Blood Ties (28 page)

“Liz look at me.”

With effort, I opened my eyes. His face floated out-of-focus.

“Liz, listen carefully ...”

I tried as hard as I could to pay attention to his voice. Slowly, his face became more distinct. It became easier to hear him. My heartbeat slowed and the feeling in my arms and legs returned. My shivering quieted.

He smiled gently. He lowered his face and whispered, “Welcome back, my love.” He gave me a kiss, lingering his soft lips on mine. I inhaled, pulling in the fragrance from his breath. It didn’t smell like blood. It was sweet, heavenly, unlike anything I’d ever known. He held more water to my lips and with his encouragement
, I drank until it was gone.

“We need to keep moving,” he said. He tucked me into his chest.

I drifted in and out of sleep, trying to ignore the throbbing in my arm. I felt him slow, then stop. I opened my eyes.

***

The sun had almost set. We were behind a rusted-out car about a hundred yards away from a ratty combination truck stop, nameless diner and motel. Close to us was a parking lot full of semis. Next to the motel were a few cars. To my side, as far as I could see, the landscape was rough and jagged with minimal plant life. We were in the middle of nowhere, a desert.

He set me down and steadied me with his arm around my waist. After a few minutes, a semi pulled up and parked off to the side. Two men got out of the cab and walked towards the diner talking in low tones. We headed towards the truck.

He held his hand over the lock. There was a small click then he quietly opened the door and stepped up into the cab. He was back in a second with some clothing and a thermos.

He
used an extra t-shirt and the coffee to clean the blood off his face, neck and chest. My mind did a pretty good job of filtering it out. He used the side mirror on the truck to make sure he’d gotten it all.

He picked up a hooded sweatshirt, shorts, and a pair of flip-flops of
f the ground then took a few steps towards me, making motions as if he thought he was going to help me change my clothes.

I swatted at him. “I can do it myself. I’m not completely helpless.”

“Are you sure? I can do it fast. I won’t see a thing.”

“I’m not stupid.”

He laughed. “Well then, you’ll have to turn around so you don’t see me dress. I wouldn’t want you to peek.”

Nope, I wasn’t ready to see a fully naked-in-the
-sun vampire. I turned around quick before the thought of it fully etched its way into my brain. I weakly struggled with peeling my shirt off, grimacing when I saw the blood on it. The pants were a breeze. When it came to putting on the shorts, I fell on the ground, too weak to keep my balance. I let out an oath.

“Are you sure you don’t need some help?”

“I'm fine. Just hold your horses.”

I stayed on the ground and pulled them on. They were too big.

“You can turn around now.” I stood, a bit wobbly in the too-large flip-flops, holding the material bunched around my waist.

He took one look and in an instant, returned with a thin strip of material. He bent down and threaded it through the belt loops and tied it in a knot, then stood up and gave me quick kiss on my nose. He tucked my hair back under the sweatshirt, pulling the hood over it.

He pulled his own hair into a ponytail, knotted it into a twist and pulled a baseball cap down over his head to shade his face. Then he relocked the cab door the same way he’d unlocked it.

He pulled up the sleeve of
my sweatshirt and unwrapped my arm to inspect my cuts. What was that little trick he had done with the lock on the cab door? It was going to the top of my list of Mysteries Needing Clarification. I had started making a list in a few weeks ago. Then there was the ease at which he’d pilfered through the truck. I wondered if he was on Interpol’s list, an infamous criminal. Where would he stash it all? I smiled, amused at the return of my humor. Then my thoughts abruptly shifted. Shouldn’t I be comatose by now from the horror of the last few days? Then it was obvious. He had snuck something into my head.

He
rewrapped my arm giving me another kiss on my nose. In a blur he dug a hole in the ground then gathered up our scrubs and threw them in. He took a cigarette lighter out of his pocket and set them on fire. They burst into brilliant flames and in only a few seconds, they were reduced to ashes. He tamped out the last few remaining embers and then covered the ground as if it had never been disturbed. I stared at the now non-existent hole in amazement. Why had the scrubs burned so quickly? It was as they were soaked in lighter fluid. It was another item that went on my list.

He dusted off his hands. “Can you walk?”

“Yep.” I wobbled a few steps then he caught me around my waist, pressing me up against his side. I gave him a frown. He returned a sweet smile.

We
walked across the parking lot into the diner. The restaurant was half-full of truckers. A hostess seated us in a booth and handed us plastic coated menus covered with a week’s worth of grime. I looked at Michael and raised an eyebrow. He flashed a couple of c-notes in his hand.

A waitress walked over, a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. She pulled out a green
pad. “Hi Hon, what can I get you?”

I ordered a hamburger, fries, and a
Coke. Michael ordered pancakes, coffee, two orange juices and two glasses of water.

He scanned the diner, keeping his head down. “I’m going to call Selene. I’ll be right over there.” He glanced over his shoulder. There was an attached convenience store with phones next to
it. I watched him go, holding myself back from running after him and wrapping myself around his leg like a monkey. Surely I was safe only a few feet away. He put his hand over the pay phone then began to enter numbers. He turned and winked at me.

The waitress brought our drinks. A few minutes later, she was back with our food. I took some butter and smeared it over Michael’s pancakes. I doused them with syrup.

He came back with a bottle of Ibuprofen. He looked at his pancakes, then at me. I ignored him – I was busy stuffing a hamburger in my face trying to not think about too much of anything. He smiled and shook his head. He pulled out three pills and slid them across the table.

He cut up the pancakes with a fork, playing with it, moving the pieces around on the plate in geometric patterns.

