by M. J. O'Shea
I chuckled and quaked at his touch, wiggling my butt against the warmth of his hardening flesh. “Maybe it’s a hickey,” I suggested laughingly.
“Apparently you’ve forgotten what a hickey looks like. I’ll have to remind you.” He rolled me over and covered my body with his. I laughed for a second until his hands stopped tickling and started stroking and touching. When his lips joined them, I moaned and held onto his head. Suddenly he froze.
I was spinning in bliss and didn’t realize what had happened until I heard the distinct slam of the front door echo through the empty house.
Noah growled, irritated, and pulled out of me gently, looking worried and insanely frustrated at the same time. “Damn!” I looked at him with wide eyes. “There’s only one person besides me and Mrs. Clooney who has a key,” he said slowly.
“And Mrs. Clooney always comes in the kitchen door,” I added. We looked at each other in dawning horror. “Damn” didn’t even begin to cover it.
Grandfather was home.
“Noah, what do you want me to do? I’ll help however I can.”
“I don’t know what to do,” he answered. “I guess I’ll have to distract him. I don’t want him asking too many questions. At least it’s night and I don’t have to worry about the damn sun.”
“It is?”
“Yeah, it is. I’ve screwed you all up, huh?”
“I don’t mind. What the hell is he doing here, anyway?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. He never comes here. One thing we do need to do, though.” He leaned in toward my neck, brushing it softly.
I giggled instinctively. “What are you doing?” I pushed at him but panted a little when his lips attached themselves to my skin. “This isn’t the time for—”
His reply was muffled by my neck. He was sucking right in the spot where the new bite mark was. I was still so trembly and excited that the pleasure-pain sensation made me groan. He surfaced.
“What did you say?”
“Grandfather can’t see those bite marks. I’m trying to cover them up.”
“With a hickey? I’m going to look like a seventh grader after a school dance.”
“What’s the matter?” He grinned quickly, humor flashing through. “It was your idea.” Then he sucked for a few more seconds and inspected his work. “There. You can’t even see them now.”
Noah gave me one more slow, sexy kiss then hopped out of bed and started dressing quickly. He pulled on a T-shirt and jeans and attempted to finger comb his hair, which was still messy from me pulling on it. I felt a hot tightening in the pit of my stomach when I looked at him. He was so beautiful….
Then I remembered that it was panic time. I slid off the bed too and started rummaging around for jeans and a shirt. Finally, I found the black button-up that had been draped across the chair in the corner since the first night we went to the bar. I put it on hastily and popped the collar up a little to hide the mark on my neck.
“Noah!” The insistent shout rang through the house.
Noah cringed. “Be down in a second, Grandfather!” He turned to me. “Listen, Zack. I don’t know why he’s here, but this could get ugly. You’re not going to get hurt because of my stupid family stuff. You should probably stay in my room.”
“And listen to you get killed or something? No fucking way. If he’s here for you, he’s going to have to go through me.”
Noah smiled sadly and kissed me. “I love you. I’m not going to be able to change your mind, am I?”
“Nope.” I gave him my most stubborn look. “Let’s go see Grandpa.”
“At least there will be one hell of a distraction,” he mumbled with an ironic smile.
I laughed quietly as we headed for the door. “The illustrious ancestor doesn’t know you’re gay?”
“Not until now.” He reached out to hold my hand.
NOAH’S GRANDFATHER was everything opposite of him. While Noah was gentle and quick to smile, his grandfather was granite-hard and stern. The old man was dressed expensively and looked distinctly European. He watched as we made our way down the stairs, holding hands. I could see disdain all over his face as he took in our mussed hair, rumpled clothes, and well-loved necks and lips. He turned an angry purple red, and I swear I could see his heart threatening to pulse right out of his chest.
“What is the meaning of… this?” He gestured at me like I was some kind of pond scum the gardeners had forgotten to skim from the surface of the courtyard fountain.
“I’m Brian, Noah’s boyfriend.”
