Blood's Refuge (Book 2 of Blood Ties Novels)

Discovered

A faint sliver of light penetrated the far corner of the hole Seth and I had shared for the past three days. Gabriel and Andy hadn’t found us yet, so they had deducted that we were under some kind of structure this time. So when I saw light, I laid Seth’s fever-drenched head back on the hard, packed ground in a fruitless effort to get to the opening in time to make out something to relay to Gabriel.

Before I could even get to my feet, a figure dropped into the hole with us. At first, I thought it was another victim, but this figure stood right up from her stooped position and flashed to me. A claw swept out, grabbed my neck, and shoved me into the wall, cracking my head and expelling every ounce of air out of my lungs. Gabriel! 

I couldn’t hear him anymore because the effects of our sharing had started to wear off, but I could feel his anxiety and rage. Then it happened, fangs puncturing my neck, pain soaring through my mind and body. I could remember Gabriel once telling me not to struggle because it would be worse, so I tried to calm down and go limp. She stopped and glared at me, her red eyes reflecting in the small light strip. “He’s always been too soft. Taking in his brother. Saving you. Falling in love. All humans. Too soft,” she hissed.

Recognition and blazing hatred dominated my fear. I couldn’t figure out Gabriel’s feelings , but then Seth whispered, “Michaela.” He knows this woman. Should I know this name?

“He won’t find the two of you alive. He shouldn’t keep his loved ones human. Soft! I learned from him; but sooner or later, I always change my pets. His brother will die quickly; you, you will feel pain for taking what is mine.” She had dragged me to the light and I could see her face. My eyes widened as I realized who she was. “Yes, Micah. But Gabriel knows me better as Michaela. I hope he’s listening. I want him to see and feel everything, then I’ll leave your drained, lifeless body on Andy’s doorstep. They both deserve to know they couldn’t save you.”

I looked up through the hole in the ceiling of our claustrophobic holding cell to see what was above us. I got the faintest glimpse of large, wooden support beams before Micah chunked me across the room and flew through the room to gather Seth. I scrambled to my feet and tried to get to the opening before she could leave with him, but I wasn’t fast enough and the last I saw of him was through the crack as she slid over a covering to send me back into pitch blackness. 

I could feel the cold fingers of fear gripping my chest, so I did the only thing I could think of and fell to my knees and prayed. “Lord, I know it’s been a while, but I’m in a world of need. You know what’s going on and if Seth is going to pass, please make it quick and painless. Help Gabriel through this loss and show him Your grace. I would like to live because I’ve finally found love in this life, but if that isn’t Your plan, please guide her hand to make it quick and not torturous. Fill my brother. I know he is a basket-case right now. Once he learns who and what is doing this, he might actually lose his mind. Be with the two brave men trying to save us. Give them the strength, wisdom, perseverance, and serenity to find Micah and capture her. Keep my family strong in this time and help Gabriel and Andy know that I know they did their best and that I love them. They will need Your grace and power to fill them if they are to make it through all this. I know You have a plan and I give myself wholly over to that plan because You are my Shepherd. You lead me out of darkness into the light. Let Your will be done. In Your Son’s name, Amen.”

I felt a strange calm come over me as I gave all my worry away and a set determination to live. I’ll never know if it was God or Gabriel’s connection, but in that moment, I knew I would survive this and we were going to get married. Damned the consequences. 

“You’ve got the strongest sister alive, man. I hope you know that, and I hope you can handle what is about to come,” I said, yanking on my jacket and heading for the door. Andy followed, grabbing his holster and badge. “I know where they are and who has them.” 

We dashed to Andy’s truck and sped out into the street. I told him how much of an i***t I had been for not investigating it sooner, recapping the hay scent from the first day. “But I was so sure that if I went toward the barn, I’d lose the scent that first day. It wouldn’t have mattered then, but now! That’s where she’s been holding them.”

“She?” Andy’s shock was written all over his face. No one had told him that a woman was in charge. “A woman did this? That’s highly doubtful. How did she out run you?” Andy’s cop logic never failed to intrigue and infuriate me. But he turned toward the farm near the cemetery anyway. 

