God Touched - 01 (9 page)

“Where will you be going that you would leave Tanya unprotected?” Lydia asked.

“Huh?  Oh, well, I'm not actually leaving, but you have to understand that my life expectancy is not what you could call robust.  I'm only human, and the things I fight are almost always faster and stronger.  So it's only prudent to prepare for the most likely outcome. It's actually something of a wonder that I
’ve
lasted this long.  Not to mention that my day job has its own risks.”

  I tried for a light tone, but no one was smiling, although Vadim was nodding in appreciation at my line of thought.  Lydia and Nika were a little wide-eyed, Galina was tapping her ruby lips with a single ruby fingernail, and Tanya....well Tanya was looking
rather angry.  Alarmingly angry
in fact.  The soft pressure against my side had turned titanium hard, and she literally thrummed with tension. Everybody became still.
I learned then that
w
hen vampires freeze, they're like department store mannequins.  I, on the
other hand, can't stay still very
long.  Finally, I sighed and very softly said her name.  “Tanya.” 

No response.

  “Tanya, what's the matter?”  There, just a flicker, but still noticeable.  Her eyes had moved. They first flickered then locked onto mine.  I was alarmed to notice they were black
. Completely, from edge to edge
with no iris or white showing.  I have to admit that she was scary.  But I felt no danger from her.  The other vampires were stone still.  I took a chance.  Gently, I covered her velvet-over-metal hand with my own warmer human hand and just let it sit, while staring into her pitch black eyes. Her hand wasn't cold, but it was cooler than my own.  Her skin warmed to my own temperature as my hand lay over hers.  After a moment I noticed a speck of light, deep in the celestial center of her eyes.  Gradually it grew, becoming first a blue star, then finally her
normal
exotic blue peep
er
s.  The steel in her hand softened perceptibly as she came back to herself.  Her expression wavered between anger and sadness, and even an idiot like me was able to discern that she was upset at my very limited prospects for life.

   I smiled at her, squeezed her hand gently (not that I would be able to hurt her) and said, “Tanya, I promise you that I will do my best to protect you and keep myself alive.  We can talk about this another time.”   She said nothing, just kept staring into my eyes.  I probably could have spent the night doing nothing else, despite the audience, but at that moment the limo slowed to a stop and the driver's partition came down enough for Arkady to mention that we were at my building.  The vampires were all watching her avidly, not bothering to breathe.  I gently disengaged my hand from Tanya's and moved to the door of the limo.  Vadim shook himself
into motion
and opened it for me and I slid out into the night with a murmured goodbye.

  The door closed and the limo started away, only to stop a few feet further on.  Again the door opened and this time Tanya emerged like a dancer.  She flitted to my side and the limo drove off.   There wasn't a whole lot to say.  I knew she wasn't ready to say goodnight, so I led her into my building and into my life.

Chapter 6

     She was curious about everything. Why a girl who grew up in a seven thousand-square-foot brownstone would find my four hundred-square-foot studio fascinating, I don’t kn
ow.  She studied every minute
detail of my tiny space.  And she asked questions, lots of questions.  How much was the rent? Why did I live here?  Was I poor?  Many
would have
bordered on offensive, but I couldn’t seem to find any offense.  She was asking in complete innocence, her worldview very narrow and contained. 

She loved the bear in the tapestry. The photo on the bookshelf of Gramps and me generated twenty or thirty questions on its own.  Where did he live, how was he related, what did he do?  Pretty quickly I was laying out my life story, which I had never done
, for anyone
.  I sat in my leather chair and she held the bear fetish in her lap as she sat on the futon.  When we had first entered the studio, I had switched into host mode without much thought.

“Would you like something to drin…k?  Er… oops. Sorry about that. Habit.” I had said.

“I would like some water,” she answered.

“You drink water?”

“Of course.  We are mostly water, just like you.  We get lots from blood, but still need a little from time to time,” she said.

I got her a glass while I thought about this.  “Are you hungry?  For blood?” I asked.

“Are you offering?” she asked,
smirking and obviously
amused.

Was I? 

“Yeah, I guess I am.” 

She smiled.  “No thank you.  I am still working from what you gave me last night.”

“It doesn’t seem enough.  I can’t seem to stop eating today,” I babbled.

“I make you nervous.” she stated.

“A little.  I’m not use to being alone with girls.  Especially really pretty girls,” I admitted, cursing myself for my lame attempt at a compliment.  Like she was
just
pretty.

“But you are not nervous that I am vampire?”

I thought about that before I answered.  “No.”

“Why?  Why are you not scared or nervous or bothered?”  she asked, with intensity.

I shrugged and struggled to organize my thoughts. 

“Well…first, because of what I deal with – demons – I guess finding out that vampires are real isn’t that much of a shock. Then, I don’t get any kind of scary vibe from you. And finally…I.. like you…and I guess that outweighs everything else.”  I paused, and threw caution aside. “I also think that you like me…or at least think I’m interesting..or something.”  My courage floundered a bit at the end.

She sipped her water, watching me over the edge of her glass.  Her feet were tucked up on the futon, the bear under her hand.  She was seriously cute as hell.

“You like the way I look,” she stated. “You are attracted to this.” Waving a hand up and down herself.

“Yes, but actually that’s part of what makes me nervous.  The parts that don’t make me nervous are the things like the fact that you cared enough about my being hurt to track me down.  Or that you protected me from the others last night. Even facing Arkady down when I provoked him.  I like the way you dance, I like that you are quiet, and I really liked that you stopped last night, when you could have drank me dry.
.
.so to speak.”

