Vampire Food 08: He Smelled Like Peach Pie (2 page)

He chuckled. “Yes, I’m real. They finally managed to send a helicopter for me. I’ve been asking for months. I actually have my own now. I’m your newest representative from the New York region.”

Em smiled. “I was wondering if you would ever come back. How have you been?”

“I’ve been okay. It was tough at first. Joel left the place in an uproar because he took all the strongest vampires with him. It strikes me as strange that those same vampires turned tail and ran…Anyway…quite a few of the humans were dead. A few of them had been turned and that made matters worse because the humans that were left were terrified and had locked themselves in one of the barracks. They were armed and dangerous. I eventually managed to talk them out because they were as hungry for food and water as the new vamps were for blood.”

“What did you do with the new vamps?”

“I had them coalesce. It calmed their hunger just as it had done for you. I, of course, chose fairly weak vampires to be their second maker, so it didn’t make them stronger as it did for you. I felt slightly outnumbered. Luckily that has changed and I have regained my place as headmaster and peacemaker. I have put an end to the separation of humans, vamps and shifters. I managed to convince them that we are all an equal part in the scheme of things. It’s the truth.”

“Yes, it is. We try to stress that here also. We need each other to survive and we can benefit from one another.”

“That we can. How are things?”

Em shrugged. “Okay, I guess.”

“You’re lying.”

A weary smile flashed on her face. “You know me well, Gaelic. I feel trapped here. I feel as if my men have moved on without me. I’m no longer a part of the community that I had in Connecticut and I’m an outsider here.”

“You are their queen. That sets you apart. In Connecticut, you were the queen in name only, because you were also one of them. Here, you are literally the queen.”

“I don’t want to be the queen. I want my men back, I want my friends and family back. I had hoped to help here, but other than the meetings where I make suggestions, there is nothing for me to do. Salt has Mia, Rory has science, and Russell is helping the shifters establish a new hierarchy of alphas.”

He stroked her cheek in a soft, loving gesture. “But you are queen, Em. Go out among your minions and be a part of your world.”

“I don’t know if I can anymore.”

* * * *

Rory stood at the foot of the bed staring at Em. She had pink tears dripping from her cheeks and she was softly mumbling in her sleep.

“I don’t want to be queen anymore.”

He sat down with a sigh and wiped a tear from her cheek. Em didn’t open her eyes and he wondered who she was talking to. She had kept herself secluded in their room for the past few weeks and it bothered him immensely.

It had obviously pained Em to have Salt go to Mia, but she had tried to hide her feelings. Rory had seen it though, the sighs of regret she would release occasionally, the far-off look in her eyes and her obsession with watching the sun rise and set. Em wasn’t talking to him, no matter how hard he tried to coerce her into conversation. He didn’t want to come straight out and accuse her of lying to him about Salt, but she was also lying to herself.

Of course, Russell had chosen the worst possible time to start mating, but that was a matter of nature rather than choice. The women were in heat and ready to accept his seed. If he didn’t go to them, it would be months before another opportunity arose. Rory hadn’t known that shifter women only had cycles four times a year, but he knew now.

He also had a feeling that Em was regretting never having a child. It was not a physical option for her, but they could always raise one of Russell’s children. Maybe he should discuss that with Russell. It would put a big dent in their lives. Even a shifter child needed care and attention, and Rory had gotten to an age where he really wasn’t sure if he wanted that. He enjoyed having Em to himself.

Stripping off his clothing, he leaned and lifted her from the bed. Em was deadweight in his arms and it was unlike her to sleep so soundly. If anything, she hadn’t been sleeping enough. She was usually still awake when he went to bed and in the evening, he would wake up alone. His Em was drifting away from him as surely as a boat that wasn’t anchored to shore. His interest in the creations of the lab wasn’t helping any either. He was spending far too much time trying to learn the different formulas and how to distinguish what properties could be found in nature. Each day they were testing new chemical combinations or new enzymes. Some of the plants around the mountain range were proving to have properties that could be extremely beneficial. One of herbs, when crushed and cured correctly, almost perfectly matched the cell structure of human blood, but the chemical they used to extract it was too toxic to be viable. They were working on an alternative derivative to break down the organic matter, but had yet to find a good substitute.

