Thicker than Blood

23. Geordi

CHAPTER 23

Geordi

S earing pain spreads through me as the vampire drags me by the neck through the house and down the stairs. Warm sticky blood soaks my shirt as I desperately grasp at walls, furniture, and doorframes to slow my attacker, but it’s useless.

I was looking over my notes when he busted through the door, stomped toward me, and tore through my chest. The last thing I saw before my vision went black was Benicio’s fangs as he launched himself at the attacker, but I don’t know what happened after that.

Elias. I need Elias.

I focus on his face to distract from the throbbing pain in my chest. Can he feel me right now? Does he know what’s happening?

“Stupid fucking mortal,” the vampire growls as my body bumps clumsily down the stairs. “Why did you show up and fuck everything up? I was so close to getting him. So damn close.”

I try to reach where the worst of the pain is, but my arm is too weak. I blink slowly as awareness seeps in. Paradiso. At least he didn’t take me away from the house.

Suddenly, the vampire tosses me, flinging me across the room. I hit a wall with a thud, barely able to make a sound as my muscles seize and bones crack. The blond man stalks toward me, his face a mask of anger. With his fangs out, I brace myself for whatever he’s about to do to me.

In a feeble attempt at protection, I scoot back and try to put my arms out, but the effort is too much, the pain too severe.

“Why are you doing this?” I manage to ask.

“Elias is mine,” the vampire growls. His eyes glow red and angry. “It’s me he needs. Not some… mortal.”

He spits the word as if it disgusts him. My stomach clenches from the pain, but I endure. If I close my eyes, he’ll kill me.

“I didn’t know. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

The vampire tilts his head, pausing in his rage. His face is covered in blood, as are his clothes, and I have to wonder if it’s all my blood or mixed with someone else’s. Is Enyo okay? Is Benicio?

“You have no idea what you’ve walked into, do you?”

I shake my head as best I can, clutching my side. There’s a sharp pain every time I inhale. Broken ribs, probably.

“Too bad, mortal. You should have followed the rules and stayed far, far away from Elias. Now I have no choice but to kill you so his attention returns where it should be. Vampire domination.”

“You…” I shudder with pain and nausea. “You’re part of it?”

His lips spread in what I assume is meant to be a smile, but it’s terrifying and odd, like something that doesn’t know what a smile is but read about it. His teeth are sharp, of course, and tinged pink with blood.

“You’ve been a busy little bee in your workshop. You say your purpose is helping us, but we all know mortals have ulterior motives. Your true goal is to sedate us, disarm us, keep us submissive and at bay.” His eyes flash bright red as he growls. “But we are monsters. We will not be denied our essence.” He takes a step closer and I cower and whimper with fear. “And Elias is a prize far too great for a mere mortal. I simply can’t allow it.”

Just as he reaches down to grab me again, he’s lifted into the air and thrown to the far side of the room. Relief floods my body when I see Elias, his body vibrating with rage I can feel in my own core. His eyes glow red, and his fangs gleam even in the dim light.

Benicio appears before me, his expression filled with concern. “Oh dear. You’ll be okay.” He smiles, brushing my hair from my forehead.

“El…” I cough as my attempt to speak sends a spike of fresh pain through my chest.

“Elias is fine. He’ll be with you in a minute.”

“En…?”

“Upstairs with Jagger.”

I nod, fighting the desire to let the pain racking my body drag me under. I’ve never experienced anything like this, never even imagined it. What did he do to me?

Faint voices swarm around me as I struggle to hold on to consciousness, but I can’t fight it anymore. I’m dying.

Elias.

Save me.

“Darling, I’m here. Open your pretty eyes for me.”

Elias. My chest flutters from the sound of his voice. There’s no pain, and as warmth floods back into me, I drag my eyes open to see my beautiful vampire hovering over me.

“Hello,” he says. His eyes pulse softly. “How do you feel?”

I reach up and pat my hand against my chest. “You healed me?”

“Of course.” Elias brushes his thumb across my cheek. “I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything, did you? Am I still mortal?”

