Could swear a little color flashes across his pale face, and he asks, “Then, what about me?”
“How did you resist the urge for blood? You said last night that you didn’t give in for a long time.”
“It’s hard. Don’t know how I did it…guess I didn’t care how I felt. When the urge came over me, didn’t care to make myself feel better. Didn’t feel like I had the right to be happy…not after what happened.”
“What does it feel like?”
“Like starving with the scent of simmering deliciousness rising to your nose; lusting for someone—badly—with them beautiful, naked, and running their fingers up your arms but knowing you can’t have them; itching spreading from the inside out—growing stronger with every passing second; dying of thirst beside a stream that you’re forbidden to drink from; and a terrible need for affection—like you were locked away alone in a lightless dungeon for years.”
“Affection?”
“Yeah, in some sick way it is connecting with someone for just a moment.”
I shudder.
“I know it sounds strange. Guess it is strange. But that’s the way it is. We try to seek out people we find intriguing to feed on because there is a bond there.”
“Why? Doesn’t seem like it’d matter—can get blood from anyone. I drink milk, but I don’t need to think the cow has sexy hooves before I can have a glass.”
“It’s not any different than kissing in a way—you can kiss anyone—as long as they have lips they can meet your need to kiss—but people seek out people they like because there’s something more to it. There’s something beyond logic that makes us search for a special connection, but we all do it. There’s a connection that can happen that meets a deeper need. Sparks.”
“Yeah,” the word runs out my mouth in a sigh.
He smiles, “Yeah. It’s a little nicer than milk, isn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t know,” I respond puzzled.
His face looks wounded, “My kiss is that forgettable, Bright Eyes?”
“No!” I shout a little too loudly, “No, I was talking about blood—didn’t know you meant kissing.”
Sneer-smile slides onto his face, touching me from several feet away, as he says, “Well, we could revisit it again and see if it sparks as well in the daylight as the moonlight.”
He’s before me in a flash, our lips moving to embrace each other, his nose slowly passes over mine, heat wave pulls my lids shut—his lips feel like plush love.
My eyes crease open the tiniest bit—strange fangs are outstretched and threatening over his neck.
A voice slides past the dark red lips and imposing teeth, “What fantasy keeps the most alert of vampires with his guard completely down?”
Releasing his lips from mine, Simon says, “Not fantasy, but overload.”
“Overload of what, dear boy?” sliding her blood-red fingertips along the line of his jaw—she’s just as beautiful and horrible as I remember her from ‘80s Night, and just as focused on Simon.
“Exhaustion. Paranoia. The incessant buzzing of the insects—take your pick. I’ve had my share of all of them,” he answers, pushing her back a step.
Pressing her lips together in a pout as if she were kissing him through the air between them, “And not love, delicious boy? Have you not had your fill of that too?”
She turns from him and walks away.
“When has a vampire ever had a surplus of love?” he replies.
“Then, care to split that pie one more way?” coos her voice over her shoulder.
I’m sure she only walked away from him to make him watch her backside.
As the bile rises to my throat while I struggle to suppress my sharp thoughts, Simon says, “Told you before, Maxine: not good at fractions.”
Smiling pointedly and swaying her body like she is the breeze itself, she says, “Well, I’m
He looks to me, absorbing my emotion, his face becoming full of how I feel.
Looking to Maxine,
She raises an opened palm with the grace of a ballerina but talks with the smooth bite of a Bourbon Street Madame, “The forest is made for wandering, darlin’.”
“We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Grabbing my hand, he leads me into the wild. After a few paces, he turns back to her, and I’m surprised at how much my entire being hates his eyes looking on her again.
“Keep alert—make sure no one followed you in here.”
Smiling, always smiling with a different smile for every emotion, “Don’t insult a lady’s finesse, darlin’. No one can tail me unless I want’em to,” her eyes flickering at the end.
We walk another twenty yards into the woods—a hundred yards wouldn’t feel far enough from her.
He turns to me, and the words spring from my distress, “What the hell, Simon? Her? What’s she doing here?”
“Told you—I have to get some information from Edgar tonight.”
“And what’s she got to do with it—she’s going to take us to him?”
“No, too dangerous for you to go back to the city. You have to stay here.”
“So, she’s bringing
He sighs, “No, Bright Eyes, she’s here to protect you while I’m gone.”
“Wha—why her? She’s who you brought out here to watch over me? Why don’t you bring me straight to Roderick, or just kill me now? She
“Couldn’t trust a male vamp around you.”
“Imagine that.”
“Can barely trust myself around you.”
“Uh huh,” I grumble, so angry I’m having trouble focusing on what he’s saying.
“But female vamps are no picnic either. They’re addicts too. Wild emotions—mood swings—especially jealous of human girls hooking up with vamp men.”
“Good thing we haven’t
I wish I could take those words back. Flew out so fast. Choking on fear and anger, they slipped away in a hot breath that didn’t come from my heart.
Simon swallows heavily and says, “Yeah.”
Hesitate, panic runs cold through my body, deep breath, “I didn’t mean—”
“No time now. I’ve gotta get to Edgar before his cravings become too strong, and then he’ll end up spilling his guts to Roderick to get his next hit.”
He turns and walks faster than I can possibly keep up—at least fifteen feet away already.
“Simon, wait—”
He stops, looks over his shoulder, “I know, Ruby. I know you didn’t mean it.”
“But—”
“I have to go. To keep you safe I have to get to Edgar.”
“She’ll kill me, Simon. You know it.”
“The only thing she’s more passionate about than sex is her hatred of Roderick. Trust me—she’ll help us tonight.”
“Then, why didn’t she help you at the bar? Why was she going to let Roderick and his two goons fight you all by yourself?”
“I’m sure by then she was on her way home with some guy she thought would be tasty.”
“You mean feeding?”
“No. Well, yes—feeding and other things.”
She appears out of the brush behind him, fangs glance over his neck.
Seductive voice spouts, “Not talking about little ol’ me, I hope.”
