Authors: Kara Lockley
Tags: #romance, #vampires, #vampire, #love, #paranormal, #novella, #psychic, #telekinesis
Blood Gifts
by Kara Lockley
Copyright 2015 by Kara Lockley
All rights reserved.
Table
of Contents
Chapter 1
Karina watched her friends dancing on the
dance floor of the club, and stirred her diet soda with her straw,
moving the ice around idly, as she leaned against the bar.
It was a Saturday night, typical. She loved
the music and the flickering lights of the club, but she hated to
dance. Mostly because she couldn't dance. So she'd watch from the
bar as Leanne and Nina danced. Not that they'd spend the whole
night dancing, but they'd be out there for a while. Nina was tall
and thin and blond and pretty, people definitely stared. She sort
of danced like a willow tree blowing around in the wind, no matter
how fast the song. It was funny. Leanne was average height, cute,
brunette, hair cut into a mod sort of bob. She was slightly
overweight. She moved around in a ferocious sort of dance, but it
looked good, somehow she knew what she was doing out there. But
Karina? When she danced she just always ended up hopping around for
some reason. Awful.
Karina was surprised no one had asked her to
dance in the last five minutes. Maybe it was mostly regulars
tonight. People were bold in clubs, though. There were people who
kept trying. She scanned the crowd with her dark blue eyes,
stirring her half gone soda. Suddenly her eyes caught another pair
staring back at her through the crowd. Whoa. Super sparkly blue.
Were those contacts? A very handsome man with short black hair and
bright blue eyes was staring at her. She couldn't bring herself to
look away. She blinked and he was gone. Like he was never there.
She glanced around to see where he went, but could not find him.
Then she inhaled. She realized she'd forgotten to breathe while she
was staring at him. Wow. Smooth.
She decided to get back on her barstool and
sit at the bar for a while. She glanced at herself in the mirror
behind the bar. Light brown hair, long, to just below her
shoulders, surrounded her face. It still looked neat and tidy, from
a lack of dancing. She sighed. In the mirror she seemed to be
blushing. Was that from staring at the man across the room? Her
mascara had run a little bit on the left side. She realized a tear
had run down her face. She wiped it away quickly, and the mascara
smear it had left. Whoa. It was like the man had affected her on
levels she hadn't even been aware of. She looked like a lost little
girl in the mirror. She had always looked younger than she was. She
was 27 now, but looked about 15 in the mirror. Pretty, but young.
It made people not take her seriously. It was kind of annoying.
She decided she'd better take a closer look
at that mascara issue in the ladies room mirror. She hopped off the
barstool again, and she was wobbly on her feet suddenly. She'd worn
three-inch heels with her jeans and muted blue gauzy tank top. She
was always attempting to get her thin 5'6" frame to reach the
heights of Nina's 5'11", but no shoes could do it. She'd only worn
them tonight because she was the designated driver. If she'd had
even one drink she would have sprained an ankle in these. But not
sober. Why was she so out of it tonight?
She took one last swig of her diet soda
before leaving it at the bar. She made her way across the crowded
room to the restrooms. But on the way someone grabbed her arm.
Gently, almost a brush, then warm fingers slowly closed around her
forearm like a hug. She glanced back to see who it was. It was
him.
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words
came out. He took a step towards her. He was tall. She found
herself staring up at him. He put a finger to her lips and mouthed,
"Shh..." Or maybe he said it, but she couldn't hear. The club was
loud. Pulsing music beat with her heart.
Then he did something even more unexpected.
He gently cradled her face in his hands and leaned down and kissed
her. A warm sweet quick kiss. And she didn't stop him. Why did she
not stop him?
Then he pulled away and walked away from her,
glancing back once with a small friendly smile on his lips. He
disappeared into the crowd. Then she inhaled again. She really had
to remember to breathe. She quickly got a hold of herself and
wobbled on her spiky heels to the ladies room. There were a few
women in there, so she pretended to be adjusting the barrette at
the top of her head, and wiped away the stray mascara. Her eyes
were glassy with tears again. What was up with this guy? He was
cute, sure, but did she have to lose it every time she saw him?
She got her lip gloss out of the little black
purse she carried and absentmindedly put some on. Just to have
something to do instead of stare at herself in the mirror. So the
other women wouldn't think she was nuts. Not that they were all
entirely sober.
Nina suddenly walked into the restroom,
caught sight of Karina and said, "There you are!" a little too
loudly, and waved her arm flamboyantly in the air. She was a happy
drunk. "
You
have some explaining to do," she said as she
pointed at Karina and ambled quickly into a stall to pee. Karina
laughed.
Then Leanne walked into the room, very
deliberately, like she was trying to remember how to walk.
"Karina," she said with a happy sleepy smile and made her way over
to her. Then Leanne threw her arms around Karina for a big hug. She
squeezed her tight and rocked her back and forth. "You're so
great!" Leanne said. Also a happy drunk. Karina laughed.
"Have we had enough fun for the night?"
Karina asked.
"Yes!" Leanne said. "Especially
you
with your kissy face man." She let Karina go then as she wandered
back to a stall herself. Apparently, to throw up.
