Date with a Vampire (22 page)

“Please, don’t leave. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“Maybe not intentionally, Miss Melody, but as a newly turned vampire, you’ll not be able to control your urges.”

“But you can’t leave me alone. What will I do? And what about Guy? I can’t just leave him here.” Panic started to take hold of her, and she felt all reason slipping away. Her hunger was growing, and the saliva in her mouth burned her tongue. She didn’t want to hurt Blakesley, but if something didn’t happen quickly, she might not be able to control herself. “Please, help me.”

He shifted his gaze away from her and back to Guy. “You’re right. I must do something. If you were to take the potion I gave to Master Guystof, it should keep you from needing to feed. Once we’ve taken care of that problem, then we can think about what to do next.”

“Oh, thank you.”

“It shouldn’t take long for me to get it.”

After Blakesley left, she walked over to the window and stared out at the night sky. Stars twinkled, and the Southern Cross stood out like a beacon. Not so long ago, she and Guy had looked at it together. Now he was gone. And they’d never do anything together again. She crossed her arms over her chest and rocked back and forth. How could she go on without him?

Through tear blurred eyes, she glanced over at his still figure on the bed and was overcome with grief. When Blakesley returned, she had no way of knowing whether he’d been gone a minute or an hour, nor did she care. Her body and mind were numb.

Blakesley dropped a leather-bound ledger on the table and opened a vial of potion. “One drop is all you need.”

She wiped the tears from her cheeks before taking the vial from him. “Do you think it will make me sick?”

He looked at her with surprise. “What makes you ask that?”

“Guy kept getting pains in his stomach. He assumed they were due to the potion.”

Blakesley sat on a chair next to the table. “How much potion was he taking daily? Do you know?”

“I think he said he’d gotten up to five or six drops.”

Blakesley grimaced. “No wonder he’d been sick. He was supposed to take only one.”

Melody tilted her head back, poured a drop of the amber liquid onto her tongue, and swallowed.

Blakesley flipped through the ledger. “Do you remember when the pains started?”

Her brow furrowed. “Right after we met.”

“Really? That’s interesting. Ambrus, Master Guystof’s grandfather, created the potion, hoping to break the spell put on the kingdom by Lazlo, an evil sorcerer. He’d been taking it for years, gradually increasing the dosage. But he was never able to retain his human form for any length of time. When Lazlo discovered Ambrus had been conducting experiments, he threatened to kill his family, but Ambrus traded his life for theirs. That was when he began to get pains in his stomach. I remember that time vividly. And besides, Ambrus recorded it right here.” Blakesley placed his finger near the bottom of the page.

Melody leaned over his shoulder and read. “He thought the potion was poisoning him.”

“But what if the potion had nothing to do with the pain?”

Melody looked up at him. “Then what do you think caused it?”

Blakesley slammed the ledger shut. “Love. Ambrus loved Berta and Cato more than anything in the world. The way that Master Guystof loved you. I think the more he was falling in love with you, the more human he was becoming. And that was making him sick. The vampire in him was fighting the transformation.”

“So the combination of the potion and unconditional love could be the recipe needed to remove the curse.” Melody lifted the bottle back to her mouth, but Blakesley held her arm.

“Wait! We don’t know what too much of the potion might do to you. This is only a theory. What if Ambrus was right? It might very well poison you.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take. If I can lift the curse, then maybe, just maybe, I can bring Guy back too.”

“And if you’re wrong, it might kill you.”

— : : —

Theo stood in stunned disbelief at the state of his chambers. Broken vials littered the floor. Potion splattered his walls. His gray metal cabinet was open. His magic goblet was on his desk, filled with blood. He had no doubt who’d done this. Guystof. But he couldn’t have acted alone. That sneaky Blakesley was the only one who could possibly have gotten hold of Theo’s keys. What else had he done? Did that prying butler know of the caves? And of Melody’s kidnapping? Theo lifted his magic chalice and flung it against the wall. Blood sprayed everywhere, and the goblet crashed to the floor with a thud.

