Reborn Vampire Romance: Blood Courtesans (15 page)

“Honey!” Her voice was breezy and carefree. She sounded thrilled to hear from me.

“Mom,” I said. “How are things going?” It was so good to hear her voice. Even with my life in danger, there was always background worry about my mom. Was she safe? How was her cancer? Would she live?

“I’m doing great. I’m in a new drug trial and it’s working really well. I might be done next week.”

“That’s great, mom.” The news eased my worries somewhat. As CEO of a large conglomerate with medical interests, Kristos had been able to pull some serious strings at his company to arrange cutting-edge medical care for my mom. Thanks to him, she had a better chance than ever at surviving cancer.

“How are you doing? Did everything work out with the internship?”

I winced at the reminder of my lie. “Yeah. It looks like I got the job,” I said. Given that I didn’t know when this would be all over it was probably a good idea to let her think I was occupied with a high powered internship.

“That’s fantastic. I’ll have to come to the city and see you once I have the all clear.”

“Sure, that would be great.” I paused, hesitating over what I was about to say next. “Hey mom, what can you tell me about my dad?” I held my breath waiting for her response. It was a long shot—we’d never talked much about him—but maybe she could shed some light on things.

“I was only with him that one night. I’m not proud of that, Myra, and I don’t recommend it, but I guess I got swept up in the moment. Your father was very charismatic. He had the most beautiful eyes.” Her voice grew distant as her memories came to the fore.

I grimaced at the mention of eyes. It sounded like falling under a vampire’s spell ran in the family.“You never saw him again?”

“No. I looked for him when I found out I was pregnant, but it was like he never existed. I put his name on your birth certificate hoping he would come find us someday. Why do you ask?”

I twisted the phone cord around my hand, unsure of how much to say. We’d managed to keep the fact that she’d been kidnapped by vampires from her, for her sake as much as mine. As far as she knew, some whacko had snatched her and we had tracked her down. She had yet to notice there’d been no police or question why she woke up in Kristos’ bed. Being hit on the head and possibly drugged has its good points, I guess.

“Honey?” my mom prompted concerned by my long silence.

I gave myself a little shake. “Sorry, it’s just that I met someone who might’ve known him. Just curious, that’s all.”

“Oh, do tell?” Excitement brightened her voice.

“I will, but later. I have to go right now. My boss is waiting for me,” I said with as much conviction as I could muster. Lying to my mom didn’t feel good, but I was nowhere near ready to discuss the truth and I doubted she was ready to hear it. “Call you later?”

“All right, honey. Take care of yourself. Love you.”

“Love you too, mom.” I hung up and stared at the receiver. I wanted to cry. Everything was such a mess.

“Evening,” said Kristos.

I jumped at the sound of his voice and turned to find him standing practically right next to me wearing just a loose pair of pajama pants. Had he been listening the whole time? I looked to the bay window at the front of the living room, noting the creeping shadows of dusk. “You’re up.”

“And you’re getting into trouble as usual.” He gestured to the phone. “It’s not safe to call her right now.”

I stood up and faced him. “I thought you just meant on my cell phone.” Annoyance flashed through me. “Besides, she’s my mom and she’s sick. I have to stay in touch.”

He crossed his arms over his bare chest and leveled a stern gaze at me. I met it, unflinching and ready to fight.

“Why don’t you change my mom?” I asked.

The question surprised him and he raised his eyebrows. “Myra,”

“I mean, it would stop the cancer right?” It made sense for Charlene so why not my mom?

Kristos gripped my shoulders. “Myra,” he said again, in a soft soothing voice. The kind of tone people use to break bad news. “She’s sick and weak. Turning her could kill her.”

I shrugged off his hands. “If she gets better? If she goes into remission?”

He tilted his head and looked at me. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” My voice went up an octave. “Isn’t the whole point to raise someone from the dead?”

Kristos frowned. “Cancer isn’t like other mortal wounds. It eats you from the inside. I can raise a man who’s been shot or stabbed. The loss of blood can be overcome, although even then it can be risky. Cancer rots you from within and can lead to a diseased vampire. Even if someone can be raised, not everyone should be.”

Thinking of Charlene I asked, “What if you only have a few active cancer cells? If you’ve caught it early?”

