Cursed (33 page)

Kobus said nothing, merely watched him without expression as he strode past. He found it hard to believe that his father wasn’t trying to kill him, but perhaps the relief of finding that the human-who-was-Aware
wasn’t
a human-that-was-Aware after all had mellowed the male on that aspect of things.

When he made it inside, he quickened his pace, reaching the lounge room where Sienna and Jacob were in under a minute. He could smell her before he could see her. The scent of burnt coffee was thick in the air, stinging his nose with the sharpness of it. She was lying on the sofa, her mouth pressed to Jacob’s wrist, her eyes squeezed tight against the pain.

He would like to see if Jacob’s blood worked, but he didn’t want to test it with Sienna’s life. Waving his son away, he bit into his wrist and took Jacob’s place.

At the first swallow, he knew that he’d been needed; her moan of relief and visible signs of ease told him that Jacob’s blood wouldn’t have been enough. Smoothing her hair back from her face, he contemplated how this could have happened and more to the point, why now?

She was past the age of transition, but perhaps that was why she smelled the way she did. Perhaps that was her body’s way of attracting other vampires—in the hopes of being drained? Was that what had done it? Obviously once hadn’t been enough, but maybe third time was the charm? Perhaps it was his blood that had triggered it. Or had it been Rayven’s? Would they ever really know?

Whatever the reason, his overriding emotion was one of relief. She would not be dying today. She would not be dying in eighty years. Age would not change her face, her body. She would not wither and die. He would not have to face her human death. Fate willing, he would never have to face her death at all.

21

Hours passed. Greyvian remained by Sienna’s side, eyes fixed on her face, watching for any sign of consciousness. Her heart still beat within her chest so he knew that she was alive, but her breathing was shallow, her skin pale despite the amount of blood that had been donated to her.

Always before he had been certain that the half-breed he fed would make it, but, this time, he was not so sure. Whether that was due to the strangeness of Sienna’s transition, or his feelings towards her... The one thing he did know for certain was that he was not going to let anybody near her until she was conscious once again. Whenever anybody tried, a growl would erupt from his throat, fading only when they backed away.

He was only distantly aware that the room was full of people. His father, his newly discovered brother, two more of Kobus’s warriors and the entire cast of half-breeds that had come to their defence sat around the room in a state of truce while they waited for the outcome. If he had bothered to notice, he would have seen and heard them chatting amongst one another, eating and drinking as if they were at a pleasant gathering. If he had cared at all, he would have seen that his father was watching him, expression thoughtful and tinged with hope.

Strangely enough, the only other person he was aware of in any real sense of the word was his brother—Jonas, if he recalled hearing it correctly. The male was leaning against the wall by the door, as if ready to bar the exit of anyone trying to leave—not that he did. A part of his mind wondered what Jonas had meant about finding out why they were so fast, but it was such a small part that it barely made an impact in his thought processes. That particular insight would have to wait for another time.

For now, the only thing he was interested in was Sienna’s survival. Her scent had faded, the bitterness all but gone now, which was to be expected with a transition, but so had the uniquely strong scent she had possessed before things had taken such an unexpected turn. Would it ever come back? Did he want it to? If it did, would it matter? She would be Vampire. He wouldn’t have to hold himself back. Probably wouldn’t want to drink from her much at all, seeing as she was no longer human. But then, what if it didn’t? Would he still feel the same intensity of desire for her?

Remembering the first time the two of them had had sex pretty much answered that question. But, if it didn’t come back, there was a part of him that would miss it—miss the intensity of desire he felt for her blood. Feeding was in many ways more intimate than sex and now that she was vampire they would never have that again because of his curse.

Glancing up at his brother—the first time he had dared take his eyes from Sienna—he wondered if Jonas suffered the same curse. From the lightness of his brother’s mood and the way his eyes twinkled in constant amusement, Greyvian thought not. Unless he was insane, or evil—which Greyvian could tell he was not—Jonas could not be a murderer like him.

Returning his gaze to Sienna, an emotion he couldn’t explain swept through him as he found that her eyes were open and a smile had lit her beautiful face. She was looking right at him.

“Hi,” she said, blue eyes more luminous than ever before. “What happened?”

“You don’t remember?”

She frowned for a moment, her eyes flicking around the room at her many onlookers, and then her eyes widened. “Did I…?”

