Page 23 of Bonded By Blood
Brianna met the other a couple of feet in front of Joe. The vampire popped up the lid, releasing a stronger dose of the coppery scent that made his mouth water with mildly disgusting anticipation. Joe watched as Brianna bent down and lifted a bottle, filled with dark red liquid, from the depths of the cooler. She rolled the bottle between her hands a few times and nodded at the man, who quietly closed the lid.
Then she turned back to Joe and unscrewed the cap. “Everyone handles their first drink a little differently,” she said as she approached. “I know you’re thirsty, and I imagine part of you is fighting the idea of drinking this.” She held the bottle in front of him and he inhaled instinctively. She was right on both counts, but nothing about the smell of what was in that bottle was unappealing.
Joe reached out and wrapped his hand around the plastic.
Brianna covered it with hers, not releasing the bottle. “You must drink, but you must drink slowly. Okay?”
He looked into her eyes, the scent of the blood overwhelming all the other smells in the room, and nodded. “Yeah.”
She let go of his hand and took a step back.
Joe dropped his attention to the bottle in his hand and took a breath. It smelled as tempting as anything he’d ever craved, in its own unique way, but he knew it was blood. Human blood. Something he would never in his wildest dreams have thought he’d be drinking. Out of a repurposed water bottle, no less. But he knew Brianna was right. He was a vampire now, and vampires drank blood. If he refused, he would go insane, or be killed immediately. Neither were great options. He hadn’t wanted to be a vampire, but it was too late for that.
That didn’t mean he was going to lay down and die.
Here goes. He brought the bottle to his lips, closed his eyes, and tipped it back.
****
Brianna felt terrible.
Once Joe had the first half a bottle’s worth of blood in his system, he’d finally found enough of his voice to explain what had happened. It was exactly what Brianna had feared. Tobias Wilson had shown up at his door, killed, and forcefully Turned him. As far as Joe knew it had been an act of revenge, or spite, because of his involvement in the incident from nearly two years prior. He figured it was also due to his connection to the werewolves. And Brianna had to consider he might be right.
What better way to piss off an Alpha than to Turn his best friend against his will?
Regardless, she couldn’t help but feel a little responsible. She’d been concerned about his safety after his role—however involuntary—in Troy’s capture. She knew Tobias was making trouble in the area. She should have been more careful to keep an eye on Joe. Not just when she was with him. But it was too late to mourn her mistakes. All she could do now was help him transition to his new, immortal life—and hope he didn’t grow resentful.
If she was being selfish, she also hoped he wouldn’t ultimately choose to leave California.
The vast majority of new vampires moved away, for a multitude of reasons, from the region where they’d previously lived after Turning. In general, the logic made sense. It was hard, psychologically, for a person to divorce themselves from their life if they remained close to the memory of it. Aside from that, it was dangerous, presuming the new vampire had any local relatives, friends, or close associates. In Sacramento, the First Family had enough influence over the police department to quietly brush a missing person’s report under the proverbial rug, so the chances of problematic encounters with law enforcement were incredibly low. Elsewhere that wasn’t typically the case, as Brianna understood it. Elsewhere wasn’t Joe’s situation, though. He didn’t live in the heart of Sacramento, but he had one or two business associates in the area.
Brianna bit back a sigh. In the coming days, Joe would have a lot of decisions to make. In a week, maybe two, she would likely have to say goodbye to him. For the time being, Trista had agreed to let him stay at the mansion while he adjusted—or until they finally captured Tobias.
“Ugh, when does the aching stop?” Joe asked with a groan. He remained seated on the edge of the bed in the guest room Brianna had had him taken to, a largely empty bottle hanging from one hand and his palm pressed against his forehead.
Brianna turned her gaze from the doorway she hadn’t really been looking at and moved to sit next to him. She could only somewhat sympathize with his plight, despite her countless years of experience. She’d been born with the senses his body was still adjusting to, born with the fangs he’d cut his tongue and lips on a handful of times earlier in the day. As an Original, she could retract hers if she chose. His were permanently descended, an inescapable reminder of what he’d become. She didn’t know what it was like to change species. To wake up one morning something entirely different from what she’d been the day before. Let alone to have such a change thrust upon her by force. So she had to use her imagination, take an educated guess based on what she did know, from what she knew about how vampire abilities worked, and from all the times she’d been witness to a Turn.
She eased his hand from his face, brushed his hair back, and pressed her lips to his skin. “It takes a day, sometimes two. Depending on how much you let yourself rest and how well you drink.”
Joe straightened a little and looked at the bottle in his hand. “I didn’t picture the thirst like this,” he said. “I’d heard different stories, but mostly that it’s pretty manageable.” A breath of air that might have been intended as a bitter laugh escaped him. “It’s been half a day since you found me, and this is my third bottle.”
Brianna smiled. “The stories you heard were probably about the present-day situations of whoever you were talking to,” she said. “Freshly Turned vampires are always starving. It’s important to stay fed so you don’t lose control.” She reached out, curled her index finger around his chin, and turned his head to the side until he met her gaze again. “The urgency of the thirst does subside, I promise. Right now, your body is overwhelmed and craving sustenance, that’s all.”
His expression softened and he pulled her hand into his free one. “This isn’t how I was hoping we could spend the day.”
A tickle of amusement bubbled up inside her and Brianna curled her fingers around his larger hand. “Me, either. You’ll have to make it up to me when you’re feeling better.”
“Deal.” He looked like he had something else he wanted to say, perhaps questions he hadn’t yet asked, but he didn’t add anything more.
Brianna released his hand and indicated the bottle. “Finish that and try to get some sleep for now. You’ve had enough blood. Your body should be able to relax.”
“Right,” he mumbled, lifting the bottle and sloshing the liquid around almost absently. “What happens when I wake up?”
“We always station a guard outside the door for a new Turn,” Brianna said, hating how routine the answer sounded. “He’ll let me know, and if there’s anything that’s come up that you need to do or I want you to know, he’ll pass the message along.”
Joe blinked at her. “A guard? Is that necessary?”
She offered him another smile. “It’s procedure. The mansion is big, easy to get turned around in, and there are some areas Mother doesn’t allow just anyone to wander into. This way there are no misunderstandings. Besides, that also means there’s someone nearby in case the new Turn needs something unexpectedly.”
Joe drained the last of the blood in the bottle, licked the remnants from his lips with an almost imperceptible wince, and said, “From an outside perspective that makes sense.”
Brianna arched a brow. “But?”
He shrugged. “As a ‘new Turn,’ it feels … clinical.”
He wasn’t wrong. Her mother wasn’t a warm and fuzzy, welcoming individual. Generally speaking, Brianna wasn’t invested in the process, either. This time she was.
She leaned forward and pressed her lips over his, letting the kiss linger. As she retreated, she slipped the empty bottle from his grasp and whispered, “What about now?”
His newly-darkened eyes warmed with a small smile. “Much better.”