Kill Me (12 page)

Slowly, tenderly, Bette pushed her lips against the girl’s skin, and I heard a low popping sound, like an oily bubble bursting. The stripper moaned and writhed as Bette latched on, drawing the blood into her mouth in long gulps. The moaning grew louder, cresting when the girl shuddered and went limp again. A dark spot spread across the peach fabric of her g-string.

Bette pulled away from the girl and I could see a fine trail of blood in the corner of Bette’s pouty mouth. She licked the trace away with a flick of her tongue, stroked the girl’s hair and murmured to her for several minutes before the girl became more alert. When she had gathered herself up, Bette finally spoke aloud. “Is that proof enough for you Clara?”

“Nope. All that proves is that you have some strange dietary restrictions. I’m sure there is a logical answer for that—like you’re missing a gene or something.”

There was a term for that. Picarism. Or was that only for people who ate really weird shit like dirt or nickels? Did I really just infer that eating dirt was weirder than sucking blood? What was wrong with me?

I was panicking, with a deep undercurrent of denial. If vampires were real, then I’d be forced to revisit my Boogeyman fear, and I didn’t even want to consider the Leprechauns. Those little buggers creeped me the hell out.

Bette gave me a you-don’t-really-believe-that look and I averted my gaze. Morgan clung to me tighter and I could feel one of her hands snaking behind my back, clutching my rib cage. Her other hand was back up my skirt, resting close enough to my vagina that I could feel it twitch with anticipation. Even my body was going rogue.

“You seem intelligent enough. You can’t possibly refute what you just saw,” said Dark, pushing the head of his stripper down south so he could look me in the eye.

I felt the fight go out of me and it was more than a little depressing. “Okay, okay. It might be proof that you could possibly be what you say, uh, a vampire, but I think I’d know if I was one too. You didn’t bite me. I think I’d have noticed that.” I argued just because I wasn’t ready to believe just yet.

“Yes, I did. Look for yourself.” Bette motioned to my lap, roughly where Morgan’s hand still sat. I felt myself twitch again, though I wasn’t sure if it was from Morgan’s hand or Bette focusing on the supposed location of my bite.

I shook my head. No way was I going to hike up my skirt, spread my legs and look for a bite wound.

“Clara, you must,” Bette prodded.

“No, I most certainly do not,” I argued.

“The champagne is getting warm. Please, just do it so we can celebrate,” Bette tried again.

On a side note, how could she think I’d want to celebrate becoming one of the undead blood suckers? Really.

“Um, thanks, but no,” I repeated.

“Shall I help Claire bare her mark?” Dark said.

China giggled, though the sound was muffled as her face was currently buried in moderate cleavage.

“Oh, no!” I protested. “You’re not coming near me, slick.”

“Pity. I might have enjoyed it,” Dark said.

What an arrogant, self-absorbed ass. I was beginning to see that my instincts were spot on where he was concerned; he was the vampire to steer clear of if I could help it.

Bette sighed and slid her stripper off of lap. “Clara...”

Dangerous stood, holding up his hand to Bette, who fell silent at his interruption. Bette seemed unable to go against him. She watched him cross the carpeted floor, as did I, in silence.

He was bigger than I’d realized. Not in a body-builder type of way, either. He looked like someone who was just born tough, and the tight black fitted tee only exacerbated the fear creeping up my throat. God, he could probably tear me in two. A chill crept along my spine. He stopped in front of me and looked to Morgan, who quickly peeled away from my side.

“Look, I’m not going to show you anything either,” I said, biting my lip. I bit harder than I meant to and felt the stab of pain as my lip punctured. The tiny trickle of blood tasted heavenly though. Thoughts of my constant thirst returned to mind.

“Shhh,” Dangerous said, kicking my feet apart with his boot. “Just hold still, so we can get it over with.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but my voice faltered. Looking into his chestnut eyes froze me and I could do nothing but watch as he knelt in front of me and ran his large, scarred hands up the outsides of my legs. He pushed my skirt up around my hips, revealing my bare thighs and the front of my underwear. Thank god I’d gone with black lace. If I’d been wearing granny-panties, I probably would have staked myself right there.

