“So…this ancient vampire who turned you. Who was it?”
Nathan’s face dimmed. “A master named Marta,” he replied stiffly.
“Why?” Jessica asked.
“Why?” he echoed, looking confused.
“Yeah, why did she turn you?”
He looked at her with wry amusement. “You may as well ask how a cancer chooses its victims. Who knows?” When Jessica looked puzzled, he went on, “I was out at a bar one evening, when Marta lured me away from my group of friends. I do not recall much about the incident, really, other than that I awoke in an abandoned apartment later, with a bite on my neck, a terrible headache, and a raging fever. Marta was there, gloating over me. She told me her name and what she had done to me. She said I would be sick for a short period, and then I would sleep for a long time, and then afterward I would be immortal. I would need to drink blood every few days to sustain myself, and I would need to stay out of the sun, lest it roast me to a crisp. She said I might gain other powers, as well, but she did not know which ones, or when, if ever, they would manifest.”
He paused, his hands clenching and unclenching before he went on, “Understandably, I became incensed. I declared that I hated her and that when I felt better, I would hunt her down and kill her for what she had done to me. She told me to ‘just try it.’ She warned that if I ever moved against her, she would slaughter everyone I had ever cared about, beginning with my family. And then she went a step further, saying, ‘If you so much as ever speak to any of your friends or family again, I will have them destroyed.’ I asked her why she would do such a thing, why she would doom me to such a wretched existence when she did not even know me. She looked at me with the emptiest eyes I had ever seen and explained that she did this now and again ‘for fun,’ chose a person to turn and then abandoned them. Even if she never saw us again, it gave her some sick pleasure to know that we were out there, her ‘children,’ other monsters like her, all alone and miserable. She said she chose me because she thought I was handsome, and she could see I was young and healthy and that, at twenty-eight years old, I had my entire life ahead of me. It made the act of turning me that much sweeter, she said, to know she had taken so much from me...” He glanced briefly out the window, clenching his fists again. “So, as I said, it was akin to being struck indiscriminately by some horrid disease. There was no reason behind it. No personal motivation. It was simply an act of random evil.”
Silence reigned in the SUV for a while after Nathan had stopped talking. Then Jessica said, “Wow, that is so messed up.”
“Yeah,” Lucy agreed, shivering, “what a psycho.”
Nathan’s mouth lifted on one side, but there was little humor in the expression. “It gets worse. Sometime later, I arrogantly tested Marta’s threats against me. Could she really have knowledge of everything I did, I wondered? How would such a thing even be possible? It had been months since my turning, and I had hardly spoken to a soul. I ran into a pair of friends out on the street and, out of sheer loneliness, I accepted their invitation to share a drink with them in their home. The evening passed without incident. I did not tell them about what had happened to me, nor did they seem to suspect anything strange. They did not comment on the fact I hardly touched my drink. But then, a few weeks later, both of my friends turned up killed. Shot to death in their car, with no apparent motive. Their murders have never been solved.” His voice had remained steady, even somewhat detached, as he’d related this story, but now his face was taut with grief.
“Nathan,” Jessica said, “that’s awful. But it could’ve just been a coincidence.”
“Yes, it could have.” His tone made it clear he didn’t believe that for a second. “Regardless, I have remained isolated from most humans since then. I interact with them, of course, as I must in order to get by in society. And that seems to be safe enough, thankfully. But I have never risked contact with my family, nor developed any new close relationships. I simply drink the blood of animals, maintain a watch from afar over my family, and otherwise keep to myself.” He turned his head. “You see now, Jessica, why I did not want you to become involved with me.” A fearful look crept into his eyes, and Lucy could tell he was genuinely worried about her friend.
“You’re pals with Kiefer,” Jessica pointed out.
“Yes, and look where it got him. Beaten to a pulp and left for dead. Anyway, Kiefer is a special case. He has his sorcery as a means of protection, obviously, and his brief bout with vampirism has left him…altered in some ways.”
“Altered?” Dara asked anxiously.
