Her Vampire Ward (3 page)

"What
happens if we need to leave?" he asked, putting down his cards.

"It
won't happen."

He
touched my hand. "Please."

I
sighed, tossed my cards onto his pile. "Just a little night
stroll to a bunker in the woods. I'll cast as we walk. It will take a
couple hours, I can't run and-" He shook his head. "What?"

He
avoided my eyes. "I've been on the run since long before you all
were called. I won't make it, unless..."

Starving.
My suspicions were right. "You can walk?"

"Yes,"
he said, "But not for long. I'm light-headed even now."

"Shit."

"I'm
sorry."

"No,
no, that wasn't directed at you.
I'm
sorry."
I pulled my jacket off, revealing a black tank top and a harness
holding a knife below each arm. "Better to be over prepared and
ready to move. Though we won't need to." With my hair braided to
one side as it was, I was as ready as I could be. I turned my back to
him and tilted my neck.

"This
is not what I meant." His voice was hard, angry. "I
wouldn't ask this of you."

"No,
but I'm telling you to do it. We have no feeders, here," I said.
"This is part of the job. I can't keep you safe if you're too
weak to walk."

I
felt the mattress sink as he knelt behind me. "I'm sorry I
brought this down on you."

"Stop
it. You're doing the right thing. This is our business, we know the
risks." I didn't understand why he was so apologetic. Just
because of the warlock? It wasn't his fault that maniac had been
brought in to deal with him.

He
touched my neck with one finger, raising goosebumps. I shivered.
"You've done this before?" he asked.

"Yes."
I was nervous, then. I didn't know why - I could stop him in his
state if he lost control, though I somehow knew he wouldn't. So what
was there to be afraid of? "Do it."

He
gripped my shoulder to hold me still. His lips touched my neck, cool
and wet as he moistened the area. It sent a little thrill of
anticipation through me, and I stiffened.
Oh,
no.

"I
won't hurt you," he whispered, misinterpreting my tension. I
heard his fangs snap out, and then he sank them into my neck.

It
wasn't the sting that frightened me, or the prospect of him
attempting to drink me dry. It was the touch of his lips. They moved
against my skin as he drank, his tongue and teeth firm against the
punctures. I found myself leaning into him.
Do
not become attracted to a client
,
I chanted in my head.

He
sucked on my neck with the rhythm of the pulsing alarm, probably
without realizing. When he wrapped his arm around my waist and held
me tight against him, I knew I was in trouble. He was nothing like
the other vampires we had dealt with, so arrogant, so disdainful of
being protected by humans. For some reason, he trusted me.

My
hand found its way into his hair, gripped and pulled him closer. He
groaned.
Bad,
this is bad
.
I tried to stamp my feelings down, force myself to pull my hand away,
but it was so hard with him sucking on my neck. His tongue moved
against me now, lapping at my blood but also dancing across the
sensitive skin.

I'd
gotten so good at ignoring my own feelings that I hardly recognized
them sometimes, but it was so much easier to stay in denial when no
touching was involved. It felt like a floodgate opening.
No
wonder I want protect him so badly.
My body
pressed into his with a will of its own. I was moving with the same
rhythm, the rise and fall of the low hum of the incessant alarm. I
could feel it all around me, like the whole building throbbed with
it, with us, with the beating of my heart like a drumbeat in my ears.
He was so firm against my back, his grip growing stronger with every
pulse. My head spun, and it took a moment before I remembered that
blood loss was a concern. "You have to stop."

He
pulled his mouth away with a shudder and rested his chin on top of my
head, still holding me trapped against him. "You taste so good,"
he whispered, "It's like-"

"Shhh."
I was breathing heavily myself. I wrapped my arms around his, holding
it in place around me. "Shhh. Alek. Don't say anything."
This
is a problem
.
I had never become aroused when being fed on before, but my panties
had become wet very quickly. It was intense. I wanted his mouth on me
again.

He
felt it, too. “I think I’m getting the hang of the new
name,” he said, voice low. He flipped my braid behind me,
tilted my head to expose the other side of my neck.
Stop
this
.
His mouth met my skin. He didn't sink his teeth in this time. His
fingertips played along my jaw as his lips left a wet trail,
wandering up towards my earlobe. He nipped it between his front teeth
before drawing it between his lips.

I
clung to his arm like I was drowning, and I was. He drew my head
around, kissed my eyelid, my cheekbone. My lips parted, waiting-

The
final alarm went off. It sounded only in my head. The pulsing hum
stopped, the air conditioner stopped. The silence was audible.

The
alarm in my head was an urgent wail, like an ambulance. It wouldn't
stop until I started the incantations and got out.

This
was not supposed to happen. There were more levels of escalation
before evacuating was even a thought. Something had gone wrong.

I
sprung into action as if programmed. I jumped to my feet as soon as
the wailing started and threw my jacket back on. I strapped on my
weapons as Alek stood behind me, asking questions I couldn't hear.

"Grab
my belt and don't let go. Whatever happens." We had to stay in
contact for this to work, and I needed my arms free. He did as I
said. I pocketed the herb packets and matches, held the still-smoking
bowl in my hands, and started chanting.

Translated,
the words meant simply, "We are not here."

I
led Alek out of the room. Two more agent/client pairs appeared as
well, in the same configuration, repeating the same phrase.

We
made our way down the stairs in the dark and found Carolyn waiting in
the basement doorway.

She
strapped a backpack to Alek's back, gave me a considering look, and
motioned for us to go.

