by Paige Tyler
Kaige folded his arms across his broad chest. “Actually, they are.”
She snorted. “Right. Next you’ll be telling me that I’m a vampire because I got bitten by one. Sorry, but I think you have your vampire and werewolf lore mixed up. In order to become a vampire, a person has to have their blood drained, and then they have to drink the blood of the vampire who bit them. Are you telling me the guy who bit me gave me his blood?”
The muscle in Kaige’s jaw flexed. “The vampire who bit you left you to die. I was the one who turned you.”
Savanna blinked. “You?”
“After I chased the other vampire off, I gave you my blood.”
“Please tell me you’re joking,” she said.
“It was the only way to save your life,” he said.
Savanna’s stomach churned. It was one thing to think vampires were sexy, but the idea of drinking blood was too disgusting for words. She swallowed hard. “So, you’re telling me that you’re a vampire?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Riiiiiight,” she said. “Look, no offense. I mean you’re hot and everything, but you’re definitely not vamp material. Take it from me, I know.” She picked up her purse from the bedside table. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go ahead and leave.”
Alarm flickered in Kaige’s golden brown eyes. “You can’t leave yet. You’re still weak. You need more blood.”
Savanna made a face at that, her stomach turning again.
“What I need is a shower and a cup of coffee.”
Giving Kaige a wide berth, she headed for the door. As she did so, she glanced at her reflection in the mirror over the dresser and immediately stopped when she saw the puckered red scars on her neck. She reached up to lightly run her fingers over them.
“Now do you believe me?” Kaige asked.
He had moved across the room to stand behind her and she met his gaze in the mirror. She was tall, but even in the high-heeled boots she was wearing, the top of her head didn’t quite reach his chin.
She lifted her own a fraction of an inch. “No. If I were a vampire, I wouldn’t have a reflection. Neither would you.”
He muttered something she didn’t catch under his breath. “You’ve been watching too many movies. Of course we have a reflection. We’re vampires, not ghosts.”
Savanna spun around to face him. “You’ve got an answer for everything, don’t you?”
His mouth quirked. “But unfortunately none of them seem to be enough to make you believe me.”
“Because what you’re talking about is crazy,” she told him. “Vampires don’t exist.”
Kaige lifted a brow. “You certainly seem to know a lot about vampires considering you don’t believe in them.”
Savanna felt her face color. “Just because I’m into vampires doesn’t mean I think they’re real. Or that you’re one of them.”
His eyes narrowed. “What if I could give you proof?”
“What kind of proof?” she said.
Kaige didn’t answer, but simply opened his mouth. As she watched, his canines elongated before her very eyes then retracted.
Savanna backed up until she hit the dresser. Holy crap!
“Where the heck did you find a dentist to do that?”
He clenched his jaw. “I didn’t have a dentist do it. I’m a vampire. They come with the title.”
She chewed on her lower lip. This guy really believed what he was saying, she realized. And while the fangs did look sexy as hell on him, the whole thing was still way too out there, even for her.
“I’m out of here,” she said, heading for the door. “And if you try to stop me, I’ll scream my head off.”
He followed her down the hall. “I won’t stop you from leaving, but if you start feeling weak, you need to come back here.”
She glanced over her shoulder at him as she hurried down the stairs. “Sure thing. I’ll do that.”
“And watch out for the sun,” he said when she yanked open the front door.
She turned to give him a superior look. “Let me guess. Because I’ll burst into flames, right?”
His mouth tightened. “No, but you will get one hell of a nasty sunburn faster than you ever thought possible.”
Savanna just shook her head as she slammed the door behind her. The guy might be gorgeous, but he was also completely certifiable.
Chapter Three
“That went well,” Kaige muttered to himself.
He stood staring at the door, wondering if he should go after her, but decided against it. He could just imagine what she’d do if he tried to get her to come back to his condo with him. She’d probably make a scene right there on the sidewalk and have his neighbors convinced he was some kind of freak. Kaige cringed at the thought. He liked his neighborhood and he’d hate to have to move because his neighbors thought he was a psychopath.
Okay, so he’d just wait until she came to her senses and returned. Of course, considering how skeptical she’d been when he told her that she was a vampire, he should probably expect her back about five minutes after never.
Shit.
This was exactly the reason he’d wanted Jensen to take the woman to the clinic. He didn’t know the first thing about taking care of a new vampire and now he’d made a complete mess of things.
Swearing under his breath, Kaige strode into the kitchen and took out a bag of blood from the fridge, then poured it into a mug and stuck it in the microwave. As he was waiting for it to heat, his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and held it to his ear without bothering to look at the call display.
“Yeah,” he growled.
“Aren’t you in a good mood,” Jensen said. “Thought I’d call to see how things were going with the girl, but from your tone of voice, I can guess. She still hasn’t woken up?”
“She woke up, all right,” Kaige muttered. “And then she left.”
There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment. “What the hell do you mean, she left? You let her leave?”
Kaige ground his jaw. “I didn’t exactly have a choice. It was either let her leave or tie her to the bed, and I didn’t think that would go over too well.”
