by Tracy Sharp
Kitty Astrid slunk around my hands and then padded a few feet away, and then just as fast as she’d changed into the cat, she was Astrid again.
“How did you do that so fast?” I asked her. My mouth was dry. The closest liquid to me was my half-empty bottle of beer from last night. I took a swig and wished I hadn’t. Gross.
She shrugged. “All I have to do is wish it.”
“You’re right. That little trick will come in handy.”
She beamed at me. “You’re going to be thankful I’m around, Ez.”
“Astrid, I always was.”
Candace
About an hour before a burnt orange dawn bled into the sky, Candace seemed to get tired all of a sudden. The last vestiges of the body bliss her donor’s blood had given her wore off, leaving her exhausted.
When she’d blasted through the doors of the vampire bar, desperate and so thirsty she felt dizzy and weak, a tall, beautiful young man of twenty-two approached her without hesitation. He smiled at her, his dark eyes sympathetic and sultry with desire. He wore snug black jeans and a simple white t-shirt, and his sinewy, toned body seemed to almost slink toward her.
Her eyes drank in every movement his muscles made. Her gaze searched his throat and found the beating pulse of the blood in his veins, and she actually drooled.
“You poor thing,” he said, his voice silky and smooth. “You’re starving.”
“Please,” she heard herself whisper, and when he slipped his warm hand in hers it took every ounce of restraint she had left not to tear into his wrist right then and there. She could smell his blood, lush and full, and healthy.
He’d led her to an empty love seat, and gestured for her to sit. Her bunched muscles were poised to attack. He was prey, and she was famished. Her sharp eye-teeth dripped.
He sat beside her and leaned back, and then pulled a tiny knife from the choker around his neck. She could hardly wait for him as he made the small incision on his wrist.
When he lifted his bleeding cut toward her mouth she fell onto it, sucking uncontrollably, drinking in deep, as if his blood were water after a hot day in the desert without any.
And when his blood slid down her throat, a swoony, euphoric ecstasy blasted through her.
She heard his voice faintly through the roar of blood in her ears. She felt every pleasure he’d ever felt in his life, and every joy. His blood screamed in her veins, thrilling through her, an exquisite drug that quenched her thirst and sated her hunger, yet left her craving more.
He began pulling his wrist away.
Somewhere in the recesses of her mind she understood, and knew she should let go. But instead she clamped her hand on his arm and sucked more deeply.
“Stop. You’ll kill me.” The panic in his voice made her pause, and then she felt rough hands grab her by the shoulders and lift her from the love seat. Her arms reached out for the young man, her hands grasping, and a pitiful whimper escaped her lips.
Her feet touched the ground but the steely hands still gripped both of her forearms. “That’s enough. We don’t kill our donors. They are what keep us from killing the nice ordinary folk. We have enough of a target on our backs. And Luke is a favorite here, especially among female vamps.”
Candace stopped reaching for the gorgeous young man, whose name she’d picked up from his blood. Luke. She came reluctantly back to herself in slow measures.
The grip on her arms loosened, and she turned to look at the man behind her, whose voice was like aged whiskey.
The first thing she noticed was that he was tall. She stood facing a chest that revealed the nice outlines of muscle through a soft crimson t-shirt. The second was that he had the nicest smile she’d ever seen, with a set of perfect lips and even dimples. His eyes were a deep, bottomless blue, and locks of dark, coppery hair fell over his forehead.
“First time feeding?” His eyes were smiling as he asked the obvious.
“Uh, yeah.”
“You’re going to have to work on your table manners if you want to be welcomed back here.” One of his brows arched slightly.
She gazed up at his face. It was so interesting. He looked so American apple pie and yet so... intense. “Sorry about that.”
He raised a thumb and skated it over her bottom lip. “Messy eater, too.”
She watched as he seemed to kiss the thumb, taking the remnants of Luke’s blood from it. Candace didn’t know what to say. She was both mortified and almost hypnotized by this guy.