“Because she’s older than me,” I growled as the sight of the barn neared. “You go inside the barn and find Andrea, Michaela is mine.”

“We should call for backup.” He reached for his radio as I swatted it away.

“No, she dies,” I hissed between my elongated teeth. My blood was boiling with rage. She had hunted them because her pride was wounded. It would end tonight. 

It didn’t seem to bother Gabe to change in front of me, but I still found it unnerving. And the way he was behaving; all animal, no human, Wow! This is crazy. No backup, no help if he loses. What if Ands or Seth need medical attention? He’s not thinking this through.

As I rounded the last bend to reach the barn, he opened the door and bolted. He was heading straight for the side of the barn. Before I could put the truck in park and comprehend the entire scene playing out in front of me, Gabe had the scythe that was hanging on the wall of the barn tightly in his grasp and in mid swing at some woman’s head. It happened so fast, I don’t think the woman even knew what was happening until it was too late.

His blow was quick and forceful. The woman turned around to face him before her head severed from her body. Her face was covered in blood and in her arms laid Seth. Gabe caught him as the headless body gave way. I ran over to them as Gabe checked his brother for a pulse. The roar that erupted from him scattered the birds nesting in the trees around the farm, and halted my advance. He kissed his brother’s forehead and laid him down on the ground gently. He then removed a silver knife I didn’t know he had and plunged it deep into the middle of the decapitated woman’s body. A hideously shrill, banshee scream escaped the head. It was the first time I looked at the head and when recognition hit me, I ran to the corner of the barn and puked out my guts. Micah? Micah! f**k!

I could feel the tears pricking the back of my eyes. Seth didn’t deserve this death. This is my fault. My existence is what killed him. I stabbed Michaela again and again. I watched as my brother’s life blood drained from her body. I wanted her to be gone from this Earth.

“Ands!” I could hear Andy’s voice, but it was a whisper among my personal onslaught of cursing my existence, this damned virus. “Gabriel, help me find her. Stop stabbing Micah, she’s dead. My sister, Andrea, Ands” nothing was getting through to me. “Your blood’s desire needs you! Help her!”

I didn’t think anything could be worse than losing my brother to this kind of monstrosity, but when the words ‘blood’s desire’ infiltrated my foggy mind, it awoke my mental connection to Andrea again. She was screaming. Through the chaos in her mind, she was afraid for us, not hurt or being attacked. I sent calming waves to her as I shot to the barn. I ripped off the lock holding the doors shut and rushed to the trapdoor. I threw it open and jumped down, but before I was completely erect, an ear splitting warrior cry echoed off the dirt walls and Andrea body slammed me with as much force as her human body would allow.

I held her to me and hushed her, “It’s me, love. Gabriel. Andy and I are fine. We’re okay. You’re safe. Calm.” And then it happened, she broke down in Earth shaking sobs. 

I thought you were dead. She took Seth. Where is he? Where’s my brother? Where’s Micah? Why do you smell like blood? Are you wounded? She started to push away from me to find the source of the smell, but I didn’t want to frighten her by the gore I knew covered me.

“I’m fine, my love. Michaela didn’t harm me. Hold my neck tight, I’m getting you out of this grave.” I gathered her in my arms and jumped us out of the hole. I knew that the slaughter outside the barn would shock her, so I held her face to my neck and sped her to the waiting truck. Andy caught up to us and looked over his shoulder, questioningly. “I’ll take care of it all. Get her home and don’t let her out of your sight. I’ll be there in twenty.”

I couldn’t believe what was staring back at me in my mirror. I knew it was human. I knew it was me, but it was hideous. It’s brownish, straggly hair hung in dirty, soiled clumps. It’s face was streaked in dust and blood. It’s dull, gray eyes were sunken and surrounded in dark rings from lack of sleep. It’s neck, arms, and back were covered in black, purple, and greenish, yellow splotches. The claw that covered its mouth, to squash the sobs racking its skinny body, was caked in mud and its knuckles were swollen on two fingers. This creature cannot be me!

