Vampire Food 08: He Smelled Like Peach Pie (11 page)

“Evening.”

“I wanted to personally thank you for saving Mia. I’m quite fond of her.”

“You’re quite welcome. I love Mia dearly.”

“So she loves you. Word had passed quickly below about what happened to you.”

Em frowned. Had Shanagar been running his mouth? “What exactly is that?”

“That Shanagar gave you his blood after you gave yours to Mia. Word is that you had a reaction to it, which has caused odd odors to emanate from your body. I don’t smell it, but others did. What will you do now?”

“I haven’t gotten that far yet. What’s in the buckets?”

“It is a form of fast-drying concrete. We are going to plaster up the stones that you have graciously stacked for us and then continue building until we fill in the space. It won’t be perfect, but it will at least seal up the hole. More are on their way to work with us. Everyone who is able is banding together to help.”

She gave him a smile. “That is a good thing. I will try to stay out of the way as I dig.”

“Don’t worry about it. Anyone who can smell you is working somewhere else.”

Em almost laughed at the pathetic statement. Obviously the reason behind the smell had been left undisclosed. The ultimate problem would be that once the cave was sealed back up, how prominent the odor would be to those who could smell her. She glanced around for Shanagar, knowing that he probably didn’t have an exact answer either. He would know about the basic mating scent, but this was quite different and even he didn’t know the exacts of the situation.

As a matter of fact, she had been so busy working that Em hadn’t noticed that Russell had also disappeared. They had left her completely alone and that was unlike them. She took a few steps to the side, looking around a pile of rubble and saw that Russell and Shanagar were talking to Rory and Salt. What an odd parley that was.

* * * *

“So how bad does this have the potential to get, Rory?”

Rory shook his head. “Bad. When the three of us were gone, she became reclusive and depressed. She reacted body and mind to our absence. That was only for a few weeks and she knew that we were coming back. If we can’t find a way to fix this, it will be so much worse. Just the thought that Salt and I can’t be with her is going to wear at her brain. Our physical absence will gradually wear her down also. We can’t sleep with her and give her our affection. We can’t have sex with her and give her our energy. Over time, it will be as if two thirds of her body is gone. It will weaken her and if I know Em, she will lose her desire to eat, to sleep, and to be a part of society.”

“So what do we do about it?” asked Russell.

Rory turned leering eyes at Shanagar. “Answer me one question truthfully. Do you want Em? Is that why your blood reacted as it did?” The question was probably rude, but Rory had no desire to be polite. Rory did know Em, and he could see the things about Shanagar that she found attractive. It was his appearance as well as his stature that had encouraged her hunger. Em may not have fed from him on purpose, and she obviously didn’t remember feeding from him. But if there was a man in the room outside of her chosen mates that Em would be attracted to, it was Shanagar. He even made Rory feel slightly dwarfed.

“Ah, the alpha male speaks.”

“There is no alpha male between us. The three of us have a bond with Em in equal measure. I am just the oldest, ousted male. I have a reason for my question, but it is not any kind of alpha pride.”

“Then I shall answer you. I find Emerald a very enticing woman. She is very beautiful and proven herself not only strong of personality, but of heart. She has true intelligence, yet is not arrogant in her stature. To see the three of you and know that you are her mates says yards about her. I can tell how much you love her just by the way the scent reacts to you. Unlike the other males about these caves, who crinkle their noses, the two of you look kind of green when you speak with her. You do speak with her however, and I can tell that you are trying not to hurt her feelings. That is quite noble and I feel bad that things have happened as they have.”

Rory nodded. He really wanted to dislike Shanagar, but honestly couldn’t. There was something extremely noble about his character. “I don’t know how much knowledge you have acquired about vampires over the years. There is a mental and emotional state that vampires can become embroiled in when they repeat certain actions for years. It can be a simple thing like repeatedly cutting your hair. After time passes, it will stop growing back. We call it vampire imprint.”

Shanagar rubbed the side of his chin with his first finger in consideration. “I do not know the term, but I can understand the meaning. Why do you tell me this?”

