The Comanche Vampire (20 page)

“It’s
okay.
 
I’m not hungry but if you are,
there’s all the soup and stuff you had me buy.”

“Soup
sounds pretty good, but if you want a hamburger, I’ll warm one up for you.”

Her
thoughtfulness pleased Ned.
 
She’d found
some pre-cooked frozen burgers at the supermarket, which heated in the
microwave, and they were edible as well as easy.
 
“You know me pretty good, don’t you?”

Anne
twisted her head around and smiled. “I think maybe I do.
 
Do you want one?”

“Make
it a double with a slice of cheese in between,” he said. “Are you having soup?”

She
sniffled. “I think I’ll have a bowl of chicken noodle.
 
I’ll go make lunch in a minute.
 
I just hate to move.”

“So
don’t.”

Anne
laughed and shook her head. “I need to, though.”

After
a few minutes she unwound out of the blanket and headed for the kitchen.
 
Ned followed and while she warmed the food,
he stared out the side window at the blizzard.
 
His vision ended after a few feet and after that nothing but solid white
loomed.
 
He opened his mouth to comment
and the lights dimmed for a few seconds.
 
Anne, at the stove, glanced up, a worry line wrinkling her forehead. “Do
you think we’ll lose power?”

“I
think it’s likely.
 
If so, though, it’ll
be all right.
 
We’ve got the fireplace
and plenty of logs outside the backdoor.
 
There’s food and I’ve got some oil lamps.
 
I probably should get them out after we eat,
just in case.”

“I
hope the electricity stays on anyway. Aren’t you worried?”

“Nope,
I’ve done fine without it.
 
Real power
doesn’t come over a line.
 
It’s in the wind
and this storm. We’ll do fine, but let’s eat while the food’s hot.”

Anne
brought a plate with his double cheeseburger and sat across from him.
 
“We’ll still be able to use the range, won’t
we?”

“Oh,
yeah, we should.
 
It’s propane.
 
No microwave, but we can cook over the
fireplace if we need to, honey.
 
Don’t
worry.”

Her
half-smile was weak. “I’m trying not to, Ned. Will we be snowed in, do you
think?”

“Maybe
a day or two.
 
It’s hard to tell until
the snow quits.” She didn’t seem reassured so he added, “Anne, I could take
care of us out in the weather if necessary.”

She
did smile then, a full-wattage expression. “If anyone could, it’d be you,
Ned.
 
I guess I don’t have anything to
worry about.”

He
watched her spoon soup into her mouth, her motions dainty and neat.
 
Ned ate his burger, savoring the taste of the
meat, but he was a little preoccupied.
 
He’d told her the truth, but he had a single worry he wouldn’t share
with Anne.
 
As long as they remained
inactive, he’d be fine but if they made love – which he intended to do – and
expended a lot of energy, he’d need blood.
 
Ned refused to take more from Anne.
 
He’d done it twice and a third time would turn her.
 
He wouldn’t without her knowledge and
permission.
 
Even then, he’d be hesitant
because he knew all too well what kind of existence she’d endure.
 
He could take blood from one of the ponies if
he had to but he’d need more since it wasn’t human.
 
But he’d manage well enough.

The
kitchen remained chillier than the front room and after lunch, Ned noticed Anne
rubbing her hands together. “Still cold?”
 

Anne
shivered. “Uh-huh.”

Ned
put his arms around her and kissed her mouth with slow, deliberate heat. “I
know a way to warm up, honey,” he said as he nuzzled her neck with his lips.
 

She
caught her breath and her hands tugged at the flannel shirt he wore.
 
Anne’s fingers fumbled at the buttons and
undid the first three. “I like the way you think,” she murmured.
 

He
led her into the bedroom but even with his lower than normal body temperature
Ned noticed the chill.
 
He could see
Anne’s breath. “Honey, you’ll freeze if we do it here,” he said.
 

“I
don’t mind,” she said. “Under the covers, we’ll be warm enough.”

She
reached the bottom button and peeled his shirt from his body then ran an icy
hand beneath his thermal underwear.
 
His
nipples hardened in response to her frigid touch and he moaned. “Anne,” he
said.
 
Her mouth clamped over his and
stopped the rest of the sentence. Her lips touched off a fever in his
blood.
 
Ned responded, body tingling with
want and aching with need.
 
His cool body
came to life with rising passion, his cock stirring to attention.
 
As he pulled Anne’s sweater off, removed her
lace-trimmed bra and slid his hand down the flat of her belly to unbutton her
jeans, he burned.
 
Invisible fire kindled
and leapt between their bodies.

A
hunger he must fill raged within so Ned worked her tight denims down to her
ankles.
 
Anne kicked the pants away and
within moments, they faced each other, nude and shivering, but not with
cold.
 
Ned admired the matching globes of
her breasts and used his fingertips to trace the darker nipples.
 
Each perked at his touch.
 
He traced an invisible line down her throat
and between her tits.
 
Goose pimples
erupted on her skin and he wondered if the cold or his touch were the
cause.
 
He caught her in a tight embrace
and kissed her until he didn’t think she could breathe.
 
Ned released her and knelt.
 
He let his fingers crawl up her leg, slow and
tantalizing until they reached her pussy.
 
He covered her mound with one hand and smiled.
 
Her heat centered here and he craved it.

Anne
stepped a few paces to the rear until her knees backed against the
mattress.
 
Ned thrust a tentative finger
into her twat then changed his mind.
 
