House Call Read online

  “Some of them are fine,” he assured her. “Others did not make it.”

  Tears filled her purple irises and she moaned.

  “Who? Who didn’t make it?” she wailed. Weston tried to soothe her, his palms against her face.

  She struggled against him.

  “Why are you touching me?” she yelled. “What happened to my friends?”

  “You must not get worked up,” he told her urgently, wanting desperately to press his lips to hers, but he dared not.

  “Lexie, I will explain everything to you when you are stronger,” he assured her, but Lexie would not accept the answer.

  “I want to know now!” she bellowed.

  Ruthlessly and without warning, Weston leaned forward, pressing his mouth to hers. Instantly, he was consumed with a feeling of melancholy so great, it stopped his breath.

  It is Alexandra. He had never been more certain of anything in his life. He would know her taste, her scent, anywhere. As his kiss grew more demanding, he felt her tense dramatically beneath him.

  “Oh, my love,” he murmured, his teeth gnashing sweetly against her chin, lowering his breath to the hammering pulse in the throat. “I have longed for you.”

  A terrifying beeping pierced the air and Lexie began to seize wildly beneath him. Weston jumped back, staring at her body violently thrashing as the monitors began to react.

  A second later, a nurse scurried into the room.

  “What’s happening?” she demanded, staring at the senior resident who watched Lexie in shock.

  “She’s seizing!” he cried, the fog slipping from his mind. “Four milligrams of lorazepam!”

  The nurse turned to oblige his request and Weston pinned Lexie to the bed, tilting her head back to open her airways. More medical staff filtered into the room and Weston barked out orders. In seconds, Lexie was still, her heartrate returning to normal. Her eyes remained closed but her vital signs were normal.

  Dr. Stanley rushed into the room.

  “What the hell happened?” the head of ICU asked Weston. His eyes narrowed suspiciously.

  “What are you doing in here, Hanover?”

  But Weston could not respond.

  He looked blankly at Dr. Stanley before turning and fleeing intensive care with a purposefully dismissive air.

  I cannot lose her again. I will not.

  Chapter 3

  Every day, Weston checked on Lexie’s progress, but she remained in a coma for days. It had taken every ounce of restraint not to rush to her side and taste her lips again, but he dared not, as he remembered the feel of her body twitching beneath him.

  How can my love for her affect her so tragically? He watched her from the glass wistfully. As if she could sense him, she stirred in her unconscious state, but she never regained consciousness.

  He found himself falling into a pit of despair, wondering if she would ever wake up, but as time passed, she did not.

  I am going to lose her again, he thought one night, as he sat in his penthouse condo. His home was located in the exclusive South of Fifth neighborhood, and he reclined in his leatherback chair, sipping on a hundred-year-old scotch and peering out onto the Atlantic Ocean. Dusk was settling on the sparkling waters, but Weston couldn’t appreciate the beauty of the majestic waves that afternoon.

  Why would she come back into my life, only to be taken away again?

  It had been two weeks since she had fallen into her endless sleep and hope was slipping from him.

  Everything suffered, from his work to his disposition, but he could not shut off the all-consuming thoughts of Lexie.

  He closed his ethereal eyes and conjured Alexandra into his mind as he remembered her best.

  “Come to me, Weston,” she whispered from the water.

  She extended her index finger, calling him forward and the hypnotic haze swept over his body as it always did when she appeared. Her naked body was ripe with promise and her long black tresses teased the tops of her luscious breasts, barely hiding her erect nipples, spilling down to her slender waist.

  He did not hesitate. Crossing the rocky beach in bare feet, ripping off his shirt and casting it aside. His pants strewn on the shore, he crashed through the gentle waves toward her, his strong, muscular legs splashing the water about.

  Alexandra giggled, extending her arms toward him, and the two embraced. Weston’s mouth found hers desperately and he licked hungrily at her lips, relishing the sweetness of her skin beneath his tongue and fingertips.

  She pressed her body against his. Weston felt every curve of her shapely figure. His palms grabbed her buttocks, pulling her thighs around his wide hips so she clung to him like a vine.

  Lowering his mouth, sucking back the salty drops of water from her throat, Alexandra threw her head back and gasped in delight. She thrust her chest toward him and he drank in bounty of her breasts.

  “Oh, my love,” he purred. “You must never leave me.”

  “Never!” she breathed, wriggling herself so his engorged unit pressed between her legs. “I am forever yours.”

  Weston filled her then, yanking her closer so they became uniform in their love making. Weston desired to be inside her fully, to be one with her and he thrust himself as far as he could go. The water slowed his frenzied desire to possess her completely and he grunted in erotic frustration, his fingers bruising her tender skin as her held her tightly.

