Argeneau Family - Single White Vampire Part 19

But that had been before Kate knew he was a vampire. She might very well find him repulsive now.

Suddenly aware of tension in his neck and shoulders, Lucern removed his leather jacket and tossed it over a chair.

He rotated first one shoulder then the other, then his head as well, trying to ease the muscles there. It was Kate's doing.

He wished he knew what she was thinking and where she stood on the matter. He wanted her to want him. He wanted her. He grimaced. It was a foolish want. Kate was a modern woman with career aspirations and a life and home in New York. She had left life in sleepy Nebraska to pursue a job in the publis.h.i.+ng industry. She would hardly give that up to move to Canada to carry out an affair-and Lucern didn't know her well enough to be sure he wanted a life with her. For the average human, a bad marriage was only a forty- or fifty-year sentence; it could be much much longer for him.

His gaze slid to the small bar in the corner, and he considered a Scotch before bed. He decided against it. He wasn't much of a drinker and didn't want to start relying on it. Alcohol had done serious damage to his father, Claude, even killing him in the end.

Shrugging, he decided he might as well go to sleep.

The first thing that struck him when he entered his room was the sweet smell of blood heavy in the air. Then he realized that the bedside lamp was on, and he stiffened. He had turned the light out before leaving for the ball. It was now on. His body began to pump adrenaline even as his gaze swept the room.

The partially open fridge door, and the slashed bags of blood lying before it, explained the scent in the air. Other than that, nothing seemed disturbed. There didn't appear to be anyone around. Of course, the scent of blood was so thick, his usual ability to sense anyone nearby was hampered.

He took a step toward his looted blood supply, intending to see if anything was salvageable. But even as he did, he heard the whisper of the bedroom door swinging closed behind him. He whirled just in time to feel the stake slamming into his chest.

Kate had removed her clothes and was debating whether to shower or simply go to bed when she heard a crash.

She paused, her head tilting as she listened. When something slammed hard into the wall separating her room from Luc's, she s.n.a.t.c.hed for her robe, dragged it on, and tied the sash as she ran into the living room.

The door to Lucern's room was closed. Kate didn't bother to knock, but thrust it open and rushed inside. She nearly crashed into two men locked in combat. At first, all she saw were the two men grappling with each other; then she noticed the stake, its tip buried in Lucern's chest and blood seeping out. She shrieked in horror, though she didn't know it. She heard the yell as a distant sound.

At last, breaking out of her shock-induced paralysis, she glanced wildly around. The only weapon she could see were the bedside lamps. She ran to grab one, cursing when the d.a.m.ned thing didn't move. It was fastened to the bedside table. Her gaze shot back to Lucern and his a.s.sailant. There was more blood, and it seemed to her the stake had gone deeper. Lucern appeared to be weakening. Yet there wasn't a single d.a.m.ned thing around to use as a weapon.

Desperate, she grabbed a pillow and ran over, batting at the stranger, then slamming the pillow into his head and shoulders. Her attack had little effect on the man. He didn't even glance around.

Letting loose a howl of rage as her gaze s.h.i.+fted to Lucern's pale face, Kate caught the pillow at each end and swung it over the attacker's head and slammed it into his face. Pulling it tight, she proceeded to try to climb the fellow's back.

Much to her relief, he released Lucern and stumbled backward, trying to grab wildly at her. She managed to avoid his flailing hands, and held on to the pillow with all her might. He couldn't possibly breathe like this, and she was praying he would pa.s.s out before he managed to get her.

She released an "oomph," but managed to stay on his back as he staggered back into the wall next to the closet.

Kate held on, knowing both she and Luc were lost if she didn't.

Kate glanced desperately at Lucern. He was on his knees by the bed, his hands weakly gripping the stake in his chest. She recalled him saying that a stake would kill him if left in too long, and she knew she had to get to him fast.

Her thoughts were scattered as the man she was riding slammed backward again, this time propelling them into the closet. Kate grunted as her head slammed into the clothing rod.

The pain was like an explosion inside her head, blinding her with searing white flashes behind her eyes. She wanted to grab her head and hold it in her hands until the agony pa.s.sed, but she couldn't let go of the pillow and so hung there blind and in agony, clinging to consciousness by a thread.

