Teagan made certain her voice was soft, yet very firm. "Andre. You're injured. You need to sit down and let me take care of this as best I can. You're losing way too much blood. It's already dark and the wolves are going to smell this and come running."
He ignored her as if she hadn't spoken, his gaze moving broodingly over her face. His glacier blue eyes were hooded and in spite of everything, all the gore and shock and horror of what she'd seen, his amazing eyes were just plain sensual.
"Tell me what you were doing, Teagan," Andre repeated. "Do not make me ask again."
He reached for her hand, his fingers shackling her wrist, and he tugged it to him, even though she tried to resist. She needed both hands for pressure. He ignored the fact that she was saving his life when he used that scary tone, the one that said she'd better come up with an answer.
She opened her mouth to respond, but he was looking at the blisters on the back of her hand and arm from the acid in the fog. He dipped his head, and she felt the stroke of his tongue. Her breath stopped right in her lungs. Her throat closed. Her eyes burned and she blinked rapidly to stop the tears.
Teagan knew exactly what he was doing. He stood there, torn and wounded beyond anything she'd ever seen, and he was healing her minor little burn. "Andre." She whispered his name.
His tongue was a caress. A velvet rasp that sent shivers through her entire body. Everywhere he touched, the pain vanished. She wished she had a healing agent in her saliva in order to heal him, but her gift didn't work that way.
His gaze jumped to her face, and she took a breath. He was angry with her. Not just angry, but really angry. She had thought the vampire scary, but Andre's anger turned the air around them into an electrical heat wave. Worse than the lightning bolt. He waited in silence, one hand in her hair, the other holding her healed wrist. She knew he wasn't going to allow her to help him until she answered.
"Andre, this is all crazy to me. I mean, I came here to find something to heal my grandmother's mental illness, and suddenly everything around me is making me think I'm mentally ill as well. I thought you were a figment of my imagination. A really, really gorgeous one. I should have known I couldn't conjure up someone like you. I don't have that much of an imagination . . ." She trailed off.
Her mouth was running away from her. When she got nervous, she talked and anything in her head came out of her mouth. She pressed her lips closed, willing him to understand.
His eyes softened at her ranting, but she could tell he wasn't finished with the topic. "We are too exposed here. We have to get back to the cave. That one has friends."
"We need to get you to a doctor, Andre. You need a transfusion. Seriously. This wound can kill you."
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pinned her to his side. "Close your eyes, Teagan."
"What?" She pressed her hands tighter to his chest now that she had both of them. "Andre, you're in shock."
"Close your eyes."
She huffed out her breath in total exasperation. He was really annoying when he went all He-Man macho on her. She wasn't certain all that gorgeous was worth the attitude. Still, she closed her eyes to humor him. She had the feeling healing him was going to be up to her anyway. How could they climb down the mountain at night? Especially when there were wild animals everywhere and he was bleeding so much. Her shirt was soaked with blood. It had been useless tearing it. Now she was in her bra, and he could see she had no curves whatsoever.
She had that floating sensation again, the one she got when he kissed her. She lifted her lashes just a little and saw the ground was gone. Gone. Completely gone. As in she really was floating. Well, flying. Technically she wasn't flying. Andre was flying and just carrying her along for the ride.
She closed her eyes again because if she didn't, she was going to scream very, very loud. "This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This isn't real. This isn't real." She chanted the denial, hoping she was caught in the throes of a terrible nightmare.
Just in case it was real, she continued to press both hands tight against the hole in his chest. The wind on her body told her it was true, that she was flying through the air, with his arm locked around her waist. If he was flying, what did that make him?
Um. Andre. What exactly are you?
Teagan peeked at the earth below her. Yep. Still flying. Maybe it wasn't the best time to ask him. What if he realized she peeked and he just dropped and smashed her body against the rocks below? She knew how to fall, but not from this kind of height. It made her a little dizzy to look down so she closed her eyes again and pressed her bloody shirt tighter into the wound on his chest.
