Brotherhood Of Blood - Rare Vintage Part 6

Marc's skin began to blister as the silver worked its way inside. The only thing that could save him now was blood and alcohol. Perversely, he lay in the middle of a vineyard with the deep red fermented blessing only a few yards distant in one of the outbuildings, but he had no strength to get there.

He felt himself losing the ability to reason or to think beyond the incredible pain. The doorway in his mind he'd been careful to keep shut opened wide. He felt the gasp of shock from his mate and he regretted the pain he caused her, even as he slid into a semi-conscious state on the gra.s.s next to Leonard's ashes. He'd be joining him soon, he knew.

"I love you, mon coeur."

The thought whispered from his mind to his mate's in his last moments of coherence. It was all he could say but there was a wealth of feeling behind those simple words. He had many regrets, but most of all he regretted leaving her so soon. He'd only just found her, and now she would have to go on alone.

"I'm sorry."

Kelly gasped as she was. .h.i.t by a wave of pain. Atticus and Lissa had just arrived home and were speaking with her in the hall when her world began to spin.

She vaguely felt herself being caught in her employer's strong arms. She saw his worried face floating above her, but her mind was focused on the pain of her mate.

"Marc!" she screamed, clawing at Atticus to let her go, knowing that just a few hundred yards distant, her mate was breathing his last.

Atticus must have let her go because the next thing she knew, she was running across a field toward Marc 's gasping body.

Kneeling at his side, she uncovered the festering claw marks, at a loss as to what to do for him.

"Silver," Atticus hissed, placing his mate behind him. They'd apparently followed close behind her in her mad dash from the house to the field. "We have to get him inside to the vats." Lissa tried to move next to her friend, but her husband barred her way.

"You can't touch him. The silver could kill you."

Worried eyes went from Marc's convulsing body to Kelly's tortured eyes. "Someone has to help him."

Atticus nodded solemnly. "I know."

Kelly took it all in with brutal clarity. Atticus was willing to risk his own life for his friend, but he wanted his mate far from the danger. Apparently she was the only one to whom silver wasn't a poison, human as she was. Making a quick decision, she found the strength somewhere deep within herself to hoist Marc partway off the ground, scooping her arms under his broad shoulders.

She couldn't lift him, but she could drag him. She began moving while Atticus watched from a distance, knowing she had to do as much as she could. She didn't want her friend Lissa to feel this same excruciating pain of the heart at the potential danger to her own mate.

She struggled to drag Marc, turning back to gauge the remaining distance to the building. She was close, but her strength was flagging. Suddenly, she felt her load lighten. She looked back to find Atticus, his hands wrapped in as many layers of cloth as he could manage to help fend off the spreading silver dust, lifting Marc's feet so he didn't drag. It made it easier to carry him, sharing his weight without the friction of the thick gra.s.s against his lower body.

Atticus hissed with pain when stray particles of silver found the skin of his arms, but he was okay. They made good time to the building and brought Marc inside. Atticus dropped Marc's feet in front of one of the large vats and went to pull the covers aside.

"What now? What do I do?" Kelly was losing it. Marc was slipping away from her, she could feel it.

"Get him in the vat."

"You want me to drown him in red wine?" She was fast becoming hysterical.

Atticus lifted Marc's feet again, hissing when his hands came away blistered from the silver dust, but he lifted and pulled, getting Marc's lower half into the vat.

"The burgundy will counteract the silver. It's the only way." Atticus reached to help wrestle Marc's torso in, but had to stop.

The pain was overwhelming. "You have to do it. Get him in there now or we'll lose him forever!" he shouted as he opened another vat and immersed his hands and arms up to the shoulder, sighing as the deadly silver was nullified by the rich red wine.

Kelly heaved and shoved until Marc flopped fully into the huge vat of burgundy.

Almost immediately, the wine started to bubble.

"What's happening?" She was terrified.

"Don't worry. It's reacting with the silver and his blood. The silver is poison to us because of the special substances in our blood and tissues. He had a lot of silver in his wounds. It may take a while to counteract." Atticus pulled his hands out of the other vat and let the wine drip off his skin as he walked over to watch the progress of his friend.

Kelly looked at his hands and arms carefully. She'd seen how blistered they'd become with just a small touch of the silver dust. They were nearly healed, but his skin still looked angry and irritated. "If he comes out of this alive, he'll need blood the moment he rises from the vat."

Atticus spoke in a low voice at her side. "He won't be reasonable. The beast within will be in control. He'll be mad with pain.

He could, and probably will be dangerous."

She knew what he wasn't saying. Marc could kill her. She understood the reality of that with one part of her mind while the larger part of her heart shouted that she'd do anything if it meant he would live.

