Negative Space Ch. 10

Author's Note: Hey there friends! I have been having SO much fun writing these past few chapters. I'd love to know what you think about them, and what direction you want this story to head in. So if you have any ideas, suggestions or comments, please rate and comment or send me a message and let me know what you think. And thank you so much for all your amazing support and wonderful comments so far! I really appreciate it.

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I wiped my eyes with the crook of my arm, but it didn't do any good. I snapped off the latex gloves and threw them into the same trashcan Nora had been throwing up into for the past week. After fixing my hair and washing my face, I turned back to her limp body. Almost done, I told myself. Almost done. Felix was asleep in the corner of the room, the vampire messengers had been sent out hours ago, and Sandra had left me before dawn to return to her apartment in one piece. I could see the sun patiently ticking away through the sky, reminding me of how much time was passing. With no nurse or back up of any sort, I took advantage of my bare hands to open up another suture kit and put a new fluid bag on Nora's IV. I drank a little water, pinched the bridge of my nose, and went back to work.

***

"Lana. Lana!"

I was so comfortable. Waking up was simply not appealing right now.

"Lana, get up!"

I pushed my head deeper into the pillow. Nothing would get me up. Nothing.

"Lana, she's bleeding out!"

I bolted up, looking around the room for my pager, a nurse, or at least a lot of blood. Instead I was in a dark bedroom, surrounded by people staring and smiling at me.

"Oh no fucking way. Fuck you." I collapsed back on the bed. There was no way they were going to get me up on some false fucking pretenses—

"Lana, I'm going to take you home. Don't worry, you can sleep all you want there. But first, you have to check Nora and make sure she's safe for the time being."

I didn't respond.

"Come on Lana, what if something happens while you're asleep? No one here knows how to handle this. We need you to at least check out first."

I sighed and opened my eyes. Sandra smiled. Nora was asleep on the bed next to me, the wrinkles around her eyes finally smoothed out after so much pain. She looked years younger. I sat up, washed my hands, and put on some gloves. The bandage looked alright except for a crusty red patch where the blood had soaked through. I peeled it back, tossing it expertly into the trash, and reached for some cleaning swabs. Five black stitches ran down into the valley below her left hipbone, crusted in blood and puss. I could have done way better in an operating room with a team of nurses, but even so I knew that I had done the best for her that I could. Now all I had to do was keep and eye on her and wait.

"What time is it?" I asked Sandra.

"About nine thirty. I let you sleep in a little bit, but Felix and I decided you'd sleep best in your own bed—well, in my roommate's bed, and he would just keep your number on speed dial."

I grunted, setting to work to clean the incision. "Felix, you there?" I asked the room, not bothering to turn around.

"Yes doctor. Right here."

"Okay, so I need you to listen. Nora is in extremely delicate condition. Watch me clean these stitches. You're going to need to do this for her while keeping everything sterile. You need to keep an eye on her, take her temperature, check her pulse, her blood pressure, her wound, and anything else she might mention to you every hour. You write it all down, and when I come back tomorrow I'll be able to know if everything is alright."

I finished up, gave Felix a few more pointers, a few warning signs, and turned to Sandra. I tried to stop turning but the room kept moving and suddenly the floor was very close, in fact it was on my face— Sandra caught me and heaved me up into her arms. "We're going home now," she said quietly, and I let myself collapse into her.

***

There was something incredibly soft against my face, something smooth and comforting that smelled like warm, honey sweet skin. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the semi-dark, but I saw that the sweet, soft thing was attached to a body. Who's body? I wondered, looking for a face. I craned my neck up, realizing suddenly that the soft thing was undeniably a breast, and found myself eye to eye with Knox.

"Good evening, doctor," she said in the most seductive voice I had ever heard. I smiled and hummed.

"Good evening yourself, Knox. Who let you into my bed?"

Her eyelashes were longer than I remembered, her lips softer.

"I should be asking you the very same thing, though I suspect I know the culprit."

I looked around, confused. Where was I? The room was unfamiliar.

"You're in my bed, sweetheart. Sandy didn't know I was coming home today, so she let you use it, I guess. I tried to wake you when I got home, but you cursed me out something awful and refused to move."

"That certainly sounds like me," I chuckled, relaxing a bit. "Besides, it's surprisingly cozy in here with you. No wonder I wouldn't leave." I laid my head back down on her chest and wrapped my arms around her. It felt incredibly good to hold someone. Knox laughed deeply, her whole body shaking as the laugh echoed through her room.

