I let my head fall down a little. It was hard to soak in the knowledge that the person sitting across from me was technically a monster. The scariest part of it all was that it didn’t bother me. Okay, so he was a vampire, at least he had a steady job. That was more than most men could say. Had I been this jaded before? Was I someone who hung with the afterlife, dark-lovers-club prior to my accident? Did I want to know? I knew then that I didn’t. I had no burning desire to find out about my past. I never had. Molly found that unusual. If things like this surrounded me before my accident, then I could understand my need to forget. I was going to ask Guytano if there were others like him, but I didn’t.
Stephanie, our waitress, came back with our drinks. She may have been the slowest server I’d ever had, but right then and there, I was happy to see her. I thought about ordering dinner, just to keep her around, but I had pretty much lost my appetite two minutes ago when the reality of Guytano’s being dead sunk in. I wasn’t sure he could have dropped a bigger bombshell on me even if he tried. I kept waiting for him to yell "Boo!" or "Just kidding!"
He refrained from making any jokes, but he did try to get my past out of me. I’m sure that he felt the need to make small talk to avoid the obvious burning questions I had. He wanted to know where I grew up. I couldn’t answer that. He took it as a sign that I didn’t want to tell him. I had to explain that I really could not answer him, because I didn’t know.
Stephanie reappeared with drink refills for us. She sat Guytano’s down gently in front of him, and batted her overdone eyelashes at him. I cleared my throat. Her attention turned to me long enough to toss my drink down. In doing so, she knocked Guytano’s untouched beer over. It spilled into his lap, and he leapt up. She immediately went to wipe it off, and he caught her wrist in mid-motion. "I think you’ve done enough."
I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing at her. She looked like he’d just run her puppy over. Guytano fought to maintain his cool. "I’ll be right back," he said, as he headed off to the men’s room. Stephanie followed close to his heals. I don’t think she had a clue how pathetic she looked.
I stood up to find the ladies room to freshen up too. I was definitely in the mood for cold water on my face. Maybe I’d wake up and find out this was all some crazy dream. Yeah, that was it. I’d probably eaten chocolate before bed and was having a nightmare that wouldn’t end.
The green-eyed singer started a new song. This one was on the faster end of the spectrum. A large group of women came rushing toward me from the table next to me. I got caught up in their tangle of big hair, perfume, and fake breasts. When they finally stopped shoving and carrying on, I found myself out on the dance floor. The girls all lined up and began to move in unison. They looked like a group of synchronized swimmers minus the water. I turned to head off the dance floor. I ran smack into a man’s chest. The thick smell of musk clung to his dark blue T-shirt. I looked up. The man from the entrance to the bar stood before me.
"Sorry, I didn’t see you there," I said. I attempted to walk around him. He didn’t move. I tried the other way. His arm came out and caught mine. "Hey."
"Name’s not Hey, it’s Dustin." He had a thick southern drawl. I had lived in this state long enough to know how bizarre it was. Some people sounded like they just stepped out of a rodeo and others had no trace of an accent. "What’s a sexy lady like you doing with a pretty boy?"
Pretty boy? I’d never heard someone be so polite about implying someone was gay before. Not that it would have made a difference if Guytano was gay. He would have still been my choice of company for the evening. Hell, he had just confessed to being a creature of the night and I was still choosing him over ol’ Dustin here. That wasn’t saying much about Dustin.
"I don’t want any trouble," I said, as I tried to pull my arm away. He held tight. His other hand came down and touched the top of my breast. I brought my hand up and slapped his face. His head jerked to the side, but he didn’t loosen his grip on me.
"Feisty lil’ one, aren’t you?" He grinned at me.
If he wasn’t such an asshole, I’d have thought he was a good-looking guy. There was a lot of that going around lately. So many men ruined their cool image when they opened their mouths and nonsense fell out. Dustin was no exception. I tried to pull away from him. It was clear that he had no intention of letting me go.
