Chapter 33

Alina

“You’re transitioning into a vampire.”
I didn’t think the words had sunk in yet.
Erick was currently on the phone, talking a mile a minute and in languages that didn’t quite exist in the Earthly vocabulary, while I sat on our bed, staring at my hands as if I’d magically found the answers to what happened tonight written on them.
This was a first for me. I was never the person to stay this quiet in the eye of the storm. Usually, I would just faint, but today, I felt a strange sense of calmness that was so unlike myself that I kept on wondering exactly how long it’ll take for the words to sink in or if it ever would.
“You’re transitioning into a vampire.”
“Alina?” Erick’s voice was gentle and careful as if approaching a panicked wild animal that was outwardly calm but could turn into a hissing monster at any instant.
“It hasn’t really set in yet, Erick,” I told him, turning my hand over. “I don’t know what to feel.”
“I’m sorry. This is all my fault.” Erick sat down on the bed facing me. His phone next to him showed an ended call from Miaka. “I should’ve been here for you.”
“What happened last night?” I asked. The part after we made love was hazy. Although I did remember the bite, there were no marks to prove it.
“After I got us out of the pool, I laid you down on the gazebo. But then I got a mental call from Miaka,” he explained, “which was strange because, one, Miaka doesn’t call for help, and two, I had strict orders forbidding anyone to disturb us for the night. Turns out, Emiel had attacked the castle.”
I gasped. “Emiel! Is everyone alright? Is Miaka alright?” The thought of little Miaka in Emiel’s clutches horrified me. I knew that Emiel didn’t harm humans because of some sick twisted reason, but Miaka, although a child, wasn’t human.
“Don’t worry.” Erick gave me a small smile. “We lost about eleven guards, but Miaka’s the one who caught Emiel. She’s stronger than she appears.”
“Thank God!” I heaved a sigh of relief.
“But,” Erick continued, “It appears to have been a distraction. You were the target all along.”
“Me? How?”
“Fang marks.” He touched the side of my neck lightly. “It’s almost gone, but I can still see them. Someone injected vampire venom into your bloodstream while I was away. It was someone very strong, or Kendrick would’ve alerted me the second he felt anything. Even the vampire guards stationed around the house didn’t feel a thing.”
“But who could be strong enough to evade security?” I asked. “Erick?” He had a troubled look on his face.
“Remember what Miaka told you about the mages? The ones who created the dimensions?”
“Yes.”
“They’re called the Ancients. There is a very popular belief that they didn’t die during the making as everyone supposed,” Erick said. “Instead, they’re merely sleeping. It was an eons-long slumber that can only be broken by them when they are ready to wake.”
“But what does that have to do with me getting bit?” I asked, unable to see the connection.
“Possession of an individual is the first sign of an awakening Ancient. Turning of a human is the second.”
And then it clicked.
“Emiel was the first sign!” Which was why he seemed to have a split personality like there were two individuals living in his body. “And I’m the second?”
“Yes.” Erick confirmed. “Miaka made the connection this evening after you told her about Emiel’s eyes. Tonight, there were a group of vampires with Emiel during the attack, and they all had red glowing eyes.”
“But why would an Ancient want to turn me?” My hand instinctively went to my neck to touch the spot where I’d felt the sharp pain. It was gone now, but talking about it made me feel like it was tingling.
“The choice can be random or very well planned. Not all Ancients who helped create the dimensions did it out of the goodness of their hearts or because they cared for their people. Some of them intended to rule and be the unopposed leader of an entire world.” He explained. “Most probably, the one who’s waking up wanted to rule over this world. And since he couldn’t possess a royalty because we’re always so well guarded and well trained for all sorts of circumstances, he or she chose the next best thing.”
“I see. So then—” There was a sudden blackness in front of my eyes, and my body went numb for an instant.
“Alina!”
I blinked my eyes open, but the blackness was still there although I could feel my hands and feet again. Then slowly, my senses returned, and I could feel Erick shaking my shoulders. The blackness frayed at the edges oh-so-slowly, and my vision returned to reveal Erick’s worried face inches away from mine.
