Till the Break of Dawn (4 page)

By the way, Jamie told me later that there was nothing wrong with the bathrooms.

I relived all of this in a flash so intense that it made me blush with the memory. Jamie was leading me into the living room now and didn’t seem to notice my short trip to La La Land.

“All right, let’s have it,” she said, flopping down on the couch. “What’s it like to be with a vampire? I’ve always wanted to ask you, but since the subject didn’t appear to be up for discussion—” She sighed. “Anyway, I’ve had to get my information from gossip magazines.”

I laughed. “I can’t tell you what it’s like to be with a vampire, but I can tell you what it’s like to be with Marcus.” When she looked confused I added, “Well, I’ve only been with one and he didn’t vamp out on me or anything.”

She looked shocked. “So it was normal?”

I waved off her comment and sat down beside her, sinking into the pillows on the couch.

“It was anything but normal.”

“So, what is it about him that you can’t get over?”

I closed my eyes and his image came so easily to mind. I could still remember everything about him. I tried to think of a way to sum it up but couldn’t.

“There isn’t a word for what he made me feel … it was in the way he wanted me, the way he held me. I’ve never given myself so completely before and not since. I wanted to spend forever looking into those eyes.”

Her speech was a little slurred when she asked, “So, why didn’t you?”

“Because he was going to live forever and I wasn’t. Jamie, I didn’t just give him my heart that night, I gave him a piece of my soul. Can you imagine the pain of growing old while he still looked perfect and thirty-something?”

“Couldn’t he turn you?”

I could feel my brows knit and knew I was giving her a really confused and probably stupid look. “Didn’t you hear what I said to Terry?”

Now she looked confused. “No. I knew he asked you about it. Wait a minute, you told Terry all this before
me
?”

I laughed softly. “Yes. And no, he couldn’t turn me. It’s part of his contract. Marcus isn’t allowed to make others like him. So, goodbye eternity. Hello wrinkles.”

“So what? He could just find someone else to turn you then. He has to know other vampires who would be willing.”

“Marcus was afraid his master would find out.” My mood sobered when I remembered his master and our brief discussion about him.

“So, you did talk about it then?”

“Just once and not like we were seriously planning or anything. Actually the subject came up because I asked about his master. His name is Nybras. He is the one who started the company under the direction of another vampire whose name I never knew. It sounded like the mob.” I shivered. “These are not the kind of people you fuck. They’re the kind that fucks you. Besides that, forever is a long time. It was actually a little bit scary to me at the time. Sure, I loved Marcus … but forever?”

Jamie shook her head. “Wait a minute, back up a little. You said
that night
. You only spent one night with him?”

“Yes.”

“But you dated for like three months! And he was so hot!”

I couldn’t help laughing at the look on her face. “We took the time to get to know each other. You’d be surprised how interesting he is.”

“So, you dated him, finally slept with him, it blew your mind, and you dumped him?”

She made it sound so terrible. “I told him the truth. I thought it would be best if we stopped seeing each other. It hurt. But it would only hurt worse when I was old and wrinkly and he wasn’t.”

We sat there quietly, both of us lost in our own thoughts while Jamie finished her beer.

“Why did he take the bite?”

Her question surprised me. One of the things that made Marcus such a big deal is that he was already famous when he decided to become a vampire. It was a choice he made on purpose. He was a professional wrestler and a damn good one before he became one of the undead.

“I don’t know all of the details, but he was hurt really bad. I got the impression it was a career ending kind of injury, but he didn’t get into a lot of detail with me.”

“So he did it to keep from ending his career? How old was he?”

“Thirty-six.”

“Damn.” After another long pause she smiled suddenly. “You know what this means? If you can’t get over him you’re gonna have to call him up and be like ‘hit me with that shit one more time.’”

I laughed and tossed a pillow at her head. “You’re ridiculous.”

“No, you’re ridiculous. You say you’ve got to get over him, but you haven’t gone on a date in over a month.” She looked excited all of the sudden and clapped her hands together. “I’ve got it. Let’s make a deal. If you’re not seeing someone and at least halfway seriously into them in a month’s time, you’ve got to get back in touch with Marcus.”

