Blood Song (8 page)

He stared into Grace’s eyes and she blinked several times. Her shoulders slumped and her lips parted. She leaned back into the couch cushions, too relaxed to even sit up straight. She eyed his smooth chest, thinking how nice it would be to run her fingers over the muscles. Maybe lick his nipples to see if they’d harden. And his lips. She studied his kissable mouth. What fun it would be to lean in and suck the lower lip. Maybe give him a tongue massage. That made her smile.

“Good. You’re smiling. Now we can talk.” He angled to face her directly. “Tell me about your dream, Grace.”

“The dream? That’s where I first saw you.” The memory replayed in her mind in vivid detail. She told him about being attacked by a creature and how he—Ethan, her angel—rescued her. He kept his gaze focused on hers while she spoke.

“Okay. I don’t know why you remember that since I went to a lot of trouble to erase the memory, but it wasn’t a dream, Grace. It was real.”

She fought against the waves of relaxation pulsing through her mind and her body, and struggled to lock onto his words. “No. That can’t be right.” She rallied her willpower and sat up straighter, watching his face, waiting for him to laugh and say he was joking. But his expression didn’t change. A trickle of fear fanned through her briefly before it was swept away by another rush of bonelessness. She laughed. “You’re being ridiculous. There are no such things as blood-drinking monsters with fangs. And maybe angels don’t exist either. It was all in my imagination.”

He raised a brow.

“Wasn’t it?”

“No. The monster in your dream was a newly turned vampire.”

Grace burst out laughing again. “You’re a real comedian. Or you’re nuts.”

“I probably
am
nuts, but I’m telling the truth. My friend Nelson and I were supposed to track the newbie down and capture him before he hurt any humans. Just my luck he got away at the same time you were walking on the path toward your house. He jumped on you, bit your neck, and would have killed you if we hadn’t gotten there when we did.”

Oh. My. God. He really is insane.
But very cute. Is it bad to lust after a sick person?

They stared at each other for several seconds. “Ethan, I like a good joke as well as anyone, but this isn’t funny. I think you need help—”

“I’m going to give you another suggestion that you’ll be able to listen to me with
calm, detached objectivity
. And an open mind
.
” He locked his gaze onto hers.

A tingle ran up and down her spine as he said the last words. Her scalp prickled. The fear and anxiety, present only seconds before, vanished.

He nodded. “Since I obviously didn’t erase your memories of my visit, was anything out of the ordinary when you woke up this morning?”

The
calm, detached objectivity
he’d mentioned seemed to be true, because she could recall her strange morning and her assumption she’d blacked out again without getting upset. “I woke up dressed in the gag gift I’d gotten from friends on my last birthday, my hair was gummy and I felt like I’d been run over by a truck.”

“Gag gift?”

“Yes. A sexy red nightie I never wear.”

He grinned. “You ought to think about wearing it more often. It really suits you.”

She had a quick flash of anxiety before the feeling dissolved. She settled deeper into the couch cushions. “How could you possibly know that?”

“After Nelson and I captured the newbie vampire, I carried you to your house and hosed you down in your shower. You were covered with blood from the idiot and dirt from the trail. I grabbed the first thing I found in your dresser, which happened to be the red number. Then I tucked you safe in your bed and left.”

She didn’t want to believe anything he was saying, but if he was lying, how else could he know about the silly nightgown she’d awakened wearing. “You were in my room?” Then a horrible thought smacked her in the head. She gasped. “Did you do anything to me?” Her mouth went dry and her heart pounded.

“No!” He scooted closer and took her hand in his, a serious look on his face. His skin was unusually cool. “I told you I’m no angel, but I didn’t do anything... no matter how tempted I was.”

She wasn’t sure why, but she believed him.

“Why do you chase vampires?” She fought a snicker. “Are you some kind of male Buffy the Vampire Slayer?”
Really, Grace? Vampires? You’re sounding as mad as him.

He smiled. “I always liked that show, but no. I’m one of the creatures she’d hunt.”

She felt the humor drain from her face. It was worse than she thought. How could she get away from this handsome lunatic? She tried to lift her arms and couldn’t. Maybe she could distract him, disable him without permanent harm.
Can my voice heal delusions?

“I see that look on your face. Before you send for the men with straitjackets, let me explain—”

Without waiting, she closed her eyes, took a full breath and sang a high-pitched tone, imagining the sound penetrating and surrounding Ethan.

He jumped up, rubbing his arms. “Holy fuck! What are you doing? My whole body is tingling.” He looked at his skin. “I’ve got goose bumps and my heart’s racing. That’s impossible.”

Surprised to see he wasn’t bleeding, or hadn’t thrown up or lost his bowels, she prepared to launch another tone at him if he continued his bizarre story. She sucked in a breath.

“Stop!” Ethan returned to the couch, noses almost touching, and locked eyes with her. “Believe me, Grace. Everything I’m saying sounds perfectly normal to you. You can listen without getting upset.”

She blinked, and then shook her head to rouse herself from the sudden brain fuzz. “Are you seriously telling me you’re a vampire?” Her voice was flat and monotone.

“Yes, I am. One of the foul creatures of the night, the undead—a blood-drinking parasite.”

They stared at each other again.

She licked her dry lips. “Are you going to kill me?”

“No, of course not.” He raised his chin in the air, his tone of voice somewhere between shocked and insulted.

“Why not? Isn’t that what bloodsuckers do?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, it is. And before I met you, I had to avoid humans so I
wouldn’t
suck them dry. You’ve done something to me. You’re messing with my vampire nature. I noticed it as soon as I carried you to your house.” He raised his arm to his nose and sniffed. “I don’t even smell like a vampire anymore.”

