A Quick Bite (30 page)

“Okay. I promise,” Thomas said quickly, as Greg reached for the door handle.

He hesitated.

“I promise,” he repeated, then pulled his keys from a pocket and started the Jeep engine, only to pause.

“What’s the matter?” Greg asked.

“I’m trying to decide where to take her.”

“Not back to her mother’s,” Greg said firmly. He wasn’t giving them the opportunity to finish what they’d started.

“No. I couldn’t take you there anyway. Lissianna would never forgive me if something happened to you,” he said, then Thomas shifted the Jeep into gear and pulled out into the scanty traffic of the early-morning Toronto streets.

“Where are we going?” Greg asked.

“To Mirabeau’s,” he answered. “After Lucian and Marguerite finished raking us over the coals for standing back and allowing you two to run away, Mira decided she might have overstayed her welcome. I drove her home earlier this evening. She’ll help.”

Greg nodded and relaxed wearily in his seat for the ride, knowing everything would be all right. Mirabeau would be willing to help them, more importantly, she would have blood.

“I don’t have any blood.”

“What?” Thomas and Greg asked the question at the same time, both of them staring at Mirabeau with disbelief and horror as they each straightened from opposite sides of the bed where she’d had them place Lissianna.

Mirabeau’s home turned out to be a large penthouse apartment just a couple of blocks from Greg’s place. It had only taken minutes to get here, but on realizing it was also set up with a doorman as his place was, Greg had worried about getting inside without the police being called in. While the black shirt he’d put on Lissianna hid the blood that was seeping through the towel over her wound, his white shirt didn’t, and it was sporting a huge red patch where he’d pressed Lissianna to him to get out of the Jeep. He’d been positive the doorman would take one look at that, then at Lissianna’s pale deathlike features and pick up his phone to call the police. However, Greg had forgotten who he was with.

Thomas had ushered him to the door, cast one glance at the approaching doorman, and the man had turned and walked back to his station without a word. Lissianna’s cousin had obviously put the whammy on him. The doorman hadn’t even glanced at them after that. Greg sus
pected the fellow wouldn’t even have a memory of their passing.

“I was expecting a delivery Saturday morning,” Mirabeau announced. “But I wasn’t here to get it.”

No, she’d been at Marguerite’s all weekend, Greg realized, then glanced down at Lissianna with concern as she moaned. She’d started to moan shortly before they’d arrived at Mirabeau’s, the sound drawing a concerned mutter from Thomas about nanos.

When Greg had asked him what was going on, Thomas had explained that when the nanos couldn’t find enough blood in the veins, they’d begin attacking the organs to get what they needed. Lissianna would be in terrible pain until they could get blood into her. Enough pain that it was drawing moans from the nearly dead.

“You don’t have any at all?” Thomas asked.

Mirabeau shook her head, then admitted, “I had two bags left when I got home, but…” She shrugged helplessly. “I got hungry.”

“Damn.” Thomas raked one hand through his hair. “She needs blood.”

“Go get some from the Argeneau blood bank,” Mirabeau suggested.

“No, that’s no good,” Greg said sharply.

“Why not? He has a key.”

“Greg thinks Uncle Lucian was behind this,” Thomas explained.

Mirabeau’s eyes widened incredulously, then she shook her head. “No. I don’t believe it. Did you see who did it?”

“No.” Greg shook his head. “They’d left by the time I got to the living room.”

“Well it couldn’t have been one of our people,” Mirabeau
said with certainty. “It just couldn’t. I mean…Why would they? And if so, why not finish the job? If they were one of us, they’d know she could come back from a staking. And why didn’t they touch you?” she asked. “You’re the one who’s considered a threat.”

“I don’t know,” Greg admitted wearily. “But I also don’t know of anyone else who would want to hurt her.”

She shook her head firmly. “Well, there’s just no way Marguerite Argeneau would allow anyone to harm one of her children. She—”

“It doesn’t matter, Mirabeau,” Thomas interrupted wearily. “I promised Greg I wouldn’t go anywhere near them and I won’t. We’ll have to find the blood elsewhere.”

“We’re wasting time here,” Greg said impatiently. “Lissianna needs blood. Do you have any at your place, Thomas?”

