It Had To Be You

Chapter 7

Copyright © 2023 Cassey9

Third Person P.O.V

“Aunt Jillian. Just… just do it,” Lea offered in a small voice. With the drops now pooling at her palm from the small cut all Lea wanted was to see her aunt lick the blood and the wound away. “I don’t want it dripping onto my clothes. Go on. I don’t mind it…”

“No!” Jillian snarled at her mate.

“Then let go of me,” Lea murmured, pulling at her hand, but the vampire’s grip remained firm. Lea was taken aback by her aunt’s harsh tone, but her anger only arose when she spotted red dots marring the blue of her jeans. That was the last draw for Lea. The frustrations of the moment and ones that had lain dormant for a long while now burst out onto the surface. “Let go! Let go of me,” Lea brokenly demanded, “I can never depend on you for anything these days. You are never there for me, Aunt Jillian. Never. I don’t even know why… why I asked for your help.”

The hollow note of resignation in her mate’s voice was like a clean stab through her heart. “Lea,” Jillian gently called out to her mate. “You can always depend on me, my angel. You know that, right?”

“I can’t,” Lea said furiously, and snatched her hand away. “I have somewhere to be.”

“Where?” Jillian asked in panic. The finality in her mate’s tone and the coldness in her eyes set the vampire on the edge.

“I’m meeting someone.”

“Wait. At least let me look at your hand,” Jillian asked, moving to follow her niece but was pinned in place by her mate’s cross scowl. “I think I can find a band aid here or somewhere.” Jillian grabbed the office phone and summoned her assistant to bring her a first aid kit. “Just let me look at your…”

“Its fine,” Lea angrily stated. “I don’t want your help, Aunt Jillian.”

Lea stalked off to the door but was stopped by the burning need to know the answer. She popped her finger out of her mouth and stared at the woman who was dejectedly looking at her. “Why?”

“Why what Lea?”

“My blood. Is my blood bad? Does it repulse you?” Lea questioned.

She’d once walked in on her aunt feeding from a blood donor at the manor. The scene wasn’t appalling. In fact, Lea had imagined herself in that position countless times. When not suckling on necks, her aunt usually drank blood mixed with her wine. Besides, her aunt Selene had told her a lot about vampires and their feeding. What Lea needed to know now, was why her aunt had looked horrified at the thought of taking a drop of her blood. “I want to know.”

“I can’t.”

“What? What do you mean you can’t?” Lea asked, her frown worsening. “You know what, whatever.”

“You’re family. My niece. It’d be wrong…”

The incredulous laughter from her mate pierced through the tensed energy between them like a hot knife through butter. “Good to know that,” Lea exclaimed, as she literally shook from her faux chuckles. “Good to know that you’d rather watch me while I bleed out on the floor than help me out Aunt Jillian. Good to know. We are family and… and that’s what families do. Not help.”

“Lea,” the vampire called out to her furious niece. Jillian watched in relief as Lea took an about-turn at the door and walked back towards her, muttering under her breath. “Sit. Terry will be…”

“I just forgot my bag,” Lea murmured and angrily snatched the forgotten tote bag from her earlier vacated seat. She couldn’t stand another moment of being in the same room as her aunt. She was so mad.

“My angel please,” Jillian said, now following her mate to the door. “You can’t be mad about that.”

“Actually, I am,” Lea stated, not turning to even regard to her aunt. She reached for the handle but just then, the door opened to admit a flushed-looking Terry.

“Is something wrong, Ma’am? Is anyone hurt? Should I call for an ambulance?” Terry questioned, handing the small first aid box to her boss. Searching between the two, Terry spotted Lea’s bloodied hand, “Oh sweetie what’s wrong? Why is your hand bleeding? Let me see.”

“It’s nothing,” Lea said, managing to force a smile. “I was just leaving.”

