by Myla Jackson
He crossed the pavement toward them. “What do you mean?”
“She’s already dead,” Julie said in a whisper, her gaze soft as she stared down at her friend. “All we can hope to do is turn her.”
What was she saying? Roger pushed across his scalp. Hell, even his hair hurt. “Turn her to what?”
Julie stared up at him. “A vampire.”
He stopped in mid-stride. Had he heard her right? “But isn’t she already a vampire?”
As Julie shook her head, he traced back through his conversation with her earlier. “But you said your friend…” He stopped and thought again. “Kim’s not the vampire?”
Julie shook her head again.
Roger looked across at William. “Him?”
“Well, yes. William is a vampire.” As Julie rose to her feet, tears trembled on the edges of her eyelids. “But he’s not the only one I was talking about.”
“You mean you have more friends who are vampires?”
She shook her head. “No. I was really talking about me.”
“You?” Roger sucked in a deep breath as her words sank in. “You’re a vampire?”
“Yes.” Julie’s chin lifted and she met his gaze. “I’m a vampire.”
“Wait. Let me get this straight.” Roger tipped his head to the side, his brain slogging through that last little bit she’d said. “You’re a what?”
“Vampire.”
He inhaled and let it out before asking, “Have you always been?”
“No.” She pressed a hand to the wrist that had been bleeding, but the blood was already drying, the wound closing.
“How long have you been a…a…?” He couldn’t say it, much less believe what she said. Not his sweet Julie.
“A vampire.” She sighed. “I’ve been a vampire since the night before our first date.”
“All this time we’ve been together, you knew?”
She nodded, her shoulders sagging. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”
He clamped a hand to his neck. “Did you…”
“Bite you?” Her gaze dropped to her feet. “Once.”
That’s why his neck had hurt so much. “Last night?”
“Yes.”
“Look, Decker, she didn’t tell you, because she didn’t want to lose you. If you can’t handle that she’s a vampire, that’s your problem.” William stood, lifting Kim in his arms. She still lay limp and lifeless, but color was beginning to return to her cheeks. “I need to get her to the apartment before morning.”
Julie nodded to William “Go ahead. I’ll see you before dawn.”
After William left. Julie faced Roger, her shoulders pushing back. “Are you going to tell anyone?”
“Hey, Decker,” Parker’s voice called out behind him.
Roger turned toward his friend. “I’m here. You all right?”
“Other than a Texas-sized headache, I think I’ll live.” Parker climbed to his feet and staggered over to Roger. “What happened to Mr. Nasty?”
“He’s gone,” Julie answered, her gaze on Roger. “For good.”
Roger nodded.
Parker scrubbed a hand over his face. “Guess what the chief said was true. We got us some vampires kickin’ ass in the city.”
“Yeah.” Roger felt as though he’d been kicked in the gut. Vampires in the city, having his ass pounded by one, then finding out his girlfriend was one of the bad guys and she’d bit him all in one day was more than he could handle. “Come on Parker, let’s get back to the station and report what happened.” He couldn’t look at Julie. Wouldn’t.
Her hand shot out and caught his arm. “Are you going to report everything?”
For a long moment, he stared at her hand. He couldn’t believe she was a vampire. She looked just like she’d always looked. The part that bothered him most was that she didn’t trust him enough to tell him. When he gazed into her eyes, his jaw tightened. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
William took Kim back to his apartment to keep an eye on her through the night and Julie reported to work on time. If her uniform was a little dirty and her hair a mess, she couldn’t help it. Frankly, she didn’t care. Roger had walked away from her without kissing her goodbye.
By the look on his face when he’d left, he might never kiss her again.
When she got a free moment, Julie called William. Kim hadn’t woken yet, but he felt certain they’d caught her in time.
“You comin’ down with what Kim has?” Nurse Lindeman stepped up next to her at the nurses station, a chart open in her hands.
Julie almost laughed at how close the head nurse was to the truth. “Definitely.”
