Amaranthine Special Edition Vol II

by Naylor, Joleene

  He toted the box out of the empty apartment and, after they locked up, they clunked down the stairs. He dropped the box off at the car, then they crossed the street and stopped in front of Katelina’s old apartment. When she reached for the door, he caught her hand and shook his head. “I know a faster way.” Before she could ask what it was, he swept her up in one arm and leapt lightly onto the built up planter in front of the store. From there he jumped to the metal awning over the shop’s door and then he propelled them both to the wide ledge outside her apartment windows.

  Katelina stared dizzily down at the ground and her stomach lurched. How had they gotten up there so quickly? Was he like a paranormal kangaroo?

  Jorick obviously wasn’t listening to her thoughts for a change because his only comment was, “Hold on a second.” He juggled her as he opened the window, then helped her slide inside.

  She gracelessly untangled herself from the venetian blind and stepped away from the window so Jorick could follow. Her eyes moved around what should have been her bedroom and a sick feeling swept over her. She’d wanted something to change. Well it had - the place was empty.

  “My stuff,” she choked out, overcome at how thoroughly she had been erased. “All my stuff.”

  Jorick dropped into the room and quickly assessed the situation. He moved to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Your mother probably has it.”

  She stared at the blank walls and they stared back, the nail holes like tiny black eyes. She drew a shuddering breath, and then moved on to examine the other rooms. They were the same. Everything was gone, every scrap, every sign that she’d ever lived there.

  Tears stung her eyes but she let Jorick scoop her up and take her back down the way they’d come. Whenever she’d thought about her abandoned apartment she’d pictured a crime scene: police line stretched across the door and her belongings scattered and broken. She’d never expected that she’d just been erased.

  She was silent on the drive back to Dunwick, lost in her own thoughts. Jorick let her wallow in her grief until they reached the motel; then, he held the door open for her and teased lightly. “Smile precious, maybe tomorrow will be half as fun as tonight was.”

  With a heavy sigh she met his gaze. “God, I hope not. I don’t think I can take any more ‘fun’.”

  **********

  Chapter Four

  It was four a.m. when Katelina called her mother. She left a message that said she and Jorick would visit the following evening, then she barricaded herself in the bathroom and took a long hot shower. When she finished, she stared in the mirror and tried to imagine what her mother would say about her appearance. Though drinking the blood from Kateesha’s heart had healed her injuries, it hadn’t done anything for the scars. All but two were in places her mother wouldn’t be able to see. One of them was a lumpy scar on her left collarbone where Jorick’s original mark had been before Nirel and Adam gouged it out, and the other was the new mark, directly across from it on her right. It was a set of bite marks with a cross cut underneath it, so it didn’t look like it could have occurred naturally. That was the point, of course, but it would make it hard to explain if her mother noticed it.

  Determined to rehearse a lie for it, Katelina dressed in her too girly pajamas and headed back into the bedroom. Jorick lay on the bed in nothing but his trousers, his eyes on the television. She dropped next to him and, though she tried to focus on the sitcom, the smooth planes of his naked chest called her attention.

  He noticed her sideways glance and stretched languidly. “Something on your mind?”

  She wanted to tease him back. She wanted to be smooth and clever and sexy, but she couldn’t think of anything to say, so she fumbled her attention back towards the TV. “What are you watching - Oh!”

  He tackled her and pinned her to the bed. The weight of his hard body pressed her down into the mattress. His face was inches from hers, and his dark eyes burned with an intensity that took away both her breath and coherent thought. “You don’t really care about that, do you?”

  “Uh, no?”

  His laughter was rich and warm. It wrapped around her like a blanket and then faded away. “A little less certain than I’d hoped, but it will do.” He nipped playfully at her ear, his breath hot against her neck. “We should have done this the last time we were here.”

  He traced her ear with his tongue and she swallowed down the argument that they hadn’t really known one another back then. Somehow, it wasn’t important. “Maybe.”