  He could bear it no longer and rose to his full height, entwining her feet behind his back and driving through the shallow lake toward the sand where he placed his lover down. Without missing a beat, he buried himself into her ruthlessly, watching her stunning face register shock.

  “Oh yes!” she gasped. “More!”

  He obliged, his teeth closing around her lower lip, his movements becoming almost violent as Alexandra began to scream out in pleasure, her cries echoing across the water. He felt a welcoming heat on his shaft, his own member at its point of eruption, but he did not slow his primal aggression.

  His own groans matched her ecstatic screams and soon they were laying in a sand dune of pleasure and adulation for one another.

  “I want to stay this way for eternity,” she told him when she found her breath.

  “We will, my love,” Weston promised. “We will.”

  His pager was exploding and Weston reluctantly opened his eyes to stare at the device. He was not on call that night, but he was in the habit of never turning off his beeper. It was what had made him such a successful doctor.

  What else do I have to live for? He had once reasoned. I only have my work. I have nothing else without Alexandra.

  The hair on the back of his neck prickled as he read the message.

  Alexandra Pointneuf on life support. Not expected to live through the night.

  A deep sorrow flooded through him. He had asked the ICU nurses to keep him updated on Lexie in his absence and his worse fear had finally come to light.

  He was not surprised; the more time that passed, her chances of survival became slimmer. Even if she did live, she would likely be severely brain damaged. Her quality of life diminished with each moment.

  She will die again. She will die without ever knowing who I am. How can I allow for this to happen?

  Yet despite Weston’s supernatural connection, his medical training told him that there was no saving the love of his life.

  I must go to her tonight and say my goodbyes, he thought mournfully, but Weston did not know if he could do it.

  It was the witching hour. Barely a sound could be heard in the hospital from the second floor to the rooftop helipad. Even under the bright light of the full moon, the world seemed dull.

  Weston stole up the stairwell to the A Wing, each step heavier than the last as he walked toward Lexie’s room.

  There was no one in the hall, but Weston was barely aware of anything other than the tortured anguish inside him. He had not felt so vividly or so deeply since Alexandra had died a thousand lifetimes ago.

  I have
searched for you everywhere until I could search no more. You have come to me, only to be ripped away again.

  He stopped in the threshold of the private room, willing Lexie to open her eyes.

  You must wake up, Lexie. You must wake up and look at me.

  If not for the trauma she had endured from the accident, Weston was sure that she would have remembered him. When she had been in shock, he had seen the glimmer of recognition in her lilac eyes. Their love was connected beyond time and space and he had been waiting for the day when they would be reunited.

  He started across the room to her bed and gazed into her pale face with yearning.

  “Open your eyes, my love,” he begged hoarsely. “Please. Look at me.”

  There was no sound but the rhythmic beat of the machines that breathed for her and monitored her life signs.

  She was gone again.

  Foreign tears filled his eyes and he leaned closer to run his fingers along her cheeks as he did when she was Alexandra and she was his.

  “You promised to never leave me,” he moaned. “You cannot leave me again. I won’t let you go.”

  But his words fell on deaf ears and as he continued to stare into her listless face, Weston swallowed back the burning desire he felt in his heart.

  You must not. You do not know what the affects will be if you turn her while she is in this state. It could be catastrophic.

  Weston had no way of knowing if anything like this had ever been attempted and despite his almost overwhelming urge to keep her with him, he did not dare.

  Instead he perched himself on the edge of her bed, his fingers tracing small circles about the ridge of her nose, the bones of her cheeks, the plumpness of her lips.

  “I love you,” he told her, pushing his face to hers to sample her one last time.

  One last kiss and I will leave you to rest in peace for eternity. Please come back to me again. I cannot roam this earth alone when I have had a love so pure.

  He closed his eyes and pressed himself to her, his tongue gently touching her mouth. A small sob escaped him. Abruptly, he felt a bolt of lukewarm air seep into his lungs. His eyes flew open and Lexie was staring back at him.

  “You’re awake!” he gasped, staring at her in wonder.

  He willed her not to scream, reaching for her wrist to take her pulse, but with superhuman strength, Lexie yanked his head down to hers. When their mouths met again, a surge of electricity joined them passionately.

  Her hands laced through his thick, black hair and she returned his wide-eyed look with one of her own.

  “I remember you,” she sighed. “I have waited for you.”

  A happiness Weston never knew he could feel flooded through him and he squeezed her body to his, their faces inches from each other.

  “Yes,” he agreed. “I have waited for you, too.”

  “You let me go,” Lexie whispered, her brow crinkling slightly. “You let me go alone.”

  He shook his head vehemently.

  “I did not mean to, my love,” he pleaded. “I was too late to save you. When I came back to the village, you were already dead. There was nothing I could do!”

