Gideon caught it easily in one hand and forgave him immediately. He understood all about instinct and survival.
“I think we should leave and quickly. Word through my current Consort tells me that you have just been ordered at Prince Helim’s side. I can put it off for a day maybe three. I was last informed you were somewhere in in Southern America tracking a rogue. I can’t cover more than that.”
“Something is off about all of this Gideon and you know it. I think Helim is behind the demon attacks. He has to be. His sister going mad and bleeding humans in my area and I executed her as I was trained yet the bastard does not see it that way. It has to be him sending the demons.”
“Well for now rise and shower. You smell of blood. She’s breathing and her heart started up about not long ago. She’s alive. Let’s move her to a safer location.”
“Can you or Leila…” Damon began.
“Of course, get moving. You bring my mate into danger with the slowness you are currently giving me then I will have to show this one that the mighty Damon is not as ruthless and dangerous as most Trackers believe him to be,” Gideon growled.
With that Damon took the fastest shower he could and threw only a few outfits in a bag along with any items he could think of that would be useful to them such as his multiple passports and currency for many areas.
He loaded his car with his bag, his sword and dagger, a cooler full of blood, Shade’s duffle and backpack, and a tent in the event they had to sleep in the open. Damon grabbed a few other things at the last second just in case. He knew he was wasting time but if it was worth it later than…
Shade was going to live as a vampire like him. Either she would hate him for turning her, or she would be grateful. As long as she didn’t banish him from her sight he would survive.
Damon bid his Master and his mate farewell. Leila hesitantly inched forward from behind Gideon who was always super protective when it came to her.
“I want to apologize now for my inability to stop the demon. Shade would be alive now and human if I had paid a little more attention. I hope this does not come between us. I only wish that in the future you do not hate me.”
Her demure and sincere gaze caused him to forgive her immediately. She had been nothing but kind to him since they had met. It simply had not occurred to him to hold a grudge with all the craziness in the last six to twelve or so hours.
“There is nothing to forgive. I wish you had not been taken unawares but not only for Shade’s sake but your own as well.”
Leila gave him a smile and half hug of which Damon tolerated, but barely.
They said their goodbyes and he raced upstairs to gather up Shade. He had made a pillowed pallet of sorts in the back seat as comfortable as possible for her until she woke.
He settled her in the backseat with her head on the passenger side so he could constantly check on her. Damon secured her and then drove to the bank to withdraw enough money to get them by for a short while.
Damon was in and out in less than ten minutes. From the door he could see the parked car at the closest parking space and that Shade was still not awake. Gideon assumed she would wake within an hour or so and he planned to be at her side.
He carefully made sure the blood bags were in the front seat.
Damon contemplated his destination for several moments before he headed to the nearest interstate. He would indeed go south but not where he was expected to be. If things worked out he could board with an old friend, a female werewolf, on her personal island for a few weeks. She would be angry about his refusal to marry her but she would stand by the code. She was one of the only female shape shifting trackers in the world. Lately she was a more local gal who took down mortal fugitives that ran for the border.
Just as he was about to reach for the cell to call her it rang.
He checked the number and found it local and unknown.
“Damon.”
“This is Shade’s brother, Mikhail. We’re leaving in an hour. Can I talk to her?”
“There were some complications. Seems a demon saw an opportunity to take my life but as I was with you it found Shade instead…” he started.
“There are demons? Is she okay?” Mikhail shouted into the cell causing Damon to wince.
“Calm down, she is now a vampire unfortunately I could not maintain her mortal status. She is still converting she should wake anytime. Where can I reach you?” Damon asked.
“I’m not sure. We are on the move now. The cell I’m on now is stolen and when it’s reported they’ll shut it off I’m sure or use it to locate me. Why?”
“Well, we have to find a safer location ourselves.”
Mikhail relayed the whole incident to Shayla who took the phone.
“Vampire I insist that Mikhail’s sister come with us. She will be safer on my island than anywhere. I have an elite personal army should I choose to call them in. I’ll call you when I reach home and are prepared for you and the girl. I have some company that has overstayed their welcome. They are not fond of Trackers nor am I for that matter. It seems this is important to my mate so I’ll do what I can to help.”
Damon and Mikhail were both surprised by her genuine offer to help.
Damon thanked her and hung up. Shade would be kitten weak for some time, as the vampire gene took time to build in her system and change her.
“So where are we going?” came a weak question from the back seat.
“Shade!” Damon cried pulling into a random store’s parking lot to a store, thankful he was not on the interstate yet.