Nina danced out of her stall and came over to
Karina's sink to bump her out of the way with her hip. The other
sinks were taken. Nina washed her hands and she hummed along with
the song currently playing loudly in the club. She dried her hands
and then winked in a drunken enunciated way at Karina. Eventually
Leanne came out of her stall and washed up as well. Then they
headed out of the bathroom together.
Karina led the way holding Nina's hand, and
Nina held Leanne's hand. Kind of like children crossing the street.
She made her way through the club to the door, pulling the others
behind her. She could hear Nina muttering, "Where is he? Where is
he?"
Once out in the cool summer night air, they
could hear each other better.
"Who
was
that?" Nina asked. Leanne
nodded.
"I don't know," Karina said sheepishly.
The other two looked appalled.
"Well, what's his name?" Leanne asked.
Karina shrugged.
"Dammit, woman, how will you find him again?"
Nina asked as Karina helped her into the passenger side of her old
little white sedan.
"It's a pretty small town," Karina said.
"He'll show up eventually somewhere."
"It's not
that
small," Leanne said as
she allowed herself to be helped into the back seat. "But with his
laser eyes, he sure can't hide, right?" She laughed at herself.
Karina chuckled.
Secretly Karina was hoping all of this would
be hazy enough to be forgotten once her friends sobered up. It's
not like she could explain what had happened. She never did things
like that. She wasn't a free spirit or anything. Or promiscuous. Or
even drunk. Why on Earth had she done that? Maybe it had something
to do with breaking up with Brad. That had only been a month ago.
They'd dated for a year. That was what she would tell her friends
tomorrow when they were sober, anyway. But in her heart she knew it
was more than that. It was something different. Magical. Special.
Well, that sounded silly to her even in her head.
She drove her friends home, managing to not
answer any of their questions about the man. Then she drove herself
home, deep in thought. Replaying the kiss in her head till her eyes
got glassy again.
Chapter 2
Karina took her makeup off, her barrette out,
put her pajamas on, and crawled into bed. It was 1:30 in the
morning. She curled up under the covers and fell asleep. She
dreamed of the blue-eyed man. They were at the club, everyone in
the room around them became a blur, and he was speaking to her.
"You won't remember this later," he was saying quietly. "You won't
wake up until I'm gone." He kept repeating it. She opened her
eyes.
Was she still dreaming? She was in her
bedroom. She seemed to be awake. But he was there. He sat on the
edge of her bed, with its pink fluffy bedspread, wearing the same
clothes he'd had on at the club. Worn out blue jeans with a faded
navy blue T-shirt that fit him just right. He wasn't saying the
words to her out loud, but she could still hear them in her head.
Telling her she won't remember or wake up. His eyes were looking
intently and warmly at her. And, frankly, he looked a bit
surprised. Her vision was hazy, but she could have sworn that
objects were floating. A pink tissue box from her nightstand. A jar
of moisturizer from her dresser across the room. Some antique
candle holders from the other dresser. And a few other things.
She couldn't fully wake up. Was she
hallucinating or dreaming? This obviously couldn't be real. Why
would he be here in her bedroom, and... He was still looking at her
with surprise, and now worry. He suddenly, faster than a human
could possibly move, zipped across her bedroom to her open window
and jumped out. Her gauzy pink curtains fluttered in the
breeze.
She woke more fully now. Nothing was
floating. Though one candlestick and the jar of moisturizer were
now lying on the faded brown carpet. And her window was wide open.
She never left it open.
She felt calm. Why did she feel calm? She
climbed out of bed and walked to the window to look out. Her
apartment was on the third floor. She looked down to the street far
below. No ladder, no rope, no fire escape. The fire escape was next
to her kitchen window. How could he get down? If he was real.
She picked the candlestick and moisturizer up
and set them back where they belonged. She must have been doing
things in her sleep again. The window too, she supposed. She hadn't
done things like that for years. The man must have shaken her up.
Hence the dream. Because it must have been a dream.
It was an old building. With windows you
pushed up to open. She pushed it down now and locked it. She didn't
usually lock it. She was on the third floor after all. But just to
be safe. Then she wandered her apartment, making sure the front
door was locked, and the kitchen window next to the fire escape.
Everything seemed fine. And she still didn't feel alarmed. She felt
hazy. Drugged. Like at the club with the man. Very strange. She
went back to her bed then and curled up to sleep. She fell asleep
quickly.
***
Luke hurried down the street, away from the
girl's apartment. He didn't use his full speed, in case a human saw
him. He was deep in thought. His bright blue eyes stared at the
sidewalk as he walked. The night air had a chill, but it didn't
bother him.
Why had she woken up? No one ever woke up.
Not when he tried to mesmerize them. They always obeyed. But she
was different. From the moment he saw her, he knew she was
different. She had mesmerized
him
in a way.
He had been searching the crowd at the club,
looking for a suitable subject. His eyes had settled on her.
Pretty, but young and innocent looking. He couldn't take his eyes
away from her. He didn't even know why he had kissed her. That
hadn't been his objective. The plan was to groom her to be his...
verae
. His source.
But she was immune to him. And he couldn't
stop thinking about her. Her lips, her eyes. How it felt to kiss
her. Even the sweet smell of her. So uniquely hers. What was wrong
with him? He usually didn't get emotionally entangled this much
with his prey. That made it harder. Especially for someone like
him.