Gavin wasn’t as enthusiastic. He looked tired and not in the mood for anything other than a quick, satisfying meal and perhaps a nap. But he grimly nodded and closed the trap door before joining her in the living room.
When his eyes fell across the coffee table, he froze and would not look back up at her. “What’s all this?”
Chloe edged closer to him, hoping that her feminine presence would pacify whatever annoyance he may have about the experiments to come.
“They’re Holy items. A few are mine, but I found others in the attic among my family’s old heirlooms. I thought we could test each one out first and see if they affect you at all.”
Gavin gave her a sideways glance and frowned. “What else will we be trying this evening?”
Chloe reached around and pulled a folded up piece of notebook paper out of her back pocket. “Well, a lot of these we obviously can’t try because they may be too deadly.”
“Such as?” His tone was laced with the usual morning grumpiness that came with not eating first thing.
“Sunlight, decapitation, stake through the heart, those sorts of things.”
Gavin took a deep breath, his chest expanding in exasperation. “Very well. Let’s get this over with.”
Chloe grinned. “Sweet! So, are you ok with this being your first night for detox?”
Gavin rubbed a hand over his stubbled cheek. “I suppose tonight would be as good a time as any.”
She knew this wasn’t easy for him, but she appreciated his effort. Chloe had no doubt that he still wanted to go through with the detox. Gavin was just grumpy, and this would persist for another night or two, at least. Beyond that, she didn’t want to think about it.
Chloe stuffed the note away and moved toward the coffee table. She had nativity and Easter scene figurines of Jesus, a Holy Bible bound in black leather, several different styles of crosses and crucifixes, as well as a glass of water that he would surely ask about momentarily.
“Alright, so first, do you feel anything just being near this stuff?” Chloe asked, gesturing out to the relics.
Gavin stepped up to the edge of the table and shook his head. “No, I don’t.”
She picked up the Bible and presented it to him. He stared at the gold embossed letters on the grainy leather cover before looking up at her through his dark eyebrows.
“You’re supposed to touch it,” she explained.
He sighed and slapped his hand over the Bible, letting it rest there. He didn’t scream, hiss, or even wince. Nothing happened. When Gavin looked back up at Chloe with that same tired expression as if he were bored out of his mind, she pulled it away and went on to the next item.
He saw and touched item after item, but nothing happened. And he didn’t even seem surprised.
Chloe was slightly disappointed. These would have been some of the easiest tools to use in defending herself if something should go awry, as well as the one thing she spent the most time preparing for him tonight.
“Is that glass supposed to be filled with Holy Water?” Gavin asked after being presented with a ceramic figurine of Jesus.
Chloe picked up the glass and dipped her fingers in it. “Yes. I read that Holy Water is supposed to sting at least and burn like sunlight. I know I’m not a priest, but I blessed it myself.” She drew her dripping fingers from the glass and turned to him. “Are you ready?”
“Ready for-”
Before he could finish, Chloe flicked the water at his face. Gavin’s face wrinkled from the surprise, but his flesh did not burn or even become reddened by the droplets that ran down his cheeks and the tip of his nose.
“Anything?”
Gavin ran his hand over his face and cleared his throat in aggravation. “No, nothing.”
Chloe sat down on the sofa, slightly dejected by the failed tests, and set down the glass on the table. She pulled out her notes and used a tiny pencil to put a strike through each of the different relics she had listed.
Propping her elbows on her knees, she went down the list for him. “Ok, so does sunlight affect you?”
Gavin began pacing around the living room, his hands thrown casually in his jean pockets. “Yes, it does. It burns my skin.”
“Do you know if it’s just the intense light or the ultraviolet rays? I’d have to go to Atlanta for it, but they make lamps that imitate sunlight.”
“I’m not sure. All I know is that the sun burns my skin, and with prolonged exposure, my skin will start to burn away. If the sunlight reaches my blood, it’s even worse. After ten minutes at the most, I’d be dust.”
Chloe felt her hands tremble at the very thought of Gavin enduring so much pain. Her eyes followed him around the room. “How do you know?”
Without looking at her, he replied, “Through Terrance's blood, I witnessed another vampire from ages ago burn in the same fashion.”
She grimaced and tried to block out the mental picture that was forming in her mind. No, sunlight wasn’t a reasonable tool.
“Ok, we won’t go that route. Even if it is the ultraviolet rays and I could get my hands on one of those lamps, I’m not one hundred percent sure it would work.”
Gavin nodded and passed around the arm of the sofa. “Very well. What’s next?”
She turned back to her notes. “Decapitation.”
“That works,” he said quickly.
“How do you know?”
He chuckled, a rather humorless sound. “What creature do you know can exist with its head severed from its own body?”
Chloe gave him a single nod. “Good point.” And she struck a line through. “Drowning,” she stated.
Gavin shook his head. “That doesn’t work at all.”
She sighed and rubbed her fingers against her temple. “You’ve tried?”
“Yes. Once. I washed up miles downstream, completely unharmed. Next.”
