Part 5 (1/2)

”My roommate, Joe, has this lizard that eats those things. He sells the extra ones to pet stores.”

She gestured at the poster. ”Sounds like a charming guy. That poster his, too?”

”He's all right.” He took the bottle back and moved to the couch. ”That was stuck up there when we moved in.”

She sat next to him, close enough to brush against him as she s.h.i.+fted a little. She smiled to herself.

Yes, my darling. Don't try to resist. I know you want this body, this blood. They'll help me get you and keep you.

She reached for the bottle as he lowered it from his lips. ”I suppose now you're going to tell me why those guys chased us in the car.”

”They're just a.s.sholes. Probably jealous I was there with you.” He smiled. His emerald eyes shone in the dingy apartment's dim light. She stared too long, got caught up in them too much, started to float away from her body. He reached for the bottle. She took a long drink before handing it back.

Shaking her head, she looked up at the poster again, the vampire with its bald head, needle-like fangs, and hands with unusually long nails. ”That movie's overrated. It's just a ripoff of Dracula, you know.”

He shrugged.

”Vampire movies always have the same problem,” she said. ”At the end, the townspeople think they've killed off all the vampires, but they miss one who goes on to make more vampires ...”

He laughed to himself. ”It's the townspeople's own fault. They're so sure they can tell the difference between 'alive' and 'undead.' Go downtown and look at all the zombies in business suits, tell me which ones are what. You can't.”

She nodded. ”Yeah. My father wants me to be one of those people. I'd rather be Nosferatu, there. At least I could think for myself that way.”

He peered up at it, too. ”I don't know if you could. They're supposed to be crazy for blood, right? Like, they can't think about anything else but the hunger. Maybe you'd be stuck like that.”

She pried the bottle from his hands, feeling the warm glow spread out from her belly. ”But I'd have power over other people, and I'd be immortal.”

”Those office zombies wearing ties in the high-rises downtown have power over other people, too, but that doesn't mean they can think for themselves. And besides, maybe the vampires aren't immortal. Maybe they die faster than everyone else, but n.o.body knows because there's so much energy in 'em ... like, all the blood going in keeps them strong, but they burn out, you know?”

”No, that can't be right,” she said. ”They're not alive at all, so they can't die.”

He finished off the Beam. ”I'd bet it's more complicated than that. Like, getting fed upon feels really good, and if you're fed on enough, you start to want it, need it. And then you're out of blood, but now you have the power to go get it from someone else. So you go get some. Then they'll come and feed from you again, and you get that feeling again.”

”Yes,” she whispered, shocked, remembering her own dreams. ”That's it. I know that now. You're amazing. It's so cool I finally met someone who understands.”

He shrugged.

”So what do you think about the 'invitation' thing?” she asked. ”You know, where a vampire can't get at you unless you invite it in?”

He stayed quiet for a moment. ”Yes,” he said finally. His voice actually trembled. ”I absolutely believe that.” His eyes looked pained and tiny lines appeared between his eyebrows. It almost seemed like a bit of color had returned to his face.

There was just a touch of desperation in his voice as he explained. ”Evil has to be invited in - at least at first. Once you invite it into your life, it makes itself at home - so much that you forget what life used to be like without it.” His eyes closed. ”Once that happens, it can't be removed. It doesn't need an invitation after that.”

Then his eyes were open and the lines vanished from his face. Sara exhaled, realizing she'd been holding her breath.

She put her lips close to his ear, whispering. ”I loved the way you talked about the feeling.” She snuggled closer. ”What does it feel like, my darling?”

Through the alcohol haze she sensed his lips barely touching her neck. She raised her chin. His lips parted ...

And then he bit her! Hard!

She let out a surprised yelp, falling sideways onto the coffee table. She pressed a hand to her neck in shock, gaping at him.

That slight smile was back on his lips. ”I'd guess it feels something like that.” A tiny laugh escaped from between his teeth.

She laughed a little, too, rolling her head back onto the table and looking up at the ceiling. ”That wasn't exactly the feeling I was going for.”

”Oh, really?”

She turned back to look into his narrowed eyes. Her dress had hitched up when she'd landed on the table, and it now exposed most of her thigh. Their eyes locked in silence for a moment before she answered. ”Really.”

He bent over and kissed her. She rolled backwards on the table so that it would accommodate them both. He joined her, kissing down her neck to the throbbing bruise he had left. He kissed her there tenderly, and it seemed there was an electric current flowing from him. Wherever he touched became hot and stimulated. She kissed him back, touching her lips to whatever part of him was nearest; his head, his neck, his ears ...

He groped, finding her breast. She didn't stop him. He reached inside the dress, then inside her bra. Inside her body, her blood gained a will of its own, rus.h.i.+ng through her veins, pulsing at the bite mark he'd left on her neck, pooling beneath her skin to answer his touch. It was tempting him, she could tell. Her warm blood was drawing him to her, driving him mad with hunger. She hungered for him, too. She didn't stop him.

She opened her eyes and found herself in his bed. The black dress and hose had been discarded to the floor and her bra was undone. His mouth had found her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. His hand was working its way under her panties. She didn't stop him. This was what she wanted.

Oh, yes. I have you now. And I'll keep you.

He was inside her, moving with a rhythm that matched her pulse. She melted into his hot touch, the two of them flowing into each other as waves of pleasure washed through her.

A cigarette lighter clicked. Alexander was sitting up in bed, blowing smoke toward the square gla.s.s light fixture. Two of its three sockets were empty and the one remaining bulb left the room uncomfortably dim. Alexander looked down at her, smiling with his eyes.

He turned to flick the ash from his cigarette into an ashtray, then retrieved a small mirror with a few lines of cocaine on it from the nightstand. He snorted one line into each nostril with a short straw.

”Want some?”

”Sure.”

”Have you done it before?”

He watched her as she did a line. She shrugged. ”I did it at a couple of parties when I was really drunk. It just made me feel sort of ... I don't know. Caffeinated, I guess. But that's fine.” She snuggled closer to him. ”I think I want to stay awake a while tonight.”

The bite mark on her neck throbbed.

CHAPTER 3.

The Vampire Coven ”SARA? IT'S MUMMY.