  His hot tongue trailed from her neck to her collar bone, pausing over the scar of her new mark. “You’re certainly a woman who knows her own mind.”

  She slipped her arms around him and ran her hands over his well-muscled back. His skin was smooth and she had the sudden desire to taste it. “Yeah,” she agreed absently. “Sure.”

  His lips traced around her collar, then he suddenly leaned back and tugged her pajama top over her head. She was barely free from it when he rolled to the side and took her with him, so that they lay face to face. She squealed in surprise, but the sound was lost as he crushed her mouth with a searing kiss. She moaned softly and parted her lips to give him better access. His tongue slipped inside and swept around; tangy and coppery, like a penny.

  He ran his hand from her shoulder to her hip, and back up, stopping to cup her breast. His long, pale fingers teased the heavy mound and traced circles around her taut nipple. She moaned again, this time a deeper sound, and arched her body against him, grinding her hips into his thigh.

  “That sounds more decisive.” He broke away to nibble her neck then dropped his mouth to her breasts. She wrapped one leg around him, and ran her hand up his back and side. The desire to lick him resurged in her, and she suddenly pulled away. Confusion clouded his face, but she pressed her palm into the center of his chest and rolled him over onto his back.

  She straddled him and lowered her lips to his broad chest. Her tongue flicked out experimentally, like tasting a forbidden sweet. He shuddered softly and she took her time teasing him. She traced ever widening circles over him, stopping to pluck gently at his nipples with her teeth before she moved lower. She looped around his belly button, then traced the thin line of hair that disappeared beneath his pants.

  Her eyes flashed wickedly as she unfastened his trousers. He sucked in a tight breath as she reached inside and freed his erect manhood from its constraints. She glanced up to his face, but his eyes were closed, so she leaned close and stroked the swollen head with her tongue. He made a deep, low noise in his throat, and she wrapped her lips around him, sucking as he moaned loudly. She moved her mouth up and down, enjoying the noises he made as he throbbed against her tongue. He stirred beneath her, restless, but she held him down, her palms on the flat of his lower abdomen. His back arched and she knew that if he were a human, he’d be almost to the point of climax. But he wasn’t human and it took more. For a vampire, it was all about the mental connection when they drank their partner’s blood; the physical aspect was something he did for her.

  He suddenly gripped her upper arms and rolled her over. His eyes blazed, and his lips drew back from his teeth. He grabbed her and bent her head back, exposing the line of her neck. She felt the sharp points of his fangs brush her skin, but he stopped himself before he punctured it, then he pressed his face into the hollow of her shoulder, his breathing hard and ragged.

  She lay still and wondered if she should comment. “Is he planning to do something or what?” Just when she decided to take matters into her own hands again, he pulled back and jerked his trousers the rest of the way off. Wordlessly, he stripped her of both pajama pants and panties. Then he came back and nudged himself between her legs. She gasped as he pressed into the soft heat between her thighs, and she opened her legs wider to accommodate him. He paused again and she urged him on, needing him, wanting him, desperate for more. He apparently understood as he found her center easily and buried himself inside her, filling her. She cried out and pulled him to her. H
e thrust, hard and fast and she lifted her hips to meet him, falling into rhythm with his need.

  “Katelina,” he growled her name into her tumbled hair. She whimpered softly at the sound and gripped his powerful shoulders with her splayed fingers. His strokes grew harder and faster, and she arched up into him as the heavy, tight feeling started in her lower abdomen, promising the forthcoming release.

  His hot breath warmed her neck, and his lips moved down the line of her throat until they hovered over her mark. His tongue traced it, tasted it, teasing himself and then, with reckless abandon, he sank his teeth into her. She cried out as the moment of pain melted into a kaleidoscope of pleasures; pleasures only a vampire’s bite could give - and only if they wanted it to. She could feel him all around her, pulsating and hot. He was inside her body, inside her mind, surrounding her and owning her as no man ever had before, and she surrendered to him on waves of passion.