"I'd give my life for his." Her voice was a mere whisper. She turned her solemn gaze up to Atticus. "Tell him that if..." She didn't finish the thought. She didn't have to. They both knew the next moments could be her last. "Tell him I love him."

Chapter Twelve.

After a full half hour, the bubbles faded inside the vat. Kelly peered down anxiously, looking for any sign of life. Atticus had insisted that Lissa go to the house. Ian had emerged from the shadows, looking much worse for wear after being subdued by a dozen of Gibson's goons, to escort her. Atticus asked him to make sure his wife stayed inside the mansion. Whatever happened next, it was better to keep the number of people involved to a minimum.

Kelly screamed, caught off guard when Marc rose suddenly from the vat with a great whoosh of force as wine spilled all around. His skin was red from both the wine and his injuries, his eyes mad, flickering red in their depths, and she knew he was not himself. It broke her heart to see him like this...so close to the edge of utter madness.

With a peace in her heart she didn't expect, Kelly gave in when he grabbed her, hauling her close to his wet body and tearing into the strong pulse at her neck. The pain was nothing when compared to the pain of seeing Marc in such a state. She 'd give anything to restore him-up to and including her life.

He drank greedily and without any finesse, his main objective to feed quickly and strongly from any available human. It didn't matter who or how. It didn't matter in his unreasoning mind if he killed. The idea of killing his prey didn 't even register, he was so far gone.

The sweetness of her blood strengthened him like nothing he could have imagined. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he had the thought that this human was special in some way, but the agonizing pain overrode any real rational thought. He drank and drank, feeling himself gaining strength as the moments wore on. His pain started to ebb around the time he felt her heart flutter, her breath gasping weakly against his neck, and her body going completely limp in his arms. He drew back, a furrowed brow the only sign that his sanity was returning.

He frowned down at her, then looked around. He was standing in a vat of burgundy, his torso burning with pain and the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, dying in his arms. Another was there too. Atticus, he remembered suddenly, as the other man strode forward.

"Marc?" Atticus's voice was tentative, searching for his friend within the monster he'd just seen.

"Atticus. What happened? Who is she?"

Atticus strode more confidently up to his friend, looking down at the woman Marc seemed disinclined to release.

"She is your mate."

"Dieu! Kelly!" It all came back in a rush as Marc checked her for signs of life. She was barely hanging on. He sensed it was only a matter of moments before she left him forever, and he knew he would die then himself. There was no way he could carry on without her, especially knowing that he'd killed her in his blind, horrible pain. He had been the monster from Lissa's vision. He'd been the one they needed to protect Kelly from all along. The knowledge left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"There's only one thing to do." Atticus eyed his friend gravely. Marc nodded. "I wanted to give her time to get used to the idea. I didn't want to force her to this, but I have no choice." He caressed her pale cheek, taking a moment to shapes.h.i.+ft one of his long fingers into a claw sharp enough to make a clean cut across his wrist. He coaxed her mouth to the open vein. It was important that this first blood exchange be as thorough as possible. He wanted her to wake strong and...immortal, like him.

Kelly woke in her bedroom, Marc's warm, naked body wrapped around her equally bare form. She felt achy and a little odd.

For just a moment, she didn't quite remember what had happened, then it came back to her in a rush.

Something inside her told her the sun was setting though she 'd never been internally aware of such things before. She felt decidedly different, but was almost afraid to ask herself why. She knew Marc was awake even before he spoke. He didn't move a muscle, yet she was aware of him, in her mind, in her heart, in her very soul.

"I love you, Kelly. You must believe that."

She thought about the desperation she heard in his voice for a moment, not quite understanding, but willing to take him as seriously as he sounded. His arms imprisoned her from behind and would not let her turn to look at him. She let it go for now. She felt the desperation in his embrace as well.

"I believe it." Her voice was sure, but still weak. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I don't understand it, but I believe you."

He sighed, his breath rus.h.i.+ng out against the nape of her neck. She felt his tension ease as he loosened his hold so she could turn around to face him. His eyes were sad and full of regret, but above all, she could see the love s.h.i.+ning in them. Love for her.

"I'm so glad you're alive." She cupped his stubbly cheek with one hand. He turned slightly to place a tender kiss in her palm.

"You saved me, mon amour. Your love saved me."

"But what happened after...?" She trailed off, trying to remember, but all she could recall was his glowing, mad eyes and then profound darkness.

He soothed her, stroking her back gently. "I'm sorry, my love. I'm so sorry."

"For what?" She was starting to really wonder now. He was acting strangely-even for him.

"For attacking you when I was out of my mind. For taking away your choice. For bringing you over without your knowledge."

He appeared to brace himself for her reaction, but she was stunned.

"You made me like you?"

