Page 49 of Taste of Forever (Vampires of Sanguine #3)

Laith

H eather’s hands sat relaxed on my waist as we approached her old apartment complex. So I grabbed her fingers and pulled them forward to clasp over my stomach.

“Don’t let go unless you want a spanking,” I told her over my shoulder.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, then.”

Her voice was muffled through the motorcycle helmet, but I heard the smile in her words.

My girl had a mouthy, bratty side to her, and I loved it.

I had seen glimpses of it when we first met, but her confidence was growing in leaps and bounds already.

I loved that she wasn’t afraid to mess with me and push my buttons.

I loved her.

The realization hit me like a rush of cold wind.

I had known it, felt it for some time, but not in those exact words.

I knew she was mine forever, knew that her blood was the most delicious substance to ever pass my lips, but that was run-of-the-mill blood mate stuff.

Two people could be bonded as blood mates without ever falling in love.

This had nothing to do with her blood and everything to do with her mind, her laugh. Her warmth and the way she touched me. Her curiosity and how my bed had always felt empty until she was in it.

I wanted forever with her because she was her . Heather. My Science Barbie.

My gloved hand remained over both of hers, fingers interlaced on my stomach while I drove the bike one-hand. Heather’s chest rested against my back, her body relaxed and at ease.

The covered space in front of her old unit was empty, so I parked the bike there and turned it off. Heather slid out of her seat first and started up the walk, but I kept one of her hands clasped in mine.

“Wait for me. I don’t want you out of my sight.”

She rolled her eyes but obeyed. We both took off our helmets and I opened my senses to the surroundings.

The night was cool and relatively calm. Next to me, Heather’s heartbeat was the loudest and clearest. I could sense other heartbeats further away, steady echoes of blood pumping through arteries in the people sleeping in nearby units.

Sounds of traffic and typical nighttime activity came through outside of the complex, but everything nearby felt quiet and asleep.

“Okay, let’s go.”

I remained vigilant while Heather and I walked up to the front door and she unlocked it. Aside from the gentle hum of nearby electrical towers, I didn’t sense anything odd in the air. But I wasn’t about to let my guard down for a moment.

“Is it okay if I turn on a light?” Heather asked.

“Go for it.”

She flipped a switch and the main area of the apartment came into view. The only thing that looked strange was the empty desk with a distinct dust-free rectangle on it’s surface.

“Guess Justin left with his computer.” Heather rounded the furniture, heading for the mantle of photos against a far wall. “He better not have taken any of my stuff with him.”

“I’ll replace anything you need,” I reminded her. “You can give me a shopping list.”

She tossed me a suggestive look over her shoulder. “Sounds like you want to spoil me.”

“I mean, that’s a given.”

“It’ll take me a while to get used to that.” She returned to looking at the photos on the mantle.

“You’ll have all the time in the world.” I approached her from behind and slid a hand from the small of her back to her waist. She visibly melted at my touch, and because I couldn’t resist, I moved her hair aside to nibble at her neck.

“What the hell?” Heather muttered, irritated. “It’s not here.”

I lifted my head, noticing the empty spot where her hand rested on the mantle. “Maybe it fell?”

Together, we searched the surrounding area. It was a small space without much clutter, so we figured out quickly that the photo hadn’t fallen.

“That asshole.” Heather stabbed her fingers through her hair with an angry huff. “I bet he took it. Or moved it somewhere just to fuck with me.”

“Justin?” I asked. “Or the government guy?”

“Justin,” she confirmed. “He knew what that picture meant to me. That it would be one thing I’d save in a house fire.

” Her lip wobbled, eyes shining with unshed tears.

“Soren probably dug up my family history, but he doesn’t actually know me.

Justin knew , and…” She let out a shaky breath, continuing, “he always had to have to last word. Always knew what to do or say to hurt me the most.”

