Part 15 (1/2)
Was he mad? ”Ric...”
He ignored her and drew the blade across his forearm, slowly enough that she could see the metal slicing deep into his flesh. He held the towel under his arm, and it reddened quickly with blood. A brief wince altered his features, but the muscles she saw working in his face and neck afterward indicated that he controlled a pain greater than he had shown.
”I'm immune to human ailments, Shelby, but I'm not a machine. I do feel physical pain. But watch my arm.”
She stared, unable to tear her gaze away even if she had wanted to. The blood stopped flowing, and he wiped the remaining trail of red from his arm with a corner of the towel. The severed flesh knitted together before her eyes, forming a rosy seam across his pale skin. She gaped, transfixed, and in another few minutes all redness was gone.
”Come closer and look at it.”
She flicked her gaze to his face. He looked so real. Yet how could any of this be real?
He closed the distance between them himself, appearing right beside her in the blink of an eye. ”Go ahead,” he whispered. ”Look at it. Touch it.” He held his arm before her, flexing it.
She saw the hard muscles, the tendons, and the veins, but no cut, no scar, no discoloration. There was nothing at all to indicate he had been wounded in the least-nothing except a blood-soaked hand towel.
”Well? Are you convinced or shall I have you shoot me with your service weapon?”
She studied his features again, only inches away this time, and the glossy hair, pale skin, and strange eyes took on a new importance. No longer was he just strikingly handsome. He was scary. Vampire or no, something was definitely not normal, and with dawning certainty came a new dread. ”What are you going to do to me?”
Something twitched in his face. ”You doubt me after what I did for you just now?”
She refused to feel guilt for either her skepticism or her suspicions. ”I doubt everything right now. How do I know you didn't save my life for some purpose of your own?” As the words tumbled out of her mouth her options, or rather lack thereof, raced through her mind. Even if she considered him a foe, could she realistically do anything about it? Arresting him was out of the question.
What proof did she have of any crime? People were already questioning her. No one would believe this. And if she did try to oppose him, she had no doubt he had the ability to stop her in any number of ways.
The lines in his face hardened, as if he had read her thoughts. ”You'll just have to trust me, as I'll have to trust you.”
”I don't see that I have much choice.”
”Shelby, I don't want to coerce you into anything.”
”But you will if you have to.”
He drew a deep breath. ”Believe it or not, I've put myself in a very precarious position by what I've done tonight. The others of my kind, should they learn of it, would condemn me.”
”Others? How many others like you are there around here?”
He shook his head. ”I can't talk about that.”
”So what happens now? You didn't answer my question. What are you going to do with me? If I wanted to go home right now, would you let me?”
”You're in danger. What happened to you tonight was no random act. I won't stop you if you want to leave, but I don't advise it.”
Advice from a vampire. Part of her wanted to flee from all this madness and forget that any of it had ever happened. But a larger part of her-the part that had been a cop for nearly a decade-wanted more answers. She closed her eyes. Was that all she wanted? Just the night before she had been consumed with desire for this man. Were any of those feelings still present? She cracked her eyelids and peered at him. She had no idea how she felt. Perhaps if she knew he truly wished her no harm ... but how could she trust him? He had asked for her trust, but it would take more than mere asking.
”Why am I in danger? Does it have something to do with my relations.h.i.+p with you?”
His eyebrows rose. ”That may be part of it. Someone wants to strike at me by hurting you.”
”But you think there's more to it than that.”
”I've already told you a lot of things I shouldn't have. But some things must remain with me, at least for now.”
So he didn't trust her anymore than she trusted him. Suddenly she was very tired. ”If you're not going to talk to me, take me home.”
He rose with a lightness and grace that belied a six-foot-plus frame. Now she understood why he had never displayed any fatigue or clumsiness in his movements. He held out a hand to her, but all she did was stare at it. There were smudges of dried blood still on his arm. She ignored his offer and stood up on her own, but she was immediately sorry. A wave of dizziness rocked her, and she felt herself falling back to the sofa. He caught her before she could try to stop him, and in that moment she felt at home in his embrace, not only safe, but as if she belonged. But with the restoration of her strength and balance came the reality of what held her. She shuddered.
