Tall, Dark & Fangsome ib-5

by Мишель Роуэн

  I exhaled the last breath I actually needed and felt my head clear of any racing, frightened thoughts. My heartbeat came to a slow and sudden stop. The night around me ceased to feel even slightly cold and my vision narrowed in on the three weapon-carrying vampire hunters facing me.

  “Leave me alone,” I said evenly. “And I won’t have to star in any of your future nightmares.”

  The first hunter laughed and looked at his buddies each in turn. “Do you hear that? I’m scared now.”

  When he returned his attention to me I grabbed him by the throat. “Leave. Me. Alone.

  Was that hard to understand? I thought I said it rather clearly.”

  With a shove I launched him backward. He hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of him. He coughed and sputtered, then raised his furious gaze to mine. I saw him in tunnel vision now. Just him. No one else. And his throat did look rather appetizing with my handprint on it.

  “Vicious, evil creature of darkness,” he growled. “The world would be better without you in it.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “Right back at you, sunshine.”

  He was about to rush me, stake held high, but a hand clamped down on his shoulder and he turned to face whoever was behind him.

  A punch landed across the hunter’s jaw and he spun back around. A thin line of blood and saliva flew from his mouth. Gideon stood there wearing a black scarf that partially covered his face—but not enough to shield his identity.

  “You should leave my friend alone,” Gideon said. He was talking to the hunter.

  The hunter looked up in shock, holding the side of his face. “My God. Gideon Chase? Is that you?” He shakily got back to his feet and glanced at his two friends. “I can’t believe this. You’re supposed to be dead!”

  “I am, aren’t I?”

  The hunter nodded. “I went to your funeral.”

  “Thank you for that.” Gideon cast a quick look in my direction and then at the other two surprised hunters on either side of him. “I assume it was a good turnout?”

  “Of course.” The hunter nodded enthusiastically. “Very fitting for a great man like yourself.” He looked at me. “We cornered the Slayer of Slayers. Do you want to do the honors?”

  “No. As I said, Sarah is my friend. Or at least—” his eyes narrowed on me “—I thought she was. I’m not so sure anymore.”

  My nightwalker was very excited to see Gideon again. She wanted to run to him and throw her arms around him. I firmly muzzled and restrained her.

  The hunter frowned then. “I don’t understand. You’re friends with a… a vampire? That doesn’t make any sense. What happened? Were you injured in the fire?”

  “You could say that.”

  “Your body wasn’t recovered. You were presumed dead. You must come with me and we can tell everyone—”

  Gideon’s arm moved and I saw a glint of silver under the moonlight. The hunter clutched his throat and made a sick, gurgling sound as Gideon slit his throat. Dark blood welled between the hunter’s fingers.

  “Actually,” Gideon said evenly, “I’d prefer you didn’t tell anyone about my little secret if you wouldn’t mind.” He arched his arm and the next-closest hunter got the blade embedded in his chest. “That goes for you as well.”

  Both men fell to the ground dead.

  Since I wasn’t currently wearing my chain, the fear and shock I should have felt at witnessing these murders felt distant to me, as if I was watching this on television. But this was real. Gideon had killed two out of three of the hunters without even blinking.

  In front of me was a great deal of blood that filled me more with hunger than fear. I raised my black eyes to the man in front of me.

  “Aren’t you going to thank me?” Gideon asked.

  “For what?”

  “For saving your life again?”

  Thank you, Gideon, my nightwalker chimed inside me.

  But I said nothing.

  They hadn’t threatened him. One hunter had even wanted to help him.

  “Just a moment.” Gideon held up a finger. “There’s one more for me to deal with, isn’t there?”

  But the third hunter wasn’t there anymore. I heard the slap of hard-soled boots as he ran away down the street. However, there was another man standing in his place. This one wore a red mask.

  “Your hunter is getting away,” Red Devil Thierry said. “Shouldn’t you be in murderous pursuit?”

