| |
Alric gritted his teeth at the searing pain shooting through him. Breathed deep and tried to push past it knowing the worst was yet to come. The longer he was apart from Eden - distance and time – the greater his suffering would be. Twenty minutes had elapsed, the mansion’s boundaries were in sight yet Alric was ready to tell Skylhr to turn around and head back to the centre of the city just to alleviate his suffering. Not that Skylhr would have done it; he understood better than Alric did what was happening to Eden and the importance of everything being prepared for the final stages of Eden’s turning.
Driving through the wrought iron gates that still felt new to Alric despite having stood at the entrance to the property for the last one hundred years, Skylhr headed for the rear of the mansion. The long driveway swept around the large three storey mansion with its foreboding gothic architecture and sixty odd rooms that for the most part remained empty. A prop for the humans who passed by it every day as they headed to the university unaware that its occupants lived beneath the ground in a sprawling complex that had been built over the last thousand years.
What looked like barren grassland in fact hid five levels of living quarters and medical facilities for the Silverdale Coven as well as entrances to tunnels that stretched right into the heart of the older parts of the city, with many more being created or extended to reach the area’s inhabited by non-coven members who might still need access to the facilities offered by the coven. One of the tunnels destinations, Alric looked forward to showing Eden as it came out beneath the university library. Three floors below it in fact as he’d first need to go through the extensive coven library Alric had put together as his own collection of books and manuscripts continued to grow, the oldest one being fifteen hundred years old.
Alric reached to open the car door but faltered, clutching at his chest again. The pain was excruciating, unlike anything he’d experienced before, and he’d been stabbed, lanced, shot at, and singed by fire after being attacked by an angry mob outside of Prague during the 14th Century, armed with torches and flaming arrows. That had been days of pain; skin blackened and peeling which had made it harder to get his hands on enough blood to speed up the healing process. Though maybe it had been Albie’s laughter as his skin came off in charred lumps that had been unbearable, considering it was Albie’s carelessness that had seen them chased from the village in the first place.
“Sir?” Skylhr asked, concern dripping off the question as he opened the vehicle door; the one Alric had unfortunately slumped against. “I’ve got you-” quick hands grabbing him before he hit the ground and helped him to remain upright. “-now where do we need to go?”
“Third floor down. There should be a suite of rooms already prepared.” Skylhr nodded. It wasn’t Alric’s private suite of rooms that he’d directed Skylhr to take him to, but the ones specifically used during the turning of humans; a large bedroom, an attached bathroom and another room where their special guests were being kept. “And Skylhr, we’re not at the office, you don’t have to call me Sir.” Smiling weakly.
“Your Lord Highness, then.”
“Don’t be daft... I hated hearing that title associated with my name a hundred years after I received it... and that’s more than five hundred years before you joined us, Skylhr. And this isn’t-” wincing as another wave of pain slammed into him and Alric hoped Eden’s thinking didn’t take too long. “-the first time I’ve told you to call me Alric, or Drayton if you must. How many years is it going to take you?”
“Maybe another hundred years, Sir.” Skylhr smirked, ushering him into the elevator and pushing the button as Alric slumped heavily against the cold metal wall.
He was beginning to regret giving Eden twelve hours to think it over, the pain in his chest, the slicing sensation that travelled along his limbs and the lethargy taking hold were happening faster than expected. Way to fast. All of it. None of it was following the timeline other vampires had noted down when turning their fated lovers. But maybe his calculations were off because he hadn’t factored in the twenty-five years of waiting for Eden, even if he had tried to keep his distance.
The elevator doors opened, and he wanted to wave off Skylhr’s continued assistance but there was no way Alric could have managed to stagger the short distance to the room by himself. Collapsing into a chair in the room, head spinning as though he’d gone two weeks without feeding, and seriously considered asking Albie to bring Eden here whether he’d done thinking or not. Phone rested uneasily in his hand while his fingers tapped against the screen, Eden must be suffering too, but he’d made a promise and Alric was loathed to break it. But he didn’t know how much longer they still had before the pain took on a dangerous edge.
Breathed out in relief as the decision was taken from him; his phone buzzed with a message from Albie: On our way. Eden not looking good.
Twenty minutes later Alric heard them arrive. Hard not to miss the panicked gasps of those lounging around the floor eager to meet the new member of the coven – one they’d heard plenty about over the years - and the angry shouts of Albie as he tried to push his way through them. He wanted to stand, to greet them at the door but Alric’s body had weakened further and not even being close to Eden helped.
“Skylhr,” he yelled weakly, the dhampyre appearing through the door ahead of Albie who was carrying Eden. “I need you to help me onto the bed. I’m not strong enough to hold Eden here.” He was barely capable of standing at all, leaning heavily on Skylhr to walk the short distance from where he sat to the bed. Kicked off his shoes and clambered onto it, hazarding a glance at Eden. Alric didn’t need to look to know how bad things had deteriorated, but he still hated what he saw: Eden limp in Albie’s arms; faint whimpers mixed with the desperate growls of hunger escaping his lips the only sign that Eden was still conscious.
“This is progressing fast, Alric. Way too fast. I don’t like it,” Albie stated as he helped manoeuvre Eden until he was nestled safely against Alric’s chest.
“I know. But everything will be fine once he feeds.” His mind cleared with Eden’s presence, but his lethargy remained. Eden wasn’t the only one who needed to feed. “Now, leave,” he growled, barely holding back the urge to kill Skylhr and Albie as the need to protect Eden intensified. It didn’t matter that Alric wouldn’t have the strength to do it, he still bared his teeth and let out a long rumbling snarl until the pair fled the room.
He stared at the door a few seconds longer, wanting to make sure that they weren’t about to return even though Alric had heard the lock engaging. Satisfied, he turned his attention back to Eden who was moving on instinct, nuzzling at Alric’s neck, scraping his fangs across it but he didn’t have the strength to bite. Alric ran his fingers along Eden’s jaw, brushed them over his lips and nudged at them until Eden’s mouth fell open. He slipped a finger inside and pressed it against one of Eden’s fangs until it sunk into his flesh and drew blood, keeping it there until Eden’s ability to suck grew stronger. Smiled at the angry snarl that ripped its way up Eden’s throat when Alric removed it.
“Come on, Eden. Bite me. Feed from me,” he murmured guiding Eden’s mouth back to his neck, groaning as Eden’s fangs sunk in and the growls were replaced by satisfied slurping sounds before sinking his own fangs into Eden.
His lethargy, dizziness all began to disappear with the first drops of Eden’s blood entering his system. The fragile bond that had begun to tear under the strain of separation began to mend, the heaviness in his chest lifting and the devastating sorrow that had threatened to destroy Alric evaporated as the bond grew stronger, filling him with warmth and joy. He lifted his head, blood dripping from his fangs and tugged at Eden, bringing their lips together and kissed.
“Feeling better, Eden?” brushing his thumbs over Eden’s check bones and marvelling at the beautiful shade of violet his eyes had become. Hunger still hung in them, a desperate need to feed that couldn’t be quenched by his drinking Alric’s blood alone. He slipped off the bed and led Eden toward a door on the far side of the room. “Ready to hunt?”