“No you are not, Lea” Jillian warned her niece. “Terry, please excuse us. I’ll take care of her.” The vampire shut the door at the woman’s departure and looked expectantly at her niece. “Come sit down and let me look at it now. I’m sure we can find a cute band aid for your finger.”

Ignoring the request, Lea reached for the door’s handle. She didn’t understand why, but she was fuming on the inside. Livid. She wasn’t a little child anymore and she despised more than anything when her aunt treated her in such a way.

“Lea!”

“I said no! I don’t want to talk to you right now,” Lea answered, twisting the door’s handle and pulling it open, but her effort was met by an unexpected force. Lea let out a startled gasp when the door was forced back shut and her body forced against it. She was caged. With the door behind her and her aunt’s towering form blocking her in place.

“Let me see you hand.”

“My hand is fine,” Lea stubbornly stated, clenching the bruised hand in a fist behind her back.

“Lea,” Jillian whispered as she leaned towards her mate. The vampire liked the height advantage between them. With Lea at about 5’7 and her leaning towards 6’2, Jillian enjoyed how she easily towered over her mate who was determinedly staring up at her.

“I said its fine,” Lea feistily countered. “Now please, will you move? I have someone to meet for a lunch date.”

“Date?” Jillian snarled the word low in her throat. Her arm snaked around Lea’s torso and the vampire pulled her mate’s body firmly to hers. The vampire’s body thrummed with tension as jealousy ignited in the pit of her stomach. “You are not going anywhere until I take a look at your hand.”

“Now you are worried,” Lea poked uneasily, “I’ll get the help I need from where I am heading to, aunt Jillian.” She could feel her aunt’s breath on her face and, as usual, it rattled her. Their nearness made her entire body vibrate with excitement. “Okay. Fine,” Lea gave in and relaxed against the door. But in exchange, she would definitely get a little bit of truth out of the hardened woman. “Why didn’t you just heal my wound from the start if you were this worried about it, Aunt Jillian?”

The vampire stared deep into her mate’s eyes, the truth hanging at the tip of her tongue, “My angel…”

“Please don’t lie to me,” Lea gently pleaded. She was tired of her aunt’s veiled explanations and avoidances. “And don’t tell me it’s because we are family. Is… is it because we ki…”

“Your blood is special,” Jillian stated in the frankest way she could. “It’s unique and tasting it, even the tiniest of drop, would be perilous to the both of us. Besides, my sister would kill me if she ever found out that I drank from you, her only daughter.”

“Please, don’t bring my mother into this. It’s weird,” Lea stated, a little embarrassed. “Besides,” Lea cupped the vampire’s face with her uninjured hand, “I… I didn’t ask you to bite me. Why would anyone be upset with you helping out your niece?”

“It wouldn’t be a one off,” Jillian gravely stated. “I wouldn’t be sated with this one time, my angel.”

“What?”

“Your blood. The way your heart is pumping it hard, its enchanting, like a siren’s song, it’s calling out to me,” Jillian explained to her mate. “If I tasted your blood today, then, tomorrow, I would have definitely sought you out and bitten you.”

Lea’s jaw slacked in surprise, “What?” The hand on the vampire’s face dropped onto her shoulder and Lea openly gazed at her aunt as the words processed in her mind.

“I would never stop, Lea,” the vampire admitted softly. “Your blood smells divine. I'd get addicted.”

“So you want to bite… to bite me? Drink from me, aunt Jillian?” Lea questioned in a whisper, “Is… is that what… what you mean?” Lea’s heart skipped a beat when she noted the vampire’s faint nod. “Since when?” Images sprouted in her mind, sensuous ones, and Lea bit her lower lip to swallow down her moan of pleasure.

Jillian cleared her throat, but even that didn’t help unwind the strain in her gorge, “Since… since forever, my angel.”

