Blood Talisman (13 page)
“Hi,” he murmured, still drowsy, still trying to cling to the fading vestiges of the dream he didn’t want to let go. “Where am I?”
“We’re back in our hotel room,
édesem
.” Andrew stroked his forehead. “How do you feel?”
“Great. I had some kind of fantastic dream. You and me and the Talisman, and—
Dakar? No that can’t be right. Marcus and Roger were there though. I feel great, but
different, somehow.” He caught sight of Marcus and Roger standing behind Andrew. “Oh, hi guys. You look so solemn. Did I do something to piss you all off?”
“Tommy…” Andrew held his hand tightly. “Do you remember anything of what
happened when we were searching for the Talisman?”
“Uh, yeah…wait. We were in some kind of underground burial place, I think. Lots of
glass all over in that last spot we ended up in. Oh, and yeah, before that I got short of breath and you gave me blood—then—Shit, Dakar was there, wasn’t he? He tried to take the Talisman away from you. I decked him, then—uh, kind of a blank after that.
Except…mmm… You and me, Andrew, having the greatest sex. Uh, wow, maybe shouldn’t
say that in front of Roger. He’ll have some smart ass remark to make.”
Roger chuckled. “Trust you to remember that part of the dream.”
“So it was a dream?”
“Some of it.” Andrew bent to kiss his lips gently. “But do you remember anything
about the Talisman?”
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 76
Tommy nodded. “Yeah, it was on my chest. Fucking heavy and really painful for a
while, but then it felt kinda nice, and you were there and I dreamed I died but I woke up, so I couldn’t have died, could I?” He looked from Andrew to Roger and Marcus. Something in their expressions gave him pause. “What?”
“The Talisman saved you, Tommy,” Andrew said. “But it changed you. It enhanced the
power of the blood I gave you earlier. It made you immortal—like me, and Marcus, and
Roger.”
Tommy stared at Andrew, a queasiness gripping his stomach, while a nerve pulsed in
his temple. “You mean I’m vampire.”
“Yes.”
“Oh, God.” He shuddered and the sudden rush of tears behind his closed eyes burned
as the realisation of what that meant flooded his mind. “Oh, God,” he whispered again.
“I’m sorry, Tommy.”
He blinked his eyes open, saw the tortured look on Andrew’s face, knew he couldn’t
blame him. They’d talked about this. He’d even offered to accept the change. Hadn’t it
always been in the cards?
“Not your fault. You were hoping it would go the other way, right?”
Andrew drew his thumb gently over Tommy’s eyelids, wiping away the tears. “The
Talisman held both of our destinies when you were dying. The decision was out of my
hands. If I could have saved you from the change, I would have. It was never my intention that it should happen without your permission.”
Tommy sighed. “I guess I always knew it would one day.” He paused, remembering.
“It’s coming back to me now. That bastard Dakar, he tried to kill me. Picked me up like I weighed nothin’ at all and—”
“He’s dead, Tommy,” Roger blurted. “Gone for fuckin’ ever!”
“Let’s hope so.” Tommy sat up, but held Andrew’s hand clasped tightly in his own.
“And the Talisman?”
“Marcus destroyed it rather than let Dakar use it to restore his life,” Andrew said.
Marcus smiled. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Tommy attempted to return his smile. “Shit, we really went through it, huh. How long
have I been out?”
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 77
“Two days,” Andrew told him. “We felt it best to let you rest, let your body adapt to
its—differences.”
“Yeah, things sure are different. Everything’s kind of, brighter, sharper. Oh, wait…” He ran a finger over his upper teeth. “Something feels funny up here.”
“They’re called fangs,” Roger said, laughing. “They take some getting used to. I kept
biting my tongue for days.”
“Fangs.” Tommy prodded them with the tip of his tongue. “Jeez, they’re sharp!”
“All the better to bite with.” Roger sounded like he was really enjoying this. He
received a slap on the back of his head from Marcus.
