Love and Brimstone

Chapter Fourteen

Voices drifted to her out of the darkness.

“Is she…?” She knew that voice, but it didn’t sound right.

“She’s just unconscious.” Albert.

Taz felt a sharp prick in her right arm, a cold sensation, then someone tugging on it.

She forced her eyes open. Someone had started an IV in her right arm. She closed her eyes again.

Someone took her left hand, holding it, squeezing it.

Then the familiar but ragged voice. “Come back to me, Anastazia. Please, don’t leave me. Not like this. I can’t lose you.”

She wanted to open her eyes again but couldn’t. She felt so tired.

“Will she make it?” Damn, that voice sounded familiar, but so strange, so hoarse.

“Yes.” That was Robertson. “The IV will boost her blood pressure until she can…”

Everything faded to black.

Again.

Taz willed her eyes open. The room looked dim. She still had the IV in her arm. The room snapped into focus. Someone still held her left hand.

Matthias’ head rested on the bed next to her, his hand clutching hers. There was a thin, pale line in her flesh where she’d sliced her wrist open.

That happened, right?

No bandage necessary because the wound had already healed.

Her tongue felt huge and dry in her mouth. She struggled to speak. “You big faker. They said you were dying.” It came out a lot weaker than it sounded in her mind.

Matthias’ head shot up, his eyes red. Had he been crying? There was still dried blood on his forehead, but it looked like he was healed, the worst gashes on his chest reduced to angry pink welts.

“Anastazia!” He called for the others.

The men raced into the room. Robertson and Albert checked her IV and vital signs.

Albert nodded at Matthias. “Her BP is up. She’ll be okay.”

Matthias looked relieved then angry. “You could have died!”

“You would have died.”

He gently touched his forehead to hers. “Don’t ever put yourself at risk like that again.”

“You’re welcome, big guy.”

He smiled.

I’d die a thousand deaths for that smile.

“Thank you,” he whispered. He closed his eyes and kissed her forehead. She realized she didn’t mind. “Thank you from the bottom of my soul, Anastazia,” he murmured against her flesh.

“What happened?” she hoarsely asked.

“By the time we got the door open,” Robertson said, looking queasy, “we couldn’t stop you. He’d already started to feed. To pull you apart could have killed one or both of you. We just hoped he still had enough self-control to stop in time. Fortunately for you, young lady, he did.”

She tried to sit up, but Matthias gently put a hand on her shoulder. “No, don’t. Just relax. You’ve already received two pints.”

“How many quarts low was I?”

He chuckled. “We’ll rotate your tires next.”

“Don’t forget to check the wiper fluid.” She was too tired to be mad at him. That could wait. He was alive. That was all that mattered to her.

“Can I please talk you out of quitting?” he asked.

Her eyes focused on his, and she nodded. “I expect a raise. This wasn’t in my job description.”

Matthias laughed. Was there a better sound in the world? “Well, you are a ‘fixer.’ I could make a joke about a raise, but I’m afraid you’d slap me with a sexual harassment suit.”

Taz managed a smile. It was like he read her mind. She was sure she could get a “raise” out of him, and she didn’t mean her paycheck.

She closed her eyes. The feeling—God, the feeling had been incredible! Better than sex, nearly orgasmic, enveloping her entire body.

Maybe this was why they chose not to feed. They’d always be in bed if they did. Damn, that was good!

But what had happened?

I need to talk to him alone.

“Would you please excuse us?” Matthias asked the other men.

Her eyes flew open. Matthias looked at her and shook his head, just a little.

“We’ll be outside,” Robertson said. They left, pulling the door shut behind them. That’s when Taz finally noticed they’d moved her to a different room.

Matthias brought her left hand up to his mouth and kissed the pale thin scar on her wrist. She shivered with anticipation, closing her eyes, wanting a hell of a lot more than that.

Take me, right now. I want to feel it again.

“No, Anastazia,” he whispered, kissing her wrist again. “I’m not going to do that.”

I want you to. Please, take me.

“I can’t.”

Her eyes flew open when she realized he was responding to her silent comments. He smiled in answer to her unspoken question.

“But—how?” she managed to say out loud.

Matthias stroked her arm with his fingers, using the lightest of touches and making her shiver. “There’s a lot you don’t know about us. About what we are and what we can do. We haven’t had time for an in-depth discussion.”

“Does this mean I’ll become like you?”

“It doesn’t work like that. You can’t make someone into a vampire. You’re born that way. Besides, you’re already like me. Perhaps much stronger, from how fast I healed.”

“What about my thoughts? Why can’t I read yours?”

