Blood Lust (14 page)

“Okay, but I want you to promise me something.”

“What’s that?”

“No nooky tonight, if she comes home at all. Be a man and just say NO. No nibbling and no nooky. If she cared at all about you, she wouldn’t even ask, you’re too weak. Please promise me.”

“Why is it so important to you?”

“I’d like to see you get better, Anton. Can I bring you anything before I call it a night?”

“You’re not going to wait up for Devon?”

She held the doorjamb and turned back. “Anton, he hasn’t kissed me or said he loves me since your father showed up at our doorstep. I don’t think there’s much hope anymore. Good night. Sleep well. I’ll check in on you in the morning.”

She went to her room and let Mr. Chow and Sammy in. She hit the power button on her phone to find a ton of texts from Blake. Without reading them she erased them all.
Nothing from Rowan. Pooo,
she thought. She emailed her.

Rowan. Can you do me a huge favor? I was wondering if you could do a search on three women to see if you can find them: Colleen Heenan – Rhode Island, Samantha Collins - Massachusetts, Angela Marcus - New York.

Anything you can find would be great. Love you and miss you. D

Then she wrote to Sally.

Hey Sally, was wondering if you could do a search for me in the store and beyond. I need to know if there is any record of ailments with vampires. Symptoms being: extreme weakness and exhaustion. Devon’s cousin is very sick and no one has ever heard of a vampire being sick. Thanks Sweetie, kisses to Dean. Darby

Benefits of owning a bookstore.

The Cauldron, Book and Candle, which Darby owned back in Oljone, California, was being run by Sally and Rowan in her absence. The bookstore carried all kinds of books pertaining to the supernatural. As it said on her business card, they have books from A – abracadabra to Z - the Zugarramurdi Witches, witches in the Basque village of Zugarramurdi who were accused of vampiric behavior and anything in between.

She said her goodnights to Bernard and Dominic, went upstairs, and got ready for bed. She wasn’t really ready for sleep, but she had finished her book and just didn’t want to go downstairs again, in case she ran into Devon and Libby coming in. She turned off the light and went to bed.

Chapter 11

This morning, Darby was awake before Bernard quietly
tap, tap, tapped
on her door. On her way to the dining room she decided to stop by Anton’s room and see if he wanted anything brought up to him. She knocked quietly and there was no answer so she opened the door and started to say, “Ant…”

There on the bed, the gorgeous woman with golden ringlets trickling down her bare back was naked and straddled on top of Anton. She turned her head to look at Darby and put her red-nailed finger to her smiling lips. There was blood on her chin and a tiny bit of white shown on her blood red lips.

Darby shut the door immediately and ran down the stairs. Disturbed, she made no eye contact with anyone in the dining room, especially Devon, and tried very hard to block her thoughts. She grabbed her coffee and a muffin and sat down without a word to anyone.

“How are you this morning, dear? Sleep well?” Dominic said cheerily, but perhaps sensing something was wrong.

She was so disturbed by what she had seen and trying so hard to block her thoughts, she barely heard a word he said. “What? Oh, sleep, yes. Anton and I played cards for a while and then, yes, I slept well. Thank you!”

Confused, Dominic looked at her with concern this time. Devon never moved from behind his paper. “The tree will be coming today. Devon, will you be joining us in decorating it?”

He dropped his paper to answer. He looked pale. There were dark circles under his eyes and his hair was not loosely back in a ponytail as he most often wore it. It was long and loose around his face, covering his neck and ears. He was even wearing a turtleneck. Darby didn’t even know he owned one. He looked gothic and striking with this new look, but she wasn’t sure if she liked it. Oh sure, the man could be wearing a trash bag and make it look like a fashion statement, but his eyes seemed far away and distant like they were that night down at the cottage when he stood like a sentry in front of the fireplace.

As he opened his mouth to answer, who should come bouncing in but Libby. She wore another gorgeous negligee, this time in black, but just as sheer and just as revealing as the morning before. Her hands were all over Devon and she kissed him long and hard on the mouth, smearing red lipstick all over his lips. “Good morning, love. Didn’t we have the best time yesterday?” She bounced over to the sideboard for a cup of tea.

Devon, completely oblivious to the horrific display of lipstick he was donning, watched Libby’s every move with an adoring smile.

“Daisy, you should have joined us. We went to this lovely French restaurant and then we went to several elite nightclubs. I haven’t danced so much in years.”

“Wow! Sounds great. I’m glad you had fun. Did you get all acquainted again?”

“You have no idea, does she, love?” Libby smiled devilishly at Devon, caressing his face, and then she looked to Darby. “And what did you do yesterday, Delia?”

“Well, we picked out a Christmas tree for the foyer and Anton and I played some cards. I was hoping maybe you could tell me if you’ve noticed the decline in your husband’s health, Lori?

“It’s Libby, Doris, and since when is my husband any of your business? And what is that thing around your neck?”

“My mistake, Lizzy, but that is why Devon and I are here, to get to the bottom of what’s ailing your husband. You know him better than anyone, so you are the logical person to ask,” Darby said as Libby practically ran to her side to look at the bauble around Darby’s neck. With a most disgusted expression, she picked at it with her red claws and put it in her palm, tossing it up as if it was not on a chain around Darby’s neck.

Then she turned to Dominic. “How droll. Pathetic even, Dominic,” Libby said and then dropped it as if it was burning her hand. As she slinked back to her seat, she paused to run her hands all over Devon.

