Keep Me Close

by Elizabeth Cole

  “Does it glow blue when orcs draw near?” she asked. She didn’t mean to be flippant, but there was a lot of serious going on right now.

  “When I meet an orc, I’ll tell you,” Dom said. “But in fact, I use it on demons and other supernasties. Sorry I didn’t mention it before, but I didn’t want to scare you.”

  Yes, that would have caused a lot of questions in Vinny’s pre-vampire world. “Is it magic?”

  “Yup.”

  She handed it back, because she had no business holding a magic anything. “You’d better keep it then. In case more vamps show up.”

  “Not likely. Honestly, vampires are urban predators. There’s other things out here that are way scarier to a vampire than I am.”

  “That vamp seemed pretty scared of you. And you did, you know, kill it.”

  “I really, really hate vampires.”

  “I have more questions.” Vinny paused. “Do you mind?”

  “Not at all. Go.”

  “Are you special?”

  He tipped his head to the side, puzzled. “In what sense?”

  “Do you have superpowers?”

  “Nope.”

  “You’re not magically strong or fast or whatever? You said you cast a spell.”

  “Well, yes,” said Dom. “But technically, anyone can do that if they study up and commit to it. I can cast a little…more, um, spontaneously than most people. That’s the only gift I have.”

  “But…sorry, I keep coming back to the fact that you killed a vampire. How can you do that? Aren’t they super hard to kill?”

  “I have motivation.”

  “Why? What makes them worse than any other monster? You got a history with one, or something?

  “Actually, yes.”

  Vinny thought he’d shut down after that. He looked so fierce just then, and so distant.

  But then he took a breath and said, “There was a girl.”

  Oh, no. Vinny steeled herself. No way was this story going to have a good ending.

  “Her name was Rachel,” Dom said. His voice was quieter than before. “I met her on my twenty-first birthday. First legal drink, so my friends took me out to celebrate. I don’t remember much about that night after I met her. She was gorgeous, and smart, and sweet. And for some reason she liked me. By the end of the night, I was stupid drunk. But I got her number. After I got over the hangover, which hand to God took three days to recover from, I called her. We started dating.” Dom fell silent, tracing patterns in the dirt with his finger. He wouldn’t meet Vinny’s eyes.

  “Tell me she wasn’t a vampire.”

  He regained a little composure. “No, she was human. Very human. A great human. I loved her. I totally thought she was the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with.”

  Vinny didn’t like the desolation in his tone. “I’m guessing it didn’t work out. Did she not like your demon hunting?”

  “She didn’t know about it, not at first anyway. We don’t tell most people the truth about the world, at least not until it’s necessary. So I didn’t tell Rachel until we’d been together for a while. Until I trusted her with it. She took it fine. She had a spiritual streak, and hearing that monsters and the otherworlds are real didn’t faze her. But no matter what I said, she didn’t take the dangers seriously. She started asking questions and getting involved with some pretty dark stuff. I didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late.”

  “She ran into a vampire?”

  He nodded. “Either that, or one heard about her asking questions and sought her out. That’s exactly the way lurkers play with their food. Stalk them, reel them in, trick them into being vulnerable. Vampires love mind games.”

  Vinny nodded, having gotten a glimpse of that.

  He went on, “They love to draw out sympathy or to get people to believe they’re lost, tortured souls who just need a hug. They’re not. Vampires have no soul and no conscience. They’re pure killers.”

  “And one killed your Rachel.”

  “I wish that’s all it did to her.” Dom paused, and Vinny saw that his hands had clenched into fists.

  “What it did was get close to her. They’re wily little fuckers. I think this one played on her curiosity about the otherworlds. She probably didn’t know it was a vampire at all—they can hide it well if they want to. But that one stuck around and learned everything about Rachel, and that meant it learned about my family, and about me.”

  “Such as the fact that you actually hunted vampires.”

