Once Bitten Read online

  “Back for more already?” Catherine asked haughtily. The tone was forced and cost her a choking cough.

  Unlike vampires, I’m not content to play cat and mouse all night, and I wasn’t sure Arys could be relied on to finish her. Worried that she would recover if I waited, I reached out to Arys metaphysically before he was close enough to touch. Our link was going to help me take down Catherine. I drew on Arys’ deep stores of undead power and fed it into Catherine. If I kept the connection, the sudden onslaught of energy would push her past capacity.

  My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I cursed. Surprised that it even still worked, I had no choice but to ignore it.

  At first, she just looked plain stunned. I think it took her a moment or two to comprehend what was happening. When the realization dawned on her, she panicked and tried to send the energy back to me.

  If I deflected the shot, I’d have to break the attack, and I wasn’t willing to do that.

  Refusing to lose the stronghold I’d gained on her, I decided to brace for the blow.

  A millisecond before it slammed into me, I closed my eyes and tensed, but the impact never came. I opened my eyes to find that my vampire lover had intercepted Cat’s attack with one of his own. A shower of hot sparks rained down all around us, illuminating the dark alley like a camera flash.

  The energy I’d taken from inside the Lounge was long gone; I had to draw from myself and Arys. I struggled to zone in on a focal point, to pump my power into her undead heart until it could take no more.

  “Arys, I need you.” My words were breathy, almost voiceless, yet Cat reacted to my plea as if I already held her heart in my hands.

  She was on her knees now, beaten. Still, I pushed into her with all I had. Fire coursed through my veins, and I struggled to take a deep breath. The energy that I channeled pushed my limits, and I fought the urge to crumple beneath the burden.

  I steadied one hand to direct the stream of raw power into Catherine. With the other, I reached blindly for Arys. Our link didn’t feel complete; it wasn’t strong enough.

  As I sank to my knees, he reached me; he clasped my hand in his and pulled me to my feet.

  Everything in me, all that is wolf or woman, reacted to the vampire’s touch. His aura mingled with mine physically. He seemed to fall into me as if he had always been a part of what I am. A resurgence of strength filled me, and I focused on Catherine with a new fury.

  Her mouth gaped, and her eyes grew wide with terror. Our mingled power danced with flecks of blue and gold as it flowed into her. Blood began to stream steadily from her nose and mouth. The whites of her eyes turned a grotesque shade of red, and I resisted the urge to look away. Sparks danced around our joined hands but I felt no pain.

  The amulet around her neck went dark. Finally, the last of the fight went out of her.

  The amulet had supplied the majority of her power; as a vampire, she’d been mediocre at best. Now, she was at the point of demise, and nothing could save her.

  No sooner had I wondered when it would be over, than a horrible sound came from her. She shrieked like a wounded animal and looked down on her body. She began to turn slowly to ash before our eyes. I closed my eyes and willed her to stop; I felt her heart pause and then burst.

  Like a volcanic blast, her remains showered down around us; her ashes settled on our hair and eyelashes. The sound of my heart beat loudly in my ears, and I allowed Arys to pull me close.

  Catherine’s amulet lay on the ground amid her ashes. Before Arys could take advantage of our intimate proximity, I pulled away and gathered it up in my palm. I turned the star shaped pendant over as I studied it. It didn’t feel like black magic. I’d turn it over to Lena for proper disposal.

  Shoving the charm into my pocket, I looked up to find Arys staring solemnly into the ashes. I wanted nothing more than to thump him a good one, but my back muscles ached enough to make me reconsider.

  “Don’t try telling me now that you wanted to spare her after all,” I said. Hands on my hips, I dared him to try to placate me. “You could have gotten me killed by that psycho bitch!” I scattered the ashes with a kick.

  Arys held up a hand as if to silence me. “I had no idea she would be this foolish, Alexa. I’m truly sorry that you got mixed up in this, but it was purely by chance. Perhaps if you hadn’t been so eager to get some dirt on me, she wouldn’t have made you a target.”

  So that’s where this was heading. Of course, that was to be expected.

