I shook my head and began to speak, but Dimitri cut me off. “Darling, don’t argue. Clearly you have weakened yourself."
I sighed. "You're right. I just don't want to. I don't know…it feels selfish."
Megan laughed. "I think Dimitri likes it."
"But he will be weaker after."
"I have just fed. I am old. I am strong." Dimitri said.
"Are they okay?" I asked, looking down the block toward the house they'd just left.
"The humans won't remember a thing," Megan assured me. "And I think they're going to get the best night's sleep they've had since this all started.”
"Won't they be in danger? What if the zombies come back?"
“Don’t worry,” Megan said. “We barricaded them in the basement—the scent of mothballs down there means the zombies won’t be able to smell them.”
“Okay, good.” I nodded, which made me woozy.
Dimitri gave a small shake of his head and then picked me up. He walked up the driveway toward the garage of the closest house. "I'll wait out here," Megan called.
Dimitri cut across the lawn, the grass brushing at his knees. He kicked in the front door with a loud crack. "You like doing that, don't you?" I asked.
"Yep," he said with an almost boyish smile—as boyish as a centuries old vampire can get, anyway. "Not as much as I like doing this, though." He lowered his lips to mine, kissing me as he moved through the dark house.
His power poured into me, and I groaned. Dimitri found the living room and lowered me onto the couch, his lips never leaving mine.
My hands roamed over his shoulders and down the length of his strong back, feeling the muscles move under his shirt. I loved the way he felt.
There was a familiarity to his kiss but also a desperation. He'd missed me. And I'd missed him. I pulled at his shirt, and Dimitri broke away for a moment to lift it over his head, revealing his chiseled chest. "Wait," I said, resting my hand against his abs.
"What?"
"I just want to look at you."
He stayed still, letting me drink him in. My fingers ran through the light dusting of hair on his abdomen, and he shivered under my touch. A tingle of the transfer of power warmed my hand. "Please," he said, his voice tight.
"Please what?" I asked, marveling at this powerful creature craving me.
His hands came to my hips, holding them gently. Then sliding up under my shirt, his chest bending over me as his hands raked up my bare flesh, pushing off my shirt. Cool air touched sensitive skin.
He undid the laces of my pants, the same movement Emmanuel had made a day ago. But their touch was so different. Both held a note of desperation and a hint of worship. But where Emmanuel felt he was my equal, Dimitri believed I was a fleeting pleasure.
He didn’t feel worthy of me. Could never possess me except in these stolen moments. Except to feed me.
The muscles in his arms came into sharp relief as he hovered above me. I hooked a leg around his waist, but Dimitri shook his head, a smile curving his lips and revealing a hint of fang.
"Not yet.” He slid down my body, kissing my ribs, my stomach, my hip bones, the inside of my thigh.
I wanted him now but didn't use my influence—offering myself to him, the way he wanted me.
His power flowed into me from the tip of his tongue and shook my body, bringing sweat out of my skin, tightening every muscle and then releasing them all at the same moment.
Dimitri linked his arms under my knees and entered me gently, slowly, with a groan from deep in his throat. He rested his mouth against the pulse in my neck and his lips parted, the tips of his fangs against the thin skin.
He wouldn't bite.
His slow thrusts, coupled with the hint of danger, filled me with his strength—gave me what I needed. I wrapped my arms around his neck, our chests pressed tight.
We rocked gentle and slow, the tension building. Pleasure radiated for an indeterminable length of time, my body shuddering. He continued to move at that same maddening, desperately nourishing pace.
His heart began to beat in time with our movements. Dimitri hummed, a delicious vibration against my neck.
Megan waited where we’d left her. "You're looking better," she said to me. "Dimitri—” Megan’s eyes grew wide. “Your heart. It's beating."
Dimitri nodded. "That happens with her."
"Wow." Megan stepped closer to him and placed her hand on his chest. "And your eyes.” They’d turned dawn gray again. "How?"
"I don't know," he answered.
