The Comanche Vampire (12 page)

“Wow,”
she said, her gaze scanning him from his toes to his feathers. “You look
amazing and authentic.
 
On you, it looks
so real and natural.”

It
should, Ned thought, although he’d become as comfortable in his blue jeans and
Western shirts.
 
He liked the feel of the
deerskin leggings against his flesh, the wind against his chest.
 
He’d made the knife stuck in his belt.
 
It, along with his shield and lance, were
museum pieces. “Thanks,” he said. “Come on back to the lodge.”

Anne
accepted his offered hand and walked with him to the secluded spot, already
deep in shadow.
 
Ned crouched down on his
haunches to gauge the fire and decided the gray-white coals were ready to cook
the meat.
 
He snuck glances at Anne,
dressed in khaki pants and a tank top.
 
She’d brushed her hair into a high ponytail and after a moment’s
hesitation she sank to the ground and sat cross legged beside him.
 
Anne craned her head back to gaze at the
lodge.
 
“Those are real, right?” she
asked, pointing to his shield and lance.

“Yeah,
family heirlooms,” Ned replied.

“What
about the tipi?”

“It’s
authentic but I made it.
 
Took me a long
time to get enough hides but I did.”

She
came to her feet and inspected the lodge. “Are they all buffalo?”

“Yeah.”
He’d been on some managed hunts at various lodges and places throughout the
Southwest and West, something he didn’t enjoy as much as the genuine
thing.
 
To finish it, though, he’d taken
a couple more from the protected herds, the ones grazing the preserve but he
wasn’t admitting poaching to Anne or anyone else.

“And
you did the work, all of it? Scraped the hides, tanned them, and sewed them
together?”

Ned
joined her beside his lodge. “I sure did and it was a helluva lot of work.
 
Took me years to finish but it’s something I
wanted.”

“It’s
awesome.
 
Do you ever sleep here?”

“Often.
I thought we could tonight if you want.”
 

Pink
flushed her skin, subtle but noticeable.
 
“I’d like that,” Anne said. “Can I go in?”

“Sure,”
he said as he pulled aside the flap. “After you.”

Anne
ducked her head and came into the conical interior.
 
Ned tried to imagine how it must look to her
modern eyes.
 
Although he doubted it’d be
cold enough, he’d laid a fire in the middle below the smoke hole and the
bedding, a couple of buffalo robes and other skins, appeared inviting. His bow
and quiver of arrows rested against one wall. The cooler he’d carried down with
the steaks was the sole anomaly.

“It’s
cozy,” Anne said. “And except for the ice chest, I feel like I’ve stepped back
in time.”

“That’s
the idea.” Ned pulled the meat out and carried it outside.
 
He’d brought plates too, big paper platters
they could toss. “I’m hungry, what about you?”

“I’m
starving.” The way she said it made him think she craved sex as much as he
did.
 
There’d be time for that later, he
thought, and headed back outside to throw the steaks into the flat iron
pot.
 
He’d put the potatoes into the
ashes earlier and with any luck, they’d be done to a tasty turn about the same
time as the steaks.
 
Ned put the pan over
the coals and let the steaks slow cook, searing first one side then the
other.
 
He added no seasoning until he
removed them and then sprinkled a small amount of salt on each.

As
he’d cooked, Anne shared her day with him. She told tales from the classroom
and described the student who got hooted down after he’d informed the others
Custer massacred the Indians at the Little Big Horn.
 
She talked about her American Indian students
and told Ned one of them planned to do his thesis on Quanah Parker’s surrender.
“I told him I knew a descendent of
Pea’hocso
,” she
said. “He seemed impressed.
 
Actually, I
mentioned it to the class and they were awed. They’d be even more if they saw
you out here, like this.
 
Maybe you could
talk to my students about your ancestor sometime. It’d be great.”

Maybe
so, but it’d be risky as well as a little scary. “I’m no man of letters,” Ned
said. “I don’t know, Anne.”

“Just
say you’ll think about it.”

Ned
nodded. “Okay, I will.”

They
ate the steaks and baked potatoes outside.
 
Anne raved about the tenderness of the meat and the intense flavor of
the grass fed and locally raised buffalo. Her delight made Ned happy.
 
They ate the steaks, devoured the potatoes
with nothing but a bit of salt.
 
It was
the best meal he’d had in ages, made better with Anne’s company.
  
After the meal they sat out beneath the stars,
talking.
 
Ned kept Anne within the curve
of his arm, her body leaned against his.
 
The delicious taste of the meat lingered on his tongue and he smoked a
cigarette, somnolent and lazy.
 
The smoke
lifted toward the heavens in slow spirals.
 
He’d taken blood in sufficient quantity the night prior and all Ned’s
wants were sated but one and he’d meet it soon.

He
savored the anticipation, enjoyed the sweet torture of waiting to make his body
and hers into one.
 
Time stretched into
momentary infinity as Ned willed these moments to continue.
 
If he could stop time, he would and remain in
this now forever.
 
If only
this
could be his eternity, he wouldn’t
mind being immortal so much.
 
Ned stared
upward at the star filled sky and the truth came to him.
 
It struck with force and hugeness strong
enough to rob his breath for some seconds.
 
He tried to deny it, blame it on the moonlight but he couldn’t.
 
Certain she’d never understand but possessed
of need to speak it, Ned stroked back Anne’s hair and whispered words he’d
never said to any woman but one, “
U
kamkuto
nu.”

No
one much spoke Comanche any longer so he figured she wouldn’t understand but he’d
made a mistake.
 