His friend sighed. “Did you at least tell her that she’s a vampire before she left?”
The microwave dinged and Kaige took out the mug. “Why do you think she was in such a hurry to get out of here? I told her and she freaked out. Then she laughed at me. According to her, I don’t have the right look to be a vampire. Whatever the hell that means. She didn’t even believe me after I showed her my fangs. She thought I had some dentist put them in.”
“Shit,” Jensen said.
“My sentiments exactly,” Kaige agreed, lifting the mug to his lips.
“Did you at least get her name?”
“No. She took off before I could ask.”
“Great,” Jensen grumbled. “Now we have no way of tracking her down. You’d better hope she comes back when she starts craving blood. If she ends up in the hospital, we’re screwed. Though I guess that could be the least of our problems.”
Kaige let out a snort of derision. “What could be worse than her going to the hospital and them finding out that she’s a vampire?”
His friend’s voice was sarcastic. “Oh, I don’t know. How about her jumping some poor unsuspecting human down at Fisherman’s Wharf and sinking her fangs into his neck while the rest of the tourists capture the whole thing on their cell phones for YouTube?”
Kaige paused, the mug halfway to his mouth. God, he hoped Jensen was exaggerating. “Yeah. That would be worse.”
“Hopefully she’ll figure out she really is a vampire and comes back before that happens,” Jensen said.
Kaige hoped so, too. He knew from experience what it felt like when the craving for blood got to be bad enough. And he also knew cravings like that couldn’t be denied for long.
* * * * *
Savan
na breathed a sigh of relief as she walked into her apartment. God, she felt like crap. She had a splitting headache and her stomach was upset, too. Not that she should be surprised. That lunatic, Kaige Travers, had fed her his blood. She’d probably be sick for days thanks to him. She prayed to God she didn’t get some strange disease or something.
Of course, having his blood in her didn’t explain why her eyes were suddenly hypersensitive to sunlight. In fact, they’d been so oversensitive she’d had to squint and cover them with her hand the whole way home. That probably explained why she had a headache. It hadn’t helped that she had to walk for nearly ten blocks after leaving his condo before she managed to find a cab.
She pressed her hand to her forehead to see if she had a fever, but her skin didn’t feel any warmer than normal. If anything, it actually felt a little cool. Maybe she should go to the doctor. Then she remembered it was Sunday. She would have to go to the hospital if she wanted to have someone check her out, and she’d end up sitting in the emergency room for hours. It would just be a waste of time. Besides, she hated hospitals. Which was strange, considering she worked in the medical field herself.
All she needed was some rest. But first she needed some Tylenol and a shower, in that order. She dug her cell phone out of her purse and checked her voicemail on the way to the bathroom. The first one was from her mother reminding her about coming to dinner that weekend. The other was from a friend at work.
“Savanna, it’s Michelle. Where the heck are you? I covered for you at work, but you’ve been out two nights in a row and I’m starting to get worried. Call me.”
Savanna frowned. What was Michelle talking about? She hadn’t missed work. Had she?
The thought that she might have spent more than just one night with Kaige Travers had her checking the date on her cell phone to see what day it was. Crap. According to her phone, it was Wednesday. Which meant she’d been unconscious for two whole days. Savanna shook her head. This whole thing was getting creepier by the minute. Maybe she should go to the hospital and have herself checked out. And call the cops, too. That jerk at the club had bitten her, after all. But both could wait. Right now, she really needed that shower.
Going into the bedroom, she pulled off her boots then stripped out of her clothes. Naked, she padded into the bathroom, took two Tylenol, then stepped into the shower. The combination of the acetaminophen and the warm water did wonders for her. By the time she stepped out of the tub, she felt much better. Maybe she didn’t need to go to the hospital.
Taking a towel off the rack, she wrapped it around herself, then wiped the condensation from the mirror with her hand. She leaned closer, examining the marks on her neck. She frowned. When she’d seen them in the mirror at Kaige’s house, they’d been red and angry looking, but now they were only slightly pink. If she didn’t know better, she’d think they were years old.
But that was impossible.
Savanna took a step back and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was trying to understand how her neck could possibly have healed so fast when she realized she had a light sunburn on her face and arms. How the hell could she have gotten sunburn? She’d only been outside twenty minutes.
She swallowed hard as she remembered what Travers had said about getting a nasty sunburn. What if he hadn’t been as crazy as she’d thought? What if she really was a vampire?
She stopped herself. Now she was just being ridiculous. Even so, she found herself leaning forward to check her teeth in the mirror. No fangs, thank God. She let out a sigh of relief, shaking her head at her own foolishness.
On the downside, there was no way she could go to the cops and file a complaint about someone biting her on the neck, not when there were barely any scars. They’d think she was crazy. Maybe she should just forget the whole thing had happened.
Savanna dried off and brushed her teeth. She set the alarm clock for four PM and slipped naked into bed. She must have fallen asleep right away because the next thing she knew, the alarm was going off. She blinked at the clock sleepily. Yep, four PM.
