Kiss of the Vampire

by Terry Spear

  The bus door closed. No Alicia.

  Caitlin slumped back in her seat.

  Patting her hand, Levka said, “Ruric will put a stop to whatever they are planning. Never fear.”

  “Thanks, Levka, for everything.” She glanced out the window as the bus took off. “Looks like Vlad’s not coming.”

  Levka didn’t say anything, and Caitlin glanced at him. “I’m glad, aren’t you?”

  “I want you to stick close to me or to Arman or Stasio at all times.”

  “He can’t do anything to me. Vlad, I mean.”

  Levka’s face was so dark, Caitlin frowned. “Well, what do you think he intends to do?”

  “Spirit you away from one of the islands. I’m afraid he might try to take you to an airport and leave.”

  Caitlin shook her head. “I’d have to agree, and I wouldn’t.”

  When Levka didn’t respond but continued to stare straight ahead, she squeezed his hand. “He couldn’t force me to go with him.”

  “We can’t risk it, Caitlin,” Levka finally said, his words icy. “We always have to be on our guard.”

  She twisted her mouth and looked out the window as the bus traveled through the capital of St. George, then up to a lookout. The view of the town nestled amongst the hills, its white and redbrick buildings topped with green and red roofs, the busy harbor, and the island’s south coast edged in sugar white sand surrounded by aqua water looked just like the advertisements she’d seen for island paradises. For the first time, she was really glad she’d come.

  Traveling through the rainforest canopy, Caitlin pointed at a monkey with a yellow beard, black mask, and yawning mouth, sitting in a mahogany tree. Suddenly, he swung to another. “Isn’t he cute?”

  “A mona monkey. They live in the forests of Africa, but British sailors introduced them to Grenada.”

  “How do you know so much? You’re an encyclopedia of information.”

  “Believe me, I know a lot about nothing,” Levka said, smiling. “You know, lots of trivia, but when it comes to something important, nah.”

  “I bet.”

  Beneath the trees, lacy ferns crouched at their feet and yellow-billed cuckoos and purple-throated carib fluttered in the lush greenery along the hairpin curves of the one-lane road. Houses hugged the tree-covered mountainsides. Surrounded by tropical flowers and ferns, the first of the falls suddenly appeared.

  After leaving the busses, they headed for an aqua pool at the base of the fall, inviting swimmers to cool off.

  Caitlin stared at crystal-clear pool, wanting more than anything to get in, just once, just to prove she could do it. And not this time because she was forced to.

  Levka looked down at her and raised his brows.

  Realizing she was squeezing his hand to death, she relaxed her grip.

  He smiled. “Did you want to wade in?”

  “I want to swim.”

  “Can you?”

  She shifted her gaze from his hypnotizing chocolate eyes to the inviting water. “I want to.”

  “I can’t swim, or I’d take you in myself,” Levka said.

  She looked up at him. “I wish I could teach you.”

  “Someday I’d like that.”

  Taking a deep breath, she nodded. “Okay, I’m going to do it.” She sat down and pulled off her sneakers, then peeled out of her T-shirt and shorts.

  She smiled when Levka’s eyes focused on her shimmering blue bikini. “Do you want to wade with me?”

  He pulled her up from the ground. “Lead the way.”

  Stepping into the water, she shivered. “Woooh, it’s really cold. Oh, look, shrimp clinging to the moss-covered rocks and…” She drew closer to another. “…snails.” Watching swimmers sitting under the falls, she pointed to them. “I want to do that.”

  “It’s twenty-feet deep out there.”

  She sighed. “Yeah.”

  “Are you going to be all right?”

  She walked into the deeper part. “Yeah, I think so. It’s clear, not like the ocean. There are no sharks. Nothing to get me.” She spoke her fears out loud, trying to reassure herself this was not anything like her experience in the ocean. She could do it.

  “I’m going to get in and swim a little way out to see how I feel.” Yet she couldn’t let go of Levka’s hand. Though the surface was clear, maybe down to about seven feet, the rest was dark, and she couldn’t help fear something was down in the blackness just waiting to get her. But the water wasn’t rough like the ocean. “I…I can do this!”

