Addict (26 page)

“It was that or kill you.” Donovan stood back, watching the small crowd. His blue eyes slowly patrolled the room. I got the feeling very little got past the king. “I didn’t think I could get away with the better option.”

Sharpe completely ignored his monarch. His face was more animated than I remembered. He enjoyed being the center of attention. “When the king brought a vampire on board in those days, he turned us again. He required a blood oath. I made it. I’ve had a lot of blood in my life, Hunter, and none of it could touch that bit the king gave me. My own special talents were greatly enhanced by taking the king’s blood. It made me think.”

“So the king’s blood didn’t give you his powers.” I was grateful for that fact. I didn’t like to think about a supercharged Alexander Sharpe.

“God, no,” Donovan interjected. “If that was true, I’d never share it with other vampires at all.”

“The king’s blood strengthens whoever takes it.” Marcus was the only one in the room who had ever met a king other than Donovan. I’d heard stories of how he dethroned the first vampire to rise with a king’s power. Apparently, he hadn’t been as sane as Donovan. “It doesn’t change the power of the one who takes it. It intensifies the power. Even among non-vampire’s, it has this effect.”

Gray got out of the chair after finishing his donation. “What do you mean?”

Donovan took his place and Henri began working on him.

“Take Devinshea,” my boyfriend said. He held my good hand in both of his, as though trying to give me his strength. “I remember when he couldn’t control his magic. After he began regularly taking the king’s blood, his fertility powers exploded. Even the queen’s glow became stronger with her husband’s blood.”

“Yes.” Sharpe sighed with longing. “She’s almost too bright to look at sometimes.”

“How is this going to help save my
Nex Apparatus’s
arm?” Donovan asked impatiently as his blood began to flow.

Sharpe went over and opened up the large leather bag he’d carried in with him. It was a doctor’s bag, but nothing modern. I would bet he’d brought it with him when he journeyed to the new world. “Well, Your Highness, your blood is going to act as an accelerant for the demon’s healing powers. I could use one of the wolves’ blood, but I think the demon blood is stronger. Your uncle can heal, but in the case of a serious injury, the lieutenant is naturally better able to not only heal, but actually regrow body parts.”

“What the hell is that?” I asked as he pulled out an outrageously large needle. “Tell me you use that on horses.”

Sharpe held up the needle, showing it off. “I think it’s important that a doctor use the instruments he’s most comfortable with.”

I turned quickly to Marcus. “I’d rather have Henri cut it off.”

Henri stared at Sharpe, a disapproving look in his eyes as he finished with the king. “You will use modern instruments or you won’t work in my operating room.”

“Fine.” Sharpe began putting up his instruments of torture. “I can leave.”

“Alex, don’t try my patience.” The king stood. “I’ve given you immunity. Now tell me how you know this is going to work.”

Henri pulled out a tray of more properly sized needles for Sharpe’s perusal.

“I know it will work because I’ve done it before.” Sharpe
tsk tsked
over the small, modern needles, but prepped them anyway. “I haven’t used a human being, but it certainly works on animals. I started with mice, as is customary. I punctured the specimen’s heart with a needle and was able to heal the injury with a combination of the king’s blood and a werewolf’s.”

Donovan’s lips curled up in a snarl. “You want to explain where you got my blood? I know I didn’t give it to you.”

Sharpe looked as innocent as a serial killer could. “I only borrowed a bit.”

“
Verdomme
,” Henri cursed. I don’t understand Dutch, but I’ve been around enough Euros to catch a curse when I hear it. “You stole some of the backup supply.”

Henri kept a supply of the king’s blood for emergency situations.

Sharpe shrugged as though pleased with his own crimes. “Yes, I did. Now might be a good time to point out what the words ‘complete immunity’ mean.”

“Continue.” Donovan bit off his words in an attempt to control his rage.

Sharpe practically purred. “My first experiment was an unqualified success. I continued on, giving each subject longer and longer periods of ‘rest time,’ so to speak.”