  Gideon smiled broadly. “See, Sarah? I had a funny feeling that if I followed you from my hotel tonight as I did last night there might be a chance I’d catch a glimpse of the elusive

  Red Devil again. But this is more than I’d hoped for.”

  I reached into my pocket with a shaking hand. I knew I had to get my chain back on while

  I still had some semblance of control. I couldn’t feel it. Frantically I scanned the alley.

  There it was. On the ground a half dozen feet away. It must have slipped out when I tossed the hunter away from me.

  My gaze tracked back to Gideon and Thierry, who studied each other intensely. For the first time in several minutes, my fear completely slipped through to the surface. My heart let out one small, barely noticeable thump.

  “This doesn’t have to happen,” I managed. “Not here. Not tonight.”

  Gideon bent over and pulled his knife from the dead hunter’s chest. “It was a little earlier than I’d planned, but I can adapt.”

  “I’m told you have a grimoire.” Thierry still spoke in that low, raspy voice.

  “Has naughty little Sarah told you all my secrets?”

  “You will need to give me the grimoire and then leave her alone. Permanently.”

  “I need to, do I?” Gideon glanced at me. “Just look at her, though. How could you possibly want to break her curse? She’s so powerful like this. Can’t you feel it? She’s better than a normal vampire. So unbelievably powerful. It would be a waste to snuff out all of that possibility.”

  “Give me the grimoire,” Thierry persisted.

  “I’d be happy to give it to Sarah if she still wants it. But first you need to die.”

  Thierry grabbed him by the front of his shirt and glared at him. “You first.”

  Gideon easily twisted around and out of Thierry’s grip like the trained, athletic hunter he was. I watched, half entranced, half panicked at what would happen next.

  “Stop this,” I said, taking a step toward them. “Please. Nobody has to get hurt here.”

  “Stay back,” Thierry said.

  “Thanks to Sarah’s blood last night I’m feeling much better than I was before.” Gideon clutched his knife tighter. “That’s why I sought you out—the infamous Red Devil. My last kill as a fully human hunter. Let’s make it a good one, shall we?”

  Thierry didn’t have a weapon, but he lunged at Gideon anyhow, his fist connecting with the hunter’s jaw. Gideon’s head snapped to the side. I knew Thierry was very strong, a strength that had grown over all of his centuries. How did Gideon think he had any chance against him?

  But Gideon was fast, and he easily ducked the next blow. The silver of his knife flashed bright a moment before it made contact with Thierry’s chest, sinking in deep enough to make Thierry gasp in pain. He shoved Gideon back from him.

  Thierry glared at him. “You missed my heart.”

  “True. A bit unsatisfying.” Gideon glanced at the knife. “However, considering this silver blade is coated in dead blood I think I’ve done enough.”

  “Go to hell, hunter,” Thierry growled.

  Dead blood. I searched my memory for what I’d learned through my recent vampire research. The blood of a dead human could be used as a poison against vampires. But the hunter had only just died minutes ago. The blood on the ground was still fresh enough to be appetizing to me. I thought “dead blood” had to be much older than that.

  Blood. My nightwalker self moved closer to the surface of my consciousness. So much delicious blood.

  Thier
ry staggered back a few feet, now favoring his injured side. Seeing the sudden weakness, Gideon moved toward him again.

  “You’ve definitely earned your grimoire, Sarah,” he said, flicking a glance in my direction.

  “And my renewed trust.”

  He arched the knife toward Thierry’s chest again, but I quickly moved toward him and grabbed his arm to feel the hard bicep underneath.

  “What are you doing?” he snapped.

  “Stopping you.”

  “Let me finish him.”

  “No.”

  He frowned at me. “Let go of me or you won’t get your precious grimoire.”

  “You can shove the grimoire.”

  I clamped my grip down on Gideon’s wrist until the pain made him drop the knife.

  “Sarah, what are you—” He gasped in surprise when I wrenched his head to the side and sank my fangs into his throat as the dark thirst swept over me. He weakly pushed back against me as I pressed him up against the brick wall—our positions the opposite of those we’d had in his hotel room.