I hunt the vampire.
A monk and a vampire hunter. A monk, a law enforcement bounty hunter type and a vampire hunter. She hadn't really expected that from him.
She bit her lip. He really wasn't very good at vampire hunting. Maybe he hadn't been at it long, with his career change and all. He didn't even carry holy water with him. Or stakes. Or a bible. She had seen her grandmother's vampire-hunting kit, straight off the Internet, and in spite of the fact that, at the time, she thought her grandmother was absolutely bonkers, the old case with all the hunting tools inside was very cool. Surely if he really hunted vampires he'd have all kinds of weapons.
May I make a teensy observation? She didn't want to upset him, but he needed a little help.
I cannot wait.
That sounded a little sarcastic but she forged on. If you had the proper gear, such as the stuff Grandma Trixie has, you wouldn't have to get so close to that horrible creature and you wouldn't get so torn up.
The only way to destroy a vampire is to remove his heart and incinerate it. Even if you chop off his head, he can repair himself. He is the undead.
She kept her eyes closed tight. She would have put her hands over her ears and sang la la la at the top of her lungs to keep from hearing him. Unfortunately, he was talking in her head, so that luxury was impossible and she had to keep her hands pressed to his chest to keep more blood from spilling out at such a high altitude.
Is that really true?
Yes.
Well. That was bad news for her grandmother. She'd been swindled on the Internet. So many people preyed on the elderly. She'd have to check into that and maybe find a way to put those people right out of business.
Andre landed lightly and ducked inside the cave, still holding her to his side. She didn't open her eyes to see how the two of them managed to fit through the narrow entrance, because if she had any more surprises she was going to just scream. Hysterically. Scream at the top of her lungs. She needed to focus on healing him so he wouldn't die.
"Andre." She kept her eyes closed as he carried her through the various chambers. She was fairly certain they were headed back to the room where he had a bed. "You're going to need a transfusion. Do you know your blood type? I might be able to donate my blood if we're compatible."
He paused at every entrance, just for a few moments, and she risked peeking. He seemed to be the one setting up shields, because right before he turned away, she saw notes and strings shimmering for one moment before they disappeared.
"We are compatible."
He was still angry. She opened her eyes and glared at him. "Are you still angry with me? I'm saving your life. I sacrificed my shirt and I only have a couple, which necessitates going into town to buy more. And I need to find the stone to heal my grandmother."
"Your grandmother is not in need of healing, although I am beginning to suspect you are."
She narrowed her eyes at him, giving him her most fierce scowl. "That wasn't nice. You can put me down anytime, Andre."
He paused to weave another shield over the last entrance before his hidden chamber. Ignoring her squinty eyes and really mean scowl--the one that always made her nephews behave--he carried her right on through to his living quarters. Only then did he set her on her feet.
She kept her hands pressed tight to his chest. Deciding the best thing to do was ignore his bad m
ood--she was fairly certain she'd be grumpy if she had a hole the size of Texas in her chest--and take charge.
"Get over to the bed, Andre, and lie down. I can take a look at this and see what I need to do to fix you up."
He looked down at her for a long time. He sighed. "I will heal my wounds as best I can and if you are willing, I gladly accept your offer of blood."
"Of course I'm willing. We have to do this now, Andre."
"I have sustained far worse wounds than these. His fist didn't penetrate that far."
He sounded as if he was running out of patience. And she was being as nice as possible under very horrendous and scary circumstances. She thought it best to point that out to him.
"Just so you know, I'm not my grandmother. I do not hunt vampires. In fact, I prefer to believe they are figments of the imagination. Or at least very bad nightmares. So if I'm not handling this situation to your satisfaction, I apologize." She gave him another glare just to make certain he realized she was losing patience with him.
"I told you not to leave," he said, and his voice went scary quiet. Soft. Scary soft.
