Tymber Dalton - Brimstone Blues

As their final tremors quieted, he rolled to his side, taking her with him and gathering her into his arms. Within moments she was asleep again. He soon drifted with her.

Taz awoke in Matthias’ arms. She remembered awaking to make love to Matthias after the dream she’d had about Rafe…

Was that all it was? It felt so real. Perhaps what she did in real life with Matthias simply translated into a superhot dream about his cousin.

That’s logical.

It also made her feel a hell of a lot less guilty.

Matthias kissed the top of her head. “Good morning, sweetheart.”

She snuggled closer. “I enjoyed that earlier wake-up.”

His low, rumbling chuckle sent another wave of warmth through her body. “So did I.”

She closed her eyes, relieved. A dream. That’s all it was. Ever since the night Rafe died, after she pulled the succubus number on him, she’d had these crazy dreams like he was inside her head with her.

Won’t be doing that to anyone ever again. Especially not if it made her feel like this, left her with this residual…energy, like carrying around a copy of Rafe in her brain.

After breakfast, Matthias and Albert went out to the garage while Taz picked at her eggs. Tim Robertson sat next to her and handed her a business card.

“I made you a doctor appointment for this afternoon, sweetheart.”

She took it. “For what?”

His eyebrow shot up. Maybe it was because he was British, but all through her life she’d used that expression as a barometer of his mood.

“Do you really wish to discuss this topic with me ?”

Taz glanced at the card, then back to him. Robertson nodded. “Don’t worry, he’s one of us. I’m sure there are”—he cleared his throat—“things you might wish to go over with him.”

Taz nodded.

Matthias had explained their “vampirism” as a genetic condition. The “suck all night, sleep all day” myth was just that, convenient Hollywood folklore helping them conceal the truth. Sunlight wasn’t an issue, and they could eat whatever they wanted. Depending on how many DNA markers a vampire bore, they might be a hybrid as normal as any human. Or, like Taz, have strong mental and healing powers and longevity. Thankfully the bloodsucking was limited to emergency health situations…or desire. Even so, a weaker vampire couldn’t help a stronger one.

But during sex it was definitely a mind-blowing sensation.

The ob-gyn’s office was easy to find. There were no other patients in the waiting room when she arrived.

That in itself was supernaturally freaky.

The friendly nurse escorted Taz to an exam room but didn’t instruct her to get undressed. The doctor entered a few minutes later.

“Hello, Ms. Proctor?” he asked, extending his hand. “I’m Dr. Calvin.”

Taz shook hands. “I don’t need to fill out any paperwork?”

He looked at her over his glasses. “I already talked to Mr. Robertson about your…condition,” he said. “I don’t document those like us.” He took out a prescription pad. “Have you ever been on the Pill before?”

“Years ago.”

“Any side effects?”

She shook her head. He wrote a script and handed it to her. “Start taking them on the first Sunday of your period. If you have problems with this brand making you sick, let me know, and I’ll switch you to a different one.”

She nodded, looking at the script, doing the math in her head. That would be in about a week.

Maybe that’s why I still feel so crazy. PMS to the max on top of everything else.

“You’ll want to use an alternate method of protection for the first month, to make sure. Even we’re not infallible.” He smiled.

She nodded and dropped her gaze.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She shook her head.

Dr. Calvin sat. “I’m still a doctor. Patient-doctor privilege applies, Anastazia. Whatever you wish to say won’t leave this room.”

It spilled out of her. He handed her a box of tissues as she spent an hour crying the entire story. All of it. From taking the job with Hawthorne International and meeting Matthias for the first time, to Rafe’s death in Yellowstone. Including Rafe’s disembodied voice in her head after his death and the really hot dreams.

“Do you want my honest opinion?” Dr. Calvin asked.

“Please.”

“I don’t think you’re crazy. I think your powers are very strong, and were released in an explosive and uncontrolled way. You’re extremely perceptive and you haven’t yet mastered holding a barrier. You’re probably picking thoughts up from others or memories or what have you. I won’t claim to be an expert on someone as powerful as you, and I’m certainly not a psychologist, but I would place money on that over you losing your mind. The dreams…well, those are probably your mind trying to resolve what happened in the safest way possible.”

She sniffled. “Really?”

He smiled kindly. “Really. Actually, a lot of people who think they’re ‘psychic’ are very weak vampire hybrids, but they physically present biologically as normal humans and don’t raise any red flags. There are many more of ‘us’ out there than you think. If you ever need to talk, feel free to make an appointment. I’ll be happy to see you.”

She couldn’t help herself. “How old are you?”

“One hundred twenty-eight.” He didn’t look any older than fifty-five, at the most.

She shivered. “How long will I live?”

He shrugged, returning the prescription pad to his lab coat pocket. “I can’t tell you that. I aged to about forty, and slowed from there. Some stop aging sooner. From the looks of you, you’re one of the lucky ones.” Taz still looked like she was in her early twenties even though she was thirty-five. Great, but annoying because she got carded all the time. “If you avoid accidents, serious injuries that could mortally wound you, there’s every possibility you’ll live several hundred years, at least.”

You mean, serious injuries like being shot in the chest by a demon?

But she didn’t say it. Living through it had been scary enough. If Matthias hadn’t been right there…

She shivered again. “Thank you, Doctor.” He escorted her to the front desk.

“No charge,” he told the nurse, who nodded. Taz immediately sensed she was a hybrid.

The family who sucks together…

Sudden faint laughter in her head startled her. Crap. The phantom voice was back.

She didn’t care what the doctor said, that was an intelligent voice, not just stray thoughts from others slipping past her mental barrier. Either that, or she was now carrying a personal laugh track in her brain.

Outside, Taz stared at the piece of paper. That was certainly the easiest OB-GYN appointment she’d ever been through. Not that she’d been through a lot of them. The first one—only one—she’d had was in college, when she wanted to get on the Pill. That had involved cold stirrups and…

Taz closed her eyes and groaned. For a woman as smart as she was supposed to be, she was too stupid to live. She’d never managed to find the time to get back to the doctor, yet while she was still dating and taking the Pill in college, she’d always been able to get a prescription. In extremely belated retrospect, she put it together.

Robertson. He’d taken care of everything.

She loved Matthias, and even though they were getting married, the issue of children needed to be put on hold. He was amazing, and she felt connected to him like she’d never felt connected to anyone else.

Except Rafe, but she hadn’t slept with Rafe.