Twice Bitten Not Shy [Vampires of Eternity] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (17 page)

“Oh Gvendolyn, I told you that you needed to listen to me. But you are such a foolish voman.”

The gypsy lunged toward her. At first Gwen didn’t feel anything, then the front of her evening gown felt wet. She looked down and saw a stem from one of the champagne glasses protruding from her chest.
Oh shit.
It was her last thought before she passed out in the middle of the chaos that ensued.

“Bloody hell, Christian, get everyone out of here,” Sebastian yelled. He held his tuxedo jacket to the bleeding wound in Gwendolyn’s chest. “What were you thinking? She’s an innocent,” he barked at Luminitsa.

“No so fast, vampire. She is no more innocent than you are. She vould have saved you. I could see it. That cannot happen.”

“So you murder her instead of us?

“You all must die. The progeny of this evil one shall perish.” Hate spewed from her lips as she pointed at Demetria.

“I understand why you hate us, but she is human and should not be involved in this.”

“Ahh, vampire, you involved her vhen you chose her as your mate.” She cackled as the blood poured out of Gwendolyn, turning Sebastian’s tuxedo jacket into a wet, shiny mess. The scent of blood permeated the air. It would quickly affect every vampire in the room, and then all hell would really break loose.

Christian reappeared after herding the guests from the building. Their staff had the gypsy surrounded. Each was a child of Demetria and suffered from the same curse. Any one of them would be happy to destroy the evil hag who stood before them. But his first priority was to save Gwendolyn.

“Sebastian, let me try to give her some of my blood, at least enough to close the wound.”

They knew that to do so without her permission was wrong, but they couldn’t watch her life bleed away onto their floor, either.

“Do it. But only enough to save her. We will not turn her.” Sebastian could feel just how weak he was. He didn’t know how much longer he had before he, too, become unconscious. He hoped Christian worked fast and thanked all the creators that Christian was stronger than him right now.

* * * *

Christian removed the jacket and pulled the stem from Gwen’s chest. He almost cried when he saw the gaping ragged hole. His beloved was lying there in an ever-spreading pool of blood, while his best friend weakened beside him.

Lucian, one of the new vampire arrivals to Eternity, stepped forward to help him. It took some of the pressure off of Sebastian. Christian nodded his head and conveyed his thanks. All of the vampires knew what Gwendolyn meant to them.

Christian bit his wrist and tore open the skin. He held his dripping wrist over the puncture in Gwendolyn’s chest. She looked so pale. Her heart had slowed and was barely beating. He watched the blood hit her chest and drip into the hole. Slowly, the wound was closing, but not nearly fast enough.

“Sebastian, I think she will need to drink some as well. It is working, but not quickly enough.”

He could feel Sebastian’s agony. They had no choice. It had to be one of them to give her blood. It would probably end Sebastian’s life to give if he did it now. They had known it could come to this and were prepared to die for her. She was truly their heart. Sebastian ripped open his wrist and held it to Gwendolyn’s parted lips. At first it just dripped back out, but then she started to swallow.

“Thank God,” Sebastian exclaimed as he felt her start to suck at his wrist. He was determined not to change her. They were both watching the hole, which was now almost totally healed.

They both took their wrists from her as soon as the wound had closed. They leaned back to watch her breathe. She would live, but she would be weak for quite a while. Hopefully they had given her enough to sustain her through whatever else the gypsy had in store.

Christian tried to find the evil bitch, determined to end her miserable existence right there and then. He would ensure no one else suffered as they had. But it appeared Demetria had been attempting just that while they were trying to save their beloved.

Oblivious to what was going on around them, they had been focused entirely on saving Gwendolyn. The hell that had broken loose had never even registered. The gypsy and Demetria were at war, and the club was in chaos. It seemed that none of Demetria’s powers worked on Luminitsa. However, the gypsy had many evil tricks which she used again and again.

Finally, it looked like Demetria had the upper hand. She hurled a table at the evil crone. As if in slow motion, Christian saw one leg enter the center of her chest. As the leg impaled her, Luminitsa fell to the ground.

Rafe, one of the other Eternity vampires, stepped over to check to see if she was dead. As he leaned in close, she grabbed him and ripped his arm off. He fell to the floor with blood spurting from his gaping wound. Lucian hurried to his side to help his friend.

Before anyone could do anything else, Luminitsa let out an evil screech. She disappeared with the promise of more wrath to come. And then she was gone. Roger lay there in her stead, the table leg still protruding from his chest.

Christian knew he was dead. He could feel no life force coming from his body. Gwendolyn would take this hard when she awakened. He felt badly for the human, but his first concern was for the two people lying on the floor in front of him. Sebastian had slumped to the floor beside Gwendolyn. He hadn’t even noticed, he had been so drawn in to the battle between Demetria and Luminitsa.

Gwen was so cold.
What’s going on?
She couldn’t think straight, and she felt so weak. It was hard to open her eyes. Slowly her memory returned, and she opened her eyes.
Holy shit.
It was then that everything came racing back in nanoseconds. She struggled to sit up.

Christian helped her, and then she noticed Sebastian on the floor.
Oh my goddess, no. He can’t be dead.

“No, Gwendolyn, not yet, but I’m afraid he will be soon.”

As she tried to focus and make sense of all of this, she knew in her heart that Christian was right. She could almost feel Sebastian slipping away from them. Christian was weak as well.
Wait, how do I know this?

“We had to give you some of our blood, Gwendolyn. We couldn’t let you die. You would have if we had not helped you.”

“Where the fuck is that evil bitch? I have a score to settle with her.”