Andy sat right outside my bathroom as I stared at my naked body. The steam from the shower floated out the open door and Andy popped his head into the room to grab my soiled clothes and choked when he realized I was just standing there, naked. He quickly closed his eyes and stuttered, “Ands, what are you doing? Get in the shower.” 

I couldn’t hold the pathetic dam up any longer. I fell to the ground as the painful sobs quaked through me. Andy grabbed my towel and covered me so my modesty would still be intact, he then wrapped his arms around my shoulders and tried to console me. “Hush, sis. Everything is okay now. Gabe took care of her. She can’t hurt anyone ever again. You’re fine.” He babbled along to control the flood washing down my cheeks. 

“Andy, I have her. Will you do something with her clothes and call who you need to; everything is ready.” Gabriel took Andy’s spot next to my shaking shoulders and once he was gone with my soiled clothing, Gabriel uncovered my bare body and carried me to the shower. He gently sat me on the jutted out platform where the warm water was falling. He stripped out of his sodden wardrobe and stepped toward the waterfall cloaking me. 

He slumped over me and his strong arms wrapped me in a loving embrace and he laid a chaste kiss on the top of my wet hair. I cried myself dry and finally looked up to face him with my red-ringed, blurry eyes. “Gabriel…”

His mouth smashed into mine before I could even think through what I wanted to say to him. His hands stayed clutched around my back, keeping me comfortable with our nakedness, but he couldn’t hide either of his arousals. He scooted his hands down my slippery back, down my thighs to wrap around them, and lift me without breaking our kiss. He sat down in my place and situated me on his lap to avoid as much contact as possible. He broke the kiss and bit into his wrist and then gave it to me. “You need to heal. She really did a number. Drink and we’ll talk.” I took his arm in one hand and his fingers in another and brought his bleeding wrist to my mouth then drank deeply.

A collage of images rushed toward me. The worst of all was the one I focused on first. “Oh Gabriel, I’m so sorry about Seth!” I watched as he killed Micah and then mourned the loss of his brother. The animalistic rage he demonstrated should have scared me, but I was glad he so destructively ended Micah.

“Why aren’t you afraid? You just saw the whole me, the animal that lurks so close to the surface.” I could feel his anguish-mixed worry.

“Because that isn’t you. That was what you became to save your loved ones, that is not who you are.”

He physically hugged me tighter to him. Then it came to me, the blinding rage. I watched as he repeatedly stabbed her dead body, not hearing Andy. “I forgot about you.” His anguish was physically painful for me. “I was so blinded with hatred that I forgot about the most important aspect of my life.”

I rubbed little comforting circles on his forearm and gave in to his melancholy. “Yes, you did forget me. You did become the monster that anyone should be deathly afraid of. Yes, I am shocked at your behavior and the animal so easily going wild.” The hues surrounding us darkened and spiked. The only thing I could equate it to was fear. “But you also single-handedly took out the threat, got to us before she had a chance to kill both of her victims, and you did your best to not frighten me when you did come to get me. Besides, was I in danger down there while you were grieving? No, I wasn’t.”

I stopped drinking when the tightness in my back eased. “You did what you had to do. I’m just sorry I couldn’t tell you where we were earlier.” He pulled me as close to him as possible, not caring about our nakedness. I ignored what I felt wedged between us and gently caressed his cheek and leaned in for a short kiss. 

Gabriel had other ideas. There was a significant change in his thought patterns and emotional state, although it was still tinged in guilt and grief. He tangled his fingers in my soaked hair and explored my mouth with the strongest hunger he had ever dealt me. “I need you, Ands. I need to share my body with you and I want you to share your body with me. I know why you are hesitant, but I’ll be gentle and I promise to stop if you can’t handle it.”

He wants me. He needs me. I was scared out of my mind, but I knew he was beyond need and my body was betraying my fearful mind. I wanted him too. Breaking the intense lip war, I looked him straight in the eye to decide if I could go through with it and not hurt him more. One short nod was all the invitation he needed to start his seduction.

Gabriel stood us up in one lithe movement. He maneuvered me directly under the spray. Running his fingers through my hair, he rinsed all of the grim out. He poured a handful of my shampoo onto my hair and began to massage my scalp, washing away the past three days. I could feel the foamed suds rinse down my back, feeling like a million tiny fingers run down me. 

