Dead Girls Don't Cry (16 page)

“Of course.” Ian chuckled. “You’ll have to learn to let go of me first.”

I relaxed my hold. Fingers unclamped, arms loosened. I trusted Ian not to drop me.

“No time like the present,” Ian said and let go.

The world rushed to meet me. Faster and faster I fell. Blood pounded in my temples and tears trailed into my hairline. The rapid air flow buffeted my skin, stuffing my cries back down my throat.

I screamed, arms flailing desperate to grab hold off Ian. “You bastard!”

Ian hovered over me, tantalizingly close. “Concentrate. Will yourself to fly.”

What a load of horse shit. Who’d he think I was, Peter Pan? Dry, rocky ground grew closer. I was about to become a vampire pancake.

“Ian!” I held my hands out, desperate. “Help me!”

Ian gave me a tight smile and pulled back, out of reach. “Do it. It’s really very simple. Tick-tock.” He wagged his finger at me. The asshole.

I lunged toward him. He lurched back far enough so I had to follow. We played cat and mouse. He managed to evade my grasp each time.

After a moment, I realized something. I hadn’t slammed into solid ground yet. I quickly glanced down. The rocky surface was ant sized and far away.

“I’m not falling,” I said like the class dim wit.

“Right. Now straighten yourself. Bad form to fly cock-eyed.” Ian arranged his limbs into the classic Superman pose, a grin on his face the whole time.

I giggled, “Goofball.” I rolled over, stomach pointed downward, arms and legs splayed out like a sky diver. Wind flapped my red jumpsuit’s armpits and knees. Giddiness replaced fear. “I’m doing it!” Go me!

“Indeed you are. How about I show you some maneuvers?”

For the next half hour, Ian taught me to hover, start, stop, and not fly into things. It was awesome. “This is better than gifts at Christmas.”

“I aim to please.” Ian swooped underneath me and gathered me into his arms. “Enough for today. Flight is exhilarating, but it wears down your energy stores.”

I relaxed in his arms, then stiffened. “You won’t drop me again, right?”

After a laugh at my expense, Ian said, “I promise, Ms. Cordial, not to drop you. Unless you’re in need of a refresher.”

I punched his biceps. It was like smacking a rock. A well honed, muscular rock. Before I started caressing him like a drooling groupie, I changed topics. “Very funny. What’s in the backpack?”

“A surprise.”

“I would settle for a tub of hot water.”

“Sorry, not that exciting I’m afraid.” Ian slowed down and landed on a flat boulder surrounded by a sea of earth. “Found this little beauty earlier today.”

Okay, it was a flat rock. I didn’t see the attraction until Ian unloaded the contents of the backpack. He spread a tarp down, followed by a thick blanket. On top of that, he assembled a tent large enough for the two of us to stand in. Clean and dirt free. Yes!

“You like?” Ian zipped us inside another bundle in his hand. More blankets.

“I do.”

“Good,” His lips captured mine, fingers tangled in my hair. He broke free, “I’ve been waiting all damn day to do this.”

“Me too,” I growled, flashed fang and jumped into his arms, my legs straddling his hips. He caught me easily and held me firm, kissing me until my lips burned. We landed on the blankets below. Zippers were pulled. Bodies were bared, until our flesh touched, uninhibited by clothing. Ian rolled me onto my stomach, his firm weight along my back. Silken skin slid along my body. Shudders riveted me into place as Ian lightly scraped his fangs along my spine.

“Ian,” I moaned. The soft down of Ian’s pubes tickled between my ass cheeks as his erection slid along my slick cleft. Rather than plunging inside me, which I was ready to beg for, he massaged my shoulders and back, loosening my muscles to putty. His cock continued its gentle, yet insistent back and forth slide.

He backed a few inches away. “Please. . .” I groaned and I angled my backside up.

“So impatient,” his hair, feather light, dragged across the top of my buttocks. The pads of his fingertips caressed the two dimples on my lower back. “You are exquisite.” Soft air blew down, sending goose bumps over my flesh.

