Love Bite - 2. Chapter 2

It had been a week since we were followed from the club and we had yet to leave the house. I had a feeling it was someone who Spencer had hired to find us and I didn’t want to lead them to our front door. Luckily, I didn’t have to work, because over the last century I had been able to work and make investments, so I had a very comfortable nest egg to allow me to relax and enjoy life.

When we got to a certain age Nique and I, with the assistance of the Council, changed our names by faking our deaths and assuming the identity of someone who would be close to our age. The Council was grateful for the information we provided that they spared our lives. Thankfully not all lawyers are very bright, because it allowed us to set up fake wills to transfer all of our possessions to the name we were assuming. Someone from the Council would go in to set up the will and then we would go in for the reading. Plus it helped that we had some money in offshore accounts.

Although it was hard to enjoy life when we were being hunted by an insane vampire and Spencer hadn’t been the same since Orga died 60 years ago.

I was in my office when Nique came in with a smile on her face. “What’s got you smiling today, sister?”

“Oh I was thinking, since we’ve been cooped up in the house for a week that we might be able to go to an auction tomorrow.”

“What kind of auction?”

“It’s an estate auction. The paper said there would be several Van Gogh and Picasso paintings included in the sale. There are also going to be many antiques, so you might find something that sparks your interest.” Damn it, she did the puppy dog eye thing. I really needed to become immune to it.

“Fine; where’s it at and what time does it start?”

“It’s right here in Seattle at the Northwest States Auction House and it starts at one.” She actually hopped up and down in excitement. I would move heaven and earth to keep her happy, which included hoping she would find her beloved soon.

I looked at my watch and saw we still had a couple of hours before the auction started, but knowing her she wanted to get there early to have plenty of time to look around and see what we should bid on. She let me do all the bidding whenever we went to auctions, because she knew I wouldn’t get taken advantage of pricewise like she would and that was fine with me. I didn’t mind at all.

***

We walked in the auction house and the place was swarming with people. I could smell other supernaturals, but what worried me was the smell of rotting flesh. That was usually what I smelled before I ran into one of Spencer’s vampires.

“Be on guard, Nique, and stay where I can see you. I can smell at least one of Spencer’s men,” I whispered.

“Yes, Sir.” She loved to mock me, but I was trying to keep her safe.

We split up and went to look at some of the different displays to see if there was anything there we would want to bid on. I kept my eyes open for the vampire I smelled and found him standing in front of the Van Gogh paintings. He stood about six feet tall with brown hair and I recognized him as one of Spencer’s men. When he saw me, he exited the room and I followed him outside.

He went into the woods behind the auction house and I stayed right on his tail. I no sooner made it past the tree line when he turned and attacked me. Thankfully, I was somewhat prepared for it and he didn’t do any damage to me. His eyes were now the color of a ruby and I knew mine had to be as well.

I used the mindlink we had because I was her father/sire in the vampire world to send a message to Nique. “Stay inside.”

I didn’t have time to wait for a reply, because the vamp swung his fist at my head. I ducked and moved to the side, as I drove my fist into his chest. I heard a crack and knew at least one rib had been broken. He roared and I knew he had to be in pain, but I couldn’t afford to get distracted.

I continued to throw a barrage of punches and tried to break as many of his ribs as possible. I heard a noise off to my left and smelled Nique, so I knew she had joined us. I was pissed that she hadn’t listened to me, but I was glad to have her help. She jumped into the fight wielding the dagger I made her carry whenever she left the house. The vamp was soon bleeding out, because she had slit his throat. When he fell to the ground, I ripped off his head, which killed him.

I looked over at her and said, “I thought I told you to stay inside?”

“What? No thank you for the help?”

“Domonique, this is no time to be a smart arse. Thank you for the help, but next time do what I tell you and stay inside.”

“Sir, yes Sir.” She saluted me and I couldn’t help but crack a grin. Even though I tried to hide it, she still noticed. “See you’re not as mad as you want me to believe.” God, I hated the smirk on her face. I had to admit I wasn’t too mad, I was more worried something could have happened to her. She was my world.

“Will you please go get me some clean clothes out of the trunk of the car so I can get cleaned up?”

“Sure thing, Damon.” She turned and I assumed she was headed to the car.

She came back about ten minutes later with clothes for both of us, because we each had blood on what we were wearing. While she was gone, I dragged the vampire deeper into the woods so he would not be found quickly. “Here you go, brother dear.” She handed me my bag of clothes and went a little deeper in to get changed, while I made sure no one could see me change either.

“Let’s get a move on, Nique,” I called out. I had no sooner said it before she came out of the trees in her t-shirt and jeans.

“Did you take care of the body?”

“Yes, I did. He’s deep in the woods where no one can find him without seriously looking for him.”

