Hope and Vengeance (Saa Thalarr, book 1): Saa Thalarr, book 1 (19 page)

"Sounds like a few vampires I know."

"I think everybody has someone like Pheligar in their lives. It's a law of physics or nature—take your pick."

"Are you teasing me?"

"Yeah. I guess." She raked her hair back and shook her head. "Why do you ask?"

"I thought your kind couldn't lie." I did the teasing, this time.

"We can't deliberately lie. We can tease, tell jokes and employ sarcasm, so be prepared."

"Why does it bother you so much to have a healer?" If I'd had any sense, I'd never have asked the question.

"I don't talk about that," Kiarra responded coldly before disappearing. It wouldn't have been so bad, but I'd been left alone—still with no knowledge of where I was or how to get home again.

Chapter 10
 

Dragon brought her back shortly before daybreak. I'll admit that I was angry by that time, so we didn't speak. She brushed past me on her way to the stairs and her bedroom.

I watched her go with a scowl on my face.

"Vampire, she was raped by her healer. Now do you understand?" Dragon turned dark, glittering eyes in my direction. He was angry and didn't bother to hide it. After watching him kill vampires with ease, I knew not to argue. "That's why she wakes from the healing sleep. The rest of us can't. She can, because that's when she was attacked—after she was injured and he placed her in a healing sleep. Go to bed, leech. It's almost daybreak."

He disappeared, leaving me gaping like a fool at the space he'd occupied seconds earlier. I'd been insulted, but felt it was deserved—up to a point. I'd asked a sensitive question, never realizing the damage it might cause. I had a ready argument, however. I realized as much as I climbed the steps to the second level.

Joey's gay, my heart
, I sent.
He loves you and will never bring you harm
.

I received no reply.

* * *

Nobody spoke to me when I made my way into the kitchen after nightfall. Dragon, Lynx and Lion had come. Pheligar was also present. Kiarra sat on a barstool, arms crossed tightly and head bowed, as if she were under siege. In a way, I suppose she was.

"Bearcat says they're on the way," Dragon announced, his leather pants creaking softly as he took a seat at the island. Kiarra sat on the opposite side, alone and unresponsive. She'd let her hair fall across her face so I couldn't read her expression. It didn't take a genius to know she was upset—not just with me, but with all present.

"Adam?" Joey sounded terrified when he appeared with Bearcat. Kiarra's head jerked up. "Adam, he's going to take me back and let me die." Joey wiped tears away.

"You didn't." Kiarra accused, glaring at Pheligar.

"I merely offered the truth," Pheligar huffed in indignation. "Surely you recognize the value of it. I informed him that you didn't want this and taking him back was the only alternative."

"I said all right, you bastard," Kiarra slid off the barstool and stalked toward the tall, blue-skinned Larentii. "The choice belongs to him, now. That's where we left this." Kiarra stopped before Pheligar, her hair crackling with energy. "You did this to upset him. And me. Admit it," she jabbed a finger into his chest. She had to raise her arm to do it.

Pheligar didn't flinch.

"What's going on?" Joey wiped away fresh tears; he was clearly upset. I pulled him toward me and rubbed his back.

"You're going to be Kiarra's healer, Joey. I was there when she said she wanted you. Pheligar is just being an asshole. I hear he does that a lot."

I wasn't the one who had to be truthful. Pheligar and Kiarra were both telling the truth—just different versions of it. Before and after versions, if you will. Somebody had to play peacemaker and keep the situation from deteriorating.

"Kiarra's just afraid, Joey. Nobody's bitten her before. I know Bearcat may have offered, but to be her healer, I think you need that connection."

"What?" Kiarra and Pheligar said in unison while turning in my direction. Kiarra wore a look of confusion—Pheligar appeared smugly satisfied.

"Yes. I believe you need her blood. I heard Griffin gave Merrill blood, and they get along pretty well."

"But, uh," Joey began. Yes, he knew what would happen. I was looking forward to it.

"But," Kiarra echoed Joey.

"Sweetheart, he won't hurt you. Every vampire is taught how to deliver the bite."

