Chapter Six
Getting out of the city was easy, as Henry had expected. The entrances to the city were well hidden, and most humans didn't believe that vampires even existed. Those that managed to get into the city, whether by accident or curiosity, never returned. There was no need for guards, and so there were no challenges as he led his three young brides from the dark confines of the vampire kingdom.
It was only when his eyes began to stream and he felt his skin sizzling that he even remembered about the sunlight. He had lived his whole life in darkness and was more sensitive to the light than the Hunters who ventured to the surface regularly.
"What is it?" Rachel asked, squeezing his hand when he stopped.
"Sunlight." Henry covered his eyes. "It burns."
"I can hardly see a pinprick," Leila complained. "You're seriously wimping out at that little bit of light?"
Henry hissed at her. His relationship with Leila had not improved much since she had first arrived. For Rachel's sake, he was trying to get along with her, but he doubted Leila would ever like him.
"We didn't think about sunlight," Rachel said. "Does anybody have a pair of sunglasses?"
"That's not going to be enough," Leila pointed out.
Rachel turned a frown on her sister. "Magic, then. We need to build some sort of barrier between Henry and the sun. It would be easier if we knew if it was the light or UV rays that harmed vampires. Let's start with a sunblock spell. Go for as strong SPF as we can. Hopefully, that will be enough."
The sisters took up positions on either side of Henry. He eyed Leila warily but trusted that Rachel wouldn't let her sister do anything to harm him. They began chanting, and a field of energy spread out from their fingertips. The energy surrounded him before shrinking down and absorbing into his skin.
Instantly the pain in his eyes faded away. His skin felt a little tender, but no longer like he was about to burst into flames. Henry's brows rose as he inspected himself. His appearance hadn't changed at all.
"It feels better."
Rachel took his hand again and they started up the long tunnel. They emerged into yet another tunnel, this one slightly brighter than the last. Water splashed around their feet. Henry choked on the unpleasant scents of dead and rotting things that hit his nose. Beside him, Leila made a disgusted noise.
"We're in the sewers. I don't remember this part."
"We were unconscious," Rachel reminded her.
"I wasn't." Becky stepped up beside them and shivered. "Let's get out of here."
Henry reached for her hand to comfort her, but when their skin touched she pulled away from him and wrapped her arms around herself. Without a word they continued, the sunlight getting brighter and stronger. Henry kept waiting for that sizzling feeling to return, but to his relief it never did.
Eventually, they emerged onto the surface. Henry's eyes widened and he gasped. His father had brought him up here a few times when he was a boy, but always on nights of the new moon. Even then there was something about the surface that had made him feel sick, and he had never wanted to return. But the world he saw now was completely different from those times. In awe, he stumbled from the hole they had emerged from and moved to the nearest bush.
"It's so green," he said, touching the leaves. "Such a bright color. And those flowers! And the sky!"
He had never seen anything so colorful. There was so much color that he felt dizzy. It looked unreal like he had just stepped into a movie or a painting. He didn't think colors like this existed in nature. And yet they did. And the sun! He raised his face to it, feeling a peculiar warmth as if he was sitting by a fire. He closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling.
"Come on." Rachel took his hand, laughing. "We need to find a place to stay before night falls."
***
Becky was the one who found them a place to stay. The sun had sunk below the horizon by the time they got there, but Henry hardly noticed, too wrapped up in observing the human town they were in. It was so amazing. So many colors, so many smells, so much to see. It was all too much. More than once Rachel had to take him into the dark bathroom of a store and hold him until he could reorient himself.
It was so different from the world he had grown up in.
The place Becky found for them, a warehouse, was huge and empty. Smells echoed around it, making Henry gag, but Becky took them to a small room below the surface, and it wasn't so bad there. Henry had to lie down at once. Perhaps it was the sun still sapping his energy, or maybe it was the sheer amount of stimuli he had experienced, but he found himself weak and shaking.
"Becky and I will go get blankets and stuff," he heard Leila muttering. "The vampire doesn't look so good. You'll probably have to… you know. Feed him."
Henry's mouth twitched, but he didn't have the energy to correct her. Or maybe she did mean sex, and just didn't want to say it out loud. He heard the two women leave and Rachel returned to his side, lying beside him. Just having her near helped him feel a little better. As her hands tugged at his shirt, he cracked an eye open.
"You don't have to—"
"Yes, I do," Rachel interrupted. "I might seem like I'm in full control, but this whole situation… it's freaking me out a little and I need to reconnect with you."
Henry understood what she meant. He gazed into her beautiful chocolate eyes and wanted nothing more than to banish the fear that was in them. He gripped her hips as she shifted, straddling him, and lifted his face to hers when she bent over him. He was well used to this, giving his bride control. He preferred it that way, as it meant he could know she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
Not that he had to worry about that with Rachel.
She manipulated his clothing expertly, shifting it out of the way so she could reach her goal. Henry moaned as he felt her against him, his skin tightening. That delightful heat that he could only experience with a woman filled him. He watched Rachel as she moved, taking him into her mouth to prepare him. His back bowed at her gentle touch.
His heart filled so much that it hurt. "I love you."
She glanced up. "I love you, too."
His father couldn't know what this felt like, to hear those words from someone he would willingly give his life for. He grasped Rachel's shoulders, turning her onto her back so he could remove her clothing as well. The sweet smell of her arousal filled him as he kissed him way down her body, focusing between her legs. Her gasps filled him, her taste making his own arousal that much more powerful.
When she began shaking, Rachel flipped him back onto his back and straddled him, her eyes bright. Henry moaned, bringing himself to Rachel as she took him. Her eyes met his. Sparks blossomed in his blood, the connection building between them as he stared into her eyes.
He had heard about human notions of heaven before, but until this moment, when Rachel smiled and whispered she loved him again, he had never thought that heaven was possible.
Now he knew differently.