Darlings of Darkness: A Vampire Anthology Part 8

"You can count on it. Do you need me to call you a cab or anything?"

I walked through the house calling back that I was fine with walking. I wanted to walk home rather than call for a ride because I needed the time to think. I dreaded the car retrieval of shame I'd have to do later. The night had revealed so much but had created more confusion as well. As I closed the door on the mess, I felt guilty about not cleaning up, but he'd insisted it was no big deal.

The second I closed the front door behind me and turned to face the day, my eyes burned and watered madly. I fished around in my purse until I produced sungla.s.ses, which didn't do much to help other than hide my wolf eyes. I spent the first ten minutes of my walk furiously wiping my eyes. To pa.s.sing motorists, it must have looked like I was crying.

I started feeling shaky and nauseous. I hungered, and it wasn't a fat, b.l.o.o.d.y steak that I longed for but the taste of human blood. My stomach hurt, and I had to pause near some brush where I heaved but threw up nothing. What was going on?

My shaking hands were again becoming claws, and I felt my fangs fill my mouth. The wolf was fighting to break free, and I wasn't sure why right now. I felt little control over myself suddenly, and I was scared. I began thinking that perhaps Arys and I truly had played with fire.

Chapter Eight.

I'm still not sure how I made it home, but I did. I felt increasingly worse as I walked. More than once, I had to stop, wracked with pain in my abdomen.

Shortly after eight, I fumbled my way into the house with clawed hands. Claws are a real b.i.t.c.h for opening doors. The more subdued lighting inside was a relief to my burning eyes.

Removing my shoes proved such a difficult task that, in the end, I gave up and just kicked until they flew off. Each one smacked the wall with a thud that broke the morning stillness.

I was dizzy, and everything began to spin. Rocked with bloodl.u.s.t, my stomach churned. It wasn't my hunger. I wasn't the one who thrived on the blood of the living.

I staggered to my bedroom. My clawed hands left scratches on the walls as I went. After hugging the toilet in my en suite bathroom did nothing to ease the pain in my guts, I crawled to my bed. I was overcome with weakness before being overwhelmed in a sea of black.

I was out for a solid nine hours during which I had the strangest dreams. Sometimes, I saw Arys's memories through his eyes, and others, I watched as a bystander. My brain seemed to be trying to make sense of the mult.i.tude of information that I'd absorbed earlier.

I saw Arys as a man, a human man. He'd been engaged to be married more than three hundred years ago. His fiancee had been a simple beauty, but he loved her dearly. She reminded him of his mother.

His mother... Everything changed, and now I saw his mother with her rouged cheeks and highly pinned hair. I was confused, and I wanted to wake up. Nothing was making any sense to me. It was so random.

I got a taste of Arys's horror and fear when he realized the woman who'd seduced him for the evening was a vampire with wicked intentions. She wasn't the one to turn him though. No, that was somebody else. Something was missing. What happened to the fiancee?

My sleep was fitful and disturbing, and when I finally awoke, I was slick with sweat. Kylarai was sitting at my desk using my computer. I sat up and threw my blanket off. My tongue was dry when I tried to speak.

"How are you feeling, Lex?" She asked. She approached me tentatively and perched on the edge of the bed. I could see the flood of questions in her eyes. "You better have a d.a.m.n good story."

I still wore the clothes that I'd worn last night, but I was thankfully free of fangs or claws. I struggled out of my s.h.i.+rt and threw it on the floor near the laundry hamper. Then the skirt followed before I met Kylarai's eyes.

When I sat in my under things, I turned to her. Like a true best friend, she held a gla.s.s of ice water out to me.

"Thanks," I said, after wetting my parched throat. The word came easier than I'd expected. "I feel ... awesome."

"Seriously Alexa, what happened to you last night? Did Arys hurt you?" Her gaze was fixed on the wound near my collarbone, and I could see the a.s.sumptions forming.

I reached up and touched the bite. It was crusty around the punctures, and it ached at my touch. I made an attempt to get off the bed, but my head spun, so I sat back down. "No, he didn't hurt me. I really need a shower."

"Ok, he didn't hurt you. So you've just recently become a donor?" There was no denying the vehemence in her voice.

"Ky, please. Don't be like that." I made a second attempt to get off the bed, and this time my head didn't swim.

"Well, forgive me for being suspicious, but wouldn't you be? You look like s.h.i.+t."

"Fantastic." I pulled some clean clothes out of my closet and turned to the bathroom. "I don't know what's wrong with me, but honestly, I don't think it was the physical nature of things. I think it was the metaphysical."

"How so?"

"If you'll be the best friend a girl could ever ask for and make me some coffee, I will tell you all about it after my shower. Promise."

