Deathless (2 page)

She had given in fully to his kiss only once, when she thought Stefan had made her a vampire and Rave had come to kill her as he’d promised. Luckily, Rave had learned enough control by then and broke the kiss before she was harmed. But she still remembered how amazing that near fatal kiss felt, and how she thought what a wonderful way to die it would have been. She longed for the day when they could kiss without danger, without fear. Still, she was certain their brief kisses were far beyond anything other girls could even imagine, no matter how in love they might be.

As if Rave was reading her mind, he bent his head and kissed her lightly on the cheek. She thrilled as the familiar warmth flowed through her. Kisses anywhere other than on her mouth were safe, though they would leave a mark if he let his lips linger too long.

Rave carried her for another few minutes before setting her gently to the ground. Leesa sighed, wishing the journey was a longer one—a much longer one. But they were just going to her aunt and uncle’s house for Thanksgiving dinner, and they were almost there. With no more trees to hide their passage, they would walk the rest of the way. Leesa rose up on her toes and kissed Rave on the cheek.

“
Thanks for the lift,” she said, smiling.

“
Anytime, beautiful.”

Leesa fluffed her fingers through her long blond hair, trying to work out the tangles caused by her “ride.”

“
This is far and away my favorite way to travel,” she said, “but it sure does a number on my hair.”

Rave laughed and plucked a few pieces of forest debris from Leesa’s heavy dark blue sweatshirt. “I imagine it must be a bit like riding in a car with your head stuck out the window—not that I’ve ever had the pleasure.”

“
Ha! Exactly,” Leesa said, grinning. “Only this is a lot more fun.”

“
Does that mean you no longer mind having a boyfriend without a car?”

“
Well, I wish you could at least ride in one now and then, but no, I don’t mind at all. I do wish you volkaanes would figure out some way you could use a cell phone, though.”

“
Maybe Balin and I could figure something out. But we would have to stop working on the kissing thing while we did.”

“
Ha! Never mind. Number one priority: the kissing thing. Number two priority: the kissing thing. Number three priority:…”

“
Let me guess. The kissing thing?”

Leesa laughed. “How’d you guess?”

Rave grinned. “Just a wild hunch.”

Leesa grabbed his bicep in both her hands and snuggled against him. “Mmmm, strong
and
smart. What more could a girl want?”

She felt her stomach quietly rumble, reminding her she was hungry. Wanting to save plenty of room for Thanksgiving dinner, she had eaten only half a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

“
Hungry?” Rave asked.

Leesa blushed. She couldn’t believe he had heard that, but Rave’s hearing was far more acute than any human. She shook her head—there were more than a few downsides to having a supernatural boyfriend, for sure. She wondered if he could hear her heartbeat, too.

“
Yeah. I didn’t have much breakfast. Aunt Janet’s a great cook, so I wanted to make sure I left plenty of room for dinner. And for Uncle Roger’s pies, too. They’re to die for.”

“
Well, what are we waiting for, then? Let’s get to your aunt and uncle’s so we can get some food into you.”

“
I’m down with that, for sure,” Leesa said. She let go of his arm and began limping toward the street. Rave fell into step beside her.

Leesa had been born missing a small piece of bone in her lower leg and had limped all her life. It didn’t hurt, and she proudly maintained she could walk as fast and far as almost anyone—anyone who was not a volkaane, that is. She seldom even thought about her limp, unless someone asked her about it, or sometimes when she was with Rave and noticed how noisily she walked compared to him. But everyone walked noisily compared to Rave, who seemed to be able to walk over any surface, even dead crinkly leaves, and scarcely make a sound.

She reached out and took his hand. As always, the warmth of his skin thrilled her. She smiled, thinking back to the first few times they’d held hands, before he’d revealed his magical nature. Rave had kept his gloves on, so she wouldn’t notice his unnatural warmth. She’d made the mistake of telling her friends about it, and they had teased her endlessly. Thankfully, the days of gloves were long gone.

Nobody else in her life knew Rave was not human, and that was how she intended to keep it, for awhile, at least. Her mother and brother had suffered enough from supernatural creatures—they didn’t need to know she was in love with one, even one who was a sworn enemy of vampires. Rave could control his heat well enough now that something like a quick handshake would not give him away, so she expected no problems keeping his secret.

When they reached her aunt and uncle’s house,
a pale yellow Colonial set back from the street behind a wide yard dominated by four leafless maple trees,
Rave gently grabbled Leesa’s arm and drew her to a stop.

“
I think you should bring their dog outside to meet me before I go in.”

Leesa looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“
How come? Max is a really great dog. He likes everybody.” A sudden thought flashed through her brain. “Uh, oh. Don’t tell me dogs don’t like volkaanes.”

“
No, it’s not that. They like us just fine. Better than fine, in fact. Volkaanes have a special relationship with many animals, especially dogs. But Max may act a bit strange until I introduce myself to him, and I do not think we want your family to see that.”

“
Oh… okay. But what am I going to tell everyone when I show up at the door without you?”

Rave thought for a moment. “Just tell them I am admiring their beautiful neighborhood for a few minutes.”

“
Okay. They may think that’s a little weird, though.”

“
Trust me, it’s better than what they might think if Max meets me inside.”

Leesa did trust him, implicitly. She kissed him on the cheek.

“
Back in minute,” she said.