“What?!” I couldn’t believe what she was saying. Just the possibility of seeing him again made me feel lightheaded.

When she spoke again, despite how much alcohol was in her system, Jamie seemed very composed. “I want to see you happy. You’ve either got to accept that kids and a white picket fence are not in your future or go out there and make it happen. Now what do you say? Are we moving on or preparing to become a creature of the night?”

“I told you he can’t—”

“It’s beside the point,” she said, cutting me off. “Love can find a way around things like that.”

“Well, aren’t you a little ray of sunshine tonight,” I replied sarcastically.

“Stop being a bitch. You said you were scared before of what he made you feel, of losing what you thought a normal life should be, right?”

“Wow. That really sums it up.”

“So, you’re not that same woman any more. You’re either a woman who can handle that lifestyle now or one who wants to move on. Which is it?” Before I could answer she prompted, “Are you in or are you out?”

“I’m in.”

Chapter Four

I couldn’t believe what I’d just agreed to. But, at the same time I felt relieved. I’d told Jamie the main reasons I stopped seeing Marcus, but there were others. One of which was how much he traveled. He was constantly going from city to city. I’d have to either give up my whole life and travel with him or he’d have to stay at home more. It didn’t seem fair of me to ask him to do fewer shows since he had given up his humanity in order to be able to continue doing what he loved. Oh, and my mother hated him. Well, not him specifically. She hated anything “unnatural.”

She should have been born in a different century, or so I’d always thought. She still believed that women should stay at home and raise a family while the men went to work and earned a living. She also believed that anything or anyone “not human” should not be a part of our society. I can’t begin to express how much her views on life chap my ass. Suffice it to say that we do not get along. I believe that couples should do whatever works for them and that women have the right to be whatever they want, not just mothers. I also believe that vampires and werewolves are still technically people and should have the same rights as anyone else.

When you spend the first eighteen years of your life with someone, they have a tendency to rub off on you, whether you like it or not. As much as we disagree, the way my mother felt about family was one of the main influences on my decision in the first place. I’d always just assumed that I would have kids one day because that is what I was “supposed” to do. And I couldn’t do that with Marcus. Not to mention marrying a vampire would get me disowned in a heartbeat. All of those things mattered to me at twenty-three. But now … I wasn’t sure.

The older I got the more I wanted Marcus back in my life. Maybe Jamie was right. I’d try one more time for normal and if that didn’t work I just hoped like hell that Marcus still wanted me. What if I had waited too long?

*****

As soon as I closed my eyes there he was. Images, like snapshots of passion, flashed through my mind. His green eyes sparkling in the darkness, the gleam of candlelight on his naked skin. Body to body, his hair spilling across my face. His breath against my skin. The pressure of his fangs against my throat just before he—

I woke up gasping for air and reaching for my throat. Marcus had never bitten me, but lately I’d started to imagine what it might have been like. Had these fantasies made their way to my dreams?

I went into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face. When I looked back up, I almost didn’t recognize my reflection. Did thinking of Marcus make me look this way? My hazel eyes had darkened to a chocolate brown, my skin was flushed, all of it, because I slept in the nude during the warmer months. My lips were swollen as if he really had been kissing me. More alarming still was the way just the thought of him had brought me to a painful state of arousal.

I watched in the mirror as I ran my hands down my body. I cupped my breasts remembering when Marcus had done the same. His big hands completely covered my ample cleavage. My nipples hardened more from the thought than from my own touch. There was no going back to sleep this way. I had to have some relief.

I slid one hand between my thighs and found that my pussy was already dripping wet. I thought about going for my vibrator, but didn’t want to take the time to find it. Besides, this wouldn’t take long. Just the thought of a man had never gotten me worked up like this. Not even Marcus had gotten me so hot and bothered from a dream before. I moved in slow circles up and over my clit. When a low moan escaped my throat I bit my lip to maintain silence. Jamie was asleep on the couch downstairs. I didn’t want to wake her and have to explain why I was masturbating so loudly in the middle of the night.

