Rushing over to the vanity, I stared at myself in the mirror. "Is it gone?" He walked up behind me as my wide brown eyes searched for any disruption of my smooth, creamy skin. "Is the scar gone?" My HD sight didn't see any imperfection, but I still almost couldn't believe it. I'd been carrying around that reminder for so many years now.
Teren grinned as he leaned down and kissed the arch of my once-wounded neck. "It would seem so," he whispered, chuckling again. Resting his chin on my neck, the course stubble familiar and comforting, his pale eyes watched me playfully.
Closing mine, I laid my head back and sighed. "Thank god, I was so sick of looking at that."
Sighing as well, he kissed the tender skin again. "Me too," he whispered.
Lowering my head to look at him in the mirror, I reached up to run a hand through his pitch-black hair. Closing his eyes, he leaned in to my caress. My next words shot his eyes back open though. "Bite me," I whispered.
Pulling back, he locked eyes with me in the mirror. "Emma, I don't think I should...you just went through something really..." He shrugged, looking torn that I'd ask him to do that right now.
I shook my head, my eyes watering. "You never bite me there, not since that vampire..." I swallowed, a bit of thirst creeping back into my throat. I could hear and smell my blood being prepared downstairs, but right now, I wanted this more. "I need to replace that memory with a different one." Moving my hair away from that shoulder, I completely exposed my neck to him. "Please, Teren?"
His eyes flicked between mine, unsure. Sighing, he looked down at my neck. Opening his mouth as he stared at my skin, I watched him in the mirror as his fangs dropped down. My breath picked up and I was overly conscious of the absence of my heartbeat. Normally, it would have picked up too.
Perhaps noticing that loss as well, his eyes flicked up at me. Our gazes unwavering, he opened his mouth wider, baring his fangs to me. Even with all we'd been through, all the time we'd had together, it was still hot when he did that. The parts of my body that still worked exactly the same as before reacted. Sensing the desire in me, his mouth curved into a cocky, self-assured grin. Lowering his head but maintaining our eye contact, he sunk his teeth into me. I gasped, then groaned. He'd done it with more force than he usually did. Since he didn't have to worry about scarring me or killing me, it gave him some freedom when it came to biting me.
His eyes rolled back before they closed. I kept mine open, watching him devour me. Everything about it was a little different than I was used to. His mouth and tongue were mildly warm as they worked over my skin, his hands massaging my h*ps equally chill-free. There wasn't a pulling sensation as my blood left me. Since it moved on its own now, he didn't have to put in any effort when he fed from me. I knew what that felt like, since I'd bitten him before. It was like turning on a faucet and sticking your head underneath it. And with our super healing skin, you only had to pull your teeth out to stop the flow.
It still felt pretty erotic though, especially with the clear delight on his face. It made me smile that he still enjoyed my blood, even though it had to taste different now, or at least be colder than it once was.
Scrunching my hand in his hair as I let out another soft moan, I watched him finally gasp and pull away. His teeth and his tongue were tainted red, but the twin holes on my neck healed right before my eyes. It was so weird to see that happening to my body. Breathing heavier, he grinned like he'd just had the best meal on the planet, or the best sex. It actually relieved me that my blood still made him feel that way.
Squeezing me tight, he licked the last remnant of red from my neck. He made a near purring noise in his throat as his warm tongue lapped at me. Smiling as I ran my hand back through his hair, I murmured, "Do I still taste good to you?"
Ignoring the moving sensation of Alanna and Imogen walking at a slow pace in our direction, since we were obviously...finished, I sighed as he paused to nibble on my ear. "Unbelievable," he whispered back.
Smiling as his lips made their way back to mine, I twisted in his arms to sling mine around his neck. "Am I different, taste-wise?"
He grinned against my mouth. "It's not hot like before, but that's okay, it's still the best thing I've ever tasted." Pulling back, he ran his tongue over his lower lip. His eyes were so smoky I almost told his mother to give us a minute. But, sensing her on the stairs, I knew she was bringing me a second cup of blood, and my stomach was starting to ache for it, so I said nothing.
Maybe seeing the hunger in my features, Teren released me, walking over to our bags on the dresser. Digging through them, he raised an eyebrow at me. "You are a bit different to me in one other way."
Torn between the alluring look still in his eye and the food coming closer and closer, I frowned a little as I crossed my arms over my chest. "Oh?"
Grinning, he pulled out a light sweater that I'd packed. "Yeah, you aren't nourishing for me anymore." He shrugged, pulling out some pants. Tilting my head, I wondered what he meant. Handing me my change of clothes, since I was still in the pajamas he had put me in this morning, he lightly chuckled at the look of confusion on my face.
Twisting his lip seductively, he leaned into me. "You're sort of...vampiric candy." Pausing, he closed his eyes for a second and inhaled me; I stopped breathing. Opening his eyes, he glanced down my body. "Sweet...but essentially void of all nutritional value."
"Thanks." I smirked and smacked his arm right as his mom reappeared in the doorway. She chuckled at his remark but didn't say anything about it.
