“You feel like hunting?” I asked, caressing her with my mind.
“I feel like more than that,” she said, kissing me.
“I heard that,” Sembur’s amused mental voice said, followed by Kilkenny’s soft, mental laughter.
I stared at Bronwyn in amazement. “Whoa.”
“What happened?” she asked, frowning and using her voice.
“You’re telepathic,” I said, unable to control my grin. “I think you just shared a little too much with Sembur and Kilkenny.”
“Fuck,” she mumbled. “How the fuck did that happen?”
I nibbled my lip to keep from laughing. “It’s Sembur’s blood. My suggestion is to keep using your voice to form thoughts for the moment.”
Sembur and Kilkenny’s laughter increased.
Bronwyn frowned and shot daggers at the door.
“Young one,” Kilkenny said. “That wasn’t nice.”
I gave her a curious look. “What did you just say to them?”
“You didn’t hear that?” she asked.
“No,” I said, “and judging by the silence I’m sure it’s a good thing.”
Bronwyn gave me a rueful grin and kissed me. “I’m never gonna get the hang of this, am I?”
“I’ll help you,” I said. “But in the meantime I suggest you keep your mental mouth shut.”
“Agreed,” Sembur said smoothly.
“Sembur, do you mind?” I asked.
“Stop broadcasting,” he said archly. “You’re echoing throughout the neighborhood.” He laughed, and I sighed.
“Focus just on me, lover,” I said, capturing Bronwyn’s gaze. “Just on me.”
She gazed deep into my eyes. “I think I could get used to this,” she murmured.
“Did you get that?” I asked Sembur and Kilkenny.
“No,” Kilkenny said. “Better. Thank you.”
Bronwyn sighed in relief. “Do you want to get out of here for a little while?”
“Sure,” I said. “You want to practice your mind control skills?”
She glared at me.
“Easy,” I said, stroking her cheek with the back of my hand. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“I know,” she replied, leaning into my hand. “Okay, let’s go.”
I stopped my car in the darkness of the inner city under a broken streetlight. We were in an abandoned area, the streetlights providing the only illumination around us. It was an industrial section, and my keen eyes pierced the darkness, finally spotting what I had been looking for. I smiled and got out of the car, Bronwyn following close behind me, gazing quizzically at me.
“There,” I said, pointing to a “For Lease” sign outside one of the vast brick structures that bordered the potholed road. “You’ll find homeless people in there sleeping.”
Bronwyn stood close beside me, tilting her head and staring doubtfully at it. “All right.”
I watched the shadowed planes of her face and her burning eyes.
“Call to them.” I leaned back against the car. “Feel them. Let them know you want them to come to you.”
“How?”
I pushed my will toward her, ensnaring her, caressing her. Her eyes were slightly glassy as she sank into my arms, sighing.
I stroked her hair. “Like that,” I whispered.
The spell was broken, and her arms tightened around me. “Like that, huh?”
I nodded.
She pulled out of my embrace and pushed her will toward the building.
“Come out!” she screamed with her mind and I winced, holding the sides of my head.
“Right idea, wrong volume,” I said, shaking my head to still the ringing.
“Effective, though,” she said, nodding toward the building. Four people spilled out of a wrecked door, blinking owlishly in the darkness. They could not see us.
Her eyes lit up, and she grabbed my hand. We ran toward them, blurs in the darkness, and took them. We drained them to the point of death. Bronwyn nicked her wrist, dribbled her precious blood over the marks, and watched them disappear in seconds.
I stood, reveling in the power of the night, drunk on the heady feel of blood that rushed through my system. Bronwyn stood with me, and I felt her gentle presence reaching out for me.
“It’s time to go out on our own again,” she said, squeezing my hand and drawing the scents of full night in the city into her lungs.
I nodded. “Love to. I think it’s time to go back and say goodbye to Sembur.”
We walked back to the car, drowning in the sweet sensations of living, breathing mortals whispering with their minds in the distance.
I leant against my car next to Sembur. Bronwyn was talking to Kilkenny close by.
“Thank you, for all you’ve done for us,” I said.
Sembar nodded. “Where will you go?”
“I have another house. It’s on the beach. We won’t be able to stay there for long, the hunting’s lousy.” I grinned.
