DraculaVille - New York - Book One (11 page)

He gave her a grin and did an exaggerated windup. When he let fly, the ball whizzed through the air in a white blur. The game owner broke off his exaggerated promotion calls and froze as the metal bottles tumbled to the ground. And that was just Drake’s first ball.

It took him nine balls to work from a palm sized toy dog to a four foot tall fuzzy panda. He presented it to Talia with a bow.

“I can’t carry all these.” She laughed. Juggling the various animals he’d won.

“Hey, kids,” Drake called to a family with three young children. “Want some stuffed toys?”

They squealed and jumped up and down as Drake handed the smaller animals to them. The parents looked on with amusement, no doubt glad they’d be spared having to spend money to buy toys.

Talia hoisted the bear under her arm and headed down the line of arcade game booths.

“Want another one?” Drake asked.

She chuckled. “No. We’ll have to rent an extra taxi just to get this one home.”

He put a hand on her elbow, stopping her, as he scanned the crowd before them.

“What’s wrong?” She searched the faces ahead, following his stare.

His intent expression eased. “Nothing, I thought I saw something. Never mind.”

“You seemed upset.”

He pressed his lips into a firm line. “I’m sorry. I just want to be ready if there are any other vampires around. It’s dangerous.”

A shiver ran along her arms. She never considered where vampires would hang out. “Why would they choose an amusement park?”

He came around to face her. “Why? It’s full of people, it’s dark. Seems like a great place to me.”

“I can’t imagine people being picked off in places like this. It’s too creepy.”

“Come on, Tal. Do you think all vampires are eating blood from Wong’s Chinese Grocery? Humans are food, just like your Coney Island hot dog.” He grimaced.

A couple people cast them curious glances. Drake wrapped his fingers around her upper arm and urged her into a narrow space between two of the booths where garbage cans were stacked.

“You think they’re killing people here? In the middle of New York City?” Her heart raced. She didn’t want to think about other vampires.

“Of course they are. Why haven’t you thought about this?” His eyes flashed in the shadows. “We’re in danger, Talia. I feel it. That encounter in the night club wasn’t the end of our interaction with the vampires of New York. Trust me.”

“If people are being killed, surely it would be noticed. What about the police?” Her mind searched for some reason to dispel the fear.

“Do you have any idea how many unexplained deaths happen in this city every day?”

She took a step back, frightened by the force of his words. “Sure but…”

A bottle tumbled to the pavement to their right and rolled, clattering until it came to a stop against a grimy trashcan. A mass of tattered rags at the base of the can shifted slightly.

Talia’s gaze met Drake’s. Fear shot through her heart.

Drake sidestepped soundlessly and reached down to grab a handful of the rags. A street urchin’s face appeared, pale and streaked with dirt.

“It’s a little kid,” Talia cried. “Poor thing.”

The child’s head wobbled on a spindly neck, and a dead rat fell from its hand.

She walked forward, squinting through darkness to make out the child’s features. Pale skin glowed faintly in the evening's dimness; eyelids fluttered but remained closed. Drake peeled layers of tattered clothes to reveal a young boy.

“Is he alive?” she whispered. She touched his dirty cheek with one finger, but he only moaned.

“Talia, this is a vampire child.” Drake pushed the matted hair from the boy’s forehead. “He’s starved.”

Shock sent Talia stumbling back several feet. Another vampire? “Dear lord. What is it with you people and hiding in garbage?”

He rolled his eyes. “We have to help him.”

“We do?”

“You helped me.” He turned accusing eyes to her.

“I know, but…”

“Are you now making distinctions between who deserves to live and who doesn’t?”

The child moved. Drake wrapped an arm around his shoulders and looked at him with such tenderness, Talia sucked in a gasp. The vulnerability of that expression cut open her heart.

“What do you want to do?” She hugged her panda like a lifeline.

“Take him home. Feed him. All the things you did for me.” His eyes held a strange appeal she couldn’t resist. He didn’t just want to help this child, he
needed
to.

“Okay, okay.” She fumbled in her pocketbook for her cell. “I’ll call Gerri and tell them to meet us at my place.”

His smile was reward enough to pay for her trouble. He lifted the thin figure in his arms. The boy’s head rested on his shoulder, like that of a tired child who’d gone to sleep after too much excitement and cotton candy. Talia figured the boy must only be about six or seven years old. How had he ended up as a vampire? Was he bitten and left to die like Drake?

