by Kat Stiles
“Amy!” I grabbed my purse and sifted through the contents until I found my cell phone. When I called her, it went straight to voicemail.
He shook his head. “I’m afraid I don’t know what happened to your friend. I fear the worst, if they’ve resorted to feeding on humans.”
“I have to get her.” I quickly slipped on a t-shirt and slinked out of the skirt, switching it for jeans instead.
“I wouldn’t recommend it. They all know your scent now.”
I grabbed my purse from the bed and moved past him, but then as I was about to leave my bedroom, he was suddenly in the doorway blocking me.
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” he said. “She may already be lost.”
“Lost? What the hell does that mean?” I gazed up into his gorgeous blue eyes. “How can you live there, with them, and possibly care about me?”
His gaze dropped to the floor. “I don’t want to hurt people. It’s hard to explain, but James is my best friend. He’s my family, he takes care of me.” He continued to avoid my gaze. “He takes care of us all.”
“If that’s true, why did you rescue me then?” I folded my arms against my chest. “Why not bring me to James?”
“I had to get you away from Galen.” His eyes grew dark. “If James knew about that body, there’s no telling what he would do with you. Especially considering he invited you there.”
I gulped. I should’ve been freaked out, but the fact that Ryan brought me to my home, away from the rest of his “family,” convinced me he had my best intentions at heart.
“Will you help me?” I took hold of his hands. I’m not sure why, but I felt more comfortable around him than any of the other (few) men in my life.
“Of course.” He planted a kiss on my forehead, and it sent a delicious chill down my spine. “I don’t want to see your friend get hurt either.”
“First, I need a brain dump,” I said.
“A what?” The way his lips curled up slightly when he was confused was the cutest thing ever. He was making it very hard to focus.
“Tell me all the rules about being a…” I felt so silly saying it. “…vampire. I’m sure Hollywood got some of it wrong.”
He laughed. “Most of it, actually. But there are a couple of things that are true. Sunlight can kill us.”
“Shoot. How can you help then?”
“If the exposure is minimal, I can survive it. I heal faster than most.”
With a novel virus raging through the streets, I found myself titillated at that prospect. Oh the trials I could put his blood through… I might be able to develop a cure with it.
“We seriously need to discuss that later. But for now…” I shook my head to clear my growing enthusiasm. “If your kind is nocturnal, it’s plausible most of them would be asleep now, right?”
He nodded.
“Then it would just be a matter of finding her,” I reasoned. “Well, that, and getting inside.”
“I can get us inside, don’t worry about that.” A sly grin appeared on his handsome face. “You’ll have to play along with me though.”
I wondered for a second if I should be worried. But that’s all it lasted. Somewhere deep in my gut, I knew he was on my side. Which was strange, since I wasn’t the kind of person to rely on gut instinct. Still, this felt different. Nothing in my life ever felt this right.
I provided him an oversized hoodie that almost fit him, for going outside. It at least provided cover for his head and neck, but the indirect sunlight still managed to burn his skin as we ran to his vehicle. The classic car was all black, with windows tinted so dark, they had to be illegal. I watched in amazement as his skin returned to normal in seconds.
On the ride over, we exchanged cell phone numbers in case we somehow got separated. Then Ryan went over a few of the rules. I saw the fangs myself, so I knew they were real. The stuff about crucifixes and garlic was just wrong. Also the no reflection thing, which I surmised was likely tied into the other two—the whole soullessness thing. I kept wondering if the vampiric disease wasn’t really a disease at all, but an evolutionary leap. Still the tradeoffs… it wasn’t something I’d wish for myself.
Shapeshifting into a bat? Pure fiction. And the glittering in the sunlight? Well it was more like a flesh-eating virus in overdrive. An exchange of blood was required from another vampire to be turned. But contrary to the movies, it wasn’t something that happened very often. James was careful to keep the “family” small. I asked about the biological stuff, like eating and their internal organs and systems. Eating was off the board—vampires couldn’t process food, it just came right back up. He didn’t know much about how internal systems worked, which only made me eager to autopsy a vampire. Did their hearts beat? Were their lungs functional? So many questions…
Something Hollywood did get right—coffins. They really are super dark. Also, the whole hypnosis thing. Most vampires can persuade their victims to submit. Makes the blood acquisition easier. Skilled vampires could maintain control, never allowing their victims to leave. Feeding off them a little at a time. Plus whatever else they wanted to do… Out of everything we talked about, that’s what scared me most. Losing your control, being forced to do someone else’s bidding…it was my worst nightmare.
As we approached the gates to the estate I asked, “Should I duck down?”
He shook his head. “Act like you’re really into me,” he whispered.
I blushed, thinking it wouldn’t be much of an act. I slid closer to him, resting my head on his shoulder. When the car pulled to a stop, I draped my arm across his chest.
His hard chest, built of solid muscle. A wave of warmth passed through me, and it felt like the heater was on full blast.
“Ryan?” The guard peered into the car. “I thought you were gone.”
“Only to fetch this pretty one.” He grabbed a lock of my hair. “I’m sure James wants her back.”