"What day is it? I realize I've completely lost track of, well, everything." I eyed the smooth dip of her collarbone and the graceful curve of her neck.

"It's about four," she glanced at the clock, "Friday afternoon."

"Friday? Oh fuck. So that means I slept for—"

"About 36 hours. Yep."

I shuddered and started to panic, getting up from the bed, but Knox grabbed my wrist. "Wait a minute. You can't go do anything now, it's still light out. You'll just have to stay here with me a couple hours more."

"I'm not a vampire, I'm a human incase you hadn't noticed. I can go out during the light."

"Oh, I certainly did notice. Trust me, you smell...incredible. Like Lily of the Valley."

"What is it with you vampires and smelling me?" I asked, acting offended, but suddenly feeling very flattered by the intensity of Knox's gaze. She smirked, leaning forward ever so slightly, and inhaled.

"Our senses are just that much keener than yours, and every experience is a chance to indulge in the richness of the smells," she smelled my hair, "the feel," she traced her fingertips down the inside of my arm, sending chills all throughout my body, "and the taste of what's around us." She leaned forward and licked my neck, slowly and delicately. I felt an immediate rush to my core as my nerves began tingling.

"And oh," she murmured against my skin, "you taste so good." I could feel her tongue tracing the tendons in my neck up to the back of my ear, where she bit gently into my earlobe, and my whole body shivered in anticipation. Her hot mouth began to move down my throat, sucking and kissing and occasionally scraping my skin ever so softly with her fangs. My nerves were on fire, burning down the back of my neck and straight into my cunt. I drew in a haggard breath as she bit me harder this time but still not breaking the skin. Knox detangled herself from my limbs, rising above me like a hunter intent on her kill. She pulled off the tank top and shorts she was wearing, leaving only a black thong that did little to hide her wetness. As she leaned over me I couldn't help but lift my head to capture one of her dark, swollen nipples between my lips. She moaned as I teased it with my tongue and gasped as I bit down hard. Pushing me down on the bed she yanked up my shirt, biting and sucking along my breasts to my nipples, where she teased one with her mouth and gently rolled and pulled the other with her slender fingers. I could feel the deep thrumming of my attraction to vampires expanding and deepening each time she touched her bare skin to mine. Her mouth moved steadily downward, and as she sucked and kissed along my hips, I bucked and moaned, my breath catching in my throat.

Gentle pressure on my waist band was all I needed to lift my hips as Knox carefully swept her fingers into the warmth of my undies, pulling them down to my knees. The lift felt like an offering, a gift to her, and I threw an arm over my eyes to let myself block everything out but sensation, sinking into the experience. My skin prickled and tingled as she exhaled, her warm breath caressing my lips. With nothing to distract me I focused every fiber of myself on the feelings shooting through me, and practically screamed as her tongue came into contact with the soft, sensitive flesh of my inner thigh. She leaned down again, licking slowly along the very tips of my labia, refusing to touch my clit. And again. Knox teased me and tortured me, never quite satisfying my bucking hips and needy moans. I was so wet I could feel my juices pooling below me, when finally she stroked from my cunt up to my clitoris with her tongue, latching on as I jumped, crying and groaning with desire. She sucked on my clit, slipping a long finger into my cunt and curling it up as if beckoning to me.

"Yes!" I cried out, my hands grasping her hair and pulling.

"Yes what?" She asked, lifting her head away from me for a moment.

"Yes please! Oh god, fuck, please!" I could barely spit the words out, but she understood and went back to licking and sucking and stroking me. She slipped a second finger into my sopping pussy and stars literally shot before my eyes—colors and shapes swirling past in an unintelligible jumble as my sense-deprived eyes attempted to decipher the misfiring nerves and electrical signals spiraling through my body. I felt a small, sharp sting as Knox sunk her fangs into my labia, but it quickly disappeared as the feel of her fingers slithering within me suddenly magnified. I could feel her sucking my blood from my body and I came, my pussy clamping down on her and holding her there as the orgasm crashed over my whole body, each wave flying out to my extremities and back into my core.

