Did Michel eat food? He drank with me last night. Or maybe that was just a ploy to look human. Just in case, I better get enough for two.
I retraced the route we had come down last night until I reached a main drag. Then I grabbed my cell phone to pull up Google maps to see what was nearby.
Phone was dead. Figured. Now I needed a charger too.
Two hours later, I returned to the cottage with some staples.
When I entered the cottage, the drapes were still drawn shut. Michel was sitting on the sofa with a reading lamp on nearby.
“
Tu vas bien?
” he asked, standing up. “Are you all right? Where were you?”
“I’m fine,” I said, putting my bags down. “I didn’t want to disturb you and I needed to get a few things.”
“I tried calling and you didn’t answer.”
“My phone died. I got a charger. Sorry, I didn’t know what kind of charger you would need.”
“That’s okay, I used the house phone. I apologize if I sound like a jealous boyfriend. But I was worried, considering the circumstances last night…” His voice trailed off.
Seeing the concern on his face and realizing it was for my well-being almost stopped me in my tracks. Did he actually care for me? Me, just a human? Nothing really to his kind, except a food source.
A part of me almost laughed when I realized if any other guy questioned me about my whereabouts as he just had, I would have rolled my eyes. Then I’d tell them to back off and stop invading my privacy.
What did I do in this situation? About as opposite a reaction as I could think of. I walked over to him, looked up into those eyes and said, “Don’t worry. I’m fine. I’m here. With you.”
He pulled me into a hug and I buried my face into his broad chest. “With me,” he said.
While Michel checked in with his employees, I brewed a chai I blended with tea and spices I found in the kitchen cabinets. I took it out onto the deck to give him some privacy.
The sun was setting over the Atlantic and I thought the color of the sun reflected on the waves reminded me of the colors that danced in a campfire. I wanted to tell Michel to come out, but stopped myself. This was something Michel hadn’t experienced in over two hundred years; it was something he could never experience.
Once again I questioned what I had gotten myself into. No,
who
had I gotten myself involved with? He was centuries old. He wasn’t human. He’d killed people in the past. And he was being hunted. And now I was also being hunted.
I sipped the chai as the sun sank lower on the horizon.
Should I have done something different last night? If I had never gone to him, I never would have ended up in this life-threatening situation. That would be the sensible thing to do.
But the idea of not being with Michel and missing out on all that had happened—the good and the bad—filled me with such a sense of loss I forced it from my mind.
My mind wandered from one memory to the next of the past day—first speaking with Michel, the explosion, the fire, the fighting, the drive up to Maine, his story, making love…
Just thinking about being with him made me miss his touch.
The last vestige of sun appeared to slip into the ocean.
Ugh, what was I doing? Wrapping myself around a guy like this? This was so not my style. Remembering I was a strong, independent woman, I put my chai on a table and walked down to the shore. I didn’t need to have all my thoughts consumed by one man like this.
I concentrated on the sensation of the cool October sand slipping through my toes. The Atlantic would be pretty cold by now at the final stretch of an Indian summer. Although I hated the cold water, I braved it and gasped when the frigid New England waters hit my toes.
It’ll pass in a minute. It’s only the initial shock, I told myself. Then I lost sense of time as I waded through the waters—until I heard a voice.
“Well, well, well. Michel’s little human came out to play in the waves.”
The rest of my body froze with a chill that had nothing to do with the ocean. I turned to look and they were there. Both of them.
“What do you want?”
“Michel. Dead. What I’ve wanted for centuries.”
“How can you still blame him for her death? You were attacked and he defended the village the best he could with you.”
“Silence,” he said as he approached. “Michel falling for you makes my vengeance all the sweeter.”
“You’re right, it’s been centuries. Time to get over it and move on.”
“You are only a human, nothing but food, so he shouldn’t have told you my affairs.” He took a step closer and I could see his eyes reflect the moon, almost glowing like a cat’s.
He had the same intense, bright eyes Michel had. While Michel’s glance left me weak to my core, Ricard’s left me with a much colder impression. Angry, cold, dead eyes.
“But you’ll forget it soon enough,” he said. “Forget everything.”
I took an involuntary step backward.
“Imagine his torment when he finds your bloodless corpse on the beach and realizes what happened. I’ll watch him grieve before I kill him.”
“Stay away from us,” I said, backing up deeper into the ocean.
He laughed. His beast companion laughed too.
“You have nowhere to go. As if water would protect you. Humans,” he said, shaking his head. “Stupid. Weak. Defenseless.”
He was right, I had nowhere to go. But there were two ridiculously strong immortal freaks before me and I had to do something.
The water had reached my thighs. When the next wave approached, I dived into it, hoping it would help mask me and buy me some time. Time for what, I don’t know. To live?
It didn’t. Ricard grabbed my ankle almost immediately and dragged me to the shore in seconds. I kicked, I tried to grab for things, but it was useless.
