The Reluctant Goddess (The Montgomery Chronicles Book 2) (15 page)

To make matters worse, someone tapped on the door. Dan opened it and rolled in a cart containing a whole white chocolate cheesecake and two plates and forks.
 

He only smiled at me, cut me a piece of cheesecake and handed it to me.
 

Nobody would ever have to waterboard me. All they’d have to do was wave a slice of cheesecake under my nose and I would confess anything.
 

“Are my clothes over there?” I asked, pointing with my fork to the three lockers on the other side of the room.
 

Hopefully, my jeans were still there, rather than having been sent to the laundry.
 

I suspected Dan hired gnomes, if they were real, or invisible servants who crept around the castle and were rarely sighted. My dirty clothes were spirited out of the hamper and magically hung up in the walk in closet when washed, dried, and sometimes ironed. My dirty dishes just disappeared in a poof. Even the small refrigerator in the dressing area was re-stocked without me seeing anyone do it. As far as cleaning, I’d never yet heard a vacuum or seen a maid in my room, but everything was always spotless.
 

Were there invisible Brethren?
 

“Yes. Do you need anything?”
 

I shook my head. I’d get the fortune teller’s card later.
 

"I want a gun," I said. "I want a gun and I want to learn how to shoot it."

"Do you want to shoot me or Maddock?"

"At the moment, the jury’s out."
 

We shared a look. He knew I was only half kidding.
 

"A gun won't help you against Maddock. Besides, after that little demonstration at your apartment, you don’t need a gun, do you?”
 

I decided not to discuss my new talent.
 

"It'll give me a head start," I said. “If I shoot him in the head, it will take him a little while to regenerate."

He looked like he would like to smile, then thought better of it.

I wasn't in the smiling mood. I was confused, uncertain, and ready to cry. I didn’t want to give Charlie up, especially to someone who’d named him Stupid. I didn’t want to be totally dependent on Dan. I didn’t want to have witnessed someone dying today. I didn’t want to remember Maddock’s eyes when he stared at me. I didn’t want to be always afraid, like having a low grade, perpetual fever.
 

Most of all, I didn’t want to be a special vampire.
 

Good luck with that.

C
HAPTER
F
IFTEEN

My libido escapes its cage

“You have to cut it off,” I said two days later.

Dan was standing at the foot of my hospital bed with his arms folded across his chest, his handsome face thunderous.
 

“Not until you tell me what you did to Dr. Fernandez,” he said.

I put on my best look of innocence, wide blue eyes, and a tremulous smile.
 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Marcie.”

Somehow, he’d borrowed my grandmother’s ability to shame me with my own name. Or maybe it was the look he was giving me, intense, focused, and not accepting anything but the truth.

“Every time he’s scheduled to see you, I have to remind him who you are. What did you do to him?”

“I don’t particularly like your Dr. Fernandez,” I said. “I think he has a thing about vampires.”

“Most people do,” he said.

“I never did.”
 

It was the truth. I wasn’t all that fond of them, especially Paul, my stepfather, but I wasn’t actively anti-vampire. Nor was Dr. Fernandez, in all honesty.

“I told him not to remember anything about me.”

“Why?”

“If I tell you, will you help me cut this thing off?”

The itching was unbearable. I suspected that my vampire physiology, as Dr. Fernandez would put it, had healed me completely. I was willing to give it a shot. I couldn’t stand the feeling of the cast any longer.
 

“Come on, Dan.”

I was almost at the point of begging. Besides, I was bored out of my mind. Dan hadn’t returned my phone and I could only watch so much TV. Trust me, all the judge shows and baby daddy shows didn’t leave me with a warm and fuzzy thought about the country’s collective IQ. And, although the nurse who helped me attend to my bodily functions was a very nice woman, I was tired of peeing in front of strangers.
 

“Dr. Fernandez will have to make the decision.”

“He’ll say no. He doesn’t know what I am.”

Dan made a point of staring fixedly out the window. It was daylight. If I let Dr. Fernandez examine me now, he’d understand that I wasn’t a
normal
vampire.
 

That’s the last thing I wanted.
 

I lay back against the pillow and stared up at the ceiling.
 

“The fewer people who know about me, the better.”
 

“What about me?”

I lowered my head and looked at him directly.
 

“That goes for you, too. I don’t think it’s a good idea if any one person knows everything about me.”
 

That idea hadn’t come to me in a burst of wisdom in the middle of the night. I’d always realized that my safety lay in ignorance. Unfortunately, the circle of those in the know was widening. Maddock and his mistress knew about me. Dan and Mike did, too. So did my grandmother and now probably her coven. How many other people were aware of the vampire who could get a suntan?
 

“He wanted me to go to a diagnostic clinic, one that’s affiliated with MEDOC, Maddock’s company. I’m not going within a foot of that place.”
 

“I don’t blame you,” he said, earning a smile from me.
 

“Plus, the minute a vampire doctor knows about me, the Council will find out. That’s not a good idea, either. So you understand why I gave him a
forget me
command?”
 

He nodded.
 

Well, that was too easy. I was prepared for a fight.
 

“If you don’t help me cut this off,” I said, “I’ll do it myself.”

That was going to be a little difficult since the end of the cast was strung on a wire to a metal brace at the foot of the bed, but I was desperate.
 

If he wanted me to beg a little more, I would.
 

