by Amie Gibbons
The person wasn’t even aiming. It didn’t make sense.
Unless they just wanted chaos.
Quil stopped in front of my hiding spot. Before he could say anything, Grant busted in, gun ablaze and shreddin’ the ceiling.
“There’s another one with silver arrows!” I yelled just as another arrow appeared outta nowhere in the table next to Grant.
What was the archer using, jet fuel?
The lead storm stopped as suddenly as it’d started.
“The guys are on it. You go out back and get to the office,” Grant yelled at me. He pointed at Quil. “You protect her.”
What am I? Chopped liver?
Or maybe he saw me freeze and didn’t think I could take care of myself?
Quil grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet as my boss ran out, going into danger.
Without me.
“Do you have a car?” Quil asked.
“Out back. Where’s Len?”
“Probably tracking whoever shot up his club.”
We rushed for the backdoor, my boot heels echoin’ in the silent space, the quiet almost perverted after the wicked chaos of the last two minutes.
I wonder if I’ll have permanent hearing damage?
I hit the back hall and slowed, looking back at Quil. “Who co-”
Quil pushed me and I slammed into the hall wall hard enough to kick wind outta a bull.
“What the?” I gasped.
“Urglh,” he said, crumplin’ to the ground in the doorway, an arrow embedded in the doorjamb, right where my head had been three seconds ago.
“Quil!” I fell next to him.
His shirt had a slice across the chest and a bit of blood beaded up on the shallow wound.
“It’s just a graze,” I said, looking around.
No one.
So where did the shooter go?
I pulled on Quil’s arm and he inched out of the doorway. “Close it.”
I did; locked it too.
Like that’d do anything.
Quil shook, sweat beadin’ along his curls.
I didn’t know vamps could sweat.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked.
“Silver,” he said.
“But it didn’t get your heart.”
“Doesn’t have to, it travels through us.” His voice thickened with his accent. “If it reaches my heart... arggg!”
“Wait, so your blood does pump?”
“Slowly.” He closed his eyes and his body jerked straight. He said something harsh in what I was pretty sure was Italian.
“So it’s poison?” I asked and he nodded. “Can I suck it out, like with snake venom?”
He nodded again. “Hurry.”
“Um, pardon me.” I tugged his shirt up and he hissed as it peeled off the wound. “Sorry!” I bunched it up under his arms, grunting as it slipped back towards the wound.
Good enough.
I leaned over him, bracin’ myself on the floor.
“Will you know when it’s all out?”
He nodded, mouth working.
I took a deep breath, staring down the scratch. Couldn’t get squeamish with a life (ish) on the line.
I took another deep breath, put my mouth over the wound, and sucked.
He moaned as the blood rolled over my tongue.
It tasted… good?
His blood was thicker than old port and tasted more sweet than salty.
I sucked again, pullin’ at the wound like it was something else, swallowing the blood like it was just another drink tonight.
I paused for breath and looked at Quil’s face. His eyes were closed and his fangs were out.
I went back.
Almost eager.
Quil grabbed my hips as I sucked again, pulling me on top of him.
I straddled him, sucking again even as he pushed against me.
Like he’d pushed against his maker in my vision.
I stopped and he held me tighter.
“There’s still some in there,” he whispered. “Please, Ariana.”
“But you’re…”
“Sucking is arousing, even with pain.” He grimaced. “There’s still silver in there.”
I leaned back over and sucked again, then again, and again.
I must’ve drawn out at least a pint of blood.
I knew the moment the silver left his system. He relaxed under me and another moan escaped him.
He wasn’t hard, but somethin’ told me that was more about his lack of blood than lack of interest.
“If I wasn’t so scared that I can’t feel anything right now, this would be really hot,” I said.
He licked his lips.
“I’m scared and was being burned from the inside, and it’s still hot. But you should get off me now so we can leave.”
“Right!” I scrambled off him, twitching. “I, uh, have to get my purse.”
I ran into Len’s office and got it. He was still on the floor when I got back out.
“Can you walk?” I asked.
“I’ll have to.”
He rolled over and pushed up to his hands and knees. I leaned and slung his arm over me, pulling him up so easy I looked around for who was helpin’.
“Wow, this must be that adrenaline, you can pull cars off of people thing,” I said as he leaned on me.
“No, it’s our blood. It’s magic, gives the drinker strength.”
“Oh, okay. We need to get out of here,” I said. “Do you hear anything?”
He shook his head. “No one’s making noise out there.”
We hobbled to the back door and I peeked through a crack with my gun up before going out, Quil half on me as we made our way to the car.
We hit the car and I leaned Quil against it as I pulled out the keys.
The back door exploded out, so loud it got through my shell shocked ears.
I screamed, droppin’ the keys and bringing my gun up again, hands shakin’ so bad I must’ve been scared.
Not that I could feel much of anything.
The guy stepped out and my jaw dropped.
Where was his face?
My mind couldn’t make sense of the mess. There were boilin’ red eyes smashed into a ball of orangey wax.