Some instinct told me to lie about my name. Noah squeezed my fingers, in agreement, I assumed, or maybe comfort. I held out my other hand, not expecting anything in return, but was surprised when his grandfather reached his own hand out to shake mine. I supposed years of ingrained manners made him do it. His hand was cool and his skin felt a little bit like newspaper.
“He needs to go immediately. This is beyond unacceptable.” He spoke to Noah as if I wasn’t even there.
Noah pulled me closer. “He’s not going anywhere, Grandfather. What do you need?”
Noah’s grandfather glanced at me disdainfully. “I won’t have you ruining the Harper name carrying on with some trashy boy you found Lord knows where. Please tell me no one’s seen you in public like this.”
Noah grew very still. “I think perhaps it’s you who needs to leave, Grandfather. What I do and with whom is none of your business.”
His grandfather sighed slowly, as if trying to regain composure. “You’ll remember that this is still my house, young man. I have things to discuss with you. It’s time to send your little twink upstairs to pack.”
Where did Gramps learn that word?
Noah gripped my hand silently. He was getting angry but trying not to show it. The object was to get his grandfather to leave. Starting a big argument wouldn’t be the way to do that.
When he saw I hadn’t made a move to go, Grandfather spoke again, to me this time. “This is family business. Not to be discussed in front of outsiders. Please remove yourself.”
“Brian’s not an outsider. He knows everything about us. Just say it.”
I could see the old man seething, but he tried to hold it in. “I’ve heard some disturbing rumors about you, boy. That you’ve been seen at that establishment over in Lewis County.”
I panicked, wondering what anyone had seen. I knew no one had watched Noah drink from the real Brian three weeks before. He’d been very careful to lead us into the darkest corner of the bar. I assumed he was always that careful.
“I had a lead on Dad’s killer that led me there.”
His grandfather looked at him slowly, measuringly. “And did you find anything?” Aristocratic silver eyebrows raised slowly.
“No. It was a dead end. I’m going to find him, Grandfather. I promise.” That much was true. Noah had told me a few days ago that he’d never given up looking for the vampire who had killed his parents. The one who’d turned him had been dead before he even finished biting.
“Well, that’s not exactly the story that was relayed to me. In fact, I was told you were getting awfully friendly with one of the feeder whores. A young man by the name of Brian.”
The venom dripping from every word would have been enough to singe. He looked at me with scathing eyes. I didn’t know if I was imagining it, but I could’ve sworn every one of the hastily concealed bite marks on my neck started to burn.
Noah tried to hide his dismay. We were in trouble.
“Hey, Brian, I think I heard my phone go off. Can you go see who it was?” Noah looked at me beseechingly. Please go upstairs, his eyes pleaded.
I returned his look, then turned slowly and began padding silently up the stairs. I’d listen for now, but there was no way I wasn’t going to try to save him.
As soon as I was out of sight, I sprinted for Noah’s bedroom. I was frantic. I knew whatever was going on downstairs was going to happen quickly and it wasn’t going to be good. I rummaged through drawers an
d his huge closet.
A baseball bat, old tent stakes, anything, please….
I heard arguing from below and sped up my search. I finally found a substantial hockey stick in the corner of his closet. Gripping the stick, I toed off my flip-flops, hoping the element of surprise and Gramps’ age would be on my side. My boyfriend was strong, but he wouldn’t want to hurt the old man. I didn’t have that problem. If that bastard wanted to kill Noah, I’d end him.
I snuck through the hallways to the old servants’ staircase that ended up in the kitchen, glad I knew his house as well as my own after years of hide-and-go-seek. My hands were sweating where I gripped the hockey stick, so I shifted it to the other hand and wiped my palm on my jeans. I tiptoed silently to the swinging door between the kitchen and the dining room. Sneaking through the ornately paneled dining room, I could hear the argument clearly. My heart started pounding in my chest but I waited. I was hoping Noah could talk his way out of danger. I could hear him protesting.