“Perhaps ‘enhanced’ is a better word,” Nathan said. “He is better able to defend himself now. Besides, he knows about Marta’s threat to me, and that he endangers himself through our affiliation. It seems unwise in my view, but he chooses to remain my associate despite the hazards.”
Jessica leaned a little closer to him, smiling with her head tilted. “Oh, I can see why he’d risk it,” she said, and reached out to take Nathan’s hand in hers.
Surprise registered on the vampire’s face. He didn’t pull away, but he said, hoarsely, “Jessica. You do not want to touch me. I am…an unclean thing.”
Jessica scooted across the seat and rested her head on his shoulder. She wrapped her arm around his waist. If he was as cold as ice or as hard as stone or in any other way unpleasant to the touch, she didn’t let it show. In fact, Lucy thought her friend seemed to be thoroughly enjoying being so close to him.
“I’m sorry for what you’ve been through, Nathan,” Jessica said with a soft sigh. “Really, I am. It bites—if you’ll pardon the pun.”
Lucy watched as the vampire closed his eyes and some of the tension leached from his face. It was like Jessica’s sympathetic touch had dissolved something painful inside him, and now he could breathe easier. That was, if he had needed to breathe, which Lucy supposed he didn’t. Still. Lucy realized he probably hadn’t been hugged like that in decades, and her heart ached for him. “Me, too,” she blurted, and he opened his eyes to look at her. “Um. I’m sorry for what happened to you, too.”
“So am I,” Dara chimed in, glancing into the rearview. “And on that touching note,” she added, gunning the vehicle past the gate of her complex, “here we are. Bienvenido a mi casa, Nathan. You know, just in case I have to invite you in-?”
“As far as I know, that is only a legend,” he replied with amusement, “but thank you.” He glanced down at Jessica, who released her hold on him and straightened up. She flipped a wing of jet-black hair over her shoulder and aimed one of her patented heart-melting smiles his way. Confusion flitted across his face again, like he couldn’t understand why she would be so kind to a member of his species, but he didn’t say anything.
Dara opened her garage and maneuvered the SUV inside. Everyone clambered out and followed her up the carpeted staircase to her apartment.
Dara had left her lamps on, and the living room was bathed in soft, warm light. Nonetheless, as soon as the group stepped inside, Lucy felt chills scamper up her spine. Something was wrong here. Very wrong.
Dara seemed to sense it, too. Throwing her bag on a chair, she moved swiftly down the long main hallway, hastening toward the back bedroom. “Jason?” she called out.
“Dara, wait!” Jessica cautioned, but Dara was already throwing open the door to the master suite and rushing inside.
“Dara, come back.” Nathan strode down the lightless corridor to catch up with her. “It could be dangerous.”
Dara reappeared in the doorway to the bedroom. “He’s not in here,” she said, looking and sounding frantic. “Jason’s not in here. Where could he have gone?”
The others crowded around her, peering into the darkened bedroom. It seemed Dara, like Lucy, had tacked blankets over her windows to keep out the sun, and the space was illuminated only by a salt lamp glowing on the dresser. The bed was unoccupied, and nothing seemed disturbed. The door to the adjoining bathroom stood open, revealing another empty space.
; “We should check the rest of the apartment,” Lucy suggested to Dara without thinking. “He could be hiding.”
“Hiding? Why would he be hiding?”
“Well, I don’t know,” Lucy admitted, feeling silly. “I guess it doesn’t really make any sense, but…”
“No, Lucy,” Nathan told her, “your instincts are sound. If Jason awoke and was disoriented, he might have sought out a small, dark place in which to ensconce himself. It might provide him with a similar comfort to that of a coffin.”
“I thought you said vampires don’t sleep in coffins?” Dara said.
“I do not,” Nathan clarified. “Others have certainly been reported to do so.”
Dara flipped on the overhead light, marched across the room, and ripped open a closet. “Jason?” she said uncertainly, patting and shifting around the hanging clothes. “Jason, if you’re in here, it’s okay. We just want to help you—”
Her words were swallowed by the sound of wood cracking and then splintering as, right next to her, the second closet exploded violently, and a snarling vampire leapt out of its ruins.
