Forbidden Touch

by K. S. Haigwood

  Ludacris was "Pimpin' all over the world," and she was bobbing her head to the beat, and only getting about every tenth word right, when she felt the tingling again. She instantly hit the button to turn the radio off, then grabbed Dane's hand and gave him a panicked look. "It's happening again."

  "What do you want me to do?" he asked nervously.

  She shook her head; she could feel herself slipping from her body. "Drive. He can't hurt my spirit…only my soul is suffering."

  Dane looked back at the road and mumbled something before her spirit left. It sounded like, "Yours isn't the only one."

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  Chapter 39

  When Ciera opened her eyes again, she was sitting in a car, but it wasn't the Lexus. It looked a whole lot like the unmarked that Mitch had driven when he had to. She turned her head to look at him. He was parked beside a pay phone, but the window was rolled up. Who had he wanted to call? Was it her, and she had just never given him her number? He was bent over the steering wheel with his face hidden from her, and his whole body was visibly shaking.

  The way they had parted the last time they had spoken was still weighing heavy on her heart, so she didn't even care why he was upset. Well, she did care, a lot, actually, but she wasn't going to let him think she did. He seemed hell bent on hurting her feelings, so she was going to keep them hidden from him as best she could.

  "What?" she said rudely.

  His head shot up and he looked over at her with angry eyes. His features didn't change, but he closed his shiny eyes and looked away from her. "I didn't call you."

  O-kay. Ciera rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm here, so evidently you did. You know, it's a damn good thing that Dane is the one driving. I could have a wreck."

  "Wouldn't that be a shame? It would save me from having to do the job when you got here if you died in a car wreck," he said, and then leaned back in the seat. He took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.

  "A car accident wouldn't kill me, asshole. But it might kill someone else, like say a family of five on vacation, as fast as we are traveling."

  "Well, slow down. In fact, turn around altogether." He sat up and looked her dead in the eyes. "I don't want you coming here. How can I put it any clearer than this? I hate you! I want you dead for what you did to me. Just go away!" He closed his eyes and whispered over and over for her to go away. He thought about his mother, to get his mind off her.

  When he opened his eyes she was gone. He didn't see her anywhere, but he could still hear her in his head, sobbing softly.

  "I don't believe you. I can't believe that you hate me. I'm still coming, and killing me is the only way for you to prove you don't love me anymore."

  He put his head in his hands and screamed. He had tried four other pay phones, and all of them had been as dead as a door nail. And it seemed every time that he would try to think about something to help him, his thoughts would always veer to her. He was exhausted, trying to keep it from happening. He couldn't control it, and it was pissing him off.

  He put the car in drive. He would just go back to Lazarus' house and sleep on it. He was positive that if he stayed out in the open much longer, someone was going to recognize him.

  Ciera opened her eyes to the Lexus again. Dane was driving like she had told him to. "He must be very powerful, because he's out in the sun. He was alone in Lazarus' unmarked police car, and it looked like he was trying to call someone, because he was parked beside a pay phone. He still isn't able to control dragging my spirit to him, and…he still hates me."

  Dane took her trembling hand in his and laced their fingers together. "I'm sorry, Ciera. I would do a lot of things over again if I could, but not even vampires can turn back the hands of time."

  She leaned over and laid her head on his arm. She felt him kiss the top of her head. She closed her eyes and imagined that it was Mitch who had done that. She couldn't go through the rest of her life with her eyes closed, imagining that it was Mitch who was making her happy. She knew she couldn't truly be happy unless Mitch was the guy she was with. If he wouldn't believe the truth when she got to him, then she would make him kill her. She had to think of a way to make him see clearly that she wasn't the person at fault here. But how? She didn't know, and she didn't know anyone who could tell her.

  She sat upright suddenly and looked at Dane. "What was that little town in Arkansas where Alice lives?"

  His brows drew together. "The psychic or the witch?"

  "The psychic," she said.

  He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I wasn't really paying attention to road signs. I was following your thoughts."

  "Damn it!" she looked in the console. "Does this car have an atlas?

  He smiled. "If it did, it wouldn't be small enough to be in that console. Try the glove compartment or under the seat."

  She did, and came up with a whole lot of nothing. "Stop at the next truck stop or travel center that you come to. I think I will be able to remember if I look at a map of Arkansas."

  His eyes grew wide. "It's still daylight. You can't get out of this car to go in a travel center."

  She smiled and made herself invisible.

  "I forget what your skills are sometimes," he said, and she giggled.

  "I need to feed anyway. Mitch took my blood this morning, and I didn't get near enough of his," she said as she became visible to him again.

  Dane pursed his lips together and thought for a moment. "You could feed off me. I mean, vamp blood is stronger than human blood, and you need your strength if you are going to go up against both Lazarus and Mitch."

