Ties to the Blood Moon 2nd Edition (28 page)

I quickly sat up, looking at him. “Drink
your
blood?” I threw my hands up. “It just figures all those vampire movie writers would get it wrong.” Afterward, I dropped my shoulders and sighed deeply.

William sat up and put his hand on my knee, and stared intently into my eyes, seeming confused. “Why do you want me to turn you?” he asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. “You are the Adlet Princess. You have responsibilities to your kind.”

“I’m not strong enough to defeat Zane yet. It takes time to build Adlet powers. Time that I don’t have.” William wiped away a single tear that ran down my face.

“I don’t think you have thought this thing through. If I turn you, your wolf powers will disappear, and you will leave your people without a leader.”

“If I don’t turn, Zane will kill me anyway, and my ‘kind’ still won’t have a leader.” That was the truth. Even the chief had told me I wasn’t strong enough to defeat Zane. “I’ll just have to figure all that out later. I have to do this.” I wasn’t ready to tell him what the chief said. If William knew, he would never agree to turn me for the sole purpose of killing Zane.

“It’s more painful than anything you’ve ever imagined. I just can’t put you through that kind of pain.”

“It would be nothing compared to the pain of losing my mom twice. That is what’s going to happen if I don’t get to her soon.” I snapped, but didn’t mean to. “He will really kill her this time. I just couldn’t bear the guilt of knowing I could have stopped him but didn’t.”

“If I turn you and you kill Zane, it would be like putting a target on your back.” He shook his head. “I just can’t do that to you.”

“Why? You said yourself that you were sent to stop him.” I pulled away, eying William severely. “Was that a lie?”

“No. It wasn’t. The difference is the Amalric
sent
me. If I turn you, and you kill him, the Amalric will have you hunted down.”

“I don’t care. I have to try, William. At least if I’m killed, my mom will know that I died trying to save her.” I grabbed the doorknob. “Not running away because I was a coward.”

He lowered his eyes. “Yeah … I’ll do it,” he said, sadly. “On one condition. Promise me that you won’t go after him until
I
say you’re ready.

I couldn’t help but grin. I raised my hand excitedly. “I swear!” I took his hand and followed him back into the bedroom. The reality of what I was about to do hit me, and I started to shake.

I got really nervous, and began having second thoughts. What if I had misunderstood the chief, and turning into a vampire wasn’t what he was referring to? I shook it off, because it really didn’t matter. One thing I was certain of was I couldn’t beat Zane in my current state. Turning into a vampire was the only way. I would be as fast as Zane, and he wouldn’t be expecting it . I would defeat him with the element of surprise.

William raked his arm across a table beside the bed, knocking everything to the floor, then placed the wash cloths and towels on top. He then crossed the room to a built-in bookcase and removed an old book.

“Are you going to read to me?” I asked bemused.

He glanced over his shoulder at me briefly, then turned back and did something causing the bookcase to swing inward like a door, revealing a small room.

“What’s that?” I leaned, trying to see around William.

“After you turn, you will need to feed, so I have to make sure there is plenty of blood on hand.

I raised an eyebrow. “Huh?” I guess I hadn’t thought about where the blood would come from. I just assumed everything would magically fall into place. I also started to wonder where I would get my blood from after I turned. Would I have to go bite people? I found the thought kind of silly and smiled.

“All right,” William said when he came back out of the room. “There’s enough blood in there for two or three feedings. That should be enough for now.

“Let me ask you … where do you get the blood?” I asked earnestly.

“Actually, there’s a couple different ways. One way is to bite someone. But, in a case like yours, where you’re just turning, your bloodlust will be so high it would be too hard for you to stop before completely draining someone and killing them. So, we also have help getting blood. There are doctors’ offices and blood banks we can buy it from.”

I looped my arm through his and rested my head on his shoulder, staring at the door. He said something, but I wasn’t paying attention. For some strange reason my chest ached when I thought about Joseph and how he would react when he found out what I had made William do.

I promptly shook the thought from my mind. If I kept thinking about Joseph I wouldn’t be able to go through with it, and I had already made up my mind. No matter what the consequences were, I was doing what I had to in order to save my mom.

Chapter 46

The last conversation I had with William before he turned me started out with him saying how happy he was that he would no longer have to bear the thought of living forever without me. He seemed saddened when he placed a soft kiss on my lips and I think in that moment he had finally shown me the true William. A kind, gentle, loving, sincere man that would protect me until the end of time.

“Don’t understand what … tears? As much as I cry, I think that qualifies me as an expert on the subject,” I said, smiling, trying unsuccessfully to make him smile.

“Genevieve … there’s something else you have to understand before you go through with this.” His voice was low and throaty, just like it would be if he was crying. “Once you turn, you can’t ever … uh, you know.” He paused and cleared his throat before finishing. “Have a baby.”

“I kind of figured that. I’m not stupid, William. I understand anatomy. But, hey … you never know?”

“No,” he said, adamantly, shaking his head. “This is one thing I’m definitely sure of.”

