I closed my eyes and inhaled, drawing the smell of blood into my head, where it curled around my brain like incense smoke around a lamp. This need was part of me now, and I had to accept it or die.
I opened my eyes and stared down into Regina’s liquid brown gaze, letting myself forget who I was, who I belonged with, who I’d ever been.
It was time to become a vampire.
Regina tipped my chin down and kissed me with a tenderness I never thought she possessed. I focused on the scent of Ken’s blood on her breath. Her lips were warm and almost unbearably soft, like rose petals.
She held the sweet, chaste kiss for several moments. Finally my shoulders lowered as the tension dripped out of them.
Her tongue flicked against the underside of my upper lip. My gasp opened my mouth a fraction of an inch. She deepened the kiss.
I tried to let myself become nothing but Body, tried to let Regina’s tongue coax my lips apart, let her hips arch beneath me, spreading my thighs around them. Let her have me.
“Oh yeah,” Ken whispered. “You girls are so hot together.”
My body tensed. I wanted to claw out his eyes so he’d stop watching, to rip off his hands so he’d stop stroking.
But he could end my life with five words: she never had chicken pox.
“Come on.” Ken’s voice tightened. Skin shifted against skin in a quickening rhythm. “That’s it, yeah. Show me more.”
Everything inside me crumbled. “No…” I shoved against Regina. Her grip loosened, and I toppled backward, knocking my head on the table leg.
“What’s wrong?” She kept her voice sweet, but her eyes held a deadly warning.
“I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can,” she said through gritted teeth.
“I can’t.” I turned to Ken, who had frozen mid-stroke. “Listen, I wasn’t a vampire last week. I was human. I was alive. Then I got chicken pox and would’ve died if my friends hadn’t turned me into this.” I lifted my arms, then let them fall to my side. “Now I’m trying to make the best of it.”
He gaped at me. To his credit, he had mostly lost his erection (not that I looked). “Man, that sucks. I’m sorry for, um, for your loss.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “That was lame. How do you offer condolences to a dead person?”
Perversely, I felt bad for embarrassing him. “I’m not dead anymore, if that helps.”
He looked up at me. “But what’s that got to do with this?”
“The health department and the CDC want to quarantine everyone without chicken pox immunity.”
“Yeah, I heard something about that.” He glanced around. Figuring he wanted to get dressed, I handed him the pair of boxers near my feet, ignoring Regina’s simmer. “Thanks,” he said, covering himself with them rather than putting them on (clearly he still had hope).
Regina sighed. “They’re offering rewards to people who contribute to the list. So if the health department knocks on your door, what will you tell them about Ciara here?”
“Nothing.” He looked between us. “Really, I swear.”
I didn’t believe him. He probably knew on some level we wouldn’t let him leave without a promise to hide my secret. That didn’t mean he would keep it. But surely there was a solution I could live with, literally and figuratively.
Ken sat up. “Is that what this was all about? Buying my silence with sex?”
“That’s not all it was about,” Regina said. “Ciara needs blood, preferably directly from a human, preferably while that human is having an orgasm.”
Ken was starting to look seriously weirded out. “Why?”
“It tastes better that way. She’s having issues.”
He turned to her. “What about you?”
“I have no issues.”
“Yeah, right,” I muttered.
“That’s not what I meant,” he told her. “I mean, do you need blood? While… you know.” He glanced down at himself.
Her lashes lowered as she gazed at him. “I am in the market for a new donor, yes. If you’re nice and sane.”
His eyes unfocused, mesmerized. “I could be sane for you.”
I sensed my opportunity to escape and let Regina seal the deal, so to speak, on her own. I took a step toward the door to the apartment, then stopped and looked at the door to the upstairs. I longed to run to Shane, but would he even want to look at me after I’d returned his ring and caressed another man?
Shame—and let’s face it, lingering hunger and curiosity—propelled me up the stairs, back to David.
“Be careful,” Regina warned as I retreated.