Dangerous studied what little he could see for just long enough to make me squirm inside. I didn’t have any control over myself, so he had to be a vampire as well. It felt similar to the way I’d felt around Bette several times. Why had it taken me so long to realize she had some kind of power over me? I was such a fool.

He placed a hand on the inside of each of my knees and pried my legs apart like he was resetting a bear trap. The cool air hit my exposed skin and my body tightened. I was scared, yes, but more than that I’d been teased and titillated one too many times that evening. So a slight breeze was enough to make me breathe a little faster.

“It’s on the left,” Bette said coldly. I don’t think she liked the idea of Dangerous being that close to my goods either. “No, your left,” she clarified.

Without finesse or tact, he pushed the fabric of my underwear aside to reveal the skin along my bikini line. I did not look. It was bad enough feeling his rough hands so close, close enough that it was triggering a set of mini-quakes down there, but I certainly didn’t want to see it. For all I knew, my entire snatch was out on display for everyone. Nope, no way was I looking.

“Ah,” he said, running his fingers over two hard scabbed spots. “See here.”

I was mortified, sitting there spread eagle for the whole room to see. But only Dangerous was looking at me. He was bent over, his face very close to the place where I was beginning to want him. God help me, I’d gone from under-sexed housewife to nymphomaniac in a span of just a few days. It was like a switch had been flipped.

He inhaled sharply. “She reeks of you, Elizabetta.”

Dangerous pushed back from me abruptly and stood. I quickly lowered my gaze to my still-exposed lap. I prayed for a hole to open up in the floor so I could be sucked down into the pits of hell right then. I prayed for a strong shaft of sunlight to set me ablaze— I assumed that little factoid was true, but I hadn’t actually been in the direct sun, so I couldn’t be sure.

Bette laughed a smooth, buttery sound. “He only means that I’ve marked you, Clara. I’m sure you smell delicious as always.”

I don’t know if that made me feel better or not. “Thanks, I guess.”

My arms seemed to be working again, so I used them to fix my clothing. Nobody was looking at me, so I ran my hands over the spot and felt the marks myself. They were the ones I’d noticed in the shower earlier. How could I have forgotten about that already?

“So...” I said.

“It is time to celebrate!” Bette said.

She called Dark’s stripper over to the tray of waiting champagne. Bette took the girls wrist, whispered briefly in her ear, and brought the girl’s wrist up to her mouth. After a slight wet-popping sound, Bette held the girl’s bleeding wrist over each glass on the tray.

The crimson liquid rained down and sunk to the bottom of each glass. Bette brought the girl’s wrist back to her mouth, licked it quickly and dismissed the girl.

The stripper took a seat beside Dark, clearly dazed. At least she’d be able to go home at the end of the night and forget all about it. I, however, would probably remember the night for the rest of my life.

However long that was.

Chapter 14

Bette delivered each glass of champagne to the rest of us, taking a moment to swirl the contents first. I watched as the dark and light circled each other in the glasses, before melding into something new altogether. She stood in the center of the room with her glass aloft. ”Tonight, old friends, we celebrate the birth of Clara, a vampire like no other we’ve known.”

“Here, here.”

“Salud.”

Glasses chinked and everyone downed their laced drinks. Everyone but me, that is.

“Drink,” said Dangerous.

I drank slowly at first, because hell, the champagne did have blood in it. But then as the blood hit my taste buds, hunger took over. I gulped until the glass was empty. Then I tilted the glass up waiting for the last drop to slide out. I licked at the sides trying to get every last molecule. Table manners were not a priority.

“Clearly, she likes it,” said China, “but shouldn’t she need more? Does she even have fangs?”

It was a good question, really. I ran my tongue over my teeth, which felt like they always had. Normal, that is.

“I don’t know,” said Bette.

Dangerous got up and strode toward me, cocksure and full of himself.

“Wait,” I said. “A friend pointed out earlier that I seem to be empathic, or tele-something, so maybe that is why I’m not normal like you all.”

I held up my hand to Dangerous, hoping to keep him away from me as long as I could. He was a vampire after all. Bette was a vampire too. And I was… like them?

I still couldn’t make myself say the V-word.

“Maybe,” said Dangerous, not convinced.

“No really. She thinks I’m like a sponge. I soak up things that others are thinking or feeling and use it somehow.”