But the thought of trying to keep quiet didn’t bother me. In fact, it turned me on even more. I put one hand over my mouth as my other hand worked faster. My pussy was so swollen now that it ached with every touch. I had just shaved the day before and as my hand made one final pass over the smooth wet skin I imagined Marcus’ tongue there. I came so hard that my knees buckled.

I rested against the bathroom vanity for a moment, panting like I’d just run a marathon. I washed my hands and ran some more cold water over my face. My entire body still looked flushed. As I crawled back between the red silk sheets I wondered how Marcus’ hair would look spilling across the crimson fabric. I realized then that I had decorated my bedroom with a vampire in mind. The deep mahogany of my four poster bed, crimson sheets, golden pillows, sheer red curtains, and candelabras were meant for a vampire’s bedroom. My tastes had always been decadent, but until recently I never had the money to indulge. Now that I did, I found that all I was missing to complete the look was him.

Deciding that I would call him if I needed to had made me realize that I should have called him long before now. But I’d made a promise. One month. Just one month. If I couldn’t find someone normal, someone I had feelings for by then … Hell, I almost made the call that night.

*****

When I got up the next morning, the dream was still fresh in my mind. But more pressing at the moment was the fact that I was starving and had cottonmouth like a motherfucker. I knew better than to drink so much whiskey, really I did. I pulled on my favorite robe (black velvet with red silk trim) and headed downstairs. Since the bar wasn’t open on Mondays, I saw no reason to get dressed just yet. If Jamie hadn’t been downstairs, I probably would have gone down naked.

She was still snoring face down on the couch when I turned on the television and went into the kitchen. I felt like I could drink a whole gallon of water. After turning on the coffee pot I took some bottled water out of the fridge and turned it up. Counterproductive I know, since coffee is a diuretic and water hydrates. But, the water would make my mouth feel better and the coffee would help my headache. See, it wasn’t simply the fact that I’d drank so much whiskey that made me feel terrible this morning. It was all of the beer I chased it with.

“Jesus.”

It wasn’t the fact that Jamie took the Lord’s name in vain that caught my attention. It was the way she made it have way too many syllables.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“What kinda shit do you watch in the mornings?”

“The news. You know I always turn on the news while I make coffee.”

She was just sitting up when I walked into the living room and it looked like that movement took quite a bit of effort. I glanced down at my cream-colored couch and was surprised to see that her makeup hadn’t smeared all over it. It was probably all over the red pillow she was holding in her lap. Oh well, it wasn’t as if my makeup didn’t come off on it from time to time. At least the fabric was easy to clean. I sat down in the leather chair across from her and got a good look at the problem.

“They are an abomination!” the red-faced preacher yelled.

I rolled my eyes. “Not another nut job preaching against vampires.”

Jamie groaned and rubbed the already smeared mascara across her face. “Sounds like he hates werewolves too.”

“We must join with our brothers and sisters of H-A-T-E in protest of these events!”

He was very careful to spell out the letters of the organization known as H.A.T.E. rather than just speak the name. It stood for Humans Against Treating Animals Equally. (Don’t know why they didn’t count that second “A” in the acronym. Maybe because H.A.T.A.E. didn’t spell anything.) As you might have guessed, they were against the equal rights movement for werewolves. But this particular red-faced nut was part of a group that called themselves Followers of the Light. Their biggest gripe was vampires. I knew this because I’d had the unfortunate displeasure of tuning in to his program before.

“What events is he talking about? Oh, my God, he looks like he’s going to have a stroke. Look at the veins popping out in his neck.” I pointed at the screen and as I spoke it appeared that the preacher’s head was about to explode from pressure. I couldn’t imagine hating another group of people enough to get that worked up.

Jamie opened her mouth to answer me, but before she could they slapped a picture of Marcus up on the screen. My heart jumped painfully and for a moment I wondered if my face was as red as the angry little preacher.