He
bent his head and put his mouth over the tender lips of her opening. Warmth
rushed toward him in a wave so sweet he thought he might drown in it. She
moaned and he shifted position so he could insert his tongue into her inferno.
Ned tasted the salt, the peculiar flavor of a woman and savored it. He switched
tongue for finger and then pushed her back onto the bed.
 
She splayed her legs wide and without any
further foreplay he slammed into her. The walls of her pussy contracted hot and
tight around his dick, bathing it with extreme pleasure.
 

He
came in and out several times, fast and furious.
 
Each time, she whimpered with delight and the
sound enticed him to repeat his actions.

By
the time they came, Anne begged and Ned couldn’t hold back any longer.
 
He slammed in deeper than before and
paused.
 
Sensation reverberated through
him, sharper than a blade, more powerful than electricity and he cried out,
unable to contain his release.
 
Anne
wailed and shrieked then shuddered still as he flopped beside her, spent and satisfied.

They
basked together for a few minutes before she shivered and shuddered. “I’m
freezing,” she said with a light laugh.
 
Despite her amusement Ned realized how cold she must be and he pulled
the comforter around them.
 
Their body
heat banished some of the chill but as the sharp winds rocked the house, he
realized temperatures must have been dropping outside.

“Wait,”
he said.

“What
am I waiting for?”

“You’ll
see,” Ned said.
 
He paddled across to the
closet and reached into the depths.
 
He
pulled out two bundles and carried them into the front room.
 
He unrolled the buffalo hides onto the floor
in front of the fire, the first with fur side up they could lie upon and the
other fur side down to cover them.
 
He
fetched Anne and when she saw the hides, she smiled, face pink and pretty with
a blush.
 

“Should
I get dressed first?” she asked but he shook his head.
 

“Crawl
into the furs with me,” he said. “We’ll get warm and stay that way.”

Anne
hesitated then dropped low and crawled onto the first skin.
 
Ned joined her and pulled the other hide over
them.
 
They were tucked tight into a
pocket of buffalo, the fur soft and luxurious beneath their nude flesh.
 
“Oh, this is so nice,” Anne murmured. “But
I’m surprised you didn’t insist we go out to the lodge.”

If
he’d thought about it, they probably would have. “It’d be just as warm,” he
said. “But we’ve got a few more creature comforts in the house.”

“Like?”

Her
warm body tucked against his created a temptation but Ned did his best to
resist.
 
If he yielded, he’d be out
biting a pony within the hour. “Well, in the house I don’t have to freeze my
cock off if I need to piss,” he said and Anne giggled.

They
settled down to talk about unimportant things until the conversation
faded.
 
“I’m getting so sleepy,” Anne
told him with a yawn.

Ned
could hardly keep his eyes open, rare for him, but the combination of comfort,
weather, good sex, and the drain on his system made him very drowsy.
 
“Me, too,” he said.

“Really?”
Anne sounded surprised. “You hardly ever sleep.
 
I was beginning to think you didn’t.”

Her
words marked the first time she’d made a casual reference to his claim to be a
vampire.
 
Maybe she’s considered it, he
thought, and maybe someday she’ll realize it’s true.
 
Aloud he said, “I don’t, much, probably not
as much as I need.”

“Then
you’re overdue,” Anne told him. “Shut your eyes and rest, darling.”

Overcome
with the need to recharge his inner batteries, to preserve the spark of life
flowing through his veins, Ned did.

Chapter Ten

Ned
woke disoriented.
 
In the first moments
of awakening his sense of time skewed and he wasn’t sure if it were day or
night.
 
The once familiar buffalo robes
lulled him back into the past until he caught sight of the firelight casting
shadows on Anne’s fair skin.
 
Then he
recalled the present, when and where and what he was.
 
He’d left a lamp on, though, so it shouldn’t
be this dark.
 
He slid out from between
the buffalo furs and flipped the switch.
 
Nothing happened so he padded into the kitchen and repeated the
action.
 
It confirmed what he’d already
realized: the electricity was out.
 

“Ned?”
Anne’s voice floated from the living room. “What happened?”

“The
storm must’ve knocked the power off,” he answered. “I’ll grab one of the oil
lamps.
 
Stay there and be warm, okay?”

“I
will.
 
Did you get dressed?” He hadn’t so
he took time to pull on his clothes.
 
Then he got two oil lamps, one a glass hurricane-style lamp, the other
the kind with a tall clear chimney. He filled both from the lamp oil he kept
under the kitchen sink and lit one.
 
Ned
carried it into the front room and placed it on the end table beside the now
useless table lamp.
 
Its flickering flame
cast tall shadows against the wall.
 
Anne
peeked at him from under the hide, her face softened by the illumination.
 
She watched him as he stoked the fire. “I’m
going to bring some more wood in,” he told her. “I’ll be right back.”

When
he stepped out onto the back porch, the frigid air cut through him like a
sharpened blade.
 
Ned shivered and wished
he’d at least donned his blue jean jacket.
 
Most of the snow had slacked off but he gauged at least ten inches,
maybe twelve on the ground.
 
He used his
hands to pull more wood from the pile and carried it inside.
 
Ned left most of it on the back porch.
 
Anne met him in the kitchen. “I’m heating up
what’s left of the coffee,” she told him. “You look frozen.”

“Almost
but not quite.” He kept his voice light. “Before I settle down, I need to move
the stuff from the fridge out to the back porch or it’ll melt.
 
The power may be out several days, maybe
more.”