“Erick?” I raised a trembling hand to touch the side of his face. “What happened?”
“Your transition...” He trailed off. I sensed a kind of helplessness in his voice that I’ve never heard before, but he masked it the next instant. “Get some rest, Alina. It’ll help you.”
I simply nodded my head, suddenly feeling too tired to even form a coherent reply. I closed my eyes and let sleep take over me.

****

Waking up early in the morning to the sound of waves crashing on the shore was normal, but this was the first time I’d woken up to that same sound in the middle of the night. The bed was empty when I opened my eyes, but it was still warm. Erick must have woken up not too long ago. The bedside digital clock said three forty-nine am.
I lifted my head to look around the room and found Erick seated on the wide windowsill of the castle bedroom. The moonlight was drenching him and the entire room in a soft bluish-silver glow. Trying not to startle him, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and got off the bed as quietly as I could. I got a robe from the back of a nearby chair and donned it over my short night dress. Erick was in black sweatpants and a grey tee that hugged his body like second skin, and his features were all hard angles and lean muscles in the moonlight.
His head was turned away from me, so I went to call him, but his hands came around my waist at that instant, pulling me down on his lap as I tried to fight back a squeal.
“You heard me.” Of course, he did! He was a vampire after all.
Erick chuckled, turning towards me and wrapping both arms around my waist. He buried his face in my hair while I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “I heard you even before you woke up. Your breathing changed. Did I wake you?
“I couldn’t feel you next to me,” I answered truthfully. “How long was I out?”
“A day.” His grip tightened. “But that’s good. I was injecting you with my blood to lessen the effects of the venom. It’s best if you sleep through the entire process.”
Erick pointed towards the bedside where a now empty blood bag hung from a stand along with IV tubing wound in several circles.
“Will I become like them, the Ancients?” I asked, scared for the first time. I was finally past the initial shock of knowing that I was in transition.
“No, you’ll still be you.” He lifted up his head and placed a small affectionate kiss to my forehead. “Just a bit stronger, meaner, and sexier.”
I giggled, tucking my head under his chin and breathing in the dark chocolate with a hint of spices that was his scent. “You smell like dark chocolate.”
“Oh?”
I frowned and looked up at his face. “You didn’t know?”
“Vampires can’t distinguish other’s scents. To us, we pretty much smell the same.” He tucked a few stray strands of hair behind my ear. “But we’re also the most dangerous of predators in this world. Our scents are adapted to lure in our prey.”
“And by prey, you mean innocent little girls with big blue eyes and short dresses?” I smirked.
He kissed me instead, drowning me in a pool of sensation that made heat travel to my core, and parted only when I was limp and breathless. Then he whispered into my ear, “I think it’s time you find out exactly how I devour my prey.”
There was something so seductive in the way he pronounced the word prey. He dragged the Y in such a sensual way that it rubbed over my skin like the most delicate of caresses. With his mouth back on mine, he picked me up in his arms, and the next instant, I felt the soft bed sheets on my back and Erick’s legs on either side of mine.
He drew back, only to return a second later minus the shirt. He bit my lower lip lightly, drawing a gasp from me. He took advantage, thrusting his tongue inside to tangle with mine. His hands prolonged the torture by rubbing my nipples through the thin silk of my night dress.
I heard a ripping sound, and cool air brushed my skin, making my nipples bud. I realized too late that I wasn’t wearing panties underneath, but the thought was lost on me as Erick pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and released it with a sucking sound.
His hands wandered down my body, over my breast, and down my belly button, only stopping when they reached my hips. Jerking up as if startled, he looked down where his hands were, and I instinctively squeezed my thighs tighter.
The previous time we made love, my lower body was underwater. This time was different. This time, he could perfectly see me. I wasn’t used to being this vulnerable. Somehow, it felt more intense and too raw with need. However, I knew that no matter what happened, Erick would never hurt me in any possible way.