I doubted flirting would work. I hadn’t looked at myself in the mirror for days. My hair was brushed, at least, because the nurse had retrieved some of my things from my suite. I was still wearing a hospital gown with little teddy bears on it because my other nightgowns were either too revealing or full length.
 

“Please.”

He nodded just once, turned and left the room. Great, he probably went to fetch Dr. Fernandez.

I was ninety nine percent sure I was healed. As the hours had passed, I felt better and better. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I’d finished taking my grandmother’s potion.
 

What was I going to do if Dan brought Dr. Fernandez back into the room? Could I wipe his memory clean? If I could, was I willing to assume the responsibility for doing that?
 

I’d never been a proponent of the adage of “looking out for number one”, but I was being forced to feel that way since so many people seemed to want me dead or chained somewhere.
 

What would Maddock have done if Dan hadn’t there to save me? Probably spirit me off to his house once more and keep me in shackles until he was certain I was pregnant. Or he might even take me to the Council, plead his case and have me declared a vampire’s best friend. Maybe I would’ve become their universal blood donor, a way of curing vampirism, or at least giving them the same abilities I now possessed.
 

My blood would probably go for a lot of money. How much? A couple of million per vial? Maddock would become a billionaire, if he wasn’t already. Maybe they’d be able to duplicate whatever weird DNA I possessed. Vampires, as we currently knew them, would be a thing of the past, a horror story to tell misbehaving children.

Maybe I’d even be known as St. Marcie. Or Maddock would create a race of super vampires. Only the most intelligent or beautiful or talented would be able to procreate and live during the day.

He would create a master race with my blood.

How many humans would he exterminate or turn in the process?
 

The door opened. Dan entered, followed by Mike. Dr. Fernandez wasn’t with them. Mike was carrying something that looked like a mini chainsaw, plugged it into a wall outlet, and approached me.
 

My eyes widened. I hope to God he knew what he was doing, but I didn’t get a chance to ask.
 

He studied my cast with a determined look, mouth pursed, eyes narrowed. In seconds, the sound of the saw drowned out any thought of speech.
 

The dust reminded me of the explosion in the book store. I hadn’t called Mr. Brown to check on him. As soon as I was given back my phone, I would.
 

After a minute or so, there was a line down the whole of the cast from my thigh to my ankle. Blessedly, Mike shut the machine off, whipped out something that looked like a pry bar from his back pocket and began to work on widening the cut.

Soon, the cast was off and I stared down at my very pale, hairy leg. Who knew that my hair would grow so fast? I touched my shin gingerly, but I didn’t feel any pain or discomfort. I was, however, grossed out by the sour smell wafting up from the cast, though.
 

 
I thanked Mike and he only nodded back at me as he left the room.

“Is he mad at me?”
 

“Not any more than usual. He’s dating Kenisha, so that might be tipping the scales in your favor.”
 

“Oh?” I couldn’t help but smile. “I take it it’s going well?” I knew it would. I bet they talked guns and ammo.
 

“I don’t think he wants to talk about it, but he’s been seeing her every night.”
 

That was good news, but it hadn’t yet affected Mike’s mood in a positive way.
 

Dan held out his hand and I smiled, not at all surprised he knew I had to get out of the bed. With his help, I moved to sit on the edge of the mattress. When my bare feet hit the floor, I almost wept.

Standing was something else, however. It wasn’t my leg that threatened to topple me, but my head. I was suddenly dizzy. I grabbed Dan, who moved to stand behind me, his arms around my waist. I was abruptly conscious of the fact that I was naked beneath the thin hospital gown and that his arms were just below my breasts.

I commanded my nipples to stand down, but they insisted on hardening. A male was in their vicinity, a male who was not a vampire, a male who was handsome, strong, and
there
.

My breasts weren’t the only rebellious parts of my body. My stomach was quivering and my nether regions – don’t you just love that term, nether regions? – were definitely interested.

Of course I didn’t move away. I was a little unsteady on my feet. My left leg was aching just the tiniest bit.
 

Dan smelled of aftershave and sunlight, not cloves and chocolate. There was no reason my libido should be sitting up, paws pressed together, and quivering in excitement like a puppy being given a bacon treat.

Dan was not bacon.

Try telling that to my body.
 

Step back, Dan. Step back now.

It didn’t work any better than it had when I’d first tried to compel him. He didn’t drop his hands. If anything, he moved closer. I could feel the warmth of his body, and to my complete embarrassment, the hospital gown seem to open up its own accord.

I could feel his crotch pressing against my bare butt. I closed my eyes and told myself that this was wrong, wrong, wrong. I started to say something, but I had to clear my throat. The second time, the words finally emerged.

“I need a robe,” I said.
 

Maybe if he moved away, I could compose myself enough not to attack him when he returned.

What was wrong with me?

I had just arisen from a hospital bed. I was recovering. I was not in any mood to make whoopee. Yet my body was more than willing to try.
 

Thank heavens he stepped away, moving to the dresser on the other side of the room. He extracted another hospital gown from a drawer and brought it to me.
 

“If you wear it with the open part in the front, it’ll be like a robe.”

I didn’t look at him and I had no idea if he was watching me. I hoped he wasn’t, because I knew my face was red. Come on, I was in my thirties. I had some experience. I wasn’t naive. At the moment, however, I felt innocent and silly, like a teenager with her first crush.
 

I took the precaution of moving away from him when he opened the door and I made sure that there were a few feet between us at all times.