CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Wednesday morning found me waking in bed with a much calmer feeling in my stomach. I would be with my vamp to the very end. I would hold his hand and tell him that he meant everything to me, as the light in his eyes flickered out. I was still horrified at the prospect of watching that…but I was resolved to do it. He wanted this. He needed this. And I would be there for him, in the only way I could be.
Kissing my cheek lightly, whispering that he loved me and he’d see me after work, Teren left me a couple hours before I had to leave myself. I stretched in bed and with a deep, relaxing breath in and out, I mentally prepared myself to have a conversation with Clarice about taking some much needed time off of work.
I dressed in the way that she preferred, hoping to maybe score some points with her - a long, heavy skirt and a frilly, long-sleeved conservative top. I piled my thick locks on top of my head and grabbed a fitted jacket before heading out the door, to make a request that my boss was either going to approve…or she’d lose me.
She happened to be at my desk with a stack of papers when I approached her. My heart started quickening at the anticipation of the conversation. Her pudgy face took in my near carbon copy recreation of her outfit, and a slight tugging at the corners of her lips indicated a smile.
She handed me the stack when I was within arm’s length. “I need these copied and faxed by lunch,” she said brusquely.
”Good morning, Clarice.” I said, grabbing the papers and slapping a forced smile on my face. “I wanted to give you a heads-up, but I’ll be giving you a written notice as well…” I took a deep breath and spoke with my exhale, “I’m taking all the vacation and sick time that I’ve accrued in my time here, two weeks from Friday.”
Clarice looked surprisingly at a loss for words. Finally, she sputtered, “Oh…well…of course.” She looked around the office as she did calculations in her head of how long I’d be gone. “I guess I’ll get the temp agency to get someone out here to replace you…” Her eyes came back to my face and her brows were knitted in concern. “You are coming back…right?”
I smiled, genuinely happy that I was wanted here in my odd little family. “Of course. I just have a…a family situation that needs my attention.”
She smiled widely for the first time I’d ever seen, and then it faded immediately. “Well, I’ll need to see that in writing, as you said, and the dates will need to be clearly specified for your departure and return.”
I smiled inwardly at the return of “professional” Clarice. “Sure…no problem.” Well, the leaving date would be easy – two weeks from Friday is what Teren was giving his work, but the coming back date? I’d just have to pick a date as far out as I could and hope for the best.
Clarice twisted her lips as she regarded me. “You could have given us longer than two weeks to prepare.”
I cringed appropriately. “Sorry…it was sort of an emergency that popped up at the last minute. Thank you for understanding,” I threw in, as she looked about to protest.
She swallowed her complaint and flicking my stack of papers with her finger, she pointedly said, “By noon. I don’t want you slacking off, because you’re leaving soon.”
I stifled a sigh. “No problem, Clarice.”
She waddled back across the aisle to her spacious desk in front of Mr. Peterson’s office, and I turned to set down my stack of urgent papers and my starting-to-get-heavy purse.
I’d barely shoved the purse in my drawer before Tracey’s blonde head popped up over the wall. “You’re leaving?” Her eyes scrunched in a mixture of annoyance and concern.
I sighed softly as I looked over my sad faced friend. When I got back, things would probably be different in our friendship. Not that she and I wouldn’t still talk nearly every day, have lunch every so often, take kick-boxing together, and maybe even occasionally take Ash out for a drink…but the double dating aspect of our relationship would change.
What we could all do together as a foursome would change, and how close Tracey and Ben could get to Teren would change. To lessen the risk of exposure for Teren, there would just be a lot more…carefulness when we were all together again. The breezy casualness of our group outings would be gone. I’d miss that.
Smiling softly, I answered her question, “Teren’s Dad is sick and Teren needs to take some time off, to work up at the ranch, until he gets better. I’m going as well…to help out.” Teren and I had talked about what to tell people last night. This was what he was telling his boss and coworkers…it would work for mine as well.
Tracey’s face fell in sympathy. “Oh…is he going to be okay?”
I knew she meant Teren’s Dad, but Teren’s jet-black hair, pale blue eyes and lightly stubbled face leapt into my head, and I had to swallow to force back the sudden tears. “He’ll be fine, Trace.”
She nodded and, accepting my lie, reached out over her wall to pat my shoulder. I tapped her arm back in thanks, and she ducked her head back down to continue on with her day. I got to work on my papers, forcing my mind to completely shut off.
I spent every waking moment that I could with Teren, as we prepared to leave. There were several more conversations that we had to do. The first, and easiest, perhaps, was calling his parents. He waited until Friday evening to do it. At his reluctance to pick up the receiver, I wondered if his stubborn pride would even let him make this phone call. As he stared blankly at the thing, I considered punching in the numbers for him.
Looking at me, and perhaps noticing my expression, he sighed and dialed his family home.
“Hi Dad,” he said when the line picked up. He leaned back against the kitchen counter and folded his arms across his chest. I walked over to him and unfolded one arm to sling it around my waist. He smiled and kissed my head as he listened to his dad talk to him for a few long seconds.
During a break in the conversation he muttered, “Will you tell Mom that I’m coming home…to stay.” He said it very quietly, and I wondered if his dad’s normal human ear even registered the sound.
Teren straightened a bit and his eyes unfocused as he listened to the other end. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Mom…put Dad back on.” He listened, as I smiled at his mom’s enthusiasm. He closed his eyes. “Please stop crying. I’m fine…Emma’s fine…you win.” He opened his eyes and sighed. “I know, Mom…I know it was never a contest.”
He smiled softly and started rubbing circles into my back. I ran a hand up his chest and our eyes locked as he spoke with his mother. “She’s coming too. I want her there.” His tone was final. It clearly said ‘there will be no debate on this’. I smiled and kissed him lightly.
His mom apparently gave no argument, for the next thing he said was, “Wagyu…really? Well…thank you.” His lips lifted to a genuine smile and I wondered what they were talking about.
His hand ran through my hair as he smiled down on me, still listening to his mother talk in his ear. For a moment, I wished I had his uncanny hearing, so I could be privy to the conversation. “I’ll be coming up in two weeks.” He frowned into the phone and stopped stroking my hair. “It was the best I could do, Mom.” He paused as he listened. “I have a job…a life that needed some loose ends tied up…”
He scowled. “Mom…” His tone was getting irritated with her and I cleared my throat, a clear warning to the both of them. Teren paused, smiled and then laughed. “Yes…she does do that.” He grinned crookedly and again, I wondered what they were talking about.
“Okay…I love you too, Mom. Give my best to Dad and the others…bye.” He hung up the phone and slung both arms around my waist. I waited for an explanation on the many pauses, but all I got was a warm set of lips on my neck.
“So…” I began, struggling to remember the bits and pieces I’d heard, while Teren’s soft lips traveled up my skin.
“So…” he repeated huskily in my ear.
I resisted the urge to press my body against his and run my hands up through his hair. I pulled back a little and his eyes danced with playfulness. “What did they say?”
His hands lowered to firmly cup my backside and he pulled me tight against him. “Do you really want to talk about this now?”
