“Fuck off.”
Aidan rubbed his eyes, willing the headache and fatigue to subside. No such luck, and it made him so damned mad he couldn’t stand it. He had to be a realist, though. It was already Friday and three days was not going to turn him back into Superman, not without robbing Krys of the strength she was just beginning to rebuild.
“I’m not strong enough to go,” he said. “Cage can’t learn to fight left-handed in three nights. Nik’s barely been turned long enough to know how to feed, much less know what he can and can’t do as a vampire—never mind about what he can and can’t do in daylight.”
“You forgot about useless old gimpy here.” Will’s voice was bitter.
Mirren stood and paced. “Will, you and Gadget can hold down Penton, though, and that’s important. We have enough people for me to put together a good team, especially if we can keep the element of surprise. Randa’s a good fighter, and Nik might not know how to be a vampire but he knows how to fight and strategize. And don’t sell the shifters short—Robin and Archer have some skills that really expand what we can do as vampires.”
Aidan studied him. “So does Glory.” Her telekinetic skills had gotten them out of some major jams.
Mirren stiffened and ground his jaw, then sighed. “Yes, and so does Glory.”
Chapter 27 * Shay
Other than the fact that he was serious, intelligent, and downright beautiful, Aidan Murphy hadn’t given Shay much by which to judge him. He seemed sincere. The people she’d met all seemed to trust him, even idolize him a bit. But did she like him? She wasn’t yet sure.
His mate, Krys—now, this was a woman Shay liked very much. In less than an hour, she’d come to respect her as she’d treated Shay with gentle kindness and genuine interest.
In Shay’s not-so-expert opinion, though, Krys looked exhausted. Under normal circumstances, she’d be beautiful, with her heart-shaped face, shoulder-length auburn hair, and dark eyes. Tonight, dark circles had spread under those eyes, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her dark green sweater made her skin look like porcelain.
“I’ll do an ultrasound on you tomorrow night, but since you’re past your first trimester and haven’t had any unusual pain, I think you’re fine.” She smiled. “Have you felt the baby move yet? It’s not too soon if you’re almost sixteen weeks.”
Shay hunched her shoulders. “Well, maybe. Or it could have been a roast beef po-boy.”
She had been surprised at the well-stocked exam room, and now the place had its own ultrasound? “Why all the medical equipment?” She didn’t see how Krys could have made it through medical school as a vampire, so she must have been turned afterward, but Shay had to admit the presence of a doctor and an equipped hospital setup made her more comfortable about spending her pregnancy here. “And how did you end up in Penton?”
Krys smiled. “Before all the fighting, Penton was a lot bigger, and Aidan set the clinic up so just about anything a human or vampire needed could be done here. As for me, well, you’ll hear the story sooner or later. Aidan basically kidnapped me because they needed a doctor—their previous doctor died.”
“But he’s your husband. Well, mate. How’d that work, exactly?” Shay couldn’t imagine falling for anyone who took her against her will. Not like the vampires here who were trying to keep her safe, but like Simon. She shuddered at the thought.
“Well, it sure didn’t happen overnight.” Krys laughed. “For a long time I couldn’t figure out if I really loved Aidan or had the world’s worst case of Stockholm Syndrome.” Her voice softened. “But it was the real deal. Still is.”
Shay still struggled with the concept. “But you had a medical career. I assume you weren’t a vampire at the time. Did he turn you vampire so you couldn’t go home?”
Again, Krys smiled. “I wasn’t a vampire at the time, and I went through a whole litany of reasons why I shouldn’t stay here. My career was the main one. But I’d already fallen in love with Aidan before I was turned, and knew I could make a difference here. Maybe it wasn’t the career I had planned, but they needed me. They only turned me vampire to save my life after I was attacked. I was dying.”
There seemed to be a lot of that going around. “Like Nik?”
Krys nodded. “Like Nik, although Aidan and I just found out about that. He’s a good guy. A really good guy. Aidan said you knew him back in high school?”