David was hunched over my desk with his back to me.
“Hi.”
He jumped a foot in the air. “Ciara! Jesus, you gave me a heart attack.”
We eyed each other warily. The tug definitely remained, me for his blood and him for my fangs (which were still out). But thanks to the dose of Ken, the edge was gone. I didn’t feel an urge to pounce—well, not an uncontrollable urge.
I saw the unfamiliar phone on my desk. “Did you find the text messages?”
He nodded, so vigorously I thought he’d pull a neck muscle. “Luckily his phone wasn’t password protected.”
“He’ll be down there for at least a few more minutes. Enough time for me to double-check.”
David handed me the phone, then stepped back to put my desk between us. “Everything go okay?
I just shrugged and turned my attention to Ken’s phone. The messages were indeed deleted, so I set the phone on the edge of my desk.
David touched his chin. “By the way, you have a little…” He handed me a tissue.
Confused, I wiped my face. Blood streaked the tissue. “Gross. Can I tell you a secret?”
“You hate being a vampire?”
“It’s that obvious?”
“No, but the fact that your engagement ring is gone tells me that there’s no joy in Bloodville.”
“It doesn’t fit anymore.” I splayed the fingers of my left hand. “I guess because my body temp has gone down. Doesn’t that cause shrinkage?”
“Your other ring is still there.”
“My right hand has fatter fingers.”
“Ciara, I don’t think your problem is shrinkage.”
Veering away from him, I crossed the office to Lori’s desk, where I slumped into her chair. “You were wrong. Shane and I would’ve been happy forever as human and vampire—as much forever as we could give each other. But now I’m someone he doesn’t recognize. Maybe someone he can’t love. It doesn’t matter how much time we have in front of us if he can’t stand who I am.” I twisted my hands in my lap, trying not to notice David drifting closer. “I always said vampires and con artists were a lot alike. But he never knew me as a hard-core criminal, only a recovering one.”
“He’ll come around.” David took another step, closing to within a few feet of the desk.
“Maybe.” I scooted my chair away several inches, backing its wheels up against the wall. “I had to give him a chance to reconsider marrying me. Otherwise it’s a bait and switch.”
“Ciara, people change a lot over their lives.” He moved closer, his fingers trailing along the back of the chair beside Lori’s desk, which held a precarious stack of papers. “I told you what happened to my dad after he got promoted.”
“He got bitter and self-destructive.” I rubbed my mouth to keep the drool inside. “Why should that make me feel better?”
“The point is, my mother still loved him just as much. When you commit to someone, it’s for better and worse, richer and poorer, in sickness and in health.”
“Until death do us part for three or four minutes. The thing is, Shane and I haven’t said those vows yet.”
He reached the edge of the desk, so close I could grab him. “Do you need to?”
“My dad never married my mom—the woman who raised me, I mean, not my biological mother.” I swiveled my chair so I faced the front wall. “He abandoned her after they we
nt to prison. I know now that it was because of his undercover work with the Control, but she doesn’t know that.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw David’s hand drift to his shirt collar.
“If they were married,” I continued, “she could’ve joined him in witness protection, rather than rotting away in prison wondering why the love of her life forgot her. So yeah, marriage matters.” I focused on the floor at my feet. “Ew, that sounds so family values.”
He stood right behind my shoulder. “You don’t look very family values right now.”
I heard the shift of skin against cloth and plastic as he undid the top button of his shirt.
My eyes squeezed shut, and I held my breath, repeating Regina’s words to myself.
Boss, not breakfast. Boss, not breakfast.
My only weapon left was a blunt one.
“Can I bite you?”
“What?” he said with a nervous laugh.
“Not now, necessarily. I’m making a list, and since you have experience, I thought you’d be a good place to start. Pull up my appointment calendar on the intranet and pencil yourself in when it’s convenient. Use a red font so I know it’s for bloodletting instead of business.” I stood and turned to face him. “Or we could do it now. If you want.”
