Vampire Affliction (7 page)

“Freedom.”

Hector’s brows furled. “Freedom? They aren’t prisoners. I don’t understand.”

“It’s the way they’re treated, how they’re looked down upon, even by the gods. They want respect and economic freedom.”

“
Economic
freedom? What’s stopping them from that?”

“They can’t get jobs because people look down on them. They want to be able to own their own homes instead of having to hide out in caves.” She thought of the women who slummed in the city. “Many of them really do have pathetic lives.”

“But they’re a danger to society, Gertie. We can’t have them living among us.”

“Only because they’re desperate. And many of them already live among humans. If we organized some kind of blood bank for them, if we made it easier for them to survive…”

“Are you serious?”

She gawked at him. “You do realize I’m one of them now.”

“Not for long.”

“But….” The idea of becoming human again filled her with hope. As much as she loved Jeno and sympathized with the other vampires, she missed her humanity. But did she miss it enough to destroy Vladimir?

“I’ve got to warn the others,” Hector said.

“How?”

He grabbed his cell phone from his desk. “I’ll text every demigod I know. We can meet tomorrow at our council hall to discuss what to do.”

Gertie hoped she’d done the right thing. The vampires wouldn’t stand a chance if the demigods and gods united forces.

Of course she’d done the right thing. How could she question it? The vampires planned to destroy human lives. She just felt so sorry for Jeno and for all he had lost. And she really did understand why the vampires wanted change.

When he finished his text, Hector’s phone rang. It was his mother. Gertie could hear through the phone. His mother said she was at the hospital and couldn’t talk but she would be at the meeting. She also wanted to know if he’d seen Gertie.

“She’s with me now.”

“Don’t let her leave. The tramps will want to destroy her once they learn what she’s done.”

“Got it.”

Gertie was overcome with fear. She hadn’t given any thought about what would happen to her by coming here; she’d known only that she had to come.

Hector returned the phone to his desk and took Gertie in his arms. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you with my life.”

“That’s what worries me. I came to warn you, but I’ve just put you in even greater danger, if what your mother says is true.”

“She’s only speculating.”

“I should go.”

“That’s crazy. I don’t want you to ever leave my side again.”

“I know you want to protect me, but…”

“This is about more than that. You know how I feel. Please don’t leave and break my heart again.”

“I promise to come back,” Gertie said. “I’ll be right back.”

Hector squeezed her shoulders. “Are you kidding? I’m afraid to let you out of my sight. Let me go with you.”

“But I need to….” She didn’t want to say it, especially after the picture he’d been drawing of her.

“You need blood?”

Hesitantly, she nodded.

“Drink from
me
.” He leaned in, as though he would kiss her. “Take
my
blood.”

“Hector, I…”

“Please.”

He pressed his lips to hers, and every cell in her body rejoiced. Then he bit his tongue and slipped it between her lips.

She wasn’t sure if it was because he was a demigod or because she was falling in love with him, but the taste of his blood was rich and delicious—more so than that of any other she had tasted. She gently sucked on his tongue, but it only made her thirstier.

As if he had read her mind, he lifted his chin to expose his neck. She kissed the soft skin where it pulsed. She licked and kissed along his throat, going crazy with the thoughts coming from his mind. He knew it wasn’t the right time, but he was fighting the desire to feel every part of her body with his hands, to touch her skin with every part of his.

She gasped with the conflicting desires coursing through her body. She wanted to drink, but she also wanted to crash her body against his to never be separated again.

Quenching one desire over another, she moved her hands along his back, around his waist, and up his chest to his shoulders and biceps, thoroughly enjoying the sensation of his growing desire for her.

He pressed his lips hard against hers. She twisted her fingers through his hair, unable to stop the moan from escaping her throat. His hands cupped her bottom and lifted her off the floor. She wrapped her legs around his waist, like she had in the dream.

“Oh, Hector,” she whispered in between kisses.

“I love you, Gertie,” he said against her mouth. “I love you so much.”

Dare she admit it? She’d known for a long time. “I love you, too.”