She trailed after them as they made their way through the crowds to where taxis lined up waiting for people to leave. The driver didn’t seem to think anything strange in the lifeless body of their child. No doubt kids frequently pooped out at Coney Island.

They didn’t speak on the ride home, although Drake hummed a soft, unidentifiable tune to the young boy he held in his arms. She hugged her panda to her chest, hoping this might possibly turn out all right.

Chapter 14

“He’s a vampire?” Felix’s gaze fixed on the small, still body stretched out on the carpet at the entrance to Talia’s dining room. Drake hovered, hands on hips.

Gerri the healer rushed to the child and began stripping off his tattered clothes. She ran her fingers over his pale torso and up his neck to his head, lifting his eyelids and opening his mouth. “He’s nearly dead,” she said, frowning. “Or more undead. Whatever you call it. He’s unresponsive.”

“He needs blood,” Drake said, pacing.

Talia hurried into the kitchen. She poured blood into a plastic tumbler and stuck a straw in it, then rushed to the dining room. “Here.” She handed the cup to Drake.

He looked at it. “A straw?”

She shrugged. “I thought kids liked straws.”

Shaking his head, he knelt beside the still boy. “Stay back, I don’t know how he’ll react to blood, being as starved as he is.”

She took a step back with Felix and Gerri. Drake lifted the boy’s head and braced an arm around his thin shoulders. He dipped a finger in the blood and spread the red liquid on the boy’s parted lips. Nothing happened for a few seconds. Then a pale pink tongue inched out and back. A moan rumbled from his throat, and the tongue flicked out again.

Drake dipped more blood with his forefinger, smearing it across lips that trembled slightly. Finally, the child’s eyelids fluttered, then flew open. His gaze went to Drake’s and he feebly moved his arms, but Drake kept his form firmly clamped against his chest. He lifted the cup and directed the straw into the boy’s mouth.

“Drink,” he said. “It’s good for you. We’re trying to help you.”

Eyes bright with fear flickered toward the cup then to Drake’s face. When he nodded encouragement, the look of fear abated a bit and the boy allowed the straw between his lips. When the blood hit his mouth, a sound like an angry kitten growling emitted from the boy’s chest. His hands flew to the cup and gripped it from both sides. His cheeks sucked in as he drew on the straw. Drake released the cup but kept his arm around the boy’s shoulders.

The blood disappeared in seconds. Drake handed the cup to Talia to refill. The boy began to cry, his face scrunched and tearless sobs shaking his frail body. Drake wrapped both arms around him and held him close until the trembling ceased.

Talia returned and handed the refilled cup to Drake. “Here.”

“Easy, drink slowly,” Drake murmured when the boy lurched for the cup.

After three cups, Drake finally released the child and pulled him to his feet by one hand. “Sit over here.” He directed him to a chair at the dining room table, helping him stumble there by keeping a hand on his shoulder.

The boy climbed onto the chair. Deep amber eyes sunk in paper white cheeks scanned their faces. He no longer appeared frightened, but curious and wary.

“What’s your name?” Gerri asked.

“I ain’t got no name,” he said, hunching his shoulders.

“Do you know what happened to you?” Talia took the empty cup from Drake and set it on the table.

He glanced up at Drake.

The older vampire gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Go ahead, son. Tell us everything you know. We want to take care of you.”

“Well, I don’t remember much. I know I was at the amusement park. Seemed like I didn’t have no home, just scrounged for food and slept in the storage sheds there. Some lady told me she’d give me some money if I walked through the back alley with her, said she was scared. The next thing I know I’m wakin’ up in a pile of trash. The lady was gone and I didn’t know what happened. Everything I tried to eat came right back up. I took to grabbin’ rats and bitin’ em. The blood tasted good, but I could never get enough. I got weaker and weaker. I don’t know much else.”

Drake patted his shoulder.

“He needs a name,” Talia said.

“Let’s call him Pip.” Gerri crossed her arms.

“Seriously? Dickens?” Felix rolled his eyes.

“I like Pip,” the boy said.

“Then Pip it is.” Talia tilted her head, studying the urchin. “You need a bath and some new clothes.”

Pip wrinkled his nose. “I ain’t much for baths.”

