by Bree Younger
He took hold of her shoulders and gave her a couple of hard shakes. “Stop it, Libby. Just stop. You’re getting hysterical. Don’t make me slap you.” Finally she shut up, and he pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her. He didn’t say anything else. Just held her there. He wasn’t going to try to convince her of something that she already knew, deep down.
It was a hard thing to accept. He knew that. He’d seen people before, strong people who, for whatever reason, had been confronted with the reality of vamp existence. He’d watched them struggle with the idea too many times. It was so ingrained in their psyches that vampires were just some old legend that some people could never accept it, no matter what kind of proof was presented to them. They just lived in a state of perpetual denial. Some even went insane from trying to deal with the—to their mind horrifying—truth. It shook the deepest foundations of their own belief systems. But he didn’t think Libby would be one of those. No, she was too stubborn. She’d work her way around it. He just had to wait her out. He hoped it wouldn’t take too long. He needed more blood and something for this son of a bitching headache.
The silence stretched between them for several minutes. At last she spoke again, very softly. “Are you going to kill me?” And he knew she’d accepted the truth.
He released her and stepped back, running his hand along the back of his neck and then turning to drop down in the chair opposite the sofa. He was too tired for this shit. And his headache was pounding against the back of his eyes. But he had to get through it. “Now why would I want to do that, Lib?”
She shrugged, dropping back down onto the sofa and drawing her knees up against her chest in a defensive posture. “Because you won’t let me go? Because you want my blood? Because I know your secret? Because you’re a crazy bloodsucking monster and that’s what monsters do?”
Despite everything, he found himself amused. A smile tugged at his mouth. “Really, Lib? How could I kill the woman who saved me from a slow, agonizing death? That would be a piss-poor repayment, don’t you think? Do you really believe I’m some mad monster slavering for any delectable morsel that crosses his path? Is that how I seem to you?”
She took her time, her eyes boring into his, before she answered. “No. Not really, I guess.” Her voice sounded uncertain, but at least she wasn’t losing it again.
“Not all vampires are evil, Lib. We’re just like people. Some good, some bad. Most a mixture of the two.”
He watched as she thought over his statement for a moment. He could almost see the wheels turning. “But you drink blood.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m even having this conversation. Maybe this is just some weird dream I’m having?”
“Sorry. This isn’t a dream, Lib. It’s real.”
“And you do drink human blood?”
“Yes. That’s true. But not to the death, and not without their permission.”
She opened her mouth but he raised his hand to forestall her.
“And yes, I know that I took your blood without your permission. But I was not rational, remember? I was in pain and half-crazed from lack of blood. I was out of my skull. I swear it will not happen again.” He looked at her closely. “How are you feeling? Any weakness from the blood loss?”
She looked surprised at his concern. “Not too bad. Maybe a bit dizzy, I guess. Really tired, but that’s all.”
“Good.”
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
“Like what?”
“Like am I going to turn into a vampire because you bit me?”
He let out a short laugh. “No, God, no. There’s no chance of that happening.”
She searched his face and finally nodded. He wasn’t sure if she believed him or not.
He was clearly out of his element in dealing with a woman like this one, on any level, much less in a situation so serious. The females he spent most of his time around didn’t spend a whole lot of time talking. But so much was riding on this. He wished Quinn were here. Quinn was smooth and knew how to turn on the charm to get his way. Ty was cut from a much rougher mold.
“Have you ever killed anyone?”
Oh. Shit. He didn’t want to, but he answered truthfully. He wasn’t going to start lying to her. She was just going to have to take him as he was. “Yes. Yes, I have killed. I’m not going to lie. I’ve killed to protect myself and my family.” And other instances that he thought it better not to mention just yet. “Also, I’m a Council Shield.”
“What?”
“Like a cop. A vampire cop.”
“Oh.” She looked as though she didn’t quite believe him.
Damn it, he didn’t have time for this. “Lib, you have to believe me. I am not going to hurt you. I do not go around killing humans for no reason. Most vampires don’t kill. If we did, it would be very hard to keep our existence a secret, don’t you think? But there are vampires who do kill. Who have no conscience. Like some humans. Those vampires, the ones who tied me up and tried to kill me, they’re out there somewhere. And they are bad. They are really bad. But I’m not. I swear to you. Please believe me. We have got to work together to get out of this situation, or we will not survive.”
She stared at him, unblinking, as if thinking over what he had told her.
He leaned forward. “Look, Lib. I know this is a lot to take in. And normally, I wouldn’t try to rush you. But we just don’t have time for you to have another meltdown right now. Not if we’re going to live. Those other vampires who are after us will not stop.”
Her eyes widened. “After us? What are you talking about?”
“They came back to check and make sure I was dead, Lib. And they know now that I didn’t die like I was supposed to. They know I escaped and that someone helped me. I can identify them. They can’t let us go.”
He could see her throat move as she swallowed hard. “Are you sure they’re after us? Maybe they’re gone. Maybe they’ve given up.”
