Immortal (13 page)

Kaleigh sat on the opposite end of Katy’s bed; their bare feet were almost touching. She was going for the hot pink polish. “I just wasn’t in the mood for chitchat with the old farts.” She cocked her head one way and then the other.
“How old are you now, Kaleigh? Goodness, look how tall you’ve gotten, Kaleigh. Still no boobs, huh, Kaleigh?”
she imitated.

Katy sniggered. It was easy for her to laugh. She had been blessed with boobs. What really sucked was that every time she was reborn, there they were again. Kaleigh thought that just once, just one lifetime, she deserved some decent cleavage. But genetically it wasn’t going to happen. She wondered how Rob would feel about implants. “I saw Fin there. He’s pretty freaked about the murders.”

“Johnny said we were mentioned on some news show the other night.” Katy dipped the brush into the bottle of polish, taking care to not spill any on the bedspread. Her mom had already told them like a hundred times not to paint their nails on the bed. “It was about the decline of small towns in America. How every town is becoming a big sewer, including little ole Clare Point.”

Kaleigh rolled her eyes. “The Council will love that. So much for trying to stay below the radar, huh?”

“Yeah, really.” Katy leaned over her leg to paint the rest of the toenails on her left foot. “So, you think we’ll have to move again?”

“Move?” Kaleigh glanced up to see Katy looking at her with kind of a weird look on her face.

Katy studied her toenails again. “You know, if the publicity over the murders gets out of hand. Will we have to pack up and disappear in the middle of the night the way we did when we left Ireland?”

Kaleigh rubbed some wet polish off the end of her toe. She didn’t know why she even tried. Her toes never looked as good as Katy’s. She never got the polish on evenly and then she always smudged it before it dried. “It’d be kind of hard to move again. I mean, before, we came to an uninhabited place. Well, almost uninhabited,” she corrected, remembering the pirates the sept had run off the beach. “Besides, where would we go?”

“I don’t know.” Katy screwed the lid on the bottle of polish and stretched out her feet to observe her handiwork.

“Anywhere but here. Italy maybe? Or how about somewhere in South America?”

“Maybe. But for now, we have to work with what we’ve got, which means we need to stay low and not draw attention to ourselves among humans. Fin’s right; we need to catch this killer before the whole thing blows up in our faces,” Kaleigh said, mostly just thinking out loud.

Of course she couldn’t tell Katy that Fin suspected it was one of their own. But the possibility was heavy on her mind.

“Hey.” Katy tapped Kaleigh’s bare foot with hers. “Guess what? Beppe asked me to another party. Tomorrow night.”

Kaleigh scowled at her toes. They looked like she’d dipped them in a vat of Pepto-Bismol. “You going?”

“I don’t know. We only hung out for a few minutes last time he invited me. Then Pete came along and got all emotional on me.” She rolled her eyes and then flopped back on her pillow. She stared up at the Guitar Hero poster taped on the ceiling above her bed. “I don’t know if I really like Beppe. He’s kinda weird.”

“Weird how? Like he wants to stick his tongue down your throat weird?”

Katy laughed. “That’s part of what’s weird. He, like…he hasn’t tried to make a single move. Like…not even holding my hand.”

“Maybe he thinks you have BO.”

Katy stuck her tongue out at Kaleigh.

Kaleigh screwed the lid back on the pink nail polish, deciding she’d better stop while she was ahead. So far, she’d only painted her nails, some of her toes, and a spot on her ankle. She knew for sure Katy’s new quilt was next. “Or maybe Pete cornered him in the bathroom and threatened to bite him and suck him dry if he laid a hand on you.”

“Pete!” Katy grabbed her hair like she was going to rip it out. “Don’t even get me started on Petey. He’s acting crazy.”

“Crazy how?”

“Following me around. Calling me and texting me twenty times a day. Whining to all my friends. Yesterday he said something to my mother at the grocery store. My mother! He wants me back. He misses me. He loves me. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,” she mimicked, opening and closing her hand as if it was a mouth.

“Well, maybe he does.”

“Does what?” Katy let her hand fall on the bed.

“Love you. Miss you.”

“He doesn’t love me,” she scoffed. “He loves my blood. He loves getting in my panties.”

“Katy,” Kaleigh breathed, doing a double take.

“What?” She half sat up in the bed. “Don’t tell me you and Rob haven’t—”

“We haven’t,” Kaleigh interrupted. She knew Katy and Pete were getting comfortable with each other, but she had no idea they were
doing it
. “Sex is prohibited until we’re twenty-one and fully evolved again. It’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Katy flopped back on the bed again and giggled. “I got news for you. Those old farts in Council, they’ve been lying to us. It’s not
dangerous
. It’s fun is what it is. That’s why they don’t want us doing it. Because it feels good.”

