Karen Mahoney - The Eternal Kiss - Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire

Becky’s eyes widened.

“ My help?” she swallowed. “But … I’m not trained, you said. And you said once Syd leaves …”

“We’ll ask him to stay a bit, both he and Ryan, but not too long,” Nana said gently. “I drain too much energy now and can’t focus on my work. I’m not going to be much help. I can teach you—train you—if Syd is willing to help, but you’re going to have to learn mostly by yourself. It’s easy once you get the hang of it. I have books with my notes and things. All my herbs and special equipment. It will be a lot of work, and you’ll have to learn fast. But this is in your blood, and it is what you were born to do. I’m sorry I kept you from it for so long. I should have been teaching you since you were old enough to understand.”

“Is this why I always wanted to be a doctor?” Becky grinned.

Nana smirked.

“Very probably so,” she answered. “Now, let’s go check on Ryan. He should be over the worst by now.”

Becky nodded and rose to follow Nana upstairs.

The boy on the bed laid still and quiet. Syd still knelt by his side.

“He’s shed his mortal coil,” said Sydney.

Becky’s heart broke at the grief and anguish in his voice.

“I’m sorry,” she heard her Nana say softly. “Even if the entry had been unsealed—”

“I know,” Syd interrupted. “And I offer my apologies. But he’s like my brother, Martha. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“But it is. Now we must both accept and endure, not lament what should have been,” Martha replied in that same wise tone Becky had never heard her use before that night. “I need you to remove the seal. I don’t know if you’ve realized, but I’m not fit for much anymore.”

Sydney didn’t acknowledge her comment, but gestured a hand at the mirror. It glinted seven times in the candlelight then returned to normal.

“He’s going to need …” Sydney began, then trailed off, shaking his head. He looked helplessly up at Martha.

“I can’t,” Nana said quietly. “I’m not enough. I don’t have enough to sustain us both.”

Sydney nodded and looked back at the still form on the bed.

“But she does.”

Both Becky and Syd looked up at Nana’s words.

“I … do what?” Becky asked. She didn’t like the way they were looking at her.

“Oh please, Martha. For this kind of healing, it has to be her choice. She’s not even trained.” Sydney curled his lip. “You know that.”

“We can help her. If she’s willing. Becky … remember what we talked about downstairs? Well, now’s the time. If you want to help your friend and help me do what needs to be done, that is.”

“What needs to be done?” asked Becky, warily.

“You’ll have to feed Ryan”

“Oh, is that all?” Becky was relieved. “Okay. We have some leftover spaghetti …”

“Not feed him, you stupid girl,” Sydney snapped. “ You will have to feed him. As in ‘be his food.’ He needs life restored to him and the only life strong enough for that in his condition is yours. Get it?”

Becky blanched.

“Hey, I hardly even know him,” she said, taking a step back and holding up her hands. “And Nana just said a bunch of Healer people were killed by what they tried to save, so thanks but—”

Sydney swore under his breath. Nana chastised him.

“Listen, young Healer,” Sydney began calmly and with exaggerated patience. “He can’t kill you here. He can’t take too much from you either. That’s why you’re a rare and valuable commodity among Ethereals. You have mortal years of use, of life in you. You more than others. He can’t drain you. Of blood … possibly, but that’s rare when a Healer is in her own enclave. That’s right—Healers are always and only female. Healing comes from the life force created by a living soul, and it is the female who creates and bears life. Now, Ryan needs life restored to him. Will you, young, untutored Healer, restore my young fledgling?”

“Promise me I will not regret it.” Becky didn’t know where the words came from but she spoke them as though she’d known exactly what to say when asked such a question.

Sydney smiled and looked to Nana.

“Untrained she might be, but a Healer nonetheless,” he said in approval. “She’ll learn quickly, if such knowledge is that easy to tap.”

He looked to Becky.

“Upon my honor, my lady,” he went on formally, and offered her a slight bow. “I promise that you will not regret your actions.”

Becky nodded unsurely but knew something had been done correctly. Then, without thinking about what she was doing, she rolled up her right sleeve and went to the bed.

Ryan’s eyes opened and fluttered. He mumbled incoherently.

“Hey, Stereotype,” Becky called with a smile. “I hear you didn’t eat lunch. Did you get banned from the cafeteria, so that now I have to feed your sorry butt?”

Ryan didn’t reply, but his eyes seemed to recognize something.

Becky closed her own eyes and pressed her wrist against Ryan’s mouth. She looked away, over her shoulder and waited.

I can’t believe I’m doing this .

Believe it , she heard Syd’s voice in her mind.

Becky opened her eyes to stare at him. Syd couldn’t help but grin back at her.

“You have much to learn, little Healer,” said the blond vampire.

“Ouch!” Becky gasped as Ryan’s fangs pierced her wrist.

Then the pain faded, and she felt nothing. She really expected to feel something … but there wasn’t anything at all. She didn’t feel weak or dizzy, or like something was being taken away from her. On the contrary, she felt really, really good. Helpful and … and …

“Nurturing?” Sydney said out loud.

Becky blushed and nodded. “I guess that’s as good a word for it as any.”

Nana came to rest her hands on Becky’s shoulders.

“You’re strong,” Nana said softly. “Stronger even than I was, I think. He won’t take much, this first time, but he’ll need more over the next couple of days.”

“Days?” Becky echoed. “Doesn’t this take—I don’t know—just a few minutes?”

“This isn’t Hollywood, little Healer,” Sydney said with a roll of his dark blue eyes. “You don’t get bitten by a vampire then change in moments to bite your friends.”

“Well … no offense, but isn’t that kind of what just happened?” Becky countered. She pointed to the wrist Ryan had pressed to his mouth.

“Point taken,” Sydney replied. “However, he won’t remember himself for a couple of days.”

Sydney glanced up at Nana.

“Though something tells me you’re accustomed to people not remembering themselves.”

Becky felt Nana’s hands on her shoulders tighten slightly before Ryan dropped her wrist and began to tremble.

“That’s enough,” she heard Nana say. “Move away now.”

Becky did as she was told, and Sydney reached for the damp cloth again as Ryan’s trembling escalated into convulsions.

“Is it going to be like this … until he’s … um … converted, or whatever?” Becky asked.

Nana nodded. “Mmmhmm. But don’t worry. He’s with us now, and safe. Comfortable. But it’s also very late, and you have school tomorrow.”

Becky looked horrified.

“Nana,” she reasoned. “You can’t possibly—”

Nana held up a hand, a familiar gesture that said she was through talking about a subject.

“I can ,” Nana said firmly. “Syd will stay and help me, won’t you, Syd? That’s a good boy. Becky, you can help in the evenings, after your chores and schoolwork are done, not before. It will be a lot of hard work, but you’ll likely be trained enough in a year or so of hard study that we can let Syd go about his business as usual. That’s not too long, is it, Syd?”