by Rena Marks
“So vampires and werewolves were behind it all? With a few human lackeys?”
“It appears that way.”
“What do the humans get out of it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they’re junkies, just out for their reward.”
“I don’t think so. The human who was with me a lot of the time, he seemed to despise me for being with the vamps. And when you came, he was disgusted.”
I couldn’t be sure but I thought Leo’s eyes seemed shuttered.
“Maybe he was just disgusted with himself for needing blood. He despised you for being with supernaturals willingly, when he feels forced by the addiction.”
His theory was more feasible than mine but still, something wasn’t right.
“In any case, I have to get out of here. I’ll call Julian from outside and see how close he is. And you’re safe in here. He’s got someone outside your door.”
I nodded.
Leo bent and kissed my cheek. I stroked my thumb over his jawline, feeling the unshaven skin beneath.
Not five minutes after he left, I heard loud voices in the hall. The door opened and Julian walked in along with Dr. Killian. A few vampires followed. There was Johnny and a couple other bouncers I’d seen at the bar. One was the Asian bouncer, and I knew he’d had his eye on Gigi. In fact, that same eye followed her around relentlessly when he thought she didn’t notice. I even remembered his name, Chen. It stood out because there just weren’t many Asian vampires.
“She can’t possibly be healthy enough to be released this soon. I don’t care what Dr. Johnson reported,” Killian protested.
“Then look at her for yourself,” Julian snapped.
Dr. Killian’s mouth dropped.
I smiled. “I’d like to go home, please.”
Dr. Killian didn’t answer me. Julian continued speaking.
“So all that is required now for her to heal is time? Time and much needed rest? She’s no longer dehydrated?”
“Well, no, but she should stay here where we can monitor her.”
“You don’t have security that’s good enough for me. Unless you want vampires hanging out constantly at your hospital to guard her, perhaps you should discharge her into my care?”
Yep, still illegal to discriminate, and I could tell the good old doc was swaying.
“Disconnect her from all those needles and wires,” Julian continued.
The doctor sighed and pulled the IV from my arm. I didn’t look at Julian as he did it. If he licked his lips, I’d have to hurt him. The monitors taped to me went next and Julian scooped me into his arms.
“Wait! There are papers to sign, and she must leave the premises in a wheelchair. It’s standard procedure.”
“Doctor, I am an admitted vampire. I don’t abide by human rules. Johnny, sign the paperwork. Meet me at Anjelia’s when you are finished.”
I saw Johnny nod once before Julian strode from the room with me in his arms. Both bouncers followed us. I had Lily’s blanket tucked around me for warmth, although I was plenty warm just being held.
Chapter Fourteen
We arrived at my house to find the front door open. Before I could think too much about it, Lily, Anna and Nicki tumbled out. Julian carried me to my bedroom and tucked me into my own bed.
“There’s going to be someone with you always, Anjelia. So you can rest easy,” he said, smoothing my hair from my forehead. I nodded sleepily. Leo’s medicine was wearing off, and he was right. It had taken a lot out of me.
I woke slowly. Taking a deep breath, I was aware of how much better it felt just to be at home. Anna was in the bedroom with me, lying across the foot of my bed.
“Hi,” I told her.
“Hi, yourself. Feeling better? That deep breath was scary, like you were waking from the dead.”
“Much better. Nearly human,” I smiled at my own joke, ’cause she was the pot calling the kettle black. “Or I would be if I could get clean. How long have I been out?”
“Do you want me to help you into a bath? And, two days.” Her eyes were guarded. “Or, you can wait for Lily’s shift and she can help you.”
“I don’t want to wait. Two days? At least I was out for it. I haven’t had a real bath in forever. Did you...don’t you...want to help me?”
“I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. You know how I long to see you naked.” The gleam of mischief was back in her eye.
I sighed. “You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you?”
She grinned and then rose to start my bath. The water was still running when she came back to the bedroom and helped me up, using my good arm.
“Let’s see, I have to watch your rib…” We walked slowly to the bathroom. “We have to put you in this way, so your cast can rest along this edge.” We were now in the bathroom and she was looking around. “We got towels, there’s soap, shampoo…” As she spoke she was putting one of my legs into the tub.
“Anna.”
“What? Oh, crap, you still got that ugly hospital gown on.”
“I have to pee, too.”
“Ugh. Humans. That is one disgusting trait you all have. I suppose I’ll take you to the toilet,” she grumbled.
She helped me sit. “I don’t suppose you can wipe yourself?” she asked hopefully.
“I do have a good hand left,” I mentioned dryly.
“Good. Go ahead then.” She waited for the sound.
“It won’t come if you’re watching. Turn around.” Geez.
She turned around and I tinkled quickly. I wiped myself and flushed, still sitting there. She reached around me and untied the hospital gown, so that it dropped. Now I was sitting there naked.
“Nursing is not the career for you, Oh Gentle One.”
“No one likes a wise-ass human, Anjelia,” she lifted me up from underneath my armpits and we made our hunched way back to the tub.
