Bella Vita (33 page)

A small trickle of blood oozed out of his
nose. His eyes brightened with shock. “You hit me.”

Believe me, if I had hit
you, you'd be a lot worse for wear- physically and mentally.
I had a desire for blood now.

I crouched low to the ground- my fangs slid
down in defense. Mike stepped back. He shook his head.

I don't want to hurt
you.
His words filled my mind.

I sent a jolt to his system as I kicked out
at his legs. He hit the ground hard- clearly stunned.

Do
not
underestimate me,
Michael.
I growled at him and this seemed
to snap him back.

A low growl escaped from him- had I been any
other person, it would have scared me. He rolled over into a
similar crouch. His movements were controlled as he began to circle
me. It took everything I had not to send more mental energy at him-
I didn't want to be scorched by his witch fire in response.

In a flash of motion, he went in for a
strike, but I came to realize that wolves were not as fast as
vampires. I clipped him on his arm with my nails as he tried to
retreat from the fumbled attack. Every ounce of my vampire attack
skills and training were in check to ensure that I didn't seriously
hurt him.

Mike didn't even check the wound that now
slowly seeped his warm blood down his arm. The more that came out,
the easier it was for me to be distracted. I wanted his blood- the
scent lured me in. I darted toward him, as he shifted out of my
way, I licked his arm. His blood smeared across my face.

His eyes lit with knowledge. He knew my
current weakness, he turned his injured arm toward me and watched
my movements. I tried to keep my focus on the attack, but having
tasted his blood my mind had shifted to pleasure. I was no longer
stalking my prey for the physical violence- now the hunt was one of
want.

I inched toward the throwing knives on the
right wall and grabbed a few. Mike watched with interest- fear
never crossed his face. I quickly threw two and they grazed the
side of his other arm. His eyes blazed with anger, not realizing
that I never intended to hurt him.

I felt the air crackle around me with energy
and knew what was coming before it hit the wall next to me. The
ball burned a small hole in the padded part of the wall- but
nothing too noticeable. I lurched at him with all my strength and
speed.

We fell to the floor with a thud.

“
You threw a ball of
freaking energy at me?!” I felt my temper rise again as I pinned
him to the floor.

“
You threw knives at me!”
He shifted under me to try and show me the wounds.

“
Not in a way that
would
hurt
you...
merely to provide more licking area.” I licked my fangs, the smell
of his blood so near was maddening.

“
The energy wouldn't have
hit you.” He smiled up at me, I could feel his pulse
quicken.

I bent and kissed him, my fangs nicked his
bottom lip. I suckled at the small amount of blood that pooled on
the small pricks.

“
Someone has a craving.” He
teased and wiggled out from under me, pushing me to the side as he
did it.

“
Always, my love.” I bit my
bottom lip, accidentally causing a small cut on my own
lip.

“
Me too... must be the
vampire blood in me.” He grabbed my hair and pulled me to him,
taking my lips and blood into his.

My mind spun with passion and want. I ripped
at his tank and it tore away from his well-sculpted chest. I
scratched my nails slightly down his back, and he gasped- his hot
breath invading my mouth. He tugged my dress off over my head, it
pooled by the door. I turned my head and licked at the small knife
cuts on his arm- they were almost healed.

Bite me, Emma.
His words were thick in my mind.

I took my nail and sliced a small cut by my
collarbone and pressed his lips toward it. Then I bit him- like
every vampire movie has ever shown. His blood flooded my mouth and
my senses went blind to the pleasure and desire of him. I could
feel him sucking the blood from me as I took it from him. Our moans
mixed in harmony.

I pulled back and trailed kisses along his
neck to his waiting mouth.

“
Em...” He sighed out my
name.

My breathing slowed and he stroked my hair.
I laid my head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat calm. “I
love you, Michael O'Shanold.” I whispered into his warm skin,
filling my nostrils with his scent.

“
And I, you, Emma
Hutchinson.” He fell silent for a minute and then added, “thank
you. You knew just what to do to help.”

“
The pleasure was all
mine.” I giggled.

My body hummed with his blood, as I could
feel his doing the same. I felt calm and at peace with the world
and my choices. I tentatively probed Mike to find out if he was
calm enough to learn to shield- he was.

“
Mike, I think it's time
for you to learn to shield. I don't think I can stay in Ireland
much longer.” I tried to sound relaxed about it all, but the
thought of leaving him and this life was more than I wanted to
bare.

“
I know. How do I learn
it?” He stroked my hair affectionately.

“
I wanna see if I can just
transfer the information to you. I could always teach you the way I
learned, but I think that might not work as well.” I smiled at the
memory of Betty teaching me about my abilities.

“
Okay.” His body tensed
slightly.

“
Don't worry, this
shouldn't feel like anything. I'm not probing or undoing anything,
just feeding your mind info.” It was hard not to laugh at his
reaction.

I thought about what it was like to shield,
how I went about doing it, and what the process was like. After I
was sure that I had deconstructed the process enough, I sent the
information to Mike in a stream of images and steps. I could feel
his mind absorb the information. I wasn't sure if he would be able
to do it the same way I did, but it was the only way that I knew
how to do it.

“
Do you think it'll work?”
His words weren't confident.

“
I hope so. We can try and
test it. I could try to block out our bond, and not push as hard as
I could through whatever shield you're able to construct. I don't
think the wolves will know that you're shielding, but I would be
leery of everyone because we don't know who the caster was.” I
frowned.