“According to the newspapers, we are in the middle of the Nevada desert.”

I swallowed the bite of my hamburger and washed it down with water and
pills, then said brightly, “Well, now you can say you’ve been to the states.”

He quirked an eyebrow
as if he thought I was a bit deranged and pushed the orange juice next to my water. “They should be here in two days. I’ve reserved a motel room for us.”

I took another bite of my hamburger and chewed, staring out the window, trying to ignore the throbbing in my arm. He was quick. I’d give him that. I hadn’t even seen him leave the phone to make arrangements. A good thing there, otherwise I’d probably be curled up in a ball under the table. From the looks of the floor in the aisle, it could only be a CDC hazard.

Michael continued to watch the occupants of the diner while he played with his food. He tried not to make a face as he feigned a sip of coffee. I giggled at his attempt.

“Liz,” he said quietly, “
how are you doing?”

I looked at him and took a huge gulp of Coke through my straw. “In what way?”

He raised his eyebrow again. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop. He was a little late. It had dropped back when I had first seen that chair from hell.

“As well as can be expected after the gore I experienced. It’s a miracle I’m not in hysterics and still screaming my lungs out. But I’m sure you had something to do with it. By the way, you can do that anytime with my full and complete permission.” I sighed. “Just give me a couple hours, I’m sure something will come back to bite me in the butt.”

He nodded with a tight smile.

His fac
e became somber. “Liz, if it wasn’t for you we’d probably be ...,” his voice faltered. “To think how close I came to ...” He closed his eyes. In his mind, the horror of almost killing me was miles above the torture at Jensen’s hand. But I didn’t want to think about it. It was hard enough just watching him do it.

He grasped my hand gently, raising it to his lips. I shivered in pleasure. “I owe you my life, in more ways than one,” he whispered.

“I owe you mine,” I replied softly.

I felt my reality shift. It was the strangest feeling, as if everything
were slowing down to a stop. The sounds in the diner faded into the background as a dull noise. I watched as a trucker behind Michael inched a forkful of pie towards his mouth in slow motion. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the waitress standing next to me. I didn’t catch her words. They sound slow and low pitched.

Then everything shifted again,
everything went back to normal. I looked up at her in confusion. “Sorry, what did you say?”

Her voice rasped, the cigarette still dangling out of a corner of her mo
uth. “Sure hon, how is everything? Can I get anything else for you two?” I was amazed at the length of ash on it and wondered how many times her customers had received a little something extra in their food.

“No, we’re fine. Thank you.” She gave me a nod and placed the check in front of Michael, then moved to the booth behind me.

I waited until she left and whispered, “Did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“You know, when we were looking into each other’s eyes. It was really weird, as if my perception of time slowed. Everything in the diner went into ‘slow-mo’ and the waitress’s voice dropped a couple octaves. It was like, you know, being in the moment, but a lot stronger and more bizarre.”

He creased his forehead. “Time slowing down?”

I nodded, taking a huge gulp of orange juice. “Exactly. It was creepy.”

“Creepy …” he
said under his breath. “No, it wasn’t me, unless I’ve suddenly developed a new ability which is … impossible …” He stared at me with a weird look. I took another bite of my hamburger and looked out the window smudged with greasy fingerprints and ketchup. It was probably just a “horror” rebound coupled with dehydration. I had refused food and water in that hellhole, which now thankfully was obliterated from the face of the planet along with all of its monsters. Let’s hear it for that.

I dipped a couple of fries in ketchup and realized he still stared. I nudged him under the table with my foot. He shifted and began playing with the saltshaker. “What were you just thinking?” I asked. His face was devoid of emotion. I had a feeling this was his “tell” when he hid things. I studied his face as I stuck
the fries in my mouth.

He pushed
another glass of water across the table. “Nothing at all. I’m sure you’re just feeling the effects of the shock you were in.” He glanced down at my arm. “It doesn’t look infected. Selene’s bringing some antibiotics just in case.”

A master at deflection.
A man after my own heart.

After I finished half of my hamburger and fries, along with all the liquids he practically forced down me, we took a trip through the attached convenience store for a few things then went to our motel room.
He drew the curtains and called the front desk to cancel our cleaning service for the next two days while I went into the bathroom to take a shower.

After an application of antiseptic, bandage, and an icepack to reduce the burning, I perched on one of the queen beds and turned on the TV, turning it down to a soft hum while I listened to Michael take his shower. I should offer to help him. After all, there are a few hard-to-reach places. I certainly wouldn’t mind if he also suggested I help with the more reachable parts.

The water turned off. A moment later, he walked out of bathroom without any shirt on.

He turned towards the
large mirror over the sink and began brushing his hair out with a comb. My mouth dropped open. He was incredibly beautiful, just rippling with muscles – everywhere – back, chest, and arms. The deep wounds that had marred his chest were gone without a trace.

I went over
to him and touched the now invisible wounds.

“Amazing isn’t it? What a little blood can do for a damaged vampire?”

He wrapped his arms around me and his wet hair slid across my face. He kissed me, probing the inside of my mouth with his cool tongue. The room began to spin as his scent grew stronger. I knotted my fingers in his hair and drew his lips tighter to mine.

After a few heated moments, he gently untangled himself
and walked me over to one of the beds. He pulled the sheets back and tucked me in with a light kiss. He propped himself up against the headboard on the other bed and turned on the TV with the remote control.

He glanced over at me. I pouted, giving him the biggest puppy dog look I could muster. That magnificent chest was just beggin' to be kissed.