Dragon Blood

Chapter 31

He moved, so quickly Rhia's mortal eyes couldn't see him. Ian tried to react, but Constantine was older, stronger, and without a drop of mortal blood in his veins. He shoved Ian hard into the arms of another vampire waiting safely in the shadows. He turned to her, forcing her against the wall. One hand braced himself against the brick wall, the other took her chin in a rough grip. His expensive cologne did nothing to cover the smell of rusted iron and whiskey on his breath. She could just see his fangs in his slightly opened mouth, a shimmering liquid beginning to bead at the tips. Goosebumps washed over her skin as an uncomfortable arousal grew between her legs. The reaction to Nolan's bite had been burned into her flesh and her very blood tingled in anticipation.

Constantine chuckled, low and hot. His breath washed over her face and made her eyes flutter. She hated the effect this vampire was having on her. She had thought... she had hoped that only Nolan would have had this affect on her after his bite. Apparently not.

"I understand that Nolan craves companionship. He believes he needs what remains of his precious humanity to be good at his work." He whispered, his thumb stroking the line of her jaw. "Which is why I am willing to accept the presence of any female he chooses to pursue. You are, however, different. You are human. You are weak. You are a distraction. We are going to war, Rhia. I can't have him distracted. I need him focused."

He licked his lips and his eyes travelled down to her throat. "I can make you stronger, faster," There was a huskiness to his voice now. "I can make it so that you can keep up with Nolan's... preferences. He'll never have to worry about hurting you, and never have worry about you being hurt by our enemies. You will live for hundreds of years. Imagine... centuries at his side. And all it takes is one little bite... one little sip. Nolan won't break his personal rule against turning people and, if you are really so adamant against it, I won't make you share my bed. What do you say, Rhia Kincaid?"

Rhia ran her hands up his chest. It was like his body was made of rock. Not the hard but obviously living muscle like Nolan... Constantine felt like actual, immovable rock. A disgusting smile crept up his face as her hands moved up over his pectoral muscles. She braced herself against the wall and shoved him as hard as she could. He took several steps back and a mix of shock and rage washed over his face. Rhia stormed up to him and shoved him again, but he was expecting it and didn't budge. "How dare you?!" She seethed. "Becoming a vampire ruined Nolan's life. He is a loyal man, and you are testing how far you can push that loyalty! If Nolan needs to be reminded of his humanity, turning into a vampire is the absolute worst thing I could do to him!"

Pain exploded across her face and stars danced in her eyes. It took a moment for her to realize that he'd slapped her hard enough that she'd landed on her hands and knees on the concrete. Ian shouted something, but Constantine was already dragging her up by her throat. "I made him what he is!" he roared, venom and spittle flying from his mouth. "Nolan would be nothing without me! He would have died as the same pathetic human that I met in the courts of corrupted mortals."

Rhia gaped at him, his words rattling around in her stunned mind. He said human. He didn't know. How was that possible? His blazing eyes looked down at her lips. He brought his hand up and swiped his thumb across her bottom lip. Her blood seemed to glow against the white of his hand. Hunger danced in his eyes.

An alarm went off behind them. Constantine released her neck, and she took several steps back. Ian rushed to her and they clung to each other, watching the vampires, unwilling to turn their backs on them. "Kincaid, McSorely," Andrew, the shift supervisor, shouted from the opening bay doors. "Let's go!"

They backed up quickly before turning away. As she reached the ambulance, she chanced one final look at the vampire king. Their eyes met and he brought his thumb up to his lips. Cold fear filled her as he licked her blood off his finger. She slammed the heavy doors behind her and was comforted by Ian's grip on her shoulder. "What have we got?" Ian's voice was shaky as he addressed Andrew.

"Everything okay?" Andrew looked between them. "Who was that?"

"It's nothing." Rhia said quickly. "Why are you coming with us?"

"It's bad." Andrew blew out a breath, still looking like he wanted to know what was going on. "Eight kids are missing at South Coast Plaza."

"What!?" Rhia felt all the blood drain from her face. "How do eight kids go missing at the same time?"

He shook his head. "Call your loved ones now. Once we're in lockdown, no one's leaving until they found them."

Rhia stared at the man as Ian moved to the other side of the cabin to call his boyfriend. She pulled out her phone and dialed Nolan's number. "Doctor Wes," he sounded irritated, like he was in the middle of an argument.

"Hey, it's me." she said quickly. "Sorry, I know you're busy."

"I always have time for you." his voice warmed immediately. She chose not to remind him that he had been actively avoiding her attempts to talk about that morning for the last several days. "Sounds like you're busy too."

"Yeah, we're on our way to a missing kid situation. We'll be on lockdown until further notice. I don't know when I'll be off."

"Gods, that's terrible. Call me when you're done. I'll have a bath and wine ready for you."

Her heart swelled at that. He was so damn sweet. She glanced over her shoulder. Ian was busy speaking to Nathan, and Andrews was staring blankly out the window of the back doors, trying to give them both as much privacy as he could. "Constantine came to my work." She said quietly.

"What!? Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

"No, but..." she hesitated and lowered her voice again. "He wanted to turn me. He called it a compromise. He does it so you don't have to, and we get to be together longer than we would if I stayed human."

"I'm going to fucking kill him." He snarled.

"Why would he want that, though? Begin human gives him leverage. If he... you know... That's it."

"I don't know. We'll talk about it when you get home."

"We need to talk about... the other morning too."

There was a noticeable silence from the other line. "Alright." he finally said. "Call me when you're on your way."

She hung up and felt like she was going to vomit. She really didn't want to have the 'love talk' but it couldn't be ignored before they went to France.

~