Her mouth stretched open as her fangs extended of their own accord. She opened her eyes and flinched at the sight of Jeno watching through Hector’s window. He’d made himself invisible, but she, of course, could see him perfectly. His mind was unguarded. He wanted her to read his hurt and misery and feelings of betrayal as she closed her eyes and sank her fangs into Hector’s throat.

Jeno spoke telepathically to her as she drank Hector’s sweet blood.
If you want to come back with me, I won’t tell the others what you’ve done.

I’m sorry, Jeno. I can’t.
She kept her eyes closed, fighting to hold back tears as she drew the warm, rich sustenance from Hector.

That hurts so much more than I imagined it would.

I tried my best to love you, but it wasn’t enough.
Her throat tightened at that thought, but the blood found its way down.

I will protect you from the others as best as I can.

He was too good to her. He didn’t deserve her betrayal.
I don’t expect you to help me after what I’ve done.

I can’t betray my father. I will defend and support him.

Oh, Jeno. I understand. My sweet, Jeno. I’m so sorry.

I will always love you, koureetsi mou. And if you ever change your mind…Just remember, immortality is a long time. Maybe someday, things will be different, and you and I will have a chance.

Not wanting to weaken Hector, Gertie drank no more than one pint. She licked her lips and looked once more at Jeno before he sadly turned and flew away.

Gertie pressed her face into Hector’s chest and wept.

Chapter Nine: Taken By Surprise

The hot water of the shower comforted Gertie and mingled with her tears. She would never forget the look on Jeno’s face at Hector’s window. It had made her feel like someone had driven a stake through her heart.

As she rinsed the shampoo from her hair, she thought again of how Babá had glared at her with fear and disgust and had told her not to call him Babá anymore.

The man she had once believed was her father—James Morgan—was nothing to her and had never loved her.

The god she now believed was her father seemed not to care for her either.

And the man who had offered to be like a father to her—Vladimir—would have to be destroyed if she were to ever be human again.

Life was so unfair.

Gertie wished she could get lost in a book.

Hector had given Gertie back her things, which she had left behind at his house. It felt good to wear her old pajamas and to brush her teeth and comb her hair. In the side pocket of her bag was her e-reader. Yes, she would get lost in a book.

When she left the guest bathroom, she searched for Hector’s thoughts, but couldn’t find him. She went down the hall, looking for him in his bedroom, though she had hoped he would stay the night with her because she was scared and didn’t want to be alone. When she didn’t find him, she became alarmed.

She searched the entire house—upstairs, downstairs, and even the basement. He was nowhere to be found. As she was about to go into full panic mode, she sensed his presence just before he walked through the front door.

“Where were you?” she asked.

“I’m sorry. I really thought I’d be back before you finished showering.”

“Where did you go?”

“To my father’s temple. I flew, since…you know.”

She blushed. “You could have been captured.”

“It was worth the risk. He came.”

“Hephaestus?”

Hector nodded, smiling. “He promised to talk to Zeus and Athena and the other gods of Olympus. He won’t let us fight this battle alone.”

“Did you tell him what the vampires want? Did you ask him to help liberate them?”

“What?” Hector frowned. “No.”

“Why not?”

“I guess I was more concerned with protecting human life.”

Gertie narrowed her eyes. “See, that’s the problem. Humans and gods don’t value the lives of vampires. Until they do, things will never change. I can’t believe I came here. I can’t believe I abandoned them.”

She flew back up the stairs to the guest room, with Hector on her heels saying, “Wait, Gertie…”

She slammed the door in his face.

I need to be alone
, she told him telepathically.

Please, Gertie. You just got here. I’m so sorry. I should have thought of that. I’m so stupid.

She blocked her mind and went for her salvation—her e-reader. It wasn’t charged, so she plugged it in near the bed and climbed beneath the covers. Not in the mood to read the next book in
The Vampire Chronicles
, she searched for something else. She needed a fairy tale with a happy ending.

