run as far and as fast as she could. But her heart was telling her that she had to stay. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and said, “What do you need me to do?
“I need you to check each face and tell me if it’s that bastard, Shane. I couldn’t see his face clearly in the monitors when I checked our security feeds once I knew Master Colton had been taken – he kept himself hidden in the shadows. I need to know if that prick is dead or if I have to worry about him retaliating later.”
“Oh God,” Tess moaned, “You need me to Look. At. Each. Face?” she whispered, emphasizing the words with as much dread as she truly felt.
Hansen’s face was tight as he held his tongue, “Only if you want to help Master Colton,” he finally whispered.
Tess nodded her head and tried to resign herself to the task at hand, “That’s not Shane,” she said as she nodded towards the body on the floor.
“Okay,” Hansen said as he moved past her and out the door. He waited for her in the hall. They made their way to the stairs at the end of the hall where two bodies lay in a heap on floor. Hansen roughly rolled over the first one. The terrified, frozen face seemed to stare at her with its dead eyes. Tess swallowed a few times to keep from heaving again then shook her head at Hansen. She squeezed her eyes shut as she listened to him toss that body to the side then roll over the one underneath. Tess was surprised when she heard a groan. Her eyes flew open. Hansen was kneeling next to the body with his fingers on the pulse point at his neck. “This one’s still alive,” he said as he lifted the body into his arms then ran down the hall to the room that Colton was still in. Tess followed close behind, gasping when she turned into the room and saw Colton lying on the floor, apparently (hopefully) passed out again. “Is he, is he, he’s sleeping, right? Please tell me he’s sleeping.”
Hansen ignored her as he placed the body on the floor, putting the neck right near Colton’s mouth. Tess was a little surprised and slightly pissed when Hansen didn’t make any effort to check Colton or wake him up. She opened her mouth to say something but Hansen stopped her by holding up his hand, “His instinct needs to tell him the blood is near, it needs to wake him up to feed.”
Tess began repeating silently in her head, “Please wake up and feed, please wake up and feed, please wake up and feed, please wake up and,” until she stopped – Colton’s eyes had opened. In less than a second his fangs buried themselves in the neck in front of him. Tess watched, both fascinated and, strangely, jealous as he greedily pulled the blood and swallowed it down his throat. She wanted it to be her blood that he was feeding on. Hers and only hers. She was surprised when Hansen turned to her and said, “Please stop growling, he needs to feed.”
“Sorry, I didn’t realize that I was.”
“You have his blood in you, don’t you?” Hansen asked.
Tess nodded her head, “He had to, because I forced him to feed off of me….and he took too much.”
“That’s why you’re feeling so possessive right now.”
Colton’s fangs released from the neck they were in and his head flopped back down onto the floor. Hansen dragged the body to the other side of the room then he turned and looked at Tess, “Let’s resume our search,” he said.
Tess followed him into the hall. They reached the base of the stairs, Tess stepped over the body that they had already checked, forcing her eyes to look up to avoid seeing that face again then she headed up the stairs. They found six more bodies in the upstairs area: one alive, which they brought to Colton, but none were Shane or Tess’ sister. A quick sweep of the kitchen and living room downstairs garnered one more barely breathing body for Colton but nothing to bring an end to this war. Tess sat on the floor staring at Colton as he drained the last body. She watched, fascinated, as the bones in his arm began moving back into place- seemingly on their own. Tess could see the pain rippling through his body as they did. This was not some easy thing that he was going through – this was hell on earth for him and she really wanted to do something to comfort him. “Is, is it safe to come over there or will it hurt you if I do?”
Colton looked up at her with longing in his eyes but behind the longing Tess could see the truth – it would be really hard for him to have the scent of her blood right near him and not be able to feed on it. Despite this truth, Colton gestured at her to sit next to him. Tess shook her head, “No. I’m not going to hurt you anymore than I already have, Colton. I’ll stay over here. Unless….” she trailed off.
“Unless what?” he rasped, his voice little more than a whisper.
“Unless you want to feed on my blood now?”
Colton shook his head as he answered, “Would love to but still not safe.”
“I understand,” she mumbled as she stared off into nothing.
Colton could sense that there was something bothering her, a sadness or something that he couldn’t quite place. “I’m going to be okay, Tess.”
She looked at him and smiled, “I’m really glad, Colton,” she whispered then she turned her head to the side, resting it on her knees.
“What’s wrong, Tess?”