"What does it feel like? I mean, do you feel like your old self? Your human self?” Nothing weird about that question coming from my best friend. Nope. Totally normal.
Dimitri shook his head. “It's been so long since I was human." He looked down to her hand resting on his pectoral muscle. “But I do feel different.”
Megan stepped back. "I didn't think that was possible."
I laughed. "You're still holding onto the idea that you know anything?"
Megan gave me a sheepish grin. "I guess you're right."
"That saying, you learn something new every day…”
Megan laughed again. “Totally!”
"So anything is possible." I grinned. "Even us saving the universe."
Megan’s lips firmed and she gave a curt nod. "I think you can do it."
“We can do it.”
Dimitri took a deep breath, and we both turned to look at him. He smiled, his eyebrows raising. "I just breathed," he said. "Not consciously, it just happened."
“Congratulations,” I teased. “Let’s see if we can find a ride.”
“I can carry you,” Dimitri said.
“I know,” I said. “But it’s just so damsel in distress.” Megan laughed. “Seriously though, I can control dozens of zombies but need to be carried around like a baby. Ugh.”
Dimitri tried not to smile. “Well, I like it.”
“Sure you do, Big Man,” Megan said, slapping him on the shoulder as she started toward a garage.
We found a minivan inside. It had two car seats in the back. Dimitri removed them while Megan went searching for the keys. Don’t think about the children who occupied those seats. Just don’t.
Dimitri drove with me in the passenger seat and Megan in the back. The highway was only a few miles away. As soon as the overpass came into view, the road grew clogged with abandoned vehicles.
In between the cars, zombies bounced off each other, wandering in all directions, seemingly purposeless.
Dimitri put the van in park. “Now can I carry you?” he asked. “We’ll run on the car tops and should be able to avoid most of them.”
"If we go that fast, I don't know if I will be able to control them," I said.
"Shouldn't be an issue," Dimitri said. "They look pretty slow, don't they?"
"Once they get her scent, I think they'll pick up their pace." Megan leaned between our seats, looking out the windshield.
"We don't have much of a choice," Dimitri said.
"I agree. Let's try it Dimitri's way. If that doesn't work, I'll try to control them. How long do you think it should take us to get to the Warlocks’ compound?”
“Ten minutes, if we don't run into any trouble,” Dimitri said.
"Okay." I unbuckled my seat belt.
We climbed out of the car, and Dimitri picked me up. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my face to his chest, trying to be as aerodynamic as possible. With my eyes closed, the chi around us became more obvious.
I expanded my influence and sensed a zombie to our right. It smelled me, the light of its magic flared, and it picked up speed. But Dimitri jumped onto the roof of the first car and started to run, leaving the pathetic creature far behind.
I spread out my energy.
The zombies barely had time to register us before we raced out of their range. But they turned in our direction, following even though it was hopeless. I must be the only scent of live flesh they'd had in days, and they didn't want to g
ive it up.
Dimitri reduced his speed and dread filled him. I looked up, blinking against the wind.
A makeshift barricade thirty feet high spanned the distance between two buildings, blocking our route. It reminded me of the wall I'd seen in Selina's world, except taller. And the sea of corpses here still moved. Dimitri came to a stop on the roof of a semi-truck trailer.
The zombies below stretched thin rotting arms up, running cracked nails against the metal sides of the truck. "Oh shit," Megan said. "How are we going to get past that?"
“We will have to go around,” Dimitri said, putting me down.
I walked to the front of the truck, staring over the line of stopped cars to the wall. Was it built to keep zombies in or out? Didn’t work either way.
A zombie came over the top and tumbled down into a pile of squirming bodies below. Another followed.
"We need to get to the warlocks," I said, as much for myself as for Dimitri and Megan. "Without them I'm right where I started."
"I agree," Dimitri said.
"Do you think the wall surrounds the entire city?" I asked.
"We can circle around and see," Megan suggested. "There may be an opening somewhere."
The skyscrapers of downtown loomed large and dark in the distance. "I think we should circle the city, see what we can see. There must be a way in," I said.
