Star, Starland Vamp Series, Book 1 (27 page)

I rocked Zac back and forth in my arms, thinking of the choice I had to make as tears slid slowly down my cheeks and fell onto his lovely face. Then I remembered the words his father told me not yet a week before, to use any means at my disposal to save his life, if it was necessary.

And that’s what helped me to quickly make my decision.

The words ‘if it was necessary.’ I knew I had to try anything else first. I just couldn’t condemn him to a life of constant thirst unless it was necessary. I pulled the shirt from his glorious body, slid my Ballistics knife from the sheath tied tightly around my ankle, and slit my wrist.

Blood quickly coursed from the wound. At once, I held my wrist to his lips, letting my thick, crimson blood drip into his mouth. “Drink, Zac!” I yelled into his ear through my tears. “You have to drink, Zac!” My blood has healing powers for humans and I knew that if I could get him to drink it, maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have to turn him into a vampire.

With his bare chest exposed, I could see that the bullet entered his abdomen on his left side. I hated myself for what I was about to do, but he was way beyond feeling pain now. Instantly, I made a cross cut over the wound, then reached gingerly into his side until I felt the hard steel of the bullet as blood covered my hand from his wound. As gently as I could manage, I grabbed the casing of the hard steel and pulled the bullet from his side, hoping not to do more damage than had already been done. Then with my knife, I dropped my blood drip by drip into the wound, hoping it would heal him. Then I held the skin of the opening closed, and smeared my blood over it, sealing the wound.

“Zac? I whispered into his ear, tearing his shirt into strips. I quickly tossed aside the strips covered in blood, while the clean strips I used to cover the wound, hoping to seal my blood into it. “Zac, can you hear me?”

Nothing.

Suddenly, blue lights flashed from behind the car.

Shit! That’s all I need right now,
I thought to myself, but decided to use it to my advantage. I didn’t have time to run. Not with Zac’s life in the balance.

Slowly, a flash light swung by the side of the police officer in the blackness of the night as he walked to the driver’s side of the Challenger. I knew I had to be patient, but he was making it really hard.

Zac’s heart fluttered. I prayed my blood would be enough to heal him.

“What seems to be the problem, Miss?” a young officer with the name tag O’Riley asked, until he flashed his light into the back seat and saw the blood and Zac unconscious. “What the …”

“Sir, my boyfriend’s been shot!” I yelled into his face, as tears streaked slowly down my cheeks. “Call for help!”

Immediately, he ran back to his police cruiser.

“Zac?” I whispered into his ear, hoping I wouldn’t have to bite him in front of a witness, but O’Riley would be easy to deal with. “Zac, honey, can you hear me?”

His heart fluttered again. My arm was already healing, so I bit it once more, then held it to his lips, but this time, his lips gently curled around the wound.

Thank you, God!

Without opening his eyes, he sucked the blood from my arm, then raised a weak hand to hold it to his lips.

“What the hell?” O’Riley gasped, then raised his weapon, pointing it directly at my head. “Hold it right there!”

“I’m afraid I can’t,” I replied, as my eyes flared, pushing his mind, using mind control. “You never saw us here. Call off the ambulance, and tell them it was a false alarm.”

Immediately, he holstered his standard issue Smith and Wesson handgun and walked away, then got into his police cruiser and drove off.

“I’m going to have to learn how to do that,” Zac said with a weak smile.

“Zac!” I yelled, hugging him as tightly as I dared to my chest, then pulled back. “How do you feel? Do you need more blood?”

Zac laughed. “You should see the expression on your face right now.”

“That bad?”

“No, that good,” Zac replied, then coughed and winced when he did.

“Zac, I have to get you to a place where you can recuperate,” I replied. “I’ll see if I can get you something for the pain, too.” Then I thought for a moment and said, “Zac, we have to get out of here before any agents find us. We can’t trust any of them now. I don’t know who’s working for that rogue vamp and Michaels.” Then I pulled Zac back to look at his wound. It was already healing nicely, but it was going to take a few days for him to heal completely. “How are you feeling?”