“By feed—” He paused, rephrasing his answer. “By you helping me, it’s attuned me to you. And it was a one-way street.”

“What if I—”

Yum! I mean, yergh!

“—drank your blood?”

“You don’t need to.”

“But what if I did?”

“There are a lot of variables. I can’t guarantee you can ever read my thoughts.”

She closed her eyes again. “Was I better than your cousin would have been?”

He laughed, loud and hearty. “For someone who didn’t believe in what we were yesterday, you sure changed your mind rather quickly. No, it wouldn’t have worked like that with him. For one thing, he would have known what to do. And he wouldn’t have his heart invested in it like you did.”

“Then what would he—what? What do you mean, my heart?”

“If I say anything else, I’m going to stick my foot in my mouth. Let’s just say for now, until we can discuss this, he would not have gotten the…sensations you did.” His smile faded. “You saved me, Anastazia. He would not have arrived in time. And to be honest, even then he might not have been able to revive me.”

“Then how did I manage it?”

He stroked her arm again.

God, that feels so good! It was hard to be mad at him when he touched her like that.

“Because of your power. Because of your heart. And because I cannot refuse you.”

Taz puzzled over his last comment, but before she could ask, he leaned over and tenderly kissed her forehead.

“Go to sleep. You need it. I can get cleaned up now that I know you’ll be okay. We’ll talk later, I promise. You did good, Anastazia. You saved my life. For that I owe you everything.”

She nodded. Matthias let go of her hand after one final, gentle squeeze. She realized he was wearing a pair of shorts, but he was still covered with dried blood. She closed her eyes and sent him a thought.

“Please be here when I wake up.”

He turned. “I will. I promise.”

It was dark outside, and someone had removed the IV while she slept. Taz carefully sat up, and the room threatened to spin before settling. Her stomach growled. How long had she been out?

Finally making it to vertical, she sat on the edge of the bed as the room dangerously tipped again. The empty IV pole stood nearby. The bedside clock read 8:15, but was it accurate?

She’d been out over twelve hours?

The room obligingly settled, and she staggered to the bathroom. On the hamper she found new underwear, a fluffy robe, and pajamas, all in her size. Deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, and floss, all the brands she used, were set out on a shelf by the sink.

Robertson.

She wanted to be mad at him. How much had he lied over the years? All this time, he’d worked for Matthias.

But he was her only family.

She stepped into the shower, her hand on the wall for balance. She still felt a little woozy, but better. Her favorite shampoo and conditioner, new bottles, sat on a shelf just inside the door. And a new scrubbie. And her favorite bodywash. And a razor and shaving gel.

Robertson thought of everything.

With the shower as hot as she could stand it, she lost herself in thought. What did her house look like? What did the thing that trashed it, and nearly trashed Matthias in the process, look like?

There was disbelief and there was denial. She could choose to not believe what happened, but she couldn’t deny the severity of Matthias’ wounds or how fast he healed.

She had the scar on her wrist as proof of what happened.

Why did it attack her? And would another Other come after her?

The Other’s brother from another mother.

Okay, that was definitely stress. Lots and lots of stress.

She dressed and went downstairs in search of food. Robertson stood when she entered the kitchen.

“Taz!” He threw his arms around her, more emotional than she’d ever seen him. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again, sweetheart.”

She returned his embrace and eventually managed to free herself. “I think I’m supposed to be angry at you. Can you fix me some eggs?”

He smiled. Was that relief? “Sit. How many?”

“Three, please. To start. I’m starving.” His scrambled eggs were the best in the world. Fluffy and cheesy, without a hint of whites. It was always her favorite meal, and no one ever cooked them as good as he did.

Albert appeared. “You’re looking a lot better.”

“Thank you. Did I really sleep all day?”

He nodded. “It’s nearly nine.”

“Where’s Matthias?”

“He’ll be in shortly.”

A moment later the door to the garage opened, and there he was, wearing a short-sleeved light-blue chambray shirt, jeans, and barefoot. Matthias looked like a yuppie, not a vampire.

He paused when he saw her. “Did you sleep well?”

Anastazia nodded, reaching out to touch a fresh, pale scar across his forehead. It had been a deep, bloody gash across his flesh when she saw him in the bedroom. “It’s gone.”

“Yes. Thanks to you.”

“I want to see the thing’s head.”

All three men frowned. Robertson plated her eggs and handed them to her. “Taz, that’s not a good idea,” he said.

“Why not?” She dug into the eggs. Oh, they were great! She’d need more. This wouldn’t be enough. She was ravenous, ripped into them like a starving wolf. “I want to see it. I think I’ve earned the right.”

