Demon Vampire (The Redgold Series) (41 page)

The demon offered the unspoken assistance to pry deeper, Zack refused it. He did not want to violate the barrier she had placed between them. Even though it meant that he would naturally come to resent it. Zack had to summon a part of him he had never used before. A portion of his personality, his soul, to forgive that which he knew nothing of. To let go of his doubt, to fully trust Kyli based on her actions. Not on what her motivations were or who she might be. To conjure faith itself. Zack searched, and said nothing at first. The words refused to leave his mind and travel to his lips.

“Please.” Kyli was trying to hide it, but the tears ran down her face regardless. “Say them for me. Tell me you'll be there even if you come face to face with
my
demons?”

The sound of the wet emotions striking the dirt at their feet was enough to pull Zack in, to give him that extra push to believe. Zack knew, right there, what he was going to tell her. “Kyli.” Zack held his breath, swallowed the courage on the tip of his tongue and said what his heart urged him to. “I've come to know you in a very unusual way. You saved me from the monsters I never knew existed. You've nurtured me, you've guided me. You have been there for me when I was lacking. That hasn't changed. Regardless of the words I am straining to hear your heart whisper, I respect your boundaries. I won't ask you. I won't press this any further.”

Kyli's crying had suddenly become less strenuous. She had calmed down. The fear was leaving her. Kyli breathed deep, nearly gasping for air. She was letting go of it inside. There was a smile of relief on her face. Zack was beginning to accept her, the very thing she was yearning for.

“It must have taken years to perfect what you've shown me here. I can accept the fact that you might be a little older than me, even if it is more than two years. Beyond that-” Zack gulped, slowly turned around, and embraced Kyli with both arms. Holding her back close to his chest, he began to speak again. “I trust what I know, and my heart knows you enough to believe in
you
. To see a connection to be cherished and not to cast it aside. I trust you, Kyli.”

Kyli turned in Zack's arms and looked only slightly up into his eyes. Zack seemed taller, more than the five foot nine inches she came to. “Did you get taller?” Kyli said with a faint voice. There was a weakness in her tone that lacked the emotional understanding to grasp the events Zack had laid in front of her. She was still flustered and it showed in her voice.

Zack chuckled with a glint in his eye and a choked throat. “What if I did? You gonna knock me down again? Cause I think I can take that now.”

Kyli and Zack laughed, enjoying the momentary bliss. A hint of laughter to liven up the seriousness of the conversation they were having.

“I just might, but not now. Now I'd settle for being held, and maybe a little more.” Kyli looked up at Zack again.

“What do you have in mind?” Zack knew exactly what she had in mind. He could hear her heart screaming for him to kiss her with the passion needed for her to truly feel it in her soul.

“This.” Kyli reached up with her lips.

Zack leaned in, letting Kyli gently press against him. He placed his right hand on her face, near Kyli's left ear, with care and purpose. Their eyes kept pace as the active stare communicated the words neither of them wished to say out loud. Zack caressed the back of Kyli's neck, massaging lightly the one place she held all her stress. Kyli melted in Zack's arms. She was no longer the aggressor. Zack was making his presence known to her body. Zack perched his chin to hers, and with great satisfaction planted his lips firmly on hers. The sensation that overwhelmed them was glorious, an explosion of joy and gratification.

