Page 25 of Vampires and Violas (A Vampire’s Guide to Gardening #2)

24

My parents go home, and life returns to normal. Or as normal as it can be when you’re surrounded by vampires.

And considering I’m holding a wooden stake in one of Cassian’s outbuildings, learning about anatomy and the best way to kill a creature of the night, my normal isn’t that normal.

A dead pig hangs from the rafters. A dead pig.

And do you know what Noah wants me to do?

Stab it with a stake.

We’re alone, and this is how he decided to spend our evening.

“It won’t go in,” I whine, the tip of the stake barely penetrating the pig’s side.

The whole ordeal is making me very glad I’m a vegetarian vampire.

“That’s the point of this exercise—to show you how hard it is to stab a stake through flesh. You need to put your arm into it.”

“I’m having PE flashbacks,” I mutter.

“What kind of twisted PE department did your school have?”

I laugh, exhausted. Noah’s already made me learn and practice a bunch of self-defense moves on the black foam mats Cassian installed for our training.

I stare at the pig, huffing air to move my bangs out of my eyes. I’m sweaty, tired, and seriously grossed out. “Sorry, pig.”

Then I pull my arm back, tense my muscles, and give it my all. The stake goes in maybe two inches, hanging there like it’s about to fall out.

“There,” I breathe, reveling in my victory as I clutch my sides. “I killed it.”

“You maimed it. Now let's put clothes on it, and you can try again.”

“Are you freaking kidding me?”

“How many vampires are going to come at you naked?”

I hold up my hand, needing that image out of my brain. “Ew.”

Noah chuckles. “It’s harder to get through clothing.”

I turn away from the pig to face him. “So, you know in those action fantasy movies, where the main girl learns to be all kick-butt and stuff?”

“You like these movie references, don’t you?”

“Shut up for a minute. Anyway, the leads have the training montage, and it’s very hot. Then suddenly, she’s a fighting prodigy and they’re taking down monsters and making out in some dark alley?”

He lifts a dark brow. “Are you going somewhere with this?”

“Can’t we skip to the making out part? I’m not really a martial-arts, stab-the-monster kind of girl.” I lower my voice to a whisper. “I’m a flower farmer.”

Noah rolls his eyes. “This was originally your idea.”

“And I am humble enough to admit it was a bad idea.” I stretch my neck. “Who are we kidding? I don’t have the stomach to shove a stake in someone’s chest—and even if my stomach was up to it, my muscles certainly aren’t.”

“Then you need to get stronger.”

“No, what I need is a capable bodyguard.” I gesture to him. “And that’s you.”

“Okay,” he says, finally showing me mercy. “Forget the stake for now. We’ll practice more of the self-defense moves.”

And we do. For another thirty minutes, until my muscles feel like gelatin and I’m having serious blood cravings.

I sink into a crouch, dizzy.

“You okay?” Noah lowers himself onto the concrete floor across from me.

“The room is spinning. And there are now two pigs instead of one.”

“That’s not a good sign.”

My eyes are closed, but I can hear the frown in his voice. “Why?”

“You had your blood this afternoon, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, Cassian’s cook made me some tropical concoction that tasted like the Bahamas.”

“Maybe I worked you too hard,” he says casually, but he’s worried. We both know what it means if I need to up my prescription—I was infected again. I’m entering the second stage.

Maybe. We won’t know for sure until I go in for the blood test on Monday.

It’s Friday now. In light of recent events, Noah took a few personal days off so we could do Camp Vampire.

Thankfully, we have to go home tomorrow so I can prepare and deliver the flowers for Kayla’s daughter’s birthday party.

Noah helps me up, and I shamelessly lean against him.

“Do I need to carry you?” he asks.

“Oh, absolutely.” I give him a wobbly grin. “Take off your shirt first, though.”

He rolls his eyes and wraps his arm around my shoulders. “I think you’re fine.”

In true Noah fashion, he’s keeping his promise to my father. He hasn’t kissed me since we all shared breakfast, and this is the most we’ve touched since they left.

I hate it.

I hate it so much.

We enter Cassian’s humble castle through one of the back entrances. The place is posh—gleaming wood floors, heavy velvet drapes, and cream-colored walls with a Venetian plaster finish. You know, the works. The decor is tasteful Coloradan, with mountain landscapes and large stone fireplaces.

I’ve only been here three times—first, when Cassian made Ethan confess, and then twice while Noah was in Denver.

A maid smiles when she meets us in the hall. “Good evening, Mr. York, Ms. Edwards. Can I get you anything?”

“Would you ask the cook to make Piper a blood smoothie and bring it to the room she’s staying in?”

“Of course,” she answers, like it’s perfectly reasonable and not at all weird that Cassian has an entire staff at his beck and call—and our beck and call while we’re here.

“I feel bad for the pig,” I say to Noah as we walk up the stairs.

“Why?”

“Being used for target practice isn’t a very majestic end, you know? He could have been the centerpiece for a luau. Had a shiny apple in his mouth.”

Noah peers down at me. “You’re acting a little loopy.”

“Probably the virus. It’s affecting my brain.”

He doesn’t respond to my joke, maybe because the theory is more accurate than he wants to admit.

“Am I going to be able to eat cucumbers still?” I ask. “I wasn’t ready to give those up yet. I needed to prepare.”