  “Exactly. So it kept Rachel in its power, probably drawing off a little blood here and there, but also seducing her into believing whatever it said. Then it decided it was time for round two. It took Rachel to its lair and let me know it had her. At that point, all I knew was that Rachel had been kidnapped by a vamp. I didn’t know it had been playing a game for weeks already. I went after Rachel to get her back before she got turned into dinner.”

  “What happened?”

  “I succeeded, mostly. The vampire got away, but I was able to get Rachel free. I took her home. I was ready to quit hunting, do whatever I had to so Rachel would never be in that sort of danger again.”

  “And?”

  “I was telling her all that, and she just kept telling me that she was sorry she’d taken the risk and that she loved me and that she just wanted us to be together. And then we got to the door of my apartment.”

  Vinny had to remind herself to breathe. “And?”

  “I had a lot of wards up around my home. Same thing I did with the bike earlier. Spells of protection and binding, and general anti-evil stuff. The second Rachel’s foot touched the border, she started hissing, and I found out I hadn’t saved her at all. She’d been turned already. She was a vampire.”

  Vinny saw the emotion he was trying to keep below the surface. Don’t give him a hug. He’s a demon hunter and demon hunters probably don’t do hugs.

  “Did she try to kill you?” Vinny asked instead.

  “Not right then. She laughed at me, then got away before I could bind her. And then she spent the next few months tormenting me. For fun. Because that’s what vampires do.”

  “How did she do that?” Vinny asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

  Dom sat up, his attitude shifting to something angrier. “Sending me little messages. Letting me know she knew where my youngest brother was at all hours. Or she’d leave her victims for me to find. But the worst was that she’d play mind games, pretending that she still remembered her humanity. She begged me to help her find a way to unvamp her, to get her soul back. Even just to kill her…which was the one thing I couldn’t do, because despite everything, I still loved her.”

  “But…” Vinny said slowly, aware that she was treading into waters she didn’t know, “if you loved her, you’d kill her. Especially if she was just an evil husk, right? I’d want you to kill me in that situation. Or I would before I got made into an evil husk, I guess.”

  “I tried to save her first,” Dom said. “I worked with my family and people they knew to discover if there was any possible way to change what happened. But there’s no cure, and no way to actually end a curse like that. All you can do is destroy the thing that looks like the person you want to save. So in the end that’s what I did.”

  “All alone?”

  “I had some help. My family is deeply weird, but proactive when it comes to destroying evil. We tracked Rachel the vampire, trapped it, and killed it. I killed it,” he added. “And afterward, I had to live with the consequences of everything I’d done to put her in that situation.”

  “It wasn’t your fault a vampire found her.”

  Dom shook his head. “It was my fault for not preparing her better, or warning her. Or even protecting her more, which I could have done if I’d known her full name. Which, turns out, I actually didn’t.”

  “Oh.” That explained his saltiness about the name thing.

  “Yeah. So that’s the long version of why I hate vampires.�
�� Dom looked away, out into the darkness beyond.

  Vinny wished she could do something to pull him back from the memories he was lost in. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made you talk about something like that.”

  “You didn’t make me do anything, Vin. I wanted you to know what happened. What could have happened to you too.”

  “I’m really glad you were there tonight.”

  He gave her a little smile. “Me too.”

  They both fell silent. Vinny stared into the flames, her mind unsettled. Piewicket climbed into her lap after a while, and curled up, purring. Vinny slowly calmed down. She wasn’t calm, exactly, but something about the fire and the cat helped to knock the edge off the weirdness she’d just learned about.

  Something cracked in the darkness behind her, and Vin looked back in alarm.

  “Just a mule deer,” Dom said, his attitude unperturbed. “Actually, two. I can see their outlines.”

  She nodded, trusting him. Vampires probably didn’t sound like deer, and Dom could probably tell the difference.

  A little while later, despite her newfound knowledge and the return of the dread she’d managed to bury up till now, she was having trouble keeping her eyes open. Sleep didn’t seem compatible with the idea that the supernatural was real, but she yawned anyway.

