The Undead in My Bed (36 page)

“He thinks we’re just friends,” I said bitterly. “He’s reminded me of that repeatedly.”

She snorted. “I may not know what’s going on between you two, but the way he looks at you? It’s obvious you two were
never
just friends. Did you sleep with him?”

I felt my cheeks heat.

“Uh-huh,” Jayde said knowingly. “And do you sleep with your other friends?”

“No.”

“Do you think he sleeps with his other friends?”

Startled, I looked over at her. “I guess not.”

She gave me a little push. “Then I
guess
you should go tell him that your girl parts keep having unfriendlike thoughts about him.”

“But, Jayde, he thinks I cheated on him. He hasn’t asked me about it, but he couldn’t have forgotten.”

I still remembered the look of utter anguish on
Michael’s face, the sick clenching in my own stomach, the tears that wouldn’t stop flowing after he slammed the door shut.

“You ever hear of second chances?” Jayde gave my shoulder a harder shove. “Go on. The worst he can say is no, and then you’ll turn into the crazy cat lady that you’re heading for anyhow.”

She was right. I had to try. Even if he turned me away, I had to know how he truly felt. What did I have to lose? If he left, I lost everything.

I went outside and paused, sniffing the wind, looking for Michael’s spicy scent. Maybe it
wasn’t
too late. I could explain what he’d seen four years ago. Maybe we could go on another date, take it slow.

Maybe he’d stop calling me his friend.

The wind carried the scent of vampire on it, and I inhaled, wanting to fill my lungs with Michael’s aroma. Maybe he’d give me a second chance—

But the vampire scent wasn’t his. I gasped.

“Rube?” Jayde called from inside the apartment, hearing my gasp through the door.

I bolted through the parking lot, following the scent, scanning for Michael’s familiar form.
There!

He strode down the street in the shadows, hands shoved into his pockets, head bent. His spiky hair seemed flat and wilted, as if his entire being were dejected.

A shadow moved to his right, and I saw the other vampire raise the crossbow to his shoulder.

I dashed forward, screaming. “Michael! Duck!”

Michael dropped to the pavement, his jacket flaring out behind him as he rolled to the ground. I kept running to him, my legs swift even if my steps were short. I could reach him in time. I
could
.

I heard the thwack of the crossbow releasing, and something slammed me in the back, knocking me forward onto my stomach. I gasped, the wind knocked out of me for a moment.

“No!” Michael yelled, the sound rough and hoarse with outrage. He ran for the man in the bushes, and I heard his fist slam into the man’s mouth. I heard them scuffle, yet I couldn’t seem to focus in and see what was going on. Was Michael whaling on the guy? I heard the chuffing cry of a jaguar nearby, and the wind smelled like my sister…

And blood.

I couldn’t seem to get off the ground. I pushed, but my hands weren’t responding right. Something dug into my back, and it felt like a hot poker. Warm, wet liquid ran down my spine, and I realized I’d been shot by the crossbow. “Well, damn.”

“Ruby?” Michael was at my side. I tried to get up again, but I was like a bug pinned to a board. Ridiculous that I was so strong and was felled by something so small. Michael’s hands had bruises on the knuckles as he reached for me, and they were gentle as he helped me sit up. He cradled me in his lap.

“No, Ruby, no. Sweetheart, why did you come
after me?” I noticed blood smearing over his shirt—my blood. His eyes glittered with fury even as he tenderly pushed the hair away from my face. “I left to keep you safe.”

“You were in danger,” I said softly.

“You came after me because I was in danger?”

It was getting harder to breathe, my chest heavy. I wanted to cough but didn’t have the strength in me. “Wanted to tell you,” I said weakly. “I don’t want to be your friend.”

In the distance, I heard Jayde’s snarl and the crunch of her teeth sinking into the vampire, ensuring that he wouldn’t ever bother us again.

Michael stroked my face, his fingers shaking.

“I love you,” I said softly. I was so tired, and it seemed important to say it now, while I could. “Always loved you. I didn’t cheat on you… back then.”

“I know,” he said roughly, then kissed me. “I’ve always known. The whole blind-date thing was a setup. I just wanted to see you again. Everything I did—the blindfold, the stupid changes to my voice—all of it was to get you to stay just a few minutes longer.”