“Nothing, it’s nothing,” she said, but he saw her discreetly wipe a tear from her cheek.
“You’re lying. Tell me what’s bothering you, Tess.”
“It’s stupid.”
“Nothing you feel is stupid, Tess. Tell me.”
“No”
“Tess”
Silence followed for a few seconds during which Colton had to smile – he really adored her stubbornness.
“Tess,” he said one more time.
“Fine. I’m jealous, okay?”
“Jealous? What on earth for?”
“I want you to only feed on me, on my blood. God, I’m so embarrassed that I’m feeling this way, but I am.”
“Tess, come here.”
“No,” she said as she shook her head.
“Tess, get your ass over here.”
“No.”
“Do not make me compel you, young lady.”
“You can do that?” she whispered as she stared at him wide-eyed.
“If I have to, although with your mile-wide stubborn streak it might not work.”
“Liar,” Tess whispered, smiling, as she started to crawl over to him. She knew that his strength as a vampire was probably limitless. She stopped when she was halfway to him, “You’ll tell me if this hurts too much. Promise me, Colton.”
“Tess, come here.”
“Promise me, Colton.”
“Fine, I promise. Now come here, please?”
Tess crawled the rest of the way but stopped directly in front of him. Colton patted the ground next to him, “Sit here, next to me, hun.”
Tess shook her head, “It’ll hurt. I’ll bump something and it’ll hurt.”
Colton reached out, grabbed her arm and pulled her, gently, into his arms. “See? No pain. Now, I would love to be able to feed on nothing more than your sweet, honeysuckle blood. But there will be times, either due to injury or too long between feedings that I will have to feed on others. I won’t enjoy it and I promise that there won’t be a sexual thought in my head when I’m doing it, but it will happen on occasion.”
Tess harrumphed, “Times? You make it sound like we have a future.”
“I sure in the hell hope we do, if you’ll have me,” Colton whispered as he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.
“You, you still want me after all that I’ve done?” Tess said.
“What do you think?” Colton said as he tilted her chin up and began kissing her. As his tongue slid between her lips, his hand grabbed hers and guided it down to his hardening shaft. The sound of a throat clearing had him stopping the kiss but his hands covered hers in an attempt to cover his excitement – which was difficult given how big he was. “Yes, Hansen?”
Hansen tossed a pair of sweatpants to Colton, “For you, sir. And I’ve found two more donors hiding in the cellar,” he said as he stepped outside the door and hauled in two extremely frightened, hog-tied young people – one male and one female. Colton felt Tess grow tense next to him and he knew that it was because of the female. “You stay here right with me Tess. I want you feel completely assured that there is absolutely nothing sexual about this for me – unless of course I’m feeding from you – then all bets are off.”
Tess smiled slightly then whispered, “It’s okay. I trust you completely.”
Tess watched, completely mesmerized, as Colton locked his eyes on the female – who was so frightened that she was shaking. “Relax. You’re safe now. Come over here and tell me your name.”
The young girl’s eyes glazed over as she began moving forward. Colton’s eyes never strayed from hers. The girl stopped when she was directly in front of Colton but she was still standing. Colton held his hand out to her, “Kneel down beside me.”
She did as she was directed, keeping her eyes locked with Colton’s the entire time. Tess made sure that the pants that Hansen had tossed to him were draped over his crotch.
“What’s your name?” Colton said.
“Sadie,” she whispered.
“May I hold your hand, Sadie?”
She giggled as she nodded her head and placed her hand in his.
“I’m going to kiss your wrist – is that okay with you, Sadie?”
Another nod and giggle, complete with a blush of her cheeks.
Colton kept his eyes locked on Sadie’s as he brought her wrist up to his mouth. He swiped his tongue across it a few times to numb it then hid his fangs with his lips as he brought it to his mouth. The only indication that Sadie felt his fangs in her wrist was a slight inhale. After Colton took a few long pulls on her wrist she giggled again, “That tickles,” she whispered.
Tess watched as Sadie’s other hand moved down her belly and settled between her legs. Nothing sexual my ass, Tess thought. Maybe there’s nothing sexual for Colton but there was definitely something sexual for Sadie. Tess’s grip tightened on Colton’s hand.
As Sadie continued to lazily rub between her legs, she whispered, “I feel dizzy,” then she giggled again.
Before she got too far into playing with herself, Colton released his fangs followed by a quick swipe of his tongue to heal the punctures. “Sadie?”
“Mmmmm?”
“What’s your friend’s name?”