Shay laughed. “Yeah. I thought I was in love with him and that he felt the same…right up until the day he dumped me and walked away without a word.” She paused. “I know now he was going through a personal hell in his family life, but at the time….I was a fifteen-year-old girl. What can I say?”
Krys laughed. “No woman should ever be held accountable for what she felt at fifteen. What a horrible age that is.”
Shay agreed. She’d been confused by losing her parents and being thrown into a “normal” life with her grandmother.
“You’re a researcher in tropical medicine? So, fevers and such?”
Shay nodded. She started to mention her NSF grant but felt she’d whined about that enough for a while. “I had everything planned out. It didn’t include a baby. It sure didn’t include vampires. Nothing personal, but it didn’t include Penton.”
“It’s just until the fighting dies down. Both sides have lost a lot of people, and we have to reach a solution soon. Maybe I’m naïve, but I think once the feeding situation can be resolved, things will settle down.”
Shay thought about Frank Greisser, his demeanor, the way he’d looked at her. Krys was naïve. While that vampire was alive, Nik and his friends—including her—would never be safe.
“Of course, you might decide you don’t want to leave,” Krys said. “There’s enough money in this town for you to set up your own independent research lab should you want to.”
Shay stared at her. “How is that possible?”
Krys laughed and got to her feet, wavering a little to get her balance. She looked about ready to drop. “Let’s just say Aidan and Mirren are both more than four centuries old. Cage is about seventy, Will a mere fifty. Mark Calvert might be human, but he’s a brilliant financial advisor. They’ve had a lot of time to amass wealth.”
Holy cow. Of course, their wealth made the fact that their people were in danger of starving even more ironic. Money couldn’t buy everything.
After a soft knock, Nik stuck his head in the doorway. “Okay if I come in?”
Krys nodded and pointed to the chair where she’d been sitting.
“Aidan wanted you to take a look at my back; stab wound with a silver blade. But you look ready to crash.”
“I’m tired,” Krys agreed. “Shay, could you help me? It will give you some experience with vampire injuries.”
Thank God, something useful to do. Shay would need to rest eventually, but she was too wired to think about it for now. “Sure.”
“Oh, and Aidan wants you to stay in one of the subsuites for the next few days until you’re fully healed. You can take the room across the hall, next to Shay’s.”
Was it Shay’s imagination, or was Krys biting back a smile? The people here really needed to focus on their dwindling species, not on matchmaking.
“Shirt off, and sit on the table,” Krys said. “Shay will do the exam.”
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Shay was too aware of Nik as she watched him pull off the red sweater Glory had bought for him at the Laurel Walmart. He was sculpted, his olive skin accenting every muscle. She jerked her gaze away from the light sprinkling of black hair that trailed south of his waist and disappeared into his fatigues, and their glances met. And held.
“I think it’s getting warm in here,” Krys laughed, breaking the moment. Thank God.
Shay followed Krys to stand behind Nik after he sat on the exam table. His back looked worse than she expected; he sure hadn’t complained about it. The wound was deep, though, and the edges had turned black while the center was that odd shade of magenta.
“No, but go ahead and clean it with peroxide.” Krys handed her the bottle and some cotton pads. “Vampires aren’t poisoned by silver like some shifters—wolves, mostly. But we’re sensitive to it. It’s almost like an allergy. It slows healing and decreases our physical strength.”
Nik flinched when Shay touched the peroxide to his back. It foamed when it hit the edges of his wound, and his back muscles tensed in response. “Sorry. This had to have hurt you all day.” He’d never given her any hint that he was in pain.
“It’s not so bad,” he said through clenched teeth.
Krys shook her head. “I would say he was a pigheaded vampire male, but Nik hasn’t been turned that long so I’ll blame it on his Ranger training. Or just being male.”
He remained silent, so Shay continued cleaning the wound. Most of the black edges were wiping away. “I thought vampires healed everything pretty fast.”
