He sat there, stroking himself and growling softly until her change was complete, and then he launched himself at her. He fastened his fangs on her left breast as his claws dug into her buttocks and lifted her off the bed.
She howled and bit his neck and sank her claws into his back while she spread her legs and wrapped them around him.
He snarled in pain and desire, jerking her downward until he impaled her on his penis.
He humped and thrust and sucked blood from her breast as she drank from his neck, their minds intertwining and mingling until they were one organism with only one goal in mind—sweet release.
Seconds later, they howled in unison and collapsed in each other’s arms, panting and gasping as they slowly changed back to their human forms.
“Wonderful,” he gasped against her cheek.
“Delightful,” she replied, cuddling against him, “but nothing compared to what we’ll do next time, when we have company.”
* * *
Ed was drifting off into an exhausted sleep when the phone next to the bed began to ring.
“Oh, shit!” he groused and rolled over reaching for it.
“This better be important!” he growled into the phone.
“Is a call from an old friend important enough?” John Ashby’s voice said softly.
“John?” Ed asked, coming instantly and fully awake. He hadn’t heard a word from John since the fight at Elijah Pike’s cabin several months before. His friend had dropped out of sight as if he’d never existed.
“In the flesh,” John replied.
Ed took a deep breath and eased out of bed and carried the phone into the living room so he could talk without waking Kim up. “How . . . how are you?” Ed asked, wondering why John was calling.
John chuckled. “How about we skip the small talk, Ed. We’ve been friends for much too long for that.”
“Okay. What do you want? Is that direct enough?” Ed answered, his voice colder than he intended.
“Hmmm, I sense hostility,” John said, “Are you still pissed at me about the Pike thing?”
“Why would you think that?” Ed replied. “Just because you betrayed our friendship and worked behind my back and almost got Kim and me killed?”
“Hey, we ended up on different sides in a war, old friend. It happens.”
Ed sighed. John was right, and he had saved his and Kim’s lives in the end. “Okay, old buddy, I can see your point. Truce, okay?”
“Truce,” John said, his voice sounding relieved. He counted Ed and Kim as almost the only true friends he had in the world, other than Marya.
“Now, why did you call me in the middle of the night?” Ed asked. “I’m sure it wasn’t just to make up.”
John laughed. “Same old Ed. Right to the point.”
“Uh-huh, and same old Johnny, always dancing around without saying what’s really on your mind.”
“Okay, okay,” John said. “I’m thinking about heading down to the States for a while, with my new . . . uh, lady friend, and I need to know what you’ve told them at Mountie headquarters about my sudden absence.”
“You mean you want to know is there any heat on you and is it safe for you to travel under your own name?” Ed asked, a hint of humor in his voice.
“That’s about it.”
“Don’t worry, John. I just told them you’d suddenly fallen in love with an American tourist and you’d decided to follow her back to the United States when she left. I even faked a notice of resignation so your pension will still be there for you if you ever need it.”
There was silence on the phone for a few moments, and then John’s voice sounded very sober. “You’re a good friend, Ed, the best.”
“Correction, Johnny. We are good friends and have been since we were both transformed. A little difference of opinion about our species’ rightful place in the world is not going to change that.”
“Uh, what if I told you our rightful place in the world was going to change soon, would you be interested?” John asked.
Ed sighed. “Johnny, if you’re still mixed up with those crazy zealots you put in with before, no I wouldn’t be interested. I’ve told you I believe in Pike’s vaccine as the best way for us to get along in this world without having to kill innocent beings to live. I haven’t changed my mind about that since the last time we had this conversation.”
Ed could hear John laughing over the phone. “Same old Ed, stubborn as a mule,” John said. “And twice as ornery.”
Ed chuckled too. “Yep, still as stubborn as ever, Johnny, but I still wish you the best, that is unless you’re going down there to cause trouble for Pike or any of his group. They’re friends of mine, Johnny, so anything you do against them is the same as doing it against me. I wouldn’t want you to forget that again.”
There was silence for a moment, and then John’s familiar chuckle sounded. “I will give you a promise, Ed. I have no intention of seeing, contacting, or in any other way causing harm to Pike or any of his associates, and as far as I know, neither does Theo Thantos or any of his people. Does that satisfy you, my friend?”
Ed felt relief wash over him. “Yeah, Johnny. You’ve never lied to me before, so I’ll take your word for it. Now, you be careful down in the lower fifty, you know those Americans are crazy.”
John laughed, remembering Ed was a transplanted American who’d come to live in Canada after falling in love with Kim, who was a Canadian native.
“Take care, old pal. Maybe I’ll see you again some day.”
“Yeah, you too, Johnny.” Ed hesitated for a second, and then he added, “Oh, and Johnny . . .”
“Yeah?”
“This bunch you’re running with, they seem to be pretty bad guys from what Pike told me, and I’d hate to think you’d ever trust them enough to turn your back on them. I want you to remember, whatever they’re into, it’s for their good, not necessarily yours. So, if things get hairy down there and you need someone to cover your back, like the good old days, just give me a ring and Kim and I’ll come running.”