  “You are so absolutely full of shit, my friend. She wanted to take me out because she thought that we’re lovers, which you made no attempt to clarify.” With a raised eyebrow, I added, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think that you didn’t have the balls to off her, so you had me do it for you.”

  A dizzy spell hit me, and I swooned, suddenly light headed. As one whose biological clock was still programmed as living, I couldn’t withstand the same level of exertion that he could.

  I blinked, and he had already crossed the small space between us. Strong hands steadied me, and I looked up, into his clear blue eyes. The emotion in their depths spoke louder than the words that he’d never let himself say. One hand gently stroked the side of my battered face; he wrapped his arms around me.

  Shaz! I had to pull away before Shaz made this strange moment completely awkward; he should burst through the door any moment now.

  “Stop resisting me.” Arys’ lips were warm as they moved against my ear. “We belong to one another. Why deny that?”

  Before I could voice my protests to that declaration, he kissed me with an intensity that burned through my body. Our two energies were strangely one, and a comforting calm filled me. Already my strength returned in a relaxing ebb and flow.

  I could taste Catherine’s blood on his tongue as it traced a moist line along my lower lip before dipping back inside my mouth. Things tightened low in my body, and I wanted to beg him to take me right there. Knowing how irrational that was, I still had to remind myself that I’d just killed his ex-lover as well as a human being.

  A part of me was so pissed at him, and I struggled to allow it to come to the surface.

  I had to chase him away from me.

  I succeeded in breaking the kiss; my hand on his chest kept a small space between our bodies. “Don’t do this right now. I need to be angry with you.”

  “No, you need to tell me why you killed a man before you came here tonight.”

  The cuts marking his face looked red and angry, and I reached tentatively to brush my fingertips over them. He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch.

  “I couldn’t deny the bloodlust,” I whispered. When he looked at me again, his expression was pained. “A young couple were arguing. He was trying to force her-.”

  My voice broke and tears pricked the back of my eyes. David’s strangled screams echoed inside my head, and I reached to cover my ears in a vain attempt to shut out the noise.

  “Hey, it’s ok.” Arys’ voice was softer than I had ever heard it, and I hated him for his tenderness even as tears rolled down my cheeks in two crimson lines.

  He reached out with a gentle finger to catch them before bringing the bloody drops to his lips. “The fucker deserved everything he got then. Don’t feel bad about dispatching a sorry piece of crap like that.”

  I shook my head and took a small step back. “That kind of kill, it isn’t my life. You’ve done something to me that I don’t know how to live with.”

  The rear exit door to Lucy’s creaked open then, and Shaz appeared, silent and white against the night. He made no move to come closer when he saw the strange tension and Arys’ crestfallen features.

  I half expected Arys to blame me, again, for the slaughter of Mrs. Olson’s dog, but he said nothing. Instead, he nodded and let his hands drop as if just noticing that he still reached for me.

  “Then tomorrow night, we visit your witch friend together and learn how to live with it.” He made no question of it.

  He turned to Sh
az and beckoned him to where we stood. “She needs you now. I believe you will be of more use to her than I am.”

  Arys turned to go but paused to kick at what remained of Catherine’s quickly dispersing ashes. I made no attempt to stop him; I had nothing left to say. I had blamed him for all of it, and he hadn’t argued.

  Shaz came to stand behind me and pulled me into his warm, living embrace.

  “Are you ok, Lex?”

  I was at a loss for words. I was physically injured, but the worst of my agony was mental and emotional. I turned in Shaz’ arms, to face him as I attempted to tell him what had happened to me that evening. But, a free flow of tears overcame me.

  “Don’t try to explain right now.” He tucked my head under his chin and attempted to stroke my tangled, filthy hair. “Just let me hold you.”

  With the hem of his t-shirt balled in my fists, I buried my face in the warm, familiar curve of his neck and sobbed bloody tears.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Kylarai was ticked at me; no, she was pissed. She cussed me out good. I heard how very stupid I was in more ways than one. I should have talked to her after slaughtering the human. I should have let Shaz keep me out of Arys and Catherine’s fight. I should have done anything except what I did. It really was a shame that she hadn’t had children of her own.