“Let’s go," Dimitri said. "We are attracting attention.”
I walked to the edge of the truck. The zombies were fifteen deep on all sides now. Returning my attention to the city, I stared at its darkened skyline for another moment before turning to Dimitri. An explosion rocked the highway, and I teetered on the edge of the truck for a moment and then lost my balance.
I fell.
The stink of decay filled my senses. Hands clutched at me everywhere. Fingers dug into my flesh. Teeth sank into my hip, the invasion painful and terrifying.
A flash of pale skin and a blur of movement. Zombies rocketed away from me.
My upper body lurched toward the ground but was scooped up by one of Dimitri's arms. My legs remained in the tight grasp of several zombies. Megan's red hair flashed. The zombies that still held onto me were knocked away like bowling pins.
Dimitri scooped up my legs and crouched to jump back onto the roof of the truck. Cold, wet fingers wrapping around my ankles and dragged at my hair.
Dimitri leaped.
Hair ripped from my scalp and nails broke off in my skin as Dimitri tore me away.
We landed on the trailer’s roof. It shuddered from our impact.
The intense painful hunger of the creatures below us swelled, the scent of my blood in the air deepening their need.
Dimitri’s lips moved, and I blinked, trying to hear him over the rushing in my ears. "Darling," Dimitri said, his face close to mine.
His nostrils flared, the rich, textured scent of my blood making his veins throb. Power drained from me, running from my wounds, warm and syrupy.
I locked eyes with Dimitri. His gaze hazed, and his lips clamped onto mine. I pulled the chi from him. It wasn't conscious on my part. It wasn't even hunger. This was survival.
My wounds healed, the tissue reforming. I used the magic in Dimitri to save myself. His life force weakened, but I didn’t stop. Couldn't stop.
Dimitri tried to pull away. I’m killing him.
A part of me was missing—Darling Price, best friend of Megan Quick, violinist, human, was gone. The daughter of Lilith and her need to survive remained.
Dimitri broke free from me, and I fell back, gasping. Megan held Dimitri’s shoulder about ten feet from me. She took him from me. They will both pay.
Dimitri’s head lolled on his chest, and his eyes fluttered. Megan glared at me over his shoulder, her mismatched eyes accusing.
I touched my lips, power humming through me. What did I just do? "I'm sorry," I said. "I don't know what happened."
Megan nodded, but her eyes remained wary. "I understand," she said. "Sometimes it's hard to stop feeding."
"Is he okay?" I asked. Please don’t let me have hurt him. Why did I do that? Please, no. I don’t want to be a monster.
Dimitri's eyes opened; they were gray and dull. I crawled to him. Dimitri leaned against Megan, her arms protectively wrapped around his waist. She tensed as I laid my hand on his chest.
His heart beat softly. His gray eyes were hooded, and a lethargic smile played across his bruised lips. He raised his hand and cupped my cheek, looking at me. "That was incredible," he said.
"I'm so sorry." Tears burned my eyes.
He shook his head. "Don't be. I would gladly die for you."
"I don't want you to die. I need you." I looked up at Megan. "We need to get him some blood," I said.
Megan raised her eyebrows and looked pointedly at the pulse in my throat. I didn't hesitate—taking Dimitri's head in my hands, I held his lips against my neck. Warm and soft, they opened, his tongue flicking against my vein, but Dimitri did not bite. "Do it," I urged.
"You need your strength too," he whispered against my skin.
"Do it now," I commanded, pulling his lips harder against my flesh and laying my influence upon him. His mouth opened, and his fangs pierced.
Dimitri’s arms embraced me, hands at my shoulder blades, pressing my breasts against his chest as he sucked deep and hard.
My head fell back, and my eyes closed. Yes, take from me. I’m so sorry. I relaxed in his arms, ignoring the desperate, hungry groans beneath us until weakness tingled in my limbs.
Enough. Dimitri stopped the pressure, removed his fangs, and gently licked the puncture marks.
