“I suppose.” I grin back. I’m getting more comfortable with our arrangement. He gave me his cell phone number and took mine, which feels like a huge commitment. We still have no formal title, but after another night together, our bond seems so strong. When I’m with him, I feel like he’s perfect for me. I know I can’t count on this lasting; my relationships never do...but maybe this time things will be different. Even if they’re not, I don’t ever care.
“Let me get the door for you.” He smiles as I hit the button to unlock my car doors.
The evening air is cool, like usual, and I hear a night bird call. He touches the driver side door of my car, then puts his hand onto my shoulder for a second. “One kiss before you get in.”
His lips touch mine. It’s perfect for a split second, and then it all goes wrong.
I smell the scent of rotting garbage and hear a hiss. My eyes fly open, and I see the man in black pop into view. I swear, he materializes out of nothing.
His voice is a sinuous hiss. “357A-19. We’re ready for you now.”
He reaches out to grab my arm, and I scream, clutch onto Alain. I know without a doubt that this man is worse than cancer. Any future is better than one in which he takes me.
But he’s strong and so fast! How can a person move like that? I twist away and try to run, but he’s there like I went nowhere, his fingers digging into my arm. “So perfect that you’re here with Alain. Like a wrapped gift, just for me.” He giggles.
I scream and push, pull, but he’s got me. “You’ll be my best blood source yet. And the perfect LD,” he whispers.
Suddenly Alain is between us, moving so fast he’s just a blur. He’s literally flying, his whole body off the ground. His eyes glow, and his teeth are long, sharp. He hisses and roars, and the man in black cries out.
The two of them lift off the ground, blurring so fast I can’t see who is who. They hiss and howl, attack and dive.
Alain attacks again and again, and the man stumbles. Falters. Finally, he flashes out of my sight like he was erased. Like magic.
I’m crying, shaking. I can’t think. I’ve fallen to the ground because I feel gravel on my knees. Hard, cutting. The air is chilly, and I know I’ve gone insane.
“It’s all right, Bri. He’s gone. He’s gone.”
Alain scoops me up, effortlessly. Grabs me and heads back into his house, slamming the door behind him. “You’re safe in here, okay? He can’t come in here. Not unless he’s invited.”
“I can’t—I don’t –” My teeth chatter and I can’t speak. “I don’t understand.”
I remember how the man almost got me, and I scream.
“It’s okay. Bri, you’re safe.” Alain’s voice is soothing.
But I keep screaming, and my whole body trembles for a long time. Finally, when I sink back into his embrace, I’m able to ask the question into his shoulder.
“Who was that? And who are you?”
I don’t want to know the answers. But I need them.
He takes my hands, which are cold. Ice.
“I need you to listen with an open mind.” His eyes are piercing, and my mind swims, just like at the club, just like when we were fucking.
Images flash and disappear: Sex. The man drinking blood. Alain’s teeth, long and sharp. Alain flying, fighting the way no human can. Alain in my head. Telling me what to do. The man by my car.
All the fragmented memories come together in one impossible whole.
“You’re a vampire,” I say, before he can open his mouth.
It’s insane. It’s not possible because vampires don’t exist. And yet, when I see his face, I know it’s the truth.
“Yes.” His voice is calm, but his body is tense. “I am.”
I can’t accept it, even though I know it’s right. “Okay. I’ve gone crazy. I need to call Dr. Su and get some new meds. Oh my God.” I try to stand up. “Where’s my phone? Please take me home.” I’m babbling. I want this to be a bad dream.
“Bri.” His voice holds a command, and I sink back to the couch. “That was Karl. He’s a vampire, an evil one. We think he’s taking the women in Tucson. He’s dangerous. I can’t let you go home, or he’ll kill you.” The words are flat but hit like bullets. “Vampires are out all night and sleep at dawn, while the sun is out. The sun kills us almost instantly. Daytime is the only time you’re safe from him.”
Panic wells up, and I think I’m going to lose it.