Lindeman completed her notes on the clipboard and handed it to the nurse behind the counter, before she turned to face Julie. “It’s kinda of slow around here, why don’t you go home? We can handle the rest of the shift.”
She wasn’t sure she wanted to go home, but her mind wasn’t on the care of her patients. All she could think about was Roger and whether or not he’d forgive her and accept her for what she was. Yes, she needed a long walk to clear her mind. “If you’re sure you don’t mind.”
Lindeman gave her one of her rare smiles and pushed her toward the door. “Go on.”
Before the head nurse could change her mind, Julie left the ER and walked as fast as she could, putting as much distance between her and the hospital as she could. The farther she went the more she realized she couldn’t walk away from her problems. If Roger chose never to see her again, she’d have to live with that. She couldn’t undo what Luke had done, and she couldn’t stop being a vampire to make Roger want to see her again.
When she finally looked up, she was standing in front of the old apartment house. Sitting on the steps in front was Roger.
Her heart skidded to a halt and her breath lodged in her throat. Roger had come back.
As soon as he saw her, he stood and glanced toward the sky. “Shouldn’t you be getting inside? It’ll be dawn soon.”
Julie nodded and pulled her key from her purse. She had to walk past him to get to the door. The scent of his cologne and the smell of leather combined to make every one of her nerves stand up and shout hallelujah. Roger was back.
Why?
Moving past him, she entered the house and climbed the stairs to her apartment. At her door, she paused with the key poised to slide into the doorknob. “Why are you here?”
“We need to talk.” His jaw was as tight as it had been when he’d left her earlier and the scowl on his forehead didn’t bode well.
Julie nodded and shoved the key into the lock. A flash of anger surged through her. For the past two hours, she’d been wandering the streets wondering whether or not she’d ever see Roger and here he was. Happiness was the appropriate reaction, and she might have been happy if not for the fierce look and feel to the cop following her into her apartment.
As soon as Roger closed the door behind him, he turned to grab Julie’s arms. “Why?”
That seemed to be the question du jour.
She knocked his hands away and fisted her hands on her hips. “Why what?”
“Why did you lie to me? Why couldn’t you just tell me the truth?”
“I tried. But I couldn’t.”
Roger shook his head, his lips twisting. “I thought you were the one. The only woman I could trust…and then this.” He strode across the room and back. “Why?”
“You think I wanted to be a vampire? My life was on track. Great job, a man interested in me and me in him. Then bam!” She threw her arms in the air. “One day I’m human, the next I’m a vampire. I could barely accept it myself. How was I supposed to tell you?”
“The truth would have been a good start.”
“Well, I didn’t. Okay? So I’m flawed, I’m not perfect.”
“I don’t expect you to be perfect. I just expect you to tell me the important stuff.”
“Just because I’m a vampire, doesn’t change who I am inside. I still have feelings,
I can still love.” Her anger evaporated and she sagged onto the arm of the couch. What was the use? He couldn’t love her. She was a monster.
Roger strode to her and gripped her arms, lifting her to her feet. “I was so in love with you. I wanted us to be together forever.” His words came out hard and fast, as if he forced them out. “We were good together.”
She stared into his eyes. “So what’s changed?”
“Everything.”
Julie couldn’t take any more of this, not from the man she’d thought she loved. Tears welled in her eyes and one slid down her cheek. “If that’s the way you feel, there’s the door. Why don’t you use it? Go!” If he walked out, she didn’t know what she’d do. He was the only man she cared about. The only one she could see herself spending her life with. Now that she could be stuck with eternity, he was still the one. “You heard me, go.”
His grip tightened until his fingers dug into her arms. “I can’t.” Then he was kissing her, his mouth slanting hard over hers, his tongue pushing past her teeth to tangle with hers, thrusting hard.
In the back of her mind, she knew she should push him away and toss him out of her apartment. They hadn’t resolved anything between them. The kiss was only clouding the issues and putting off decisions that had to be made.
