Blood Vice

by Angela Roquet

  “Yeah,” Mandy said, twisting around in the barstool so she could look at my sister. “That’s why we have to stop them. Before they disappear.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  I wasn’t ready to forgive Laura yet, but I could tell it wouldn’t be long. She’d done the laundry and dishes while Mandy and I had been out. I think what made it especially impressive was that she probably hadn’t done housework since she’d left Missouri and taken off for the Hollywood Hills.

  David Steckleman had a mansion and a whole staff of professionals to run the place. Though he’d never proposed to my sister, he had moved her in and adequately spoiled her. Just like the last three before Laura. And just like the last three, as soon as her thirtieth birthday was on the horizon, he’d let her go as if their relationship were nothing more than an expiring business contract.

  My and Laura’s twenty-ninth birthday was coming up in October. Just a few months away. I wondered if vampires celebrated birthdays, and then I decided that I didn’t care. I was going to celebrate, damn it. Let House Lilith just try and stop me.

  Laura picked up my bloody cup from the table and paused in front of my chair. The worry hadn’t left her eyes since Mandy’s confession about the brothel activities. The girl had headed to bed early, and now that it was just Laura and me, she looked ready to cry.

  “Jenna, what are you doing?” She pulled out the chair beside me and sat down with a heavy sigh. “I mean really, what are you doing? What happens when you actually find this place and these missing girls?”

  My shoulders rose up in a tense half-shrug. “I’m a cop. I’ll figure it out.”

  “You’re a sidelined cop who just got herself killed,” Laura reminded me, gently putting her hand on my leg to let me know her words hadn’t been meant as a jab. Just the truth. “Do you have a plan? Are you going to arrest a vampire and try to book them?”

  I made a pained face. “Mandy says that would be a bad idea. House Lilith rules and all.”

  Laura nodded. “That’s another thing. What happens if they sniff you out? Are you supposed to get…registered?” Her eyebrows drew together like it was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard of. Registered vampires. I pictured a crusty old ID card with Dracula making an awkward DMV grimace. No one took a good picture at the DMV. Well, except for maybe Laura.

  The rattle-grumble I’d come to associate with Vin’s vintage Beetle slipped through the walls, announcing his arrival. At this hour of the night, it was hard to miss. I slapped both hands over my face with a labored sigh.

  “I called him,” Laura said, giving me a strained smile. “I told him everything—well, everything that he didn’t already know.”

  I dragged my hands down my cheeks and stared at her. “Tell me you guys did not discuss my new condition over the phone.”

  “Not exactly…” She chewed one side of her bottom lip. “It was more like, ‘She’ll be unavailable after sunrise.’ And he was like, ‘I’d say so.’” She blinked innocently. “No one used the V word.”

  “Uh-huh.” I stood up from the table and headed for the front door, not wanting the doorbell to wake Mandy. She’d looked like she needed the rest.

  My stomach churned uneasily from the Bloody Betsy—Laura’s clever name for the cow blood concoction she’d mixed me—but I summoned all the humility I could muster before opening the front door as Vin started up the porch steps. He froze and gave me an uncertain look, both eyebrows raised as if requesting my permission to continue.

  “I’m sorry,” we said at the same time, both following it up with uneasy laughter.

  I slipped out onto the porch and closed the door behind me. The crickets were singing, and dew had already begun to settle on the grass. It glistened anytime the fireflies lit up. Summer nights in Missouri were warm, but a gentle breeze cut through the neighborhood, making the air more bearable. I wanted to enjoy it—and I wanted some privacy from my nosy sister and Mandy’s super wolf hearing.

  I sat down on the edge of the steps and waited for Vin to join me. He moved slowly, his actions more calculated and cautious than before. I tried not to let it bother me. I’d taken more than my fair share of offense with him, and all for something that wasn’t his fault.

  “So,” he said, rubbing his hands over his knees. “Looks like all the cards are finally on the table.”