  My mind went blank to everything except the salty tang of blood that spilled into my mouth.

  Almost blank. My hand sought out the pocket of his pants and I pulled out the

  BlackBerry. I slipped it into the pocket of my jeans. He didn’t feel a thing. After all, he was a bit preoccupied dealing with my teeth in his neck.

  Only a short taste, unfortunately—and not nearly long enough to transfer the vampire virus to him.

  Thierry hauled me off him so forcefully that I staggered across the alley to whack my head against the hard wall, and I fell to the ground. It was the second time that day I’d hit my head.

  But this time I wasn’t knocked unconscious. Something else happened. Thanks to the pain now ringing through my skull, the nightwalker fog cleared a little. Enough to allow me the chance to crawl on the ground until I found the gold chain. I scrambled to put it back on as quickly as I could, and my head immediately cleared.

  I gasped for a breath of air. My heart began to beat again.

  Thierry crouched next to me. His gray eyes behind the mask were filled with concern.

  “Are you all right?” he demanded. “Did I hurt you?”

  I blinked rapidly. Did he hurt me? Is that what he asked?

  “I’m okay,” I managed. My eyes widened. “Gideon—”

  I looked over to where I’d chomped on the hunter in question only to find that the alley was empty now except for the two of us.

  And the bodies of the two hunters.

  And the dark stain of Bruce the bouncer.

  Thierry got to his feet before helping me to mine, and then grimaced in pain. He held a hand against his injured chest just under his heart. I could see the blood. There was a lot of it. Instead of hunger, my stomach twisted with concern.

  “Gideon said the dead blood on the blade—”

  “It’s fine.” It was the first time I’d ever heard that much pain in his voice. “It won’t heal as quickly as normal, but it’s fine.”

  “You’re lying.”

  He looked over at the bodies. “I need to call somebody to take care of this mess.”

  He took a step back from me and faltered, then braced himself against the wall.

  A sharp line of panic sliced through me. He so wasn’t fine. At all.

  “Then call somebody,” I said. “But you’re coming home with me.”

  That earned me a glare, but not an argument. I felt sick at the thought that Gideon had managed to hurt Thierry, but why was I surprised? That had been his goal—to kill the Red

  Devil—just as it was his goal for me to turn him into a vampire tomorrow at midnight.

  The man had a lot of goals.

  In one fell swoop I’d betrayed his confidence and attached myself to his jugular—as well as siding with the Red Devil and thus diminishing my chances of ever getting my hands on that grimoire. Not a great way to win friends and influence people.

  I wouldn’t think about what the repercussions would be just yet.

  One thing at a time. I had to make sure Thierry was okay, whether or not he’d ever admit his true identity to me. Then I’d deal with Gideon. Because if he still wanted me to sire him tomorrow, he’d just experienced a sneak peek.

  Despite his assurances that he was feeling just peachy keen—my words, not his—by the time he’d made a quick phone call to whoever might be the local go-to guy for corpse clean-up and we’d made our way back to George’s house, the “Red Devil” was very pale under his red mask. He even leaned on me slightly as we walked up the driveway. I knew he wouldn’t do that unless he was feeling pretty badly. After all, the closer he got, the more likely it was that I’d discover his big fat secret.

  Obviously, Elvis had already left the building on that particular subject. Thierry just didn’t know it yet.

  My head still ached from bashing it against the brick wall, and I also was dealing with the taste of Gideon’s disturbingly delicious blood still in my mouth, but Thierry’s current state of health was my number-one concern.

  Fortunately, George wasn’t home. I knew he had his first shift at the strip club that evening and hoped he was getting over his odd mood enough to rake in the tips. Serving alcohol to a sea of horny human females amongst a bunch of half-dressed muscled men helped to get the cash flowing. I might know that from personal experience. No admissions here.

  I nudged the front door open and helped Thierry inside. A small table light was on, but the overhead wasn’t so I made a move for the light switch. He took my hand in his to stop me.