She grabbed the bags and took them to the car, while I went back into the auction house and hoped I hadn’t missed the portion of the auction where the paintings would be sold. I was relieved they hadn’t started bidding on any of the lots.

I went back over to the paintings, but was quickly sidetracked when I smelt the most heavenly scent of chocolate and mint. I walked around trying to pinpoint where the smell was coming from, but none of the people who were standing close by were the one the scent came from.

I noticed a young man getting ready to leave and realized the scent must have been coming from him, so I followed him out of the room. Sure enough, he was the cause of the scent. I was pissed my beloved was a male, but I wasn’t going to question it. Once we were outside, I grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the car, as Nique headed toward us. He struggled as I propelled him towards the car, and had I been human he would’ve gotten away from me. Thank goodness for my extra strength.

“Calm down and don't fight us or try to change to your were-form.” I told him as reassuringly as I could. I smelled that he was a were-creature but I wasn’t sure which species. “We're more powerful than you are, so you'll only get hurt if you do.” He appeared to be considering my words since he'd only seen me, but then he heard Nique speak.

“Damon, what do you think you’re doing?!” Nique's voice seemed to have a startling, yet calming effect on the young man, because he suddenly stopped trying to get away.

“He’s my beloved, I can do as I please,” I snarled as he turned toward me with a look of wonder on his face.

She took a deep breath and her eyes flashed red. “Unhand my beloved,” she snarled as she tried to pull him out of my grasp.

“No, he’s mine!” I yanked him back towards me, not consciously realizing we were playing tug of war with this unwitting creature.

“We can argue later!” she stated as she tightened her grip on the other arm and helped me to get him into the car without too much trouble. I think he was too confused to put up much of a struggle at this point.

Luckily, my car only had two doors, so he couldn’t try to open the door while going down the highway, although he continued to protest and demanded an explanation. We made it to the house quickly, so we helped him out of the car and attempted to lead him inside, but he balked.

“Who the hell are you and what do you think you’re doing?” demanded the young man.

“You are my beloved; I brought you home to claim you.”

“I’m nothing to you. Now let me go!” He snatched his arm out of my hold and tried to make it to the front door.

“No, you are my beloved. I have been searching for you for over 100 years and I’m not letting you go now that I’ve found you.”

“Am I your beloved or hers?” he asked as he pointed to Nique.

“We shall see.” I turned to her and said, “Keep an eye on him while I go call the Elders. I want to see if they have ever heard of two vampires having the same beloved.” I stormed down the hall and into my office.

'How dare he deny our bond? I had to find out what was going on with Nique and I both claiming him as our beloved', I thought to myself. I pulled out my phone and dialed the Elder Council.

“Hello,” said the voice on the other end of the line when the phone was answered.

“I need to speak to Elder Stephen,” I said in a clipped tone making sure she knew I meant business.

“Yes, Sir. May I tell him who’s calling?”

“This is Rhys Banes.” They kept track of all our name changes, but I’ve found it more conductive to use my original name in dealing with them, so they don’t have to look it up every time I contact them.

“Just a moment, Sir.” I heard the classical music come over the line and knew she had put me on hold.

“Rhys, it’s good to hear from you. To what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?”

“Elder Stephen, there are a couple of things we need to discuss. I had to kill one of Spencer Montagu’s men today in Seattle.”

“Are you sure he was one of Montagu’s men?”

“I’m positive. Not only did he smell like rotting flesh, but I recognized him from when I was with Spencer.”

“Alright, tell me where the body is and I will send in some people to clean it up.”

“He’s in the woods behind the Northwest States Auction House in Seattle.”

“Got it. Now, what was the other thing you wanted to talk about?”

“Well, it appears I have met my beloved.”

“That’s great, but you don’t seem too happy about it.”

“Well, Sir, he’s male and Gwynydd is claiming he is her beloved.”

“It is possible. It has happened in the past, but it’s normally a case of the vampires being twins. Let me look into it and I will get back to you. Don’t do anything rash and I should have an answer for you tomorrow evening at the latest.”

“Alright. Thank you and have a good evening, Sir.”

“You too, Rhys.” I heard the click in my ear and knew he had hung up.

I could hear the man and Nique yelling at each other, so I knew I had to get out there before WWIII broke out. I ran into the living room and saw them standing there having some sort of stare off.

“What the HELL is going on in here?!”

“He says he’s not going to stay with monsters and he doesn’t want either of us as his mate.” I could see it had hurt her badly. I wanted to make him pay for hurting my sister, but I didn’t want to hurt my beloved either.

“Ok, first of all what is your name?”

“Tyler Blumer. Am I allowed to know the names of my kidnappers?”

“I’m Damon Arthen and this is my sister, Domonique.”