His rock hard body pressed against me as he reached for the luffa and I felt his manhood against my backside. His arms wrapped around me as his lips planted on my neck. “You are the most beautiful creature on this planet and you’re mine,” he whispered as his hands followed the luffa down my body. 

I don’t know why, but I found his possessiveness a complete turn on. His fangs racked across my skin as his fingers roamed my body. He quickly lost interest with the luffa and let it fall to the floor. His firm grip across my stomach felt like steel bands securing me to him. “May I?” he inquired as his hands inched up to my breasts.

I tried to slow my breathing so I wouldn’t hyperventilate. In a throaty whisper that confused me, I replied, “Yes.”

Slowly, achingly slow, he cupped my breasts and lightly massaged the plump flesh. When his fingers found the tight buds tipping my porcelain skin with a light pink, my body reacted in the strangest manner. It felt as though every single nerve ending in my body was hardwired to the juncture between my legs. The sensation was an unexpected wonderful. I naturally pressed myself closer to him. Alternating left and right, he discovered my sensitivity. Rolling and softly pinching the raised peak on one side, his other palm slid down my stomach again. As his fingers gently tousled the soft curls above the pounding nerves, he asked, “May I?”

Instead of verbalizing my need, I ran my hand down his arm and ushered his fingers down to the pulsating bundle. When he finally made contact, I gasped as he caressed me and my body disconnected from my mind, bucking forward, wanting more. I groaned when he applied more pressure. Reaching behind me, I searched his stomach and legs, feeling the hard lines of his body, and finding the thick shaft I was in search of. I tightly grasped him and began to slowly pump up and down. He moaned against my throat and bit down. 

The red and pink fogs surrounded me, a s****l haze produced by the physical reactions of our foreplay. Then images of love making invaded my mind. The frenzied images showed me how Gabriel saw me, how much he needed me, and what he had in mind for our evening. “I would love to make love to you, my darling Andrea. Are you sure you want to do this?”

The fog lifted as his teeth retracted and I nodded my assent as I fought my knees from giving out while his fingers pushed me closer to the edge. I whined a little when he took his fingers off me, but understood why when he turned off the cooling water, wrapped a towel around me and another around himself, and lifted me in his arms, carrying me to my bed. He sat me on the end of my bed, still wrapped up tight, then disrobed himself. It was the first time I had a fully unhindered view of his entire body. He was beyond glorious; he was perfect. 

The fact that he was sailing at full mast frightened me to no end. He felt my heightened anxiety, so he sashed closer to me without a word. With strong, confident moves, Gabriel uncovered my nakedness, laid me back gently, then disappeared from my line of vision. His fingers grazed up my long limbs, followed by a trial of kisses. I didn’t realize what he was up to until I felt his warm breath against the most vulnerable part of my body. He leveled butterfly kisses on the insides of my thighs when his thoughts interrupted my chaotic brain, “Ready? Say quit if you need me to stop. I will not stop unless the word quit comes out of your mouth. Do you understand?”

“Yes, say quit. I love you, Gabriel.”

With a primal growl, his mouth made contact, his tongue lapping out immediately, finding that tingling bud of nerves, and my entire world lit up.

I could still taste Ands’ unique flavor as I inched my way up her beautiful body, savoring every bare spot on her. Running my tongue up the center of her stomach, I couldn’t wait to have one of her tight pink blossoms in my mouth. Her body was quivering in aftershocks of the pleasure I was pleased to have already given her. She moaned as my mouth found her breast and her shaking hands caressed my hair. “I can’t believe that I’ve missed out on so much…” her thoughts roamed for a minute as I cupped her heat and massaged her most sensitive spot. “I’m glad you’re the only person I’ve enjoyed this with, I love you so much Gabriel.”

When I released my mouth from her lush breast, I sighed, “I love you too, Andrea. With all that I am.” Then I captured her warm lips with mine. As her body began to squirm under my fingers applying sweet agony to her womanhood, I asked, “Do you want to go all the way, Ands? I will not force myself on you.”