“How…” I asked, but things were getting dark, and I was suddenly irritated at my body’s failings. I wanted to hear the story. How had he always known?

“Ruby, I love you. I never stopped loving you.”

I smiled weakly up at him, at his face growing fuzzy. “Your timing is shit.”

He cradled me closer and pressed a kiss to my
mouth. “I don’t want to lose you. Please, Ruby, don’t let me lose you.” His eyes flared black with emotion. “Do you want to stay with me? Do you trust me? Because I’m not ready to let you go.”

“Me, either,” I said softly, but I knew it didn’t matter. Wouldn’t soon.

“Then don’t be mad when I do this,” he said, and sank his fangs into my throat.

I stiffened at the flare of pain; he hadn’t licked me to ease the bite. But only a little pain. The red-hot poker between my ribs had flared outward to encompass everything, and I was too far gone to feel much more. The world was growing dark and blurry.

I felt Michael’s fangs slide out of my neck, felt him press a quick kiss there.

“Do it,” I heard Jayde hiss faintly. “Just fucking do it!”

“What if she never forgives me?” Michael said, his tone anguished.

That’s ridiculous,
I thought faintly, the world growing black.
I’d always forgive Michael anything.

Then a wrist was shoved between my teeth, bloody and dripping. Michael’s face hovered over mine. “Drink, Ruby!
Drink
.”

—

When I woke
up, I felt… different. Not physically different but in my awareness. As if a door had been opened. As if something was suddenly flicked on like a switch. As if it was safe to come out and play again. Why I felt like that, I had no idea.

The world was deathly quiet around me. Too quiet. My eyes slid open, and I peered at my surroundings. A hand brushed over my cheek. “You’re awake.”

Michael’s voice. I automatically turned toward him. He was smiling down at me, his expression incredibly tender as his fingers stroked my cheek.

“Why is it so quiet?” I murmured, my words sounding like anvils in the stillness.

“Don’t worry about that. Everything’s fine. How do you feel?”

“Different,” I said slowly. “Not bad, just different. Did… did something happen?”

“You don’t remember?”

I remembered bits and pieces, but there was a mental fog that I couldn’t seem to shake. “I remember Jayde… and you leaving…” I thought hard for a moment and then gasped as the memories burst forth from a dam. “The bounty hunter! He… he shot me, didn’t he?” My hand rose and slid over my chest, feeling for an arrow hole. I didn’t feel that hot, stabbing poker of pain anymore. Someone had taken the arrow out? “And then it got dark, and you…” I vaguely remembered Michael shoving his wrist between my lips and the taste of blood flooding my mouth.

My teeth tingled, and something shot out of my mouth, the tip of it digging into my lower lip.

“Ow!” I put a hand to my lip, shocked. My two incisors had distended at the thought of blood. I felt
along one tooth and realized it was long and wickedly curved. Like a fang. Like Michael’s.

I looked over at him. He’d smelled spicy and uniquely vampire before, but now the scent of him was… intoxicating. Delicious. It made my mouth water just to get near him. He’d changed. And I had fangs.

I looked at him in surprise. “Fhoo fhturned me?”

Michael watched me, his eyes intense. “If you want to retract your fangs, focus on mentally pulling them inward. It’s like learning to use a new muscle. You’ll figure it out in time, just like you’ll figure out how to speak around them.”

“But—”

“Fangs first,” he said softly. “Then we’ll talk.”

A thousand questions burned in my mind, but I wasn’t going to be able to hold a conversation without sounding like Elmer Fudd. So I closed my eyes and concentrated on thinking about normal teeth, and my fangs retracted. I felt them slide back under my gums. Okay, that was freaky. My eyes flew open, and I gave Michael a meaningful look. “Answers now?”

“You were dying,” he said, his voice low with anguish. His hand stroked my hair, then he tangled his fingers into it, holding me pinned against him. “You took an arrow for me—an arrow that would have staked me through the heart. Instead, when he heard you coming, he shot you.”

“I couldn’t let him kill you,” I said, running my
hand over his chest, looking for wounds. Odd, but his skin felt warm to me now. Was my body temperature that much lower? Just running my fingers over him felt delicious, as if his wonderful smell was rubbing off on my own skin.