If she didn't have to press so hard into his bleeding chest with both hands she would have given an airy wave to dismiss his orders. As it was, she decided to be the bigger person. After all, he was bleeding to death right in front of her.
"Just because you've sustained worse wounds, doesn't mean this one won't kill you. Get on the bed, Andre. And I mean it." She used her firmest I-mean-business voice.
9
Andre hissed at Teagan, a long, slow sound of sheer anger slipping out. His eyes turned glittery, and the temperature in the cave went up several degrees. He caught both her wrists and pulled them from his chest. Her sacrificial shirt dropped to the ground, bloody and ruined.
Teagan's heart stuttered and she tried to take a step back from him. Distance would be a good thing. He was a big man and powerful. It didn't matter that he was bleeding everywhere, he looked like an ancient warrior--one used to winning every battle.
"You're scaring me, Andre."
"The time to be afraid was when you left the safety of this cave against my wishes and dangled yourself as bait in front of a vampire."
She moistened suddenly dry lips with the tip of her tongue. How could he even stand up? She couldn't help herself. As much as she wanted to know everything about vampires and hunters and the strange things he could do, she wanted to heal him. The compulsion grew in her the longer she looked at the rake marks on his face and the blood flowing from his chest.
"I was afraid," she conceded. "I was afraid I was losing my mind. Please, Andre, let me help you. I'm not as good a healer as you, but if you don't let me help, you're not going to make it. You can't sustain this kind of blood loss."
He turned and went to the bed, taking her with him. He sank down on the edge, his thighs apart, and he pulled her down in front of him, seating her with her back to his front. "Sit still."
He made it an order, and she winced, but at least he was sitting on the bed instead of standing like some crazy macho man, bleeding out right in front of her.
"I will heal my wounds and then I will need your blood. I will be weak and I need you to sit still and not fight me."
She turned her head to scowl at him over her shoulder. "I volunteered to give you blood, Andre. And just an FYI, I bashed that vampire over his head in order to save you. I may have wanted to run away, but I didn't." She knew she sounded snippy, but as if. She was the one who pointed out he needed a transfusion, and she'd told him she would donate if they were compatible.
Andre wrapped both of his arms around her waist and drew her close. She was instantly aware of her bare skin. She'd almost forgotten she was in her bra and nothing else. She'd just have to pretend she was wearing a bathing suit. It wasn't like she could jump him when he was so seriously wounded.
She huffed out her breath and turned back around. It was far too daunting to look into his eyes. She couldn't see pain there, but she felt it beating at her. Both the healer and the empath in her needed to help him--needed to heal him. She couldn't bear for him to be wounded one more moment.
Still, she had the feeling that he wanted her to experience this with him. He was still angry. She felt that as well, a kind of repressed fury smoldering just below the surface, and she wasn't altogether certain why, but she wasn't going to ask. She just wanted him to get on with however he was going to heal himself.
Teagan felt him push into her mind. It wasn't subtle, the move was a powerful force, a thrust, taking him past every natural barrier and merging them together in one swift takeover. He felt predatory. Invasive at first. Scary. He poured into her, filling her. Finding her. Seeing her.
The swift invasion was both uncomfortable and yet sensual at the same time. He would know her every secret. Every thought. Everything. She couldn't hide from him. Still, she'd been lonely all of her life. She'd been different and never fit anywhere. He filled those empty spaces with--him. With his strength and courage. He gave himself to her, opening his mind to her.
She found herself moving into him. Not as decisively as he had her; she was delicate about it, not wanting to give him the feeling of a takeover. She discovered that where she'd felt alone in the midst of her family and friends, Andre had been alone. There was a huge difference.
He had no one. Not a single person of his own. She really was that person to him. She poured herself into those lonely places, just as he had done for her. She felt him still. His hands tightened, nearly cutting off her breath, but she didn't move. He needed this. He needed her, and she gave herself to him.