They all looked skeptical, not that I blamed them. It sounded stupid even to me.

“And maybe I can reflect things too, like with Domino. He was pissed off and I got so mad. For no reason at all—I could have choked him.” I didn’t point out that I probably had choked him, if not with my fingers then with my talent.

The room grew silent. Dark regarded me with equal parts apprehension and wonder, like I was a loaded gun that he wanted to pick up and play with.

“Who is this friend, Clara? You must not talk to outsiders about any of this, it is much too dangerous,” Bette said.

“Her name is Cassidy. I think she’s Wiccan or a witch or something. She figured out some of my weird behavior. She can help.”

I was babbling and I knew it. Anything to prevent the fang inspection.

“No, you must not talk to her again,” Dark ordered.

“It’s okay. She gave me this,” I placed my hand upon the necklace at my throat. “She said it would help block the some of the incoming things.”

Bette came over to me, reached out to touch the necklace, but recoiled at the last moment. “Take it off, Clara. That is tourmaline and it can harm you now. Slowly, like a poison, it will weaken you.”

I felt fine, better than I had before putting it on, but I didn’t feel like I could argue with Bette. She looked almost scared of the necklace. I unhooked the clasp and held the necklace out in my hand towards her.

She shook her head. “No, put it in your purse. It is hung on silver, which is bad for us as well. It won’t burn your skin, like those silly television shows, but it does weaken us.”

China leaned forward catching my eye. “Does your friend suspect you are vampire? It’s odd that she gave you a necklace that can hurt you two different ways.”

I’d like to think that Cassidy could be trusted, that she wouldn’t intentionally try to hurt me, but the truth was, I had no way of knowing that. Maybe she had given me something to help block my receptiveness and it was just a coincidence that the silver and the stones were bad for vamps. It didn’t mean the gift was ill-conceived.

“Cassidy didn’t have the whole story, so how could she have known?” I argued. “She has helped me so far. In fact, if it wasn’t for her I would even have a clue about these weird abilities that she thinks I have.”

Maybe even, that was why I was such a half-assed vampire. My dual natures were locked in conflict. Like yin and yang.

Whatever, I was getting tired and grumpy—and thirstier still. Bette watched as I put the stones away, only relaxing once I’d shut my purse and the necklace was out of view.

She pleaded to me with her eyes. “Until I can acquire answers, please say nothing to your friend.”

I gave Bette a small nod, letting her know that for now at least, I would keep Cassidy in the dark.

“You guys are real party animals,” China said. “Can we have some fun now?”

“Shut up, China,” Dangerous said, shooting her an irritated look.

“First, we need to see if she can feed,” Dark chimed in.

“Yes,” said Bette. “A Vampire cannot survive without nourishment.”

Bette looked forlorn and it made me want to comfort her. But then I realized what she meant. If I was a vampire, then I had to suck blood. If I couldn’t suck blood, I wouldn’t survive.

I could die. Well, shit.

“But isn’t it supposed to be instinct?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound too stupid.

Dangerous shrugged and Dark just looked smug. That bastard was gloating a big I-told-you-so at Bette.

“Teach me then,” I said, getting desperate.

I had Quinn to think of. Besides, I didn’t want to die. Or was I already dead? Anyway, it didn’t seem fair to go out like that, before I’d had a chance to get my life back on track.

Bette considered my plea, oblivious to my state of panic. “I have an idea,” she said. “This friend of yours, Cassidy is it? She thinks you can absorb the emotions of other? Like you did with Domino in the parking garage?”

“Yes,” I nodded, “probably.”

“Good, good. Let us hope she is right.” Bette gathered the attention of the others and directed her words to them. “Be as you are and let your desire to feed take focus.”

I knew what she was doing. They were going to try and use my gifts against me; they would trick my baby-vampire body into wanting to feed, and hopefully it would work.

“Morgan, go to Claire,” Dangerous commanded.

There was silence while everyone allowed the music to build the mood back up. Through the speakers, the pleading, seductive tones of a Melissa Etheridge classic began to play. What was up with that song lately? I was hearing it everywhere.

Morgan came to me and mirrored the other strippers by doing a seductive dance of dips and stretches. The swell of her hip. Those dimples at the top of her back.