"This guy bothering you?" We both turned to see the man with the forest green eyes standing near us. I hadn’t noticed that the music stopped. His silky blond hair spilled over the shoulders of his jean jacket and stopped. Expect for his brown hat, he was dressed completely in blue denim. I would have normally busted out laughing at a man dressed like he was about to wrangle a herd, but not this time. He was the same height as Guytano, and that made him tall. He had wide shoulders but a slender build. His body screamed that it was toned and perfect. His skin looked soft and milky white. I looked into his eyes and he stared at me. A look that I could not read passed over his face.
"Gregorios?" I heard myself speaking, but didn’t understand why I’d chosen to call him by that name. I had no memory of meeting him before. Of course, with my history, that in no way implied that I didn’t know him. His eyes widened even more.
"How?" He squinted at me. "You remember me?"
Aha! I’d been right. I didn’t have any idea how the heck I knew the guy’s name, but I did. Maybe, I’d heard Molly talking about him. She was a regular at places like this. He reached his hand out to touch me. I jerked away. Great, just what I needed two perverts on one dance floor.
I made another attempt to free myself from Dustin’s grip. He wasn’t budging. I didn’t want to have to resort to violence, but after my chance meeting with Guytano in the warehouse I’d learned that it wasn’t below me. I turned my arm quickly and swung it around. These movements made him loosen his grip on me. The look on his face said that he wasn’t expecting that. He tried to grab me. I turned my body slightly toward him and threw my elbow out and up into his chest. This knocked the wind out of him long enough for me to punch my other hand straight out at him. Dustin fell on his ass on the dance floor. That’s when I noticed that everyone had stopped dancing and started staring at us.
Gregorios made a move to touch me again. I spun around and brought my right leg up to kick him. This seemed like a great idea until I remembered I was wearing a short denim dress. I knew that I was giving everyone a free peek. My foot rounded toward Gregorios’ head. His eyes never left my face but he caught my leg in midair and dropped it to the floor. He could have used that opportune moment and really inflicted some pain on me, but he didn’t. He looked at me and blinked. "Valerie?"
I froze. This temporary moment of not paying attention cost me a great deal. A large mass slammed into my side. I hit the floor hard and fast. My head cracked against the dance floor with such a force that my brain rattled. It took a minute for my vision to clear. I looked up and saw Gregorios fighting with a group of men. There looked to be at least six of them and only one of him, yet he was holding his own fairly well. I turned and looked at the weight that was on top of me. Dustin had me pinned to the ground and gave me a less than friendly look.
I tried to wiggle out from under his body weight. He had slammed me down so hard that parts of me quit working for a few seconds. Dustin jumped to his feet. He bent down and grabbed me around the waist. In one swift movement, he tossed me over his shoulder and headed toward the door. I pounded on his back. He never missed a beat. The exit burst open, and I watched as Gregorios had another swarm of at least eight men come at him.
Stephanie, the slowest waitress known to man, appeared in the doorway. She gave me a wicked little smile and shut the door tight. I knew then, that when I was done dealing with Dustin, I was going to beat the crap out of her too. Maybe, that would teach her some customer service.
Dustin threw me down onto the hard stone parking lot. Tiny sharp stones dug into my body. I cried out, as he glared at me. The look in his eyes changed to a hungry one, and I wat
ched as yellow filled his irises. I didn’t scream, in fact, I quit moving altogether. He smiled wide. Huge fangs sprouted in his mouth. He lunged down at me. I brought my feet up quickly, driving the heels of my boots into his chest, and pushed backwards. He stumbled but didn’t fall. His body shot into the air and levitated above me for a minute before pouncing on me.
"Change for me baby and this could be so much fun," he said, with a hint of glee in his voice.
I had no idea what he wanted me to change into. I didn’t really care. His face hovered above mine and I watched in horror as it twisted and turned. A demon with yellow eyes and fangs stared back at me. He moved his face over my breasts and let his tongue slide out and over them. I shuddered. I didn’t want this thing near me.
"Change ... change and we can fuck all night. Hell, it don’t matter to me none if you want to go like this. I can smell it on you. You’re a naughty lil’ vamp aren’t ya."
