Blood Song (12 page)

“No!” She moved in and hugged him tightly. Her heart slammed against her ribs. “That’s not going to happen. As much as I don’t want to murd... er, dispose of any more bodies, I won’t leave you alone. I’ve been hiding and afraid for too long. You need me. We’re a team now.” She tightened her grip on him. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“What?” He couldn’t believe his ears.
Is she saying she wants to be with me? No. That can’t be. I don’t deserve anyone like her. I don’t even know what I am anymore.
She doesn’t know what she’s saying.
His throat tightened and he had to swallow a couple of times before he could speak. It had been so long since he’d been attracted to a woman, he didn’t trust his instincts. Surely she would come to her senses any minute now. “I don’t want to lose you either, Grace, but I can’t pull you into my troubles any deeper than you already are. You deserve to be happy.” He pressed his lips to hers and sank into her warmth, delaying the inevitable as long as possible.

As the kiss went on and on, their arms tightened around each other. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so connected to anyone or wanting a woman so badly. In his own way, he’d been as fearful of relationships as Grace. He’d met female bloodsuckers he found attractive, so his lack of attachment hadn’t been from want of opportunities. And it wasn’t so much that he’d been afraid he’d be hurt again—although that’s what he told himself. But rather he’d become so hopeless he couldn’t see the point of allowing any joy or comfort into his miserable life at all.

He thrust his hips against hers, and she groaned. The sound sent a rush through his body, hardening his cock and making his heart pound. His fangs descended and Grace’s tongue scraped the tip of his sharp teeth, drawing blood. The taste flooded his senses. His erection grew, and he wanted nothing more than to throw her to the ground and push himself into her. Even imagining pumping inside her made him harder.

Shit!
Realizing he was losing control, he willed his teeth back up into his gums, and forced himself to put some space between their bodies. He didn’t want to overwhelm or frighten her with his urges, because he knew what would happen if his hormones triggered his blood lust. How could he think about sex in the midst of the grisly task they’d undertaken—to put her in such danger? What kind of animal was he?

“Ethan,” she mumbled. With another groan, she slid a hand between them and stroked his length.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I’m gonna lose it.
She doesn’t know what she’s doing. I can’t...
He hesitated, and she rubbed him again.

The blood lust swamped his reptilian brain, his fangs reappeared, and his gaze shifted to the pulsing vein in her neck.

Grace unbuttoned the waistband of his jeans, lowered the zipper then took him in her hand. “Oh, yes...”

Over the edge now, his cock ached with the need to penetrate every part of her. Trembling with the effort to restrain himself, seconds away from drinking her dry, he called on the last remnants of his humanity, pushed her away, and re-zipped his pants. “No.” His voice sounded thick and rough. He lisped from trying to talk around his fangs. Shocked he could stop at all, he stepped further away from her, watching the hurt and confusion shadow her face.

“You don’t want me?” Grace asked in a quiet voice.

“Damn, woman. I want you more than you can imagine. That’s the problem.” His erection pushed painfully against his zipper. He loomed over her, panting, which wasn’t something vampires ever did. That more than anything scared him. What else would his body do on its own?

“How could that possibly be a problem? I want you. You want me. I haven’t killed you yet.” She moved toward him then stopped abruptly. “Wait. Are you afraid my voice will hurt you? Is that why—”

“No way. You’re the one who’s in danger from me. I can’t control myself.”

They stared at each other for a few seconds. He willed his canines to retract.

She nodded. “I would’ve argued that you’d never hurt me, but your energy is strange, your aura spiked and red. You probably
could
harm me.” Suddenly her eyes went wide and her brows shot up. “Of course! Let me use my voice. Maybe I can soothe the primitive part of you. You said I already changed you—that you’re now a
half-thing
. What if I can help you manage that aspect of yourself?” She stepped toward him.

“No.” He backed up. “Stay there. I don’t want to take the chance.”

“Ethan, if you truly want to be with me, using my voice is our only option.”

“And if it doesn’t work?”

“Then,” her shoulders slumped, “we’ll never be able to touch each other again.”

Grace’s words hit him like a punch to the gut. Dejected, he stared at the ground. After forty years, he’d finally found a reason to stay alive. Didn’t he owe it to himself, and to her, to at least try? Wracking his brain, he mentally reviewed the worst-case scenarios—weighed the downsides to the possible plan, afraid what would happen if she touched him. His cock strained rock-hard and the tips of his fangs pushed against his gums.

“I can heal you without being near, you know.”

His head jerked up. “What?”

“Yes. I’ve healed people on the other side of the world by holding them in my mind’s eye and chanting.”

“How is that possible?”

She laughed. “Seriously? The bloodsucking, immortal vampire who rises from the dead every night is asking
me
what’s possible?”

He gave a sheepish grin. “I think my rising-from-the-dead activities are over. Maybe I’m turning into a sparkly vampire who never sleeps. But I can’t see any other solutions. If you’re sure you don’t have to touch me, let’s give it a go. I’ll stay over here and work on getting a grip.” He balled his fists at his sides.

“Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I’m going to imagine the red in your aura changing to light blue while I chant. That will give me visual evidence. Ready?”

He nodded. At this point, he didn’t care if his aura sang and danced, he just didn’t want to kill Grace.

She began chanting quietly in a low key. Immediately, he felt an energy pulse moving along his body, causing a tingling sensation. His heart tripped and he gasped. As she changed the words and raised the pitch of the notes, he could’ve sworn invisible fingers stroked his skin, leaving trails of warmth. She increased the volume of the chant and the air pressure shifted, raising the hairs on his arms. A wave of heat sizzled through him. “What the hell?” he said, right before he collapsed onto the ground, out cold.

***

“Ethan! You’re burning up! What did I do to you?”