“Oh my God,” I said.
Demon. It was a freakin’ demon!
Quil was kneelin’ in front of me by the time I got my gun up and grabbed the keys. He muttered something under his breath and crossed himself.
He crossed himself?
Soooo not the issue.
The demon was the issue. Right. Focus. I had to focus.
Quil unlocked the door and I pulled the trigger.
Nothin’.
I’d forgotten to reload.
Fuck!
Quil pushed my shoulder down and I slumped into the car. He zoomed to the other side and was inside and shovin’ my keys at me in a blink.
“Go!” he yelled.
It all happened so fast, even the demon hadn’t moved.
I jammed the keys in the ignition and turned and the car roared to life. The demon pointed the crossbow at us and shot.
I screamed as the arrow punched into the windshield between me and Quil, hangin’ half in.
I threw the car into drive and slammed the gas, barreling towards the man thing.
He dove outta the way and ran inside where my big metal beast couldn’t follow.
I put us in reverse, skiddin’ over the gravel, then hit drive and shot out onto the street.
“Which way?” I asked.
Quil shook his head, eyes glued ahead. “Can’t go back to the nest; they might follow.”
“So thresholds really only do work on vamps?”
“Human ones work on demons fine. They don’t for vampire lairs.”
Good to know.
“And I can’t risk a demon finding the entrance and getting down there. I won’t endanger my people like that.”
“Safe house?” I asked.
“Any humans
I know, they might know, or follow.”
“Can’t have them finding more of your people,” I said. “Right.”
“I’m sorry… can’t think… the speed with the blood loss…”
“I got it,” I said. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
I took the next right.
Towards my place.
I beat it down the street like the hounds of hell were on my tail.
Which, who knew, maybe they were?
When we got to my apartment, I ran out and around even though the cold, quiet night said nothin’ was out there.
Not like I’d hear it coming. After that, I probably had permanent hearing loss.
I got Quil out and he draped over my shoulder again.
I am way too short to have a six foot guy leaning on me.
We hobbled up the steps to my townhouse and I unlocked it, hands shaking so bad it took a few stabs.
I stepped in and froze as a force pushed against the weight on me.
“Invite,” Quil said.
“Oh yeah. If I invite you in, can I kick you back out? Or is it like on Buffy where an invitation means you can always get in?”
“You can tell me you take away your invitation and I will literally be forced to leave. But considering that I saved your life and you saved mine, I think we can extend each other some trust.”
“You can come in,” I said.
We inched in and I kicked the door closed and pushed him onto the couch.
He stared up at me with wide, oh so innocent eyes as I paced through my living room.
I just wanted to grab Pyro and go for a flight until the sun rose.
I needed to think.
No, actually. I needed to call Grant.
“Hey, General,” I said, breathin’ a sigh when he picked up. “I’m at my place and I’ll get to the office after I clean up. I just got back. The guy with the crossbow came at us as we were going for the car. Oh right, it’s a demon, Grant.”
He breathed hard and I knew he was struggling not to curse.
We’d dealt with demons only once before, and all we knew was they weren’t from around here, were way too powerful, and could do some pretty funky things.
“Yeah, get here soon. If it’s a demon, we’re not going back until daylight.”
“See ya guys soon.”
He’d already hung up.
I turned to Quil. “What about you?”
He shrugged. “Is it too much to ask to stay here for the day?”
I shook my head. “Of course not. But don’t you need a coffin, or metal shutters, or something?”
He laughed and it slid over my spine.
“I love pop-culture. No, just as long as I’m out of direct sunlight, I’m fine. I can even walk around during the day if it’s overcast enough. The younger ones can’t, they’re asleep or walking zombies during the day. Us older ones can.”
How old was he?
“Though we can get a bit groggy during the day, so it’s usually not recommended to go for a stroll. I had a friend who forgot that, went out during a snowstorm, fell asleep, and woke up five hours later with his leg on fire. It took him nearly a week to heal the damage.”
A week? Was that a long recovery time for a vamp?
“Okay.” I nodded. He seemed so weak. “Are you gonna need to eat? Cuz you look like my oldest sister after a juice cleanse. Less bitchy and homicidal, which is funny since you’re a vamp and…”
I took a deep breath.
“Are you hungry?” I asked.
“Ravenous,” he said, the accent sliding in again.
“So you need blood?” I asked.
He licked his lips, nodding as he stared at my neck.
I took a step back. Yeah, like that’d help.
“I know we just did the life savin’, bondin’ thing, but I need my blood. And I… I’ll kick ya out.”
He scowled. “I don’t take blood without permission.”
“Really?”
He sighed. “We can take blood just for the sake of nourishment. And I mean we can take it, but that’s... it’s like rape. Tearing into someone who doesn’t want it, making them feel things they didn’t consent to feeling. Taking blood like that is a perversion. It takes a sick vampire to do that, just as it takes a sick human to rape.”
He met my eyes. “Any vampire like that should be killed.”
Whoa! Story there.
“So takin’ blood’s like sex?”
