by John Conroe
Tanya reached out and brushed my left cheek. I felt a slight sting, and touching it with my own hand found some small scrapes where my face had met the patio.
“This? It's just a scrape. I didn't even realize it was there. How could you even know about it?” I asked.
Lydia looked between Tanya and me, a small smile on her face.
Tanya answered shyly. “I could smell your blood. I was concerned. I asked Mr. Deckert about it, but he didn't seem to think you were hurt.” Lydia snorted at this final comment, like she was remembering something funny.
The amount of blood spilled was smaller than the drop I had pressed into her amulet, and she had noticed it in a house full of humans (and at least one dog). But her concern (which twisted something inside me) seemed excessive.
“Thank you for checking up on me, Tatiana. But I'm fine. I'm more concerned with how you are. Are you completely healed?”
“Tanya, you must call me Tanya. But yes! Your blood did a marvelous job!” She pulled her suit zipper to her stomach and bared a dangerous amount of creamy white skin. My face was instantly radiating at a thousand degrees Fahrenheit. Lydia almost collapsed in laughter.
“She's laughing at me, not you, Tanya.” I explained to her puzzled and slightly hurt expression. “And yes, you certainly look great!” setting off a second burst of uncontrolled mirth from the spiky-haired waitress (who was apparently, much more than a waitress). Tanya was quick though, a slow smile of understanding spread across her face as she took in my expression, tone, breathing and heart rate. Hell, I probably gave off pheromones that she could detect. I hadn't seen her smile before and its effect was just as powerful as her unzipped jacket. But something she had said, finally penetrated my hormone-adled brain.
“What did you mean about my blood? Wouldn't any blood have healed you?”
Lydia stopped laughing at this and was suddenly serious as she answered my question.
“That's a real good question, Northern. One we would like to understand as well. Normally, even Tanya, who heals the fastest of all of us, would need an enormous amount of blood to repair half that much damage. Yet she healed completely with only about a quart of your blood. You can bet that Galina is very interested in how that is possible.”
Suddenly, I had visions of long lines of injured vampires waiting to get a hit from a tap plugged into my chest, as my body shriveled and shrank, like a prune.
Tanya was fingering the arrowhead, drawing my attention back to her aforementioned gloriously healed torso. She started when she realized I was looking and began to take off the amulet.
“I must give this back, as you have destroyed the demon,” she said reluctantly. I stepped closer to her unzipped self and touched her hands to stop her from taking off the necklace.
“Tanya, I didn't lend it to you, I gave it to you. Plus I think you still very much need to keep it on.” She smiled again, stunning me. Lydia looked a little stunned too, like she had never seen Tatiana's smile before. Then she asked, “What do you mean by her still needing it?”
I shrugged,
“I don't think the Hellbourne will give up trying, not with all the effort they put into this attempt. I'm afraid you'll have to put up with my presence for the foreseeable future.”
Lydia frowned at this news, but Tanya lit up even brighter if that was possible. The soft purr of a well- tuned motor announced the arrival of a huge Mercedes stretch limo, pulling along side of us. The door opened and Vadim ghosted out, giving us a cursory glance, than scanning the darkness for threats. Galina leaned out of the open door and smiled at me like a cat smiles at a bird.
“Ah, Officer Gordon. I see the ladies have found you and in good health too. See, Tanya, he's fine. Chris..may I call you Chris?”
I nodded and she continued.
“ I wonder if I might have a few moments of your time?” she asked, indicating that I should step into the limo. I sighed, figuring that it was inevitable and walked over to the big car, my sexy escorts gliding along beside me. The inside was cavernous, capable of holding a small party. Nika was there also. I stood aside to let Tanya and Lydia in first, while eyeing Vadim, who was eyeing me. When I did slide in, the only obvious spot was next to Tanya. Somehow, upon sitting, there wasn't as much room as I had thought and she was suddenly pressed against my side, setting my heart pounding again. I briefly hoped that the vampires would attribute it to my fear, but Lydia's smile and Nika's knowing gaze said otherwise.