“Like a truck ran over me,” Zac replied, then laughed, but winced from the pain again.

“Here, have some of my blood, just in case,” I said, then I bit my wrist again as crimson blood ran slowly down my arm and I quickly held it to his lips.

Looking deeply into my eyes, he placed his lips gingerly over the wound, then drank in my life force, which promised healing to his broken body. I felt a tad woozy from the blood loss myself, but didn’t tell him. A moment later, he closed his eyes, then pulled back.

“Abbey,” Zac replied worriedly, opening his beautiful azure eyes and it was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. Suddenly, his eyebrows pulled together in concern. “I don’t want to hurt you. You need blood, too.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said, but knew I needed to feed soon. I was already feeling a bit weak, and I needed my strength for what was to come. But right now, my concern was for Zac. “Let’s get out of here. Can you travel?”

“Do I have a choice?” Zac replied, laughing, then winced from the pain. “Let’s go.”

“Try not to move too much,” I said, getting up and gingerly laying him down on the leather back seat. “I’ll see if I can get us a room.”

“No, as good as that sounds,” Zac replied, trying to smile. “Let’s go home.” Then he tried to sit up, but failed miserably.

“Zac, don’t try to move,” I countered, pushing him back down onto the seat. Then I took my leather jacket, expertly wrapped it into a ball, and placed it gently under his head. Once he was settled, I sat beside him, gently stroking his hair. “Zac, we can’t go home. Vamps are crawling all over the place. They’ll find you …”

“Abbey,” he said, then looked me square in the eyes. “My mom is there.”

I nodded, understanding. “Zac, let me get you some place safe, then I’ll check on her.”

“Abbey, no. There’s no time,” he replied, then placed his arm across his forehead and closed his eyes.

I sighed, finding it hard to refuse him. “Let’s get out of here first. We’ll talk about it later.”

Zac nodded, and a moment later, he was fast asleep. The day had definitely taken its toll on him, but rest was the best medicine. It would give the blood I gave him a chance to work.

I looked around and saw nothing but an occasional passing car as I started the engine and it roared to life. Soon, I was on I-83 headed toward Cooperstown. I had no intention of taking Zac there, but he needed to be close.

I drove for a while, listening to the steady rhythm of Zac’s heartbeats, but he never regained consciousness. I knew I had to get him to a safe place. A safe house. And I knew just the place. I took the next exit, and pulled into a vacant parking lot.

Expertly, I pulled the cell phone from my front pants pocket and dialed Rick’s number.

There was no answer.

I hung up and dialed again. It was strange because usually Rick always answers on the first ring, especially when he sees that I’m calling.

Still no answer.

Then the words that the rogue vamp said ran through my mind. Quickly, I dialed Annie’s number. Still, no answer.

My God. What was going on? Then I knew Zac was right. I had to get to Cooperstown to find out what was happening. Then random thoughts ran through my mind. What if Annie really did go rogue? Could she have killed Rick? I laughed at the thought. There was no way any vamp could get to Rick without his wanting them to, let alone kill him, especially Annie. And despite their history together, if Annie tried to kill him, he wouldn’t hesitate. He’d do what he had to do to defend himself. Of that, I was sure.

I looked over my shoulder into the back seat at Zac, sleeping peacefully. I didn’t have a choice. I had to get to Zac’s mother and to Rick. I just hoped Michael’s and his boss hadn’t gotten to them first.

With Zac sleeping soundly in the back seat, I drove through the night to Cooperstown as fast as the car would go. Luckily, there were no police cruisers in sight, so I was able to push the hemi to the limit.

As I drove, I felt myself growing weak and I knew I had to feed soon. I didn’t want to wait too long, as accidents might happen. Zac’s blood permeated the air, but I pushed the thought of blood and the need of it aside, knowing I had enough strength to resist.

Soon, we pulled onto I-28 as the sun rose over the horizon, sending shoots of orange, and yellow across the blue sky pushing the darkness of night aside. I looked over my shoulder and Zac was still sleeping. He would be out for a while. Good. He needed to rest for his body to heal.