His expression held a firmness that relayed his ability to deliberate and reason things quickly. Shanagar had not gotten as old as he was by sheer luck. He was a very intelligent man. “Em is a woman who is imprinted upon quickly. When she was first turned, it was by a vampire named Joel and his brother Gaelic. When their maker claimed them, Em ended up alone with me. She was happy, but I always sensed an underlying desire that I couldn’t satisfy. I brought Salt into our lives because I had a feeling that Em had imprinted on two men and needed two men. I was right. Russell came into our relationship later and just recently, the three of us were called away for different reasons. We were still here in the caves and in contact with her, but I was the only one in our bed and during the night I wasn’t around much. Em became despondent. It wasn’t something that she had control over, but it happened. If Salt and I are unable to be with her, it will happen again.”

Rory shoved back his hair, turning to Salt.

Salt pursed his lips in irritation. “Don’t you think you are jumping the gun?”

“I wish that I was. It is going to take something extremely drastic to change what happened to Em, and I have no idea what that might be. I can’t bear to sit by and watch her fall apart again.”

Salt flexed his jaw in angry resignation. “Shit. Do you always have to be right?”

Rory chuckled. “I would rather not be in this case. I don’t see where we have any other choice.”

“Are you kidding?” asked Russell, as it suddenly occurred to him where the conversation was going.

“No, I’m not, Russell. Do you have a better idea?”

“I was going to discuss this imprint shit with you, but…really? Do you think that’s necessary?”

“We can always wait and see what happens.”

Shanagar was watching the three of them like a man watching a tennis match, his head turning from side to side. “Do you care to let me in on this, as I think it concerns me? If the discussion is about me taking your place, I would consider it an honor. I will not, however, do so if the three of you are not in agreement. I will go help Em and allow you to talk amongst yourselves.” Without waiting for a reply, he strode away.

All three of them watched him go. Russell sighed. “How the hell am I going to compete with him in bed?”

“Do you have to compete?” asked Rory.

“I would feel like I did. Son of bitch. He’s a man of legend among shifters. Shanagar was a king who ruled with kindness and love for his people. The Vikings prospered with him as their ruler. The shifters that lived in his village lived in secrecy, but he made it easy for them to hide what they were. It was said that the gods loved him because he was so beautiful to the eye. Now you want me to share our bed with him.”

Rory had never had an idol like that. To him, any man was just a man. If anything, he was the one who had been idolized over the years. “Russell, if anything you can help him adjust. He doesn’t know this life. Things have changed dramatically in three hundred years. He may have once been legend, but not anymore. If this is truly not what you want, then we won’t ask him. I was only thinking about Em. I certainly don’t want to step on your toes.”

Russell leaned his head back and blew out a long, aggravated breath. “I know. What are you and Salt going to do?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t kidding about the nose plugs, but the smell has gotten worse. It was burning my eyes just to be close enough to talk to her. I can come to her in dreams, but Salt hasn’t established that connection yet. We definitely can’t sleep in the same room as her. Not for now, at least. As soon as we get shit settled up here, I want to go down and see if I can figure out something in the labs. I will have to get a sample of her blood to find out what is different about it.”

“I’m sure she would be happy to give you one.”

Mia walked up to them. She was wearing a turtleneck sweater and a pair of jeans. Her expression was bleak. Salt held his arms out to her and she strode into them, hugging him tightly. “It was so horrible.”

“I heard. Are you okay?”

“My body is better, but I have horrible scars. Will they go away?”

“Yes, in a week or so they will fade. As long as everything seems to be working correctly inside, that’s all that matters.”

“It seems to be. I know of the things that have been done to Em and as I lay helpless on the bed, that was all I could think of. How has she withstood so much pain over the years?”

Salt turned his eyes to Rory. “Mia, pain is something that fades in your mind. As time passes, you will forget the reality of it. You will remember that it hurt, but the memory will not be as strong or as real.”

She turned her eyes to him. “Do you promise?”

“I promise.”