  Their bodies moved together, but she was only partially aware of the rhythm. The hot, desperate longing in her loins was replaced by something else; that desire to taste him again. It wasn’t just his skin she wanted to taste it was…

  All rational thought fled and she was nothing but aching, desperate instincts. Instincts that clutched and clawed at his back and drew him closer until she got her lips around his muscular shoulder. She ground her teeth into his skin and tasted the salty flavor of his blood. It wasn’t just salty; it was more, so much more. Like drinking from Kateesha. Hot. Heady. Intoxicating. Never enough.

  And then the world exploded and her body shook and spasmed as she cried out. Jorick released her and the world rushed back. She found herself gasping for breath, covered in a fine sheen of sweat and only semiconscious of the last several minutes and the mysterious taste in her mouth. It was always like that with him. Once he bit her and made the connection, the world disappeared. It was the ultimate thrill; like being drunk, high and hypnotized at the same time.

  Jorick slid off of her and lay beside her on his back. He threw his arm over his eyes and she watched as his chest heaved with his breaths. It was funny to think he didn’t need them and yet, there they were, just the same.

  He felt her scrutiny and lowered his arm with a smile. Wordlessly, he caught her up and pulled her to him. She laid her head on his chest and listened to the sound of his heart beating. The steady rhythm was somehow comforting and she closed her eyes. He absently stroked her hair back from her face and murmured softly, “I love you, Katelina.”

  Without thinking she answered back, “I love you too.”

  There was a moment of silence and then he asked with a false seriousness, “Even if your mother doesn’t?”

  She didn’t bother to answer him.

  Despite the good night, Katelina was glad to be out of the Dunwick motel the next morning. She superstitiously expected history to repeat itself, especially with Hectia and Verchiel still alive. She had a strange feeling that they hadn’t seen the last of them - or at least him.

  She and Jorick stopped for dinner; for her fast food, and for him, a lonely road where the wildlife didn’t know to run. It was seven o’clock by the time they parked across the street from their “appointment with fate”.

  The house Katelina had grown up in was a small fifties suburban affair, painted a cross between neon and shamrock that was politely labeled “Spring Green”. The color transformed the house into a beacon of absurdity, despite the shrubs that surrounded it. Though the poor evergreen bushes tried, they just couldn’t grow tall enough to conceal the whole building.

  The neighbors’ houses, both a more traditional white, sat close by. Their snowy yards were neat and tidy and Christmas lights blinked cheerily in their windows. The street was quiet, lined with a few parked cars, and peacefully illuminated by the streetlights. If only her mother had better taste in paint, it could have been a picture on a Christmas card.

  Jorick stared at the house as if hoping it would disappear. When it didn’t he said, “I suppose we should get this over with.”

  She nodded, then climbed out of the car. The knot in her chest tightened. She was suddenly sure that everything was going to go hideously wrong.

  Jorick came around the car and took her arm. He noticed the expression on her face and hope lit his eyes. “We don’t have to go if you’d rather not. We could skip it, you know? Maybe you could just send her a letter?”

  She straightened her coat uselessly and shook her head. “If we do that she will call the cops.” She took a deep breath. “I’m sure it will be fine. It’s not like she’s going to recognize you for what you are.”

  “You mean a fantastic catch?”

  She laughed and the tension lessened. “That’s not what I meant, exactly, but I guess you are.” She took his free hand in hers and squeezed it. “I do appreciate this, you know?”

  “I know.” He brushed his lips across her forehead. “If we’re going, then let’s go.”

  They crossed the dark street hand in hand and climbed the porch. The motion light stayed dark and Katelina sighed. The bulb blew out before she left, and it looked like her mother still hadn’t changed it.

  She pressed the doorbell. Her hand was barely back at her side before the door jerked open and a disheveled woman peered out. It wasn’t that she was in disarray; her artificially blonde hair was in a neat ponytail and her heavy beige sweater and giant necklace, circa 1965, were presentable enough, but there was an air about her that said she’d only just remembered to find her shoes, and that you’d best not ask her where her glasses were.

