Tainted Blood Read online

  This did not deter the energetic voice on the other end from speaking rapidly in her ear, “Good morning! This is Ronnie Ranger of WBLM right here in Washington, D.C., on the line. To whom am I speaking?”

  Allison’s heart began to beat faster. She and all of her friends listened to WBLM all the time, and especially to the DJ known as Ronnie Ranger. He sounded like a hunk!

  “This is Allison Burton,” she replied, sitting up in bed and straightening up her hair, though of course he couldn’t see her.

  “Well, Allison, this is your lucky day,” Ranger continued, “’cause if you can answer the BLM question of the day, you and three of your best friends are going to be treated to a four-day stay at one of Virginia’s most exclusive spas.”

  “Wow!” Allison shouted.

  “Now, can you tell me the names of each and every one of the Beatles?”

  I can’t believe it’s this easy, Allison thought excitedly. Was there anyone on the planet who didn’t know the answer to that question?

  “Sure, Ronnie. They were John, Paul, George, and Ringo.”

  She heard loud music and the banging of bells in the background as Ranger said, “Right you are, Allison. Now, you just hang on the line while I get back to you with the details of your prize.”

  Allison, who was just going on sixteen years of age and was the youngest daughter of Vice President Jonathon Burton, gasped and held the phone tightly to her ear, already planning on whom she would invite to go on the trip with her. She wondered if she would get to meet Ronnie Ranger and if he was as good looking and as sexy as he sounded on the radio.

  * * *

  Similar phone calls were being made to daughters and sons of three of the highest-ranking members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as ten senators and fourteen representatives who chaired important committees in Congress.

  Ronnie Ranger, who was a member of the Vampyre race, had readily agreed to the scheme, and the managers of the most exclusive spa in Virginia were even now being transformed so they could help with Theo Thantos’s scheme to infiltrate the most important families in the country. To speed things along and to help divert suspicion, the young people’s mothers and/or fathers would be invited along on the trips as chaperones. Of course, as important as the parents were, it was unlikely that they would attend, but the very fact that they were invited would help to alleviate suspicion.

  The Rejuvenatrix Spa, located in an isolated area in the mountains of Virginia just south of Washington, would be an ideal place for a series of transformations that would give Thantos entry into the core families of the Washington elite, and these would then be able to spread out and infect their other friends until soon the leadership of America would be his.

  He told Christina that within a year, he would be the de facto president of the United States. When he told her this, she gushed and drug him immediately off to bed. For her, power was almost as strong an aphrodisiac as fresh blood. He had also noticed that since he’d assumed leadership of his group of coconspirators, she was treating him with much more respect than she had previously.

  So, with this new development, he decided not to dump her after all but to keep her around for a while. He was never one to deny his massive ego a supplicant’s worship.

  Besides, with all he had to do overseeing the plot to transform so many people, he didn’t have time to search for a new mate.

  * * *

  The morning following their first meals of blood, both Shooter and Matt awoke to burning fever, headaches, and muscles that felt as if they’d been beaten with sticks.

  Sam sat next to Matt on the bed and mopped the sweat off his brow with a cold cloth. “I know it’s painful, Matt darling, but there is little we can do to ease the pain. Once the infection gets established, some of the aches and fever will diminish.”

  “How long will that take?” he croaked through dry, chapped lips, his muscles shaking and quivering with a sudden chill that left him feeling as weak as a baby.

  She caressed his face and leaned down to kiss his lips lightly. “Soon, darling, soon. Tonight, TJ will visit you and you will feed again. Elijah thinks that multiple donors will speed the process along faster than is usually the case and shorten the length of time you’re acutely ill.”

  He groaned and shivered again with fever. “Then send her in now,” he pleaded, pulling his covers up to his neck.

  She smiled. “Not yet, dear. The bacteriophages you got from me last night must be allowed to take a good foothold before we allow any more into your bloodstream. Now you try to sleep and I’ll be back in a little while.”

  Under the urging of her mind, he closed his eyes and was instantly asleep, though he continued to shiver and shake from the fever wracking his body.