He looked thoughtful. “I don’t know. It’s not something that vampires have worried about. I suppose given how prevalent pre-cancerous cell mutations are that it’s possible people have been turned in the early stages. As far as knowing that and following what happened next?” He shook his head. “It hasn’t been done.”

“But if you could turn her, you would, right?”

Kristos pursed his lips. He didn’t like my question. “Myra—”

“It’s a yes or no question.” I crossed my arms and glared at him. “How could you be so quick to change me and not my mom?”

“Because you’re one of us, she’s not. Does she even want to be a vampire? Believe it or not, some people don’t welcome this life. I don’t see you lining up to claim your heritage.” At that last statement he hit me with the full force of his gaze. My knees threatened to buckled, but I held firm through sheer force of will.

The truth of what he said warred with what I wanted. For myself. For my mom.

He raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Listen, no decision has to be made now. How about we see what happens? Would that be enough for you?” His tone was pleading. He didn’t want to fight. Not about this.

We stared at each other in silence, tension bristling between us, until with a sigh I nodded. I didn’t want to fight about it either, not when I couldn’t even make the decision to become a vampire for myself.

Kristos smiled at me, half in apology, half in an attempt to lighten the mood. “Did a package arrive today?”

I shook my head.”Not that I know of.”

Kristos went to the front door and opened it to reveal a brown box on the welcome mat.

Its appearance irritated me. “So you can give out our location but I can’t call my mom? What’s that about?” I crossed my arms and glared at him, suddenly angry with him again.

“Experience. I know what I’m doing.” Kristos said, his voice flat. He took the box into the kitchen and opened it using his super fang strength to rip through the packaging tape.

I wanted to argue with him further, but what he pulled from the box rendered me speechless. It was a gleaming silver dagger about as long as my forearm with a very sharp point on the end. “What is that?”

“The weapon I promised you.” He handed me the dagger, hilt first, and rummaged in the box until he found a sheath and a silver flask.

I waved the dagger in the air finding it lighter than I expected. The blade was not flat, but slightly rounded as if it there was something inside. Finding a small button on top of the hilt, I pushed it and gasped when a series of small holes appeared at the end of the blade, just behind the tip. “What the hell?” I gaped at the holes, confused. “You gave me a hollow knife?” I glared at him.

Kristos found my reaction amusing and smiled. Holding up the flask he said, “It’s hollow to hold this.”

My eyes narrowed. “This being?”

“Holy water. It’s like acid to vampires. It won’t kill us, but it will render us harmless for a time.”  He pointed to his eye. “I suggest stabbing your victim through here and melting their brain with the holy water. Even the undead need a central nervous system and if you destroy that, they won’t be able to move until it regenerates.”

I made a face. “That’s disgusting.”

“But effective.” He handed me the sheath. “This will fit around your calf under your clothes or around your thigh over your pants.”

I took the sheath and strapped it around my thigh. Putting the dagger inside, I walked around the living room to test it out.  “How do I carry the flask?” The sheath would only hold the knife.

Kristos hooked a finger in the belt loop of my waistband and pulled me close. One hand went down to cup my ass, while the other tucked the flask down my jeans at the small of my back.  Then he took the dagger and showed me how to unscrew the top. “You fill it in here.” He handed me the two pieces. “You put it back together. It’s your weapon, you should know how to use it.”

I pulled the flask out and filled the dagger as Kristos watched. Once it was reassembled I returned the dagger to its sheath and tucked the flask back against my tailbone.

“If you’re careful, you should be able to get three vampires without refilling. Don’t hold the button down too long or you’ll waste the holy water.”

“You seem to know a lot about killing vampires, Kristos.” To me he was a lover, not a fighter. His colder, more mercenary side always caught me by surprise. It was easier for me to remember the sex and forget the rest.

He shrugged. “We have fought our wars. Vampires can be predatory, not just with humans, but amongst ourselves.”

“I’ve noticed,” I said dryly.

“Before guns we had weapons like this dagger. Slayers designed it sometime around the Spanish Inquisition and we copied them.”

“You ever use a wooden stake?”

