Zak had to chuckle as he moved closer to the vampire. “I’d like to hear you say that to Big John.”
“Is that your Alpha?” the vampire asked. “John Marshall, right?”
“How’d you know?” Zak asked, eying the man once more with suspicion.
The vamp smiled tiredly. “Why do you think I was sailing around the entrance to your cove for the past few days? Recon, my friend. I like to know who is setting up house in my territory, even if you don’t come under my dominion.”
“I can understand that, I guess,” Zak allowed. He knew Brody and John were on their way.
They’d be here any minute, but every second the vampire had to wait for blood was a second Tina was in danger. He had to stave off the vampire’s need for as long as he could, until help could arrive. If this guy was as old as he claimed, Zak knew he would be no match for the bloodletter in a fight, even with his native bear magic. Plus, if Hiram was going to feed from any of the shifters in town, it might as well be him. His bear was small by comparison to the others, and less magical. He was the logical choice, so there was no sense in delaying.
“How does this work? I’ve never entertained one of your kind before,” Zak said with a deceptive grin. Inside, he was nervous, but he refused to show it on the outside.
“Just give me your wrist, and don’t fight. I will do my best to control myself, but regardless, if you pass out, I will stop feeding. I won’t kill you.”
“Good to know,” Zak nodded, swallowing hard. The vampire smiled, showing his pearly white fangs.
“You are giving me a great deal of trust, young one. I will not forget this. And I do realize it is to protect your people and your lady. All worthy goals. You have earned my respect, Zak Flambeau.” The vampire nodded to him in a very old-world sort of way.
Zak bet the bloodletter didn’t say those words to too many people. Oddly, he was flattered, which somehow made it easier to take that final step toward the vampire. He held out his arm, and faster than thought, the vampire had grabbed his hand and elbow, positioning his wrist upward for the fangs that descended with lightning speed.
Zak was unprepared for the wave of energy that washed over him. He felt his magic battling with the vampire’s for a moment before some sort of accord was reached and the blood began to flow.
CHAPTER TWO
The door opened with a tinkling chime of the bell.
“What the fuck?” Brody stopped short as he came upon the scene of the vampire sucking blood from Zak’s wrist.
“It’s okay, Brody. Hiram needs this, and I’m the logical choice of all of us. Where’s John?” Was it Zak’s imagination or was his voice sounding a little weak?
“I’m right here,” John said from behind the bakery counter. He must’ve come in the back way. The stealthy way. Good ol’ John. Once a commando, always a commando. “And I’ll thank you, sir,” he was speaking pointedly to the vampire now, “to let go of my friend, Zak, there.”
The vampire took one last long swallow, then licked his tongue across Zak’s wrist in a move that could’ve been weird but felt healing, instead. He let go of Zak’s arm, and when Zak looked, there were no marks left to show that the veins in his wrist had just been opened and resealed. That was some funky vampire mojo Hiram had going on there.
“A moment, if you please, Alpha.” Hiram held up his hands, as if in surrender.
He closed his scary blood-red eyes and seemed to meditate for a few seconds. As Zak watched, he seemed to internalize the blood and energy he’d just taken in, his skin taking on a healthier cast as his own bleeding appeared to stop, judging by the lack of droplets adding to the puddle beneath his chair.
When he opened his eyes again, they were a sort of topaz brown. No longer red. No longer too close to the edge of sanity. The vampire still looked quite weak, but he was definitely better.
“Forgive me for this abrupt arrival in your town, Mayor Marshall. It was not my intent to arrive here in this fashion, but the creatures of the deep apparently had other ideas.”
“Really?” John seemed unimpressed by the fellow’s pretty speech. “Are you trying to tell me a sea monster ate your boat and spit you out in my cove? Pull the other one.”
Hiram stood and tugged off what was left of his tattered shirt.
“Son of a bitch,” Zak muttered, seeing the evidence of the wounds Hiram had suffered.
It looked almost as if he’d been bitten by a shark, but if so, it was a freaking
huge
shark, with massive
rows
of teeth. At least
five rows
of teeth, if Zak was counting right. And stinging suckers, but again, much larger than any octopus, squid or jelly Zak had ever seen.