“Grandfather, I don’t want to hurt anyone! You’ve got to believe me.”
“Tell that to the little feeder whore upstairs with the bites all over his neck. Did you think I hadn’t noticed what you’ve done to him?”
“It wasn’t me—”
“I may be old, but I’m not stupid. I know what you are.”
So Grandpa knew. Fantastic. I tightened my grip on the hockey stick, ready for whatever might come.
“Okay, it was, but he wanted me to bite him.” I could almost hear Noah’s blush in his voice. “I mean it was mutual. We both… oh Lord. Listen, Grandfather. I love Za—Brian. I’d never hurt him.”
“You look pretty convincing. I’ll give you that. But you’re not my grandson anymore. When were you planning on draining the boy and dumping him in the lake?”
“I wasn’t! I’ve changed… but I’m still me. Why can’t you believe that?”
“Because you’re a vampire now and vampires lie, glamour, cheat. You can do any number of things to get a person to believe the vile slime you’re spewing. It’s not going to work on me, and you’re not going to have the pleasure of killing the little vamp whore. I’ll have to get rid of him, though. I can’t have him running back to that place and stirring up trouble with the others.”
“You’re not going to touch him.”
That’s when I heard a sound that made my blood run cold—the cool metallic rasp of a knife being drawn from a sheath. I peeked around the corner and saw that Noah’s grandfather had his back to me. He also had a wicked-looking knife in his hand that was somewhere between a big dagger and a machete. I didn’t want that damn thing going anywhere near Noah’s neck. I saw my opportunity and took it.
In a single motion, I ran out from behind the dining room door and swung as hard as I could with the hockey stick, slamming it down on the back of the old man’s head. He crumpled to the floor, his big scary knife clattering across the shiny marble tiles.
I ran into Noah’s arms. He gave me a quick fierce hug and kissed me hard. I was trembling from the adrenaline that was still coursing through my veins.
“You okay, babe?” he asked softly.
“Me? What about you?”
“I’m fine. A little sad that my own family doesn’t believe in me. I mean, I didn’t expect them to, but it would have been nice to be surprised. It’s not fun to fend off the man who used to hold you on his knee.”
“I wasn’t going to let him hurt you.”
“I know. It’d take a lot more than one old man to hurt me, at least physically, but thank you for coming to my rescue.”
“Did I kill him?” I asked shakily.
He knelt and felt for a pulse. “No, you just knocked him out pretty good. This is going to be more trouble than I can handle on my own. I’ve gotta get you out of here.”
“What’s this ‘I’ and ‘you’ crap? It’s we. We have to get out of here. Together.”
“But, Zack, my family’s dangerous, and they’re going to be after me now. With help.”
“You still don’t get it, do you?” I shook him gently by the shoulders. “I’m not walking away from you. Ever. I already said that I didn’t care if it was dangerous. I meant it. Let’s go to my place in the city. Your family doesn’t know my name. They’ll never find you there.” I held out my hand.
He hesitated for a long moment, then nodded and took the hand I was offering. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Okay. I know some people in the city who will be on our side. Let’s go.” He headed for the kitchen door.
“Aren’t we going to get any of your stuff?”
“No. I’m not taking the chance that he’ll wake up while I’m packing.”
IT TOOK some fast-talking to convince my parents that I had to go back to the city for the last few weeks of vacation so I could help Noah with a “family emergency.” My parents being, well, parents, weren’t going to be satisfied with generalities, so he had to make up a story about some sick aunt who apparently lived in the Upper East Side. I had to hide my grin at how convincing his story was. Noah was damn good. His eyes were round and sincere as he described how much it would help to have my support while he took care of his old auntie. By the time we stood to go to my room and pack, I nearly believed him.
“You know, you’re amazing at that.”
“At what?” He looked up at me with the same big innocent eyes.
I laughed. “Making stuff up. I almost believed you had some geriatric Park Avenue relative by end of that story.”