“Hey.” I took her face in my hands and kissed her forehead, then her nose bridge. “Fuck him. We’ll find the picture. If I have to hunt him down and take it back, I will do so happily. I’m not fucking kidding.”

Heather forced a sad smile, leaning her face into my hands as my thumb caught a tear. “I know you’re not.”

I brought her into my chest and kissed the top of her head. “Let’s keep looking. I won’t confront him unless absolutely necessary.”

“Okay.” She blinked away the remaining tears, determination in her gaze. “Thank you.”

“Always.” I kissed her mouth once before releasing her. “Should we start with the kitchen? Maybe he hid it in a cabinet.”

“Good idea.”

The two of us got to work, opening drawers and cabinets and emptying the contents on the floor.

In ten minutes, we searched every nook and cranny of that small kitchen with no luck.

We moved to the living area next, moving furniture to search underneath and pulling up couch cushions to no avail.

Once we finished there, only the bedroom and bathroom were left.

There was a discomforting ball in the pit of my stomach at the sight of Heather’s old bed.

I hated that Justin slept next to her, even if they hadn’t touched intimately for months.

This room was a time capsule of Heather’s life before me, where she stared at the ceiling feeling rejected and unwanted.

If only she knew how much her life would change, how loved and adored she would be.

“Well, at least he left my backpack here.” Heather lifted the pack from the floor, unzipped it, and pulled out a laptop. “I might have an old scan of the photo on here somewhere, but I don’t remember.”

“Keep looking for the actual photo,” I said. The sooner we were out of this room, out of this expired part of her life, the better. “You can look for a digital copy when we’re home.”

“’Kay,” Heather muttered distractedly, fingers moving up down the laptop’s touch pad.

“I mean it, Science Barbie.” I moved to the threshold of the attached bathroom and flicked on the light.

The laptop shut and I heard the zip of the backpack closing as I opened the medicine cabinet. “Yeah, yeah, Vampire Ken.”

I grinned to myself, watching her cross the room to pull open dresser drawers.

Closing the cabinet, I turned around in the small bathroom.

There was not much to it, just a pedestal sink, toilet, and shower shall.

I peered into the small garbage can, which was mostly empty besides some wadded up tissue, a q-tip, and a band-aid wrapper.

I nudged the can with my foot and noticed something shoved behind it.

It was two thin strips of black wood meeting to form a corner. I moved the trash can further out of the way and saw that it was a picture frame. Crouching low, I picked up the framed photo with my hands.

There was Heather as a child, beaming with wild, golden hair framing her face and one of her front teeth missing.

She sat outside on a log between two human adults.

They were clearly older, with gray hair, and lines around eyes and mouths.

But their joy as they smiled for the camera was so palpable, I couldn’t help but smile back.

It was no wonder Heather treasured this photo. The love and happiness shone through the aged photo like a miniature sun in my hands.

“Heather,” I called. “Guess what I just found?”

“Oh my God! Did you really?”

I heard her footsteps approaching and turned, eager to show her my prize. But she never came to the doorway.

The next thing I heard was glass breaking. And then Heather screaming.

Forgetting all about the photo, I dropped it and darted into the bedroom. Someone, a human man dressed entirely in black, had one arm around Heather’s waist, the other covering her mouth as she thrashed and kicked. He was dragging her through the broken bedroom window.

I lunged for him, fangs bared in a snarl. It didn’t matter who he was. This human was dead. Behind a hooded mask, his eyes widened in alarm at my speed. I snatched Heather from his grip and kicked hard enough in the stomach to send him sailing across the patch of lawn outside the window.

Beyond him sat a dark van with no windows. So the government operative had been lying in wait. Why hadn’t I heard a heartbeat?

It didn’t matter. He was here now and needed to be dealt with.

I retreated into the bedroom and carried Heather to the threshold of the bathroom before setting her on her feet. “Lock yourself inside. Don’t come out until I tell you it’s safe.”

Her panicked eyes snapped from me to just over my shoulder. “Laith, look out!”

