Demon Vampire (The Redgold Series) (10 page)

“What are you doing?” Zack placed his hand on the side door, ready to open it. He had forgotten Orhn broke his right index finger. The motion of his clenched right hand caused the finger to snap forward. Zack flinched in pain. He was still angry over why Kyli was checking his teeth. He didn't mind the pain if he could get some more answers as to why everything was happening to him all of a sudden. “Why do people keep checking my teeth? What the hell is so special about my mouth? Why would a homicidal freak that thinks he is, and might actually be for all I know, a fully fledged vampire want to thumb over my teeth? Now you of all people have to check them too?” Zack wanted answers.

Kyli was more than willing to oblige. “You really want to know, don’t you?”

Zack nodded with a pout.

“Then settle down, you’re going to re-injure yourself if you keep moving around like that. To answer your questions, I’ll have to show you.” Kyli smiled wide, enough to show her shinny white teeth from side to side.

“So?” Zack saw that there was nothing special to them. He liked her smile, but it didn't appear to be weird or strange in any way.

Kyli opened her mouth tall and grinned, revealing her teeth under her taught lips. She had fangs, upper and lower. They weren’t as long as Orhn’s, but they were sharp none-the-less. Thin and resembling needles, they instantly frightened Zack.

“You’re a vampire too!?” Zack pushed back into the seat towards the door, searching for the handle he just had a firm grip on a moment ago.

“Sorry, it’s a little higher than most cars” Kyli’s teeth were flaring as she continued their conversation without pause. She pointed to the high placed location of the door handle as she smiled, still baring her fangs.

“What?” Zack was still searching. Stunned by the very sight of Kyli's smile.

“The handle.” Kyli said calmly. She knew that Zack wasn't going to find it without looking at it directly. She knew the idiosyncrasies of her car more than anyone. Zack didn't have a chance. She waited for him to stop struggling. “Not to call you a poor runner, but I truly doubt you can run from me with that leg of yours. Not to mention the fact that I’m stronger than you.” Kyli chuckled slightly and sat back. “You really have no clue, do you?” She stared off into the starry night.

“So, you are a vampire? For real? Just like Orhn?” Zack had stopped reaching for the handle. If Kyli was going to kill him, she wouldn’t have rescued him. That was the logic he had come to. Though he was still able to think of reasons he might be in danger. “Are you going to bite me?” Zack figured that if Kyli was a vampire, she would need blood after her fight with Orhn. His voice had a timid fear in it. It sounded like he was a little orphan boy asking for another portion of soup.

Kyli burst out laughing. “It’s true. You really don’t know.” She kept laughing. Kyli turned to Zack. “You sound pathetic you know. After seeing me, hell, after seeing him. Do you really think I would have trouble biting you if I wanted to? Jesus, after what he told you he was going to do to you? You still have the nerve to be afraid of me after him? I saw the smashed packet of blood next to your leg. He realized what you were before it was too late. Now I know what you are as well. It seems that you’re the only one who doesn’t.” Kyli burst out laughing again.

Zack was feeling a little left out in the conversation and sat back quietly.

“No Zack, I’m not a vampire. That guy who did this to you, Orhn, he is. I’ll be okay by morning as I said. And that's because I'm not human either. Just not a vampire like him.” Kyli pointed to her neck. It had completely closed, it resembled only a bad paper cut now. Nothing to what it was like earlier. “As for if I’m going to bite you or not, well.” Kyli leaned forward. Using her left hand to pull at Zack’s neck she placed her lips up to his left ear and whispered. “I am going to bite you. My fangs will pierce your throat and you will bleed into my mouth. You will become dizzy from the anemia. Your hands will shake. Your eyes will roll back into your head. The sounds around you will dull, the world will close up like a flower in winter. You might even die.”

Zack wasn’t breathing. He didn’t think Kyli wanted to hurt him, this wasn’t making sense. Kyli liked him, or so he thought. She drew back her lips over her wet sharp teeth, forcibly pulling Zack to her by the back of his neck.

