Everlasting Kiss

by Amanda Ashley

  Lifting his left arm to his mouth, he bit into his wrist, then offered it to her. “Please, help yourself.”

  She stared at the dark red blood welling from the shallow wound and thought she might be sick to her stomach. She had taken some first aid classes, worked at a hospital as an aide one summer. What better way to learn about drawing blood? She had seen injured people and bloody wounds. None of that had made her stomach churn like this.

  She looked up at the vampire, her heart pounding. He knew, she thought. Knew she was lying.

  He offered her his arm again. “Go on, help yourself.”

  “Will you let me go if I do?”

  “Sure.”

  She didn’t believe him, but what other choice did she have? With hands that trembled, she took hold of his arm and ran her tongue over the bloody wound. Lifting her head, she stared up at him in confusion. She had expected to find it repulsive. Instead, she had the craziest impulse to taste him again.

  He smiled at her, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. Without taking his gaze from hers, he licked the wound.

  It was too much. Her legs suddenly refused to hold her, and with a faint cry, she pitched forward as everything went black.

  Chapter 10

  Erik caught the girl before she hit the ground. Plucking the syringe from her hand, he tossed it into a wastebasket, then cradled her in his arms. She was feather-light as he carried her up the stairs and down the hall to one of the unused bedrooms.

  He had bought the house back in 2007. Real estate in LA had taken a sharp nosedive back then. Unable to pay their mortgages, people had walked away from their homes. He had bought this place for three hundred thousand dollars, a third of what it would have sold for a year earlier. He figured the former owners must have moved out in the middle of the night, since they hadn’t taken anything with them except their clothing. They’d left their furniture, the appliances in the kitchen, the sheets on the beds. It was a well-built place, with three good-sized bedrooms upstairs, and one guest bedroom on the first floor. He had no use for the large, family kitchen, or for any of the other rooms, save for the master bedroom where he kept his clothes, and the adjoining bathroom. The rest of the rooms he kept closed.

  He had chosen this particular house for three reasons: it sat on a quiet street well separated from its neighbors, there were no houses behind it, and it had a large downstairs family room, which now served as his lair. He had made the necessary adjustments to ensure his security, which had included installing a three-inch-thick iron door to keep the world at bay while he rested.

  Save for the alterations to the family room, he had done little to the house other than change the paint in the living room from a hideous yellow to a more restful shade of pale sage green, and to repaint the master bedroom and bathroom, both of which had been a virulent shade of pink, but were now an inoffensive off-white.

  He tucked the girl into bed, then stood at the foot, gazing down at her. She looked as delicate as the flower whose name she bore. Hard to believe anyone so young and lovely could be the Blood Thief. He grunted softly. How the hell had she found him? And, more importantly, had she been looking for vampires in general, or for him in particular? And if she had been looking for him, why?

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, he slid his arm beneath her shoulders, brushed her hair from the side of her neck. Closing his eyes, he breathed in her scent. She smelled of strawberry shampoo, soap, and woman. And blood, of course. He could smell it, hear it moving through her veins.

  Erik scrubbed one hand across his jaw. She had come seeking his blood, he thought as he bent over her neck. What was the old saying? Turnabout was fair play. As his fangs pierced the tender skin of her throat, he wondered if she would agree.

  Daisy woke slowly. Feeling groggy, she pressed her hands to her temples. Why did she feel so strange? Had she gotten drunk last night?

  Opening her eyes to mere slits, she sat up. Groaned. And then bolted off the bed. Where was she? Not her own bedroom, that was for certain. This room was painted a bright lilac. A purple carpet covered the floor. Purple curtains hung at the windows; a matching spread covered the twin bed. Hand-drawn pictures of Care Bears were painted on the walls.

  Feeling light-headed, she hurried out of the room. She remembered where she was now. The vampire’s house. She had fainted. She shook her head, disgusted with herself. She had staked a vampire and yet she had fainted dead away when Erik licked his own blood. Where was the sense in that? And where was he? And what had he been doing awake in the middle of the afternoon?