“Damn him!” Blakesley might know everything. He might have already gone to Father. Things were not going at all as he’d planned.
Think. Think.
There had to be a way out of this. He walked over to the window. Hundreds of bats streamed across the sky like a giant black cloud. His vampires were leaving. If only he hadn’t sent Gelda away. She’d know what to do. He remembered her words.
“Home is where you make it.”
He could live anywhere in the world. Besides, it would only be temporary. Eventually, he’d be forgiven, and then he could return to Dragesa. In the meantime, there were plenty of lovely young women he could seduce. Theo closed his eyes and imagined where he’d like to go.

C
HAPTER
F
OURTEEN

M
elody drank the entire bottle of potion, gagging a few times at its bitter taste. As she waited for what she hoped would be a reversal of the curse, needle-like pains shot through her insides, and she doubled over in agony.

“Oh, Miss Melody,” Blakesley cried, draping his arm around her and ushering her over to a chair. “I was afraid this would happen. Too much of the potion is dangerous. I just hope it doesn’t kill you.”

She leaned back against the worn velvet cushions and closed her eyes, grimacing as another wave of pain ripped through her. Beads of perspiration on her forehead rolled down the sides of her face.

“I’ll fetch you a cool cloth,” Blakesley said.

Before he could go, Melody grabbed hold of his arm. “No, stay. I-I don’t want to be alone.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but she had no doubt that he’d heard her, for her eyes, open now, were fixated on his face.

Concern had etched more lines into his skin, and the corners of his mouth were tipped down in a frown. However, he nodded agreement to her request, then took her hand in his and squeezed. “You’re a strong woman, Miss Melody.”

A faint smile cracked her lips, but then a second later, she gritted her teeth as the pain intensified and all rational thought left her. Through her delirium, she heard a woman screaming. It wasn’t until Blakesley took her by the shoulders and shook her that she realized she had been that woman. “Maybe I’m not so strong after all,” she panted.

“Just hang on. Hang on,” he begged.

“I’m trying.” She gripped the edge of the chair. A searing heat raged from the tips of her toes all the way up to her scalp. “What’s happening to me?”

“I don’t know.” Blakesley grabbed hold of her legs and put his full weight on them as she began to kick wildly at the air. “But your skin is darkening like you’ve spent an entire summer in the sun.”

“What? Even on Fiji, I barely got a decent tan.”

“Well, you’re positively glowing.”

Just as Blakesley uttered those words, the burning sensation was replaced with itching. It started on the palms of her hands and traveled throughout her entire body, growing more intense with each second. She scratched at her arms, neck and chest like a dog infested with fleas, and then her fangs broke through her gum line, and she gnawed her skin raw.

A giant welt appeared on her wrist, itching worse than a hundred mosquito bites. When she sank her fangs into her own flesh, she thought the potion must have made her insane. But she didn’t care. All she wanted was for this nightmare to end.

Blood spurted from her arm and dripped from her mouth. Blakesley let go of her, his eyes wide with fear. As he backed away, she pleaded, “Don’t go. Please. I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

“I don’t know what more I can do to help you.” He inched toward the door, never shifting his gaze off her face.

“Just don’t leave me.” Tears blurred her vision as she watched him go.

However, before he reached the door, he stopped. “Miss Melody, your fangs, they’re gone!”

She ran her tongue across her teeth. He was right. She couldn’t feel them under her gum line either. The itching had gone away too. And so had her insatiable appetite. “It worked. The curse is lifted. I’m no longer a vampire.”

She sprang out of the chair, raced over to Blakesley, and hugged him. “Doesn’t it feel wonderful to be human again?” When he didn’t answer, she pulled back from him and saw fangs. “You’re still a vampire? It only worked on me?”

He nodded and pushed her away. “Go on. You must leave here before I do something awful. I never feed on humans. I find it abhorrent. Animals—usually rabbits and squirrels—are what I eat. But with your blood so close…”

She looked down at the blood dripping from her wrist. “Then take the potion. If it worked on me, it should work on you. That’s how we’ll lift the curse. Each vampire will drink an entire bottle of potion.”

A frown furrowed his brow. “If only we had more. But you drank the last of it. “

She held her wrist out to him. “Then go on. Feed on me. Just this once. Do it for me and Guy.”

He looked at her in surprise. “I don’t understand.”

“The potion is in my blood. If you drink from me, my blood should work for you in the same magical way as the potion did for me.”

