Page 14

“Gideon, I know you’re hungry, but take a deep breath.” The sweet hum of her words seeped into his soul, restraining him, but his thirst was stronger than her song. His body collided with hers.

“Son of a bitch!” Aerin let out a startled groan, more in frustration than pain, as she lay beneath him on the cold kitchen floor.

“Forgive me.” His primal reaction to her soft curves pressed against him spoke of how long he’d gone without the touch of a beautiful woman. She pressed her hands against his chest, but he didn’t budge. He didn’t know what he wanted more: to kiss her or to sink his teeth into her. Both, preferably.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Aerin rasped, but he wasn’t listening. All judgment and sense went out the window as he watched her pulsing neck. Gideon sank his fangs into her soft skin. He waited for the blissful warmth to cascade down his throat, but instead, a coldness coursed through his veins, repulsing him as if he bit into a sour piece of fruit or a corpse that had been left out too long.

“You’re an idiot,” Aerin barked as he drank. She didn’t fight or try to push him away. “I didn’t save your life for you to go and poison yourself.” There was no fear in her voice, not the usual reaction he got when he fed.

Gideon broke away from her as a sickeningly salty tang sat on his tongue instead of the warm metallic sweetness he had been so desperate for.

There’s something very wrong with her blood. The thought terrified him. He swallowed, but instead of the liquid velvet of blood he was used to, it felt like razor blades were cutting through his throat.

Aerin shoved him away. Gideon groaned as his head hit the back of the oven. He shook his head, trying to steady himself, as she placed her hand on her neck. He thought his eyes were messing with him as pale blue blood oozed out; if he hadn’t hit his head, he would’ve thought it was sparkling like diamonds. It looked rather enticing, dripping through her fingers, but the tightening in his throat warned him that another taste would be deadly.

Aerin grumbled to herself, sounding more pissed than hurt, as she got up from the floor and wiped the blood from her neck with a towel. His eyes widened; her wound was gone as quickly as he had made it.

“You don’t need to be afraid of me. I’m not going to hurt you.” Aerin rolled her eyes as he pressed himself against the oven to escape her.

“What did you do to me?” he rasped, staring up at her in a panic, his legs struggling to find the strength to stand.

Visions of dark waves crashing over rocks again and again riddled his mind. He felt like he was drowning. A strange sensation, considering vampires didn’t need to breathe.

“Try to relax, Gideon. My memories aren’t going to kill you, but my blood will. Take a few deep breaths,” she said calmly, taking out a blood bag. “Drink this before you pass out.” She tossed the blood bag, and it landed on his lap. This time, he didn’t care about the temperature. “For one of the world’s most dangerous predators, you’ve the survival instincts of a sunfish.”

“Your memories?” Gideon rasped, chugging down the blood. It was heaven compared to her poison slowly working its way through his body like it was trying to dry out his insides. It was far worse than the sun’s intense sear.

“Drinking my blood gives you insight into my past, a way of distracting predators who attack as if the poison isn’t effective enough. Four hours, sweating, vomiting and hallucinations. Eight hours, paralysis starts to kick in; and dead by twelve. You might fare better as a vampire, so drink up. The human blood should help dilute the poison.” Aerin knelt in front of him, checking his eyes. “Your vision will be hazy for a while, but I don’t think you drank enough to become permanently blinded.” Gideon inched away from her, not used to being in such a vulnerable position.

“You don’t think, or you don’t know?” he asked, finishing off the bag. His breathing felt a little less like he was being stabbed in the chest with every inhale.

“I don’t know. No one has ever been stupid enough to drink my blood before,” she said, resting her hand against his forehead.

“I attacked you; why not let me die?” he rasped, studying how calm she was after being attacked by one of the world’s scariest predators. He wondered what the hell happened to her to make her so unshakable.

“Because hungry animals will attack their owners if they’re starved. Not your fault, just instinct. I’ve killed before, when I was reborn like this. I didn’t have control over my song, but that’s a story for another day. You aren’t burning up. That’s a good sign. Feeling better?” she asked, sitting on the counter beside him.

“Starting to. The blood’s helping. Why help me? Wouldn’t it be easier for you to let me die?” he asked, wondering why she was saving his life for the second time. He had attacked her; he didn’t deserve her mercy.

“Because I don’t want a dead vampire in my home, and getting rid of your body would be an issue. I can’t dump you off the cliff. Kennie isn’t a fan of corpses, so he wouldn’t hide the evidence. You’d end up washing up in the harbor, and I don’t need the Town Council breathing down my neck about a dead vampire so close to the Autumn Festival. The vampires would wonder what happened to one of their own, and I don’t want to get on their bad side.”

“Why not bring me to the other vampires in town?” he asked, wondering if he’d find any of his crew.

Aerin hesitated.

Is she really helping me, or is she keeping me because she wants something from me? he wondered.

“Because I found you, you’re my responsibility,” she said. “Besides, who knows how they would respond to a vampire with very little memory of his past turning up out of the blue? You’re safest with me until we know more about you. And I promised to help you, and I keep my word.”

“And, Kennie?” He frowned, making note that maybe she was right to keep him from the vampires he knew nothing about. For now, he’d listen to her.

“A Kraken. He dwells in a deep-sea cave that acts as his den. He’s the town’s vicious mascot. He’s 165 feet tall.”

“That big? Such a beast could have destroyed my ship?” Gideon interrupted, his hand coiled into a fist at the thought.

“I don’t know, but his Call acts like a beacon that draws supernaturals to Indigo Cove ever since it was founded in 1610. His call might have drawn in your crew. The larger the ship, the greater the vibration and the more likely he is to attack. I wasn’t around when you went into the water; there was no one to protect the passing ships back then. For the past seventy years, I’ve kept ships and humans at a safe distance with my song. He has his own guardian beneath the water to protect him from those who wish to hunt him. We do our best to keep him from hurting people, but you can’t control a force of nature,” she explained, and he wondered why the town wouldn’t kill such a beast instead of keeping it as a pet.

“Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness. Don’t try biting me again, or I’ll leave you out in the sun to cook,” Aerin warned, flashing not two fangs but an entire mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. She snapped her jaws playfully, and he recoiled.