"He's right," Dragon sighed. "You didn't give blood to the last one—you inherited him. Griffin's first healer was killed, so he inherited him before that—from Lisster, when he retired. You got him after Griffin asked Amara to be his healer. He had no blood connection to you."

"But," she repeated, shaking her head, her face going pale.

"I won't hurt you, I promise," Joey begged. "Please." He held a hand toward her.

"Joey," Kiarra stepped forward and I could see she was trembling. "Your life is safe. If it weren't—if I didn't care about you, I'd have let you die on cold concrete. There are so many things you don't know," she sighed before offering him a hug and pulling away.

"Joseph David Showalter, do you want to be my healer?" she asked.

"Yeah. I do," he nodded enthusiastically.

"Then you'll be my healer," her voice trembled on the words. "My blood is a gift to you, Joey. You will take no harm from it. There are no bindings or conditions, it is freely given."

I watched as a tear slipped down her cheek.
Stay here
, Lion's huge hand gripped my shoulder.

"I won't hurt you," Joey repeated, gripping the back of her neck. Leaning in, he placed a soft kiss against the artery in her neck. I tensed. Lion's grip tightened. I heard the gasp as Joey's fangs penetrated soft skin. He drank. I held my breath.

"Enough," Pheligar said quietly. Joey withdrew, licked the wound clean and turned in my direction.

Kiarra dropped to the floor in a faint behind him.

* * *

"He'll sleep for twelve hours or so," Lion said. Joey took three steps toward me before he'd gone down. I caught him on my way to Kiarra. Pheligar got to her first. There was no jealousy as he lifted her off the floor—merely irritation, as I wanted to see to her.

I was the experienced vampire. I knew the effects of the bite. Pheligar should have let me take care of her, instead of disappearing with her in his arms.

I carried Joey upstairs instead, feeling numb as I made my way up the steps. "The blood will change him," Lion continued. "He'll be able to walk in daylight."

"What?" I stopped abruptly, Joey's legs swinging with the cease in momentum.

"Changes happen. He won't be forced to consume blood if he doesn't want it. Bearcat and Karzac will teach him what he needs to know, in order to serve as Kee's healer."

"You mean to tell me that there really is something that can cure vampirism?" I began walking again.

"You heard her give permission," Lion said, reaching for the doorknob to my bedroom. "Without that, you'll die if you take our blood. It's the way we're made. Our blood isn't a cure for vampirism, unless we want it to be a cure for vampirism. Got it?"

"Absolutely."

"No, you don't. Somebody will explain it better, later. We have to put Joey to bed, first."

"What about Kiarra?"

"Who knows where Pheligar took her? He never tells us anything. They could be on the Larentii homeworld, for all I know."

"Then I want to go there. I want to see her."

"Nobody goes to the Larentii homeworld. Nobody knows where it is. You have to be escorted there—by a Larentii."

"I'll take care of Joey," Bearcat said. He'd followed silently behind Lion and me, concerned, no doubt, about Joey. "You can hold your debate downstairs if you want. I'll stay with him."

"Thank you," I nodded after settling Joey on the bed. Bearcat immediately covered Joey up and fussed about removing his shoes and making him comfortable.

"Come on," Lion led me out of the bedroom. "You can fret downstairs, and sleep in Kiarra's bed if Pheligar doesn't bring her back before morning."

"I'm worried he'll harm her."

"What?" Lion turned on the steps and stared at me.

"Isn't that possible?" I'd seen the way he'd manipulated her earlier.

"No." Lion began walking down the stairs again. "You don't know anything about the Larentii, so you can't be blamed for being ignorant. Did you see how fast he came when Dragon called? He already knew she was hurt," Lion said.

"He came for you, too," I pointed out.

"You don't know enough about him to realize how angry—and frightened he was. Joey's turning was inevitable. We all knew it. It was just getting her to realize and accept it."

"Are you calling that show of manipulation tough love?" I grumbled.

