Conversion (Page 33)

He started walking me backwards, through the bathroom door to the bedroom. His kiss deepened with every step and every thought but this warm, half nak*d man before me, fled my brain. He backed me right up to the bed and, without ever pausing his magnificently talented mouth, he bent down and picked me up.

With only the slightest break to toss the multiple decorative pillows out of the way, he laid me on the covers and sank down on top of me. His kiss picked up intensity. His tongue flashing along mine did wonderful, tingly things to my insides. His hands began un-wrapping the lush towel from around my body, and my legs twined around his. My hands ran up his bare back to clutch at his hair as a particularly good moan escaped me. Hearing myself made me instantly remember where I was. I gently pushed him back. Breathing heavier, he looked down at me in confusion. "What’s wrong?"

I glanced around the seemingly private room as I struggled to calm my breathing. "I still can’t do this here."

He understood what I meant. Smiling, he moved in to kiss my neck. "Emma…" he murmured against my skin. "They’ll be respectful. They like you."

I pushed him back again, more forcefully this time. "When I came upstairs…what could you hear?"

Sighing, Teren slumped over to my side. "Well, obviously I heard you run the tub…" I raised my eyebrows, knowing that even his dad had probably heard the water surging through the pipes. He exhaled again. "I heard you sigh contently as you sank into the water…I heard the bubbles popping."

My mouth dropped wide open. His hearing was even better than I thought. "Oh my God! That’s why, Teren."

He shook his head. "But I was really listening for you. They’ll tune us out. Lord knows I’ve had to…"

I ignored that comment; I did not want to think about what he’d had to endure. I shook my head. "I can’t, I’m sorry…it’s just too weird. It’s like they’re all in the room with me." I shrugged my shoulders, hoping he understood. "It’s not like I can just ask them to all take a long walk, so I can have sex with their son."

He cocked his head as he listened to something I couldn’t hear, and then he started laughing. I was confused for half-a-second, until I understood exactly what I had just done…what I had just said. I covered my face with both hands, completely embarrassed. "Oh God…did I just…?"

Still laughing, he uncovered my face. "Yeah…you just cleared the house. I wouldn’t have been quite so blunt, but that worked pretty well."

I closed my eyes, mortified. "That super hearing is really annoying."

He cringed. "You’re telling me. Great-Gran is very…friendly with some of her guests. You have no idea what I have had to make myself not listen to."

I giggled at the look on his face and then, for the first time here, I completely relaxed into his arms. He finished un-wrapping my towel and then shucked off his own. I watched the glow of candlelight dance across his skin and stared into his pale eyes; they were just faintly glowing.

"Are you still hungry?" I asked, almost timidly.

He pulled back and looked at me with burning, passionate eyes. "No, I’m fine."

I found that I wasn’t. I surprised both him and myself, by what I said next. "Will you bite me anyway?"

He exhaled and his fangs slid out with his breath. His eyes roamed up and down my body, perhaps looking for the best spot. I didn’t care where he did it, just so long as he did. It still surprised me how much I got from the experience. I guess you’ve never felt real intimacy, until your partner has ingested you.

Teren seemed unsure where to take the blood from. I brushed the hair off my neck, exposing the vein to him. He held his breath and locked eyes with me. He’d never taken blood from such an exposed spot before. His eyes clearly asked Are you sure? And I was. I wanted that depth. I wanted that intimacy. I wanted his teeth in me. I also started to wonder if something was quite possibly wrong with me.

"Go ahead…I love you."

His eyes were overflowing with love and tenderness as he gazed at me. "I love you too."

Then he bit me.

Chapter 10 – The Plan

I woke up to a strange warmth on my neck. Strange…but pleasant. Then the familiar stubbly sensation of Teren’s jaw brushed my sensitive skin, and I realized the warmth I was feeling was his mouth. I opened my eyes and shifted to look at the black head nibbling on me. He pulled back and smiled at me and for the briefest moment, I wondered if he’d been feeding on me while I slept. I didn’t like that thought, so I pushed it out of my head. He wouldn’t do that. His teeth weren’t out anyway, so he had probably just been reminiscing. Last night had been pretty darn incredible-even for us.

"Sorry if I woke you."

A languid smile graced my lips. "It’s all right. I think I prefer that to my alarm clock."

I felt the small wounds in my skin and flushed, realizing how incredibly visible those were going to be to the entire world. Worse than a hickey even. He had been extremely gentle, as gentle as one can be, piercing through flesh, and the wounds were very small; they’d probably be nearly healed by Monday. I’d only have to make it through the weekend with the neon flashing sign upon my neck that screamed-yes, your son bit me…and I enjoyed every darn minute of it. I flushed again, thinking about how I’d unintentionally cleared the house last night.

Teren noticed my changing skin tone. Maybe he even smelled it. He ran a finger over the puncture marks, sweeping my fingers away in the process. "You don’t have to be embarrassed." He kissed my neck again, right over the wounds. "You’re beautiful…these are beautiful."

I smiled and rolled my eyes. "They pretty much brand me as yours, don’t they?"

He brought his fingers to my cheek. "I love how much you trust me. I love you so much, Emma. I’d never hurt you."