“He said you can’t be trusted.” The guard frowned, his eyes uncertain.
“I’m ready to serve,” I said to Ryan, loud enough for the guard to hear. Then I nuzzled his neck and nibbled his ear. Playing along, as he’d said.
Riiiiight.
Did his body just shudder?
“Surely you can smell her intoxicating scent?” Ryan murmured, his voice uneven. “She’s special.”
Intoxicating scent? I made a mental note to ask him about that later.
The guard eyed me. “If that’s true, James will want her for sure. Though, she seems to prefer you.”
I repositioned my hand on his thigh and slowly moved it upwards.
Ryan let out a fake laugh. “Please… Please excuse us.”
“Of course,” he said, and then smiled ever so creepily. Looking at me as if I were some kind of dessert.
As soon as we drove past, I sat back up and slid back into my passenger seat. Ryan shook his head. “That was…uh, very convincing.”
I smiled. “Good. That’s what I was going for.”
He parked his car in what appeared to be a massive garage, filled with a lot of luxury cars, some I wasn’t even familiar with. We both got out, and I noticed Ryan adjusting himself, just outside the driver door.
I cocked an eyebrow.
“What?” he said. “I was convinced.”
A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth, when I remembered why we were there. In the very lair of the enemy.
To save my friend.
With them all sleeping, there was a chance I could get in and out of there alive.
At least that’s what I thought. Until James appeared in the doorway.
Chapter 9
“James!” Ryan shouted, his eyes wide. “I-I didn’t see you there.”
James simply folded his arms against his chest. And continued to scowl.
“We were just… Hmm.” Ryan’s eyebrows scrunched together. He walked closer to James. “You know, I was just thinking back to our first kill together. Remember those twins? It was perfect.”
&n
bsp; James laughed. “Yeah, they tasted fine.”
Ryan half-smiled and then charged at him. He tackled James to the ground, and comically sat on his chest, pinning him to the floor.
“There were no twins,” Ryan yelled, and then added, “Teddy.”
“Okay, I give, now get off me!” The man who I thought was James morphed into a smaller, younger, stockier dude with bright red hair. He slithered out from under Ryan. “I so had you fooled!”
“Where you been, man?” Ryan asked him, as they did a combo handshake/hug.
“Here and there. Just got back this morning.”
“Only animals, right?” It was funny how Ryan’s voice automatically changed into a deeper, more parental mode.
“Of course, always.”
I made my way over to where they were, and Ryan introduced me. I noticed Teddy try to subtlety sniff me, failing miserably.
“Man, you better keep her away from James.” Teddy shook his head. “This ain’t gonna end well.”
Ryan laughed. “Good advice.” He squeezed Teddy’s shoulder. “See you around, brother.”
“Catch ya later.”
Ryan and I walked off toward the huge staircase, and I wondered about Teddy and his powers. “So different vampires have different abilities?”
“Yes, if they had an inkling of that ability as a human. Take me, I was a quick healer. So when I got turned, that power amplified itself in my vampire form.”
“How interesting.” My brain was classifying, categorizing and speculating on all the beautiful possibilities of this strange new condition. I would never want for another project—with their blood, I could solve all sorts of ailments. But then I remembered it wasn’t the only question I had…
“What did you mean in the car about my intoxicating scent?”
When Ryan continued on up the staircase without a word, I added, “Teddy was all sniffing me too. What’s up with that?”
“Oh that, well, uh...”
Did he just blush?
In one of the smaller rooms on the right, I heard what sounded like a moan. Was that Amy’s voice?
I quietly opened the door and peered inside. On a small bed, one of the servants from the dinner last night lay naked on her back, her large breasts squeezed by her own hands. A man I didn’t recognize was buried deep between her thighs, licking her with such intensity, I felt my own body come alive. An ache began to form, an unfortunate reminder that it had been too long since I’d experienced that kind of exquisite pleasure.
I quickly backed out again, closing the door behind me. My cheeks had turned a shade of dark crimson, and Ryan seemed as uncomfortable as I.
“This is their, uh… time off,” he explained. “When the rest of us are asleep.”
I nodded, moving on to the next room. From behind the door, I heard snoring. Since snoring was a safer bet than moaning, I tried that one. It was locked.
“Do you have a key?” I asked Ryan.
He shook his head no, but then proceeded to snap off the doorknob. I guess super strength is another perk to vampirism. Good to know.
Amy lay curled up on the floor in a fetal position, a light blanket draped across her as if someone had placed it there at some point.
“Amy!” I ran in and kneeled down by her side. I shook her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
She seemed groggy, unable to wake up. I shook her harder, but there was no change.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked Ryan. “What did they… do to her?”
He joined me and pushed aside her hair blocking the view of her neck. Two small puncture wounds were there, right in line with her carotid artery.
“I think they’ve only fed on her. But she may be following James’ order to sleep.” He lifted her in his arms. “If that’s the case, then she’ll wake up this evening, after the sun goes down.”
I followed him back out to his car, where he placed Amy in the back seat. She still didn’t wake up, and that had me worried. I checked her pulse, and it seemed normal, so that set my mind at ease a little.