I was on the verge of hysteria. The harder I fought Dustin, the tighter he held me. I had to close my eyes and take several deep breaths to keep from screaming again. I stopped struggling and lay still. A thought came to me. Calming down had opened my mind up.
Some part of me, the same part that had brought forth the daytime vision of me biting the woman named Camille, took over. It instructed me on how to best handle the situation. I pulled my hand up and stroked the monsters cheek. He stopped licking the tops of my breasts and looked up at me.
"I knew you’d want to play. I could smell it on you the minute I saw you," he said, his voice a few octaves lowers than before. "You’re a powerful one aren’t ya?"
"Oh, yeah, I want to play," I said, trying to sound convincing. "But, I want to be on top."
A look of pure joy swept over his face. He rolled off me in a heartbeat. Heat flared through my body. I was no longer driving. Some other part of me that knew how to handle this took the wheel. At that moment I would welcome just about any help I could get. I rose up off the ground and straddled Dustin’s body. I stood above him and felt the heat raging through me.
A swooshing sound came from behind me. I didn’t turn around. "Do not move, Guytano." My voice sounded so much stronger and sure of itself than it normally did. I had no idea how I’d known that was Guytano. I turned my head and saw him take a step toward me. I threw my hand up. The heat within me flared.
"Manere!" I shouted out.
Guytano looked like he’d walked into an invisible wall. He staggered backwards and shouted out for me. I looked at my hand and then to his dark blue eyes. I pleaded with him to understand that I didn’t know what I’d just done. He nodded to me and then looked down at Dustin. His eyes widened when he saw the monster that lay beneath me. His astonishment told me that he wasn’t aware that he wasn’t the only vampire on the premises. I wondered how many more were lurking around, but I couldn’t worry about that just yet.
I turned my attention back to my new little friend. "So, Dustin, you want me to play with you, huh?" The way I said it scared even me. His yellow eyes widened. He attempted to scoot back away from me a little but I bent down and grabbed his belt buckle. "Don’t you want to play with me anymore?" I fought to regain control. I was losing to this overwhelming pull, this dark side of me. Part of me wanted to lean down and lick his pale cheek. The idea of fucking him sounded better and better. I shook my head. What was I thinking? I didn’t want to screw this piece of crap. I fought to swim to the surface. I was almost there, so close that I could almost feel it.
I backed away from Dustin and staggered. He took this opportunity to get to his feet, thinking that he was about to gain the upper hand. "Yeah baby, I want to play." He flew at me, and I literally mean flew at me. Guytano screamed my name and begged me to free him. I wanted to free him but I didn’t know how to do it.
Dustin was almost upon me. I focused in on his chest. Right before impact, I put my hand out and screamed out, "Core." My hand passed through his clothing and deep into his flesh, wrapping around his beating heart. I held tight to it and pulled backwards. Dustin’s body fell away from me, his still beating heart in my hand. I brought it up to my lips and flashed back to the vision of the woman calling me Mistress. I looked at the heart in my hand and threw it onto the ground. I tried to run backwards, but hit something hard. I screamed out, dazed and sickened by my own actions.
"It’s all right... It’s all right now." It was Gregorios. I looked up at him and then down at my bloody hand. He nodded his head and pulled me close to him. I didn’t fight him. I let him hold onto me. The moment our bodies touched, I felt safer and calmer. It was then that I realized I was crying. I pulled myself together and looked over at Guytano. He was still pressed against the nothingness that held him.
"Guytano!" I called his name like he was the last person on this earth that could save me. Maybe he was.
"Valerie, you have to free me," Guytano said calmly. I wasn’t sure what kind of life he led, but if he was used to things like this happening I was done hanging around with him. I looked down at my blood-soaked hand. I had no clue how I’d done what I’d done or how to undo it.
"I don’t know how."
Gregorios’ arms loosened on me. "I can help, if you’ll trust me."
I looked up at him perplexed but not in a position to argue. "I don’t think I have a choice."