  She slowed her steps, suddenly cautious. What time was it? Was he awake? There was no sign of him as she made her way to the front door. Perhaps he had returned to his lair. Grateful for her good luck, she curled her hand around the knob and gave it a twist. And nothing happened. The knob didn’t turn. The door didn’t open. She tugged on the handle. It didn’t budge.

  Aware of time passing, she turned on her heel and went looking for another way out. She found a back door in the kitchen but it, too, refused to open. She stared at it in confusion. It wasn’t locked. Why couldn’t she open the darn thing?

  A window, then. She dragged a chair over to the sink, climbed up on the counter, and tried to open the window. Only it refused to cooperate.

  Fear clogged her throat. Was she dreaming?

  Feeling like Alice lost in Wonderland, she climbed off the counter, picked up the chair, and threw it at the window. The chair bounced off the glass, almost hitting her in the face. But it didn’t break the window.

  She had to be dreaming.

  She was fighting a burgeoning rush of hysteria when she realized she was no longer alone. He was there, behind her. She could feel his presence. Hands clenched at her sides, she slowly turned to face him. “You said you’d let me go if I…I drank your blood.”

  “All in good time. How do you feel?”

  She blinked at him a moment, and then her eyes narrowed with accusation. “You drank my blood, didn’t you? Took it while I was unconscious? That’s why I feel so funny.” Although funny didn’t really describe it. She felt…how did she feel? She shook her head. She had never felt this way before, and she didn’t like it. Was this how vampires felt after she siphoned their blood?

  He shrugged. “You came here to take my blood. You have no right to complain if I take yours.” He wondered if she knew there was now an unbreakable bond between them, formed by their exchange of blood. If he let his guard down, she would be able to read his thoughts, just as he could now read hers.

  Eyes wide, she lifted a hand to her throat. “Am I…did you…?”

  “No.” He made a dismissive gesture with his hand. “I just took a little taste. You’re a very healthy A-negative female, by the way. Maybe a little iron deficient.”

  She glared at him. “You said I could go. Let me out of here!”

  “No.”

  “Why won’t the doors open?”

  “Because I don’t want them to.”

  “What does that mean?” she asked, frowning.

  “It means I put an enchantment on all the doors and windows. Usually a lock is sufficient to keep unwanted visitors out.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew the case that held her lock picks. “Stealing my blood may not be against the law, but I’m pretty sure the cops still frown on breaking and entering.”

  Her eyes shot sparks at him. “Who are you to talk to me about the law? You’re a…a…”

  “Monster? Vampire? Warlock?”

  “Warlock?” she murmured.

  He nodded. “Dark magick. Very dark. My mother was the head of a large coven. A very dark, very nasty coven. I inherited some of her supernatural powers, powers that grew stronger when I was sired.”

  Daisy shook her head. A vampire that practiced dark magick. Now that was a scary combination. “What do you want with me?” She shivered as images of black-clad crones performing human sacrifice under a full moon flashed through her mind.

  “Why we
re you looking for me?”

  “I wasn’t. I didn’t know you lived here.”

  “How did you know a vampire lived here?”

  Lips pursed, she slipped her hand into the pocket of her jacket.

  Erik frowned. While she’d been unconscious, he had relieved her of the small leather case that contained her lock picks, as well as a couple of empty glass vials and a pretty blue bottle of holy water. He had also found what he had thought was a silver compact. He grunted softly, thinking he probably should have taken that, too. Or at least opened it to see what it was. “Give it to me.”

  “I don’t have anything.”

  He held out his hand and murmured a few words in a language she didn’t understand. And the next thing she knew, her compass was in his palm. He opened it, then looked at her. “What does it do?”

  She shrugged. “It’s a compass.”