I narrowed my eyes at the sudden seriousness in his voice, the sudden glistening in his eyes. I gently cupped his cheek. "I know that, Teren. I love you too."

After a few soft kisses, we peeled ourselves away from the enormous bed-it was bigger than two of my kitchen tables pushed together-and got dressed for the day. I didn’t have any clothes that even came close to approaching my neck, so I didn’t even bother trying to hide it. I threw on a v-neck shirt, jeans and boots, and brushed out my hair, which I decided to leave down. I might not be able to hide it, but no need to flaunt it. Teren came up behind me after dressing in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt, and brushed aside the hair from my neck to kiss me again. He was sure enjoying the memory. I added that to my growing list of things to reflect on.

Eventually, I was groomed well enough to face his family, and we left the little sanctuary we’d discovered last night. A moment’s embarrassment flashed through me a second before my foot stepped into the dining room, but it left me the second my foot actually did enter the dining room. I finally felt at peace here, and I wasn’t about to let a little modesty ruin that for me. Besides, the women weren’t going to tease me about what had happened last night. They had all given birth to children and were all well aware how one was created. Well, most of them wouldn’t tease me…I wasn’t entirely sure about Halina. She would probably get a kick out of making me squirm, but I didn’t have to worry about her. She was secreted underground, hiding out the sunlight for the next several hours.

Alanna and Jack gave us a cursory glance when we entered the room. "Good morning, you two. Hungry?" Alanna smiled as she asked us about breakfast. Jack nodded a greeting and then went back to his coffee. Nope…not a big deal at all.

We sat at the table while Alanna brought out ham, eggs, toast and coffee. Teren, Jack and I, filled up our plates and ate while Alanna sat beside her husband. They talked with each other for a few minutes, voices low and loving, and then they brought Teren and me into their conversation, asking me more about my mother and sister. Teren had almost as much to say about my sister as I did, and just like me, he didn’t mention her scars again. We both viewed it as irrelevant to her personality, and I loved that he felt the same way about her.

Halfway through breakfast, Alanna started fidgeting in her chair. After another minute, she politely excused herself and flitted away. I wondered what life would be like if the sun made you uncomfortable. She had been sitting with her back to a bright patch of sunlight, but even light being filtered through the window had eventually been unpleasant enough that she’d had to leave the room. Teren had his face directly in the sun, and seemed as oblivious of its rays as I usually was. I put a hand on my stomach, grateful that any child we had would be more like Teren and I in that respect. They’d still have a mostly normal life.

As we finished our last piece of toast and took our last sip of coffee, Jack Palance walked into the room. I swear that’s who it was. The dead actor had just stridden into the room. Same height, same build, same leathery face, same don’t mess with me look, and same I was born a cowboy, and I’ll die a cowboy demeanor. If he hadn’t been standing in a bright shaft of sunlight, I’d have assumed some vampire had turned the famous man, and his death had been faked for the media.

Teren’s Dad stood up and shook the man’s hand. Alanna walked normally into the room-one of the few times I’d seen her walk into a room at regular speed-and gave the man a brief hug, friendly, but professional. I realized that this man must work for them, right before they introduced him.

"Teren, you remember Peter?" His dad indicated the man beside him.

Teren stood and nodding, walked over to shake the man’s hand. "Yes. Good to see you again."

Teren stretched his arm back to where I had stood up from the table, and was starting to approach them. "Peter, this is my girlfriend Emma. Emma, this is Peter Alton. He runs the crew that helps my dad out a few times a year."

I nodded, said hello, and stretched my hand up to the intimidating man; he was a good half-foot taller than Teren and half again as wide. I inwardly smiled, remembering that Teren was still probably stronger than this man. Heck, tiny little Halina was probably stronger than this man.

"Hello, Miss, nice to meet you." His voice had the rough, raspy quality of a lifelong smoker and his hands were the rough, calloused hands of a man who worked hard for his living. All he needed was a stallion to sit upon, and he’d be the Marlboro Man.

Jack clapped the rough-looking cowboy on the back. "Peter and I have to head into town this morning. Some of the cows have gotten foot rot, and their medicine finally came in." He looked over at his son. "Come with us, Teren."

Teren glanced over at me and frowned as he met Jack’s eye again. "Dad…Emma."

Jack brushed off his concern with his hand. "She’ll be fine with Alanna and the girls. Come with us."

As Teren looked back at me again, I noticed Jack and Alanna giving each other conspiratorial glances, and I suddenly wondered if Jack stayed out of vampire affairs as much as I thought he did. Teren was still frowning at me, so I squeezed his hand and smiled. "I’ll be fine. Go spend time with your dad."

Whatever was going on, better to just get it over with.

Teren sighed, perhaps thinking the same thought. "All right." He tossed a sharp look at his mother, before focusing on his dad and Peter. "Let’s make this quick though."

He kissed me goodbye and then followed his dad down the hall. I could hear Peter’s deep, gravelly voice as he started relaying the cows’ condition to Teren. A lot of technical words were spoken that I didn’t understand, and I could faintly hear Teren ask interested questions in response, before the distance between us finally became too great and I could no longer hear him. I had no need to hear him leave, to know when he did however. I knew the very second that Teren Adams had driven off the property. Alanna made that quite apparent.