“Yeah? You also said vampires can’t make tears, but you just did.” I gazed at him, taking my hand and running the backs of my fingernails down his arm. “I’ve thought about this a lot. I know what the consequences are and I’m okay with everything. Honest.”

William gazed longingly into my eyes. “I love you more than anything else in this world,” he whispered and kissed me. At the same time he gently lay me back on the pillow.

“I love you, too,” I whispered, while he used his fingernail to slice open the vein on his neck.

The taste of William’s blood was much different than the blood I remembered tasting. As soon as I swallowed the first sugary gulp, my insides exploded. Pleasure rippled through me, making me feel truly alive for the first time. My whole body tingled with excitement. His blood was more intoxicating than a million drugs rolled into one, and I instantly became addicted.

I bit down, rolling over on top of him and latched on, wanting more. The intense passion I felt was unlike anything I could have ever imagined, and the more he gave the more I wanted. I didn’t realize until that moment, but when he had bitten me earlier it not only affected him it affected me as well. My body longed for the sweet nectar coming from within him.

It was the most intimate feeling two people could share. The moment he pushed my head back and broke the bond, I fell away, sated but in agony, too. It felt like someone had ripped off one of my arms.

I lay back on the pillow too intoxicated to move. I could just barely open my eyes, and when I peered at William he was so ghostly white it frightened me.

I tried to nudge him, but I was so weak I couldn’t move my arm. “William,” I breathed his name so quiet I was afraid he wouldn’t hear me.

He reached over and took my hand, interlacing his fingers with mine. “Shh … it will start soon,” he whispered. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll be right here until you wake.”

***

The next days were a blur. I drifted in and out of consciousness. The pain grew to be unbearable at times and I begged for William to kill me. I writhed around on the bed in severe agony one minute and begged for water the next. I could actually feel my insides rolling around in my stomach. All of my organs seemed to be hardening. I was dying.

It grew increasingly hard to discern fantasy from reality. I had nightmares on top of nightmares. Not just your average “bad guy trying to kill me” nightmares either. These were more terrifying than any horror movie I ever remembered watching.

At one point I thought I saw William standing over me and when I reached for him he turned into a Joseph. He had giant black fangs and he bent down and started tearing my guts out with his teeth.

Once the pain finally started to lessen, my hunger grew. I wanted blood. I needed blood. I remember William holding me down and I tried to claw his eyes out. He said it was too soon to eat. I had to fully transform first or my body would just reject it and the pain would become even more excruciating. I couldn’t even imagine anything more painful than what I had already gone through.

He didn’t tell me about all the vomiting I would have to endure. Oh my God, I never would have thought one person had so much inside them. I threw up black bile for hours until I became too weak to move and passed out.

I cracked my eyes open for a moment when I heard William calling my name. “The light is too bright,” I heard someone say in a low guttural voice, and quickly realized the strange voice I’d heard was mine.

Even though the lights were off in the bedroom, the door to the bathroom was slightly ajar and that light seemed like it was a million watts. “Sorry, I forgot.” William hurried and pulled the door closed, then I passed out again.

I didn’t think the pain would ever end. I felt like I had been on a rollercoaster ride to hell and back … in all actuality I had. My body had died and was transforming into the ultimate undead being … a vampire.

When I awoke that last time, I felt so much better. I was weak and hungry and my throat was on fire. I called out for water, but William knew that’s not what my body craved. Instead, he went into the other room and returned with two bags of blood. It smelled heavenly and my mouth instantly watered when he carried it into the room. He tore open the bag and I ripped it from his hands. As soon as I finished both bags I wanted more. My hunger was taking over and I noticed a sound I hadn’t heard before … William’s heartbeat. It was amplified and pulsed in my ears. My thirst quickly took over and I wanted to rip out his throat.

“More,” I growled. “I need more.” My voice sounded almost like a man.

“All right. I just wanted to make sure you were ready.” He opened the door to the secret room, and returned a moment later with two more bags of blood.

I grew impatient watching him take his time opening the first bag. I ripped it from his hands and tore off the top with my teeth, gulping it down. He made sure to open the second one quicker than he had the first.

“Ahh,” I said, falling back onto the sweat soaked pillow, smiling, fully satisfied, and completely intoxicated.

William locked the door to the hidden room, and climbed into bed with me, very gently pulling me close to him. It hurt like hell just to move, but I held it in. He gently wiped at the excess blood on my lips around my mouth. “How do you feel?” he asked quietly, close to my ear.

Still smiling, I cracked opened my eyes. “Like a million bucks … well, like a million bucks that’s been to hell and back.”

Chapter 47

The steaming shower spray felt like tiny needles piercing my skin, but William assured me the pain would go away quickly. I wasn’t sure just exactly what his definition of quickly was, but it sure as hell wasn’t the same as mine.

When I opened the bathroom door William was still sitting in the same recliner he’d been in when he sat vigil while I was turning. He had my phone, and when I saw the look on his face, I knew something was wrong.

“What’s going on?” I rushed to him, stumbling over my own two feet. William said when you first turn, your body still moves slower and has to play catch up with your mind. I sat down on the side of the bed closest to him and he handed me my phone.