“Right, so now what? I’m guessing I’m not allowed to call my family.”

“Not right now. I’ve placed a call to the Elder Council to find out how it is possible that you are the beloved to both of us.”

“Great.” I could hear the sarcasm in his voice and it pissed me off that he would disrespect me like that.

“You will respect me.”

“Respect is earned, asshole.” He was feisty, but there was a part of me that liked it.

He stormed over to the couch and sat down with his arms folded across his chest. He reminded me of a child throwing a tantrum for not getting his own way. I couldn’t believe the fates had given me someone who behaved like he was a two-year-old.

“When can I call my family?”

“When we feel you aren’t going to run away from us.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to run away from you? You kidnapped me and brought me here against my will.”

“You are our beloved; you were made for us.”

“If you were really my mate you wouldn’t have done this. Mates don’t hurt each other whether it be physical or emotional pain, at least not intentionally.”

“I’m sorry, but I have been searching for you for over a century and I am not about to let you go now that I have found you.”

“Well excuse me if I don’t feel the same way right now.”

“Nique, can you show Tyler to his room and help him to get comfortable? I’m going to be in my office doing some paperwork.”

“Sure thing, Damon. Tyler would you follow me? I’ll show you around and to your room.” Nique led Tyler out of the room and I went down the hall to my office.

Tyler’s POV

How could they kidnap me; I’m supposed to be their beloved? I’ve never heard of someone treating their mate in this manner. Domonique left me in ‘my room’ and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had tried to connect with Jon through our family link, but I got no response.

Mom was gonna be livid when she found out that not only was my mate a guy AND a girl, but they were vampires too. She had a hard enough time with Jon being mated to a male wolf. With me being the baby of the family this wouldn’t end well at all.

I looked around and saw the room tastefully done in dark blues and greens with floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the woods. If it had been any other situation, I probably would’ve felt calm. However, I was anything but calm; I was pissed. I was looking out the window when I saw a flash of movement in the trees. It happened so quickly that I wasn’t sure what I had actually seen. When I looked closer, it looked as if there was a pair of glowing red eyes peering back at me and it freaked me out.

I decided my kidnappers should know there was someone outside, because these intruders could possibly harm me too. I knew it wasn’t Damon or Domonique, because I could hear them arguing downstairs. I followed the sound of their voices and came to what I assumed was Damon’s office. I knocked on the door and waited.

“Come in, Tyler,” called Damon from inside the office.

I walked in and saw him sitting at his desk with the look of power and authority radiating from him. My breath caught in my throat as I looked at him. I looked over to Domonique and she looked regal sitting in her chair in front of his desk.

“What can I do for you?” Damon asked with a smirk.

“I just thought you should know that I saw something outside in the woods. I was looking out my windows when I saw something blur past in the trees and then I saw what looked like glowing red eyes peering at me.”

“Where did you see this thing?” he asked.

“In the woods, directly across from my window.”

“Ok I will go look and see if I can find anything; I’ll be right back. Stay here!” He stood and ran out of the room with Domonique right behind him.

I paced in his office not knowing what was going on in the woods. I could feel my inner bear pacing as well. He was anxious about his mates and wanted me to go to them. He wanted me to protect them. He didn’t care that they’re vampires, only that they were his.

A few minutes after they left they came back into the house with Damon grumbling. When he saw me he said, “There’s no one out there, but I could smell there had been another vamp in the woods where you saw them. By the time we got there though, whoever was there was gone.”

“I’ll be right back,” Domonique said as she walked around us and headed upstairs.

A few minutes later she came back downstairs and handed me a ring box. “What’s this?” I asked as I opened it. Inside I saw a magnificent gold ring with a garnet. It was a very simple ring, about ten millimeters in width with the oval shaped stone set in the middle.

“This is the ring I had made for my beloved when I found him. Once we’ve completed the bond it will allow you to walk in the sunlight with no problems.”

“You mean when you turn me into a vampire?”

“Yes, but with you being a were-creature I’m not sure if you will actually be turned.”

“I’m a werebear and I’ve never heard of my kind being mated to a vampire, let alone two of them.”

“Neither have we, but I’m glad we have finally found you. If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”

“I’m nineteen. How old are you guys? You don’t look much older than me.”

“We are a hundred and sixty years old, but we were both turned at the age of eighteen.”

“While I wish this was a different set of circumstances, I have decided I’m not going to reject you guys as my mates. I’m not sure how the mating will need to be done, but I’m willing to figure it out with both of you.”

“Thank you for accepting us. I have a call in to the Elder Council and they should be able to tell us what is going on with you being the beloved to both of us. While Domonique and I are like brother and sister, we are not actually blood related,” Damon said this with the first smile I had seen on his face since we first met.