Lover's Kiss

by Dawn Michelle

  "I'll keep you safe," she promised again.

  He didn't respond.

  Beth forced her eyes away from his relaxed and peaceful face. He looked beautiful sleeping there. Such clean and strong lines to his pale face. Lines that she was determined to make sure lasted forever. But that meant she had to talk to someone. Someone who would be very disappointed with what had happened.

  She took a final look at him before nodding. If Penny truly loved her, she'd understand. She might be disappointed, but she'd understand. She'd help— she had to. The alternative was running and hiding. Taking John with her and always lying low, avoiding others of their kind. Not that she knew how to find anyone else like her.

  Beth stiffened. What if he didn't make it? What if he couldn't rise like she had? What if he died or the spirits overpowered him, like Penny warned they would try? They hadn't tried very hard with her, mostly it had been her own memories. Or maybe she was stupid and bitter enough she didn't realize it.

  She shook the thought away. She couldn't think about that. She had to find a way to make this work. He deserved a chance. Maybe he didn't deserve her, but he definitely deserved better than a pointless death because she needed to stay hidden.

  She made her way to the door and opened it. Cold wind and snow blew in and swirled around her. She glanced down and would have cried out if she'd remembered to breathe. She slammed the door shut and turned to grab her clothes. She'd nearly walked out stark naked. It wouldn't have bothered her, but it would have bothered anybody she ran into. She wasn't like Penny, she couldn't make people ignore her with a thought. Or could she?

  Beth tilted her head as she remembered the homeless people at the factory. They'd ignored her when she focused on making them pay no attention to her. It might have been luck, but with the heels on her boots clacking against the cement she doubted it. The dog had been funny too, he'd been ready to fight her until she showed that she would fight back, then it had cowered. More than that, it acted like it understood her perfectly, doing everything she told it.

  Beth pulled her jeans and shirt back on and then slid into her boots. She had a few hours yet, but the weather was terrible and people wouldn't be out in it. She could experiment later. First she had to get home and talk to Penny. And pray. Maybe not to the same god she'd been told to worship as a child, but anything was better than nothing.

  John deserved every chance he could get.

  Chapter 14

  Beth walked through the doorway and into the club. Construction started the next Monday. Penny had both of the contractors completely under her spell and Beth had found time to give them two doses of her blood. It wouldn't take long and they'd do anything for either of them. They weren't like John, they were just tools.

  Neither was there at the time, but then again, the club was long past closed. It should have been empty, but Beth could sense a presence. Not the presence of a living person, but still a presence. She stared into the room, easily picking through the shadows until she found Penny sitting in a booth at the back of the club, near the private sections where men would spend time with a woman who would tease them and take their hard earned money. In return for what, a brief illusion of mattering to someone else?

  Beth smirked and walked up to her mentor. "Penny," she greeted her.

  "One hundred ninety seven," Penny said. "That's how many nights I've sat here, alone, wondering how it is that people could be so desperate to pay a woman for a few minutes of pleasure."

  "That's creepy, I was thinking that too," Beth said. "Only my first time though."

  "Tonight is my one hundred ninety eighth night in here."

  Beth tilted her head. She had her own agenda, but something was bothering Penny. Something that, she was certain, had a lot to do with her. "I thought you've owned this for a few years?"

  "I have. I don't wonder anymore."

  "Oh? Then why do you think they do it?"

  "The same reason I made you."

  Beth's eyes widened. "Um, okay."

  "I bought this and turned it into what it is, a den of carnal sin. It keeps good people away and lets me pretend I'm helping. I look out for the unfortunate waifs because I can. Not to do a good thing, but because it helped to fill a hole inside me. A hole that only blood and murder could fill."

  "You're kind of freaking me out," Beth admitted.

  Penny's smile didn't reach her eyes. "I was lonely, pet. I wanted people to love me, but after a time I realized I couldn't love them back. They were weak and made stupid choices. Even the rare soul that showed promise would only last for a while. Then their spark would fade."