  “I guess it’s time for bed,” she said, half hoping he’d say it wasn’t.

  “Good idea. Blankets are out.”

  She removed Piewicket from her lap and crawled to the blankets, which Dom had arranged to be separate, probably because the fire would be enough to keep them both warm, unlike the first night they’d been forced to sleep outside.

  She took a nervous breath, then asked, “Dom? Can I sleep by you? Not in a sexy way. Just…” Because she was suddenly scared of the dark, and this guy could kill monsters.

  “Sure.”

  “Because I know I did that thing last night, which I shouldn’t have and…”

  “Vin. I said sure. No strings attached.”

  “Oh. Thanks.” Vinny brought her blanket close to his and laid down. He shrugged out of his leather jacket, then did the same.

  She wriggled her body to be next to his. To get comfortable, she had to put her arm over his chest, which was a little awkward. “This all right?” she asked.

  “I’m not complaining, am I?”

  “Do you always answer questions with questions?”

  “What do you think?”

  She smacked him gently in the chest. “You’re a smart ass.”

  “Thank you.” He paused. “I’m not going to try anything. Unless you ask nicely.”

  “Don’t hold your breath. Sexytimes is the last thing on my mind.”

  “You’re safe, Vin,” he promised.

  Vinny tucked her head on his chest, trying not to think of how well she fit next to him. That thought would lead her dangerous places, and the world was already way more dangerous than it seemed just a few hours ago. “What makes you so sure it’s safe?” she asked.

  “I got a sense about these things. Like when we met those bikers, or even when I stopped to pick you up.”

  “You thought I was dangerous?”

  She felt rather than heard him laugh, a low rumble in his chest. “Let’s say I thought you looked like trouble.”

  “But you picked me up anyway.”

  “I knew I could handle you.”

  Vinny wanted to roll her eyes…but she also wanted to think about exactly how he could handle her, and whether it would be like in the motel room, or something else. But before she could decide, her body finally gave in to post-panic exhaustion, and she fell asleep.

  Chapter 10

  The morning sky was light, but the sun had not quite risen when Vinny woke up. The air was downright chilly, even with the blanket. She huddled closer to Dom, seeking heat.

  “See? A vampire-free night,” he said, his voice rolling over her like warm honey.

  “You’re awake,” Vinny said.

  “Getting there. Not much incentive to get up, so I’ve just been thinking.”

  “Thinking of what?”

  Dom shifted slightly, and Vinny found herself face to face with him.

  “I’m thinking I’m going to kiss you,” he said.

  He kissed her, gently enough that she could pull away if she wanted. She did not want to at all. She leaned into the kiss, seeking not just the warmth of him, but something else too. Connection.

  And the connection she felt was like an electric current. Dom needed a shave, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to melt into him. She opened her mouth, because why stop now? He wasn’t shy about slipping her some tongue, and she wasn’t shy about taking it, because she practically glued herself to him to get more.

  She pushed the blanket aside to get better access to him and in the morning light, she saw his tattooed arms clearly. Reaching out to trace the lines of the Celtic-style sleeve, she said, “You told me I should ask about these later, and it’s later.”

  Dom glanced to where she was touching the ink, at the center of a complex spiral design. “It’s not that long a story. My dad’s side of the family has some Irish roots. So I wanted to represent that, I guess.”

  “These spirals look like the stones at Newgrange,” Vinny said, idly following the curve of one of them.

  “That’s exactly what it comes from,” Dom said. “How do you know about Newgrange?”

  “I’ve been there. It was one of the stops on my European tour.”

  “Your band went on a European tour?”

  She wrinkled her nose, annoyed at herself. “No. Not any of the bands. I meant I traveled Europe—the British Isles and some of the continent, mostly the Western part. It was a while ago.”

  “I could see you backpacking that,” Dom said.