Ricard threw me on the shore as if I was as light as a seashell. For a brief flash, I saw him and his little beast over me. The beast’s eyes frightened me even more than Ricard’s. They reflected a yellow tinge, definitely not human.
Even worse was the stench. Apparently, they didn’t practice hygiene. How could Michel have adapted to the modern times while these two were stuck in the past? Their trench coats dated to decades, maybe centuries, past.
When I felt teeth pierce my neck, I screamed.
I tried to push them off, but it was futile, like pushing against concrete.
A groggy sensation came over me. The pain where they sucked from the wound was given way to a more soothing sensation—somewhat sensual despite my revulsion. Although my senses were dulled, the knowledge that these vile creatures were sucking my blood
and
turning me on against my will really pissed me off. I tried kicking them anywhere, everywhere, but it had no effect upon them.
Having my blood sucked from me by some gross, smelly vampires—or their term,
nightwalkers
—seemed like a sucky way to die.
Chapter Six
Michel
Ricard had made a mess of my life in so many ways. The physical damage to the club was only the beginning. Now I had employees’ welfare to think about, insurance claims to deal with and a very beautiful woman to protect.
After I hung up the phone from the last call I had to make, I rubbed my temples.
In a way, Ricard did me a favor. I was in a secluded cottage with a woman I’d wanted for ages. Alone together. What would have happened last night had he not blown up the club? Would we have gone home together? Made love?
Or would she have changed her mind and gone home alone? Impossible to know.
In a way, I wouldn’t change a thing about last night. Despite all the damage and destruction, spending the night with Nike was something I’d never regret.
Where was she now? On the deck? Funny how being apart from her, even for a little while, left a sort of ache inside. A yearning to be near her again.
I walked over to the back door to join her. That’s when I saw figures down near the water.
They had found us.
Ricard was crouched down over something, but the smaller one was blocking my view.
Where was Nike?
Before I could finish formulating the question in my head, I had figured it out and ran down to the shore.
He better not have killed her. She better be okay. I was filled with so many powerful emotions that I couldn’t even formulate thoughts. My vision was blinded by colors. All I knew was I had to get to her before it was too late.
Nike
“Get off her!” I heard Michel say.
The weight was removed from my torso and I exhaled in relief. Michel and the two creatures were now fighting on the shore.
I tried to stand up, but I was weak. What could I do? How long could Michel fight the two of them off?
As I crawled over the sand looking for something, anything, I could use to help, I felt a warm splash upon me. Blood had spattered over my arms.
I saw Ricard had a gash torn from his shoulder and Michel’s mouth was bloody.
Ricard’s blood. And maybe my blood too.
Michel focused on the smaller one, who fought the way he looked—more beast than human. They fought with fists and teeth. Surely they would tear each other apart in no time. But Ricard had recovered somewhat from the wound and joined back in.
“Michel, watch out!”
What could I do? I was only human against these immortals. There were two of them and only one of Michel. We were outnumbered. We were going to die.
I crawled, grabbing at rocks and shells, seaweed and driftwood. Nothing would do. But then I found a longer piece of wood with a jagged edge tangled in a pile of seaweed.
A stake?
Would it work? I didn’t know. Before tonight, the only things I knew about vampires were from books and movies. Who knew fiction from fantasy?
But what other choice did I have but to try something?
Willing myself to stand, I hoisted the stake over my head and used all the strength I could muster to plunge it into Ricard’s back.
He howled. Screamed an unearthly noise I’d never heard from any man or animal. His skin began to smolder around the wound and started to melt away.
Michel looked at me with eyes wide.
The smaller creature dived upon me and sank his teeth once again in my neck. This was too much and I felt my essence ebbing away.
Michel appeared over me and threw him aside. He grabbed the stake from Ricard’s disintegrating back and stabbed the creature, who began smoldering as well. Within moments their bodies all but disappeared.
“They’re gone?”
“Nothing but ashes.”
I looked out at the waves that lapped the shore. “Soon to be swept into the sea.”
Michel gathered some ash into his hand and let it sift through his fingers into the lapping waves. “Farewell, old friend. I hope you reunite with her in another world.”
I tried to watch the waves sweep their remains away, but the world was growing darker around me. I could barely keep my eyes open.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that. It’s all over now.” His words sounded as if from a distance, even though he was right next to me.
“Nike! Are you okay?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but felt too weak to speak.
“Nike,” he repeated. “Stay with me. Oh God, I don’t want to do this, but—drink.”
He put his wrist to my lips and I tasted blood. I licked the blood from my lips and forced my eyes open to see him better.
“Will I…change?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never done this before. But I don’t want to lose you.”
I hesitated as I looked into those eyes.
“Please. It’s the only way.”