“Once you get the burned parts off, I think Nik will heal during daysleep, which is coming up fast.” She looked at her watch. “And I’m feeling it. You have to be exhausted. Both of you.”
Shay had to admit she was getting more tired by the minute, as all the adrenaline left her system. “Oh, I was going to ask about the color. I noticed at the fight, and now with Nik, vampire blood is a different color. Why?”
Krys stared at her, then at Nik. “I have no idea, and it honestly never occurred to me to ask. I just accepted that they were different.” She smiled. “You’re a researcher, though. I guess your job is to ask why.”
Yeah well, she had a lot of whys for the universe to answer, beginning with why she’d gotten pulled into such a ridiculous situation to begin with. “Guess so.”
She finished cleaning the wound. “Does it need to be covered?”
“No,” Nik said, sliding off the table. “But thanks for your help.” He stalked toward the door, but turned back. “And Krys, it’s good to see you up and around.”
Then he was gone. “What yanked his chain?” Shay asked.
Krys gave her a Mona Lisa smile. “No idea.”
Chapter 28 * Nik
How could a person be bone-weary and mentally amped at the same time? Yet here he was—Nik Dimitrou, the psychic, newbie vampire, almost-hybrid shifter freak who was fleeing to his room to hide the fact that he had a hard-on for a woman he didn’t even know anymore.
Or maybe he did still know her and want her, and that pissed him off even more. Vampire Nik from Penton liked Shay Underwood and wanted her. Badly. Ranger Nik from New Orleans thought she was a part of his past that needed to stay there. He had no idea what to do with a vaccinated pregnant woman.
Not fair, he had to acknowledge. She’d saved his ass back in that warehouse and afterward. It was her quick thinking that got them to safety not only before sunrise but before Simon Landry’s people had returned to finish what they’d started.
Then again, she did have that savior complex. Hell, if she could save him, maybe he should let her.
Nik turned to lock the door of his suite only to realize it was one of the “lockup” rooms where visitors got locked in instead of locking others out. The rooms had come in handy for captive Tribunal members in the past, or so he’d been told.
He didn’t care at this point. If anybody came in during the night, they could just leave him alone to sleep. He shed his clothes and left them in a heap on the floor, then took a quick shower.
The king-sized bed cried out for his attention, and after drying off, he crawled in with an almost sensual delight. This suite, like the others, had the feel of a high-end suites hotel. Designed to mimic a home, in other words, without any personal touches to make it feel as if the home belonged to someone else. The wood was rich mahogany, the textiles earth-tones, from the throw rugs on the off-white carpet to the plush sofa to the quilt spread across the bed in place of a duvet. The air was lightly scented and fresh, soft light emanating only from a lamp on the bedside table.
The opposite of the cold, musty site of his last daysleep, in other words. He didn’t ever want to spend another night in a cemetery unless he was really and truly dead, in which case he wouldn’t care.
The lethargy of approaching dawn seeped into his muscles, and he relaxed against the pillows, enjoying the feel of the soft sheets against his bare skin. His brain wouldn’t turn off yet, though. He wished he’d been able to spend some one-on-one time with Shay when he was more coherent than he’d been in the crypt. He needed to explain why he’d left her all those years ago. Yeah, he’d been a selfish ass, but he had his reasons.
What would become of Shay and her baby if it wasn’t safe to go back to New Orleans, to her life? But how could he drag her further into this mess? How could he send her away and know she’d be safe?
There was only one person whose counsel he’d trust to answer those questions, or at least give him a gut response: 11-year-old Hannah.
Then again, Hannah had been the one to tell Nik he’d love Shay. He could no longer deny he wanted Shay. But lust and love were different. Maybe Hannah didn’t know that. Regardless, she was high on his list of must-see people once daysleep ended.
Finally, minutes before dawn approached, his mind let go of its demons and drifted lazily into a comfortable space between waking and sleeping. His back hurt less already, and the feel of Shay’s hands on his skin segued into a warm, quiet sense of….
