Читать книгу The Vampire's Fall - Michele Hauf - Страница 11
ОглавлениеZenia leaned forward onto the vanity, peering at her eyes reflected in the mirror. What she saw there was not fear but uncertainty.
“He’s a vampire. Those fangs were real.”
She hissed out a breath and her shoulders sank. The man was really a vampire. Because his teeth had not been fake. No cheesy white plastic dentures. He’d lowered and raised them as she had watched.
So here she stood. Processing. And to do so, had locked herself in the bathroom to put herself away from the creature on the other side of the flimsy wood door. Who could probably knock it down if he wanted to and suck out all her blood before she could manage to scream for help.
She shook her head. “Don’t let your imagination make this into something weird. Weird? Ha! The man is a vampire. Which means the mythology is real. And what makes me think all I know is real anyway?”
Of course, if vampires were real that also opened the door to other creepy critters being as real. Werewolves, ghosts and demons?
“He killed demons. There were real demons in that pink house. He was telling me the truth. And they’d mentioned me? What is going on?”
She’d fallen into some kind of creature feature. And while she should do the smart thing and run like hell, she couldn’t resist a peek down the dark stairway.
“He’s been nice to me so far,” she reasoned with her reflection. “I can trust him.” A nod confirmed her decision.
And so she turned the knob and walked out into the room. Blade leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. Head bowed, his hair was tinted blue, no denying that. Was that indicative of his vampire nature?
Wow. Just wow.
“Are you going to bite me?” she asked calmly.
He smirked and shook his head. “No.”
“Why don’t you want to bite me?”
Now he laughed. “In the course of two questions you went from curiosity to fang junkie.”
“Fang junkie?”
“Women and men who seek the vampire’s bite. It gives them an orgasmic high. Sort of a thank-you for giving blood.”
Zen blew out a breath. Shook her head. She’d asked for proof. And he’d given it to her in spades. The guy was a vampire. And the more she considered it, his fangs were actually kind of cool.
She walked up to him. “Let me see them again.”
With a shrug, he opened his mouth to reveal the fangs. She touched the tip of a fang and he flinched away.
“What’s wrong?”
“Women don’t generally touch,” he said defensively.
“I’m sorry. They are interesting to me. Don’t you ever poke yourself in the lip?”
He smirked, again revealing the gorgeous fangs. “I’ve been living with them awhile.”
“Since birth?”
“No, since my teen years. We vamps don’t come into the blood hunger until puberty. A vampire baby is just wrong.”
“I imagine so.” Frowning, Zen ran the idea of a fanged baby drinking blood from its mother’s nipple through her thoughts. Yeah, that was wrong in too many ways to consider. “Wow. So you are really a vampire.”
“And you are having a tough time with this.”
“No. Not anymore. I did some processing in the bathroom. Had a pep talk with my crazy ole self. So the myths are real? And you don’t seem a danger to me.”
“I have no reason to harm you, Zen. Believe me.”
“I am inclined to trust you. You’ve shown me nothing but kindness thus far. Will you tell me about being a vampire? That’ll help me to further process. You said you drink blood every few weeks? Is it a sexual thing?”
“You just ask whatever is on your mind, don’t you?”
“Are you offended by my questions? You should be pleased I’m not screaming and whittling a stake.”
“I am. Although the adrenaline that comes up when a person screams does season the blood nicely.” He paused. Gauging her reaction? Likely.
Zen didn’t feel disgust. She’d accepted that vampires existed. Now she needed to learn how and why.
“And so you know,” he added, “it would take a damn long time to whittle a stake. Use an ax to hone a point on a thick wood dowel. It will go faster.”
“Did you just tell me how to kill you?”
“I did. Feel better?”
“It’s not as though I need to feel better about your condition—”
“It’s not a condition. It is what I am.”
“Okay. I understand. Blood is your means to survival?”
“Yes. I like drinking blood and it is a sensual experience if I’m having sex with the person when I bite them. But I can take someone in a dark club or back alley without it turning me on. My bite leaves the victim in a state of bliss. As I’ve said, a reward for giving blood.”
“Do you ever, uh—” Zen ran her fingers along the plaid bedspread “—kill?”
His fangs retracted, and she missed them immediately. “When drinking blood? No.”
That he’d categorized that question bothered her. “So you have killed at other times? Of course, the demons yesterday.” She had no choice now but to believe they had been real.
He suddenly took her by the wrist and lifted her arm to hold her elbow toward the sunlight beaming through the window. “Those markings are faint but remarkable. Do you know what they mean?”
The man had deftly avoided the question about killing. She’d give him that. He had killed. Many times. She simply knew it. Perhaps he’d been protecting another damsel in distress from demons?
“I’m guessing it was something I drew on my skin before the accident,” she offered. “Should fade away with a few more showers.”
“Has it faded since you’ve noticed it?”
“No. I guess not.”
“It doesn’t look like ink or even one of those white tattoos that are so popular nowadays.”
“Demonic?” she tossed out teasingly. She regretted it immediately. Demons were serious and real. What kind of nightmare had she fallen into?
“I don’t know what it is,” Blade said. “One of my brothers is full faery. He has pale violet markings on his skin. But the patterns don’t look similar. Aren’t you curious?”
“I am, but it’s not as if I have any idea where to begin learning about such a thing. A faery brother? That’s fascinating. How does that work exactly?”
“It’s a long story. My family is a mix of races.”
Nodding, she rubbed the inside of her elbow to distract herself from the need to delve into his family history. He’d been kind in answering her questions so far. She didn’t want to press her luck. “How do I learn more about these markings?”
“There’s a witch in Minneapolis. She might have a clue.”
“Witches. Of course.” And so many other species she would likely learn about the longer she hung around Blade. The idea of gaining such knowledge compelled her. If she couldn’t learn about herself then she may as well gather info about the secret world that existed around her. “You know all the exciting people, eh?”
“Do you want me to take you to her?”
“I sense you are more eager to learn about these markings than I am. Digging up proof I’m not an evil demon?”
“I hate demons,” Blade stated plainly. He paced to the window. His frame stiffened, shoulders tilting back and fingers curling into loose fists. Zen could palpably feel his cool anger. He was a man who didn’t like to speak about himself, but he didn’t have to. His emotions showed in his tightly strung physicality.