But instead of getting up right away, she lay there in bed, trying to determine how she felt. While she was still tired, she actually felt much better than she had when she’d gotten home. She crawled out of bed and got dressed, then stood staring at the contents of her fridge for a few minutes. Even though she was hungry, she wasn’t in the mood for anything in it. She’d grab something at work.
Her friend, Michelle Novak, looked more than a little relieved to see Savanna when she walked in to the medical lab. “You look like crap. Are you okay?”
Savanna nodded. “I’m just feeling a little under the weather, that’s all.”
She wanted to tell Michelle about the strange weekend she’d had, but didn’t. There was no way she could explain it that would make sense.
Even though she had a load of work, Savanna couldn’t seem to focus on any of it. Every time she picked up a vial of blood to take out a sample for crossmatching, her stomach cramped up so much that if she hadn’t been perched on a stool at the time, she probably would have doubled over. That’s what she got for not eating.
Michelle was at the counter in the break room and she looked up as Savanna walked in.
“I’m having a bagel,” the redhead said. “You want one?”
Savanna shook her head. “No thanks,” she said. The thought of eating a bagel made her queasy. “I’m just going to grab a yogurt.”
Walking over to the fridge, she opened the door to grab one of the containers she kept there when Michelle yelped.
“Ouch!”
Savanna looked around the door. “What happened?”
“I cut my hand with the damn knife.”
Savanna closed the refrigerator. “Is it deep?”
“It’s just a little nick.” She held up her hand so that Savanna could see. “It’s bleeding like crazy, but I’ll be fine.”
Savanna stared at the blood on her friend’s hand as if transfixed by it. Suddenly, it was like nothing else in the world existed but that small amount of blood running down Michelle’s finger.
She’d never seen a more beautiful color in her whole life. And the coppery smell was more tantalizing than any food she could imagine. In fact, the smell was absolutely…scrumptious.
Savanna suddenly felt a sharp sensation in her mouth. She winced, but ignored it. She reached for Michelle’s finger as if drawn by a magnet. She could almost taste the blood already.
She froze. What the hell was she doing?
Savanna stumbled back in horror. In another minute she would have had Michelle’s finger in her mouth. Thank God her friend had already turned toward the sink to wash off her hand. Mumbling something about needing to go to the ladies’ room, Savanna turned and practically ran from the room.
Thankfully, the bathroom was empty and she leaned back against the door, her heart pounding. What the hell happened back there? It was like she’d been possessed or something.
Trembling, she walked over to the huge mirror above the row of shiny, porcelain sinks and hesitantly opened her mouth. Her eyes went wide. Oh, God. She had fangs. Long, pointy, fangs!
Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!
“Savanna, you okay?”
At the sound of Michelle’s voice, Savanna whirled around, her hand instinctively going up to cover her mouth. “I-I’m not feeling well,” she said from behind her hand. “Could you tell Karl that I went home early?”
“Yeah, of course.” Michelle’s eyes clouded with concern. “Are you sure you’re okay to drive? You look pale. Maybe I should take you.”
“No!” Savanna said quickly. “I’m fine. Really. I have to go. I’ll call you.”
She brushed past Michelle and out of the bathroom. She kept her hand over her mouth. If someone saw her fangs…
“Hey, Savanna.”
She looked up to see a tall, lanky man dressed in a lab coat coming down the hall, a clipboard full of papers in hand.
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“Hey, Rob,” she murmured, the words muffled by her hand.
He stopped, eyeing her with the same concern as Michelle. “You don’t look so good. Are you feeling okay?”
“Not really. I’m going to go home.”
“I hope you feel better.”
Savanna would have thanked him if she wasn’t so busy fighting the urge to push him up against the wall and sink her teeth into him. The blood pumped in his veins, taunting her. Oh, God. If she didn’t get out of there soon, she really might bite someone.
With a groan, she ran down the hall and into the small employee locker room. She took off her lab coat and shoved it into her locker, then grabbed her purse. Her hand trembled as she pulled out her keys. Maybe Michelle was right. Maybe she shouldn’t be driving.
But then she thought of all the people who’d be riding the BART, their blood right there for the taking. Even taking a cab was too risky. She couldn’t trust herself to be near anyone right now. The sooner she got back to her apartment, the better.
When she got in her car and cranked the engine, she hesitated. What good would it do to go to her apartment? She had freaking fangs. What was she going to do, give them a good brushing and hope they went away?
Another cramp seized her, this time worse than before. She gripped the steering wheel tighter, watching as her knuckles turned white. When the pain passed and she could finally see straight again, she put the car in gear and drove out of the parking garage. But instead of turning left and going home to her apartment, she turned right and headed toward Nob Hill.
* * * * *
Kaige stared out at the bay. The view from the living room window was one of the reasons he’d bought the place years ago, but tonight he couldn’t be less interested in it. All he could think about was the woman he’d turned. At this point in the transition, she’d be feeling all the urges of a vampire. She just wouldn’t know what they meant. If she went too long without blood, her body would shut down and she would die. And it would be his fault.
He swore under his breath. Why the hell hadn’t he thought to ask her name? Hell, if he’d any sense at all, he would have checked the ID in her purse. She’d been passed out in his bed for two freaking days.