The hot shower felt great even though it set fire to every sore spot I had. I shampooed my hair and lathered my body twice, careful to remove any trace of Arys's scent from my skin.

The vampire bite, however, had not entirely healed. If I arranged my hair just right, I could most likely hide it. The bite on my breast looked the same but both wounds were clean and should heal as if they'd never happened.

Kylarai stared daggers into me when I entered the kitchen. She looked at me as if I was hiding something. She listened attentively as I recounted the previous night's events from the time I left her.

I left out the most private and unnecessary details, but her raised eyebrows said she could guess. When I told her about the energy overload in Arys's house, her eyes really widened.

"I've never heard of any such thing. That's amazing."

"And bizarre. I don't know what to make of it. I felt terrible after. And so... hungry." I was hesitant to tell her that I had actually hungered for human blood, but I trusted her, so I shared.

She looked thoughtful for a minute, chewing her pouty lower lip. "Interesting. That could be something to play with."

"Could be dangerous, too. It really freaked me out. I'm going to ask Lena about it." I finished my first cup of coffee in a few large gulps and poured a second. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you this but-,"

"I know. Don't say anything. But, you still have to face Shaz with that bite mark. Better think of something good."

"I'll tell him its work related." Even as the words came out of my mouth, I felt bad about them.

"Do you think anything weird happened to Arys after you left?"

"No idea. Only one way to find out."

"He was an equal partic.i.p.ant too. It should work both ways." Kylarai pointed out. My biggest concern was that he would dream of me as I had of him. It kind of creeped me out to picture it. "Therefore, he would probably experience some of your weaknesses like you did his."

"But what are our mortal weaknesses to someone who has pa.s.sed beyond that?" It nagged at me because something didn't fit. She shrugged. She had no more to offer than I did.

I spent a lot of time hovering over the bathroom sink, splas.h.i.+ng cool water on my face. My body was conflicted, and it s.h.i.+fted back and forth between a cold and hot sweat. I cursed a series of things all the while, needing a place to point the finger and lay blame.

I began by blaming Arys. This had to be all his fault. If he hadn't been after me, pursuing my living power as if it were a treat to snack on, this wouldn't have happened.

From there I moved to pinpointing the moon. The lunar cycle had influenced my poor decision. Inevitably, I came to rest my accusations solely on my own half-a.s.sed attempts to resist temptation. But, the power had called, and after resisting for so long, I gave in. Like a fool.

My face was still dripping over the sink when the doorbell rang. I sucked in my breath and willed my stomach to stop flip-flopping. I dried my face and prepared to leave the security of the bathroom. I sure hoped our visitor wouldn't mind my t-s.h.i.+rt and sweat pants attire.

"Shaz is here," Kylarai called. "It looks like he brought us dinner."

When I rounded the corner of the kitchen and was greeted by Shaz's characteristic grin, my hand actually flew to my neck to ensure the bite was hidden by the t-s.h.i.+rt. I was ashamed and afraid. Would he smell it?

Ky was already digging into the greasy bags of Chinese food and pulling out Styrofoam containers. The scent of ginger beef, rice and steamed vegetables teased my senses, and I was suddenly starving.

"You came to feed us? Awesome! I was just wondering what to order for supper," Kylarai said as she grabbed plates from the cupboard for the three of us.

"Well, I figured, since I never really got a chance to talk to you guys last night and we haven't done this in awhile, I should treat." Shaz replied as he helped himself to our cold beer stash in the refrigerator. Was it wrong to check out his cute rear end while he bent over?

"The bar was busy last night." I tried to sound casual and wondered if I sounded suspicious instead. Despite having showered, I worried that he would somehow scent Arys on me. "Julie Price's husband a.s.saulted me in the parking lot. He was bound and determined to find Raoul."

"What?" Shaz looked up from the box of chicken b.a.l.l.s he was attacking. "Are you kidding?"

"h.e.l.l no," Ky laughed. "The b.a.s.t.a.r.d slapped her across the face so I broke his d.a.m.n nose."

"You just beat me to it." I interjected and stuck out my tongue at her.

"Holy s.h.i.+t. I always miss the good stuff being stuck behind that d.a.m.n bar." Shaz shook his blond mane so that a stray lock fell into his eyes.

"It would have been better if Arys hadn't shown up so soon. That chicken s.h.i.+t Price took off too fast." My eyebrows must have risen in alarm at Kylarai's mention of Arys's name because she quickly went on. "But I guess its best that he took off. Things could have gotten really ugly."

"I wonder if he ever found Raoul." Shaz began to reach for a fortune cookie, but I playfully smacked his hand away. He knew it was bad luck to eat the cookie before the end of the meal.

"I doubt it. He didn't seem to be too coherent."

"Mmhmm," Ky nodded. "He was a mess. But, that makes sense considering he did just lose his wife."