John came closer, moving in front of Zak to inspect the wounds. They were healing even as Zak watched. He knew the power of his blood gave the vampire the ability to heal his wounds, but if they still looked this bad now, what must they have been like when they were made?
“I stand corrected. And I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong,” John said magnanimously. “What the fuck happened to you?”
“A sea monster ate my boat and spit me out in your cove.” Hiram repeated John’s earlier words, earning a grin from the big Alpha that turned into an outright laugh.
“Guess I deserved that. I’m John, as you already know. You’re Master Abernathy, right? From Seattle?” John held out his hand for a shake.
Zak held his breath. He didn’t think the vampire would try anything, but now was a moment of truth, of sorts. Would the bloodletter turn on them now that he’d been fed?
Hiram took John’s hand and shook it. Zak breathed again. One hurdle overcome.
“Please call me Hiram,” the master replied. “I regret coming to you in such strange circumstances. I was trying to be stealthy, observing your settlement from the water for a bit before I made overtures.”
“I know. My bears saw your yacht out there, and I traced the registry to you. I figured you’d come in when you were ready.”
John wasn’t Alpha for nothing. Zak hadn’t known about the vampire’s surveillance, but John had others who were more suited to such tasks as watching boats out at sea and tracking down ships’ registries.
“I would have,” Hiram agreed easily. “But it seems fate had other ideas.” His face turned grim, even as his wounds finally stopped bleeding. “Sir, there is something out there in the deep. Something very evil.”
Tension filled the room until everyone heard the clanking of bottles near the bottom of the stairs leading to the upper level apartment. Tina.
Zak nodded to John as he headed behind the counter to the door that led to the staircase. He opened it and found Tina standing there, clutching three bottles of red wine to her chest. Her eyes were wide, and she looked adorably startled.
“Is it safe?” she whispered.
Zak considered. “Safe enough, I guess. If you want to come meet our guest, I think it’d be okay. And he can probably still use the wine.”
Zak took a couple of the bottles from her and waited while she scooped up a few more, and they headed out into the bakery together. Zak led her over to the table where Hiram was seated again. John had taken a seat at the table next to him, facing Hiram, and they were talking in low, urgent tones. Their conversation ceased as Tina entered the front part of the bakery.
“Honey, this is Hiram Abernathy,” Zak introduced them as he placed the first of the bottles on the small table in front of the vampire. Tina was right behind him. “Master Hiram, this is Tina Baker.”
She gasped when Zak stepped aside and she saw the rows and rows of bite marks that still showed on Hiram’s chest. They weren’t bleeding anymore, but they were still there, red and gruesome looking.
“I beg your pardon, lady,” Hiram said with old-world politeness. “I am sorry to darken your door in such a way and make such a mess.” He looked at the blood smears that made a path to the table and the considerable pool of seawater and blood beneath his chair. “Thank you for helping me. I will gladly reimburse you for your troubles. And, as they say, I owe you one. It is not something trivial to have a master vampire owe you a debt.” He winked at her, and Zak bristled.
“What happened to you?” Tina asked in a sympathetic whisper.
“Something in the ocean objected to my presence rather strongly,” Hiram replied with wry humor as he looked through the bottles they had brought. “Do you have a glass, a bowl and a small towel?” he asked Tina directly.
She nodded and bustled off to get the supplies he’d requested. Zak stood by the table and watched the vampire. He didn’t like the way the bloodletter was flirting with Tina. The bear inside him bristled again at the thought of it, and Zak heard a little growl hit the back of his throat.
Damn.
“Rest easy, young one,” Hiram held up a calming hand toward Zak. “She is not for me. I believe the Goddess may have already decided her fate. And yours. No?” Hiram looked up at Zak, a smile in his topaz eyes.
Zak was taken aback. Could he mean…? Could it be?
Tina returned with the items, and a cork screw, which Hiram hadn’t requested specifically, but Tina had apparently thought to add. Hiram smiled at her again, and Zak’s bear sat up, staring at the man from out of Zak’s eyes, sizing him up. The bear wasn’t sure what to make of Hiram, and neither was Zak’s human side.