  "I think you're selling people short," Beth offered. It seemed like a good chance for her to lead into asking about John.

  Penny continued as though she hadn't spoken. "It was almost enough that I had a perfect setup. All these men and women that were my slaves. My kingdom, I suppose. They work for me and I take care of them. Then, when their lives are nearly spent I ease them into the unknown. I get loyal workers and a freely given meal. They get a good life free of trouble and a blissful end to a short and meaningless existence."

  "Why is it meaningless?" Beth asked. She thought of how John had said he'd become a cop because he wanted to help people. He'd tried to help her, but he'd been too late. "They don't need to change the entire world for it to mean something. Changing something for one person can make a difference."

  Penny looked at her. "He tried to do that for you, didn't he?"

  Beth swallowed and nodded. "It was too late, you'd already bitten me."

  "Do you wish I hadn't?"

  She shook her head. "No. I'm a lot of things, including stupid and probably ungrateful, but I am very happy with who I am now. Well, mostly."

  "Mostly?"

  Beth shrugged. "I've made a lot of mistakes."

  Penny smirked. "We've all made mistakes, pet. I've wondered if making you was a mistake."

  Beth's jaw dropped and her eyes rounded. Was Penny going to kill her? Should she run and take her chances helping John on her own?

  "I hoped you would take away my loneliness. I didn't stop to think that yours was a flame that burned so bright in the night it didn't need me to add fuel to it," Penny continued.

  "Wait— what? You're not going to, uh, hurt me, are you?"

  Penny shook her head. "I could not hurt you. You have replaced the sun for me. You brightened my existence and made me feel young again."

  "Oh! Okay, um, good. Look, I'm sorry about last night. And earlier. And all the stupid shit I've done. Or am going to do."

  Penny chuckled. "You're leaving me, aren't you? I'd hoped you would last longer. A hundred years or more. At least a decade."

  "Penny, I—"

  "He'll grow old and wonder why you aren't. He'll look past it for a while, but soon he'll need to know. You might use your love to buy his silence, but you will still be young and beautiful when he draws his last breath. He will die, and you will be alone again. And I will take you back and forgive you because I love you the way you love him."

  Beth moved forward without a word. She slid into the booth and buried her face in the lacy black teddy that Penny wore. Penny held her and comforted her until Beth lifted her head up and stared at the porcelain goddess above her. "I don't know how you can love me. I don't deserve it. I don't deserve you."

  "Deserve has nothing to do with it, pet," Penny said. "If there was a cosmic judge of a person's worth do you think I would be allowed to live for eons doing what I do? The world is a fickle place. Good people fall in their prime while the wicked live on to accumulate millions."

  "You're not wicked," Beth argued.

  "I've killed more people than I can count. Hundreds of thousands, over the years. Maybe even more, who can say?"

  Beth nodded. "Okay, so you're a serial killer. That's bad, I'll give you that."

  Penny smiled. "It's not in our nature to feel guilt. We are predators."

  "I know," Beth agreed. "I— I did something stupi
d tonight."

  Penny raised an eyebrow. "With him? Did you tell him?"

  "No, not that," she said. She bit her lip and glanced around the dark club.

  Penny waited until Beth's silence dragged on too long for her. "Then what?"

  "I wandered through the storm. I was looking for someone. Well, not a specific person, but a type of person."

  Her eyes narrowed. "Another drug addict? Elizabeth..."

  Beth hung her head. "I was so confused. So angry. So thirsty. So— I don't know, I just wasn't thinking straight."

  "Drinking tainted blood wouldn't make that better, but you seem fine now. What happened?"

  "I went to his place," Beth said. "I knew what I needed to do. What you wanted me to do. It was what I wanted to. I wanted to prove myself to you. And to me. I wanted to be in control, not to be needed by somebody. Not to be worshipped or thought of."

  "You've made a few slaves already, why not one more?"

