Forbidden Touch (25 page)

Ludacris was "Pimpin' all over the world," and she was bobbing her head to the beat, and only getting about every tenth word right, when she felt the tingling again. She instantly hit the button to turn the radio off, then grabbed Dane's hand and gave him a panicked look. "It's happening again."

"What do you want me to do?" he asked nervously.

She shook her head; she could feel herself slipping from her body. "Drive. He can't hurt my spirit…only my soul is suffering."

Dane looked back at the road and mumbled something before her spirit left. It sounded like, "Yours isn't the only one."

Back to Contents

Chapter
39

When Ciera opened her eyes again, she was sitting in a car, but it wasn't the Lexus. It looked a whole lot like the unmarked that Mitch had driven when he had to. She turned her head to look at him. He was parked beside a pay phone, but the window was rolled up. Who had he wanted to call? Was it her, and she had just never given him her number? He was bent over the steering wheel with his face hidden from her, and his whole body was visibly shaking.

The way they had parted the last time they had spoken was still weighing heavy on her heart, so she didn't even care why he was upset. Well, she did care, a lot, actually, but she wasn't going to let him think she did. He seemed hell bent on hurting her feelings, so she was going to keep them hidden from him as best she could.

"What?" she said rudely.

His head shot up and he looked over at her with angry eyes. His features didn't change, but he closed his shiny eyes and looked away from her. "I didn't call you."

O-kay. Ciera rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm here, so evidently you did. You know, it's a damn good thing that Dane is the one driving. I could have a wreck."

"Wouldn't that be a shame? It would save me from having to do the job when you got here if you died in a car wreck," he said, and then leaned back in the seat. He took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.

"A car accident wouldn't kill me, asshole. But it might kill someone else, like say a family of five on vacation, as fast as we are traveling."

"Well, slow down. In fact, turn around altogether." He sat up and looked her dead in the eyes. "I don't want you coming here. How can I put it any clearer than this? I hate you! I want you dead for what you did to me. Just go away!" He closed his eyes and whispered over and over for her to go away. He thought about his mother, to get his mind off her.

When he opened his eyes she was gone. He didn't see her anywhere, but he could still hear her in his head, sobbing softly.

"I don't believe you. I can't believe that you hate me. I'm still coming, and killing me is the only way for you to prove you don't love me anymore."

He put his head in his hands and screamed. He had tried four other pay phones, and all of them had been as dead as a door nail. And it seemed every time that he would try to think about something to help him, his thoughts would always veer to her. He was exhausted, trying to keep it from happening. He couldn't control it, and it was pissing him off.

He put the car in drive. He would just go back to Lazarus' house and sleep on it. He was positive that if he stayed out in the open much longer, someone was going to recognize him.

Ciera opened her eyes to the Lexus again. Dane was driving like she had told him to. "He must be very powerful, because he's out in the sun. He was alone in Lazarus' unmarked police car, and it looked like he was trying to call someone, because he was parked beside a pay phone. He still isn't able to control dragging my spirit to him, and…he still hates me."

Dane took her trembling hand in his and laced their fingers together. "I'm sorry, Ciera. I would do a lot of things over again if I could, but not even vampires can turn back the hands of time."

She leaned over and laid her head on his arm. She felt him kiss the top of her head. She closed her eyes and imagined that it was Mitch who had done that. She couldn't go through the rest of her life with her eyes closed, imagining that it was Mitch who was making her happy. She knew she couldn't truly be happy unless Mitch was the guy she was with. If he wouldn't believe the truth when she got to him, then she would make him kill her. She had to think of a way to make him see clearly that she wasn't the person at fault here. But how? She didn't know, and she didn't know anyone who could tell her.

She sat upright suddenly and looked at Dane. "What was that little town in Arkansas where Alice lives?"

His brows drew together. "The psychic or the witch?"

"The psychic," she said.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I wasn't really paying attention to road signs. I was following your thoughts."

"Damn it!" she looked in the console. "Does this car have an atlas?

He smiled. "If it did, it wouldn't be small enough to be in that console. Try the glove compartment or under the seat."

She did, and came up with a whole lot of nothing. "Stop at the next truck stop or travel center that you come to. I think I will be able to remember if I look at a map of Arkansas."

His eyes grew wide. "It's still daylight. You can't get out of this car to go in a travel center."

She smiled and made herself invisible.

"I forget what your skills are sometimes," he said, and she giggled.

"I need to feed anyway. Mitch took my blood this morning, and I didn't get near enough of his," she said as she became visible to him again.

Dane pursed his lips together and thought for a moment. "You could feed off me. I mean, vamp blood is stronger than human blood, and you need your strength if you are going to go up against both Lazarus and Mitch."