He returned my grin, and we were comfortably silent for a moment.
“What are you going to do with Allenby?” I asked. “The changes that Kilkenny’s blood made to him are the same as what it’s done to us.”
“Not quite,” Sembur said, his eyes shadowing. “The blood seems to act differently with different vampires. You, for example, have stronger control over broadcasting than Bronwyn seems to. Allenby has been catatonic since Kilkenny gave him her blood. I think he is overwhelmed by the voices he is hearing, but I cannot sense anything from him.”
“Is he going to be all right?” I asked. I still didn’t like him, and if Sembur was right, I found it fitting that he should be sentenced to listen to others.
Sembur shook his head and sighed. “Only time will tell.” He straightened and glanced at Kilkenny. Bronwyn approached us, smiling. I gazed deep into Sembur’s eyes, the color so reminiscent of my own, and smiled. “Thank you, my maker, for all you have done for us.”
“Until we meet again, fledgling.” He pulled me into his arms, and kissed me gently. “If ever you should need me again, please call for me. I will come.”
“Same offer goes to you, my maker,” I replied. I felt an abrupt bolt of sadness and forced back tears. I didn’t want to spend forever around him, but I also hated leaving him.
Kilkenny followed Bronwyn, and I took my leave of her, accepting her gentle hug.
I looked in the rear view mirror as we drove away, and saw Sembur and Kilkenny standing close together, watching us disappear.
The tears I struggled to hold back snuck out of my eyes.
Bronwyn took my hand and stroked it. “Where are we going?” she asked as I took us out onto the open road, headed for the coast.
“I have another house. We’ll just have to use it until our normal one is fixed.”
“Yeah.” She sighed. “I suppose traveling for us is out of the question, isn’t it?”
“Not necessarily,” I said. “It’s just going to be interesting, that’s all.
You may find us traveling by sea.”
“You mean we’re going to feast on rats in the hold?”
I burst out laughing. “Only if we get to leave one sailor tied to the helm of the ship as she hits ground.”
She laughed. “So where is this house of yours?”
“It’s on the coast, in a nice little resort town. It’s sitting on the edge of a cliff.”
“What do you do to entertain yourself?” she asked doubtfully.
“Well, for starters you can build some pretty cool sandcastles on my private beach and swim by moonlight. You can look out of the bay windows at the sea through my telescope. We can drive into town and have a bite to eat.”
“That sounds . . . um . . . terribly interesting.”
I aimed a mock severe look at her. “You haven’t even seen it yet.
Would it make it more interesting for you if I told you that it was reputed to be haunted?”
“Yes, thanks, my beloved angel. Sure. Whatever.”
I laughed. “Don’t believe me?”
“Of course I believe you,” she said.
“Just wait until you see the house, all right?”
I turned onto a country road and flicked off the headlights. I didn’t need them to see, and neither did Bronwyn. I amused myself by looking out for kangaroos and other assorted wildlife. I saw a couple bounding by the side of the road and pointed them out to Bronwyn.
“Sure,” she said. “Tell me, is roo blood as nasty as roo meat?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you try biting one and tell me?”
She slapped my arm. “Brat.”
“Hey, you suggested it.”
“Did not!”
“Did too!”
I slowed the car and drove up a sandy driveway, and the house came into view.
“Whoa,” Bronwyn said, straightening as her wide eyes took in the house. “This is spectacular.”
I nodded. “I know.”
It was a massive three story house, with floor to ceiling bay windows on the ground and second floors overlooking the ocean. The full moon glinted off the windows. Bronwyn’s wide eyes took in the open, grassy space that led to a narrow path down the cliffs and the silver streamers of reflected moonlight off the calm ocean before us.
I pulled into the garage, and Bronwyn got out of the car, still gawking at the scenery.
Bronwyn took a step toward the house, and I stopped her with a hand on her arm. “I can’t let you do that.”
She gave me an odd look. “What do you mean?”
I grinned. “I mean, it’s your wedding night. I can’t just let you walk through the front door, can I?”
Her fiery green eyes became brighter. “What do you mean it’s my wedding night? Wasn’t that quite a long time ago?”
“You’ll see. Just let me do my thing, will ya?”
