Page 41 of Thicker than Blood

“Fuck.”

“Sorry. I told you it hurts.”

“Whooo.” He blows out a breath. “This is worse than an inner thigh tattoo.”

“It should be over pretty quick.”

Enyo squeezes his eyes shut, digging his fingers into the couch cushions on either side of his legs. “Fuck,” he repeats. “I might hurl.”

“Hurl?” Elias asks, clearly confused.

“Vomit.”

“Ah.” He raises a hand and Benicio is there in a flash. “A large bowl for the mortal, please.”

“Sir.” He nods, and then he’s gone and back before hardly a blink.

Enyo seems to be coming down from the worst of it as he leans back against the couch and catches his breath. “Damn. That seriously sucked.”

“I know. I guess it should, though, considering what it’s doing to your body. Elias, can you try the compulsion again please?”

“Of course.”

“No rest for the wicked,” Enyo says, pulling himself upright.

I watch Enyo intently as Elias does his thing again. Enyo stays clear eyed and aware of himself, glancing past Elias to me several times as Elias increases his efforts.

“Offer your neck, mortal.”

Enyo chuckles. “Yeah, no.”

“Hmm.” Elias leans closer, and as his eyes flicker, Enyo appears interested but not at all entranced. “Your neck.”

Enyo tilts his head. “Still no, but Geordi should note what’s physically happening right now. My whole body is tingling but I feel it the most in my chest. Like there’s a snake twisting around or… no, maybe a bird caught inside me. Fluttering around. I can literally feel the vaccine fighting Elias off.”

Elias grips the back of Enyo’s neck, pulling him so close that Enyo gasps. I don’t like it at all, but I’m interested to see what happens.

Elias focuses intently, moving his lips again without speaking, and as Enyo’s cheeks turn red and he grips the vampire’s biceps, I can see in his eyes that he’s not under compulsion. The vaccine works.

Elias sits back. “Hmm. Nothing. He’s resistant to me.”

“It works,” I whisper, staring at my friend. “It freaking works.”

“Just not on you,” Enyo says. “Not gonna lie, it’s unpleasant, but it does what it’s supposed to do. As soon as he stopped trying, I felt normal again.”

“This is exciting. I just need to figure out how to break it to Meredith that I did human testing without approval.”

“Why don’t you just tell her it was an emergency?” Elias suggests. “Certainly being in my home seems plausible.”

“That’s lying.”

“Oh, right. Mr. Rule Follower. Hades forbid you tell a small white lie.”

Enyo snorts a laugh but stops as I glare at him.

“Rules exist for a reason,” I say.

Elias cups my chin, leaning in so close I worry for a second that he’s going to kiss me. “Aren’t you the least bit intrigued about how delicious it would be to break them just once?”

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