When she stirred from her sleep, she found she was cradled in strong, hard arms but the smell was wrong. The colour was right, a deep black but it wasn't the satiny softness of Versalis's shirt, it was a somewhat rough fabric that she didn't like at all.
Irritated at the difference, she squirmed and tried to escape, making about as much movement as a snail.
"Shh, Etani it's okay," Kai's voice was soft and warm as he held her tightly against him.
She was sitting crosswise in his lap, her left arm pressed against his chest and her head on his collarbone.
She grumbled vaguely and nuzzled her face into his neck, content at the smell of him. It wasn't Versalis, but it was close.
"What has he done?" a voice demanded.
"He is trying to bind her. A blood doll," another voice said, sounding disgusted.
"What is that?" the first voice asked.
She wanted them to shut up and she screwed up her face, trying to block out the sound by burying her face in the warmth of Kai's neck.
"It's a way of keeping someone alive for as long as the vampire wants. It's usually a human, fed on almost daily and fed vampire blood to help them recover faster. It floods them with endorphins and pheromones to keep them pliable, almost sexually aroused and the vampire can feed as much as he needs. It's a common practice amongst the higher ups," Kai said, his voice vibrating the ear bone of her left ear and making her growl.
Lifting her head off him, her neck wobbled and she would have fallen out of his lap had he not been holding onto her so tightly.
Finally she opened her eyes and grunted at the blinding stabs into her eyeballs.
"Why is it so bright?" she complained feebly.
The voices had gone quiet and something plopped down on her head. Opening her eyes a crack, she found one of the twin's hats on her head.
Making a happy sound in her throat, she tugged on the rim and settled it firmly. "I like your hat," she said, her words slurred slightly.
"Thank you, you can borrow it for now," Kai said and she turned in the direction of his voice, still only barely able to see.
"How long will she be like this?" the first voice asked
"For a human, about a month. For Etani? I assume if you can get food into her, it will fade quite fast. But I don't know if she will be able to keep food down. He didn't intend to, but with what I did, and now him, she has started to change. She may not be able to eat normal food. If we can get her off the saliva for long enough, it will reverse, but it will be rough and the withdrawals will be terrible."
The voice finally registered and she turned, flinging out her hand for the owner of the voice.
"Jaia!" she cried, delighted to know he was there and his hand was gentle as it took hers. His skin felt delightfully warm and she gave him a little tug to bring him closer but he resisted.
"Jaia come join us…" she whined, pouting.
"He can't, Etani, not yet," Kai said gently.
She turned to him and he ducked his head to see her face under the rim of the hat.
She opened her eyes a little more, her lower lip stuck out in a petulant pout.
"He still craves your blood, now be good and stay where you are."
Glowering at him with the effects of an impudent kitten, she locked her fingers with Jaia's and clung to his hand, refusing to let him go.
"What are the odds of her surviving all this, along with the baby?" the first voice asked, sounding almost defeated. She still couldn't figure out who it belonged to.
"I'd say fifty, fifty at this point. I'm sorry Epharis, I wish I had better news but he has worked fast and he has done it hard. It should have taken months, not days," Kai said and he bounced his knee to shift her weight, causing her to sway dangerously, his arm around her back flexing to keep her upright.
"What can be done to better those odds?" Epharis asked. She frowned at the name, a face beginning to swim into her head of the owner of that name but it was still eluding her.
"Who's that?" she said in a stage whisper, the sound of groaning wood loud in the sudden silence.
"Epharis, you know who that is," Kai said with an odd tone in his voice.
"It's to break familial ties. She won't remember most people she has any emotional connection to. The stronger the emotion, the longer it takes to return," Jaia said in a strained voice.
"What about you two?" Epharis growled.
"Vampires, our closeness is usually enough to bring the memories back, at least in fractions."
There was a grunt and she tilted her head back, squealing when the movement had her entire body swaying.
Falling back, her back arched and she flung her hand up to catch the hat.
She grinned drunkenly at the startled sight of Epharis, peering at him upside down.
"Nice tattoo," she said, zeroing in on the elaborate tattooed band on his ring finger.
"Thank you," he said coldly and her eyes slid up to his face. Their eyes locked for an instant and her smile faded, remembering something but unable to latch onto it.
His brows drew together at her loss of smile and confusion, Jaia tugging her arm to help her back up and she slumped against Kai's chest, confused and somewhat scared.
"What about Versalis?" Kai asked as he shifted his arm to keep her from toppling back again.
"Alaric refuses to stop him from going anywhere he pleases," Epharis said. "Why is it vampires are so easily enchanted by her?"
Kai lowered his head to Etani's hair and breathed in slowly before he spoke, the rush of her scent leaving his voice breathy. "You recall the feeling you had the first time you set foot in Faerie?" There was a pause. "Etani smells to us like that felt for you. She is born from magic, it runs through her veins, it practically glows off of her. The smell of it is so tempting any vampire will struggle around any of the fae. For some reason, they smell so strongly of Faerie that it drives us mad."
She looked up at Kai, her smile dreamy and she whispered
"Does my blood hurt you, Kai? I don't want you to hurt..." She slid her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, his arms tensing around her in a tight hug in return.
"Hush Etani, everything is going to be okay," he murmured. When she looked up, she could see his strain through the tight cords in his neck. She didn't like it when he was stressed, especially when it was her fault.
Lifting her fingers, she slid the delicate digits under the bandage and then pressed them tenderly against his lower lip.
Several things happened very quickly, his eyes rolled down to meet hers and she smiled even as his lips parted and his tongue touched the smear of red. The colour change in his eyes was so instantaneous she didn't know it was possible.
Something grabbed her from behind, there was a feral growling and she was all but ripped off the lap of her friend. She felt something cold against her back, iron strong arms around her waist and the sound of a blow with a growl of pain.
Looking up, Jaia was being held back by Kai, Jaia's face was red where Epharis had hit him while snatching her away and Kai's eyes were a vivid red.
"Kai..." she pleaded, reaching for him with crimson still staining her fingers. "Don't be sad Kai, I'm here."
Kai seemed to tremble, to quiver at her words and she saw the struggle as her blood glistened on his lip. Unable to resist, he licked it away and shuddered, yet he refused to let go of his struggling brother.
Eyes finding Jaia, she smiled when his hand reached for hers.
"Please, let me go," she pleaded, wanting to go to them. Her blood was singing to them and she wanted to give it to them so they could be happy.
Kai's shoes slid on the carpet as Jaia strained to get to her and Epharis heaved but she was having none of it. Jaia's fingers grasped hers and he yanked both couples closer, his tongue wet and slick on her fingers.
Grasping her arm, he sank his teeth into her wrist and she gasped, allowing him only a small mouthful before Kai punched his gut so hard, his feet left the floor.
Epharis spun her and she was pulled from the room and a raging Jaia. She resented being pulled away, needing to get back to him, he needed her and Epharis was denying him.
"Epharis stop! He needs me!" she cried, squirming in his arms but she was in no way strong enough to so much as pry a single finger off her. "Please, you have to let me help him."
"I'm not risking my child to feed a vampire," he growled. "I knew I needed to keep you locked in a box," his tone gave her pause and she looked up, realising she still had Kai's hat on her head.
"In a box?" she asked, sobering fast in the face of his fury.
"In a very secure box away from everyone. No vampires, no Alaric, no Winter Court."
She didn't like the sound of that at all. How was Versalis going to find her if she was crammed into a box?
"You can't put me in a box," she said slowly, but then she wondered if it was possible for him to do exactly that.
"Watch me," he snarled.