  She eased up off the bed and went into the living room, where she found Elijah talking on the phone.

  “That’s great news, Ed. I’ll drive down to Portland and pick you and Kim up when your plane gets in.”

  He hung up the phone and looked at Sam with raised eyebrows.

  She shrugged. “He’s really hurting, Elijah,” she said softly. “It’s hard for me to see him like that.”

  He came over and put his arms around her and pulled her to him. “I know, Sam, but we have to keep thinking that it’s for his own good. As a Normal, I don’t believe he or Shooter would stand a chance of surviving this war we’ve found ourselves in with those opposed to our vaccine.” He added, “Sooner or later they’ll probably attack us again and we all need to be ready to fight.”

  “From the looks of Shooter,” TJ said as she entered the room, closing their bedroom door behind her, “I don’t know if they’ll survive the transformation.”

  Elijah nodded. “I told you before we began that there is always that possibility,” he said. “There have been rare cases where the transformees succumbed to the bacteriophage and died, probably from anaphylactic shock reactions or just overwhelming infection.”

  Sam stepped away from Elijah and went to hug TJ. “Don’t worry, TJ, both the boys are strong. They’ll make it through this just as we did.”

  “They’d better, ’cause I don’t know how I’d live if something happened to Shooter,” TJ said with red-tinged tears in her eyes.

  Elijah, who’d performed the Rite of Transformation on TJ the year before while intending for her to be his mate, turned away and went into the kitchen to hide his feelings for her, which were still very strong. He had to be on constant guard to keep his mind blocked so she or Sam couldn’t read his love for her.

  What he didn’t know was that both of them had already realized it and had said nothing out of respect for his feelings and his privacy. In fact, TJ too still felt a strong attraction for Elijah, and had it not been for the depth of her love for Shooter, she would have been in his arms in an instant long before now.

  “Hey, girls, how about some coffee?” he called, trying to make his voice sound normal.

  “Sounds good,” Sam said, feeling his lust for TJ and cutting her eyes at her friend, who just stared back and shrugged. There was nothing she could do about it—at least not at the present time.

  “Sure,” TJ echoed, and they joined him in the kitchen.

  After he poured cups all around, he sat and joined them at the table. “Good news,” he said. “Ed and Kim are flying down tomorrow from Canada to join us. They’ve both agreed to help with the boys’ transformation, as well as with my experiment on established Vampyres trading blood.”

  “How’s he getting away from his job?” Sam asked. “I know it’s not time for another vacation.”

  “He’s going to tell his superiors that he’s got a serious illness in his family and take personal time off,” Elijah said. He hesitated, and then he continued. “He said he needs to get away anyway, because when Michael Morpheus and his friends were up there trying to kill us, they left a slew of bodies lying around under the snow that will be turning up soon with the spring melt. He said he doesn’t intend to be any part of that
investigation.”

  “Do you think they’ll suspect Vampyre involvement?” TJ asked.

  Elijah shook his head. “Doubtful. Ed says the animals will probably ruin most of the forensic evidence and all the authorities will know is that there were a few more deaths than usual during the winter. In fact, he says they’ll probably only find a few of the bodies involved, and the rest will be eaten or carried away by animals.”

  Sam nodded and picked up her cup, staring at Elijah over the rim as she drank. “So, tell us what you’ve come up with about Matt’s suggestion that mature Vampyres could possibly benefit from sharing blood too.”

  “Just before Ed called, I was on the phone with Professor Wingate up at McGill,” he replied. “He sees no reason why someone who is infected with a certain strain of bacteriophage wouldn’t be susceptible to infection with a different, or competing strain.”

  “So the resident bacteriophage wouldn’t fight off the invaders?” TJ asked.

  “He says not,” Elijah answered. “Evidently, bacteriophages don’t work like that. In addition, since it’s a chronic infection, the body evidently doesn’t make antibodies against other bacteriophages so there should be no barrier to the new ones once they’re introduced into the bloodstream.”