I ignored how incredibly nice that felt, and pushed back on his chest again. “Wa…gyu?” I said, stumbling a bit over the odd word.
He laughed and relaxed his hold on me, running a finger through the hair by my ear, tucking it behind it. “A couple months ago, they ordered me some cows, just in case I changed my mind about the ranch.” He laughed again and shook his head. “Kind of an incentive. They’re arriving next week.” Shrugging, he finished with, “It’s actually pretty nice of my parents. Wagyu cattle are the best around.”
My brows came together in confusion. Was I missing something obvious? He laughed as he looked at my bewilderment. Ignoring his amusement, I asked, “Are they raising these Wagyu now? Do they expect you to stay and work there?”
He cocked his head and blinked blankly at me. Then he broke into a wide smile and a laugh. “They’re congratulations cows.” I shook my head, still not getting it. “Emma…” He brought his two fore fingers to his mouth and held them in front of his lips like fangs. “Congratulations…here’s your cow…cheers.”
I shut my eyes and shook my head. Oh…duh, right. I reopened my eyes and looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “You and the girls aren’t going to go hunting or something, for your first day as a dead vampire?”
He shook his head and grimaced. “I hate hunting. Fishing I like, but hunting…” he shook his head again, “no thanks.”
I smiled and shook my head at my very unvampire-like vampire. “You are such a disappointment,” I muttered, as I kissed him softly.
He laughed and grabbed me tight again. I tried not to gasp, but it came out anyway. “I bet I could change your mind,” he nearly growled.
I bet he could. Not giving in to his very clear desire just yet, I pulled back. “Why don’t you like hunting? Isn’t that some instinctual part of being a vampire?”
He cocked an eyebrow at me, as he smiled cockily. “Why don’t you like shoe shopping? Isn’t that an instinctual part of being a woman?”
I smacked him harshly on the shoulder. He was right…about the hating it part. There was nothing that irritated me more, than trying on pair after pair of ‘they just look funny on me’ shoes. I smacked him on the shoulder again and laughing, he continued, “Why would I want to run through the countryside like an idiot, when Bessie will just stand there and let me drain her dry?”
I rolled my eyes as I gazed up at him. “You’re just…you’re a metro-vampire.”
He blinked and looked at me with an odd expression. “I’m what?”
I put on my matter-of-fact face. “You’re a metro-vampire. You drink espresso and drive a hybrid and work for a lifestyle magazine and dress better than any other man I know.” I dug my finger into his chest playfully. “You just don’t want to get your nails dirty, running through the woods after your dinner.”
He gaped at me with his mouth wide open and then he cocked his head to the side. “Wait…why are my nails getting dirty in your little scenario? Am I falling down a lot after the change?”
I started to glare at him and smack his smartass, when his lips were suddenly on mine again. When his tongue slid in my mouth, I stopped my pointless, flirty banter. When his hands quite firmly found my ass again, I stopped stifling the groans I’d wanted to make, and when he zipped me to his bedroom he proved that his manliness, vampiric or otherwise, was never in question.
After a long couple days of phone calls - shutting off services, holding mail, paying bills in advance, all the mundane stuff you have to do before a long trip, we were back at our Tuesday night dinner with my family, and had to break the news to them. It wasn’t as if I were going all that far away, but there really was no telling when Teren’s change was going to happen, so I wouldn’t be leaving the ranch for any reason. And it wouldn’t be safe for them to visit…not until after.
Teren and I sat down across from my mom and Ashley, and right away I knew Ashley knew something was up. Her brown eyes, that were the exact same light shade as mine, burned with questions that she wanted to ask, but couldn’t in front of Mom. I’d pull her aside later, but for now, she’d have to buy the lie that we were about to spill to my mom.
Mom seemed to notice the tension in the air as well. She tucked some of her chin length hair behind her ears and eyed the two of us speculatively. I looked at Teren, hoping for a way to be honest with my mom, without having to tell her the truth. That just wasn’t possible though.
Her voice broke the silence, “God, you’re pregnant ,aren’t you?”
My eyes flicked back to her, and Teren started laughing nervously beside me. I wanted to laugh, to brush off her concerns, but I wasn’t pregnant yet and I really wished I was, so my eyes started to tear up. Teren stopped laughing when he noticed my eyes. He squeezed my hand and leaned down, as if to casually kiss my cheek. After he did he quickly whispered, “There will be time.”
I nodded imperceptibly, to anyone but him, and forced the ‘don’t be silly’ grin on my face for my mother’s benefit. “No, Mom,” I exaggerated.
She sighed with relief, then her jovial face sparkled with playfulness. “Are you getting married? Do I finally get to plan a big wedding?” Her eyes, the same shade of brown as Ashley’s and mine, glowed with the thought of planning the big day for her daughter. I swallowed and forced back the tears. I wasn’t even sure if that day could happen, not that Teren had asked me yet. But he wouldn’t exactly be the champagne swilling, cake eating groom. How would I explain that to her?
Teren leaned down and kissed my cheek again. He didn’t whisper anything that time and I slumped a little, at him not taking that opportunity to ask me. Was he getting cold feet? The thought that my vamp, who actively tried to knock me up daily, would in a few months actually have cold feet – made me giggle with barely contained hysterics. My mom watched my reaction oddly and then started laughing herself. Teren and Ash joined in and we all had a moment of levity, for no apparent reason.
When the laughs died down, I muttered, “No…not yet, Mom.” Teren squeezed my hand on the word ‘yet’ and looking over at him, I noticed him wink at me. Hmmm…maybe he did want that future for us?
Teren filled in the blanks on our big announcement, while I continued gazing at him. “My father has fallen ill and I need to be with him…to help out on the ranch for a couple months, until he’s better.” My mother’s face fell into a sympathetic one and she looked about to reply. Teren cut her off before she could, “Emma is going to come out with me…to help my step-mother.”
My mom’s face softened into a small smile as she gazed at me approvingly. My sister gasped loudly and her mouth fell open. Tears sprang to her eyes and she looked shocked and horrified, and about to protest quite loudly…in front of Mom.
“But…Emma…?”
My mother looked over to her with thin lips. Teren dropped his mouth and looked about to say something, but I quickly beat him to it. “Ash…I need to go to the restroom, will you come with me?”
Her mouth in a hard line, she nodded her half-haired head and stood stiffly at the side of the table. I rose from the edge and, locking my elbow with hers, quietly walked away from the table.
Ash wasn’t so quiet. “Emma…that’s nuts. You can’t be around him while he changes. That’s…that’s near suicide!” She was whispering, but I shushed her anyway. I looked back at Teren, who was flushing slightly as he tried to assure my mom that nothing was wrong. He’d clearly heard my sister say that and I’m sure he didn’t like the comment.
She didn’t say anything else and we shuffled into the bathroom in a sullen silence. I checked under all the stall doors and when I was positive we were alone, I turned back to her.
“Emma…please,” she started immediately.
I put my hands on her arms. “He asked me to be there when he died, Ashley. How could I possibly say no to that?”