“Will the fear be as real? I’m afraid to go back to my room. I’m afraid to sleep alone and I don’t know who to trust anymore.”

“Do you know who did this to you?”

Mia nodded. “I don’t think they ever imagined that I would live through it. It was Becka, Manitobe, Selina and Archie.”

Becka and Manitobe were shifters, but Selina and Archie were human. “Do you think they were the ones that set off the bombs?”

Mia bobbed her head. “They were talking after they thought that they killed me. They had already set the bombs. Becka was laughing because she said that Russell had threatened her for something that was already in play. They were talking about freeing society from people like Em and the other heads of the alliance. It made no sense to me because everyone else has been talking about how much better life is now. I guess none of them were here when it was bad, so they have nothing to compare it to.”

“Do you think those four were working alone?” asked Russell. “It seems impossible that they did all this by themselves.

Rory groaned. “Possibly not. Archie was working down in the labs for a while. He stopped coming down a couple of weeks ago. His excuse was that he wasn’t feeling well. I suppose that’s a good thing because he didn’t know about the sun protection cloth that we just made. He also didn’t know about the metal that was installed over all our beds. Most of us would be dead without those improvements. We’re lucky that it worked.”

Mia sighed and stepped back from Salt. “How many died? Do we know yet?”

Rory shook his head. “We have no idea. There were at least fifteen vampires that got caught out in the main area who didn’t survive. We have yet to dig out those who lived up here in the upper levels.”

Mia suddenly appeared panicked. “Where’s Em?”

“She’s digging over on the outside.”

“Why?”

Salt took her hands. “Mia, there is a vampire here who was released by the bombs. He is very old and he is half-shifter. His blood is toxic and he was with Em when she healed you. Something happened and she bit him before he could stop her. It did something to her blood.”

Mia’s eyes were wide with terror. “Is she okay?”

“She’s fine as long as you aren’t in love with her.”

“What?”

Russell stepped closer. “Mia, shifters give off a scent when they have claimed a woman. Rory and Salt have gotten so used to my scent it doesn’t bother them. Shanagar’s scent is in his blood. Because Em bit him, she now radiates with that scent. It doesn’t bother me, but it is making Rory and Salt insane because to them it smells rancid.”

“So Em smells bad to other vampires?”

“No. Only to vampires who crave her sexually.”

Mia looked downward as if processing the information. When she looked up, she appeared mortified. “So you are working in different areas because you can’t bear to be near her? That’s horrible. What are you going to do?”

Rory shrugged. “We don’t know yet. We were just trying to work out the details.”

“You and Salt can come stay in my room. I don’t want to be alone anyway. There’s plenty of room for another bed and I have a privacy divider that you could put up.”

“We’ll think about it. Thank you for the offer.”

“You’re welcome. I’m going to go thank Em for saving me.”

“Thank them both. Shanagar helped.”

Mia nodded. “Okay.”

She looked so sad when she walked away, Rory felt terrible for her. She was a very smart young woman and she had probably made the connection between her life and the possible end of their relationship with Em. There had to be something that could be done about the smell. Rory couldn’t tolerate the idea that he could never be close to Em again.

Shanagar was working side by side with Em to move the heavy stones into place in the ever-growing wall. She couldn’t help but notice that he was quite an impressive figure. His arms were flexing with the strength required to lift the boulders into place, and the men laying cement were having trouble keeping up with him. Em was actually taking it easy just so she could keep an eye on what he was doing. The view was spectacular. Her only other option was to think about Salt and Rory and the thought of not being with them was tearing her apart inside. It was much easier to put her grief to the side if she simply worked and let her intrigue with Shanagar fill her mind.

Shanagar was watching her also. He threw her a smile and she couldn’t help but return it. Even with the distraction, Em wondered what Rory and Salt were doing, as she lifted a piece of stone, seeing the first sign of a sun cloth. She called Shanagar over, pointing it out to him, and then lifted the edge to look beneath. Through the tiny crack she had created Em saw a pair of amber eyes.