  “That means the new bacteriophage could bring in new DNA from another donor and possibly improve the host’s condition,” Sam said, her eyes thoughtful.

  “Exactly,” Elijah said with enthusiasm.

  Before he could elaborate, TJ’s hand started to shake and she dropped her coffee cup, uttering, “Damn!”

  Elijah and Sam looked at her and she smiled sheepishly. “It’s that damned hunger,” she said. “Going off the vaccine is really hitting me hard.”

  “It’s not easy on any of us, TJ,” Elijah said, covering her shaking hand with his. “However, if you two want to be the first to try my new experiment, maybe our sharing blood will alleviate the symptoms of the hunger somewhat.”

  “You mean right now?” TJ asked, looking over her shoulder at her bedroom door.

  Elijah shrugged. “Why not? The boys are going to sleep all afternoon, and we can’t give them another feeding until tonight.”

  Sam and TJ glanced at one another and then back at Elijah. “Do you think we should try all three together, or just two at a time?” Sam asked.

  Elijah blushed and smiled. “Well, since you and TJ need to share just as I need to share with each of you, all three at one time would be more efficient,” he said.

  TJ smiled and giggled. “Not to mention, a whole lot sexier.”

  Elijah stood up and held his arm out toward the stairs. “I wasn’t thinking that at all, girls. This is strictly in the interest of science.”

  “Yeah, right!” TJ said sarcastically.

  He grinned. “Well, it’s at least partly in the interest of science, but I agree—it will be sexy as hell. Shall we adjourn to my loft?”

  TJ and Sam held hands, as if to give each other courage, and then they led him up the stairs.

  When they entered his bedroom, they turned to find Elijah was already out of his clothes and changing into his Vampyre form.

  Sam let her eyes drift down to his groin. “It appears you’re more than ready for us, Elijah,” she said, smiling.

  He took two quick steps to her and grabbed the back of her neck with his paws, claws retracted, and pulled her face to him, licking her lips with his tongue and growling deep in his throat.

  “Oh, my!” TJ said, unbuttoning her blouse and shrugging out of it and her pants until she was naked. As she began to change, she moved up against Elijah and reached around him to take his erect penis in her hand while she nuzzled his neck, taking little nips with her fangs as she too began to change into her Vampyre form.

  Elijah was busy, helping Sam out of her clothes, his eyes fixed on her naked breasts as her blouse fell to the floor.

  “Hurry,” he snarled, picking her up in his arms and moving over to his bed. He laid her on one side of him while TJ moved up against him on the other side.

  He wrapped his arms around the girls, his hands on their breasts as they lowered their heads to his neck and began to feed on his blood.

  While they fed, their faces close together, Sam and TJ stared into each other’s eyes as they each reached down and fondled Elijah’s genitals.

  He moaned and pushed against their hands while he lowered his hands to their groins and into their wetness, teasing them with his fingers as they teased him with theirs.

  After a few moments of this, fearing they would drink too much of his blood, Sam and TJ switched positions. Sam offered Elijah her neck while TJ lowered herself down on him and covered him with her mouth.

  He groaned with pleasure against Sam’s neck as he fed on her until moments later the girls switched again. Now it was TJ’s neck against his lips and Sam’s mouth on him.

  Finally, unable to stand it any longer, Elijah forced TJ onto her back and pulled Sam up next to him. As he climbed between TJ’s spread legs and entered her, Sam put her lips against TJ’s neck and sucked from the same wound Elijah had used, her hands caressing TJ’s breasts as she fed.

  TJ almost screamed at the pleasure of being serviced by two of her kind at once. Her body was on fire and she could hardly stand the pleasure. She grabbed Sam and pulled her breasts against her own as Sam fed on her while Elijah pumped against her groin.

  When she felt Elijah begin to throb, TJ pushed Sam off her and eased Elijah onto her friend. Sam licked the blood off her lips and spread her legs, pulling Elijah down onto and into her as TJ fastened her lips on Sam’s neck and took Sam’s hand and placed it between her thighs.

