The Vampires #1: Alaric and Faina

Chapter 6 (Alaric): She Wouldn't Look At Me

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

Being under compulsion from one's blood bride does not make a vampire happy in the least.

When the compulsion is for the sole purpose of separating me from my blood bride, it becomes even more enraging.

Knowing that my very heart and reason for being was first at the doctor and then at the women and children's hospital was a special kind of unbearable hell. The kind of hell that makes you want to simultaneously climb the walls, come out of your skin and tear down the very walls that comprise your prison.

I couldn't get to my Faina, couldn't help her, couldn't reassure her, couldn't be by her side and, worst of all, I couldn't protect her from whatever was coming at her.

Throwing open the front door, I repeatedly threw myself at the opening, only to be bounced back by the compulsion that prevented me from crossing the threshold. For hours I threw myself at that opening, hoping against hope that I could break through it, get out. It was the very definition of insanity, but I had to try something. I needed to see with my own eyes that Faina was OK, needed to touch her incredibly soft cheek, needed to press my lips to hers to reassure both of us. My blood bride was pregnant with twins...and our bond had crumbled. How? How?

My mind couldn't even begin to wrap itself around what was going on to make it possible. At our bonding ceremony, the Council members and sages who witnessed the blending of the blood all agreed that they had never seen such a strong blood pairing. Never. Our blood kept turning brighter and brighter, until it was a bold and vivid red, practically shining like a beacon.

"An extremely strong portent," they all agreed. "A momentous sign that you two were meant to be paired."

How could it have gone so wrong? How could my Faina's blood have soured in my mouth? From that first bite when I had to force myself not to recoil and spit out that horrible mouthful of poison, I was determined to find a solution; I didn't give a damn what anyone said -- there had to be another reason and I would either find another reason or create a solution so we could stay together.

Hiring Laurent and Georges, the best researchers I could find, and Aubert and Ruben, the most knowledgeable historians of our people, I ordered them and their staffs to set to work immediately, searching the histories for any evidence of blood souring since our kind began more than three thousand years ago. I hired top doctors and medical researchers to look into the problem as well and to find solutions.

After the first week, they had all come back with the same answer: a crumbling bond was the only reason for the souring of a donneuse's blood in my mouth. There was no cure, no solution, no workaround. The bond must be dissolved.

In no uncertain terms, I had explained to them in graphic detail all the ways that their answers were unacceptable. Having been seven days without Faina's blood at that point, the Hunger had been gaining strength inside me. It took all of my strength and concentration to suppress the untamed aspect of my nature, to fight the primal beast that lived within all receveurs and keep him contained.

I had terrified all of them -- historians, researchers and doctors alike -- when I'd ordered them to go back and find something and to create a solution out of thin air if they motherfucking had to, but to come back to me with solutions. I couldn't lose Faina, and I refused to accept that our bond had crumbled.

From the first moment I had seen her across the room, the very second my heart had chosen her to be my blood bride, I had known she was mine. I told her right off that I would be winning her heart into my keeping and I had done so, removing any other males who tried competing for my woman. She'd been hesitant at first, but I'd shown her repeatedly that I was all about her. From that moment I first saw her, my heart beat for Faina, and that had never changed and never would.