Blood Song

by Lynda Hilburn

  Chapter 4

  Ethan’s eyes popped open the second the sun dipped below the mountain peaks.

  Immediately, he experienced an uncomfortable feeling he’d never had before. Concentrating, he tried to understand the wispy perceptions and couldn’t shake the idea that he’d been... interrupted. Or something. Who knew what went on in his brain while he was dead during the daylight hours, but he had the craziest sense that he’d been thinking a few seconds ago when his life force—death force?—reanimated his body. His sire, Alexander, adamantly insisted vampires became empty shells while the sun ruled the sky, nothing but paralyzed cadavers. But if that were true, he must be losing whatever passed for his mind. Maybe he was. First he’d lurked around the human woman without fanging her and then he’d dreamed, of all damn things. Which, of course, was impossible.

  It was her. The mortal female. Grace. Her scent was all over him. She’d done something. He just knew it.

  He sat up in one of the cardboard boxes that passed for coffins in the basement of the vampires’ headquarters, then gathered the bottom of his T-shirt under his nose so he could sniff it. He sighed and flopped back, feeling suddenly relaxed and limp as a drained meth addict. Even her smell melted his bones. He wished he’d kept her bloody clothes, but bringing them to a vampire nest would be like ordering a keg for an AA meeting.

  The last time he’d fantasized about a female so obsessively had been when he’d fancied himself madly in love with the drummer in his first teenage rock band. Lulu, the percussionist in question, had been a rebellious, well-endowed sixteen-year-old who resembled a young Marilyn Monroe. Ethan had behaved like a hormonal moron, following Lulu around, spending every penny from his part-time job showering her with drumsticks, rhythm instruments he found in pawn shops and the latest LPs of her favorite bands. He remembered the way his heart—when he still had a human one—used to trip at the sight of her. Not to mention the effect she had on other parts of his anatomy. In fact, he was pretty sure his brain had an “out to lunch” sign posted during that time, since the only head he ever used was the southern version.

  With a sigh, he sat up again. His fixation on Lulu had only lasted a few years, until she ran away with one of the roadies from Eric Clapton’s band. Ethan had believed in Lulu’s faithfulness and discovering her betrayal changed everything. From that time forward, he never let himself become ensnared by love—or lust—again. He kept things strictly impersonal. No woman would hurt him again. Ever.

  Last Ethan heard, Lulu had become a heroin addict and died of an OD in London. She probably didn’t deserve that fate, but if she’d stayed with him, maybe...

  “Well, shit! That’s the last thing I need to be thinking about.”

  The strong feelings he’d suddenly developed for the human woman Grace made him nervous. He’d managed to avoid emotional commitment throughout his short mortal life and during the last four decades as a vampire. What did it mean that he was experiencing old, reckless thoughts?

  Compelled to see her, and unable to stop himself, he quickly showered, then changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a Jimi Hendrix T-shirt. He ran a comb through his thick, dark hair and skulked out the hidden exit of the coven’s lair. It wouldn’t do for Alexander to become too interested in his activities. The master had forbidden his offspring to take any action that wasn’t a direct order or undead business. If the short-tempered vampire knew about Ethan’s new obsession, there would be hell to pay.

  Ethan wasn’t an idiot. He usually gave every appearance of following the rules, but he couldn’t seem to dampen his fascination with the blonde-haired human.

  What he intended to do was dangerous. Going to the human’s—Grace’s—studio meant being in the vicinity of other mortals. Other mortals with beating hearts and the pungent, intoxicating aroma of blood flowing beneath the surface of their skin. He’d never been able to control himself before. Was he willing to go berserk and massacre an entire building full of people?

  Apparently, he was.

  “Hey, where ya goin’, man?”

  “Damn, Nelson!” Ethan jumped. “What the fuck you doing sneakin’ up on me?” Crap. He didn’t want to have to explain anything to his friend. His trouble-making partner in mayhem would want to tag along.

  “You weren’t paying attention. So much for your enhanced vampire hearing, Dude.”