  With a deep breath, she let go of Levka and jumped into the water.

  Levka’s heart nearly stopped when he saw Caitlin go under. He swore he would learn to swim if it killed him. Before now, neither he nor any of his friends had had any desire to learn.

  When she resurfaced, she looked horrified. Then she quickly swam out of the water, her lips blue, but her eyes smiling. “Man, is the water cold!”

  Without hesitation, Levka yanked off his shirt and covered her with it. Rubbing her arms vigorously, he warmed the siren…his siren up.

  She smiled. “I did it! I…” Her teeth clattered. “I got in, and I wasn’t afraid. If it hadn’t been so cold, I really would have swum to the waterfall.”

  “You nearly gave me a heart attack when you went under.” He kissed her cold, wet cheek.

  “I’m sorry, Levka. I promise when I get better about the water, I’ll teach you how to swim. Though a warmer place would be better.”

  “I’d like that.”

  She looked around. “Where are Arman and Stasio?”

  “They hiked up to the second waterfall.”

  “Oh, let me get dressed! I want to go, too.”

  “It’s a forty-five minute hike.”

  “I’m game. Only…” Losing her balance, she grabbed Levka’s arm. “…do you feel kind of funny? Like we’re still on board the ship rolling back and forth in the ocean?”

  “Yeah. We still have our sea legs.”

  As soon as she was dressed, they began the hike up toward the second fall through a nutmeg plantation that smelled heavenly of sweet and spicy nutmeg. Blood red soil dotted the mountainsides where vegetation had been cleared.

  Levka picked a small red fruit off a tree that looked like a miniature apple. “Taste.”

  Caitlin bit into the fruit and smiled. “It has the texture and taste like a pear. What is it?”

  “A French cashew.”

  Caitlin laughed. “If you had told me that to begin with I would have thought it was a really strange-looking nut.”

  A few feet away, Levka pulled cocoa off a yellow tree growth. He opened one, revealing a gooey white substance surrounding about twenty cocoa beans. “Rip off a bean and suck on it.”

  Caitlin hesitated, then smiled. “Okay, I’ll trust you just this once.” She took the bean covered in the white sticky stuff and touched her tongue to it. “Hmm, really sweet.”

  “And to think you didn’t trust me.”

  “You’ve got to admit, it looks kind of yucky.”

  He pointed to a spring. “You can drink from the natural spring water, too.”

  She sipped from the cold water, then they continued their trek.

  Surrounded by tropical vegetation on the narrow trail, they were halfway to the second waterfall when Vlad suddenly appeared from behind a teakwood tree. He smiled, but the look was menacing enough for Levka to tighten his hold on Caitlin’s hand.

  “Vlad’s here,” Levka communicated to Arman and Stasio.

  “We’re on our way,” Arman said.

  “Alone at last, I see.” Vlad stalked toward them.

  Levka pulled Caitlin behind him.

  “Why don’t you go find another one like her? You don’t really care for her like I do,” Vlad said.

  Caitlin attempted to move around Levka, but expecting the worst, he blocked her view of Vlad.

  “You didn’t even try to see me for a year, Vlad!” she shouted.

  “Willing to fight for
her?” Vlad showed his fangs and lunged forward, but Arman appeared and pounced on him from behind.

  Levka continued to shield Caitlin’s view of them as Stasio got into the brawl.

  “Let me see him! I can help,” Caitlin said, sounding highly annoyed and extremely frustrated.

  Levka shook his head as he thought how one sweet human girl could fight a vampire with a dark-hearted lust for her, and kept her behind him so she couldn’t witness what was happening.

  Monkeys and birds chattered in the forest, making a raucous melody, hopefully masking Vlad’s hisses.

  Before either Stasio or Arman could do much damage to Vlad, he vanished.

  “Stop this, Vlad!” Caitlin said, still trying to get around Levka.

  “We’ll get cleaned up and meet you at the second fall,” Arman said, his and Stasio’s mouths bloodied from the fight.

  They both disappeared.

  “Vlad’s gone,” Levka announced, allowing Caitlin to see for herself.

  Caitlin stared at the trail where there was no sign of anyone. “Where’d he go?”

