The First Vampire Part 26

Luc had to get out of there. He knew it, but for a moment he didn't move, allowing his eyes to drink in the naked, blood-soaked beauty straddling his hips.

A great smile cut across his features.

"Ariana, you can get up now," he said softly.

She rose shakily to her feet.

Luc opened the cabinet under the sink, but there were no towels. He gave Ariana his s.h.i.+rt and her own somewhat b.l.o.o.d.y jeans.

Ignoring her protests, he carried her back up to the street level, where he again dialed for Ash's car service. He'd have to thank the arrogant b.a.s.t.a.r.d if he ever saw him again.

Dawn was breaking, but Luc didn't care. They'd be in his apartment long before the sun got high enough to harm him.

Ariana fell asleep in his arms in the car and slept all the way back. When they reached his apartment door, she opened her eyes. "What happened?" she asked.

Her brown eyes were warm and trusting. Luc's guts twisted under the weight of all he had to tell her. He gave her what he hoped was a comforting smile. "Let's get you cleaned up first, okay? Then I promise I'll tell you everything."

He gently carried Ariana to the shower and stood her under the warm spray. Dried blood liquefied and ran off her flesh and into the drain. Luc clenched his teeth and began to bathe her.

Finally, it was over. Luc wrapped her in the biggest towel he could find and carried her into the bedroom. He laid her on top of the covers and watched her tired eyes close.

Then he turned on his heel, telling himself he was giving her time to get her strength back, not just postponing the inevitable.

He spent a few moments cleaning up the mess that had been made of his living room. His eyes were drawn to the comfy cus.h.i.+ons of his well-worn sofa, and he couldn't stop his body from following. It was fully light outside now, and his every cell screamed for sleep. He closed the curtain and stretched out his long frame. As soon as it was dark he'd explain everything to her.

Luc smiled in spite of his weariness. He'd saved her. He'd saved her and his child.

Hours later, Ariana's gentle shaking roused him.

He swung to a sitting position, and she moved to take a seat in the desk chair across the room. She wore another pair of his faded jeans and one of his old tee s.h.i.+rts.

Luc rubbed his eyes and stared at her for longer than was really necessary. Her complexion was still pale, but he marveled at her rapid recovery.

"What's going on, Luc?" she asked softly.

Luc shook his head. "I hardly know where to start," he said. "What happened here?"

"Toria," Ariana replied, confirming Memnon's version of events. "She tried to kill me, but..." she grimaced at the recollection, "something happened to her." Ariana closed her eyes. "I mean, I stabbed her. I didn't think I had any choice, but before that... she... she was crazed, rabid almost." She looked earnestly at Luc. "I can't explain, but there was something wrong with her."

Luc nodded. "Don't worry about Toria," he said. "You didn't kill her. She was poisoned. Someone spiked the blood supply at Council House, and almost all the vampires there wound up just like Toria."

Ariana sighed, before her eyes flew open in alarm.

"Ash?" she asked.

Luc c.o.c.ked a golden brow at her. "I don't know about Ash," he said. "When I left, he was fine." He leaned back into the sofa cus.h.i.+ons. "I'll try to find him tonight, but it's important you don't talk to him until I tell you it's safe."

Ariana's confusion was visible on her pale features. "Why not?" she asked.

"Memnon, the vampire responsible for last night's carnage, can apparently tune in to any vampire he wants and see whatever they see. He saw Toria attack you, and thinks you are dead. I don't want him to know that's not the case."

"He can't do the same with you?" she asked.

Luc shook his head, ignoring the note of suspicion in her voice. "Apparently not," he said. "I seem to be a little too human for it to work on me. Who knows," he tried to smile rea.s.suringly, "maybe Ash did away with Memnon last night and there's nothing to worry about."

He stood up and took Ariana by the hand. "Come on," he said. "You need to lie down. You're about ten shades paler than you were when you came out."

Ariana stopped short and Luc quickly turned to face her. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not becoming a vampire, am I?" she asked.

