He noticed her hand was healing when she dropped it back to her lap.
“But there’s no need to worry. I won’t allow that vampire to touch you,” she told him. “You won’t be harmed. Not while I’m around.”
“Okay,” he said, blinking, not sure what else to say. He appreciated her devotion to his safety, but right now, he was still trying to grasp the idea that vampires were real. He couldn’t quite reconcile the concept with his basic common sense; it just didn’t want to compute. “What’s it like being a vampire?”
“It’s fun, but it has a downside. Like everything, I suppose.” She smiled as if it wasn’t life changing information she was talking here.
“Are you staying here tonight?”
He wasn’t sure why he’d asked. He supposed he didn’t like the thought of being bitten while he slept, and she’d been protecting him for six months now. If he couldn’t trust her, who could he trust?
“Do you need me to do that, Zack?”
He flushed. “No. I just wasn’t sure what it meant that there was another vampire around. Will he try to attack me?”
“Kenny’s right next door. He won’t let you come to harm.”
“Right. But the vampire will try to attack me?”
She nodded slowly. “It’s likely that he’ll try to bring you to his clan. The clans value humans who have psychic abilities. They make even more valuable vampires. That’s why you’ve been targeted, Zack.”
He stared at her, horror filling him. Could this get any worse? “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying they want to make you one of them.”
She paused just long enough for him to know she wasn’t sure about going on. When she opened her mouth again, he knew by the look in her eyes that what she said next was going to be awful. Dread built up like solidifying cement in his gut.
“Forget every vampire movie you’ve ever seen. Turning into a vampire isn’t the cakewalk they make it out to be. You don’t just get sucked on and then drink the blood of your Master and wake up changed. It’s a major ritual that can last for days. There’s usually a blood orgy going on by the end. Your Master has to kill you in an extremely violent, painful way. With regular vampires, it’s brutal enough. Psychic humans being turned are on another level. Whatever skill you have determines what your maker does to torture you before he kills you. It’s supposed to make your abilities stronger, but it’s a superstitious practice. You have visions, so he’d most likely gouge out your eyes. They’d grow back, but they wouldn’t be quite the same. They’d be all… demonic-looking. You’d never be mistaken for human again. Anyway…” She shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal before opening her mouth to tell him more awful things, no doubt.
No fucking way. He couldn’t let her go on. “Stop. Stop right there.”
This was worse than he could have imagined. He didn’t want to know anything else. At least, not about what the vampires were likely to do to him. “Wait. How did you become a vampire?”
She frowned, pursing her lips. Shaking her head, she folded her arms. “I don’t remember now. Undoubtedly, it was brutal and disgusting. Those are our ways. We don’t turn people who won’t know and agree to those conditions up front. If you’re squeamish, this isn’t the life for you.”
“I would never agree to that shit,” he said, relief spilling into his voice.
“The exception would be your kind,” she said, smiling ruefully. “Your skills are so sought after, they wouldn’t care that they were turning you by force. It’s supposed to enhance any psychic ability tenfold to turn a human with abilities by force. I don’t believe that, it’s superstitious nonsense, but the older vampires swear by it, and they’re the ones who sign off on all that ritualistic stuff.”
“Fuck,” he swore, tugging at his hair. He couldn’t take this in. It was just too much, and much too horrifying. His thoughts were spinning. “I seriously doubt I’m going to be able to sleep tonight. You do realise that?”
“Well, I have to go.” She got up.
He stared at her incredulously. Dropping a bomb like that and running away; she had to be taking the piss.
“Wait. Can you not just stay?”
She shook her head. “I have to get dinner.”
He almost offered to cook before he realised what she meant. His thoughts went back to her ‘diet mix’, and his heart sank. “You don’t eat normal food at all, do you?”
She grinned. Her teeth were still slightly bloody from sucking on her hand. He shuddered.
“Do I look like I eat solid food?” She did a quick twirl that emphasised her model-like figure and ballet dancer’s grace.
“No, I suppose not.” Her effort to lighten the mood fell short. He tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace.
“Don’t worry, Zack. I don’t feed on humans.” She stroked the side of his face gently. Her fingers were cold, making him shiver. “I’ll see you at work.”
“What about—”
“Don’t worry about the vampire. I’ll deal with him tonight.”
She left, and he quickly locked the door behind her. Everything felt out of whack. His thoughts were all over the place, his breathing was quickening, and he was heading into a full tilt panic if he wasn’t careful. He seriously needed to calm the fuck down.
He went to the fridge, stared inside, and shut the door again. Eating was out. His stomach was churning, anyway. He doubted he’d enjoy a single bite. He’d be lucky if he could keep anything down. Sleeping wasn’t an option, either. Not with his everything that was going through his head.
He paced around, picking up his phone and putting it back down again several times in a row. Wanting to call his sister, he resisted. She always called him. She’d call. He just had to wait.
***
Bridget walked into Kenny’s apartment and closed the door quietly behind her. He had his lips pressed to hers within seconds, his arms on either side of her as he pushed her up against the door. She stroked his naked back as she opened her mouth to his probing tongue. He pulled back quickly, licking at his lips and scowling.