  She narrowed her eyes and studied his face. She hadn't ever fed off a vampire before, and she'd heard stories about the fact that when a vampire fed off a vampire, the feeling was equivalent to a human taking ecstasy. She had friends that did it on a regular basis just to get the rush and the sexual pleasure from it. "Is it true what they say, about the feelings vampires get from feeding off other vampires?" She knew that he would know what she had heard, but she had never experienced it for herself and she wanted to see if he would lie to her. She would bet a lot of money that Dane had tried it. He was just that predictable, and it seemed like something he would do.

  He waited a long moment before he answered, then he finally said, "Yes, I suppose anything that you have heard would be true. The feeling of taking from another vampire is incredible. And to do something like that with you, well," his smile almost split his face in half, "I would do just about anything to be the first to give you that experience."

  She crossed her arms over her chest. "Why, so you can rub it in Mitch's face that you turned me on?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.

  He looked at her, and his expression sobered. "No …"

  "And you would take advantage of the fact that I wanted you because of the way your blood was making me feel and take my innocence," she said as she looked out the window. She didn't know why she was getting angry, but her adrenaline was pumping rapidly through her veins. She wasn't used to Dane being so honest with her. It scared her a little.

  He shook his head. "No, I wouldn't do that to you. If I ever did get the chance to take you to bed, I wouldn't want it to be because you were under any influence. I would want you to make that choice with a clear head. And it would be your choice. I would never force you to do anything. God," he hit the steering wheel and sighed heavily. "Can't you just accept that I might be a pretty decent guy? Besides the last month, have I done anything to cause you to question where my loyalties lie or give you a reason not to trust me?"

  She looked back at him, and chose not to answer, aloud, any of the questions he asked. "If I do this, and you take that away from me…I won't stop until you are dead."

  His eyes widened in surprise. "You are really considering this?"

  She shrugged. "Well, you're right; a vampire's blood is much stronger than a mere mortal's blood. I am so weak now that even three feedings wouldn't give me what I need to go up against Lazarus."
/>
  "And Mitch? You forgot to say Mitch," he said.

  She shook her head. "I won't fight Mitch. If he still hates me after he realizes the truth, then I will let him end it all."

  Dane jerked the car over to the shoulder of the interstate and slammed on the brakes. Ciera closed her eyes and huffed. "I have already informed you that if I couldn't be with him, then I am no better alive than I would be if I were dead. I told you to drop me off at the nearest airport. I don't expect you to risk your life. Questa non ѐ la vostra lotta!"

  He stared at her with wide, hurting eyes, and then he closed them and shook his head in defeat. "This isn't my fight? I'm the reason that you are in this mess to begin with. And I will help you as much as I can, but you have to want to live through this even if he doesn't want you. I need you to want to live. The Ciera I know would have never given up everything because a man didn't want her."

  "Yeah, well, that was before I fell in love for the first time," she said, and he hit the steering wheel again, but not hard enough to break it the rest of the way. Her body jerked, involuntarily.

  "I love you, and it hurts like hell that you don't return my feelings, but I wouldn't let anyone, including you, kill me. You promised that you would still be in my life no matter what happens between you and Mitch. You don't break promises. You are being very, very stupid right now, and that is something that I never thought I would say to you."

  She leaned back in her seat and sulked. "Love makes you do stupid things, I guess."

  "Jesus," he said, and turned the car off then stuck the keys in his pocket.

  Ciera stared at him in shock as he leaned the seat back and closed his eyes. "What the hell are you doing? Abbiamo bisogno di andare!"

  "No, we don't need to go," he said, with his eyes still closed. "He is mad at you, and you are thinking irrationally. I think both of you need a little time so you can think clearly. And I am going to make sure that both of you get the time you need to do just that."

  She went invisible, and Dane heard her grab the door handle. He grabbed her wrist with one hand, and with the other, he pulled the open door shut. The sun burned his skin that was visible, but in the enclosed interior of the Lexus, with the nifty new tint on the windows, it was already healing. "I have a few more elephant tranquilizers. Don't make me use them on you. All I'm asking is for you not to run into this before you have thought everything through. If he kills you, it will only be because he has killed me first. And if I kill him, because he is trying to kill you, you will never forgive me. Just give him some time, please. Give yourself some time to think all of this through!" he growled through his teeth.

  Ciera stared up at him. He couldn't see her, so he couldn't see in her eyes the way she was feeling with his body pressing her into the seat. She had heard everything he had said to her today, of his feelings for her, but she really hadn't been listening until now. She was being very stupid rushing into all of this. He was right. Maybe Mitch only needed time to calm down and think everything through, like she did. And with the way he couldn't control bringing her spirit to him, maybe she would have plenty more times to talk with him before she sees him in person. But maybe it would give Lazarus more time to sink his fangs into him, metaphorically speaking. She didn't know what to do, but Dane was right, she could give Mitch a little more time. She did understand that getting herself killed wouldn't solve anything. She would be dead, and Lazarus would still have Mitch. She didn't want to live without him loving her, but she realized that she could. She didn't know if she could ever love Dane, but she found that him loving her was comforting. She made up her mind right then to live no matter what. Let the pieces fall where they may, because when Dane had said that he would die to protect her, her blood ran cold at the thought of losing him too.

