Mikaine

Chapter Five

“You’re, um, very well preserved,” Jessica said finally.

Mikaine grinned. “Thank you. Anyhow, I know women.”

“I’ll bet,” Jessica said arching an eyebrow. Gabriel was a wonderful specimen of man but there was something in Mikaine that Jessica knew would have all the women who saw him want to jump his bones. She wasn’t an exception.

“I can also guess your weight down to the ounce and tell you what color your toenails are.” Her eyes widened and he chuckled. “I was kidding about the toenails. Sit down. I’m going to take a quick shower. I’ll be right back.” He grabbed his bag and took a long cold shower. When he came back she was looking through the desk of the motel.

“Can I touch the bible?” she asked looking sad.

“Yes. I’m wearing a cross,” he pulled it out of his shirt to prove it. “Religious artifacts don’t bother us.” He stretched out on the bed and patted the spot next to him. “Sit with me and tell me what you remember of last night.”

She sat down next to him facing him before telling him the whole story. “So I don’t know if it was really her but…”

“It appears that way,” he agreed. “How do you feel?”

“Still weak, and it still hurts to breathe.”

“That’s because you need to feed. We don’t have time right now for me to teach you to hunt so you’ll have to use me.” Her eyes widened a little, she really didn’t want to get that close to him. “This will serve another purpose as well,” he said seeing her hesitate. “Feeding is how vampires establish bonds. This will make you an honorary member of my clan.” He moved so he was leaning against the headboard and unbuttoned his shirt.

She arched an eyebrow watching him nervously. “I, um, am just going to be drinking from you, right?”

He smiled. “Unless you prefer something else. I don’t want to ruin my shirt, sweetheart.”

“Can’t I use your wrist? That’s what Gabriel did.” Mikaine’s opinion of Gabriel rose as he realized that the other male hadn’t forced her to go through her first hunt, the one that always ended in a kill.

“The wrist hurts more and doesn’t bleed as well. Now would you stop talking and bite me already?”

“How do I-? Gabriel cut himself, I don’t know how.”

Mikaine fought the urge to growl. “Okay, focus on my neck. See the vein?”

“Yes,” she hadn’t meant for her voice to sound so husky… or sexy.

Mikaine had heard it as well but was attempting to ignore it. “Straddle my legs,” he winked at her when she looked up at him, “like you did earlier.” He was surprised to see her blush as she obeyed. “Now, just bite down on the vein. It’s instinct, you won’t miss.”

She leaned over his neck, and her hair tickled his chest. He breathed in her scent, the soft smell of honeysuckle. She finally bit down. He couldn’t help his moan that was exactly from pain at the contact. He closed his eyes and just enjoyed the feeling of a beautiful woman on top of him as she drank. His groan became a gasp when she instinctively pressed herself closer.

“Enough, sweetheart,” he murmured. She pulled away, a drop of blood still lingering on her lip. She licked the blood away and he almost groaned. She got to her feet and stumbled as though drunk.

“Oh, wow,” she whispered.

“Packs quite a punch doesn’t it?” he smiled. “How do you feel now?”

“’Eight feet tall and bulletproof,’” she said quoting the Travis Tritt song. He simply looked confused. “I feel fine.”

“Good. We need to go. I’m guessing that you can’t teleport.”

It was more of a statement than question but she answered it anyhow. “I can’t. Gabriel showed me what I could do but not how.”

“We’ll work on all of that later. For now let’s focus on getting out of here.” He paused regarding her thoughtfully. He left money on the desk as he grabbed the bag he had put her clothes in. “You’re taking this extremely well. Most people would be panicking.”

“I did the panic thing,” she promised him as they walked outside to his car. “It didn’t help at all. Besides, so far I’m not really seeing a down side.”

“You won’t be able to contact any friends or family, you won’t be able to have children, your entire life had completely changed.”

“I know, but the only thing I’m really upset about is the fact that I’ll never finish college. I only had one year left. The rest… maybe one day I’ll regret not being able to have kids but until that day comes I can deal with it.”

No family. Gabriel really had chosen well. “Good.” He opened the door for her and she got into the car. He called his pilot and told him to have the plane ready and in a nearby airfield before getting in on the other side. They drove in silence for thirty minutes. Mikaine had the feeling, though that she was just thinking up more questions.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“You saved my life. I’m new to this life but I’m pretty sure I know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t taken me in.”

“Were you offered a choice?”

“A choice?”

“Did you choose to become one of us or was it forced upon you?”

“I wouldn’t say forced… but I didn’t ask for it.”

“Then you owe me nothing.”

“But-”

“Little one, if you didn’t choose this then what I’m doing is only the right thing. We’re here.” Jessica looked around as she got out of the car.

“An airport? We’re going to fly?”

“I live in Ireland.”

“We could never get there before the sun came up.”

“Private plane,” he explained, “it’s protected. Trust me, we’ll be fine.” He grabbed his suitcase and led her onto the plane. Still bemused and now a little worried, she followed him. They settled down in the comfortable seats on the private jets. The plane soon took off. Jessica swallowed her gasp of fear. She gripped the handle of the chair she was sitting in so hard that it actually snapped. Mikaine’s eyebrows rose and he was suddenly very glad that they weren’t flying commercial.

“Are you okay, little one?” he asked noticing her pallor.

“Yes,” her voice was very small.

He hid a smile. “Jessica, even if we crash directly into the ocean the chances of us dying are incredibly slim.”

“Don’t talk about crashing!” she snapped.

Now he was fighting the urge to laugh. “I’m sorry. I can put you to sleep for the rest of the trip if you want.”

“No. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Let’s talk then. Do you have any more questions?”

“Many.”

“Ask away.”

“How did all of this start?”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to be a bit more specific.”

“Vampirism. Were you guys always around? You said you were one of the originals, what does that mean?”

Mikaine smiled. “You came to the right source for that one. I was born 2,389 years ago.”

“But… that’s BC.”

“Yes, I’m old. Moving on,” he said with a smile. “We… the originals, I mean, were barely teenagers when our village was attacked. Our parents sent the children away before the battle. When we returned our village had been burned to the ground, our parents were either dead or gone, slaves most likely.”

He was telling the story in a lecturing tone, his voice showing little emotion. His eyes were dark, though, as though he were gazing into the past. “Our livestock was mostly gone too, except a few sheep that had been in the field grazing. Our crops that were ready to be harvested, were taken. We rebuilt two houses and buried our dead.

“The question that remained was how could we survive on the little that we had. We scraped by that first year, but not without casualties: four of our people were lost. Kazaka, our healer’s daughter announced that she had a way to ensure that we’d never meet our parent’s fate. We scoffed at the idea for years but more and more of us died. The children couldn’t survive on the rations we had to give out, we barely could.

“When I turned twenty-four, Alaza, my sister told me that she was beginning to consider the witch’s spell. I told her that she was crazy but the others were agreeing too. By this time Kazaka had mastered the spell. She had everything that she needed brought to a huge bonfire.

“Alaza begged me to reconsider and I eventually agreed. Not because I wanted immortality but because she was my baby sister and it was my responsibility to look out for her. There were thirteen of us then.”