VA 2 - Blood Jewel (24 page)

“My thoughts at this moment are
not honorable, I assure you. They’re just down right ...wrong,” he
confessed.

I knew telling him she still
retained the memories of what happened would not help matters, but
it was his right to know. “I don’t know why, but she remembers
everything. She recited the exact words you used to compel
her.”

He jerked around to look at me and
said, “Shit! She’s going to hate me.”

“How can I make this better? Tell
me what I can do for you,” I offered.

“You can lock the door from the
outside on your way out and tell Miss Ferrand that I am truly sorry
for what occurred between us. Please, assure her it will not happen
again.”

“Of course, I will,” I promised.
“You know I will make certain she feels safe while she is here, but
I think you should consider compelling her again, if only to give
her and yourself peace while she is with us.”

He shook her head. “I don’t trust
myself with her and I won’t be the reason her safety is at risk
again.”

“You’ll miss the opportunity if
you don’t act soon. There’s still time,” I advised.

“No,” he flatly refused. “I can’t
face her.”

“You know I would do it for you if
I could.”

He leaned forward in the seat,
resting his elbows on his knees. “I know you would, but this isn’t
your problem to fix. This is my mess.”

With his words, I knew I had been
dismissed. I climbed the stairs, but turned for one last look at my
best friend before locking him up and I saw the light reflect upon
something shiny in his hand. He loosened his grip, but I remained
unable to make out what it was he held so close to his heart.
Whatever it was, I hoped it got him through what he was about to
endure.

≈ ≈ ≈

I found Chansey pacing at the top
of the stairs and the moment she saw me emerge, she asked, “How is
he?”

I attempted to reassure her that he
would be alright, but I suspected she saw the uncertainty in my
eyes. “He’s going to be fine. He just needs a little time and he’ll
bounce right back to the old Sol that we all love, but want to kill
at times.”

My wife was anxious as she said, “I
don’t know, Curry. He really did not look well before you and Avery
arrived.”

Avery interrupted, “It hasn’t been
long enough for the intense craving to start. Trust me; it’s going
to be bad if he doesn’t drink from me.”

“The craving has already begun,
but it’s mild and he is going to be fine,” I said, perhaps a little
too sternly. “He is strong. Until you, he had gone almost 200 years
without drinking directly from a human and don’t you forget that
anytime soon.” I paused, but didn’t feel quite finished in my
defense of my best friend. “200 years. Your mind cannot conceive
what it has been like for him to go that long without doing the one
innate thing that his body constantly craves, so you need to lay
off. He risked his ass to go up in that crazy place to save you. We
both did, so why don’t you show a little gratitude?”

“I haven’t laid eyes on my sister
yet, so please excuse me if I am more than a little skeptical of a
clan of vampires that stole me from a different coven.”

Chansey stepped into the heated
conversation in an attempt to cool my temper by saying, “Curry, she
has a point. We know we rescued her to save her, but she has no
certainty of that. She can only expect the worst after what she has
been through.”

Avery cooled her tone and added, “I
don’t mean to appear unappreciative of your rescue efforts this
morning, but I had accepted my fate with Vincent. I knew my death
was inevitable and I was content to die, but I don’t know what my
future holds here with you. My fate could be far worse than death
and I have no way of knowing, so I will be grateful when I’m
certain I have reason to be grateful.”

Still feeling the need to defend my
friend, I added, “Solomon has asked me to tell you how sorry he is
for drinking from you and to tell you it will not happen again. He
has decided it is best if he temporarily stays in the basement
while you’re here, just until the craving stops.”

“You call this a compound. What is
this place?” she asked.

“We are The Coven of Landra,” I
proudly announced.

“I heard Vincent and the others
talking about you.” She laughed and said, “They say you turn
vampires into farmers.”

I found amusement with Avery for
the first time and laughed out loud as I said, “Well, that’s one I
haven’t heard.”

“No mockery intended, I assure
you. It’s just what I overheard Vincent say about your coven. I
don’t even know what a ‘farmer’ means.”

I continued to smile and said, “No
offense taken because that is almost what we do, but we don’t
encourage vampires to drink the blood of animals. Human blood is
too easy to come by to resort to drinking the blood of unclean or
diseased animals.”

Together, Chansey and I explained
what The Coven of Landra represented and the services we provided.
I told Avery how Sol helped me reclaim who I was intended to be and
taught me how to save the unsavable. She had many questions about
me and Chansey and we did our best to explain it in terms she could
understand. Surprisingly, she didn’t find us strange and seemed
very accepting of our Agápe relationship.

“I believe I am seeing a clearer
picture of who Solomon is and I am truly sorry I happened to him. I
don’t know how long it will take for the intense craving to stop.
I’m not really sure it ever stops. I don’t have anything to gage
that by because no one ever stopped drinking from me once they
started.”

“Trust me. Solomon is tough and he
is going to be fine.” I turned to Chansey and said, “Why don’t you
take Avery to her room so she can bathe? I’m sure you can find some
clothes for her between you and the other girls.”

“How many people live in this
compound?”

“Come on, I’ll catch you up on
everything you should know.” Chansey showed Avery to her room and I
knew she would return much more educated when my wife was finished
with her.

After Avery’s bath, Chansey helped
to settle Avery in by preparing their lunch and giving her a tour
of the house and grounds. Knowing they would be out for a while, I
decided Avery’s absence from the house was the perfect time to
check in on Solomon since it had been hours since my previous
visit.

I guiltily unlocked the door
leading to the underground chambers and descended down the stairs
to find him sitting in the same chair, staring at the same spot on
the blank wall while gripping the unknown object in his fist. Not a
good sign.