Eyes wide, he backed away slowly. Halfway to his office, he stopped. “You’re kidding, right?”
I skewered him with my gaze. “I am absolutely one hundred percent kidding. If I ever put one fang on you, Lori would kill us both.”
“You’re right.” He rubbed his face, then hurried to redo the unfastened button. “I better warn her about you. You’ve got a powerful vibe for such a young vampire.”
“It’s because I’m hungry.” I checked my mouth. “As you can tell from the fangs.”
He nodded. “A vampire’s hunger can trigger a donor’s, um, willingness. And vice versa. Like a positive feedback loop.”
He turned his back and entered his office. Cornered. Vulnerable. My body shuddered with the predatory instinct. I could still smell his, um, willingness.
I took a step—okay, three or four steps—toward his office.
The door at the bottom of the stairs jerked open. Ken hurried up, followed by—uh-oh.
Followed by Shane. He had his hand on Ken’s back, guiding him past me.
“Bye, Ciara!” Ken grabbed his cell phone from the surface of my desk.
Shane stared at me and David. “You guys are up here alone together?”
“David was a Control Enforcement agent,” I pointed out. “He can defend himself against li’l old me.”
“Assuming he wants to.”
“Hey, guess what?” I smiled to show him my fangs, hoping it would distract him from thoughts of me and David.
A click came from behind us. “See you guys later!”
I turned to see Ken pocketing his phone, waving the other hand before putting it on the doorknob.
“That won’t open,” I told him, “without the…”
Key.
Which was in the lock.
Already turned.
“No!”
Instinct made me leap forward to stop him. Shane grabbed me around the waist and yanked me into David’s office just as a shaft of sunlight swept inside the station.
I screamed.
Shane and I landed on the floor, his body covering mine. David leaped over us into the main room and slammed the office door shut behind him.
The fire swept up my arms, spiking a million tiny daggers into my skin. I shrieked and writhed beneath Shane. “Put it out! Put it out!”
“Shh. Shh.” Shane pulled me close. “Ciara, you’re okay.”
“It’s on my hands. My face!” I sobbed, my lungs tight with agony. “Make it stop.”
“There’s no fire. It just feels like it.” He shifted enough to pull up my arm. “See?”
My skin wasn’t even red. “It hurts so bad.” My voice choked with tears. “That wasn’t even direct sunlight.”
“I know. Indirect stings like a motherfucker, huh?”
I looked at his face, tight and contorted. His pain was probably worse than mine, since he’d been on top.
I touched his cheek. “Would it have killed us?”
“Not for another half a minute or so. Problem is, the pain is so debilitating, most vampires can’t escape. We’re lucky David’s office was here.”
The door swung open. My arm shot up to shield my face, but no heat blasted us. The outside door was closed.
“You guys all right?” David knelt beside us. “Ken must’ve grabbed the key from on top of your desk when he picked up his phone.”
I wiped my nose. “He was probably in a hurry to not get killed by Shane.” The pain was fading from my face and arms.
“Good thing it’s a cloudy day and the door opens north.” David stood up. “Stay here while I get water.”
Nothing had ever sounded so good. My mouth was sticky and sour from my last meal, and my throat was singed from the brush with permanent death.
Shane caressed my face. “That ends any doubts about you being a real vampire.”
The corners of my mouth trembled. “Sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry.” He tightened his arms and rocked me gently. “I’m so sorry.”
I clung to him, mumbling a weak protest. I was tired of our apologies. I just wanted to be happy again.
David brought us each a water bottle, so cold they sweated. I gulped half of mine before speaking to him. “You need any help in the office?”
He shook his head. “You’ve been through enough this morning. Anyway, Jeremy’s coming in soon to stay until this quarantine is over. Frank, too.”
“Is Franklin okay to work?” Shane asked him.
“He says he’s going crazy sitting around his and Aaron’s house. He doesn’t want to be stuck there during the curfew, not when there’ll be so much to do here with the emergency services info network.”