She looked over my face and opened and shut her mouth several times. “But…Emma…?”
I ran a hand down her scarred face as her tears spilled over. “Please don’t worry about me, Ash. His family will keep me safe.” She closed her eyes and started to cry in earnest. I held her close and rubbed her back. “It will be okay, Ash, I promise.” I didn’t mentally overlook the fact that the only assurance I could give her, was a promise, and I knew from experience just how empty those promises can sound.
She held me back and cried a moment longer on my shoulder, before pulling back to look at me. I wiped some tears off her cheeks as she sniffled. “You’ll be careful?” she asked hesitantly, not sounding like she wanted to sound too approving of my plan, but knowing she had no choice – my mind was made up.
I held her face in both hands. “I will be the most careful human around a hungry vampire, that anyone has ever seen…okay?”
She shook her head and then nodded. To ease her mind more, I added, “I won’t be there for the actual change. After his heart stops, his father will drive us safely away, until Teren has had his fill of cattle.”
She looked at me blankly, and then smacked my shoulder roughly. “You couldn’t have led with that! Geeze, Emma…I was picturing them tying you down next to him like some virginal sacrifice.”
I rubbed my shoulder and rolled my eyes at her, as we both started to giggle. “I’m hardly virginal, Ashley.”
She laughed harder and gave me a huge hug…all was forgiven. “I love you, sis.”
I held her back tight and exhaled softly. “I love you too. I’ll be fine…okay.”
“You better be,” she muttered and I thought I heard her add, “I’ll stake his ass, if you’re not.”
Cleaning up our faces, we hugged one last time before exiting the bathroom to rejoin dinner. Teren and my mom were laughing over something as we calmly approached the table. Teren eyed me with a clear question in the slight arch of his brow, and too low for the others to hear, I muttered, “She’s fine…we’re fine.” He nodded once and flicked his eyes to her as she sat down.
Ashley met his gaze calmly and muttered something under her breath. I didn’t hear what she said, but Teren’s eyes saddened as he flicked a quick glance to me. He nodded briefly to her, before picking up his fork and resuming his meal, which had arrived while we’d been in the bathroom, the waitress, Debby, knowing perfectly well what we’d order.
I glanced up at Ashley across from me as she picked up her fork. She gave me a small grin before shifting her focus to her meal. My mother seemed oblivious of the silent conversations going on around her and after wiping her mouth with a napkin, asked me if I was alright. I assured her I was and that everything was great. She eyed me oddly for half a second, and then asked Teren what we’d have to do on the ranch.
I wondered if she suspected something was going on, and was choosing to ignore it. My mom would fight for me like a mother bear if the situation called for it, but Teren and I were happy, and relatively healthy, so whatever was going on, obviously wasn’t dangerous (in her eyes). Sometimes, living in ignorance is the easiest way to get through life…especially when it comes to your loved ones.
After the meal, we hugged goodbye in the parking lot, Teren muttering something in Ashley’s ear again, before helping her in the car. Once we were back in his vehicle, I asked, yet again, what he and my sister were chatting about. With a half-smile, he told me that at the table, she’d threatened to kill him if anything happened to me, and a few seconds ago in the parking lot, he’d told her that he’d let her stake him, if anything happened to me.
I shook my head in disbelief at these people who loved me so fiercely.
The following week and a half were a blur. I’m sure the days happened. They must have, for I’m pretty sure time travel isn’t possible. Of course, just a few months ago I’d felt the same about vampires. But somewhere in the goodbye meals with my family, a final double date with Tracey and Hot Ben (who was anxious for Teren to return for more “guy time”) and arranging for Spike to live with my mom and sister while we were gone (no need to tempt Halina, right), days flew by.
Tracey threw me a little going away party on my last Friday, much to Clarice’s dismay. She brought me a bouquet of wild flowers and enough chocolate cupcakes for the entire staff, which I think finally made Clarice okay with the whole distraction. Handing me my cupcake, with a lit sparkler on the top, we hugged for several long seconds. We both had tears in our eyes as we pulled apart, and I already missed my vivacious friend.
After the mini bon voyage, I went home and Teren was already there in my drive, waiting for me to prepare for our trip. I packed up bags of clothes and supplies for our “vacation that wasn’t a vacation” and we added my stuff to Teren’s few bags, loading up his Prius to near bursting. Teren commented wryly that his parents did have a washing machine and I didn’t need to pack half my closet, and I’d smacked him soundly in the chest. Over packing is a woman’s prerogative. I’d even refused his offer to do it for me again. As good as he was at it, the selecting and folding of clothing, calmed my mind and my nerves. Honestly, I think that’s why I seriously over packed. Stopping had caused my mind to drift to unpleasant things, so I’d purposely avoided doing that.
And so, on a cloudless, blue autumn Saturday morning, after a peaceful night of holding each other until we fell into a deep sleep, my vampire and I headed out to his parents’ ranch, where he was slated to die within 6 weeks. I cast a final glance back at my house as we pulled out of the driveway. The early morning sunlight glinted in the windows and the house almost looked like it was winking goodbye to me. I smiled at the blue beauty, with the old-fashioned white shutters and flower boxes, and a bright red door. My grandmother’s house, that looked like a half-gallon carton of milk smashed in-between other half-gallon cartons of milk, each holding the other up for support. I silently wished the house well in my absence, and turned back to the road.
We were silent as we drove along, passing by people walking their pets, or older couples, holding hands as they went about their morning. I watched a particularly cute, wrinkled couple and sighed softly. No, that would never be Teren and I, but we would still have a great life together. Once we got through his death, of course.
Hearing me sigh, Teren stretched out his warm hand and placed it over mine on my knee. I turned my palm and laced our fingers together. He exhaled in a long, steady breath, like he was struggling with a nervous stomach. He glanced over at me and tried to smile, but it quickly fell off his face.
Feeling a jittery tension in the air, I tried to lighten the mood. “You know, you never did teach me any Russian.”
He looked over at me with a genuine smile on his lips. Mission accomplished. “I guess I didn’t, did I?”
I raised an eyebrow at him and waited patiently for him to start. He laughed, once he realised I was waiting for my first lesson right now. With a smile still on his lips, he flicked a glance back to the empty stretch of road, leading to a main artery out of the city. Looking back to me, he warmly said, “Ya tebya lyublyu.”
I scrunched my brow and tried to repeat the odd sounding phrase. “Ya tebya…”
“Lyublyu,” he said again, with a warm glow in his eyes to match the one on his lips.
I tried again, saying the words as close as I could to English, so the strange pronunciation made sense to me. “Ya teb-ya lou-blue.” He nodded and smiled wider and feeling more confident, I spouted it out again, trying to match his authentic cadence. He laughed a little and nodded.
His eyes turned back to the road as we hit the highway, leading us away from our homes. “What did I say?” I scanned his face as I asked him that and his eyes twinkled merrily in the morning rays, but he didn’t answer me. I frowned. “Teren…what did you have me say?”
He started laughing softly at my tone, but still refused to answer me. I exhaled dramatically, “Oh god…you made me say something dirty, didn’t you?”