  “He must have worried someone might come. Let’s go to the second waterfall. Then it’ll be time to return to the ship.”

  “But I thought he was going to fight you.”

  “I did, too, but he just took off without another word.” He took hold of her hand, noting the way she kept looking for signs of Vlad.

  By the time they made the forty-five minute hike to the taller fall, an overheated Caitlin, her cheeks flushed, hurried to strip out of her clothes. Spying Arman and Stasio nearby, she waved, then dove into the pool.

  Breaking the surface of the water, she said, “Cold, cold.”

  Stasio and Arman joined Levka at the water’s edge and though Levka tried to tell himself she was okay, there were fewer people here to rescue her if she had a panic attack.

  “I got a good bite into Vlad’s neck,” Arman said.

  “As did I,” Stasio added. “He won’t be bothering the two of you for the rest of the day.”

  “He’s going to continue to be a problem.” Lekva folded his arms while he watched his mermaid swim in the glass-like water. “Vlad couldn’t make up his mind about Caitlin before, but now it seems no amount of dissuading him—”

  “Short of killing him will stop him,” Arman finished Levka’s communication.

  Levka nodded. “But I can’t kill him in front of Caitlin. We have to be alone.”

  Stasio shoved his hands in his pockets. “No deal. Too risky. For nine hundred years we’ve been a team. You’re not facing Vlad alone. This isn’t medieval times. You’ve decided you want Caitlin, and she doesn’t want Vlad. That’s as far as it needs to go.”

  Levka looked at Arman.

  He shrugged. “It’s as Stasio says. We’ve been watching each other’s backs too long to stand on the sidelines now. One for all, and all for one. It’s always been our way, and no sense changing it now.”

  Caitlin climbed out of the water. Chill bumps dotted every inch of her bluish skin. “Brrrrr,” she bit out between chattering teeth.

  Levka helped her into her clothes. “The hike down will help warm you up.” He rubbed her back as they headed down the path.

  “I wasn’t afraid. Did you see?”

  “We sure did. You did great, Caitlin.”

  Arman nodded. “You’ll have to teach us how to swim, too.”

  Her lips still blue, she smiled. “Very invigorating, but way too cold. If we can find a nice warm swimming pool somewhere, I’d go for it. But not on the ship. It reminds me too much of the ocean.”

  “Do you want to talk more about it?” Levka asked.

  Caitlin shook her head.

  Levka couldn’t help feeling disappointed that she didn’t feel comfortable enough to open up more with him. He reminded himself patience wasn’t one of his greatest virtues, and he’d have to give her more time.

  When their bus arrived at the ship, his attention shifted to Alicia arguing with one of the parents who came along to chaperone as they stood on the gangplank.

  Ruric watched from nearby and gave an elusive smile when he saw Levka.

  “What news?” Levka asked.

  “Alicia and her buddies planned to take a boat of their own out. But word got to their chaperones somehow.”

  Levka nodded. “A vampire told them, no doubt.”

  Ruric bowed his head slightly. “What happened to Vlad? I heard him cursing telepathically all the way through the ship. Though he moved invisibly, I followed his trail of blood to a stateroom. Have some trouble?”

  “Arman and Stasio took care of it.”

  “Levka’s thinking of fighting him alone,” Stasio said.

  “No way,” Ruric said. “Together. Always, we stick together.”

  “I need to change into something dry so we can eat dinner.” Caitlin headed for her stateroom.

  “We’ll meet you at the dining room shortly,” Levka told his friends.

  When they reached Caitlin’s room, she turned to Levka. “I know you only mean to protect me, but the more I try to discern what had happened, the more it seems I heard growling and hissing or something, and then Vlad disappeared on the jungle path. What really happened?”

  ***

  Caitlin knew Levka wasn’t telling her the whole story about why Vlad had suddenly left. But no matter what, he wasn’t saying, so when they sat down to dinner in the main dining hall, she was still annoyed.

  She greeted Arman, Stasio, and Ruric but ignored Levka. If she was to be his “mate,” he shouldn’t leave her in the dark.

  Vlad was noticeably absent from their table.

