Page 45 of Until Forever Comes
I don’t know how I expected Ralph to react to that horrifying scene, but it certainly wasn’t to have him turn his angry, hate-filled eyes on me.
“He thinks he can kill my friends?” he asked, though I could only assume it was rhetorical because Pedro had just explained to us in graphic detail that not only did Miguelthinkhe could kill Ralph’s friends, but he had in fact done so. “Well, let’s see how he feels about me killing his new little pet.”
“Ralph.” Ted sounded tired. He was still crouching on the ground over an unconscious Anthony, and I noticed that he’d peeled off his own shirt and torn it into strips of fabric that he was now tying around Anthony’s wounds. “For your own sake, stop.” He looked up at Ralph. “Leave. Run as far as you can and hope he won’t bother looking for you.”
Ralph was now within arm’s distance of me, and there was no way for me to curl myself into a smaller ball. He looked at Ted over his shoulder. “You’ll come with me?” he asked.
“No.” Ted shook his head. “I’m not leaving Miguel.”
“You don’t think he’ll kill you too?” Ralph asked. “You brought me along.” He waved his hand toward the door. “You brought all of us along. He’ll blame you for what happened just as much as he’ll blame me, and then you’ll end up like them.” He cocked his chin toward Pedro and Anthony’s prone bodies.
“If he does, then he does,” Ted said. “I’ll take what’s coming to me for my part in all of this.” He tore another strip from his shirt and wrapped it around yet another bleeding gash on the other vampire. “Miguel turned me. I won’t leave him.”
“But you’ll leave me? You turned me.”
“I did,” Ted said, not raising his gaze from his task of tending to the wounds. “And it was a mistake.”
Ted was looking down at the injured vampires, doing what he could to save them, so he couldn’t see the rage that crossed Ralph’s face, couldn’t see him flip around so he now faced Ted, couldn’t see him leap forward, aiming at Ted with murder in his eyes.
But I was off to the side, so I could see it all. And though I’d been jealous of Ted’s history with my mate, something that wasn’t at all alleviated by the new knowledge that Miguel had turned him and that Ted was willing to stand by his side even at the risk of his own death, I found myself admiring this particular vampire. His feelings ran deep, I could tell. He’d cared for the injured vampires at his own peril. He was loyal to my mate. In a roundabout way, I reckoned that made him a friend, even if he didn’t know it. And I didn’t exactly have a swarm of friends buzzing around.
“No!” I shouted as I jumped out of my crouch and stole Ralph’s attention back to me. “Don’t!”
Chapter 19
ATTHEsound of my voice, Ted jerked his head up and seemed to realize that Ralph was either aiming at him or at the wounded vampires he was tending. He gathered the men together as tight as he could and covered their bodies with his own in a defensive posture.
Thankfully, Ralph was no longer focusing on Ted, but instead was back to sneering at me. The way the man’s head kept turning from one of us to the other made it seem as if we were playing a to-the-death version of ping-pong. Not nearly as safe, but endlessly more entertaining.
“So the dog finally speaks,” he said to me, staying consistent with the line of insults he’d started the moment we met. Well, he meant them to be insulting, but, honestly, I liked dogs. They were smart, loyal, and brave, and, frankly, I could do much worse than to be compared to those particular animals.
“Let’s see how well Miguel trained his little pet.” Ralph stepped toward me, and because we were standing on the mattress, we both jiggled a tad. “Sit,” he said, pointing at his feet.
I didn’t move. Well, I didn’t move into a sitting position. I did move, though, because he was walking, which caused the mattress to bounce all over.
“No? Tsk, tsk, tsk. Looks like the illustrious Miguel Rodriguez isn’t a very good pet owner. Okay, how about this one?” He took another step toward me and almost lost his balance so he had to throw his arms out to his sides. “Beg,” he said.
His steps were harder now. I flattened my palm on the wall so I wouldn’t fall over.
“Can’t get that one right either?” He shook his head disapprovingly. “Looks like I won’t be able to keep you, pet. Nobody wants a dog who can’t follow basic commands. I’ll give you one last chance.” He squinted and curled his lips just enough for his fangs to point out, then he lifted his hand in the air and showed me his claws. “Die.”
Having already felt those particular sharp points digging into my flesh during our first meeting, I wasn’t keen to repeat the experience, so I ducked and jumped under his flailing arm.
He did a slow turn and patted his knee. “Here, puppy, puppy, puppy. Here, puppy.”
I didn’t know whether he was aiming for insane or terrifying, but either way his goal was thwarted because I jumped out of reach, which made the springs contract and release in short order and took his feet out from under him.
“Argh!” he shouted in frustration and tried to rise up on his feet.
I say “tried” because I kept running in circles, so the mattress kept bouncing and he couldn’t stay steady enough to hold his balance. Eventually, he put his hands on the mattress and pushed himself up onto all fours before slowly straightening his legs and then standing up. I hadn’t forgotten that I was dealing with a bloodthirsty vampire, but, truly, in that moment, he more closely resembled an uncoordinated toddler.
While Ralph and I had been doing our little dance of imminent death, or humiliating sprawl, depending on your perspective, Ted seemed to have taken advantage of the distraction and dragged Anthony out the door and then returned to do the same with Pedro. There was no way for me to escape from the room short of shoving them out of the way, which I wouldn’t do, even if I’d been strong enough.
I plastered myself to the wall and tried to inch away from the angry vampire stalking me. He threw his head back and cackled, which, let’s face it, was pretty ridiculous. I mean, the man was a vampire, not a witch in a children’s tale. Anyway, he cackled and raised his clawed hand in the air, ready to eviscerate me, when his gaze zeroed in on my neck.
He froze.
“Are those….” He squinted and stepped closer. “They are,” he said. “Those are teeth marks.” He snapped his head up and looked at me in surprise. “He’s been feeding from you.”