“For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, I find myself thanking you for protecting my daughter, in fact, my coven.” Galina began, her voice and face expressing gratitude, her eyes devoid of emotion. “You are really quite the most interesting person, human or vampire, that we have come across in many years.” I felt the big car move powerfully forward, like gravity. A different gravity seemed to have pinned Tanya's shoulder, arm, hip, thigh and calf to mine. Coulda sworn the seat was bigger. She was warmer than I would have guessed.
“Did you know, Chris, that you share the same birth day, year, hour and even minute with my daughter? Also that you each had a life altering, traumatic experience on the exact same day, fifteen years ago.” Tanya stiffened next to me, while my mind tried to fathom the odds of our mutual birth...moment.
“You, of course, lost your whole family to an ax wielding stranger. Possibly a demon ridden one as you might say?”
My teeth clenched as I had a sudden image of myself, like an out of body experience, huddled in a cowardly heap on the floor of my brother's closet. I couldn't help but be aware that Nika was studying me like a bug.
“Tanya lost her nursemaid that same day. It left her absolutely speechless for fifteen years. Until last night. When you found her and saved her.”
Speechless? What could cause that? How had she lost her nursemaid? Why would she start talking now? I would have glanced at her but I could feel the emotion and tension radiating from her, and I sensed that she did not want me looking at her at that moment.
“I happen to hear you speaking with Lydia about the abnormally fast healing that Tanya achieved with your blood In fact, she is arguably stronger and faster today than she was yesterday. And most unsettling of all, you have an ability to see, sense, track and destroy dangerous entities that we, for all of our admittedly superior gifts, cannot.”
I finally answered one of her points, if only to clarify. “Er...I don't destroy them. I don't think that is possible in this....realm or dimension. I just send them back.”
She nodded her head at this piece of information. “But you send them back quite ...forcibly. The video we watched from earlier today was fascinating. What was that dark form that appeared and snatched away the entity? It appeared again at the house back up the street, if I'm not mistaken.”
So they had been watching me.
“Ah, I just call it Kirby.” They all looked at me with blank stares. “As in the vacuum cleaner. I named him when I was twelve. It seemed to make sense at the time,” I explained.
Galina was nodding again.
“Yes, I imagine it has been difficult. There doesn't seem to be anyone else with your...talents, so to speak. You've had to make it up as you go, haven't you?”
You have no freaking idea!
“In fact, you are just about as unique as Tanya. I'm uncertain of your understanding of vampires, Chris, but my daughter is in fact my actual daughter. The only known vampire to be born of two full vampires. She is completely unprecedented. As near as we can ascertain, she was conceived the night her father and I were Turned. She apparently remained in some sort of stasis for something on the order of two hundred and fifty years or so. The tiny fertilized egg finally started to develop nine months before she was born. About the time you were conceived. But at the risk of changing the topic rather suddenly, what did you mean about the demons still hunting Tanya?”
I tried to align my thoughts to answer, while reeling from the overload of information she had just dumped in my lap.
“
Well, the Hellbourne that was sent was one of the most powerful that I've come across. Most demon kind tends to avoid daylight, yet this one was able to fully cloak in the middle of the day. Sooo, I can't imagine that this setback will stop them completely. I think I'm going to need to protect Tanya as long as I can. But we'll have to do some serious planning for what you will do if I'm no longer around.” I added, thoughtfully. Maybe I would have enough time to empower another couple amulets. Hmm. I suddenly became aware of total silence in the car. All five were staring at me with puzzled expressions, although Tanya's was slightly alarmed. “What?” I asked as I tried to think of what I had said.
“Where will you be going that you would leave Tanya unprotected?” Lydia asked.
“Huh? Oh, well, I'm not actually leaving, but you have to understand that my life expectancy is not what you could call robust. I'm only human, and the things I fight are almost always faster and stronger. So it's only prudent to prepare for the most likely outcome. It's actually something of a wonder that I’ve lasted this long. Not to mention that my day job has its own risks.”