Alain grabs me tight. “Easy,” he whispers into my ear. His hands are tight and firm on my arms. “You’re not going to lose anything. Calm. Follow my voice.”
Without second-guessing it, I allow myself to fall into the deep well of his aura. Alice down the rabbit hole, falling, falling. Then—I catch on something. It’s like he’s caught me, inside my head, preventing me from freaking out.
“You’re safe right now. It’s all right.” His voice is a beacon, guiding me back to my confidence.
“Okay.” My voice is small, but no longer holds a quiver. “I’m all right.”
“Yes, you are.” He’s smiling, even at this strange moment. “Oh, sweet Bri.” He sighs. Then his voice is focused again. “What exactly did he say to you?”
“He said, we’re ready for you now. And that my blood would be perfect. And a number. Like a tracking ID.” I blink.
“A number? What number?”
“I don’t know. Like a tracking ID.”
“What ID? From where?”
“I don’t know.” I draw back at the look in his face. “I’m not lying.”
He softens his features. “I know you’re not. But it’s important. I need you to think.”
“I’m trying!” My voice comes out a whine and a tremor at the same time.
He sighs, as if frustrated, but his voice—when he speaks again, is softer. “Bri, I’m sorry. I know this is strange and terrifying. I was so focused on fighting him that I couldn’t use my skills to hear everything around me. Please try to remember.”
“Okay. I’m focusing.” I roll my eyes at him.
His eyes narrow, and I know what he’s thinking—and for one split second, my mind darts to sex and spanking—before flashing back to the present.
“Oh my God. I think I know what that is.”
“Tell me.” Alain holds my shoulders and looks into my eyes.
“It’s my Gila Diagnostics blood draw ID. That’s the number I always see on my results page.”
“Oh, no.” Alain’s voice lowers. “You get your blood drawn there?” He takes my shoulders, like he’s upset. “Bri?”
“Well, yes.” I’m taken aback. “That’s my usual place.”
“Fuck.” He mutters something else I can’t hear.
But I need to tell him what else I know. “And all three of the missing women in Tucson? They had their blood drawn at Gila Diagnostics, too.”
“How do you know that?” Alain’s eyes are dark, his voice sharp. But he’s not surprised. It’s like he already knew that information. He’s just surprised that I know, too.
“Uh, a friend found out for me. A hacker friend.”
When he keeps staring at me, face almost ferocious, I swallow. “Alain? It’s…I mean, I have a friend online. His name is Slash, okay?”
“Oh, fuck.” Alain gets up and shakes his head. “Did you say Slash?”
“Yes?” I raise a brow. “Why? Do you know him?”
Alain barks out a small laugh. “Apparently, it’s a small world, Bri.”
He grabs his phone. “Slash. Get over here. Now.” He slides the phone back into his pocket. “Bri, I have a very short window of time to get some things done before I need to rest. And you need to stay here.”
“Uh, okay.” I blink at him. “But I should go home for my –“
“You’re not going home for anything.” He crosses his arms. “Karl is out there, and if you leave the boundaries of my home, he can take you.”
“But he can’t come in?”
“No.”
“O
kay. Good. But I need my medications, and my laptop, and...”
“Fuck.” He scowls. Grabs his phone again. “Someone’s going to get it for you. Does he have permission to enter your home?”
“Um, sure, but without the keys–“
“Just give him permission.” He narrows his eyes and holds the phone to my ear. “You’ve met him; it’s Tiberius. The bouncer at the club.”
“I should say what?” I blink.” I can’t keep up with what’s happening.”
“Hello.” The voice on the phone is comforting. I can imagine Tiberius’ perfectly styled hair and impeccable suit. “I see Alain found you. Tell me I can enter your home?”
“Fine. Enter away.” I wave my hand and scowl at Alain. “The address is–“
“I’m already inside. Meds are these, inside the cabinet? The blue bag?”
“Yes, but how did you–“
“Got the laptop, too. Need anything else?”
“I…” I turn to Alain. “How is he already at my house?”