“Him? Oh, that’s just Tucker.”
“Is he your boyfriend?”
“Ha! He wishes.”
“You want him, Sadie. You want him bad. You’re going to go wait by the wall for him. You’re going to be completely wet and turned on while you wait. When he comes to you, you’re going to throw yourself at him and the two of you are going to have the best sex that you’ve ever had in your lives. Do you understand, Sadie?”
“Can I touch myself while I’m waiting?” she breathed.
“Absolutely. Now go, Sadie. He’ll be there very soon.”
Sadie stood up and made a beeline for the far wall. When she got there, she pulled her dress off, kicked her panties off of her foot then buried her fingers in her dripping sheath as she moaned, “Oh God, hurry Tucker. I’m on fire. I need you.”
Tess looked over at the poor, confused Tucker – with the huge bulge in the front of his pants that was already showing a wet spot from how ready he was.
“Tucker?” Colton said, forcing his gaze away from the writhing girl in the corner.
“You want her, Tucker? Do you want to f*ck her right now, Tucker?”
“God, yes,” he gasped.
“Then come here and feed me first. When I’m finished, you can go to her and bury that throbbing shaft of yours inside her.”
Tucker held his wrist forward as he didn’t walk, but ran over to Colton. He shoved his wrist against Colton’s mouth as his eyes went back to the now moaning Sadie. “Jesus,” he mumbled as his free hand tried to adjust his cock that was pressing painfully against the zipper of his pants.
Tess knew it was wrong but she was squirming on the floor next to Colton because she was getting so turned on.
“Un –do them before you hurt yourself boy,” Colton mumbled before he resumed sucking on the wrist. Tess blushed and tried to look away but her gaze didn’t stray for long. Her neck turned, seeming without her brain’s permission, as Tucker struggled with his free hand to undo the button on his jeans and slide his zipper down. He shoved his jeans down to his ankles and then used his feet to stumble out of them. Then his hand was quickly inside the waist band of his boxers. “I can’t believe I’m going to have sex with Sadie,” he mumbled, his voice shaking with anticipation.
Colton’s fangs released from Tucker’s wrist and he sealed the wounds before he spoke to him. “Tucker? Tucker, look at me for a second.”
Tucker forced his eyes from Sadie, who was currently sucking her juices off of her fingers, and looked at Colton. His eyes quickly got that glazed look. “Listen to me very carefully, Tucker. You’re going to go have sex with Sadie now. But it’s not going to be just any sex. You’re going to last longer than you’ve ever lasted and when you do come you’re going to stay hard and keep going until you come again. You’re going to do this many times. You’re going to pay attention to Sadie’s needs, you’re going to play with her * and you are going to make her come over and over again until she’s screaming your name. Do you understand, Tucker?”
Tucker licked his lips as he nodded.
“Go to her Tucker. Take her now.”
Tucker stood up, threw off his t-shirt, stepped out of his boxers and ran to Sadie – whose eyes were burning with need as she held her arms open to him. His mouth crushed down on hers, he lifted her leg to his hip and buried his hard cock into her dripping sheath. She cried out with her first orgasm instantly. Tess forced her eyes away from the sex show in the corner to stare at Colton – who had a huge shit-eating grin on his face.
“I thought you said it wasn’t about sex,” Tess said.
“Not for me. But for them, it’s better. Their hearts are pumping faster now and helping them to replenish the lost blood faster.”
“So you did this for them? You are one sick f*cker, you know that?” Tess said.
“Yeah, but admit it. You’re turned on right now aren’t you? And I’ve had enough that I can take care of that as soon as we get home,” he grinned.
“Jesus,” Tess mumbled as she stood up, her head whipping to the corner as another scream erupted from Sadie, followed quickly by a growl from Tucker as he reached his first release – but neither of them showed any signs of stopping.
“Can your perverted ass stand or do you need my help?”
Colton held his arms up to her but when she grabbed on to help him up – he pulled her down to his lap and buried his tongue in her mouth. It wasn’t long before he was rock hard underneath her and pushing against her slit, lighting her * on fire. Holy hell, she had to get control of this situation or she would be having sex with other people in the room – at least that’s what her brain was telling her. But from her hard nipples pressing against her shirt and her soaked panties and the throbbing between her legs – her body was definitely winning this fight.
Hansen cleared his throat, “Car’s out front sir.”
