Demon Blood (Vampire in the City Book 5)

by Donna Ansari

  Once we were in a cab, Alex gave an address on Queens Boulevard that seemed vaguely familiar to me.

  He then turned to me and said, “Emma, I’m having a difficult time dealing with you like this.”

  “Like what?”

  “As I said, you’re acting like someone who has just been turned into a vampire, which is something I would normally be expecting, but not from you. You have no control over yourself.”

  Perhaps in what was a show of dramatic irony, or perhaps to simply get him to shut up, I decided to kiss him. At first, I thought he would push me away, but even though he hesitated, he eventually kissed me back.

  When we finally separated, I asked, “Why didn’t you kiss me when I was human? You acted like you wanted to break up with me.”

  “What do you feel when you kiss a human?”

  “I feel like I want to drink their blood.”

  “Exactly. When a vampire is in close proximity to a human, there’s really only one thing you want from them. Everything else is secondary.”

  When the cab let us off, it was in front of a high-rise building. I immediately recognized it as having been where Heather lived. Heather had been Alex’s blood doll before he turned her into a vampire. It was also where Alex and I would meet since we weren’t fond of each other’s roommates.

  Heather’s apartment was exactly the same as it had been the last time I was there, the night Alex had killed her. I picked up a photo from an end table. It was of Heather and her former roommate and BFF Julie. The night after Heather had become a vampire, she had eaten Julie.

  I put it back down and flopped on the couch, remembering then that Alex had told me that the night he became a vampire, he had killed his fiancé. My mind told me that Tammy was my best friend and one of the most important people in my life, but I didn’t think I could stop myself from eating her, all the same. And it was only now that I was not around any distracting humans, that I was able to realize that I was not acting like myself.

  The worst part was that even though the realization had been huge, I knew that as soon as I had a chance, I would hurt or possibly kill everyone around me. And now that David was no longer a werewolf and Tammy was no longer a witch, I would have no one to stand between me and eating my friends except Amy. The thought both upset and excited me.

  Alex must have gone to another room, because I realized I had been alone when he came back in and said, “I’ve called Henri, and I’m going to see what happens when I try to turn him. I am hoping that I’ll have better luck with him.”

  “Sorry I’m such a disappointment,” I mumbled. Then I pulled myself off the sofa and took my duffel bag with me into the bathroom. Sometime later, I emerged, showered and dressed in black jeans and a black shirt.

  Alex was sitting on an armchair and reading a book, but I ignored him and went into the smaller bedroom, closing the door behind me. The room had originally been Julie’s, and later one of Heather’s blood dolls slept in it. Occasionally, Alex and I would stay in it when we met at Heather’s apartment. It was small, windowless, and had almost no furniture. But at the moment, it seemed to suit my mood, so I flopped face down on the bed and tried to use my limited mediation skills to clear my mind of all my upsetting thoughts.

  It must have worked in a way, because I fell asleep. Fortunately, it was a dreamless sleep, and it felt like hours later when I woke up due to Alex getting into the bed next to me. I turned over and looked at him. “Is it sunset or sunrise?”

  “We have about an hour or so until sunrise,” he said. I noticed he was undressed, but it was probably just because he didn’t want to wrinkle his clothing.

  “Is Henri here?” I asked.

  “Yes. He’s in the other bedroom. I am hoping the change will go smoothly.”

  “Can you tell me why it’s a bad thing that we’re the only vampires left in New York City? I was thinking it would be fun to kill Michael now that he’s the one who’s human. Maybe I’ll even make him my blood doll first.”

  “Did I say they had all become human? That isn’t what happened. All of their vampire powers have simply been drained.”

  “How is that different?”

  “They can no longer sustain themselves by drinking blood. They can no longer use hypnosis to control humans. They have no enhanced senses,” he said. “However, they can also not sustain themselves with human food and they are still susceptible to the sunlight.”

  “But if they can’t eat blood or human food, then what?” I asked.

  “That is exactly the problem,” Alex said.

  “Are they just wasting away then?”

  “They do seem to be getting weaker. I am hoping that after the ritual tomorrow, they will all return to normal.”

  “You want all of them to be normal vampires again? What about Michael? Why can’t we just kill him now?”

  “While I would love to do just that, the danger from other cities is too much of a threat at the moment.” Alex smoothed back my hair and then left his hand resting on the side of my neck. “Every major city has a large population of vampires, and the leaders of each are very old and powerful. New York is one of the most desirable cities for us. By wiping out the entire population at once, the demon has created a power vacuum. Once word gets out that New York is free of its leader, there will be a war over it.”

  “What about you?” I asked. “Can’t you just take over?”

  He laughed in a way that indicated what I had said was anything but funny. “I’ve spent the last hundred years trying to build up a population of vampires who support me instead of Michael. Now they are all less than human, even.”

  “What about Cora and me?”

  “Cora is unofficial. She has never been recorded in any of our books and doesn’t know anyone. While she is very important to my efforts, she doesn’t count. And you are brand new. Your opinion won’t mean anything for at least fifty years.”

  “So what happens if they don’t turn back?” I asked.