He started laughing in earnest and looked over at me again, adoration clear in his features. Shaking his head, he softly said, “It means ‘I love you’.”
I blushed a little, and then started laughing with him. I squeezed our hands still laced together and looked out the window at San Francisco trailing behind me. Darn romantic vampire. As more and more of the city fell behind me, and romantic Russian syllables danced in my head, I asked Teren something that I’d thought randomly one day, back when he’d first told me what he was.
“Do you ever walk down the street and have a woman pass you and think – hmmm…I’d like a bite of that girl?” I grinned widely over at where he was still chuckling at me.
He shook his head at my odd question and laughed more. “Of course… who doesn’t?” He shrugged and continued laughing, all worry momentarily gone from his features, as I kept the mood in the car light.
I frowned playfully. “I’m serious, Teren.”
He bit his lip to rein in his laughter and looked back over the road. “Well, if I see a pretty girl, who smells appealing, I may wonder for a second if her blood is a particularly good…vintage.” He shrugged again. “But that’s about it.”
I smiled as I thought about my next question. “Did you think that about me?”
He looked back at me with an open, loving, honest face and responded suggestively with, “Why do you think I called you?”
My body flushed all over and his eyes lingered down my skin, before turning back to the road. His grin was that alluring half-smile, that was so darn sexy, and my hand clutching his suddenly wanted to be running through his hair and across his strong shoulders. I may have gotten carried away with my mood relaxing questions.
I stared at him with open interest in my eyes for a long time, while his watched the road, his grin never leaving him. Just as I was about to tell him to pull over somewhere, before we reached his parents’ place of super-hearing mood killers, he did pull the car over.
Confused, and slightly alarmed that he could maybe read minds now, I looked around at where we were. We were quite a ways from the city now, away from the main highway and on a slower, less traveled road. In fact, there weren’t any cars coming or going on this dusty stretch of blacktop, for as far as I could see. But before I could get too excited over that prospect, the reason Teren had pulled over became glaringly obvious.
Pulled over on the side of the road, was a small camper, the kind that looked like a fifth wheel trailer and a pickup truck had given birth to a truck/trailer hybrid. This poor creation was suffering from some sort of vehicular malaise. The engine hood was propped open, and someone was scooted underneath it, examining the underbelly. All we could see were a pair of denims protruding out onto the road, rather dangerously. If this road were busier, he’d probably have gotten his ankles run over by now.
Teren separated our hands and made to open his door. I looked back to him. “What are you going to do?”
He gave me a quick peck. “I’m going to see if I can help. I know a little bit about cars, working on my dad’s jeeps.” He shrugged. “If all else fails, I can call him a tow truck.”
I glanced at his cell phone, sitting in the console, and then back up to him with a raised eyebrow. “Are you just trying to delay us?”
He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “No…I’m trying to help someone.” He cracked his door and nodded his head at the direction of the incapacitated vehicle. “Come with…you can time me.” He grinned and opened his door to step out.
Shaking my head at his clear attempt to set us back a few hours, and, honestly…I’d come up with much better ways to delay us, than him sweating all over a rusty engine block, I opened my door and stepped out into the cool breeze of this fine Californian morning.
Crunching through the dirt along the side of the road, I joined Teren at the front of his car and clasped hands with him. Together, we walked over to where the man was still buried under his vehicle. We walked right up to the man’s shins and Teren bent down a little to talk to him. “Excuse me, sir? Can I help you in any way?” Teren asked politely to the set of legs that still hadn’t moved. “Sir?”
Teren cocked his head and started to look up, like he’d heard something. That was when my feeble human ears heard something. It was a faint metallic “pop”, like something under great pressure had been released. That was the last thing that made sense to me, for a very long while.
A loud, scraping metal noise immediately followed the pop, like a crowbar being dragged behind a car flying down the freeway. Before I could even ascertain where the noise was coming from though, I was being lifted into the air by Teren’s strong arms. Confused at the sudden movement, I clung to him with both hands. Just as I was about to ask him what he was doing, a sickening wet thud filled my ears, and we both started to fall over, me landing heavily on his stomach, Teren screaming in pain.
“Teren…baby…?”
Hopelessly confused, I searched his agonized face while my hands ran over his chest. Scooting off to the side of him, my hands and eyes drifted over his body. I began to worry that I’d really hurt him when I’d fallen on top of him. I also wondered why my never clumsy boyfriend, had seemingly fallen over for no apparent reason.
That was when my hand got to his legs…to what used to be strong, healthy, intact legs. My fingers felt the wetness of his jeans and startled, I pulled those fingers to my face. They were red - the deep, dark red of freshly exposed blood, and his jeans below his knees were quickly becoming saturated with it. His body jerked in pain when I’d inadvertently touched his injuries and he cried out in agony.
I wiped a shaking hand on my jeans and sat back to not cause him anymore pain. Looking up at the vehicle, I saw a steel rod bar protruding out from under the frame of the camper. It was close to the rear tire, at a 90° angle to the vehicle. I could see a thick suspension coil attached to it and looking closer at the front tire, I saw the clip where the rod had been secured to the vehicle. That was when my brain started making connections.
The pop I’d heard, was something or someone releasing the bolt that was holding back the rod. With that clip released, the rod had flown back towards the rear tire, kinetic energy giving it strength and speed that no human would be fast enough to get away from. But Teren wasn’t entirely human. He’d heard the pop and calculated what it was, with just enough time to scoop me above where the bar was sweeping around. But he hadn’t had time to scoop and run; the bar had hit his legs full force, midway between his knees and his ankles, smashing his shins into a bloody, fractured mess.
It was in this daze of ‘what the hell just happened?’ that I noticed that the pair of legs we’d approached earlier were gone, and a hole dug under the vehicle would have provided a person more than enough room to hide and wait – wait in their trap. A trap we’d inadvertently sprung. Then a shadow blocked out the morning sun on one side of my face and I instinctively turned to look at it.
A grizzly man, wearing a green army jacket with a knife clipped to his belt, faced me. “Mornin’, sweetheart,” he said calmly, right before he brought his fist around to the side of my brain and knocked me out cold.
Her jaw dropped as she gaped at me. I’d worked here since graduating college and I’d never used any of my paid time off. Up until yesterday, I just hadn’t had any pressing desire to go anywhere or do anything that couldn’t be done in a weekend, or the week the office shut down after tax season- time off that didn’t dip into our vacation time. They considered that our yearly bonus, I considered it perfect. The company allowed you to rollover any unused time, and didn’t have a cap on how much you could roll over. You could even give away your vacation time to someone else, as a group did once for a woman going through chemotherapy a few years ago, before I’d started working here. As it was, I had a decent amount stored up.
To Be Continued on Next Chapter…..