Hearing about all the ways that Gavin had tried to kill himself was not the way she wanted to spend her evening. She couldn’t possibly put herself in his shoes and understand the kind of desperation he must have felt to want to rid the world of one more vampire. Just to imagine that he despised his own life that much caused her heartache.
Chloe slashed through that method. “Fire. When I researched it, I read that vampires are supposed to be afraid of fire or their skin catches on fire and it spreads quickly, causing death as if they were in sunlight.”
A wry smile came across Gavin’s lips. “Catching on fire is bothersome, but it doesn’t have the same effect as you read about.”
“You’ve tried to set yourself on fire?” she asked dryly.
“No,” he replied with a snicker. “I was building a fire for your aunt one evening, and some of the kindling fell onto the hearth. When I picked it up to put it back in the firebox, it singed my hand and caught my sleeve on fire. A quick rinse in the sink and it was fine. I didn’t even get hurt, really.”
Chloe smiled, only because he was able to laugh at himself. She put a line through the word and moved on. “Oh, this might be promising.”
She stood up and pulled out the necklace she had put on before he came up from the basement. It was a small heart-shaped pendant that gleamed in the fluorescent light.
Gavin made his way towards her and peered at the piece of jewelry. “Silver?” he questioned. Chloe nodded. “I’m not a werewolf, Chloe. Or do I have to explain the difference?”
After unclasping the back of the chain, she held it out for him to take. “I know the difference, but this is one thing you share in common with werewolves, I guess.”
Gavin raised his hand and reached out, but when skin met metal, nothing happened.
“Anything?” she whined.
“No. And I find it a little offensive that you’re saddened by that.”
Chloe pocketed the necklace. “If we can’t find a way for me to defend myself against you, then the detox isn’t going to work; unless you’re perfectly fine with me killing you instead.”
Gavin didn’t find
that amusing at all. “I told you, we will find a way. Even if we can’t tonight, we’ll keep trying. I wouldn’t force you to go through with this if I knew you wouldn’t be safe.”
He leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the lips. Her knees wanted to buckle, but Chloe stood firm. After she recovered from swooning, she pulled out the note again.
“Next thing is running water.”
A frown formed between his eyebrows. “Running water?”
“Yeah, like you can’t cross a river or stream.”
“I’ve crossed over the creek many times.”
She shrugged. “What about running tap water?”
Gavin dropped his chin. “Do you not remember me washing the dishes last night? Not only that, but I have taken plenty of showers, so modern running water will not affect me.”
Chloe looked bemused. “You’ve taken showers?” He nodded. “With me in the house?”
Gavin scrunched up his face in such a way that told her he very well did take showers in the house without her knowing. But she didn’t want to think of that now. She waved her hands to brush the issue aside and marked it off on the sheet. They were running out of ideas quickly.
She frowned. “I don’t know if this would really help for every scenario, but vampires are rumored to be pretty polite when it comes to being invited into a home.”
Gavin shook his head. “Absolutely false. I mean to say, I am polite, but I don’t require an invitation to go anywhere. I’ve broken into almost every home in Carter Lake looking for things I need.”
Chloe nodded. “Right. And you broke into the clinic, too.” With an exaggerated flourish, she scratched that off the list. “And the best has been saved for last—garlic. ”
Gavin scowled. “What did you have in mind to test this?”
Chloe hurried into the kitchen and pulled out a bulb of garlic from the pantry. Already, Gavin stood up and backed away, wrinkling his nose at the smell when she was no more than a few feet away.
“Is it really that bad?” she asked before taking a sniff for herself. There was the hint of an odor, but nothing as nasty as what he made it out to be.
“Imagine a sweaty shoe after a dog has defecated in it, and you might have a closer idea as to what I’m smelling.”
Chloe bit her lip. This certainly may turn out to be the key to keeping her safe during the detox. “But, do you think this would be a useful weapon?”
He shrugged and rubbed his nose. “If I’m hungry enough, I’m not sure.”
Bouncing the garlic in her hand like a baseball, she walked slowly across the living room floor. Gavin retreated, always keeping a piece of furniture between them.
“This has to be an effective weapon, though. Just a bad smell isn’t going to cut it.” She looked up at him and stopped. “Let me see if it burns your skin.”
Gavin shook his head and covered his nose and mouth, resembling a stubborn child who didn't want to take his medicine.
Chloe grinned and began chasing after him. She giggled as he tried to scramble away, knocking over chairs and stubbing his toes on furniture legs. After a while, she knew they were getting nowhere.
She chucked the garlic bulb at him and nailed him right in the cheekbone. He cried out in anguish and backed up against a wall, still holding his face. Chloe rushed over and examined his skin but couldn’t see any sign of a rash, burn, or abrasion. For a moment, she thought it would be a viable weapon. It was much easier to chuck garlic bulbs at him all night than to risk killing him with a stake.
“I didn’t appear to hurt you,” she said.
Gavin sneezed into his hand and wiped at his watering eyes. When he looked down at her, she saw that the whites of his eyes were bloodshot like he’d been crying.
“You ok?” she asked.
He nodded, small locks of hair that came loose during the chase bobbed with the motion. “Yes,” he said, sounding horribly congested.