“I wish that were the case, but it’s not. We passed them on the road, Lib. They saw me, but I managed to get us away from them. Right now, they don’t know where we are, but they’re out there looking for us. They don’t want just anyone. They want me.”
“Why? Why are they after you?”
“I don’t know. I never saw them before last night. I swear to you. But what I do know is that they are ruthless killers. Basically, they’ve tried to murder a cop—me. It could be related to one of my cases, I don’t know. They didn’t tell me. What I do know is that they wanted me dead, and I’m not. And I don’t think they’ll be feeling too kindly toward the person who rescued me.” He sent her a hard look, and he saw her eyes widen as she realized exactly what he was telling her. “I need to know that you will do what you need to do to help us get to safety. And to do that, you have to trust me. You’ll have to do what I say, when I say it.”
“Is that the truth?”
He moved to kneel before her. He covered her clenched hands with his. God, his headache was worse. He tried to keep his patience. “I don’t know who they are. I have no idea what they want with me. I might have some ideas, but right now it’s just guesses on my part. They didn’t volunteer any information when I woke up staked out and half-naked.”
“How do I know that they’re the bad guys and not you? You could be lying about all this. Maybe they’re the ones I should trust.”
He could feel the first pricks of his temper at her statement.
“Well, hell, sweetheart. Don’t you think anyone who would leave a man to die a slow agonizing death by burning is pretty damn bad? And don’t you think that the bad guy wouldn’t be standing here trying to explain things to a helpless woman? Maybe, if I was the bad guy, you’d be dead right now. Don’t you think?” His voice rose until he was almost shouting. She slumped back, her eyes widening apprehensively, and he forced himself to reign it back in. This was no time to be losing his temper with her. That would just reinforce her idea that he was a ba
d guy. The evil villain of the piece.
He forced himself to take a deep breath. “Look. I don’t know what else I can say or do to convince you that I’m the good guy here. But don’t you think you could try giving me the benefit of the doubt? I haven’t done anything to harm you since I’ve regained my strength. It would be easy enough to kill you if that’s what I wanted, but I don’t. And I won’t. I’m not saying I’m an angel or anything, but I don’t pull the wings off flies, and I damn sure don’t kill little green-eyed pixies who save my life.”
“Okay.”
He blinked. “Okay?”
“Yeah. I believe you. I think you’re the good guy.”
“Why?” He was dumbfounded that after all the arguing, she’d just given up. He couldn’t understand what he’d said to convince her. Why she’d suddenly accepted what he was saying as the truth. It made him suspicious. Was she trying to pull something over on him? Like she had earlier when she’d run off?
She shrugged. “You’re pretty annoyed right now. I can tell. I figure if you really were the bad guy you’d have at least tied me up and gagged me to shut me up. So you must be the good guy.”
He tried to understand her reasoning and failed. He would never, even if he lived a million years, figure out how the female mind worked. Honest to God, they made him crazy. But he didn’t have the time to worry about it. He had bigger fish to fry. None of this made any fucking sense at all, and he had a feeling things were going to get worse.
* * * *
Libby watched as Ty moved around the tiny kitchen, pulling some things from the fridge. As she studied him, she couldn’t help but notice the horrible blisters and burns were completely gone. He really was a vampire. She shook her head, still in a state of semi-disbelief. A freaking vampire. Her mind just couldn’t absorb the reality of it.
She stood to turn on a light so that she could see him better. Just as her hand reached for the switch, Ty snapped out a short, “Don’t.”
She jerked back and looked at him. “What? Why not?”
“The less attention we draw to this place, the better.”
She nodded, that made sense. “Ah, can I help you with something?”
“No. That’s okay. I’m almost done here. Why don’t you go back and sit down? I know you’re not feeling too good.”
She went back to the couch and sat down, watching as he opened a cabinet and took down a glass. With his dark blonde hair and blue eyes, he could easily have passed for a California surfer waiting to catch a wave. Except for the predator’s edge in those eyes. And the way he moved with an animalistic grace that she found somewhat mesmerizing. A familiar shape on the counter drew her attention. Obviously he had found the gun. He wasn’t just a vampire. He was an armed vampire. Armed to the teeth, she thought with a semi-hysterical giggle that she quickly suppressed. She really did have to get it under control. If he was telling the truth, then they were both in deep shit.
She took a deep breath. “You look a lot better.”
He cast a glance over his shoulder at her before returning to whatever he was doing. “Yeah. We heal pretty fast if we have enough blood.”
She digested that information. So her blood had helped heal him. Pretty cool. If a little disgusting. After all, he had stolen her blood, in a manner of speaking. But he was right. He had been completely out of his head at the time. Barely able to even form a coherent sentence. And he hadn’t done anything to her since, but she was not going to let her guard down. She considered what they had right now a truce. A tentative one, at that. But if he did anything that set off her alarms…
He was a vampire. If that wasn’t kick in the pants, she didn’t know what was. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the idea, but for now, survival was her top priority. She would save the total hysteria until they’d reached safety. If they reached safety. Well, at least they seemed to be somewhat safe—for now. Silver linings, Lib.
