Authors: Chris Lange
“Don’t worry, Rogan, I’ll manage until you come back. What are you going to do in the meantime?”
“I’m going back to my world, see if I can call a halt to the search and get them off your back. I need to talk to the council.”
“What if they have you arrested?”
A thin smile stretched his lips. Letting go of her hand, he placed a finger across her lips.
“Hush, my sweet! The only person you have to think of now is you. Keep yourself safe for twenty-four hours, and wait for me. Lie low, avoid people, but most of all stay out of the sun!”
She blinked three times before his words of caution registered. The sun! Fearful of Rogan’s imminent departure and of her new condition, Liv hadn’t given any thought to the brilliant star that provided life to all creatures on Earth—except vampires. No more lazy afternoons on the beach for her. No more sipping cool drinks by the pool with a bunch of friends. Bye-bye daylight, hello gloom and darkness. Forever.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Liv forced out a smile. She’d be damned if she was going to let him see her sudden discomposure. What with Khord and a team of trackers hot on his heels, Rogan had enough on his plate. He certainly didn’t need a helpless, terrorised newborn vampire into the bargain. She must be strong for him now. She would be strong.
“I know. I’ll be careful.”
“Go now. Dawn is on its way.”
He kissed her one more time before she got into the car. When she had inserted her key into the ignition, she saw him reach for the special watch on his wrist. Then he just disappeared.
Liv stared at the empty spot where Rogan had stood. Lit by the full moon, it only showed dust and footprints. In the oppressive hours before daylight, she was alone. Alone and scared. What should she do? Where to go now that she had become a mortal danger to people? Gripping the steering wheel, she drove out of the parking lot.
An hour later and forty miles farther along the interstate highway, she had discarded all thoughts of finding a cave buried in the mountains, a hidey-hole in the heart of the forest, or a refuge far away from civilisation. The sky had migrated from black to dark blue, a pinkish line streaking her horizon.
She checked into a dingy motel. Beside hers, a single car was parked by the front entrance. With any luck the vehicle belonged to the owner, which meant she wouldn’t find many people around. Perfect! Although she didn’t yet feel any compulsion to bite, she couldn’t trust herself. After all, this was her first shot at being a vampire.
Half asleep on duty, the clerk didn’t raise an eyebrow when Liv required a room at the back of the building. He appeared bored, tired, and more than willing to get rid of her, which suited her just fine. In a way the clerk looked just like this third-rate motel—cheap and dirty. Recalling spy movies, she parked the car right in front of her room. As unrealistic as it sounded, she might have to leave this newfound haven in a hurry. Who knew what tomorrow would bring?
Once safe in a depressingly drab bedroom, she realised she’d have to sleep with her clothes on. Although her first move was to discard her rumpled clothes, she didn’t have this luxury. Her belongings at this point consisted of her handbag and car. Had circumstances been different she’d have gone to the store in the morning to purchase a pair of jeans and clean underwear. Out of the question now, for how did a vampire move along streets flooded with sunshine?
No energy to ponder yet another problem, Liv switched on the lights in the bathroom and pushed the thought to the back of her mind. She stood in front of the mirror for a while, her gaze drawn to the fang marks on the side of her neck. Two small red holes that had punctured her skin, reminders of the passionate way Rogan had made love to her. She probably should have worried about being unable to treat the deep wounds, yet there would be no infection of any kind. She wasn’t human anymore.
Still unwilling to process the dreary thought, Liv let exhaustion catch up with her as the lighting fixture above her head began to blink. Eyelids heavy, she still had the presence of mind to draw the curtains shut in the bedroom. She wasn’t about to disregard Rogan’s warning this time.
Outside an eastern glow already brightened the sky, and rays of sunshine would hit the window soon enough. As she came closer to the bed, she swatted a bug on the nightstand. Oh, God, and she had to sleep in this foul place! Yet there was nothing she could do but grin and bear it.
Sleep called her. In spite of her weariness, Liv took a moment to stash her bag and jacket on the chair closer to the door in case she had to take off in a rush. Definitely too fond of spy movies! As she lay down on the none too clean bed, she thought she heard a soft, scratchy noise coming from the corner of the room. A good secret agent would have jumped to his feet to investigate the scraping. Instead she let sleep claim her.