Kaleigh got out of the bed, trying not to smudge her toenails. This was all she needed, something else to worry about. “I gotta go home. I promised my mom.” She carefully slid her feet into her flip-flops. “See you tomorrow.”

Katy waited to speak until Kaleigh was at the bedroom door. “So you want to go?”

Hand on the doorknob, Kaleigh turned around. “Go where?”

“The party at Tomboy’s house.”

“I’m not helping you meet human guys. I wouldn’t do that to Pete.”

Katy popped up on the bed. “Come on. You don’t want me to go alone, do you? What if Beppe is a homicidal maniac?” She raised a finger. “What if he’s the one who killed those two guys on the boardwalk, huh? What if I’m next?”

Kaleigh’s hand hovered over the doorknob. “That’s not funny.” It couldn’t be true if the killer was a vampire killing humans, but Katy didn’t know that.

“I hear there was some naughty V behavior there the other night,” Katy sang, trying to entice her.

“What are you talking about?”

Katy hugged her knees. “It was just a rumor, I’m sure, but I heard that one of the guys got a little carried away making out with some drunk chick and had a little taste of her blood.”

“Who?” Kaleigh demanded.

Katy dropped back on her pillow. “I’m not going to tell. We don’t rat on each other to the elders. That’s the deal. I didn’t tell when you were out in the woods playing kissy-face with that psycho V slayer.”

“Well, you should have,” Kaleigh blurted. Then, seeing the hurt look on Katy’s face, she felt guilty for saying it. There was no way Katy or anyone else could have guessed how messed up those guys were. Katy wasn’t a bad person. She just liked her fun and sometimes she didn’t think through the consequences of her actions.

“So you wanna go? See for yourself? Maybe it was a one-time thing, but I really think someone responsible should check it out, don’t you?” Katy hesitated. “Midnight tomorrow night. I’ll meet you at the corner.”

Kaleigh opened the bedroom door. The General Council had enough things to worry about right now. They didn’t need junior vampires running amok. “I’ll be there.”

T
he evening ended better than it started. The Kahills, though curious about Fin’s human date, were well behaved at dinner. Everyone could agree the match was clearly against sept rules, but they were still eager to get a closer look at her. Even after all these centuries, they still shared a certain fascination, a certain envy of humans. Not a single member of his extended family levitated, set anything on fire by spontaneous combustion, or discussed the virtues of Haitian blood in front of her. As a bonus, Mary Kay only talked one of Elena’s ears off and Fin’s father remained fairly sober.

The clatter of dirty dishes being washed and put away in the kitchen faded as Fin and Elena walked through the backyard, across the lawn, into the deepest shadows. Elena had been the one who suggested they take a walk around the property, but he sensed she was as eager as him to be alone. All evening a static electrical impulse had arced between them, the sexual attraction practically sizzling in the air.

The night air was heavy and humid and filled with the scents of a summer night just past the witching hour: the remnants of a backyard barbeque, wet dog, freshly cut grass, and the first roses of the season. Beneath that initial layer of scents was the deeper, darker perfume of the night; the smell of humans coexisting with vampires. Fin smelled their children. He smelled them making love. He smelled the gin on their breath and the blood that oozed from a wound, all heady scents that made him feel alive. That reminded him of his purpose in the world.

“I had a nice evening, Fin. Thank you.” Elena stopped to slip out of her sandals and sink her feet into the soft, fragrant grass. Fin, who had always enjoyed the sensual feel of grass on his feet, had left his flip-flops on the porch. Catching her shoes by their straps in one hand, she took his hand with the other. For a couple of minutes they walked in silence, weaving their way around bird fountains and cultivated beds of flowers. As they walked side by side, the voices of the women in the kitchen died away, leaving them with their own thoughts and the beat of their hearts.

“I’m glad you came. Glad my brother invited you.” Fin lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “I really wasn’t trying to avoid you. I’ve been thinking about you all week.”

Elena stopped beside the potting shed located in the far corner of his parents’ property. A tall, tangled hedgerow on two sides blocked the view to the rear alley, nestling the shed in privacy.

“It was nice to be with others.” She leaned against the clapboard siding painted a pale yellow. By the glow of the moon, it seemed gold, a fitting backdrop for her dark beauty.

“I sometimes feel very…
isolated
.” She looked down at the soft grass and wiggled her perfectly manicured bare feet. “At home.” She looked up at him through a veil of lashes. “It can be very lonely. We live far from others.”

