A gentle knock sounds on the door. I barely even hear it since I'm basically still asleep wrapped up in not only blankets but also Colby's arms. He's definitely sleeping and his chest slowly rises and falls with his unnecessary breathing. I can't help but just fall more into sleep. Even when it sounds like the door opens, I'm just lying there.
"Lydia." A voice whispers much too close. "Lydia, I need to talk to you." I force my eyes to open despite my brain still being asleep and make eye contact with Katrina. She's smiling kindly at me, nodding towards the door.
"I'm trying to sleep." I complain, trying to roll over away from her but she grabs my arm and manages to pull me out of the bed. Just before I can groan and complain some more, I remember that Colby's sleeping and would kill Katrina for being in here. So instead I sigh.
Katrina guides me downstairs into the garage. It looks like it's still sort of dark outside, which brings plenty of questions to my head. Inside the garage is the whole clan except for Colby and the LED lights are still on full force trying to give me an epileptic seizure.
"What do you losers want? I'm trying to sleep." I say as I brush my hair back from my face and sigh. I notice the way Brennen glances at my legs and immediately glare at him since I'm only wearing one of Colby's shirts.
"Sorry to disturb you." Sam says apologetically. "We just wanted to say thank you." I frown at him as my arms cross over my chest.
"Colby's changed a lot recently and it's because of you. We just wanted to tell you while he wasn't here and that's almost impossible lately." Devyn explains gently, trying to give me a smile but I know I don't look that friendly.
"You're welcome? It's not like I did anything."
"Like Tara said, he made you believe in love, right? Well you did the same thing for him and he's so much happier now. You gave him a reason not to be an asshole."
"I don't know about that last bit." I mumble with a smirk on my face.
"Most of the time." Sam corrects then smiles. "You can go now. Just know that you've done a lot for this clan." I slowly nod and smile, walking backwards out of the room. As soon as I'm in the hallway, I begin to think about what they've said. I changed Colby somehow and made him believe in love . . . but did I change? The best person to ask would be Tara but I don't really want to know if I changed because what if it was a bad change? What if I'm worse of a person? It's no secret that Colby's not the best person in the world and what if that's now translated onto me? I don't want to think about it but it's also all I can think about.
Even when I climb back into bed with Colby and rest my head on his chest, I wonder how much of a heart he has in there. How much of my heart has he taken?
**********
"Annalise can only be staying in one of these places." Mike explains as he holds up some sort of a list of different addresses. I haven't been paying attention so far because Colby hasn't been letting me. I'm sitting more or less on his lap and his face is almost completely snuggled up into my neck; his arms around me.
"How do you know that though?" Kevin questions in confusion. He stares at the list like he's never seen a piece of paper before.
"Well, we've picked up on Tom's scent in the area all of these houses are located so she must be there."
"What if it's just Tom? What if she's staying somewhere else?" Cassie suggests. "She's old and smart most of the time. Don't you think she'd steer clear of anywhere that has a scent on it? Whether it's Tom's or anyone else's."
"She is smart." Elton agrees quietly. "But she also seems to be with that Tom guy. She needs him for her plan; she wouldn't leave him alone." Everyone goes silent for a few moments, which catches my attention a little until Colby's fingers intertwine with mine.
"So if we pinpoint the exact house then we can just ambush her. She'd have no chance." Corey concludes.
"Especially as we have a witch of our own." Sam adds. The word witch makes my eyes flick from Colby's thumb, which is gently rubbing against the back of my hand, to Sam. He smirks, knowing that I haven't really been listening and exactly why.
"Do you think you could take on Tom, Lydia?" Elton asks, attracting my attention completely away from my boyfriend. With my head turned, I'm fully aware that my entire neck is on show to a vampire who's sitting much too close for his own good.
"Maybe. I still need to do some practice though." I say quietly as I shrug.
"We have to find the house first so you've got some time." I just nod, turning my head back to Colby. He's looking over at Sam having some kind of silent conversation that no one else has noticed. Finally, Sam turns his head to Katrina and Colby turns his back to me. He barely even meets my eyes though as he just hides away in my neck. He playfully nips my skin. It sends a shoot of . . . something throughout my entire body. It's sort of like an electric shock or some sort of tingle but it goes everywhere, even into the hand that I use to lightly slap him. He only snickers and brings his head back up.
Occasionally he likes to just barely bite my neck just to mess with me. Of course, I refuse to admit that it feels kinda good because I still don't know about him actually feeding on me. I can't tell just how uncomfortable I'd be with it or if it hurts. I remember Devyn said that it does but only for a second and Tara said it feels amazing after the first couple of moments. But even with those good words about it, I just can't be sure.
