“Probably a good idea,” he said.
“Is that a yes?” I asked. “Can I come back?”
He groaned, pausing before answering.
“I suppose I can rearrange the schedule a bit. The boys will be glad to have another day off.”
“Yes!” I shouted. “Thank you, Captain. I’ll do you proud. I can’t wait to get back in the saddle.”
“Just maybe take it easy for a while, alright son? No reason to rush back in fully cocked right out the gate.”
“I’m fine, Captain. Promise,” I said, nodding, relief filling my veins.
“If you say so,” he said. “But Leo — don’t you ever run off and scare your Ma like that again!”
“I won’t, sir,” I said, nodding solemnly.
“Selfish little bastard, out doing drugs…”. His lips didn’t move as he looked across the desk at me.
My mouth fell open when I realized it was happening again. And then my heart sank as I realized what he really felt, but didn’t want to say to my face. He was right, though. I had been selfish. What I’d done to Ma and the other firefighters was wrong.
“I know it was selfish of me, Captain,” I said, my words contrite and low, “and it won’t happen again.”
His eyes widened in surprise.
“Well, son, it’s good to learn from our mistakes.”
“Yes, it is, sir,” I replied.
“So, you wanna start next week?”
“Next week? I wanna start today!”
“Nah, that’s not necessary. Take a few more days and get settled. We’ll see you on Monday.”
I stood up, shaking his hand.
“Thank you, Captain,” I said.
“You’re welcome, son,” he said, walking me to the door. “You sure you’re feeling alright, Leo? You look a little pale.”
“I just wore a little too much sunscreen on my trip, that’s all,” I said, giving him a smile as I walked away. I could hear the voices of the other guys trailing from the kitchen. I thought about going to say hello, but I wasn’t quite ready to listen to Hendrick’s inner dialogue.
I shuddered at the thought, knowing that man’s mind had a permanent address in the gutter.
No, the rest of the guys could wait.
I headed home, a million questions for Addy running through my mind.
THIRTY-ONE
ADDY
Flickering flames of glowing amber shimmered in Leo’s emerald eyes, the fire he’d built outside crackling and shooting tiny sparks up into the night air. I shivered, pulling my sweater around my shoulders.
In true Oregon fashion, as soon as the sun disappeared on the horizon, the air turned cold and biting. You’d never know we’d experienced one of the hottest days of the year today.
I stared at him in awe, taken by his good looks like a school girl. I spent so much time focusing on his health and mental state these days, that sometimes when I put that stuff aside and just looked at him…
Well, it took my breath away in the harshest of sunlight, but now? With the fire bathing his skin with a sexy glowing warmth? It took all my strength not to rip his clothes off right here in the backyard.
I was beyond tempted.
But something held me back. Instead of pouncing on me as soon as I walked in the door this evening, he’d made a point of leading me to the back of his house. When I walked into his sprawling back yard, I realized he’d put a lot of effort into it.
He’d placed a table right next to a blazing fire pit, with tablecloths and good dishes and crystal wine glasses, their cut glass reflecting the flames and the shimmering candles he’d placed in the middle of the table.
“This is beautiful,” I’d said.
“I wanted to celebrate,” he said, leaning over and kissing me gently.
“Celebrate? I take it things went well with your Mom?”
“I can’t wait to tell you all about it,” he said, pulling a chair out for me. “Have a seat and I’ll be right back with dinner.”
I sat down and nodded, touched at all this effort, not to mention his impeccable manners. He kissed me again before disappearing into the house. Bessie lay at my feet and Quackers curled up next to her. Bessie sighed a heavy sigh, settling in, allowing him to burrow into her thick fur.
As I waited for Leo, my eyes trailed around his yard. It stretched almost half an acre behind his house, the edges lined with fragrant pine trees already littering the green grass with its tiny cones. A patch of gorgeous red dahlias took up an entire corner of the yard, with a line of huge yellow sunflowers towering behind them against a rustic, wooden fence. An orange and white tabby wove through bushes on the opposite side, its body hunched over, its head down in a preying posture, ready to pounce on what was surely a tiny mouse hidden in the shrubs. I couldn’t help but smile, remembering what it was like to be the one doing the pouncing.
Giving up my week at the sanctuary seemed like a small price to pay for a lifetime with Leo. The fire sputtered, the moon hanging heavy and low in the sky, and as I watched our dogs huddle together, the sound of my lover humming in the kitchen pouring out into the darkness, that spark of hope in my heart growing brighter.
I wanted this.
I’d longed for this…
All my life, ever since losing Brady, since losing my family…I’d longed for a family. Maybe Bessie and Quackers weren’t real kids, but they were the closest Leo and I were going to get. And, to me, that counted.
And maybe turning someone you’re dating into a vampire and bonding them to you for life isn’t quite the same thing as falling in love and agreeing to spend your lives together, but to me, it was good enough.
It was more than enough.
My heart was full, so full I thought it might burst right through my chest, ending the ride before we’d ever really started.
Someday, I thought, all this drama that we’ve gone through will be but a page in the book of our lives.