Against all odds, Liv felt good when she woke up. Good, and ravenous! As much as she wanted to linger, the full meaning of her sharp hunger jerked her out of bed. She needed to feed. She wouldn’t feed.
She had pulled the drapes so tight last night that a deep gloom still ruled the place. Prompted by instinct, she put her shoes on, and carried her handbag to the bathroom. In the mirror, her reflection told her the transformation into a vampire hadn’t yet begun. Scary as it was, something else grabbed her attention. Her neck!
Only two barely visible scars remained right where Rogan’s fangs had sunk in. Eyes widening, Liv held her breath as she prodded her throat with a cautious finger. Apart from a tiny dimple, her skin felt as soft as ever and completely healed. No pain there, no wound.
Almost transfixed, she gazed at her neck. Seconds ticked away, suddenly broken by a recurrent sound—the scratchy noise she had heard before falling asleep. Irritated by this insistent grating Liv turned around. At the door, she peered into the bedroom. She spotted it at once, and all coherent thoughts fled like a flock of hunted birds.
Her mind ablaze with panic, she bolted towards the exit, threw the door wide open, and burst out into the sunlight.
Chapter Thirteen
Instantly struck by hot, golden rays, Liv froze. Her mind went blank, and for a minute she couldn’t remember the reason she wasn’t supposed to stand outside. Heart pounding, eyes riveted to the bedroom door, she willed herself to cool down, to recapture a semblance of rationality. But the sight of the monster inside was branded in her mind, and the simple act of breathing had mutated into an insuperable obstacle.
Bathed in mid-afternoon summer sunshine, Liv began to sweat. Poised to flee, still looking at the door, her panic attack on the verge of wearing off, she kept on drawing air in and out of her lungs. Nothing moved. Finally the silence surrounding the motel reminded her of the current situation, and she felt a wild urge to run to cover. Too late, though!
Freaked out by the mouse, rat, or whatever gigantic rodent was in there, she had been standing in the sun for at least a minute. How long did it take to fry up on the spot? How long could a vampire withstand such a treatment before bursting into flames?
Liv licked her dry lips. Startled by this new development, she raised her head to squint at the fiery ball glowing bright in a cloudless sky. Stretching her arms out, she offered herself to the hot caress, taking new pleasure in the warming sensation that should have been forbidden to her.
As wonderful as the sun on her skin felt, she had other fish to fry—number one being the huge rodent in the room. Holy mackerel, she had slept right beside the hateful creature for hours! Could life get any grosser?
As though basking in sunshine gave her unexpected strength, Liv made her mind up. Her first act as a non-burning vampire would be to overcome her fear by dealing with the hairy monster. Resolve hardening her muscles, she took the few steps separating her from the entrance.
The room hadn’t been pitch-dark in the first place, but with the door wide open Liv easily saw the grungy contents—the unmade bed, the stained carpet, the chair where she had left her jacket, the lit bathroom to her left, and, in the farthest corner, watching her, the rat.
Gooseflesh rising over the surface of her body, her determination melting like heated wax, Liv didn’t stop to think. She rushed to the chair, grabbed her jacket, retreated to the bathroom in the face of her enemy, retrieved her bag with shaky hands, and got the hell out of the motel where Alfred Hitchcock had no doubt shot
Psycho
.
So much for overcoming her phobia. Disappointing, yes, but she figured a non-burning vampire couldn’t be expected to act as ruthlessly as a true vampire. With this questionable excuse in mind, she hurried to her car. As her tyres screeched on the gravelly driveway, she turned right onto the main road.
Mindful of the speed limit, Liv reached the outskirts of the small town of Bentham by late afternoon. Hungry, thirsty, and needing time to ponder recent events, she pulled over by a strip mall.
She strode to the nearest restaurant, bag in hand. Four or five tables had been set out front for patrons to enjoy the warm weather—no way would she pass on this golden opportunity. Without a single glance around, she wolfed down three cheese and ham sandwiches, a plate of home-made chips, two big chocolate cookies, and a glass of orange juice.
