Sweet Blood of Mine (43 page)

She took off her clothes and graced me with a seductive smile over her shoulder before transforming and racing into the early morning darkness with the moggies.

"That's a damned fine looking woman," Shelton said. "Scary as hel though."

I gave him a suspicious look. "I could have sworn I recognized those magic words you were using against the vampires."

"You must be a real nerd then."

"Ooh, the pot cals the kettle black. Who in the world would use Klingon words for their spels?"

He grinned. "It ain't so much what you say as the intent." He shrugged. "Plus it sounds cool."

"Yeah, I guess so." I yawned so hard my jaw cracked.

Shelton slapped me on the shoulder. "Get some rest. Not much you can do right now."

"What about the vampires? Won't they come after us now?"

"The vamps don't know where you live, as far as I know, so I think you're safe." He pressed a hand to the floor and closed his eyes for a moment. "You've got two ley lines—kind of like high-voltage power lines for magic—

running under this area. It's why your mom chose this place to hide. The magical interference is off the charts. I'l set some anti-vamp wards. They should last quite a while with the juice flowing under this place."

Relief melted some of the tension in my muscles and forehead. "Thanks, Shelton." I folowed him back outside and watched the van fade into the night. I felt very alone al of a sudden. The two people I cared about most in the of a sudden. The two people I cared about most in the world were unconscious and lying inside, and al the super powers I had couldn't bring them back

I went inside and cleaned off, changing into some jeans and a T-shirt. Elyssa smeled just awful but my muscles trembled with fatigue at the thought of picking her up and bathing her. My stomach howled in unison with its supernatural counterpart. I knew I had to do something about food and psychic energy before anything else. The sky turned pink in the east as I went back outside. I found a little café not far from the house and ordered a waffle. A group of old men were laughing and talking about old times over steaming cups of coffee.

I smiled and hooked into them, filing my psychic batteries with a trickle of warm feelings and good memories. After topping off, I went back home and found Dad stumbling through the kitchen. His face was white as death and his hands were cold and clammy. Ravenous hunger glowed icy blue in his eyes. His face had that demonic bony look to it, the same as when I'd folowed him to the Laundromat days ago.

He had to feed but I was afraid he might hurt someone, and I didn't want him going after Elyssa if he lost control. I had no other choice. I reached for his essence.

He sensed mine and jerked it toward him greedily. I fel to my knees as he siphoned my replenished energy at incredible speed. Dad was like a starving infant, sucking furiously at a nipple. I felt myself growing woozy.

"Stop, Dad." I staggered to my feet and took him by the shoulders. "Stop!" He seemed to be in a trance. I took every ounce of remaining strength in me and punched him in the nose.

He yelped and crashed backwards into the kitchen table. A look of anger flashed across his face. He leapt to his feet, fists clenched, his once-again hazel eyes glowing.

Then he seemed to see me for the first time and gasped.

The draining sensation stopped. I fel back to my knees.

"Justin?"

"That would be me."

He helped me to my feet and checked my eyes.

"Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

"I'm tired," I said. "But otherwise okay." Strength seeped back into my muscles as my remaining psychic energy settled down.

He looked around the house in confusion. "How—

how did I get home? Where's Linda?"

"Linda?"

"The girl. The vampires wanted me to feed off her so I'd stay healthy."

"She's taken care of."

His eyes grew large in horror. "You didn't—"

"No, I mean she's fine. The Arcane Council has some sort of treatment program for the supernaturaly exposed."

"Thank goodness," he said, slumping into a chair.

"So, you rescued me?"

"I had help. A felycan, the sorcerer who tried to take us prisoner, and a Templar tagged along with me."

His eyebrows threatened to climb off his forehead.

"How in the world did you manage that?"

"Now that," I said, "is a long story." I looked at my bedroom. "And I have to take care of some business before doing anything else."

He walked over to me and offered his hand. I took it. He reached his other arm around and gave me a firm hug and a kiss on the cheek. I squeezed him back and puled away. Tears glistened in his eyes.

"Geez, Dad, no need to get al weird on me."

He wiped away the tear and grinned. "I'm proud of you, son. Very proud."

I felt my own eyes clouding up and wiped them furiously. "Thanks." I gave him an awkward pat on the furiously. "Thanks." I gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder and went into my room.

Elyssa hadn't stirred since I'd left her. I fought back more tears and decided to do what I could. I puled off her boots and her clothes until she was in a lacy black bra and matching panties. I guess if a girl is going to fight vampires, she's going to do it in her best underwear. She looked beautiful despite the filth and blood.

I drew a bath and put her in it, leaving on the underwear. If she regained consciousness, I didn't want her to kil me for taking liberties. I took a rag and gently wiped the grime off her face and arms. After cleaning the crusted blood off her shoulder, the bath water looked like raw sewage. I drained it and examined her shoulder. The twin fang marks were puckered and raw. My heart sank. If her body was recovering, then those should have healed by now.

After the water drained, I used the hand shower to wash her down again. I dried her off and decided to remove the soaked bra and panties. I put her in my Darth Vader T-shirt and Chewbacca boxers. Then I tucked her into my bed. I put my ear to her mouth and listened for any signs of life besides breathing, but found none.

I sat next to her for several minutes, tears trickling down my cheeks. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to contact her parents, and even if I did, they might descend upon me in holy vengeance. A light bulb sparked on inside my head. I found Elyssa's pouch buried under her clothes and emptied it out. Her phone clattered atop the pile.

I flicked it on only to discover it was password protected. My heart dropped another notch. If I could contact her family, I could have them meet me somewhere.

That way I would be the only one in danger. Or, I could tel them where to pick her up and watch from a safe distance.