When the pain finally began to wane, Kate wasn't sure how much time had pa.s.sed. It took a moment before she realized her view had changed. She was lower to the ground. She turned her attention to the man she clung to, and she saw that he had sunk to his knees, taking her with him. She let her feet drop to the floor, her gaze returning to Lucern. Alarm again coursed through her. He was slumped forward, his head down. Realizing that she couldn't wait any longer for her a.s.sailant to pa.s.s out from lack of oxygen, she released one end of the pillow to search around the floor of the closet.

She tried to keep the pillow in place over the man's face with her one hand, but she was aware she was failing. She heard him taking great gasps of air, and she knew it wouldn't take long for him to recoup enough to become a serious threat again. That thought had barely managed to panic her when Kate's searching hand b.u.mped something. She s.n.a.t.c.hed it up, recognizing it for a shoe, and without a thought slammed it down on her attacker's head. He didn't immediately fall forward under the blow, and she realized she was holding the shoe by the heel. She gave up on holding the pillow in place, turned the shoe around and this time slammed the heel down on the back of her enemy's skull with all the strength she could muster.

Much to her satisfaction, the blow worked-the man fell soundlessly forward on his face. Leaving him where he lay, Kate struggled to her feet and stumbled over to Lucern. The first thing she did was grab him by the shoulders and urge him up. He fell onto his back without a sound. His head slammed against the floor, hard, and his knees bent, his lower legs caught under him. Kate peered at him unhappily. He was gray. She had never seen him this color. But there wasn't much blood lost that she could tell. The stake still protruded from his chest, allowing only a bit of seepage. But she recalled his saying the heart couldn't pump with a stake there, and she knew that if she didn't remove it, he would die.

The stake was made of the light wood usually found at do-it-yourself places, and it looked like a dowel or something. Lucern's attacker had bought and sharpened a dowel to a point so that he could stake Lucern. Now she would have to unstake him or he would die.

She didn't waste time thinking about what she was doing; she knew that every second counted. Reaching out, she grabbed the dowel firmly and pulled it free-which wasn't as easy as she'd expected. She hadn't really thought about it, but if she had, Kate supposed she would have expected it to pull free like a knife from b.u.t.ter. Lucern's body wasn't b.u.t.ter. There was some resistance to the removal, and she had to exert some strength. The sloppy squelching sound as she removed it made what little food she'd managed to down at supper threaten to make an encore appearance.

Kate swallowed determinedly. Tossing the stake aside, she quickly covered the wound in Lucern's chest as blood began to pour out in great gushes. She applied pressure in an effort to keep him from bleeding to death, praying all the while that his blood would repair the damage. As she sat there, she wondered if she was really helping to save him or killing him.

She sat like that for several minutes, just pressing down on his chest, until a moan from Lucern's attacker warned that he was coming around. She felt torn between staying to hold in Lucern's blood, or somehow incapacitating the man again. It seemed to her that if the man came around, she and Luc would probably both be dead. Surely he would finish Lucern off, then kill her as a witness. On the other hand, she would risk Lucern's bleeding to death if she left him.

Her gaze slid back to Lucern's face and she hesitated, then cautiously removed her hands from his chest. Much to her relief, blood didn't come gus.h.i.+ng out as before. His body was repairing itself. She hoped so, or he was dead.

Banis.h.i.+ng that thought, Kate got to her feet and peered around the room for something to tie up their enemy. She spotted the black backpack with all the burglary paraphernalia, and relief soaked through her. She had handed it to Lucern to take the blood with him and never bothered to ask for it back. Hurrying to it, she found the rope, but tossed that aside and s.n.a.t.c.hed up the duct tape and the knife instead. She wasn't very good with knots. Besides, she suspected the tape would be harder for the man to get free.

Another groan from her attacker made Kate rush to his side. She pulled his hands behind his back and quickly began wrapping tape around his wrists, running the roll between his lower arms and hands for good measure. Once satisfied that he couldn't free himself, she moved to his feet and bound his ankles the same way. Then she rolled him onto his back so that he lay on his bound hands, and began to wrap tape over his mouth and around his head. It would be a b.i.t.c.h to get the tape off his hair, but she didn't care. He deserved that and more.

Kate was just finis.h.i.+ng when the attacker's eyes suddenly blinked open. She gave a start as he jerked, trying to break free. Hatred blazed from his eyes. She met his gaze for a moment, then finished with the tape, ignoring his useless struggles.

Had Lucern been a normal man, she would have called the police. But Lucern wasn't a normal man. How could she explain the situation? Kate's gaze swept the room, falling on the partially open fridge door and the slashed bags of blood. She couldn't explain any of this to the police. No, she was on her own.

