Chapter 26

Richie sat nervously in the car as Jon drove, he could smell her, he could sense her and it was driving him mad. His hands gripped firmly to the seat as he barked directions at Jon. He had to get there, and see her, and hold her and nurse her back to life, before it was too late.

Jon kept one hand on the wheel and one hand on his friend's shoulder. He wasn't sure, but somehow he just knew that in pulling small amounts of energy off of Richie was keeping him from flying totally out of control. As he drove he remembered Mic's words of how a Upier always seemed to travel with one of his kind. Maybe this was why. Not that he had wanted this to happen to figure that out.

At the tersely barked order to turn left Jon turned and within minutes was pulling into a driveway.

Richie bolted out of the car even before it stopped moving and ran for the door pounding on it hard with all his might.

Mic looked up as the deafly beats on the door startled her. She looked at Gia and then the door, her head became clear and pain free all of a sudden. Nooooo. She raced towards the door and ripped it open to see who it was and almost couldn’t believe her eyes at who stood there.

"Richie!" she exclaimed happily as she threw her hands around his neck.

"Hey darlin, where is she?" Richie’s panic was evident, from the shaking of his hands to the wildness of his eyes.

"In her bedroom, Richie you're going to have to feed her and fast," Mic instructed as a surge shot through her. Looking behind Richie, who had now vanished into the bedroom at the speed of light, she saw Jon walking up to the door. He looked so different, so in command or something. "Hello stranger," she smiled.

He flashed a grin her way before yanking her into a hug. "Hello there yourself."

Mic closed her eyes savoring the small spark that left her body and into his. "You need to come inside. Thank you for coming," she whispered as she felt the transformation.

He slipped into the house, his arm still firmly around her. "Well it was find you or watch him go totally out of control."

"I know, he's right on time, damn, I am so glad you are here too, I've missed you" she said as she led him inside.

He brushed a feather soft kiss across her cheek. "Gia's that bad?"

She nodded "She's very weak, on the verge of losing consciousness," she pulled him down on the couch just content to lie with him while they waited. "Just stay here a sec I need you," as she honed on the small sparks of energy she so desperately needed to release to him.

He lay his head back on the couch and groaned as he felt himself leveling out suddenly. "God damn, what the hell?"

Mic chuckled "Its ok, you're supposed to feel as good as I do right now, I can explain later, I just need this first," she mumbled as she slipped her hand up his shirt to get closer to the warmth. She knew it would take awhile to release two months worth of energy but this was a good start.

He groaned as he felt the excess energy leave only to be replaced with a calming flow of newer energy. "Damn babe, that feels great." His eyes closed as he soaked in all she had to offer, his hand moving up lazily to brush over her cheek, giving to her in turn.

Richie found Gia in the bed, he knelt down beside her and gently placed a kiss on her forehead, all that spark and passion he remembered was missing from her face, she radiated nothing but fear and pain to him and that hit him hard in the chest. "Giaaa darlin, I'm here," he whispered over her pale lips.


A slight frown marred her face as a whisper called to her from the darkness. It wasn’t possible, he wouldn't be calling her. She shivered slightly as a soft mumble escaped her.

Richie inched closer to her earlobe. "Gia my love you got to wake, please wake for me baby" he whispered.

Eyelids fluttered and opened slowly at the request, while dazed emerald eyes looked up without seeing. "Too tired. hurts, lemme sleep ok?"

Richie shook his head, he knew he couldn’t let her sleep and he knew what had to be done. "Darlin, I know what I need to do and there will be no arguments," he turned his head and this time bit slowly down on his tongue once again, wincing at the small prick he felt, he leant into her and lavishly kissed her hard on the lips letting his tongue thrust through to tease her tongue.

This dream was better than the rest, maybe shed finally died and found some heaven that held her memories. A whispering gasp escaped her as heat began to work its way into her body, gentle hands rubbing her throat, that raspy tongue dancing with hers, precious strength seeming to build. She lifted her arms to slide around a neck that felt all to real as the kiss continued.

He continued to let the life she so desperately needed flow into her body as he slowly felt life return to her body. His hands ran down her body as he lay beside her now and pulled her in tightly never lifting his mouth from hers.

Her eyes opened slowly and began to focus. There were lips on hers, there was a man holding her, and not just any man. Richie. She inched closer to his body as a soft murmur left her. Pulling away from the kiss she smiled. "You came."
He smiled "Of course I did, I’ll always come when you need me, always" he promised. As he gently stroked her forehead relief began to shine in his eyes as the color slowly etching into her face again.

Her hand slipped to her chest, "Wanted you to have the freedom you needed. How'd you know? Did Mic call you?" she curled into his body, his heat sliding through her like a summer’s day. ""You're sooo warm."

"I can have freedom too, we can balance this, I can make it work, and no she didn’t call, when you fell, I saw it, I felt it Gia, I had never seen you like that before," he admitted. His body savored her touch against his skin, it was like coming home. Damn she felt so soft, so right against him.

She looked into his eyes and read the concern so deeply set within his brown gaze. "You did it twice, you fed me twice. The bond.. its.. Permanent now, I'm sorry." She winced as her heart thundered in her chest. "I'll try to not bother you that much." Even as she said the words her body curled tighter to his, his warmth his voice soothing away most of the aches and hurts. As her eyes closed she saw the ribbons of life that were him and her, wound together tightly and was unable to tell whose started where or whose ended where. It was if it were one single ribbon now. "Why's it still hurt?"

"Don't be sorry lovely, please, its ok, I owe you so much for letting me know who I am and what to do, so don't ever worry about that," he whispered as he felt so at ease and sedated with her now.

"I don't know why it still hurts darlin" he stood up for a second to see if Mic knew why it would still hurt, he walked into the living area only to see Jon asleep on the couch with Mic curled on top of him into his chest, soundly asleep but the oddest glow surrounded them both, brighter than a football stadium. He shook his head and walked back into the bedroom and kicked off his shoes and lay down beside her. "I just saw the oddest thing" his arms snaked back around her.

She snuggled closer again. "Oh?"

"Jon and Mic are asleep on the couch both zoned out but content, but the weirdest brightest glow is humming around them."

A smile crept onto her lips. "Well energy vamp and his storage unit.. gaawd what a way to say mate.. makes sense. They're probably leveling out. He's been a bear right?"

Richie nodded "Hell yea when he wasn’t on stage he was, and always complaining about headaches, and now wait a minute, you're telling me she's his mate? Well I'll be damned"

She nodded slowly, "Looks like it considering what you saw." She closed her eyes a moment and winced. "Sorta makes sense, she was all over the place since he left." She tilted her head, her emerald gaze centering on his. "How did you fair? I mean, learn much?" The thought of him with a lot of girls, of learning of feeding intensified the ache, but she needed to know if he had been successful.

Richie secretly wondered how Jon would take that news, but dismissed it for now.
"I did, I perfected my prey, I guess, but learnt a lot in the process, that some blood tastes so different, some bitter, some sweet, some sour, its odd really," he trailed off remembering, he sensed why she had asked the question. "I slept with a lot of woman looking to fill my void, but I could never find it, and I know now I won't ever find it in other women for sure"

"Why is that Richie?" Her hand slid down along his arm to his chest, her slender fingers undoing the couple of fastened buttons before moving in to brush over his cute patches of fur. "Why wont you find what fills the void?"