BloodGifted (40 page)

I remembered my terror and pain and the adrenalin coursed through me.

I grabbed another long piece of broken wood and swiped the back of his knees with it causing him to temporarily lose balance and stumble backwards.

‘
Merde
,’ he swore.

I got up and made a run for the closest door
. It appeared to lead outside—a rooftop garden perhaps? It would lead him away from Alec, but it meant I’d be alone.

As I reached for the handle
, he tackled my legs. I went down and the piece of wood flew from my grasp and skidded across the floor. His powerful hands grabbed my waist, spun me around and ripped open the top half of my dress. Buttons bounced on the tiles and his eyes burned as he stared at my body.

I aimed a fist at his face, intending to ram his nose through to the back of his skull, but my action was too humanly slow. He growled, grabbed my wrists and pinned my arms above my head. ‘Stop
struggling! I did it for you—for us! Russell knew how I felt about you, noticed it that night and we came to an arrangement—I spare his life and he helps me get you.’

My legs were still free. I raised them and kicked into his chest as hard as I could. It managed to dislodge him for an instant, enough time for me to try for
another run, but he grabbed my ankle and I fell flat on my face onto the tiled floor, the breath knocked out of me.

He was on top of me
in a blink, pushing up my dress and slipping his hand down the front of my panties. ‘I don’t want to take you like this Laura, but I will if I have to!’ he panted in my ear.

‘Bastard!
I hate you!’ I screamed and kicked at him while trying to reach out for the alabaster chess pieces on the small table near my hands. I grabbed two of the larger ones, twisted around and thrust their pointy ends into his ears. He roared in pain and reared up in an attempt to pull them out. That was all the time I needed to scramble out from under him.

I managed to get to my feet when
Jean-Philippe caught my hair and pulled me toward him. I screamed and reached behind me to scratch the skin along the back of his hands, adding to the ones I gave him previously.

He let go of my hair, grabbed me by the nec
k and threw me to the ground. As my forehead grazed the tiles, he roughly grabbed my shoulders and spun me around to face him.

‘T
hought you could get away from me?’ he growled and pinned me under him again, imprisoning my hands above my head with one hand, as I kicked at every soft part of him. Still, it was impossible to prevent him from wedging his knee between my legs and forcing them apart. My stomach tightened. ‘I’m going to have you and watch your face while I’m doing it,’ he grinned, as his other hand slowly undid the rest of the buttons on my dress.

I gasped and tried to wriggle my hips out from under him, but he dug his knee deeper between my legs and pressed his weight down on me.

‘Stop struggling,’ he repeated. ‘It’s really up to you whether this will be a pleasant experience or not!’

‘You sick son of a bitch!’

He
struck me hard across the face till the tears welled up in my eyes. ‘See what you made me do! If you had only come with me when I’d asked. As it is…’ he shrugged and his fingers undid the front clasp of my bra. ‘It was such a simple plan…’ his hand stroked my breast as he pushed my bra aside. My skin shrank back in revulsion.

‘Exquisite
!’ he said.

‘Don’t you touch me you sick bastard!’ I screamed.

He laughed. ‘Too late! Now as I was saying, Russell was supposed to have taken you out of there and down to my car.’ He ran his hand back and forth slowly over my breasts as he spoke. Bile rose in my throat and I had to force it down. ‘Instead he stayed too long and got trapped, the idiot!’ A look of disgust crossed his face. ‘I waited outside, listening, then Alec shows up and then my dear
Pere
! I should have known better than to rely on that fool, Russell! I had no choice but to kill him or he would have revealed everything.’

I couldn’t bear to listen to any
more—he was clearly deranged—and I turned my head away praying that someone, anyone would get here quickly.

He
clutched my chin and forced me to look at him. ‘No more waiting. I’m going to fuck you now, after which I’m going to kill you. It’s the only way I can be free of you.’

It wasn’t just his vulgarity, but the chilling way he s
aid it that terrified me. Luc hadn’t come and Alec’s life was slowly ebbing away just a few feet from me while I was in the hands of a monster. That moment a deep resolve took hold and my terror gave way to anger. It welled up in me like a giant wave and I struggled even more against him, screaming, ‘No! I won’t let you!’

Jean-
Philippe laughed and, quicker than a snake, lowered his head till his mouth was on mine, his tongue forcing its way past my teeth. I squirmed and kicked beneath him and then bit down hard on his tongue. He growled and pulled out of my mouth and a strength I never knew I possessed, surged through me. I strained against his powerful grip and managed to free my hands long enough to push him off me.