  He’d changed out of the flashy clothes and reverted back to khaki shorts and a polo. Though he’d left the glasses at home. I took a long look at his face, trying to see him beyond the stain of betrayal that I now knew to be a lie. His brown eyes were curious and hopeful. They took me in, adoring me in a way that I remembered feeling butterflies over in high school.

  Could I feel that way about him again? I watched him, waiting for something to come over me. But all I felt was embarrassed regret.

  “I am really sorry about all of this,” I said. “I had no idea Laura could be so cruel.”

  Vin blushed, and his eyes flicked away from mine. “I had no idea she was such a good actress. I feel completely violated. You realize I’ve spent years wondering what went wrong that night? I went from thinking I was a terrible lover to thinking you had been under the influence of something and had actually forgotten…” He made a horrified face. “If you—if Laura—hadn’t been so aggressive and initiated everything, I almost would have considered myself a rapist.”

  “Wow.” I hugged myself and shuddered. “I can’t even imagine what that must have been like for you.”

  “Me?” He laughed. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you when Jason Tanner told the whole school what he’d witnessed at Mooney Park.”

  I gasped, the final mystery solved. “That’s why she took you there.” Laura had wanted to snoop on her ex—and possibly make him jealous. Too bad Vin had been calling out my name instead of hers.

  Vin blushed again, clearly embarrassed that he’d been such a pawn. We both had been. “So, how long have you been a mistress of the night?” he asked, wagging his eyebrows. If he wanted to change the subject, I’d let him. It was a sore spot for me, too.

  “Three nights,” I answered, invoking a casually humorous tone as I blew on my nails and rubbed them down the shoulder of my tee shirt. “I’m basically a pro now. At least, I haven’t eaten anyone’s face off yet. So there’s that.”

  “Did you…drink the blood I brought?” he asked timidly. “I noticed you didn’t throw it at me like the flowers I brought.”

  I winced. “Sorry about that. And, yes, I drank it.” I hesitated and gave him a lopsided smile. “You didn’t happen to bring any more of that, did you?”

  “Sorry.” He pressed his lips together, and a mischievous sparkle lit his eyes. “But if you’re in need of a donor…”

  A tremor rippled through my chest, and I shivered. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. I haven’t tried anything besides cow blood and the one bag you brought.” I tried to ease away from him without being too obvious. My canines were responding automatically, and my mouth watered.

  “I just ate a big meal,” Vin said. “And if you have some cookies and OJ on hand, I think we could make this work. Trust me, I’m a doctor.” He put a hand over his heart and gave me a goofy smile.

  “Why are you so eager to bleed for me?” I asked, trying to laugh off the panic hitching my breath. “It’s not like you have anything to atone for. I know that now.”

  Vin reached for my hand as I scooted to the far edge of the porch steps and angled myself toward him. “I’m not trying to atone,” he said. “I like you, Jenna. I have since high school. And if there’s any chance that you might feel the same way about me, especially in light of your sister’s recent reveal,” he added under his breath, “then I want you to feel like you can count on me to help you through this.”

  “You are helping me through this,” I said, resisting the urge to pull my hand out from under his. “The blood bag was very appreciated. Thank you.”

  He sighed and leaned away from me. �
�I stole that from the hospital when I went to pick up a body this afternoon. I’m not proud of it.”

  “Oh.” Crap. Now I was encouraging him to break the law and risk his medical license and livelihood on my behalf. “Well, there’s always the cow blood,” I said dismally. I couldn’t even fake enjoying that. Ugh.

  “What am I? Chopped liver?” Vin asked, mock offense in his tone. He squeezed my hand. “What are you so afraid of? Do you think I’ll bite back or something?”

  I sucked in a shaky breath as my canines rubbed the inside of my lower lip. An uneasy tightness filled my chest and stomach, and I realized that my body was fighting against me. There was a warm, willing meal sitting within arm’s length, and here I was, debating whether or not I should turn it down. That I was starving didn’t help.

  I licked my lips and stared at Vin, watching the look of hopeful excitement return to his eyes. His hand tightened around mine, and I could feel the sweat on his palm.

  “Let’s go inside,” I whispered, nodding my head at the door.