  Beth sat against the booth beside her and stared down at her hands. She fidgeted her fingers while she tried to figure out an answer to Penny's question. "It didn't seem right. I didn't think I deserved it."

  "Elizabeth, you aren't a normal woman anymore. The rules of human society don't apply to us. You've shared your life with me, I think you expect to be hurt and cast aside. You won't be, not ever again."

  Beth lifted her gaze and met Penny's volcanic blue eyes. "I did expect Colin to disappoint me," she admitted.

  "And the policeman?"

  She bit her lip and nodded. "I never thought I'd see him again. And when I did, and he liked me, it didn't seem real. I freaked out."

  "Because you wanted to hurt yourself."

  "What?" Beth asked, denying the words that rang with a bell of truth.

  "You expect it and think it's all you should have. Hurt and rejection. You were a victim once by circumstances beyond your control. You continued to be a victim because you allowed it."

  "You think I wanted it?"

  Penny nodded. "I do."

  "Why would I want that?"

  "To be pitied and cared for. You told me the only time you felt that people cared for you was when you were in the hospital after your attack."

  Beth fell silent for a long moment. The truth that Penny exposed her to hurt, but it didn't hurt like another attack. It hurt because it felt true. Her chest and shoulders felt light, as though a weight had been lifted. "Jesus, you might be right."

  "Penelope," Penny corrected her. "But you can call me Penny."

  Beth smiled. She leaned over and wrapped her in a hug.

  "I am sorry about your policeman," Penny said. "He could have been a good companion to have around. He was charming, I'll give him that."

  Beth's eyes widened and she nodded. She glanced away, but not quick enough.

  "You didn't kill him?"

  Beth gulped. "Um, not exactly."

  "Elizabeth?"

  "Please don't hate me!"

  Penny leapt to her feet and let out a stream of syllables in an ancient tongue forgotten by the world. She turned and glared at Beth. "You mean to see him rise as one of us? He can't, you can't make him, you're too young. I won't do it. Do you hear me. I won't! Not after— why are you looking at me like that?"

  "I did it," Beth whispered. "I bit him and drained much of his blood, but that cleared my head and I realized what I was doing. I stopped and bandaged him. The bleeding stopped and he was sleeping."

  Penny swore again and shook her head. "This shouldn't be possible. You shouldn't be able to do that. That kind of control takes years to master!"

  "Well, uh, I did it," Beth whispered. "I learned how to bite without tearing and I wasn't so lost in the blood lust that I couldn't stop myself. It was hard to think straight, but I did it."

  Penny stared at her a long moment and then looked away. "Men are forbidden. We agreed as a council of elders."

  "There were no men on the council?"

  "No!" Penny snapped. She hesitated and softened her voice. "My creator refused to create them, he only made women in his image. He wanted us to be his immortal wives. His harem."

  "That's not right!"

  "In those times it was not unheard of. A man of wealth and power had many wives or consorts. It was expected."

  Beth shuddered and forced the details away. That wasn't her problem, John was her problem. John and what Penny was going to do to him.

  "Can you finish what you started? Finish him? Or do you need me to?"

  Beth stood up to face her. "I love you."

  Penny froze, her head tilted slightly. She was so still for a moment Beth wondered if she'd turned into a statue in the dark. "You mean to let him rise, if he can."

  Beth nodded. "I do. I will teach him and protect him. I want your blessing…and your help. But without it I will do this anyhow."

  "And if I destroy him?"

  "I'll hide him from you," Beth said. "Please don't make me choose."

  "Men are forbidden."

  "Men weren't given the choice! You said they weren't on the council of elders, right? How fare is that?"

  "They were given a chance to speak."

  "What about your creator? The one you said may not be dead, only lost?"

  Penny fell silent. "I fear him. We all fear him. Every generation is weaker than the one above it, and none, not even I, can hope to overpower him."

  Beth shook her head. "Great, so if he's still alive, they aren't all dead. They aren't forbidden. If I help John keep low and out of sight, what problem is there? With your help I know we can do this! Please, Penny, for my sake."