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オートロックで締め出された薄着美女が困り果てている…さてどうする？ 立花さや
発売日: 2014-05-10
収録時間: 120 分
監督: KYO
メーカー: アキノリ
レーベル: AKNR
ジャンル: その他フェチ企画
出演者: 立花さや大場ゆい新希マヤ
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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I never again in this life want to wake up the way I did after being socked in the head…not that I ever want to be socked in the head again. I don’t. It hurts. A lot. But waking up with a throbbing ache in my skull and a tender bruise on the very edge of my eye socket, hurt worse than the actual hit. Irritation at that pain swept through me and was immediately replaced by ice cold fear. I was no longer outside. I was lying on my back, on the floor of a dirt strewn camper that was rocking gently back and forth in the unmistakable sway of road movement.
As these facts entered my brain, stubborn irritation cropped back up. Seriously? I’ve been kidnapped…seriously? Teren and I have been kidnapped? Teren…oh god…
I shifted my head and saw the blood first; a trail of it along the floor led me to the slumped form of my honey. He was resting against a faded brown chair with ripped cushions that had been hastily sown back together in a ragged, zigzag pattern. His pant legs were a red, sodden mess stretched out in front of him. His head was lying back on the chair and every jarring bump of the vehicle elicited a groan from him.
I said a silent prayer of thanks that he was still alive and, ignoring my aching head, which seemed so trivial now, in comparison to Teren’s injuries, I crawled carefully over to him. Avoiding all contact with his lower body, I placed a hand on his cheek. He groaned and his eyes fluttered. I looked around the small cabin, but nothing in here was going to help us get out, not with Teren’s legs in the mess they were.
I held his face close to me as I took in the small, white kitchen table, that looked about ready to collapse, the stove and small sink, forming the rest of the kitchen, and a room near the back, that probably contained a nearly impossible to use toilet. On the other side of us was the front of the vehicle, mainly consisting of the driver’s area; the space over the truck cabin holding a thin mattress that was trying to call itself a bed.
Luckily, or maybe unluckily, the driving portion of the camper was enclosed, and I could neither get to it nor could our captor get to me. I tried to think of a way to block the main door by the bathroom, so that he couldn’t get back here when the vehicle stopped, but really, that wouldn’t solve anything. Teren would bleed to death and I’d starve to death and the captor would win anyway. Assuming our death was his primary goal…and I’m going to go ahead and assume that, since the way we’d been taken wasn’t exactly welcoming.
A pothole in the road banged the back of the camper down harshly and Teren woke with a cry of pain. His eyes, unfocused and full of stress, flicked to mine. His face relaxed infinitesimally. “Emma…you’re okay.” His voice was strained with contained tension. I could tell he really wanted to scream again, but didn’t want to freak me out. He might as well have. I was already freaked out.
I kissed his forehead, after wiping off some of the perspiration. “I’m fine, baby. Shhh…rest, Teren…please.”
He weakly lifted his head to look around at where we were. His eyes rested on his bloody jeans and his face paled even more. “Oh god…I remember,” he muttered, then his face flinched as a jar in the road bounced him.
“Do you know what’s going on?” I whispered, not sure why I was whispering, but feeling the need for quiet at the look of restraint in his face.
He gritted his teeth and shook his head. “No…” I looked down at his legs while he searched my face. They were bad. I didn’t know if any bones shards were poking through and I really didn’t want to know. Just looking at the blood was horrifying me enough.
“Emma…” His weak voice brought my eyes back to his pale ones, so beautiful and so filled with agony. “Please…run if you can.” I was already shaking my head and his pale eyes brimmed with moisture. “Don’t…don’t you dare stay because of me.” His voice picked up heat. “You run.”
I stared at him blankly, knowing for all the world, that I was incapable of honoring his request…and nodded. He closed his eyes and laid his head back on the chair in relief. I kissed his forehead again and held in the tears. “Thank you for saving me,” I whispered against his clammy skin.
He muttered something that sounded loving and his eyes fluttered, but they didn’t open, and he didn’t speak again. He didn’t move again either, just sat there with his head back on the chair, either resting as I’d asked him to…or passed out from the pain. Needing to do something, I carefully undid his belt, and then undid mine. Thankfully, we’d both gone for the rancher, belt buckle look. We’d even joked to each other before this little fiasco about it. I wrapped the belt around his thigh, above his knee, and gritting my teeth, cinched it tight. He cried out, but didn’t wake up. I did the other one. He no longer cried out.
I laid my head on his chest and felt tears that I hadn’t been aware of, roll off my nose to splash on his shirt. “I’m sorry, baby. Please hold on…” I whispered, and only the occasional creak of the old camper answered me.
We drove in that near silence for what felt like days. It couldn’t have been days, since the sunlight coming through the smudged window over the table never left us, but it felt like days. I worried over Teren’s legs, and if my hastily construed tourniquets were actually doing anything. I worried over how I was going to get a man who couldn’t walk, away from the predator in the cabin. I stressed over where he was taking us. I stroked Teren’s cheek, soothing him with reassuring words (that I didn’t really feel) whenever a big enough movement brought him out of his pain induced stupor. And I wished for the first time ever that Halina was here. Even though it was daytime and that wasn’t feasible, I wanted her to come save us, and rip the man’s bloody throat out.
Finally the camper pulled off the main road to a bumpy dirt road. I think my heart went into overdrive. The camper, although frightening in its own way, had been my home for hours, and I was in a comfortable zone of terror with it. I knew every fault line in the rickety table. I’d counted every water stain in the ceiling and I’d even named the resident spiders living in the kitchen window (Fred and Daphne). Whatever new hell we were being ushered to, was suddenly all the more nerve racking simply for its newness.
The bouncy road jolted Teren to alertness and he cried out in continual pain. When the bumps became a rhythm that wasn’t stopping, he clamped his mouth shut and grabbed my hand, squeezing so tight I thought he might break me. I’d have let him. I brushed back his hair from his now slick forehead and whispered what encouragement I could, while he closed his eyes and nodded, struggling to remain conscious.
Eventually the jarring stopped. Eventually the sound of the tires crunching along a dirt path stopped. Eventually the camper stopped. I’m pretty sure that’s when my heart stopped too. Teren opened his eyes and let out a sharp exhale of relief. Well, as much relief as he could possibly feel right now. With glazed eyes he turned to look at me and needing comfort as well as wanting to give it, I kissed him softly. With tight lips, he returned my kiss.
Abruptly the camper door swung open and surprised, we broke apart. A large man, taller and wider than Teren, with coarse, graying stubble that looked as hard and unwelcoming as surely the man’s personality must be, entered the now tiny feeling vehicle. “Well, isn’t that nice. Kissing your soon-to-be dead lover goodbye, huh? Sweet.” His voice had a gravely edge to it that was as unpleasant as everything else about him. A scar across his lower lip buckled the skin as he smiled widely. “It’d be even sweeter, if he weren’t a spawn of pure evil.”
He stepped into the small kitchen area and I placed myself protectively in front of Teren. “Please, let us go. We’re just-”
He took another step to stand right in front of me and I noticed the wide open door behind him. He cut me off harshly. “Don’t try and play innocent.” He pointed a dirty finger at Teren, who weakly raised his head and looked up at him, a set of defiance in his jaw. “I know exactly what he is.” The man glared over at me. “And you too…vampire whore.”
