Great, now I was going to have puncture marks and a hickey. I couldn't quite find it in my body to care enough to stop him though. Then something I hadn't expected happened. I felt it happen. I felt his body stiffen in response to it happening. I think it surprised him, as much as it surprised me.
His fangs slid out as he sucked on my neck. I felt the sudden pressure of them grazing along my skin. I felt him make another noise, deep in his chest. I heard him exhale, and then I felt him adjust his mouth...to bite down.
That was when both of us stiffened in surprise. That was when he seemed to realize what he was doing. A trickle of fear, mixed with excitement, flashed through me as he pulled away from my neck, and timidly met my gaze. His eyes were wide and surprised and his fangs were still out as we stared at each other.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, as he worked on slowing his breath.
I worked on mine as well. "It's okay...you didn't do anything." He looked about to argue with me and I grabbed his face and pulled him close. "I love that...you love that. Give me a day or two to strengthen back up, and I'll be begging you to do it again."
He shook his head. "I almost did it anyway...and I know I shouldn't take anymore after last night. I shouldn't weaken you like that..." He spoke quietly, but I knew he wasn't being quiet enough. I made myself ignore who all was listening to this though.
"New desires, Teren...remember? We'll figure this out together, okay?" He finally nodded, but he still wasn't smiling. I playfully added, "I'll just keep in mind not to tease you, if it's a no-biting day."
He finally gave me a small smile and a soft chuckle. Shaking his head as his fangs retracted, he muttered, "Thanks. Let's go help Dad." We turned and made our way down the staircase, hand in hand.
Wanting to shift the focus away from what had just happened in the hallway, which I was pretty sure he was still beating himself up about, I asked, "Why does your family bring in help? I would think your dad and three vampires could handle everything around here just fine." While I really was curious about that, my question was mainly a distraction for the both of us. I didn't want to think about his repeated assurances that he'd never hurt me, especially since it was becoming quite clear that his desire for blood had already started increasing lately.
Teren took a long moment before responding. Definitely dwelling then. "Huh...oh, that's mainly for show." He shrugged his shoulders. "It would just be weird if a ranch this size didn't have extra men year round, or didn't bring in a crew during peak times."
I nodded as I thought about that...quite the constant charade that they lived in.
We made our way down to the building that stored the Jeeps and, grabbing one, we zipped over to the barn near the ranch hand's house to help out with the cows. Well, Teren helped out with the cows. I mainly stood a safe distance away, so I didn't inconvenience the busy men as they cleaned between swollen toes with lines of twine, and injected medicine above the cows' shoulders. There were a couple of cowboy-looking guys helping Teren, Peter and Jack, and they got through the twenty or so cattle, just as the sun was starting to fade.
I was a little surprised that I watched the whole darn thing. Eventually, I felt comfortable enough around the beasts that Teren handed me some twine and lifted up a massive foot, so I could scrape off some of the dead tissue between the stretched out toes. It was as gross as it sounds. But I did it, and I felt pretty empowered when Teren said I did a good job. Maybe I'd give up my pantsuits for denims and work shirts. As a cow pooped on my boot and Teren laughed at me, I thought, maybe not.
The long, low barn had several dry, clean stalls waiting for the scraped and medicated cows to recuperate in. They usually stayed in the fields, but Teren said they'd need a few days to heal...just like me. I smiled as I watched Teren and his father deftly maneuver a couple of surly cows into a nearby stall. Teren had a huge smile on his face the entire time. When one of the smaller cows, aimlessly started to wander away from the group, Teren ran around and stopped her. I wondered then why Teren didn't bring Spike out here. Surely wrangling cattle would over joy his pup?
He seemed so happy and at ease with this life that he'd grown up in. I wasn't sure why he'd ever left it in the first place. He was a great writer and seemed to enjoy his life in the city, but here...it was like watching his true nature emerge. It was beautiful.
I was grinning like an idiot when he walked back to me. I may have even had embarrassing tears in my eyes. "You all right? Bored to tears?" he smirked.
I shook my head. "I'm fine. I could watch you do this all day."
He laughed. "You may think differently about that, after we're done cleaning the barn." He indicated the holding corral, where we'd kept the cattle waiting to be medicated and cleaned. There was poop and other unpleasant things everywhere in the straw. I frowned and tried to casually walk away but laughing, he grabbed my arm and handed me a shovel. "Everyone who helps-cleans."
Sighing, I helped him and the guys clean up. He was right. By the end, I'd changed my mind about wanting to watch him do anything else at this ranch.
Chapter 11 - Finally Comfortable...Almost
After finishing with the cows, Teren showed me the ranch hand's house that had been empty the last time I'd been here. It was roughly the size of Teren's place in the city, but it seemed tiny in comparison to the family home on the hill. It reminded me of a large, log cabin, straight out of Little House on the Prairie. I could easily picture Halina standing on the front steps in a long, old-fashioned dress, watching the sun fade with her husband. As I walked through the doors, I wondered how long the Adams had owned this property.