  Vin tripped over the top step in his haste to stand. The red shade of my hunger didn’t miss anything. I could see the throb of his pulse, the rush of blood through veins just beneath his skin. Something about the silent invasion made me feel dirty, like Superman abusing his X-ray vision.

  I placed a finger over my lips as I closed the front door behind us. The kitchen light was on. It spilled into the living room, providing just enough illumination for us to find our way to the sofa without tripping over the coffee table.

  Twin snores drifted down the hallway—through my and Laura’s old bedroom door. All of my senses were flying off the charts. I’d noticed the intense smells before. Some were even familiar, like the vanilla and orange scent of my mother’s candles. Like Vin’s cologne and sweat. But now that I was slowing things down and focusing, I realized there was so much more to it than that.

  I could hear the clock in the kitchen and the buzz of the light fixture over the sink. I could hear Vin’s breath as it rushed in and out with anticipation. The backs of my arms brushed against the suede upholstery of the sofa, and I felt the warmth of Vin’s leg through my jeans as he scooted closer to me. I was drowning in the strange bliss that everything seemed to conjure.

  Vin unbuttoned the collar of his polo.

  “What are you doing?” I whispered.

  He glanced up at me and pursed his lips. “Uh…isn’t the neck the best place to, you know—” He gave me a sheepish smile.

  I hesitated. “I honestly don’t know, but I’m sure your wrist would work just as well.”

  “Maybe I’ve just seen one too many vampire movies.” He shrugged but left his collar undone. “Is there anything we should have on hand before we do this? Bandages? The OJ and cookies maybe?”

  “Right.” I stood, suddenly anxious to put some distance between us. “I’ll be right back.”

  I circled the sofa and darted into the kitchen. Laura had put all the groceries away. Other than the Bloody Betsy ingredients, all I could remember that she’d bought was eggs. I dug around in the refrigerator but couldn’t locate any OJ. The orange Gatorade would have to do. In the pantry, I found a half-eaten box of chocolate chip cookies. They’d been left open, and while I couldn’t taste them to make sure they hadn’t staled, my heightened sense of smell confirmed that they were still fresh.

  I handed Vin the human refreshments over the back of the sofa and then zipped out of the living room again, stopping in front of the linen closet in the hallway outside my bedroom. My hands were shaking, and I wasn’t sure if it was more from hunger or fear.

  I didn’t know what I was doing. What if this all went horribly wrong? How would I explain this to Laura and Mandy? How would I explain it to the police?

  I put my fingers to the side of my neck, feeling for my pulse. I tried to recall my first aid training course. What artery was that? The carotid or the aorta? What was the one in the wrist? Which one was I most likely to accidentally hit? I grabbed a box of bandages from the linen closet and stood there a minute, wondering if I should call the whole thing off.

  “Everything okay?” Vin asked. He stood at the mouth of the hallway. The kitchen light split him down the middle, leaving his other half in the dark of the living room. When I didn’t answer, he took a careful step toward me, leaving the window of light and joining me in the shadows.

  “I don’t think I can do this,” I said, my voice breaking. I clutched the box of bandages to my chest as Vin shushed me and wrapped his arms around my back, encasing me in a hug.

  “Hey, don’t sweat it,” he whispered in my ear. “I can get more bagged blood—”

  “I don’t want to compromise your job—”

  “I’ll find another way.” He stroked the back of my neck and then took the bandages from me and placed them on the closet shelf. “Even if I have to draw it from myself. It’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out.” His chest felt warm and solid against me. I breathed in the scent of him and slid my hands under his arms, linking them behind his back with a sigh.

  “Vin, you don’t owe me anything—”

  He stopped me with more shushing and rubbed his hands in circles over my back. I relaxed, melting against him. This felt nice. Too nice. I was almost embarrassed by how much I enjoyed his touch.

  I hadn’t really dated since Mom’s death. I was sure Dr. Townsend would remind me—or Laura, rather—about that at my appointment. She’d suggest it was another footstep I was following. I couldn’t remember Mom ever going on a date while Laura and I were growing up. It didn’t seem odd until I really thought about it. I wondered why. Were two ornery girls really that much baggage?

