They Come by Night (47 page)

“I’m Ty,” I said. “I understand you’re not feeling too good.” I thought about how my blood had helped keep Rául going until Adam could give him some of his own blood. Would it do the same thing for Daniel?

“That’s an understatement.” He laughed bitterly. “Why are you keeping me alive? Undead? Jesus, what the fuck kind of terminology do you use?”

I didn’t bother trying to give him an answer. Just thinking about it gave me a headache. “Can you tell me how this happened?”

“I’ll be damned if I know. I was out walking my dog—Oh God, Crusher! My poor dog! He was just a mutt.” Daniel met my gaze, his eyes filled with tears. I didn’t think less of him for grieving for his dog. It would break my heart if anything happened to Mina. “Just a little stray I’d adopted from the Humane Society, but he had so much heart.”

And that, more than anything, was what persuaded me to help. I couldn’t pat his shoulder to offer some comfort, and I regretted that.

The chain that attached the cuff on his right wrist to the headboard rattled as he tried to bring his hand to his face. When he realized he couldn’t, he turned his head away instead, trying to dry his eyes on his shoulder.

“So what happened next?” I asked, hoping to get his mind on something else.

He took a deep, shuddering breath. “All of a sudden this… this
thing
with red eyes leaped out of the shadows and stood in front of us.”

“An
adepţi
?” I asked Ioan in an undertone.

“No.” He seemed surprised I knew the word. “It was a vampyr, one of de Vivar’s.”

“Why hasn’t he been stopped?” I didn’t make any effort to conceal how pissed I was about that. First the little Dragomir sabor, then his father and brother, and then the whole family screwed up because of de Vivar.

“Aunt Terese wouldn’t hear of it.”

Well, she couldn’t do anything after the fact.

Daniel hadn’t paid any attention to our whispered remarks. “Crusher tried to prevent it from taking me, but it was useless. The thing just snapped his neck and threw him aside like a piece of garbage.” He rubbed his cheek against his shoulder. “I was brought to a cemetery… it must have been abandoned, because it didn’t look as if anyone had bothered with the upkeep in forever. I kept trying to struggle, but I could have been a two-year-old for all the impression I made on that thing.” He finally looked back at us. “And then it dragged me into a mausoleum, and there was another one there. It looked me up and down and licked its lips, talking to the other one in Spanish.”

Ioan and I exchanged glances. “De Vivar,” I mouthed, and he nodded.

“It twisted my head to the side and bit me.” Daniel turned even paler, if that was possible. “It hurt so fucking much.”

“It doesn’t have to.” Ioan’s hands were clenched into fists. “There was no need for him to make it painful for Daniel.”

“No,” I agreed.

“When it was done, it gave me to the other thing—called it Miguel. It told Miguel it wanted me again and not to drain me, but…. And… and Miguel
touched
me. I was afraid he was going to….” Daniel looked sick, and I thought I’d better give him something else to think about.

“I’ll make you a deal, Daniel. You let me try something, and if it doesn’t work… if you’re not feeling better….” I drew in a deep breath. “I’ll take care of you myself.”

“You? You’re as much a kid as Ioan.”

“I’m eighteen! And a half.”

“See? What adult adds the half?”

I ignored that as beneath me and looked around the room. There were no windows here, so I couldn’t expose him to sunlight. And if there had been a window,
could
I do that? I didn’t know how painful it would be, and I wasn’t a sadist… I didn’t want to hurt him.

I wished I could talk to Adam about this. If Daniel wanted to check out, would I also need to cut off his head and stuff his mouth with garlic?

“What does it take to drive a stake into someone’s heart?”
Or to cut your own throat?
I wondered absently. I’d determined to do that if I was ever taken by de Vivar. I shuddered, recalling what the vampyr in the rest area parking lot had looked like when Ekaterina staked him.

“You can’t do that!” Ioan was horrified, but it was up to Daniel. If he was that unhappy as a vampyr, well, I’d do whatever needed to be done.

“Do we have a deal?” I asked Daniel.

“Do I have any choice?”

“Sure you do. Shut up, Ioan. Daniel, if you don’t want my help, just say so. You and vampyr boy can hash this out, and I’ll go back to bed. I had a pretty miserable day, and my night isn’t turning out much better.”

“Vampyr boy?” Ioan sounded indignant. “I’m the rege’s grandson!”