Matthias studied her for a moment and nodded. “All right.”

He returned with a clear garbage bag, like they used for recycling in the office. The thing’s head was semilupine in shape but twice as large. She saw dried, brown smears of blood through the plastic and closed her eyes.

“Okay, all right. I’m convinced.”

He took it away. When she heard the door to the garage close she opened her eyes. “Holy crap! How can they stay hidden looking like that?”

“That’s why they’re called the Others,” Albert explained. “They mostly stay to themselves. They’re actually the origin of the Bigfoot and Yeti myths. The Chupacabra. Any reliable sighting of a bipedal, crypto-zoological creature that isn’t a shape-shifter is most likely an Other. They have hybrids and humans helping them. Why they’re involved in this is—”

“Complicated,” Matthias said, returning. He carried the sword, wiping it with a white cloth. He laid it on the counter, and she noticed strange symbols inscribed on the blade. “I think it was a contract hit.”

Taz finished her eggs, her appetite fading with that new revelation. “Why me?”

Matthias sat across from her, his eyes boring into hers. “Because they want something from you.”

What?

Matthias looked at the counter. Robertson and Albert suddenly scooted, leaving them alone.

Okay, so she hadn’t imagined the mind reading.

Spooky.

Matthias looked at her. “If you want the truth, you cannot get angry at me for telling you.”

“Sure I can. Try me.”

Her heart skipped as his mouth curled in a delicious half smile. “From what I was able to find out before it died, the Others want to take you before you get pregnant. It didn’t know exactly why, it was just a hired hand.”

“They… What?”

“I’m just telling you what it told me.”

She couldn’t even think about what she wanted to say, because he could read her thoughts. “Pregnant? I’m not having a baby with you. We’re not even dating! You’re my boss—”

and I love you

“—don’t those idiots know that?”

Shit.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know I’ve got you at a disadvantage. If it’s any comfort, it fades at a distance.”

She glared at him. “This isn’t funny.”

“I agree.”

“My house is trashed, something evil is trying to kill me for having Rosemary’s baby, which I haven’t even had. Hell, I haven’t had sex in…in too damn long, not that it’s any of your business.”

The slightest trace of a smile touched his mouth. “No, they don’t think your baby would be evil.”

“Then what?”

“An heir. Able to continue the line. They think you have the genetic makeup, and for some reason, they want you.”

“What, are they running Match.com for homicidal freaks? Hello, I so did not sign up for that.”

“Regardless of what does or doesn’t happen between us, I will never force myself on you. I mean that. For now, you need to let us protect you. I can keep you safe.” He reached out and touched her hand, and she didn’t pull away.

He’s cute. And he is…

She looked at him. He was sitting right there. Able to read her thoughts.

She yanked her hand out of his. “I am pissed, you know.”

“You have every right to be.”

“You lied to me!”

“Mostly through omission, but yes.”

“What else have you lied about?”

“You weren’t replacing someone who retired. And Albert isn’t retiring any time soon.”

“You sneak. I knew it!”

“I needed you close to me. I’ve already explained that.”

“What about my stuff?”

“We’ll move it here. You can’t go back to your house.”

“In my own room?”

“Of course.”

She had to pace. She stood up and walked around the kitchen. There were worse prisons than this house, and worse wardens than Matthias.

And she didn’t want to die.

She didn’t want him to die.

“What’s next?” she asked.

“Figure out exactly what the Others want to accomplish, why they did this, if they were put up to it by someone else. They never interfere with our business. Never have in the past. Live and let live. Why they should care about an heir, if that really is what this is about, is beyond me.”

“But I thought—”

“I don’t know. That’s the problem. I’m only guessing and putting together some speculation based on what little I got out of that beast before I killed it. You’re on their radar now. Before this, you were unknown to the Others. To anyone. I took great pains to keep your identity a secret. Only one other person outside this family knew about you, and that person is in a position of trust. If it turned out you didn’t have the line in you, I wanted to keep you safe.”

“I’m in danger?”

“Until I get to the bottom of things.”

She was in full snark mode. “Well, why don’t we just get the Scooby gang together and pull the rubber mask off the bad guy?”

Matthias’ tone sounded sharp. “We don’t like this any more than you do. I wanted to ease you into this, slowly guide you to using your powers until you got to the point you couldn’t ignore it anymore. Then we were going to reveal the truth. Over a period of years, if necessary. I can’t undo what’s happened here—”

“Damn straight!”

“—but I promise you, heads will roll.”

When she looked green, he realized what he said. “I’m sorry. Bad choice of words.”

“No, really, ya think?”