Blood Gifts (4 page)

She knew it was her power that had made the
street lamp burn out above them as they kissed too. But this? This
room? This was new. She'd never done anything this intense. Well,
maybe once. But this was a much nicer circumstance than that.

She suddenly realized she was thirsty. Very
very thirsty. Probably a side effect of blood loss, she thought
grimly. Her body was trying to replace its lost fluids. She got up
carefully and made her way to the kitchen, poured herself a big
glass of water and drank it. Then she opened her cupboard to see if
she had any iron pills in her vitamin stash. She did. They expired
a month ago, but she didn't care. She took one. Anything to help
this weakness go away, anything to rebuild her blood. She swallowed
a B-complex while she was at it, then poured herself more water,
and popped a microwave lasagna meal into the microwave. It was a
hardier breakfast than she usually had, but it seemed necessary
today.

She nearly kicked herself when she sat down
on the couch to call Luke and realized she
still
didn't know
Luke's last name or phone number. "God," she said to herself.
"Slut." She curled up under a blanket on the couch to watch TV.

Chapter 9

Luke knocked on Karina's door sometime after
dark. She could see him through the peephole. She had showered and
dressed, and put on some makeup to counteract the deathly pallor
she now had. She glanced down at her jeans and white lightweight
short-sleeved sweater to make sure she looked okay, then she opened
the door.

Luke stood there in jeans and a gray T-shirt
again. He'd realized after seeing the blond vampire that he had
dressed himself all in black like one of the Runic clan. They were
cruel and not human friendly. He was trying now not to be like
them.

"Can I come in?" Luke asked her cautiously.
"I won't be violent, I promise." Then he added, "I'm so sorry,"
quietly.

Karina opened the door wider and waved him
in. The minute he got inside the door, she said, "Last name and
phone number, please."

Luke looked startled, but relieved. He
laughed a little bit. "Uh, last name's Caldwell, and number..." he
took the pad of paper and pen she held out and wrote on it as he
smiled at her.

He handed the paper back to her and said,
"And what's your last name? I'm kidding. I read it on your mailbox
downstairs. Sorry." He looked sheepish. "Hulsin."

She smiled. She wrote on a different piece of
paper and gave it to him.

"Ah, your phone number. Thank you," he said,
and folded it and put it in his pocket.

She led him by the hand to the couch. She sat
and motioned for him to sit too.

"So," she said, "now that we are all caught
up on preliminaries..." she looked at a loss for words.

"You're a telekinetic," he said quietly.

She looked surprised. "And you're a vampire,"
she said.

"Yes," he said. "I'm so sorry."

"You have
got
to stop saying that,"
she almost laughed. Then she looked a little more sober as she
said, "Apparently, I'm into that." Then she said, "So, you noticed
the room?"

"The room?" he asked, confused.

Then she looked confused. "My bedroom was all
torn apart like a tornado had been through it. I thought that's how
you knew about my powers."

"Oh, I didn't even notice the room," he said.
Wow. "Though, truthfully it was probably both of us that tore it
up."

She raised her eyebrows. "You're a
telekinetic too?"

"Not anymore," he said. He looked down at his
hands as he tried to think of a way to explain it. He was so not
used to this. He never bothered to explain himself to anyone.
"Blood transference," he said finally. "When I drank your blood I
absorbed your powers for a few hours."

She looked very surprised. "Wow," she said.
"Wow."

"
That
part amazes you?" he asked,
laughing. "How are you totally okay with my being a vampire?"

"Oh," she said, "that. Well, I spent years
learning to accept the fact that I had psychic abilities.
Apparently, when I opened my mind to that, it opened my mind to
other things too. Vampirism doesn't seem so farfetched anymore."
She fiddled with the edge of her sweater and continued. "I hide my
ability from everyone I know. I know what it's like to have a
paranormal secret, I guess."

"And now here we are," he said.

"Here we are." She looked back up at him.
"Were you in my bedroom the first night we met?"