He said, “Mmm. You’ve been eating a lot of fruit, Luke.”
“Yeah. I’ve gotten into pineapple lately.” Luke stood up, swayed a little, and sat heavily back down again, giving his head a little shake. “Nice of you to notice.”
Candace felt a spike of guilt. I did that to him. But she still felt euphoric, weightless. Peaceful.
The guy in front of her turned his face back to her. “I’m Bodan. Bodie for short. This is my bar.”
Every movement he made seemed to be in slow motion. Candace blinked her eyes a few times.
He grinned down at her. “You’re still riding the high. Look at this.” He waved his hand in front of her, wiggling his fingers, and it looked like trick photography, several hands following the first, leaving bright purple outlines trailing after them. “It’s trippy, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” If he wanted to see trippy, he should check out hell.
“Don’t worry. Your body will get used to it. And then you’ll hardly notice it. It’s fun when you first start feeding. But the novelty wears off after a while. The high will always be there, though. You’ll just adjust to it.”
She gave a slight nod, to show that she understood.
He gave her an easy smile. She watched the dimples deepen. “So, you know my name. And you are?”
“Candace. Candy to my friends.”
His eyes squinted a little and he tipped his head to the side, considering her. He leaned in close and sniffed her hair.
“It’s Manic Mango Shampoo,” Candace said. “You like it?”
He leaned back and studied her, a knowing smile on his face. “You’re not the normal, run of the mill vamp, are you?”
“I don’t know what the hell I am.”
“You don’t smell like a regular vamp. Who made you?”
“The devil,” she said simply.
He chuckled.
She didn’t.
His smile faded. “You’re serious.”
“As a stake through the heart.”
He looked at her in wonder. “Not many venture into hell and come back. How did you do it?”
“Look, it’s been a really stressful few days, and if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not relive it right now.”
He gave her a single nod. “Okay. Well, nice to have met you, Candace. You’re welcome back, but only if you improve your dining etiquette. Next time, you may not be lucky enough to have me pull you off a donor. The security vamps are not as gentle.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
“Here’s another. Dawn is coming in a couple of hours. Unless you want to die an agonizing, shrieking death, I suggest you go home and lock your door, and darken all of your windows.”
Her head was beginning to clear. She felt both disappointed and relieved. “Will do. Thanks, Bodie.”
“You’re welcome.”
She turned to Luke, who was sitting with his head between his knees. “I’m sorry about that, Luke.”
He kept his head down and lifted a hand to her. “No problem.”
“Don’t worry,” Bodie said, his voice cheerful. “I’ll give him some juice and a cookie.”
Luke’s hand came up again and gave Bodie the one finger salute.
Bodie chuckled.
Candace turned and left, feeling Luke’s blood strengthening and warming her. Before she’d fed on him, she had been so cold.
Mika was waiting outside the vampire bar when Candace walked out. She felt like she was walking on air, and all the colors of the night seemed to shimm
er before her new vampire eyes.
“You again,” she said, but her tone didn’t have the sarcastic bite the words would otherwise suggest. She was actually kind of glad to see the wolf. If it weren’t for him, she might be gnawing on the throat of some poor innocent in some back ally somewhere.
True. But no one is innocent, except for small children, and even they can be little devils at times. His words were loud and clear in her mind, but not overly so. He had a pleasant voice.
“Why do you keep following me and helping me? Some kind of bad wolf’s community service for naughty behavior? What did you do to get stuck with me? Bite the mailman?”
His low chuckle made her smile. “No, really. Why are you helping me?”
You are not a punishment I have to atone with.
“Then what am I to you?” she asked him again.
I don’t know. I honestly happened upon you the night you were about to be killed by your psychotic neighbor. But something draws me to you. Call it my canine instinct.
“Okay. But I have a lot of questions about you. And about me, and my new... affliction.”
Some would call it a gift. Many would and have killed for it.
