Hunting His Vampire Mate (Blood Bonded Mates #4)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO || MICHAEL

I t was almost sunrise by the time we made it to Seattle. Danny was quiet in the back seat beside me. But his thoughts were anything but. He was trying—and failing—to avoid thinking about the young man he had drained in the mines.

“Bryan turned him,” I said, when I couldn’t stand it any longer. “You didn’t kill him. Not really.”

Danny scowled at that. “I still took his life away from him. I should have saved him. But instead, I—”

He broke off and the memory of what he had done surged through the connection between us. Of him sinking his fangs into the young man’s throat and feeling the carnal pleasure as the hot, rich blood filled his—

A wall slammed down between us, and I let out a sharp breath. It was more of a reflex than anything else. My newly transformed body no longer needed to breathe.

“Sorry,” Danny muttered, looking out the window, his jaw tight. He shook his head and, even though he’d thrown a wall between us, I knew he was berating himself. “I’m sorry for all of it.”

I knew Danny didn’t need any platitudes from me. He didn’t need me to tell him it was okay when we both knew it wasn’t yet. So, I didn’t say anything.

But I did slip my hand into his.

Thierry was quiet in the driver’s seat. He had insisted on driving, stating that I would be dangerous to others until I had adjusted to the reflexes that came with my new condition.

Oddly enough, I didn’t mind him driving my car. Maybe it was the fact that he was the one who had turned me and there was now some sort of instinctive vampiric trust or something at work. Or maybe it was because I had glimpsed the real him, below the prickly stand-offish exterior that he wore like armor, and realized he was a kindred soul.

And I had trusted him when it had really mattered. And he had helped me save Danny as a result. A little more trust was probably warranted.

Besides, I figured I kind of understood him now. At least a little. We were both trying to stop everyone else from seeing how fucking much we cared.

And if I had to become a vampire, I supposed Thierry wasn’t such a bad guy to be stuck with as my maker. Or my sire. Or whatever. I wasn’t entirely clear on the terminology yet, actually. I wasn’t quite sure how the dynamic between us worked yet, either.

Perhaps I’d try calling him ‘dad’ at some point and see how that flew.

The thought of how he’d probably react to that was almost enough to make me smile.

Almost.

I caught Thierry’s concerned gaze in the rearview mirror, but he didn’t say anything.

The freeway was at an elevation, and when it turned, there was suddenly a sea of squat apartment buildings mixed in with houses and businesses stretched out below us. The roads were lined with a truly absurd number of trees. It was so green , everywhere I looked. That was the thing I always forgot about this part of the Pacific Northwest: even in the city, deep in the concrete jungle, pressed right up against the graffiti and frenetic pace of a major city, nature was still right there, close enough to touch.

“It’s nicknamed the Emerald City for a reason,” Danny said quietly. He had dropped the walls between us, and I could sense the strange mixture of dread and excitement bubbling up deep within him.

In the distance, there were skyscrapers, but they were a long way off yet.

“Home sweet home,” I whispered. Because it would be our home now. At least for a little while, until Danny and I had both adjusted to our condition enough that we wouldn’t be dangerous around other people. Maybe we’d set down roots here. At least for a little while.

I didn’t mind the idea one bit.

Danny glanced over at me and gave my hand a light squeeze.

“I don’t mind that either,” he whispered, giving me a small smile. And I could feel through the bond that he meant it.

Even though things seemed a bit dark now, even though we now had the daunting task of picking up all the broken pieces and trying to put them back together into a picture that made sense again, I knew we would face that the same way we had faced everything else for the last five years. The same way we would face everything, from now on.

Danny’s smile became a little bit more genuine and some of the tension left his thoughts as he glanced over at me. He met my gaze and held it.

“Together,” he agreed.

* * *

Thierry took us to the basement of a bar called Nathaniel’s Place, which was located on a hill slightly southeast of the downtown corridor, on the ground level of a large brick apartment building. The bar was cheerful, with warm wood and incandescent lighting, most of which was turned off, except the lights directly over the liquor and the registers. There was a collection of pool tables and dart boards at one end and a bunch of long wooden tables at the other end. Between them, there were smaller circular tables with high-backed chairs. Facing the door, there was a long, polished bar with bottles of liquor behind it. This early in the morning, it was closed. But even without patrons, it looked like an ordinary place. Somewhere you might go to have a couple of drinks with some friends.

The basement, however, told a much different story.

There were a series of cages along one wall, each large enough for a person to stand in, hooks mounted to the ceiling in various places throughout the room, various types of restraints hanging from another wall, a mattress with bedding that looked like it had been used relatively recently, and a couple of metal folding chairs that might have been made from silver too. Or, more likely, silver plated. The harsh florescent lighting overhead was too bright. It looked roughly like a place you might record a snuff film.