“You taste like blood. Did that freak let you drink from him?”
She grinned. It wasn’t often that she saw the jealous side of her secret lover. “So what if he did?”
Anger sparked in his eyes. “I don’t want you putting your mouth anywhere near that—”
“Relax,” she told him. “I bit my hand. I was given instructions to educate him about vampires, and he didn’t believe what I was telling him. He just needed to see it for himself.”
He frowned. “Bet that made him spaz out. I’m not going to have to deal with another breakdown, am I?”
“I don’t think so,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. He felt so good pressed against her, half-dressed like this. She fought back a blissful sigh. He didn’t need the ego boost. “He took it well. I think he might be stabilizing.”
“Well, good. That means more time for us,” he said, kissing her again.
He never really cared if she tasted like blood. Who she’d gotten it from was a different story; if he knew about Larry, he’d pitch a fit and go beat the poor kid up over it. But the taste never bothered him. It was rare for a human not to get squeamish, but a necromancer? Most of them would rather stick their tongues into an electrical socket than kiss a vampire. There was something so intoxicating about his unconditional desire for her.
As much as she wanted to indulge him, she had a vampire to hunt down and take care of. Without knowing which clan was invading town, she’d have her work cut out for her.
Just five minutes, she told herself.
She was lying to herself, and she knew it. It was never just five minutes. Not with Kenny. Five minutes and she wouldn’t care. Five minutes and nothing would tear her away from him. A hundred vampires could descend on Zack’s flat to rip him to shreds. She still wouldn’t be able to tell Kenny to get off her. She wouldn’t want to.
“I have to go,” she murm
ured as he started unbuttoning her shirt.
“You need to stay,” he said, not looking up. “It’s been too long.”
“We have jobs to do.”
“I don’t care.”
She saw the all-consuming desire in his eyes when he looked back at her.
“You’re taking too long,” she complained. “Rip the damn shirt.”
She pulled at his jeans, and the fly fell open. He wasn’t wearing underwear. As usual, she felt overdressed compared to him.
Her shirt ripped open, and she gasped. No matter how many times he did that, she always got a little thrill from it. This time, her thrill was mixing uncontrollably with the flash of hunger always just there under the surface now that she’d tasted human blood again. Kenny’s throbbing veins were driving her crazy with blood-lust. Her fangs shot into place.
He looked at her face and smiled slyly. “You want my blood.”
She couldn’t deny it. Her body craved everything he had.
“Taste me,” he whispered.
He shuffled slightly, and his jeans fell to the floor. She fought to contain her hunger as he stepped out of them and positioned his throat in front of her. His hands opened her trousers and one slipped inside her pants while the other unclasped her bra.
“You really want this?”
“I’ve wanted it since the second I laid eyes on you.”
She moaned as his fingers worked their magic. He always knew exactly how to touch her. She positioned her fangs over his vein and bit into this skin. He gasped. The pain of her teeth sinking into his flesh would be gone within seconds, replaced by a euphoric high she gifted him through her saliva. Her own high was doubled up by his well-positioned fingers as his warm blood filled her eager mouth.
***
Chloe tapped her pen on the counter as she waited for the kettle to boil. Her notepad sat open in front of her, the blank page taunting her. She wasn’t sure when exactly the writer’s block had crept in, but it had been after she’d lost Zack. It still felt weird to see him around, knowing what they’d had and that he didn’t remember a second of their time together. She mourned the loss of him as if he’d died that night. He’d been taken from her as finally as if he had.
The town had been infested, and the Council of necromancers had been stretched thin dealing with the problem. Zack had been home, in the town over, Riverton. His family had bought the closest house to the edge of town, a recluse’s mansion built in the woods, and they had been living there for years when the worst had finally happened. They’d known about vampires; they’d known about necromancers. They’d known they were at risk of being targeted if anyone found out what they could do, but they’d also known Shady Pines was full of necromancers. They’d thought they were close enough to town to be covered by that protection. It turned out they’d been wrong.
She sighed. The two of them had talked about getting a place together, in town. She’d spent so long cursing their indecision after what happened. It had been all she could think about for so damned long.
If only. Those two little words had a strangle-hold on her heart. She hadn’t even found out what had happened until the next morning, after she’d texted Zack. He’d never sent her a message back, and she’d decided to go to his house. By the time she’d been dressed and picking up her jacket to leave, the phone had been ringing. She’d answered it, being told what had happened by one of the Council Elders and warned not to approach him. She’d ignored the idiotic warning and rushed to the hospital to see him, but she’d known the moment he looked at her that he had no idea who she was. She’d feigned confusion and apologised that she’d gotten the wrong room as she’d left. Thinking about it hurt like hell.
The briefing from the Council had taken an hour or so, and most of it had sounded like white noise at the time. She’d been warned off being around him, of giving him any reminders of their ‘old’ life together. Not that she even wanted to go through the pain of having to tell him what they’d meant to each other. He should just know. He should be able to look at her and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she meant something to him. It stung that he didn’t.