Elias chuckles. “Sadly for me, yes. You’re in a temporary state of immortality until the effects of my blood wear off.”

“What?”

“I used my blood on your wound to heal it.”

“How did that work? It had to be the other vampire’s blood.”

“You’d have to tell me how it worked. It was an impulsive choice, but when I saw what he did to you, I would’ve done anything, even turned you without your consent. You are too precious to lose.”

“But…” I shake my head. “It shouldn’t work,” I repeat. “It should be the vampire who caused the wound.”

“First of all, I had no intention of allowing any part of Tristan to touch you ever again.”

“Tristan. That’s who attacked me?”

“Yes.” He lifts my hand to his lips and dots little kisses along my fingers. “How do you feel?”

I glance down at my bare chest. All the blood is gone and so is my ripped shirt. I take a deep breath then exhale slowly. “Good. I’m confused, but I feel fine.”

Elias nods. “I think it’s time you learned something about yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“My theory is that there’s something inside of you. Something supernatural in nature. In your blood. That’s why the vaccine doesn’t work. That’s why we’re so connected. That’s why my blood heals you. Perhaps it’s even why you’re so drawn to vampires. A little bit of you is one.”

His words stir up long repressed memories and accusations I haven’t recalled in years. “That’s not possible. You can’t be part vampire. You either are or are not one.”

“Not true, my sweet. Have you not heard of dhampirs? Children born of a mortal and a vampire?”

I shake my head. “Yes, but I’m not that. It’s impossible.”

Elias puts his hand over my chest, rubbing in a slow circle. “You cannot lie to me, remember? I’m aware of your thoughts and the turmoil you feel. What are you hiding? You can tell me. You can tell me anything.”

“I’m not hiding anything.”

He reaches up and rubs my temples. “Perhaps you’ve buried your secret. Try to remember.”

I shake my head, but flashes of a difficult past push forward until shame tugs at my gut and heats my body. “I… It’s just a rumor.”

“We’re all alone here, darling. Jagger and Enyo are upstairs. Benicio is guarding our intruder and Ronald. You’re safe to share your secrets.”

Bile rises in my throat and my stomach turns sour. I try to fight the memories, but as sweat dots my skin, the whispered words of family scandals swirl in my brain, and my lips move without my consent. “My dad…” I pause as the memory of his face steals my words for a few seconds. “Oh fuck.”

Elias rubs my hand. “Take your time.”

I nod, blinking against tears. “I was never supposed to know. I buried it, afraid to believe it.”

“Believe what, darling?”

“No one ever sat us down and told us directly what happened to him, but I heard rumors. I think they wanted to protect us, but there were whispered secrets at family gatherings while they stared at us. I heard my cousin talking about us and my dad. They said he was out working an overnight shift. He was delivering beverages to convenience stores when he was jumped and attacked by a group of men. They left him bloody and… changed.”

The memories of that day rip through my mind, tearing away whatever wall I built around them to keep them away. My throat tightens with emotions long buried.

“Changed?”

I focus on Elias to ground myself. “I didn’t believe it. I never saw one sign that he wasn’t normal. He was a good man. The best, really. He loved us all so much and doted on my mother. It was easy to shove those words back and forget I’d ever heard them. I never asked my parents or my sister. I made myself forget.”

Elias nods in encouragement.

“Then the war started, and everything changed. I went to sleep with a regular, happy family and woke up to chaos. I saw puddles of blood through the living room, kitchen, and into the bathroom. My sister, Emma, was huddled in the dining room and told me dad was sick and mom was helping him, but we had to stay away. I started to ask what was wrong with him, but the bedroom door flew open and my mom came running out. She was covered in blood.”

I have to take a break as visions of that day accost me. Elias kisses my forehead, giving me the strength to keep going.

“She tried to block him from us, but he was so strong. He brushed her to the side and she slid all the way across the floor. I thought he was going to kill us.” I shake my head. “He told us it was time for us to step into our true selves. My mom screamed.”

Images replay in my mind, bringing tears to my eyes.