“We move quickly.” His voice is dry. He takes the phone from my hand.
“So, Tiberius is a vampire too?” My voice rises.
“Yes.” But he’s distracted, typing something on his phone. His whole body vibrates with a strange energy that seems part anger, part concern.
“Of course, he is. And I assume everyone else I’ve met lately is a vampire?” I cough. “People at the club?”
“Some of them. Yes. One second.” He lowers his voice and turns away. I can only catch snippets of his words.
“Jesus.” I shake my head. “This is insane.”
I stand up and pace, back and forth on the Persian rug. Glance at his wall, at the Monet, the Mondrian, and what looks like a Picasso. “Where in the fresh hell did I land?” I murmur.
I think about calling K.
I can’t call K. What would I tell her? If she even believed me, I’d probably endanger her, too.
And for the first time, I realize that my life as I know it is over.
At least I’m with Alain.
And that thought gives me far more comfort than you’d think it should.
“Alain? I’m here.” It’s a voice from the door.
“Come in, Slash. Don’t panic, but I have a human here. Bri.” Alain is at the door in a split second. It’s unnerving to see him move so fast!—but even as I blink, I realize that I recognize the newcomer’s voice. It’s “my” Slash, hacker Slash—the one who called me.
“Bri?” Slash does a double take, as he steps in with a trendy laptop bag slung over one shoulder. “From online?” He looks like a real-life version of his avatar: Short brown hair, sort of messy, wire-rim glasses, slender. Typical Gen-X clothing. Chucks.
“Slash, from online?” I’m as dumbfounded as he is. “You know Alain?”
“Uh-huh.” Slash looks at me like he’s trying to figure something out. “How do you know Alain?” He frowns. Looks at Alain, me, back to Alain. His shoulders seem stiff.
Before I can answer—confused about why Slash was so friendly online to me and now is so cold, Alain cuts in.
“I’m not pleased with you.” Alain glowers at Slash. “Why in the holy hell would you be sharing information with her,” he gestures at me, “and leaving me out of the loop?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The three women all had their blood drawn at Gila Diagnostics?” Alain’s voice rises. “How did it not occur to tell me that Bri was your contact?”
Slash shakes his head. His face looks pale, like he’s tired. “Alain, how would I have any idea that you know Bri?”
Alain growls. “She’s in danger.”
Slash looks uncertain. “Alain, I don’t normally tell contacts about each other. It’s my privacy rules?”
I clear my throat. “My friend K. said that the security cameras were turned off before the break in at Gila Diagnostics. Maybe you should see if you can find out who did that. Can you find that information online?”
“How did your friend know this?” Slash sounds dubious.
“Her brother is a lieutenant. He told her.”
“Slash, can you check it out?” Alain’s voice isn’t a question. It’s more of a command.
“If there’s an event log, I might be able to trace the information to an employee ID.” Slash’s voice is somber.
“It’s my fault,” Alain says, under his breath.
I shoot a glance at Slash, but he’s setting up his computer and logging in.
“How would it be your fault?” I venture.
“Because…” Alain starts.
“She knows about you, and you’re telling her even more?” Slash sounds ominous. “You know you’re going to have to wipe –“
Alain cuts him off. “It’s my fault, Bri, because I made him. I made Karl into a vampire. Now that he’s turned on me, he wishes to destroy everything I care about.”
“But he had my blood draw ID. He already wanted me.” I put a hand to my mouth.
“It will give him extra pleasure to hurt you because it also hurts me.” Alain shakes his head. “Perhaps in worse ways than he originally planned.”
“I still don’t understand. I have so many more questions.”
Alain turns back to me. “I will answer them, in time. Can you be patient?”
But it’s not really a question. He’s telling me I have to wait.
And as I glance at the window, too, where the dark is barely, imperceptibly lightening, fear spikes my heart. What disaster is the new day going to bring?
Alain
Tiberius drops off Bri’s things, and we confer briefly, as I tell him what I need, and he tells me what he saw: Nothing. No signs of Karl. After his attack on Bri, Karl completely disappeared.