She turned and headed for the door. Max came rushing to greet her before she even got the door open. He was a four-year-old golden retriever with seemingly endless energy and the friendly demeanor common to his breed. Leesa stepped inside the house and gave him a quick but vigorous chest rub, one of his favorite things.

Bradley and Uncle Roger were sitting on the couch, watching a football game on the widescreen. Uncle Roger was wearing the blue and red number twelve Patriots jersey he always wore when he watched football, whether his team was playing or not. Bradley wasn’t sporting any team colors, but he was an avid Jets fan, the result of living in New Jersey for the first ten years of his life. Leesa wasn’t much of a football fan herself, but she knew those two teams hated each other, and that Bradley and Uncle Roger would be in for some animated afternoons when their teams met. She thought how wonderful it was to be thinking of her brother arguing about football, rather than about the ordeal he had suffered for the last two years, when no one knew what had happened to him.

She didn’t see her mom or Aunt Janet, and guessed they were still busy cooking. The delicious smells emanating from the kitchen made her stomach rumble again. She smiled, wondering if Rave could hear it from outside. She hoped his hearing wasn’t
that
good.

Bradley popped up from the couch to greet her.

“
Hey, pumpkin,” he said as gave her a warm hug.

Leesa thought her brother looked great. Especially for someone who had been kept captive for almost two years by a female vampire as a “feeder”—a kind of human blood bank. When Stefan brought Bradley to her that fateful night she’d bargained for his freedom, her brother had been paler even than Stefan, and was so thin and weak he couldn’t stand on up his own. Now, his color was back to normal, and he had gained some much needed weight. He could still use another ten pounds, but Leesa expected Thanksgiving dinner should be good for a few pounds, at least.

Uncle Roger followed Bradley’s hug with one of his own. As she wrapped her arms around his ample form, she wished she had some magic powers of her own, so she could magically transfer a few of Uncle Roger’s extra pounds to her brother. She was certain they would both go for that.

“
Is that my beautiful daughter I hear?” Judy Nyland, hurrying out of the kitchen.

Leesa smiled. “Hi, mom.”

They embraced each other tightly. Leesa couldn’t believe how much her mom had changed. Her pallid complexion finally had some color to it, and there was barely a trace left of the anxious, timid woman Leesa had grown up with. She’d spent her entire childhood thinking her mom was crazy, with that insane story about having been bitten by a one-fanged vampire. But the story turned out to be true. One of Leesa’s professors had cured her mom, by injecting her with the blood of a one fanged-vampire Rave had captured for them. Her mom was becoming more and more normal every day.

“
Where’s Rave, honey?” Judy asked when they finally ended their embrace.

“
He’s outside, enjoying the neighborhood. I’m going to take Max out for a couple minutes, and then we’ll all be back in.” She looked at her uncle. “Is that okay, Uncle Roger?”

Uncle Roger grinned. He had the widest smile Leesa had ever seen.

“
Sure is. And I’m pretty sure you won’t get any argument from Max.”

“
Do I need his leash?”

“
Not as long as you’re staying in the yard. He won’t go anywhere.”

“
Okay. I’ll let you guys get back to your game. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Leesa held the door open, and Max raced outside. She pulled the door closed and watched as Max bounded down the stairs and galloped toward Rave. She had never seen Max this excited. She didn’t know what was going to happen next, but was glad she had closed the door so no one else could see, just in case.

Rave held out his hand, palm out, and Max skidded to a halt five feet in front of him. Rave turned his palm down and lowered his hand. Max sank obediently to his belly on the grass.

Leesa was amazed. Max was an obedient dog, but he had never met Rave. She wasn’t sure even Uncle Roger could have gotten Max to stop that quickly.

She moved closer, watching as Rave walked over to Max and knelt beside him. He seemed to whisper something into Max’s ear, and then petted him on top of his head. When he stood up, Max got to his feet and stood next to him, waiting. They looked like they’d known each other forever.

Rave smiled at Leesa. “It’s all good now. Max and I are buddies. We can go inside. He will behave normally.”

“
Wow. That was something,” Leesa said. “Max always has a lot of energy, but I’ve never seen him quite that amped up. I’m glad you thought to meet him outside. I’m not sure the house could have withstood that much Max.”

They went inside. Rave had already met everyone, so no introductions were necessary, just hellos. Leesa watched as Rave moved easily about the room. He moved with such fluid grace you wouldn’t notice unless you were watching closely for it, but he took care to remain a safe distance from anything electrical—the television, stereo, even lamps.

This time, Aunt Janet was able to pull herself away from the kitchen, so she and Leesa exchanged a warm embrace.
Aunt Janet was four years older than her sister, but Leesa thought the two looked remarkably similar, now that her mom had lost the haunted look she had borne for so many years. The matching blue and white checked aprons both wore over their dresses did not hurt the similarity.

Aunt Janet was fifteen or twenty pounds heavier than Leesa’s mom, but from the neck up no one could fail to see they were sisters. Both wore their dark blond hair medium short, styled casually with loose curls framing their faces. Aunt Janet had obviously taken her sister to visit her hair stylist. The most striking feature of each woman was a pair of bright blue eyes almost identical to the ones Leesa saw reflected in her mirror every day.

“
Dinner will be ready in ten or fifteen minutes,” Aunt Janet said.