Fresh Blood (12 page)

“He’s not here. He doesn’t have to know.”

“He will know. He’ll find out and last night
he was very angry with me about what you did ... when you kissed
me.”

“I thought you said you didn’t remember
it.”

“I didn’t, but he reminded me. I’d rather not
be punished again, if you don’t mind.”

Vera pouted again. “He’s bad. We’re not
hurting anyone. Just a little harmless flirting. It doesn’t mean
anything.”

“I know.”

“Just one? Benton likes to see me with other
women. It would make him happy and I could have him smooth it over
if Max found out.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Just one.…” Vera dove in again and Erica
tried to dodge but the woman was all hands. She took Erica’s face
in her fingers and kissed her on the lips again. She tasted like
candy and cloves and something else.…

When she broke the kiss, Erica stared at her.
“What did you do to--” The world went black before she finished her
sentence.

Chapter
Fourteen

Max sat brooding in the dark apartment. The
same scent that permeated Elena Talbot’s apartment surrounded him,
along with memories of the things that had happened here.

It made him feel ill. He didn’t like the
feeling. It had been years since something truly turned his
stomach. Between disgust at himself and anger at whatever game
Elena Talbot was playing with her sister, the feeling overwhelmed
him.

When his cell phone rang, he growled into the
receiver. “What?”

“Problem, Max.” Lucas sounded edgy. That
wasn’t like him.

Max sat forward in the chair. “Where are
you?”

“I’m at Erica’s building. She’s not
here.”

Max sighed. She’d lied to him. Why didn’t it
surprise him? “Are you sure?”

“Not to be cliché, but the lights are on and
nobody’s home. Her car isn’t here.”

Max rose and headed for the door. His
confrontation would have to wait.

* * * *

Erica blinked slowly until the scene before
her came into focus. Her fingers were wrapped around the steering
wheel of her car, which still sat in the parking lot of The
Underside. She had no recollection of leaving the club and it took
her a moment to recall if she’d even gone inside. She gasped when
she saw the time. Her watch read 4:30 a.m. She’d been out all
night--and didn’t remember a thing after Vera kissed her.

She began to shake. A cold inner tremor
became a violent shiver. What had they done to her? Where was
Elena? She flung the car door open and stumbled out onto the black
top. The world tilted dizzily and she clutched the roof of the car
for support.

The rest of the parking lot was empty.

Without considering the consequences, she ran
to the back door of The Underside and started banging. The cold
metal hurt her hand, but she kept at it. “Let me in! Is anyone
there? I have to get in!”

Nothing. She stumbled down the stairs and ran
to the front of the building. Windowless. The front door was solid
wood with a fierce gargoyle faced carved on it. Erica yanked on the
latch, pounded on the gargoyle’s face and screamed until her throat
hurt. No one answered.

No Elena. Nothing.

Still shivering, she wrapped her arms around
herself and sobbed as she walked back to the car. Max was right.
This was not her world. She couldn’t function here. Whatever Elena
was involved in, Erica couldn’t help her. Now she’d have to go back
and confess to Max and beg for him to help her.

He’d hate her for breaking her promise.

He’d never trust her again.

* * * *

Max found Lucas in the parking lot of Erica’s
building. Dressed in dark jeans and a black leather jacket, his
blond hair hidden under his black motorcycle helmet, he was little
more than a shadow.

“You look like a second story man,” Max
said.

Lucas grinned, showing fangs. “I used to be
one. I was damn good at it, too.” He nodded toward Erica’s bedroom
window. “Nothing.”

Max cursed. He should have known she’d go
looking for her sister without him. “I’m going inside to look
around, maybe I can figure out where she went. Can you spend some
more time tracking Benton Carlisle? See if he shows up at his
office today. And if you hear from Kyra, let me know.”

Lucas shrugged. “Sure. Look, if you want
backup tonight...”

Max shook his head. “I don’t need it, yet.
I’ll call if I get into trouble.”