My mouth dropped. I’m not sure what shocked me more - him knowing that Teren was a vampire, or him calling me a whore. The scarred smile returned as he took in my shocked expression. “Didn’t think I knew what he was?”
“What do you want with me?” Teren asked quietly through his tightly clenched jaw.
The man’s smile left him and his dark, close-set eyes narrowed as he looked down on Teren, like he was nothing more than dirt the man had scraped off his shoe. “I want what God has commanded of me. I want to destroy all of your kind.” His dark eyes flared with a zealot light. “I will end every abomination on this Earth.”
Teren’s clenched jaw dropped open in shock at hearing the man’s passionate words. My body started shivering, as I positioned myself even more in front of Teren.
“He is not an abom-”
I didn’t get a chance to finish my brilliant rebuttal. The man reached out and fisted my hair with his massive palm. He jerked my head away from Teren and my body had no choice but to follow. He roughly tossed me and my prickling scalp into the bench seat at the rickety table.
His finger landed on my chest with a force that I’m sure bruised me. “Your opinion on the matter doesn’t interest me, whore.” He motioned back to Teren, who was biting his lip to not cry out in pain as he attempted to move his body, to help me in some small way. “Your life became irrelevant the minute you let that feed off you.” He leaned in close and his musky odor sickened me. His eyes flicked down my body. “And you let him inside you…an unholy beast…” He spat on the floor next to the table. “You disgust me.”
Embarrassment and rage flashed through me. “Right back at you, asshole!”
He smirked and then slapped me, hard. My head was suddenly facing the window and my ears were ringing. My jaw felt disconnected from my body and I could feel a warm trickle from the line of blood trailing down my chin. Apparently, I cut my lip on my teeth. Wonderful. I’d never been “bitch-slapped” before. I found I didn’t like it.
I wiped the blood off with the back of my hand and slowly moved my head at the sounds of Teren’s obvious painful struggle. I turned to see the man watching Teren unsuccessfully attempt to stand and defend me. Tears of pain were in his eyes as he attempted to move his wrecked legs. He was breathing heavy, soft whimpers escaping him as his face paled to a sickening ashen colour.
The man laughed cruelly. “No fun when you can’t heal yet, is it?” He leaned over Teren, placing his hands on his knees. “That’s when you’re easiest to catch, you know. When you’re still mostly human…and weak.”
“I will rip your throat out,” Teren growled, as anger brightened his eyes and a deep snarl rose from his chest.
The man laughed again and straightening, kicked Teren’s legs on the floor. So much pain instantly filled his face that he couldn’t even cry out. His mouth dropped and he gasped, seemingly incapable of doing anything else. His eyes fluttered and his head dropped back on the chair.
“Teren!” I started to rise, determined to help him, when the man stuck his finger on my chest again. “Stay,” he commanded. I froze, pure hatred in my eyes as I glared up at him.
He smirked as he looked down on me, the scar on his lip making the move quite menacing. He cocked his head as he regarded me. “Do you love this evil?” He nudged Teren’s toe, making him cry out.
“Stop it,” I snapped.
“Do you?” he asked quietly.
A tear rolled down my cheek as I watched Teren start to come back to consciousness. “Yes,” I whispered. My eyes shot up to the man. “And he’s not evil…he’s a good man.”
Laughing, the man leaned over me. “He’s not even truly human…he’s not even a man.”
Wanting him to back up, I did something I’d never expect myself to do – I spat in his face. The man didn’t seem too shocked by the display, and calmly wiped his face with the sleeve of his army jacket. Straightening, he patted the knife on his belt and I froze, remembering that this man was dangerous…and armed.
His rough voice dropped an octave. “Here is what’s going to happen.” He pointed at me. “You are going to help me move this,” he kicked Teren’s legs, and I flinched as he cried in pain, “or I can do it all by myself.” He smiled cruelly.
I swallowed as I imagined how gentle he’d be with Teren’s beaten body. I nodded jerkily and the man motioned for me to stand. I stood beside the table warily, my eyes never leaving the man’s hard face. The man bent down and I glanced back at the open door. Freedom was staring me in the face. I immediately ignored it, as Teren beside me cried out in pain. The man had gathered his legs into his arms and was starting to lift him. Teren was struggling not to scream.
“What are you doing? Let me take his legs!” I said harshly, as I ran around to Teren’s shoulders and attempted to lift his upper body, so he was more level. The icy rush of adrenaline coursing through my body made it possible, and I lifted Teren securely, if not easily. Teren’s head dropped back to my shoulder, as he passed out again from the pain.
The man lifted his legs roughly and smirked cruelly at me. “Did you think I was going anywhere near his teeth? I’m not stupid, sweetheart.”
“I disagree. He’s gonna kill you, you know.”
The man laughed and looked at Teren’s limp form in our hands. “I doubt that…but it wouldn’t surprise me if he tried.” He looked back up to me. ”He is evil, after all.”
I bit back my angry retort as the man started to move backwards out of the camper. Teren groaned, and his head lolled side to side as we made our way down the couple of steps at the back of the vehicle. I tried to be gentle with my half of Teren, but the man couldn’t have cared less about his bloody half, and we jarred him harshly with every step down. Teren came to briefly at the bottom, as he lifted his head off my shoulder, making a pained noise before dropping it again and whimpering into the crook of my neck. I kissed his head and whispered that it would be okay, as I felt a couple of his tears hit my collarbone. He was in so much pain…
I was so focused on keeping pace with the man harshly holding his legs, that I barely noticed the reddish-brown, dusty dirt under my feet. I started to struggle with Teren’s weight, as my momentary rush of strength started to ebb. When my feet hit wooden steps, I looked up from where I’d been intently studying the circular pattern on Teren’s t-shirt.
We seemed to be at an old farmhouse that looked like it had been abandoned in the early 1900. The porch had missing floorboards, the front door was half off its hinges, and the windows were long gone, boarded over with faded planks of wood in an X pattern. The man started up the steps, which looked about ready to cave inward, and I carefully followed him, trying to readjust Teren in my grasp without shaking him too badly.
We finally made it around the missing planks in the porch, and through the half destroyed door, into a small room with a rat infested couch. I automatically started shifting to the couch, wanting to set Teren down, but the man turned down a side hallway, and Teren groaned as his body went in two different directions. Cursing, I adjusted my grip and my direction to follow the man. He led us to a lone door in a rickety hallway. The door had an iron bar padlocked across it. The lock was open and the bar raised – awaiting its prisoners. He turned the doorknob after dropping one of Teren’s legs momentarily. Teren screamed at that.
He picked it back up after swinging the door open and immediately started walking into the dark room. I did not want to follow him. Everything in my body wanted to run while the man was preoccupied with flipping a light switch and traversing the steps down into what was surely Hell. But I couldn’t run with Teren, and there was no way I was running without him, so I grit my teeth and made the conscious choice to follow the man.