“More than likely. How do you feel?”

Sitting up slowly, she pushed the long fall of her hair back over her shoulder and smoothed down her t-shirt, taking stock. “Um, fine. Thirsty.”

The moment she said it, her incisors dropped down and her hands flew to her mouth in delighted surprise. After poking them for a while, she suddenly looked at him and grinned.

“I’m a vampire,” she said, as if she couldn’t quite believe it.

An amazing thing happened then. He smiled, genuinely happy for the first time in too many years to count. He knew it wouldn’t last, but the amazed, or perhaps delighted, expression on Sienna’s face was definitely worth a repeat in the future.

The moment passed as a voice from across the room spoke.

“Yes, it appears you are,” his father said, neutrally. “A half-breed, but that is better than a human that is Aware.”

Smile fading, he looked up at his father—the male that had tried so hard to kill him for over a century.

“What will you do now?” he asked, only now wondering why his father hadn’t taken the opportunity to end him whilst he’d been distracted.

Kobus studied him for a moment, expression unreadable, and then stood upright, pushing himself away from the wall he’d been leaning against. “The girl is no longer a threat, and perhaps you are no longer insane—if you even were to begin with. I still don’t understand your need for human blood, but perhaps I don’t have to. You seem to be in full possession of your mind, unlike when I first discovered you in that village, so I am willing to leave it in the past.”

He looked around at the gathered half-breeds, his gaze lingering on Marcus for a moment before returning to Greyvian. “While I am not entirely happy with the idea of so many half-breeds in the area, neither am I overly offended. It’s true that I do not like humans—with good reason—but I have never understood the deep prejudice against half-breeds that would drive a full-blood to kill for that reason alone. Half-breeds are no threat to us. Regardless of what is thought amongst your kind, I have never actively pursued any of you to put you down for once being human. It is not your fault that the process works as it does.”

With that said he looked at Katarina with a slight frown of disapproval and said, “I will see you at home, Katarina. And call your mother. She is quite concerned about you.”

His sister nodded and ducked her head guiltily as their father turned and left the room, his two warriors following him.

Jonas stayed for a moment longer, his eyes scanning everyone in the room as if committing them to memory. When they finally landed on Greyvian once again, he smiled and nodded. “Good to meet you, Greyvian. We’ll have to spar again sometime. I enjoyed our little fight. Call me when you are ready to talk. Katarina has my number.”

He could feel Sienna’s eyes on him, probably wondering why Jonas was still standing if the two of them had fought, but that explanation could wait until later. Nodding at his brother, he watched Jonas walk out of the room, knowing that he would indeed see the male again. The knowledge was… pleasant.

“So that’s it?” Sienna asked into the silence. “I’m a vampire now so there’s no threat? Your father just walks away? End of story?”

He turned his head towards her. “It appears that way.”

She made a face. “That’s a bit anti-climactic don’t you think?”

“Would you prefer the yard to be filled with bodies?”

She sighed dramatically. “I suppose not.”

Suddenly she grinned and launched herself onto his lap, her arms and legs wrapping around him while she buried her face in his neck. “I love you,” she whispered against his skin, the breath of air sending a shiver down his spine.

At least, he told himself that it was the breath of air and not the words that had caused it.

“Do you believe what he said about his feelings towards half-breeds?” Knox asked, saving him from having to reply to those three words and distracting him from the sudden desire to sink his fangs into Sienna’s neck.

“Why would he lie?” Marcus replied before Greyvian could speak. “He had ample time while we all sat around waiting for Sienna to wake up to get the drop on us, but he was quite civil the entire time. If he does hate us with a passion, then he’s a bloody good actor.”

“My father has never hated half-breeds,” Katarina said softly. “It’s always been about the humans. Once you lot are established as immortal, he’s fine with your existence. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s not likely to invite you over for tea or anything, but he won’t try to kill you either.”

Greyvian was only partly listening as he closed his eyes and breathed in Sienna’s scent, noticing with mixed emotions that there was now a hint of the former ambrosia within it. If it really did come back, would it be torture to smell it and not be able to drink from her because of his curse?

“And Jacob?” Xavior mused. “Is Kobus fine with having another human-blood-drinking vampire in existence?”