Of
course. The cameras. I was just grateful it hadn't been Ian watching.
Or worse, my brother.

We
and the other two pairs went separate ways into the woods, chanting
without pause. Alek followed in silence, grasping my belt. I was glad
I had warned him, though I had never expected it to come to this.
Especially not so soon after letting him feed off me. We were going
to be in trouble.

-

My
voice was raw. I was stumbling, unsteady. It was so bright. Was the
vampire still with me?

I
turned to check. He was trudging along blindly, covered by a large,
black tarp discovered in the pack. How many hours had it been? I
should never have let him drink. My steps were shambling.

Refilling
and relighting the bowl were the only breaks I took. He held me
steady as I went through the motions, terrified that I would drop the
match or spill the bowl and open us up to detection.

I
followed my path through the woods like an arrow, a trail only I had
been trained to see.

I
was chanting in a whisper. Alek stopped me, turned me around. He
peered out from beneath the tarp. The method was not the most
effective - the man was sweating blood.

My
blood, I thought, and fought down a giggle, giddy with exhaustion.
"If you lose your voice, does the spell stop working?" I
shook my head. Whispering was enough.

“
What
if I took over the words? Would that work?” I shook my head
again. Nothing could vary. Any change, any pause was an opening. So I
whispered and walked and trailed the vampire behind me.

I
wanted to cry when we finally reached the spot. It had taken so much
longer than it should have. Hours. I just couldn’t move fast
enough. I sank carefully to my knees, placed the bowl on the ground,
and brushed away the dead leaves and foliage. There, a large wheel. I
struggled to turn it as if steering a bus, heaving at it with two
hands. Alek tried to help, but it exposed his hand to the sunlight
and he pulled back with a hiss. I had to stop and rest twice before I
managed to open the hole in the ground, pulling the heavy door
upwards. I indicated for Alek to climb down ahead of me, to keep
holding my belt. He went down into the darkness by a small ladder on
the side of the hole, and I followed, bowl in one hand.

I
pulled the door down, slammed it shut above me. The wheel turned
easier now, locking it closed. The climb down was long, and I chanted
the whole way. It was probably about four stories from top to bottom.
I worried that it wasn’t deep enough, but we’d have to
trust it. The place was heavy with old spells, old magic. I could
feel it, and I didn’t even have much of an affinity for such
things. It felt like a grave, but it felt safe.

I
finally stopped chanting once we reached the concrete floor. I yanked
a cord in the ceiling, switching on the lone lightbulb. Shelves of
canned goods and military rations lined two of the walls. Another
shelf of nothing but water sat against the third, and a cot was
pushed up against the fourth. There were two offshoot rooms - one
with a toilet, and another with a tiny stove.

And
vents everywhere, all leading very far away. The air was stale, but I
wouldn’t run out.

I
sank to the floor with my back to the bottles of water. Alek hung his
tarp on the ladder. He took the bowl from my hand and placed it on
the stove, then opened a bottle of water and pressed it to my lips.
“Drink,” he said. I grabbed it from him and drank in long
gulps, spilling it all over myself in the process. He waited until I
came up for air. “Can you rest now?” I blinked, seeing
the blood on his face as if for the first time.

“
Shit,”
I whispered, “Are you bloody all over?”

“
No.
Just my face and hands. Here, lie down on the cot.” My brow
furrowed. “I’ll wash it off in a minute. It’s
healing already.”

“
You
look like you need to lie down more than I do,” I said, trying
to speak more clearly. My voice barely worked. It was high, raspy. I
took another long drink of the water.

“
You
need to eat something, too.” He was right, but the thought of
the dusty old cans of beans turned my stomach.

“
Was
there anything in the pack?”

“
Shh,”
he said, “Rest your voice.” He rummaged through the
backpack and pulled out a couple of protein shakes and bars, kept
cool by an ice pack. Carolyn was a lifesaver. I drank from one of the
cans while Alek used another bottle of water to rinse the blood off
himself over the little toilet. “Eat,” he said over his
shoulder, “Please. It will make me feel better if you do.”

I
just wanted to close my eyes for the next twelve hours, but I nibbled
at one of the bars. He was right, anyway, I needed to regain my
strength. Cleaned up, he sat on the cot and watched me. The bar slid
from my fingers before I was half finished. He moved to grab my arms,
but I wrenched them away. “Take the cot, Eve.”

“
No.
No sleep. Help my get this sword off.” He knelt in front of me
and unclasped the harness. He lifted it and hung it next to the tarp.

“
Whatever’s
coming or happening won’t be for some time, still, right?”
I nodded. “So you should sleep first. I’ll wake you if I
hear anything. Your phone, the door, anything. Okay?”

He
was making sense. I was only being contrary out of exhaustion. There
was no reason not to sleep in shifts, no reason for me to sleep
sitting up on the floor. “Help me up.” He took my jacket,
the guns from my hips, the knives. I set an alarm on my phone for
four hours, left it and my walkie on the floor nearby. I flopped onto
my stomach on the cot - I felt Alek untying my boot, but was out
before I could protest.

-

“
Eve.”
Someone was shaking my shoulder. “Your alarm is going off.”

“
I’m
awake.” Why did my voice sound so funny? My memory was slow to
catch up. I opened my eyes. Alek was sitting on the floor next to the
cot, leaning back against the wall. I grabbed my phone and tapped the
alarm off. “All’s quiet?” I asked, stalling.
Sitting up would be hard.