He led us down a hastily constructed wooden staircase. The kind of stairs that have large gaps between each step and no back, so with every long drop you’re just positive a hand is going to reach around from behind and grab you, making you crash harshly into the ground below. But somehow we made it down those long steps safely, Teren groaning with each one, and started walking through a cellar.
I hate cellars. My aunt had one in her house and when I was four, I’d been accidentally locked inside for a few hours. She’d had an old furnace in hers, that groaned and whined periodically, and my child mind had transformed that into a monster searching me out to eat me. Now, at 25, I am well aware that cellars were no different than any other room in a house…but a lingering childhood fear remained with me all the same and as we approached the far wall, I was already shaking at the prospect of being locked down here.
I struggled with gently lowering Teren’s body, as the man simply dumped his legs next to me. Teren cried out as I propped him against the dank stone wall of the dirt floor room. The air smelled rank – like mold and stale water. I could hear animals scurrying in the dark corners of the room that the single, bare bulb hanging from a chain in the center didn’t illuminate.
Fighting off terror, I startled and screamed when the man touched me. He grabbed my hand, and just as I started to fight him off with every fear-empowered cell in my body, I felt cool metal slap around my wrist and cinch tight with a resounding snap. The man let go and confused, I followed the odd sound, staring at my wrist that was now handcuffed to a wrought iron bar attached to the stone wall.
Knowing it would do nothing, I pulled at my wrist reflexively. The bar didn’t budge. Panic welled in me; now I was trapped against the wall in this room that terrified me. I grabbed Teren’s hand and as he’d started to come back around, he feebly held mine back. His head rose and he laid it back against the rough wall of the square coffin we were in. He tried to smile encouragingly at me, but his face was too full of fear and pain to successfully pull it off. At least Teren and I were in this together.
The man’s chuckling brought my attention back to him. He was smiling cruelly at the sight of Teren and me holding hands, huddled on the dirt floor before him.
I tried to appeal to whatever humanity this man probably didn’t have. “Please let us go…he’s really hurt. He needs to be in a hospital.”
The man laughed once and spat on the ground. “He’ll be fine, once he changes. At least, until I stake him, of course.”
I blinked as I tried to absorb that. “What?”
The man squatted down to look me in the eye. He reached out to touch my hair and I instinctively pulled away from him. “I don’t relish killing humans, but you can’t be allowed to live vamp lover.” He pointed with his thumb at Teren. “I’m going to let him finish you, and then I’ll finish him.” He brushed his hands off on each other. “All clean.” He smirked at me. “You can think of it as me getting justice on your murderer, if you like?”
I gaped at him, my body going ice cold with the confirmation that he was planning on killing us…and nefariously. “Teren would never hurt me…your plan will fail. He would never drain a human!” I felt Teren barely squeeze my hand tighter and I grasped his like a lifeline.
Weakly Teren muttered, “She’s right…I’d never-”
The man brushed Teren’s legs with his hands, making Teren stop talking and cry out in pain.
“Stop it!” I yelled at him.
He ignored my outburst and responded to my statement. “Won’t kill, huh?” His dark eyes bored into mine. “Not even after he changes? Not even when he’s…deathly hungry?”
Teren gasped beside me and my face paled. That was one time we were both a little unsure of. My wrist pulled frantically at the cuffs again and I looked over at Teren, who I just noticed wasn’t restrained. Damn if my sister hadn’t been right-on with her fear. Here I was, chained to the wall next to a vampire, just like some damn virginal sacrifice.
I sputtered in protest. “Weeks? You’re going to keep us down here for weeks, waiting for him to…” My thoughts trailed off as my eyes ran over Teren’s legs, soaked in blood, the man’s jacket streaked with it from where he’d held him up. “He won’t make it for weeks.” My eyes went back to the man’s. “You’ve killed him already. He won’t survive weeks until the change!”
The man straightened and laughed loudly at me. Shaking his head, he reached into his back pocket and grabbed a case. While I snuck a peek at Teren, who was watching the man with scrunched eyebrows, the man spoke in an amused voice to us. “I don’t have time to wait weeks. This one has nest-mates, who’d eventually look for him.” He opened the silver case and pulled out a syringe. He tapped the glass and pushed some pink fluid out of the tip, removing the air bubbles. Smiling ruthlessly, his scar white against his pale lips, he knelt beside Teren. “I only need a day.”
With that comment, he stuck the needle in Teren’s thigh and Teren screamed like he was pumping molten lava through him. I tried to push the man back, but he was finished and stepped away from Teren, leaving him gasping in pain and clutching at his thigh.
“What did you do to him?” I demanded hotly, straining against my restraints in my desire to throttle the man.
He held the empty syringe in front of him and I eyed it warily. “This…jumpstarts the conversion. He’ll be dead by nightfall.” My face went pale white and Teren clasped my hand with renewed strength.
“What? That’s not possible…” I whispered, more to myself than the man.
He answered me though. “You both act like he’s something special.” He shrugged. “He’s not. I’ve been chasing mixed breeds all up and down this Country. They’re all the same.” He held the syringe up to me again, before putting it back in its case. “I cooked this up myself and it always works…this always forces the change, within hours. I even got this to work on a 10 year old once.” He said that with a look of cold pride, like changing over a child was an accomplishment.
My eyes watched that syringe being tucked back into its case and in that one instant, only a single thought echoed in my head and my body:
The line was dead.
My first thought, looking back at Teren clutch his leg in torturous agony, should have been for his well being. I should have cared about his fear of dying, of crossing over into that unknown place. I should have cared about the pain that change was going to bring him, although with the pains he’d suffered recently, I was beginning to believe that the dying part may actually be the most relaxing thing he’d felt in awhile. I should have cared that Teren’s heart was about to stop and his skin was going to cool. I should have instantly cared about being anchored next to a man who was about to suffer from insatiable blood lust.
But I didn’t care about that yet. All I cared about, as the man coldly laughed watching Teren’s discomfort, was my empty womb; that one needle had instantly evaporated any hope of a child. I was not pregnant…and now I’d never be. I’d never see a black-haired child in my home. I’d never hear Teren’s laugh repeated in miniature. I’d never hear a tiny, musical voice say, “I love you, Mommy”. My very soul ached with the loss.
I knew on some level, that that shouldn’t have been relevant right now. Somewhere in my head, I knew I’d never survive this night anyway, so being pregnant or not didn’t even matter. But I’d been trying to have Teren’s baby for awhile now, and being forcefully made to let go of that dream ripped my heart to pieces. A sob escaped me and I sunk my head onto Teren’s chest. His breathing had somewhat returned to normal, but his heart was beating wildly. His doomed heart was beating wildly. I sobbed even more.
Teren’s hand came up to clutch my back and I wept mercilessly against his chest while he tried to sooth me. The dying man in extraordinary pain was actually trying to sooth me because my uterus was barren. That thought snapped my head back to reality and wiping my face off on my shirt, I turned to glare at the man still standing a few paces away, watching us with a look of amused disgust on his scratchy face.