But I know he’ll be back. Any thoughts or hopes I had of saving Karl—ridiculous! I curse myself for the weakness of allowing myself to even consider it. If I’d ended Karl earlier, when he was less powerful, this attack would never have happened. His whole sick blood bank idea would not even exist.
I have to face the fact that I fucked up royally by imagining I had the power to make things work out the way I hoped— and this mistake can never be corrected without force.
In this case, violence needs violence. And I’ll have to deliver in order to protect everything I care about.
Bri is drowsing on the couch, but it’s an uneasy sleep. She twitches and moans, and her eyelids flutter as if she’s about to awake. Her shoulders are tense even as she dreams, and I am positive this is no relaxing slumber.
“What are you going to do about her?” Slash tilts his head toward her.
“That’s my business.”
“It’s all of our business now.” Slash is young and brash for being so new. But he’s not exactly wrong. “We don’t tell humans about us except in rare cases. Already too many know.”
“Consider this one of the exceptions.”
“Are you going to wipe her?” He fixes his gaze on me.
I look away. “She doesn’t wipe well. It would hurt her.”
“How many times have you even been together?” His voice goes up. “Are you, like, dating?”
“That’s not your business,” I snarl. “Besides, you called her on the phone? You’re her friend online? You’re as bad as I am.”
“Not even close,” he retorts. “She didn’t know a thing about me being a vampire. I was just her hacker friend, finding information.” But he looks guilty as fuck. I know he wants companionship as badly as I do. He knows he slipped up, too.
I guess Bri is just intoxicating to both of us, in different ways.
“She can be trusted.” I know this is true, even though I’ve only known her a short time. But I feel it in my gut. My heart.
“Well, if you’re sure.” He sounds wry. Then shakes his head. “I guess I shouldn’t have called her.” A second goes by. “But I felt the same. Like I could trust her.”
“She’s in it now, anyway,” I add.
&nbs
p; We both look at her in her uneasy sleep.
He says: “I liked her, you know. We’re friends online.” He sounds defensive. “She’s really smart and funny.”
“How can you be friends with humans online? That doesn’t even make sense.” Is it strange that I’m a little jealous?
It sounds like Slash has a little crush on her himself. Does she have more in common with Slash than with me? I’m not a newb like Martin, but I don’t spend any social time on social media. To me, it’s more of a research tool. I know how to look at other people’s accounts, of course. I don’t need accounts, and if I had them, I’d need to worry about keeping them legit and updated.
He shrugs. “It’s the only way I can have any friends my original age. Don’t knock it.”
I don’t tell him that it matters very little whether he finds his human friends on-line or at the bar or at the bottom of a fucking well: They’re all going to die and leave him, and soon enough he’ll stop trying and save himself the pain.
I want to tell him to get over his stupid crush already.
A lesson I apparently haven’t learned yet myself.
Bri moans again.
“I wish she could rest.” I stand over Bri, then crouch down, silent. Gently touch my hands to her forehead. Rest.
She doesn’t respond, so I push deeper into her mind. She let me in while we were having sex, but I feel guilty going in while she’s asleep, even less able to push me away. Something I’ve never really cared about too much with most humans. But Bri, she’s already an exception. Like Dr. A., I already care about Bri so deeply that it rivals my affection for Martin...and that’s saying a lot.
Rest easy.
She sighs, a deep tremulous breath, then her body stills, and her shoulders soften.
She and I really do have a strange connection. I can’t do this with Dr. A. Can’t really communicate things with humans like this. It’s only with Bri.
“Speaking of sleep.” Slash stands up. “It’s about time.” He looks from me to Bri then back again. Sighs. “Wow. That’s going to be…wow.” He gathers up his things. “I’ll be back when it’s dark.”
“Be careful. If he knows you’re helping me, you’re in danger, too.”
“I know how to take care of myself.” Slash gives me a salute and disappears.
Her Vampire Temptation (Midnight Doms Book 8) Page 13