Courts and Cabals 2 G.S. D'Moore (the little red hen read aloud .txt) 📖

I could tell that hurt her. She didn’t want to live a lie any more than anyone else did.

“This has been a long time coming, and if you know Jack, he can be as stubborn as an ass sometimes.” That got a round of laughter from the room. “He should have let me turn him a long time ago. Now, I’ll be playing catch up, but we can finally have those kids we’ve always wanted,” she smiled at the man on the bed with such adoration, I really hoped he lived through this. “I love you, honey,” she bent down and kissed him passionately on the lips.

It was a straight Romeo and Juliet story. They’d battled the Nazi’s, and won. They’d battled vampire purists, and won; and then, they’d battled human supremacists. Now, he needed to beat his own humanity to get another millennium with Caroline. A story like that could bring tears to your eyes; but not mine, I’m too macho for that.

“Stop crying like a little baby,” Dani elbowed me playfully in the ribs, but I saw a little streak of wetness working its way down her cheek.

“I’m not crying,” I huffed back.

Fuck, I wanted this to work for them. I’d just met them, but I felt like I knew them. Of course, I’d seen Caroline naked, and she’d tried to kill me. I fought her, won, and seen them in the act; or as close to it as you could get without penetration. If that didn’t acquaint me with them, I don’t know what would.

Caroline nodded to Evelyn and Marcella, and gave Jack’s hand a final squeeze before exiting the circle. All the machines were wheeled back, so only the chords passed over the barrier with magic scribbled around it.

I wasn’t sure what came next, but Marcella flipped the switch on a big machine directly behind Jack. It purred, hummed, beeped, and then I saw blood drawn from one of the IVs travel through the tube into the machine. Then another . . . and another. Soon, it looked like highways of red heading away from Jacktown.

“The body needs to be weak,” Lilith gave a play by play. “The blood will be drawn out until he is near death. Inside the machine, it is mixed with Caroline’s venom. She’s been milking herself for the last six months to have the optimum amount.”

“Milked herself,” I tried not to let my imagination wander too much.

It took a while for most of the blood to leave Jack’s body. An average human had between nine and twelve pints of blood. Since Jack was old, and not a particularly large man, I put him on the low end. I could see the process hurt. I’d been on the receiving end of blood loss myself, and it wasn’t comfortable. Mine was a smaller amount, but a quicker, violent loss. A long, drawn-out process probably felt like torture.

At some point during the process, Marcella and Evelyn did something. The glyphs and symbols around the circle started to glow a dull red, and what looked like strings extended out from the elder vamps’ fingers to connect to the circle.

“The elders are empowering the circle. It’s meant to keep Jack healthy while he’s lost so much blood. The will to live will only get a person so far,” Lilith watched the magic intently.

The elders started a soft chant, and the pressure in the room changed. My ears popped and it smelled like spring and new growth; instead of a desert in the dead of winter. The other vamps in the room swayed gently to the music, and I saw threads connect all the vamps to the elders.

“Elders can draw strength from the vampires of their coven,” Lilith watched with wide-eyed fascination.

It was fascinating, but I also realized vamps were a lot scarier than I thought. Nothing I’d read, or Makaylah had told me, said vamps could harvest power like this. The circle went from a dull red to a miniature sun that vibrantly pulsed to match Jack’s heartbeat. I’d lost track of individual people by this point, but at some point, Evelyn waved Caroline forward.

She stepped into the circle, caressed her husband’s sweat-soaked forehead, and gave him a soft kiss; right before she jabbed her fangs into his carotid. The poor guy was so out of it, he hardly flinched. After a moment, his whole body relaxed as her venom hit his bloodstream. She removed her fangs and licked at the wound. Vampire saliva had healing properties, and when she pulled back, the wound was already scabbed over. She moved down to both his wrists and bit him again. She also bit the insides of his elbows, his chest in several spots, and I looked away when she opened his legs and sunk her fangs into his femoral. I’d seen enough saggy-man balls for one day.

When she pulled back, her face was surprisingly free of blood.

“She’s setting the stage and getting fresh venom into his weakened body before they dump his blood back into him,” Lilith surmised.

“So far so good,” by the look on Jack’s face, I guessed he felt better then when he was getting head earlier. “Vamp venom’s a hell of a drug,” my mind stated in Rick James’ voice.

The sloshing in the machine behind Jack abruptly stopped and the humming started up again. Another dozen IV tubes led from the machine back to Jack, and blood slowly started to flow back to the man. To my eyes, it looked chunkier and took more power to force through the tubes.

“Vampire blood is different than human blood,” Lilith informed. “Their blood cells don’t die so the body can make more. The virus makes the cells as close to immortal as possible, and the blood they ingest powers them. Their blood is hardier than a human’s.”

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