Part 7 (1/2)
”What? Why would I --”
”Promise!”
”Okay, okay,” Bree said, bewildered. ”But why would you think I'd want to --”
Julian raised his head and looked directly at Bree. His eyes were the same. His skin just as smooth, just as luminous -- but d.a.m.n him if, at a second look, it didn't seem to be skin so much as thousands of fine scales. And his mouth ... it had been distorted by far too many teeth, all of them pointed, and two fangs, long as a cobra's.
Memory came rus.h.i.+ng in, along with a bone-crus.h.i.+ng, mind-numbing terror. ”Vampire!” Bree blurted out. ”You are a G.o.d- d.a.m.ned vampire!”
Julian nodded. ”Yes,” he said, voice slurred around his wicked teeth. ”I am. But, Bree ...” His finger came up to brush Bree's lips. ”You promised not to run. Amour Magique will hold you to that.”
Bree swallowed. Yeah. He'd figured already, when his instant reaction to bolt hadn't even reached his feet. ”What are you going to do with me?” he asked. Might as well know sooner than later.
Julian smiled, bizarrely tender despite all those flas.h.i.+ng teeth. He cupped Bree's chin in his hand. ”Why, f.u.c.k you, of course,”
he said. ”And then, I'm going to kill you.”
Chapter Seven
I really hadn't figured on this day getting any stranger. Shows how much I know.
”Kill me, huh?” Bree eyed Julian up and down, from his long, muscled legs to his mane of red hair, finally coming to rest on his face -- eyes from a wet dream and teeth from a nightmare. ”You probably could. It's easier to kill a man than most people think. Kick them in the throat, knife their lungs, h.e.l.l, even use a good old-fas.h.i.+oned gun.
”I've had death threats before. I worked retail. I'm used to being told to f.u.c.k off and die. Some people even got real creative on how they were going to do me in. So, fact is, you don't scare me.
”Besides, like I said, I worked retail. You think that set of fangs is scary? Julian, I have seen much worse teeth aside from people claiming to be vampires. I'm no ninety-six-pound weakling, either. If you want to kill me, you can try. But I think I might just give you a decent fight for your trouble.”
Bree folded his arms and stared at Julian, stone-faced. Julian blinked back at him, countenance blank with surprise.
d.a.m.ned if Bree didn't almost hear the whistle-and-rattle of a cla.s.sic Western gunfight movie scene start to play. But he waited. Turn to run, and it'd all be over. Besides, he'd already walked away from one fight at Money Now! that day because he'd been too disgusted and weary to put up his dukes. It'd felt much better to smash James's face in. If it came to it, he'd grapple with Julian.
Might not win, but he'd go down swinging.
Julian's horrible mouth twisted. A sound burbled out of it. It wasn't until the vampire threw back his head and staggered a few steps back that Bree realized he was laughing. Absolutely tickled to -- well, Bree guessed, not to death as such, but close enough. Tears trickled from the corners of his bedroom eyes, shut tight with the giggles.
Bree folded his arms and glowered. ”I'm not joking, you know.”
”I know, I do!” Julian wiped at his cheeks. ”That is what makes it so very funny. Bree, you would not know this, but it has literally been centuries since anyone was brave or foolish enough to challenge me, whether or not they knew what I was or saw my true face. You look on me without the glamour, without any thrall, and what do you do? Tell me you've seen scarier teeth before and offer to take me down. For that alone, I would keep you and give you the Gift! b.a.l.l.s, brains, and brawn, Bree -- a priceless combination.”
”Uh-huh. Glad you think I'm such a blast, Julian.”
Julian moved too quickly to see, his hand suddenly cupping Bree's chin as it had in the store. Unable to help himself, Bree s.h.i.+vered at the chill and went weak in the knees. G.o.d, even Julian's hand was s.e.xy as h.e.l.l. Practically o.r.g.a.s.mic fingers, despite being cold. The vampire's mouth twisted into a smile. ”You are worth far more than a laugh, Bree,” he whisper-hissed. ”I chose you because I suspected what you would be like. You are not the man I counted on.” Julian tilted his head. ”No, you are better.
It's just now struck me. Perhaps it's that I grew so used to the words that I have learned to ignore them, but you have not asked for mercy or to be let go, have you?”