  "I was willing to let you live by his side and lose you for the next half a century. What you ask is to lose you forever."

  "Force me away and you do lose me," Beth agreed. "Show me you love me, help me, and I promise you that I will never leave you."

  Each second that Penny stared at her stretched out for a hundred years. Beth felt as old as Penny was by the time her mentor responded. "And what if he proves to be like all the other men through the ages?"

  "I've made mistakes and he will make mistakes," Beth said. "If he proves irresponsible and endangers us all, than I won't stop you from doing what you must."

  "I do not like ultimatums," Penny said. "If it were anyone else, I would strike their head from the shoulders and see them staked on a hill for the sun to burn."

  "I understand, and I'm sorry. I have to do this. For him and for me. Give him a chance, Penny. Try something new. Do it for yourself."

  Penny frowned. "Come, upstairs, it grows late."

  "Wait— what does that mean? Did you decide?"

  Penny hesitated and shook her head. "I have not. Let me sleep on it. We have a few days. Let me enjoy these last few days with you before I render my decision."

  Beth managed to keep the smile off her face. The way Penny said it gave her the answer she wanted. The last few days? She was going to give in. Penny would let him live. Or at least she'd let him go to see if he could rise on his own. Beyond that, it was up to him. And her— she had to help prepare him for what was coming.

  Beth grinned and flew to her creator. She hugged her and kissed her. "I love you! Thank you, Penny. Thank you so much."

  "I haven't decided yet," Penny grumbled.

  Beth nodded and backed up a few steps. She tried to wipe the grin off her face and failed. She held out her hand. "Let me taste you."

  Penny's head twitched up. "Taste me? When are you going to learn how unsatisfying sex is for us?"

  "That's not what I meant," Beth said. "I want to drink from you, Penny. I want to feed on you so that you know how devoted I am to you. I'd like you to do the same to me, but I understand if you don't want to."

  Penny's eyes widened as she talked. She stared at her for a long moment. "It wouldn't be like before," she said.

  "It wouldn't? What's different?"

  "For me I would share a bond with you. I would sense your moods and at times even thoughts. I would have an idea wher
e you are, but not like before, where I was aware of nearly everything."

  "Everything?" Beth gulped. "Even when John and I…"

  Penny smiled. "The exception to the rule about sex being disappointing for us."

  "Oh my god!" Beth groaned. She ignored her slip and shook her head. "What about me? What would it mean for me?"

  "The same," Penny said. "But drinking my blood, now, would make you stronger. You could do more and go longer between feedings. That is why, in the past, some men were also hunters among our own kind. They would gang up on other vampires and try to defeat them."

  "Wow, and that makes us stronger? But you didn't say it would do that for you?"

  Penny smiled. "You are young. A baby. I am…not."

  Beth laughed. "You're beautiful."

  "And you're like an arrow through my heel."

  "An arrow through— I don't get it."

  Penny smirked. "It's before your time. Before mine too, but not by much."

  Beth blinked and shook her head. "Okay, so is that good or bad?"

  "Good for you, maybe bad for me."

  Beth frowned. "I don't understand."

  "I can't deny you anything," Penny admitted. "You're fresh and young. Spontaneous— Irresponsible, maybe— but definitely irresistible."

  Beth grinned and threw her arms around her mentor. "You're what I was always looking for."

  "I am?" Penny asked. "So why the policeman?"

  "You're my sister and my best friend. John is… something else. He's my knight in shining armor, I guess."

  "If we do this, your feelings for me will change some."

  "They will?"

  Penny backed up a step and nodded. "To drink from another is to embrace an intimacy that lasts. You will love me."

  Beth shrugged. "I already love you."

  "You will love me more. Perhaps that will be enough?"

  "I've never heard of a heart being too full of love. There's always room for more."

  Penny tilted her head and slowly nodded. "Perhaps. You are full of surprises. So, how would you like to do this?"