The Reluctant Vampire Page 0,70

up with them in the first place."

"Perhaps," Drina said mildly. "But apparently they weren't willing to risk trying it themselves un l they'd perfected them on others, and Atlan s fell before they decided they were perfected." She shrugged.

"They all died in the fall. We have today's scien sts trying to replicate the process, but they haven't yet been successful."

"Is this how you two were turned?" Teddy asked Dawn and Leonora with horror. Both women nodded silently.

"Barbaric," Teddy repeated with disgust, and then sighed and glanced to Mirabeau. "Well, then I guess you'd best get to it."

She nodded, but Tiny was s ll holding her arm, and he asked uncertainly, "Are you sure you want to do this, Beau? It sounds painful."

"Not as painful as the turn," she said solemnly. "And I'd go through this and a lot more to keep you as my life mate."

Tiny sighed and reluctantly released her wrist with a nod. Mirabeau didn't hesitate or give either of them a chance to reconsider or agonize. The moment he released her arm, she whipped it up to her mouth. Her fangs were out by the me her wrist reached her teeth, and she bit into it as viciously as a dog, not just puncturing the flesh, but tearing into it and then ripping away a good-sized flap so that it hung from her arm like a torn pocket. Even as blood began to spurt from the open wound, she was turning it to press against Tiny's mouth.

"I'll get bandages," Harper muttered, and headed for the door to the adjoining bathroom. Drina nodded absently, but her a en on was on Tiny. Despite knowing what was going to happen, the violence and suddenness of it all appeared to have caught him by surprise. He ins nc vely tried to pull away when Mirabeau pressed the wound to his mouth, but caught himself almost at once and allowed her to do it. S ll, he choked a bit as the blood coursed into his mouth, no doubt unable to subdue his natural repulsion at the thought of drinking anyone's blood.

"You have to swallow. Try to relax," Drina said quietly. Tiny met her gaze over Mirabeau's arm. Seeing the distress in his eyes, Drina ins nc vely slid into his mind to help, soothing his thoughts and making his body relax, so that he could swallow as much of the blood as possible before the nanos made the bleeding stop.

Inside his head as she was, Drina knew when the gushing began to slow. It quickly reduced to a trickle, and when it stopped altogether, she released her control of him.

Tiny immediately removed his mouth from Mirabeau's arm and sank back on the mattress.

"Are you all right?" Mirabeau asked with concern, hardly seeming to no ce that Harper had returned with bandaging and was tending to her wound. "Tiny?"

Nodding, he raised his head and forced a smile. "I'm fine. You?"

His gaze slid to her wrist, but there was nothing to see now that Harper had bandaged it. S ll, he grimaced at the swath of white and then sighed and asked, "How long does it usually take to start?"

"It differs for different people," Harper murmured, se ng the roll of co on bandaging on the bedside table. "With some it starts right away, and with others it takes a while before they no ce a difference, and then it's sometimes just a slow onset that builds up."

"How do you feel?" Mirabeau asked worriedly.

Tiny smiled wryly as he took in the circle of concerned faces around him. But shrugged. "Fine. I don't feel any different. I guess I'm going to be one of those slow-buildup kinda guys. I - " He paused, eyes suddenly widening, and then began to convulse on the bed.

Chapter Eleven

"Chains," Harper barked, as Tiny went into convulsions, and the room was suddenly a hive of ac vity as the group broke off into pairs. Leonora and Alessandro threw themselves at Tiny's right leg, Edward and Dawn took his le one, Mirabeau and Anders went for the right arm, and Harper hurried around the bed to join Drina at Tiny's le arm as Teddy and Stephanie tried to squeeze their way up between the others surrounding the bed to help.

Even with two immortals to a limb, it was a struggle to get Tiny chained down. His body was thrashing wildly, jerking his limbs about. It wasn't un l Teddy gave up trying to help hold one of Tiny's