He looked embarrassed. "Yes, I was," he
admitted. "I, uh, was trying to make you my verae."

"Verae?" she asked.

"It's like a blood donor. I have the power to
mesmerize people so they don't remember my visit, and so they don't
wake up, but you did both. I crave human blood every once in a
while, but I don't kill people. A verae is just a person I drink
from occasionally."

"Wow," she said. "So, my psychic power makes
me immune to you?"

"Apparently."

"But, I mean, not completely," she said,
suddenly flustered. "I mean, I keep feeling a haze or something
when I'm around you. Like I'm in a cloud."

"I feel it too," he said.

"Wow."

He laughed.

"Where do we go from here?" Karina asked.

He took her hands and entwined their fingers.
"I do not know," he said seriously. "I think you'd be in danger if
you tried to be a part of my world."

"Really?" she asked. "Because I think you can
stop yourself from drinking my blood if you have to—"

"—No," he said, "that wasn't what I meant.
Danger from other vampires."

"Oh..." she said, realizing it for the first
time.

"And I don't want to make you a vampire," he
said sincerely.

"That's okay, I don't want to be one," she
answered quickly.

He looked surprised. "Most people who find
out about me do," he said. "Wow."

"Why do you have a heartbeat?" she suddenly
asked.

"I don't know. I mean all vampires do."

"And sunlight?"

"I'm fine in the sunlight," he said. "Not
every vampire myth is true."

"But most vampires aren't good like you? I
mean they kill people?" she asked.

"Yes, most vampires kill people. But a lot of
them are like me."

"Wow," she said.

He felt her hands shaking in his. "Too much
to take in?" he asked.

"A little," she said. "This is very
intense."

She had the need to be in his arms again, but
wasn't ready for anything as adventurous as last night to happen.
She stared at his chest and her fingers traveled up his arm a
little bit. He seemed to understand and pulled her to him and held
her. She still felt a little weak from losing blood. He had his
warm arms around her and she was exhausted from a thousand
different thoughts and emotions and recent experiences. She let her
eyes close, and fell asleep in his arms.

Chapter 10

Luke had left Karina sleeping peacefully in
her bed and quietly closed her apartment door. He needed time and
space to think. He walked down the darkened street as he pondered
everything that had happened.

He hadn't told her about the Runic clan and
their interest in her. Telling her about his vampirism was shocking
enough. He didn't want to frighten her. But he knew he couldn't
keep them away from her forever. Maybe they could hide somewhere.
Find a place with no other vampires, and hope to stay off their
radar.

He couldn't believe he was actually
considering going to so much trouble for someone. After all the
years he'd been alive, been sure there was no such thing as
soulmates, just lust and companionship, he couldn't believe he had
found her now. And she was so vulnerable and fragile. So human. How
could he protect her? How could he live without her once her human
life had come to an end?

***

Karina woke hazily. She was in her bed. Luke
must have put her there. It was still night. Her pink gauzy
curtains were fluttering gently in the breeze again. She hadn't
opened that window. Had Luke?

Suddenly she became aware of another presence
in the room. A black shape stepped out of the corner and towards
her. In the dim light, she could see it was a blond young man. She
felt her pulse quicken and panic traveled through her body. She sat
up quickly. He moved quicker.

He sped with superhuman speed over to her.
She screamed. She knew now he was a vampire. Faster than she could
even process it, he had tied her up on the bed. Her hands were
behind her back, her ankles were tied together. He tied a gag over
her mouth. Her screams were muffled. Objects started to fly around
the room randomly. The vampire stopped to look at the show and
laughed with delight. He clapped his hands together.

He turned to look at her and said with
appreciation, "You are amazing."

She struggled to breathe normally, to calm
her heart rate. Her panic was reaching a frenzy.

