Blood Vengeance

by Bronwyn Lee

  The only reason Kayla had the advantage with the guard was because Givanni had thought she couldn't go out in the light. Having escaped his grasp in the middle of the day would make it obvious to him that she could. Her advantage over him was lost.

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  Chapter Eight

  Kayla sat with Stephen in the ambulance, holding his hand and brushing hair off of his face as they worked on him. Occasionally he opened his eyes and looked at her. She squeezed his hand, and he responded in the like.

  At the hospital they whisked him away, and she phoned the sergeant to let him know what had happened. He came up to the hospital to wait with her.

  "How is he?” he asked, searching her face.

  "I don't know.” She turned away from him. “John, I killed someone today."

  "That happens when you're a cop,” he said, his voice firm, yet gentle.

  She shook her head and turned back to him, hunching her shoulders in misery “No. I killed him as a vampire."

  John cupped her chin in his big, thick hand and looked her dead in the eye. “No. You killed him as a cop who was trying to save her partner. Others have killed to protect their partners. It doesn't make you any different"

  "Who will contact Stephen's family?"

  "He doesn't have any family."

  "Oh. I just assumed when he transferred from Cairns to come home, it was to be closer to his family."

  John shook his head but didn't say any more as he guided her to a hard, plastic seat. He placed his hand over hers, and they sat like that for a while. Kayla was glad for the company.

  Over the next few hours, other policemen came in to see how he was doing, but there was no news, and they would drift away after a while. Finally the news came that he would survive.

  Kayla and John went in to see him. He still looked pale and, with wires and tubes coming off of him, he looked vulnerable. But he wasn't quite so drawn now.

  She picked his hand off the white bed sheets and held it. He opened his eyes. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. She put a finger on his lips, silently telling him to hush, and then stroked his face.

  Only a few minutes passed before a nurse chased them out so Stephen could rest.

  "Come on. I'll take you home,” John told her.

  Although she wanted to object, wanted to stay near Stephen, she saw it was the only logical decision. She allowed John to take her by the hand and lead her to his car.

  John glanced at her when they arrived at her house. “Have you told him yet?"

  She didn't pretend to not know what he was talking about. “No. I was going to last night but...” Her voice trailed off, and she shrugged.

  "You need to, especially since he's not just your work partner anymore."

  Horrified that she was so easy to read, she blurted, “Is it that obvious?"

  "The stroking of his face gave it away."

  She grimaced. “I didn't want it to happen."

  "Well, it has, and as long as it doesn't affect your job, I won't care."

  She gave a small nod in thanks.

  She hopped out of the car and moved quickly inside as her sergeant pulled away. A prickling along her spine let her know she was being watched, and she didn't want to stay any longer then necessary. She could no longer remain in her apartment after Givanni had been there. She wasn't afraid, but she was furious her sanctuary had been violated, and it would no longer feel the same.

  She gathered her clothes and toiletries and decided to get someone to move her belongings once she knew where she would move to permanently. She looked at the furniture and decided it could also do with a change. There wasn't anything wrong with it, and it held a lot of happy memories because most of the things had been chosen with Damien, but she had changed and moved on. Aside from a few precious things, she realized she could let it go.

  She couldn't live in the past anymore. She didn't want to live in the past. She needed to live now and enjoy new things. Her first priority was to tell Stephen the truth about herself if the relationship between them was to grow, and she wanted it to.

  She grabbed her stuff and made her way to a motel, carefully making sure she wasn't followed. There she would have time to think about what to do next. The clock told her it was late at night, and normally she would be invigorated, but after the day's events, exhaustion overwhelmed her.

  She tumbled into bed, falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  When she awoke in the morning, she headed straight to the hospital. She had time off, due to the incident, and she wanted to be with Stephen. It was time to tell him what she was so they could move into the future together with no secrets between them. Her heart picked up speed at the thought of him and the times they would enjoy.

  Stephen was awake when she entered his room. He still looked pale, but much better then yesterday. She held his hand and brushed her lips across his knuckles. He smiled and drew her hand to his mouth, returning the favor before drawing her closer and kissing her lips.

  She pulled back, giving him a searching look. “How are you feeling?"

  "Like I've been shot and dropped from great heights. What did you do to get me out of there? Kick me along the ground?"

  Kayla's stomach dropped. Did he remember anything? She had to tell him that she was a vampire, and opened her mouth to do so, but he interrupted her.

  "I had a really bad nightmare while I was out of it. I dreamt that you were some kind of monster, and you ripped a guy's throat out."

  "Oh?” She couldn't quite keep the quaver out of her voice, and she couldn't bring herself to look at him.

  "Ridiculous, isn't it?” He smiled at her. “Dreaming that you were a vampire. How could I do that? It's disgusting to think you're a vile creature like that. A creature that sucks the life out of someone; something soulless and evil."

  She managed to smile back at him, but her stomach clenched. The world was going to tip and throw her off. “You shouldn't believe all you read about vampires."

  "Shouldn't believe any of it. Vampires don't exist, and for that I'm glad. Bad enough trying to capture people like Givanni, let alone immortal monsters that want to destroy the human race."