I downed the rest of my water, forcing it past the lump of dread in my throat. The Lifeblood of Rock ’n’ Roll was about to become the Lifeline of the Siege of Sherwood.
But what bothered me more than anything? For two or three milliseconds, as that front door opened, I was glad to see the sun.
28
All That Heaven Will Allow
“I need another shower,” I told Shane as we entered the empty common room of the DJs’ apartment. Dexter ran up to me and sniffed my hands with voracious breaths and what sounded like huffs of disapproval, or maybe I was just projecting.
“Go ahead. I’ll put some clean clothes inside the bathroom for when you get out.”
“Thanks.” I chewed my bottom lip, then stopped when my fang stabbed it. “Um, where should I go afterward?”
His voice was solemn. “Where do you want to go?”
I hesitated, then settled on honesty. “Wherever you are.”
“I’ll be in our room.”
My gut fluttered at the sound of the word “our.” Maybe there was hope for us.
But once I was in the shower, the Ken/Regina episode replayed itself behind my eyelids. I scrubbed my skin so hard it would have bled had I still been human. I lathered and rinsed my hair and body five times before the water lost its heat. Then over the sink I brushed my teeth for ten minutes, stopping only to gargle and spit and start again.
Finally I dried my hair and dressed, then headed to our room.
Shane was waiting for me under the covers, dressed in a T-shirt. I crawled over him to my spot next to the wall. We lay facing each other for a long moment, until I worked up the courage to speak.
“Did Regina tell you I wussed out?”
“She said you would tell me all about it.” He shifted his head on the pillow. “But if you’re not ready to talk…”
I brought my knees toward my chest, wishing I could hide. “Being a vampire is so fucked up.” I drew deep breaths to keep the sobs from bubbling out of my chest. Tears dribbled from my eyes.
; “Tell me what happened.”
“I can’t.”
“Ciara, nothing could shock me.”
“Do you promise never to kill Ken or Regina?”
“I promise never to kill Regina. If only to avoid hurting myself.”
I wiped my face. “You were right. It wasn’t enough for him to be with her, and me just watching.”
Shane’s jaw clenched. “He wanted a threesome?”
“Not exactly.” My face flamed at the memory. “He wanted us to make out while he jerked off.”
He blew out a deep breath and turned on his back. “And Regina was okay with this?”
“She acted like I had no choice.”
Shane threw back the covers. “I’m going to kill her. I don’t care how much it hurts me.”
I put a hand on his arm. “I’m sure she believed my life depended on it.”
“No, she didn’t. But she has to cover every base to keep us from being exposed, whatever the cost, whether it’s taking someone’s life or just their dignity.”
“They didn’t take my dignity. They borrowed it.” I squeezed his arm to calm him. “Please don’t make it worse with more fighting.”
His shoulders sagged, and he shook his head sadly. “Being a vampire doesn’t always have to be this fucked up. You’ll see.”
“When? When will things be normal? When will I be normal?” My voice started to choke with tears again. “Do I really need to drink someone during an orgasm? I can’t think of anyone I could stand to do that to.”
Shane lay beside me again and wiped the wetness from my cheek. “Not even me?”
A sharp thrill zinged through my body. “I thought vampire blood couldn’t nourish me.”
“No, but just like with human food, sometimes it’s not about nutrients.” His fingertips brushed my lips. “It’s about pleasure.”
My pulse thumped in my ears, and in other places that were thrilled to be alive. “Can I taste you?”
He slipped his middle finger against my left fang and pressed hard. Tooth slid through skin, into flesh. A single drop of blood hit my tongue.
I moaned as I drew his finger into my mouth and sucked hard. He closed his eyes, his lips parting.
It tasted better than anything in this life or the other. Nothing had ever felt so right inside me. And all without shame. I didn’t need this blood, so I lost no power in taking it.
Bring On the Night Page 25