She slipped her arms around my neck as I scooped her up off her feet. I tested her weight, and she giggled. I had the strength of ten men, more now that Sembur’s blood had enhanced my vampire’s body. I smiled at her, and she opened her mouth to speak, but then stopped and looked abashed.
I raised an eyebrow. “What’s on your mind?”
“This is going to sound really stupid.”
“Go on. Nothing can sound more stupid than telling someone you’re a blood-sucking corpse.”
She rolled her eyes. “My angel speaks again. Be serious, will you?”
I grinned. “Just for you, Bronnie.”
She cleared her throat. “I just never thought this was going to happen to me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean getting carried over a threshold while conscious and actually able to understand what was happening to me.”
I was glad death had robbed me of the ability to blush. “Err . . .
well . . . I’m sorry that I dragged you along with my miserable life.
You really didn’t deserve that.”
She gave me a serious look and shook her head. “No, that’s not what I meant. Stop apologizing. We’ve been through this already and it’s done, okay?” She sighed. “I meant being carried over a threshold.
I died before any of that stuff could kick in for me, you know?”
“I know.” I did.
I willed the door to open and carried her over the threshold of our new home.
The house was large and rambling, all of six bedrooms with a comfortable parlor and library downstairs, and a bay window that looked out over the ocean. There was an ancient telescope set on a brass gimbal that I used to watch the ocean waves crash onto the rocks far down below on the beach. The house was as dusty and barren as it had been when I first bought it. I left both floors and the huge, spacious attic for the ghost to furnish and live in. My addition was a basement that was the same size as the ground floor. It was divided into a nice, dark bedroom, a sitting room and library, and a lounge room, complete with an expensive sound system and numerous compact discs. I liked the comfort of my home away from home.
Bronwyn’s jaw dropped at the huge foyer and ornate, dusty staircase. Around the ground floor all the doors, badly in need of fresh stain and lacquer, lay sensibly closed in the octagonal space. Jagged streaks of moonlight hit the bare floorboards, breaking through the dusty, stained glass skylight high above us.
“Whoa! This is fantastic.” She kissed me and then allowed me to put her onto her feet. “How come you didn’t live in here full time?”
“If I’d done that I’d probably gone hungry. The food isn’t too good in this town. It will, however, do, until we get our other house fixed.” It was true. The population was just a bit too small to support a hungry vampire all year around. My other concern had always been with Aristotle. Being basically lazy at heart, he would never have found me if I’d stayed here all the time. Besides, the house was meant to be haunted, and I thought the ghost might enjoy the solitude.
I took Bronwyn’s hand and stepped toward the basement.
“Where are we going?” Bronwyn sounded a bit distracted because of her intense study of the beauty.
“Downstairs.”
“But it’s not dawn yet.” She pulled me to a halt and gave me a look that was part frustration, part wistful disappointment that I hadn’t taken her on a tour of the upstairs.
“I have something to show you.”
That piqued her interest. She always followed me like a faithful puppy when I told her that I had something for her.
The door to the library opened with a protesting squeak. Our footsteps sounded loud on the dusty wooden floor, echoing around the large, almost empty room. I led her to a bookshelf and pulled forward a copy of
Moby Dick
. One portion of the bookshelf obediently and silently swung outward, revealing a black archway, leading downstairs.
Brownyn crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at me. She leant back on one leg.
I held up a hand, although she had not spoken, and grinned like a Cheshire cat. “I always wanted one of those.”
Bronwyn said nothing, merely waved a hand toward the opening in an “unnecessary ostentation” gesture.
“Oh, c’mon. This is fun. How many times are you going to see this in your life?”
“If I’m lucky, just once. With you.” She gestured. “After you.”
I chuckled and took her hand. I led the way down the pitch black stairs, not pausing to turn on the lights. I didn’t need them and neither did she. We walked down an equally dark corridor to an ornate, oak door at the end of it. I dug into the pocket of my shorts, feeling for almost forgotten keys. Finally, after several balls of fuzz, I pulled them out triumphantly. I slid the key into the tight, new lock and pushed the door open with only a mild squeaking of hinges.
She followed me into the room and tugged me over to the black, satin sheets of the bed. We faced one another, and I smiled at her. I kept eye contact with her as I went to the CD player in the furthest corner of the room. With a gentle touch of a button, the strains of my favorite music enveloped us.