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  Chapter 40

  What Mitch really wanted was to go to the gym and hit that bag again. That can't happen, though, he thought as he pulled back into Lazarus' driveway.

  He cut the engine and got out of the car. Something on the ground beside the house caught his eye, and he walked over to further investigate. As he got closer, he recognized it to be one of the sky lights from one of the tower rooms he had seen. How many of those rooms did Lazarus have? And what the hell did he use them for? They definitely weren't guest bedrooms. He had been tied to one of the tables when he had come to earlier, but he hadn't thought much about it then. What would they have done to him if he hadn't believed anything they had told him?

  He stood and walked to the side of the house. There was another one there, and he was guessing that if he walked around the house, he would find more. He shook his head. He couldn't think about all of this right now. He needed to get some sleep. He would ask Lazarus about it all when he woke up.

  "Get off me. I won't run away. You are right...about everything," Ciera said.

  He froze above her when he felt her breath caress his face. He hadn't known her lips were only a breath away from his. He'd pulled her back in the car, shutting them both in the interior of the tinted, vampire safe, Lexus. Her body, along with the confinement of the car, was making his mind wander into very dangerous territory. The feel of her soft lips on...

  "Dane," she whispered, and made herself visible.

  He jerked away from her, moving too fast to stop his elbow from smashing into the Alpine stereo, and his hand from busting the cover of the dome light. Ciera was laughing hysterically when he finally landed against the driver's door. "I'm sorry," he said, embarrassed by the weakness of his willpower. He hadn't meant to cross any of her forbidden boundaries. "Wait…what did you say? Did you say I was right...about everything? There must be some really big side effects to the tranquilizers."

  She sighed, and the smile on her face was fading fast. "I've decided to live, and I don't want you getting in the middle of mine and Mitch's problem. I can take care of myself. In fact, I don't want you even going with me to get him when we get to Illinois."

  "This is a trick isn't it?" he said as he eyed her with skepticism.

  She shook her head. "No."

  "Why can't I join you, then? Are you afraid your boyfriend will think something is going on between the two of us?"

  "No."

  "What is it then?" he asked.

  "Nothing," she said, and averted her gaze from his eyes.

  Curiosity got the best of him. She was acting differently toward him now. He had never enjoyed reading her thoughts, because if they did happen to be about him, they were never good. So, he had stopped peeping into her head long ago. His eyes narrowed. "Don't make me read your thoughts, Ciera. It isn't something I enjoy doing."

  She huffed. "I just don't want you to get hurt when shit starts to get serious, that's all," she whispered without looking at him.

  Her voice had cracked, and he noticed that something definitely had changed in her in the last few moments. Did she actually care about him? "Well, I can't let you go in there alone, so it looks as though you have a problem." He slowly moved his hand to her face, placed his fingers on her cheek and pulled so she was facing him. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears.

  "If…" She choked on a sob, then tried again. "If something happens to you, it will kill me, Dane," she said, and the first tear fell, followed by another.

  "What are you saying, Ciera? That you care about me?" he said, and then forced his body to move farther away from her, to keep from grabbing her and kissing her right then and there.

  She sniffled, and nodded. "Yes…but not in the same way I feel about Mitch, I don't think. It is different somehow. I don't want you to get hurt, and I want you to be in my life." She shook her head. "I don't know how to explain it. I can't have both of you."

  Dane had a sudden urge to drive as fast as the car would let him go to Illinois, and kill Mitch so the guy would be out of the equation. She wouldn't have to choose then. Process of elimination. He mentally shook his head. He couldn't do that to her. He would do exactly what she had said back at Euph
oria. He would let her go, because he loved her that much. "I have some friends that live near Salt Lake City. One of them will have a safe place for us to rest for a while. They have blood bags."

  By "blood bags," Dane meant that at least one of his friends didn't feed directly from humans, and they would have a hefty stock of blood bags. They must have a Getter in the family. Ciera nodded, then he put the car in drive.

  Mitch had finally made it to his bed. He'd had to take another shower. The second time he attempted it, he sang a song the whole time he was under the water. He found that it was harder to think of Ciera if he was trying to concentrate on lyrics. He wasn't very good at singing, but he wasn't trying to be the next American Idol, only make sure that his ass was clean without her popping in to see him.

  He knew it wasn't her fault that she popped in, and he was actually beginning to have doubts that everything Lazarus had told him was the truth. It just felt right to believe him, he had been his partner for a long time now. That was one thing that bothered him, about something Ciera had said before her voice left his mind earlier. She had said that he had known her longer. He had only known her less than a week. Lazarus had been his partner for a little over two years. And earlier when Mitch had been talking with him, he had said something about Ciera, what was it…The conversation that he and Lazarus had had earlier in the day slammed into his head like someone was trying to help him figure this whole mess out. "Ciera found out that you were working the case of her victims, and she instantly took a fascination to you. She wanted you, and when I confronted her and told her to leave you alone, she put two-and-two together, I suppose. That made her want you more I guess. She knows about my many skills, and I guess she thought that you would be of some use to her if you were a vampire."