Pus.h.i.+ng herself to her feet, Kate moved almost reluctantly back to Lucern's side. Then she hesitated, unsure what to do. There still didn't appear to be a great deal of blood loss. On the other hand, she suspected it would probably take a lot of blood to repair the damage done to Lucern. He would need blood.

Her eyes went to his mouth. He didn't seem to be breathing, let alone in any shape to drink from her. On the other hand, she saw that the wound in his chest was not gus.h.i.+ng. It wasn't bleeding at all. If anything, she was sure the hole was smaller and there was less blood present.

Kate recalled that Lucern had said that something in his blood used blood to repair injuries. Was it using that blood even now? Could it repair him and keep him alive... if he was still alive.

Kate leaned forward and grabbed the ragged edges of Luc's T-s.h.i.+rt where the stake had torn it. She rent it open, pulling one long strip of cloth free. Setting it on the floor next to her, she s.h.i.+fted her head over Luc's chest for a closer look at his wound. Yes, there was definitely less blood. Surely, that was a sign he still lived? Biting her lip, she glanced down at the knife in her hand. He couldn't feed off her. But could she feed him?

Acting before she could think about it and change her mind, Kate slashed her wrist, then she held it over his wound, allowing her blood to drip freely into it. She stayed like that, stopping only when she started to feel a little lightheaded. Then she quickly grabbed the slip of T-s.h.i.+rt she had ripped free. Using that, she tightly bandaged her wrist. It was an awkward procedure, but she managed.

At last, Kate sat back and cast a glance at the man who had attacked Lucern. He was where she had left him, still tightly trussed. If he had fought the binding, it was holding fast. Noting that with relief, she turned her attention back to Lucern. His eyes were still closed, his face pale and still. He didn't open his eyes or smile at her as she had hoped. The wound wasn't closing miraculously. It wasn't anything like the movies. She wished it were.

Kate resolved herself to a long vigil. She wasn't at all sure he would open those silver eyes again, but she wasn't going to give up either.

Weariness overtaking her, Kate s.h.i.+fted to lie beside him and rested her aching head on his uninjured shoulder. She lay there in silence for a moment, listening, but no heartbeat met her ears. The stake had stopped his heart. She just wasn't sure if it had stopped it for good.

"Come back to me, Lucern," she whispered, closing her eyes to shut out the light. "Please."

Chapter Fifteen.

Lucern woke with a gasp, his body sucking oxygen deep into his lungs and just as quickly forcing it out again. The sound of his heart was like a drum in his ringing ears, and his eyes saw only darkness. That darkness slowly gave way to blurred color. Lucern lay still for several moments as his body struggled to recover, knowing he had come close to death.

He slowly became aware of pressure on his shoulder, and he glanced down, relieved to find that his eyesight had returned. He was able to see the top of a head. He couldn't see the face, but he recognized Kate's honey-blond tresses and felt an odd warmth flow through him to know she was with him.

Letting his eyes drift closed, he took stock. There was no brain damage from what he could tell; his memory was intact. Kate had saved him. The idea was a bit mind-boggling. He was used to being the warrior, the savior, the hero.

But Kate had been the hero today, fending off his attacker with-of all things-a pillow.

He would have chuckled if he had the energy to do so. The woman had felled their attacker with a pillow, an attacker who had got the best of him. It really did boggle the mind. Her courage and cleverness were a formidable combination. He tried to lift his hand to caress the soft strands of her hair, wanting that further connection with her, but didn't yet have the strength.

Frustrated by his weakness and lack of control, Lucern forced himself to be patient. His body would be working like mad to send blood to repair his brain and vital organs first. Once they were in working order, the blood would concentrate on the rest of him. Then some of his strength would return.

As he lay there, he wondered about his attacker. Who was the man? It was a question he would like answered, but Lucern also wondered what had become of him. He could only a.s.sume that Kate had tended to the matter, or she surely wouldn't have fallen asleep on him. If she was asleep.

His eyes popped open again.

From prior experience with injuries, Lucern guessed that he had been unconscious for perhaps half an hour. It seemed a relatively short period of time for Kate to have handled their attacker, removed the stake from his chest and fallen asleep. This time, when he tried to move Lucern was able to raise his hand and rest it weakly against the side of her head.

