Conversion (Page 55)

Feeling more in control of my vision if nothing else, I spat at the man, "Why are you doing this? They’re not hurting anyone! They’re innocen-"

He cut me off before I could finish my protest. "Innocent? Have they hypnotized you woman?" He spat again and curled his lip in disdain. "They’re killers…each and every one of them." He indicated Teren huddled against me, fangs still bared, as if that proved his point.

"And what are you!" I yelled with a derisive curl of my own.

His back straightened and for a moment, I saw a soldier in that green army jacket. "I’m a holy man. I’m doing God’s work. I’m ridding the world of anathemas." He narrowed his eyes as he snarled at me, "I’m not adding to them." Before I could respond he said, "They all kill…every one, so don’t you say they are innocent, loving creatures. They aren’t."

His voice rose and warbled. "My daughter was the innocent…" His eyes watered as pure, righteous anger filled him. "She was tricked by a monster. That thing got her pregnant, then devoured her and the baby in her womb, after he changed." His entire body shook and for a moment, I thought he was going to vibrate off the chair. He didn’t though. Instead, he stood. Still shaking in a near epileptic fit, he walked over to stand in front of Teren. From the light of near madness in the man’s eyes, I didn’t even think he saw Teren anymore. He saw whatever poor vampire had harmed his child.

"He had the nerve to apologize, before I drove the stake through his heart. Apologize! For taking the life of my little girl!" He swung his foot and his steel-toed boot made contact with the bloody pulp of Teren’s shins. The movement jerked Teren’s legs towards me and his body followed suit. He slumped to the ground around my knees, crying out in pain before stilling, knocked out again from the sheer overwhelming power of agony.

I ran my free hand over his back and curled over him protectively. "Leave him alone! He’s already dying! You don’t need to torture him!"

The man sneered at me. Ignoring my comments, he contemptuously said, "I watched you let him feed off of you at that restaurant. That’s what made me positive I had it right." His eyes ran up and down my body, like I was the most perverted thing he’d ever seen. "You commanded him to drink blood from you and then you screwed him." My stomach dropped as I realized what he was talking about. I had thought we were perfectly alone that night by the dumpster. I didn’t know anyone had seen that. Teren had been so focused on my blood, he must not have heard the man, and he’d seen…everything.

My face heated and I raised my chin in defiance. "Yes. I let him drink from me. I let him make love to me. I love him." My eyes ran up and down the creep’s body with contempt. "He’s more of a man than you’ll ever be."

The man smirked again, brought his fist around again, and knocked me out cold…again.

Chapter 17 – Ya Tebya Lyublyu

I was officially not a fan of being knocked out. In fact, I was a little sick of it. Not being real big on the whole mind-nerve connection that was pain, I didn’t want to be hit again in this life-ever. Of course, as I opened my eyes and a pale, hazy light blinded my irises, it occurred to me that my life wasn’t exactly going to be a long and prosperous one anyway.

I groaned and placed a hand on the side of my head that had been clocked twice now…not to mention slapped. Oh, and shoved against a wall. I was fairly certain, by the sharp inhale I instinctively took as my fingers barely brushed my eye socket, that not only was I puffy, I was bruised as well. Great.

"Emma?" A soft, pain-filled voice brought me out of my pity party, and I lifted my head from the floor. I could feel a layer of dirt along the side of my face, but I was too sore to brush it off.

With a slow exhale, I carefully sat up on an elbow. A hand gently touched my shoulder and I turned my head to see Teren’s light eyes inspecting me. I’d never seen such a look of worry and fear on his face. It made worry and fear surge through me.

"Are you okay?" we both asked each other at the same time.

He cringed and nodded as a twinge of discomfort passed through him. I forcefully made myself only look at his upper half. Seeing as how we seemed to be alone in our dungeon now-Buffy must have retreated upstairs to sharpen his stakes-I was sure that one glance at Teren’s injuries would have me curled into a weeping, blubbering ball of worthlessness. And I couldn’t do that. I needed to be strong for him.

I nodded that I was fine as well, and then I scooted my body close to his, careful to only touch his torso. I slung my arm over his chest and laid my head on his shoulder. His shirt was lightly damp, like he’d run a marathon, and his face was still a horrid gray color. I hoped he wasn’t bleeding too badly…

His hand came around my shoulder and he clutched me tight; his other hand gently held my head against him.

"Do you know what he gave you?" I quietly asked into the fabric of his shirt.

"No," he replied, having heard me just fine, even through his fog of pain. He let out a ragged sigh. "Of course, I thought we were the only ones like us." His voice was low. It broke a couple times as a tremor of anguish made his body stiffen beneath me. "I had no idea there were others…"

Lifting my head, I cupped his cheek with one hand and made him look at me. He searched my bruising face and I felt his jaw tighten beneath my fingertips. "Are you in a lot of pain, Teren?" I knew it was a stupid question. I could see quite clearly in his rigidness and in the way his eyes focused and unfocused, that he was in a horrendous amount of pain. But sometimes, in bad situations, the stupid questions are the only ones you’re left with.