Laying Em in the right direction on the bed, he removed her shirt and jeans. Rory wondered when she had eaten last. She looked thinner than she should, her ribs showing clearly through the skin over them. She didn’t need to eat often, but she did need to eat something. If she didn’t, eventually the fluid that kept them alive would completely dehydrate and she would die.

He pulled the blankets up over her body and then crawled in beside her. Em didn’t seem to know he was there as he stroked back her hair from her face. Her cheeks appeared slightly sunken and dark shadows were forming under her beautiful eyes. Rory really needed to get her to talk and find out what the hell was going on in her mind.

Mia slapped the card on the table. “Gin! Are we gonna sit here playing cards all night again? I know you want to get to know me and establish an emotional connection, but this is bullshit, Salt. I want to have sex and go back to hanging out with my friends. I’m not Em. I’m not happy to hang out in my room all day and night and be sweet to each other.”

Salt frowned. “Mia, we have been hanging with your friends almost every night. I wanted us to spend some time alone together. I enjoy talking to you and getting to know how you think. What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing, Salt. I enjoy talking to you also. It’s just that I really want to have sex and you keep turning me down. You haven’t even given me a decent kiss. Is this going to happen or not?”

Salt sighed. He wasn’t building the bond with Mia that he had hoped, and he wanted this to be a special, memorable experience. Sitting back in a more relaxed manner in his chair, he stroked back his hair. “Mia. What are your expectations for sex? Why me?”

She seemed to consider his question as if wanting to give him the right answer. “I want it to be you because of Em. I know she wouldn’t accept anything but perfection in her bed. I want that perfection. I want to know what it feels like. I don’t think any other vampire could give me that. Well…maybe Rory, but I know that he wouldn’t even consider sleeping with me. He is too devoted to Em.”

“And you think that I’m not?” he asked with far more anger in his voice than he intended. He was completely devoted to Em. If it hadn’t been for her pestering, he wouldn’t even be with Mia. Granted, he wanted Mia’s first-time sexual experience to be memorable, but it didn’t change what he felt for Em.

Mia winced as if he had slapped her. “I didn’t mean it that way. I know how much you love Em. It’s just that Rory is older and…I don’t know. I don’t imagine him as gentle as you would be. I also have a closer bond with you than Rory. You were always very sweet to me when I was still a child. I figured that you would be the same way in bed.”

Salt chuckled. “Ah, the whims of imagination. What do you dream, Mia?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“When you imagine me in bed with Em, how does the dream go? Do I kiss her softly and stroke her skin with sweet reverence?”

“I don’t know. I guess.”

“That happens very rarely. We, her men, have a very different sexual relationship with her. We kiss, but it is not soft and sweet. I stroke her skin, but the theme of worship is not holy and filled with kindness.”

Mia lowered her eyelids as if trying to search out his soul for his intended meaning. “So you are rough and cruel to her?”

“That, my dear, is all in your interpretation of cruel. Do I find it cruel? No. I find what goes on behind closed doors intriguing and arousing. I think that if you ask Em, she will tell you the same. Of course you would have to get her to discuss such things in the first place and that probably won’t happen.”

“Of course not. Em still considers me a child.”

“It has nothing to do with your age, be it physical or mental. It has to do with discovery of what things arouse you. What Em finds creative and alluring is not something she would discuss openly with you or any other woman who doesn’t prove herself to have like desires. That is not something that you can do, Mia. Experience is not wrought through discussion, but through trial and error. Some experiences are better left in the shadows of life because no matter how alluring they may seem, the reality can prove dangerous.”

She rolled her eyes, flexing her jaw in irritation. “Why are you talking to me in riddles, Salt? Are you capable of having soft, caring sex with me or have you just been wasting my nights?”

