“Twenty-nine.” She offered him a weak smile. “But thanks for that.” Another sip helped steel her for the next admission. “Eight years ago, there was in industrial accident in California. A semi-conductor plant exploded. The black smoke…it filled the air. Like dark, dancing ghosts.” With a little snort, Riley met his gaze. “They were almost pretty. But they were laced with silver, cadmium selenide, and silicon. I was on a bus that passed through the plumes. The news that night warned everyone to stay inside for a couple of days, so I did. Didn’t think anything else of it. But a few months later, I fainted. Just got up from my seat in my Gross Anatomy class and toppled over.” Her cheeks heated, though whether from the memory of waking up in the hospital with one of her professors standing over her or from the whiskey, she wasn’t sure. “I absorbed a mega-dose of all those metals, and the damage…it’s permanent. Normally, a person’s red blood cells filter the heavy metals from the body. Mine…don’t. And my blood volume is too high. I donate a pint of blood every other week to my own research to keep my blood pressure down. I’ve been to dozens of specialists all over the country, sent blood samples all over the world. And no one’s ever seen blood cells like mine. I went into research after I graduated med school so I could try to find a cure. But…I can’t.”
Swiping at a tear that spilled onto her cheek, she took another sip of whiskey. She’d be lucky to be able to walk by the end of the story if she kept this up. But…did it even matter?
Declan pinned her with his intense stare, waiting for her to continue, and Riley averted her gaze, focusing instead on the luxurious black duvet clutched in her free hand. “No one knows exactly how long I have left. But based on whatIsee when I look at my blood cells under the microscope…a month at most.”
“Modern medicine can do amazing things. Dialysis? Organ transplants? Why does this mean you must die? There is no way to undo the damage?” Declan leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and all Riley wanted to do was run her hands over his sculpted chest or feel his arms around her again.
“I’ve tried everything. No one will approve me for a transplant. I’d destroy any new organ I got. And all the other options…all made me worse. Not better.” Letting herself relax against the pillows, she closed her eyes. “When the pain started last year…I tried to keep going. More treatments, more pills, a clean diet, exercise, all the things I was supposed to do. I’m just so…tired.”
Satin rustled a moment before his hand was on hers, cool against her warmth. “You do nottastesick, Riley.”
She choked out a laugh as she forced herself to meet his dark gaze. “That’s not a sentence I ever expected to hear.”
“Your blood…it sated me in a way no one else’s has ever been able to. And it has had…otherbenefits as well.” He pulled open his robe. Cut, sculpted obliques angled towards a deepVdisappearing under his pants. “When I rescued you, a group of Hunters came.”
“Hunters?” She tore her attention away from the expanse of smooth skin and furrowed her brow.
“A group of humans dedicated to ending the vampire race,” he said, his voice taking on a harsh edge. “One of them shot me with a silver bullet. A bullet which then pierced your side as well.”
Flinching as she remembered the sound of the shot and the intense pain spreading through her stomach, she swallowed hard. “There’s no scar.”
“That shot should have killed me. Or at least left me so weakened, I could not have escaped with you. But there is more. To heal you, I gave you my blood. Both on your wounds and…you drank from my wrist.” As she tried to yank her hand away, he stopped her. “Riley, let me finish. I do not hunger. Even after being shot, using my blood to save your life, fighting both vampires and Hunters to free you… I should be ravenous. I am not. Your blood is the strongest I have ever tasted. Like the finest wine. I believe what I took from you two days ago could—in normal circumstances—sate me for a week, and that should not be possible.”
“I. Drank. Your. Blood.” The alcohol had dulled her senses and left her with a pleasant, if not a little unsettling, buzz. But that single thought helped sober her up. “Am I…um…like you now?”
“No.” Declan traced slow patterns on the inside of her wrist. “I would never take that choice away from you. I had no say in my making, and…thisexistenceis not one I ever wanted.”
He spoke so passionately, she believed him, despite barely knowing the man—or…was he even a man anymore?
“You should rest,” Declan said, his voice soft and low. “Your body is still healing. I do not keep food here, so I will go into town and get you something to eat. But I need you to promise me something.”
“You aren’t going to just…I don’t know…do what you did to me last time? Make me do whatever you wanted?”
His dark eyes sparkled, and the corner of his mouth turned up into a half-smile. “I could try. But you are special,acushla. You should not have remembered when I fed from you, and yet, you did. When I brought you dinner at your hotel, you resisted my control. Not completely, but enough.”
“Oh, my God. Thatwasyou.” She shook her head. “I knew I’d seen you before. But the food just smelled so good. Wait. I didn’t order anything, did I?”
“No.” His smile widened, and her core heated ever so slightly. He was one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen, and for a moment, she wanted to reach up and touch his strong jaw. Run her fingers through the thick locks of his hair. But then he was speaking again, and she forced herself back to the present. “…to ensure you were all right. I knew I had taken too much. More than I should have. And steak…well, it is what I would have wanted.”
“It was delicious.”
“But back to your promise?” He brought her hand to his lips, brushing a gentle kiss to her knuckles as she nodded. “You cannot leave. Not until I find out what happened to the animals who took you. Please, Riley. For tonight, stay here and rest.”
She wasn’t sure she trusted this vampire. Hell, until a few hours ago, she hadn’t known vampires existed at all, and now she was in one’s bed. But her memories of that cage, the chains, and the agony of them biting her were too fresh in her mind, so she blew out a breath and met his dark gaze.
“I promise. I’ll be here when you come back.”
As if a tremendous weight had lifted from his shoulders, Declan relaxed and pushed to his feet. “Thank you, Riley. For your trust. I will return in a few hours. If for any reason you cannot rest, feel free to explore anywhere you’d like. I do not believe I want to have any secrets from you.”
He bowed slightly, then she saw only a black-clad blur as he rushed from the room.
Closing her eyes, she slid down under the covers. What the hell had she gotten herself into?