It was his turn to be ignored as I waiting for Daniel to come to a decision.

“What do I do?” His concession was grudging at best, and I wanted to walk out of the room, but I could understand what he was feeling, kind of, and so I cut him some slack.

Okay, I could do this. I swallowed and then swallowed again, trying to center myself. I closed my hand around my half of the mizpah and the vial of holy water and held them out of the way. “You see this birthmark?” I turned my head and waited for him to acknowledge it. “Okay, you’re going to lick it about five or ten times. Long, leisurely licks. Thorough. Get it good and wet, and don’t tell me how gross that sounds. Then drop your fangs and slide them into where you licked. Nowhere else, understand? And no matter what,
don’t
touch me!”

“I promise. Can I… can I have one of my hands freed?”

Oh, this was a really bad idea. I stooped, caught up Mina, and whispered, “If he looks like he’s going to savage me,
please
stop him.”

She bumped her head against my chin and gave a soft yip, and I took that to mean she wouldn’t let anything happen to me. I put her down and straightened. I was Adam’s sabor. I wasn’t going to embarrass him.

“Uh… Ty, are you in love with him?” Ioan asked. He unfastened Daniel’s left hand and helped him sit up.

“No.” But I hadn’t loved the rege or Rául, either.

“Why would he love me? He’s a guy!”

“So am I,” Ioan whispered. Either Daniel didn’t hear him, or he pretended he didn’t.

“Weren’t you informed as to what to expect now you’re a vampyr?”

He hunched a shoulder. “I guess I never felt well enough to pay attention.”

Well, I couldn’t object to that, considering how many details I’d missed when Adam told me about my
Înger Păzitor
. “Let’s get this done. Ioan can give you the skinny later.” I sat beside Daniel, and he angled his body toward me, sort of enveloping me, but he kept his promise and didn’t touch me.

“How much do I take?” He sounded nervous, and I felt a little better. If he’d gotten all cocky on me, I’d have been gone with the wind.

“Just don’t let me pass out.” I pulled the neckline of my sweatshirt out of the way and kept a grip on the mizpah and the vial.

Daniel began running his tongue over my birthmark, and it did nothing for me, which was odd. Even Raymond had made me feel pretty good, in spite of the fact he’d only been cleaning up my shin.

“Okay, whenever you’re ready.” Vampyr spit had an anesthetic quality, but I braced myself for pain just the same.

There was nothing, though, just the tugging of his lips as he worked my throat.

“Uh… you’re not supposed to be giving me a hickey, Daniel.”

He mumbled something but didn’t stop sucking.

It was when I got a little light-headed that I realized he was actually feeding from me. Adam never hurt me, but I always felt it when he penetrated me. Was that what made me climax so hard for him?

“Enough! Enough!” I was afraid Daniel wasn’t going to stop, but he did.

“You’re still bleeding. What do I do now?”

“Seal the punctures.”

“How?” But I didn’t have to tell him, because he leaned forward and licked at the last drops that oozed out.

“How are you feeling?” I asked him after he drew back.

“Better.” Both of him stared at me, and I had to shake my head to get my eyes to focus. “But I always felt kind of okay after the other guy gave me some blood. And then a day or so later….” He buried his face in his freed palm.

“No, you’ll see.” Ioan stroked his shoulder but made no attempt to cuff his left hand. “Feeding from a sabor is guaranteed to cure what ails you! Thank you, Ty.”

“You’re welcome. I have to eat something.” Would a Burger King or Pizza Hut be nearby?

“The kitchen is on the lower level.” He kept fussing over Daniel.

“You’ve got a kitchen?” I tucked the mizpah and vial of holy water back into my sweatshirt.

“For the servants. They’re normals.”

“Okay.” Did vampyrs put ads for them in the newspapers? My mind boggled at the thought of how it would be phrased:

Help Wanted. Housekeeper, male or female, to keep castle for a vampyr king who only partakes of bagged blood. Must have no objection to working nights. Perks consist of free days and an excellent benefit package including six weeks’ vacation, comprehensive health care, and a 401(k).
References required.
Send inquiries to Duke Adam Dasani, equerry to Alexandru Mondragon, rege. P.O. Box 52697.

My eyes felt like they were about to cross.

“Ty.”

I jumped. “Yes, Daniel?”