“Thanks, pal,” John said sincerely. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Chapter 7
Elijah Pike was in the loft of his cabin going over some of his research notes when his cell phone rang.
“Hello,” he said, carefully not giving his name until he found out who was calling. Though only a few trusted friends had this number, he hadn’t survived this long by being careless in his security.
“Elijah, this is Ed Slonaker, up in Canada,” the remembered voice said.
“Hey, Ed,” Pike answered warmly. “How are you doing? And how is your lovely wife, Kim?”
“We’re doing great, Elijah. I just called to run a few things by you, to get your input.”
Pike frowned. “It’s not the vaccine is it? It’s still working for you isn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah, don’t worry about that. It’s doing exactly what it’s supposed to—it lowers the intensity of the hunger so we can go several weeks without feeding, and then we can get by with the canned blood like you recommended.”
“Good!” Pike said, relieved about the vaccine. So far, of the dozen or so people he’d given it to, there had been no failures he was aware of. “All right then, if it’s not the vaccine, Ed, what can I do for you?”
“Well,” Ed said hesitantly, “I wanted to warn you that I heard from John Ashby last night.”
“Your Mountie friend and ex-partner?”
“Yeah. He called to tell me he’s headed down to the States with his lady friend, and I kind’a got the idea that he’s still involved with that group of crazies that attacked us when you were up here.”
“Did he say they were still going to try and stop the production or the distribution of the vaccine?” Pike asked with a feeling of dread. He’d hoped the Vampyre wars were finished with the death of Michael Morpheus.
“No, as a matter of fact he promised me that the group was through with you, and he hinted they were working on some othe
r stuff.”
Elijah caught something in Ed’s voice, some wariness or subliminal warning. “Other stuff, Ed?”
Ed went on to tell Elijah what John Ashby had told him, that Thantos and his friends were going to try and put Vampyres in power over Normals.
“That’s stupid, Ed,” Elijah said when he’d heard what John Ashby had said. “There is simply no way that a few hundred thousand of us could ever defeat several billion Normals, no matter how superior to them Thantos and his zealots think we are. Hell, right now we’re in the catbird’s seat—they don’t even know we exist.”
Ed chuckled. “You know that and I know that, Elijah, but remember crazy people don’t always think straight, and that goes for Vampyres as well as for Normals.”
“Yeah, ain’t that the truth?” Pike said, chuckling himself. “Well, I guess there’s not much we can do about whatever crazy plan they’re working on, except to wait and see if it brings grief down on all our heads someday.”
When Ed remained silent, Pike suspected there was something else on his mind. “Uh, is there something else you wanted to talk to me about, Ed?”
“Yes, but now that I’m actually talking to you, I feel kind’a silly bringing it up.”
“Come on, Ed. We’ve spilt blood fighting together and I count you as one of my closest friends, so what could there be we can’t talk about?”
“Okay, Elijah. Kim and I’ve been on the vaccine since you left here, and like I said before, it’s working great.” He hesitated, and when Pike didn’t interrupt, he went on. “But, Kim and I both feel there’s something missing since we’ve been on the medicine. The blood bank blood satisfies our hunger, but drinking it is just not the same as taking it from prey that we’ve hunted down and shared.”
Pike sighed. He knew what Ed was talking about, for he had much the same feelings about his diet while on the vaccine. “I know what you mean, Ed. All of us that are taking the vaccine feel the same way, and it’s just something we all have to deal with in our own ways.”
“Well, Kim and I’ve decided that at least once in a while, we’re going to go back to the old way, only we’re only gonna take as prey people that deserve to die. What do you think of that? You think we’re fooling ourselves and just trying to justify what we want to do?”
Elijah wasn’t about to rain on Ed’s parade by judging him or Kim, especially since he knew exactly what they were going through. “No, Ed, I don’t. In fact, I’ve done much the same thing over the years, even before the vaccine was perfected. At least with the vaccine, you’ll have the self-restraint to wait until you can find a suitable candidate that meets your requirements of being deserving of death.”
“So, you don’t think too badly of us for what we’re thinking of doing?”
Pike laughed. “Of course not. I’ve spent too many years on that same path to ever think badly of someone else who’s walking down it too.”
“Good,” Ed said, “And I know Kim will be relieved. She thinks an awful lot of you, Elijah, and it would really hurt her to think we’d disappointed you in any way.”
“Not at all, Ed,” Pike replied. “I know it’s different with a mate, and that feeding together is very much a part of the intimacy you both need. Hell, if I had a mate right now, I’d probably be doing the same thing.”
“Speaking of that, do you have any suitable candidates in mind?” Ed asked.
Pike laughed again. “No,” he said, a picture of TJ forcing itself into his mind until he pushed it away. “Right now I’m much too busy working on this vaccine and another new project to think about that.”
“Another new project?” Ed asked.
“Yeah, and it’s one I may ask you and Kim to help me with when the time comes.”
“Whatever you need, pal. What’s it about?”
“We’re fixing to perform the Rite of Transformation on a couple of men down here . . .”
“Those two who fought with us up here against Morpheus? Matt and Shooter?”
“Yes, at least they’re considering it as we speak.”
“So, what’s the project have to do with that?”