  Actually, Vinny hadn’t backpacked at all. Her mother had paid for the trip, which included stays at exclusive guest houses and five-star hotels. It had been her last bid to get Vinny to come back to school and be a good, respectable daughter.

  It didn’t work.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Point is, I hit a lot of the landmarks. Newgrange was one of them. I thought it was really cool. Kind of like being in a church. I’m not churchy, but it felt sacred.”

  Dom nodded seriously.

  She pointed to the other tattoo, the Mexican Lady Death. “You probably had some church-going in your life.”

  He grinned. “More than I wanted. I was an altar boy.”

  Vinny laughed out loud. “I’d pay to see a picture of that.”

  “Pictures exist. My abuela would show you them for free.”

  “But you didn’t get this ink when you were an altar boy,” she said.

  “Much later,” he agreed. His eyes darkened. “Let’s change the subject.”

  “To what?”

  He kissed her again. Vinny was content to let him pull her beneath him. She liked the warmth of being surrounded by the blankets, and then him. It blocked out the world, and left only them.

  God, this was bliss. It was so different than before, when Dom had been aggressive, and even harsh. Now he put no pressure on her, he just was there, diligently making her turn to liquid with every touch of his mouth. She could stay like this for hours, just kiss after kiss after kiss. An all-day make out session.

  The jangle of a cell phone ring spoiled the mood.

  Dom sighed, and rolled away for a second. He got his phone out of a pocket and mashed the button to stop the call. Then he looked back at Vin with an apologetic smile.

  “So” she said finally. “That was good until the interruption, anyway.”

  He lay back, staring up at the sky. “I’ve been wanting to do that since, well, almost since I met you.”

  “You hid it well. Especially when you flat out turned me down in the motel room.”

  “The timing was bad,” he said.

  Vinny’s reasons were bad, is what he meant, but Vinny knew he was too polite to put it like that
. “And it’s better now?”

  “I don’t know. But before, it felt wrong.” He shifted again, seeking another kiss, this one a little more searching. “Feel that?” he asked after he pulled away.

  Vinny felt a little lightheaded. Kisses weren’t actually supposed to taste sweet, were they? That was a metaphor. But that last kiss, she could eat that up with a spoon.

  “Feel what?” she asked.

  “It’s want,” he said seriously. “Before, you didn’t want me.”

  “Um, no offense, but you’re an idiot.”

  “I don’t mean you weren’t turned on, Vin. Hell knows I was. But you didn’t put on that little show because you liked me. You were trying to pay for something. It was all wrong, especially because I didn’t want to get paid.”

  “But it’s different this morning?”

  “Yes.” He kissed her again. “Now we know each other’s names.”

  “That’s not the same thing at all.”

  “I’m not good with words right now.” He slid a hand down to her waist, then her hip. “Vin, how would you—”

  The phone rang again. Dom closed his eyes, and growled, “For fuck’s sake, Mal.” He grabbed the phone. “What?”

  Vinny couldn’t hear the person on the other end, but after a moment, Dom said, “Today. Swear it. I lost a little time. Killed a lurker. No, just happened to cross paths with one. No client. Yeah, okay. Don’t call again.”

  He put his phone back into his pocket. “Damn it.”

  “Who’s Mal?”

  “My brother. Helpfully reminding me that I have somewhere to be.”

  “I really wish we both didn’t have somewhere to be.”

  “But we do,” Dom said. “The timing’s still bad. Sorry.”

  “Uh, it’s probably for the best. Not that you’d know it, but I swear I don’t do casual.”

  “Neither do I. All evidence to the contrary.” He briefly touched her cheek, then said, “Things don’t always work out.”

  “Story of my life,” Vinny agreed. She sat up before she could change her mind. “If we hit the road, we can get some breakfast. I’ll even pretend to try to pay before you beat me to the check.”

  They stopped at a roadside restaurant not long afterward. Breakfast was quiet. The diner was pretty empty, but more than that, Vinny and Dom didn’t know what to talk about.