  If it was, it was like none he had ever seen before. “What does it do?” he repeated, his voice tinged with impatience. “You know I can make you tell me.”

  “It finds vampires.”

  “Indeed? How does it work?”

  “I don’t know, it just does.”

  “Where did you get it?”

  “From a witch.” A faint smile played over her lips. “A white witch.”

  “You’re a witch?”

  “No.” She folded her arms under her breasts. “I wish I was.”

  “Wouldn’t do you any good.”

  “Why not? Everyone knows good is stronger than evil.”

  “And I’m evil?”

  She shrugged. “You said it.”

  He grunted softly, and then he frowned. “I never thought of myself as evil.”

  “Well, you are. Everyone knows vampires are horrible creatures…” Her voice trailed off. What was she saying? She shouldn’t be telling him what a monster he was. She should be reminding him that he had once been human, that killing was wrong.

  “Go on,” he said, a trace of amusement in his tone.

  She shook her head.

  He folded his arms over his chest. “I’ll finish for you. Vampires are horrible creatures. They hide in the shadows. They exist on human blood. They kill indiscriminately. They have no conscience.” He took a step toward her. “They prey on the young and the innocent.”

  “I’m not young!” she said quickly. “Or innocent!”

  “No?” He took another step toward her, his eyes narrowing, his nostrils flaring.

  He was crowding her, but she refused to back up, refused to let him know how scared she was.

  “I’d say you were right around twenty-four years old,” he drawled. “And as innocent as the day you were born.”

  Daisy stared up at him. How could he possibly know that?

  “Am I wrong?”

  “Yes. I’m thirty-five, and I’ve slept with dozens of men. Hundreds.”

  “Liar.”

  She glared at him. “It doesn’t matter what you think. Just let me go.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  She hadn’t realized it before, but she was. She hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast and it was now…she glanced at her watch. Almost five o’clock.

  “I’ll order you something,” he said, pulling a cell phone from his back pocket. “What would you like?”

  “I’d like to go home.”

  “Pizza? Hamburger?”

  “Pizza, heavy on the garlic.”

  “Garlic doesn’t repel vampires,” he said, laughing softly. But it was a remarkably offensive odor to one with a keen sense of smell. Still chuckling, he called information for the phone number of the nearest pizza place.

  As inconspicuously as she could, Daisy searched her pockets for her cell phone, only then realizing that the phone he was using was hers.

  Filled with fear and frustration, she stomped out of the kitchen into the living room. She paced the floor, her thoughts racing. She had to get out of here. The pizza man! Of course, when the pizza arrived, she would yell for help.

  She was sitting on the sofa when the vampire entered the room.

  “Your pizza will be here in twenty minutes. I also ordered you a salad and a Coke.”

  “Thank you,” she said, and then wondered why she was being so polite. He was keeping her here against her will. He had promised to let her go, and now he had reneged on that promise.

  He took a seat on the other end of the sofa. “Relax, Daisy. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  She snorted softly. “Uh-huh. Everyone who believes that, raise your hand.”

  Erik shook his head. “You’re right, I’m up to no good. I only ordered the pizza to fatten you up for later.”

  He swore as her heartbeat slammed into overdrive. “I’m kidding. Dammit, I’m not going to hurt you.” He took a deep breath. “So, what’s the going rate for vampire blood these days?”

  “Two hundred dollars an ounce if it’s from a young vampire. Three hundred if the vampire is over a hundred years old.” She canted her head to the side. “How old are you?”

  “Old enough that you could probably get five or six hundred.”

  “Really? It doesn’t matter, though. I only hunt the young ones. Less dangerous that way, you know. But still lucrative.”

  “How do you know how old they are?”

  Daisy folded her hands in her lap. Her father had a list of the names and descriptions of all known vampires and their last known lair. It helped her to avoid the old ones, but she couldn’t tell Erik that. The list was a family secret. She wondered why he wasn’t on it.

