Serum

-Thirty-One-

Softly I collapsed into a pew, knowing sleep wasn’t likely to take any time at all to claim me. I touched my lips gently. They felt a little puffy, I wondered if they looked it. Conner followed after me shortly and sat in another pew, facing the younger vampires. He casually reclined, eyes intent on them the entire time. Sighing I cracked my eyelids open to look at him. I wasn’t about to bring up the kiss, not in present company, but I was tempted.

“Aren’t you going to get some sleep? You’ve spent as much time as I have awake, I’m sure you probably need it too.” I pointed out. Conner shook his head softly.

“We’ll sleep in turns just in case. I know we can still sense what’s going on around us while we sleep, but I’d rather at least one of us remain awake at all times to keep an eye out, just in case.” He explained softly, so his voice would not carry towards the back of the church where Daniel and the twins were. I nodded. It was a good idea. “Get some rest, Adrian. I’ll be right here.” My head rubbed against the pew as I nodded again, already falling into my dreamless sleep, the taste of chocolate and peppermint still lingering on my lips.

I woke up with a start. The church was entirely too quiet. I could hear the soft breathing and slow heartbeats of my companions, but something still demanded my attention. I sat up slowly and looked around. Conner was still reclining in the pew, facing backwards, but something caught my attention about him. His arms were behind his head, legs crossed at the ankles, but his mouth had gone slack. Suddenly I realized he was asleep. My gales of laughter woke the others. I couldn’t stop myself. It was just suddenly so ridiculously funny. Conner jerked up, looking around swiftly and then his attention jerked back to me, as I tried helplessly to stop my laughter. A slow grin started inching across his face. When I had calmed down sufficiently enough to talk, I immediately turned on him.

“I thought you were going to stay awake?” I teased, once again falling into helpless laughter. His grin turned sheepish for an instant, but he seemed too amused by something else to let it take over for long. “What are you grinning at?” I finally gasped out, becoming a little self-conscious.

“Nothing, just that, I really like your laugh.” Conner responded. I turned my head, trying to hide my embarrassment.

“I’ve laughed loads of times around you.” I told him with a shrug, “Why bring it up now?” So I got a little grumpy when put on the spot.

“I mean really laugh, loud and enthusiastically, like you mean it.” He replied. “I like it.” He said simply. The twins who had been staring at us anxiously, rolled their eyes and turned back to their pews grumpily to get some more sleep. I heard one of them mumble something about ‘flirting’ and I shot them a look. Daniel merely rolled over, asleep again before the move was complete.

“Are you still tired?” I stage whispered.

“No, are you?” Conner whispered back. I shook my head. Conner stood and motioned that I should follow him. He led me outside, and sat down on the single step in front of the church building. It was still night, though my vampiric internal clock told me it would not be many hours before dawn. Suddenly I got nervous again.

“I wonder how Lana and the hunting party fared.” I hedged, trying to find something to talk about. Conner shook his head then suddenly looked apprehensive.

“Look, I hate to bring up bad memories and such, but…” Conner paused. “What exactly did Lana say yesterday?” I could feel that the “say” had more implications than the words she used. Conner wanted me to tell him what she had done as well. I decided to ignore that and just answer the actual phrasing.

“Well, she introduced me to a bunch of vampires, then told me I was healing well and that she wanted to keep checking on me. Then she said that if we wanted to keep the church between just us that I’d better take the cell phone she had and that she preferred I only use it in emergency situations.” I responded, editing largely, and keeping my emotions hidden so they wouldn’t rebound across our mental link. Conner grimaced anyway, so I feared I hadn’t quite kept them in check as well as I thought I did. He gently reached out for my hands to turn them over. I jerked reflexively. “I’m sorry, instinct.” I stated, and grudgingly let him examine the insides of my wrists. He sucked in a breath that sounded much like a hiss as he zeroed in on the light pink scar tissue. Gently he rubbed his thumb over it, and brought it to his lips. He kissed the spot softly, then placed another kiss where my pulse pounded, before looking at me sharply.