“I am capable, Mia. I just can’t help but think that maybe you would be better off with another for your first time. Find a man that you can form a bond with. Make your first time with someone that you can trust and give yourself to without worry.”

She snorted in anger, throwing her head back as she growled. “What the fuck do you think I’m trying to do? I have a bond with you. I trust you and I have no qualms about giving myself to you. If nothing else, I know that you will give me complete pleasure. I don’t want my first time to be with someone who feels the need to conquer me because I’m a virgin. I don’t want a man who is going to pleasure himself and leave me hanging. I know that won’t happen with you.”

Salt knew that there were many young and inexperienced vampires in the caves. The governors had surrounded themselves with newling vampires that wouldn’t question them or challenge them. They had made sure that they controlled their hunger through coalesce with equally inexperienced and weak vampires. Mia was probably right in her concerns that they would act like rowdy young men with a desire for conquest. Many of them also had limited experience with sex and that would make a difference.

None of that changed the fact that he was still torn about sleeping with Mia. Given a choice he would have said no, but Em had been right that somewhere deep in his mind, he had wanted this with Mia. He had wanted to be her first and make it special for her. Salt knew from the expression on her face that if he continued to deny her, Mia would go to someone else. He didn’t really want that either.

* * * *

Becka was twirling his hair in her fingers. He really disliked it when she did that. He snatched her hand and moved it away from his hair. “I really have to head back to my own cave.”

“But I’m not with child, Russell. I would know. I would be able to feel it. Your seed did not take my egg. I feel nothing but the warm glow of after sex. I think we should go to sleep and try again when we wake up.”

“I think that you should go to sleep, and I should go back to where I belong.”

Becka sat up, pursing her lips sadly. “I can’t believe you. I have given myself completely to you and still you reject me. How can you choose a vampire over one of your own kind? What is wrong with me, Russell? Is it my twisted tooth? I will have it fixed. Is it that I’m not skinny enough? I can lose weight. Tell me and I will change it.”

He rose to sit opposite her. “This is not something that you can fix, Becka. I love Em. You know that. You have known that from the beginning. This is not a matter of having a relationship. It is a matter of having a child. I never offered you my heart. It is not available to be given away.”

“You know that the other shifters look down on you because you are with a vampire woman. You are a strong alpha, yet you lose respect because of your choice in mates.”

“I really don’t give a shit. I never cared what others thought of me, and I’m not going to start now. I don’t want a position as alpha of any clave that I’m not already a part of. Just because it involves three vampires and my mate is vampire, makes them no less of a family to me. I have all the respect I need from them.”

“But you are superior to them.”

Russell was stunned by the comment. He never would have imagined hearing those words from Becka’s mouth. “How do you figure that? We are of equal strength and mindset. If anything, they run faster than I can, no matter what form I take.”

“But we are not limited to only walk during the darkness. That is a weakness that can so easily kill them.”

His nostrils twitched in anger. Was it a comment or a threat? “They don’t die easily and anyone who thinks they do had better change their attitude or live somewhere else. You’re right. I can walk in the sun, but if any harm came to my mates, I can also
hunt
during the sun. I would not hesitate to track down their betrayer and tear them slowly apart.”

Becka swallowed hard, fear showing in her gaze. “I…didn’t mean anything by that. I only meant that you are stronger.”

“I think that you had better keep that opinion to yourself, Becka. It would not be looked upon too kindly here. If anyone else shares your notions about dispatching vampires into the sun, they had better rethink their ideas. Remember, the reason that you want me is because I’m a superior alpha. That same reasoning makes me a superior hunter and I have no qualms about killing anyone, including my own kind if they betray me.”

He spun, dropping his feet to the floor and getting up. “I’m really surprised at you, Becka. I would have never taken you for a woman who looks down on others because of their breed. This is the last time that we sleep together. If you value your life here, then rethink your ideals.” He leaned quickly forward, snatching her chin in his palm. “And don’t ever fuck with my heart. I would die for them and I would kill for them just as quickly, Becka. Do you understand me?”