There was a loud roar, the shattering of more gla
ss, and Luc was pulling me free. At the same instant I saw Alec rise and grab Jean-Philippe from behind and ram the bloodied piece of wood that had been embedded in his own chest, deep into Jean-Philippe’s back until the tip protruded out the other side.

Jean-Philippe’s eyes
widened, his shoulders bunched back and his body began to convulse as the deadly splinter did its job. Ashen-faced and with blood pouring from the gaping wound, he collapsed and writhed on the ground as his hands clawed at the protruding stake.

I pulled
out of Luc’s embrace, re-hooked my bra clasp and went to Alec, who had collapsed next to Jean-Philippe’s body. Jake, Terens and Cal were at his side. They’d torn off his shirt in an attempt to staunch the blood flow.

‘Alec! Alec! C
’mon my brother, hang in there,’ Jake urged. I heard the panic in his voice.

‘Shit!’ Terens
uttered when he saw Alec’s wound. He glanced back at Jean-Philippe’s still form. ‘He planned Laura’s kidnapping—with Russell!’ The expression on his face—and Cal’s—was one of disbelief mingled with anger.

‘Alec.’ I knelt by him.
He was pallid and his breath came in gasps. I took his hand and held it to my cheek.

‘Laura!’ Jake got my attention. ‘He needs your blood, now.’

‘Quickly
ma petite
, or he won’t survive,’ Luc said.

I lovingly t
ouched Alec’s face, bit back tears—this was not the time—gathered my hair to one side and leaned down to him. Cal and Jake lifted his upper body and angled his head till his mouth was against my throat.

‘Alec,
don’t die. Please, please don’t die. I don’t want to be without you!’ His beautiful face had gone deathly white. The tears stung behind my eyes, then I felt his fangs slide out, the quick sting and he was sucking—weak at first then stronger. ‘Oh yes,’ I heard myself say and my body relaxed into him. I closed my eyes as he drank; could feel his strength returning.

He
gripped the back of my neck and pulled me closer to him as his other arm encircled my waist. I felt myself utterly possessed and my body hummed with another sort of pleasure—that my blood was for him alone, his life giver and sustainer. As he continued to drink, I felt no dizziness, no weakness, only an intense peace I didn’t want to end. It was the effect of the vampire’s bite.

My vampire.

Too soon it was over, he finished and licked the puncture marks he’d made, kissed my neck and gazed at me.

The adrenal
ine gone, I slumped against him and my body began to shake. Soon the shock of what had just occurred would follow. But for now, we were both alive and neither of us spoke as Alec cradled me in his arms.

‘
Ma petite
.’ Luc was on his haunches next to us, his face sorrowful as he looked at me. ‘I’ve watched over you your whole life. Yet now, when I thought you were finally safe’ —he shook his head— ‘one of my own endangered you; someone I trusted. I’m so sorry
.
’

‘Papa, you did everything possible.’

He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. ‘We’ll talk later.’ His gaze drifted to the still figure of Jean-Philippe. ‘I’ll go see my son now.’

Alec and I watched as he rose and walked over to where
Jean-Philippe lay face down on the pearl-grey tiles, the jagged piece of wood sticking out of his back.

Terens
squeezed Alec’s shoulder. ‘You gave me one hell of a scare! And Laura, pet, I’m so sorry we didn’t get her sooner.’

‘You came in time.’ I wouldn’t let myself dwell on anything else.

He nodded and went to join Luc.

‘Good to see you alive,
my brother,’ Cal said. He turned to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. ‘Laura, angel, are you all right?’

‘I suppose.’

He tapped my shoulder in a gesture of comfort and then with a deep sigh he too, rose and went to Luc, who knelt by his dead son’s body.

I shivered at what
Jean-Philippe had nearly done to me and it would be a long time before I would be able to say his name again without shuddering.

‘Take him ba
ck to my estate,’ Luc said.

He stood up as Jake and Cal carefully wrapped
Jean-Philippe’s body in the floor rug that lay nearby. Hoisting it carefully over his shoulder, he rose and strode over to the elevator. The other three wordlessly followed. The elevator doors opened and closed after them.

Alec and I were alone again, with a broken window and a wrecked penthouse.

‘He nearly killed you,’ I said in a hoarse whisper.

‘Nearly, sweetheart. But it appears your blood is far more potent than any of us knew. That piece of wood went straight through my heart. I should be dead.’

‘I tried to pull it out.’ I shuddered at the recent memory and ran my arms around his neck.