I spun just in time to see another masked figure hop over the windowsill into the bedroom.

“Lock yourself in!” I repeated to Heather before rushing at him.

My focus was on the human’s assault rifle as I closed the distance between us. I grabbed control of the weapon and pointed it away. Droplets of moisture suddenly hit my face, as if the human had sprayed me with something in his other hand.

On impact, the droplets started to burn my face and eyes.

At first, I could ignore it and wrenched the rifle away from the human. But then the burning grew worse. It felt like acid eating through my skin with steadily increasing pain and intensity.

“What…the fuck?” In my shock, I gave in to the instinct to wipe my eyes, but that only made it worse. I lost the ability to see, my vision clouded with red.

“Huh.” I heard the human grunt. “That colloidal silver really worked.”

“Told you it would,” groaned another human. Probably the one I’d kicked. “Now grab the fucking girl.”

“No.” I growled out the single word, fighting through the burning pain and hazy vision to stop them.

I was too slow to react to the fuzzy image of the arm lifting and spraying me in the face again. Some of it hit my mouth and I choked at the burning on my tongue. My sudden gasping drew more of the silver substance down my windpipe, setting my throat on fire.

“Laith!” I heard Heather cry out. “No! Put me down!”

“You’re dead.” My rage burned hotter than the agony in my eyes and throat. “All of you will die.”

“Gonna have to catch us first,” one of the humans taunted.

I lunged blindly in the direction of the voice, running full-force into a fist at my gut.

The humans laughed while Heather sobbed my name. She sounded further away. I had to reach her.

“Heather!” I went toward her voice, my arms slashing through the air in front of me. Glass crunched underneath my shoes. I swung one hand to the side and promptly felt the edge of the broken window cut into my palm.

“What do we do about him?” I heard one of the humans ask. They sounded even farther away now, and calm, like they had just walked out with her while I couldn’t even get a sense of my surroundings.

“Not our problem. Orders were just for the girl.”

“Someone might see him. See what he is.”

“I don’t get paid enough to give a shit.”

A car door slammed, abruptly cutting off Heather’s screams. An engine started up, sending my panic to a new height.

“Heather!” I ran as far as I dared in this state, which was only a few feet.

I couldn’t chase after them, not like this. The sound of that van driving further and further away was a knife carving deeper into my chest. How could I just listen to them take her?

Don’t lose your head. You’ll get her back. Just need to calm down.

I blinked rapidly, fighting the urge to rub my injured, useless eyes. I could catch up to the van quickly on my bike, but could barely see my hand in front of my face.

“Come on.” My eyes squeezed shut, teeth grinding in my jaws. “Get it together.”

I had never needed my accelerated vampire healing more than right fucking now. But if it really had been silver in that spray, I was at a disadvantage.

“Come on,” I repeated. Every blink of my eyes brought on a fresh, stabbing pain, but I had to flush this shit out.

Heather’s blood was fresh in my system. As long as there wasn’t enough silver to kill me, I knew her blood should counteract the effects and speed up my healing.

“Any fucking day now,” I hissed, pounding my fist into the ground. “Come on.”

The pain ebbed slightly, but I couldn’t tell if it was due to healing or adrenaline. I blinked some more, and my blurry vision showed what appeared to be red spots on the pavement.

I felt Heather’s distress in my chest. It choked me, holding strong like a fist around my heart. What I’d felt that first day I followed her home was an echo compared to this. Our bond had strengthened to the point where her blood showed me what she was feeling in real time.

“Don’t worry.” I brought my palm to my chest as if that could somehow soothe her. “I’m coming for you. Just hold on.”

Time barely moved as I waited. Every few minutes, I lifted my head and tried to make out details in the distance. My vision was healing, albeit slowly. Too fucking slowly.

When I could finally read the numbers on the nearest apartment building, that was good enough for me. I got to my feet, headed to my bike, and followed the call of her blood.