“You mean you let them lie dead before you brought them back.” Henri glared at the younger vampire, and a deep crease split his brow.

Sharpe’s eyes narrowed as he took in the Dutch doctor. He continued to prepare his cocktail while he spoke. “Do you forget so easily, Henri?”

The Dutch doctor crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

Hugo sighed. “Don’t bring that up, Sharpe. You know we never bring that up.”

But Henri was off and running. “Do not even claim your perverse experiments have anything in common with my creature. He was a thing of beauty. He was a beacon of light. My creature was a kind and gentle soul.” Henri’s eyes got misty. “They couldn’t understand him. Stupid villagers with their torches and pitchforks.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. His creature? Seriously? “Henri was Dr. Frankenstein?”

Marcus winced, and I knew I’d made a mistake.

“Don’t mention that horrible woman’s book,” Henri said, sniffling. “She tricked me into telling her my story.”

“You slept with her, Henri,” Hugo pointed out. “You get extremely talkative with your lovers. I believe I warned you at the time that it’s best to not talk to writers. They tend to tell all, if you know what I mean.”

“I cannot help it that I’m attracted to creative females,” the doctor sulked. “When she said she wanted to write my story, I believed she would make me the hero.”

“Yes, scientists bringing corpses back to life are the stuff of heroes.” I turned back to Sharpe, who had the needles ready to go. “So we have a bunch of zombie mice running around the complex? I ask because if they start eating people, the king is probably going to send me after them.”

The vampire pulled a stool toward my bed. He waved Gray aside with a dismissive hand gesture. “I destroyed the specimens, of course. Unlike Henri, I don’t get attached to my experiments. I don’t cry when villagers poke pitchforks through their torsos and then set fire to my lodgings.”

Henri sighed sadly. “Yes, Hugo and I had to run very quickly.”

“Now, when I moved on to larger specimens, I did run into a bit of trouble.” Sharpe examined my arm. He ran his fingers up and down, tracing the blue lines showing against the pale of my skin. I tried to pull back, finding the touch far too intimate from him, but he insisted. “I need to find a good vein, dear.”

“What kind of trouble did you have with the larger specimens? And how large are we talking?” Donovan was all business now.

Though he didn’t touch me, I could feel Gray at the top of my gurney. Marcus held my good hand and watched everything the vampire doctor did, but I felt Gray’s eyes on me. Sharpe continued his happy horror tale.

“The larger animals proved difficult to control.” Sharpe’s fingers brushed along my skin, making me shiver with dread. I knew what he was looking for. He was looking for the best vein to push the blood through. He would start where the vein was alive and push it through the dead parts, making a river of life-giving blood. It made sense, and I hated the fact that he was the one doing it. “I would be on the lookout for a slightly deranged poodle. All right, dear, here we go.”

I hissed slightly as he pushed the needle into my vein. He was a vampire. He didn’t need a second chance. He got it right the first time. I didn’t like his smile as he stood over me. “No problem.”

“Sorry, dear, this is probably going to be intensely painful.” Sharpe gave me a mischievous grin.

Marcus swore as the doctor pushed the plunger down, and I screamed. The pain came fast and hard, my body shaking and fighting. Donovan was suddenly in Marcus’s place. He held my shoulders down, forcing me to remain still as fire coursed through my veins. I can handle a great deal of pain, but my entire forearm restructuring itself was a bit much.

Sharpe pulled the needle out of my arm and called for another.

I shook my head. I couldn’t take any more. Tears streamed down my face and I begged, pleaded with them to cut the fucking thing off. Donovan looked grim above me as Sharpe found another vein and went to work.

I was about to pass out from the pain when I suddenly found myself walking on a familiar path. I stopped and studied my surroundings. My body felt perfect, my arm free of agony and whole again. I flexed my hand and smiled before looking around me.