“So how come more people don’t know about vampires?”
He kept his back to her and took his time about answering, but he finally volunteered, “We make a point of keeping that information as secret as possible. People are scared of things they don’t understand.” He darted a speaking glance over his shoulder, and she squirmed guiltily. She didn’t know why she felt guilty. She’d handled things pretty well, all things considered. “We’re pretty vulnerable during the day, not helpless, but weaker. It’s just better if we keep that knowledge from coming to the public’s attention. In the past, things have gotten really bad. Blood baths and massacres. Not pretty. So the Council works really hard to keep our presence known only to a limited few humans.”
“Council? What’s that?”
He came toward her, a plate in one hand and a glass in the other. Setting it down on the battered coffee table, he said, “Eat.”
She picked up the plate. Some sliced cheese, peanut butter and crackers, pickles, and—was that beef jerky? She looked up to find him studying her. “Eat it all. You need to rebuild your strength. From the blood loss.” She thought she saw a hint of guilt flash over his face, but it was gone so fast she wasn’t certain. He went back to the kitchen and returned with a bowl and a spoon. “Vegetable beef.”
She just nodded and picked up a chunk of cheese. “So…the Council?”
He sat back down in the chair and leaned his head back, studying her through slitted eyes. “The Council of Nine. They—police us—govern us. Human law isn’t really capable of that so we have our own.”
She thought about that for a moment before nodding. “That makes sense.” There was no way regular police would have any idea how to handle a vampire. “And you work for them? As a—what did you call it—a Shield?” She chewed the cheese slowly, realizing just how hungry she was, as she waited for him to answer.
He nodded, “Yes. Indirectly. I answer to the Master Vampire of the area, and he answers to them.”
She stopped eating. “Master Vampire?”
“Yeah. He’s like the dominant vampire in a territory. Makes sure everything runs smoothly, helps keep us hidden, that sort of thing. My brother, Quinn, is the Master on the coast. Now no more questions, Libby. Eat.”
Frowning at his bossiness, she reached for the spoon and tasted the soup. It was good and hot. She ate all of it without stopping. When she’d finished, she looked over at him where he sat. He looked whipped. Even though the burns were gone, he still didn’t appear completely well. In fact, it seemed like he was in pain, his forehead knotted and a tight set to his mouth. His eyes were half-closed. “Aren’t you eating?” As soon as she said it, she could have bitten her tongue out. Oh, hell. He didn’t eat food, did he? He ate…
His eyes opened wider, and he met her gaze. A sardonic grin kicked up one side of his mouth, the hint of a fang flashing. “That won’t do me much good. I’ll have to go out in a bit to find my—ah, meal.”
She could feel his eyes on her as she took a bite of the jerky and chewed over what he had said. Finally, she swallowed and said, “Oh. You’re—ah—going to find someone to—bite?”
He shook his head. “I doubt I could find anyone around here, not without drawing attention to myself. But I can make do with animal blood when I have to. These woods are full of deer. I might even find some horses or cattle.”
“You mean, you don’t have to feed on people? Well, then for God’s sake, why do you?”
“No. We can feed on animals as well, for short periods, but animal blood doesn’t supply us with everything we need.”
She took another bite of soup, thinking over what he had told her.
Ty had closed his eyes again and leaned his head back. He was really an attractive guy, if you liked the incredibly handsome and bloodthirsty sort. He had strong, chiseled features and his skin was a warm tan. Not pale like she would have thought a vampire would be.
“If you’re a vampire, how come you didn’t just burn up when the sun came up?”
He smiled, but didn’t open his eyes. “You’ve been w
atching too many vampire movies.”
“So I guess that’s not true, then.”
“Sun can damage us, especially prolonged exposure. Our bodies regenerate fairly quickly if we have enough blood. But a whole day in the sun will hurt us—badly. And if we can’t regenerate, then we die.”
“Well, I’m glad it wasn’t true, otherwise you’d have been nothing but ashes by the time I found you.”
“Most of the myths about vampires are pretty inaccurate.”
“Like what?”
He ticked the items off on his fingers. “Garlic has no effect on us. We can see ourselves in a mirror just fine. We can cross water. We aren’t affected by crosses or holy water. We’re not immortal, just very long-lived.”
“How long?”
“I don’t really know. The oldest vampire I’ve ever met was almost a thousand years old.”
“Good lord.” It took a moment to digest that. She couldn’t stop staring at him. “How old are you, Ty?”
“I was twenty-eight when I was turned.”
“And how long ago was that?”
“It was the year 1806. You do the math.”
It took her a moment. Math wasn’t her strongest suit. “You’re almost 250 years old?”
“Please, I’m barely in my 230s. I’m considered quite young for my kind.”
She grinned. Okay, so he could be funny. That was unexpected. He really wasn’t behaving much like her idea of how a vampire should act.
‘What about psychic powers? Or the ability to change into a bat”
“No. No bats. And limited psychic powers. Very limited. Mostly connected to biting.”