“I won’t thank you just yet, but no matter what happens, I appreciate what you just did for me.”

“That’s my job.” I looked from him to Ioan. “Fill him in, okay, Ioan? Come on, Mina. We’re not needed here.” I opened the door, stepped out into the wide corridor, and looked down at the tiles that covered the floor. My toes curled from their chill. “I’ve gotta get some socks.”

We went back to the room I’d woken up in. It did look a lot like my room, although the bed was larger… probably queen-size. Well, it wasn’t important. I rummaged around in this closet’s organizer. The clothes were more or less dressy, and that included the socks. There were no sweat socks at all, so I settled for a pair of black silk socks. They felt good, and I wiggled my toes in them.

But there were no Nikes or shoes of any kind in my size.

“Oh, well. Let’s go, Min.” I walked back into the hallway and looked in both directions. “Your nose is sharper than mine. Any idea which way to the kitchen?”

She started to the right, and I let her lead the way. I noticed there were no windows; the only source of light was the sconces placed at intervals along the walls.

The stairway was large and curving, and we took the stairs down to the first floor; I stopped and stared. This was one enormous room! Or maybe a great hall?

Tapestries hung on the walls. They depicted gory battle scenes, some between vampyrs and dragons—I figured if there were vampyrs, there was no reason why there shouldn’t be dragons—although where vampyrs got off attacking the fire-breathing beasts beat me.

Other tapestries illustrated hunting scenes with good-looking vampyrs riding big, black stallions, while beside them ran large, wolflike dogs.

Even six hundred years ago the vampyrs were gorgeous!

I shook my head again. “We’re definitely not in Kansas, pup.” But hey, I could go with the flow.

Mina tugged on my sweatpants.

“Sorry. But I’m just a small-town boy. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

She didn’t seem concerned about that; she’d decided the passageway leading away from the hall was the way to go, so that was the way we went.

One of the numerous doors along this hallway swung open just as we were passing it, and a young woman stepped out. She wasn’t a vampyr; at least I didn’t get that impression from her. She wore a tweed skirt suit in shades of blue and gray, a white blouse, and a floral scarf around her throat. She stopped short when she saw me.

“What are you doing?” she demanded. She had a clipboard in her hand, and she looked from me to it and back.

I started to tell her I was looking for the kitchen, but she didn’t give me the chance.

“You’re not supposed to… especially not with…. Stay here! I’m going to get the steward.”

She hurried off, and I stared after her in disbelief. Why did she think I had to obey her? I shrugged and looked down at Mina, who was getting impatient. She knew as well as I did I had to get something to eat soon.

“Lead on, MacDog.”

T
HE KITCHEN was another fairly huge space. Taking up the most room were numerous refrigerators. I opened one and found it stocked totally with bags of blood.

Well, if the servants were normals, that meant at least one of the fridges had to have “normal” food. I opened one after another, and of course what I needed was in the last fridge I tried.

I found a bottle of cranberry juice on the top shelf, and I was tempted to guzzle it down, but Dad would have been really disappointed if I’d done something like that. I put the bottle on the counter next to a cookie jar. At first I thought the cookie jar was shaped like a dog, but then I realized it was a wolf.

At least it wasn’t a rat or a bat.

Now it was a matter of figuring out where they kept the drinking glasses. This entailed more searching, but not as much. I came across them on the first try, when I opened the cabinets above the sink.

The glasses were more like jewel-toned goblets, and I chose a dark amethyst one.

I filled the goblet, gulped down the juice, and filled the goblet again, this time sipping more slowly as I took the lid off the cookie jar.

I helped myself to a cookie—chocolate chocolate chip! I stuffed the whole thing in my mouth, and chewed.

“Mmm,” I mumbled, closing my eyes in bliss. Mina whined and pawed at my foot. “Sorry, pup. Chocolate isn’t good for you.”

She looked at me with big puppy eyes, and I ruffled her ears and went back to the fridge. I’d seen a roast chicken, and I hoped no one would mind too much if I cut off a slice for her. I usually avoided giving her people food, but after the battle in the rest area parking lot earlier, she deserved it. I took a plate from the cabinet, cut the chicken breast into small bits, and then put the plate on the floor.

Once Mina was nibbling on her treat, I fished more cookies out of the cookie jar, pulled a stool up to the counter, and made myself comfortable.