Chapter Twelve
“Get back!” Nathan leapt in front of Jessica and Lucy, forcing them to shuffle back a few steps. He drew a stake from his sweatshirt and ordered, “Stay behind me. Dara, do not make any sudden moves!”
The new vampire, meanwhile, stood panting in front of the demolished closet, his hands curled like claws at his sides, and his fanged mouth hanging grotesquely open. His eyes blazed like two fiery opals. He was shirtless and barefoot, Lucy saw. And wearing plaid pajama bottoms that rode low on his waist, showing off the carved lines of his hips.
“Jason!” Dara cried, and threw herself at him.
“Dara, no!” Jessica screamed.
Nathan yelled, “STOP! Dara, get back!”
But it was too late. Dara collided with the new vampire, tossing her arms around his neck. “Oh, Jason, Jason, it’s me. Baby, please calm down, it’s just me. It’s just me.”
To Lucy’s astonishment, the vampire’s eyes instantly cleared, the fire in them dying out. His fangs retracted, and he curled his arms around his wife.
“Dara,” he said, catching his breath before he kissed the top of her head. “Dara, where were you? I woke up here all alone. I was all alone and I was so hungry. But I couldn’t eat anything. It all just made me sick, and then…I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to do, and so I just…” his words died away, his face crumpling as he gestured at the hole in the closet. Despite being slim and lanky, he was still tall and muscular enough to be intimidating, but for just those few brief seconds, he looked like a lost little boy.
“I’m sorry.” Dara laid her hand on his cheek. “I’m so sorry I left you alone. I didn’t want to, but I wanted to help. We were out trying to find the person who did this to you.”
Jason seemed to pull himself together. He ran a hand over his face and then through his thatch of messy brown hair. “Who, the vampire?” he said. “You went out hunting a vampire?”
“To save you,” Dara said, as if it should be obvious. “We found out that if we kill her, the curse will be broken. You’ll go back to being human again. Isn’t that great?”
“That’s crazy, is what it is,” he told her, but with a slanted grin. Then he seemed to notice Nathan and the others, standing clustered in amazement in the center of his bedroom. “Hey,” he took a startled step backward and pressed Dara closer against his chest, “Dara, who are all these guys?”
Dara gave a husky laugh. “Come downstairs, sweetie. We’ll catch you up.”
◆◆◆
“That was…unwise,” Nathan scolded Dara a few minutes later. “Running straight for him like that. You should have listened to me and stayed back. Your husband might have been too confused to recognize you. He could have easily killed you.” Lines of tension bracketed the vampire’s mouth. He was gripping the back of a kitchen chair with both strong hands, and Lucy had the feeling he really wanted to be harsher with Dara, but he was controlling himself.
Dara, for her part, looked completely unconcerned by the vampire’s lecture, her mouth set at an obdurate angle. “No,” she said, “Jason would never hurt me.” She had run through a quick round of introductions, and now she was sitting on a barstool at her kitchen island. Jason, who’d donned a t-shirt and his glasses, was perched beside her. They were holding hands, their fingers threaded together.
“No,” Jason agreed, “I would never hurt her.” He turned to his wife, gazing at her in a way Lucy instantly found enviable—because it wasn’t only love shining from his eyes, it was adoration. And Dara was looking back at him the exact same way. These two cherished one another, Lucy realized with a warm flurry in her heart, and there were probably no games or pretenses between them. She had no trouble believing Jason’s statement; as long as he retained even a shred of self-control, he would never hurt Dara.
Nathan seemed less convinced, but he didn’t argue anymore. He let go of the chair and stalked back and forth across the polished wooden floorboards. As he paced, he quickly outlined the current situation for Jason, assuring him the elixir Kiefer was bringing over would calm his hunger and keep him from losing control again. Even as he was explaining, Kiefer showed up and rang the doorbell. While Dara jogged down the stairs to let him in, Nathan concluded his rundown of everything that’d happened while Jason had been asleep.
Jason turned to Lucy and Jessica, giving them each an assessing glance. “You said you guys went to the same high school as Dara?” he asked, scratching his head.