Kyli's mental role in their relationship was relaxing. Her dominant nature gave way to the feelings of warmth Zack was instilling in her soul. Zack gently broke their contact. Kyli didn't know how to respond. She had never seen this much initiative from Zack before. Her bewilderment was foreign to her. She had been in control of her world and all of her past relationships. Zack should have been nothing more than another notch in her history of strange acquaintances and torrid affairs, but he wasn't. Zack was changing Kyli's perceptions. Forcing her to believe in his actions as opposed to when they first met. To see the man he was becoming and not the boy she first saw at a club. Zack was maturing and Kyli was liking it. She was becoming proud of him. Kyli was noticing the subtle changes in the way he carried himself. Even Zack's body had developed suddenly with the influx of blood she made him consume. He did seem taller, and not just in the dream world either. Zack was getting taller, manlier, even if it was just enough to show, it did. This excited Kyli. It revived her cold nature towards the line of work she had chosen to do for her father. The line of work she couldn't tell Zack about, the very secret she was keeping. The fact that she did not simply meet him randomly at a Gothic club. Kyli had planned to be in the right place and the right time in order to meet him. She was told Zack was going to be there that night and told to introduce herself to him. It was part of her job to get to know him. It was a secret she was afraid to reveal to him. The possibility of Zack's imminent death couldn't convince her, but his arms certainly had their sway on her. Zack's kind heart was affecting her in ways she hadn't protected herself against. She was confused, for one of the first times in her life. Kyli didn't know what to do. Kyli only knew that she liked it.

“Kyli, what's wrong? You're feeling regret for something.” Zack was spot on.

“You're right, but that doesn't make anything I'm thinking about better.” Kyli had a remorsefully guilty face. Kyli had led many people on in her life. Zack was proving himself in this moment and he didn't know it. He was giving her a reason to trust him, completely. “For not prying, you sure are aware of what I don't want to share. Some might call that cheating.”

“I call it innovation.” Zack was being smart. “A way to get to what I want.”

“You've changed Zack.” Kyli said softly.

“No I haven't, I'm still me. All of this is me. Remember you're in my world right now.” Zack was playing it off trying to be smooth.

It was working in Kyli's eyes. “No, you are different here. This place has changed you.” Kyli meant the words to be a compliment.

Zack received Kyli's comment as an omen. He knew deep down he was changing. Something inside him wanted to feast on the blood of every creature around him. Unknowingly, Kyli had drawn out a terrifying insecurity in the back of Zack's mind. He took it to heart and expressed only silence for a minute.

Oblivious of Zack's inner torment over the matter, Kyli continued. “I think this demon is trying to appeal to you with more than just power. He might be trying to change you as a peace offering. A token gift to appease and settle your insecurities about accepting him.”

Zack was alarmed. “What!? Like I would accept that!”

Kyli had struck a chord with Zack.

Zack heard a crackle of the storm in the distance and screamed at it. “I don't want what you're offering. Go to hell over there and leave me alone.” Zack's outburst startled Kyli.

Kyli stepped back. “I'm only saying that its gift is sincere. It wants to connect more with you. That's all.”

The storm flashed with lightning.

“No!” Zack realized how loud his voice had become and calmed himself as it echoed back upon them. He turned to Kyli, attempting to explain himself. “No. I don't want to 'connect' with it. It's brought me nothing except death threats, broken bones, and pain. The mere fact it's inside me means I am a potential harbinger of a real world apocalypse. I don't care what it gives me as a peace offering, I don't want to lose myself to it.” Zack paused, trying to catch his breath. “I can hear it you know. Constantly vying for my attention, my favor. Urging me to drink more, to thirst more. Telling me that if I drink the blood, I will feel better.”

“But he's right, Zack. You will feel better. You can't just starve yourself to death. You have to drink blood to stay alive. It's what we are. You can't ignore that easily.” Kyli was making a valid argument.

“When did you start referring to it as a 'he'!?” Zack did not enjoy the reference, implying that his demon gift was an actual demon in his head. Zack had considered the voice in his head to be a thing and not a person. “It's not a person, it's a demon, Kyli. I can remember the dreams it's shown me. The temptation of power, the need for it. It taunted me with a pretty convincing representation of you.”

“It's trying to copy me?” Kyli's indifference towards Zack's train of thought was kicked to the curb as this question of imitation came up. “What exactly did it do?”

“It walked out of the sea of blood as
you
, to seduce me.” Zack was only stating the facts, not realizing how Kyli would take it.

“What was it wearing?” Kyli's voice was emotionless and cold. She was hiding her anger over what Zack's gift might have done while using her image. What he might have allowed it to do in his head.