Suddenly she was gone. I opened my eyes, searching the darkness for her, and saw her standing, victorious, holding a long rubber dildo in her hand. My blood deprived brain could only fixate on how ravenous she looked, licking a little of my blood from her lips. Her eyes gleamed and her fangs hung low over swollen, wet lips. I quivered, slightly from fear, slightly from anticipation, and mostly from desire, just gazing at her. I got up onto my knees and pressed my mouth to hers, greedily licking and sucking at her lips and carefully teasing her fangs with my tongue. She growled and I felt my pussy tremble. I pushed her back on the bed now, hungry to taste her as she had tasted me. I took much less time than she had, however. I tore off her thong and dove in—she groaned and clamped her thighs around my head.

"Oh god, Lana, that feels so fucking good." I plunged my fingers into her cunt just as she had done to me and she gasped again, moaning through her open mouth.

"Yes, oh oh fuck—La—Lana! Here!" She passed me the dildo, and though I had never used a double-ended dildo before, I could grasp the general idea. I gently pressed one head against her lips, watching as they sucked it in and clamped down. I pulled it out again, and slid it back into her cunt. A couple inches in, a couple out, until finally it was all the way in. I loved the way her pussy lips looked, stretched out around the base of the cock. My cock, I imagined. I sat between her legs then, wrapping my legs around her as we both leaned back, semi-sitting. I inched my bottom closer to hers, and pressed the other head of the dildo into my cunt. The stretching felt amazing, and as I pressed myself closer and closer to Knox, her fingers slipped down between us to touch both of our clitorises at once. The sight was so erotic I groaned and Knox looked up at me immediately, hunger glowing in her eyes. She shifted forward, changing the dildo's position in my cunt and I cried out, it felt so good. We quickly fell into a rhythm, shifting back and forth, each of us fucking the other and taking turns touching each others breasts and nipples. I leaned forward to suck on her neck and sunk my teeth into her soft flesh. She whimpered, fucking me harder and faster. I licked and bit up along her neck, but she stopped me, roughly pulling my head up by my hair and sinking her fangs into my neck as she fucked me as hard as she could. I came immediately, and as she tasted the orgasm in my blood she came as well, pumping the dildo slowly as I clung to her. She groaned into my neck and tenderly licked the holes shut. I shivered, clenching the rubbery dildo in my cunt and beginning to tremble.

Knox nuzzled my neck a moment longer, kissing the side of my face and my hair. We lay back together, tossing the dripping dildo to the side. I snuggled into her armpit, and she leaned down to kiss me, the coppery tang of my blood still on her lips.

"That was fun," I murmured sleepily, and she giggled.

"You taste good. Honestly. Your blood tastes really good."

"Well shucks. You certainly know how to make a girl blush," I joked, pushing up and looking for a clock. It was five thirty and the sun wouldn't be down for another three hours.

"I'm not kidding, Lana. It tastes—different some how. I don't know. I just fed before I came home so I wasn't very thirsty, but if I had been, well, I don't know if I would have been able to control myself."

I turned to her sharply then. This was something that I did not like to hear. "Knox, I am trusting you deeply by staying here with you and making love to you in your bed. I am trusting you even more deeply when I let you sink your fangs into my flesh and drink my blood. You need to have control over yourself or I can't allow you to be this close to me."

"Calm down, drama queen." Knox rolled her eyes and leaned away from me. "You're fine. I'm fine. The whole situation is no big deal. I'd never put you in a dangerous situation—you mean too much to Sandy. I was just being honest with you. I figured it'd be something that you'd like to know about yourself."

I sat up, reaching for my clothing and sighing. "You're right. Sorry. I've just been sort of overly nervous ever since Theo overpowered me. I guess I forgot just how different humans and vampires are." My clothing smelled of sweat and nerves, and it reminded me of the last time I had been wearing it. "Oh god, Nora! Oh fuck. Okay. I have to go. Thank you for the, uh, hospitality," I said, sort of lamely motioning toward the bed. Knox just laughed and pulled my face in towards hers. Her lips connected with mine and my whole body felt the shock; a deep, pulsing need for more. I leaned my forehead against hers, using it as leverage to pull my lips free. I took one more movement to kiss her chastely on her lips, and pulled away before I could be distracted again. Knox just laughed. She was so beautiful when she smiled I couldn't help but smile with her.

"Tell Sandra I'll meet her at the office tonight?"