“Seward High,” Lucy nodded. “Just a few blocks from here.”
“She never mentioned you to me. How long have you all been, uh, hanging out?”
Jessica and Lucy exchanged a glance. Lucy said, “Well, we haven’t ever really—”
“We’ve never hung out before,” Dara cut in, springing back into the room with Kiefer at her heels, “because Jessica hated me in high school.”
“I didn’t hate you!” Jessica cried.
“Well, you didn’t like me.”
“You stole my boyfriend,” Jessica retorted, but Lucy could tell there was no real heat behind the accusation anymore.
“Yeah, that sounds like Dara,” Jason quipped, “a regular Jezebel.”
Dara chuckled and said, “Jason, this is Kiefer. Kiefer, this handsome comedian is my husband, Jason. The elixir is for him.”
Jason jutted his chin at Kiefer, who’d changed his clothes and cleaned up. His hair was damp, and he smelled like Lever 2000.
“I brought you some blood, too,” Kiefer said, setting a brown paper bag on the island. When all the humans gave him a wary look, he added, “Animal, of course. It’s cow’s blood. I keep some from the butcher for Nathan. Anyway, you could drink the elixir straight, but mixing it with blood will make it go down easier and help it work a lot faster.”
“Now there’s something I never thought I’d hear anyone say to me,” Jason murmured, pulling the bag toward himself. He shook Kiefer’s hand and thanked him for bringing over the supplies.
While Dara set about opening cabinets and drawers, getting a mug and spoon out for her husband, Lucy tugged at Nathan’s sleeve. “Um, Nathan?”
He peered down at her with a kindly smile. “Yes, sweetheart?”
“Can we please go to my place soon? I’m worried Aaron might’ve woken up, too, and if he’s as confused as Jason was…well...” Her concern for Aaron’s well-being took precedence, of course, but she was anxious about her apartment now, too. She pictured the door to her own bedroom closet exploding in a shower of wood chips and its immaculate contents being reduced to chaos. She could reorganize her stuff again later—and probably have a ball doing it—but the landlord would never forgive her for the physical damage. One look at the crater left behind in her room, and she could kiss her deposit goodbye.
“Yes, of course,” Nathan said in answer to her question.
“I’ll come, too,” Jessica piped up.
“And so will we,” Dara added, unstopping a glass vial she’d extracted from the paper bag. “As soon as Jason’s taken his, uh, medicine here, anyway.”
Nathan looked alarmed. “No. There is no need for that. Lucy can let us into her apartment, and then Kiefer and I can handle the situation from there. The rest of you should stay here, where it is relatively safe.” He looked pointedly at Jessica.
“Are you sure?” Dara sniffed the vial and wrinkled her nose, and then emptied the syrupy substance inside into the mug. “It just seems like we should all stay together, doesn’t it? To fight the vampire?” She looked to Jason for his opinion.
Jason popped the plastic lid off a Styrofoam carton, glanced at the contents, and winced. “Yeah, just give me a minute to, uh, chug this stuff, and then I’ll put in my contacts, throw on some real pants, and we’ll come with.” He added the blood to the mug Dara had prepared. She dipped in the spoon and stirred casually, like she was mixing up nothing more noxious for him than a cup of hot cocoa.
Nathan compressed his lips, his expression tinged with confusion.
“What?” Jessica asked him.
“I would not have expected how well all of you would handle this situation.”
“I told you from the beginning we weren’t wimps,” she chided. “I said we would do whatever it took to fix this mess.”
“Yes, you did tell me that,” Nathan admitted. “Even so, I would not have guessed any of you would be so eager to…pitch in. On a vampire hunt.”
“That’s just because you’ve forgotten what it’s like to have friends,” she said. Her gaze strayed to Kiefer. “Well, more than one friend. Anyway, whether we like it or not, we’re all in this together now, and we’ll see it through till it’s finished.” Seeming to remember something, she added, “Unless you’d rather back out, Nathan. We’d understand, what with your family possibly being in danger and everything.”
The Sharpest Kiss Page 12