"It’s not so bad…if I don’t move," he said in a breaking, restrained voice that made my eyes water. I blinked back the tears.

"Will you really heal from this?" My hand indicated his legs but I couldn’t look at them again.

He knew what I meant, and his eyes also avoided looking down at his bloody extremities. He nodded once. "Yes…I think so." His face took on a seriousness that only comes when someone is about to utter something that will change your life forever. My stomach clenched at the intenseness of his eyes, and I knew exactly what he was going to say before he even said it.

"You have to run, Emma. You have to try and escape before…" His voice lost all its intense power and he swallowed a couple times before trying again. "Promise me you won’t try and save me. I need to know-"

My eyes watered beyond anything I could blink away and tears streamed down my face as I cut him off. "I can’t promise that…you know I can’t." My voice had an awful pleading quality to it and I desperately wanted to give him an empty lie again, desperately wanted to convince him that, of course, I would run and leave him, when I had no intention of doing such a thing. I couldn’t though. I was too scared and overwhelmed to lie at the moment.

His hand cupped my cheek and, gritting his teeth, he shook his head. "You have to, Emma. You have to find a way to get out of here, before I can hurt you." His eyes filled with tears as well. "I don’t want to hurt you…please." The tears ran down his cheeks, taking all my hope of staying strong for him with them. "I can’t live if I kill you." His voice broke in emotion instead of pain, and he laid his head on my shoulder. "I can’t take it if I kill you. Please, run…from me…" He started to sob on my shoulder.

I clutched him tight. Hearing him doubt his ability to not kill me, something he usually unwaveringly assured me of, was scaring me worse than being locked in this dank room. I swallowed and forced myself to answer him. "Okay, Teren…I’ll run. I won’t let you hurt me, baby." I had no idea how I was getting out of an iron bar locked room that I was handcuffed to the wall in, but my vampire needed a lie, and I found some small well of resolve in my body to give him one. After that, I turned into that weeping, blubbering ball of worthlessness that I’d wanted to avoid becoming. Together, we set a new world record for the most amount of tears dropped, in the shortest amount of time.

Eventually we regained control of ourselves. Teren laid his head on my lap, and I ran my fingers back through his hair. He started shaking, and I huddled as much of my warmth over him as I could. He relaxed, just the tiniest amount, as my heat seeped into him.

"I’m so sorry, Emma," he muttered into my legs.

I stroked his back and repeatedly ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm him and myself. "What? Why?" I didn’t see anything about this that was his fault.

He sighed and a heavy shudder passed through him. "I never should have stopped. We’d be at my parents’ place right now…"

I squeezed him tight. "Don’t…don’t you dare do that." He shifted beneath me and I felt him squeeze my thigh. I wasn’t sure if he did that out of reassurance…or pain. "Don’t you apologize for being a decent human being."

He laughed once, a mirthless sound that hollowly echoed through his chest. "If I were human…we wouldn’t be in this mess."

Sighing, I pressed my head against his back and listened to the steady thump of his still-beating heart. "Sometimes, Teren…being human has nothing to do with genetics."

He turned his head and carefully shifted his body to look up at me. Reaching out, he stroked my cheek. "I love you, Emma."

I clenched my jaw. "Don’t do that to me," I choked out. He blinked in momentary confusion. "Don’t you say ‘I love you’, like you’re saying goodbye." Renewed tears stung my eyes as I spoke. I was a little surprised my body was still capable of making them. "There are no goodbyes here…we’re both getting out of this." My voice broke on the end and I had to repeat my seemingly improbable statement.

Teren nodded and I could plainly see that he didn’t really believe my line either. He smiled a weak, fake smile and brought my lips down to his. I softly kissed him before pulling back and losing myself in his calming blue eyes. "It goes without saying, but…I love you too."

****

Fifty-seven…fifty-eight…fifty-nine…

I was counting to five hundred. I was counting slowly and silently, biding my time to come up with a genius plan of escape that would get both Teren and I safely away from this mess. When I reached five hundred, I was going to act on that plan and be the superhero of my own life.

Ninety…ninety-one…ninety-two…

Now, I just needed that plan…

I ran a hand gently through Teren’s hair. He was still lying on my lap, his body angled out away from me, so I couldn’t see his face. I wasn’t sure if he was just being quiet or if he’d passed out again from the agony. He’d been in and out of consciousness for most of our time down here.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed. It must have only been a few hours, but neither Teren nor I had a watch and there were no windows down here to judge time by the sunlight; just one bare bulb that illuminated the center of each of the four walls. The center, but not the corners. And I knew that in those dark recesses, rodents and other unpleasant creatures that I didn’t want to think about were scurrying around. And of course, I couldn’t stop the thought that those creatures would probably take a nibble or two off of me, once Teren had sucked me dry…

No. That wasn’t going to happen. I was going to get us out of here.

One hundred and twenty-one…one hundred and twenty-two…one hundred and twenty-three…