I was in a park from my childhood. Green trees and grass, blue and green playground equipment. Chisholm Park. Up ahead in the distance, I could see the duck pond. I would walk home from Bell High School with Nate, and we would stop and watch the ducks swim. We would stay there for long periods of time, dreading the moment we would go home and face the man who’d raised us. Nate and I would sit and talk, and sometimes he would read to me to pass the time.

There was a comforting weight in my hand. I didn’t need to look to the side to know who was holding my hand. He was the man who had taken me here with his mind. My lover.

“I miss my brother.” The longing for my childhood companion was sharp.

“I know you do,
bella
.” Marcus squeezed my hand gently. “When you’re ready, you’ll call him.”

I nodded and sat down to look out over one of the peaceful places of my childhood. “Is it working?”

“Yes, it’s working. I’m sorry for the pain. I should have pulled you in before he even began. I didn’t believe it was something so horrible. I shall have a talk with the doctor after this is done.”

There was a warm breeze, and I leaned into my lover’s body. He was everything comforting to me. I loved the way his arms felt around me and how my head tucked under his when I rested on his shoulder. I loved his scent. He smelled of sandalwood and soap. We sat quietly for a moment. This was so much better than anesthesia, which would have made me throw up.

I hated the fact that I kind of wished Marcus was Gray.

“
Bella
, I believe it’s finished now,” Marcus said quietly, as though he was reluctant to break our peaceful moment.

I turned my face up toward him. I wasn’t ready to leave. I wasn’t ready to face everyone. The day had gone so poorly. There were ramifications I didn’t want to deal with yet. Marcus and I were going to fight because he wouldn’t like what I needed to do. I wanted some sweetness first.

“Just because they’re done doesn’t mean we are, right?”

A slow smile crossed his handsome face. “No, my mistress.” He gently lowered me on to my back. The grass was soft against my suddenly naked skin. “We’re not finished yet.”

Chapter Fourteen

I flexed my hand, opening and closing it. I was doing it almost unconsciously now. It felt good to use my hand again. It was hours later and I was sitting in my uncle’s living room waiting for dinner. I discovered that nearly losing my arm made me hungry. And thirsty. I was working on my second beer.

“It works like a regular arm, right?” Lee stared at it. I thought he might be waiting to see if it could launch rockets or do something cool and bionic now.

It was perfect, with the singular exception of the skin being lighter than the rest of the arm. It was like I’d tanned lightly, but only on one side of my body. Sharpe swore the two arms would eventually match.

“Yeah.” I grasped my beer bottle with it. “It works like normal.”

“I wish I could have seen it,” Lee groused. “I bet it was cool.”

Rhys smiled and nodded. “I bet it was cool, too. You should have taken pictures.”

“I think it would be gwoss,” a small voice said. My cousin, Courtney Owens, stared up at me. She was a tiny thing with huge brown eyes and thick hair. I bet her hair weighed more than her body did. She was four years old and couldn’t pronounce an L to save her life. “I’m gwad Aunt Kewsey didn’t wose her awm.”

She wasn’t great with Rs either. She was a baby she-wolf, and I kind of wanted to cuddle her because she was so damn cute. I was never a cuddler before I’d started training.

She was my blood. It was odd to think I had family I hadn’t known before a few months ago.

“Me, too, kiddo.” I was unable to stop myself from ruffling her hair. I’d never been around kids before. I was rapidly discovering I preferred them to adults. At least they were honest.

Liv sat across from me at the big dining room table. She took a long swig of beer. The events of the day had taken their toll. She normally didn’t touch the stuff, but when Zack’s wife, Lisa, had offered her one, she quickly said yes. She also said yes to number two, and to the shots of whiskey she’d taken before we’d even gotten here. “I don’t like to think about what you had to go through to get it back though.”

“Let’s not talk about that part,” I replied. Liv had told me she could hear me screaming all the way down the hall. It was my screams that woke her up and sent her to the bottom of the whiskey bottle.