As the kiss deepened, Julie gave herself up to the rise of desire welling inside. This was where she wanted to be. Surely they could work things out.
Roger’s fingers loosened on her arms and his hands blazed a path down to her hips. With a not so gentle jerk, he yanked her against him until his engorged cock pressed into her belly. “You do this to me.”
Her pelvis rocked automatically, rubbing against the hard ridge of his zipper. She wanted him inside her, fucking her.
“What have you done to me?” he said. “I can’t trust you, and I can’t get enough of you.”
The growl in his voice sent waves of intense longing burning through her. Cream leaked between her legs, wetting the path to her core. No longer content to wait, she squeezed her hands between them and wriggled his trouser button loose. The zipper streaked downward until his trousers fell open. That rigid hunk of male anatomy pushed against snowy white briefs, creating a tempting tent she couldn’t resist.
His hands dipped beneath her scrubs shirt and rose up her rib cage to her lacy bra. Her nipples puckered into tight beads of anticipation. Her shirt flew up over her head, and into the far corner, her pants following. When she stood in nothing but her bra and panties, her entire body shook and it was all she could do to restrain herself from using her strength to toss this man into her bed and fuck him like there was no tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Her resolve to settle things resurfaced in a momentary flash of conscience.
Then Roger slid her bra straps over her shoulders and downward.
Her skin quivered against the rough texture of his fingertips and all thought fled. The sooner she was completely naked, the sooner she could have him inside her filling the void of longing making her pussy moist.
He jerked the clasp loose and flung her bra to the wall, quickly followed by her panties. Then he bent to rasp his tongue across first one then the other nipple, pulling the second one into his mouth and sucking hard.
The answering tug deep inside made her hands rise to his hair and pull him closer. “Please.”
While his lips teased her breast, his fingers dove south, skimming across her abdomen to the furry mound between her thighs.
Of their own accord, her legs parted, giving him greater access to her clit, knotted with highly sensitive nerves.
His hands circled behind her and clasped her buttocks, kneading the fleshy mounds and then he scooped behind each thigh and wrapped her legs around his waist.
Her pussy rubbed along the length of his cock and she moaned.
Without a word, Roger strode into the bedroom and laid her out on the bed, spreading her legs wide. Within a few brief movements, he was out of his clothing and climbing onto the mattress. His mouth lowered and he nipped at her inner thighs, tracing a path to the apex and her creamy cunt.
Julie raised her knees and let them fall to the side, opening herself wider to his assault. When his tongue touched against her pussy, her buttocks squeezed tight, raising her off the mattress and into his mouth.
His fingers replaced his tongue, pushing into her pussy with three digits. His mouth moved upward to find and tease her clitoris, strumming the tightly wound nerves in the swollen nub.
Cum-coated fingers slid up her cleft and parted her folds, exposing her to the cool air, the shock of cold meets hot exciting her even more.
Ripples of sensation bubbled within and built like carbonation in a sealed soda bottle. All it would take was a little more and…
Roger dragged a finger from her pussy to the tight lips of her anus.
Yeah. That would make her soda bottle explode for sure. Julie rose up, wanting the connection, praying he’d finger-fuck her asshole. “Do it,” she whispered. “Do it.”
Then his finger pressed into the hole, past one knuckle to the next. His mouth traveled back to her pussy and his tongue darted in, lapping at her channel.
Julie reached between her legs and stroked her clit, her heels digging into the mattress as her insides surged to the rhythm of Roger’s strokes.
Her muscles tensed as she neared the edge and then she blew her cap, exploding into a jillion splinters of light. Her body rode hard against Roger’s tongue and finger, shuddering with the sheer intensity of her orgasm.
When she finally fell back to earth, her legs fell to the side, limp and shaking. When Julie thought she couldn’t take any more, Roger rose to his knees between her legs and shoved a pillow beneath her ass. Then he drove his cock into her moisture-slick channel. He held her hips, thrusting in and out, his balls slapping against her anus, sexy sucking sounds accompanying his movements.