“
It's worth a shot. Okay,
let's see if I can make one.” He closed his eyes and
concentrated.

After I felt his mind draw a wall between
us, I tried to gently push against it- it held. I pushed a little
harder, I wanted to test its strength. I knew I could break through
it if I went at it with everything, but I was happy that it
withstood my small tests.

“
Good, you should be okay
to shift now. You just have to remember to be able to allow some
information through, otherwise you'll be blank to them and they
will know something is wrong.” I shrugged at him.

“
Right, I had forgotten
that I couldn't just be silent. I'll figure it out.” He smiled at
me.

I stood and went to get my dress. I was
really going to miss how my life had been in Ireland, even if it
had been only a small amount of time. I slipped my dress back
on.

“
Mike, I think it's time
for me to go back. I've some final papers to go over with Moira,
but then I need to get back.” I looked down at my bare
feet.

“
Yeah, I understand.” He
sat up off the floor.

“
You know I wish I could
stay... but... I can't, no matter how much I want to, it's not what
I need to do. You get that right?” My voice pleaded for him to
understand.

“
Em, of course I do. You
know I would spend forever with you, if I could. But we have to
take our places. Our bond will keep us together no matter what...
hey, maybe they'll both get so upset that they throw us out.” He
smirked at me

“
I doubt that.” But a small
seed of hope wedged itself in.

He walked toward me and took my hand-
touching the Claddagh ring. “No matter what Em, we will always be a
part of each other.” His warm fingers touched my face and traced a
line down my cheek.

“
Always and forever.” I
kissed his lips gently.

The small inn that had looked so welcoming,
suddenly was foreboding. My steps felt heavy as I walked toward the
place I loved. I knew that tonight I would be on my way back to
Italy. I swallowed down my self-pity, set my shoulders and walked
through the small door.

“
So, there yah are. I was
startin' to worry, Emma.” Moira sounded every bit of the mother
that she would be.

“
I'm sorry,
Tá brón orm
.” I felt
bad for making Moira worry.

“Ah,
Dún do chlab
, shut it,
and come give me a hug.” Her laughter was musical and filled the
room with a sense of cheer.

Moira surrounded me in
her warmth and smiles as she hugged me as close as she could with
her well-grown belly.

“Yer mate from Italy
called. He said a plane would land fer yah around six.” She said as
she let go of me.

“
Go n-ithe an
cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat
.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“Emma Hutchinson, we
don't curse folks fer no reason... especially ones involving the
devil and cats. Yah do know what yah just said, right?” Moira's
cheeks were flushed a gentle pink as she reprimanded
me.

“Yes. May the cat eat
you and may the cat be eaten by the devil.” I opened my eyes back
up and saw her with her hands on her hips. “I'm sorry,
Moira.”

“No harm, I'm just
gonna pretend I didn't hear yah say anyhing.” She patted my
arm.

“Thank you. It looks
like we better sign those papers.” I followed her to the dining
room, and found the papers on the table just waiting for my
signature.

“I took the liberty of
signing my line while yah were gone. I didn't change anything, just
signed. I figured yah might be a little rushed here at the end. If
there's anything we need to be going over, yah can come back or we
can do it over the phone.” Moira always seemed to be thinking
ahead.

“Aw. Thanks, Moira.” I
hugged her- feeling her pregnant belly press against
me.

“There, there, honey. I
think yah should be getting yerself ready and yer stuff packed up.”
She shooed me out of the room.

My steps echoed up the
stairs. The walk to my room was solemn. The thought of going back
to Italy circled around my head. I could still feel my connection
to Mike. It was like a dull buzz in the back of my mind. I realized
that it would always be there and that if I focused on it, I would
be fully connected to him- mind, body, and soul.

As I shoved things into
my bags, my thoughts drifted back to all the tasks that were ahead
of me. My wedding was approaching so quickly and instead of being a
blushing bride- I had blood bonded and slept with my supposed
arch-enemy.
Sigh.

I needed to get back to
school, start my classes, and shift through all the people that
still needed to know if they were gifted.
How am I supposed to teach, learn, mentally
shift through people, and get married all in something near two
weeks?

My mind was chaotic and
the sheer act of getting my junk together was exhausting. Once my
bag was packed, I laid down on the bed and let the cheery room take
me from my misery.

I dreamt of the
conversation I would have with Dominic. Various scenarios danced
behind my closed eyelids- none of them were pleasant. Time passed
slow enough for me to remember every detail, every pained
expression that crossed his face as I told him of my latest
betrayal. I watched as his body language grew cold and distant to
me and my touch. I could feel my heart break through each
dream.
You did this to yourself,
and for your people.
The thought
raced through my mind at the close of each dream. It didn't stop
the next one from starting.

“Emma, lass.” I felt my
mind being shaken from the land of the dreaming.

“Hmm.” My eyes weren't
quite ready to let go of the torment I was putting myself
through.

“Miss Emma, lass, yah
gotta waken up now. Yer plane will be landin' soon.” The voice was
male and familiar.

“What?” I shook my
head.
Why is there a guy in my
room?
I sat straight
up.

“Sorry, lass. It's
time. Yer plane will be landin' soon.” Moira's husband smiled at
me, and held out a glass- I could smell the blood in it. “Moira
said to bring this up to ya and waken ya.”

“Thanks. I'll be down
in just a minute.” I took the glass from him and
smiled.