We had so much more ahead of us.
So much life to live.
So much to learn, to teach each other.
I was smiling like a vampire in a meat locker when Leo returned with a platter of meat that looked like something a Viking would eat. Ribs, buffalo, steaks…
“That’s quite a feast you have there,” I said. “That must have cost you a fortune.”
“It did,” he nodded. “But I think the girl behind the counter gave me a discount.”
“I bet she did,” I laughed, watching his forearm flex as he picked up the heavy platter and filled my plate. I licked my lips, my eyes trailing up his arm, over his shoulders and up to his thick, red lips. My stomach flipped with desire for him.
“I hope you’re hungry,” he said.
I nodded. I’d had my fill earlier at home, and I was definitely hungry, but not for the ribs he’d placed on my plate.
I wanted him.
He’d been away all day and we hadn’t gone this long without making love in days. He’d spoiled me.
But I didn’t say anything. I played along. I watched him eat, waiting for whatever it was he had to tell me. I wanted to know, of course. I’d been curious all day, resisting the urge to call him, but I wanted him to come to me. I wanted to give him space.
And I knew we’d have the entire evening together.
What I didn’t know was that being away from him would make my body ache like a woman starved for attention.
“So?” I said between bites. “How did everything go? Did your mom disown you?”
“Almost,” he said. “But I think I charmed her. She believed my story, so that was good.”
“Great,” I said. Leo ran his story about Bobby by me before he went and while I thought it was a little far-fetched, I was surprised at how well it explained everything. Anything I would have come up with wouldn’t have been much better. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “I felt fucking terrible lying to her.”
“I bet,” I said. “I’m sorry, honey.”<
br />
“It had to be done,” he shrugged.
“Yes,” I said. “Now we can get back to our lives and back to normalcy as much as possible.”
“Yeah, normal, except I’ll never want to hang out with people ever again.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because of the voices! Why didn’t you tell me? My god, how can you have normal relationships with people?”
“Voices?” I asked. “What voices?”
“You know, their thoughts? The first time it happened with Ma, and then with Bessie, which freaked me out completely. But then, I went to the station and saw the Captain and I could hear his, too…and I don’t even want to tell you about the girl behind the butcher counter.”
“Wait, you went to the station? What voices? I’m so confused, Leo,” I said, my head spinning. “Maybe you should start at the beginning.”
“You can’t read people’s minds?”
“What?” I laughed. “No, of course not.”
“Um,” he said, wrinkling his forehead and scratching his head.
“You aren’t saying you can read minds, Leo?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure I heard Ma talking when her lips weren’t moving. At first, I thought I was going crazy, but then I heard Bessie! Sure as sunlight, and boy can that dog talk…a mile a minute, always going. But I heard the Captain’s thoughts, too, I swear it, Addy! And then I went to the store…and this girl, well let’s just say she was interested in selling me more than meat.”
“You did say she gave you a discount…”
“Right,” he said. “Are you telling me this isn’t normal? Addy, I just thought it was a normal vampire thing. What the hell is going on then?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve heard tales of vampires having some special powers over the years. Some have exceptional hearing or can see perfectly in the dark. But nothing like what you’re describing, Leo. Are you feeling okay?”
“I feel great,” he shrugged. “The weird thing is I only hear the thoughts of humans and dogs, at least so far. I’m pretty sure I ran into another one of us at the store, and I couldn’t hear what he had going on up there, but he did strangely ask me how old I was. Is that a thing vampires ask each other? Like, ‘where are you from’ or ‘what do you do’, that kind of thing?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You can only hear humans, you think?”
“So far,” he replied.
“And what about me?” I asked. “Can you read my thoughts?”
“It’s not like I have to try, it’s like the voice just goes off and the person is just standing there. Most of the time, with the exception of Bessie, I wish I’d not heard it.”
“So try. Concentrate. I’ll think of something and see if you can hear it.”
“Alright,” he said, nodding, wrinkling his brow.
I stared back at him with a smile on my face, waiting.
“So? Anything?”
“I don’t think so,” he said. “What were you thinking?”
“If it worked, you’d already have my clothes off,” I said, flashing him a teasing smile.
He growled and stood up, pulling me to my feet and kissing me deeply. I kissed him back, melting under his touch, my body coming alive with his kisses. I moaned, pressing against him as his warm, muscular arms wrapped around me, pulling me close as his kisses turned harder, hungrier, demanding.
“I can’t wait,” he said, tearing his lips from mine. “I wanted to have a civilized dinner. A real date. But Addy,” he said, his voice thick with lust, “you do something to me that turns me into a starving beast. Not for blood, not for flesh, but for you, for your body, your smooth, silky skin. I can’t get enough of you.”
He kissed me again, hard, urgent.
“I’ve been waiting for this all day,” I whispered. He swooped down, picking me up and carrying me to his bedroom. It was all dark woods and forest greens and dim lighting, just as I imagined it would be. I sunk into his soft bed, his body hovering over me as he pulled the clothes from our bodies quickly.