He bent down in front of her and put a finger
under her chin. "So pretty," he said. "You are going to be
perfect." He almost looked misty eyed. "My name is Geric," he said
to her. "I'm going to make you legendary." He said the last part
quietly, almost to himself. Then he got up and sped to the window.
He turned around and said, "Sit tight, I'll be back soon with my
crew. We're going to make you a vampire." He looked delighted
again, then sped out the window in a blur.

Objects kept flying around the room as Karina
tried to slow her breathing and calm herself down. She concentrated
on setting the objects down, then wondered if any of them could
help her. She had little hangnail scissors on her dresser. That was
the sharpest thing in the room. She'd never really worked to
control her power before, just suppress it. She concentrated on the
little scissors and they floated awkwardly across the room to her.
She scooted them with her mind till they were behind her. She
grabbed them with her hands and started to work on the rope with
them.

***

Luke had returned to Karina's building and
was staring at her window from the ground. He didn't want to wake
her, so he was going to jump up to the ledge and peek inside. But
her window was open. Had she done that? Should he go to her door
and knock? Just then he heard the sound of her muffled voice as she
struggled with something. He was up to the window in a flash.

He looked inside. She was tied up on the bed,
struggling to saw through a rope with tiny scissors. He sped over
to her and quickly untied her hands and removed the gag. Then
untied her legs.

"What happened?" he asked, alarmed.

"Oh, my God, Luke!" she said, throwing her
arms around him. She was shaking.

He held her tight. "What happened, Karina?
Who did this?" he said seriously. He looked around the room at
things lying on the floor and tipped over, drawers open again.

"It was a vampire," Karina said as she sobbed
into his shoulder. He held her tighter.

He rocked her a little bit, instinctively.
She calmed down and stopped sobbing.

"We have to get out of here," he said to
her.

"I know," she said sadly, pulling away to
look at him. "It's happening, isn't it? The danger you feared I
would be in from other vampires? His name is Geric. He said he
wanted to make me into a vampire." She looked at him with fear in
her eyes. "He liked that I could move things with my mind."

"I know," he said. "He's part of the Runic
clan. They collect people with abilities and make them into
vampires. I'll explain more later, but we really need to leave
now." He got up and looked around. "Pack up a few things, and I'll
run to my apartment to get money and anything else we might
need."

She stood and started looking around. "He
said he'd be back with his crew," she said.

"I'll wait while you pack," he said.

Chapter 11

A few minutes later, Luke and Karina were
hurrying through the lobby of her building, when two men dressed in
black marched confidently into the lobby. Vampires. One of them was
Geric. They stopped, and Geric waved his hand at the other one, a
stern looking man with long black hair. The black-haired vampire
sped out of the building and called up to someone in a window.
Another vampire with short dark spiky hair leaped from a window to
join him on the street, and they sped back inside to stand by
Geric. All of this happened within five seconds. Karina assumed the
vampire had been in her bedroom.

"Karina," Geric said happily, "and Hero." He
glanced at Luke. "Is this the girl you said you killed, Hero?"

"Leave us alone," Luke said with almost a
growl in his voice.

"So grouchy," Geric said with a smile. "This
is a happy day, Hero. Your lover is going to be made whole." He
looked appreciatively at Karina. "Of course, she will belong to us,
however."

Luke dropped her duffel bag and in a blur
rushed forward to attack Geric. He had knocked him to the ground in
a flash. Karina looked up in fear at the other two vampires. They
began to rush at her, but before they could she had thrown one of
the lobby couches at them with her mind. It knocked them over. She
ran for the stairwell. She ran up to the second floor and down the
hall. She quickly ran around the corner and then to the storage
room. It was never locked. Only the cages inside it were locked.
She ran to the back and around a chain link cage to hide in the
corner. Her heart was pounding. She had no idea how she had escaped
them. Maybe they hadn't seen which way she'd run. But couldn't they
hear her heartbeat or smell her blood? Something. She tried to calm
her breathing. Boxes and objects were starting to rattle around
inside the storage cages. She had to control her power.