  The three blinked at each other, and then the woman squealed, “Katelina!” and launched herself out the door. She pulled Katelina into a too tight hug that, even as she returned, she tried to escape from.

  As suddenly as she’d grabbed her, she let her go and stepped back into the house. “Come in before you freeze to death!”

  They stepped inside and Jorick stopped just inside the door. Katelina caught his arm and tugged him further into the room. The décor was just as hideous as she remembered. The couch and matching chairs were upholstered in bright orange pheasants, the carpet was olive drab and the walls were so buried under pictures and shelves of knick knacks that they could have been any color. Cats, teddy bears, butterflies, and God knew what else covered every square inch. It was a hodgepodge of cliché items that gave the impression a garage sale had exploded.

  Her mother was suddenly in front of her and, in the harsh electric light, she looked older than Katelina remembered. Her shiny eyes had shadows under them and crow’s feet at the corners. She blinked the tears away and stared into Katelina’s face as if she were checking it against a memory. “I’m so glad you’re here!” She grabbed her up in a second suffocating embrace. “I was afraid I’d never see you again.” Her voice broke, followed by a shower of tears.

  Katelina absently patted her mother’s back, and tried unsuccessfully to pry herself loose. “I’m fine Mom.” She looked at Jorick for help, though he offered none.

  Her mother let her go, but only so she could smack her on the arm. “Fine! You’re fine and I’ve been scared to death! They said you’d been kidnapped by a murderer! What in the hell did you think you were doing? No note, no phone call, nothing! You might have called, just once! Just to say you were all right!”

  “I did call.” Katelina took a careful step backwards. “The other day, remember?”

  “Two months too late!” Her mother closed the distance and smacked her again. Her eyes jumped to an uncomfortable Jorick. “So this is the guy?” She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “The one who was so great he was worth disappearing for?”

  Katelina deftly stepped out of her mother’s reach. “Yes, Mom, this is Jorick -” she nodded from one to the other, “- and Jorick, Mom.”

  “It’s a pleasure,” Jorick responded politely, his full lips concealing his vampire teeth. “I’ve heard a great deal about you.”

  Her mother surveyed him critically. “I wish I could say the same fo
r you.” She moved towards him, her expression hostile. “I suppose you’re one of Patrick’s friends?”

  Jorick offered her a tight, fake smile. “I did know him, yes, but I wouldn’t say he was my friend.”

  “They say you killed him. Why would the police say that? What are you mixed up in? Exactly why did you have to haul my daughter off in the middle of the night without so much as a warning?”

  Katelina’s face went crimson at the barrage and she interrupted with a horrified, “Mom! He didn’t haul me anywhere, I went on my own and he just went along.”

  “He can speak,” her mother snapped. “I’d like to hear what he has to say for himself! And don’t worry, I’ll be getting back to you later!”

  Jorick’s pained smile remained, though his eyes narrowed. “I assure you, I did not kill Patrick, nor did I kidnap your daughter.”

  “The police seem to have a different opinion!” She took another step towards him. “You may be good looking, mister, but that only takes you so far. What kind of intentions do you have? Are you like he was, and just looking for a bit of fun, or are you looking for something more serious? Katelina isn’t getting any younger! And why don’t you open your mouth all the way when you talk? It makes you look like a criminal.” She eyeballed him suspiciously. “Where have you been?”

  Jorick answered tartly, “In Maine.”

  “Yes, I know that, or at least that’s where you called from. Just who is Ashton Drake and why were you calling from his phone?”

  Katelina’s surprise was evident on her face, and her mother’s scowl deepened. On reflection, she supposed that Ashton must have been Loren’s brother.

  “He’s a friend of mine,” Jorick answered.

  Her mother made to press further, but Katelina had had enough of the pseudo attack. “Would you stop harassing Jorick? He didn’t do anything wrong!”