  An icy clamp closed around her heart, her stomach heaved, and she swallowed convulsively trying to keep it under control. She couldn't tell him now. She wouldn't be able to tell him ever. How could she continue the relationship with him if she couldn't tell him what she was? She saw the disgust in his eyes, heard the vehemence in his words, and for the first time wished she wasn't a vampire.

  "Hey, are you all right?” he asked, breaking into her thoughts. “You look ill. I don't think you've heard anything I've said for the past ten minutes."

  "I feel ill.” It was an honest reply that left a sour taste in her mouth. She slipped her hand out of his, thankful for an excuse to end their contact. “Yesterday has just caught up with me. I think I should go, and you could do with the extra rest, too."

  He smiled gently, almost breaking her heart. “You'd better go then. You need your energy for when I get out."

  He grasped her hand, pulled her forward, and brushed his lips against hers. His other hand trailed from her face down to her breast, then to the junction at her thighs. Her body tightened as warmth surged through her veins. She sighed and deepened the kiss. It was tender, and she would have enjoyed it if she hadn't been trying to stave off her tears.

  She drew away and searched Stephen's frowning face. She wondered if he felt the kiss for what it was ... a farewell. She gave his hand one last little squeeze then turned and left the room.

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  Chapter Nine

  Stephen glared at the computer. Desk duties sucked. He didn't want to be behind a desk; he wanted to be out doing his job as a detective. And he wanted to know what the hell had happened between him and Kayla. She hadn't come back to the hospital, her phone number had changed, and his sergeant hadn't helped. At first John had evaded all questions but fin
ally told him to leave Kayla alone. He repressed a snarl at the memory.

  After spending a week in the hospital, the nurses had sighed in relief when he was discharged. They'd been the target of his bad temper when he realized Kayla wouldn't be returning. He'd decided to wait till he was released from the hospital, and then he would track her down and throttle her until she told him what the hell was going on.

  He realized he'd been lucky there'd been no major damage to his organs. It had been the loss of blood that had made him so weak and caused the hallucinations—the nightmare where Kayla had morphed into a vampire and attacked.

  There were other dreams that drove him crazy in a different way. He would wake up with a hard-on, and it wouldn't settle till he wrapped his hand around his cock and stroked himself, thinking of her until he came. There was no real enjoyment from the masturbation; he just needed relief.

  Desperation swamped him with want of her. The dreams of when they'd made love tormented him. Although they were tainted by the interruption from Givanni, he knew there was something special between them, and he didn't want to lose it. He wanted to keep it safe, cherish it, and let it blossom.

  Once released from hospital, he went to her place only to find it deserted. The apartment manager told him she'd moved out after the incident. Stephen was able to get the name of the motel she'd gone to by threatening the manager with bodily harm. When he phoned the motel, he found she was no longer there, and they didn't know where she'd gone. John was of no use, either. He simply stated she was in hiding while the investigation was ongoing. They wanted to keep her safe from Givanni.

  Stephen brooded over her disappearance while convalescing at home, and begged with his sergeant to let him come back to work after two weeks. That had been two weeks ago; five weeks without seeing her, without being able to touch her. John put him on day-shift desk duties.

  He checked the rosters to make sure Kayla wasn't working. He was relieved she wasn't making herself a target, but unhappy he couldn't track her down.

  He took to prowling around pubs to see if he could find her. One pub he walked into he swore he could feel her, but he didn't find her. He thought about quitting his hunt for her, but he couldn't. She was in his blood, and he longed for her. His need kept him going, and he knew he'd catch her eventually.

  * * * *

  Kayla felt sick. She didn't understand why, though. She hadn't been sick since she'd been changed. In fact, illness had been the catalyst for her to change.

  She'd fallen sick during the flu epidemic that had taken so many lives in the early 1900's. It seemed she was going to die after surviving the one that had taken her parents. Damien had nursed her. She was twenty-three and had been letting him drink her blood for five years, sharing his bed, and loving him. She'd asked him many times to change her, but he always said no. He told her it was a hard life, and she would want to meet someone and have her own family one day.

  She disagreed, knowing the only thing she wanted was to be with him. The flu she contracted made her weak and very ill. The doctor had drawn Damien aside and, even in her fevered state, she understood that the news was not good. She remembered Damien shaking his head. She had closed her eyes, knowing what was being said without hearing it. She knew she wasn't going to survive. She grieved that she would lose Damien, never hold him or share his bed again.

  Once the doctor left, Damien sat near her. Holding her hand, he took a deep breath, and told her of the rite to becoming a vampire. He told her what she would gain, and what she would lose.

  She remembered looking at him and asking, “Will you be with me?"

  Damien nodded, and she squeezed his hand hard. “That is all I want, my love,” she told him. “Eternity with you."

  And he had bitten her on the neck.

  She hadn't been sick since then, until these last few days. The elders were meeting tonight—they met regularly. Although she hadn't been to a meeting since Damien's death, she needed help to discover what was wrong with her.