She narrowed her eyes and studied his face. She hadn't ever fed off a vampire before, and she'd heard stories about the fact that when a vampire fed off a vampire, the feeling was equivalent to a human taking ecstasy. She had friends that did it on a regular basis just to get the rush and the sexual pleasure from it. "Is it true what they say, about the feelings vampires get from feeding off other vampires?" She knew that he would know what she had heard, but she had never experienced it for herself and she wanted to see if he would lie to her. She would bet a lot of money that Dane had tried it. He was just that predictable, and it seemed like something he would do.

He waited a long moment before he answered, then he finally said, "Yes, I suppose anything that you have heard would be true. The feeling of taking from another vampire is incredible. And to do something like that with you, well," his smile almost split his face in half, "I would do just about anything to be the first to give you that experience."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Why, so you can rub it in Mitch's face that you turned me on?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.

He looked at her, and his expression sobered. "No …"

"And you would take advantage of the fact that I wanted you because of the way your blood was making me feel and take my innocence," she said as she looked out the window. She didn't know why she was getting angry, but her adrenaline was pumping rapidly through her veins. She wasn't used to Dane being so honest with her. It scared her a little.

He shook his head. "No, I wouldn't do that to you. If I ever did get the chance to take you to bed, I wouldn't want it to be because you were under any influence. I would want you to make that choice with a clear head. And it would be
your
choice. I would never force you to do anything. God," he hit the steering wheel and sighed heavily. "Can't you just accept that I might be a pretty decent guy? Besides the last month, have I done anything to cause you to question where my loyalties lie or give you a reason not to trust me?"

She looked back at him, and chose not to answer, aloud, any of the questions he asked. "If I do this, and you take that away from me…I won't stop until you are dead."

His eyes widened in surprise. "You are really considering this?"

She shrugged. "Well, you're right; a vampire's blood is much stronger than a mere mortal's blood. I am so weak now that even three feedings wouldn't give me what I need to go up against Lazarus."

"And Mitch? You forgot to say Mitch," he said.

She shook her head. "I won't fight Mitch. If he still hates me after he realizes the truth, then I will let him end it all."

Dane jerked the car over to the shoulder of the interstate and slammed on the brakes. Ciera closed her ey
es and huffed. "I have already informed you that if I couldn't be with him, then I am no better alive than I would be if I were dead. I told you to drop me off at the nearest airport. I don't expect you to risk your life. Questa non ѐ la vostra lotta!"

He
stared at her with wide, hurting eyes, and then he closed them and shook his head in defeat. "This isn't my fight? I'm the reason that you are in this mess to begin with. And I will help you as much as I can, but you have to want to live through this even if he doesn't want you. I need you to want to live. The Ciera I know would have never given up everything because a man didn't want her."

"Yeah, well, that was before I fell in love for the first time," she said, and he hit the steering wheel again, but not hard enough to break it the rest of the way. Her body jerked, involuntarily.

"I love you, and it hurts like hell that you don't return my feelings, but I wouldn't let anyone, including you, kill me. You promised that you would still be in my life no matter what happens between you and Mitch. You don't break promises. You are being very, very stupid right now, and that is something that I never thought I would say to you."

She leaned back in her seat and sulked. "Love makes you do stupid things, I guess."

"Jesus," he said, and turned the car off then stuck the keys in his pocket.

Ciera stared at him in shock as he leaned the seat back and closed his eyes. "What the hell are you doing? Abbiamo bisogno di andare!"

"No, we don't need to go," he said, with his eyes still closed. "He is mad at you, and you are thinking irrationally. I think both of you need a little time so you can think clearly. And I am going to make sure that both of you get the time you need to do just that."

She went invisible, and Dane heard her grab the door handle. He grabbed her wrist with one hand, and with the other, he pulled the open door shut. The sun burned his skin that was visible, but in the enclosed interior of the Lexus, with the nifty new tint on the windows, it was already healing. "I have a few more elephant tranquilizers. Don't make me use them on you. All I'm asking is for you not to run into this before you have thought everything through. If he kills you, it will only be because he has killed me first. And if I kill him, because he is trying to kill you, you will never forgive me. Just give him some time, please. Give yourself some time to think all of this through!" he growled through his teeth.

Ciera stared up at him. He couldn't see her, so he couldn't see in her eyes the way she was feeling with his body pressing her into the seat. She had heard everything he had said to her today, of his feelings for her, but she really hadn't been listening until now. She was being very stupid rushing into all of this. He was right. Maybe Mitch only needed time to calm down and think everything through, like she did. And with the way he couldn't control bringing her spirit to him, maybe she would have plenty more times to talk with him before she sees him in person. But maybe it would give Lazarus more time to sink his fangs into him, metaphorically speaking. She didn't know what to do, but Dane was right, she could give Mitch a little more time. She did understand that getting herself killed wouldn't solve anything. She would be dead, and Lazarus would still have Mitch. She didn't want to live without him loving her, but she realized that she could. She didn't know if she could ever love Dane, but she found that him loving her was comforting. She made up her mind right then to live no matter what. Let the pieces fall where they may, because when Dane had said that he would die to protect her, her blood ran cold at the thought of losing him too.

Back to Contents