  “I’ll have to remember to hunt the old ones if I’m ever strapped for cash,” he muttered dryly. “On the other hand, I guess vampires could start selling their own blood and put your kind out of business. How’d you get into your line of work? It really doesn’t seem like the kind of thing a pretty young girl would find fulfilling.”

  “It runs in the family. My father works out of New Orleans. There are a lot of young vampires there.” Her brothers were hunters, too. Brandon trafficked in blood; Alex preferred to take heads, but that, too, was information Erik didn’t need to know.

  Erik snorted softly. And they called his kind monsters. Sure, he preyed on mortals, but for survival, not profit.

  Daisy clasped her hands in her lap. She hadn’t intended to tell him anything about her family, so why had she? Had he worked some sort of vampire magic on her? She was no closer to the answer when the doorbell rang.

  The vampire rose fluidly to his feet. “Not a word,” he warned. “Or I won’t be responsible for what happens to the young man outside.”

  Daisy bit down on her lower lip as Erik opened the door and paid for the pizza. It was all she could do not to cry out for help, but the thought of being responsible for the delivery boy’s death kept her mute.

  Erik put the pizza box, the soda, and the salad container on the coffee table. “Might as well dig in. It’s the only food in the house.”

  “Are you just going to stand there and watch me?”

  He shrugged, then wrinkled his nose against the strong smell of garlic, pepperoni, and tomato sauce. Although garlic didn’t repel him, he found the odor decidedly unpleasant.

  “I’ll take a walk while you eat,” he muttered. “Enjoy your meal.”

  Daisy watched him leave the house. She waited a few minutes, then went to try the front door, hoping against hope that whatever magick he had used to secure the door had lapsed when he opened it. But luck was against her. The damn door refused to open.

  With a wordless cry of frustration, she picked up the pizza box and hurled it against the door. It made a satisfying smack as it struck the wood. The lid flew open, raining cheese-filled crust, pepperoni, and tomato sauce over the carpet in a gooey mess.

  She stared at it in horror for a minute, then shrugged. If he wanted to keep her here as his prisoner, then he could just clean up after her.

  Sitting on the sofa, she nibbled at the salad, drank half the Coke, then threw the remains o
f the salad and the drink against the door. The green lettuce made a nice contrast to the red sauce and yellow cheese.

  Fear rose in the midst of defiance as she stared at the mess she had made on the floor. And then she stiffened her spine. No matter what Erik said to the contrary, she knew he was going to kill her. Better to go down fighting back than just sit there like some sacrificial lamb and wait for him to drain her dry.

  She glanced around the room. She needed a weapon, she thought. Something. Anything. But there was nothing to be found in the parlor. She searched the rest of the house, giving vent to her rising frustration as she moved from room to room.

  Returning to the living room, she tried the front door again, then perched on the edge of the sofa, her foot tapping impatiently as she tried to think of a way out. She didn’t know how much longer the vampire would be gone, but after what she had done, she didn’t want to be there when he returned.

  Erik moved quickly through the shadows. He preyed upon the first human he found, took what he needed, and moved on. Deciding to keep the girl had been one of the stupidest decisions he had ever made. Thinking about it now, he wasn’t sure what had possessed him to do such an idiotic thing. He couldn’t keep her indefinitely. And now that she knew where he lived, he would have to move on. He hadn’t lived as long as he had by being careless, or by trusting others. Until now, no one, save Rhys, knew the location of his lair.

  Erik cursed softly. He had three choices. He could wipe his memory from Daisy’s mind, though that might be difficult now that they had exchanged blood. He could kill her. Or he could let her go, pack up his few possessions, and search out a new lair. To his chagrin, he wasn’t inclined to do any of them. His lair suited him. He had no desire to take Daisy’s life, and, somewhat surprisingly, he didn’t want her to forget him. One thing for certain, he knew he would never forget her.

  Eager to see her again, curious to see if he could coax her into his bed, he quickly returned home.