I tried for a light tone, but no one was smiling, although Vadim was nodding in appreciation at my line of thought. Lydia and Nika were a little wide-eyed, Galina was tapping her ruby lips with a single ruby fingernail, and Tanya....well Tanya was looking rather angry. Alarmingly angry in fact. The soft pressure against my side had turned titanium hard, and she literally thrummed with tension. Everybody became still. I learned then that when vampires freeze, they're like department store mannequins. I, on the other hand, can't stay still very long. Finally, I sighed and very softly said her name. “Tanya.”
No response.
“Tanya, what's the matter?” There, just a flicker, but still noticeable. Her eyes had moved. They first flickered then locked onto mine. I was alarmed to notice they were black. Completely, from edge to edge with no iris or white showing. I have to admit that she was scary. But I felt no danger from her. The other vampires were stone still. I took a chance. Gently, I covered her velvet-over-metal hand with my own warmer human hand and just let it sit, while staring into her pitch black eyes. Her hand wasn't cold, but it was cooler than my own. Her skin warmed to my own temperature as my hand lay over hers. After a moment I noticed a speck of light, deep in the celestial center of her eyes. Gradually it grew, becoming first a blue star, then finally her normal exotic blue peepers. The steel in her hand softened perceptibly as she came back to herself. Her expression wavered between anger and sadness, and even an idiot like me was able to discern that she was upset at my very limited prospects for life.
I smiled at her, squeezed her hand gently (not that I would be able to hurt her) and said, “Tanya, I promise you that I will do my best to protect you and keep myself alive. We can talk about this another time.” She said nothing, just kept staring into my eyes. I probably could have spent the night doing nothing else, despite the audience, but at that moment the limo slowed to a stop and the driver's partition came down enough for Arkady to mention that we were at my building. The vampires were all watching her avidly, not bothering to breathe. I gently disengaged my hand from Tanya's and moved to the door of the limo. Vadim shook himself into motion and opened it for me and I slid out into the night with a murmured goodbye.
The door closed and the limo started away, only to stop a few feet further on. Again the door opened and this time Tanya emerged like a dancer. She flitted to my side and the limo drove off. There wasn't a whole lot to say. I knew she wasn't ready to say goodnight, so I led her into my building and into my life.
Chapter 6
She was curious about everything. Why a girl who grew up in a seven thousand-square-foot brownstone would find my four hundred-square-foot studio fascinating, I don’t know. She studied every minute detail of my tiny space. And she asked questions, lots of questions. How much was the rent? Why did I live here? Was I poor? Many would have bordered on offensive, but I couldn’t seem to find any offense. She was asking in complete innocence, her worldview very narrow and contained.
She loved the bear in the tapestry. The photo on the bookshelf of Gramps and me generated twenty or thirty questions on its own. Where did he live, how was he related, what did he do? Pretty quickly I was laying out my life story, which I had never done, for anyone. I sat in my leather chair and she held the bear fetish in her lap as she sat on the futon. When we had first entered the studio, I had switched into host mode without much thought.
“Would you like something to drin…k? Er… oops. Sorry about that. Habit.” I had said.
“I would like some water,” she answered.
“You drink water?”
“Of course. We are mostly water, just like you. We get lots from blood, but still need a little from time to time,” she said.
I got her a glass while I thought about this. “Are you hungry? For blood?” I asked.
“Are you offering?” she asked, smirking and obviously amused.
Was I?
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
She smiled. “No thank you. I am still working from what you gave me last night.”
“It doesn’t seem enough. I can’t seem to stop eating today,” I babbled.
“I make you nervous.” she stated.
“A little. I’m not use to being alone with girls. Especially really pretty girls,” I admitted, cursing myself for my lame attempt at a compliment. Like she was just pretty.
“But you are not nervous that I am vampire?”
I thought about that before I answered. “No.”
“Why? Why are you not scared or nervous or bothered?” she asked, with intensity.
I shrugged and struggled to organize my thoughts.
“Well…first, because of what I deal with – demons – I guess finding out that vampires are real isn’t that much of a shock. Then, I don’t get any kind of scary vibe from you. And finally…I.. like you…and I guess that outweighs everything else.” I paused, and threw caution aside. “I also think that you like me…or at least think I’m interesting..or something.” My courage floundered a bit at the end.