“Nik—wake up!”
A glaring beam of light seared ghost reflections into his eyelids.
“Robin?” He tried to sit up, but couldn’t make it farther than to prop on his elbows, his shoulders a few inches off the mattress. “What’s wrong? Turn off that freaking light—it’s killing me.”
Abruptly the light disappeared, the dance of the colorful ghosts in front of his eyes gradually fading. In the dim light from the hallway, he could see Robin sitting next to him, holding one of those long commercial flashlights that held multiple bulbs.
“Hi Niko. How are you feeling? Can you see me? Is your vampire vision working? I thought Shay might be in bed with you.”
Damn it. “Is this a fucking social call? Because if it is, your timing sucks. What time is it?” Her last sentence finally sank in. “And why would Shay be in my bed?”
“Oh, come on. You want her. She wants you. Why make a big production out of it? And it’s ten a.m., by the way. Want to go for a walk?”
Robin was certifiable. Then again, it’s one of the things he loved about her. But not at ten a.m. “Hell, no. Robin, I’m a vampire. I’m not supposed to be awake.”
“Exactly. And yet, here we are, having a conversation. How do you feel?”
“Like my muscles are on fire and I want to hit somebody. You’re the only one in range of my fists, by the way.”
Robin laughed, a sound that sliced sharp knives into his brain. “You wouldn’t hit me, because I’d hit you back and I can hit harder.”
Sadly, she was right. “Go away.”
“Okay, but only because I know you’re tired. Catch you later.”
The light disappeared when Robin slipped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her.
Nik figured it would take him more wind-down time to fall back into daysleep but the urge to sleep came on within seconds….
“Nik!”
The sound came to him as if from underwater. Shimmery and not quite solid or clear.
“NIK!”
The blinding light hit him again and he rolled over to escape it. “Robin, damn it. I said go away.”
“Here, put these on.” She thrust something into his hand.
Freaking sunglasses. He slid them on and blinked. They helped. A lot. What time is it now, ten-thirty?”
“Almost four-thirty. Only about forty-five minutes until daysleep is over anyway. I wanted to see how you functioned this early.”
Functioning
. Robin was doing research on the waking vampire freak—him, in other words. “Did Will put you up to this?”
“Mirren, with Aidan’s blessing. They want to see what you can do.”
“I’m not a fucking science experiment.”
Robin jumped on the end of the bed with a bounce that jarred every burning nerve ending in Nik’s body. “Actually, Niko, you are a fucking science experiment.”
She grew serious. “Look, I get it. The Army tried to use your psychometry for its own purposes and you felt like a commodity. This is different. Penton is different. The vampires—of which you are one, I might remind you—are trying to survive. If you can help them, wouldn’t you want to?”
Nik hadn’t realized until last night that his waking was such an anomaly. He hadn’t had time to even think about what kind of implications it could have for the battle against Frank Greisser and the Tribunal if he could move around as a vampire when the other vamps were tucked in bed.
But he would help them however he could; Robin was right about that. “Of course. We just have to figure out what I can and can’t do, I guess.”
“Well, let’s start by seeing if you can sit up.”
It took three tries, but he finally sat up by pushing with his arms. He rested a moment before shoving the bedding aside and swinging his legs over the side of the bed.
“Ooh, naked Nik. Some things seem to be working.”
“Yeah, well, nothing you haven’t seen before.” He and Robin had enjoyed their friends-with-benefits status until she met Cage and the benefits disappeared.
She handed him a fresh pair of underwear and fatigues that she must have brought from his house. He hadn’t exactly arrived with luggage. “Why do I need these? I talked. I sat up. I showed you the package you no longer enjoy. I want to sleep another half hour.”
Robin laughed. “Well, you’re welcome to be naked if you run into Shay while we take a walk. I just thought you might want pants.”
Illumination (The Penton Vampire Legacy Book 5) Page 20