Chloe leaned forward and peered up his nose to see that it was clogged with mucus. “I want to try something,” she said.
Gavin groaned. “What more could you possibly do? I thought that was the last of it.”
She left him there and went to the kitchen. Scavenging through her spice rack, she found what she had been looking for and came back. She held it out so he could read the bottle label.
“Garlic powder?” he moaned.
“I bet I could fashion little bombs with garlic powder loaded inside. If you get too close, I can throw it at you and that may stop you from attacking me. I just need to see if this has the same effect as the whole garlic.”
Gavin was not as thrilled as she was. The last effects of the garlic on his face were finally wearing away, and he looked normal again, apart from the weariness he felt from not feeding.
But he didn’t complain this time. He steeled himself and waited for the test.
Chloe honestly was not going to enjoy this any more than he was. If the powder did what she suspected it would do, the results would not be pretty. But it was the only way to make sure she had an effective tool for the days to come.
She unscrewed the lid and saw him go rigid at the release of garlic odor. She backed up a pace or two and then flung the shaker in his direction, making the sandy shaded powder dust his entire face and down the front of his shirt.
The spice added a splash of color to his complexion, but that was the only good thing it did for him.
The garlic worked the same way as tear gas used for crowd control during riots and military gas mask training.
Gavin began to cough heavily. His eyes, even though they were closed, were leaking heavily and turning the powder on his cheeks into caked mud. Mucus drained from his nose and dribbled down his lips.
He rubbed at his face to get the spice off, but it only made it worse. When his face began to swell, Chloe grabbed his arm and dragged him upstairs, spouting apologies the whole way, even though she had done it on purpose.
Gavin sneezed, coughed, and sputtered as she led him into the bathroom. Chloe frantically turned on the tub faucet and stripped off his shirt. At any other time, Chloe would have been turned on at the sight of his bulging muscles, but she was too concerned with the fact that his face was turning beet red. The garlic powder must have gotten clogged in his sinuses somehow.
Gavin, still incapacitated by the effects, let Chloe guide him to the running water and stuck his face underneath the faucet. She held him there and began wiping his skin to get the powder off. There was no risk of drowning him, so even when he tried to pull back, Chloe kept him locked in place. The dull, golden powder dropped in clumps onto the tub floor and washed down the drain.
Once she knew the spice was gone, she released him to continue his own cleansing, blowing his nose under the water and rubbing at his eyes and lips. Chloe stood back by the sink and crossed her arms, anxiously waiting for him to stand up and declare he was fine again. When she had thrown the garlic in his face, she’d had no clue if the effects would be long lasting.
After what seemed like an eternity, he stood up, water dripping all over the tile floor and down his chest and abs to dampen the tops of his pants. He groped for a towel and she hurriedly handed him one from the rack on the wall.
After drying his face and torso, he turned to her and tried to open his eyes. But from the way he squinted and the veined redness around his pupils like before, she could tell he still wasn’t out of the woods yet.
He sniffled and swayed a bit. Chloe ducked underneath one of his arms and brought him into the guest bedroom and the double bed inside. She hadn’t spent a lot of time in this room since she moved in, except to store all of her boxes of books that Gavin had moved upstairs from the living room in the early days of their first attempt at detox.
Navigating through the maze to get to the bed, she was thankful he wasn’t too disoriented; otherwise, she would have been staggering and stumbling under his weight. Chloe let him tumble down onto the mattress, and she heard him let out a sigh of relief.
<
br /> “You think you’re going to be ok?” she asked, lifting his long, muscular legs up on top of the quilt.
Gavin sniffled again and coughed. “I think so,” he grumbled.
Chloe’s motherly instincts prodded her to take his temperature, make chicken noodle soup, and give in to any demands he may ask of her. But instead, she knelt by the side of the bed and continued reeling off apologies for what she’d done to him.
“I had no idea it’d be that bad. I didn’t even think that much got on you. It was a successful test, but I don’t even know if I want to use that stuff on you again.”
Gavin lifted a hand blindly and placed it firmly on the crown of her head. With his eyes still leaking a bit and squeezed shut, he said, “No, you must use this to defend yourself in the last days of the detox. It may be the thing that saves your life.”
Arguing would get her nowhere, so Chloe admitted defeat and nodded, though the thought of him killing her, draining her body dry of blood to satisfy his hunger, was not something she wanted to imagine or fret over. She wanted to believe that everything would be fine and that she wouldn’t even have to use the garlic powder.
His hand slid down, and she kissed the back of it before placing it on the quilt. The room was dark, but she could see his outline from the light that slanted in through the hall door. This room didn’t have blackout curtains, so some pale moonlight streamed in and fell across the floor and numerous boxes that were scattered around. It’d be a quiet place for him to recover for an hour or so, but no more.
“I’ll let you rest,” she said before standing to leave.
Gavin grabbed her hand before she had a chance. She looked back and saw his eyes cracked open, gazing up at her with such a pleading expression that she would have given him the world if he asked for it.
“Stay with me?”
That, she could do. Chloe nodded and was about to pull up a box of books to sit on when he gave a strong tug on her hand, leading her to crawl into bed with him.
Passions Page 26