“Roger, this is not the time to joke. Tommy has a lot to deal with right now and will
need our support, not your usual flippancy.”
“Sorry.” Roger looked suitably chastened, but managed to sneak in a wink at Tommy,
who grinned at him.
“Have you heard from Andorra and Tony?” Tommy asked.
Marcus nodded. “As you know, they had to go to Washington D.C. to give a full report
on what transpired with Hollingsworth. It appears that there was more than one traitor
involved in the attempted assassination of President Metcalfe. The Secret Service and the CIA are conducting a high-level investigation.”
“And the talks with the Prez and the terrorists?”
“Suspended without any agreement. The Taliban are blaming the US for the breakdown
in the talks.”
“What a surprise.”
“You and I have a midnight flight back to California booked for tomorrow,” Andrew
said. “That will give you a little more time to adjust. Marcus and Roger are leaving tonight.”
Tommy leant back against the headboard and winked at Roger. “Would you guys mind
if Andrew and me had a little time alone?”
“Not at all,” Marcus said immediately, taking Roger’s arm and leading him to the
bedroom door. “When you are ready for company, you may call our room.”
“Thanks.”
“How come you don’t correct Tommy’s grammar like you do mine?” Roger demanded
on their way out.
Marcus’ retort was hidden by the closing of the door.
BLOOD TALISMAN J.P. Bowie 78
Tommy smiled and reached out to caress Andrew’s face. “So, my vampire, do you still
love me now that I’m going to be around forever? Here, by your side, to bug you for all
eternity?”
Andrew chuckled softly and turned his face so he could kiss Tommy’s palm. “I will
love you through all the bugging you can throw my way. Nothing will ever change that,
Tommy.”
“Good to hear.” He wrapped his arms round Andrew’s neck and pulled him in for a
long, long kiss. Oh, yeah. This was way more than a kiss. This was—exquisite. Not a word he’d ever used to describe anything, but nothing else seemed as expressive. Andrew’s kisses had always been hot—those soft, luscious lips, the touch of them so quick to send every single nerve zinging straight to his groin.
“You know,” he murmured when they paused for a moment between kisses. “I’ve
always wondered what it would be like to make love as a vampire. To have no limits—and
like then—not having to come up for air too soon.”
“And?”
“And it’s even more sensational than I ever imagined.”
“Then you know what I have been experiencing from the first time we made love. How
I wished so many times that you could have that same level of ecstasy as I.”
“Andrew…” Tommy kissed the tip of Andrew’s nose. “No one—no one—ever made
love to me like you did. Every kiss, every touch, was like nothing I’d ever known before.
Even before I knew you were a vampire, I was saying, ‘Wow, but this guy is the best!’ I just hope that now I can give you that same kind of thrill.”
“You already do.” Andrew kissed him again. “So, you really are all right with this? I
know you must harbour regrets—your friends, family. But they need not know if you don’t
want them to. Our way of life can be adapted to theirs in some ways.”
Tommy nodded. “I guess in a way, it was on the cards. I’ve thought about it a lot,
talked it over with Micah and Roger—and with Ron, who hasn’t made the change yet. It’s all doable. Besides, I’m just happy I didn’t really die, die. I’d have missed the hell outta you.”
“And I’d have missed the hell outta you,” Andrew said softly.
“There’s just some things that kinda worry me.”
“Of course there are. But I will be by your side every step you take into this new life.”
“Like…uh—the first time I have to, uh…”
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“Feed.”
“Uh… Yeah, that.”
“Don’t worry. There are many different ways to drink blood. You will have my
guidance in the beginning, but you will eventually work it out for yourself.”
“Okay.” Tommy looked around the room. “Amazing how everything looks and feels so
different. Sounds, smells—your scent.” He leaned in closer. “Mmm. I think I can even smell your blood…nice.”
“Yes, every one of your senses has been heightened. That too you will have to get used
to. It just takes time, Tommy. Something you now have plenty of.”