  “I am here now,” she told him after a pause, her sweet voice sucking him back into the trance and immediately Weston was lost in her violet eyes. “You cannot let me go again.”

  “Never!” he declared, and she smiled slowly, releasing him. Exhaling softly, she leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes, arching her neck.

  Weston could see the throbbing of her neck veins, begging to be taken.

  “Claim me,” she murmured. “You cannot let me go again.”

  “No!” he cried, but he could not pull his eyes from her pulsating throat, his hands closing tightly into fists as he tried to resist.

  “You do not love me,” she moaned, her eyes still firmly closed. “Take me for yours and never allow me to go again.”

  “You are Lexie now, not Alexandra,” he protested but his face had begun to lower, his nose inhaling the succulence of her smooth skin. “You have a different life, a different path.”

  “My only life is with you. Without you, I will die.”

  Weston felt his own lids grow heavy as if he was drugged.

  You cannot do this! It is wrong! You must not….

  He felt his incisors extend, the tips of his sharp fangs running lightly over her erratically beating jugular.

  “We are meant to be together,” she gasped. “Forever.”

  He could stand it no longer, diving his teeth into her tender flesh. Lexie cried out but it was too late to stop. Weston grasped the base of her skull, drinking her in feverishly.

  He could feel the life slipping from her body and a part of him screamed to stop but he could not. He would never forgive himself for allowing her to slip away if he had the chance to keep her near forever.

  Come to me, Lexie. Be with me forever as we were meant to be.

  Gulping back mouthfuls of her life-filled nectar, Weston could sense her dying in his strong arms.

  Stop! You must stop!

  There were so many consequences to what he was doing, so much he would regret if it went awry, but as he forced himself to pull away from the sweet skin of her wounded neck, he knew it was far too late for second thoughts.

  Lexie was dead.

  Weston began to shake his head in denial, rising to his feet.

  How long had it been since he had turned someone? Had he gone too far?

  There was only one way to find out and he lunged back toward her, pushing his wrist into her slightly parted lips. He ensured her teeth snared on the skin, feeling his slow trickle of blood enter her cold mouth.

  “Drink,” he pleaded quietly. “Please drink.”

  She did not move and fear clung to him as he slowly removed his pale wrist from her gaping mouth.

  I have failed her. Again

  “What are you doing, Dr. Hanover?”

  Nurse Carson stood in the doorway, her eyes wide with wariness.

  Swallowing deeply, he rose from his spot. He shook his head, not trusting his voice.

  “I think she has passed,” he murmured, trying to keep the emotion from his voice.

  Nurse Carson peered at him uncomprehendingly. Gone was the usual adoration she usually doled upon him.

  “What?” she said, closing the space between them. She gave him a skeptical look.

  “I have to call time of death.”

  “That is in very poor taste, Dr. Hanover,” the nurse snapped. “She can hear you.”

  Weston spun to look at the bed.

  Lexie sat up, her violet eyes alight with a bioluminescent glow which she had not possessed before.

  “Lexie?” he whispered. She smiled and nodded.

  “It is me,” she replied and Weston knew that his fated mate had finally returned to him.

  THE END

  Did you enjoy Book 6 in the Royal Vampire Kingdom Series?

  Jump into Book 7 now…

  Double The Fun

  Foreplay isn’t for everyone…

  If you just can’t take the book-by-book suspense, sink your teeth into The Complete Royal Vampire Kingdom Collection (Books 1-15)

  What To Read Next?

  Pick up Book 2 in the Royal Vampire Kingdom series.

  Private Lesson

  Also By Ivy Banks

  Vampire Kingdom Series

  The Complete Royal Vampire Kingdom Collection (Books 1-15)

  (Each is a stand-alone story)

  The Hitman’s Weakness (Book 1)

  Private Lesson (Book 2)

  Taming The Billionaire (Book 3)

  Billionaire Boss’ Obsession (Book 4)

  Cowboy Crush (Book 5)

  House Call (Book 6)

  Double The Fun (Book 7)

  Waves of Pleasure (Book 8)

  Rock Hard (Book 9)

  The Starlet’s Bodyguard (Book 10)

  Billionaire Blackmail (Book 11)

  Mountain Mayhem (Book 12) />
  Nurse On Duty (Book 13)

  Trouble In Paradise (Book 14)

  Dancer’s Delight (Book 15)

  About the Author

  Ivy Banks is a respectable lady by day…well, for the most part. But being a loving wife and upstanding citizen doesn’t mean you have to lose your racy side! Ivy writes hot contemporary romance stories. She likes to create a world and then play in it for awhile, letting her imagination run wild and her fingers type without inhibition.

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