Much to his relief, Kate murmured sleepily. She cuddled kittenlike against him, snuggling into his body. The action managed to relax Lucern. She was alive. Everything else could wait. He closed his eyes and fell into a light rest as his body finished its repairs.

When next he opened his eyes, it was hunger urging him back. His strength hadn't fully returned-Lucern was still weak, comparatively speaking-but his weakness was equivalent to an average man's strength. Moving carefully, he s.h.i.+fted out from under Kate, easing her head to the floor before sitting up and peering around. He immediately spotted his attacker lying on the floor by the closet. The man was trussed like a turkey.

Luc's eyes went to the refrigerator and he noted the four slashed bags. He twitched with realization. Four bags.

There had been eight left after his last feeding. Standing up, he moved to the refrigerator, pulled the door the rest of the way open and peered inside. A breath of relief slipped from his lips at the sight of four intact blood bags. He must have interrupted the fellow's work before the man got the chance to destroy the whole supply.

Lucern grabbed one of the pints and stabbed his teeth into it as he turned to survey the room. There would be a bit of work setting it to rights. He had to clean up the blood on the carpet and take care of the gentleman now imitating a bear rug on his floor.

He contemplated what to do with his a.s.sailant as he went through two more bags of blood. At last, he decided he would have to find out more before making a decision. He needed to know if this had been an attack on Luke Amirault the vampire author, or Lucern Argeneau the vampire. The difference could affect the safety of his family.

Lucern felt pretty good once he'd finished his third bag of blood. He decided to leave the fourth and final bag for later, and he closed the refrigerator door and set to work. He took care of everything as best he could-including handling his a.s.sailant-then turned his attention to Kate, who still lay sleeping in the middle of his floor. He debated whether to take her back to her room, but the last he had seen she had hit her head on the closet rod. He didn't like the idea of leaving her alone all night. What if the injury caused her some difficulty later? She should sleep here in his room, though not on the floor.

Moving to her side, Lucern knelt and slipped his hands under Kate, then lifted her into his arms. She barely stirred as he carried her over and laid her on the bed. He noticed the strip of cloth around her wrist as he started to straighten.

Picking up her hand, he unwrapped the makes.h.i.+ft bandage. Concern filled him. The gash in her flesh had clotted and was no longer bleeding, but he couldn't tell how deep it was. He didn't think she needed st.i.tches, since it was already closed, but...

He grabbed the phone and called down to the front desk, requesting bandages and antiseptic, then pondered how she might have received the injury. The only thing he could think of was that she had gotten it somehow during the battle. He now regretted letting the man go so lightly. He should have- His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the outer door. The first-aid items had arrived. He went and got them without letting the bellhop in, then went back to attend to Kate. He cleaned her injury and carefully wrapped it, then set her hand gently on her chest and pulled the covers up over her.

He left her sleeping while he stripped off his ruined clothes and showered the blood away. Then he slid into bed, too, being sure to stay as far away from her as he could. He didn't want to risk b.u.mping Kate's arm or have her getting upset when she awoke. He would sleep on his side of the bed.

Of course, he hadn't considered that Kate might not stay on her side. He had just started to doze off when Kate rolled over, throwing her hand across his chest and snuggling up like she belonged there. Oddly enough, it felt like she did.

Kate was slow to wake, almost reluctant to face the world. It took a moment for her foggy brain to remember what had happened; then Lucern's image slipped into her mind. She stiffened and opened her eyes. The first thing her gaze fell on was Lucern's chin. She stared at it for a moment, then reluctantly lowered her eyes to his chest, afraid to find the gaping hole there. When she saw bedding, she sat up abruptly, startled to find herself in bed with him. Her gaze swept the room in confusion-only to find it all in order. Had it all been a dream? she wondered vaguely.

Her eyes fell on the floor in front of the mini-refrigerator, and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

Obviously, someone had tried to wash away blood, and had managed to remove the worst of it, but there was still a large, faint stain. Turning back to Lucern, Kate tugged the blankets down.

A sob surprised her by breaking from her throat at the sight of his unmarred chest. Both relieved and amazed, she ran the tips of her fingers lightly over the perfect skin there, then she closed her eyes and tried to calm her wildly beating heart. He was alive!

A warm hand closed over hers, and Kate opened her eyes again. Lucern was awake, and he peered at her and clasped her hand.

"You saved my life," he said solemnly. "Thank you."

Kate glanced away, her gaze finding the closet and the empty floor in front of it. "The man who attacked you-"

"I cleared his mind and sent him home."

