Blood and Kisses (14 page)

“I’ll meet you there later. I have something to do.” Spirit sped off, nails clicking on the concrete. She sent a puzzled look after him, then sighed. It looked like she’d have to go to Gideon’s alone.

The question was, did a greater danger await her there?

He watched from the shadows, a prisoner of the light that still illuminated the sky, as the Champion and the dog separated. The Champion looked up at the house.
Come in. Come in
, he urged. He shuddered with perverse excitement. Was it possible his time was now at hand?

She placed a foot on the porch.

Yes
.

He could already see Gideon groveling before him. Already hear his pleas.

She bent over, tightened her shoelaces, then stood and, with a last look at his window, turned to go.

Noooooo
.

He fought the impulse to slam his hands against the wall, to roar his rage to the malicious sky. His hands clenched reflexively. He needed something to throttle.

Perhaps, he shouldn’t have been so hasty in disposing of his little puppets when they’d failed to lure his enemy to him as he’d planned. Oh well, there was always more where they came from.

He smothered the last embers of his fury. As much as he thirsted to vent his ire, he couldn’t risk drawing attention to himself.

Not yet.

His anger awakened a different kind of thirst. He glanced out the window.
Damn sun.
He put a hand on his chest and realized his shirt was stiff with blood. Spray from the little witch. He raised the fabric to his nose. It didn’t smell like poison. He sucked the fabric into his mouth. His saliva released the dried blood into his mouth. He closed his eyes. It didn’t taste like poison. He swallowed. The mixture of blood and saliva hit his stomach like a bomb filled with shrapnel. He bent over in agony, his body wracked by cramps so forceful they made him wretch. Sweat beaded his forehead and rolled down his checks. His empty stomach heaved continuously until he thought he might come apart. Time lost all meaning. Finally, he lay spent on the floor. Panting, he wiped the sweat from his eyes with a shaking hand. If only a tiny amount of witch blood could do that to him, what might happen to a vampire who ingested more? He shook again, clutching his middle and the sounds of his laughter filled his ears.

Gideon was in a boat on a vast ocean. An ocean of blood. Ripe and sweet. He could hardly wait to take a gulp; he wanted to dive in and swim in the heady stuff. He stretched a cupped hand over the side and filled it with the precious liquid, gleaming ruby-red all around him. He lifted it to his parched lips.

Water.

“No!” His own voice woke him and he lay in the bed panting, still chained, the sheets sweat-damp beneath him. He licked his cracked lips. The thirst was so terrible he’d only been able to sleep for short stretches before nightmares pried him from that small comfort. In his waking moments, he strained against his restraints, exhausting himself in his efforts to break free.

“Thalia.” He shouted her name to the empty air, his voice husky from overuse, but he knew it was no use. She had left hours earlier. He had heard her go.

The house was devoid of life. Devoid of the only thing he needed. Blood.

His famished body told him that sunset was imminent, but what good would that do him? He had made sure that even at top strength he could not break the chains. He was at her mercy.

Fury raged within him, overturning the scrap of sanity brought by wakefulness, and the monster screamed. The sound echoed through the house like the cry of a raptor against steep canyon walls.

She had abandoned him. Left him alone to wallow in pain.

He would have his revenge.

The image of her lifeless body that had haunted him since they’d met, returned. He’d thought her a victim of the rogue, but perhaps he was the culprit. Maybe he was responsible for the barren husk he saw in his mind’s eye, drained of its poisonous blood. Like an infection, madness consumed him. He surrendered to it. He would get free and when he did, he would hunt her down and tear her limb from limb.

A noise pierced the fevered haze of lunacy. He could hear a car pulling up the driveway. He recognized the unique purr of his Jaguar. She had returned. Excellent.

He cloaked the demon. Hiding him just out of reach.

Thalia.
He made his mental voice soft, weak. The demon stifled a gleeful laugh.

Gideon? Are you all right?
She was worried about him. He would give her something to worry about. He was Gideon Damek, after all. Warlord. Warrior. Vampire. Not some tame lapdog leaping to do her bidding.

Come quickly. I must feed.
He smiled into the dark room, as he lured her with the truth.

He followed her progress through the house. The front door closed behind her. The stairs protested her slight weight as she raced up them. Her heart was beating fast, her pulse running a rapid course through her healthy young veins. She had been exerting herself.