He moved closer to her, casually resting one hand on her hip. Here in the backyard, in the dark, he could almost forget what was going on around him, in the town, in the world. Here, he felt cradled by the sway of the trees and the softness of the grass beneath his bare feet. “Do you mind if I ask…are you divorced?”

Her gaze darted up to meet his, then down again. She parted her sensual lips. “Widowed.”

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, enjoying the peace of the moment and the feel of her body so close, so warm.

She looked up again at him, lifting her lashes. “It was a long time ago.”

“Children?”

He barely saw her lips move this time as she spoke. It was more like an exhalation.

“Dead, too.”

You remember. Don’t you?

The disturbing words reverberated in Fin’s head. He didn’t know where they came from or what they meant and he suddenly felt off balance. As if he was here, but also somewhere else. Somewhere else in time. Had the words come from Elena? It wasn’t possible, of course. How could he remember what he didn’t know? He looked down at her, his heart fluttering oddly in his chest. “Elena—”

“Shh,” she hushed, dropping her sandals to the grass. “Let’s not talk about it.” She took his hand and holding his gaze, kissed his fingertips, one by one. When she reached his index finger, she teased it with her tongue and then took it into her mouth.

It was a simple gesture, not particularly sensual as an act unto its own, but the way she touched him sent a sharp shiver of desire through him. The words that had lingered in his head a moment before were gone. Mist in the humid night air. Imagined? Perhaps.

His finger still in her mouth, he pressed his lips to hers, needing to taste her, touch her. He drew his wet finger across her cheek and threaded his fingers through the soft hairs at the nape of her neck. He thrust his tongue into her mouth and she moaned softly.

One kiss and Fin was hard. He wanted her now. Here. Had to have her.

What kind of guy was he to want to have sex standing up against his mother’s potting shed in her backyard?

Elena took his hand and guided it beneath the soft fabric of her skirt, up her smooth thigh.

Whatever kind of man he was, Elena was apparently cut of similar cloth. She wore no panties and he found her already wet for him.

They kissed again and he stroked her soft, yielding flesh. Breathless, he tore his mouth from hers and he kissed along her jawline to her ear and then downward to the pulse of her throat.

Elena pressed her back against the shed, her arms stretched outward. Her small breasts rose and fell with each ragged breath. Still stroking her, he left the sweet satiny flesh of her throat to kiss the valley between her breasts. He pushed aside the filmy fabric of the dress to capture one nipple between his lips. Braless. An advantage of smaller-chested women. One Fin appreciated in this century.

Elena moaned and raised one leg, wrapping it around his hips. Her fingers found the waistband of his shorts. Before he could consider the possible consequences of having sex in his mother’s backyard while she was doing dishes in the kitchen, no less, he found himself stepping out of his shorts. She shoved his boxers downward and grasped the full length of him.

For once, it was not the blood of the woman in his arms that Fin was thinking of. For once, he did not need the taste of her on his lips. Right now he needed to possess Elena. Maybe more importantly, he needed to be possessed by her.

Slipping his arm around her hips, Fin used his other hand to guide his way. She cried out as he pushed inside her and he smothered her mouth with a kiss. Mary Kay would have his head…

He pushed again and again she cried out, already on the precipice. For once, he didn’t feel as if he needed to worry about going too fast. She was already miles ahead of him.

Slender and light, Elena was easy for Fin to hold up, pressed against the outer wall of the shed for support. She clung to him, thrusting her hips to his, moaning with pleasure.

Fin took a breath, pulled back until he heard her catch her breath, and then pushed home. Elena cried out so loudly that he slipped his hand over her mouth, afraid she might alert the women in the kitchen. She bit his finger as her muscles convulsed around him and suddenly he was lost to her silken caress. One moment he felt as if he could have held her in his arms all night and the next, his arms and legs were so weak they trembled.

Afraid he might drop her, Fin eased back, trying to lower her bare feet to the ground as gently as possible. Her dress fell around her, covering her nakedness and again, like the previous time, he felt an inexplicable tenderness wash over him. This didn’t feel like
just sex
. It felt like an emotional connection he’d not felt in a very long time.

Her head fell forward to rest on his shoulder as she waited to catch her breath. He held her in his arms, inhaling deeply the sweet scent of her fresh, clean hair that mingled with the heavier, muskier smell of their lovemaking.

“Wow,” he whispered in her ear.

To his delight, she laughed. “I am sorry. I was loud.”

“Not too loud.” He kissed one corner of her mouth, then the other, stroking her rib cage. “I’m glad that I can give you pleasure, Elena.”

Smiling, her eyes now drowsy, she pushed the hair from her face. “I should go,” she said.

