“Thanks.” Tobias at the moment didn’t care about anything but Nix. He looked down at her as the detective moved away, his cell phone to his ear. In the two hundred years he’d been on this planet, Tobias had never before turned someone into a vampire. And he hated the fact that his first was Nix.
He stroked one hand through her hair, not caring that his fingers shook. And for the first time in a very long time, he prayed. Let Nix survive. Let her be all right.
Because, God help him, he didn’t think he had the strength to kill her if she went insane. He would let her drink him dry before he harmed her.
Long minutes passed while he held her, his gaze never leaving her for long as he waited for some sign that the turning was successful. He was just about to give up hope when her eyes flew open and she gave a little gasp.
Already he could see the changes taking place in her body—her pupils were dilated, and the little bit of iris he could still see was the yellow of her demon. Elongated canines protruded over her lower lip.
A panic-stricken look covered her face as her brain directed her body to take breath it didn’t need. He remembered those first few minutes so long ago when he’d woken up in a strange body, and figured that this moment wasn’t much different for Nix. “Easy, honey,” he soothed, cupping her cheek. “Look at me. Look at me,” he coaxed.
Her eyes connected with his.
“Don’t fight it, sweetheart. You don’t need to breathe but your brain doesn’t realize that yet. It hasn’t reset. It’s trying to run the autonomic systems. Just let it.” As her struggles and panic lessened, he kept crooning to her. “That’s it. Easy. Easy.”
He was aware that MacMillan had approached and stood nearby, close enough to jump in and help if needed but far enough away to still give them some privacy. Tobias felt a grudging respect for the other man’s strength of character. He could almost like the guy.
“Tobias?” Nix reached up and gripped the front of his shirt.
He knew what she was feeling, he’d been there before. She was a creature of instinct right now—bewildered, scared, and hungry. He lifted her to a sitting position, keeping his arm behind her back to support her, and tipped his head to one side. “Go ahead, honey,” he murmured. “Take what you need.”
Her teeth sank into his throat with the fierce single-mindedness of a starving tiger cub. Or a mindless revenant. He would soon find out which.
The pull of her lips against his flesh fired up his libido. His penis hardened, and he groaned, closing his eyes. He felt her hand curl over him and he thrust his hips into her touch. Then he remembered they had an audience, so he grabbed her hand and held it against his chest. She pulled away from him and he stared at her, waiting to see how she’d react to her first feeding as a vampire.
Her tongue swept across her lips, removing the traces of his blood, leaving her mouth shiny. Her eyes were slumberous, the yellow of her irises fading to the human looking brown he was used to. “That was amazing.” She lightly touched the tip of his chin with two fingers. Her fangs hadn’t retracted completely, giving her a sexy kittenish look he couldn’t resist.
Tobias held her gaze. “How’re you doing?” The next couple of minutes were critical. The fact that she’d stopped feeding on her own accord was promising. But how she acted now that she had blood in her belly would tell the tale.
“I’m a little tired. Kinda lethargic.” Her head rolled to one side. “It’s different.”
“What is?” Tobias was aware of MacMillan hovering in the background, the detective clearly wanting to be included in the action surrounding a newly turned vampire yet at the same time savvy enough to keep his distance and not become potential prey.
“Drinking blood. I thought it would bring the demon out, but…” She looked sad for a moment, then frowned and closed her eyes.
When she didn’t continue, he prompted, “What?” He couldn’t keep from touching her, sliding his hand through her hair, stroking across her soft cheek. The gash on her face was beginning to heal. In another few seconds there wouldn’t even be a scar.
She looked at him, her gaze perplexed yet relieved. “I don’t feel that inner burning that I just about always have.” Her brows dipped in a frown. “That’s odd.” She blinked. “You know what else is odd? Wouldn’t adding a vampire to a demon make the bloodlust stronger?”
“Does it feel like it has?” He brushed her hair away from her face, tucking thick strands behind her ear, and let his hand linger on her face.
She nuzzled him like a sleepy kitten. “No, Dr. Phil.” Her expression turned teasing. “Answering my questions with more questions. That would be why I said it was odd,” she stressed with her eyebrows raised.