A Shade of Doubt (A Shade of Vampire #12)(6)

“Wait,” I breathed.

I twined my fingers with his and led him out of the bathroom. We crossed the bedroom floor, leaving a trail of soapy water behind us, and stepped onto the balcony. Only half of the deep orange sun remained above the horizon now. I slid into the crystal clear pool, pulling Xavier in after me. Draping my arms over his shoulders, I pressed my mouth against his. I closed my eyes, relishing the feel of his tongue parting my lips. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled myself flush against him.

“Now,” I whispered. “Remind me where we were.”

Chapter 3: Derek

To say that Ben’s turning hadn’t gone as I’d hoped would have been an understatement. As Sofia left the chamber, he continued convulsing and coughing blood—too much blood. He couldn’t afford to lose this much. People had been known to die during this transition phase, when they were still vulnerable due to being partly human. As much as I could see he was in pain, I forced him to sit upright, hoping that it would stem the blood a little. No chance. If anything, he began coughing up more. He started to get a nose bleed. I ripped off a piece of the cloth he was lying on and tipped his head back, trying to at least stop the nose bleed. Again, it didn’t seem to make the slightest bit of difference.

I’d never witnessed a turning with so much blood being expelled. He was looking paler by the moment.

The slab and the floor were covered in frightening amounts of blood. I cursed myself for not thinking to bring a witch in here with us in case we needed medical help for Ben.

I was about to leave Ben and go fetch Adelle or Patricia myself when, to my relief, Sofia barged into the room. She let out a gasp as her eyes fell on Ben, clasping a trembling hand over her mouth.

“Go find Adelle, Patricia, or Mona,” I said. “Or any witch with medical knowledge. Whoever you can find fastest.”

Although she looked like the last thing she wanted to do was leave him in this state, she sped out of the room.

Of course, there wasn’t much even a witch could do at this stage of the process. Nature was taking its course. There was no way to stop my venom reacting with his body. We just had to hope that the transformation took hold of him before he lost too much blood to survive as a human. I supposed it was more for my own comfort that I wanted to know that a witch was there with us, even if there wasn’t much more she could do than I could do myself.

Pushing him back down on the slab as he groaned, his body shaking and shivering, I opened his jaw and examined his teeth. I breathed out in relief to see that they were taking form.

Soon. Soon. I just had to hope that it would be soon enough.

Sofia appeared in the room a few minutes later, Adelle by her side. Adelle’s eyes widened as she took in all the blood.

“His fangs are coming through now,” I said. “Hopefully, it won’t be much longer until he is predominantly vampire, and the blood loss won’t matter as much.”

I shuddered. My son is going to be one hungry vampire when he comes to.

We’d have to keep him as far away from humans as we could. It would be torture for him, trying to satisfy his newfound bloodlust on animal blood. It would be like trying to satisfy a burning itch by blowing on it.

But he would have no choice. He’d have to get used to it, just as we’d all had to.

“I suppose there’s not much I can do now,” Adelle concluded as she stood by the slab.

I nodded. Sofia hurried to my side and brushed the hair away from Ben’s sweaty face as he continued to convulse and groan. She placed a kiss on his forehead.

“It’s okay, Ben,” she whispered, as though he could make out what she was saying in his agony. “It will be over soon.”

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly at her remark. Oh, no. Once he’s turned, it will have just begun.

Neither of us exchanged a word for the next hour. We just stood, staring at Ben, willing his transformation to take hold faster. We all breathed easier once Ben’s coughing finally began to subside, the blood he spewed out becoming less and less. When his convulsions became less violent, and his breathing had slowed to a normal pace, I deemed it safe to leave the Sanctuary.

I looked at Adelle. As I suspected, we hadn’t found use for her magic. “Thank you for coming.”

“It’s no problem. I hope Ben will make a quick recovery now. If there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”

As Adelle vanished, I picked Ben up and walked out of the chamber with him. Sofia followed alongside me, anxiously looking at our son’s face. It looked a little calmer now, though it was still contorted with pain. His eyes were still glued shut. Even for me, carrying him wasn’t as easy a task as it had once been. He was almost my height, and he was a muscular young man. He kept twitching every now and then, making it hard to maintain a solid grip on him.

We hurried back to our treehouse, and on entering, I headed straight for his room. Sofia stripped the sheets and blankets from his bed and covered it with towels. I placed him down and held him still while he finished the last of his convulsions. When I thought it safe to leave him, Sofia and I left the room and closed the door behind us.

We’d have to keep a close eye on him until he fully came to. Because once he did, he’d be ready to go on a rampage in search of human blood. We needed to have an ample supply of animal blood for him to guzzle down, or he’d likely go berserk. He might start tearing the walls down.