He grimaced. “No. It’s like trying to pierce stone with a toothpick. The stake is overrated by slayers. It takes them years to perfect their aim and build the strength to penetrate the ribcage through to the heart. There are better ways to go about it.”

I shivered. “Such as beheading.” God, I wished I could get Arlo’s death out of my head, but it haunted me like my own personal ghost.

He nodded. “Yes and there are better weapons than a stake.”

“Like a bow and arrow?” I asked.

That made him wince. “Yes. Although, I would prefer it if you didn’t go around announcing that. We like the slayers’ antiquated doctrine just the way it is, for everyone’s sakes. If they abandon their traditionalism and modernize their approach to killing vampires, it will be war.”

“I think you should turn me,” I said, changing the subject.

He looked at me with a surprised expression. “What brought this on?”

“I’m not strong enough, Kristos.” I had a weapon now, true, but I still felt exposed and outgunned. Our earlier conversation had given me some food for thought as well. I had been dragging my feet, unsure of what I wanted, but I knew that needed to change.

Kristos wrapped me in his arms. “But I am strong enough for both of us, love. You don’t have to decide now.”

“I feel like I’m running out of time.” I leaned my forehead against his chest, taking comfort in his steady strength.

“After tonight we’ll have all the time in the world.” He kissed the top of my head. “There’s no need to rush anything.”

“Promise?” I asked in a small voice. Were there really dates with Kristos in my future that didn’t involve heavy artillery?

“Promise.” He inhaled. “You smell wonderful. Like butter and raspberries.” His grip tightened around me, pushing me into him and allowing me to feel the bulge between his legs.

“I had a lot of toast,” I murmured into his pecs. “With a lot of butter and jam. There was nothing else to eat.” With a pang, I recalled the bag of bakery goodies that had been left behind at the previous apartment. They were probably nothing more than charred ash now.

His hands moved down to cup my ass cheeks, grinding my pelvis into his. In response, I pressed my lips against his chest, tasting him. How was it that I wanted him again so soon? He was like an aphrodisiac that ran hot in my blood.

Kristos raised my chin and kissed me as his hands roamed my body.

“Do we have time for this?” I whispered against his mouth.

“A few moments.” His lips curved on mine as he flashed a smile. “Enough to take you to my satisfaction.”

Before I knew it, my jeans were unbuttoned and the dagger and flask cast aside. My shirt followed and then another pair of panties were sacrificed to passion. He sat me on the kitchen counter and his finger found the sweet spot between my legs as he nuzzled the nape of my neck.

I threw my head back and spread my legs wider to give him ample room. “At this rate I’m going to run out of underwear.”

“Good,” he said sounding satisfied. “I like you with fewer clothes.”

“Me too, but only when we’re alone. Out there,” I waved my hand at the large bay window that faced the street, “I like to wear a clean pair of underwear.”

“You and your panty problems never cease to amaze me.”  His other hand was under my shirt, shoving my bra out of the way and plucking at my nipples in turn, feeding the ache in my belly. “If I had my way, you would be naked all the time for me.”

“No clothes at all?” I arched an eyebrow at him.

“I might bind you in chains of gold. A little clamp here,” he pinched the nub at my core for emphasis, “And another two up here.” Kristos ran his hands across my breasts. “Just to keep your senses on high alert. Then I would tie you up while I slept so you would have nothing else to do but think about me.”

My eyes widened. To my surprise, his words were titillating as opposed to repellant. I shook my head, remembering how afraid I’d been of the torture chamber in his apartment. Now I kind of liked the idea of being helpless and left to writhe for him as passion did a slow burn through my erogenous zones. It sounded hot and now I trusted Kristos enough to do something like that. Maybe we could experiment after this current mess had been settled.

“How would the clamps feel?” I asked, curious. “Would they hurt?”

“Enough to keep you on the edge.” To illustrate he gave a nipple a firm pinch, digging into the flesh with his nail.

My breathing hitched and I felt a flood of wetness between my legs.

He caught the reaction and did the same to the other nipple with a wicked smile. “You were a delectable virgin, Myra, but I like your new sense of adventure even more.” With that, he kneeled down and brought his face to the nexus of my core. I had to scoot off the counter so he could reach me, using my hands on the counter’s edge to support myself.