‘Seeing the terror on your face was enough to gi
ve me the strength to rip the thing out of me.’

I pulled out of his embrace and ran my trembling hands over his smooth, muscled chest. The gaping wound had s
ealed up. There wasn’t even a scar. Not much blood either; his T-shirt must have absorbed most of it.

I placed my lips over his heart and kissed the spot where the stake had been rammed. My eyes caught the glint of light on the gold crucifix round his neck. I lightly touched it. ‘I prayed.’

‘It was answered.’ Alec kissed me then folded me securely in his arms once again. ‘I was helpless and you had to fight him on your own.’ Anger tinged his voice. ‘I heard every word. The rage I felt and then the fear at what he was doing to you…’ His teeth gritted and his breathing increased. I placed my hand soothingly on his chest. Alec’s jaw clenched as he looked at my ripped clothes. ‘No one undresses you but me,’ he said and pulled closed the torn remnants of my dress.

I n
estled back into his embrace. It was the best place in the world even though we were sitting on the floor surrounded by the remains of his ruined apartment.

‘You’ll need a new dining suite,’ I said.

Alec’s body shook with laughter. ‘As if I care! You’re all that matters to me. I’d happily have the whole damn place wrecked if it meant having you safe in my arms—where you belong.’

He knew just the right thing to say. I closed my eyes and allowed myse
lf to drift on a cloud of bliss as every one of my senses savoured him—his scent, the strength of his arms around me, his soft breathing, the feel of his skin beneath my cheek, the delicious taste of his kiss. We’d both nearly been murdered and I was sure the shock would hit me soon.

The intercom buzzed. Alec frowned. I didn’t want him to let go of me. ‘No, don’t answer it.’

It buzzed again and I clung to him. ‘It’s all right.’ He kissed my forehead, scooped me up and walked over to answer it. ‘Yes?’

‘Anyone ordered pizza
?’

Chapter 48

Aftermath

LAURA

I woke up in Alec’s bed. We were in the loft and he lay next to me wearing only his jeans. My head rested on his bare chest and my hand on the rippling mass of muscles that was his stomach. His arm cradled my shoulder while the other drew circles on the back of my hand.

Strong day
light stole into the room from the living area. It brought into sharp focus the built-in wardrobe and the rumpled dark navy, paisley bed sheet under which I’d lain.

‘Is it morning already?’
I asked.

‘Afternoon
.’

‘I slept that long?’ I didn’t know what time I finally fell asleep, but
sometime after I ate. Alec had the pizza guy place the box in the elevator and then persuaded me to eat at least a one slice. It would help with the shock, he said, after which he carried me up to his bed and held me till I fell asleep. ‘Thank you for not leaving me alone.’

‘As if I would.’ He paused. ‘You screamed and thrashed about. At one point you wept.’

I sat up and looked at him, aware I was still in my torn clothes from last night. ‘The whole time?’

‘N
o. Intermittently.’ He brushed the hair off my shoulder. ‘You were traumatized. I would’ve been surprised if you didn’t have nightmares. That’s why I didn’t leave you—even for a second.’ His gaze swept over my face and neck and his expression darkened.

‘You didn’t sleep at all?’

He shook his head. ‘Don’t really need it. Your blood.’

‘How long?’

He raised a questioning eyebrow.

‘The nightmares
, Alec. How long will I have them?’

He
sat up, took my hands in his, glanced down at the bruises on my wrists and frowned again. ‘Don’t know. Everyone’s different. Your mind’s trying to cope with what you experienced and it’s going to take time, darling. But I’m going to do my utmost to help replace the frightening memories with joyful ones.’

‘You have my permission to do that.’ I smiled at him.

He leaned in and tenderly kissed my forehead, the hollow of my throat, then my neck and jaw. ‘Does it hurt?’

‘What?’

‘You’re face and neck are bruised and there’s a nasty graze on your forehead.’

I remembered the way
Jean-Philippe roughly grabbed me and I instinctively ran my fingers over my face. It didn’t really feel sore, just a little tender. ‘No, it doesn’t hurt.’ I wanted to erase that memory forever; it only made me shiver.

Alec pulled me back into his arms
. I felt a tremor run through him. I wasn’t the only one affected by last night’s events. We’d fought for our lives and Alec had been forced to kill a friend—someone he’d known as a brother for longer than I’d been alive. Neither of us had come through this unscathed. It would haunt him for a long time.