My entire body throbbed with need. The need for him to –

“Cherry?” Ian’s hands stopped moving, “Do you care for me?”

I peered over my shoulder. In the soft light, Ian’s face was smooth and placid, but the emotions riding inside my head told me different.

“Yes.” I rolled over onto my back and wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him closer by his hips. I reached forward and cupped his face in my hands. “I don’t know when it happened, but you matter to me. I…” faltered at the words, not ready to say the L-word yet. Fear choked it back. “I care deeply for you.”

Ian hid his disappointment well. He smiled like a big cat ready to pounce on his prey. “That’ll do for now.” He captured my bottom lip with his fangs, pierced it, suckling the blood before deepening the kiss.

Sweet metallic odor filled the air, mingled with his fragment scent of mint and spring air. Ian lifted my torso so my breasts were flattened into his chest, my lips poised over the juncture between his neck and collarbone.

“Bite me,” he said with a deep throaty growl

Fangs extended, I readied to oblige, head dizzy with the need for sex and blood.

Thump. Tha-thump
. I froze at the rhythmic sound.

Ian changed his grip so his right arm held me tight. With his left hand he pressed his palm against his right breast over his heart. His already pale face went alabaster. “Bollocks!”

Again the sound, in rapid succession.
Thump, tha-thump, tha-thump.

“Christ! My heart is beating.” Tremors shook Ian’s body, but he still held me fast.

I placed my hands over his chest, waiting to feel it. The long dead heart beat twice more.

“Oh my God. What does this mean?” I asked.

Darkness passed over Ian’s face. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s—”

Bright light illuminated the entire tent. Engines screeched overhead. Violent gusts flattened the tent.

“What in the hell was that?” Ian propped the tent back up long enough for me to dress. As soon as he was clothed, we bolted off the rock and headed back to the colony as fast as Ian could fly.

~ * * * ~

I tried not to think the worst on the short trip back. Panic muddled my brain. Thalia had found us. We were dead!

“Don’t jump to conclusions,” Ian consoled. “She doesn’t have our ship or know about the Veil.”

Parked on the outskirts of the camp’s perimeter was a small craft. The entire colony had it surrounded, high beam flashlights pointed at the open door. A man came out onto the gangway, hands over head in the classic surrender position.

“I surrender,” he said.

As soon as I heard the voice, I knew who it was. “Jay!”

Ian muttered a few curses, something about following directions and a bloody ship, before landing us at the foot of the walkway. Our sudden arrival from the sky above startled a few of the bystanders.

I flung my arms around Jay. “I thought I told you to stay on the ship!”

“You did. But you’re happy to see me aren’t you?”

I punched his arm. “You know damn well I missed you.”

Ian cleared his throat behind me. “Let’s take this discussion inside.”

Jay nodded. As soon as we cleared the gangway, it retreated, sealing the small shuttle up tight.

“The lot of you. Go back to what you were doing before.” Ian’s shout motivated the crowd back to their various domes.

I ushered Jay and Ian into my office. We barely fit.

“Jay. I don’t even know where to start.” I held up my hands. “The ship? My orders?”

“Why are you here?” Ian cut right to the chase. “Your sire gave you an order. And you’ve disobeyed it. She’ll to have publicly discipline you. Or did you not think of that?”

Jay flinched at the venom in Ian’s voice. “I panicked. When we lost touch with you, I asked . . . er . . . explored the ship and found the shuttle.”

Good. Ian didn’t seem to pick up on Jay’s near slip of the tongue. Kasia’s existence was still our secret.

“Dust storms happen constantly here,” I pointed out. With Ian in the room, Jay would never tell me the real reason for his arrival.

Jay bared his throat to me, “My blood is your blood.”

I nodded and he relaxed. Ian’s jaw was tight and his arms stiff by his side. I needed to separate them before Ian snapped. He was Jay’s maker, not me. Ian appeared to view Jay’s disobedience as a slight against him as well.