“Suit yourself.” Lucas turned to leave but
glanced over his shoulder. “You look worried Max. I don’t think
I’ve ever seen you look worried.”

“I am, Luke. And you know what? It’s one of
the few things I don’t miss about being human.

Lucas laughed as he climbed onto his bike.
“That’s the biggest difference between you and me, Max. I don’t
miss anything at all.”

Max watched the taillight of Lucas’s bike
recede, then let himself into Erica’s apartment.

Her bedroom light was on and black clothes
covered the bed. Max picked through them then checked the papers on
the corner computer desk hoping to find something that would lead
him in the right direction.

As an afterthought he nudged the computer
mouse and watched the screen light up. He opened up her Internet
browser and checked her address menu for recent activity. The last
Web site she’d visited was a Goth message board frequented by
feeders.

He should have known. He should have expected
she would lie to him. He was only a vampire to her after all.
Promises made to him didn’t matter.

But promises from him, did. Whether she ever
believed it or not, he cared and he was going to do what he told
her he’d do whether she trusted him or not.

* * * *

Erica’s fingers shook so hard she had to hold
the key in both hands in order to unlock the door. Once inside her
apartment, she tossed the keys aside. She had to clean off the
butterfly stamp on her chest, and the wash the smoky scent of The
Underside out of her hair before Max came back.

If he came back.

She put one trembling hand to her neck on the
spot where he’d last bitten her. Her fingers came back with a
smudge of dark blood. She stared at the stain for a moment,
teetering on the brink of passing out cold. Someone had fed from
her…and she had no memory of it.

That knowledge only increased her trembling.
She sank against the nearest wall, gulping air and trying to regain
her composure. When a hand closed over her shoulder, she
screamed.

Max dragged Erica into his arms and quieted
her, hushing her as she sobbed against him. He lowered her to the
floor and pulled her across his lap, smoothing her hair.

“I’ve been waiting for hours,” he murmured as
her trembling finally stopped. “Why, Erica? Why couldn’t you trust
me?”

She looked up at him through the haze of
tears that clouded her vision. “She called me, Max. She called
again and asked for help. I had to go.”

“And you didn’t find her, did you?” His voice
went hard. She swallowed and shook her head. “There’s a reason for
that, Erica. She’s playing a game with you.”

Erica sat up and stared at Max. His mouth was
set in a thin line and his eyes shadowed.

“What do you mean?”

“When did she call you?”

“This morning.” She hated to confess it, but
with him staring at her, looking betrayed, she couldn’t lie to him.
“While you were asleep.”

He nodded and his hands dropped from her
shoulders. He sat back against the wall and stared at her.

“You smell like blood.”

She looked away. A moment later he pulled the
collar of her shirt roughly aside and traced a rough line from the
opalescent butterfly stamp to the bloody bite marks. His expression
turned to steel.

“Who did this? Carlisle?”

She didn’t answer, didn’t look at him. She
cried out when he shook her. “Who was it?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know. I met Vera
.…”

Max dropped his arms again and rolled to his
feet. He paced behind her while Erica curled into a ball and leaned
against the wall.

“You let her drug you again? What were you
thinking? Did you think that would get you taken to Elena?”

“I didn’t drink anything. Vera kissed me.…”
Erica swiped at the tears that spilled down her cheeks. After the
memory of Vera’s warm lips on hers, there was nothing but a
terrifying void.

Max was silent for a moment. When he finally
spoke, his words made her shiver.

“Take off your clothes.”

She stared at him but he wouldn’t meet her
gaze. When she hesitated, he dragged her to her feet and tore at
the thin lace that held her shirt together.

Frightened and aroused by his actions, she
didn’t resist when he pulled the waistband of her skirt open and
slid the garment roughly down her legs. He tore her underwear away,
threw aside the tight black bra she wore then ran his hands down
her body.

She warmed to him, despite his anger. She
wanted him, if only to ease the ache in her heart. She needed him
to comfort her, but instead he was searching her, exploring her
body inch by inch.