She also didn't mention the dopey, fulfilled smile he had on his face as he watched me down my cup of nutritionally packed blood. I wanted to whisper at him to not look so...satisfied, but it really was kind of pointless. Both Imogen and Alanna had already heard him drink from me, and really, they'd heard much, much worse from us before. I had accepted the embarrassment of the situation a long time ago. Living around vampires, you just learned to give up things like privacy.
Since I was still in an adjustment period and blood was going to be one of the top things on my mind, right under my children really, we decided we'd stay at the ranch for a few more days. Teren had stayed for several weeks after his conversion, but I didn't feel like I could take that much time away from work on a whim. Besides, Teren's break had had as much to do with the mental recovery of our abduction as his physical recovery. Truly, we could have gone back after the first week.
Feeling more like myself once my stomach was topped off, Teren and I decided to go get the kids. Well, really, he'd wanted me to stay behind with the girls while he went and got them, but I missed them so much, I couldn't just sit around and wait. Besides, I had some things to talk about with my mother. Things she probably wasn't going to be too thrilled about.
I played with the zipper of my jacket on the way over, my mind already nervous about what to say to my mom and anxious to see my children. Teren eyed me while he drove, noting the telltale signs of restlessness. "Do you have any idea what you'll tell her?" he asked, nearly reading my mind.
Sighing, I looked over at him and shrugged. "No, any suggestions?"
Reaching over to grab my hand, he pulled it back over to his thigh. "Hmmm, I suppose 'hey, Mom, I died last night', would be a little harsh, huh?"
I smirked at the playful look in his eye, the conversation he'd just put in my head. I could just imagine the freak-out if I told my mom like that. But really, what else was I supposed to tell her? Either way, she was going to have a mini coronary. There was just no way to ease a person into a conversation that involves the phrase "my heart stopped beating." I remembered my reaction when Teren had told me his was going to. Hopefully my mom didn't start chucking things at me.
Sighing as I leaned my head back on the seat, I closed my eyes and started tapping my foot. "No, I'll think of something better than that." I just had no idea what.
Sooner than I would have liked, Teren was pulling up to her drive. I stared at the quaint little house, suddenly wondering if I should have stayed at the ranch, but I could feel my children inside and their pull was stronger than my anxiety. Forcing myself to do it at human speed, I cracked open my door. Teren followed suit, his smile as wide as mine was. While we'd been preoccupied with other things in the past twenty-four hours, being reunited with Nika and Julian reminded me how much I'd missed them. And with the ordeal I'd gone through, I couldn't wait to hold them again.
I didn't need to announce my arrival, since I could hear my kids doing it for me. As soon as my foot was on the top step, the door was swinging inward. My mother's warm, loving face filled my vision and I nearly wept at the way my newly-enhanced eyes saw her. It was almost like I could see the way she cared for me, like it was a physical trait, as apparent as the strikingly similar shade of chin length brown hair.
Her eyes flicking between Teren and me, she erupted into a huge grin. "Hey, you two, I wasn't expecting you back so soon. How was your trip?"
Containing a sigh as I slipped past her into the house, I only managed to get out, "It turned out ...well." Teren had told her that he'd taken me away for a surprise birthday getaway. He'd made it sound fun while explaining it to her. It hadn't been nearly as much fun as my mom had been led to believe.
Hearing the oddity in my sentence, she raised an eyebrow at me as she shut the door behind Teren. I had no time to confess to her what had really gone on though. Before I could even twist around to face her, two tiny beings threw themselves at my legs. Letting go of my hard conversation for a second, I dropped to my knees and wrapped an arm around each child.
Closing my eyes, I finally felt whole. "I missed you guys...so much." Pulling back, I cupped each smooth cheek; they felt hot to me, almost feverish, but I knew that was due to our temperature difference. It made me wonder if that's how I'd felt to Teren all this time, burning hot to the touch. "Did you guys have fun with Grandma?"
My voice was sunshine and light when I asked them, no strain or tension in me at all, but they both frowned. Nika reached up to touch my face, Julian clasped my hand. "Mommy, you're...different." Nika said slowly, stumbling on the longer word.
My smile stopped as Julian's pale eyes searched my face. "You're cold...like Daddy." His eyes glanced down to my eerily silent chest. "You're quiet."
Nika brightened, her fingers on my face urging my vision back to her. "Did you get your magic, Mommy?" With the glow in her brown eyes, this seemed like the best news in the world to her, like we'd finally caved and gotten her that pony.
I swallowed and looked up at Teren beside me, then over to my mom. She had a frown on her face as she tried to decipher what my children were talking about. Knowing that I couldn't keep them in the dark, which meant I couldn't keep my mom in the dark, I closed my eyes briefly before bringing my attention back to them.
Teren knelt beside me as I squeezed them tight again. "Yes, yes Mommy did get her magic." I felt the tears sting my eyes, knowing that my mom was not going to like this next part. I had to say it though. My children had to know what had happened to me, because it was going to happen to them one day.