“We’ll be out in a second, Hansen,” Colton mumbled, holding onto the back of Tess’ neck as she took the momentary interruption as an opportunity to try to stop what was happening. “Shhhhh, they aren’t paying attention, Tess. They aren’t even aware that we’re in the room. Just relax. Let me drink from you when I come. It’s safe now.”
Tess looked at him. She could see Tucker and Sadie – he now had her on her back on the floor, her legs were up around his shoulders and he was slamming into her, his sack smacking against her ass over and over. Tess was totally mesmerized by what they were doing. She couldn’t stop watching. She felt Colton’s fingers slide under her panties but she couldn’t stop him. She heard the fabric tear as he ripped them off of her but she still couldn’t stop. She jumped as she felt his finger dip into her dripping juices then find its way to her engorged nub. She wanted to see more from Sadie and Tucker. Almost as if they were reading her mind – Sadie pulled her legs off of Tucker’s shoulders and panted, “Come for me Tucker, come on my tits, I want to watch you come on my tits.”
God, yes, Tess thought as she watched Tucker pull his long shaft from inside Sadie. It was glistening and dripping wet with Sadie’s juices – which had Tess licking her lips as she longed to taste it. Tess felt Colton’s cock slide inside her. He began pumping her to the same rhythm that Tucker was using as he pumped his shaft with his hand. “Let me taste you too,” Tess whispered, her eyes still glued to Tucker, anxiously waiting for the stream of white to fly out onto Sadie’s bouncing chest.
“S’cuse me?” Colton mumbled.
“Your blood, Colton. Let me drink from you too when I come. Now, Colton, God, now.”
Colton brought his wrist to his mouth, poked two holes with his fangs and put it to her lips. Tess exploded instantly and so did Tucker – their bodies writhing and jerking almost in unison. Tess was still coming as she watched through heavy-lidded eyes as Sadie ran her fingers through the white cream on her chest and brought it to her lips, sucking it down and swallowing his goodness. Then Tucker told her to stand up. “It’s your turn now,” he said to her. She leaned against the wall and began circling her finger around her swollen nub as Tucker plunged his tongue into her dripping hole. She cried out and came, her orgasm sending her juices into his mouth so quickly that Tucker was swallowing fast and trying to keep up. Tucker pulled away from her and ran his tongue around his lips and down to his chin – which was dripping with Sadie’s essence. Then he turned her around and plunged into her dripping sheath from behind. Tess realized that she was still coming as she watched his hard shaft as he pistoned in and out of Sadie. Colton matched their time exactly and Tess knew that Tucker and Colton were going to come at the same time. Colton reached up and pulled Tess’ neck down to his lips, quickly burying his fangs in her jugular. As he pulled her blood into his mouth, she pulled his into hers. As his orgasm exploded into her, hers peaked so hard that her toes curled and her eyes rolled back in her head as her juices exploded onto his shaft and ran down his sack, dripping to the floor underneath – the force of her orgasm so strong that she ended it passed out in Colton’s arms.
Tess’ eyes blinked open once, twice then closed again. She felt so peaceful that she really didn’t want to wake up. With her eyes closed, her relaxed mind began replaying the last thing’s that she remembered. Had she really watched another couple having sex and been completely turned on by it? Had she really had sex in the same room as them and thought that nothing could be more titillating? Her hand rested over her eyes as she groaned, “God, I’m so embarrassed.”
“What on earth for, my love?”
“For what I did in that cell with you and for what I saw.”
“Why would you be embarrassed for giving me your blood, Tess? You saved my life. I’m just so grateful that Hansen was there to stop me from killing you.”
“But the sex, Colton, the sex with the other couple in the room. I can’t believe that I did that.”
“Couple? What couple? What are you talking about? The only sex that we had was here, after Hansen got us home.”
“But what about Sadie and Tucker? They had sex in your holding cell after they fed you, right? They had sex and we watched.”
Colton’s eyebrows shot up as he got a shit-eating grin on his face, “Why, Tess, I do believe you have a kinky streak that you haven’t shared with me yet. And I think I like it.”
Tess playfully slapped his arm, “Not funny, Colton.”
“I’m not being funny, Tess. I’m serious. We never had sex in that hell hole. After Hansen pulled me off of you to stop me from killing you he brought us both here.”
“But, but, but,” Tess stammered.
Colton’s face turned serious, “It was my blood, Tess. It caused you to hallucinate.”
“So we had only had sex here? Alone?” she whispered as her hand gently rested on her throat.
“Yes, but you were a little more, ummmm, wild than usual. I thought it was because you were so relieved that we were out of that werewolf prison.”
