Thicker Than Water (Blood Brothers) (19 page)

He opened his mouth and buried his fangs. Her screams became louder, but not enough to draw attention. He gripped her neck with his right hand and held her there against his lips, blood spilling in around the fresh wound and flowing softly down his throat. Euphoria overtook him as he drank, life spilling into him and becoming part of the dead thing he was. It was a steady flow of concentrated perfection, filling him and taking shape in his body, giving purpose to what he was.

He took a moment to pull away, swinging his head back and inhaling deeply from the night air before he swung his head back down with full force and opened two more holes, bleeding her faster this time and emptying all that was left inside her into his throat. He discarded the container that was her body, leaning it against the window frame and taking a seat on her bed for a moment to regain himself.

Tyr stepped into the room.

“How was it?”

Thor looked up in awe, shaking his head.

“I don’t have words. You have words, I don’t.” His mouth was hanging open and he was swinging his head side to side.

Loki entered the room unnoticed, joining his brethren in the celebration.

“Her parents are dead,” said Tyr. “It was a massacre. Somebody came in and killed the whole family while they were sleeping. Stole some jewelry and some money.”

He held up a jewelry box and a wad of paper money presumably taken from Christina’s father’s wallet.

Thor and Loki smiled. Loki said, “No sense in staying here any longer. We’re on the road to somewhere else. Leaving Tombstone tonight and we’re in God knows where tomorrow.”

They all made their exit toward her bedroom door.

“Wait,” Thor told them. He went to Christina and picked up her body, taking a moment to look into her eyes. Tyr and Loki watched him for a moment, suddenly worried for his health. Thor stared deeply into her eyes for a long while, then he gently kissed her lips before pushing the body away and letting it topple from the window onto the boardwalk outside the house.

He turned back to his brethren and said, “For effect.”

Tyr shook his head and laughed a little while Loki slapped him on the back.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Tyr stood over Eva as she slept in the bed where he had killed at least two dozen women. This was it. Nobody had ties to her anymore. Nobody but him. It was time to remind himself what it meant to exist without emotional connection to mortals. To live as a vampire. As a Blood Brother.

He let his fangs slip out of his gums and ran his tongue along them.

She was dead one way or the other and soon. There were to be no female vampires and even Tyr or Loki would never think to break that rule. This meant there was no hope of keeping her around and he would soon have to become accustomed to life without her, life as he had lived it for a thousand years. Why wait?

He took off his clothes and climbed into bed next to her, curling up to her naked body and spooning her from behind.

It was a shame he’d already fed tonight. It was only a few hours ago he’d ripped open Aimee’s neck and drank the scuzzy bitch dry. It seemed a waste to drink Eva’s blood when he wasn’t even thirsty.

But tomorrow he would hunt with his Brothers. He would laugh and sing and dance with Loki and Thor the way they always had. By the time the three of them united, it was only right that Eva was out of the way. That no woman interfered with their Brotherly love. That he devoted himself entirely to the bond they had spent a thousand years building.

Family was important. If you didn’t have family, you didn’t have anything. And tomorrow evening Tyr would have a family again.

So what was the rush? When she woke she would still be here, and she would still have no connections to the outside world. When she woke he would be thirsty; he would enjoy it more. If her health was as good as it had been these last few days, maybe when she woke they could even make love before he drained her. He owed her that much.

And all of a sudden he realized what it was he was getting out of staying with Eva. He was living the way a human lived, seeing life in the linear way it was seen by all other beings. There was an end in sight and he was milking the journey for all it was worth. Much like Eva, the fruit of life was spoiling in his hands and he was squeezing it for all the juice it was worth.

He ran his hand along her naked body and kissed her shoulder.

“I’m not going to kill you yet,” he whispered softly.

Eva roused. She put her hand on his and without opening her eyes, she asked in a sleepy voice, “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, my love. Everything’s fine,” said Tyr, kissing her neck and feeling the blood coursing through her veins and keeping her body warm. “I’m just really happy.”

He pressed her body to his and embraced this moment; this beautiful, warm, romantic moment. He burned it into his memory, being sure he would never forget what mortal love felt like.

That way, he could kill her in the morning.

About The Author

Greg Sisco is a novelist and filmmaker living in Austin, Texas. He has written and directed two independent films,
Gunslinger, P.I.
and
Jesse Thunderwake: American Icon
.

His second novel,
One-Night Stan’s
, will be released in late 2011.

www.GregSisco.com