Thicker than Blood

21. Geordi

CHAPTER 21

Geordi

“ S ee? This is exactly why I follow rules. I broke them and now look what’s happened. I’m so fucked.”

“Now, now, darling. Everything is fixable.” Elias lifts my hand and kisses my palm. His eyes are clear again and his fangs retracted, but he’s still behaving a little too adoringly. “I’ll help you.”

“Are you sure you’re feeling normal?”

He nods. “Perfectly fine.”

The scent of sizzling meat reaches my nose, and Benicio enters the dining room carrying a large silver platter. He sets it on the table, delivering plates to me and Enyo with a large steak and sautéed spinach on each.

My stomach rumbles with hunger and I dig right in, temporarily distracted from the drama of my situation. Benicio watches me with expectant eyes.

“It’s really good.” I take another bite of steak. “Like, best steak ever.”

Benicio preens, puffing his chest out slightly. “I’m pleased you like it.”

Elias leans toward me, scooping spinach onto his finger then, shockingly, offering the finger to me to eat from. I do it, clearly making him happy with my compliance.

“I enjoy watching you eat,” he says. “I can sense your blood fortifying itself and making sure you’re healthy.”

“Because you want my blood?”

“Of course I want your blood, but it does me no good if you’re unwell. More importantly, your health matters to me.”

“Why?” I bite into another piece of perfectly cooked medium ribeye.

“Because you’re my consort. My companion.” He nibbles on the tip of my index finger. “And when you’re ready, I’ll make you mine for eternity.”

Jagger makes a choking sound, scrunching his face up. “Gods.”

“What?” Enyo asks, cutting a piece of his steak. “You seem shocked.”

“Only that Elias Caswell, supreme vampire that he is, wishes to turn a lover. How novel.”

“What does that mean?” I ask.

Elias only smiles at me, but I notice the glare he shoots his friend.

“Elias isn’t a permanent companion kind of vampire,” Jagger says. “At least, he hasn’t been in nearly a thousand years.”

“Is that how old you are?” Enyo asks, chewing his food. “What big event was happening when you were turned?”

“Nothing of note,” Elias answers. “Or I don’t remember. Hard to say. My history is a long one. Many things have happened along the way.”

“What year was it?” Enyo asks.

Elias waves his hand in the air, gesturing vaguely. “Sometime around ten-thirty or so. The details are murky.”

I stare at the man before me, in awe of all he must have seen and experienced in his long life.

“Is it true you were French nobility?” I ask.

He blinks as his eyes temporarily cloud over. “Yes, but also no. The man who fathered me was part of the royal family, but my mother, bless her tired soul, was but a maid. He took her innocence when she was barely fourteen, resulting in my birth. I was raised in the palace, but in the servant’s quarters.” He kisses my palm again, rubbing his lips against my skin. “Hated by my peers for receiving special attention from the prince, resented by the royal family for my mere bastard existence.”

He delivers the somber words with detached nonchalance. I guess it’s been long enough that it no longer hurts.

“Obviously, I prefer the French nobility lore,” he continues. “Adds to my mystique, no?”

“Yes. How many people know the truth?”

Elias glances around the table. “Two mortals now. My closest friends and my faithful companion, Benicio.”

I stop chewing. “Me and Enyo are the only mortals who know?”

He nods. “No one has asked in centuries, and those who asked before that were met with an aggressive response.”

“Did ya kill them?” Enyo asks, grinning.

Elias grins right back. “Indeed.”

“Those were the days,” Jagger says. “Killing indiscriminately for fun and food. Now we have so many rules thanks to those assholes who let themselves be caught on film.”

“You like killing?” Enyo asks.

Jagger’s face lights up in the most unhinged way. “There’s nothing like it. Feeling the pulse dwindle as the light in their eyes dims…” He shakes his head. “It’s better than sex.”

Elias chuckles but doesn’t add to the conversation.

“Do you feel the same way, Elias?” Enyo asks.

“About killing?” He seems to ponder the question for a moment. “I do enjoy it, but it’s not better than sex. Nothing is better than that.”

I tear my gaze away to focus on my spinach. I swear there’s garlic in it. The thought of a vampire cooking with garlic makes me laugh inside. I know it’s just a myth that it bothers them, but most people don’t.