He opened his eyes and looked up into Grace’s frightened face. She was slapping his cheeks, trying to revive him. Blinking, he grabbed her wrist. “What happened?”

“You collapsed. Your body temperature was so high, I could feel the heat from where I was standing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

He tried to sit up.

“No! Don’t move, Ethan. You might still be impaired.” She pushed him back to the ground and pressed her palm to his forehead. “You’re cool.”

“Thanks! So are you.” He grinned.

“I guess you’re back to normal if you’re trying to be funny.” She touched his brow again. “You seem okay. I still don’t have any idea what happened, or if you were altered.”

He sprang up into a sitting position, and this time she didn’t try to stop him. “There’s only one way to find out.”

“Wha—”

He smashed his lips against hers. Then, when nothing disturbing happened, he did it again, tangling his tongue with hers, and wrapped his arms around her.

Finally, they came up for air and he slid his tongue along his teeth. “No fangs.” He looked down at his lap. “Definitely an erection, but no overwhelming urge to take you whether you want it or not. I’d say control has been reestablished and progress has been made.”

“How can we know that for sure? Your reactions to my voice are abnormal.”

“We’ll have to play it by ear. Or,” he playfully nipped her lower lip, “by lips. But that’s me: Abby Normal.”

“Who?”

“Don’t tell me you never saw
Young Frankenstein
.”

“I saw it, but I don’t remember a character named Abby.”

“Pitiful. You’re lucky I’m here to rectify your lack of cultural education. But for now, come on, Buffy,” he jumped up and reached out a hand for her, “let’s go hunt some vampires.”

Nothing they’d experienced so far prepared her for the reality of Mordecai’s vampire nest.

Housed in an abandoned commercial chicken coop in the unincorporated part of town, the building overflowed with limp bloodsuckers and victim corpses. The smell—human remains, putrefying vampires, rotted chicken carcasses and ancient feces—mixed with stagnant flood water to create an olfactory nightmare.

There had to be fifty vampires and twice as many ripped-up humans inside. Apparently, Mordecai hadn’t cared how small Boulder was.

Grace followed Ethan near the doorway, but couldn’t breathe without choking. “Oh, my God, Ethan! This is worse than any feedlot I’ve ever smelled. My eyes are watering.” She hadn’t believed the day could get any more miserable, but she’d been wrong. Never again would she feel sorry for herself for the problems her voice caused. Her life had been a walk in the park.

“Holy fuck. I had no idea Mordecai kept his newbies in such a hideous place. And I didn’t realize how right I was about him being much worse than Alexander. Lucky I don’t need to breathe. I’ll go in and find the Master and drag them all out. He deserves to die.”

She grabbed Ethan’s arm as he moved through the broken door. “No. You can’t do this all by yourself. It will take hours. And even if I don’t go inside, I don’t know if I can stand to be here that long. This place has given me the worst headache ever. Isn’t there any other way?”

He stepped outside and surveyed the nearby environment. “Maybe. I planned to torch the place, anyway. Why not set it on fire to begin with?” He walked further away. “There’s nothing but dirt and tumbleweeds here. We’re on a high plateau pretty far from city services. It’s possible the old wood will go up like paper. And once the roof goes, the sun will fry the non-human bodies.”

“That sounds like a good plan, but what if the fire department manages to show up before all the bodies are incinerated? It would be bad if the vampires weren’t totally dead.”

“That’s a chance we’ll have to take if we choose to barbeque the bloodsuckers in a bonfire. It seems we have limited choices.” He turned to her. “Pull them into the sun, or flame them up. Fire will get us out of here quicker. Or, you could leave without me and I’ll meet you at your place later. But I’ll let you make the decision.”

Stink or no stink, she didn’t want to abandon Ethan after everything they’d been through. “I’m not leaving without you. Besides, I’ve never had a chance to set something on fire, so I’d say arson sounds like the best solution.” She’d always been such a good girl, never getting into any trouble in normal-kid ways, this adventure had turned out to be more exciting than she wanted to admit.

He dug the lighter out of his pocket. “Okay, arson it is. I’ll make a quick trip inside to see what I can use for kindling.”

She waited, moving a few feet away, hoping to minimize the stench. When his quick trip took a lot longer than she expected, she inched toward the building. A few seconds later she heard a
woof
sound and billows of black smoke blew through the door and missing windows. “Ethan! Where are you? Get out of there!” What the hell? Had he caught himself on fire? She couldn’t bear the thought of losing him. “Ethan! Ethan!” she screamed. The roof exploded. Then she saw him sprinting out of the burning building.

“Shit!” Eyebrows singed and hair smoking, he ran past her. “Stop yelling! Your voice fueled the fire. It’s an inferno in there. I barely got out.”

She caught up with him and leaped, wrapping her arms and legs around him. “I’m sorry! I was afraid one of the vampires woke up or something.”

“No worries. They’re all ashes now.” He patted out some embers sizzling in his hair. “I’m just a little scorched around the edges.”

“Obviously you found something to start the blaze.”

“Yeah. They had a ton of porn magazines in there. I had a nice fire going before you
helped
.” He laughed. “But my fire would have taken a lot longer to get hot than yours did, so thanks. But remind me never to piss you off.”

She kissed him. “I will. Can we go home now?”

They watched the fire consume the rest of the building and then looked up toward the sun. “I’d say our work here is finished,” Ethan said. “Let’s go.”

She linked her arm with his. “You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet.” He picked her up and draped her over his shoulder.

Six months later...

“See you next week!” Ethan waved at the last circle participants as they left the sound studio, and then placed his guitar in the stand along the wall with the other instruments. He thrust his fist into the air. “Yes! I still can’t believe I can heal with my voice and my music. It’s too much of a miracle for vampy old me.”