“Not every vampire who passes through the city is friendly,” Thierry told me, no doubt catching my dubious expression. “Occasionally, persuasion is required. Thankfully, we don’t need to use this space very often.”

Bryan and Tobias were both with us. Bryan had carried the young man in from the backseat of Tobias’s rental car. He set him down on the mattress with painstaking gentleness.

“I put a glamour on myself,” Tobias told his mate, his tones reassuring. “I’ll seem like a vampire to him. My presence won’t trigger his feeding instincts. So, we’ll be able to talk to him.” He paused. “And I can control his bloodlust if I need to, the same way I did Michael’s. Until we can explain.”

Bryan bit his lower lip and nodded, still gazing down at the young man on the mattress.

He looked like he was of Hispanic descent, and I guessed that he was probably a few years younger than Danny and I, maybe in his early twenties. The hair on the sides of his head was trimmed very short and there was a floppy mess of dark hair on top that he’d probably painstakingly styled to make it look like he’d just rolled out of bed. He had a smooth, almost perfectly oval face and his lips were parted ever-so-slightly. He looked soft, innocent, open, and young in a way I wasn’t sure I had ever been before. But it was hard to know if that was because of Tobias’s magically induced sleep or not. There was a mess of crimson on one side of his shirt, right below the collar. I tried not to look at it too closely.

“It’s going to be okay,” Tobias whispered to his mate. Under normal circumstances, I couldn’t have heard it. But my new senses were far sharper.

Bryan’s jaw was tight and his eyes a bit too shiny, but he nodded. Tobias put a steadying hand on his back. His mate shuddered, leaning into the touch.

Thierry took in Bryan’s expression and then frowned at Danny and me. We stood shoulder to shoulder, with his hand in mine. I could feel Danny’s tension coiled through the blood bond.

“You don’t need to be here for this,” Thierry said, his voice deceptively soft, considering the way he was still eyeing us with wariness.

I understood his concern. Tobias was about to wake the young man Danny had bitten. And then he would understand what was done to him. He would understand what had been robbed from him.

I didn’t especially want Danny to go through that, either.

“No. I’m staying,” Danny replied. And I could feel the conviction laced through his words. Silently, he added, I did this, Michael. And I need to see the consequences. Just in case I ever waver again—maybe knowing what I’ve done will stop me from going back to that . Maybe it’ll stop me from ever hurting anyone again.

I gritted my teeth because, while I really didn’t like this at all, I understood. In his shoes, I would have probably felt the same way. And since I couldn’t talk him out of this, I wasn’t going to leave his side.

After only a moment of hesitation, I nodded.

We would get through this—no matter how awful it was—together.

Danny flashed me a grateful look. Have I mentioned that I love you?

Not in the last hour or so.

Some of the tension eased as we grinned foolishly at each other. For an instant, we were just a couple of idiots in love, fuck everything else.

Then Tobias undid his spell.

The young man’s eyes snapped open. He bolted up on the mattress, his eyes wide. His gaze landed on the small crowd of people beside his bed, and he gasped.

“You’re safe now,” Bryan said, dropping to his knees beside the young man. He put a hand on the young man’s shoulder. His voice went thick. “Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”

“Where am I?” the young man whispered.

He sounded approximately as horrified as anyone would if they had died, come back as a vampire, and woken up in a strange place that looked like a torture chamber, surrounded by a bunch of other vampires.

In hindsight, maybe we ought to have taken him somewhere that didn’t look like the décor had been inspired from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

“You’re somewhere safe, I promise,” Bryan told him. “I’m not going to let anything harm you, okay?”

The young man nodded, some of his alarm seeming to subside.

“What’s your name?” Tobias asked, his words every bit as gentle as his mate’s. “Mine is Tobias.” He gestured to his mate. “And this is Bryan. He saved your life.”

“Rico,” the young man said. He glanced up at Tobias and then back to Bryan. “You saved me?”

Bryan nodded, blinking back tears. He took a deep breath and then let it out again, slowly. “Listen, there’s a lot to explain to you. We need you to try to be as brave as you can be right now,” Bryan said, his tone soothing. “Can you do that?”

Rico nodded. Then he blinked rapidly and frowned. He sucked in what looked like an experimental breath. Then he let it out slowly.

“Breathing feels weird now,” he whispered. He paused, then glanced between Bryan and Tobias. “Why does breathing feel weird?”

Danny’s hand tightened in mine and the dread he was trying so hard to shield me from leaked through.

“You were badly injured,” Bryan said. “Do you remember anything about being in the mines?”