There was a stone fireplace, dormant in the still warm air of summer, in the center of the large living room. Two long couches sat along either side of a long coffee table, stacked high with "guy-type" magazines: Sports Illustrated, TIME, Sport Fishing, Farm and Ranch...no Good Housekeeping anywhere.
Teren indicated a hallway to our right, which led to a kitchen and dining area for the crew, and a hallway on our left, which led to bedrooms. Stairs on either side of the living room led up to more guest rooms, which looked out over the vaulted living room. Those rooms had a close up view of the heavy timber beams that made up the backbone of the house. I counted the upstairs bedroom doors that I could see over the balcony railing. There were four on either side of the living room. Add those to however many were downstairs, and the cabin had a decent amount of rooms. I briefly wondered why they used a separate home for guests, when the main house had two extra buildings, jam-packed full of empty rooms. But then I looked over at Teren, remembered our near fanging this afternoon, and decided the vampires just liked their privacy.
Thinking about my neck wound, I carefully adjusted my hair over my shoulder as the burly workmen shuffled into their house. No need to tip them off. Teren went over to a tall blond and a shorter, graying man. I was about to follow him over there, when I noticed a man around my age with green eyes and a messy head of brown hair winking at me. It caught me off guard. It wasn't that men never flirted with me, I just wasn't expecting it from people who worked for Teren's dad.
I walked over to Teren and laced my hand with his. He introduced me to the two men he was speaking to, and the green-eyed man immediately turned and left for the hallway to the kitchen. Apparently he hadn't realized who I was, and flirting with the boss's son's girlfriend, was a no-no. I smiled to myself as I shook Jackson's and Christopher's hands.
I was just finishing meeting the rest of the men, and wondering how long green-eyes was going to avoid meeting me, when Halina suddenly appeared in the living room. It must have fully darkened while we'd been talking. I was pretty surprised to see her out here, mingling with the humans. I was even more surprised that the humans didn't seem to notice how un-human she was. The men didn't seem to catch the oddness of her skin or the wisdom in her eyes. I was pretty sure they weren't getting past the fabulousness of her body, stuffed into a tight, black skirt, with a blouse that clung to every curve and almost, but not quite, covered all of her toned stomach.
She casually walked up to Teren and me. Her eyes flicked over my neck, like she could see the wounds through my hair. "Enjoy your evening last night?" Her lips curled into a crooked smile that made me flush everywhere. I knew she wouldn't resist mentioning it.
I put on my big girl panties and dealt with it. "Yes, Halina...we did. Thank you."
She chuckled at my response and then proceeded to sling her arms around the green-eyed man, who had come out of hiding at hearing her voice. I guess flirting with the boss's sister-in-law, which is how Halina's youth was explained to the outside world, was all right.
Teren averted his eyes from the sight of his Great-Grandmother licking the man's neck. "That's our cue." Grimacing, he nodded at the door. We waved goodbye to the crowd that didn't care about us at all anymore, and made our way back to the main house.
As we were bouncing along in the Jeep, I remembered my earlier thought about his pup. "Why don't you bring Spike here? Wouldn't he love barking at cows?"
Teren chuckled. "Yeah...he would." He threw a look back over his shoulder at the guest house. "Great-Gran...she kind of..."
I filled in the blanks that he was being so tentative with. "She eats dogs, doesn't she?"
He shrugged. "She's really not too picky. I don't think she'd hurt my dog...but no need to tempt her."
Right.
Irritation flashed through me. "Why does your family condone her behavior?"
He looked over at me, and I could tell from the set of his jaw that he knew I wasn't talking about dogs anymore. "Emma..."
"No, don't Emma me. Your mom said I should ask you about her, and you promised to not keep me in the dark anymore, so spill it."
He sighed. "Well, for starters...have you ever tried to stop a full vampire from doing something they want to do?"
No...I could barely get my partial vampire to do what I wanted him to do. We drove up to the garage type building and he shut the Jeep off. He hopped out, jumped over his door, and walked around to my side to open mine; always the gentleman. I let him, and he continued his train of thought while we walked up to the house.
"I've talked with Great-Gran about it before...but she enjoys it. She's a predator, a hunter. She loves the thrill of the chase, and the excitement of that first bite." I clenched my stomach with my hand and tried very hard to stop the images that were flooding into my brain. Teren grabbed my hand and stroked it with his thumb. "I may have let you believe the worst about what she does." I looked up at him, confused, and maybe a touch hopeful.
"She's not a killer?"
He frowned. "No, she kills." I frowned, too. Ignoring my expression, he finished his thought. "But not always. Most of the time, she only takes a small draw, and then she makes them forget it ever even happened. Most of the time, the people live."
Well, that didn't sound so bad. I started to feel a little better about her...until he continued. "Occasionally though, she'll run into a person that she believes has served their purpose." We reached the poolside and Teren stopped and looked out over the water; it was now moonlight sparkling in the tiny waves. "The first man she purposely killed...after accidentally taking her husband's life, was molesting a little girl at the time. She spared the girl and drained the man dry. Every life she takes...offends her in some way. It's usually because they've hurt a child."