“Yes, I do,” he said, obviously surprised that he hadn’t thought of it himself. “Not as much as we’ll need, but a couple of bags at least and that should be enough to bring her back to consciousness, then we’ll find her some donors.”

“Donors?” Greg asked.

“The doorman, maybe a couple of neighbors.” Thomas shrugged.

“What about an IV?” Greg asked. “I understand that once she’s conscious she’ll be able to feed off the donors herself, but you’ll need an IV for the bagged blood. Can you get one?”

“No, but that’s not a problem. Her teeth will suck it up whether she’s awake or not,” Thomas said as he headed for the door. “It’s just easier to feed the donors to her once she’s conscious because then she can control their minds. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Thomas?” Mirabeau followed him out of the room. “Do you have a—”

The closing of the door prevented Greg from hearing the rest of what she was asking, not that he was really interested. He was peering at Lissianna as she moaned. It wasn’t a normal sound. She was completely motionless, looking almost dead, but emitting a growling moan that was barely audible and came from deep in her throat. The depth of pain she must be in to emit the sounds tore at his heart, and they seemed to be coming closer together. He could only think this meant her pain was increasing in intensity by the minute.

Greg opened her shirt and lifted the towel away from her chest to look at the wound. It was almost closed. While part of him was relieved to see the healing, another part was thinking that it just meant her body was using up blood, and she needed to keep as much as she could until Thomas got back. The more she lost, the more pain she’d be in.

Another moan drew his attention to her face, and Greg hesitated, then decided he had to do something. Leaning closer, he took her face in both hands and used his thumbs to pull her mouth open.

“What are you doing?” Mirabeau asked as she reentered the room.

“Opening her mouth.”

“Why?”

“How do I get her teeth to extend?” Greg asked instead of answering.

“Why do you want her teeth extended?” Mirabeau walked over to stand on the opposite side of the bed, concern on her face as she peered from he to Lissianna.

“Because I can donate some blood, then we could bring up the doorman and whoever else we can find and
she can finish off with the bagged blood when Thomas gets back, rather than suffer pain all this time and just start when he gets here.”

“You don’t want to do that, Greg,” Mirabeau said solemnly.

“She’s in pain,” he hissed.

“Yes, she is, but she isn’t conscious.”

“But she still
feels
it. She just can’t thrash about and scream because she’s so weak, but she does feel it. Doesn’t she? That’s why she’s moaning. Right?” he asked grimly.

“Yes.” She sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, then hesitated. “It will be painful.”

“It wasn’t the last time she bit me.”

“Yes, but she kissed you last time and got you to relax your guard, then when she bit you, she was able to send the pleasure she was experiencing. Lissi can’t do any of that this time, Greg, and it will hurt. Trust me.”

“Then I guess it will hurt,” he said simply.

Mirabeau peered at him, and he felt a familiar ruffling in his mind. He knew without a doubt that she was trying to dig into his thoughts. Greg did his best to open his mind to her. He needed her help to help Lissianna, and if this was what it took to get it, so be it.

“Very well,” she said finally, and gestured him out of the way.

Greg watched anxiously as she leaned forward to lift the blood-soaked towel away from the chest wound, then held it close to Lissianna’s face. Her mouth had fallen closed once he’d let go of her face, but when Mirabeau held the towel near her nose, Lissianna jerked and took a quivering indrawn breath, her mouth opening on its own as her canine teeth slid out to biting position.

Greg immediately moved his wrist up to her mouth.

“You need to be sure her teeth hit the vein,” Mirabeau instructed, then offered, “Shall I help?”

“Please.”

Leaning forward, she took his hand to reposition his wrist under Lissianna’s teeth, then hesitated and glanced up. “You’re sure about this?”

He nodded without hesitation and the moment he did, Mirabeau snapped his arm upward, slamming his wrist into Lissianna’s teeth. Greg sucked in a sharp, shocked breath as pain shot up his arm. This definitely was nothing like the two times she’d bitten his neck. It was nothing like giving blood either. Her teeth were much bigger than the needles medical staff used.

As the first shock of pain receded, Greg became aware of another, deeper pain as her teeth began to draw blood at a rate faster than his veins were use to supplying. It was a drawing sensation, a deep ache and he gritted his teeth against it, but remained still.