“Yes. It’s an intimacy… you may not have felt it in that room, but I did.”
I met his eyes. “I was, actually I am still, in shock. Kinda like after the first time I had sex, so hey, parallels.”
His forehead pinched together. “Is there a man who needs to be killed?”
“Huh? Oh! Oh goodness no. It wasn’t violence and blood… well, I mean I bled like a lot of virgins. I just mean I wasn’t ready for that level of intimacy and went into shock for a while, and then, well, there’s a story after that, but… how did we get to talkin’ about this?”
He blinked at me.
“I… can you eat blood besides human?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said with a small smile. “We don’t take from live animals since that’s close to bestiality for us, but drinking after killing them is not taboo, and blood from butchers warmed up works quite well. I like deer mixed with otter.”
“So, surf ‘n turf.”
He laughed. “I like that. I’ll have to start using that.”
“How much do you guys eat?”
“A liter or so a day, depending on size and age. The younger ones need to eat more, and lose control more easily. But we mostly drink animal blood. We only feed on humans as dessert really.”
I let the dessert comment slide, mostly cuz he was looking at me like I was a giant chocolate soufflé.
“Lose control?”
“Yes,” he growled, eyes roving over me, leaving trails of prickling skin in their wake. “When we’re starving, we can become like animals. Not unlike starving humans eating whatever they can, but that’s why vampires have such a bad reputation among humans.”
His eyes bore into mine, shifting red.
Whoa! Red?
Something told me that wasn’t a good sign.
The air boiled and my heartbeat increased as he ran his tongue over his fangs.
Could he smell my fear?
“So I need to go get you food?” I said.
“Please,” he said. “If I try to hurt you...”
“Where do I get blood for you?” I held up a finger. “Besides from me.”
“Around here?” He paused. “Butcher in downtown supplies us. He’s open all night.” He gave me the address.
“Okay, so you stay here, and watch something very non-stimulatin’ on TV.”
I left, blood pounding in my ears.
Could he hear it through the closed door?
I locked it behind me and ran to the car.
For all I knew, the demon had followed us.
“Note to self, get silver bullets and garlic.”
Just in case.
###
The butcher was very nice and polite, obviously knew what I was getting the blood for, and I was back in half an hour.
I opened the door and got a face full of carpet.
Pyro wrapped around me, bags of blood and all, and picked me up under my arms. He had me back out the door and next to the car in point three seconds.
“Put me down, Pyro,” I said.
He did, but kept himself between me and my... uh... houseguest.
“It’s okay.” I patted my rug and brushed past him.
Quil was still on the couch and I tossed the first bag of blood to him.
He caught it one handed and bit into it, chuggin’ down the entire pint in about ten seconds, Adam’s apple bobbing up and down like a yo-yo.
He didn’t spill a drop, which put him above most of the guys I knew in college.
“Do y’all ever have
blood-bongs or chugging contests?” I asked.
“Yes.” He stood and I barely took a step forward before Pyro was between us again. “I’m fully in control now, thank you.”
“Down, Pyro.” I stroked him and he moved, standin’ just back and to the side like a bodyguard. “Why does he think you’re a threat? What did you do?”
“Me?” Quil said. “I didn’t do anything. He flew in and next thing I knew, he was trying to push me. I had to fight to stay in the house.”
“Pyro!” I turned to him, propping my hands on my hips. “Bad baby.”
Pyro flew to the computer, clicking buttons with his threads almost as fast as I could.
He flew up and pointed to the screen.
“You should have warned me! I get home and see a damn vamp on the couch. I thought he ate you.”
“Then there’d be a body,” I said. “I didn’t know how to warn you we had a guest. And when did you start cursin’?”
Pyro crossed his tassels over his top, glarin’ as only a carpet can. You know, without eyes.
“You could have warned me,” Quil said.
“Nobody knows about him,” I said. “I thought he’d see you here and sneak in and play dead like he normally does.”
“Nobody?” Quil asked, turning to Pyro. “Don’t you get lonely? I can already tell she’s great company, but you don’t have anyone else in your life?”
Pyro shrugged and hit the keyboard again.
“After my last owners, seemed like a good idea to keep a low profile for a while. I sometimes take drunk people on rides because they won’t believe it the next day. I’ve stopped at least a dozen people from drunk driving.”
“You what!” I said.
Quil laughed. “Where did you get him?”
“Sorry.” I shook my head. “No one knows and no one’s gonna.”
“He said his last owners… Did you steal him?” Quil walked towards us.
“I rescued him.” I held up a finger. “And that’s quite close enough, thank you.”
“I told you, I’m perfectly under control.” Quil stuck his lip out in a childish pout.
Pyro shook his tassels at him and I nodded. “What he said.”
He rolled his eyes. “You should get some garlic if you’re going to stay in this profession.”
“I already put it on my grocery list,” I said. “Though I really don’t like the idea of haulin’ garlic around everywhere.”
“Why not? From what I saw in that monstrosity you call a purse, you carry everything else around with you.”
