Crimson Hungers
Page 8
“There’s only one way to find out.” Rex drummed the fingers of his left hand on the nightstand in that gesture she had found so human the night they met.
“Wait and see how long we can go without touching.” She took a drink of juice, trying to gain a foothold on her runaway emotions.
“No, we’ll have an answer sooner than that.” He pointed to the clock. “In about ten minutes, I’m going to fall to the dawn.” He met her gaze. “If you fall as well, we’re still bound as vampire and ruby swan.”
“And if I don’t…” She left the sentence unfinished.
“Come here.” He patted the space beside him. She put her bottle of juice on the bedside table and moved to his side.
“If you’re not here when I wake up, I understand.” He twined his fingers through hers. “I just want you to know how much the last two days have meant to me.” He squeezed her hand. “How much I…”
His eyelids snapped shut.
“Rex?” She pulled her hand from his suddenly limp grasp. “Rex, can you answer me?”
She watched his face grow slack and realized she was alone in the room. Dawn had come earlier than he’d anticipated, and he wasn’t merely asleep.
He was dead until sunset.
She crawled away from his lifeless body, the body she’d made love to just a short time earlier, and slipped down from the bed.
He hadn’t asked her to stay. He hadn’t said that they’d talk about it when he rose that night.
He’d simply said thank you and goodbye.
Katya got dressed, moving quietly about the room as if any noise could wake Rex, although she knew better. She checked her tranquilizer gun and put it back in its holster, and slid her cell phone into her pocket.
Last of all, she fastened her silver chain around her neck.
“Goodbye, Rex,” she whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek.
She left, shutting the door soundlessly behind her.
Chapter 13
“She left, just like that?” Mr. Charles snapped his fingers.
“Just like that,” Rex echoed the Englishman. “I woke up and she was gone. No note, nothing.” He wiped the bar absently with a cloth, watching as the first customers of the night gathered on the dance floor of Crimson Hungers. “She wanted out of this thing with me and ran at the first chance.”
“You seem quite sure of that.” Mr. Charles took a drink from his Sloe Gin Fizz.
“How could I doubt it?” Rex rolled his eyes as two local vampires took to the dance floor, both of them throwing him coy glances. Veronica and Malice… or, as Katya had put it, the vampire community’s answer to the Sweet Valley High twins.
Dammit, would everything remind him of her for the rest of his infernal existence?
“Perhaps if you spoke with Agent Stern, you’d find that her feelings are not as clear as they seem.”
“Agent Stern has gone back to her job as a slayer.” Rex tossed the cloth onto the bar in disgust. “The last thing she wants is to be involved with a vampire.” He sighed. “That’s why I let her go, even though it damn near killed me.”
“A generous impulse on your part,” Mr. Charles agreed, “but rather disastrous if this young lady was uncertain of your intentions toward her.”
“My intentions?” Rex laughed bitterly.
“You must understand, Rex, you’re a rather high-profile ladies’ man. A young woman like Agent Stern would probably worry about being just another notch in your, er, bedpost.”
Rex shook his head. “No, she knew better than that. She knew I…” He stopped himself.
“Loved her?” Mr. Charles finished.
“Yeah.” Rex held the edge of the bar in a white knuckled grip. “She knew I love her.”
“Because you told her so?” Mr. Charles took another sip of his cocktail.
“Because I showed her, in every way I could think of.” Rex pounded the bar with his fist. “How could she not know?”
“You might try saying the words to her before you abandon hope completely.” The Englishman stood up and fished something out of the pocket of his tweed jacket. “I believe this may be of some use to you.”
Rex took the small white card. Katya’s address was scrawled on it in Mr. Charles’ familiar hand.
“Where did you get this?” Rex stared down at the card.
“Let’s just say I called in a favor.” Mr. Charles grimaced. “I’m not without a few law enforcement connections myself.”
“I’ve got to go.” Rex stepped out from behind the bar. “Kadin?”
“Yes, boss?” The giant security guard stepped into view.
“Keep an eye on things. I’ve got to run an urgent errand.”
“You’re going to see Agent Stern?” Mr. Charles asked.
“After I make one quick stop.” Rex adjusted his cowboy hat and left the bar, the door swinging shut behind him.
* * *
Katya stared down at her untouched Kung Pao Chicken and fried rice. Where had her appetite gone? Maybe this total lack of interest in food had something to do with everything she’d been through for the past few days. Or it could be that food tasted like just plain old food again, now that she was no longer a swan with a swan’s heightened senses.
Or maybe, she admitted to herself, she was missing Rex so much she couldn’t stand it.