“Well, you have to be clean if you’re going to stay here.” She jerked her head to Drake. “I think this is
your
job.”

“What about clothes?” Her assistant rubbed his chin.

“Some of Talia’s should fit him until you can get some tomorrow,” Gerri said.

Talia started to say something about the constant digs at her slim figure, but decided it wasn’t worth it. “Okay, I’ll see what I can find. Maybe some sweat pants and a T-shirt.”

She found items that might work and handed them in the door to the hall bathroom where sounds of splashing and loud complaints alternated. Back in the living room, Gerri and Felix had settled into seats, so she took a place on the couch beside her friend. Uncertainty pressed against the corners of her mind. What had she gotten herself into? Drake was one thing, but he was an adult. She wasn’t equipped to deal with a child. She didn’t even like children much. They always broke things you really liked, or spilled something red on something white. She made a mental note to get Pip a sippy cup so he wouldn’t spill blood everywhere.

“So how did you find him?” Gerri asked.

Talia relayed the story and Drake’s insistence that they help him.

“A week ago, I didn’t believe in vampires. Now we’re fairly swimming in them.” Her assistant shook his head. “What are you going to do with him, Tal?”

“I have no idea. It seems really important to Drake, so what can I do?” She hugged her arms around her chest. “I have to admit, abandoning him is out of the question.”

Gerri leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “I think Drake feels very alone. He lost his past and now he’s turned into something he doesn’t fully understand or want. Taking care of Pip takes his mind off his own troubles. Don’t you get how disturbed he is at what happened to him? Haven’t you noticed when we talk about what vampires can do, he gets upset and withdrawn?”

Talia lowered her head. “I think you’re right.”

“Hey, guys. Check out our new buddy.” Drake escorted Pip into the living room. The child wore Talia’s clothes with the legs of the sweatpants rolled up. His damp brown hair hung onto his forehead in clumps, and his pale skin, now clean, glowed in the lamplight. Drake directed him to the couch and sat beside him.

“I don’t like baths,” Pip declared, lips pouting. He cast a mutinous gaze at Drake, but scooted back in his seat.

“Well, if you stay here, you have to be clean, so get used to it,” Talia said.

“You can’t keep living in the gutter, honey,” Gerri said. “You were almost dead.”

“Probably better if I was.” Pip tucked his chin to his chest.

“Why do you say that?” Felix asked.

“Drake said I’m a vampire.” Pip cast a sideways look at the older vampire. “That means I need blood to live. I don’t want to kill nothin’. Makes me feel sick to think about it. I hated bitin’ those rats.”

“Drake told you we can get you blood, right? You don’t have to kill anything.” Talia put a hand on the boy’s knee.

“Yeah, that’s what he said. But why would you be nice to me?” Pip’s eyes narrowed.

She exchanged glances with Drake and her friend. The poor kid had more issues than just being a vampire. Apparently no one had ever taken care of him. He was a street child. A loner. The idea of others caring for him must be alien. How incredibly sad.

“Never mind everything that happened to you in the past. We’ll be your friends and help you. That’s all you need to know. Okay?” She locked eyes with Drake, and the gratitude shining in his gaze nearly overwhelmed her. Maybe she was reaching that redeemable part of herself after all. His approval sent a pleasurable rush through her veins that made her tingle all over.

“I ain’t never had a family before. I’m pretty sure of that.” Pip bit his bottom lip. “I’d like to have one, though.”

Tears welled in Gerri’s eyes and she turned away. Felix coughed and strode into the kitchen. Talia’s heart melted at the sorrow in Drake’s eyes.

Pip snuggled against Drake and laid his head on his shoulder. A muscle twitched in Drake’s cheek, and his fingers curled into a fist.

“I’ve got to head home,” her assistant said when he returned to the living room, his eyes rimmed with red. “I’ll call you tomorrow. You going?” He raised his chin to Gerri.

She quickly wiped her eyes and nodded, rising from her chair. “Yes, I, uh, need to get some sleep.” Her voice quivered.

Cowards. Talia gave them a wave, none too pleased by their wimping out. Sentimental weaklings.

Drake stood and motioned for Pip. “I think you could use some rest. Come on and I’ll show you where we’ll sleep.”

Pip yawned and obediently trudged after Drake down the hall, a sad looking little figure in baggy knit pants that had unrolled and dragged the floor.