“Oh, I do have an aunt on the Upper East Side, but we do not want to run into her. She’s the best tracker in the family. Last I heard, she was in Romania somewhere hunting, so I think we’re safe, but I’m glad you live downtown.”
“Any other bloodthirsty relatives that I should know about?”
“Yeah, actually there are, but let’s get you packed and hit the road. We’ll talk in the car.” I nodded and started shoving all my stuff into the two large duffels I’d brought with me. I had a few things at Noah’s too, but I figured I was going to have to live without them. When everything was packed and shoved into the trunk of his car, Noah and I gave my mom a quick hug and kiss and waved good-bye to a very irritated-looking Maya. I felt bad ditching her, but I was in it for good with Noah. I probably couldn’t actually protect him, but I’d always try. Even if the only thing I could do was make sure he knew he wasn’t alone and there was someone who loved him, I would do it with all my heart.
Chapter Eight: Passenger Seat
WE SPED along in the dark with his radio playing quietly. I’d taken his hand and pulled it to my lap, sandwiching it between both of mine. I loved how comfortable it was to be with him. Even when we were fully clothed and not attacking each other—although I couldn’t say I didn’t want to—there was an easy familiarity. We had all the spark and fire of a new relationship with none of the awkwardness.
I leaned my head back against the leather headrest and smiled. Somewhere along the highway, I realized he’d been silent for close to an hour. It had me a little worried—silence from Noah had never been a good thing. I sat there waiting for him to say something, a comment about the music on the radio, a question about my neighborhood, anything at all. There was nothing but the faint sounds of a guitar coming from the speakers. I finally had to say something.
“You know, I can hear you worrying from here, Noh. Just say it out loud and we’ll deal with it.”
He chuckled quietly. “Do I even have to? I’m worried about you, obviously. I’ve put you in so much danger and I shouldn’t have. I mean, I hurt you before trying to protect you, and I don’t want you to end up as a casualty of this whole thing because I’m too weak and selfish to let you go.”
I knew it. Typical Noah.
“Uh, remember that I didn’t exactly ask if you wanted me to come with you. I told you, it’s ‘we’ now. If I’m in danger, it’s because I made that choice, not because you put me there.” I took a deep breath, trying not to sound frustra
ted. “I want to be with you. Always. No matter what. Okay?” I squeezed his hand hard.
“I just don’t understand why I’m worth it.”
“You’re worth it because I love you!” I realized I was almost yelling. I took a deep calming breath. “I love you so much it scares me. I would do anything for you. Hasn’t it always been like that between us? Wouldn’t you do the same for me?”
“Of course I’d do anything for you. I wish I could be the one risking my life to be with you. I’d make that choice a million times over, but at least I wouldn’t have to worry about your safety. Every time we’re around vampires, every time you’re out alone, any time my family could be near, I’m going to be on edge waiting for something to happen to you. I’d die if it did.”
So make me like you.
There it was. The thought was bound to come up eventually. I knew it wasn’t time to say it out loud. Noah wasn’t in the right mindset to even consider the idea. It was something to consider for later. Sure, the idea of drinking blood grossed me out, but it wouldn’t after I was changed and I’d get to be with Noah forever, not just for one short lifetime.
I sat in the car quietly, holding Noah’s hand and thinking. It was on the tip of my tongue to say something to him, but I knew my original instinct was right. I felt his hand relax a little, but I could tell he was still upset. I brought his palm to my lips and kissed it again, hoping in some small way to reassure him. I saw him smile in the darkness.
“Even with all the crazy stuff that’s happening, I still get butterflies when I look over and see you sitting there. Is there something wrong with me that I can be so happy when we’re hiding from people who are trying to kill us?”
I smiled back at him. “No. I’m really happy too. I keep getting all excited that you’re going to be in the city, living in my apartment. I can’t even tell you how many times I wished I could wake up with you next to me. I’ll have to rearrange my classes so I can be up with you at night.”