“Second-stage vampires can almost always eat plant-based foods, but there is a chance you’ll develop a few sensitivities. When I entered the second stage, I developed an intolerance to tomatoes and peppers.”

We make it to my room, and Noah pushes open the door. I’m not in the same one as before—this time, Cassian gave me a suite with a full bathroom.

But it’s not next door to Noah’s room, which really is a shame.

“I’m so dizzy.” I stagger over to the bed and fall flat on my back.

Oh. Soft.

“Do you think Cassian buys mattresses stuffed with unicorn down?” I ask.

“There are two problems with that as far as I can tell. One, unicorns have hair, not down. Two, they don’t exist.”

I close my eyes, hoping the room will stop spinning. “Vampires didn’t exist a few months ago, and look at us now. I dated one, you know.”

He sits down next to me. “You don’t say.”

I smile when I hear his smile. “My father made us break up.”

“Rude of him.”

“Mmm,” I agree.

A thought suddenly occurs to me. I sit up abruptly, grasping hold of Noah’s arm. The room swirls for a moment, but I close my eyes until it passes. When I open them, I find Noah staring at me like I’ve sprouted another head.

“I’ve thought of something,” I whisper, running my hand down his well-muscled bicep.

He looks wary, but he asks, “What’s that?”

“I’m probably entering the second stage, right?”

“I think it’s likely.”

“No one will be able to infect me again for at least a few weeks then?”

“Yes…”

I sit up straighter, acknowledging the room is fuzzy but not particularly caring. Then I take him by the T-shirt, fisting my hands in the fabric. Dropping my voice to a whisper, I say, “Noah…you could bite me.”

He jerks back, startled. “You need blood.”

I laugh. “I’m not saying you should. Or that I want you to.” My hands tighten on his shirt. “Though I do kind of want you to.”

He gulps, looking down at my hand.

I whisper, “I’m just saying you could.”

“Let’s get you your smoothie and see how you feel after that, okay?”

“I’ll feel exactly the same. I’ve been thinking about it for weeks .”

He suddenly laughs. “Next time, you’re taking blood before we train.”

“I don’t want to train anymore.” I turn from him, suddenly emotional. Tears prick my eyes, making my vision watery. “I just want Ethan to leave me alone. He’s in prison—prison! He shouldn’t be able to touch me anymore.”

Noah sets his hand on my shoulder. “I swear to you, I’m going to track down every single one of his henchmen, and they will never bother you again.”

I blink quickly, chasing away the tears. “I feel weird.”

“I know,” he says softly. “I’m sorry.”

I turn into him, wrapping my arms around his middle and leaning my cheek on his shoulder. “I know we’re not supposed to do this, but I’m just using you to keep my balance, okay?”

His arms come around me, and he says into my hair, “Sounds believable.”

“Even though your muscles are super hard, you’re really comfortable.”

Noah chuckles.

I scoot closer and turn my head until my nose brushes against his neck. “And you smell good.”

“I probably don’t,” he answers, his voice strained. “We were just training.”

“You always smell good.”

“I might need to track down your blood myself.”

I brush my lips over his neck. Every one of his muscles tenses—and I know. I’m pressed against them.

“Sorry.” I pull back just a little. “I’m breaking the rules again.”

“Such a little rebel,” he teases in my ear, sending butterflies swarming in my stomach.

“You can be a rebel, too, you know.” I bring my hand up, trailing my fingers through the soft, short hair at the nape of his neck. “If you want.”

He won’t though. Because he’s responsible. He’s cautious. And he is far better at practicing self-control than I am.

Or so I think…until his arm tightens around me.

My eyes fly wide as Noah suddenly lays me flat on my back. One minute, we’re sitting, and the next…not sitting.

Oh. Heck.

The handsome vampire hovers over me, forearms pressed into the mattress next to my arms, desire swirling in his amber eyes. He only says two words—two words that steal my breath and make my pre-vampiric heart beat double time:

“I want .”

He growls the words—actually growls them. And oh, it’s delicious.

“At least close the door,” Cassian drawls from the hall.

I squeak out a scream, and Noah rolls over like he was shot. I leap up—nearly passing out when a flurry of black smudges dances in front of my eyes.

“Whoa, there.” Noah catches me and presses on my shoulders, directing me to sit at the end of the bed.

Cassian crosses the room, offering me a red smoothie with a strawberry placed on the rim of the glass.

“Fancy,” I murmur, taking a sip.

And it tastes good. Too good, maybe. I close my eyes, riding a wave of pleasure.

“That’s not a good sign,” Cassian says.

Noah frowns. “That’s what I said.”

I feel like myself again after finishing about half of the smoothie.

“I don’t remember feeling that off since I started taking blood,” I say, coming out of the weird fog. It’s not until the dizziness lifts that I realize how disoriented I felt.

Did I really ask Noah to bite me? How embarrassing.

Shame he didn’t.

Anyway.

I take another sip of the smoothie, a little worried.

“The cravings are stronger in the second stage,” Noah says. “You’re probably going to have to start taking more blood.”

“So, you think it’s a done deal, then? I’m a second-stage pre-vamp now?”

Noah glances at Cassian. They share a look, and then he nods. “I’m afraid so.”