"I would probably want a piece of Raoul, too, if I were him." I spoke between mouthfuls of beef. I felt like I hadn't eaten in weeks. "I already do."

"Well, you'll have your chance tonight. I'm sure the death of an ex-lover won't be enough to stop him from running during the full moon."

I looked at Shaz thoughtfully while I chewed. I could only a.s.sume Raoul would show up. Usually, we ran as a pack at midnight, which was still hours away.

The voice of the newscaster on TV carried to me from the living room. The news had been background noise until I heard the name Sheridan Boyd. I stopped chewing and, when they continued to chat, held my chopsticks up for silence. The news anchor rambled a little spiel about her body being found this morning in a dumpster behind a popular city nightclub.

"Isn't that another of Raoul's exes?" Kylarai's eyes were huge with incredulity. I merely nodded.

When we had finished eating, I dialed Raoul's number, effectively quieting Shaz and Kylarai. He didn't answer, but he screens his calls.

"I'm on my way over," I said when the voicemail picked up. "If you have company, get rid of them. You don't want witnesses for this conversation."

"Uh oh," Ky's tone was teasing. "Things are going to get ugly."

"Yeah," I couldn't prevent the sigh that escaped me. "Lucky me."

Before I left, my curiosity won out, and I broke into my fortune cookie. 'A new friend will prove too good to be true.' That was rea.s.suring. I didn't have any new friends.

They offered to come along, but I needed to speak with Raoul alone. Too chicken to ask Shaz for a ride to my car, I called a taxi from my cell phone once I was outside. I was glad to see my s.h.i.+ny red ride waiting for me at Lucy's, untouched.

Raoul's house was dark except for one light that glowed faintly from deep within. The driveway was empty of cars so I took that to mean his Jaguar was in the garage. He couldn't put me off with an illusion that n.o.body was home.

I was careful to park a few doors down and scour the area. When I rang the doorbell, I called out that it was me. Inside, I heard nothing but silence. I sensed someone on the other side of the door just before it cracked open.

"Hurry up and get in here," he growled, stepping back just enough to allow me inside.

"Well, aren't you a grumpy old wolf?" I thought he'd appreciate that.

"I'm not old. What do you want?"

"That's no way to talk to someone who just fetched your a.s.s from jail. And, may be stuck doing so again." I stepped inside and kicked my runners off. He locked the door behind me and frowned at my baggy sweatpants.

"Again?"

"Don't pretend you don't know. Why else would you be hiding here under lock and key?"

"All I know is that Richard Price has been asking around about me. He thinks I murdered his wife."

I couldn't help but frown. He didn't sound all that broken up about it, but his dark eyes were red rimmed. He looked tired when he added, "Yeah, I heard about Sheridan if that's why you're here. I'm surprised the cops haven't come for me already."

"Why would they?" I asked.

This is it, I thought. If he admits his involvement, I'm was.h.i.+ng my hands of this.

Then, a memory hit me. During my first year as a werewolf, another wolf, older and stronger than I was, wanted me for his own. I had made it clear to him that I wasn't interested in being his pack run playmate, and he'd attempted to take me by force.

Raoul had stopped him, beat him until I thought he was surely dead. That wolf had never risked so much as a glance in my direction again. He left town soon after.

Perhaps, Raoul knew how to drive me absolutely insane. Perhaps, he knew how to p.i.s.s me off royally. Still, he was pack, and as much as I hated it, I owed him one.

I was suddenly embarra.s.sed. Arys had seen that memory.

"Don't they always blame the ex-husband or ex-lover?" He asked and startled me out of my thoughts.

"That's because it always is the ex." I met his eyes evenly. I had to.

"Do you think I killed her?"

The silence that settled between us was heavy and uncomfortable. But, in that moment, looking into his hard and unflinching gaze, I knew he was innocent. I couldn't scent even a hint of a lie on him.

I replied honestly, "No. I don't." He swallowed hard then, as if he'd expected to hear otherwise. "But because I don't, I need you to answer a question. Why would another one of your lovers turn up dead?"

Raoul paled considerably and took an involuntary step back. I could hear his quick intake of breath. "Is this an accusation? How the h.e.l.l would I know?" His voice began to rise.

"Because if you didn't do it, then someone is setting you up."

I've never seen the poor guy look so distraught. I followed him into the kitchen, a chef's dream, where he poured himself a scotch on the rocks. When he offered, I declined. My stomach was starting to feel fluttery again.

"Julie was a great woman and fantastic in the sack," he said before draining his gla.s.s in one swallow. "But, I didn't love her. And, there's no piece of a.s.s so good that it's worth a murder charge. I haven't even seen her in six months or more. Even longer with Sheridan."