“Okay, now, one leg in, good, shit, I can’t get the other leg in. You might slip and fall. Oh, hold on.” She kicked off her sandals and stepped in the tub too. She lowered me gently and then stepped out.
“Oops, I forgot the bubbles.”
“Very convenient,” I mentioned. My breasts were very visible.
“Don’t flatter yourself. You have good form but the color’s all wrong.”
I was several different colors, in fact.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The warm water felt good against all the sore flesh.
“Can you sink down and get your hair wet? I’ll wash it for you.”
I sank and tilted my head back. She helped get the top wet. While I came back up, she reached for the shampoo and squirted some into her hand.
“I always wondered why you smelled so flowery.” She slathered it onto my scalp and made a rich lather.
I let her massage my head and I closed my eyes.
“You should have seen Julian when the last murder occurred and she was wearing your clothes. She smelled like you, Leah.”
My eyes flew open. “Miranda? They killed her?” I knew the answer but still needed it verified. Anna didn’t bother.
Her gaze softened. “You knew her?”
“They’d put her in the cage next to me. They’d dyed her hair to match mine.”
“They sent us a lock of your hair and the box was swimming in your blood. He was a crafty human, letting us know he had you like that. And yet stupid as a stump, sending some of your blood. I don’t care if the wolf suggested it. By Julian ingesting it, his full strength returned and he was able to sense where you were.”
“He drank my blood that was in the box?”
She nodded. “It gave him his strength and then he had Johnny feed from him so that he would still appear pale and weak. When the sun went down, we struck.”
She was done washing my hair and was soaping my unbroken arm, gently lathering my hand.
“That night before we struck, though, we heard police sirens. The two officers who come undercover into the club? They called Julian and asked
what you were wearing when you disappeared. When he told them, there was dead silence.” She paused. “I’ve never seen him look like that. We went out to see the body and you—she was lying face down. Her hair was spread out and her arms and hands were dead white. You could tell she was drained.”
She moved down the foot of the tub and was washing my feet. She never looked up at my face as she continued her tale.
“I thought Julian would go crazy. He contaminated the crime scene. We were just supposed to look at the body but Julian lifted it, turned her over and—it wasn’t you. We couldn’t tell, not at first. Our brains wouldn’t let us believe it. They were your clothes, your hair. She even smelled like you. We believed it was you. But the face, it wasn’t yours. Sit up. Silly, isn’t it? I’m sure he would have sensed if you were dead, especially since your death is connected to his but he was just too distraught to think clearly,” she continued, washing my back. “Smart of the human, actually. Draining all her blood meant that we couldn’t smell that the blood wasn’t yours. Yet, we knew the guy had you by the lock of hair and your actual blood that he sent.”
I lay back in the tub. “Do you think she suffered? Miranda?”
Anna was sitting with one hand trailing in the water. “No. She was truly drained. By a real vamp. That means she was either mesmerized while the vamp fed or enjoyed her death, not even realizing she was being drained. Which was fortunate for her. Unfortunately for us, it means that the real killer is still out there. The real killer is a vamp.”
“But the human with the wolf…”
“The human was a lackey. Doing the vamp’s dirty work. The wolf also died in the fire. We’ll never know if it was a Were or not. The death of a Were is not like in the movies. They don’t change back to human form. That’s why there are so many missing persons. If they die in wolf form, they stay in wolf form.”
“Anna. I’ll take over.”
We both turned to see Julian.
She nodded as she rose and left the bathroom. Julian leaned toward me and kissed my forehead.
“I have something for you. Something to heal you.”
“Medicine?”
“Sort of. More like a magic potion.”
“What’s in it?”
“It doesn’t matter. I guarantee that, once drinking it, you’ll be fully restored in a day, two at the most.”
“Fully restored? My broken bones too?”
“Your broken bones too.”
“Where did you get it?”
“It’s old vampire magic. It’s not for all humans, though. Only human servants can benefit from it.”
I nodded. It certainly sounded tempting. Julian helped me rise and he dried me off gently. He slipped a clean nightgown over my head but my cast was trapped inside.
He swore.
“You sound like Anna.”
“There’s more to this than meets the eye. Do you feel like simply sleeping naked?”
The gown came back over my head and he carried me to my bed. The sheets had been changed and I wondered if Anna did it before she left or if Julian had done it while she and I were in the bathroom.
He propped me up on the pillows, and tucked the sheet around my breasts, trapping it underneath my arms.
“Just in case you get visitors,” he winked. “I don’t want everyone checking out my property.”
He produced a covered coffee mug. I sniffed it. I would have taken the top off but I couldn’t manage with just one hand.
“Drink up. All of it,” Julian said cheerfully.
“Is it hot?”
“Nope. Just kind of…room temperature. Don’t taste it, just guzzle it down.”
I guzzled. It was unlike anything I’d ever tasted and I couldn’t place it. There was a warmth that spread down my throat and into every cell, every pore of my being. It had a faintly salty, maybe a sweet tang but that could have been the mug. At the same time, it was rich and thick. I tried to peer into the empty mug through the tiny sip hole but he took it away quickly. He laid his body back on the bed, putting his arm underneath my head and cradling me to him.