Hiram opened two of the bottles, sloshing deep red wine into the glass from one and drinking it all down in one go. Helpful not to have to breathe, Zak thought, when chugalugging. But it didn’t do the rather good vintage he’d chosen any justice.
The second bottle, Hiram poured into the bowl, drenching the small towel with wine. Zak watched, surprised, as Hiram placed the wine-soaked towel directly over his wounds, sighing in what sounded like relief as the wine hit his savaged skin.
He drank more glasses of wine while he let the towel sit, emptying the bottle with speed before he opened a second bottle of the better vintage. He started drinking that, too, at a slightly slower pace.
“Normally,” Hiram paused in his drinking to speak, “I would share this excellent wine with you, but these are rather trying circumstances. Tonight, you learn one of the secrets of my kind. You are seeing for yourself that we can, indeed, drink wine and that not only can we drink it, but that it also heals us.”
Hiram removed the towel, returning it to the bowl to soak up more wine. Tina gasped when Hiram’s chest was revealed. Wherever the wine-soaked towel had touched, he was healed. Completely healed. Not even a small mark was left behind.
As Hiram drank down the second bottle, the rest of the marks on his body began to fade right before their eyes, as well.
Zak had seen quick healing. He was a shapeshifter, after all. But he’d never seen anything quite like this. He imagined few people ever did.
CHAPTER THREE
Tina was shocked clear out of her skin. That Hiram guy was getting better by the moment, and all indications were that he was some kind of vampire. An honest-to-goodness vampire, right here in the middle of her bakery. Holy cow!
She’d thought she was going to spend the last few minutes before closing flirting with Deputy Zak, but things had changed drastically in a short time. She was playing hostess to a vampire who was drinking the best bottles of their meager wine collection as if they were filled with water and he had been stuck in the desert for a week. The dude could pack it away, and he didn’t seem to get drunk at all.
In fact, if anything, the alcohol made him brighter. More with it. It healed him. The very idea defied logic.
And his eyes had gone from that horror-movie red to a glittering topaz brown that reminded her of a cat. He was really a very dashing fellow. Handsome and built. Just the way she liked ‘em.
But next to Zak… Yeah, ol’ Hiram paled next to sexy Zak Flambeau. Tina had been hot for the deputy for a week now, ever since he’d been ordered to make sure she was safe in the bakery at closing time. He’d been hanging around, and they’d been talking. She’d learned a bit about his past and his life, his hopes and dreams. And she’d shared the same with him. She’d thought they’d been making a connection.
Whether that would turn out to be a
love
connection, she wasn’t sure, but she had decided she really did want to jump his bones. He was too cute to not want to boink. At least that was Tina’s philosophy.
Her sisters might think she was a little wild, but Tina had always done what she liked. She’d done
who
she liked too, though honestly, there hadn’t been all that many men in her past. She was particular. And right now, she
particularly
liked Deputy Zak.
She just wasn’t sure if he was feeling it too, and she didn’t want to be embarrassed if she made a pass and got shut down. That would suck. And it would make her life difficult, since he’d been assigned to see to her safety every damn night. If she bombed out with him, she’d still have to see him. This was a
very
small town, after all. So she’d had to be cautious, which went against her impulsive nature.
“We’re going to have to report this through official human channels, unfortunately,” Hiram said, drawing her attention. “I had staff on the yacht. Not many, but their families will need to know what happened to them. There will need to be police reports for insurance claims and the like, I imagine.”
It struck Tina as odd that a vampire would be talking about something as mundane as insurance. Then again, like the cove’s shapeshifters, vampires had to live in the modern world too. They’d have to deal with human laws and procedures from time to time, just to fit in.
“We can help you there,” Brody said. “You swam ashore, and Deputy Flambeau found you on the beach, then brought you over to Sven’s place. He’s the town doctor.”
Zak paced a few steps away, dialing his cell phone. Tina heard him talking to Sven, inviting him to join the party at the bakery.
About that time, Tom showed up. He was Tina’s newest in-law, mated to her sister, Ashley. He was also the town’s lawyer. Brody filled Tom in on the events of the evening while John talked quietly with Hiram. Tina followed Zak over toward the counter as he finished his call.