“I did warn you,” Mirabeau said softly. “Do you want to stop?”

Greg shook his head grimly.

Mirabeau shifted in her seat, then said abruptly, “Tell me what happened.”

Greg knew it was an effort to distract him from the pain and was grateful for it. He quickly related the events that had taken place since he’d heard the sound of shattering glass that evening.

“I guess I left a bit of a mess there,” he added at the end. “Lissianna’s friend will be in a state when she walks into her home and finds the blood and broken glass. She’ll probably call the police.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it,” Mirabeau reassured him.

They were both silent after that, for an extremely long time it seemed to Greg, but that might only have been because he was in pain. He was starting to feel woozy when Mirabeau said, “She’s coming around, I think—Greg!”

She pulled his wrist from Lissianna’s teeth and hurried around the bed to his side, catching him when he would have tumbled off the bed.

“Lissianna already bit you once tonight, didn’t she?” Mirabeau asked sharply.

Greg nodded, then wished he hadn’t as the action made his head spin worse.

“Dammit, why didn’t you tell me?” she snapped. “You never should have—Here lie down.” Mirabeau eased him onto the bed beside Lissianna. “Just lie there. I’ll go find you some juice or something. Like I’d have any,” she added in a mutter. “I’ll have to go see if my neighbor has any. I may as well bring her back for Lissianna while I’m at it. She’s coming around and will be in horrible pain and desperate for more blood.”

Greg glanced toward Lissianna as Mirabeau left the room, relieved to see that her eyes were open.

“Greg?” His name was a breathless gasp on her lips and he levered himself up on one elbow to peer at her.

“I’m here, Lissianna. How are you?” A stupid question Greg supposed, he could see she was in terrible pain. “Mirabeau is bringing you someone to feed from, love. It won’t be long now.”

“Mirabeau?” she asked with a frown of confusion.

“Yes. We’re at Mirabeau’s. Thomas brought us here.”

“Oh.” She closed her eyes and he saw her teeth grind together. She was in terrible pain. “Who was it?”

Greg was confused until he realized she was asking who had staked her. “Didn’t you see them?”

She shook her head jerkily. “It was dark. It was a man.
I thought you had come to talk to me, then I saw the stake.”

“Did it look like your uncle?” Greg asked.

She appeared confused. “My uncle? No. He—” She stopped, a moan slipping from her lips and rolled onto her side, half-curling into a ball.

“Mirabeau should be back soon,” Greg told her encouragingly, then fell silent, feeling helpless as he watched her struggle with the pain. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her fists and teeth clenched, her breathing short, almost a pant, and this was his fault as far as he could tell. If she hadn’t taken him away, tried to save him from whatever it was she feared they’d do to him…

He could tell Lissianna didn’t think her uncle was behind the attack, and Mirabeau didn’t either, but Lucian Argeneau was on the council, the same council that had staked out and then set one of their kind on fire for turning more than one person. The council had also killed babies before abortions were legal. It wasn’t much of a leap for him to imagine the man might have his niece punished for daring to defy him by taking Greg away, and since the staking itself couldn’t kill her, all the attack could have been was a punishment of sorts.

Greg had no idea why they hadn’t then taken him and Lissianna back to her mother’s house to face her uncle, and he could understand why that would make everyone doubt it was Lucian, but he also couldn’t imagine anyone else having a reason to stake her. From what he’d heard, she didn’t seem to socialize with mortals much. The only thing she did was work at the shelter.

“Greg?”

He leaned closer. “Yes?”

“What did you decide?”

He didn’t bother to ask what she meant. Lissianna was
asking if he wanted to be turned or not. Greg reached out a hand and softly caressed her arm.

What had he decided? He’d decided she was beautiful, intelligent, and courageous. She was a woman who had risked everything to get him away and keep him safe. Including her family, he knew, for even if they didn’t yet side with Lucian and the council, he suspected that when it came right down to it, they would have to as a matter of survival. He was equally sure that to protect them, Lissianna would somehow see to it that they did.

So far she had paid for her courageous efforts with blood and pain…and if he refused to turn, he knew she would willingly pay with more.

He had decided that she was a woman worth giving up his family to spend eternity with. All he had to do was convince her she should spend it with him, and he hoped, once he was turned, he might be able to do that.