The young man shuddered, then nodded. “They said they were going to kill me.” He paused, frowning. “I thought they were just crazy, like something you’d see in a true crime documentary. Like maybe some kind of a cult or something?” He said that last part like a question. “But then I saw them… biting people. And the way they moved… it was like they weren’t human. But that’s insane, right? They couldn’t have really been—”

The young man broke off and he shuddered again.

“No, they weren’t human,” Bryan told him, his tone exceedingly gentle. “And we took care of them. We stopped them from ever hurting anyone else. Do you remember that?”

I could feel the unease threading through Danny. The collision between this young man and the truth of what had been done to him was surely coming. It was like my mate was braced for impact. I was braced, too.

Together, I reminded him.

Danny nodded imperceptibly, his gaze glued on the young man.

Rico’s eyebrows drew together.

“I got bit,” he said, more slowly. His hand flew to his neck. But there was no wound there anymore. “It happened so fast. I was so sure—”

Then he seemed to put it together all at once.

“Holy shit,” he said, his eyes widening. Glanced back at Bryan. “I’m one of them , now. Aren’t I?”

Bryan and Tobias exchanged a miserable look. Beside me, Danny’s eyes slid shut and I could feel the grief and shame flooding through him.

“Good God,” Thierry remarked, giving Bryan and Tobias a dirty look. “The poor boy is going to gnaw his arm off before you two actually say the words.” He turned to Rico and added, in a brusque, businesslike tone, “Yes, you were turned into a vampire. Yes, you will need to drink blood. No, you won’t burst into flames in the sun. No, you aren’t a soulless monster. And yes, it was necessary to save your life.”

“Fuck, Thierry!” Tobias snapped, turning to glare daggers at the blond vampire.

“I’m being helpful,” Thierry retorted. “Better to rip the band-aid off quickly, rather than a millimeter at a time.” He turned back to Rico. “You’re here with us, so we can make sure you don’t turn into a murderous asshole like the monsters who kidnapped you. You’re welcome.”

* * *

Rico seemed surprisingly willing to take what had happened to him in stride. Grudgingly, I had to admit that Thierry was right: drawing out the explanation of what had happened to him wasn’t doing anyone any favors.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, though.

Thierry went back upstairs, muttering something about having to make about a dozen phone calls to get us all sorted—whatever that meant—reluctantly leaving us with Rico, Bryan, and Tobias.

Danny and I both sat on the floor on the other side of the room with our backs against the concrete wall, watching Bryan and Tobias explain vampirism to Rico.

A bottle of booze would be nice right about now.

Danny gave me a sideways look. I wonder if vampires can get drunk? It could be another thing you gave up for me.

Well, I might have to try harder now, but I’m not a quitter, I joked, wagging my eyebrows at him.

Danny rewarded me with a small smile that almost reached his eyes.

When I met his gaze and held it, his smile deepened. And I could still feel the guilt in him, the shame and the sadness, but I knew that it would heal eventually. Once we had all fully adjusted, maybe.

“So, Bryan and Tobias explained what happened,” Rico said, coming over to join us. Bryan and Tobias trailed behind him, standing a few feet away from where Rico had plopped down. His gaze landed on Danny, who stiffened beside me again, now that he was literally face to face with the young man he had harmed. “They said it was an accident. You lost control.”

Just like that, Danny was braced for the blow he felt sure he deserved.

“It feels stupid to tell you I’m sorry,” he muttered. I could sense the way he had to force himself to meet Rico’s gaze, the shame coiled hot in his belly. “Even though I am.”

Rico nodded, frowning at him thoughtfully. He seemed oddly… calm. Considering he was sitting face to face with the guy who had ended his human life.

“It’s not… great,” Rico said, pausing in the middle of his sentence, like he’d been trying to find the correct words. He hesitated, then added, “But it’s still way better than what would have happened to me if you guys hadn’t come at all.”

“Because Bryan saved your life,” Danny replied, doggedly determined to not be let off the hook for even an instant. “He was the one who gave you his blood and stopped you from dying.”

I scowled at that.

“No,” Rico corrected him mildly. “It’s not just that. You don’t understand. I watched what happened to the others. And when the—” he broke off, like he couldn’t quite make himself say the word yet. He paused, then added, “When the vampires killed the people they had taken, they didn’t do it quickly.” He swallowed, something going tighter in his expression. “And they made it hurt. They liked it when their victims begged.”

Danny’s eyes slid shut at that. “Fuck. I wish I could kill them all over again.”