But how would I know if she recovered? I doubted her family would send me a postcard. I paced back and forth, straining to think of something I could do. I tried to guess her password, using her name in upper and lower case, and the name of her mom—Leia, the vampiric hair stylist. No luck. I dropped the phone on the bed and sighed.

Dad was making coffee in the kitchen. I wandered in, face screwed up in misery and told him about Elyssa.

He was incredulous. "She's the dhampyr?"

"Yes." A long sigh escaped me. "We're in love."

His incredulity increased as indicated by his jaw dropping open a fraction. "Tel me exactly what happened."

I gave him the 411. Told him how I'd fed off her and then reversed the flow in an attempt to revive her.

"That's not possible," he said. "You and I can feed off each other because of what we are, but we can't give back what we take."

I shrugged. "Somehow, I did." I thought for a moment. "I don't know if it makes a difference, but I transformed into some kind of monster."

He sucked in a breath. "Explain."

I told him about the creature that had erupted from me and slaughtered al those vamplings. Dad blanched.

Seeing someone who supposedly knows a lot more about this stuff than me go sick with worry didn't inspire a lot of confidence in my actions.

"What is it?"

He dropped into a chair. "You
spawned
."

"Wel, we are caled demon spawn, right?"

"Right. We're caled spawn for a reason. You literaly spawned or manifested into your demon form." He leaned forward. "You must never let it happen again. I can't believe you didn't go on a rampage and kil everyone."

"I almost went Incredible Hulk, but thinking about Elyssa brought me back."

"You were lucky. Very lucky. Only older spawn

"You were lucky. Very lucky. Only older spawn can manifest and maintain control. I stil can't manifest at wil, and even if I did, I would probably rampage."

I shuddered with fear at what might have been. "I was furious when it happened. I lost control."

"That's how it starts. You were starving, outnumbered, and angry. In this case it was a defense mechanism."

"Wel, it worked."

He nodded thoughtfuly. "Like I said, you were lucky." He ran a hand through his matted hair. "You took out al the vamplings?"

"I think so."

"Thank God. Those things would spread like a plague if left uncontained and they can infect animals too.

Those idiotic rogues are going to make a horrible mess if the Conclave doesn't step in and do something about it."

"Vamplings can spread vampirism?"

He nodded. "Vampires have control over turning a human into a vampire. Vamplings have no control or wil for that matter, only hunger. Anything they infect wil die and leave an animated corpse. Even animals. Al we need is a vampiric rat infestation again."

"What about Elyssa? Did they infect her?"

"From what you've described, I think she's clean of infection. A vampling would have to drain her completely of blood to infect her—I think—but I'm not exactly an expert on vampirism."

I relaxed but only slightly. "Is there anything I can do to help her?"

He sighed. "I'm sorry, son, but I don't know what you can do."

I decided not to tel him about my plan to return her to her family. He might not agree with such an idiotic plan.

"Wel, maybe you should clean up. No offense, but you stink."

He chuckled. "I think you're right."

I went into my room and sat down at my computer.

Elyssa was even paler than before. Her face felt cool to my touch. A tear tumbled from my eye and splashed on her cheek. Nobody could help me now.

And Elyssa would probably die.

Super powers, magic, and blood that vampires would kil for—al of it for nothing. Elyssa's hold on life was dwindling or, at the least, not increasing and I couldn't do a thing about it.

The answer came to me in a flash. I knew what might fix her. I had the answer flooding through my veins.

My sweet demon-spawn blood. I hoped it was as wonderful as the vampires made it out to be.

Elyssa was forbidden to drink from humans—not that I was entirely human—but I knew a way around the restriction. She drank from blood packs. Why not from a coffee mug? I found one of Dad's big coffee mugs with the words
Mondays Suck!
emblazoned on the front. Somehow having the word "Suck" on it seemed appropriate.

I took a knife. Positioned my hand over the mug.

Gritted my teeth and sliced my skin open. It hurt like hel but I didn't care. Thick cherry-red blood dripped into the mug for a second or two. Then it stopped and the blood in the cup congealed into a coagulated lump. My hand had already healed. I groaned. Super-healing was going to make this painful and difficult. Then I remembered something. I dug through the smely gore-coated ninja outfit Elyssa had given me and found one of the silver-coated knives. She hadn't mentioned whether silver would slow my healing abilities, but now was as good a time as any to experiment. I rinsed the glob of blood from the mug, set it on the counter as I took hold of the silver blade.

The kitchen knife had stung. The silver knife scalded my skin. I slashed my palm and whimpered. Blood poured freely into the mug and kept pouring. Silver apparently kept my blood from coagulating. Just before the mug overflowed, I grabbed another one and placed it underneath my hand. When the second mug was ful, I stanched the flow with a wad of paper towels. My hand stil felt like I'd rubbed it raw with fiberglass shards and then pressed it against a hot stove.

I wouldn't be blinging out with silver pimp chains anytime soon.

After taping up my hand so I wouldn't gush blood al over the place, I took the steaming mugs of fresh blood into the bedroom.

Fancy a hot steaming cup of blood, dear?

Elyssa's nostrils flared when I placed a mug under her nose. Her eyelids fluttered but didn't open. I propped her head up on my knee and put a mug to her face. I started to feel a bit il as I faced the reality of what I was about to do. I buckled down my nerves and trickled some blood into Elyssa's mouth. She coughed. Swalowed.

I gagged hard and averted my gaze.

Within a few seconds, she had gulped down the entire mug. I put the second to her lips and let her drink it down. Then I took a napkin and wiped the blood 'stache off her face.

I could just imagine the
Got Blood?
bilboard.

I pressed the back of my hand to her cheek. It felt slightly warmer. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.