I opened my mouth to let the blood roll over my tongue, a sensation that bordered on sensuality. Then I slipped into some other state of consciousness.
Chapter Seven
Michel
“Nike, stay with me,” I commanded, but she was out.
Fear rammed through me as sharply as a stake. I carried her into the house and laid her on the bed. Wetting a face cloth with cool water, I wrung out the excess and placed it on her forehead.
Was it only hours before when we had slept in this bed intertwined? What I hoped was the start of something? And the passion we shared last night. After months of longing, I finally had her. She confessed to having strong feelings for me as well.
Could it all end so quickly? Before we even had a chance at trying?
I monitored her pulse. It was there, but faint. What could I do to help her? I’d given her some blood to replenish what she had lost. Was it enough?
I debated whether I should give her more blood. Only I wasn’t sure what it would do—help or harm.
No, as long as she’s breathing and has a pulse, I’d wait. Watch and wait.
She started breathing heavier.
“Nike, can you hear me?”
Her eyes were still closed and she didn’t respond. She turned onto her side and knocked the face cloth to the floor. Then she inhaled sharply.
I put a hand on her back to reassure her, even though I wasn’t sure of anything myself. “You’re going to be okay. I’m here with you.”
Her mouth fell open as she gasped for air. I could see her throat contract as she struggled to breathe.
Please don’t let me lose her.
Nike
Hours or maybe days later, I woke up. When I looked around, I saw the familiar outlines of the cottage bedroom.
I pushed myself to sit up and felt the rough friction of sand against my legs. All the gunk from the beach had dried and flaked off my legs.
“Michel?” I called out.
No answer. Where was he?
I walked into the main area, but it was empty. So I looked out of the French doors onto the beach. It was dark, but I could just see the outline of a woman walking a dog, which looked to be the size of a golden retriever.
Hmm.
Before I went to look for him, I should wash the grime off.
I found a fluffy white bathrobe that Michel had told me was for guests. In the shower, I turned the water up as hot as I could take it. The heat felt incredible against my skin. I could have stayed in there until all the hot water was gone. But concern for Michel forced me to speed up the pace. Was he coming back? Or had he left for good?
What about me? How did my body feel? Did I feel different?
The few cobwebs in my brain drifted away as I lathered with a foamy vanilla shampoo. Then I tried to assess how I felt, head to toe. Although I’d felt beat up and sore the other night, now I didn’t feel any pain.
I finished washing and rinsing and then stepped out, looking at myself in the bathroom mirror. Flashes of that erotic scene in front of the mirror with Michel invaded my thoughts. The way his lips felt against my neck. How his hand felt stroking against my skin.
Focus.
Were there any bruises? Cuts? No. Were they there before? Yes?
How long was I out?
I towel dried my hair and body, put on the bathrobe and ran a brush through my hair.
What should I do next? Go look for him? If so, where?
I walked back into the bedroom and saw the bed was made with new sheets. My clothes were laid out on top. I smelled coffee brewing. Oh sweet heavens, what a scent.
When I walked out into the main area, the sight of him left me with this new feeling I wasn’t familiar with. A sort of relief. A feeling of solace upon being near him.
“How are you feeling?”
“Relieved now that I know you’re okay.”
“Me?” he chuckled. “You’re the one we need to worry about.” He walked over to me and wrapped me in his arms. I pressed my face against his chest, inhaling the scent of him. He was back.
He kissed me on the top of my head and then pulled back. He poured some coffee into an oversized mug and asked, “Cream or sugar?”
“This is fine. Thanks.”
I took a few sips. The coffee was so hot it almost burned, but the warmth felt good.
Then I asked, “Where were you when I was in the shower?”
“I ran to the store to pick up a few things.”
“How long was I asleep for?”
“Come. Let’s sit on the couch.”
He took my hand and led me to the living room. When we sat on the couch, he pulled me closer to him and I rested my head against his chest.
“You’ve been out almost twenty-four hours,” he said. “It’s been rough.”
“How so?”
“The first several hours, you were breathing so erratically. I didn’t know what was happening to you. Were you dying? Were you changing? Or were you just recovering from a traumatic experience? It was brutal to see you like that and be helpless to do anything about it. I held your hand and hoped. And waited.
“Around dawn, your breathing evened out and slowed down. Whatever was happening to you seemed to be settled down. Then you drifted into a deep sleep. I waited until I was sure you were out of danger and then held you in my arms and went to sleep with you. At sunset, I woke up, but you were still sleeping peacefully. So I went to pick up a few things in case we’d be here for a while longer for you to recover.”
“So am I out of danger?”
“I think so.”
“Am I still me?”
“Of course.”
“I mean—have I changed at all?”
“I don’t know. How do you feel?”
I gauged how I felt once again. My body felt strong, not weakened by all that had happened.