“What you did sucked,” Rico said. “Literally. I won’t tell you it didn’t. But, um. It wasn’t as bad, I guess, as what I had been expecting?” He said that last part like a question. “It’s not okay or anything. But at least you were fast about it. You didn’t make me beg. It didn’t even really hurt all that much. It didn’t feel like anything at all.”

“That doesn’t make it okay,” Danny told him sharply. But I could feel the tiniest fraction of his guilt easing at Rico’s words. “This isn’t how things were supposed to go. I’m sorry.”

Rico shrugged. “Just don’t hurt anyone again, I guess?” He paused, then gave us a lopsided sort of smile. “And, anyway, there’s the upsides, right? Like living forever. Never getting sick. And apparently healing pretty quickly?” He turned and gave Bryan and Tobias a questioning look and Bryan nodded back.

“So, I mean, that’s kind of badass, right? And I’ve always been kind of a night owl. And once I’m safe to be around people again, I can go back to my old life.” Rico spoke more quickly, like he was starting to warm up to the prospect of being a vampire. “Or maybe I’ll start a new one. Ooh, maybe I could start a band.” He paused, then grinned. “And Tobias said that our blood can heal people. So, I mean, it’s not all bad.”

I stared at him, feeling my jaw drop with shock.

Bryan, Danny, and Tobias were staring at Rico with similar expressions. I was pretty sure we were all trying to decide if Rico was actually this laid back or if he was just trying to make the best of it.

“I’m just saying, it might be fun,” Rico said brightly, no doubt catching our disbelieving expressions. “Plus, I can hypnotize people into doing whatever I want. Which is, like, so cool.”

“We’re going to need to have a conversation about ethics,” Bryan said faintly, still staring at him. But Tobias was grinning broadly, his eyes shiny again.

“And, um, I guess I understand how you could have gotten so hungry that you would have made a mistake,” Rico added, more seriously, glancing back at me. That lopsided smile came back. “Because the cravings are pretty wild, right? Like, if there was a human person here with me, I’m not sure I’d be able to stop myself either, ya know?” He winced and added, “It kind of feels like I swallowed a bunch of broken glass. That goes away, right? Cuz, I mean, ouch.”

Belatedly, I realized that with the drama of watching him awaken, no one had actually fed him.

He was probably in a lot more pain than he was letting on.

Bryan and Tobias seemed to have come to that conclusion at the same moment I did. Because they glanced at each other with matching expressions of dismay.

Then Tobias winced and said, “I’ll go get a blood bag.” He paused, giving Danny and I a dubious look. “On second thought, I’ll grab several.”

And, somehow, in the midst of all of Rico’s enthusiasm, I found myself relaxing. And I knew that Danny had, too. Everything wasn’t all better or anything, but I could feel his guilt and shame easing. It would probably linger for a while. There wasn’t much I could do about that, except be there for him. When he needed me.

And I could feel Danny starting to forgive himself, just a little. This was helped by the fact that Rico—now that his initial shock and anxiety had worn off—seemed completely unflappable. And relentlessly determined to see the positives in just about everything. Every time he opened his mouth, it was like sunshine pouring out.

And when Bryan showed him how to use his vamp-speed, Rico became insufferable, zipping around the basement in short bursts of blurry speed, grinning ear-to-ear like he was on an amusement ride. That is, until Thierry came back downstairs, took one look at the proceedings, and then informed Rico that he would bind him with silver unless he stopped.

“Well, you’re not much fun, are you?” Rico huffed, frowning at Thierry.

Thierry arched a single eyebrow at him. “No, I’m really not.”

When Danny and I grinned at each other, I finally felt it for the first time since I had become a vampire: happiness.

We were together.

Against all odds, Danny had come back to me. He had chosen me, just like I had chosen him. And maybe not right now, but someday soon, we were going to be okay. More than okay. And it felt right to be happy about that.

“Hey,” I said aloud, so quietly that I doubted the others could hear me. “I love you.”

He slipped his hand inside mine. “I’ll love you for an eternity,” he countered.

I pulled him close and kissed him. When I pulled back, his eyes were wet.

“What is it?” I asked, even though I thought I knew.

He swallowed. “Michael, I got so lost.”

“But I found you,” I said, pulling him against me, where he belonged, and holding him tight. “I’ll always find you, Danny. For forever, if that’s what it takes. I promise.”

He nodded, then slipped his arms around me. He laid his head down on my shoulder. His eyes drifted shut, but there were tears on his lashes. And he had never looked more beautiful.

My perfect mate.

Maybe Rico was right. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing. After all, we would have an eternity to love each other now, wouldn’t we? To learn how to do it properly. And forever didn’t seem like such a bad thing, if he was by my side.

No, he agreed, smiling a bit against my shoulder. He let out a happy sigh. It’s not such a bad thing at all.