  “No more lights,” he said.

  I looked at him through the near darkness. “Why? You want to make sure I don’t see you? Want to keep your identity a secret?”

  “Something like that.”

  I hissed out a breath, annoyed by his typical stubbornness. “Then keep your stupid mask on, but I need to see your wound.”

  “Forget my wound. I’m fine.”

  “You look like you’re going to keel over.”

  He braced a hand against the wall behind him. The other hand, now dark with his blood, was pressed to his chest. “I’ve felt better.”

  “The blood of a dead human is like a poison for vamps,” I stated the obvious. “But the guy was barely dead. Why would it affect you this badly?”

  His jaw clenched. When he raised his gaze to mine I could see the uncertainty there as well as the pain. “If the freshly dead blood was consumed orally it wouldn’t be as great a risk, but a silver weapon tipped with the same blood will have a more deadly result.”

  “Deadly,” I repeated, feeling cold.

  “I need to leave.” He made a move toward the door, but I easily blocked his way.

  “Is there somebody who can help you? A doctor that knows how to fix this sort of injury?”

  His throat worked as he swallowed. “I’m afraid it’s too late for that.”

  I felt a flash of panic. “What do you mean?”

  His lips thinned. “Gideon may have gotten his wish tonight.”

  “Don’t tell me you think you’re dying.”

  “Then I won’t tell you that.” His pale expression shadowed. “But there is no cure I’m aware of to reverse the effects of such an injury.”

  He braced himself against the wall behind him and slid slowly to the floor. The blood on his hand was slick and shiny even in the darkness.

  If it was a regular knife wound it would be healed already. I remembered when I was staked and Thierry got me to drink from him afterward to help me heal up quickly with his master vampire blood.

  According to Gideon, my blood was even more powerful than that. It had even taken his pain away. A magical cure-all.

  “Wait here,” I snapped at him.

  I was all bossy when I was scared. And I was. He was dying. It was slow but every moment that passed I could see the life leaving him bit by bit.

  In the kitchen I grabbed the sharpest knife I could find and then went ba
ck into the living room.

  “You need to drink some of my blood,” I told him. “If I can heal Gideon, maybe I can heal you, too.”

  “Sarah—”

  I waved off any protests he might make. “Gideon wants my blood because it’s supercharged with energy and healing properties. I’m like a can of medicinal Red Bull right now.”

  I took the knife and held it against my forearm, tensed, and then dragged the sharp edge across my skin. Ouch. The blood welled up and I sat down on the floor next to him and held my arm out.

  His eyes darkened, literally, but he turned his face away. “No, Sarah.”

  “Drink.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t.”

  “You can’t, or you won’t?”

  “I won’t. It’s… it’s complicated. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Stubbornness, thy name was Thierry de Bennicoeur. Yes, he had an addiction to blood and whenever he got a taste he went a bit insane. It had happened once or twice with me—

  he’d tasted me and lost control. Now this might sound kind of hot, but it wasn’t. It was scary and dangerous and he’d almost drained me dry.

  At the moment, I was tempting fate by waving myself like a big juicy steak in front of a starving lion. But there simply wasn’t any other choice.

  “Stop being a baby and drink my blood.” Definitely not a phrase I used every day.

  His eyes had turned completely black with hunger. “You don’t know what you’re doing.

  You don’t know who I am.”

  Wrong, devil-boy. I knew exactly who he was. He was the man I loved, despite his being the most impossible, stubborn, secretive jerk on the planet and currently under the impression I was cheating on him with the leader of the vampire hunters.

  I brought my arm another inch closer.

  “Sarah…” His voice lowered further, into a low tone that gave me goose bumps.

  “Drink,” I insisted for what felt like the millionth time.

  His hands moved to grip my arm and he gazed at the line of blood presented to him. After hesitating for another long moment, he lowered his mouth and slid his tongue along the wound and without any further protests, he drank. His eyes closed and he gripped me very tightly.