by Lisa Sanchez
Not ready? The hell I’m not. I’ll show him…
With my jaw locked, teeth clenched, and fists balled at my sides, I willed myself off the floor, floating toward him, chin up and glowering. With a flick of my wrist, the small wooden table that sat in front of his couch flew up into the air, splintering into a hundred pieces, and shot toward Xan with the speed of light.
That ought to show him…
The wooden shards came to a halt mere inches from Xan, who stood motionless, a complacent smile crossing his all too perfect face.
One eyebrow shot up as if to say so what. Mr. Magic Pants was completely unaffected by the cloud of sharp, wooden splinters surrounding him, ready to end his life. “You’re very resourceful.”
I looked down my nose at him, still hovering several feet above the Berber. “Thank you.”
“You owe me a new table.” And just like that, the air of tension surrounding us broke.
The wooden splinters came crashing to the floor as I lowered myself down, and I looked up at him sheepishly. “Oh, crap, I’m sorry. I — shit, I got…carried away.”
That was an understatement. I looked down at the pile of rubble that was once his coffee table and cringed. I’d done it again. I’d managed to let my temper get the best of me, acting like a child who was afraid she wasn’t going to get her way. Idiot.
He made a show with his hands. “Don’t worry about it. You’re more ready than I thought. Still…I want you at my side the entire time we’re out. Is that clear?”
Here we go again…
I gave him a huff and shrugged. I didn’t need to be babied. I’d just turned a table into a giant pile of splinters with which to kill him, and he expected me to fall in line?
“Look, I — ”
He lifted a tan finger. “Hold that thought.” He held out his hand, lifting the scattered pieces of splintered wood off the floor. I watched in awe as they spun around at lightning speed, faster and faster until, with a brilliant flash of light, they finally came to a halt in front of his couch, once more in the shape of a coffee table.
I opened my mouth to say something and decided against it, slamming it shut.
“You wanted to say something?” He eyed me with a smug look of satisfaction.
He had me, and he knew it. Still, I wasn’t about to admit he’d schooled me in the magic department. My pride had taken an ass whooping, and it hurt more than I cared to admit. “Uh…I could have fixed the table, you know,” I said, completely impressed with his skill. I could have too. Just not with the style and ease he’d shown. Oh, yeah — I’d totally be staying by his side.
I turned my attention to the dangling vampire in the corner. “So how are we going to get her—” I jabbed a finger in her direction “—out of here without anyone seeing us?” It was a little hard to be inconspicuous when you were traveling with a magically bound, newborn vampire who wanted to drain everyone they came in contact with.
“Like this,” he said with a toothy grin, and snapped his fingers. One minute we stood in his apartment, the next the three of us materialized into an alleyway in what looked to be the industrial area of town.
Xan was a damn Cracker Jack box — full of surprises.
“Oh…well…okay,” I said, a bit stunned while checking out my new surroundings. Teleportation was a power I’d yet to master, and I was ashamed to admit I was a little jealous of the ease in which he poofed us from one place to the other. Okay, I was a lot jealous, but you’d never catch me owning to it.
My face must have read like an open book because he cast me a reassuring smile and chuckled. “Don’t worry, carino. As you mature, so will your powers. You’ll be popping in and out in no time.”
I made a face. What did he know about my powers? “So what’s next, then?” I asked, looking over toward Deanna, who thrashed around like a wild animal, making similar noises. “I know you said she’d lead us to her coven, but I just don’t see it. She’s been listening to our plan the whole time. She knows what we’re up to. Won’t she just run in the opposite direction?”
He shook his head. “No. Look at her. She’s too far gone with hunger. The only thought that’s racing through that head right now is how quickly can she score some blood. The dawn is approaching — she can sense it, feel it. That leaves her no choice but to seek out the one who sired her, for protection. It’s instinct.”
“Is that what happened with you when you became a vampire?” The question shot out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying, and I instantly regretted it. Did I really want to know what he did, or who he fed on right after he was changed?
No!
