They Come by Night (18 page)

It had been a great Christmas, though, and I’d loved spending the time with Dad.

But as Dorothy said, there was no place like home.

Home….

No, Dad’s house wouldn’t be that for me ever again.

In the backseat was the care package of leftovers Dad had sent with me; even with Mrs. Wilder and Harker, he claimed he’d never be able to finish them all, and so I’d graciously accepted them.

I chuckled to myself. If he hadn’t offered, I’d planned to do a little begging. I wasn’t proud. He was a fantastic cook, better than I could ever hope to be. And besides, until I got to the supermarket, my cupboard was pretty much bare.

And then I was home. I slowed Lucy MacEvil to a crawl. I had to admit I was pretty proud of myself. I’d known before I left that by the time I got home it would be dark—standard time made four thirty look like midnight—and I’d put the living room light on a timer so I wouldn’t be coming home to a darkened house.

I had to high-five myself. It looked awesome! The light in the living room spilled out onto the front yard, turning it into a fairyland, the snow glittering like diamond crystals. Through the window I could see my Christmas tree.

God, I loved this place!

I’d considered leaving the tree lit, but it was a live tree. I didn’t want to take the chance of it catching fire and burning down my house.

I pulled into the driveway and pressed the remote on the visor. The garage door slid up, and I eased Lucy into it and turned off the ignition; she’d had a good run, and I patted her dashboard.

The engine ticked as it cooled, and I undid my seat belt and got out.

I took the bags filled with Rubbermaid containers of gravy and stuffing, Glad-wrapped plates of pork loin and cranberry sauce, Ziploc bags of veggies and biscuits, then got my suitcase from the trunk.

The temperature had dropped, and it took a couple of tries to punch in the code that activated the garage door. Once it started coming down, I didn’t dawdle. I hustled up to the porch, getting my ankles soaked as the snow went over the tops of my Nikes, and unlocked the door.

It was warm inside. I’d turned the heat down before I left for Dad’s, but it probably just felt warmer because of the difference in the outside temperature. I took off my coat, tossed it over the back of the love seat, and toed off my wet Nikes before heading for the kitchen. I’d put the leftovers in the fridge, take a shower, and see what was on TV. Unpacking, which was mostly gifts, could wait until tomorrow.

I was humming “The Twelve Days of Christmas” when a sound behind me had me whirling around.

“You’re home.”

“Adam?” I dropped the bag of raw carrots and celery. It was Adam!

“Yeah.” He smiled sleepily and ran a hand through his hair, tousling it. He stood there in just a pair of sleep pants.
My
sleep pants, and I shivered at how hot that was. His torso gleamed white in the light from the living room, a fine line of hair running from between his pecs to beneath his waistband. From around his neck hung his talisman, a cylindrically shaped pendant. “I had to turn up the heat. I hope you don’t mind.”

“That’s okay.” I swallowed and licked my lips. He looked good enough to eat. In order to keep from throwing myself at him, I bent to retrieve the crudités and stuffed them in the fridge. “I didn’t expect to see you until October, for my birthday,” I mumbled from behind the open door.

“I couldn’t wait. I have something for you.”

My head shot up. He couldn’t wait to see me! Suddenly I was so hard I ached, and I realized the restlessness of the past few days was similar to what I’d felt the week before he’d brought me here.

“How long have you been here? Do you need to feed?”

“Since just before sunrise. I knew you’d be home today—”

“You did? How?”

“The connection between us. We’ll always have it.”

“You mean like Rick and Ilsa will always have Paris?” Okay, so I wasn’t thinking clearly. The way the waistband of his pants hung low over his hips was too distracting.

He laughed. “You could say that.”

“Didn’t I just? But you didn’t answer me. Do you need to feed?”

“No.” He must have seen how disappointed I was to hear that. “But I wouldn’t say no to a sip or two.”

“Yeah? Cool!” I tore off my shirt and offered him my neck. “Bite me!” I felt feverish, awash in lust and love. I wanted to crawl into his skin and make my home there.

“I won’t have you associating pain with my bite.” He took me in his arms.

“Never gonna happen!” His flesh was cool against mine, and it was the most erotic thing I’d ever felt. “Just bite me!”

