The Comanche Vampire (10 page)

Breath
short, body slick with sweat, Ned rammed his cock into her willing, waiting
place with more finesse than force.
 
After prolonged foreplay he came almost immediately and so did Anne,
their hands locked together into tight fists.
 
She shrieked and he would’ve cried out but at the last, he smothered her
mouth with his.
 
Their bodies bucked like
wild horses and then extreme sensation exploded.
 
In the old days he’d come close to death more
than once and Ned thought this was much like it.
 
Afterward, he curled up with Anne in his
arms.
 
When her breathing slowed to
normal, she smiled at him and yawned.
 
She stroked his cheek. “You look better now,” she whispered. “I’m so
sleepy.”

“Go
to sleep,” he told her.
 
And she
did.
 
Ned didn’t sleep but he held her
and watched Anne.
 
Her bare breasts rose
and fell in the simple rhythms as she breathed.
 
A small smile played around the corners of her mouth.
 
Sometimes she touched him without being awake
or aware.
  
Twice she mumbled incoherent
words and once he swore she whispered his name.

He
let her sleep until late afternoon but by the time he woke Anne, Ned knew he’d
fallen hard and deep.
 
He wanted her, he
needed her, and he loved her.

But
he couldn’t have her and for the first time in more than a hundred years, Ned
wept silent tears.

Chapter Five

Before
he woke Anne, Ned showered and dressed.
 
He wanted to wash away her smell so it wouldn’t haunt him after she’d
gone.
 
He figured he could avoid further
temptation easier if he was fully clad.
 
 
He had removed the scalp feathers before his
shower and placed them on the dresser. Afterward, he combed out his hair and
put it in a single braid down his back. When Ned went to awaken her, he stared
for a few moments at her beauty then called her name.
 
She roused and stretched.
 
When she sat up, the covers shifted and
revealed her bare breasts.
 
He suppressed
a groan.
 
“What time is it?” Anne asked.

“It’s
evening,” Ned said.
 
“I figured you’d
want to head home before dark and I’ve got to work tonight.”

“I
slept all day?” She sounded as if she couldn’t believe it.

“Yeah,
I guess you were worn out.” He averted his eyes from her bosom.

“Did
you sleep?”
 

“Oh,
yeah,” he lied. “But I’ve been up awhile.”

Her
lips twitched into a smile. “Thanks for letting me sleep.
 
I really need to go, though.
 
I’ve got exams to grade and things to prepare
for Monday.
 
Will you still show me the
way back to town?”

“Sure,”
Ned said. And although he hadn’t planned to offer, he added, “And I’ll buy you
some supper on the way.
 
I promised you
breakfast but we never ate.”

She
raked her hands through her tousled hair and his crotch tightened. “I’m a
mess,” Anne laughed. “Maybe we could get something and take it to my place.”

Hanging
onto his resolve by a thin margin, Ned nodded. “Sure, maybe.”

To
avoid temptation, Ned fed the horses while Anne dressed.
 
Thirty minutes later, he pulled out in his
truck followed by Anne.
 
By then dusk
lengthened the shadows and he had no worries about his pallor.
 
Once they hit Lawton, he pulled over and let
Anne lead the way to her home.
 
When she
turned into an apartment complex off a busy thoroughfare, Ned followed.
 
Once parked, he stepped out.
 
Anne waved him over. “Come on in,” she said.
“We can order a pizza or something.”

Pizza
ranked low on Ned’s personal food chain.
 
“How about I go grab us a couple of hamburgers or something?” he said.
“Or I’ll buy you a steak if you want to change clothes.”

Anne
cocked her head and considered it.
 
“Do
you have time?”

“I’m
not scheduled at work until eleven,” Ned said. “So I do if you want.”

She
touched him, one hand running over his sleeve. “I do.
 
Come up and I’ll get fixed up, then we’ll
go.”

Ned
sat in an armchair and scrutinized Anne’s home while she showered.
 
Her compact apartment utilized every inch of
space.
 
The door opened from the interior
corridor into the living room.
 
A counter
divided it from the utility kitchen and ended with enough space for a small
dinette set.
 
Another doorway opened into
the bedroom and he presumed the bathroom must be adjacent.
 
Accustomed to his own Spartan space, Ned felt
claustrophobic in Anne’s home.
 
Although
she kept things neat, framed photographs and artwork covered much of the wall
space.
 
Ceramic figurines lined a shelf
and a few sat on the counter.
 
One big
basket held magazines and another contained paperback novels.
 
DVDs filled two shelves underneath her
television.
 
A dried floral arrangement
hung on the wall behind the table and a cloth covered the surface.
 
Just inside the entrance door an umbrella
stand held several and a coat rack held two jackets, a winter coat, and a
shawl.
 
Everything reeked of fancy,
fussy, and feminine.
 
Anne interrupted his musings.
 
For the
first time since he’d known her, she wore a dress, a slinky crimson Grecian
style with a flowing skirt. It swirled around her knees with a whispery
sound.
 
“I’m ready,” she said.
 
Ned stared, awestruck at her loveliness.
 
“You look fantastic,” he told her.

Her
blush almost matched the dress. “Thanks.
 
Maybe I’m too dressed up but I wanted to look nice.”

“You
do.”

Ned
took her to his favorite place, an old-fashioned out of the way
steakhouse.
 
It wasn’t a chain and he
knew for a fact it’d been in the same spot since the 1950’s.
  