Lea felt herself drawing in, reaching for something more, and so was her aunt. She was mirroring her movements, hesitantly but surely, bridging the gap between them. Lea’s eyes closed and her whispered confirmations were met with cold silence. Suddenly, she felt the air change, an instantaneous shift. Lea opened her eyes and was met by an empty space before her. “Aunt Jillian…”

“Your mother is here,” Jillian answered with her back to her mate.

“What?” Lea asked out of breath. Her mother was in a meeting. Lea had left her office as soon as her video conference call commenced.

“You should go…”

“Whatever,” Lea murmured and forcefully swung the office door open and stalked off muttering a colorful string of words. But, true to her aunt’s words, she was met outside by her mother who was worriedly hurrying her way.

“Princess, is everything fine,” Lenora asked, her eyes roving over her daughter’s frame frantically. The vampire had felt Lea’s distress and now being this close to her daughter the overwhelming scent of her blood was profound. “Are you hurt?”

“I just grazed my finger, Mom,” Lea briskly answered, moving away from her mother’s extended arms. “I’m okay.”

“Lea. Princess…”

“I’m going. I’ll see you at home, Mom,” Lea answered, her voice growing as high as her agitation. She couldn’t help but be a little upset at her mother’s intrusion. Once again, she was floating in limbo, not knowing what to make of what had transpired in the office. Her aunt Jillian had to be the most contradictive person in the world and this infuriated Lea to no end.

~~~~~~~~

The scent of her daughter’s blood permeated the air around her but what made the vampire both confused and worried was what lingered underneath it. Lenora stared on as her daughter stormed off towards the elevators. Lea was clearly upset and as a mother Lenora knew she wouldn’t be getting the answers she needed from her hotheaded daughter at the moment.

“It’s just a small cut.”

“What?” Lenora turned to acknowledge her sister’s assistant.

“She has a small cut, Ma’am Lenora. On… on her finger. It’s nothing… nothing serious,” Terry explained, shifting uneasily in her seat from the company’s head singeing gaze.

“I see,” Lenora murmured as she watched the elevator numbers descend up to the building’s underground parking space. Her daughter had left her office all smiles and giggles, which was a big contrast to her departure now. Lea had only dropped by her office to share the news that her car had finally been fixed and to generally spend some time with her mother.

Lenora looked forward to such visits. She especially enjoyed it when she and Lea toured through the company whilst she explained some aspects of the trade and fed Lea’s interest in taking part in the family’s construction business. Her daughter was eager to take part and make her proud and Lenora was ecstatic about that.

But now, Lenora needed to know what had taken place in the short while that Lea had stopped by to see her sister. Jillian had done something to hurt her daughter. Lenora wanted to know what it was.

The vampire turned at the faint sound of something dropping in the office behind her. Lenora nodded at her sister’s personal assistant and headed for Jillian’s office. With the door clicking shut behind her, Lenora zipped towards her sister and pinned the expectant hard woman against the glass wall.

“What happened?”

“Nothing,” Jillian smiled bitterly at her older sister. “Nothing that should concern you.”

“Jillian,” Lenora hissed dangerously.

“Why didn’t you ask her then?”

“If you hurt my daughter,” Lenora threatened forebodingly. “There won’t be enough parts of you left to scrap off the floor. You’ve done enough already. You’ve hurt her enough, Jillian. I’m warning you.”

Jillian nodded her head in defeat. Despite the passing of time, Lenora had never entirely gotten over her mistake of losing her mate and child long ago.

Her older sister was always defensive and ready to jump her throat and Jillian fully understood the root of the older vampire's fears. She had experienced that dread too, and was currently living through it. Her mate could have died. Jillian, too, had not forgiven herself yet. “I understand, Lenora.”

“Thank you,” Lenora coldly uttered and was out of the door before her sister could reply. Slumping against the wall, Jillian closed her eyes and allowed her tears to reign freely. Her office only served to torture her senses and hunger. She had failed Lea once and she didn’t plan on doing so again by saddling her with the truth. Fate was a cruel mistress and it had spun her life out of control.