I made a series of turns and soon we were driving down the center of Main Street as the lightness of early morning lit up every crevice of the town. It was quiet. Too quiet. Or maybe it just seemed that way after all we had been through in such a short time. For an instant, I debated on whether or not to go to my house, but I had no choice. I needed answers as well as ammunition and weapons, and I also needed blood.

Slowly, I drove down the long driveway toward the familiar two-story house that was now home. Rick’s Mercedes SUV was in the driveway, along with my 45
th
Edition Camero, but something told me to approach with caution. As I pulled up behind his Mercedes, I quickly cut the engine and listened.

There was nothing but silence, and the chirping of the morning songs of birds in the surrounding trees. I looked at the house and there was no movement. It was a ghost house.

I sighed, then looked over my shoulder at Zac sleeping peacefully in the back seat. Yes, he would be okay for a few minutes. Or, at least, I prayed he would be. But I had no choice now.

I cautiously got out of the car and gingerly shut the door, then paused to listen.

Nothing.

It was too quiet. I knew Rick would never leave his Mercedes, unless he was guarding Zac’s mother. I just hoped that he was there. Looking at the house, I sensed no movement, but I approached the front door with caution, pulling my 9 mm. Glock from the back of my pants, just in case. I held it up, on the ready.

Stepping to the side, I slowly opened the front door. It shrieked loudly as it fell open against the wall. Carefully, I slid into the house, with my back against the wall and my Glock held into the air, in full agent mode now.

Nothing.

Thinking of Zac laying helpless in the back seat of my car, I quickly scanned the house and Rick was nowhere to be found. There was also no sign of a struggle. Nothing was out of place. At vamp speed, I quickly grabbed two of the huge black cases filled with weapons and ammunition and carried them to the Challenger RT and popped the trunk. Zac was still sleeping safely in the back seat as I loaded the cases into the trunk. There was enough room for one more, so I quickly ran up the stairs, grabbed another case and loaded it into the trunk with the others. Soon, I had a small arsenal in the trunk. With those cases, I could rage a one-woman war on anything that came my way. That is, once Zac was safe.

At vamp speed, I ran up the stairs and into my bedroom. Within seconds I stripped off my clothes stained with Zac’s blood and threw them into the corner, showered, and changed into another pair of black skinny jeans, a black t-shirt, and slid back into my black leather boots, then ran into the kitchen, taking all of about five minutes, as my long wet hair fell loosely down my back, drenching the back of my t-shirt.

Quickly, I darted to the kitchen, flung open the closet door, and lifted the chest freezer door, set to cool instead of freeze. I stared at Rick’s blood bags laying inside, warring with myself. Besides the little bit of Zac’s blood I had the other night, it had been years since fed on human blood. But at this point, I knew I had no choice. Like Rick said, at least no one died for it. Swiftly, I pulled a blood bag from the freezer, shoved a hard plastic straw into its side and drained it dry, letting the luscious crimson liquid fill my veins and restore my strength. Immediately, I threw the drained bag into the trash can, pulled another blood bag from the drawer, and drained it dry, too. The delicious liquid slid down my throat, filling my body. And it was probably a good thing I was doing human, as I needed all the strength I could get for what was coming. With human blood filling my veins, my body would metabolize it faster, making me much stronger and faster, giving me and edge. Good. Just what I needed.

Quickly, I pulled a small cooler from the cabinet, threw in a few ice packs and filled it with human blood, knowing Rick might need it, too. If not anything else, it was enough to last a few days. As I quickly snapped the cooler lid closed, I pulled one more blood bag from the freezer, shoved the hard plastic straw into its side, and sucked it greedily down, knowing I didn’t have much time. And I didn’t want Zac to see this side of me. Or, at least, not yet.

As I headed out to the car, I was almost over full, and a bit high from the sudden intake of human blood. It had been years since I had that much human blood running through my veins. Instantly, my body metabolized it, and I instantly felt stronger, refreshed, and ready for anything that was to come.