The building looked more like a diner and it
wasn’t fancy but the steaks were thick, tender, and cooked to perfection.
 
He hadn’t dined there for a while but the
owner, third generation descendant of the original boss, greeted him by
name.
 
They sat at a table near the back
of the restaurant and the dim dining room suited Ned.
 
He ordered sirloin for two, medium rare, and
the hand-cut fries.
 
Potatoes of any kind
didn’t rank high among his favorites but these were the best he’d ever eaten.

Over
the meal, they talked and Ned focused on the food to keep his mind off Anne’s
luscious body.
 
He’d already recognized
her intelligence but as they chatted, he realized she shared many of his
interests and insights.
 
They’d already
covered Comanche life and history but he also learned Anne liked the same types
of music.
 
Like Ned, she wasn’t too fond
of country or pop music but adored hard driving rock and roll.
 
He preferred it because it often had a strong
beat, an echo of the great drum of life.
 
Although Ned didn’t watch much television and few movies, Anne mentioned
his favorites among hers:
Dances With
Wolves
,
Thunderheart
,
and
Dead Man’s Walk.
 

Although
he would’ve pegged her as a salad and grilled chicken breast kind of gal, he
found she enjoyed a good steak.
 
Anne ate
with more appetite than most women he’d been around and she didn’t waste a bite
of the tender beef.
 
They lingered after
the meal, talking until after ten.
 
If he
hadn’t needed to report to work, Ned would’ve remained but since he’d already
called in a few days earlier, he figured he’d better not.
 
“I’ve got to head for work before long. I’ll
take you home first and go.”

At
her apartment, Ned had time to walk her to the door and did.
 
He took time to kiss her, too, with
tenderness combined with a thoroughness, which left them both breathless. The
shared meal and conversation strengthened the connection Ned felt and it made
it difficult for him to say goodbye.
 
Parting for the evening wasn’t the issue, because he figured this had to
be the end.
 
It grieved him more than he’d
thought although he wasn’t going to say anything to Anne.
 
Later, she’d think he must be the worst kind
of man, uncaring and callous but Ned believed it’d be better than knowing his
truth.

“Call
me, okay?” Anne said when the kiss ended.

Her
hands rested against him, one on his chest, and the other on his shoulder. “I
don’t have a phone, remember?” he countered.

“Then
stop by here or the college,” she told him. “Or I’ll come out to the
casino.
 
I want to spend more time with
you, Ned.”

If
he possessed half the honor he once had, Ned would’ve said no.
 
He could cut all ties, but he didn’t want to
hurt Anne.
 
His heart ached with the pain
of parting, of shutting himself off from the first woman he’d ever wanted to
keep since he became undead.
 
It didn’t
help he didn’t feel well, either.
 
His
increased sexual activity combined with their hike and his emotional stress required
additional energy.
 
In short, he needed
blood again and in a greater quantity.
 
For somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred and forty years, he
seldom had, taking the minimum necessary to exist and nothing more.

A
heavy headache pounded inside his skull and his stomach clenched tighter than a
fist.
 
The longer it took to get blood,
the worse he’d feel.
 
It’d happened to
him more the first few years he’d been a vampire and once Ned had grown so ill
he spiked a fever and weakened before he drank some blood.
 
Preoccupied, his answer came slow.
 
“I’m glad,” he told her and he was, just sad
it couldn’t be.

Anne’s
fret line appeared on her forehead. “Are you all right?”

Her
perception amazed him. “I’ve got a bitch of a headache,” he admitted. “I’ll be
fine.”

“Are
you sure you’re not coming down with something?” She touched his forehead and
cheeks. “You looked so awful earlier and now I can see you don’t feel
well.
 
Maybe you shouldn’t go to work
tonight.”

“I’ll
be fine as soon as I get what I need,” he said. “I have to work, Anne.”

“I’ve
got aspirin, ibuprofen, and sinus meds,” she replied. “What do you want?”

Ned
shook his head. “I’ll get what I need on the way, but thanks, honey.
 
I appreciate the offer, though.”

The
endearment slipped out and he knew she noticed.
 
“All right, then. Listen, take care of yourself and let me hear
something from you.
 
I’ll worry if I
don’t.”

“Sure,”
he said.
 
He stroked some of her curls
away from her face. “I’ll see you, Anne.”

By
the time he parked in the employee lot, Ned’s hands trembled.
 
Although he’d be cutting it close, he had to
find a blood donor before he clocked in or he’d never make it through his
shift.
 
He headed into some of the deeper
shadows, away from the halogen parking lot lights to seek out a loner but Gary
hailed him.
 
“Hey, Ned, wait up.”

Shit.
 
He halted and waited.
 
Gary slapped him on the back. “I wondered how
you made out with the pretty lady.”

He
forced a smile. “I just dropped her off after having dinner.
 
So far, so good.”

“Great!
You can tell me all about her at break time.”

“Yeah,
that’d be great.
 
I’ll catch up with you
then.”

Gary
gazed around the empty spaces of the lot. “Aren’t you headed in now?”

Any
excuse would sound lame so Ned didn’t try to make one. “I am in just a minute.”

 
“Whatever. See you after a while.”

As
they’d talked, Ned spotted a lone woman on the far edge of the gambler’s area.
 
She walked with a list so he figured she’d
had a bit much to drink.
 
He hurried
across the pavement and caught up with her. “Can I help you find your car?” he
asked, with all the charm he could muster.