“Yeah that is my name last I checked unless that changes when you become a vampire… that is what I am now right?” she asked, her voice dry.
Damon nearly climbed into the back seat with her.
“Are you feeling any better?” he asked searching her up and down, apparently looking for some trauma or maybe bruises, as if he had not stared at her every chance he got for the last several hours.
“I feel crappy, like I died, but otherwise just peachy.”
Shade laid her head back down for a moment.
“Is something wrong?” Damon asked worriedly.
“I’m super starved and dizzy. Good idea parking in a grocery parking lot. I need to grab some food.”
“There will be no grabbing of people!” Damon retorted.
“Um, no I had chips and a soda in mind actually.”
Shade shivered at the thought of eating people. She was not a zombie. Wait vampires drank blood, he meant…
“I think I’m going to be sick,” she cried trying for the door.
“Not yet. That does not happen until your first blood bag.”
“Blood bag?” Shade questioned, turning green.
“In order for you to gain your strength yes. Your body will fight it at first but within a day or so you will be sucking them down pretty quickly.”
Shade groaned.
She mumbled something into the pillows.
“I am sorry but even my vampire hearing did not understand that.”
“Seriously?” She asked pulling herself back up.
“Yes seriously.” Damon did not understand how it could not be serious.
“No I meant that sarcastically,” she said rolling her eyes.
She groaned a few more times as she pulled herself into an upright position.
“What did that man do to me? I feel broken everywhere.”
“His venom is toxic. He was a demon sent here to kill me and found you in my place.”
“So he more or less took my week or so as a human and squashed it leaving you to babysit me instead of your soul mate. Great, just what I always wanted was a tight ass baby sitter from the eighteenth century who doesn’t even talk right.”
Shade was stuffing pillows under her arms to pad her ribs.
“Is that how you really think of me?” Damon asked, morbidly curious to know what his own mate thought of him.
“What?” Shade asked looking up as he turned back ar
ound to avoid her pity and loathing. Better to drive than annoy her further.
She saw the tense way he held his shoulders. She leaned to her right a hair and glimpsed him through the rear view mirror. His eyes were closed and his face darkened with… sadness? He was upset at her for feeling… Oh. Oh! Oh, crap her sarcasm at its best again, Shade thought to herself.
She looked back at his actions upon her wakening and realized he had been worried about her, almost stricken with it.
“Wait, I didn’t mean…” She regretted it as soon as she realized she had hurt him.
“Do not worry, save your strength and heal. You did not offend me.”
She could tell immediately that he lied. He probably wanted to avoid it all rather than be embarrassed. A seven hundred year old vampire who was not only embarrassed but cared for her? Wow, she thought. Not reborn more than ten minutes and she had upset her sire twice. She would have to monitor her sassy sarcasm it seemed.
“Fine but please do not take to heart everything I say. There are times I am literally being sarcastic.”
“No harm done,” he replied.
Another lie… Well he could mope all he wanted. She was not trying to hurt him.
“So yeah, I’m kind of super starving here.”
Shade whispered as she looked out the tinted window.
The backseat was almost nonexistent. Had she been any bigger it would have been impossible. This car was not meant to sit four.
“I have plenty of blood up here for you. It is better to get started now before the pains immobilize you.”
Shade sighed and put her head on the window.
Then she remembered her earlier question.
“Where are we headed, vampire?”
“Call me Damon please, or even Sire if you must. You too are a vampire now, and to answer your question, south.”
Damon did not share beyond that.
“Okay who was on the cell? Whoever it was apparently knew of me.”
“Your brother is alive and well, only he was made into a werewolf.”
Shade sat straight up and stared at him.
“What? Why the hell did you not mention this earlier?”
She was nearly climbing into the front seat now.
“Calm down before you harm yourself.”
She sat back still alert.
“It seems he was not a feral. I have been misguided by my superiors and not all the werewolves I put down were feral. I believe that our Royals have been withholding of certain facts and wish to maintain their authority.”
“What? Hold on, was that even English dude?”
“Dude?” he asked clearly confused.
“Man, dude, vampire, you know whatever.”
“Ah you mean Sire or Damon.”
“Yeah, yeah, back to what you were saying. The big guys in charge have been complete assholes and used you to do their dirty work?”
Now Damon was confused.
“Drink this while I explain,” he suggested, handing her a blood bag. Maybe if she was distracted she could keep it down, he thought.
“Sure whatever,” she said again taking it and using the tube as a straw.
As soon as the blood hit her tongue she began closing her eyes and squeezing the bag to push more into her mouth.