“God, it seemed so real.”
“You seem pretty shaken by it. You should tell me all about it to, you know, help you get over it,” Colton said, trying really hard to suppress his grin. But even though his mouth wasn’t smiling, Tess could hear the grin in his voice.
“You wish. Uh uh, no way. I am not tell you this.”
“Party pooper.”
“No, I’m smart. I don’t want to give you any ideas.”
“Tess, I’m over eight hundred years old – I think I’ve pretty much seen it all.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not taking any chances,” Tess said. Suddenly she gasped.
“What’s wrong?” Colton said.
“It’s not over is it? I did search the house with Hansen, right? We never found Shane’s body, so it’s not over. He’s going to come after us again, isn’t he?”
Colton’s face grew serious as he drew her tighter into his arms, “Not if I find and kill him first – that’s my plan.”
Tess grew quiet as she snuggled into Colton’s chest – too quiet, Colton thought. He waited for her to say what was on her mind. Her silence finally was too much for him, “Tess? What’s wrong?”
Apparently Colton asking the question was just what she needed. She took a deep breath and sat up, looking him in the eye as she spoke, “When you find Shane, it’s going to be another battle. It could be worse than last time and you almost died last time. Worse than almost dead is dead, Colton.”
“It’ll be tough, Tess, I won’t deny that. But I’ve got some connections and so does Hansen. We’ll have others there to help us.”
“But what if Shane gets to you before they get here? What then?”
“Tess, where is this going? What are you holding back?”
Tess stared at her palm and began tracing the lines on it. “What if, what if you turned me?” she whispered. Tess felt Colton’s tension beneath her.
“Tess,” he mumbled.
“No, Colton, just listen to me for a second. Shane’s trying to turn me into some sort of witch-werewolf hybrid, right? Well, he can’t do that if I’m already a witch-vampire hybrid, can he. It would catch him off guard when he does find us, he won’t be expecting it that soon, and it would make me stronger and better able to defend myself too.”
“I’m just not so sure that that’s a good idea, Tess,” Colton whispered.
“Why not? I’ll be able to protect myself, I’ll be able to protect you, I’ll be able to protect Hansen. Why wouldn’t it be a good…..oh, I get it. You don’t want to turn me because you’re afraid I’m going to want to be with you permanently. Look, Colton. Just because you turn me doesn’t mean that we have to be together as a couple. I get that we just met not too long ago. Yes, we’ve had an amazing connection since we met, yes the sex, at least for me, is mind-blowing and yes, I like you, a lot. But that doesn’t mean I’m asking you to turn me so that I can be your girlfriend. I’d love it if we had months, years even, to get to know each other and see where this goes, but circumstances make it too dangerous for us to wait on turning me. But once you do turn me and we take care of Shane, then we can afford the time to get to know each other and see where this goes….that is, if you want to.”
“Tess, please don’t think that my hesitation is because I don’t want to turn you or because I don’t want you with me. My hesitation is because this is something that you really need to think about. You have to think about what you have to give up if you do this.”
“What? Death? I think I’m okay with that.”
Colton smiled, “Vampires can die, Tess, just not from natural causes. But that’s not what I’m talking about. Your family, Tess, and all of your friends – you will have to distance yourself from them or they will eventually catch onto the fact that you’re not aging. Are you sure you’re prepared for that?”
Tess sat back and looked at her hands, “Oh,” she whispered then she grew silent for a few seconds then she looked back up at Colton, “That really isn’t a problem for me Colt. You’ve got to remember who I am – I come from a long line of witches, very strong, powerful witches. Supernatural beings are normal in my family. And if my sister is a hybrid witch-werewolf now, as I suspect she is, I need to be strong enough so that when I do find her I can confront her and try to save her from Shane and herself. Despite the horrible thing she did to me, she’s still my sister and I don’t want her to get hurt in all this. Changing me, well, it just feels right to me. It feels like something that I’m meant to do, something that I need to do in order to feel complete, not to be your love, although I would really like for that to happen to, but it feels like a vampire is what I’m supposed to be. I’m asking you to do this for me, Colton, not for us, for me.”
Colton cupped his palm on her cheek, “Tonight, we’ll leave for my home in Paris tonight, Tess. We’ll be safe there so that we can do the change undisturbed, okay?”
Tess turned her head and kissed his palm, “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Don’t thank me now. Thank me after it’s done and you’re still sure that you’ve made the right decision.”