Мишель Роуэн - Bitten & Smitten

He yanked his coat away from me. “I don’t want anything to do with this.”

“Too late.”

White-teeth had started to squeeze through a section in the cement at knee level that wasn’t protected by the veil, his cigar clenched between his teeth. “Here I was going to be a gentleman and kill you quick. Well, sort of quick. Now I’m going to take all the time in the world to tear you apart. You’re going to feel every second of it.”

White-teeth was halfway through and reached out for me. I yanked away from him, spun around, and kicked him with my bare foot. There was a sickeningly wet squish as my big toe met his left eye. It was the most disgusting thing I’d ever felt. He screamed in pain and clutched at his face. The cigar fell out of his mouth and down to the river below. I lost my footing, but before I could fall, the stranger reached out and grabbed me around my waist, pulling me safely against him.

“Thank you.” I barely got the words out, my teeth were chattering so hard. “I thought you weren’t going to help me.”

“Reflex,” he said.

The two vampire hunters who weren’t currently howling in pain—although Stringy-hair looked a little tender from the groin incident—pulled their injured friend away from the opening and started to climb through themselves.

The stranger looked down at the black water. “I suppose we’ll have to jump.”

I raised my eyebrows and clung to him as the hunters grabbed at my legs. “Wasn’t that your original plan? And wasn’t your original plan to kill yourself?”

“With my luck tonight, the fall won’t kill me,” he replied, bringing an arm around my waist. “But you just might.”

He pushed off from the bridge and we fell for what felt like a very long time before disappearing into the cold black water.

I struggled to keep up with the stranger after we scrambled like drowned rats out of the freezing-cold Don River and up a steep grassy hill. He walked so fast it was as if he didn’t want me to follow him. But what else was I supposed to do? He’d just saved my life. The least he could do was make sure I was still in one piece. One scared, shaking, drippy piece. So far there hadn’t been any sign of the creeps who’d tried to kill me. Maybe we’d lost them. I guess they didn’t want to jump into the water after us. Can’t say I blamed them for that. That was one hell of a fall. How we’d survived was another story, but it didn’t really matter. I was okay. Now I was in need of a phone, a taxi, a police report, and a long, hot shower. Not necessarily in that order.

“Hey, wait up!” I called after “Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Dripping-Wet.”

All I’d seen of him after our impromptu swim was the back of his head moving swiftly away from me, so I was surprised when he actually stopped in his tracks. His broad shoulders went up and down as if he’d just let out a long sigh.

He turned to face me. “What now?”

“Where are you going?”

“Home. I suggest you do the same. Go find your sire and be on your way.”

“My what?”

“Your sire.”

“What’s that?”

He nodded toward my neck. “Whoever gave you that hickey there. You’ll need your sire to show you the ropes.”

I touched my neck and winced. “Those bastards killed the guy who did this.” I got a lump in my throat as I said it. What they’d done to Gordon played like an instant replay over and over in my mind. A few tears made a reappearance and I wiped them away with my wet sleeve. “He was a jerk, a total nutcase, but he didn’t deserve… that. They killed him and they were going to do the same to me. It was horrible.”

“They killed your sire,” the stranger repeated. He didn’t say anything else. He just stared at me.

I began to feel uncomfortable. Well, more than I already was, that is. I decided that going home was an excellent idea. I could call the cops from there.

“Did you drink from him?” he finally asked.

“What?”

He sighed. “Did you drink from your sire before he was slain?”

“I had a few margaritas with dinner.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

I blinked. “Then no. No drinking was done after dinner. Look, thanks for…” I didn’t know exactly what to call our plunge to safety. I glanced back in the direction of the bridge. “For the thing back there.”

He didn’t answer.

I shoved my hands into the soggy pockets of my leather jacket. Dirt was one thing, but water was another. It was probably ruined now, too. Just my damn luck. I forced a feeble grin before I started walking away from the stranger.

“Wait,” he called after I’d gone half a block. “Are you certain that your sire is dead?”

“Positive,” I said grimly. I pictured the empty clothes in my mind. What had happened to the body? Probably just my eyes playing tricks on me. It was a dark night, and the margaritas with dinner had been doubles.

“What’s your name?” He walked toward me.

I hesitated before answering. I’d had enough. I just wanted to go home now. “Sarah,” I said. “Sarah Dearly.”

His expression was tense, as if he was fighting an inner battle of some kind. I shouldn’t be hanging out with this guy, I thought to myself. I didn’t care if he did save my life. He was trying to kill himself, or at least that’s what he had said. Not normal, sane behavior, in any case.

“Did your sire explain anything to you before he was murdered?”

“I don’t know why you keep calling him my sire. He was my date. A blind date, if you want to know the truth.”

“Fine. Did your… date… explain anything to you?”

“About what?”

“About your neck and what it means.”

I absently reached up to touch my wound and flinched.

“He said that he was a vampire and now I was one, too.”

The stranger nodded. “Well, that’s a start. And then?”

“Then I sprayed him with pepper spray and ran away. He was out of his mind.”

He frowned at me. “He wasn’t lying.”

“No, I’m sure he believed what he was saying. That’s one of the signs of being crazy, isn’t it?”

The stranger came nearer to me, and I studied him up close for the first time. His handsome face was very pale in the moonlight and his eyes appeared to be silver, able to reflect what little light there was the way a cat’s might. When he spoke, I noticed the fangs.

“You are a vampire, Sarah. He wasn’t crazy.”

I had the can of pepper spray from my wet purse back in my hand in a flash. I held it up to his face. “Get away from me right now.”

“Your only link to your new world has been killed. You need to listen to me if you want to survive.”

“Vampires don’t exist.” My voice was firm, but my insides felt like jelly.

“Yes, we do.”

I pressed down on the spray’s trigger button, but it flew out of my hand as the stranger effortlessly knocked it away. He grabbed my shoulders and I started fighting for my life, scratching and clawing at him like a wild animal.

“Stop it,” he said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

It was impossible to fight him. He was so strong that I could barely move. Hot tears coursed down my cheeks and I was exhausted from fighting, from running, from denying what I was hearing. My neck throbbed. I let my arms drop loosely to my sides. My head began to swim and I saw colors exploding as they had when Gordon hit me. I tried to focus on the stranger, his arms now the only thing keeping me from falling backward onto the cold, hard pavement.

“It’s okay.” His voice suddenly sounded miles away. Distant and fading. “I’ll take care of you.”

The world went black.

I opened my eyes. I was sprawled on a leather sofa in a dark, unfamiliar room. I sat up slowly. My head ached as if I had the worst hangover of my life. That sure was one crazy dream. I looked around. Where the hell am I? There was a rustle to my left and a door opened. The stranger emerged from what looked like a kitchen area. He held a glass of water in his hand and he didn’t smile when he saw I was awake. Ah. Must still be dreaming. Sure felt real, though.