“For now,” Greyvian replied, taking a moment to control his thirst and will his teeth into recession before opening his eyes. Focusing on the half-breed, he ignored that Knox was grinning at the fact that Sienna was still on his lap and said, “My father is an out-of-sight-out-of-mind kind of male, I believe. Him finding me only now when there was a true threat to the species is testimony to that.”

“That’s true,” Katarina echoed thoughtfully. “If he really wanted to find you before now to put an end to your ‘insanity’ he could have done it a million times by now. I guess his previous lack of success shows that he never really tried before, doesn’t it?”

“Not after the first century, anyway,” Greyvian agreed, unable to feel bitter about the whole thing while Sienna was raking her new fangs over his jugular.

“Oh, right,” Katarina said sheepishly. “Guess I forgot about that.”

“So, Sienna,” Jacob’s voice called, dragging her attention away from Greyvian’s neck. She really wanted to bite him—more than she’d wanted to do anything before in her twenty-five years. “I guess this means your mum had an affair.”

Pulling back from Greyvian, she turned in his arms and looked over at her best friend, the retort on the tip of her tongue dying as soon as she looked into his eyes and noticed that he was on edge. She couldn’t have said what it was exactly, some tightening around his eyes or something that came through in his expression, but she knew him too well not to see that he was upset by something.

“I guess so,” she replied lamely, tilting her head at him and frowning the way she usually did whenever she asked him ‘what’s wrong?’.

He just grimaced and looked down at his fingernails, studying them as if they’d suddenly turned into gold.

“That’s right,” Knox said, carrying the conversation forward. “If you say both parents raised you, then your father was definitely not your biological father. Raising a human child is not something vampire parents would be able to do for that length of time.

“What did your mother do for a living?”

Reluctantly pulling her eyes from Jacob, who was still studying his fingers, she shifted her gaze to Knox and said, “She was a nurse.”

“That would explain it then,” the blonde grinned. “I’ve needed to be patched up a time or two over the centuries and nurses are prime candidates for it when there are no other vampires around and you can’t heal the wound yourself. Lowering Awareness can be hard when injured, but it can be done.”

He continued to look at her closely for a long moment before suddenly shifting his gaze over to Xavior and then to Rayven, his eyes lingering on the blank-faced half-breed.

“It’s interesting how your transition needed to be triggered,” he mused, looking back at her. “I wonder if your father’s genetics have anything to do with it.”

For a moment she thought he meant that Rayven was her father—despite being an utterly ridiculous idea due to his lack of self-awareness—but then she followed Knox’s gaze and came eye to eye with Xavior, noticing for the first time that the male’s eyes were a very similar blue to her own. Whilst blue was a very common colour amongst Anglo-Saxons, and seemed to come in a range of shades from dark to pale, they generally didn’t seem to appear luminous at times as Jacob often remarked that hers did.

Xavior’s were luminous now as he seemed to come to the same conclusion that she had. Coincidence, maybe, but when you added the fact that Rayven had transitioned wrong, there was a small element of the possible to the theory.

“Should I call you Sis from now on?” Xavior asked with a grin.

“Not Dad?” she questioned dryly.

He laughed and shook his head. “Unless my rubber was full of holes—not possible. I’m very careful with my sperm.”

Well, wasn’t that responsible of him. She knew she liked him for a reason. Having him as a brother would be kind of nice.

“Do you think it’s really possible?”

“Never say never when immortality is involved. Rayven and I could have been the first or the hundredth offspring of our sperm donor of a father, so it is entirely possible that he was the sperm donor to your conception as well.”

If only her mother were still alive. Now she would probably never know for sure.

Resting her head on Greyvian’s shoulder, she idly wondered what kind of man—or rather, vampire—her biological father was; if he was anyone to be proud of or just another full-blood rapist. If he had been the latter, her mother had never shown any trauma over it, but perhaps she’d just coped really well with the violation; or, considering Sienna had had no idea her father wasn’t her biological father, really good at hiding it. Or, she supposed it was even possible that the vampire could have impregnated her without ever raising Awareness.

Yeesh. Scary thought.

Sighing at the unanswerable question, she drew in a noseful of Greyvian’s deliciously male scent and suddenly realised that he had allowed her to sit on his lap for the past fifteen minutes without moving her or telling her to get off; something he never would have done before her transition. Sure he seemed a little stiff about it, but it boded well for the future.