She stared at him in horror. "Sent him home? He attacked you."

"I could hardly call the police and try to explain the situation," Lucern pointed out. He shrugged, then added, "Besides, he wasn't well. His mind is... wrong."

"Why did he attack you? Was he at the conference? Does he-"

"No, he wasn't a conference attendee. He lives here in the city. Apparently, his wife was a big romance fan. When she left him, he wanted someone to blame it on. He decided it was all those books she was reading." He shrugged. "He started reading them for himself, and when he got to mine, he got the idea that I was a vampire. He saw our picture in the paper and knew that I was in town, and he decided that I had taken control of his wife's mind and lured her away from him. He began to believe that if he could just destroy me, her mind would be set free. He believed she would come back to him."

Kate stared at Lucern, her thoughts racing. He sounded so understanding. She had felt helpless and useless last night, and had suffered a great sense of loss at the possibility that he might be dead-more loss than was appropriate for one of her writers. There was really no use fighting it anymore. Kate knew her feelings for this man ran deep. She had thought him brilliant and talented before ever meeting him, had found him surly and rude on arriving at his home, then had seen other sides of him slowly show themselves, like the legs, arms and head of a turtle. She had come to see that the hard sh.e.l.l he showed the world was just that, a sh.e.l.l, a s.h.i.+eld meant to protect himself. He was smart and strong, but he was also compa.s.sionate and kind. A man had nearly killed him, and yet Lucern found it in his heart to feel sorry for him. She heard the compa.s.sion in his voice. It was as soft and open as his expression. His s.h.i.+eld seemed to be missing entirely this morning, and she had no idea why. She almost wished it weren't so. Perhaps then she would be able to battle the wealth of feelings welling up within her.

"Kate?"

Her eyes refocused on his face.

"How is your head?" he asked. "I saw you hit it on the clothing rod before I lost consciousness last night."

"My head is in bad shape," she told him solemnly.

Concern entered his gaze. "It is?" He sat up and reached for her, his fingers running gently over the back of her head. "I took a look last night, but there wasn't much of a b.u.mp. I thought..." He fell silent when she placed her hand against his chest where the stake had been. The bedding pooled around his waist, leaving endless flesh bare to her view.

He looked fine. Still, Kate knew he would need to replenish the blood used to repair his body. She would also have to replace the bags of blood the attacker had destroyed. Luc needed enough to see him through the rest of the conference. It was Sat.u.r.day morning, six a.m, she saw with a glance at the bedside clock. There was only that day and the next to get through-but Lucern had been injured and would need a large infusion. She was willing to offer him her own. Unlike last night, this time it would be a pleasure to give it. He would make sure of that, she knew. Her fingers moved across his chest of their own accord.

His skin was slightly cool to the touch-not the cold flesh of a corpse, but a degree or two cooler than her own. It felt nice. Kate almost felt as if she were suffering a temperature, but knew her overheated flesh had nothing to do with ill health and everything to do with the naked man in bed next to her. She was pretty sure he was naked. She had learned that first morning that he slept in the nude, and she vaguely recalled her legs sc.r.a.ping bare skin as she had s.h.i.+fted this morning. Of course, he might be wearing jockey shorts or something.

Lucern caught her wayward hand in his, ending her mental debate as to whether he was naked. Kate dragged her gaze from his lap where it had drifted. He caught her eyes with his own, held them as he raised her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to her palm.

Kate's breath caught. His caress caused a tingling in her palm that ran up her arm, eliciting from her a small s.h.i.+ver.

"Does your head hurt very badly?" he asked.

Kate slowly shook her head. "That's not what I meant by its being in bad shape, Luc."

"Then, what...?"

Kate ignored his question and raised her hand to caress his cheek. The clean bandage on her wrist surprised her.

"Did you-?"

"Yes." He caught her hand and drew it to his mouth. Again he pressed a kiss on her palm just above the edge of the bandage. There was a flicker of anger in his eyes. "Did he do this?"

"No. I did," she admitted. "To help you."

His gaze followed hers to his chest, and realization dawned on his face. It softened the anger of a moment before.

"Kate," he began, his voice husky. But she didn't want his grat.i.tude. She hadn't done it wholly for him. Her reasons were much more complex and partially selfish. She had done it for herself. Because she couldn't imagine a world without him in it. She didn't want to, and she didn't want a thank you. She wanted to give him the chance to take the blood he no doubt needed, and she wanted him.