“How do you feel?” I
asked.

“Guilty,” he replied.

My words weren’t going to sway his
guilt, but I attempted none the less. “That’s not what I meant and
you know it. You shouldn’t feel guilty because she’s fine. Really.
You have not harmed her and it’s only a matter of time before she
sees how different we are from the monsters she has been
with.”

He gave no reply so I continued,
“Much worse was done to her at Vincent’s and she
survived.”

“Don’t speak of what has been done
to her. I don’t want to hear about it. I don’t want to think about
it,” he angrily responded.

Things were getting too serious and
I decided to try lifting the mood a little. “Okay, no problem.
Avery is doing the girl bonding thingy with Chansey. It’s weird,
Sol. Chansey is taking her under her wing and they act like they’ve
known each other their whole lives. I guess it’s the whole humans
knowing about vampires bonding thing, but I think I’m a little
jealous.”

I thought I sensed a lighter mood
when he said, “That’s good for Chansey. She needs a human she can
share things with. I know she tires of never being able to be
honest with her friends and family about whom and what we
are.”

“How is the craving?” I
inquired.

“The craving is not at all like
what Jenn told us to expect.” Sol reached and touched his lips as
he said, “She’s all I can taste in my mouth, but it’s not her
blood. I can’t stop thinking about the way I felt when I was close
to her and I can’t forget the sweet taste of her skin on my
tongue.”

Her blood definitely did wicked
things to those that drank from her. “Maybe this is how the
withdrawals begin, but Avery said that you would be debilitated due
to the intense craving of her blood. She seemed quite certain about
it and we had a little bit of an argument about it.”

He nodded toward the wall. “Yes, I
am aware of your argument with her and I do appreciate your
concern, but she has been through so much. It would be a huge favor
to me if you laid off of her. The unhappiness she experiences here
only adds to my grief.”

“Okay, I can do that for you.
Besides, I think we have called a truce, but I’m still puzzled by
your response to her blood. Don’t you feel like something isn’t
right about the effects of her blood on you? You never became
intoxicated like the others, did you?”

He sighed, “No, I never became the
least bit intoxicated.”

“We know she’s not lying because
we saw how foolish the other vampires acted after drinking from
her. I think the difference is that you’re just strong enough to
handle it. We are much older than most of those vampires at
Vincent’s. Maybe it’s an age or tolerance thing,” I
reasoned.

“I guess that’s a possibility, he
agreed. “It’s not like we have a lot to go on, but something has
happened. I will admit to that much.”

No craving for blood meant he
didn’t have to stay away from everyone. “Since you don’t crave her
blood, you don’t have to be locked up down here like an animal.
Join us tonight,” I suggested.

“I want to give it a little more
time before I’m near her. I’m sure she’s terrified of me and what
if something happened? I’d never forgive myself if I harmed her. It
would be crazy to be so careless.”

“That’s probably the wiser thing
to do,” I agreed. “Remain here tonight, but tomorrow night you’re
coming up if everything still seems cool.

He nodded as he looked down at the
object in his hand. “Yeah, we’ll see.”

20
Reunited

After Chansey and Avery returned
from exploring the grounds, she came into our quarters and found me
in my studio working on a new oil painting. I cleaned my brush and
said, “Back so soon, Love?”

She walked over and stood behind me
to peer over my shoulder at my latest creation, but I had just
begun so she could only guess what the result would be. She could
never visualize it because it was something she had never seen, but
I saw it in my mind perfectly. It was a picture forever etched in
my memory as I looked at Chansey while she promised to be my wife
forever.

She reached for my shoulders and
began to massage them slowly. “Avery didn’t sleep much last night
and she was really tired. I suggested she take a nap, but in
reality I think it’s me that needs the nap because I’m
exhausted.”

I dropped my head forward so she
could get to the tense muscles on my neck. “I’m sorry you were up
worrying all night. Maybe you should take a nap, too.”

I was listening to ‘The First Time
Ever I Saw Your Face’ by Leona Lewis through the surround sound
speakers in my studio as I worked on Chansey’s portait because it
inspired me, but the slow tempo of the song seemed to inspire
Chansey. She lifted the back of my T-shirt and ran her hands over
my back and then down and around to my chest before she slowly
dropped her hands to my stomach above my jeans. She leaned forward
and kissed the back of my neck. “You had a long night, too. Why
don’t you nap with me?”

I closed my eyes and leaned back to
feel her front pressed to my back. “If I come to bed with you, we
won’t be napping.”

“Promise?” she asked
seductively.

I stood up from the stool and
whispered, “Come with me,” as I took her hand and she followed me
into our bedroom. I stopped next to our bed and took her into my
arms. She pulled me by my hands as she backed toward the bed and
she stopped when the back of her legs met the mattress.

She grabbed the hem of my T-shirt
and pushed it up over my head as I lifted my arms. I reached for
the bottom of her shirt and lifted it over her head and then
unfastened her bra, allowing it to drop to the floor.

She reached for the button on my
jeans and unsnapped them before she slid the zipper down. After she
hooked her thumbs in the waist band of my jeans and boxers, I
stepped out of them as she pushed them lower on my legs.

After I unfastened her shorts, I
pushed them with her panties down her legs and ridded us of the
last thing preventing me from completely feeling her skin to
skin.

She sat on the edge of the bed and
scooted backwards until she was in the middle. She used her index
finger to motion me to come to her and I crawled over her and
hovered without pressing my full weight against her.

I could hear the slow tempo music
playing from my studio and it commanded me to slowly trail kisses
down her body starting at the hollow of her throat until I reached
her flat stomach. She ran her hands up through my hair and lightly
tugged as I worshipped her body with my mouth.