  Elijah’s hand went between TJ’s legs to join Sam’s and he had to bite back a scream as they all came together, clawing and biting and sucking until finally they lay panting in a heap with their limbs intertwined.

  Chapter 15

  Elijah Pike was a little surprised to discover that when he woke up from his post-feed nap, he was running a fever and every muscle in his body ached as if he had the flu—symptoms he hadn’t felt since his own transformation over two hundred years before. It had been so long since he’d had any symptoms of illness he’d almost forgotten just how rotten fever and chills and aches made a person feel.

  Well I’ll be damned, he thought, stretching out his arms and grimacing at the pain the movement caused. I think it’s going to work. He also vowed to be a bit more sympathetic with the boys now that he was reminded of just how bad they must be feeling.

  He glanced at the women lying on either side of him, both still deep asleep from their exertions and the blood they’d consumed.

  Sam was lying on her back, her arm thrown across her face, and her skin was pink and flushed as if she too had a fever. Elijah put a palm to her breast and sure enough, it felt hot as a griddle.

  TJ, on the other side, was positioned on her stomach. Elijah ran a hand lightly over her buttocks and back and found them to be equally feverish.

  He looked at the wooden clock hanging on his wall and saw that it was about time for the boys to get another feeding, though he didn’t know if the girls were going to be up to it. Their blood supply was not going to be a problem, since they’d probably taken in more from him than they’d donated to him and the boys, but if they kept up the feedings, sooner or later they were going to have to come up with some alternate supplies of fresh blood. His test tube supply was running low, since he’d only intended it to be enough for him and with the girls taking increased shares since they’d been off the vaccine, it wasn’t lasting nearly as long as he’d initially planned.

  He leaned over and gave Sam a quick kiss on the lips, grinning at the surprise in her eyes at seeing his face leaning over her instead of Matt’s. “Rise and shine, Sam, we’ve got work to do,” he said, turning and giving TJ’s shoulder a gentle shake. “You too, TJ. Time to get busy.”

  Sam sat up in bed, her arms instinctively moving to cover her naked breasts, and then she grimac
ed and moaned. “Oh, what hit me?” she asked.

  “Ouch,” TJ echoed as she rolled over and pulled herself to a sitting position on the edge of the bed. The sheet slipped down, exposing her breasts, but she made no effort to cover herself. “I feel like I’ve been rode hard and put up wet!” TJ complained, feeling her cheeks with her palms to gauge her fever.

  Elijah scooted down between them and got up off the end of the bed, not bothering to cover his nakedness. “I think our experiment is proving to be successful,” he said. “We’ve got all the symptoms of a fresh infection with each others’ bacteriophages.”

  Sam shook her head and got to her feet, weaving a bit as a bout of dizziness hit her. She too was now comfortable in her nakedness and ignored it. “Wow, I’d forgotten just how bad the transformation made me feel.” She looked over at Elijah and TJ and grinned. “I guess now I’ll be a little more sympathetic to the boys.”

  At the mention of Matt and Shooter, TJ blushed and dropped her gaze. “Speaking of the boys,” she said, looking back up and gesturing at their nakedness, “What are we going to tell them about this?”

  Sam’s face looked shocked, as if she’d put their episode of mutual feeding and lovemaking out of her mind.

  Elijah smiled gently. “Not to worry, TJ. There’s no need to mention it at all right now. By the time the boys are transformed and have acquired their psychic ability, they’ll know what we’ve done and it won’t bother them a bit at that point.”

  TJ shook her head. “You don’t know Shooter, Elijah. He’s pretty jealous.”

  “He won’t be any longer, not after he’s able to look deep into your mind and share your thoughts and see that you love only him,” Elijah explained. “Jealousy comes from being insecure about our mates. Once we can know exactly how they feel, there’s no longer any need to be suspicious.”

  “That’s just it, Elijah,” TJ said, her face flaming again. “I’m not exactly sure how I feel right now, about you I mean.” She stared into his eyes. “I love Shooter just as much as I ever did, but after last night . . .”