“Well, Dixie, I find nothing at all ailing my husband. Maybe he claims to be sick to be away from all you boring people.”

“Well, Lexi, he can barely stand up on his own, and I fear your love bites are draining him.”

Libby hissed at Darby and Dominic was ready to come to Darby’s defense, even if Devon was in some kind of sickening stupor.

“Stay away from my husband, you letch.”

“Stay away from my boyfriend, you leech.”

She hissed again, like a cat, and suddenly jumped out of her chair as if she were going to pounce on Darby. Dominic got up at the same time, warning Libby that she may be younger, but he was much stronger and she would not survive a fight with him. She relaxed her posture and went back to her seductive prowl, wrapping everything she had around Devon, who still seemed to be in some kind of oblivious trance. She kissed him again, dragging him out of the chair and as she did so, rubbing every inch of her body over him in a perverse attempt at seduction. Darby just stared as Libby dragged Devon out of the room with her.

“That was a very dangerous thing to do, my dear.”

“I know, I really hadn’t meant to get nasty, but she was really piss…I mean she was really making me angry.”

“I’m sorry you had to endure that. I’m quite embarrassed by her behavior, and Devon’s, for that matter.”

“Why? She’s obviously influencing him, Dominic.”

“It’s not possible, Darby. Vampires can’t influence other vampires.”

“Not that you know of, that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. I mean, up until a few months ago, I didn’t know that vampires or werewolves were real. Don’t shut your mind to what may be possible. Your grandmother should have taught you that. And what did she mean about the necklace you gave me?”

“I believe she may have been the cause of your injuries.”

“How? There was no one there.”

“Not that you could see. Vampires can be very fast and they can easily confuse human vision and perception. Her fingernails, I believe, were laced with a toxic oil that kept your wounds from healing. It doesn’t work on vampires, but I’ve seen it used by vampire women on humans that annoy them. I had Dr. Rowe test for the oils I suspected, and that is why the salve worked so well. We made a type of antidote with similar oils.

“The necklace holds those oils and herbs and she knew I knew what she had done, hence her reaction.”

“I see. Well again, I’m sorry for letting my temper get the best of me. I really had just wanted to ask her if she had any ideas on why Anton is so weak. Her defensiveness and her reactions make me think somehow she is the culprit or knows what the problem is at the very least.”

“That’s not possible. Like I said, vampires don’t feed on one another and they can’t influence each other.”

“So you keep telling me.” Just then she heard the front door shut and then two car doors. “They must be leaving again.” Darby ran out of the room and into the foyer just in time to see the little red sporty car disappear behind a cloud of dust and then a line of trees.

She went upstairs and into her room. She thought a splash of water on her face might lessen the sadness of seeing the car speed away again. It didn’t. She thought about what she had seen earlier, before her fight with Libby.

How could she? How could she have sex with him in his condition? Of course, he didn’t seem to be forced into it, but still, he could barely sit up by himself yesterday, let alone have sex. How could you be with someone for forty years and not care about them in the slightest?

She headed for Anton’s room. She didn’t hear anything. She knocked and again nothing. She didn’t want to, but she opened the door. There sprawled on the bed, completely naked, was Anton. He was whiter than the sheets beneath him. “Oh God! Anton!” She ran to him, grabbing his face with both hands. “Anton. Anton!” Her voice was getting louder and louder; she was practically screaming. “Anton, talk to me! It’s me, Darby. Anton, please wake up!”

She put her ear to his chest. A heartbeat. It was so faint, so weak. He opened his eyes a tiny bit. “Anton, can you hear me?” She took her right hand to brush across his forehead when a smear of blood appeared there. She looked at her hand and it was covered in blood.

“Oh my God!” She turned his head to the side and there were two fresh bite marks on his neck.

At the top of her lungs she screamed for Bernard. The little man may have been in his seventies, but quick as a sprinter, he was by her side. “Get me some water and a washcloth and some fresh gauze.” Bernard’s wide eyes surveyed the scene on the bed. She looked at him again. “What? Why aren’t you getting the washcloth?”

“Miss, I, well…”

“Bernard?! I didn’t have sex with him. I found him this way. She had sex with him. Now go get the washcloth and water, he’s bleeding all over and barely conscious.”

He went to the bathroom, obeying Darby, who looked up at him again. “You really thought I could do this? Look at him. He’s dying, Bernard. Go get Dominic now.” Bernard turned and left the room like the wind. A few minutes later he returned with Dominic.

“Darby!”

“Dominic, he’s dying.”

“What have you done?”

“Me? I’m not a vampire. You have to have fangs to do this.” Of course she was talking about his neck, on which she was trying to control the bleeding with the washcloth, and Dominic was referring to Anton’s nakedness, so needless to say, Dominic was confused until he saw his neck. “Oh my God. What happened?”

“I think his wife has been taking liberties just a couple steps too far.”

“You mean, you think Libby did this?”

She pointed over her shoulder and said, “Well, she certainly did that and I saw blood on her chin when I accidentally walked in on them this morning. Dominic. I need you to help me. He’s dying. His heart is barely beating. He needs blood. Can you keep him from draining and killing me?”

“Well, yes, but, you really shouldn’t.”

“What choice do we have? I’m the only human around, besides Bernard and he’s too old to survive it. I need you to convince him or help him. I don’t know how to get him started when he is so weak.”