I shut my eyes tight as I felt Erick return to kiss down my neck. He hesitated just for a second near my jugular vein but continued further down. He stopped at my breast, moulding and pinching my nipples with one hand while he engulfed the other nipple into his mouth. Suddenly, he bit lightly on the areola. My eyes rolled back into my skull as my back arched off the bed. It only placed my nipple deeper into his mouth, making his fangs sink in.
I gasped and threw my head back. A scream got stuck in my throat. It was too much. I felt like I was about to burst under the onslaught of sensations as Erick drank from my breast.
Erick only made two deep suckling noises before he released my breast and licked around it to seal the wound. He didn’t stop,though. Instead, he trailed feather light kisses down my body, between my breasts, over my stomach, and stopped short of the light curls at the juncture of my thighs. His hands came up under me to touch my hips, and with one light thrust, he lifted my lower body off the bed and into his mouth.
I squeezed my eyes tighter and felt the sheets rip slightly under my fisted hands. I couldn’t stop the sounds that were ripped from me as I felt Erick’s tongue swirl around the sensitive bundle of nerves. My back arched off the bed as his tongue lowered and parted my damp pleasure folds to lick my most intimate flesh. There was only so much I could withstand without breaking down, my body having reached its limit. A scream tore from my lips as I wanted to crawl away but get even closer at the same time. It was too much. It felt too real and too sensitive. I didn’t even have enough words to describe the pleasure that kept building in my stomach.
“No... S-stop!” It was a breathless protest, one I was sure I didn’t want him to obey.
And he didn’t. Instead of stopping, he kept lapping at my womanhood and moved both his hands up the side of my body to my breasts. He pinched both my nipples the same time I felt a hint of teeth at my most intimate flesh, then I was shattering into millions of pieces. My mind went completely blank.
Erick only gave me enough time to recover before I felt the blunt head of his cock rub at my quivering entrance. One hard thrust and he was inside me, riding the waves of pleasure that melted my bones and turned my blood to honey. I couldn’t believe I was already going to have another orgasm after the one I just had.
My inner muscles contracted around the hot, hard length of him even as that feeling grew in my stomach again. Soon enough, I found myself having my second orgasm today. The world exploded around me in a rush of noise and sensation. I vaguely remembered hearing myself screaming and the ripping sound of the bed sheets, but I was too far gone to care. I remembered hearing a faint masculine roar. It was Erick calling my name as he came inside me. His seed was warm as he ejaculated into me.
Pulling out with care, Erick came over me to press a kiss to my forehead as my body still quivered from the aftermath of my orgasm. His hands loosened my hold on the ripped bed sheets and intertwined its fingers with mine. He used more of his weight on me as he rolled over and collapsed on the bed next to me.
I then opened my eyes to look up at the beauty of his face. His hair was plastered to his forehead, and his eyes were lit with the glow of the beast within. I could see his extended fangs… and a hint of blood on his lips. Oh! He did bit me... down there.
I knew I should be ashamed and embarrassed, but I didn’t feel any of that. All there was is a bone-deep satisfaction of being claimed by my husband. I untangled our fingers and ran my hands up his arm, against every ripped muscle up his broad shoulders, and into the soft hair at his nape. I had the satisfaction of feeling him shudder. Getting a firm hold, I brought his head down to mine and crashed my lips to his.
“Are you okay?” he asked, raising himself on his elbow after we parted. “Does it hurt anywhere?”
I honestly couldn’t describe how it felt to talk to him about this right after what happened, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It was like we’ve bonded on a different, more intimate level. “I’m okay,” I answered him while pulling the covers over my chest. Maybe I was still a little uncomfortable being naked around him, but it was only a matter of time.
“I’m glad.” He gave me a small smile, adjusted my pillows, and pulled the covers around me properly.
He lay back down on the bed beside me and put an arm around my waist. I snuggled deeper into the pillows and placed my hand on top of his. Then I closed my eyes and let peaceful slumber take over me.