Knox nodded. I slipped out of the bedroom and found my doctor's bag. I realized I was almost nervous as I skipped down the steps—it would be so exciting to see the sun! I'd seen it from dawns and dusks and distant windows, but not in full for weeks now. How crazy was that! I might as well have been a vampire by the amount of time I spent awake in the dark. The door burst open in front of me and I was momentarily blinded and overwhelmed. People were rushing this way and that on the sidewalk, cars were honking, buses were swerving and a bicyclist almost hit me as he skidded along the sidewalk. The city was roaring. I ditched my plan to take the subway up to Nora's—this was all too much for me right now. The time I had spent away from this world had completely wiped me of any strength to deal with it. After a moment of rubbing my eyes and blinking I dodged a skinny, focused business woman and stepped into the street to hail a cab.

***

The taxi driver pulled up to 107 Shady Grove Court and looked over his shoulder at me, proudly pressing the total button on his meter. I winced at the price, but swiped the business card Sandra had set up for me and charged it to the clinic. The gates opened immediately as I stepped out, and as soon as I was out of sight of the road a large wolf came pacing up to me. She was dark grey with yellow, ferocious eyes. I smiled.

"My name is Lana Crane. I'm here to see Nora. I'm her doctor." The wolf blurred and twisted, elongating and shrinking and stretching and suddenly I was looking at a young woman standing entirely nude before me.

"My name is Elli. Thank you so much for coming back, Nora's been asking for you. Come, I'll walk you down." She had dark brown skin, long braided hair, and those same ferocious, yellow eyes. On her hip was a small tattoo that I couldn't quite place. It had certain Celtic qualities, but also reminded me of Norse symbology and even a little bit of Roman symbols. Elli noticed me looking and smiled.

"It's our pack's symbol. In the middle here, see this rune?" It looked like a P, but all the angles were sharp and it had no curves. "That's the ancient rune for W, the rune we use to symbolize Varg, the Swedish word for wolf. The rune itself also means joy, something we try to not forget." She paused, and looked straight at me. "Facing it you see the same rune backwards, right? Well, here's where we took our own interpretation. When those two symbols touch in the middle it makes the rune for mankind, or humankind. We have them separated just a bit to remind us that the joy of being a wolf comes along with the equal and opposite weight of responsibility, dedication to the pack, and self-reflection, and when you put the wolf and her maturity together, you get a human. The knot around it was added when our pack merged with another ancient pack here in the states. They were from Ireland originally, so when we became one they placed a Celtic ring of protection around our mark."

"Wow. So much history in that tattoo. Does everyone in the pack have one?"

"Yeah, as soon as they turn 16 and decide to enter the pack."

"You speak as if you're part of the Swedish pack rather than the combined pack. Are you more connected with that one?"

"Well, I am Swedish." She smiled now in a resigned way as she caught my confused look. "Even the Sweeds had slaves until 1847." Here she leaned over, winking conspiratorially, "And don't tell anyone, but they liked to fuck them too."

I laughed at that and grinned. I liked Elli. "Please excuse my ignorance. You've got to remember that I'm completely new at all of this."

We arrived at the door and Elli nodded. "I get it. I've been having to give that talk ever since I came over from Sweden with the pack in the 1800s." Again, she caught my confusion, but this time just laughed. "I've got to get back to patrol now. We can talk more later if you'd like." And just like that she began to shrink and thicken and blur and there she was, a beautiful grey wolf with blazing yellow eyes who trotted quickly off into the woods.

Shaking my head I knocked on the door and was walked back to Nora and Felix's room by a polite, young boy who stared at me with huge blue eyes the whole time. Again I knocked, and after a moment a weary Felix stuck his head out.

"Oh, Dr. Crane! Thank you so much for coming. Come in, come in," he babbled, opening the door and ushering me over to Nora's sleeping form.

"How is everything?" I asked, and Felix took a deep breath to begin talking to me, but the influx of air must have triggered something and he suddenly crumbled. Big fat tears slid down his cheeks and his body hiccupped as he tried to sob quietly. I sat beside him and held him tightly.

"I just—I just, just..." he broke off, crying again.

"Take a deep breath, Felix, in your nose," I took a deep breath in my nose while making eye contact with him, "—and out your mouth." He followed me in breathing for a few minutes, breathing deeply and calming his body down. When he could finally relax a bit he put his forehead on my shoulder. "I'm sorry Lana. It has been really hard these past few days. We were really looking forward to having pups."