My question was met with silence for which I was eternally grateful. The thought of Xan on a killing spree fueled by blood lust was more than I could bear. In fact, any thought of Xan’s liquid diet sent my head reeling. I knew he had to feed to survive, and I knew exactly what his diet consisted of. I also knew he could have killed me twenty times over the few times I’d been around him and he hadn’t.
Xan shifted in place and met my gaze. “I know what you’re thinking, carino. I can see it all over your face. It should please you to know I’ve never taken the life of a human, nor do I intend to in the future.”
The breath I didn’t know I was holding came out in a slow whoosh — my body easing, the tension in my neck and shoulders relaxing. I believed him, though I didn’t know why. Something deep inside of me just knew he spoke the truth.
“Come,” he said, motioning me closer to him. “Stand beside me while I set her free so I can mask your presence. We can’t have the new vampire distracted by the sweet smell of your blood, now can we?”
I blanched, moving to his side where he then took my hand in his, lacing our fingers together. A warm rush flowed up the length of my arm and through my body. I’d never felt anything like it before. Pure, undiluted comfort flowed through my veins, and I gripped his hand tighter, wishing the feeling would never end.
With his other hand, Xan released Deanna from the mystical ties that bound her, dropping her like a stone to the pavement.
A horrific base growling filled the air as she leapt from the ground, nose in the air in search of the one thing that would sustain her: blood. Looking up toward the night sky, she let out a terrifying wail and took off down the street like an animal, hissing in our direction as she passed.
Pulling away so I could follow, Xan’s iron grasp stopped me from taking another step.
“Wait, carino. Unless you want to be attached at the hip for the next hour,” he said, holding up our hands that were still intertwined, “I suggest you give her a bit of a lead. We need to keep your scent downwind.”
Flashbacks of Wild Kingdom barreled through my head, and for a brief moment I considered rubbing every inch of myself against his muscled exterior to gain his scent. If he said anything, I’d claim fear and desperation drove me to it. I didn’t want to be eaten.
While I was all for the idea of keeping my scent safely hidden from the rabid Deanna vamp, I cringed at the thought of separating from Xan. I fought to keep myself from whimpering when he finally let go of my hand, my fingers instantly yearning for the contact that was lost. I had zero problems with being attached to his hip.
We followed Deanna for several miles, traveling further and further out into the outskirts of the city, where nothing but large warehouses lined both sides of the street.
“We have to be getting close, right? There’s not much else out here,” I pointed out, desperately trying to break the silence that took over during our long walk. There was so much I wanted to ask him, yet I knew it wasn’t the right time.
In fact, bad timing was becoming somewhat of a pattern where we were concerned. The few moments we’d been together were spent either fighting off evil vamps or chasing them, leaving no time for small talk. I needed thirty minutes with the guy without the threat of evil loo
ming over my shoulder so I could get some of my questions answered. “Besides,” I said, pulling out my phone to look at the time. “It’s close to dawn. She’s got to find some kind of shelter or she’s toast.”
Xan held a finger to his mouth and stepped in front of me. He bent down into a crouched, defensive posture, reminiscent of an animal ready to attack. Radiating raw power and pure physical prowess, Xan was a sight to see.
Heat engulfed me, flowing through my veins as my eyes raked over his powerful frame. I became instantly aware that this man, this creature, this vampire, could not only wield magic with an ease and precision that few possessed, but he could kick some serious ass in hand to hand combat as well. Desire swept through me. I licked my bottom lip before biting down on it hard. Now was not the time to get caught up in a hormonal shame spiral.
He looked over his shoulder toward me. “I sense a great power. We’re close.” He pointed toward our wayward vamp darting behind a vacant building that was once a large distribution center. “Get ready. I think we’ve found them.”
Time stood still for a moment, the echo of Xan’s words still lingering in the cool night air, when a bright flash of light followed by several popping noises and the sound of unearthly groaning echoed throughout the surrounding area.