“What are you doing?” His touch made her
breathless, but the look in his eyes froze her.

“Looking for bite marks. You’re lucky to be
alive. For all you know a group of vampires could have fed on you.
They could have killed you, Erica! Or turned you.” She didn’t need
him to tell her that. The thought had been running through her mind
all during the torturous drive home.

She held herself rigid while he ran his hand
up each of her legs, between her thighs, across her lower back, up
under her breasts and her hair. His intense scrutiny made her skin
tingle and her body ache for him.

“It looks like that’s the only mark,” he said
finally. He stepped back from her, leaving her cold. “If they only
drugged you, the memories of what happened might come back.”

“If they only drugged me?” She turned,
seeking his embrace, but instead he wrapped her in a blanket from
the couch, the one he’d used the night before.

“We can use hypnotic suggestions to control
humans and sometimes even other vampires. If someone put hypnotic
suggestions in your mind, you won’t remember anything unless they
tell you to.”

“I might have seen Elena and not even know
it.”

Max put one finger under her chin and forced
her to look in his eyes. “There are worse things you might have
done, Erica. I’m not going to protect you from this. You should
have listened to me. You should have trusted me!”

She pulled the blanket around her against the
awful cold. “I’m sorry, Max. I wanted to. But she’s my sister. She
told me they’d hurt her if you came with me. What could I do?”

“She’s using you, Erica. Whatever sick
purpose she has, she’s not in trouble. She’s not waiting for you to
rescue her. She’s waiting for you to fall into her trap.”

If Max had still been human, the hurt in
Erica’s eyes would have broken his heart. At that moment, he
considered himself fortunate to be dead. It lessened the pain he
felt for her.

Part of him wanted to walk away. He couldn’t
bear the thought that she’d been touched by Carlisle--or anyone
else--that another vampire had held her and drank from her to
nourish themselves. She was his. She had to be his alone.

And part of him wanted to avenge everything
she’d been through and make it all right again. He wondered if she
felt his hands tremble as he searched her body for marks they might
have left on her. The only evidence of what had happened to her was
the bloody bruise on her neck and the butterfly stamped above her
breast.

“Get dressed.” The order left a bitter taste.
He wanted to take her to bed and sooth away with the hurt with his
hands and his mouth. But it would never be over until he told her
the truth, until he kept his promise and found out exactly what her
sister wanted from her.

“Max, please don’t leave me now.”

“I’m not going to leave you. I’m going to
take you with me.”

“Where?”

“To see your sister.” He held up his hand.
“Don’t ask any questions. Ask her when you see her. This ends
now.”

Her eyes fell and a sob escaped her. She
turned away and walked into the bedroom. He stood rooted to the
spot, fighting the urge to follow her. If he touched her again,
he’d lose control and neither of them could afford that right
now.

When she returned she looked better. She wore
jeans and an oversized blouse over a cotton T-shirt. She’d cleaned
the blood off her neck and the dark makeup from her face. She
looked innocent, like she had this morning. Innocent and
broken.

She walked past him and retrieved her keys
from the floor where she’d dropped them. When she stood, he grabbed
her arm and pulled her to him. “Tell me one thing, Erica. I need to
know.”

“What?” Her voice was thick and he saw tears
well in her eyes as she looked up at him.

“Tell me you’re not part of the game.”

“I don’t know what you mean, Max. What game?
Where’s Elena?”

“I’m not sure where she is, but I know where
she’ll end up.”

“What do you mean? Where are we going?”

“To her apartment.”

* * * *

Erica watched Max as he drove. She didn’t say
anything when he bypassed Fortune Drive and eased onto the empty
highway. Wherever he was taking her, it wasn’t to Elena’s.

He didn’t look at her. He didn’t say a word
until they reached a bungalow development in South Windsor. There,
he parked the car, got out and waited by the back fender for her to
join him.

“I don’t understand, Max. How did you find
her? She was supposed to be at The Underside last night.”