My body was aching to have her, I wasn’t actually sure if I could hold back any longer. Her reply, so innocent, threw me over the edge, “Please, now.”

Once my body was in position, I wanted to see her beautiful reactions. “Open your eyes, Ands. I want you to see it’s me doing these wonderful things to you. I only want you to do what comes naturally.” When her amazing, gray gaze focused on my face, a glorious smile spread across her enraptured face. With that, I slowly entered her, mostly not to scare her, but also to relish every spasm around me. Her eyes widened at first with fear and then she did the one thing I wasn’t prepared for, she wrapped her legs around me and pushed me fully in and then pulled my mouth down to meet hers. “Keep going please. I’ll adjust.”

I moved at a moderate pace while she struggled with her inner demons and refused to release my mouth. When she did, I saw the tell-tale signs of tears. I kissed away the one tear still visible, then kissed both eye lids. “Is this too much, Ands? Too soon?”

She just shook her head, trying not to make eye contact, forgetting that I could hear everything going on in her head. She was scared of it hurting and not feeling the same as what we did before. She was having small flashbacks and I knew I needed to stop them immediately before she started to equate what I was doing as the same as what they did. I slid my hand between us and started adding a circular pressure to her bundle of hot nerves as I continued a steady, slow rhythm inside her. Her face visibly relaxed as she let her instincts take over. When she finally looked at me, it was full of passion and need, no trace of fear anywhere.

Her lower half started meeting me thrust for thrust the closer she came to seeing fireworks. And then it happened, her back arched up to me as she moaned loudly and all of her muscles clenched around me. It was absolute heaven for me, even better than I imagined it would be, and I found my release in her as she whispered my name over and over as her body continued to slide up and down on me on its own accord. 

I woke in the middle of the night, naked, in the arms of the man I knew I would be with forever. The images of our activities hours before came flooding back to me. It was scary. I hadn’t expected to react the way I did after he had shown me how wonderful love-making could feel, but of course my mind took me back to that horrible time. I wasn’t sure how he did it, but he brought me back to him and made it extremely pleasurable. I just hoped he found me as intoxicating as I found him. 

When I tried to get up, his strong arms tightened around me and he kissed my cheek. “How are you?” His question felt out of place, but somehow made complete sense. 

“I’m perfect, handsome. I have to go to the bathroom though.” His husky laughter was music to my ears, then he released me.

“Come back as fast as possible. I’m not finished with you yet.” He swatted my rear as I climbed out of bed, making me giggle and him, laugh harder.

The next few hours transformed our relationship and solidified my decision. He was my perfect match. I needed him and wanted forever with him. When both of our carnal cravings were satisfied, we laid in each other’s arms, kissing and cuddling. He excused himself abruptly as dawn approached my window. He pulled on a pair of trousers and handed me my short silk robe and asked me to watch the sun rise with him.

I rose to my feet and took his outstretched hand. I couldn’t hide my enjoyment of spending this time with him; it was written all over my face. We went to the lounge chairs on the patio. He sat first and then pulled me in the chair with him. He massaged my neck and shoulders in the comfortable silence that had fallen as the sun’s rays painted the eastern skies in beautiful shades of pinks and purples. It reminded me of ‘sharing’ with Gabriel.

I felt his hands slide down my back and across my thighs. He turned me to face him and held up a gorgeous teardrop shaped diamond ring with a sapphire and diamond setting on the band and an inscription of ‘Forever’ on the inside. “Andrea Micheal Bell, will you do me the greatest honor you could ever give me and become my wife?”

The anticipation, worry, and excitement warred between us in a thick air of anxiety. I couldn’t speak, I knew my answer, but couldn’t make my mouth form the words. “Yes,” I was screaming in my head. I knew he could hear me. 

“Out loud, Andrea, or it doesn’t count.” He laughed at his own joke, sending waves of laughter through me.

“Yes, Gabriel. I’d love to be married to you. We belong together.” He slid the ring onto the forth digit on my left hand. “I’m completely yours now,” I whispered against his lips before I kissed him and released his bulging manhood from his pants. We made love once more in the patio chair as the new day broke around us.