He licked my neck a couple of times, slowly, leisurely, and I thought my dick would explode.

“Are you ready?”

I growled. Later I’d wonder how a sound like that passed my lips, but right then I was too impatient. I grabbed his head and jammed it against my neck. “Bite me, goddammit!”

I could feel his smile against my neck, and then his fangs slid into me, and I thought my eyes would roll back into my head as he began to suck.

“Adam!” I sank into his embrace, whimpering and panting, and within a matter of moments I was coming so hard I passed out.

I
CAME to in my bed, Adam licking the small wounds closed.

“I love you,” I sighed, replete.

“I know.” He didn’t sound pleased to hear my confession. “And you’ll love your next vampyr just as much.”

I wouldn’t, but I could see he wasn’t going to be reasonable about this, so I let it drop for the time being. “I have something for you.”

“But you didn’t know I’d be here for Christmas.”

“No, but you’d have to be here for
some
Christmas. Did you see your stocking in the living room?”

“Is that for me?”

“It’s got your name on it. Come on.” I bounced out of bed and staggered.

“Easy!”

“I’m okay.”

“Of course you are.”

“I need to change.”

“Not on my account. You’re perfect just the way you are.”

“And you’re silly.” I could feel my cheeks heating up. “I’m talking about my clothes.” I tried to frown at him, but I was secretly pleased. “You made me come too fast.”

“Of course.” He swallowed a grin, rose and kissed the side of my throat, and went to the closet, where he took a pair of boxer briefs from the drawer in the organizer and a pair of jeans from a hanger. “Here.”

I went into the bathroom with them, not from any misplaced modesty, but simply because I needed to wash myself clean.

When I came back out, he wrapped an arm around my waist. “Show me what you’ve got for me. Then I have something for you.”

“What is it?” I remembered he’d said something about that earlier.

“No, no, you’re just going to have to wait.”

“Tease!”

He grinned but didn’t say anything.

“Okay, fine. Come on.” I opened the door to the dining room and tugged him along after me.

I
PULLED the small wooden box from the stocking with
Adam
printed across the cuff in red and black sequins. Not the colors of the season, but to me they represented him. “I know vampyrs don’t celebrate normals’ holidays, but Merry Christmas, Adam.”

He stared at the box as if he expected it would open to reveal a viper.

“Didn’t any of your other…. Didn’t anyone ever give you a Christmas present?”

“No.”

“Fickle bastards,” I muttered. “Open it!”

He turned it over and over in his hands. “You know I can’t—”

“Can’t what?”

“I….” He pressed a thumbnail to the catch, and the lid popped open. He stared down at the contents.

“I don’t want you to think I’m cheap. I wasn’t sure if gold or silver would affect you, so….”

He held up the thin braided cord. At its end dangled the token. “That’s why you chose leather and wood?”

“Yes. I was pretty good in shop, and I made it myself.” It had been a circle, and I’d cut it apart with a jigsaw, giving each piece a zigzag edge. They would fit like two pieces of the whole, which was what they were.

“This is more than ‘pretty good.’” His nostrils twitched. “Wait a second. This wasn’t a red stain you used to make the words stand out!”

“No. When I was carving the words, the gouge slipped, and I cut my finger.”

“Blood? Your blood?”

“Yes.” I hadn’t intended it, but once it was done, I realized it was perfect, as if it bound us more tightly together.

“Vampyrs wear only their talismans around their necks.”

“I know.” Well, I didn’t really know, but it made sense. My gift to him would probably clash with his talisman anyway, but I stared into his eyes, hoping he would be pleased I’d made something for him, maybe keep it in a pocket.

I refused to see the token as silly and sentimental, although in reality, I was just one of many to him.

Adam looped it round his neck, and the token fell to snag a nipple before coming to rest over his heart.

“But I thought….”

“You’re my….” He smiled and shook his head, and then he ran the backs of his fingers over my cheek and chin. “Thank you.”

I had to admit it looked pretty darned sexy, and I grinned up at him. “I’m glad you like it.”

“Where’s your half?”

“You know the story behind the mizpah?”

“Ty, I’m vampyr, not ignorant.”

