Blood Hunt (56 page)

“Keep doing what you’re doing, and it’ll be my first time,” Two replied. Theroen stared at her for a moment, eyebrows raised, then buried his head in her neck again, this time stifling laughter. Finally, he looked back up at her.

“Very nice,” he said.

Two put her hand on his cheek, caressing lightly. His skin was smooth, and she wondered if he had shaved after his shower, or if his beard simply hadn’t grown at all during the two years he had been dead. Something about this thought struck her as both hilarious and awful, and she closed her eyes, taking her hands from her lover and covering her face.

Theroen paused in his motions, watching her, concerned. “Are you all right, Two?” he asked.

 “Theroen,” she said. “I … it’s …”

Theroen began to pull up from within her, and Two grabbed his back.

“No, don’t leave! Stay with me. It’s OK, I’m just … it’s been so long. I know it feels like yesterday for you, but for me it’s a little overwhelming.”

“I shouldn’t have rushed you,” Theroen said. Two laughed, kissed him, began to move her hips again.

“I
wanted
you to rush me! I’m not mad. It just all caught up to me at once. But trust me, if you … mmmm … just go slow and keep doing what you’re doing, everything is going to be just fine.”

Theroen smiled, kissed her lips, continued to make love to her. Slowly his motions sped, the warm friction he was making inside of her becoming more like a blaze. Two remembered their first time together, lying in a patch of grass on a forested hill. As they had neared orgasm, Theroen had turned and pressed his teeth against her neck, like he was doing now.

“Yes, my love,” she whispered into his ear. “Take me. Make me one with you again. Make me whole.”

She had come so far and waited so long, but now here at last was what she had wanted all along. Not just the blood, but the warmth and love, the connection that had been taken from her. Abraham had murdered a part of her when he murdered Theroen, but now her lover was back, here in this bed with her, and soon his teeth would pierce her flesh and unleash her blood. Soon he would drink, and drink, until Two was an empty vessel waiting to be filled. Soon he would make her his, and this time it would be forever.

Two dug her fingers into the skin of Theroen’s back as his thrusts began at last to take her over that final edge. Her whole body was tingling, nipples hard and dark, flesh hypersensitive, craving this contact yet barely able to stand it. She gasped and panted, breathing in the scent of his skin, his hair, extolling him in whispers and sighs. Theroen, too, was nearing his climax, and Two struggled to hold on, wanting to share it with him, wanting to know that he was feeling the same pleasure that she was.

“God,” he growled into the space between her neck and shoulder, stiffening, and Two answered with “Yes,” and she let herself go. Her body clenched, tightened, shaking, and Two closed her eyes, lost in pleasure and desire, lost in her love for this man. Theroen, coming inside of her, drove his teeth into her neck, but the pain seemed to originate from somewhere outside of her, and it was dim and distant.

Within moments, as Theroen drank the blood that gushed forth from her jugular vein, the pain had left entirely, and there was only the pleasure. The initial short, powerful spasms were being replaced now with longer, slower, deeper sensations that seemed timed with her heartbeat. Theroen drank, and Two lay with him, legs wrapped loosely around him, hands resting on his back, eyes closed, tears leaking from their corners, a small smile on her face.

“Oh, my love,” she whispered as he drank. The darkness was closing in on her again, and she felt like she was falling into some deep, black chasm where there was no bottom. She would fall like this forever, tumbling through the inky blackness, unconcerned and unafraid. Theroen was with her, at last, and that would be enough.

Chapter 29
The Burilgi Horde

Rhes Thompson stared at his friend Two in frank disbelief, unable to speak, paralyzed by an indescribable combination of surprise, rage, confusion and the almost uncontrollable urge to laugh at the absurdity of it all. If his vocal cords hadn’t been locked solid, he might have done so. Instead, he merely stared.

Sarah, however, was apparently having no such difficulties. She whirled in the direction that Two’s voice had come from, hands balled into fists, and Rhes had little doubt that if Sarah could have seen the girl, she would have punched first and asked questions later. Instead, she simply unleashed a snarling stream of invective at Two.

“Where the
fuck
have you been, you stupid, crazy, selfish bitch?!” she roared. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put us through? Do you even know what you’ve done? How dare you show up here, now, sounding like nothing’s happened and everything’s great in the world? How dare you?! You’re lucky I can’t see you, or I’d fucking strangle you to death right here!”