“But not before we have our better date.” Kyli eased off the tension around Zack’s neck. She kissed his cheek firmly.

Relieved, Zack took a deep breath and sighed. “I thought you wanted to kill me, Kyli. What was that for?” Zack wasn't worried about what Kyli was anymore, just that she didn't intend to kill him.

“To show you that it’s not a bad thing to be afraid sometimes. To know that there are some things out there that will always be stronger than you. To accept that and still live on regardless of what might happen. Perseverance, It’s what lets you know you’re still human, that we’re still human, deep down. That it doesn't matter what we do, but how we choose to do things.” Kyli’s tone dropped, what she said had saddened her. Kyli had remembered a moment in her life that had greatly upset her. Something that Zack wasn’t about to just take a stab at and try to fix.

To change the subject, Zack spoke up. Hoping some banter might take Kyli's mind off her worries. “Not to change the subject, but what about me? My dad doesn’t even know I’m gone. For Christ sake, I was kidnapped last night. He’ll figure it out eventually. And what the hell am I supposed to say about everything that happened to me? He'll freak. Knowing him, we might move as soon as next week if he thinks my life is in danger.”

“It is.” Kyli stated assuredly.

“It is?” Zack became frantic again.

Kyli turned to Zack. “Listen, Zack. You can’t tell him. You have to take this slowly. We need a little time together.”

Kyli leaned towards him, her body curvaceously calling to Zack's eyes.

“Together?” Zack perked up.

Kyli snapped her fingers. “Focus, Zack.”

Zack thought about the situation for a second. He got angry again. “What do you mean ‘I can’t tell him’? I think the hole in my leg will do a little more than raise an eyebrow or two.” Zack straightened his glasses.

“Let me take care of you first. Then we’ll talk to your dad together about what happened here.” Kyli was dismissing Zack's fears.

“Then you'll help explain things?” Zack wanted to be sure before he agreed to anything.

“Of course I'll explain.” Kyli was treating Zack like a child. Telling him everything was going to be okay.

Kyli started the engine. It roared, far louder than what a person might think it would from the look of the flashy station wagon. She put the automatic car into gear and they rolled out of the back alleyway and onto the street.

Zack scrambled for the seatbelt. He buckled himself with haste. Kyli wasn’t wearing one. She hadn't bothered to reach for it.

Zack commented. “You know that’s dangerous.”

Kyli smiled. “Only if we crash in the daylight and only if you’re not around.”

Confused, Zack asked. “What do I have to do with you putting on your seat belt?”

Kyli swiftly placed her right hand onto Zack's chest and pushed him back into his seat with a single finger, her lissome ability showed well. She turned to him for a moment and smirked. “Exactly.”

Zack kept quiet for a minute.

They drove a few miles down the road, into downtown Gainesville.

“Where are you taking me?” Zack wasn't familiar with the neighborhood.

“To a place where we can heal you, nice and quickly.” Kyli’s smile was stretching ear to ear with the thought of messing with Zack further.

“Are you studying to be a doctor or do you plan on having someone make a house visit?” Zack complained.

“No, there'll be no doctor seeing you. Why'd you ask?” Kyli's reply was playful and carefree.

“I need to be seen by a doctor, not someone that wants to play one.” Zack argued.

“So now you want to play doctor? Zack, I didn't know you had it in you to ask.” Kyli was toying with Zack. “Don't get so flustered. I told you I'd take care of you.”

Pessimistically.
“So you’re telling me that tomorrow I’m 'gonna be able to do jumping jacks?” Zack didn’t believe it for a second.

“No.” Kyli paused. “I’m saying that by this time tomorrow you'll be able to run a marathon on that broken leg of yours that you're harping on. Not to mention your asthma.”

“But I can’t run a marathon now.” Zack’s glasses were falling off his right ear he was so flustered.

“You're doing it. Just as I told you not to.” Kyli rolled to a stop at a light, leaned over the large middle expanse and pushed his glasses back up for him. “Don’t worry so much. Believing what I'm saying has nothing to do with the outcome.” The light turned green and she continued.