I reached up and cupped his cheek. ‘How are you? You s
aved my life and lost a friend.’

He stared down at me
before drawing a deep breath. ‘He stopped being my friend the day he saw me as a rival. It seems kissing you during the Ritual earned me a few enemies. But I don’t regret it—not for one moment.’ He looked lovingly at me, dipped his head and kissed me lightly mindful of my injured mouth. He lay back down taking me with him.

‘Alec?’

‘Mmmmm?’

‘How was he able to overpower you? Doesn’t my blood make you stronger?’

‘I’ve been thinking of that. The only thing I can come up with is that a combination of your blood—when he bit you—and adrenaline created a dangerous combination. I was surprised myself.’

Alec ran his fingers soothingly through my hair. We lay there quietly for a few minutes as I thought over the events of the last twenty-four hours. Then the realisation hit.
‘You nearly died Alec, you nearly died!’ I raised my head and looked down at him.

‘But I didn’t. I’m here, with you.’

‘Philippe was going to kill us both and he nearly did!’

‘He didn’t,’ he said quietly.

My breathing sped up and before I knew it, hot tears spilled down my cheeks.

‘That’s what I’ve been
waiting for,’ Alec said and wrapped me securely in the strength of his arms.

I sobbe
d till my whole body shook. He held me tightly against his chest, cooed soothingly and stroked my hair till my tears had run their course. ‘Want to talk?’ he softly asked.

I shook my head. ‘What’s there to say?’

‘How you feel.’

I tipped my head up to look at him. ‘Better
, now that it’s out. He… was my half-brother! He was supposed to protect me, look after me! Not what… he was planning to do. And I’m angry that he tried to kill us both because he didn’t get what he wanted! Well that’s life. Tough! We don’t all get what we want, but I don’t kill for it!’

A
lec listened and nodded and stroked my hair as the words came pouring out of me. ‘When I saw the way he impaled you with that dreadful piece of wood I didn’t know what to do and I was terrified he’d killed you. When I saw you were still alive, I tried to keep him away from you in case he came back to make sure you were dead and I prayed Luc would get here on time…’ It all came out in one breath.

Alec’s eyes widened and he sat upright, raising me up with him. Holding me at arm
s length he stared at me a while, till I began to worry if something was wrong. Finally he spoke. ‘I’m trying to understand this. You were fighting to survive, yet you were worried about me?’

‘Yes.’

There was another moment of silence. He opened his mouth and closed it again, then shook his head. ‘No one has ever left me speechless before. Laura you are…’ He drew me to him and kissed me so fervently I almost stopped breathing.

My lip
had healed completely and I didn’t want him to stop. I ran my arms around his neck and pressed myself to him. I didn’t wait for him to part my lips. He stopped and lifted his head.

‘What’s wrong? Why are you stopping?’ I asked.

‘I forgot—your lip, darling. I don’t want to hurt you.’

‘
It’s fine. Don’t hold back. I need you to kiss me right now.’

He nodded in understanding and gently drew me down, rolling me beneath him. ‘You don’t ever have to ask,’ he whispered against my mouth
, and the passion and depth of his kisses did indeed begin to wash away the frightening images of the night before.

How could I possibly love anyone else? Were I to be brutally honest with myself I’d have to admit that I’d never really been
in love
with Matt. There was affection and a certain type of love that develops over time with someone you’ve grown very fond of, but I‘d never experienced the depth of passion that Alec aroused in me. Thoughts of him consumed me, while being in his arms melted me to my core. It was like comparing an old and familiar dressing gown that didn’t quite fit, though one got used to over time, to a ravishing designer gown that slid over your body like a second skin.

‘
It’s your touch I long for. It’s you, Alec. Only you!’

‘My Laura,’ he whispered
as he bent his head and kissed me slowly, deeply and lovingly until I was lost in him.

This is right,
I thought.
This is how it should be
. Utter contentment blanketed my being and suffused my every pore until I felt myself drawn into him. I knew now what it meant to be part of a whole.

‘Always darling and forever
I’ll love you.
’ I heard his deep, rich timbre in my head. I’d forgotten we could hear each other’s thoughts and not only in times of danger, it seems. It was strangely comforting. I’d never have to pretend with him, but on the other hand it’d be hard keeping a secret. I snuggled into his embrace, letting every one of my senses be consumed by him.