“Sorry.” I retrieved my own stocking from the mantel, reached into it, and pulled out the matching cord and token; I’d planned to start wearing it after I’d given Adam his.

He took my half of the mizpah. His fangs extended, and he bit down on his thumb. He squeezed out a few drops of blood and caught them on the token.

I stared wide-eyed as the wood absorbed his blood like a sponge, and within seconds it was impossible to tell what he’d done.

He smiled into my eyes, licked his thumb, sealing the wound, and placed the cord around my neck so my token rested against my heart as well.

“This is the nicest gift anyone has ever given me.” And he tipped up my chin and kissed me.

“N
OW IT
’
S my turn.” Adam sat beside me on the love seat, his arm around my shoulder. I stroked my mizpah, unable to believe how comfortable I was with someone touching me.

“Your turn for what?” I asked drowsily. It had been a long day, and even though he hadn’t taken much blood from me, I was feeling a little lethargic.

“To give you your gift.”

That was right. He’d said he’d gotten me something. “What is it?” I sat up, my weariness forgotten.

Adam began making kissing noises, and in spite of myself I gave a snort of laughter.

A small brown-and-white bundle of fur came trotting into the room. The tags on the dog’s collar jingled merrily.

“Oh!”

“She’s for you.”

“How could I not have seen her? Where was she?” I couldn’t catch my breath.

“Asleep in her crate. She’s a very good girl. Aren’t you, you precious little thing?”

I bit back another laugh. What was it about small, furry animals that had grown men crooning to them in baby talk?

“She looks like a mix. Bichon Frise and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, maybe?” I was showing off, but I didn’t care. I wanted to impress Adam with my knowledge of breeds.

“Actually, she’s a Romanian
Înger Păzitor
.” He leaned down and snapped his fingers, but she ignored him, coming to me instead. She pounced on my bare feet and tried to climb up my legs to my lap.

“I never heard of that breed before.” I picked her up, startled when her little teeth sank into my ring finger. “Ouch! Hey!” A drop of blood beaded up, and she lapped at it. “Little vampyr!”

Adam chuckled. “She’s bonded to you now.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay.” My finger had stopped bleeding, and the puppy wriggled and made soft yipping sounds, and licked at my face. I cut Adam a sideways glance, wondering if he was upset she’d ignored him, but he was smiling.

“She’s your dog, so it’s good she goes only to you. She’s been bred as a guard dog, and she’ll die protecting you.”

I stared at him, openmouthed. “This little girl?” She fit neatly in two hands, and if her paws were anything to go by, she wouldn’t be getting too much bigger than she was right now.

“Don’t let her size fool you. Once she reaches adulthood, she’ll be a real threat. Oh, not to you,” he assured me.

As if that was necessary. She was standing on her hind legs, her front paws balanced against my chest, nipping at my chin—oddly enough, she didn’t break the skin this time—and demanding my attention.

“Yes, I love you too, Mina. Adam—”

“Mina? Is that what you’re going to call her?”

“Yeah. Dad’s got a husky/Lab mix he named Harker. Mina works, don’t you think?”

“Ah. Jonathan Harker’s fiancée, also from
Dracula
?”

“You’re familiar with the book?”

“Really, Tyrell. We’re not illiterate!”

“No, of course not. But…. You read
Dracula
?”

He laughed and ran his hand over my hair, and I leaned into his touch instead of away from it, as I would have done with anyone else.

I really did like when he touched me.

“You’re distracting me,” I murmured.

“Is it working?”

“Not anymore. Adam….” I worried my lip. “Do you really think I need protection? Is it that dangerous here?”

“No, this is a safe area, but we tend to be protective of our sabors. And you… I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“You mean like what happened to my Uncle Phil? Could she protect me from another vampyr?”

“She would die trying.” His mouth had taken on a grim twist, and in spite of myself I shivered.

“What can you tell me about… what did you say the breed was called?
Înger Păzitor
?”

“You pronounce that very well. You’re going to find this hard to believe.”

“Try me.”

“I already have, and you’re delicious!”

I dug my fingers into his side, and he gave a surprised gasp and shied away. “Are you ticklish?”

“Of course I’m not!” But he kept a distance between us.