Tommy nodded. Not only sounds and scents, but his vision was so much keener. And
Andrew… God, he looked even more beautiful now, if that was possible. His eyes… Tommy
had often thought them so unusually blue, like hot ice, but now when he gazed into them he could see shards of a darker blue surrounding the iris—amazing. The planes of his face seemed more sculpted, more perfect, and his mouth—oh, God—that mouth. So sensual it
made Tommy’s already hard cock ache at the thought of the kisses they would share.
He couldn’t wait to make love to Andrew. Roger, always the one with the lewd
comment, the wicked remark, had once told him in a more serious moment, that the first
time he and Marcus had made love after he had been changed had been like nothing he
could ever have imagined.
“It was like every single sensation, every touch and kiss had so much more. Every time
I inhaled his scent, a scent I thought I knew from all the times we had made love, it was as if it was all brand new to me… Everything was new…”
Tommy had never forgotten the intensity behind Roger’s words. At the time he’d just
considered their conversation unusual because of Roger’s sometimes tactless comments, but now he had a feeling he was about to find out what Roger meant.
“You know…” Tommy gave Andrew a slow, seductive smile. “I think the very next
thing we should do is make love for the first time—I mean, as vampires.”
“I’m so glad being immortal hasn’t displaced that one-track mind of yours.”
“With you around? How could that be possible?”
Andrew caressed Tommy’s chest, and the slow subtle movements seemed to take on an
even greater sensuousness than ever before.
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“That feels, uh—amazing. I mean it always has—does—but now it’s like my skin is
even more sensitive to your touch.” He groaned as Andrew brushed his fingers over his
nipples. “Oh, my God, Andrew—it’s all so much more.”
Andrew leant forwards and kissed him, and Tommy opened to his lover, their tongues
sliding over each other’s in a caress that had Tommy seeing stars. With each passing moment it was if Tommy’s awareness of every single sensation increased.
“Oh, wow,” he murmured.
“What?”
“I can hear your thoughts, hear them as clearly as if you were saying the words.” He
leaned closer and kissed Andrew’s parted lips. “You really do love me.”
“Did you ever doubt it?”
“Not doubt, but sometimes I’d wonder why someone as fantastic as you, as different as
you, would want Joe Blow Fireman, Mr Ordinary, you know?”
“You are far from ordinary, my love.” Andrew cupped the back of Tommy’s head and
held him so their lips remained touching. “The moment I saw you, despite knowing I should go no further than drink from you, I think I was lost. Not for one moment did the memory of your sweet scent and taste leave me. If you were as ordinary as you think you are, why would I have sought you out, come to you that night and spent those incredible hours with you, making love to you, over and over?”
“Yeah, I’ll never forget that first time with you.” Tommy caressed Andrew’s face with
his fingertips. “I’d thought that you had forgotten me—then there you were at my door, in my arms—kissing me, driving me mad—God, it was fantastic.”
“Yes, it was…”
“And of course, before that, you made me forget you. Well…” Tommy smiled wickedly.
“You can’t do that no more!”
“No…” Andrew kissed Tommy’s lips gently. “But there are some other things you
should know.”
“Later,” Tommy said, drawing Andrew into his arms and falling back against the
mattress.
“Yes, later.”
Their bodies and minds melded, taking them to a level of ecstasy no human could ever
dream of experiencing. Tommy could hardly believe how different this all felt. Yes, he had
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relished every moment of their lovemaking before, but this—this was so incredible, so mind blowing, he wished Andrew had changed him after his Uncle Lazlo’s attack. When he’d been drained of blood and hovered on the brink of death. But Andrew had saved him, had loved him enough to not change him. Tommy wondered now, if the situations had been reversed,
if he had been vampire and Andrew human, would he have had the strength to ignore the
call of the blood lust?
Andrew held Tommy’s now harder than steel erection in his hand and smiled ruefully
at him. “Strange thoughts to be having while I am pleasuring you.”