He slipped open
my dress, unclipped the front clasp of my bra and cupped my breast. I arched into him impatient to feel his touch and my nipples hardened immediately. His fingers explored, his kiss deepened and my body quivered. Soon the dress and my underwear were on the floor with his jeans and T-shirt and he was sinking into me, moving with a rhythm I loved and matched. Our bodies melded as if made only for one another, and when I came I cried out his name with a long, contented sigh. Alec’s own release followed after and he collapsed on top of me, then rolled to the side and cradled me to him.

We lay there,
cocooned in our own blissful bubble and I knew no other man could possibly compare to him. Luc had been right. He chose Alec for me because he knew no one else would understand me as well, nor make me as happy. I looked into his beautiful lavender eyes, stroked the raven-black hair off his forehead and fell in love with him all over again. That moment, I realised not even eternity would be long enough to love him and learn everything about him. We’d missed out on so much. I wanted to know about his boyhood, his youth and why Luc had transformed him.

As his hand tenderly ranged
the length of my back, I thought it time to ask.

‘Alec?’

‘Mmmm?’

‘You know so much about me, but I know very little about you. Tel
l me about your transformation—if it’s not too painful for you.’

‘It’s not a painful memory and
it involves your father and grandfather.’

‘I’d like to hear it.’

In the quiet of the afternoon, as we lay in each other’s arms, Alec revealed his own history and the part my grandfather, Owen played. Somehow hearing that he’d accidentally shot Alec didn’t surprise me. From what I remember of him, he’d been an impulsive and impetuous man.

‘It was the last month of 1918, Owen
and I were stationed at the same military hospital in northern France and he and Luc had some sort of falling out. He took out his gun meaning to shoot Luc and he got me instead. In order to save him from a hangman’s noose for killing a fellow officer, Owen begged Luc to transform me.’ He sighed. ‘I never forgave him for that and hated all Dantonvilles from then on—’ he kissed the top of my head ‘—except one.’

‘Why about
Judy?’ Surely he couldn’t have hated my mother?

‘She was the o
ther exception, too.’ I heard the smile in his voice.

I’d guessed right about Alec having been a husband and father, if only for a short while.
‘Did you love her—your wife?’ I asked. Somehow it was important for me to know.

He was silent for a while, so I angled my head to look up at him.
‘I liked Eleanor and in some way I did love her. There was no one else in my life and I had no objections.’ His fingers danced around my back. ‘Very different from the way I feel about you. I’d never been in love before. It’s a new experience for me.’

‘Is it?
’ I couldn’t help the broad smile that stole across my face, flattered beyond reason that in all his one-hundred-and-twenty-or-so years, I was the first woman he had ever fallen in love with.

He chuckled. ‘Yes, you’ll be happy to know, Miss Dantonville!’

I raised myself slightly so I could plant a light kiss on his lips, but he laced his fingers through my hair and held me in place as his mouth ravaged mine. A while later, as we both came up for air, I straddled him, leaned down and took his face in my hands. ‘Alec, I know this will probably sound awful, so please don’t take it wrongly, but if your wife and baby hadn’t died you wouldn’t have gone to war, been shot by my grandfather, changed by Luc and’ —I took a deep breath— ‘we wouldn’t be together like this right now.’

‘I
n those few words, you’ve summed up my life—
my
reason for existence. It’s you. Any pain I’ve suffered, the mistakes I’ve made, the path laid out for me have all led here—to you.’

I released the breath I’d been holding. ‘I believe in destiny. Things just don’t happen randomly. There’s a reason behind it all. What does the Bible say about all things working for good? And meeting you last Friday was very good.’

He kissed me again and said, ‘I’m yours for eternity.’

‘Eternity,’ I repeated, the words burning into my brain, so much so
, it felt we’d made some form of sacred and unbreakable bond.

Then he and I made love
again.

Long afterwards,
as I lay contentedly in his arms, he said, ‘I phoned the hospital earlier. Sommers is recovering. You still want to see him?’

‘I need to
say goodbye, Alec. He nearly died trying to protect me. I owe him that, in spit of his lousy intentions.’ Saying goodbye wasn’t going to be easy.

‘I’m coming with you.’

After one last kiss, we both got out of bed. Alec pulled out his phone while I went straight into the shower. As I stepped out, I checked the bruises he’d mentioned. The mirror reflected back pale purple-bluish marks on my forehead, cheek and along my jaw. I tried not to remember how I got them.

The dress I’d packed had a discreet, but low, sweetheart neckline and I feared anyone seeing me with Alec would automati
cally assume he was the one who caused them. I felt sick at the thought. Searching through my toiletry bag I located the concealer and a small bottle of makeup I wore on special occasions.