Candace knew this all too well. Her own father had done so. She felt savage gladness that the devil cheated him out of eternal life. “Not me.”
He must have sensed her thoughts, because the amusement in his voice had fallen away. Fair enough. But for now, we run.
Although she felt that she could run a hundred miles without breaking a sweat and leap tall buildings in a single bound, she thought she’d had enough excitement for one day.
Picking up on her thought, he replied, Trust me. You will enjoy this.
“I’ve heard those words before. You’ll forgive me if I’m a wee bit skeptical.”
His laughter made her smile and made her feel that things might actually be okay.
Come and escape with me. I’ll show you the night.
“You make it sound so easy.”
It is easy. As you learned earlier, vampires can shift into many forms. The wolf is just one of several. Just imagine yourself as a wolf. Wish it, and you will be a beautiful wolf, wild and free.
Candace did want to be wild and free. She gazed into his amber eyes and wished... in a blink her body shot downward, and suddenly she was standing on all fours, feeling the wind caressing her fur.
See? It’s easy. Run with me. Mika’s voice was soothing, flowing through her and warming her like good brandy on a cold night.
Candace followed him into the woods.
And they ran.
26
Ezra
On the way to Candy’s, I kept glancing at Astrid. She sat next to me in the Challenger. I felt giddy, I was so happy to have her back. Finally, it felt like something was going right. Although I was sick about what had happened to her, I was just so relieved and overjoyed that she was alive. Well, sort of alive. “So, how did you come back? Where were you? And what strange and wonderful things do you know that I don’t, now that you’re an imp?”
“Story time. When I came back,” she began. “I was lying on the medical examiner’s table and the guy was just about to cut into me, but he was apologizing before hand, telling me I’m so cute, and he wished he’d have had chance to meet me and get to know me, and that we’d have been a perfect match.”
“Creepy. Clearly, that’s not the regular examiner. Her name is something Hollis.”
“No, this was a guy in his early thirties. He had this long face and over sized eyes, and he reminded me of Bart Simpson. Not a good look.”
I barked out a laugh.
“So, I sat straight up and stared at him. I was kind of freaking out. I gave the him quite a fright. I’ve never seen anyone look so scared. His hair was actually standing up, and he screamed blue murder.”
I laughed harder. The image was hilarious, if a bit morbid. “I bet.”
“So, I suggested to him that I have a really hard head, and I got knocked out, but that I I’m just a really heavy sleeper. And I told him I already had a boyfriend, but thanked him for the thought.”
I chuckled. “I wish you had a video. That sucker would go viral.”
“Me, too. Imagine the views! I’d be rich!” She beamed at me from the passenger seat. “So, I hopped off his table and asked for some clothes. He kept saying that he needed to call someone. He was stammering and sputtering all over himself. I finally found some scrubs in a locker behind him. I couldn’t wait to go home and changed. The scrubs weren’t flattering on me at all. Anyway, I took a cab home. I had no money but what I do have now is way better.”
“And what is that?
“The gift of persuasion.”
“You’ve always had that,” I told her.
“No, I mean to really persuade. All I have to do is suggest something to someone and they suddenly think it’s a great idea.”
“No kidding.”
“I kid you not,” she said. “Ezra, why is your head so itchy?”
I gave her a confused look. “What are you talking about? My head isn’t itchy.” But then I was scratching my head. Suddenly it was so itchy I could barely stand it. “Okay, stop. I have only one good hand here. I’ll pile us up.”
She giggled, pleased with herself. “Okay, you’re not itchy anymore.”
The itch vanished as quickly as it had come. “That little skill will come in plenty handy.”
“See? I told you.” She sat up proudly. “Any-who, so I went home and changed, and then I got in my car and started driving to your place, but I was thirsty. So I stopped at the Top Shop a block away from here. You know the one.”
“You stopped for a drink,” I said flatly.