It seemed that was too slow for her. Her fangs dropped of their own accord and she ripped open the bag spilling a third of the contents on her shirt and a few drops in the back of the passenger seat.
Damon cringed but did nothing that would interrupt her. This part was crucial. If the blood lust did not claim her she would not eat.
Shade did not even realize her apparent lust for the blood. She was taken over and submerged in the act.
Of course the blood tasted stale, if not dead, but it cooled her throat and filled her. As it reached her tummy though something happened, it seemed her stomach was trying to reject it.
That is also when the smell hit her and she gagged.
Damon quickly unlocked the door and helped her out. No sooner had her feet hit the ground when everything she had ingested came back up.
Shade was no exception. Her newly vampire stomach still held its human weakness. It would be a day or so before it realized it could digest the blood and benefit from it.
Damon handed her a towel to clean herself with and waited. A moment later he handed her a dry shirt.
Shade did not hesitate in ripping the bloodied one off and pulling the other on.
Luckily only one car drove past, who was clearly ogling his mate, or so he thought. A growl began in his throat at the passerby.
Shade looked up quickly, confused by the sudden change in his behavior.
Damon realized he was playing the jealous boyfriend and reigned in his anger. He glanced at Shade and the conflicted look on her face.
He sighed and held up a pair of pants, but before he handed them over he moved forward and made a space between his body and the frame of the door so she would have some semblance of privacy.
Shade smiled and took the pants, moving into the small space he insinuated that was her impromptu dressing room. She was out of her blood-stained jeans and into the other in a second. She realized then that when she had been in the security shaft in the basement she had been in a t-shirt, panties, and socks. Apparently someone had changed her sometime while she was dying and being reborn.
“I know you are still thirsty. The rejection in your human stomach will fade as the vampire genes strengthen everything and convert it. For now you should attempt to rest.”
As a tiny truck drove by Shade caught the scent of mortals and her fangs dropped.
Damon was mortified that he had not considered this, but relieved he was blocking not only her from others views but also blocking her from chasing the truck. She was in complete predatory mode and if he had not reached for her at the same time she had tried to climb onto the roof she would have possibly gotten loose and found another mortal nearby.
He wrapped both hands around her upper arms and pulled her against him. She snarled at him and attempted to free herself.
“Shh,” Damon whispered into her ear as he leaned down. He wrapped one arm around her waist as she used a leg to pull herself onto the car.
“Shade, no, hear me now. This is not the path you wish to take,” he told her quietly, in hushed and even tones.
Her hands reached towards the frame, nails digging in.
He wrestled her away easily, afraid only of hurting her, and inserted her into the passenger side of the car. He closed the door before she could turn and pounce back through. He waited for a moment, knowing it was impossible for her to escape.
The windows were bullet proof and therefore in her quasi-mortal state unbreakable. He waited patiently for her to return to her normal senses.
Tears pricked the corners of his eyes. He remembered the intensity of the lust when it came upon you, especially when one was unaware. Shade would battle the urges for over a year.
Damon sighed but relaxed as Shade’s actions began to subside. The lack of human smell within the car would eventually calm her. Granted she may end up attacking the blood bags on the front seat…
Shade shouted from within.
He released the lock on the little mechanism on his keychain and opened the door. As Shade threw herself out he caught her once more and held her while her stomach regained its balance.
She was crying uncontrollably now. He held her close while she finished gagging then handed her the towel. She had gotten a lot less blood on her this time and therefore could wait until he had found a motel room. His many different ID’s was a godsend in this situation. He had procured several on his own without the officials ever knowing. Even Gideon was unaware of this.
Hiccups took over Shade along with the human tears. Her body was still in pain but kept betraying her. He of course also remembered the macabre embarrassment and self-judgment that came along with realizing you were now a blood thirsty monster.
&nbs
p; He pulled her hair up out of the way and gently caressed her back. One arm completely supported her. She was more or less thrown over his arm face down. Sobs wracked her slim frame. He held her closer now that she was through.
Damon wrapped another arm around her, offering the only support he could. He could not hold her as tightly against him as he wished but this closeness was a joy all the same.
Shade was completely horrified at her actions. She was an animal now. A bloody two sided creature, half human, half vampire. Her human side warred with the other at its appalling macabre monstrosities. Her vampire side roared for release, in anger at her sane humane tendencies. Both sides would have to learn to live together, balance themselves out so she was a humane vampire. Not a soul sucking demon burning for life giving and wickedly delicious red nectar.