Heal yourself now, Andre. I want to be with you when you do.
She might never be able to do what he could, but she could share it with him, just like this. Mind-to-mind. It was far more intimate than she could ever imagine. She couldn't lie to him. Or hide from him. She saw him just as he saw her. He had killed to protect others. She saw that. She accepted it. Andre's integrity shone through every other thing about him.
She actually felt him shed his body. It was almost a glorious thing to feel him lose his ego, his more human and predatory senses, all sense of self, to become nothing but a pure white healing light. She felt his heat like a laser, moving through his body to find the hole in his chest. He repaired veins and arteries, removing the venom from the places where the vampire had clawed through his flesh. She hadn't even known vampires had venom in the nasty, razor-sharp talons they called fingernails.
He was meticulous, taking his time, and she realized it took a great deal of energy to stay out of one's body and do the kind of work that he was doing. She was so deeply connected to his mind, moving with him through his body that she could actually feel the repairs and "see" them, although it was much more of an internal visualization.
She could feel hunger clawing and raking at him, a brutal assault that tore through him worse than the pain of his wounds. Weakness. Weariness from too many battles. Too much death. She saw the gray, bleak world he'd occupied before she'd come to him and the one of color and passion after she'd arrived.
Her breath caught in her throat as she realized his skin was becoming smooth. Perfect. The black vampire blood that seemed to contain acid had been bathed away right there in the battlefield, when he'd incinerated the vampire and somehow controlled a lightning bolt. He'd controlled a lightning bolt. How freakin' awesome was that? She'd tried not to think about it, in fact, she'd just buried it deep so she wouldn't have to figure out how he did it, but even that wasn't as awesome to her as the miracle taking place in his body right before her eyes.
The tattered remains of his shirt were gone, leaving his chest bare. She was up close, and she could see every torn muscle. The rake marks. The bites at his neck and shoulder, great gouges of flesh and muscle torn away. The worst was the fist-sized hole that had gone about an inch deep in his chest and looked to be positioned over his heart. Of course, he had those old circular scars she always wanted to touch--or kiss. Those f
elt so much a part of him, she couldn't imagine his body without them.
There were four long furrows, extremely deep on his face, long rake marks torn with the horrendous talons the vampire had on his hands. One of the lacerations was very close to Andre's left eye. Even as she stared at the wounds, they were closing. Closing. Right in front of her from the inside out. His healing abilities were insane, off the charts, his gift a true miracle.
As a healer, she'd seen things that shocked and amazed her. As an empath being merged so close with him, feeling his pain and hunger, seeing his life so empty, tears burned behind her eyes for him. Everything that she was, the very essence of her reached out to him. She poured herself into his mind in an effort to soothe him, to make his life better in some way.
Mostly she looked at his skin, now nearly perfect. There were no scars other than the older, circular ones. Not on his face. She could see faint lines there, where the wounds had been, but she knew those would fade with time. She couldn't stop herself from turning completely around to face him so she could run her hand over the smooth muscles, feeling with the pads of her fingertips as if touching him would help her process how he had managed such a phenomenon.
It was the most powerful and beautiful thing she'd ever witnessed. She had no idea how much time passed, but she knew he was swaying with weariness. The blood loss was too great and he desperately needed a transfusion.
Teagan wanted to call him back to her, but she didn't know if that could possibly damage him further so she remained silent, but stayed close in his mind. Almost abruptly he returned to his body, and for the first time she felt him shudder with both pain and exhaustion.
She smoothed her fingers gently over his face. He touched hers and his fingertips came away wet with tears.
"Andre." His name came out breathy. She hadn't wanted it to, it just did. "I've never been able to heal anyone in my life like that. You're a gift, a precious gift to the world."
Andre's eyes went from pure glacial ice to electric blue. Intense. Beautiful. She could see the long lashes, lashes that should have made him look feminine, but there wasn't one single feminine thing about him.