Bree gave Julian a level stare, pulling away from his touch with an ache of regret that he ignored. ”Not in the mood for word games right now. No, I didn't ask for any of that, and you d.a.m.n well know it. I don't know s.h.i.+t about vampires, but I do know when a man says he's going to kill you and means every word. I'm not the begging type, and I've had my fill of running away. So, I figure my last choice is to fight.”
Bree lowered himself into a street-fighting stance, fists loose and ready, leg muscles poised to lunge. He glared up through a wisp of hair that had fallen across his eyes. ”Well? Come on, then. Let's do this.”
Julian smiled again, ”I think not,” he said. His hand blurred forward again, far too fast to see, and --
Bree came to, lying flat on his back, laid to rest on something soft and silky. Soft, like a bed. His head ached as if he'd been bashed across the skull with a lead pipe. d.a.m.n, but Julian moves fast. Hits hard, too. Gotta remember that.
He licked his lips and found them so dry that bits of skin were flaking off. Not a good sign. ”How long was I out?” he muttered.
”Only a few minutes,” Julian's voice responded without pause. ”You are a tough one, aren't you?”
”Kind of known for it.”
”As I suspected. No, don't move. You may vomit. I seem to recall that humans who take such a blow tend to have uneasy stomachs, and frankly, recycled orange juice is not the sort of fluid I care to have on this bed.”
Bree laughed.”What's funny?”
”Nothing. Just thinking. You say you're a vampire. It's just funny to me that you probably wouldn't mind spilling a few pints of blood, but you get all prissy at the thought of a little sick-up.”
He heard Julian chuckle. ”Yes, well, we all have our weaknesses, don't we?” A cool hand brushed his forehead. Despite himself, Bree moved into the touch. ”You, for example, are still mortal and fragile as the rest of your kind. Yes, I said 'fragile.' I used the least part of my strength and down you went, easy as falling off a log. You can't best me in a fight, Bree. Yet somehow I don't doubt you'd keep trying if I let you.
”So, I won't let you. I chose you. Even if I could stop the changes taking place in your body, which I have no desire to do, I would not. Live with them. Die from them. Then rise again, and walk by my side.”
Bree cracked up.
”This is funny?” Julian sounded fascinated.
”Well, yeah. I know I'm going to die tonight, sure. But give me a break. Come back to life? Walk by your side? Kind of hard to do when you're dead, Julian.”
”Not really. After all, I am dead. I have been dead for centuries. I walk, talk, dance, and ...” The cool hand brushed across Bree's cheek, down his neck, and teased at the collar of his mesh s.h.i.+rt. ”... I f.u.c.k, too.”
”I was hoping to end up in bed with you,” Bree said thoughtfully. ”Different circ.u.mstances, of course. There was a lot less talking and a lot more being naked, rolling around, and groping in my fantasy.”
”That could still happen, you know.”
”Right.” Bree struggled to open his eyes. They felt gummy, the lids heavy, but he managed it. ”Julian, you might be pure s.e.x on a stick, but I'm not too inclined to roll over for you right now. Even if I could.” His stomach twisted. ”Ow!” he yelped before he could stop it. Embarra.s.sed, he snapped, ”So what did you do? Poison that juice?”
”Bree, don't act the fool. Of course I didn't poison your drink. Your body is dying, that's all.”
”Oh. Well, if that's all ...” Bree shook his head in spite of the instant pain when he moved it. He weighed his options. Didn't know what dying felt like, but this might well be the real thing. He'd been bled, his skull was cracked open, and he was sitting in a bed with a man who had a mouth like a raptor and who claimed to be a walking corpse with the power of resurrection.
Death might not be such a bad option. Looked like the only way out. Bree had always known someone carried a bullet with his name on it; he'd just been waiting for what seemed like a long time now for the day it was finally fired at him The bed s.h.i.+fted again as Julian leaned closer. ”Bree ...” he said, voice still sending a thrill down Bree's spine, ”don't be afraid. You have never been happy with life, have you? I saw it in your eyes when I visited you at that awful business. Tonight, you danced with the fervor of a man who had nothing left to lose. You nearly killed your ex without a moment's regret.”
”Yeah, well, he had it coming.”
”You see? I think you were made to be found by one of my kind. Meant to be one of us. I count myself very, very lucky that our paths crossed.”