“But if it doesn’t and I drink too much, I could kill you.”

“It’s worth a try.” She held her arm out in front of him as her blood dripped onto his shirt.

He hesitated a second, and then she felt a quick sharp prick as his fangs entered her skin, piercing deeper into the holes she’d made herself.

She had no idea how much blood would equal a bottle of potion, so she let him drink until she became dizzy, then waited for him to experience the same agony she had as he left his vampire body behind and was reborn as a human. But it didn’t happen. Instead, astonishment touched his face.

“No pain.” He ran his tongue over his gums. “And no fangs. I’m human. Miss Melody, you were right. Your blood is indeed magical and even better than the potion.”

“Now I just hope it can bring Guy back.” Melody sat on the edge of the bed and gently stroked his cheek. “Please come back to me.”

Without further hesitation, she dripped the blood from her wrist into his mouth, then lifted his head, forcing it to trickle down his throat. She sat with him for a long time, letting her blood fill him, until a light-headed sensation washed over her and she knew she could give no more. She scanned the room for Blakesley and found him standing by the window, basking in the morning sunshine. “It feels good, doesn’t it?”

He nodded, but looked at her with despair. “Your blood’s not going to work for Master Guystof.”

Melody swallowed the lump in her throat. She shifted her gaze back to Guy, so still and cold beside her, and couldn’t stop the flow of tears running down her cheeks. No, it wasn’t going to work for him. Perhaps he’d been dead too long. Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter. All that did matter was that he wasn’t coming back to her. Not now. Not ever. Sobs shook her body.

Blakesley came over to her and put his hand on her arm. “Miss Melody, there’s nothing more you can do. Please, come with me. I’ll get you something to help you relax.”

“I need to say good-bye.” She waited until he went back to stand by the window before pressing her cheek against Guy’s and whispering, “I’ll never love anyone the way I love you. Ever.” Then she closed her eyes and kissed him. His lips warmed. His breath caressed her cheek, and she thought she must be dreaming.

She opened her eyes slowly. To her disbelief, Guy stirred, so she kissed him again, waking him fully.

A warm glow flowed through her as he looked at her lovingly. “Have I been asleep long?”

“Seems like forever.”

“Sounds like you missed me.”

“More than you’ll ever know.”

He stretched, then sat up and wrapped his arms around her. “What’s that?” he asked, staring at the bottle on the bedside table. “Is that my potion?”

Melody shifted her gaze across the room to Blakesley, hoping for some help, but he merely shrugged and said, “I’m going outside to enjoy the sunshine. It’s been hundreds of years since I’ve done that.”

“What of the curse?” Guy asked.

“That’s for the miss to tell you.” Blakesley winked at Melody, then left the room with a spring in his step.

Guy took the vial from the table and tipped it over. No potion spilled out. “You drank it?” His voice was tinged with horror. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?”

Melody buried her face against his chest. “I’d do anything for you.”

He drew her from him and looked directly into her eyes. “So when are you going to tell me what’s been going on here?”

“It’s a long story.”

“There’s no place I’d rather be than right here with you. So start talking.”

She plucked at the bedspread. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

His brow wrinkled, and a frown tightened his mouth. “Theo held you captive. He was going to turn you into a vampire. I tried to stop him, but he turned his minions on me.” He stared hard at her. “Did he turn you?”

When she didn’t answer right away, his eyes hardened. “He did, didn’t he?”

More than a little nervous at what he might want to do to his brother, she said, “It doesn’t matter now. That’s all in the past.”

“Past or not, it matters to me.” He pulled her back into his arms. “What did he do to you?”

Melody rested her head against his shoulder. “I don’t remember the turning ceremony. But when I woke up, I was in bed with you and…you were dead,” she said reluctantly. “That’s why I took the potion. To lift the curse and bring you back to me.”

“I wasn’t merely asleep; I was dead?”

“Yes.”

“And you were a vampire.” Guy’s voice was low and guarded.

“Yes.” She could feel his uneven breathing on her cheek and worried that he’d do something rash that could lead to more death. “Revenge isn’t the answer. We should find Theo and his vampires so I can give them my blood, and then we can all live in peace.”