Michael groaned at my exploring fingertips, and his hand captured mine, keeping it pressed over his chest. “Ruby, you… I asked if I could save you. Surely you knew…”

Actually, it hadn’t occurred to me. “I wasn’t thinking clearly. Some goofball shot me through the chest, remember?” He looked… delicious. Both sexually and physically. Hunger had an entirely different edge when one was a vampire. “I didn’t really know what I was agreeing to.”

“I am so sorry, Ruby. I couldn’t let you die, so I offered it.” He closed his eyes and bowed his head, as if pained by the thought of turning me against my will. “I have a small fortune left to me by my vampire benefactress. Vampire courtesy states that I pass on the favor and give you half.”

I looked up at him, at his beautiful, firm mouth. I wondered if he’d taste different when he kissed me now. My fangs nudged out again, and I willed them to slide back in. I was only half listening to what he said. “Half? Half of what?”

“My fortune. Ten million.”

That registered in my mind. “Your fortune is ten million dollars?”

“Actually, my fortune is twenty million. Half of it is yours. It’s the least I can do for turning you against your will.” His gaze searched my face, desperate. “I’m not sorry you’re alive, though.”

I wasn’t, either, really. I thought for a moment. “That weird sense of relief when I woke up?”

“The sun is down,” he murmured. “You’ll feel that every day. It’s instinct telling you to keep away until it’s gone.”

Smart instincts. I licked my lips and looked over at him, noticing how decadent his pale skin was. This whole vampire thing was kind of… erotic. I rubbed my thumb against his bare chest, just now noticing that my legs were twined with his. We were both cuddled under the sheets in a large bed. I was in my borrowed bra and panties, and Michael wore nothing. That was so unfair. I dug my fingers into his chest, scratching at his skin and inhaling sharply at the delicious scent of him. “I—I think I’m hungry.”

As if on cue, my teeth slid down again, although this time, they didn’t stab my lip. As I looked over at Michael, I noticed his teeth flick out, also descending, and his erection grew hard against my leg.

“Then you must drink from me,” Michael said softly. He leaned back in the bed next to me and bared his throat. “But go slow, and don’t take too much for your first time.”

My mouth watered at the sight of his pale neck.
God, he smelled good. “Will fhoo help me? Walk me fhroo it?”

His hand moved to my shoulder, and he nodded, pulling me in closer. I didn’t need much encouraging. I leaned over him, my hair spilling over my shoulder. He brushed it aside, and I shivered at his fingers grazing my sensitive skin.

“Find the carotid,” he said, his voice low and strong and thrumming through me. “There’s no pulse on a vampire, but you can smell the blood concentration there.”

I leaned in and sniffed his neck and nearly swooned at the heady scent of him. “But all of you fhmells fho good,” I said, unable to resist brushing my breasts against his chest.

He groaned. “Then pick a spot. Remember to lick the skin first.”

My tongue darted between my fangs, and I nuzzled the side of his neck, swiping at his skin with my tongue. My panties became instantly wet. Good Lord, this was a major turn-on.

“Lick… again,” Michael said, his voice sounding strained.

“Did I not get enough?” I mumbled between my teeth.

“Just lick me again,” he growled, and his hand went to the back of my head, pressing me against his neck. “Feels amazing.”

An intense bolt of pleasure shot through me, and I licked him slowly, enjoying his groan. That was
hot
.

“Now,” he said, breathing hard. “Bite down. Gently. When your teeth are in, you’ll know what to do.”

I licked his throat again and then gently pressed the tips of my fangs against his skin. They punched through, razor-sharp, and I felt my mouth fill with blood—thick, rich, and decadent. I heard Michael’s groan of pleasure as I swallowed my first taste of blood… and latched on to drink more. It was better than anything I’d ever tasted—Michael’s sweet, intoxicating scent made into pure, distilled ambrosia. I sucked hard, my tongue lapping against his skin as I drank, not wanting to miss a drop.

“Not too much,” he cautioned, even as his mouth nuzzled my own neck. I felt him pull my hair aside and lick my throat. “God, Ruby, I want to drink from you, too. Can—”

I pushed his head against my neck in response, still drinking.

I felt his tongue flick against my throat once, then felt his fangs sink in, and intense pleasure washed over me. My body stiffened in orgasm even as I continued to drink, the two of us with necks entwined, teeth sunk into each other.

Chapter Eight

I
n the afterglow, Michael’s fingers twined with mine, and I curled up against his chest.