“I’ve got a theory, Ed. If during the Transformation, we introduce the blood of several different Vampyres to the men simultaneously, it may just be that the transferees absorb the best parts of each of the donors. If that’s the case, then we might be able to form a new breed of Vampyre, one that is as superior to us as we are to the Normals.”
Ed was silent for a moment, and then he said, “You mean like if they took both my blood and Kim’s blood, they’d get my superior strength and her superior psychic ability?”
“Something like that, Ed, only multiply it by dozens of different traits, from intelligence to speed to precognition to telepathy to God knows what. In fact, just about everything that is passed on by genes could be affected.”
“That sounds interesting, Elijah. What do you want us to do, send you some blood?”
Pike sighed. “I’m afraid that won’t do, Ed. The chemicals we need to mix with the blood to keep it from clotting in the tube might interfere with the genetic materials carried by the bacteriophages in our blood that give us our particular Vampyre traits. I’m afraid the only way to have an effective test of my theory is if you and Kim come down here and give the blood directly to the boys during their initiation rites.”
“Whoa, that gets complicated, Elijah. You know that sharing blood is a very intimate experience, one that usually involves sex and only occurs between mates.”
“I know, Ed. In fact, that’s probably why no one in our race has ever thought about this possibility before. The very idea of multiple donors in a Rite of Transformation goes against just about everything we’ve ever been taught.”
He paused. “That’s why I’m giving you time to talk it over with Kim before you have to make up your minds. I realize it’s a lot to ask, but I think the possibilities are worth the intrusion on your privacy. Think it over, discuss it, and let me know by next week. And Ed, it won’t affect our friendship no matter what you and Kim decide.”
“Thanks for that, Elijah,” Ed said, thinking to himself that Kim would almost certainly veto any such suggestion. As wild as she was with him in bed and when hunting down prey, she was still very much a traditional sort of gal. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I can with our answer.”
* * *
When Ed got off the phone, he went into their bedroom and found Kim sitting in front of her dresser brushing out her hair. He moved up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders and began to give her a soft rubdown.
Kim put her brush down and leaned her head back against him. She could feel his erection through his pants and was glad of his response to touching her, just as he noticed her nipples becoming hard and poking out against the thin layers of her nightgown.
“Ummm, that feels good,” she murmured, moving her head a bit back and forth to further stimulate him.
“Kim,” Ed said, “I’ve got a question for you.”
“Go ahead,” she replied sleepily, drowsy from the effects of his massage.
“Elijah is planning on performing the Rite of Transformation on Shooter and Matt, the two men who were up here with he and the girls.”
“Uh-huh,” she said, her eyes still closed.
“Well, he’s got this theory, this idea that if multiple Vampyres donate blood to the transformees during the ceremony, the best traits of all the donors will be passed on to them and they’ll become sort of super Vampyres.”
Her eyes opened. She had been with Ed so long she didn’t need her psychic abilities to see where he was going with this. She straightened in her chair and turned to face him, putting her arms around his waist and staring up into his eyes. “I guess he’s aware of the nature of the interplay between the donors and the transformees during the sharing of blood?”
Ed nodded.
“And he’s asked us to come and be a part of the ceremony, hasn’t he?”
Ed nodded again
.
She smiled, shaking her head. “And what did you tell Elijah Pike when he asked?”
“Uh, I told him I’d check with you, but that I was pretty sure you’d . . . uh . . . decline to participate.”
“Oh, you did, did you?” she teased.
He stuttered and stammered for a moment before she let him off the hook. “Oh, come on, Ed. Don’t be such a stick in the mud. You and I both have had sex with countless victims before, and most of the time right in front of each other. Why would you think I’d not want to help Elijah in his research?”
“Well,” he began.
“Especially with such handsome young men,” she teased him again.
“So that’s it, you horny broad,” he said mock sternly. “You just want to have sex with those young hunks, huh?”
She grinned up at him and kissed the front of his pants lightly. “Sure, but remember big guy, those two hotties they’re in love with will be participating also.”
He grinned back at her. “Say, you’re right. That means we can both have some fun and do some good for Elijah at the same time.”
She took the tab to his zipper between her teeth and inclined her head, pulling the zipper down. “My thoughts exactly,” she said, taking his erection between her lips when it sprang from his trousers.
Chapter 8
Theo Thantos, unlike most others of his race, didn’t believe in hiding out in out-of-the-way houses so his nocturnal feeds wouldn’t be discovered. On the contrary, he craved action and crowds like an addict craves morphine, and so he and Christina had elected to stay in the Banff Springs Hotel, paying fourteen hundred dollars a night for a rather ordinary room. The hotel itself was extraordinarily beautiful, with elaborately carved balustrades, ancient oil paintings lining the halls, and best of all, from Thantos’s viewpoint, hundreds of nooks and crannies where inconvenient objects could be stashed with little fear they’d be found in the near future.
This latter feature was important to Thantos because he also wasn’t the type to be particularly careful to hide the bodies of his prey after he was done with them. Of course, he also usually frequented large cities in the States and moved around frequently so that he didn’t leave too much evidence of his feeding in any one place.
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