The sense of relief that washed over her when she pushed her plate back had her grinning. She was able to sit in the sun, see her reflection in the restaurant window, and look at shoppers like they were people, not bloody food on legs. Without stretching it too far, she felt positive she could chew mountains of garlic. What a glorious day!
But how? Rogan might know the answer. He had only been gone for a few hours, yet the vacant spot in her heart had his name on it. What was he doing? Would he ever come back to her?
A stray dog came sniffing around, its tongue lolling, its brown eyes holding hope of a different kind. When Liv offered it the last fries, the dog licked its chops before grabbing the chips with great care. Then it padded away, tail wagging, on the lookout for a new adventure.
Unlike her new furry friend, Liv sought quiet and peace. The past forty-eight hours had been a whirling mass sucking her in, a complicated vortex she had fallen into willingly. She could have ditched Rogan and his vampire universe anytime, but she hadn’t. Instead she’d seen to it that Khord’s silver bullet didn’t kill him. What was more, when she’d tried her so-called power on the warrior in the warehouse it hadn’t affected him in the least. Come to think of it, she might well have treated him for smallpox.
Regarding vampires, she really did have a healing power. So why did they believe her a deadly threat to their race? Why did their legend mention her as a Bringer of Death? Whoever came up with that myth must have been loaded, stuffed full with human blood. Did they use drugs over there? Could their prophecy writer have been hallucinating at the time?
Liv smiled at her reflection in the window. Making fun of vampires felt good right now—a pity she must get a move on. The sun had already dipped to the west, tree shadows lengthened across the parking lot, shoppers left the mall. Time to hide from bloody creatures of the night. Time to get ready for whatever fate had in store for her.
She bought a new pair of jeans, a skirt, tops, shoes, underwear, and a toiletries bag inside the mall. While she was there she asked for directions to the nearest clean motel. She must have put too much emphasis on the word ‘clean’ because the young shop assistant at the till nodded vigorously. Better he looked at her in a funny way than facing another monster rodent.
She saw the motel in question, a mile down the road. Night had fallen anyway and she wouldn’t have missed the blinking, flashy red and yellow lights indicating the entrance. From the outside the building looked recent. Indoors it matched her expectations.
Fresh linen on the bed, immaculate towels, polished furniture—the room even smelt flowery. And once she had switched all the lights on to dispel the darkness—
oh goody, the age of miracles isn’t past
—no bugs crawling on the nightstand, no beady-eyed rats about to pounce on her.
The bathroom featured a white, spotless sink, white tiles on the walls, and an oblong-shaped hairdryer. After she had brushed her teeth, Liv felt compelled to check her canines. They looked like they always had, and felt no sharper. Then she stripped before stepping into the shower. Temperature as hot as she could take it, she let invigorating water glide down her body.
Enjoying this soothing feeling she wondered about her next step. Rogan had been certain he’d find her anywhere. He had told her to stay put and wait for him. As she hadn’t come up with a better plan that was exactly what she’d do. Work worried her, though. She’d call in sick first thing tomorrow morning. Mondays were usually busy at the office, but they’d do fine without her.
Turning the water off, Liv stepped out of the shower, marvelling at the fact that she hadn’t appreciated the beneficial effects of a good shower in a long time—of simply taking time to take care of herself. One should definitely pay more attention to mundane comforts.
She dried off before wrapping herself up in a bath towel. Holding the hairdryer like a gun she let warm air blow away the last remnants of her night in that dingy, sordid motel. She experienced a wonderful sensation of cleanliness as if she had got over the weird, incredible events of the past two days. Once fresh and dry, she walked out of the bathroom.
“I thought you’d never come out of there!”
Chapter Fourteen
Heart pumping several delicious beats at the reassuring sound of his voice, she ran into his open arms.
“Rogan!”
She felt the hard bulge in his jeans when he hugged her tightly. Desire instantly stung her whole body, halting her breathing, pushing her to stare into his golden eyes. She saw the same desire there, saw that he would take her before anything else.
Amazed at the force of the attraction drawing her to Rogan, Liv rose on tiptoes to kiss him. After all she had been through, the sight of his full lips almost felt too much to bear. She needed his mouth crushing hers. She had to have his tongue caressing and suckling hers.