  “Then I will have some very difficult choices to make. For now though, I need to keep up the charade that everything is as usual. And keeping Michael alive for now is essential should I need to prove to the other city leaders that the vampire population of New York is still thriving.”

  “Yeah, I get it,” I said. “I’m just not happy.”

  “Neither am I. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be happy for what remains of the night.” He leaned forward and kissed me, and I was definitely happy to kiss him back.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Vampires don’t dream. I didn’t know the physiological reason, but not only had I not had a dream since becoming a vampire, every other vampire I had asked had never dreamed either. When we fell asleep at sunrise, it was almost like passing out or being black-out drunk until sunset. You could be watering your plants, cleaning out the litterbox, whatever. When the sun rises, we simply fall unconscious, like our minds have stopped as well as our bodies.

  So when I found myself standing alone in blackness, I was surprised.

  “Hello?” I called out uncertainly.

  At first I thought no one had heard me, but then I noticed the lightest wind, and with it, the hint of flowers.

  “Chantelle?”

  A voice answered me from what sounded like far away. “Emma, call my name three times so I can find you.”

  “Chantelle! Chantelle! Chantelle!” I shouted into the void.

  Instantly, things started changing. The air around me turned to the dark gloom of twilight, and I could see the dry riverbed. A few more seconds and Chantelle herself appeared, almost floating over the dry, dead grass in a grey dress.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “I could ask the same of you. First your witch potential is taken from you. That made it somewhat uncomfortable for me, but I would have gotten it back for you eventually. Then you throw away your newly recovered mortality to become this.” She gestured toward me at that last bit. “And now you are a feral thing, capable
of acting only in accord with your base instincts.”

  “I didn’t realize this would happen.”

  “What would happen?”

  “I thought I would just go back to the way I was the last time I was a vampire. You know, sane. I didn’t realize that having the witch potential was what kept me from wanting to kill everyone.”

  Chantelle floated even closer to me and put her hands on either side of my head. She closed her eyes and hummed lightly. Hearing her melodic humming made me feel very relaxed, and I closed my eyes as well. When she stopped, it was almost startling, and I opened my eyes again, to find her looking at me at very close range.

  “Can you repeat that simple tune?” she asked.

  I hummed a few notes, and as soon as I did, I heard her voice echoing back, as if it were inside my skull.

  “Very good,” Chantele said. “Whenever you feel out of control, I want you to do that. It should calm you down and make it so that you are able to regain your composure.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “But one question: How am I seeing you? Is this real? What does it mean that I’m here? And where exactly are you?”

  Chantele smiled at me sadly and shook her head. Everything gradually faded away.

  The next night I woke up hungry, and was acutely aware that there were two people with beating hearts in the apartment. I sat up in bed quickly.

  “There are people in the other room,” I whispered to Alex, who sat up as well when he heard me.

  “Yes, I asked one of Henri’s blood dolls to come over for when he wakes up. The other one is for you.”

  “Thanks!” I kissed him quickly and started putting my clothing back on.

  Alex stood and started doing the same. “Under normal situations I wouldn’t suggest this, but if you drain him, I would not be displeased.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “You’ll see.” Alex opened the door and walked out, and I followed. He immediately turned and went into Heather’s old room to check up on Henri. I walked around to the front of the sofa to look at the two people who were sitting there and sharing a bowl of popcorn in front of the television.

  One was a young and attractive Latin American woman wearing pajama pants and a matching tank. She smiled at me while deliberately avoided my eyes, and went back to watching whatever was on the television.

  The other person was Ethan.

  “You!” I yelped. “Come with me!” He had looked terrified when he saw me, but at my command his gaze turned blank.

  I walked back to the bedroom, gestured him inside, and closed the door behind him.

  “Sit down.” I stood in front of him and held his eyes with mine. “Who did you belong to?”

  “Michael.”

  “Michael as in Michael Rogers, the Prince of New York City?”

  “Yes.”

  I was surprised and annoyed, but mostly at Alex, who could have told me about Ethan, instead of letting me find out this way.

  Sitting down next to Ethan, I broke the stream of mind control. It was on purpose though. I wanted to hear what he had to say for himself.

  “How did this happen?” I asked. “Did he seek you out or did you approach him?”

  “When did you become a vampire again?” he asked.

  “No, that’s not how this is going to work. I’m going to ask all the questions, and you’re going to answer them. And if I suspect that you aren’t being truthful with me, I’ll hypnotize you again.”

  “Are you going to kill me?”

  “What’s wrong with you? Did you just hear what I said? I repeat, you are not to ask any questions.”

  Ethan looked down at his lap. “Sorry.”

  “Now answer the question: Did you go to Michael or he to you?”

  “I went to him.”

  “Why?”

  “I told you that already. I didn’t think I stood a very good chance of becoming a vampire as your blood doll. So I approached Michael, and he accepted me, since people who work in hospitals are highly desirable by vampires.”

  “Okay, I believe you.” It did benefit vampires to have someone who worked in a hospital as a blood doll, because they had easier access to bagged blood. I turned toward him. “Now I want you to lay down on the bed.”