She didn’t say anything, just stared at me like I had either said something important or crazy.  I kept going.

“And yes I think you are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, but I like you in spite of that.”

She frowned at that. 

“What?”

Suddenly nervous again, I busied myself with my uniform and gear, getting it ready for work tomorrow, answering as I worked,
my face
turned away from her.  “Well, I don’t know much about girls.  I have always avoided them.  The Hellbourne always know if I have a friend, and they will attack them or use them against me. But I like girls…I mean.
.
.I don’t
want
to be alone.  It’s just not fair to endanger someone just
be
cause I’m lonely or something.  But I watch them
…
girls that is.  And it seems that the really pretty ones, the beautiful ones, are usually not so much the kind of people that I like.  Not all of them.  But most.  You don’t seem to even know that you’re beautiful. And you’re definitely the kind of person I like.” 

I finished babbling and finally turned to read her expression, figuring to find the window open and her long gone.

Instead, I found her only about ten inches away, staring intently into my eyes.

“Ah…
hi!” I said, shocked at her proximity.  Her eyes looked back and forth between my two. I held still.  She blurred a bit and I felt a soft kiss on my lips.  She was back on the futon, looking down at the bear as she petted it.

  “I asked Lydia about kisses.  She said I would know when I should kiss you. That was a when,” she explained, still not looking up.

I was frozen in place, trying to think of something to say, but my brain wasn’t in gear.  Finally, she looked up bashfully and I automatically smiled at her.  She smiled back and my brain slipped out of gear again. 

“What is that?” she asked, curious again.  She was looking at my feet, where my vest was sitting on the floor.

“It’s my body armor.  You know….to protect me from bullets and knives,” I answered. She was back at my side in a split second, examining the vest from all angles but not touching it.  I picked it up and handed it to her.  The weight meant nothing to her, holding it like a sheet of paper.

“Is it good?” she asked, a little dubious.

“It’s the best.  Dragon Skin, made by Pinnacle Armor. Top of the line.”

“Put it on
.
..please,” she said.  I shrugged into the vest and sealed it up.  She poked the vest, fingered the exposed areas around my armpits and neck

“It does not protect the big veins in your neck or inside of your thighs,” she pointed out.

“No, it’s a concealable vest, so it doesn’t protect the neck.  I don’t think anyone makes armor for the thighs, but I’ve never checked into it.” 

Next she wanted to see all my gear and what it did.  She snorted at my cuffs, but allowed that they would probably hold a human.  She sniffed the pepper spray, flashed the flashlight and twirled the baton.  That was illuminating, as she handled the stick expertly, at least during the moments when it wasn’t a blur.  Tanya was no stranger to weapons.  Next she wanted to test my flex cuffs, which are basically giant plastic zip ties like electricians use. We use them when we have lots of people to restrain.   So I zipped a set closed on her, interested to see the result.  She simply flexed her wrists lightly and the heavy plastic broke.  I made a note not to zip tie any vampires.  Finally, we got to the gun and I slipped into instructor mode, teaching safety as I had been taught.  I expected derision or flippant disregard, but she took it very seriously.  I showed her h
ow to clear the chamber and drop
the magazine.  I explained the Big Four rules: keep your finger off the trigger, keep the muzzle pointed away from anything you don’t want dead, know your target and treat every gun as if it is loaded.  She was a natural.  I started to ask my own questions.  Does sunlight hurt her? No, it makes her sleepy but it could give most vampires a burn, like bad sunburn, but quicker.  How often does she need to eat? Depends on activity.  Usually one unit of blood a day.  My blood
seemed
to hold her longer.  Odd. Where do they get the blood?  Turns out the Coven owns its own blood bank, but there are lots of humans who love to be bitten.  Does she have any powers?  Not yet, but she was really young in most ways.

  I asked her what that meant.

  “Well, vampires get stronger and faster with age.  We tend to develop new abilities as we get older.  I’m only twenty-three, like you, but I’m stronger and faster than most vampires.  Maybe like a six hundred-year-old.”

That shut me up for a while.  I decided to change into sweats and a tee shirt.  When I came out of the bathroom, Tanya was holding my discarded hoodie in both hands, sniffing it.

“Careful, any clothes you find on the floor might have a serious stink to them.”

“No, it smells of you,” she said.

“Tanya, are you cold?” I asked.

“I don’t really feel the cold…wait.
.
.if I am cold, I can wear the sweatshirt?” she guessed.

“Yup, or you can wear it even if you’re not cold,” I suggested.

She smiled and sort of wriggled and was suddenly wearing the NYPD hoodie.  It was huge on her and it just made her look even cuter.  I smiled at her, then covered a yawn.

  Instantly she was adamant about me sleeping, thinking of my work tomorrow. 

“Tanya, tomorrow is a shift change for me.  I was on seven to three’s last week. Tomorrow starts three to eleven’s. So I don’t have to go in early. And I do need to get used to staying up later.”  Of course that resulted in a new round of questions about my shifts and what I actually did.  “So, you just walk around the City?   With your partner?  Who is your partner? “    I explained about eight person squads, run by a sergeant and rotating partners for us rookies.  I thought that I was partnered with Bernice Hughes for the week.  “Is she pretty?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.

She frowned.  “That means she’s pretty.”