“Nothing, but it was covered in blood. Completely, and head to toe. I could only tell it was you from what I saw of you in the skin tight outfit. Besides, it used its own voice, so I knew it wasn't really you. You wouldn't walk up to me naked.” Zack meant no harm in explaining the event that only took place in his mind. It was actually calming him down.

Kyli heard two words and two words only from Zack's mouth, nothing and naked. The hidden anger was now boiling over.

Kyli's face was turning red with frustration and Zack was oblivious. Zack was still settling down while a faint green aura began to glow around Kyli's entire body.

“What's that? A new trick?” Zack asked unknowingly.

It was not received kindly.

The distance this time around was notable. Zack wasn't in the field anymore. He was on the beach. Zack had gotten airtime. He landed on the beach, and hard. The blast that Kyli had let out was a shock wave propelling Zack over the trees and nearly into the blood ocean itself. Kyli was so greatly upset by Zack's explanation she would have killed him if it was a serious attack. Through sheer force of will, Kyli had blown Zack more than three hundred feet away.

On the beach front, Zack lay there with his skin partially charred. The blast had a 'cooking' effect on his body. His skin was brazen and chipped. His clothes were ripped and he knew that he would feel it in the real world after all this.

Kyli reached the shore a few minutes later. The short walk allowed her to get some peace out of what she had just done to Zack. She came up to him smiling. “You look like a cooked chicken.”

Kyli's comment didn't seem funny to Zack. He attempted to talk, but coughed up blood instead.

Kyli offered no assistance. “That's what you get for seeing me naked.”

“I thought green was restorative? What the hell was that?” Zack coughed.

“An example.” Kyli smiled wider. “Next time, don't stare.”

“But I didn't, you were covered in blood. Hell, it made you out of blood. There was no real detail.” Zack was defending himself.

“Just how
detailed
was it?” Kyli growled at Zack.

Zack was giving Kyli plenty of rope and she was ready to hang him high.

“Well Zack?” Kyli pressed the matter.

Zack knew he wasn't leading things where he wanted them to go. So he quit while he was only injured. Zack helped himself up and coughed up some blood into the sea. “Do you really want to fight about this?” Zack asked respectfully.

Kyli smirked and tore his head off, literally with one clean right swing.

The dream world dissolved. Zack and Kyli woke up in the same position they were in at the apartment. Kyli's teeth digging sharply into Zack's neck. Blood pooled under Zack's back.

“Would you get off of me? My feet have gone numb from the blood loss and you're sitting on my arm.” Zack was barely able to say. He was weak and drained of energy from the lack of blood in his system.

Kyli murmured a response that was unrecognizable through her teeth while still locked onto Zack's throat.

“You can stop now.” Zack was getting impatience and lightheaded.

Kyli murmured something again that sounded like she wanted an apology.

“Okay, I'm sorry. Now stop sucking me dry.” Zack pleaded.

Kyli eased up and climbed off of Zack. “There might be a day when you'll regret those words.” Kyli wiped her mouth.

“And when would-” Zack stopped mid-sentence. He knew what she was implying and he didn't want to put his foot any further into his mouth. “I'll just shut up now.”

“Good, you do that. In the mean time, lets clean your wounds. You don't want that to dry up and take forever to heal. Remember you may only have three weeks to live and I just stole all that blood from you. You'll need a lot to seal it back up again. I'll get you a bottle right now in fact.” Kyli was a little worried, though she was trying not to show it. “Two bottles actually.” Kyli went to the kitchen to fetch the blood.

Zack lay on the ground, feeling weak and numb. He peered down to see the condition of his right hand. It was burned a little and tingling, but it was okay. Zack figured that it was from the blast that happened in the dream world. An after effect that he would have to deal with. The sensation in Zack's legs came back quick enough, then his left arm followed. Zack couldn't figure out why Kyli was so worried. Until he viewed his chest. A large, round blood clot covering the size of a fist was over his heart and oozing through the white tuxedo shirt. His blood was darker than the red Christmas tie he still had on. Zack raised his arms to pull down his shirt and take a better peek, but his arms refused to muster the needed movement. Zack was getting woozy and the room was beginning to shift. He was losing consciousness.