“What did she do?” He demanded again. I sighed. With the physical contact, our mental link had redoubled into a strong pulse between us. I could nearly hear Conner’s thoughts, and I could tell he wasn’t going to let this go. I could also feel the lust throbbing away between us. Which of us had it worse? I couldn’t tell right now. All I knew was I wanted to feel that tongue and those lips on mine again. And maybe other parts of my anatomy. “Adrian, concentrate.” I made a face at him, but finally resigned to tell him when he refused to let my hands go.

“She said she wanted a skin sample.” I said with a sigh, pulling my hands firmly from his grasp.

“And you just let her have it?!” He exclaimed, outraged. In turn, I could feel my own anger surging.

“NO, I did NOT just let her have it. She tricked me into taking it from me as she handed me the phone.” I retorted. “If I had had any idea, that she was going to…” I could feel my blood boiling, as I once again relived the moment.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Conner mumbled apologetically. “I just can’t believe that she would do something like that, and…” He once again reached out for me. I pulled away swiftly, too angry to notice the hurt look on his face.

“Just don’t do anything silly like challenging her to a duel on my account or anything, ok?” I asked, not looking at him. Conner was silent. I turned around.

“Conner, I’m serious. No duels because of this. When things come down to it, I’d much rather I settled with her, and I don’t want you getting hurt on account of my stupidity.” This time I noticed I was the one gripping Conner’s hands. Conner looked smug about that, but I could feel his internal war of emotions taking place at my words. When I was satisfied that at least he wouldn’t challenge Lana, I released my hold on him. At about that time though, the object of our discussion began walking up the sidewalk towards us.

“Hello, Conner, Adrian.” Lana said simply. I jerked. I could feel my lips pulling back to bare my fangs.

Conner swiftly moved in front of me, body tense, ready for attack. He was blocking me from view of Lana. Anger and intense protectiveness boiled across our link. I myself was tense and angry. Given a chance, I believed I might attack. I edged to the side, to look around Conner. He automatically threw out his arms to hold me behind him, but not before I got a good look at Lana. She was smiling, smirking really, fangs flashing brilliantly in the dark.

“Relax Conner. I’m just here to check up on the young ones and to update you on our progress. Also, I brought you these, I figured you might need them.” Lana’s hand flipped up as she spoke, and a small, plastic package sailed across the space between them. Conner snapped the plastic out of the air, and handed it to me behind his back. A soft odor reached me. Blood of course. It was in an IV drip bag, still sealed off, which explained why the smell was so light. “Outdated blood from the lab. I concluded that you might need this, being all holed up for the moment. I have more…” Lana peered around Conner at me. “…if you can call off your guard-dog, Adrian.” I snarled at her, but laid a gentle hand on Conner’s arm.

“It’s ok, Conner, she can’t do anything here. Appearances, you know.” I murmured, giving his arm a squeeze. I sent a burst of gratitude to him through our link, but Lana’s grin only widened. I curled my lip back over one fang to show her I meant business, then stepped back out of the doorway, pulling Conner with me. Lana sauntered through the door, throwing one last smirk at me over Conner’s shoulder.

“Conner, does Lana have a connection to you, you know a mental link?” I snarled out.

“No, why?” He asked cautiously.

“Because the way she acted, it’s like she could read your emotions as loudly as I could.” I responded angrily. “Or tell what I was sending you.” I glared at the door Lana had disappeared through.

“Oh that. That’s probably just because she knows me. At least as far as being somewhat of a sibling and the leader of our group goes.” Conner took a breath, and shrugged. “ But no. Some siblings have it, but it’s rare. Like in really close family bonds. Sometimes twins, if they have that kind of connection. Tara and Tod have a mental link.” Conner mentioned thoughtfully. That brought me up short. I thought of their silent “conversation”.

“You mean Tara and Tod can feel each other’s emotions too?” I clarified.

“No, they can actually communicate without talking. It’s the strongest link I’ve ever known. Some human twins claim they can do that too, but Tara and Tod are so much stronger.” Conner softly shook his head, as if unable to explain. I noticed Conner was still in front of me, as if still shielding me from Lana. At my look towards the door, he shrugged sheepishly, and relaxed his stance. “I don’t like the way she’s treated you.” He explained self-consciously. I blinked, then leaned in swiftly and planted a kiss on him before he could react.

“Thanks.” I murmured, inches from his lips and tapped his chest before leading the way inside.