Chapter Seven

Payton

"Blood of my blood I call thee threw time and space, come to me, I call you near, come me and settle here."

"Oh God Payton your bleeding."

I had to summon my mom to help me with Nickolai. ", It's mostly their's." I pointed to what was left of the two male Vampires. She looked around and gasp at the bloody grass and the two pile of ashes.

"Sweet Jesus Payton, Vampires, where did all this blood come from then?."

"I made them suffer first."

"What?

"Not now Mom I need your help with him."

I moved a little to my right so my body wasn't blocking Nikolai's anymore so she could see him. She gasps, mouth and eyes going wide with shock.

"Payton Erinna Scott, what in the name is going on here?"

"I'll tell you later Mom but now just help with him please."

"Fine, but I am not getting vampire's blood on me so give me a second I'll conjure up a sword and behead him then we need to leave."

"wh- What! , I don't want you to kill him, Mom, if I wanted him dead he would be. I need your help to save him."

"What the heck for him to kill you."

"He didn't try to kill me, Mom, they did and they tried to kill him too. Can you help are not, I snap at her.

"You may be grown young lady but I am still your mother so watch your tone. And I will most certainly not help save a vampire's life and neither should you."

"WHY THE HELL NOT?" That was the first time I'd ever raised my voice at my mom but I couldn't just let him die.

"I should not have to say it, our kind doesn't get involved, you know this and you know why. "Witches and warlocks do not get involved in conflicts between any other races, especially vampires you know better Payton."

"Oh God Mom stop, all that was a long time ago, and if you're not going to help you can leave. I'll see you in two weeks."

I was actually on the verge of crying. The last time I can remember crying was when my day died. I can't just let him die he's my mate, my second chance. I may not be ready to accept him but that doesn't mean I want him to die.

I had removed the branch from his side and it had healed some but not much which could be attributed to his blood loss. Despite the amount of blood, he lost there has to be enough in his system since he's still alive. The problem was he was unconscious. I didn't know vampires could become unconscious. They were either dead or alive far as I knew. I need to get him back to the house, I felt like a sitting duck out here. Not only were we outside the barrier that female Vampire got away and I couldn't concentrate on fighting off a hoard of vampires if she decided to return with more of her minions while trying to keep him alive.

I closed my eye and took a long deep breath, my feet sank deeper into the Earth, and soon my whole body was vibrating with its energy. I welcomed the elements and as carefully as possible lift the earth beneath Nick's body, lifting him into the air. Now comes the tricky part.

The trees around the clearing are close together but beyond that, I should be able to float him to the house. It's probably going to take a while but it's all I've got right now. Getting through the trees around the clearing was easy enough and I made it back to the trail just fine. Things from there kinda went downhill. The terrain going up the hill was difficult to tread. Wynter was entirely focused on scanning the area making sure we weren't being followed, or getting ambushed and that there were no humans around. Floating Nickolai on the slab of the earth was not as easy as it sounded. It took a great deal of concentration and energy and because of that, it took me a good three hours to make it back to the house.

I laid him in the snow once we crossed over the barrier, then set about reinforcing the barrier and adding a few more protection spells.

This time I used just the wind to float him through the front door and onto the couch, much easier than levitation. I ran upstairs and grabbed some fresh towels and a first aid kit. I ripped away what was left of his shirt, ignoring Wynter's whimpers at the sight of her mate's bloody and bruised body. >"Wynter! Now is not the time, I need to focus on patching him up and I can't do that with you giving me a headache".

She recedes and I set about cleaning Nickolai's wounds which had started to heal. It was going to be a while before he was fully healed but he wasn't bleeding any more. I bandage it as best as possible then I cleaned the rest of his torso, face, and neck. Once I was done I took the bowl of now red and brown water to the kitchen and emptied it into the sink. Bracing my hands against the sink I took a deep breath as the first tears fell. Why. Why was I crying, why did I feel a sense of loss, I barely know this man. How could things have escalated so fast? A fucking comic joke is what this is. We haven't even had a full conversation yet and we've both had near-death experiences and he's seen me naked. I wanted to laugh because this was some funny shit but the tears won out.

I went back to the living room and sat down on the floor beside him. He looks peacefully dead and if not for the subtle rise and fall of his chest I would have thought he was dead.

"What is it, Wynter?"

"I can't reach him."

"He unconscious but he's alive, don't worry?"

The hours went by slowly and Nickolai had yet to wake up. I took the opportunity to shower, have dinner, and comb through both my mother's and grandmother's grimoires for ways to wake him up. I was both terrified and amused at the things I did find, none of which was remotely helpful. I was out of my depth here, my knowledge of vampires was limited to how to identify and how to kill as was the same for any other supernatural species. We didn't concern ourselves with the inner working of order, we all understood the rules of coexistence.

Mating between different species wasn't unheard of, there were rules for that too. My problem was I could only think of one way to help him if the worst was to happen and the problem with that is, I didn't know him well enough to do that and I wasn't sure if that's what I wanted. The only silver lining was I'm pretty sure he would have no arguments with it.

Marking him as my mate had become inevitable when another twenty-four hours passed with him still unconscious. Wynter was determined not to lose another mate, especially one that wanted to be mated. The beast would not be denied what was his and its constant assault on my mind and body was starting to take its toll. I was now running a fever, which was Wynter's way of saying she was ready to mate and I was no were near ready for that. I also didn't want him to die, especially at the hands of that bitch, if anyone gets to kill him it should be me.

He's over there sleeping like a princess while I'm literally fighting with myself and let's not forget he almost killed me.

Wynter pushes once again for control, It had to be done now before I lose what little control I had left. Another wave of pain threatened to knock me on my ass so I hurriedly straddle his hips, moved his hair out of the way, and sank my canines into the base of his neck and right shoulder.

His blood fills my mouth and I moan at the taste of chocolate and citrus. My eyes roll back, closing on their own accord as I savor his taste. Retracting my teeth I licked the wound to heal it. (Wynter> mate)At least one of us is happy.

Hours later while was sitting on my makeshift bed on the floor beside the sofa, where have had to spend the last three days and nights because Wynter wouldn't allow me to be anywhere else, Nick's eyes finally popped open.

"Thank the goddess you're awake, how do you feel?"

"Nick, hey! you okay." His eyes were open but unfocused and glossy, he looked like a crossed-eye deer. "Hey, Nickolai" No answer.

(Wynter)> "He needs to feed." I didn't think twice, I used one very chap claw to cut into my wrist and held it to his mouth. I had to keep my claw in the wound so it wouldn't heal and when his eyes started dilating I stuck another finger into the wound opening it more allowing the blood to flow more freely down his throat. He pops up into a sitting position scaring the crap out of me and I fell back onto the floor. Son of ***. As I sat on the floor watching him as his eye dilated and he comes back to himself that the unsettling thought that I was now a source of food for my mate occurred to me. Isn't that just wonderful.

"Hey, are you okay?." I was surprised at how calm my voice came out considering the bitterness rising in my throat.

"Payton."