  Vin reached up and loosened the elastic of my ponytail, gently pulling it free until my hair fell in a tangled wave down my back. He ran his hands through it and made a soft noise against my ear. Something stirred low in my stomach, and then his mouth was on my neck, laying light kisses in a line down to my shoulder where the collar of my tee shirt began.

  My vision melted to red as I took a shuddering breath. “Vin,” I gasped his name, the sound a collision of want and fear and warning.

  “Jenna,” he said, his lips grazing my cheekbone. My chin bumped his shoulder, and my mouth moved like a magnet.

  Everything happened too fast. My canines sank into the meat of his neck, and my tongue lapped at the blood that spilled from the two puncture marks. My arms were still locked behind Vin, and I felt him groan as my grasp on him tightened.

  I tasted the chemical trace of cologne and the salt of sweat, but it was soon washed away by the bittersweet tang of blood. My lips burned from the heat of it, but I didn’t care. It was so good. So dangerously good.

  Vin’s breath grew ragged in my ear, and I felt a stab of panic. What if I couldn’t stop? How much had I consumed already? How much was too much? Then Vin’s hand crawled up my ribcage and cupped my breast. He leaned into me, and my back knocked against the hallway wall. His arousal stabbed at my hip, and I was forced to pry my mouth away from his neck.

  I gasped as he sagged against me. His eyelids fluttered, and I realized it wasn’t just because of the spell of desire. He was about to lose consciousness. He moaned, and one side of his mouth tugged up in a shaky grin.

  “Vin?” I whispered, my breath heavy from his weight and my racing heart. “Oh, shit. I took too much.”

  I ducked my shoulder under his arm and pulled him upright. It was easier than I’d anticipated. With his blood coursing through me, I felt like I could have put him in a fireman’s hold and run laps around the neighborhood. God, I felt good.

  “Hold on, Vin,” I said, dragging him back into the living room and onto the sofa.

  “I’m okay,” he said, reaching for the button on his shorts. I grabbed the Gatorade and cracked it open before holding it up to his mouth.

  “Drink,” I demanded.

  Vin made a disgruntled noise, but he obeyed. He chugged a third of the bottle before I relented and let him take a breath
.

  “Wow,” he said, shaking his head. “Does the room always move this fast?”

  “Cookies next,” I said, stuffing my hand down into the box. When the kitchen light caught on the blood dripping down his neck and into the collar of his polo, I dropped the box in his lap and jumped up to fetch the bandages.

  “Careful,” Vin said, adjusting his groin with a grimace. He stuffed a cookie into his mouth and stared at me, his eyes still dreamy and unfocused.

  I grabbed the bandages out of the linen closet along with a tube of antibiotic ointment and rushed back to the sofa. Vin didn’t seem to notice that half his collar was soaked with blood. But at least it wasn’t squirting across the room. That was a good sign.

  “Hold still,” I said, gooping the ointment over the holes I’d left in his flesh. I unwrapped the biggest bandage I could find and slapped it over his neck, earning a soft groan. “This was a bad idea,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m not,” Vin said around a cookie. He reached for my hand, but I moved out of reach and down to the opposite end of the couch. “If we get all touchy feely again, I could end up killing you.”

  “Maybe if I tied you up first.” He licked a crumb from his bottom lip and made a suggestive noise in the back of his throat. “We can be creative.”

  “Vin.” I felt my cheeks flush at his brazenness and wondered if maybe the blood loss was still affecting him. “You’re moving too fast for me. This is all still so new.”

  “What? I’ve already seen you naked.” He wagged his eyebrows at me, and my jaw unhinged. I couldn’t believe he would say something so crude about me in my corpsified daytime condition. Ugh. It was just wrong.

  “Oh my God.” I made a face at him. “Please, don’t make me regret this more than I already do.”

  “Sorry,” Vin said. He blinked a few times as if his words were just now catching up with him. “I don’t feel so good.” He looked down at the box of cookies and frowned before taking another drink of Gatorade.