He kissed her exposed breast and then drew the material into place and took a step back. He wasn’t quite ready to let her go and he didn’t know why.

The voice in his head came back to him.
You remember
. Did he remember? Remember what? Who wanted him to remember? Surely not Elena. But again he felt that strange rush of familiarity. Something was going on here between them that he couldn’t put a finger on. “Elena, have we ever met before?”

“What do you mean?” Her tone was light. She leaned over and picked up his boxers, handing them to him.

Fin stepped into his underwear and picked up his shorts. “I don’t know. I just keep getting this strange feeling. Like we’ve met before. Do you know what I mean?”

“You think we’ve met before?”

She did that a lot, he noticed. She answered his questions with questions that didn’t answer him at all.

She stroked his cheek. “I should be returning to the cottage. My sister will worry.”

Buttoning his shorts, he picked up her sandals from the grass. “I’ll walk you home. Just let me grab my flip-flops off the porch.”

“No. I prefer to walk alone.” She took her shoes from him. “Good night, Fin.”

Before he could argue, she walked away, cutting across the back corner of the property, toward the alley. He called after her. “If you go to the end of—”

“I can find my way,” she interrupted. “Good night, Fin.”

He dragged his hand over his face, still smelling her on his fingers, unsure of what to think of her. “Good night, Elena,” he murmured.

The next night, Kaleigh sat on the arm of the couch watching Katy dance with Beppe to the throbbing beat of a popular hip-hop song. She’d come to the party on the pretense of scoping out which Kahill teens were here, but once she arrived, she found she was enjoying herself. She liked the music and all the activity. She liked watching the teen and young adult humans interact with each other, hoping her observations might give her a better understanding of them. And when you added pubescent Vs to the mix, it really got interesting.

Kaleigh made eye contact with Mickey, who was standing on the other side of the room, near the door to the basement. Mickey raised a red plastic cup in salute and went back to talking to her hulking boyfriend. Still curious as to what was going on down there, Kaleigh had been watching the basement door open and close all night. She didn’t recognize anyone that Tomboy had allowed to pass the threshold. The local kids she knew were staying upstairs. She considered the little bit of drinking and hip grinding at the main party to be harmless, but the longer she watched, the more nervous she became about what was going on downstairs. Maybe they were just smoking weed down there. She thought she’d smelled it the last time she was here. But she sensed it was something else. Something she ought to know about. Something potentially dangerous to the sept.

Mickey left her boyfriend’s side and wove her way across the dance floor toward Kaleigh. “Hey, you’re back.” She had to lean close for Kaleigh to hear her over the music.

“I’m back.” Kaleigh raised her hands and let them fall. “I came with Katy. She sort of came with a guy.” She nodded in their general direction.

“He’s hot,” Mickey observed.

Kaleigh shrugged.

“Hey, you want a beer? A smoke?”

“Nah, I’m good.” Kaleigh watched Tomboy open the basement door to allow some guy to enter. What was it that was bugging her about that door? She looked at Mickey perched beside her. Despite the nose ring, tongue stud, and tattooed eyeliner, she had kind of an earnest face. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. We’re friends, right. Kinda,” Mickey amended.

“Kinda,” Kaleigh agreed. She pointed to the basement door. “This is the second time I’ve been here and both times something’s been going on down there. Your boyfriend lets some people in, but some people he doesn’t let in.”

“Private party.” She sipped her beer.

“I get that. So what’s going on down there that isn’t going on up here?”

Mickey looked her in the eye. “You really want to know?”

Kaleigh nodded slowly.

“Let me talk to Tomboy. Come on.” Mickey popped up off the arm of the chair.

Kaleigh followed her. As she wound her way through the couples dancing, she looked for Katy but didn’t see her. She and Beppe must have stepped out on the porch to get a breath of air. It was hot in the house, despite the ceiling fans and open windows.

A couple of feet from the basement door, Mickey stopped. “Wait here a sec,” she instructed. “Let me talk to Tomboy. His place. His rules.”

While Mickey talked to her boyfriend, Kaleigh scanned the crowd again for Katy, but she couldn’t find her. Was she in some corner making out with Beppe? It wouldn’t even be that big a deal, except that now Katy and Pete were having sex and sharing blood. Once you got the taste again…the desire was hard to fight. Kaleigh remembered that.

What if Katy tried to pull the same thing with Beppe? She knew her friend was just sowing her wild oats, as they liked to say; she knew that eventually Katy and Pete would get back together. They’d been playing this game for centuries. But why did it have to be
this
human? She’d been watching Katy and Beppe all night and there was something about him that worried her. Something…absent, in his eyes.