Pushing upward, she met him thrust for thrust, until he slammed into her one last time. His head tipped backward and he held her tightly against him, his cock pulsing within her channel.
He felt good inside her, his girth stretching the walls of her pussy taut. Julie wished they could always find pleasure in each other. Always be together.
Roger fell to the bed beside her and pulled her into the crook of his arms.
Julie lay there, afraid to say anything to disturb the tenuous truce. As the sun rose over the city, she fell into a troubled sleep.
* * * * * *
Roger left Julie’s place around noon and drove back to his apartment. He couldn’t wait around for her to wake and didn’t want to explain his actions, not when he didn’t understand them himself.
He’d just fucked a vampire. What troubled him was that he wanted to do it again and again. Not because she was a vampire, but because she was Julie. The woman he’d fallen in love with.
If only she hadn’t lied to him. If only she’d been up-front about being turned right when it had happened instead of hiding it from him. She was no better than his ex-wife.
Roger knew he wasn’t being fair. Julie had a heart of gold. She gave of herself in everything she did. Her patients loved her, she’d even given Bob Marley the benefit of a doubt and let him live when she could have justifiably killed him for trying to kill her.
Was his problem that he didn’t want to love Julie? Was he looking for any excuse to avoid committing to her?
Okay, so she was a vampire. That was a pretty big reason not to commit to the woman.
Except she was still the same Julie deep down. So, she’d kept a secret from him. Would he have believed her from the start? Hell, he barely believed it now. If it hadn’t been for the vampire named Luke slamming him around, he might still doubt her word.
Standing beneath the showerhead, Roger let the warm spray beat into his skin, no closer to a decision on what to do about Julie than when he’d shown up at her apartment early that morning. He knew he couldn’t wash her out of his system as easily as he cou
ld wash the soap from his hair and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. Without a doubt, he had to see her again.
Chapter Eleven
Julie went through the motions of getting ready for work that evening, unable to generate any enthusiasm for her shift in the ER. Usually, she looked forward to talking with her coworkers and caring for patients. Not tonight.
Roger was gone when she’d awoken. Nothing had changed. She still didn’t have a clue where they stood, but she felt like he was slipping away. Why should he stay with her? She was a freak, a monster, a frickin’ vampire. Roger deserved a woman who could bear him children, grow old with him and not bite him when they’re making love.
She couldn’t promise she’d be able to control her bloodlust in the midst of passion. Last night she was still satisfied with her previous feeding on Roger and Kim, otherwise, she might have done it again.
When she walked out of her apartment, she realized it was raining and she didn’t care. Sooner or later, she’d have to deal with getting her car fixed. That would be a task in itself. A neophyte to vampire living, she hadn’t learned the ins and outs of moving about in daylight. In order to get her car fixed, she’d have to soon.
As she slogged through the puddles, the rain beat down against her broken umbrella matching her mood. So lost in her own self-pity, Julie didn’t realize she was being followed until a man grabbed her from behind, making her drop her umbrella into the gutter.
Without looking back, Julie knew it was Bob Marley. She could tell by the way he smelled. There was another prominent scent she recognized, but couldn’t quite put a name to. Another perk William hadn’t bothered to tell her about—heightened olfactory senses. “Hello, Bob.”
“I let you go last night because you saved my life,” he said, his coffee breath wafting over her shoulder. “I can’t let you go now.”
She could take him, but first she had to try reasoning with the zealot. “Give it up Bob. You can’t go around killing all the vampires. We’re not all bad.”
“Vampires are abomin—”
“I know, I know. You think we’re abominations. Well, let me tell you, despite the fact I’m a vampire, I’m a damned good nurse and there are people depending on me to help them through the night. Now are you going to let me go so I can get to work, or do I have to shake you loose?”