“Okay, but you still haven’t answered my question. Where are you taking me?” Zack wanted to know what her intentions were.

“To a steak dinner!” Kyli proclaimed.

“I am a little hungry, but I read that you shouldn’t eat meat if you have a broken bone. It slows the healing process.” Zack was whining, he wanted to go to the hospital and call his dad to begin to explain what happened to him. However, he didn't. He kept staring at Kyli as she drove.

“You’re just whining now. Come on, we’ll take you upstairs, bandage your arm, leg, and splint your finger. Then I’ll serve you up a nice juicy red steak.” Kyli was getting excited and her fangs where showing more. She ran her tongue over and around the tips.

Zack watched Kyli for a minute, enjoying the way she moved, the way she spoke. Then Zack had to speak. “Well, I actually don’t really like my meat rare. I only eat very well done. There’s something about the consistency that makes me hurl.”

The car came to another stop light and Kyli wasn’t pulling forward after it changed. “You mean you’ll vomit if you were to eat a bloody steak?”

“Yeah, that’s the just of it.” Zack explained.

Kyli ripped out laughing. She would have been rolling on the floor laughing out loud, but there was no floor to be found in the car. Kyli made due with rocking side to side in her seat. She was hysterical.

Zack was alarmed for a moment. “What are you doing?”

Kyli froze. Zack could see she had thought about something for a second then reached into her shirt pocket for a cell phone. She pressed a few bottoms and showed the screen to Zack.

“ROTFLOL?” Zack read it aloud.

Kyli burst out into another laughing fit as a car came up behind them and honked. Kyli drove onward down the street, trying to calm herself.

“What’s so damn funny?” Zack was feeling like Kyli was making fun of him. That it was a joke at his expense.

In reality, Kyli was laughing at what was coming later that night. A scene that she so vividly predicted in her mind. “You’ll see and I’ll keep laughing when you do.” Kyli peered into the distance on the right. “And here we are.”

There was a row of hotels on the right side of the road. Gainesville didn’t have a red-light district in a true sense. This string was the closest thing they had. Zack didn't know what to think about where they were headed.

“You’re taking me to a Motel for a steak dinner?” Zack was expecting a 24-hour restaurant, not a rundown Motel steak.

“No, I’m taking you to a Hotel.” Kyli sounded irritated.

“What’s the difference?” Zack had the nerve to ask a stupid question.

Kyli seemed annoyed. “A motel is for deadbeats and the used shells that were once people. A hotel is for a weekend getaway or an overnight stay on a business trip.”

“Okay, then which Hotel are you taking me to?” Zack looked out towards the hotels on the side of the road more.

There were only three hotels left in the row a Ramada, a Holiday, and the brand new Waterfield Heights Hotel. They were in the newspaper a few months ago. The town had made a spectacle about the chain finally coming to their midsized college town. It was an event for those who cared. Zack didn't pay too much attention to it until he saw it firsthand. It was a seven level hotel with a long string of white lights lining the edge of the rooftop. It was intended for visiting starlets and public figures that might be passing by.

Zack thought about the hotel for a second and then began to think about where his wallet was. There was nothing in his right front pocket, where it should have been. Zack knew that if Kyli was considering this a real date, he would have to pay. The venue didn't matter. Zack did think it was odd that she was bringing him to a hotel though. Zack wanted to know what Kyli was planning on doing with him that needed complete detachment from their normal homes. A feeling of dread washed over him as he concluded that Kyli might be testing him. She might be setting him up to see if he takes the check or at least offers to pay at the counter.

A bead of sweat ran down his face as they passed the Ramada. This was one of those moments where there was no easy way out. They passed the Holiday. If Zack didn’t offer to pay, Kyli might think he was cheap and not want to see him again. On the other hand, if he did offer to pay and he couldn’t produce his wallet, there was also a problem. Zack was mauling over what to do as Kyli turned into the parking lot of the Waterfield Heights Hotel.

“We’re here.” Kyli rang out as she drove the car up to the valet area.