  She would forgive me; Shaz on the other hand…

  Shaz and I had sat in the parking lot. Through my tears, I had told him everything.

  He had listened quietly, nodding and patting my hand as needed. Not once did I find the judgment that I deserved in his eyes. He had already forgiven me for everything.

  Apparently, one mother hen wasn’t enough to keep me straight. When Kylarai got tired of chiding, I called Lena. Without telling her that I’d eaten a human, I told her enough to have her insisting that I stop by her apartment. She even agreed to help Arys.

  By evening, I was a nervous wreck.

  “I can’t believe you’re taking him to Lena’s. Do you think that’s safe?” Kylarai tapped her long, manicured nails on the kitchen table, where I sat looking into my portable makeup mirror. “And, why do you need to look so good anyway? I thought it was just a one time thing with you guys.”

  I glanced up at her. She wore a long, sandy brown suede skirt with a blue V-neck sweater. “What are you all dressed up for? Or should I say, who?”

  “Don’t even try that change the subject crap on me. Answer my questions.” She tossed her trendy bob and smiled. “I have a date. With Tom from my office.”

  I wasn’t one for Weres playing human with real humans romantically, but I’d be damned before I’d burst her bubble. “That’s great Ky. Why is this the first I’m hearing about Tom?”

  “Because, I turned him down the first three times he asked me out. And, you still haven’t set me up with that sexy vampire you work with.” She leaned across the table and picked through my open makeup case. “So, how did Shaz take all of this killing a wouldbe rapist and dusting your vampire lover’s ex thing?”

  “Like a trooper.” I paused to apply mascara to my eyelashes after lining my dark brown eyes with a smoky black eyeliner. “Actually, every time I screw up, every time I think I’ve driven the final wedge between us, he proves me wrong.”

  Kylarai studied me as I picked a glop of mascara from one lash. “That’s because he’s in love with you.” When I looked up she added, “Note that I said love, not lust.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. I don’t deserve him. Believe me, I know.”

  “You really don’t.” She chuckled and played anxiously with one of her dangly hoop earrings. “More coffee?”

  “No thanks.” I’d drank enough coffee in the past day to last me a lifetime.

  Ky got up to refill her mug, and I noticed her energy felt as nervous as I was. I smiled to myself. It was kind of cute seeing her all aflutter like a schoolgirl. Maybe I should have set her up with Kale when she’d first hinted at it ages ago.

  “Is Arys picking you up tonight?” She asked casually.

  “No. I don’t trust him to drive. I’m picking him up in half an hour. When is Tom coming?”

  “Any time now.” She glanced at the wall clock that read ten minutes to eight. “This is the first time I’ve been out with a man in ages. I can’t remember how to play the dating game.”

  “I don’t think I ever did. But, since I have a date with Shaz coming up, I’d better crack open an issue of Cosmo and get informed.” I shook my head at my reflection and rubbed some ruby red lip-gloss on. “I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

  “Did you take that lip gloss from my bathroom?” Ky leaned closer in order to read the label. I pulled away in a gesture of mock defense.

  “No. Back off, lady. If you want the lip gloss, all you’ve got to do is ask.”

  We laughed together, then froze when the doorbell rang. Her grey eyes grew wide, and she sputtered a sip of coffee as she launched into action. She grabbed her purse, stuck a breath mint in her mouth, and threw her coffee cup into the sink.

  “Damn, I’m nervous. Wish me luck.” She hurried toward the front door but called over her shoulder. “Be careful tonight. Don’t let that vampire ruin you for somebody more deserving.”

  “I love you, too, Ky. Have a good time.” I smiled as I carefully ignored her pointed statement. I didn’t feel the need to add any words of caution. I knew she could take care of herself.