“Well, it sounds like you don’t
like
being a vampire, so what does it matter if I’m changing you—not that I believe a word of your story.”
Why does the cute one have to be a loon?

“Are you saying you really
can
change me?” Ethan sprang up and began pacing before he stopped and stared at her, his eyes wide. “You’re a witch!” He pointed at her. “I should have guessed. You put a spell on me.” He slapped his hands against his thighs.

“Witch? You really are crazy.” Although she had to admit she’d considered that possibility herself when she was young and trying to figure out her bizarre tendencies. She studied the frantic man in constant movement in front of her.

“No, wait.” He held up a hand in a
stop
gesture. “The weird feeling started while you were still unconscious, so you couldn’t have bewitched me on purpose. Maybe I was transformed by being near you.”

She watched his face. He did seem genuinely worried and confused. What would it hurt to tell him the truth? Especially since he’d shared his whopper of a fantasy tale with her. She patted the couch next to her, hoping she wasn’t making the worst decision of her life by encouraging the nutcase to come closer. “Sit down. I’ll tell you what I know about my abilities.”

He hesitated for a couple of seconds before he sat. “I saw you cure that sick woman at the sound circle. It was a miracle.”

She nodded. “It often does seem like a miracle. But it’s also a curse.” Thinking about telling the story made her lips go dry and her midsection tighten.

“What do you mean?” He leaned in and met her gaze. “You are totally relaxed, and every time I say the word
relax
, you will become more comfortable and peaceful.”

She didn’t know how she’d signaled him that she was getting nervous, but at his words, a burst of warmth flowed down her spine, and she lowered the shoulders she hadn’t realized were bunched with tension.

“Is that better?”

She took a deep breath. “Yes. Thanks. You must be one helluva hypnotist, Ethan.”

He grinned. “It’s a vampire skill. One of the ways we incapacitate our victims.”

Her brows shot up. “Am I your victim?”

“
Relax
.” He flicked a hand in a dismissive gesture. “We already covered that. Go on with your story. What about your abilities?”

Her fear dissipated. “Long before I discovered I could heal with my voice, I knew I could harm with it. At first I didn’t understand why people around me—anyone who bullied me on the playground or stole my candy or pushed me off the slide—would start bleeding from their noses, mouths, eyes, ears, and they’d wet their pants or worse. The school staff thought it was some kind of virus going around. Nobody associated it with me for a while, until it became clear I was always in the vicinity when one of the outbreaks happened but I never had any symptoms.” Tension coiled in her stomach again.

“Just
relax
. Are you saying that anytime someone hurt you they immediately got instant karma? That sounds like the prom scene from the movie
Carrie
.”

“Not quite that bad. It wasn’t only them hurting me. It was whether or not my emotions—fear, anger, or later, lust—were aroused. If I yelled at someone and backed it up with emotions, bad things happened. If I was a little annoyed with someone, but didn’t have strong feelings about it, they weren’t harmed.”

“So, the emotions cause the damage?”

“It’s the combination of emotions and sound. My parents had to move me around to different schools when I was a kid. To this day they still don’t understand that I’m not possessed by demons or mentally ill, which is what they thought. Or maybe they’re right.” Her heartbeat pounded.

“
Relax
. I doubt if someone possessed by demons could cure people the way you do.” He grinned. “Unless it’s an open-minded demon.”

“Are you laughing at me?” Her lips pressed into a firm line. She was losing patience trying to placate the gorgeous lunatic.

“Only a little.
Relax
. You said something about lust...”

“You would lock onto that one.” She gave a weak smile. “I was pretty repressed about boys and sex. After I figured out my voice was a lethal weapon, I isolated myself. I made it all the way through high school and most of college before I trusted a guy enough to let him near me. I thought if I never got angry at him, there wouldn’t be any negative consequences. But—” She licked her lips and twisted her hands in her lap.

“
Relax
...”

She breathed deeply before continuing. “In the middle of our first ‘going all the way’ session, I found myself swamped with love and desire for this guy. His name was Jeff. He sang in choir with me and his voice was amazing. I’d never felt such intense positive emotions or felt so close to someone. I called out his name, and as soon as the best orgasm in the universe ripped through me, Jeff started screaming. He—” Her words were choked off with a sob. Tears poured down Grace’s cheeks.

Ethan took her hand. “Look at me, Grace. When she did, he repeated, “
Relax, relax, relax
. It’s a distant memory. Easy to talk about.”

She sniffled. “He raised his head to look at me and blood poured from his eyes and his ears. He jumped off the bed and clutched his head for a few seconds before he collapsed on the floor. I screamed until I noticed a pool of urine expanding around him.”

“Jesus,” Ethan mumbled.

“I pressed my hands against my mouth to stop the sound in time for my neighbors to swarm in through the door I’d left unlocked. They called an ambulance and the police. It looked like Jeff had some sort of stroke or seizure, and they all thought I was in shock. Nobody knew my horrible secret—they didn’t know it was all my fault—so they treated me with kindness and took me to the emergency room to get checked out. I was terrified I’d killed him.”

“Holy shit, Grace. Did he die?”

“No. He was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. They couldn’t find a clear cause for the head pain and bleeding, and all his tests came back normal, so they finally released him. I was too horrified and ashamed to visit him, but I sent cards and flowers. He tried to call me a few times, and then emailed saying he understood I didn’t want to see him again after he got so sick for no reason, and in the middle of having sex. He assumed I was afraid of him, which I was, but not for any reason he could imagine. I transferred to another university at the end of the semester and never saw him again.”

“Wow. What a miserable experience.”

“After that I never tried to get close to anyone again. That was my only experience of hurting someone with positive emotions. So, any future love relationships are out of the question.”

“Geez, your love life is even shittier than mine.” Ethan grinned and patted her hand.