“She’s gone. You shouldn’t have to worry about her ever again.”

“Dead, I hope?” She looked at Christian for agreement, but he didn’t answer. “We have to save Sebastian and you. I can feel your pain, too. It’s such a weird feeling.”

“You won’t feel it for long, my love. Once we are gone, you’ll lose the connection.”

“No, I can’t let that happen.”

“There is only one way to save us. You will have to become vampire.”

Gwen knew it would come down to this. She loved them. They made her feel alive as she never had been before. She knew without a doubt that now it was her turn to save them no matter what the consequences.

Bree pushed through the wall of vampires surrounding her and knelt by Gwen’s side. “Are you okay, Gwen? I thought I’d lost you for sure.”

She hugged Bree. “Yes, I think so.”

“Thank God.” Bree held on to her tightly, taking her breath away. “I thought you were dead.”

Gwen could feel things she never had before, mostly the pain which emanated from the men she loved. She couldn’t handle much else. She wasn’t even sure how to respond. “Bree, forgive me. But I think you might be taking over the business.”

“What? Where are you…oh.”

Gwen hugged her and tried to stand up. “Christian, can we get Sebastian back to your rooms?”

“I think so. Demetria will help.”

“If she must.”

Christian flashed Gwen a weak smile. “I think she must.”

Gwen turned to Brianna. “Could you please take care of things here? By the way, where is Roger?”

“Oh, Gwen, I’m so sorry.”

“What?”

“Roger’s dead.”

“What? How?”

“I’m not quite sure. It looks like the gypsy bitch possessed him. Then when it seemed like the vampire bitch queen killed her, she had really killed Roger.”

Gwen felt tears well up in her eyes and spill down her cheeks. “Poor Roger. All he ever wanted to do was protect me.”

“Gwendolyn,” Christian called to her, “we need to move Sebastian now.”

Damn, Roger, I’m so sorry you got mixed up in all of this.
“Yes, of course. Bree, please make sure Roger gets taken care of properly.”

“You know I will.”

Gwen hurried after the three vampires. She decided that not knowing what was coming next was the worst part.

Demetria helped to place Sebastian on his bed. He hadn’t opened his eyes since Gwen had returned to consciousness. Christian looked weak as well. She didn’t have any time to waste.

“Demetria, what do I have to do? I will do whatever it takes to save them.”

“You will need to die in order to save them. Can you do that? Give up your life for them?”

Gwen hesitated for a fraction of a second before answering. “Yes I can, and I will.”

“You will need to let them suck your blood until you are dead. Once that has happened, they will give you blood again, and you will turn.”

“It’s that simple.”

“It may sound that way, but it rarely is,” Demetria responded with a harsh laugh. “When you’ve been alive as long as I have, you’ll find that life is rarely easy.”

“Fine. Do you think you could leave now? I don’t really want you here. I don’t trust you.”

“Maybe you’re smarter than I gave you credit for, human. I shall leave you. I will know what is going on anyway.”

Demetria poofed out of the room before Gwen could answer.

“Gwendolyn…”

“Christian, how do we get Sebastian to drink from me?” Christian looked very bad. She could feel his pain and weakness pulling on her, but Sebastian was fading fast.
Would she be in time to save them?

“Come here, let me bite your arm, then you can let the blood run into his mouth. He will drink it.”

She held out her wrist and was surprised when it didn’t hurt to have him pierce her skin. She looked at him with wonder. She was going to have a lot of questions for sure.

As Gwen held her bleeding left wrist to Sebastian’s lips, she felt his tongue reach out. After what seemed like an eternity he began to suck gently at her wrist.

Gwen pleaded. “Hurry, Christian, you need to bite me again. You need blood as well.”
S
he held out her right wrist.

“Are you sure, Gwendolyn? We did not want you to feel forced into this.”

“I am sure. Just bite me, damn you.”

Christian forced a small smile, which never reached his eyes, and then he pierced her right wrist with his fangs. At first he drank gently and then he seemed to lose whatever control he still had.

Sebastian sucked at her other wrist harder as well. Gwen realized she was getting light headed. The room seemed to darken as she lost consciousness and fell between them onto the bed.

* * * *

“Gwendolyn…Gwen...wake up, sweetheart.”

Gwen’s eyes slowly fluttered open. Two sets of the most beautiful eyes in the world were staring down at her. Her face broke into a huge smile. They were all alive.

“Hi.”

Sebastian and Christian laughed deep and heartily. Gwen struggled to sit up and realized she was still in Sebastian’s bed. She no longer wore the blue velvet gown she had on for the party. Instead she was clothed in a pink silk chemise edged with lace.
This is so beautiful.

“Oh man, I feel amazing.”

“Welcome to your new life, sweetheart.” Christian kissed her gently on the lips. She could feel the relief radiate through her body. In fact, she could feel everything. It was incredible.

Sebastian took her hand in his and slowly traced along her wrist. “You’ll get used to it, Gwendolyn. What you’re feeling now. But there is so much more for you to learn.”

“So I guess I’m never going to be able to go out in the sun again?”

“Not true, my heart,” Sebastian murmured against her soft lips as he kissed her. “You are not Bram Stoker’s vampire. You are of Demetria’s family line. There is much you don’t know yet. But there is time for that, plenty of time now.”

Gwen smiled her love at them. For the first time in her life, everything felt perfectly right in the world. There would be time to learn. They were together now, and that was all that mattered.

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Lynne St. James has been writing for as long as she can remember. When she was young it was children’s short stories in marble notebooks.

Always a voracious reader, St. James took a job at the local library to feed her habit. She read everything from the classics to science fiction, and mysteries to romance.