”I'm all right. Let go of me.”
He released her, but stayed close to her as he escorted her out to his vehicle. The drive back to her house was a quiet one as she tried to make sense of everything that had happened. Ric pulled the SUV into her driveway and cut the engine, but made no move to exit. And in spite of her feelings, she couldn't quite bring herself to jump out and run for the house.
”Ric, how much danger am I really in? Tell me the truth.” She was careful to stare out the winds.h.i.+eld and not at his eyes. All she wanted right now was information, not to be drawn into whatever game he was playing.
”I can't be sure. Maybe I eliminated the threat. Maybe all I did was tweak the Devil's nose. But you'd be a lot better off with me nearby.”
She wasn't so sure about that. ”Not a good idea. I need to do some serious thinking. It's not every day that your lover admits he's a bloodsucking monster.”
”What you need is sleep and rest. I don't want you to go in to work tomorrow.”
”I have to.” The three words stiffened her resolve. ”Good Night, Ric.” She opened the door, slid off the leather seat, and strode to her front door. He was there waiting for her.
”Dammit, Ric...” Her hard-won determination took flight, leaving quivers of frustration in its wake. She suddenly realized that he was only allowing her the illusion of being in control. She had no doubt he could force her to do anything he wanted. But what did he want? ”Why did you save my life?”
He stood very close to her, bracing one arm against her door just inches from her head. ”I told you-I'm not a machine, and I'm not some kind of zombie animated from the dead. I do feel, but my emotions aren't the same as yours. I'm a reversal of everything that humanity deems good and right. I want you to hear that from me just in case you have any illusions about what I am. But the feelings I do have are very strong, and my desires are even stronger. How I felt last night is something I don't think I could explain to you, but know that it meant just as much to me in my own way as it meant to you in yours.”
At his mention of strong desires and his reference to last night, her body responded with a mind of its own, wanting nothing more than to experience again the ecstasy they had shared. A now-familiar ache swiftly knotted and urged her to press her body against his. She yearned to feel his mouth on hers, craved the release only he could bring to the tightness she felt building with every second she stood there. But she resisted. Her self-control, as fragile as it was, was more important. She stared past his shoulder at a light that shone down the road. ”Well, maybe someday you can explain to me exactly what you feel, but in the meantime, I need some time to myself.”
”Shelby.” He whispered her name slowly, as though it were a part of her body to be caressed.
She s.h.i.+fted her eyes to meet his gaze.
”You've been through a lot, and you're very tired. You should sleep now.” His voice, low and resonant, became a tangible part of him, filling her senses, raising goose b.u.mps on her skin, and sinking into her mind.
The last thing she remembered seeing was his eyes, glowing like those of some night predator. And her final thought was that the illusion that this night was some kind of dream was gone. It was all real. And the reality was a thousand times more terrifying than the nightmare.
Chapter Eleven.
Shelby turned her head and squinted at her bedside clock, groaning when she realized it was ten o'clock in the morning.
Late for work was her first thought, but as she rolled out of bed and padded to the bathroom the events of last night came trickling back to her. The attack in the woods. She peered at the bathroom mirror and saw the reflection of the bandage on her neck.
By a vampire. She wet a washcloth and scrubbed the sleep from her eyes. Ric. Ric was one of them. Was he here? She was wearing a cotton nights.h.i.+rt, but she didn't remember getting undressed or going to bed. She made her way to the kitchen. The message light on her answering machine was blinking furiously.
She ignored it and looked around. ”Ric?”
The only response was a burst of chatter from Flash. She took a peek out the gla.s.s doors leading to the backyard patio. The sun was s.h.i.+ning, and flags of shade created by the tall ba.s.swood branches waved over the lawn. She stepped into the living room and stared at the fireplace, trying not to remember the time she and Ric had spent in front of the candles just two nights ago.