Sighing, she put the pen down and fixed herself a cup of tea. It was useless going over it all. There was nothing she could do.
She’d seen it a million times in silly soap operas; the wife or husband of the amnesiac breaking their hearts trying to convince their other half that they belonged together. It wasn’t worth going through that. He’d never fall for her the same way he had the first time around. They’d been pushed together by circumstances beyond their control. It had been more than a girl falling for a guy she thought was cute or a guy asking out a girl because he couldn’t stop thinking about her. It had been so far beyond the superficial that she had always believed it had been arranged by fate.
She sipped at her tea and wondered what it meant when fate unmade its decisions. Was she really ever supposed to fall for a painfully shy neurotic with the strangest psychic ability she’d ever heard of? Had he ever really been meant to see past her defences to the true romantic inside?
She supposed time would tell. She put down her empty mug with a sigh.
Maybe it already had.
***
It was vaguely disturbing how many cracks there were in his ceiling. Zack gave up counting them and tried to figure out the weird circular mark in the middle. He assumed the light fitting used to be there rather than directly over the bed. He pulled at his gloves.
Wishing Bridget had stayed to watch over him, he supposed the only good thing was she wouldn’t realise exactly how weird he was. The gloves hadn’t always been a night-time feature, but considering emotional resonances seemed to be harder to shrug off when he was unconscious, he didn’t like to take chances when he slept. His naked chest enjoyed the warmth of the covers without any ill feeling. His hands wouldn’t be quite so easily satisfied.
He lay awake thinking of Bridget’s scarily sharp teeth. The woman was beautiful, and those teeth hadn’t changed that; they’d only shown him that she was also deadly.
Vampires were real.
He didn’t relish the idea, particularly considering he was a desired possession to their kind. Shivering, he pulled the duvet closer. He couldn’t shake the horrifying mental image she’d given him when she’d told him so casually that the vampires would most likely gouge his eyes out.
He really wished Audrey would call. He could use the reassurance that Bridget was crazy or that he was. Vampires couldn’t be real. That was insane.
“What’s the matter, Zack?”
Audrey’s voice made him smile.
“Thank God,” he said. “Where have you been? I need to talk to you.”
“I’ve been a little busy.”
“Too busy to call your little brother?”
She just laughed.
He sighed. “I’ve been told something about what happened to me. I’m kind of freaked out by it.”
“Oh? Who told you what?”
“Bridget. She told me—” he cut himself off, feeling like a moron.
“Bridget?” Audrey sounded lost. “Doesn’t sound familiar. Who the hell is Bridget?”
“What do you mean, who the hell is Bridget?” He couldn’t believe she didn’t know. “What are you, high?”
“Ah, she’s that woman from the FBU,” she said. “What did she tell you?”
“Vampires,” he spat out, cringing as he waited for her reply.
“She told you what happened?”
He stared at the ceiling. “So it’s true?”
“That depends on what she told you.”
“Vampires are after me.”
Audrey sighed. “That sounds about right.”
“Shit,” he swore softly.
“They won’t get you,” she said. “Shady Pines is full of necromancers.”
He blinked, wondering if she’d really just said what he thought she had. “It’s full of what?”
“People who can control the de
ad.”
“Okay, I’m hanging up now. This isn’t funny anymore.” She was messing with him; she had to be.
She laughed. “You get visions and read emotional imprints from inanimate objects. Is it really so hard to believe in vampires and necromancers?”
“Aye, it is,” he said, feeling defensive.
“Well, then. You need to wake up, little Z. The world is darker than you know.”
He frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you need to watch your back. Don’t trust this Bridget woman, whoever she is.”
“But I—” He cut himself off when he realised Audrey was gone.
His elusive sister had hung up on him. He sighed as he closed his eyes and attempted to get to sleep.
***
Bridget left Kenny’s house wearing one of his sweaters over her torn shirt. It was close to midnight, and she hadn’t bothered trying to talk him into letting her leave. She’d just waited until he’d fallen asleep. Her torn shirt wasn’t anywhere close to decent, so she’d thrown on a sweater she knew he’d worn recently. It contained his scent, and she was going to go home and sleep in it. He might not get it back at all.
The night sky was clear, the stars shining brightly overhead. It wasn’t her job to track vampires, but she thought about hunting down the one who’d bitten that girl. He was a threat to Zack. Taking care of threats to Zack’s safety definitely fell within her job description.
She called Rick as she walked. As usual, he wasn’t closely monitoring his calls. She eventually got his voicemail and decided not to bother leaving a message. She rolled her eyes and put the phone away.
She went home and scooped up one of her precious cats. Arthur hissed as she bit into her hand and pressed the wound to his brother’s mouth. The twitching of Lancelot’s whiskers was followed by the lapping of his little tongue. Arthur hissed again. It wasn’t favouritism that directed her choice tonight. Lancelot was faster on his feet, but Arthur was just an animal. Jealousy was instinctive.
Amnesia Bites (Shady Arcade Book 1) Page 5