“How do you feel?”
“Strong,” I said, after thinking about it. “The soreness is still there but I feel like I can move a house.”
“It’ll come together. You’re healing rapidly.” He pushed my head back down to his chest. “I love you, Anjelia.”
“I love you too, Julian.” I was getting sleepy. Again. I closed my eyes for a minute.
At predawn Julian gently woke me.
“My sweet, wake up. It’s nearly dawn. Would you like me to return to my coffin?” I shook my hair out of my eyes. It was wet when I went to bed and had dried curly.
“No.” I put my healthy arm around his neck and drew his head down to my throat. I wanted him to feed before dawn forced him to sleep. He nuzzled my neck before biting.
I moaned and squirmed my way underneath him while he sucked. He pulled away long enough to whisper in my ear, “You’re putting me in the mood. Hold still. I don’t want to hurt you.”
I suddenly realized I didn’t hurt. Whatever the potion was, it was good stuff.
“But I’m already in the mood,” I whispered as I wiggled my hips underneath him.
“You’re hurt,” he protested. “I’ll just give you an orgasm while I feed.”
“Nuh-uh. It’s been forever,” I countered. “I want you inside me. I want you to come, too. Deep inside me where it’s warm and wet and ready for you.”
I trailed my fingers down his chest and over the side of his hip while I spoke.
“If you don’t make love to me, I’ll be forced to ride you. To take my own action. I could be hurt,” I teased.
“I can’t believe you’re ready for this. I’ll take it slow and easy.”
“Ugh. I’m in the mood for hard and fast.”
“Not on your life. In a couple of days when you’re completely healed, I’ll ride you like you’ve never been ridden. Until then, you just relax and enjoy.”
He bent his head down and licked my nipple, over and over, pressing and releasing. He was careful to stay on one side only, avoiding the side with the broken rib. He teased the tip of my breast with his teeth, and then wetly lapped it. He swirled his tongue around it until I thought I’d die from the sheer pleasure.
He slowly pressed kisses down my navel and beyond, reaching up to tweak my still-wet nipple.
When he got to where he wanted to be, he slid both hands under my hips and threw both thighs over his shoulders.
“Delicious,” he muttered as he delved into my wet folds.
His lips and tongue were pure heaven.
“Don’t think,” I gasped, “that you’ll still get away with not fucking me properly.”
He lifted his face up enough to curve his lips at me. “Why, my sweet, I’m thinking you desperately want a cock to fill you.”
“You got it, love.”
He pointed his tongue and pressed at my clitoris.
“Geez, Julian,” I whispered on a sigh.
He lapped at it some more and I was so close to the edge of pleasure that I just wanted to squeeze my thighs around his head.
“That’s enough. Come fuck me.”
He rose up carefully and stretched along my body. I spread my legs on either side of him. He had slept nude also so it didn’t take much for him to slip inside me. He tried to move gently until I bucked wildly. It was then that he finally realized what I needed and began to give me long, hard strokes.
I loved to watch his hips as they thrust in and out of me. I definitely needed a ceiling mirror.
“Harder,” I begged.
He gave it to me, each time he pulled his cock from my wet lips and slammed back in we made a slurping sound. I watched his face and knew he was about to orgasm. I stretched my neck out in temptation and he groaned before sinking into it.
My orgasm hit with a force that took my breath away. It curled my toes as it exploded throughout my body.
Julia
n collapsed onto his forearms, his face buried in my neck.
Soon he rolled off me and to the side of the bed. I knew he didn’t want to trap me when he would be dead weight in a few minutes. I curled myself around his still-warm body and fell back asleep.
When I awoke hours later, it was ten. Julian’s body had rapidly cooled. I watched him and tried to pretend he was sleeping but deep down I knew he wasn’t. There was no chest movement, no pulse, no breathing. So I forced myself out of bed, holding onto the thought that he would wake again soon.
As soon as my feet hit the floor, I was amazed at the difference in my aches and pains. I had felt good enough at dawn but a few hours later was amazing. I showered, wrapping a bag around my cast and figuring if it got wet I’d get rid of it anyway. I blow-dried my hair straight and tied it into a loose knot on top of my head. I didn’t bother with makeup. While my black eye and swollen face were nearly back to normal, my skin was still in the slightly yellow bruise stage and I knew that makeup would make me look garish.
I walked through my house. Every curtain, the drapes and the mini blinds were pulled taut. Soon I saw why. Anna was on the sofa, dead to the world. She looked softer in sleep and was actually quite beautiful, something you just didn’t notice when her mouth was running. I brushed a lock of hair from her forehead, tucking it behind her ear. Grabbing a sofa throw, I tucked it around her, then felt silly because she couldn’t feel anyway. I made my way to the office where a little trundle bed was kept. Nicki was dead there and in the spare bedroom, Lily and Johnny were curled together. Pale statues, with arms and legs entwined.
I went into the kitchen and made myself some soup. The doorbell rang and I looked through the peephole before answering. It was Officers Gearman and Oser.