Two weathered this verbal attack without comment, waiting for Sarah to finish, a small, sad smile on her face. Rhes had time to observe the changes in his friend. There wasn’t much that was markedly different about Two, and yet it seemed that everything was just a bit off. Her eyes seemed greener. Her face seemed paler. She had chopped most of her hair off, but what was left seemed fuller, thicker somehow. She was standing with her arms crossed, listening to Sarah, looking more calm and at ease and
alive
than Rhes thought he had seen her since before she had ever become involved with heroin.

“Hon …” Rhes began, but Two stopped him without a word, holding up a hand and shaking her head. Sarah continued to rage.

“My house is torn up. My dog is dead. My daughter is shacked up with some fucking vampire. I’ve missed multiple days of work already and will be lucky to keep my job … where were you?! Where were you when Rhes was getting the shit kicked out of him and I was lying there, scared out of my mind? Where were you when these fucking vampire shitheads were breaking into my house and killing my dog? You were out bouncing around Europe with your vampire buddies, living it up, not a care in the world, right? Right?! Fuck you!”

Sarah finally seemed to be finished. She stood in front of Two, frowning, hips set defiantly, waiting for a response.

“I deserve all of that,” Two said.

“Fucking right you do,” Sarah replied.

“And I wasn’t trying to make a joke out of all of this, when I said ‘hi’ … I was just so happy to see that you guys were still alive. You’re not hurt, are you?”

“We’re all right,” Rhes said.

“Yeah, fine … great,” Sarah spat. “Here we are, safe and sound. Everything’s terrific, isn’t that right?”

Two sighed, shaking her head and staring at the floor for a minute. “I’m sorry for everything,” she said. “I’m sorry for dragging you guys into this, and then turning away from you. I was trying to keep you distant … trying to keep you from getting hurt, but it didn’t work. It just made things worse.”

“No, it didn’t work. Jesus Christ, Two …” Sarah couldn’t seem to find the right words to continue. She took her glasses off and rubbed her eyes, giving a disgusted sigh. “I don’t even know how to explain how angry I am right now.”

“I’ll do anything I can to make it up to you,” Two said.

“Good! Leave us alone! That’s what I want from you. Just fucking leave us alone. Leave us out of your insane vampire drama and let us live our stupid, boring, human lives. OK? Is that cool? Can we do that?”

“If that’s what you want, that’s what I’ll do.”

Something in Two’s voice seemed to get to Sarah, and she bit off whatever it was she had been about to shout next. She lowered her head for a minute before bringing it back up to address Two again.

“You missed our wedding,” she said, her tone still angry but no longer out of control.

“I know,” Two replied.

“You missed Molly’s adoption party.”

“I know.”

“You missed
everything!
”

Rhes tried again to calm her, saying her name and placing a hand on her shoulder. Sarah turned to face him.

“Don’t do that,” she said. “Don’t let her off the hook. You always do that! I know you think she’s the baby sister you never had, but she’s not. She’s an adult woman and she needs to face up to what she’s done.”

“I am one hundred percent on your side on this one,” Rhes said. “I’m pretty sure Two’s at least ninety percent on your side.”

“I’d go with ninety-five,” Two muttered.

“So why are you trying to calm me down?” Sarah asked him.

“Because her friends are done, uh … well, murdering everyone, and I’m worried they’ll be mad that you’re yelling at her.”

“No one’s going to touch either of you,” Two said. “We’re here to rescue you, not hurt you.”

“All the same—” Rhes began, and Sarah cut him off.

“Are you a vampire now?” she asked Two. “Did you get
that
done, at least?”

“Yes,” Two replied. “Yes, I’m a vampire now. Finally. It’s … a long story.”

“Halle-fucking-lujah,” Sarah said. “You can tell it to us sometime when we’re not trying to escape from a lunatic and his army of super-soldiers, OK?”

The left side of Two’s mouth perked up in a small smirk. “So that means I don’t have to stay out of your lives completely, then?”

Sarah paused for a moment, caught by surprise. Finally, she gave a small laugh, shaking her head. “You know what? Fine. Fuck you. Despite everything, despite knowing that I’m going to regret saying this, for some reason I am
still
your friend and I
still
don’t hate you. That isn’t keeping me from wanting to punch each of your teeth out individually, though.”