“How shall he be punished?” Ian demanded.

I thought on it a moment. “I have the perfect solution.”

Jay groaned. He knew what was coming. “Not decorating.”

Ian shot me a strange look.

“It’s the thing Jay hates most. Tomorrow morning, you will report to Nina. She is on the Morale Committee. They have decided to paint and decorate the common areas in something other than gray. You will be at their beck and call the rest of the week. Go find Louis. He’s my zombie assistant. He’ll find you quarters to stay in.”

Jay left, shoulders slumped in dejection. I would have to find time alone with him tomorrow.

“You have no idea how much he hates home improvement projects. Everyone in the family will understand he’s being punished.”

“I like how you think. Very devious.”

“Ian. About your heart…”

He pressed his fingers to my lips. “Later. Not here.” His eyes darted to the door. Shadows passed under the door crack. Someone was listening. Ian feather kissed my nose. “Until tomorrow then.” He winked, flung open the door and walked down the empty corridor.

The spy had cleared out.

~ * * * ~

I stood outside the mess hall, stomach in knots. In the turmoil of the day before, I had forgotten “feeding day.” As the head of the family, I had the job of providing my blood to each member. Not a lot of it, but enough to sustain them. This would be my first time. The process freaked me out. Not only because of the physical proximity, but the intimacy: their minds would lay bare to me.

I damn near swooned every time I had taken Jonathan’s blood. Back then, I cared about how dependent it made me feel. Today, I would experience it from the other side.

Cripes. What if I enjoyed the power? The authority? Knots cramped my esophagus.

I stopped in front of the mess hall’s entrance. Conversations buzzed on the other side of the door. Excitement too. Then it hit me – the toe fetish. I could live a long happy life
never
knowing whose fantasy that was.

“Ready for your big debut?” Louis chirped behind me.

A small yelp escaped my lips. “Damn it! Do you have to be so cheerful?” To stall for more time, I decided learning about zombie feeding habits would be quite useful. “Tell me, Louis, do zombies have a similar family structure?”

Louis gave me a long hard stare. Nope, I wasn’t fooling him. “I’d be happy to discuss it later.” He held open the door. “After you.”

Every conversation stopped and attention fixed on me. Not really much different from performing on stage. Except on stage, the audience didn’t line up to drink from me.

Louis firmly closed the door behind me, remaining outside. This was a private, family affair. At the front of the room a portable screen had been set up where the podium once stood. Two chairs were placed behind the screen, a cross between a confessional and emergency room.

As I walked to the screen, I realized the family was seated in pecking order, oldest to youngest. Jonathan always fed me privately so I never partook in the ritual playing out before me. In fact I was ashamed I didn’t know who the oldest vampire even was.

Once I took my seat behind the screen, the first vampire approached me. Lemmy? Lemmy the quiet steadfast bouncer was the oldest?

Lemmy took the chair in front of me. “I’m guessin’ by the startled look on your face, you weren’t expecting me.”

“I’m sorry, Lemmy. I’m embarrassed by my ignorance.”

“That’s okay. I always reckoned you had a problem with the master. Weren’t right the way he acquired you. The Devil reached inta his heart that day.” Lemmy shook his head. Sadness seeped from his pores into mine. Tucked way back in the corner of my mind, a detail surfaced from that awful time. Lemmy, stone faced, attending to Jonathan. His cocoa skin reflected the yellow gas lamplight of the crowded salon. While the cards were dealt, his lips had pursed in disapproval.

I reached forward and squeezed his dark hand. “How do you want to do this?”

Turns out Lemmy, a wrist drinker did not have a toe fetish. Caves appeared in his mind as the feeding ended.

Lemmy waited until I had healed then sent the next vampire in. On and on it went. In each mind, I saw a variation of the caves. Pearl was the hardest to feed. Her hostility toward me had grown. She insisted on the neck. Her mind showed darkness. Curious.