Finding Grace: The Guardian Chronicles Book One

Chapter 38. With Teeth*

"A family...we are going to be a family? What are we going to be? Brother and sister? That seems a little odd," she started, considering that she had not been part of a family for most of her life.

"I was hoping you would consider being something more like my wife, and Nathan's mother," Emil said earnestly, taking Evan's hand.

She frowned for a moment pondering the proposition Emil had just given her. "Wait, did you say you want me to be your wife?"

Emil nodded.

"Can we do that? I mean, can we get married? Do vampires do that?" Evan asked with excitement building inside her. As she struggled to sit up, Emil gently helped her up to an upright position.

He moved to kneel on one knee beside the bed, holding her left hand gently in his. "Evan Whitman, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"Yes," she breathed as tears flowed freely down her face, the salt burning her wounds. "Can you hurry up? I hurt all over, and I want to kiss you!"

Evan did not miss the low growl that came from Emil's throat as his smiling face suddenly grew dark with desire. Her smile faltered a bit. His eyes had begun to glow from within.

"What do I have to do, Emil?"

"Just let me do the work. Like I said, I will do this so you won't know what is happening."

"Do you have some weird vampire hypnotism or something? How are you going to do this?" Evan asked, a trace of uncertainty creeping into her voice.

"Just be quiet..." he said as he moved to kiss her where her neck met her shoulder. Evan closed her eyes and let him work her anxiety into feverish desire with his kisses. "I am going to make love to you, Evan. Are you ready for this?"

Evan nodded against his trailing lips, choking up at the thought of almost being ruined for this moment. "Emil, you know I've never..."

"I know," was all he said as he continued to trace her body lightly with his hands.

Emil kissed her across her throat, and up to her lips, where he gently kissed her. This time, though, he let his tongue slip out of his mouth and it traced the area on her lip that was stitched. At first Evan wanted to pull away, but almost as quickly as he started he pulled back. Her lip began to tingle. She vaguely recalled what he had said about his saliva being enough to start a transformation. As she moved her hand to touch her lip, he caught her by the wrist and brought it to his mouth. He kissed her arm deliciously, trailing his lips from the crook of her elbow to her wrist. She felt his lips pull back and sharp teeth trailed across her skin; then just as she felt a slight twinge of pain, it was gone. Emil kissed her wrist gently; she could feel a slight tugging there where he sucked on it a bit. At this point, her mind was whirling. Evan reached with her other hand and threaded it through his hair, tracing the muscles along his bare shoulder and then down his back. She pulled ineffectually at his waistband. He caught up her hand and brought it to his mouth as well. Evan's eyes clouded over, and she did not think it was all due to the narcotics and the feelings of desire raging deep in her.

Emil pressed her flat against the mattress, gently put her arms over her head and bent down to kiss her on the mouth again. She tasted something salty this time. He was more insistent with his kiss now and Evan eagerly kissed him back. Her lips no longer ached when he pressed them. Hesitantly, she slipped her tongue into his mouth and traced his teeth with it, checking their sharpness. Cutting short her exploration, he eased himself carefully over her, not letting his weight rest too heavily on her.

Emil leaned back a bit on his elbows and said thickly, "Evan, I want you so much. Not just your blood, but all of you." Evan reached to kiss him again, but he pulled away. He said, "Are you ready? For everything? I don't think I can go back now, but I will try if you need me to."

"No, don't stop. I want you, too." In an attempt to show him how ready she was, she wrapped her legs around his waist and tried to pull his stony form closer to her. She yearned for him to kiss her again and tried to move her wrists to reach for him.

"Unh-uh. I don't want you to bleed too fast," Emil said, holding both her wrists still in one hand. "I'm keeping you from bleeding, holding you like this."

Evan registered a burning in each of her arms, and wondered how he had not hurt her.

"Then kiss me again," she said, her green eyes smoldering.

Emil leaned down and kissed her mouth briefly, then started trailing kisses down her neck to her chest. He used his teeth to effortlessly tear away the thin fabric of her tee shirt. Emil pulled her arms with him as he burned a trail of kisses down her abdomen and onto each hip. Evan could not catch her breath for the waves of pleasure each touch of his lips brought her. When he abruptly stopped, she opened her eyes and looked down the length of her body into his face. It was contorted in rage.

"What's wrong, Emil?" she panted, not wanting his conscience to interrupt the most wonderful thing she had ever felt.

"I should have tortured that bastard," he said with a growl.

She looked down her now naked body and saw that she was covered in black and blue marks. She hadn't looked before, figuring it would be bad, as much as she hurt.

"He's gone, Emil. You saved me. Now make me whole and strong. Like you."

He looked into her eyes once again, letting the rage be replaced by desire, and said, "I love you."

"I love you, too."

He moved his mouth to the soft area just inside her hip bone and again she felt a moment of pain then pleasure washed over her, as he licked and sucked at the sensitive flesh. Just as her heart began to beat a little too fast, and her breathing became erratic, Emil rose up and moved over her. At some point he had managed to slip his clothes off. As he pushed his swollen body into hers, his lips found her greedy mouth, overwhelming Evan with pleasure. Then her body began to ache and burn, as if every cell was being deprived of oxygen, not unlike when she was strangled. Panicked, she tried to reach to Emil, to get his attention, to make him stop. Her eyes fluttered. Her panic was rapidly overshadowed by more pleasurable sensations, but she was having trouble enjoying them.

Suddenly, it felt like all the air was pulled out of her lungs, as if she had been in the cold too long and she was icy numb. She felt cold, pins and needles running all over her body. Evan felt like a fish gasping out of the water. A familiar darkness threatened to engulf her.

"Evan, here." Emil's wrist was against her mouth and she tasted something sweet, like a honeyed wine. She put her lips to his arm and kissed it gently, tasting the sweetness, and feeling like the warmth there was unusual. "Drink it, Evan. It'll make it go faster."

She sealed her lips to his wrist and began to pull strongly on the flow from his arm. Then she felt the warm liquid burn into her throat. She was immediately aware of a hunger she had never experienced before. Under the sweetness, she detected the salty metallic taste of blood and realized that she was drinking Emil's blood. The thought was like an aphrodisiac. Her mind began to clear of the haze of blood loss and she noticed that Emil had stopped his lovemaking and was looking worriedly at her.

She pulled her lips away from the addictive fount, and realized that she was not seeing Emil the way she always had. Her sight had always been good, but now it was perfect, almost as if she were looking through a prism that put another dimension to everything around her.

"Are you okay," Emil said with a strangled voice.

"Of course, I'm with you. Are you okay?" she asked, suddenly more aroused than she had ever been before. She reached up and wound her hands behind Emil's neck and pulled him down to her.