B Positive by Jewel Killian

Nine

I knockedon the metal doorframe. “Hey, April. How’s he doing?” I asked my swollen-faced, tear-streaked coworker.

“Eden?” April startled, her gaze finding mine. “There hasn’t been much of a change. But the doctors say, given how serious his injuries are, that’s to be expected.”

After Julian left the bar, I’d smoothed things over with Jerry by telling him I’d come see April the following day.

I’d planned to anyway, but it kept him from asking questions, like how I’d gotten between him and Julian so fast, and what compelling was. I didn’t like manipulating people like that, but it was better than explaining vampires and it was a fuckload better than compelling his memory away.

I crossed the hospital room and hugged her. “I’m so sorry this happened.”

Her voice broke. “Me too, Eden. Me fucking too.” She pulled back, looking me in the eye. “You’re never prepared for something like this, you know? I mean, you think you are, but when it comes down to it, you aren’t. How could anyone be?”

I nodded, listening to whatever she needed to say.

“God, and his parents still haven’t been able to get here. They’re on some beach in the Mediterranean somewhere and haven’t gotten a flight out yet.”

“I can only imagine how hard this must be.”

Her eyes welled, chin trembled, but April held her emotions in check by sheer force of will. “Listen, I’ve been here all night and I don’t want to leave him, but I need to get some tampons. Would you mind staying while…”

“Absolutely. Take your time, honey. I’ll stay with Erik for as long as you need.” Which was actually exactly what I was hoping for.

“Thanks, Eeds. I’ll try to be quick.”

I pulled up a chair next to the hospital bed and waited until April’s steps had faded to nothingness. Then I waited some more to make certain there weren’t any nurses about to pop in and check his vitals or give meds or something.

But, eventually, when I was certain the coast was clear, I unwrapped his neck wound.

The sight of the bruised, torn flesh, hastily stitched and stapled back together, turned my stomach. And not only because it was gruesome.

I’d done the same to five people.

Five.

I’d been out of my mind with blood lust. A monster addicted to the chase, the kill, and the blood.

I took a breath and shook off the clinging wisps of the lowest point of my life, and sank my fangs into the meat of my palm. Once a good bit of blood welled from the puncture marks, I smeared it over Erik’s neck wound.

Seven staples worked their way out of the mending flesh as my blood did its job and healed Erik’s destroyed neck. Moments later, my blood had erased the wound entirely.

It was the least I could do. Penance for my prior sins and for what I was about to do.

I let my veil down entirely, filling the room with magnetism. I didn’t even know if this would work, but I had to try.

Erik. Come to me, Erik. Wake up, my pet.

I cooed the words in his mind, hoping that vamp magic could beat out whatever pharmaceutical cocktail kept him unconscious.

There’s no need to worry, Erik. You’re safe. Come to me.

The beeps on the monitors stayed steady, but I had to keep trying.

Erik, you belong to me. Come to me.

His lids flew open, confusion clouding his brown gaze.

“Sshhhh, don’t worry. I’ve got you, Erik.”

His face relaxed instantly.

“Do you remember who hurt you, Erik?”

He nodded, gaze locked on mine.

“Tell me, sweet one. Who did this to you?”

“She didn’t tell me her name.”

“What did she look like, Erik?”

His brow furrowed as his mind worked to find the answer. “I—I can’t remember.”

Shit.She’d compelled him to forget. “Did she say anything to you?”

Erik nodded. “She said this was a message from the king. Time is up and war begins now.”

My pulse jumped into my fucking throat. The king? Julian? It couldn’t be. That couldn’t be right. Sure, Julian was an arrogant dick, but…

I didn’t think he would hurt anyone.

“Erik, who was the message from?”

“The king.”

“Which king?”

He nodded, gaze eerily placid, like the calm before the storm. “King Titus.”

Oh fuck.

Oh, fuckity fuck fuck!

My hands shook, fingertips turning to ice as Erik continued staring at me with big, compelled doe eyes. “Okay, Erik, you did great. Now I need you to forget we talked and return to your previous state, okay?”

Erik smiled at me, nodded once, and closed his eyes.

I let out a long sigh. The monitors registered nothing abnormal. And with shaking fingers, I re-bandaged his neck.

Oh, this was so much bigger than I thought. This was supposed to be a baby vamp on a drinking spree.

King fucking Titus?

Way the hell over my pay grade.

Jesus! This was not what I signed up for!

I should be finding a new fence for my well-earned cooch diamond. Not uncovering King Titus’s plot to wage war on Laurel Cove.

My pulse still throbbed in my neck.

Jesus fuck, get it together, Eden!

I took a breath. Locked down my vamp magic.

Composed myself as best I could.

And waited for April to come back.

Every footfall made me tense up. Each second that ticked by amped up my desire to get the fuck out of here. To do something.

But I had to wait. I counted the ceiling tiles, the smaller floor tiles, and even the nearly invisible patched and painted nail gun holes in the baseboards.

About a thousand years later, when I’d moved on to counting the leaves on trees, April finally came back.

She rushed to his side, checking the screens and adjusting the bandage I’d hastily tapped back in place. “Thank you for staying with him,” she whispered. “His parents finally got a flight out. They should be here in about ten hours.”

“That’s good. You shouldn’t be alone.” I tried to give her a reassuring smile, but my skin crawled with the need to get out of here and do something.