“He took my sister first, holding her down and feeding her blood from his wrist. I didn’t understand. Or maybe I just didn’t want to. I remembered all the rumors. I knew on some level well before the discovery that vampires existed. I read about you and others just like you. Some called them myths and legends, folklore, dismissing them as stories of superstitious people, but I knew. And that day, my dad was doing things that I couldn’t make sense of. He was acting like a creature from the stories I’d read.”

“Gods. What happened next?” Elias asks.

Staring off into space, the visions of that morning play out before me. “He turned his attention to me while my sister lay on the floor, convulsing. My instinct told me to run from him, so I did, but he was fast. He caught my ankle and dragged me back to the living room. I looked for my mom, but she wasn’t on the floor anymore. Then…” I blow out a shaky breath. “My dad opened his mouth and he had these fangs. He told me as his only son I would fight beside him and we would kill all the mortals who denied us our rights.”

Elias creases his brow with concern. “Did he bite you?”

“Before he could, my mom appeared behind him and staked him in the back, through his chest and straight into his heart. That’s when I noticed the bite marks in her neck. She told me we had to go. We had to hide until the war was over, but before I could even get off the floor, the front door burst open and four vampires entered. My mom…” My voice cracks.

“Oh, darling,” Elias coos. “Your pain breaks my heart.”

“I’ve never told anyone why it happened. Why they killed her.”

“They killed your mother?”

I nod. “My sister snapped out of whatever was happening to her and she tried to attack them but they… they tore her heart out.”

“In front of you?”

“They didn’t touch me,” I continue, almost in a daze. “They butchered my mother for killing a vampire. My dad was turned the night he was attacked, but he didn’t embrace it. When they had children, me and my sister, those traits were passed along to us. For some reason, that day, he took the side of the vampires and tried to turn my mom and wake up the dormant blood inside his children.”

“His dhampir children.”

I nod, blinking rapidly as the truth I’ve mentally buried for years slaps me across the face. “They left me there unharmed for some reason. I’ve had nightmares about the one who spoke to me. His eyes…” The words leave my lips in a whisper. “They were the strangest color. Like orange and red. He seemed to stare into my soul.”

“What did he say?”

“That one day I would be ready. He didn’t tell me for what and I didn’t ask. I think I knew what he meant. He thought I would embrace this other side of me.”

“But it seems you didn’t know?”

I shake my head. “He touched my forehead and I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in a hospital and beyond traumatized. I couldn’t remember anything, like my memory had been wiped, and the nurse told me what had happened to my family. I was even questioned by the military. They knew it was a vampire attack but wanted to know why I wasn’t hurt.”

Hot tears slide down my cheeks as all the memories come back. Elias rubs my back.

“I didn’t remember why. I couldn’t tell them. I was in counseling for a year over it, and they diagnosed me with PTSD.” I scoff, wiping my face. “The doctor said someday something could trigger my memory. I guess that day is today.”

“How awful.”

“I became obsessed with vampires. I needed to understand them. I joined Meredith’s team and dedicated myself to research. I thought I might remember the details, but all I knew was what people told me about the uprising. I wanted to figure out a way to make both sides happy so it would never happen again. So the vampires wouldn’t need to assert their dominance.”

He kisses my hand while I rub my forehead with the other one.

“I’ve studied my own blood a thousand times, Elias. I’ve never seen anything different about it from a regular mortal. Nothing triggered me to remember the origin of my own birth.”

He nods, the kind expression on his face soothing my wounded heart.

“The worst thing I’ve dealt with is guilt. Why did they let me survive but not my mom or my sister? Why did my mom kill my dad? I tried to hate vampires, but I can’t.” I blow out a breath. “And why am I so obsessed with vampires? Why do I…?” Can I even say it out loud?

“You can tell me, Geordi.”

Maybe it would feel good to actually admit it. Would it relieve some of the guilt plaguing me the past five years? Only one way to find out.

“It’s so wrong, but part of me wants to be one too.”

“A vampire?”

I nod. “Yeah. I feel like a traitor for wanting to be the thing that destroyed my family.”