"It was the only way to save your life. In my madness, I nearly killed you. It was the only way to keep you alive."

"I would have died?" Intellectually, she'd known she was very likely trading her own life for his. Atticus had told her how out of his mind Marc would be when he came out of the vat, but to hear him say it so starkly still shocked her. She'd been prepared to die to save Marc, but the question remained, was she willing to live as a vampire?

Marc had given her the choice...before. Now the choice was taken out of her hands. Whether to live with Marc as a mortal and die together at the end of her natural span of years, or to allow him to change her into an immortal that needed blood and l.u.s.t to live was the choice she'd been faced with. She honestly didn't know how she would have solved that little conundrum had the choice not been taken from her by fate.

She could see that Marc was agonizing over her reaction. She also knew that he could read most, if not all of her thoughts. He would know the truth of her feelings, no matter what she tried to tell him, so it was worth thinking through and reasoning out.

In an odd sort of way, she was glad the decision had been made for her. She didn't want to give him up, and she didn't want to be the cause of his premature death if she'd chosen to remain mortal. She didn't doubt for one moment that he'd meant what he'd said about living out her lifespan, then choosing death when she died of old age. She couldn't bear the thought of that.

Yet, she found, suddenly all of that didn't matter. If he was to be believed, she was immortal. She would live forever, barring unforeseen circ.u.mstances, and she could share that time with him. Her spirits perked up. This was going to be okay. So, she 'd have to drink blood. The thought still repulsed her, but then, so did liver, asparagus and caviar, but she'd eaten them all at one time or another. She could do what she had to do to survive. Even if it meant biting some poor guy on the neck every once in a while. Marc growled. "The only man you will ever bite is me, mon amour, so don't even entertain the thought of drinking another's blood."

"I only have to bite you?" She snuggled closer to him. "Suddenly the idea has possibilities."

She gave him a devilish smile, which he returned full blast. He took her breath away when he smiled like that.

His mate was even more precious than he'd known. Not many women would have forgiven him so easily. Not that he wanted any other woman ever again. She was it for him. She was his one and only. His mate, for all time.

He was the happiest of men. His joy bubbled over and spilled into her, his smile touching both souls, joined as they were.

"I love you, my mate."

His lips found hers in a torrent of love, joy and need. He kissed his way down her throat, pausing at her pulse, knowing that this, her first feeding, would be special for both of them. He placed her on the bed, ridding them of the covers with one hard tug.

They billowed out behind them to the floor, unnoticed.

"You will drink from me as I join with you, body and blood. Don't be afraid, Kelly. This is as it was meant to be between us."

She nodded, swallowing hard. Her eyes were enormous in her beloved face, her fear of what was to come shadowed only by her desire. Which was the stronger of the two was yet to be seen.

"I don't know if I can do this."

"I believe in you, cherie. You will do what you must so that we both may live and thrive. Never forget that I love you. You are the other half of my soul."

She smiled softly. "When you say it like that, I can't deny you a thing, Marc. You're downright dangerous."

"Never to you. Never again." His eyes were serious, his lips curving in invitation as he moved over her. "I will protect you from all harm for the rest of our nights. I will love you, honor you and give you sustenance as you sustain me."

He rubbed against her, his hardness sliding into its home between her legs, though not within her just yet. He felt her slick heat against his aroused skin and grinned.

"I want you inside me, Marc." She tugged at his shoulders, but he didn't move.

"You're so impatient, my little love. All in good time."

"I'm going to die here, if you don't get a move on!"

"You will never die, mon amour. Not now. Not ever. You will stay here with me, and when it is time for us to move on to the next realm, we will do so together. Do you understand?"

He couldn't help the fear that shot through him. She felt it too, he knew, echoing his emotions through their link, but he couldn't control it. When he'd come to his senses with her life draining away in his arms, he 'd known a panic the likes of which he never cared to feel again. She would not leave him. She could not.

She must have understood his desperation because she tugged him closer, kissing his face with tender touches. He allowed himself to be pulled down into her warm embrace.

"I'm here, Marc. I'm not going to leave you. Not ever. I love you."

To h.e.l.l with waiting. He'd love her slow the next time, but right now, he had to join with her. He had to be inside her, body, mind and blood. His pa.s.sion flared, and he knew she felt it.

He felt the resulting echo of her joy and pa.s.sion as her body rose to meet his. With one long, hard thrust, he shoved home, finding his place inside her tight body.

He groaned as he thrust within her, knowing she welcomed him in every way. He could feel her mind opening to him and soon he'd take her blood into his body as she would his. He could hardly hold himself in check, just thinking about it.

Slowly, he began to move in and out of her tight p.u.s.s.y.

"Do you feel the need building? Do your teeth ache with the need to expand into fangs?"