Gertie must have fallen asleep at some point while she’d been reading, for the scorching light of dawn bearing in on her through the window awakened her. She moaned and rolled off the bed into its shadow. She caught her breath and listened for Hector’s thoughts. She couldn’t sense him or his mother. Maybe they were at the council meeting.

She felt along the top of the mattress for her e-reader, tolerating the pain of the sun on her hand. Finding the device, she brought it into the shadows with her and searched for the place where she had left off in her book. It felt good to get lost in a story and forget all that was going on. She read all morning, until the shadow of the bed became too narrow, and then she rolled beneath the bed and kept reading.

Sometime later, she heard the front door and sensed Hector’s mother running up the stairs.

“Gertie?” She opened the guest room door. “Are you here?”

“Under the bed.” Gertie held her e-reader out in the light.

Hector’s mother knelt down and pressed her cheek to the floor. “Hi, I’m Dori, Hector’s mother,” she said without smiling. “Hector’s missing. Do you know where he is?”

“Missing?” Gertie bumped her head on the bottom of the bed. “He wasn’t at the council meeting?”

“No. And he hasn’t answered my text or calls.”

“I haven’t seen him since last night,” Gertie said. “He’d gone to his father’s temple.”

“You haven’t seen him since?”

“Yes. He came back. But…”

“But what?”

“I got upset with him. Oh, God. This is my fault.”

“Where do you think he went?”

“Maybe he went back to his father’s temple.”

“Okay. I’ll search there. Thanks.” Dori climbed to her feet. “Would you mind telling me why you were upset with him?”

Gertie sighed. “He’d gone to ask his father for help in battle, but I thought he should have asked him to help liberate the vampires.”

“I see.”

“If the gods would only help them, maybe we could avoid a war.”

“Thank you for telling me. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Dori hastened from the room. Gertie couldn’t resist reading the woman’s thoughts. If Dori couldn’t find Hector at the acropolis, she was going to go consult her father’s oracle at Mount Parnassus.

Gertie balled her fists. Everything was falling down around her, and all she could do was lie there in the dark. Never had she felt so helpless.

When dusk finally fell, Gertie climbed from beneath the bed and changed into fresh jeans and a knit top, wondering the whole time why neither Hector nor his mother had returned. The vampires would be attacking the cities soon, and, with or without Hector, Gertie planned to station herself near the Angelis apartment building. She was only one person, but she had to try her best to protect the people she loved.

Alone and frightened, she climbed from Hector’s window, reaching out with her senses as far as she could stretch. She wished she had some clue as to where the vampires would strike. If the other demigods lived like Hector, then it was likely the vampires would strike in the suburbs. But an ambush might be easier in the city, where there were more places to hide.

Not wanting to draw attention to herself from other vampires, she took to the streets and ran, rather than flew, toward the inner city. By the time she reached the Angelis’s apartment building, night had fallen, and so had a thick fog. Gertie flew up to the roof of the building, and, like a sentinel, prepared to wait.

As she looked in all directions for signs of the vampires, she sought Nikita’s mind. Gertie was shocked to learn that Phoebe was missing. Gertie went from mind to mind. Phoebe had been taken from the building in the middle of the night. No one knew where she was.

Gertie paced on the rooftop, trying to think of what to do and wondering if Hector’s disappearance had had anything to do with Phoebe’s. No one in Nikita’s family seemed to have any answers. Mamá hadn’t stopped crying. Babá spoke on the phone with a local police officer. Gertie soon realized the officer was sitting in his patrol car across the street. She hoped he was a demigod, in case the vampires showed up.

When she could think of nothing else to do, Gertie prayed to the gods. “Please guide me. Show me what to do.”

Suddenly it occurred to her that she could read Damien’s mind. Since he had a psychic connection with Phoebe, maybe he could reveal what had happened to her. Gertie imagined the two-year-old vampire in his coffin in the basement, but when she reached out, she couldn’t find him. She used her x-ray vision to look through the roof and through the three stories to the basement level. She scanned the basement for the tomb. When she found it, she gasped.

The lid was open, and the tomb was empty.