She sighed, stirring the half-melted ice cubes in her diet soda with her straw. The case she’d been working remained unsolved, and the killer remained at large. At least there hadn’t been another victim.
Alvin had sent her home to rest for a few days. When she went back on the job, she was supposed to go back to canvassing vampire hangouts, hoping to catch a trace of their undead perp somewhere in the energy fields. He wanted to get the case wrapped up before Dracula’s Ball took place, and Katya agreed completely. Every vamp in the United States would be at that ball, and the last thing they needed was a killer on the loose among them.
So, it would soon be back to vampire bars and the like. Black Pearl, the local vampire BDSM club, looked promising.
At least she wouldn’t run into Rex there. She couldn’t sort through her emotions well enough to know if that made her happy, sad, or some mix of both.
The banging on her door startled her out of her reverie. She got up from her small dinette set. “Coming,” she called out. She peered through the peephole to see a certain vampire cowboy on the other side.
“Rex?” She threw the door open.
“Don’t say anything.” He barged into her apartment, kicking the door shut behind him. She watched as he paused in the middle of her living room and took in the tasteful off-white overstuffed sectional sofa, the glass topped coffee table covered with books about paranormal topics, the ferns and candles on every surface. “Nice place.”
“Thanks.” She flopped down onto the couch. “You told me not to say anything.”
“That’s right.” He followed her to the couch and sat beside her. “I know that we come from different worlds. I know that you never wanted to end up with a vampire. But, Tiger…” His voice dropped, and her breath hitched at the sound of his special name for her.
Emotion caught her up like a whirlwind.
“I can’t live without you.” His gaze locked onto hers. “Swan or not, you’re the only woman I want at my side when I go to bed. You’re the one I want to see when I rise in the evening. You’re the woman I’ve been waiting for all these lonely years, and I’ve come here tonight to show you just how much you mean to me.”
Hope catapulted her heart into her throat. He dropped to one knee on the floor in front of her, and she felt a mixture of surprise, disbelief, and unbearable happiness forming right along with the tears in her eyes.
“I brought you some jewelry.” He flashed the wicked grin she’d grown to love. “Here.” He pulled a small red velvet box from his pocket and placed it in her hand.
Her pulse raced so hard, she was sure he could hear it… and given his vampire senses, he probab
ly could. Knowing this was a moment she’d never forget, she opened the tiny box.
A diamond encrusted Star of David sparkled against the red velvet.
OK, not what she expected, but still beautiful. “I love it.” She removed the necklace from the box. “But I already have one of these. Admittedly, not as nice as this one --”
“And not platinum,” he interrupted. “If we’re going to be together all the time, you’ll need to replace the silver one with this.” He helped her fasten the delicate chain around her neck. “Besides, it just went so well with this.” Another box appeared in his hand.
That surge of hope that had dwindled just seconds before sprang back to life. “Is that for me?”
“It sure as hell isn’t for anyone else.” He put the box in her hand.
She stared down at it, afraid to open it and lose all hope.
“Go ahead.” He chuckled. “It won’t bite… although I might.”
She let out a nervous giggle and opened the box. A diamond ring glittered like starlight.
“Agent Katya Stern,” Rex took the ring from the box and slid it into her hand, “will you marry me?”
A sob tore itself from her throat. “Good Lord, Rex, I thought you’d never ask.”
“Dammit, Katya. You know I love you.” He reached up to brush away the tears of happiness that had begun to stream down her cheeks. “You knew I’d get around to asking you eventually.”
She punched him on the shoulder. “I love you too, for what it’s worth.”
He gave her a knowing look. “It’s worth a lot.”
His lips found hers, and they shared a kiss, the kiss of being reunited, of being in love, of knowing their entire future was before them.
“You still owe me some underwear, you know.” She broke the kiss long enough to remind him of that fact.
“You got it, Tiger.” He pulled her into an embrace. “Is Victoria’s Secret open at night?”
He kissed her again, this time with more passion, more intensity… a hint of things to come as the night went on. She responded in kind, feeling all the power of their old connection, but this time there was no magic compelling them. This time, it was all about love.
Suddenly, every candle in the room blazed to life, countless tiny flames bathing them in golden light.
Katya burst into laughter. Rex joined wholeheartedly.
Oh, yeah. They still had the power of fire.
Did they ever.
Alecia Monaco
Alecia Monaco has been writing since she dictated her first story at the age of three. Now she happily writes paranormal and erotic romance while living in Houston with her family and pets. She loves to hear from readers and they can email her at AleciaMonaco@aol.com, or visit her site at www.aleciamonaco.com