Luc shook his head, silently grateful that he'd thought of another option. "No," he replied, "that isn't what's happening. You had lost a lot of blood, so I did give you some of mine, but not enough to trigger the transformation. The rest of the blood was external and it seems to have only done what it was supposed to do-heal your arm."

She acquiesced to the pressure on her hand and let him lead her into the bedroom. Luc pulled the covers up and sat next to her for a moment, smoothing her hair back. "There's one other thing," he said reluctantly.

Ariana looked up at him. He wished she didn't look so fragile.

"I think Memnon also killed James," he said softly.

For some time, Ariana said nothing, and no expression registered on her features. "What do you mean, you think?" she asked him finally. "Are you sure?"

Luc nodded. "I didn't see it happen, but Memnon is capable of it, and there's no reason I know of for him to lie. Looks like he killed all the other missing vampires as well."

Ariana turned her head into the pillow.

"I know it's a lot to take," Luc murmured. "You should rest here for a while. I'll run out, see if I can find Ash, and maybe pick up some food on the way back. Okay?"

Ariana nodded mutely, and Luc got up and left the room.

CHAPTER 60.

Deciding his first stop should be Council House, Luc pulled his bike out of the garage and weaved his way through evening traffic up into mid-town and down the street where the monstrous Gothic mansion should have been. But wasn't.

Only smoke and ruins now rose from its foundations.

Luc didn't even stop. He just gunned the bike and kept heading east toward Ash's townhouse.

At least that was still standing, he thought as he pulled up in the drive. He parked his bike in front of the garage door and bounded up the front steps to the large wrought iron gate.

A buzzer sounded somewhere inside when he pressed the bell, and after a moment, the gate opened of its own volition. Luc pa.s.sed through it into yet another entryway. He didn't have the patience for this, he thought, trying the handle on the big mahogany door without knocking.

"Make yourself at home," Ash said as Luc crossed his threshold uninvited.

Luc raised his brows when he saw Ash coming to greet him in old jeans and an untucked white s.h.i.+rt. "I thought you had servants for this sort of thing," he remarked.

Ash shrugged and for a moment neither said anything. Luc could see the question in his eyes, but he couldn't go there yet. He wasn't relis.h.i.+ng what he had to do.

"So," he asked, "what happened to Memnon? I see you survived."

"Please," Ash said, his face returning to its usual guarded smirk, "try to contain your relief." He motioned for Luc to follow him into the sitting area. There he poured two gla.s.ses of Scotch and handed one to Luc before continuing. "I don't know," he said finally. "I can only a.s.sume he survived and fled somewhere."

"What happened?" Luc asked, taking a pull of the sharp liquid.

"I wounded him with the sludge left over from the poisoned vampires." Ash absently sampled his own drink. "I got lucky. Apparently, it doesn't have to be ingested to be effective. Even greatly diluted, it just has to come in contact with the bloodstream."

So why didn't you finish him off?"

"Thanks to your handiwork," Ash said disapprovingly, "I got sidetracked having to rescue Nancy from Keller."

Luc shrugged. "I didn't want him running away," he said by way of explanation. "Stabbing him was all I could come up with at the time."

"At any rate," Ash continued, "I left Memnon hanging on the wall and brought Nancy and Keller back here to nurse them back to health."

"Are they okay?" Luc asked.

Ash nodded. "They're both fine now, though Keller is having a hard time accepting his role in what happened. And Nancy refuses to talk about hers."

Luc nodded, but he didn't really care about Keller's hurt feelings or Ash's domestic problems. "You haven't been back to Council House today then?"

"No," Ash replied, "I was waiting for the sun to get low enough." He studied Luc more closely. "But, judging by your question, you must have."

Luc nodded. "I think it's safe to say that Memnon is still alive," Luc said. "Unless he spontaneously combusted and just happened to burn the place down."

Ash turned to refill his drink; his eyes were full of questions when he looked back at Luc. "What was it Memnon called you, Lucas-a born vampire? Is it true?"

