Gabriel's Mate (3 page)

 “Mr. Woodford, the woman is doing worse.”

“Dr. Drake is already on his way. There’s nothing I can do until he gets here. You shouldn’t leave her alone,” Samson said.

“Miss Delilah is with her,” Carl responded.

Samson and Gabriel jumped up.

Panic struck Samson’s face as he bolted up the stairs. Gabriel ran after him and stormed into the guest room.

“Delilah!” Samson’s voice was full of alarm.

Samson’s petite wife sat on the edge of the bed and wiped the woman’s face with a wet cloth. “Samson, please, I’m trying everything to make her comfortable. You storming in here screaming doesn’t help.” Delilah’s scold was soft. Her long dark hair fell into her face as she bent over the woman. Despite the fact that she was pregnant, her body showed no bump yet. According to Samson, she was only three months along—which meant she’d gotten pregnant almost instantly after the couple had blood-bonded right after Chinese New Year.

“You shouldn’t be here at all. We don’t know how she’ll react. It’s too dangerous for you.” Samson put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her up and away from the bed. “Please, sweetness, you’re taking decades off my life by doing this.” He looked over his shoulder at Gabriel and gestured toward the bed. “Gabriel, would you?”

Samson wanted him to play nurse? That was not part of the deal. He would investigate who’d done this to her, even protect her if she was still in danger, but under no circumstances would he sit by the woman’s bed and play nurse.

It was best to tell his boss right now. Babysitting a newly turned vampire female was not what he needed right now, especially not when he was expected to actually interact with her on such an intimate level. A few interrogations, sure, he would be more than willing to do that, but not this, not sitting by her bed, taking care of her.

Hell, he would have no idea what to do. His knowledge of a woman’s body was limited to some hurried sexual interactions and many not-so-hurried porn movies. Surely nobody could expect him to take care of a vampire female? Where the hell was Drake? Shouldn’t he be here by now?

Gabriel turned toward Samson, who was leading Delilah out the door, ready to decline the job expected of him. But a low moan from the woman in the bed made him glance in her direction.

His breath caught in his chest as he saw her for the first time.

Gabriel heard the door close and knew he was alone with her.

The woman lay on top of the blankets, her clothes bloodstained. She wore pants and a t-shirt, a loose, white doctor’s coat over it. In red letters her name was stitched over her breast pocket: Maya Johnson MD, Urology.

Maya’s face was pale, and it looked even paler framed by her shoulder length dark hair. It wasn’t perfectly straight, but had large waves which seemed to caress her face. Her eyes were closed, thick dark lashes standing guard. He wondered what color her eyes would be once they returned to their normal state. Her skin had an olive tint to it, hinting at Latin, Mediterranean, or even Middle Eastern ancestry.

She had bruises and cuts on her face, mostly around her lips which were full and perfectly curved. She had fought her attacker, he knew instantly. Within hours her injuries would be gone, her vampire body healing itself while it slept.

He could only imagine the pain she’d gone through and the horror when she’d realized what was happening to her. She had died tonight at the hands of a rogue, and then he’d brought her back from the brink. She’d had to experience death to gain a new life. How painful had her death been?

Gabriel knew that every vampire’s transformation was different. Many had horrifying memories of the event, things nobody spoke of. And this woman’s memories would be terrifying—being turned against one’s will would have been traumatic. Her wounds attested to it.

Gabriel looked past the injuries and the ugliness of the bite wound on her neck. It was clear the rogue had been interrupted since he hadn’t had a chance to close the wound with his saliva. It would take longer to heal without it. Had he licked the bite wound, it wouldn’t even be visible anymore.

Gabriel only saw the woman underneath the injuries: the sensual curve of her nose, the strong lines of her cheekbones, and the gracefulness of her neck. Her slender figure might as well have been bare, for he could almost imagine what her nude form looked like.

Elegant long fingers extended from slim hands, hands whose caress he wanted to feel on his own skin. Long legs, which he wanted her to wrap around his waist as he made love to her. Full breasts he could suckle from as he kissed every inch of her body. Red lips he would taste with his.

There was something so enthralling about her scent, something so foreign, yet so familiar at the same time. No other scent compared to hers. Rich and dark, it engulfed him, cocooned him in an aura of warmth and softness. Every cell in his body responded to her call.