“I don’t feel a thirst for blood, if that’s what you mean. But my wounds—they all healed so quickly. Overnight.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Michel said. “I don’t know how the blood loss and then taking my blood will affect you.”
I took a sip of coffee to see if it tasted different. The hot liquid rolled over my tongue feeling almost magical and reminded me of how Michel’s blood rolled over my tongue. Did it taste different or was it just the wonders of coffee after a traumatic experience?
Michel said, “What I do know is over the last few days, I have fallen deeply for you. I wish you’d never walked in the club that night so you wouldn’t have been involved in any of this danger. But that thought almost kills me. I want you with me. It may be selfish, but that’s how I feel.”
He put a hand over mine. “When I thought I’d lose you, it almost drove me to madness. So I’m racked with guilt. I want you to be safe and happy and yet I want so much for you to be with me, even if it’s dangerous.”
I looked at his tormented face and wanted to reach out to him. “I don’t understand everything that’s happened. But what I know is that I’ve felt more alive in the last few days than I ever have. And I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. Everything else—it seems just like a game. Like it was pretend and we’re real.”
So much had happened so quickly it was hard to understand. But my feelings were much clearer. “I didn’t know supernatural things even existed before that night. I’ve seen a lot and I’m still trying to process it all. I don’t know what’s happening to me and I don’t care what you are. All I know is I want to be with you.”
He caressed my cheek and kissed me softly on the lips. “Then we’ll go through this together?”
I looked into his eyes, at his lips. “Whatever happens. Yes, together.”
Our lips met with a yearning. Soft touching gave way to a more urgent union between our lips and tongues. My hands explored his chest while his roamed down my breasts and sides. He lifted me and grabbed my ass over my robe with both hands, positioning me over his hips.
My robe slipped open beneath the waist as I lowered myself onto his lap. He was already growing hard beneath me.
“Ohhh,” I moaned softly.
“Yeah. That feels good,” he replied.
As we kissed, I moved my hips down, feeling more of his cock rub against me. He moaned this time. I worked myself up and down his shaft slowly, savoring the sensation of the growing heat between us.
“Are you all right, Nike? We shouldn’t rush anything if you need rest.”
“I need you,” I said.
He grinned so wide and it made my pulse quicken. “Then let’s get these clothes off you,” he said.
“All I have on is this robe.”
“Good. The quicker I have you naked, the better.”
He untied the belt around my waist and pushed the robe off my shoulders. I pushed my arms back to let the robe fall down my arms. That jutted my breasts forward.
“Oh, you’re killing me,” he said. He kissed down along my neck while one hand caressed my breast. Then he ran his tongue over to meet my other breast and encircled my nipple ever so gently.
“Now you’re killing me,” I said.
He took my nipple in his mouth. My head dropped back automatically in response to how good it felt.
He reached down to feel between my legs. I was already so moist I saw the fabric glisten over his cock.
“Let’s get you out of
your
clothes,” I said.
I pulled the black fleece pullover over his head and then ran my hands over his chest. His chest and arms were defined from all those hours rock climbing and I smoothed the palm of my hands over his muscles.
Then I undid his belt and unbuttoned and unzipped his black pants, in as much anticipation as an eight-year-old opening a gift at Christmas.
He wasn’t wearing underwear.
I reached inside and pulled out his cock, stroking it with one hand. Then I inched his pants down his hips, trying to expose more of him.
I stood up and he followed, pulling his pants down his legs and then stepping out of them.
“Perfection,” I said, admiring his muscled physique.
We embraced again and kissed, while standing fully naked against each other. We ran our hands over each other’s bodies, touching, exploring and caressing.
“This is so good,” he murmured. “There are so many parts of you I want to touch I wish had more than two hands.”
“I can be patient and wait while you get to all of them,” I said.
“Good. Because I plan to explore you for a long, long time. I hope you don’t have any plans for the rest of the night.”
My mind flashed with the aftermath of the fire, the firehouse and Maya. What would I tell them? Some creature sucked enough of my blood I almost died, but Michel is actually a supernatural creature himself and he let me suck his blood? But we’re not sure what that means?
“Nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow. Tonight is just for us.”
“You’ve got that wrong,” he said. When I furrowed my brow, he said, “Tonight is just the start of us. I don’t plan on letting you go anytime soon.”
“Then let’s start it the right way right now. I can’t wait for you much longer.”
“So much for being patient,” Michel teased. He picked me up and carried me into the bedroom, laying me on the bed. He kissed from my ankles up to my thighs. “You might want to work on the patience because I plan on taking my time.”
He kissed my upper thighs and I quivered under the feel of his lips.
“You tease.”
“I plan to.”
He nuzzled against my thigh and nibbled softly.
“Don’t make me wait too long,” I said.
“Don’t you worry. Lie back.”
I lay back against the pillow.
He moved up to kiss my neck and paused as if regaining control. “We have all the time in the world.”