My stomach twisted as a handful of rank, decomposing bodies lurched into the empty street toward us, the dim light from a nearby streetlamp casting a muted glow off their decaying flesh. I twisted in place, panic surging when I saw they surrounded us from all sides. “Oh, great. Zombies.” I gripped Chuck tight in my hand as I looked into the faces of the ten rotting corpses that simultaneously circled and moved in on us.
The only way to take down a zombie was to decapitate it. I know…gross. As there were no stray swords lying around for me to wield, and I lacked the upper body strength to pop their heads off (not to mention, I really didn’t want to get that close), I was utterly useless. This, of course, pissed me off. I raised my hands to blast the zombies with a magical power surge when I was knocked backward several feet by a blast from Xan.
“Get back,” he shouted, and turned all of his attention to the problem before us.
I shot back several feet, just outside of the brawl, and stopped, standing completely awestruck by what I saw.
Channeling his inner Neo, Xan pulled a move straight out of The Matrix, shooting up off the ground in super slow-mo and then spinning around like a tornado, knocking the undead army down as if they were nothing more than bowling pins.
“I said get out of the way,” he shouted as he took down a particularly grotesque zombie that oozed what looked like brain matter out of its forehead. The disgusting remnants of what was once a person rolled like a bowling ball and stopped at my feet.
“Blech!”
I didn’t need to be told twice (well, ahem, I guess I did) and backed away. Nasty creatures manifested with dark voodoo magic, zombies were nothing short of disgusting. Whoever summoned the mindless beasts had a great deal of power and a blackened soul.
“Damn,” I whispered to myself in complete and total admiration of my new vampire consort.
Xan was a freaking machine. Using his ability to teleport, he popped in and out of the melee at light speed, snapping the heads off of the zombies like they were made of nothing more than toothpicks.
I was so absorbed in the fight taking place in front of me, I didn’t notice the undead puppet that crept up behind me until it was too late. I was knocked off my feet by a powerful blow to the head. I rocketed face first onto the cold hard pavement.
That’s going to leave a mark…
It took me a moment to regain my bearings, which unfortunately was a moment too long. The walking corpse that yanked me off the ground was particularly gamy, the flesh from half of its face missing, showing a whole lot of teeth and eyeball. One look at the gruesome face in front of me and all I wanted to do was empty my stomach. But as it held me by my neck, its grip tightening by the second, I knew I had to take action. Breathing came before puking.
Wasting no time, I staked the undead stink factory in the eye. There was a horrible crunching sound as the wood sank into its decomposing flesh, and a nasty fluid came squirting out all over me. Stunned but not down, the zombie let go of its grip on my neck while it struggled to pull Chuck out of its eye. I fell to the ground, rolled away and promptly puked my guts out.
I looked up to see my attacker turning in circles, still trying to pull the stake from its eye, and having no luck. Taking advantage of its weakened state, I willed myself up and off the ground, floating forward, so that I hovered in front of the zombie, and kicked it in the head as hard as I could.
I heard someone shouting off in the distance, “Ainsley! No!” I froze, my blood turning to ice. Impossible. There wasn’t a soul who knew my real name, save my great-grandmother. Clearly my earlier swan dive into the cement at the zombie’s hand had scrambled my brains about, and I was hearing things.
I took stock of my handiwork with my undead opponent and all but threw up in my mouth. “Oh…nasty.”
The creature’s head was now barely attached to its body, and had a giant gaping hole where my boot made contact. My efforts hadn’t done a damn bit of good. The zombie was still flailing around with Chuck deeply embedded in its eye, the only difference was now its skull was dangling off its neck at an odd angle.
I drew a deep breath and pulled my leg back, ready to knock the sucker’s block off when Xan suddenly appeared out of nowhere and yanked me into his arms.
“We need to leave. Now!”
Before I knew what was happening, we were standing in his apartment.