On the ride back to my house, it was quiet. I was still trying to come to terms with everything I’d just seen. And wondering about what James would do once he discovered Amy was gone.
“Thank you,” I said softly. “You didn’t have to help me.”
Ryan took hold of my hand. At first the cold temperature of his skin startled me, but the warmth of my hand soon made it bearable. “I wanted to help. You didn’t ask to be accosted by Galen.”
“Do you think she’ll be all right?”
“Yeah, if she stays away from James. Without his continued presence, his control over her will fade. And the physiological effects are similar to giving blood.”
I nodded.
“How about you?” he asked. “This is a lot to process.”
“I can’t stop thinking about all the applications, all the diseases that could be cured…”
“You mean with our blood?” He frowned.
“Yes, and especially yours, with your advanced healing properties. If I could develop a serum that taps into that, it would cure this horrible virus. And who knows how many other diseases—”
“I’m sorry, Liz. It’s forbidden.”
Forbidden? The word conjured an image of older times in my mind, when magic was feared and knights fought battles in armor.
“James won’t allow it?” I asked.
“We try not to interfere in the affairs of humans.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Okay, I realize this could be construed as interfering, but I was correcting Galen’s mistake.”
“Also, the body in your cellar could be interpreted as…”
“Smart ass,” he said, a coy smile on his face.
“And this?” I raised our two hands intertwined.
His lips formed a straight line, as he released my hand. “You’re right. I just thought you could use the reassurance.”
I positioned myself away from him, looking out the window, suddenly feeling very stupid. He was never interested in me. And I was silly to even entertain the idea of being with someone so dangerous.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to—”
“No I get it, your kind doesn’t mix with ours,” I snapped. “It’s fine.”
He let out a frustrated sigh as we approached my apartment complex. Then as I stood outside of my door, Thundarr was going crazy, barking like I was in mortal danger.
Which I guess made sense, since I was with a vampire. As soon as I opened the door, the dog chomped down on Ryan’s leg. I yelled at Thundarr to let go, but he wasn’t having it.
It was kind of comical to watch the pained expression on Ryan’s face, as he walked with the dog attached to his leg, still carrying Amy, to my bedroom. After he gently placed her on my bed, he shook off Thundarr and then looked at him, saying the word, “sleep.” The dog collapsed on the floor.
“You can hypnotize animals too?” I knelt down, stroking Thundarr’s fur and feeling for a heartbeat.
“He’s fine, he’s just napping.” He lifted up his jeans to show his mangled leg. “It was the only way to get him to stop. You should’ve seen what he did last night.”
Seeing the large puncture wounds and blood had the opposite effect an injury usually produced. Instead of feeling empathy for him or regret for my dog’s actions, I was angry at Ryan. To be so close to a scientific healing breakthrough, and I just had to sit there and do nothing.
“Well, I guess we’re all good now, you can go,” I said as I stood.
“Liz, I didn’t mean for this to—”
“It’s okay. This isn’t the first time I’ve misread signals, trust me.”
He rested his hands on my shoulders. The chill that ran through my body was electric and oddly warming afterwards, as if to counter the cold. “You didn’t misread anything.”
I looked into his serene blue eyes, and I saw the desire there.
“I would give anything
to kiss you right now,” he whispered. His hands left my shoulders, and they trembled as they rested on my jawline.
“James isn’t here…” I closed my eyes and relaxed into his cold touch, savoring it.
“It’s the bloodlust too,” he said quietly. “If I get too excited, it can take over. I could hurt you.”
My body reverberated with a warmth, a desire to be with him. I never wanted anyone so badly in my entire life.
But he was right, it was dangerous. He withdrew from me and looked down.
“I’ll come back later to check on you two.”
I nodded. “I hope James isn’t too hard on you.”
“Don’t worry about me, I can handle him.” A bittersweet smile appeared on his face when he moved his hands toward me, like he was going to touch me, but then he simply lowered them again. He left without another word.
I bit my lip, thinking about the things I wanted to do with him. To him. With my school and then career, I never really made the time for relationships. Never really fell in love before.
And now the one person I’m really into, and who’s into me, I can’t be with. How is that fair?
Thundarr was usually the one who would listen when I needed to whine. And of course he was still knocked out from Ryan.
I sighed. I wanted to get back to the lab, to observe the bats. But with Amy asleep in my bed, I couldn’t let her to wake up alone. Especially after the night she’d had.
I glanced at Thundarr sleeping so peacefully on the floor. So I curled up next to him and that warm, furry beast had me asleep in minutes.
I awoke to the sound of my phone ringing.
“Elizabeth?” My mother’s shaky voice said.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I said. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve got her on the phone now,” I heard her whisper in hushed tones. “No, I would want to know.” Then she returned to her normal voice. “Sweetie, I’ve got some bad news.”
Oh God, is Dad all right? Is he still alive? I got the worst feeling he was in trouble.
“It’s this virus going around. I’m afraid…” her voice cracked, and even though I didn’t know what was going on, I felt tears well up in my eyes. “…your father has it.”