She was perfect.

Three

All Gabriel could do was look at Maya. Of their own volition, his legs carried him to her side where he sat down on the edge of the bed.

He bent over her and listened for her heartbeat. It was slow—too slow. A vampire’s heartbeat was almost double the rate of a human’s, yet this woman’s heart barely managed to reach a normal human’s heartbeat. Concern spread within him as he noticed the shallowness of her breaths. He didn’t need to be a doctor to know something was wrong.

Gabriel touched his palm to her forehead and felt the clammy coldness of her skin. He sucked in a quick breath. Her symptoms reminded him of his own turning and how he’d almost died a second time. His sire had been baffled by the events, but had never been able to explain it. It had been as if his body had rejected the notion of becoming a vampire. Just like hers was doing. Seeking death instead.

He wouldn’t allow it.

“No,” Gabriel whispered to her. “I won’t let you die. Do you hear me? You will live.”

He stroked her cold face with the back of his hand. There was no response from her. He reached for her hand and clasped the delicate fingers in his large palm. They were like ice. No blood was circulating in her extremities.

Shocked, Gabriel realized that her body had already started shutting down. Frantically, he rubbed her fingers between his hands, trying to generate heat.

“Carl!” he called out. Heavy footsteps came up the stairs. A moment later, the door opened, and Carl stepped in.

“You called, Gabriel?”

“Where’s that damn doctor?” Gabriel didn’t take his eyes off Maya.

“On his way.”

“Help me. Take her feet and rub them.”

“Uh—”

Gabriel shot Carl an annoyed look. “Now!”

Carl jumped into action. While he went to work on her feet, Gabriel continued massaging her hands, rubbing her long, elegant fingers between his large palms.

“What are we doing?” Carl asked.

“Trying to get her blood flowing.”

“The turning isn’t taking, is it?”

The butler had articulated what Gabriel didn’t want to acknowledge. He squeezed his eyes shut and pushed all negative thoughts out of his mind. “It will. It has to.” He touched her face again, but it was still as cold as it had been minutes earlier. “We have to help her body do the work.”

Gabriel shifted and looked at Carl and the clumsy way he rubbed her feet. If there was anybody even more inept with women than himself, it had to be Carl. He was barely touching her toes. “Let me do that. Take her hands instead.”

He shoved Carl aside and took Maya’s feet into his hands. He needed to get her blood circulating so it could reach every cell in her body and complete the transformation. The turning was a complicated chemical process, but normally the body knew what to do. It appeared Maya’s cells either didn’t understand the instructions they were receiving, or refused to comply.

The skin of her feet was soft and smooth, her toenails beautifully shaped and manicured. Ruby-red nail polish adorned them. Gabriel noticed how his own skin color virtually matched hers, though the texture couldn’t be more different. His callused hands bore no resemblance to her softness. Gabriel had never seen more kissable feet. No, he couldn’t let a woman as perfect as her die.

With renewed determination, he massaged her feet with his hands, rubbing up and down her soles, kneading them, then stroking up her ankles, then back down again. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been doing it before he finally heard voices from below.

Drake had arrived. He heard fragments of the explanations Samson gave him as they rushed up the stairs. A moment later, they burst into the bedroom.

“About time,” Gabriel growled.

 Carl released Maya’s hands instantly and stepped back from the bed, clearly relieved to be released from his duty. “I trust you don’t need me anymore now that the doctor is here.”

Without waiting for a reply, he bolted from the room.

“I’m not sure how much help I can be. I’m a psychiatrist, not a physician,” Drake stated, not that the explanation was needed. Both Samson and Gabriel were fully aware of the man’s credentials or lack thereof when it came to the practice of actual medicine.

“That’s the best we can do,” Samson insisted. “The nearest vampire physician is in Los Angeles. We don’t have time to get him up here.”

“Fine, but I want you to sign a waiver that I won’t be sued if she doesn’t make it. I can’t be held responsible if—”

Gabriel seized Drake by the throat and cut him off in mid sentence. “If you don’t stop babbling, you won’t have to worry about a lawsuit, because you won’t be around to appear in court. Are we clear on that?”

“Gabriel!” Samson’s reprimand cut through the tension in the room.