“Hey, being dead makes your mouth really dry. I wanted a blueberry icy. So, while I was there I decided to get some gas because I was running on fumes, anyway.”
“Of course you were.” She always waited until she was running on fumes. I’d had to rescue her a few times over the years with a gas can.
“Do you wanna hear this or not?”
“Sorry. Continue.”
“While I was filling up and sucking on my blueberry icy, I spotted a vamp, filling up his car.”
“Seems like a normal event.” In Halfmoon it was.
“Well, they have to drive too, you know. They can’t just fly around as bats or scurry around as rats all the time.”
“Right.”
“Anyway, this vamp starts staggering away from the gas pump. I mean really staggering. And as you know, vamps don’t drink alcohol. It makes them sick.”
I frowned. “That is weird.” Like an imp seeing a vamp pumping gas wasn’t.
“I know, right? So, I keep my eye on him as I finish pumping gas and I kind of inconspicuously follow him, because he’s heading around the back of the store.”
I almost laughed again. Astrid was anything but inconspicuous with her choppy pink hair.
“He’s just weaving around, stumbling now, looking like he’s in a stupor. He’s really cute, too. So, I follow him and he makes it to the back of the store and falls flat on his face.”
“Wow.” That was unusual behavior for a vamp. They are incredibly healthy, for being dead, that is. They don’t get sick, unless they drink from the dead. And they’re extremely strong.
“So, I go over and crouch down and ask if he’s okay, but his eyes are all glazed over. He manages to say, ‘help me,’ just before he bursts into flames and then disintegrates.”
As I drove, I felt my frown deepen. “That’s odd. It’s like someone gave him something lethal to vampires.”
“Exactly. But Ezra, here’s the thing, after he was nothing but ashes, I leaned over and sniffed the place where he burned up, and I caught a whiff of oranges.”
I made a face. “Vampires don’t eat oranges.”
“The only way they get anywhere close to eating fruit is if they feed from a donor or victim, assuming it’s a rogue vampire in that case, who eats a lot of fruit.
”
“Which many donors do, because fruit makes their blood taste sweeter to the vampire.”
“Right. And their blood smells sweet. The smell of sweet blood is hard to resist for vamps. Which gives the donor an edge.”
There were more donors all the time. The term donor is misleading, because donors are paid for their blood, but for some reason the name stuck. It’s a hell of a way to make a living, taking the risk of allowing a vamp to feed on you and trusting them to stop before they drain you. A tricky proposition, particularly when new vampires feed. But it paid well. Especially for donors who are high in demand. The fruit helps with that. “So, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know. But that vamp had recently fed, because the smell of oranges was really strong. I’ve got a hell of a sniffer, now. Being a imp does have its perks.”
Most of the living, normal world is not aware of the things that go bump in the night, but those with a glimmer of psychic ability or with some kind of supernatural genetics somewhere in their bloodline can see them. Most of these folks don’t talk about the monsters after childhood. They learn quickly that the rest of society doesn’t believe in them.
But these special people are often recruited as donors or familiars, or both, because they can usually be trusted to keep their mouths shut. Of those who do see, there are some who hate and fear the supernaturals. Most of these are too afraid to act on that fear. But every once in a while, one or a few of them get brave. It doesn’t end well for them. “We have our share of vamp haters in the world. Many of them live right here in Halfmoon. Maybe someone has found a way to poison vamps through donors.”
“How? Are they eating a poison that makes them smell like oranges, but that only kills vampires?”
I gave a slow nod. “Maybe. Or maybe it’s some kind of virus.”
“A man-made virus?”
We waited at a red light. I tapped the wheel with my good hand. “It could be just a weird virus that spawned for some strange reason, that only affects vampires, but I’m betting it’s man-made. Somebody knows what they’re doing.”
“Do you think the donors know they’re killing vampires?” There was urgency in Astrid’s voice. She was awed that this was happening in Halfmoon, but she was happy to be back, working another case that literally dropped in front of her.
