Ravenfall. Narrelle M Harris
chest, right through his crisp, white cotton shirt.
How James grunted, hissed, ‘Missed, ye walloper’, wrenched the spike out of his diaphragm and in turn smashed the primitive weapon, point-first, into the left-hand side of the assailant’s chest.
And how the assailant exploded into a storm of dust that sprinkled gently onto the street.
‘James?’
‘You right, Gabriel?’ James was clutching at the wound in his torso, the hole surrounded by dark blood. ‘He… he didnae bite you… while I was down? Wouldnae… change you, obviously… but it’s… nasty. Filthy wounds, bites.’
‘James, what just happened?’
‘Oh.’ James’s knees wobbled, ‘Stuff. It’s… hard tae… Damn.’
His knees buckled and he folded to the ground. Gabriel was instantly at his side, pushing aside James’s suit jacket and pulling up his shirt to inspect the ghastly wound.
Gabriel made a peculiar noise in the back of his throat and began to tear off his scarf to have something to press against the oozing hole in James’s pale chest.
‘No, no Gabriel, it’s f-f-fine.’ James tried to reassure him, but although the bastard had missed his heart, being staked hurt like a bitch.
‘God, James, you’re not fine, you’re… you’re…’ The panic faded from Gabriel’s voice, replaced with bemusement, ‘You’re hardly bleeding.’
‘Aye. S’all right. Side effect. One of the better ones. Feck.’ A piercing twinge of pain made him gasp at air that, strictly speaking, he didn’t need any more, except to talk. Right now, he couldn’t think of anything to say.
Gabriel rucked up James’s sweater again to stare at the wound.
‘Gabriel.’
‘James, what…?’
‘Gabriel, it hurts. I need tae get up. I need home. I need blood.’
‘And you have… you have blood at home?’
‘Nae, but I can rest. I can… please. I’ll explain. Later. I just…’
‘You’re a-a-a vampire, then.’ Gabriel said it like he was trying out the idea for size, and finding it an uncomfortable fit.
James closed his eyes and wished the world would go away. ‘Aye.’
A right guddle, aye. What a mess.
‘And the man who attacked us? Also a vampire?’
‘Aye.’
‘Like the man under the bridge.’
‘Aye.’
The silence continued and James, eyes still closed against the unbearable world, began to shudder with the pain.
‘Please. Gabriel. I’ll nae hurt you. I swear I willnae hurt you. Just get me home, please. Then you can pack and leave. I won’t stop you. I understand. But please, believe me. I wouldnae hurt you, ever.’ He was shaking so hard his teeth were chattering.
Against all expectation, James felt fingers brush across his cheek. ‘Of course you wouldn’t hurt me,’ said Gabriel softly. ‘You’ve been promising not to all this time. And you haven’t. You’ve looked out for me.’
James’s eyes were scrunched shut now, and if he were capable of producing tears anymore he might have been crying. ‘I’m sorry,’ was all he managed to say, before another bout of pain reduced him to speechless shaking.
‘No. It’s all right.’ Gabriel cradled James’s body. James couldn’t understand how Gabriel could be so calm, and speak so gently, to the monster he held. ‘Well,’ Gabriel amended, ‘it’s clearly not all right. But you’ve just saved my life, possibly for the second time. I wish I knew the first thing about… about your biology. You need blood to heal, though, is that right?’
This time when James shuddered, a whimper escaped his clamped teeth.
‘Fuck, I’m sorry, banging on instead of helping. Here, bite that.’
James opened his eyes enough to see that Gabriel held his arm out to him in an unmistakable offer.
James flinched. ‘No.’
‘Don’t be an idiot, James. You’re seriously hurt and you’re in pain. I expect the woman who’s watching us from her bathroom window has called the police, and I haven’t a clue what we’re supposed to say to them. And… and ashes-to-ashes there was talking in the plural, “we”. If his mates show up, I won’t stand a chance without you. Your being noble could get us both killed.’
James tried to form another protest, but a wave of pain shuddered through him. ‘Gabriel. I promised… I’ll nae… I won’t hurt…’
‘Just do it,’ said Gabriel tensely.
James let the pain take him, triggering the small but necessary change. He bared his new-descended fangs and, as gently as possible, bit the offered forearm.
Gabriel stifled a gasp, but held still as James’s teeth pierced the skin.
James bit to open the small wounds further, then sucked at the flow. A few mouthfuls. Nothing more. He didn’t need more. He refused to take more.
Then he swirled his tongue over the two holes and felt them close up. Done, he pushed Gabriel’s arm away roughly, as though placing it firmly away from temptation.
‘All right?’ Gabriel’s tone was steadier.
‘In a minute.’ James wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, then licked the smear of blood from his hand. No point wasting any.
‘Do you normally drink human blood?’ Gabriel asked, suddenly uncertain.
‘Not often, and not directly, like that. I drink animal blood from time to time.’ James didn’t think that was as reassuring as he tried to make it. He made his teeth retract safely away. He didn’t like to think about Gabriel watching his teeth while he talked. He didn’t want Gabriel worrying about what they meant. ‘Mostly, I drink tea.’ He tried to laugh, to make it seem normal.
‘Is that what all the tea is about? Crushing the craving?’ The questions came rushing out, anxiety spilling into curiosity. ‘What about tea does that? How effective is animal blood for the… I suppose you get cravings. Do you? Is that what it’s like? Do you spend a lot of time looking at my neck?’
Of course Gabriel would go thinking exactly along the lines where James didn’t want him to go. ‘Actually,’ said James, peeved, ‘I spend a lot of time looking at your hands.’
‘My hands?’
‘You have beautiful hands.’ James could feel his strength returning with the gift of Gabriel’s blood, along with the slight itch of the wound in his chest mending.
‘Oh. Well. That’s a relief.’ Gabriel’s grin at him was something in the order of a miracle.
‘Not weird, then?’ James asked, with a trace of their old humour.
‘Quite weird,’ Gabriel’s mouth twitched in a tentative smile. ‘But more reassuring than you obsessing over my throat.’
‘I do not spend time pining over your carotid artery, you plonker. When I need human blood, I sneak blood samples at the clinic. Things go missing at the NHS all the time. What do you take me for?’
Surprisingly, Gabriel seemed heartened by the irritated outburst. ‘You’re feeling better.’
James lifted the jumper to inspect the damage. The healing had accelerated and his diaphragm showed only a minor and vanishing scar.
‘Time to go.’ Gabriel held out his hand and helped James to his feet. James didn’t need the help, but took it