“These are complicated feelings, my darling, but they aren’t your fault. You want it because it’s already in you. It’s the beast inside that wants freedom. Eventually, you would have no choice but to let it out as your father did. I can only imagine your mother did what she thought was right, or even, perhaps, what they had discussed before.”

My bottom lip quivers. “I can’t help it?”

“No more than I can. It’s in your blood. It’s your nature, at least in part. Dhampirs are not common anymore for many reasons, a broken alliance the least of them. You want to honor the part of yourself that you know and understand, yet you are drawn to the monstrous part. In my experience, eventually you give in or you go mad.” He squeezes my hand. “Now you know why there’s a rule about romances between mortals and vampires.”

“Gods, I never thought about it on that level.” I swipe at my bleary eyes. “I don’t know what to do now. Now that I know. What do I do, Elias? I’ll lose everything if I turn. The people who trust me will…” I shake my head, unwilling to voice it.

“They won’t hurt you. They can’t.”

“Not physically, but they could turn on me. They could hate me.”

He tilts his head. “Meredith doesn’t hate vampires. I don’t get that sense. A healthy mistrust—which is smart, really—but not hate.”

“No, but she wouldn’t trust me anymore. She’d take away my lab. I wouldn’t even have a job anymore.”

He smiles. “You don’t need a job, darling. You have me and my wealth. You’ll have your own lab, the largest in the city. In the world. I’ll be your provider, your lover, your protector, until the sun dies and the earth grows cold and everything ceases to breathe.”

My heart flutters with budding hope. “Why, Elias? Why me?”

“Why not you? We make a good team, don’t we?”

“I guess.”

“We’re compatible in all the ways that matter. More importantly, you don’t bore me. Your heart is open and pure, untainted and unjaded by centuries of enduring. With you, everything is new again. We can see the world together, Geordi, a thousand times over, until we’re bored again.”

“And then what?”

“We’ll find new things to see and do. I’ve waited a long time for a suitable companion. A lover who invades my thoughts and steals my composure. A treasure all for me to hoard. Say the word and I’ll finish the transformation your father tried to start.”

Pleasant warmth spreads through my chest, drawing me closer to Elias. There’s not a single cell of my body trying to fight this, and now I know why. I understand all my reactions to him.

“What will you do to me?”

“Feed you, my love.” He cups my cheek. “Imbue your blood with mine, until we are one and the same, and your mortality is only a memory. You’re halfway there. Are you hungry for me, Geordi? As ravenous for me as I am for you? I have everything I could ever want except an eternity with you. In return for your soul, I’ll give you everything in my power.” He brushes his thumb across my lips. “Even my heart if you want it.”

“How do I know…” The words are so soft I wonder if I even said them.

“How do you know what?”

“That you’ll keep me. What if someday someone better or prettier comes along? Then what?”

Elias smiles and my stomach does a happy little flip. “I’ve been alive for nearly a thousand years. I have seen much beauty. I have met the brightest minds. And yet no combination of beauty and brains surpasses yours. There is no one else. No one alive or not yet born who will rival you. I am as sure of that as I am sure of who I am. I choose you, Geordi. Will you choose me? All you have to do is say yes and my gift is yours.”

My mind races with the consequences of saying yes or no. Do I trust that somehow it’ll all work out? Can I keep the friends I’ve struggled to even find, or will I have new friends now?

As I lift my gaze and stare into his eyes, I wonder if I could say no if I tried.

No. There’s only one outcome. This has been in motion since the moment I was conceived. I was always meant to be a vampire, and maybe, I was always meant to be his companion.

His eyes pulse with heat as he waits patiently for the words he clearly wants to hear.

“Ask me again.”

A warm smile spreads across Elias’s lips. “Be my companion, Geordi. My eternal consort. Say yes and I’m yours.”

I wait for nerves or fear or an ounce of self-preservation to kick in, but nothing happens. My heartbeat is even, my body temperature normal.

Nodding, I offer a subtle smile. “Yes, Elias. I’ll be your companion.”