He looked down, a lock of soft hair falling over his eye, his body hovering like a masterpiece above me, begging me to run my hands over his smooth flesh.
“You’re everything to me, Addy,” he whispered, his eyes searching mine. “I need you to understand. I know none of this is normal, I know it never will be. I don’t care. As long as I have you — my sun, my moon, my love — you are all I need. I don’t care about being human, I don’t care about any of those things you took away from me. You’ve given me a forever with you, and that means I’ve won. I’ve succeeded. All I ever wanted was a woman like you in my life, Addy. I kept searching, but…nothing ever worked. Because I was waiting for you, Addy. I was waiting for forever.”
His kiss was the kiss of a thousand men beguiled with a thousand women, a heavenly kiss from a chorus of Gods, the caress of a million butterflies shining under the light of a billion suns…
I melted into him, our bodies connecting, our souls intertwining with the force of an eternal bond.
“I love you, Adriana,” he whispered, his voice a wisp of light in the darkness of his room.
“I love you, I love you,” I replied, my heart bursting with love, my body alive with pure, pulsing sexuality. He took me, over, over and over…our feast forgotten, our troubles fading away, Bessie and Quackers still curled up by the fire outside, oblivious to our ancient dance.
As the darkness of the night blanketed the city, the light our mingling bodies created washed over us, bathing us in ecstasy, anointing us in our shared destiny.
THIRTY-TWO
LEO
Addy’s hair smelled like apples and campfire and instead of opening my eyes, I pulled her closer. Her sleeping body barely stirred, a soft moan escaping her luscious, swollen lips.
We'd made love all night and the faint dawn of day illuminated the darkness with a milky orange glow. My hands caressed her bare skin, the conversation between my fingertips and her skin the only real communication I’d ever known.
I never knew I could love someone like this.
So much so that there were times when I struggled to breathe, when it felt as if all the love building up inside of me was just churning and churning, and if it didn’t get out, if I didn’t express myself to her, then I would burst into a million pieces.
Making love to her, losing myself in her perfect, petite body, that was the only way that I seemed to be able to fully show her. Words were useless. I could buy her flowers or cards or diamonds, but that did nothing to relieve the pressure in my chest.
Her smile lit me up like a ton of fireworks. I could see it now, even as she slept, because that first moment I met her was plastered in my mind like a polaroid I’d taped to the wall in there. Her laughter, her smile, her twinkling eyes…just a flash of the picture in my brain was enough to make all that pressure build up again and I’d have to make love to her all over again for any sort of release.
It was urgent and strong and undeniable.
As if I’d ever try to deny it — why would I do such an absurd thing?
As if there was any denying perfection.
Reluctantly, I untangled myself from that perfection and stood over her, watching her gentle breathing, her full breasts rising and falling seductively. My cock twitched between my legs, rising again as I tore myself away from the beauty of my love.
I was starving. We’d managed to eat very little of the feast I’d laid out and I was afraid of the scene I’d find outside after leaving the meat outdoors all night. I walked out to the backyard, and felt a large pang of shame when I realized I’d left the fire going, too.
I shook my head, quietly admonishing the firefighter inside of me. I knew better.
Dammit, Addy, I whispered. It was all her fault. She made me lose any semblance of rational thought with just a smile. I’d have never left a fire unattended like this before.
The meat, on the other hand, had not gone to wa
ste after all.
“You little piggies,” I muttered. Bessie and Quackers were sound asleep, lying snuggled together amongst a pile of picked clean and chewed up bones. I cleaned them all up, pouring a glass of water on the fire, even though it had died long ago, just to make myself not feel so irresponsible.
Grateful I’d purchased so much meat at the store yesterday, I walked back into the kitchen, tearing into a fresh package of steak, sucking the blood from the flesh until it was dripping down my arm in a messy trail.
I slurped it up, throwing the drained meat in the trash and opening another package. Bessie and Quackers padded into the kitchen with sleepy eyes, looking like a couple of sheepish house guests. When they smelled what I was doing, they danced around my legs, begging for food.
I reached down to pet Bessie and Quackers started yapping.
“Pet me not her pet me not her pet me not her feed me feed me feed me please…”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I said, petting them both. “You, too?”
Bessie licked my fingers and wagged her tail.
“Food please give me food need food starving starving starving starving need food right now gonna die if I don’t eat need food please feed me…”
“I’m never going to have another moment’s peace, am I?” I asked the two of them. I tore off a piece of raw hamburger and gave it to them. They lapped it up greedily off the floor as I put the package away. I turned back to them and they were both on their backs, bellies exposed and my head exploding with their incessant chanting.
“Rub my belly please rub my belly scratch scratch scratch rub my belly…”
“This floor is cold rub my belly oh my god I'm so hungry rub my belly scratch my ears pet me pet me pet me where’s my mom rub my belly please oh my god pet me pet me yes yes yes yes…”
“You two are so obvious I don’t need to read your minds,” I said, shaking my heads as I petted the two of them. “Your thoughts are clear as day…”
THIRTY-THREE
The Sanctuary 2: The Vampire's Passion Page 13