What, I didn’t know. But I couldn’t stay here.

“Well, I better get going.”

April nodded, gaze staying on Erik’s closed eyes. “Of course. Thank you for coming by.”

I leaned over and squeezed her hand. “Erik’s going to be just fine, April. Don’t you worry.”

She gave me a halfhearted smile, and I left.

* * *

I stretched to push the intercom buzzer, pulled away, reached again, pulled away.

I did that at least five times.

This was the fucking last place I wanted to be.

Like, actual hell would be better than this.

The whole walk through town I’d been running a list of pros and cons through my mind, trying to convince myself that there was another option.

But there wasn’t.

I sucked in a breath and pushed the damned buzzer.

The iron gate immediately swung open.

And I marched up the stone path to the king’s compound.

The interior door opened and inside stood, not the gray-haired guard or BDD, but Julian, looking like the cat who’d swallowed the whole damn aviary.

Ass.

Today’s suit was a gorgeous charcoal number but no tie. In fact, the top two buttons of his shirt were deliciously open, calling my gaze, my fingertips, and making me feel underdressed in jeans and tank.

“You’re about fifteen hours early, love,” he said with a smile.

“Don’t call me that.” I pushed passed him, skin humming at his closeness, his scent, at every stupid thing about him.

And my hand brushed the back of his.

We both paused, frozen in place by the charge that zinged through us.

Molten desire coursed through me, slamming into my chest, and tightening my lady cave until it pulsed with need.

I sucked in a breath and glared at the king. “I do not have time for your bullshit magnetism games, Julian. We have a real problem.”

The king raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “Yeah. This is all my fault. You have no part in any of this, Eden.”

I had no idea what he was going on about. “Look, you need to get BDD down to the hospital with a clean-up crew. A big one.”

“BDD… ah, Rory. Yes. Go on.”

“A coworker’s boyfriend is in a coma because of an ‘animal attack.’ I went down to see what he knew and I might have healed his wounds.”

Julian threw a glance behind him.

“On it, sir,” BDD said from somewhere in the depths of the great room.

“As far as problems go, love—”

“I told you not to call me that. And if you’d let me finish…”

“My apologies. By all means, Ms. Vaughn.”

I rolled my eyes. “Eden is fine, jackass.”

The king’s gaze narrowed to slits, and time stopped. He stalked over to me, slow and methodical and all I could do was watch it happen, watch as his hazel eyes went full dark.

A tiny gasp left me as my muscles refused to move.

Predator to predator, the most powerful one always won.

And I was totally okay with him winning whatever this was.

He was on me, pressing me against the far wall with the entire length of his hard, magnificent body. His fingers traced up my neck, around my ear and into my hairline, drawing tingles and shivers from me before he grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled it savagely to the left.

A mortifying sound came from my lips. Like the bastard child of a grunt, groan, and moan, and I had no power to stop it.

He buried his nose in my neck, drawing in a deep breath before hissing in my ear, “I’ve let your flippant tone go because of the sheer amusement it brought me. But you will give me the respect I’m due. Is that clear, Eden?”

He rumbled my name and my body sang beneath his, curving around every inch of his hard, perfect form.

His gaze found mine, locking me in place as a wild hunger ran free behind his eyes.

And that hunger, the undiluted need he let shine through his eyes, pissed me the fuck off. I pushed against his chest, hard. As hard as I could, but Julian didn’t move.

“Why fight the inevitable, Eden?” His silky voice twisted around me, binding me to him.

I brought a knee up to his groin. Not hard. I just rested it there, allowing it to do the talking for me. “It’s not nice using magnetism to have your way with women, Julian. In fact, it’s pretty fucking creepy.”

The king backed away, confusion, then anger clearing the desire from his gaze. “When have you ever known vampire magnetism to work on other vampires?”

That was a good question. “I—well, I guess I haven’t, but what else could it be?”

“Who turned you, Eden?”

God, this again? “Did it ever occur to you that maybe the reason I don’t answer the question you’ve asked me several times is that it’s painful and I don’t enjoy thinking about it? Did that ever cross your mind, or is your big kingly head too full of plans to use people like pawns to get what you want?”

He smirked at me. “We’re the same, Eden. We both use the resources at our disposal to set up our next moves. I simply have more resources.”

And just like that, every physical response my body had to him switched off. Shut down, like my lady garden locked the gate and put up a Closed for Business sign. “We are not the same, you jerk!”

He crossed his arms and glared at me. “Do you truly think that?”

I took a breath, trying to even out the boiling rage this stupid, gorgeous, infuriating king provoked by even suggesting we were similar.

Get yourself together, Eden. This is not why you’re here.

It became my mantra as I stormed away and paced the great room.

I took a few laps, ignoring the king’s stare on me, and pulled my shit together.

Why was I here? It definitely wasn’t to get eye fucked and groan like I’d never had my hair pulled before. I spun around, locking him in my sights. “My friend’s attack wasn’t accidental,” I sniped, ice in my veins and voice. “He said it was a message from King Titus.”

Julian froze.

It was only for the briefest moment, less than a second. But those words, that king’s name, had provoked fear.

In Julian.

Fuck.

We were fucked.

He shook it off and was all cool calculation and composure once again, standing so straight even his suit jacket fell neater around his frame. “What was the message?”

“He said time was up and war begins now.”