Luc nodded. "Yes, I was the biological child of my vampire father and my human mother."

Ash lowered his gla.s.s and stared at Luc, his forgotten drink slos.h.i.+ng perilously close to the edge. "I'll be d.a.m.ned," he said. "That explains a lot." He looked at Luc with new eyes. "You've lasted longer than any of the others. I'll give you that."

"Others?" Luc had a.s.sumed there were others, but he'd never known for sure.

Ash nodded. "There haven't been many, but you are not the first." Ash thought for a moment. "You may be the first to survive into full adulthood, though."

"Why?" Luc wanted to know.

Ash shrugged. "No born vampire has had the strengths of both species," he explained. "Vampire genes, though dormant at first, eventually become dominant. All the offspring of human/vampire unions have been perfectly human until about p.u.b.erty and then began to change into full vampires."

Luc nodded. "That's what happened to me," he said.

"Not quite," Ash said. "You clearly have some lingering human traits-the heat you give off, and apparently an increased tolerance for sunlight." Ash studied him again. "You can't stand full daylight can you?"

Luc shook his head. "No, just the in-between times."

"You should consider how to use that to your advantage," Ash commented.

Luc wondered at the level of arrogance it took to a.s.sume he'd never thought of that. "Thanks," he said. Wanting to get back to why he'd come, he asked, "Do you think Memnon really killed James?"

Ash raised his gla.s.s and took a long slow pull at the amber liquid circling there. "I don't know," he said. "Probably. Memnon's not one to draw things out."

Luc closed his hand for a second and then finished what he came to do. "He didn't lie about Ariana, either," he said slowly, knowing it was necessary, yet hating the lie. He could see his words twist across Ash's face.

"Toria did go after her," Luc continued. "My apartment was all busted up when I got there. Toria had... dissolved, or whatever it was that happened to the rest, but not before she got in some good licks. It looked like she put her fist through Ariana's chest."

Luc stopped and looked at the man in front of him. He mirrored the sadness he saw there in his own voice to make the lie more believable.

"They were both dead when I got there."

Luc put his gla.s.s on the sideboard and turned to look at Ash. "I'm sorry," he said earnestly. "There's nothing else I could do." His drawl blurred the tense of his apology.

He turned and headed back the way he had come, stopping just short of the front door.

"What do you intend to do about Memnon?" he asked.

Ash had his back to him and didn't turn around. "Find him and kill him," he responded, "what else? He's bound to be hiding somewhere in the city."

Luc nodded. "Good luck," he said. "I'll keep an eye out as well."

"Don't try to fight him, Luc," Ash called out to his retreating guest. "You won't win."

That brought Luc up short. He turned back to Ash. "You know," he said, "I just may have an idea of where to look for your missing warrior."

Ash looked surprised. "Really? Where?"

Luc shook his head. "I think I'd prefer if he didn't know everything I was thinking."

Ash opened his mouth, but quickly swallowed his objection.

"Give me a few days to check it out," Luc said. "When I know something, I'll give you a call."

When Luc was gone, Ash sank down onto the settee and put his head in his hands. He had lost Delilah, and he couldn't look for Memnon. In one day, he'd gone from being all-powerful to being Keller's babysitter.

Maybe he had just lived too long, he thought. He had outlived everyone he knew and most of the vampires he'd created. He had even outlived his hatred of Delilah, something he hadn't thought possible. Even with everything he now knew, he couldn't summon any hate. Maybe it had never truly been hate at all.

He shook his head, remembering all she had put him through. Surprisingly, it didn't matter. Hate or love, friend or foe, she was a worthy companion.

Fear reminded him of the creeping nothingness that had begun to color his life before he'd found her again. Without Delilah, without even his hatred of her to keep him warm, how long before he would feel nothing at all?

Ash raised his head. First things first, he thought. He was responsible for unleas.h.i.+ng Memnon on the world, so he would also be responsible for killing him.