Her body stiffened as
she twisted her head to look into his eyes. “
Kee
!”
she exclaimed, ‘no’ in his first tongue but in a way he took to
mean ‘yes’.

“
Haa
,”
Ned said to affirm it.
 
He hadn’t spoken the words in so long, not
since before any living person on the earth had been born, but he meant
them.
 
Speaking them moved him and
brought thick tears into his throat until he doubted he could say more
now.
 

Joy
lit Anne’s features with a soft beauty.
 
Her hand cupped his cheek and she smiled at him. “I’m glad, Ned,” she
whispered. “I love you too.”

Chapter Six

Like
a man living a fantasy, Ned kissed her, heart brimming too full for further
speech. His lips caressed hers with quiet yearning and paid tribute.
 
Desire flowed between them with the power of
a river, the heat of a somnolent summer afternoon, without the quick flare and
flash of uncontrolled fire.
 
Love
tempered passion with tenderness and he pleasured them both with a gentle
hand.
 
He made the kiss last, something
he’d never done under any circumstances.
 
Ned drowned in her sweetness and basked in the love she returned.
 

Anne
kept one hand on his shoulder as their lips remained locked and her other
stroked the side of his neck.
 
Such
affection, simply given moved him more than he could express.
 
After they’d kissed for a long time, his
senses prickled with need and his cock throbbed behind his breechclout.
 
Without a word or need for any, he released
her, helped Anne to her feet, and led her into the lodge.
 
He paused to put the cooler outside then
helped her disrobe with slow grace.
 
He
settled her into the nest of furs he’d made.

Ned
muttered endearments in Comanche, whispered about her beauty in his first
tongue and in English.
 
Anne called him
names no one ever had used or meant for him, words like
honey, babe, sweetheart
…
 
Each one salved some longing in his soul, eased some of the loneliness
he’d endured for decades.
 
In the
sweeping abandon, in his surrender to the knowledge he loved this woman, Ned put
away his concerns, his fears.
 
Sometime
soon, he’d need to tell her the truth, but not now.
 
This night belonged to them.

He
claimed it without haste.
 
Once he’d shed
his garments, Ned took Anne into his arms. He caressed her body with slow,
loving fingers.
 
When he pressed his
mouth against the faint blue lines tracing her veins, Ned did so with passion,
not hunger nor need.
 
Her pulse beat
against his lips and he savored it without any temptation to bite.
 
When he reached Anne’s full breasts, he
suckled one nipple and shuddered with delight.
 
When Anne put her mouth on his, however, he quivered and almost
came.
 
Sensation drowned him in a warm
tide of pleasure.
 

As
they made love, he licked and she
laved
her tongue
over his skin. Anne’s nails raked his back as their pace increased.
 
One moment he kissed her breasts, the next Ned
pinched her nipples with enough force to nip but not hurt.
 
When the throbbing tension in his cock could
no longer be borne, Ned put his hands on Anne’s hips and entered her with a
swift, powerful thrust.
 
She cried out,
her shriek of delight tempered with surprise.
 
He dominated her, but as he sank into her tight shaft, so warm and
slick, Ned shouted too.
 
Together they
rode and strained toward release.
 
Each
time that she managed to squeeze his dick with the walls of her pussy, he
groaned with enjoyment.
 

Ned
gave and took, and Anne did the same.
 
In
their wild efforts, they hit the peak together in an intense burst of erotic
ecstasy.
 
It rocked him body and soul and
they quivered together.
 
He swore he felt
the vibration of thunder and was blinded by lightning.
 
They crashed down to earth and he cradled
Anne in his arms, content.
 
They murmured
and muttered happy nothings.
 
She drifted
to sleep and to his surprise, so did Ned.

He
didn’t sleep long but woke disoriented after a few moments.
 
Ned recognized the lodge but with a woman
curled against him, he could almost believe he’d returned to his time.
 
The aroma of wood smoke from the fire tickled
his nose and combined with a lingering smell of the buffalo meat.
 
He thought he might be dreaming until he saw
the red gold curls spilling out over the hides with abandon and thought
Anne.
 
Everything returned then with a force strong enough to swamp him.

Ned
loved her and she felt the same.
  

The
realization rocked him to his foundation, to the core of whatever beliefs he
had left and sank into his soul.
 
It
stretched large and beyond his known boundaries, wider and deeper than anything
he’d ever known or experienced.
 
His soul
radiated with joy yet he couldn’t help but be afraid.
 
He’d meant to retreat before they reached
such a place, to end their friendship and to put Anne out of his reach.
 
But Ned hadn’t and didn’t want to do so.
 
Now he didn’t see how he could, without inflicting
major damage on them both.
 
He could deal
with the hurt, but he couldn’t bear to cause Anne pain or to steal away the
happiness he’d seen reflected in her eyes.
 
Disturbed, he crawled out of the bed he’d made for his love and went
outside to sit beside the fire, still naked.
 
He stirred it until a few flames leapt up and he added more wood to keep
it burning.

Beneath
the night sky, Ned pondered his situation.
 
He’d forgotten the cares and troubles of the living, the emotion and the
anguish.
 
After he’d become a vampire,
through no will of his own, he’d taken at least a decade to adapt, to learn to
stay in the shadows and not to care.
 
Little by little, he’d withdrawn from life, disassociated himself from the
other members of the
Quohada
, and stopped
living.
 
He’d existed for so long, driven
by chance and his few needs, he’d failed to recall how powerful life could be.
 
Although he remained an undead creature,
unnatural and earthbound for eternity, Ned’s misery made him feel more alive
than he had since the late 1880’s.