I just sit there thinking about it for what feels like forever. I know that I need one last thing to decide whether I'm going to let Colby bite me or not and that's one of the other vampires' opinions. I can trust all of them but the ones I trust the most are Sam and Jake. Out of those two, I know Sam's going to be the best to ask about anything like this.
So I gather the courage, and I look at Sam. "Sam? A word, please?" I ask quietly. A couple of the other vampires, including Colby, look at me weirdly but I ignore them as Sam gets up. Katrina sits back down while I stand. We go upstairs where they won't be able to hear unless they really want to and I have to take a deep breath.
"Are you okay?" Sam asks gently.
"Yeah . . . can Colby hear us?" My eyes flick down to the floor. I know that he'll want to hear what we're saying in case it's something bad. I don't want to make him paranoid but I also don't want him to hear anything.
"Only if he wants to." Sam shrugs and lowers his voice, saying something. "In case he is, I asked him to respect your privacy. So what's up?"
"Listen, I've been thinking a lot about . . . you know . . . the bite thing. And I don't know what to think about it. I mean, Devyn and Tara have said nothing but good things about it but I just . . . "
"Can't see why it's supposedly so good?" Sam questions like he understands what I mean. I slowly nod my head, biting my lip. "Katrina had the same worries until she let me bite her and she really liked it. I know you probably don't understand why or much about it but a bite from a vampire you love is nothing like one from a vampire who's trying to hurt you. And it'll make Colby stronger."
"Stronger?"
"Yeah, much stronger. He's already a really powerful vampire. God knows how strong he'll be with your blood in his system. Not that I'm saying-"
"Could it give him an edge against Annalise?" Sam's mouth opens then closes again. He goes silent, as we both do, and he just kind of stares at the ground for a moment.
Finally, he speaks. "He's already almost as powerful as her. It may make him an even match." I bite my lip probably a little bit too hard and slowly nod my head. So I could help Colby defeat Annalise then be the one to finally end her. It could work . . . I only have to let Colby bite me. "Remember, if you don't want him to bite you, then he's going to respect that. He has so far."
"Yeah, yeah. I know." I give Sam a brave smile then take a deep breath. Am I really going to do this? I am, aren't I? Oh, I'm such an idiot but I love it. "Colby!" I yell to make sure he hears me. Sam, knowing I've made my mind up, smiles and disappears at the same time as Colby appears next to me. I motion for us to go to his room so we do.
He stays quiet as he sits down on the bed and leans against the headboard casually. He probably thinks that I just want to hang out up here but he's about to get the shock of his undead life.
After shutting the door, I walk to the bed and crawl over the top of his legs, straddling them as I take off my necklace and place it down on the bedside table. He watches me carefully frowning until I capture his lips in a kiss. I'll distract him—and myself—a little first. I bring my body close to his, my arms wrapped around his neck and his hands resting on my hips.
"You can bite me." I whisper against his lips. I feel that he gets a little hesitant for a moment but keeps kissing me anyway, his arms sliding around my waist.
"You don't want that." He says without pulling away either. I take a moment before I pull back and catch his eyes. He searches mine, trying to find the emotion that's hidden. "I'm not going to bite you."
"Don't be a pussy." I roll my eyes, placing my hands on either side of his neck. "If I don't like it, then I don't like it." He stares at me and frowns for a few moments. I know he's confused since this has come out of nowhere but as soon as I shift my hair all onto one side, those beautiful blue eyes of his turn completely black.
He closes his lids and takes a deep breath. When he looks at me again, the blue is back like the black never existed. He leans forward and kisses my jaw then slowly moves down to my neck. I feel my heart beating a little faster as my breathing hitches in my throat. I can do this. I just need to know what it feels like.
For a couple of moments, he just kisses this one spot and I can tell that that's where he's going to sink his teeth into me in a minute. I bring one of my hands up to the back of his head, keeping him there and another lands on his shoulder. I feel him sigh against my skin before he opens his mouth a little. He hesitates, waiting for me to back out, but when I don't, he opens it wider.
He gives my neck a wet kiss, his tongue teasing me. I feel my stomach stirring with a mixture of anticipation and excitement. And finally, his arms pull me impossibly closer. I know it's about to happen and I can't help but get nervous.
Then I feel his teeth and his fangs just barely grazing over my neck. It sends a shoot of excitement right down to my stomach as he carefully moves up and then back down, just to test if I'm still going to back out. By now, I'm not. I need to find out what this is like and then I can decide if I ever want it to happen again.
Finally, I feel something that resembles a nip, but more painful, and I know that he's bit me. Just like what Tara and Devyn said, I feel the pain for a few moments until it fades away and the need to moan suddenly comes over me. I control it, my fingers tightening in Colby's hair as I gasp instead. My eyes close, my head moving more so he has even more access . . . I can't believe that I like it . . .