“Okay,” Megan said on an exhale. “Now that you’re both still alive, I feel better. Let’s be more careful around ledges, okay, Darling?” Megan stood and then helped me up.
"What was that explosion?" I asked, looking toward the skyline. Smoke billowed from one of the streets in the city's interior.
"Could be any number of things," Dimitri answered. "Without humans to maintain gas and power lines, most cities are just waiting to burn." Riigghhttt.
Chapter Sixteen
Dimitri picked me up and leaped off the highway. We began to run on side streets, circling downtown. I kept my face in his chest, hiding the destruction the plague wrought on Crescent City.
I'd spent so many happy years here. I strived for stardom—thought I had a purpose, a plan. Megan and I would travel the world, playing music. I'd watch fans adore her as she rightly deserved. That was what I thought was going to happen.
Instead, I lay in the arms of a vampire, shielding my face from the incredible speed at which he traveled, trying to find a way back to the center of Crescent City because of a zombie plague.
And yet, I'd never felt so alive or powerful. I liked my place in this new reality better. Guilt tore through me. Of course, I’d give it all up to reverse what happened. I’d go back to my old life…but I didn’t want to.
Dimitri slowed. "Hold on tight." I glanced up—we stood in front of a townhouse. He crouched and took a giant leap. I covered my face again, my heartbeat picking up. I almost laughed at myself. Afraid of heights? Like falling from this building was the worst thing that could happen to me today.
We reached the roof, and Dimitri put me down again. I looked toward the city. We were about six miles to the west of where we'd been. A wall blocked the street here as well though part of it had collapsed. Zombies came and went, pushing against each other, searching for humans but not knowing where to go.
"Can you control them?" Megan asked me.
"That many?" I stared at the throngs. If you ignored the smell, in the dark of night, and from this distance, they looked like drunk people as much as the walking dead. "I don't know."
"Try," Megan said. "I think you can do it."
I turned to look at her. She was staring at the fallen wall but glanced at me, feeling my gaze. Our eyes locked, and she gave me a nod. She’d always believed in me. Always thought I was better than I did. I gue
ss that's what best friends are for.
I nodded. "I'll try." I pointed at a building closer to the collapsed wall. "Let's go there." Six stories tall and about four blocks away, it had a better view of the crowd. Dimitri leaped from building to building, holding me until we stood on the roof.
Looking east, I saw the elevated highway we’d abandoned. The street directly below was thick with zombies, bumping against each other and moaning—the shuffling footsteps and pained noises sent a chill down my spine. Even knowing I was immune didn't alleviate my fear of becoming one of them.
I closed my eyes, concentrating on the diamond of strength at my center. It radiated with renewed energy from being with Dimitri. I expanded it outward. It felt different. Before it was like a parachute caught in the breeze but now it had weight to it, a sturdiness—like a wool blanket. I was getting better at this…
I stretched my influence over the crowded street, past the sandbag wall, and into the city beyond. I lowered it down, covering the undead. The sounds stopped.
I felt each individual…and yet they were somehow one. They all came from the same source. There was no individuality. The magic that animated their rotting forms and drove their search for flesh all shared the same signature.
I opened my eyes and could see my power laying over the street, stretching over the wall, controlling them all. Red and powerful and mine.
I moved to the edge of the roof. “Remember what we said about ledges,” Megan warned me as she followed.
I stepped out into empty space.
Megan grabbed for me, but my power held me up. It was a thick, substantial thing. I smiled. I am so powerful.
Lowering myself toward the street, I moved the zombies out of my way. Parting the sea.
I didn't even have to tell them what to do. I simply willed it. They followed my desires as if they were orders.
Landing lightly on the sidewalk, I stood surrounded by them. They swayed ten feet from me, their eyes glinting that strange phosphorescent green—the back of an animal’s eye caught in the beam of a flashlight.
Megan and Dimitri stared down at me. I raised my hand and pulled them. They floated off the roof, fear zinging through them for a moment—I took it away. They landed next to me. "Wow," Megan said.
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