"Pheligar has strange ways. All Larentii do. Don't overlay your ideas and customs onto his race—they won't match. Karzac hasn't minded filling in as Kiarra's healer—when she'll allow someone to touch her. She needs that connection with Joey. Who knew you'd give her the solution we were all seeking—her giving him blood? I thought Pheligar was going to have to shame her into it."

"Is that where the fiasco was leading?" I asked, blinking in confusion at Lion.

"Yes, if you want the simple truth. From now on, if Kiarra is hurt enough to need a healer, Joey will feel it. He'll know before the rest of us. Marlianna took my blood, and she knows immediately when I'm injured."

"This is confusing." I walked toward the glass wall enclosing the kitchen and stared through it to the moonlit ocean beyond.

"Look, Joey didn't take much blood—it doesn't take more than a cupful to effect the change. She'll be fine in a couple of days. We have to go back, then, and sort this out. Things have been happening, and we need to be there."

"What do you suggest I do in the meantime?"

"You have two days. Use them to your advantage, vampire." Lion's hand fell heavy on my shoulder. "She's fragile, now. Pheligar knows that. Now, you do, too. Take care of our girl." He disappeared, leaving me with my thoughts.

* * *

"What do I do?" Pheligar held Kiarra in his arms while Nefrigar checked her carefully. Pheligar had gone straight to the Larentii Archives to see his brother.

"You might have accomplished your goal another way," Nefrigar sighed and pulled away. "Her heart rate is now normal; I slowed it. My suggestion? Tread carefully from now on."

"I cannot show preferential treatment."

"You say that to me? Who should you show preferential treatment to? You built this conundrum for yourself, brother. Perhaps you should dismantle it and allow things to go as they will."

"I cannot." Pheligar shook his head.

"Then take her back and be done with it. You cannot remain in this position of continuous vacillation. It upsets both of you. You ask my advice? I give it to you. You choose not to heed it."

"I will consider your words."

"Do so. It never does harm to treat anyone with consideration, even when they test your patience. Remember that."

"I will try."

* * *

With nothing else to do, I settled onto Kiarra's bed with a book I borrowed from her library. Yes, she has a library, but I had to follow my nose to find it. Ink on paper has a distinctive scent.

The book was a mystery by a favorite author—Sarah Fox. There was never a photograph on the dust jackets, just a short blurb explaining that the author lived in the Southern U.S.

"I had to bend time to get that one; it hasn't been released yet," Kiarra walked into the bedroom just as I opened the book.

"You can travel into the future?" I patted the bed beside me.

"Only a short way—we're not allowed to go very far in that direction."

"When did you arrive?" I worried that I'd been buried in her library while she searched for me.

"Just a few minutes ago. I checked on Joey. Bearcat's keeping an eye on him. Why didn't you tell me what happens with the bite?"

"I thought you knew everything," I hedged, setting the book aside and watching her carefully.

"I only know things when I
Look
for them specifically," she said.

"Was the experience a good one? Usually it is."

"I'd prefer it to be from someone else," she muttered, dropping her eyes.

"Do you know how they teach young vampires the bite lesson?" I asked. "Come on, sit here on the bed with me," I coaxed.

Reluctantly, she walked around the bed and settled on it, leaving two feet of distance between us on the large bed. Her shoes were removed and tossed onto the floor with barely a thought.

"How do they teach young vampires to bite?" She blinked curious blue eyes in my direction.

"First, your sire brings another vampire to you. As there are so few females among the vampire race as to be non-existent, the outsider is generally male. Your sire explains that you must place compulsion, and inform your donor that they will not be harmed. The outsider illustrates your sire's instruction, by holding your neck firmly in one hand and placing compulsion. Young vampires are susceptible to an older vampire's compulsion."

"Right. That explains a lot," she murmured, turning her head away. Her bedroom had no windows, either—all the windows were at the front of her home. I resolved to ask her about that later.

"It's easier to protect during hurricane season," she said, answering my unspoken question.

"I see. Now, after compulsion is laid and reassurances made, the young vampire is bitten by the older one. The climax is always given during that initial bite. The one drinking should make the bite as gentle as possible, although I have heard stories from others, telling me that didn't always happen. The climax is supposed to make up for any pain caused."