Gabriel released the doctor, who cut him a sour glance.

“Fine.” With a jerky movement, Drake approached the bed and looked at the woman. Gabriel watched his every movement, for some inexplicable reason feeling protective toward her. And why shouldn’t he, since Samson had assigned him this case? It was just like in the old days when he’d started working for Samson’s company as a bodyguard, long before he’d worked his way up to his current powerful position as Scanguards’ number two. He was merely acting as her bodyguard. Only, he’d never guarded a body as perfect as hers.

Drake lifted one eyelid then the other to look at Maya’s pupils before he pried her lips apart and examined her teeth. He slid his finger along her upper teeth and probed.

“Hmm.”

“What’s wrong?” Gabriel asked, impatient to hear the doctor’s assessment.

Drake turned to him and Samson. “Her fangs aren’t growing, and the white in her eyes is not returning. Samson, you said your men found her and think they interrupted the vampire who did this?”

Samson nodded. “Yes, they saw somebody run away, but weren’t fast enough to catch him. They were more concerned with getting her to safety first.”

“Makes sense. I think he wasn’t finished. The turning is only halfway done. She probably barely received any vampire blood. Her human body is fighting it. And her vampire side isn’t strong enough. It’s not sufficient to turn her, but it’s sufficient to make her remaining human impossible. You have to make a choice.”

“A choice?” Gabriel heard himself ask, then felt both the doctor’s and Samson’s stares on him. Did they realize that he had more than a passing interest in her?

“Either turn her fully or let her die.”

Gabriel gasped. He took a step toward the doctor, ready to throttle him. “Let her die?” Before he could lay hands on Drake, Samson put a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder.

“Gabriel. Stop.”

He spun around to face Samson. “You can’t let her die.” Even as he said it, he knew what he was planning to do was against his own beliefs: to give a human a choice. But he wasn’t planning on giving her that choice. Hell, she wasn’t conscious to make this choice for herself.

Samson gave him a sad smile. “Then she has to be turned fully. Do you really want that responsibility?”

Gabriel swallowed. “You would prefer dealing with the guilt of letting her die?” He’d rather deal with the guilt of knowing he kept her alive as a vampire.

“Turning her means imposing your will on her.” As if Gabriel didn’t know that himself.

Samson continued, “The rogue has already taken her choices away. Are you gonna do the same? Are you prepared to make that choice for her? What if she’d rather die?”

“What if she’d rather live?” Gabriel countered.

What if I want her to live?

“Do you really want to play God?”

While he knew Samson to be a man who believed in God, Gabriel had lost his faith a long time ago. But he’d never lost his sense of right and wrong, good and bad. Letting her die now was wrong. “I’m prepared to play the Devil if it means she’ll live.” Gabriel’s decision was clear: under no circumstances would he let her die. Consequences be damned! If she hated him for it later, so be it, but while she couldn’t make a decision, he would make it for her. And he hoped she would agree with him in the end.

A resigned nod was Samson’s answer. “Drake, what do you suggest?”

Drake cleared his throat. “She’ll need to be fed more vampire blood.”

“How much?” Gabriel asked, even though it didn’t matter. He’d give her as much as she needed. However many pints of his blood she wanted, he would happily supply it.

“I don’t know yet. I’m afraid we’ll have to wing it.” The doctor gave a shrug.

Gabriel unbuttoned his left sleeve and shoved the fabric back to his elbow. “I’m ready.”

“When did you last feed?” the doctor asked, concern etched in his face. Suddenly he was all focused, his flippant attitude gone.

“A few hours ago.”

“Good.” He waved Gabriel to the other side of the bed. “Get onto the bed and sit next to her. I need you to open your vein. I’ll hold her mouth open, and you’ll have to start dripping the blood into her.”

Gabriel nodded and did as the doctor asked. He sat next to her on the bed. Willing his fangs to extend, he pierced his own wrist with them. Droplets of blood instantly appeared.

In the background, he heard the door open and close. Samson had obviously decided not to watch. Gabriel didn’t care—he didn’t need his boss’ approval. This was his decision to make. His case. But Gabriel knew full well that this was not merely a case for him—this woman meant more. He didn’t know why, but he trusted his instinct enough to know what he had to do. And his instinct had never failed him.