The Vampire's Kiss (Other World Series Book 1) (4 page)

“You have a secret admirer.”  Neil nudged
her gently as she walked steadily behind the wagon.  Her thighs hurt and her
back hurt from the four straight days of walking but she ignored it grimly.  It
would have been a lot worse if she hadn’t been exercising for a few months
before she was sucked from her world into this one.

“What are you talking about?”  She lifted
her face to the late afternoon sunshine and ignored the small voice that urged
her to climb into the compartment below the wagon and join Val in his slumber.

“Look to your left, quickly.”

She looked and blinked in surprise when she
saw the tiny pixie dart out of sight behind a large bush dotted with orange
berries.

“How long has she been there?”  She
wondered aloud.

Neil shrugged.  “I noticed her about an
hour ago.”

“Why won’t she just come over to me?”  Abby
asked.

“Frankly, I’m surprised she’s even
following you.  Pixie’s really dislike humans.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.  Maybe it’s because we treat
them like pests.”

“Val said they travel in packs.”

“Aye, normally.  If you find one alone it’s
usually because something’s wrong with it and the others have driven it from
the pack.  To be honest, she won’t survive long on her own.”

Abigail frowned.  “Poor little thing.”

Neil patted her on the shoulder gently. 
“You gave her a chance at least.”

“I guess.”

“May I speak with you about something,
Abby?” Neil asked.

She looked at him curiously.  For the first
time all day, David had left her side, joining Landon and Bert in a lively
discussion about something called barnen.  From what she could tell, it was
some sort of card game and they seemed to take it very seriously.

“What is it?”

Neil stared at her gravely.  “You should
let Val feed from you.”

She stiffened and turned away.  “No.  He
insulted me and told you to leave me in the forest to die.”

“He also saved your life in that forest.” 
Neil reminded her gently.

“And I paid him back for that by saving his
life.”  She spat.  “I owe him nothing.”

“I know.”  Neil patted her shoulder
soothingly.  “You should let him feed from you not because you owe him
something but because frankly, you’re going mad.”

“I am not.  I’m just tired.”  She denied.

“Abby, it’s amazing that you’ve lasted this
long but you can’t keep this up.  You’ll go insane before we reach Karna.”

“I appreciate your concern but you don’t know
me, Neil.  You have no idea how strong I actually am.  I’ll make it to Karna
just fine.”

“I’ve spoken with Val.  I know he was – was
cruel earlier but he feels badly about that and wants the chance to make it up
to you.  He will be gentle and only take enough of your blood to soothe your
need.”

She laughed loudly.  “He feels badly?  Tell
me, Neil, how exactly does a bloodsucking soulless leech
feel badly
?”

“Vampires have souls, Abby.”

Abby frowned at him.  “No, they don’t.  All
the books and TV shows say they don’t.”

“TV?” Neil looked at her doubtfully.

“Never mind.”  She shook her head
impatiently.  “They don’t have souls, they don’t feel remorse or love or
gratitude.  They’re dead.  They have no heartbeat and no ability to feel the
way we do.  Everyone knows that.”

“You’re wrong, Abby.  Vampires have hearts
that beat just like humans and they are capable of feeling every emotion that
humans do.  I have seen it for myself.”

Abigail blinked in tired surprise.  “In my
world, they’re the undead.  Their hearts no longer beat and they have no
souls.”

Neil smiled a little.  “Your world sounds
like an awful place to live.”

She shook her head.  “It isn’t.  It’s
perfectly wonderful and besides, vampires don’t actually exist in my world.  They’re
just a – a fairy tale.”

“How strange.  Believe me, Abby, the reason
that humans hate the vampires is because they feed from us like cattle and look
at us as nothing more than toys for their amusement.  Humans don’t fear them
because they’re the undead.  Although I will admit that Eone and Val are kinder
to humans than most vampires are.”  Neil murmured. 

He hesitated and then tried again.  “Val is
not the monster you think, Abigail.  Let him feed – “

“Fine, they have souls and feelings and
blah, blah, blah.  I don’t care.  Val is an asshole.  If he feels so badly and
wants to help, tell him to stay away from me then.  I don’t need him staring at
me every time I turn around.”  She said grumpily.

“He already is.”  Neil pointed out.  “Did
you not notice the way he avoided you last night?”

She shook her head.  She had spent most of
the evening after the pixie had flown away, hovering in her dream world.  Her
need for Val had been almost undeniable last night.

“He did.”  Neil stared at the tracks the
wagon wheels were leaving in the soft dirt.  He had been shocked when Val
hadn’t tried to seduce Abby last night.  He had known the vampire for many
years and not once had Val ever put the needs of a human over his own needs. 
He took what he wanted regardless of the consequences.  The fact that he had
gone hunting and drank deer blood instead of just taking what he wanted from
Abby had been astonishing.

Remembering the way she had saved the pixie
last night, he tried a different route, hoping to appeal to her obvious desire
to help others.  “You are not the only one who suffers, Abby.  Val suffers
too.  I have never seen him yearn for a human the way he does you.”

She hesitated and he felt a brief glimmer
of hope before her face set back into a stubborn scowl.  “Let him suffer.”

* * *

Val’s eyes opened the moment the wagon
stopped.  He could sense the light and waited impatiently for it to fade from
the sky.  His thoughts turned to Abigail like they always did, and a
combination of need and worry flowed through him.  What had started off as an
obsession for her blood had evolved over the last few days into an obsession
with her.  

Although he desperately wanted to taste her
blood again, he also wanted to be with her.  He had found her ugly at first,
but only a short three days later he was shocked to realize he thought her to
be one of the most beautiful humans he had ever seen.  Her dark eyes and hair,
her pale skin, had him half-hard every time he was around her.  David was
already half in love with her.  He could understand why.  She was sweet and
kind-hearted and, despite her obvious confusion about what was happening, she
was gamely trying to make the best of her new life. 