“What’s funny?” Elias asks, rubbing my hand against his cheek. “I can sense your amusement.”

“Nothing. Do you always feed when you fuck?”

His smile turns instantly sultry as his eyes heat. “Whenever possible, yes. It’s nearly impossible to quell the bloodlust otherwise.”

“I’m not truly sated until my teeth are buried in someone’s flesh,” Jagger adds. “If I can bury my cock as well…” He waggles his eyebrows at Enyo, who winks back.

“I agree with the sentiment,” Elias says. “But know that you are so much more than flesh and blood to me.”

“Why? How? You don’t even know me.”

A deep crease mars his forehead. “You don’t believe me?”

“It’s not that. It’s just…” I shrug, pushing my spinach around my plate. “I don’t get it. That’s all.”

“All your research and yet you misunderstand the most basic aspect of vampirism.”

“What’s that?”

“It can’t be studied or seen under your magnifying glass. You can’t extract it and pick it apart. It just is.” He jerks my chair so I’m as close to being in between his legs as possible. “When a vampire decides he wants something, nothing else exists until he gets it. I have decided I want you, my sweet little mortal, and therefore, I will have you.”

I twist my lips in defiance. “But why? What is it about me that has you so into me?”

“Why does it have to be anything specific? It’s a myriad of things.”

“Name one.”

“Dude,” Enyo complains, chomping on a piece of meat. “Why fight it? It’s Elias Caswell, my guy. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

“Hey,” Jagger complains.

“For him,” Enyo says, patting Jagger’s shoulder. “He’s obsessed with him.”

“Shut up, En.”

Elias’s eyes literally glimmer. “An affliction we share.” Wrapping one arm around my waist, he effortlessly pulls me onto his lap. “There’s just something about you that stirs the beast within me. You’ve added a bit of adventure to a long, boring life. You’re interesting. You understand me on a level most mortals never will.” He leans in and brushes his lips against mine. “You’re lovely. Perfection really. You taste like the sweetest nectar. I am obsessed with your pleasure, your moans, the way my name sounds on your lips. Is that enough proof for you, darling?”

I blink several times as his words wrap around me like the warmest blanket. “Thank you,” is all I can manage to say.

“Use my attention to your advantage,” he continues. “Whatever you want, you will have. Ronald’s head on a platter? Done. A lab the size of a city block? Done. Endless nights of pleasure wrapped in my arms? Done.”

I don’t really know what to say, so I move off his lap and finish the last bites of my meal before sitting back in my chair, full and happy.

“Thank you for the meal. It was perfect.”

He lifts my wrist, and using the sharp pointed tip of his index fingernail, he pricks my skin, smiling as a dot of thick red blood bubbles up. He flicks his tongue across my skin, gathering the blood and smiling as he closes his eyes like he’s savoring the perfect bite.

“Much better. You still need a bit more water, but if we keep up the protein- and iron-heavy meals, you should improve. What do you normally eat?”

Enyo huffs a laugh from across the table. “Peanut butter and crackers. When he remembers to eat.”

“Shut it, En.”

He laughs harder. “Elias is good for you. He can actually get you to eat a meal.”

“Thank you for the information, Enyo,” Elias says. “I’ll be sure to put him on a good meal schedule.” He stands. “Now, you go up to take a bath and I’ll go out looking for our friend Ronald.”

“I don’t need a bath. I need to work.”

He frowns but nods. “Fine. The study should work. If not, there are many other rooms in the house. Pick your favorite.”

I look over at Enyo, who’s dragging his finger up and down Jagger’s chest, obviously flirting and making eyes at the vampire.

“You need to help me, Enyo.”

He scrunches his nose up. “Fine. Boring, but fine.”

“The sooner we figure out what’s wrong and how to fix it, the sooner you can get back to… whatever it is you’re doing over there.”

Elias nods. “Jagger will come with me.”

“Okay. Meredith told me no one can find Ronald, so he must be hiding.”

“Simply not a problem for a vampire. Benicio can get anything you need while I’m gone.”

“Thank you.”

Jagger and Elias exit the dining room, leaving me and Enyo alone with our very big problem.

“Now what?” Enyo asks.

“We need to make more antidote and figure out a way to distribute it.”

“Good plan. Can we also figure out how to get Jagger to want to keep me the way Elias wants to keep you?”

“One problem at a time, my friend.”