She sipped her water, watching me over the edge of her glass. Her feet were tucked up on the futon, the bear under her hand. She was seriously cute as hell.
“You like the way I look,” she stated. “You are attracted to this.” Waving a hand up and down herself.
“Yes, but actually that’s part of what makes me nervous. The parts that don’t make me nervous are the things like the fact that you cared enough about my being hurt to track me down. Or that you protected me from the others last night. Even facing Arkady down when I provoked him. I like the way you dance, I like that you are quiet, and I really liked that you stopped last night, when you could have drank me dry...so to speak.”
She didn’t say anything, just stared at me like I had either said something important or crazy. I kept going.
“And yes I think you are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, but I like you in spite of that.”
She frowned at that.
“What?”
Suddenly nervous again, I busied myself with my uniform and gear, getting it ready for work tomorrow, answering as I worked, my face turned away from her. “Well, I don’t know much about girls. I have always avoided them. The Hellbourne always know if I have a friend, and they will attack them or use them against me. But I like girls…I mean...I don’t want to be alone. It’s just not fair to endanger someone just because I’m lonely or something. But I watch them…girls that is. And it seems that the really pretty ones, the beautiful ones, are usually not so much the kind of people that I like. Not all of them. But most. You don’t seem to even know that you’re beautiful. And you’re definitely the kind of person I like.”
I finished babbling and finally turned to read her expression, figuring to find the window open and her long gone.
Instead, I found her only about ten inches away, staring intently into my eyes.
“Ah…hi!” I said, shocke
d at her proximity. Her eyes looked back and forth between my two. I held still. She blurred a bit and I felt a soft kiss on my lips. She was back on the futon, looking down at the bear as she petted it.
“I asked Lydia about kisses. She said I would know when I should kiss you. That was a when,” she explained, still not looking up.
I was frozen in place, trying to think of something to say, but my brain wasn’t in gear. Finally, she looked up bashfully and I automatically smiled at her. She smiled back and my brain slipped out of gear again.
“What is that?” she asked, curious again. She was looking at my feet, where my vest was sitting on the floor.
“It’s my body armor. You know….to protect me from bullets and knives,” I answered. She was back at my side in a split second, examining the vest from all angles but not touching it. I picked it up and handed it to her. The weight meant nothing to her, holding it like a sheet of paper.
“Is it good?” she asked, a little dubious.
“It’s the best. Dragon Skin, made by Pinnacle Armor. Top of the line.”
“Put it on...please,” she said. I shrugged into the vest and sealed it up. She poked the vest, fingered the exposed areas around my armpits and neck
“It does not protect the big veins in your neck or inside of your thighs,” she pointed out.
“No, it’s a concealable vest, so it doesn’t protect the neck. I don’t think anyone makes armor for the thighs, but I’ve never checked into it.”
Next she wanted to see all my gear and what it did. She snorted at my cuffs, but allowed that they would probably hold a human. She sniffed the pepper spray, flashed the flashlight and twirled the baton. That was illuminating, as she handled the stick expertly, at least during the moments when it wasn’t a blur. Tanya was no stranger to weapons. Next she wanted to test my flex cuffs, which are basically giant plastic zip ties like electricians use. We use them when we have lots of people to restrain. So I zipped a set closed on her, interested to see the result. She simply flexed her wrists lightly and the heavy plastic broke. I made a note not to zip tie any vampires. Finally, we got to the gun and I slipped into instructor mode, teaching safety as I had been taught. I expected derision or flippant disregard, but she took it very seriously. I showed her how to clear the chamber and drop the magazine. I explained the Big Four rules: keep your finger off the trigger, keep the muzzle pointed away from anything you don’t want dead, know your target and treat every gun as if it is loaded. She was a natural. I started to ask my own questions. Does sunlight hurt her? No, it makes her sleepy but it could give most vampires a burn, like bad sunburn, but quicker. How often does she need to eat? Depends on activity. Usually one unit of blood a day. My blood seemed to hold her longer. Odd. Where do they get the blood? Turns out the Coven owns its own blood bank, but there are lots of humans who love to be bitten. Does she have any powers? Not yet, but she was really young in most ways.
