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He breathed a sigh of relief as he deposited the other man gently on the cheap polyester bedspread in the darkend room. Now maybe Laurent could begin to recover—as soon as he got what he needed, that was. Paul turned to Lucia who was standing by the bed and looking at Laurent worriedly. “Do you still have that little pocket knife—the one you always keep on your keychain?”
“Oh, of course.” She pulled it out at once and detached it from the rest of the keys.
“You said he needs blood but you’ve already lost a lot by the looks of you. Would you…do you want me to give him some of mine?”
Paul was grateful for her offer but the idea of Lucia feeding Laurent was wrong…just wrong. “Uh, no, Mom. Thanks anyway.” He gave her a crooked smiled.
“The blood thing is…well, it’s about more than just blood if you get me.”
“Oh… oh yes. I see.” She blushed and nodded. “Well, will the two of you be all right?”
“I think so.” Paul looked down at Laurent who still hadn’t moved. “I hope so.”
“I’ll leave you alone then. Here.” She put the keys to the Spyder on the flimsy wooden dresser. “I’ll get a cab home. I, uh, rented the room for the rest of the day and most of the night. So you should have plenty of time to…to heal him.” Her cheeks were pink again. “I love you, Paulito. ”
“Love you too, Mom.” He gave her a quick, hard hug. “Thanks for coming to save my ass.”
“Anytime.” She grinned and headed for the door. “Do what you have to do. I’ll talk to you later.”
As soon as the door shut behind her, Paul opened the pocket knife and made a small slit in one of his wrists. He barely felt the small, sharp pain as the blood began to well up from the shallow cut. Cradling Laurent’s head in one arm, he pressed the wound to the vampire’s pale lips, willing him to drink. Come on, come on, babe…please…
At first there was no response but then, to Paul’s immense relief, he felt a gentle suction and knew that Laurent was taking some nourishment. “That’s right,” he murmured, holding the other man close. “Take what you need, babe. Just take what you need.”
At last the vampire stopped sucking and Paul pulled his wrist away. Laurent’s eyes fluttered open and he looked up. “Mon amour. ”
“Hey.” Paul tried to smile at him but looking into those beautiful pale green eyes and not knowing what was going on behind them was killing him. Would Laurent hate him now? Would he despise him for breaking their bond?
“I could never hate you, Paul. I know why you did what you did.”
“You heard that?” Paul frowned. “But how? The bond—”
“I felt what you were feeling—a pale shadow of your emotions.” Laurent sighed and sat up. “And the bond is broken on your end—my end still remains, though I fear it is dying rapidly.”
“Dios, Laurent, I’m so sorry. I thought they were going to kill me and I didn’t want you to die too.”
“I appreciate that you were trying to save my life. Though I would rather be dead than live without you.” Laurent smiled sadly. “I came to you as quickly as I could but it seems you were the one to save me and not the other way around.”
Paul laughed ruefully. “Actually my stepmom saved both our sorry asses. If it wasn’t for her I’d be half dead of Wolf’s Bane poisoning again and you’d probably be a crispy critter.”
“Then she is a valiant lady and I must thank her.”
“Yeah, she’s pretty great.” Paul nodded, feeling awkward. He wanted to reach out to Laurent, wanted to touch the other man, to take him in his arms. But now that Laurent was awake, he felt somehow constrained. It was like they were old lovers who hadn’t seen each other for ages, people who had a lot of good memories in the past, but nothing in the here and now to tie them together. It’s because I broke the bond, he realized.
That’s why we have no connection. “So, uh…” He cleared his throat. “So you can kind of still feel me? Because I don’t get anything from you at all.”
Laurent looked down at his hands. “Possibly because it was your side of the bond that was destroyed and not mine. I do not think it can be helped.”
“Oh. I, uh, guess not.” Feeling frustrated, Paul stood up and began to pace. He wanted to do something but there was nothing he could do. They couldn’t just sit around talking like strangers. He had to get out of the room, even for a little while, or he was going to go crazy. He started to strip off his jeans. “I hope this fleabag has hot water. I need a shower.”