  Ethan did as I commanded and I also laid down next to him. I rested my head on his shoulder and attempted to make myself think of anything other than sucking his blood. It felt near impossible.

  I leaned over and kissed him on the lips. He didn’t kiss back, but I hadn’t instructed him to. Then I licked his neck and bit him. It wasn’t a contest. The sex had enhanced the pleasure of drinking his blood. It was definitely not the other way around.

  When Ethan had been my blood doll, we had only had sex while I was drinking his blood. Now I realized why. If I weren’t actively drinking his blood, the sex wouldn’t have been as good. In fact, it would have hardly been worth it.

  While I was thinking about this, I noticed a tingle behind my eyes. It was the spell ring again, which would knock me into unconsciousness if I kept going. That’s when I remembered Chantele’s instructions, and hummed the first few notes of the tune that she’d taught to me.

  It was somewhat awkward, as my teeth were in Ethan’s throat, but as soon as I started, I heard her voice echoing in my head and felt more like my old self. After that, it was easy to let my fangs retract and lick his neck to close the wounds.

  There was a knock at the door then. “We have to go now.”

  “Okay, I’m ready.” I stood up and quickly brushed my hair as Alex came into the room.

  He glanced at Ethan. “He’s still alive.”

  “I know. The spell ring hurt me. And they’ll probably want me conscious for the ritual later.” For some reason, I didn’t want anyone, even Alex, to know about Chantele. This was not the first time I had seen her while I was unconscious, and I didn’t know whether what had happened was real or imagined, but it did feel very private.

  Alex paused, staring at Ethan, who looked like he was about to jump out of his skin. Finally, he looked him in the eyes and said, “You can stay here, but don’t go into the other bedroom. You’re also free to leave, but don’t go back to the apartment.”

  Ethan stood up slowly. “I have work in a few hours.”

  Alex nodded. “That’s fine.” He walked back out into the living room, and I followed.

  “Where’s Henri?” I took my jacket from where I had left it on the sofa the night before.

  “I’m afraid he didn’t make it,” Alex said. “And now I am concerned that anyone else I attempt to turn will have the same physiological reaction.”

  “What happened?”

  “He seemed fine last night, but now he’s just dead.” Alex gathered the keys and opened the apartment door for me.

  “What about the woman?”

  “I drained her. Since everyone no longer has their vampire powers, and I suspect they won’t be able to get them back, there are too many blood dolls in the city who know about us.”

  “Right.” I pushed the elevator button to take us down to the lobby.

  “If any of them should talk to a vampire from another city, we’re going to have a problem. There really isn’t another choice.”

  “Okay.” I pulled out my cell phone to see if I had any messages.

  But Alex continued to explain. “If killing the demon doesn’t change everyone back, we might have to get rid of all their blood dolls to avoid this.”

  “Uh huh.”

  Alex was staring at me intently. “You’re much easier to deal with in a way like this, but I think I would still prefer to have the old Emma back.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “How do you stop male blood dolls from falling in love with you?” I asked Alex.

  “Why would you want to?”

  “I don’t want to. But I’m asking how you and Michael, and whoever else, as straight, male vampires, stop your male blood dolls from falling in love with you?” It was a question t
hat had been on my mind for quite some time, but I had never been able to quite put it into words.

  “Bridge or tunnel?” the cab driver interrupted.

  “Bridge,” Alex said. Then he turned to me and lowered his voice. “Firstly, you should know that only Michael has male blood dolls, as he is for the most part the only one who would be turning people. The rest of us male vampires just have female blood dolls who we feed from directly. And as for Michael’s male blood dolls, they are not fed from directly.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “Their blood is removed with a needle, and he drinks it from bags and uses it as reserves for others who need it.”

  “That’s dull,” I said. “Is that the way it is everywhere?”

  “No. In other cities there are both male and female populations. The vampire will then choose whoever they desire to be their blood dolls, based on their sexual preference.”

  “What about any gay, male vampires in New York?” I asked. “Are they not allowed to have male blood dolls?”

  “They are,” Alex said. “But they are relatively few in number, and of course they won’t be turned.”

  “So all these female blood dolls that everyone here has are just eventually going to be killed?”

  “Yes.”

  “But you turned Heather,” I pointed out.

  “Yes, it took a lot of convincing for Michael to allow that,” Alex said. “And I thought that having two female vampires in the city would convince him to let me turn more. But we know how that turned out.”

  The cab came to a stop, and I saw that we were by Washington Square Park. I got out, leaving Alex to hypnotize the driver into thinking we had paid. Immediately, I saw a large May pole right in the center of the park. I also saw a huge crowd of people clustered around it, and my fangs came out of their own accord.

  On automatic, I started walking over to the nearest people I could find—some tourists who were studying a map, when I felt Alex grab my arm. My first impulse was to try to break free, but I forced myself to hum Chantele’s tune in my mind. Instantly, I felt better.

  “Steady yourself. I believe the witches are this way,” he said, dragging me along to the center of the park, where the May pole was set up. I saw Amy immediately, and she turned just as I did and walked toward us. I noticed that the members of Silver Moon and Silver Leaf coven were also present, even though they had lost all their witch powers.