  Lynne and Alicia’s high pitched voices headed their way, grating on her. But most of all, Caitlin was perturbed with Levka’s silence.

  Alicia plopped down in her chair. “I can’t believe someone told one of the chaperones what we’d planned to do.”

  Caitlin looked over at Ruric. He gave her a devilish smile. “Thanks, Ruric.”

  He bowed his head.

  The waiter arrived and Caitlin ordered chicken on a bed of steamed rice. “You should have come on the excursion, Alicia, since your mom and dad already paid for it.”

  Stasio ordered a steak, rare. “Ocean water was too rough to swim, but you could have swum in the pools fed by the waterfalls like Caitlin did.”

  Alicia gave them a dirty look and when she began to butter her roll, she slapped her knife on it so hard, the soft butter flipped onto her lap.

  Caitlin screened her smile.

  “Where’s the Vlad guy?” Lynne asked. “I thought he was stuck to the rest of you guys like peanut butter.”

  “He wanted something lighter to eat,” Levka said. “He might be downstairs at the pizza bar.”

  Just then, Dylan walked by the table, and Alicia looked as if she wanted to jump out of her seat and tackle him. He glanced her way, but hurried on past.

  Alicia sank in her seat.

  “I thought you had a thing going with Bobby, now,” Lynne said.

  “He’s not Dylan.”

  “You talked to Vlad about his dinner plans, Levka?” Caitlin asked, finally realizing that Levka and Vlad probably weren’t having polite conversation.

  Levka remained silent.

  “When did you talk to him?”

  Ruric raised his glass and his brows.

  “He passed by your stateroom while I was waiting for you, probably hoping to see you again. I asked if he would join us at dinner. He said no, he felt like eating light. I don’t think—”

  Vlad suddenly appeared and stalked toward the table, his neck covered in bloody bandages, his dark eyes angry. “Sorry, old chap. But you’re not keeping me away from Caitlin.” Vlad gave them an arrogant smile.

  “Jeez, what happened to you?” Lynne asked. “You look like someone got the best of you.”

  Alicia made a face. “Really gross. Do you have to sit here and eat? Levka said you were getting a pizza.”

  “I’d rather dine wi
th my favorite companions.” Vlad scooted into Dylan’s old seat. “Did you enjoy the falls, Caitlin?”

  She quickly shifted her gaze from the bloodied bandages on his neck to Levka. “What happened to Vlad?”

  Vlad smiled, and again she wished she could privately communicate with Levka.

  “Arman and Stasio attacked me without provocation,” Vlad said.

  What did Vlad think? She was an idiot? “They were at the second waterfall, not anywhere near where we were.”

  “Vampires, my dear, can move invisibly to other locations. They can move at a speed faster than the mortal eye can see.”

  “So you’re saying Arman and Stasio bit you?”

  Arman sipped his water and didn’t react. Stasio almost hid a smile.

  “Oh come on,” Alicia said. “What? They’re werewolves?”

  “That’s good, Alicia,” Lynne said. “Yeah, the guys turned into wolves and bit Vlad. They do have long hair.”

  Vlad’s mouth curved up, and his eyes remained focused on Caitlin. She felt the gentle tugging at her mind and knew he was trying to control her like he had tried a hundred times in the past, but he couldn’t. Was that what intrigued him most about her?

  “So they’re vampires and you are too,” Caitlin said. “Why didn’t you fight back?”

  “Three against one? Seems hardly fair.”

  “Let me see your teeth.”

  “You are the one for me.” Vlad grinned.

  “Your teeth look perfectly normal to me.”

  “Thank you.”

  The waiter served their salads and Caitlin speared a tomato. “So you can’t be a vampire.”

  “The canines extend when we have need of them.”

  She glanced at the others. Though Levka and his friends poked at their salads, she was quite sure they listened to her telepathic communication. Were Vlad’s responses to her private? She couldn’t be sure. If they were for her hearing only, she was certain the others were deciphering what was being said anyway.

  Alicia and Lynne were still talking to each other about werewolves and not paying any attention to the rest of them.

  “You extend them when?” she asked Vlad.

  “In anger or in lust.” Again Vlad grinned.