  She'd been feeding regularly in different areas so Stephen wouldn't accidentally bump into her. Every one of the men had been healthy. Besides, disease wouldn't touch her anyway. Although in the first week after leaving Stephen in the hospital she thought it might happen, she wasn't going to die of a broken heart. The sickness came irregularly, and lethargy pulled at her.

  She presented to the elders that evening and told of her concerns and explained the symptoms she was having. As she was speaking, she realized she had the attention of everyone. She knew often in these gathering there was a quiet rumble as people uninterested in the topics at hand spoke to each other. This was not the case tonight. Her illness must be important, she thought. A sick vampire might mean danger for them in the future. She finished speaking and waited expectantly.

  To her surprise, some of the elders were smiling. Their expressions showed their shock, but still they smiled. Confused, yet relieved because she thought it mustn't be serious, she couldn't fathom what they would be smiling about.

  "It sounds like you're pregnant,” one of the elders, Tray, said.

  "What?” Her voice squeaked, and she stopped to compose herself. “How would that happen? I can't have babies. Vampires can't have babies. Well, not often anyway."

  "Obviously, you can,” Tray retorted with a roll of his eyes, indicating that he thought she was being a little slow.

  "I never fell with Damien,” she snapped.

  "Your new partner must be the right chemistry for this to happen. Congratulations are to be had. You need to see Sharni. She will run some tests to confirm this, but I would say congratulations are definitely in order."

  Kayla looked at the woman who approached her. She had become a skilled physician to humans, working to try and understand the reasons why vampires couldn't breed, why they never cycled.

  Performing a simple test did prove that she indeed was pregnant, and now, several hours later, she sat on the Story Bridge, arms wrapped around her knees as she contemplated what she was going to do.

  Her confusion was huge. How had this happened to her, and why? How was she going to tell Stephen when she hadn't spoken to him since that day in the hospital? He'd called her a monster, even though he didn't know he had. His child would be a vampire, she suspected. Although, no one really knew what to expect with a human for the father.

  Stephen's child. She rolled the words around her mind. Something of him he couldn't take from her, which no one could take from her. It was growing in her.

  I would die before I let anyone hurt my baby. She would not let Givanni hurt it, or Stephen. I will love this baby, teach and protect it, and if Stephen doesn't want anything to do with it, we will be all right.

  Peace settled over her, and she stroked her belly. We're going to be fine. She knew it deep in her soul.

  She stood and leaped into the air, gliding to the back of the Irish pub she hadn't entered since Stephen had caught her there. She smiled at the memory. That was the night their baby had been conceived. Right there at the door of her old place, because they just couldn't wait.

  She stepped into the pub and knew instantly it had been a mistake. Stephen was there, and he saw her. She swung around to flee but ran into a man directly behind her who was trying to get in. Stephen reached her before she could get away. He grabbed her arm and pushed her out into the night, into the shadows of the alley she'd just come from.

  "What the hell are you doing? Going to pick up again?” he growled at her.

  "I think we've had this conversation before, Stephen,” she said through clenched teeth. She balled her hands at her sides. “I don't answer to you."

  "The hell you don't.” He pushed her against the wall and kissed her hard, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. When he pulled away, after he'd tilted her world on its axis, he said, “Your response to me tells me you like what I do. Your response,” he said as he rubbed his hand between her legs, “tells me you're mine to do with what I please."

  She didn't fight
him. Her body reacted instantaneously to his touch. She heated up and grew wet enough to feel it dampening her jeans. Looking into his eyes, she knew he could feel it, too. Sensation curled through her belly, and she slid her legs apart to give him better access. A savage smile flickered across his face.

  She grabbed his hair and pulled his mouth back to hers. Oh how she'd missed him, and her body called to him. Sighing, she nibbled his lip and then nipped it, drawing blood and as she sucked. His taste lit a fire in her system.

  He dragged her deeper into the shadows and slid his hand down into her jeans, across her heated flesh, to dabble in her wetness. He drew his hand out and licked his finger. She kissed him again, and the taste of her in his mouth sent her wild.

  She pushed off the wall and turned him. Shoving him against it, she dropped to her knees and undid his zipper, releasing his cock, taking him in her mouth before he could stop her.

  He leaned back against the wall, bracing himself as she ran her mouth along his shaft and worked the head of his cock. She glanced up and saw he'd closed his eyes. He licked his lips, and she could see the muscles in his throat working as she dragged her sharp teeth along his length, causing him to gasp. He tightened the grip he had in her hair and thrust into her mouth as she grabbed his buttocks to pull him further in.

  He opened his eyes and looked down at her, met her gaze. “Oh, fuck. I'm coming. I can't hold it any longer."

  Moaning, he jerked in her mouth. She kept bobbing her head up and down, lapping her tongue at him as she swallowed his release as his cock twitched. She held him in her mouth until he sagged back against the wall and his cock had started to go limp.

  He pulled her up as she gently tucked him back in and zipped him up. Then she laid her head against his shoulder, smiling when she felt how wobbly his legs were.

  "Oh, Kayla. You blow my mind,” he murmured

  "And other parts of you anatomy, too,” she retorted. She felt him smile against her hair.

  "Wanna go back to my place? Where we may be able to actually make it to a comfortable spot?"