“Just leave her two of them,” said a vampire with long, reddish-brown hair as he came up behind Two. He had an Irish accent and was not much taller than Sarah. “She needs them.”

“You’re the original King of Comedy,” Two told him, glancing over her shoulder. “You enjoying yourself?”

Stephen was covered in blood spatters and grinning broadly. He nodded.

“It’s been a while since I saw this sort of action. In a way, I feel like I should thank Aros for the opportunity.”

“Let’s hold off on thanking Aros for anything,” Sarah said. “Two … who is this?”

“Oh, right,” Two said. “Stephen, this is Rhes and Sarah Thompson. Rhes and Sarah, this is Stephen Connelly. He’s been helping me out for the past year or so.”

“I was caught up in the whirlwind that seems to trail behind your friend,” Stephen told them. “I would shake your hands, but …”

“But yours are covered in blood, right,” Rhes said. “It’s uh … nice to meet you.”

“Two … what the fuck?” Sarah asked. “Seriously.”

“It’s not usually like this,” Two said. “I swear to God, it’s mostly totally normal, except the drinking blood part.

Stephen gave a short laugh and turned, wandering over to the other remaining vampires. There seemed to be no Burilgi soldiers left alive. Jakob was talking to a young woman with long brown hair who was clearly thrilled to see him, but also clearly upset about the wound in his side. For his part, Jakob seemed unconcerned and was spending most of his time staring at a tattooed black woman with an expression that looked like awe. There were four more vampires, two male and two female, also standing with the group.

As if sensing the scrutiny, one of the men glanced up at Two and began to walk over. He was tall and thin, lanky but not awkward, with short, dark hair and what looked like light-brown eyes. He was wearing a pair of navy jeans and a white button-down shirt and, unlike Stephen, he seemed to have avoided getting even the merest spot of blood on his clothing.

“This must be Rhes and Sarah,” he said as he came to stand beside.

“Yup!” Two said.

The vampire regarded them for a moment with a calm curiosity, smiling slightly. Rhes thought he seemed familiar but couldn’t identify him immediately.

“Two has told me much about you. Mrs. Thompson – Sarah – I heard you yelling earlier, and I must apologize. This situation is as much my fault as it is hers.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Two said.

“If I had been around—”

“You were dead. It’s not your fault.”

Sarah held up a hand. “Dead? Wait, who is … are you … you can’t be who I think you are, right?”

“My name is Theroen Anders,” the vampire said. “I don’t know if that’s who you think I am, but I’m very pleased to meet you both.”

“You aren’t dead?” asked Rhes, shaking Theroen’s hand.

“Not anymore,” Two said.

“You want to explain that?” Sarah asked. “I mean, I know you guys are different than us, but I had the impression that dead was dead, whether you’re a human or a vampire.”

“It is, for the most part,” Theroen said. “Especially if the body is burned or chopped apart. If it’s intact, and the remaining blood within is powerful enough, the body doesn’t decay immediately. It’s sort of like suspended animation.”

“OK, and so Two brought you back?”

“Like I said, it’s a long story,” Two told her. “This is kind of a once-in-five-thousand-years thing. There was some blood from a couple of ancients, and then the injecting and such, and—”

“Jeeeeesus Christ,” Sarah said, cutting her off. “That’s great. That’s all super great … can we get out of here? I want to find Molly, go home, drink about three bottles of wine, and sleep in my own bed … assuming we’re safe from Aros and his nutcase friends.”

“I believe Peter and Kanene are going to take you home,” Theroen said. “At least, that was the plan we were formulating a few minutes ago. I’m sure you can stop at Sasha’s apartment and pick up your daughter.”

“Where are the rest of you going?” Sarah asked.

“We’ve a bone to pick with Aros,” Jakob told her, as he and the rest of the vampires joined them. Two quickly introduced them all to her friends, and Rhes and Sarah found themselves shaking hand after hand. At last, Jakob continued. “We’re going to go find Aros. You’re going to go home.”

“Are you going to kill him?” Rhes asked.

“We’re hoping to avoid it,” the vampire girl with the brown hair, Sasha, said.“Don’t try too hard,” Sarah muttered. “Two, why can’t you and Theroen take us home? No offense to your friends, it’s just … you know …”