Good. Very good. She would be weak. Easy pickings.

Thalia hesitated outside Gideon’s door, her hand on the button that would release the steel bars. A strange presentiment hovered over her. Something wasn’t right. From what he had told her of the bloodlust, he should be almost crazy with hunger by now. He sounded so calm, so rational.

Too rational.

She shuddered. His groans and shouts had been frightening, but this cold manipulative creature was terrifying.

She invoked the reserve of power she had stored for this occasion, surrounding herself with a shield of protection. She prayed it would be enough and opened the door.

Gideon smiled at her weakly from the bed without showing his teeth. In the light from the hall, his face gleamed with sweat. His hands were fisted in the bedclothes.

Fisted against the pain? Or concealing claws he was too far-gone to retract?

“There’s more. We just found another body of a young girl in the High Falls District. Looks like your perp has struck twice.”

“We’ll be there.” Cole shook her head and closed her phone against her thigh. Was the smell getting worse? Probably. No doubt the result of the last evening sun heating the house through the boarded-up windows. A sudden sound spun her toward the door. The creak and pop of the elderly floorboards set every nerve on end. Someone climbing the stairs, or the normal cries of a settling house?

“Poole?”

“I’ve called you here because we all have a stake in this,” Heath said to the crowd in his living room. He ran a hand over his bare scalp. Witches and mages packed the cozy space. Those that didn’t fit on the furniture, or the rows of metal folding chairs he had set up, lined the walls.

“Is that a pun?” a gray-haired witch named Karla Gibson asked. Her creased face folded into an ironic smile.

He ignored the remark and the vampire jokes that followed on its heels, his face a mask of displeasure. Slowly the occupants of the room seemed to pick up on his anger and the laughter faded. Outside the window, the red evening sun went behind a cloud and the room felt suddenly dark and cold. A young witch in the front row rubbed her arms as if to warm them. A June bug pitched its tiny body against the light fixture in the ceiling, intermittently clicking on impact and droning as it fell back and made another attempt to penetrate the glass.

A young mage wearing a rock concert T-shirt spoke into the unnatural hush. “I don’t see what all the fuss is about. It’s not like the vampire is a danger to
us
.”

“Of course, he’s a danger to us.” Karla shifted in her chair. “Don’t you see that if the pettys knew that vampires were real and a threat, they might realize that witches are real, as well?”

The young man rolled his eyes. “This isn’t the sixteen hundreds.”

“Sixteen hundreds, two thousands. People don’t change.”

“She’s right.” Heath shook his head, and took a few steps closer to the blue-jeaned mage, hazel eyes intense under his heavy brows. “It’s human nature to destroy what’s different. We’ve survived out in the open because the pettys no longer believe in magic.”

He scanned the diverse crowd. Seeing the comprehension on the faces before him, he switched gears, strolling back to the center of the room where everyone could see him.

“We’ve always had a Champion. And no one can argue that the Champions we’ve had in the past have been witches and mages of remarkable power and insight.” A wave of nods circled the room, but perhaps quashed by the stern expression on his face, no one said a word. “We have grave doubts about the present Champion, however, and that, as you know, is one of the reasons for this meeting.”

“And just what do you propose to do about it? Champions are born, not
elected
.” Karla again.

Heath colored. “We would have had to alter tradition eventually. This Champion shows no sign of producing an heir.”

“She’s still young,” Karla countered. “And although she’s never shown signs of great power, she’s proven herself capable in the past.”

Footsteps pounded up the front steps and across the porch. The screen door was ripped open, its hinges screaming. It was John Trenton, his black hair in disarray, his open face distressed. He bent over, clearly out of breath from running. He wiped his exertion-stained face with his sleeve. “Kimmy Simpson is dead.”

The room seemed to draw a collective breath. A woman gasped, and the crowd exploded into a cacophony of exclamations. Heath raised his hands to chest level, palms down and motioned for quiet.

When the noise died, Heath asked, “The vampire?”

John nodded.

“How?”

“He cut her throat.”

A wave of reaction crashed through the room. Hands raised uneasily to throats, covered mouths, or were clasped to chests. Shocked glances were exchanged. One woman sobbed softly, while another leaned over and patted her hand, murmuring comforting phrases.