I was about to let a stream of vile profanity loose from my lips, that was surely to be so scathing the man would instantly change his mind about our captivity and let us go, when the man opened his course jaw and began speaking.” You must be a third generation at least.” The man reached behind him to grab a chair and scooted to the edge of where the pale bulb illuminated him. Half his face was in darkness and the light half of him seemed all the more menacing because of it. I swallowed back my obscenities and glanced up at Teren, who was regarding the man with a clenched jaw and lethal intent in his eyes.
The man didn’t seem to care that Teren wasn’t participating in the conversation and continued to talk to him like he was - men do so enjoy discussing their work. “Yeah, it’s so much harder to spot you guys, when you can hide out in the sunshine.” He shook his head. “It’s rare to come across a fourth or fifth and I tell you, they are sure difficult to tell apart from humans. You pretty much have to watch for them to feed.”
I swear my stomach thumped with a phantom baby kick at the man’s cruel words. My dry eyes threatened to spill back over with my heart wrenching loss, but I made myself keep full composer. This…thing before me wouldn’t get another second of my tears.
The man scratched his lice infested jaw, okay, it wasn’t lice infested, but the man was disgusting and it helped stoke the fire in my belly if I made him as physically gross as he was morally. “It was a lucky night for me that I went to that baseball game.” He cocked his head and eyed Teren with a raised brow. “That was quite a catch…vampire.”
My heart seized. Teren and I looked at each other and a moment of ‘oh god’ realisation passed soundlessly between us. This evil Buffy wannabe had been there that night, had seen Teren calmly pluck a ball from in front of my face barehanded. No one else in the stadium had made the connection, but the one person who had some divine providence to do something about it.
We looked back over at him when his gravelly voice continued, “I followed you after that…just to be sure.” He leaned forward on his hands and knees and spat on the hard packed dirt. I followed you to your vampire nest. A ranch? Interesting.” He ran a hand along his jaw while I paled at the thought of him anywhere near Teren’s family. “I suppose I’ll have to clear them out next.”
“You son of a bitch!” Teren exclaimed suddenly, as he jerked upright, like he was going to attack the man. Unfortunately his body wasn’t up for the task and he nearly immediately crumpled back against the wall, as the pain shot through him.
The man laughed coldly as he watched Teren. “Yeah…I didn’t go near the property.” He tapped a finger against his grimy ear. “I know what you can do. But I figure there are at least two other mixed…and the full vampire, of course.” Teren’s upper body went rigid and he breathed in and out with as much control as he could muster. I nearly expected him to slip out his fangs and hiss at the man. I think if he thought it’d do any good, he would have.
The man spat again before laying out his insidious plan. “I’ll go in during the day, stake the mixed ones fast, and torch the vamp while she sleeps. Easiest way to rid yourself of a vampire - cleansing through fire while they nap.” His lips spread wide and then he frowned a little. “You got humans there? Breeders?” He shrugged. “I suppose I’ll have to toss them in the fire too… I really don’t relish killing humans, but, God’s work must be done.”
Teren gasped and dropped his mouth in speechlessness. My mind instantly went to my sister and her charred, blistered skin after the horrendous fire that had devastated our family. I could not imagine someone willingly imposing that cruel fate on another. I imagined Halina’s screams as she’d be awoken from a deep sleep. I imagined Jack’s flesh melting, and muscle sliding away from the bone…
I stood and nearly yanked my arm from my socket making a move for the man, who only turned his head fractionally to glance at me apathetically. That disregarding look ignited my already flaring temper. “I’m going to fillet you! You will never touch them! Never!”
I struggled against the cuffs futilely, the iron bar scraping in protest at my furious movements. Finally, the man walked over to me. Teren tried to grab him, but the man scooted away from his grasp effortlessly. Coming up to the other side of me, away from Teren, he clamped my throat in his big hands and smacked my head back against the wall harshly. Dazed and literally seeing stars dance in my vision, I slumped down the wall in defeat. Teren immediately put his hand on the back of my head. I felt the wetness there and knew I was bleeding. My vamp would be aware of that too. His head snapped around to the man calmly walking back to his chair. A low growl rumbled in his chest and his fangs slid out as he looked ready to tear the man to pieces.
The man only laughed again. “Ahhh…there’s the beast. I was wondering if he’d show up to the party.” He pointed and laughed coldly at where Teren was still issuing a lethal growl from deep in his chest. “I’ve been biding my time, waiting to collect you and your whore. You provided me the perfect opportunity, by telling your friends and coworkers that you were going away for weeks…” He shrugged and a happy look crossed his hard face. “Thank you for that. No one is going to miss you for a long time. I’ll be on the other side of the Country before the police are even called…not that they’ll ever find your bodies.”
Feeling more in control of my vision if nothing else, I spat at the man, “Why are you doing this? They’re not hurting anyone! They’re innocen-”
He cut me off before I could finish my protest. “Innocent? Have they hypnotized you woman?” He spat again and curled his lip derisively. “They’re killers…each and every one of them.” He indicated Teren huddled against me, fangs still bared, as if that proved his point.
“And what are you!” I yelled with a derisive curl of my own.
His back straightened and for a moment, I saw a soldier in that green army jacket. “I’m a holy man. I’m doing God’s work. I’m ridding the world of anathemas.” He narrowed his eyes as he spat at me, “I’m not adding to them.” Before I could respond he added, “They all kill…every one, so don’t you say they are innocent, loving creatures. They are not.”
His voice rose and warbled. “My daughter was the innocent…” His eyes watered as a tone of pure righteous anger filled him. “She was tricked by a monster. That thing got her pregnant, then devoured her and the baby in her womb, after he changed.” His entire body shook and for a moment, I thought he was going to vibrate off the chair. He didn’t though. Instead, he chose to stand, and still shaking in a near epileptic fit, he walked over to stand in front of Teren. From the light of near madness in the man’s eyes, I didn’t even think he saw Teren anymore. He saw whatever poor vampire had claimed his child.
“He had the nerve to apologize, before I drove the stake through his heart. Apologize! For taking the life of my little girl!” He swung his foot and his steel toed boot made contact with the bloody pulp of Teren’s shins. The movement jerked Teren’s legs towards me and his body followed suit. He slumped to the ground around my knees and cried out in pain before stilling, knocked out again from the sheer overwhelming power of agony.
I ran my free hand over his back and curled over him protectively. “Leave him alone! He’s already dying! You don’t need to torture him!”
The man turned to sneer at me. Ignoring my comments, he said contemptuously, “I watched you let him feed off of you at that restaurant. That’s what made me positive I had it right.” His eyes ran up and down my body, like I was the most perverted thing he’d ever seen. “You commanded him to drink blood from you and then you screwed him.” My face paled as I realised what he was talking about. I’d thought we were perfectly alone that night by the dumpster. I didn’t know anyone had seen that. Teren had been so focused on my blood, he must not have heard the man, and he’d seen…everything.
My face heated and I raised my chin defiantly. “Yes. I let him drink from me. I let him make love to me. I love him.” My eyes ran up and down his body contemptuously. “He’s more of a man than you’ll ever be.”
The man smirked again, brought his fist around again, and knocked me out cold…again.
To Be Continued on Next Chapter……