She hadn’t eaten at all last night. 
Normally David or Maria made sure she ate but they had been distracted by the
pixie.  If he hadn’t been making a conscious effort to try and help her sanity
by staying away from her, he would have brought her food and made her eat it. 
He had finally gone to Maria and told her, but it was late by then and Abigail
had refused to eat. 

He sighed.  Even after only a few days she
had lost weight.  Her borrowed pants, too big to begin with, were noticeably
larger and her t-shirt didn’t hug her curves nearly as much.  He took a deep
breath as he pictured her large breasts.  He wanted to strip her naked, kiss
every part of her body and make her come repeatedly.  He wanted to shove his
cock deep inside of her and feel her warmth gripping him as he plunged in and
out of her tight cunt. 

His cock hardened and throbbed in his pants
and he released his breath in a long drawn-out hiss.  Eone turned to face him,
her eyes drifting down his body, and a small sound of excitement escaped her
throat.

She curled up to him and put her hand on
his dick, rubbing and squeezing it through his pants.  “Do you want to, Val? 
It’s been years since we’ve mated but I’m not entirely opposed to the idea of
fucking you again.”

He knocked her hand away with a low snarl. 
“Get away from me, Eone.”

“Fine.”  She said huffily.  “You don’t have
to be such a dick about it.”

He didn’t reply as he listened to Neil
approaching the compartment.  The door swung open and he slid out, his eyes
searching the dim light for Abigail.   She was standing a few feet from the
others, staring hypnotized at the large pink flower that was opening in front
of her.

Horror rushed through him and he shouted
her name as he flew lightning quick across the clearing.

* * *

Abby sighed and bent over, stretching her
aching back.  They had stopped for the night and she was glad that she would
soon be off her sore feet, but the setting sun meant that Val would be waking
from his daysleep.  She shivered and closed her eyes.

Please let him stay away from me
tonight.  I don’t have the strength to resist him anymore.

She straightened and glanced around.  They
had found a small house with an even smaller barn nestled behind it.  The
others were carrying the supplies into the house, and she was reaching for a
bag from the wagon when the flower caught her eye.

She turned and stared at it.  It was a
large, pink flower on a thick green stalk.  It waved gently in the slight
breeze as if beckoning to her, and she realized with sweet wonderment that its
petals were opening up.  What kind of flower opened at night, she wondered
briefly.  She walked towards it and leaned over, staring intently into the
center of the flower.  A strange, not unpleasant smell, was drifting from it
and she could see small red stalks unfolding from the middle of its soft
petals.

“So beautiful.” She murmured and leaned
closer.

She heard Val shout her name just as the
red stalks shot their tiny spears directly into her throat.  There were tiny
pinpricks of pain and then Val was standing beside her, his strong arm around
her shoulders, and he was pulling her away from the flower and yanking the
spears from her throat.

“Abigail!  Abigail!  Stay awake!”  He
shouted at her.

She realized the light was dimming and her
eyelids were growing incredibly heavy.  A strange paralysis crept over her body
and with the last of her strength she clawed at Val’s face.  She tried to say
his name but nothing passed her lips but a soft whispering moan.  The last
thing she saw before the darkness claimed her was Val’s pale and worried face.

* * *

“What do we do?”  Val shouted at Neil.  He
was sitting on the ground cradling Abigail and he gave Neil a look of pure
panic.

Neil, his face pale, shook his head. 
“There’s nothing we can do, Val.  The flower’s poison has already entered her
blood stream.  She’ll be dead within the hour.”

Val growled at him and pulled Abigail
closer before staring at the others.  “One of you useless humans must know an
antidote, a way to save her.”

When they didn’t reply he gave a scream of
rage and anger that made them all wince.  David approached and Val snarled at him. 
“Do not touch her.”

David backed away as Val stared down at
Abby’s face.  He brushed her hair back from her smooth skin and rocked her back
and forth.  “Wake up, little dove.”  He whispered pleadingly.

Maria knelt beside him and took Abigail’s
hand.  Already it was growing cold as the poison worked its way through her
body.

“Val,” She spoke hesitantly.  “You could
turn her.”

“No!”  He shook his head.  “I will not do
that to her.”

“She’s dying, Val.”  Maria said gently.

“Maria’s right.”  Eone crouched beside
them.  “If you want her to live, then turn her.”

“That’s not living!”  Val hissed at her. 
“Besides, I cannot turn her from my bite alone.  She must drink my blood.  How
are we supposed to make her drink?”

“Pour it down her throat.  It will work
well enough.”  Eone shrugged carelessly.  “Or don’t.  It matters not to me if
the human lives or dies.”

“There must be another way.”  Val gave Neil
and Maria a stricken look.

“There isn’t.”  Maria said softly.  “There
is no antidote for the flower’s poison.  You know that, Val.”

He stared down at her and placed his hand
on her chest.  Already he could feel her heartbeat slowing and her breathing
was shallow and too slow. He gave a low cry of distress and opened his mouth,
letting his fangs extend as he tilted her head back. 

Before he could plunge his fangs into her
throat, there was a sharp stinging pain as something bit his earlobe.  He
jerked as the pixie flew past his face.  She was giving him a furious look and
she bit him on the nose before dropping down and landing on Abigail’s shoulder.

“Get away from her, bug!”  He reached to
flick her away and she immediately tangled herself in Abigail’s long dark hair.

“Stop it!”  He poked at her and gave a low
mutter of pain when she bit him on the tip of his finger.  Her teeth were small
but needle sharp, and a drop of blood fell before his body quickly healed
itself.