"No you don’t." He raised his hand up and said, "Abdere." Guytano dropped to the ground. I broke free of Gregorios’ grip and ran to him. He was on his feet before I was even close to him. His eyes darted down to my bloody hand and turned his face away from me, closing his eyes tightly. I looked back at the heart still beating on the ground.
"Upyr." The one word fell from my lips effortlessly. I said it with the conviction of ten men. I knew that it meant vampire, but I didn’t know how I knew. Tears welled up inside of me. I wasn’t crying because I’d seen what every person believes only exists in nightmares, I cried because I knew that somehow I was connected to them all. Did that mean I was a monster as well? I looked to my blood-soaked hand for confirmation. I felt hot and dizzy. My vision blurred just before I hit the ground.
Chapter 15
I woke to find myself in Molly’s bed. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep, or why I was with her instead at home at my place, but I was happy to be out of The Tall Hat’s parking lot. Molly had left a glass of orange juice on my bedside table with note underneath that demanded I tell her everything when she got home from work later.
I stood up. I was still wearing the same clothes I’d had on at the bar. My hand was wiped clean but little dried bits of blood were still under my fingernails. I scrambled to get out of the clothes and yanked the sheets off the bed. I hit the bathroom door with such force that I was surprised I didn’t rip it off. I filled the tub with hot water and slid in. It was much hotter than I normally made it, but having pieces of a guy’s heart under your nails will make you do things you normally didn’t do.
I scrubbed until my skin was raw. By the time I was done the water was ice cold. I grabbed my robe off the hook and headed to my room to get dressed. I noticed the answering machine was blinking. I stopped and pressed play.
"Valerie, its Payton. Are you there?" It beeped. Funny, I hadn’t heard the phone ring. In my fit to get clean, I’d missed the one call I’d most been looking forward to. I checked the time. It was pushing seven. I called Payton’s house. No answer. I tried his office and managed to get his nighttime answering service. I left a message for him, just in case he checked in. I needed to see him. I needed to make sure he was all right--that we were all right.
I snatched a pair of khaki pants out of my closet and paired it with a navy long-sleeved knit shirt. It was snug and even though it covered me completely, it looked sexy. The scooped neck and tight material put a lot of emphasis on my breasts. I reached down and instinctively went for a pair of navy flip-flops. I gave a quick thought to the week I’d been having and tossed them aside. I ended up settling on a pair of brown hiking boots. I wasn’t in this to
win a fashion competition. I was in it to stay alive.
I yanked the brush through my hair and pulled it into a loose ponytail at the base of my neck. The phone rang again, and I dove to answer it.
"Valerie, hey it’s me," I heard Payton’s voice. I exhaled. I didn’t even know I’d been holding my breath. "I need to talk to you. Can you meet me at the old mill?"
"The old mill? Why don’t you just come over here?" I asked.
"Am I really still welcome there?"
I nodded my head and realized that he couldn’t see me. "Yes, of course you’re welcome here." I wanted to talk with him more, but he said he had to go. I promised to meet him at the old mill in an hour. He thought it would be nice to look at some of the leftover movie equipment there. I’d already seen it and didn’t care to have a repeat performance, but I needed to escape my new reality. I jotted a note down to tell Molly that I was meeting Payton and put it on the table near the front door. I snatched my purse up and headed out the door.
"You look like you’re feeling better, all things considered."
I stopped and turned slowly around. Gregorios, the blond-headed cowboy from the bar last night was sitting on my front porch. He looked comfortable with his feet thrown up on the rail, slouched in the wicker chair. I had to swallow hard to get the lump out of my throat. After what I’d seen and done last night, I wasn’t too keen on the idea of surprises.
"What do you want, Gregorios?"
He didn’t bother to sit up. He just tipped his head to the side and looked at me with his sexy green eyes. Eyes that crisp weren’t natural. Mine were turquoise so I was anything but natural, too. I took a step backwards. I wanted to have plenty of room to maneuver if need be. I wasn’t planning on a fight. After all, he had been on my side last night, but I was learning very fast that things aren’t always what they seem.
The Valkyrie Page 10