“Holy hell!” Shaking and slightly out of breath, I sank down onto Xan’s couch, feeling dazed and dizzy. It had all happened so fast. “Whoever sent those zombies obviously knew we were coming. Deanna got away. And dammit,” I said, scowling, “I lost Chuck.” That right there pissed me off more than anything else. I’d been fighting with Chuck for so long I no longer considered the weapon a separate entity, but a continuation of my hand. Getting used to a new stake would take time. Time I didn’t have.
I waited for Xan to respond, and when he didn’t I looked over my shoulder and saw he stood behind me. His fists were balled up tight, covered with the grisly remnants of our fight. He clenched his jaw, and pressed his lips together in a tight line. He didn’t look happy.
“Xan?” I wasn’t particularly happy about losing Deanna either. He’d promised me we’d take her out before dawn. Of course, neither of us knew we’d be attacked by zombies, so as upset as I was about our wayward vamp, I was all for cutting ourselves a break.
The muscles in his jaw pulsated as he clenched his teeth together. He opened his mouth as if to speak and then shut it with a groan. Visibly torn over something, he shook and wore a pained look on his face.
What the hell was wrong with him? He’d killed over half of the zombies, and we got out of there with everything intact. All in all, I’d say that was something to be happy about. Maybe he was worried they’d follow?
“Xan, I know you’re upset that we got cornered like that, but they won’t be able to find us. They don’t know where we are and — ” I wasn’t able to finish before he cut me off.
“Fuck!” He gripped the sides of his head and groaned, a long, deep, agonizing sound. Then his hands came down, and he stared straight through me — desperation, anger and desire intermingled and radiating from his gold flecked eyes. “Forgive me, Ainsley.”
He came at me hard, his fangs sinking deep into the delicate flesh along the side of my neck. There was a moment of searing pain, followed by intense pleasure…and then…there was nothing.
Chapter 7
“Mmm…” I moaned in delight, shifting my legs and relishing in the heavenly sensation pouring over me. Swept away by a current of sheer ecstasy, my body felt as though it were floating along on gentle wave
s of pure bliss. There was no ebb, only a constant flow of warmth and serenity.
Every inch of my skin was on fire, hyper-sensitive and alive. My hand traveled up my neck toward the epicenter of pleasure. Like a powerful tidal wave, awareness crashed over me as my fingers grazed the fresh bite wound, ripping me from the surge of excitement I drifted on.
“Oh, my…” I sat bolt upright, frantically sucking air as if I’d been trapped underwater. Fragmented and chaotic, images rushed into my conscious mind. Xan’s lips on my neck. Xan’s fangs piercing my skin. As my fingers brushed the bruised flesh, I felt two distinct puncture holes.
“Oh…my…God. He bit me.”
A loud snort yanked me back into the here and now. I turned my head toward the source of the noise. Taylor lay sprawled across the large air mattress she and Jessica shared, mumbling in her sleep. A narrow beam of light peaking through the curtain illuminated a swatch of blanket and a bare foot. What time was it? The last thing I remembered was…
I swallowed hard. I had no memory of leaving Xan’s apartment, yet here I was snuggled in my bed in my own home. Every hair on my body simultaneously stood on end. How on earth did Xan get in my room? Vampires couldn’t enter your home unless invited, and I had never invited him. I hadn’t even told him where I lived, which made waking up in my bedroom ultra creepy. Xan wasn’t your average cookie cutter vamp. No. He was definitely something else, and as much as I was attracted to him, he scared me to death.
My eyes traveled from Taylor to Jessica who was similarly draped across the mattress. I nearly pissed myself when I found she was not asleep, but staring at me, eyes wide.
She sat up slowly, mouth open, a look of shock etched across her sleepy face. “What did you just say?”
Crap…
I opened my mouth to answer her and nothing came out. I stared back at her in silence, tears welling in my eyes, my unspoken words threatening to spill out one way or another.
She pushed up off the mattress onto her elbow. “What is going on?” she whispered, forcefully with narrowed eyes. “And don’t lie to me. You were making some pretty interesting noises over there and then all of a sudden you shot up, gasping and saying he bit you. So…I repeat myself. What is going on?”