  When the soft clicking of her heels in the driveway had faded, I ambled to my bedroom. I just stared into the closet for a solid five minutes. I was leery of sending Arys mixed signals so I steered clear of any cleavage baring halters or tank tops. Instead, I chose a pale blue Aerosmith baby tee and paired it up with my favorite blue jeans and black leather ankle boots. After running a brush through my long hair, I decided to leave it down and natural. With a spritz of my favorite vanilla perfume, I was ready.

  Well, physically, I was ready. Mentally, a piece of me never wanted to face Arys again. I wasn’t sure I could resist him every time he made an advance toward me. Kylarai had been right. I was power hungry, and Arys was a prime source. Together we were dangerous, but we posed the greatest risk to Shaz, and I couldn’t accept that.

  With one last glance in the mirror, I checked that my make-up hid my bruising. My cover up was doing a good job with the lingering bruise on my chin. The majority of my abrasions and bruises had healed as I slept, and the remainder looked acceptable.

  On my way to Arys’, I got a good case of the jitters, complete with shaky hands on the wheel. Worries that I couldn’t banish plagued me as I drove. I expected the twentyminute drive from Arys’ to Lena’s to be uncomfortable closeness and unwelcome discussion.

  I’d worried about forcing myself to ring the bell, but Arys stood on his front deck chatting with Mrs. Olson while feigning to sip lemonade. A big wave in my direction told me to stay put. Just as well, I couldn’t look that little, old lady in the eye knowing what really happened to her dog.

  Arys quickly wrapped up his visit; he beamed a fangless smile at the tiny lady as she turned to go. I noticed the small bundle tucked under her arm, and a tiny puppy poked its head out of the blanket.

  My heart melted; I couldn’t believe that the vampire had done such an unselfish act for another. I was touched, and I resisted the urge to break open my head and forcibly remove the part of me that reacted so strongly to him.

  “You disgust me.” The words spilled from between my lips before he’d even closed the car door.

  “What? Why?” His eyebrows raised high in surprise. “Because I bought Mrs. Olson a puppy? We both know that Benny can never be replaced, but she’s alone. She needs a companion.”

  What in the hell was wrong with me? I’d done so much worse than kill a neighborhood pet, and here I was persecuting the vampire.

  “I’m sorry. I’m just a little on edge today. I didn’t sleep very well.” Or very much.

  I’d been haunted by the attack dream again.

  “I hope the
wolf pup was able to comfort you last night. I felt he may be more calming.” Arys reached over to grasp my hand briefly in his. His fingertips were cool. He hadn’t fed recently.

  “Bullshit. You didn’t want me to leave with him, and you know it.” A few sparks leapt about our joined hands, but they were minimal and did not grow further.

  “True. But, I know that he loves you in ways unheard of to both you and I. And, that means more than my personal jealousy.”

  An admittance of genuine caring from the vampire? It astounded me to realize how little I really thought of him. And really, who the hell was I to judge? I threw the car in gear and pulled away from the curb.

  I wasn’t completely naïve. I wasn’t falling for the amazing, sweet guy gimmick. The next twenty minutes were going to involve a lot of swatting.

  He took advantage of a minor traffic distraction and slid his hand across the furry seat covers to brush the sliver of skin showing on my lower back. I struggled to pull the back of my t-shirt down but couldn’t because of the angle of my seat.

  “You just can’t sit still, can you?” he asked.

  He flashed me a cocky grin and reached up to hit the button that opens the sunroof. It irritated me that he helped himself to my controls. I wasn’t surprised when he reached for the radio next.

  “It looks more like you can’t sit still,” I said pointedly. We were at a red light, so I gave him a nice, hard glare.

  He made a slow melodramatic show of switching the radio station. “You should calm down, Alexa. Your anger is giving me a hard on.”

  “What?” My eyes dropped to his lap. I looked away quickly, but it was too late. He’d already seen me do it.

  “You heard me. You’re mad at yourself, and you want to be pissed at me. But you can’t, can you?” He poked me in the side, and I flinched.

  “Ow, careful. I took a pretty good fall last night. And stop distracting the driver.”

  “Tell me what I want to hear.” His velvet smooth voice dropped lower, and I felt it caress me.