Cunningham, Pat - Legacy [Sequel to Belonging] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (36 page)

Colleen swallowed a whimper. They made it sound so everyday. She ran her tongue experimentally over her teeth. Her fangs. “How am I supposed to go back to the school with these? The kids will—God. The kids. I can’t go near the kids anymore. All those scrapes and scratches.”

“Relax,” Wallace said. “That’s not enough to spark a feed. Look. You’re going through the checkout line at the grocery store. You’re hungry for chocolate. You see a Snickers bar. Do you eat the whole display? Of course not. Scarecrow there nicks himself shaving on a regular basis. How often do I attack you?”

“On a regular basis,” Jeremy said. “Just not for blood.”

“Okay, bad example. The point is, it’s not like the movies. Somebody gets a paper cut, you won’t go all Dracula on them. We keep blood in the fridge. You’ll be fine.”

“What about this?” She jabbed her finger at her mouth. “I can’t go out like this. What do I say to people?”

“Don’t say anything. Ain’t their business. If you’re that concerned, just keep your mouth shut. I know that’s tough on a chick, but—right. Not helping.”

“So not helping.” She sagged against Jeremy. His presence proved no match for the leaden emptiness inside her. “What happened at the golf course after I…?”

“It’s gone,” Wallace said. “They’re gone. There were seven bats in the freezer. Charcoal, now. If there were any in the other buildings, they’re gone, too. It was going up like Vesuvius when we left.” He didn’t mention Elisa.

Colleen wet her lips. “What about Lebec?”

“Wouldn’t know. None of us knows what he looks like. Doubt it. Arrogant as he seems to be, I don’t think he sleeps with the help.”

“So he may still be out there. What happened to the women?”

“They took off when we torched the place.” He wouldn’t look her in the eye.

“You’re sure? They all got out okay?”

“I guess,” Jeremy said. “We were kind of distracted.”

Yeah, she thought bleakly.
By me being horny and hopped up on vampire blood
. She wriggled out of Jeremy’s embrace. “I’m sorry. I need to be alone for a while.”

Colleen turned toward the stairs. She took a step. The walls seemed to blur. All at once she found herself at the top of the stairs.
But I barely moved
, she thought. Like Wallace barely seemed to move sometimes, then suddenly he was standing at Point B while she was still staring at Point A. The vampire’s quicker than the eye.

Colleen shuddered anew. Planting each foot with deliberate care, she walked at human speed into the bedroom and shut the door behind her.

* * * *

So this was failure. Not just the lead-pipe sensation in the gut or the shriveled-up tongue that couldn’t cough up excuses or that jagged crater in his chest where his heart had been sitting only seconds ago. Failure was desolation in the eyes of a woman who’d relied on him to protect her. Them. Two women had trusted him, and he’d doled out a one-two punch of damnation to them both.

Elisa was at peace now, like that was any consolation. Colleen’s hell had just revved up from zero to sixty and wouldn’t be slowing down any time soon.

“It’ll be okay,” Jeremy said. He brushed at Wallace’s hair. “She just needs time to get over the shock. How about you? How are you holding up?”

“I’ll live. So to speak.” Dammit, failure sucked. He’d had more than a bellyful and was sick of dwelling on it. If he couldn’t fix Colleen’s world, he could at least bring some joy to the other great love of his life. “Forget about me. I got good news in Sacramento. I found him.”

“Lebec? You know where he is?”

“Not him. The slayer from Tacoma. I know who he is.”

Jeremy sucked in a breath. He didn’t look as pleased as Wallace had imagined. Just the opposite, in fact. “You what?”

“I found him. I know his name. I can track him like that.” He snapped his fingers. “Say the word and he’s guts on the ground. Blood in the gutter. He’s—”

“No.”

That wasn’t the word Wallace expected. “No? Why the hell not? Oh, I get it. You want to do it yourself. C’mon, scarecrow, get real. You won’t even kill bugs in the house. You catch ’em in paper cups and take ’em outside. I’ve seen you. Let me do this for you. I’ll take care of the slayer, and it’ll all be over.”

“It’s already over. It’s been over. Let it go.”

“But—”

“I said no.” Jeremy closed his hands on Wallace’s face, forcing the vampire to look at him. “What good would it do? Would it bring them back? Would it wipe out the last two years? I don’t want him dead. I don’t even want to know who he is. I’m trying to lay it to rest and you keep stirring it up.”

“I thought you’d want—”

“I don’t.” Jeremy fixed him with a stormy glare. “Have you ever wondered why no slayer has come after you?”

“Not really, no. I figure they’re scared. If they’re not scared, then it’s because we’re on the same team.”

“It’s because you only kill vampires. If you kill a slayer, that changes the game. They’ll hunt you down. I can’t lose you, too. I just can’t.”

“I…didn’t think about it like that. I thought you’d want closure.”

“No, you thought I’d want revenge.” Jeremy released him, but only to gather him into a loving embrace. “As long as you stay under the radar, you stay safe. I need you more than I need revenge. Please, Wallace. Let it go.”

“Okay,” Wallace murmured, hugging him back. “Okay. Guy was a dickhead anyway. Natural selection will solve our problems for us. So what do we do about Colleen?”

“Right now, nothing. We give her time, and when she wants us, we be there. It’s all we can do.”

* * * *

Colleen sat on the bed. She’d discarded the sleeping bag for a robe. She got up, paced around the room, and sat again. She couldn’t sleep. She didn’t try. She feared the night had more to do with her insomnia than nerves.

Her tongue continuously worried at her fangs. Yes, they were still there. They weren’t going away. Ever. She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes and was fiercely delighted to find moisture. Someone had once told her vampires couldn’t cry.

Humans didn’t drink blood, either, or suffer from blood lust. Those were vampire afflictions. Colleen bobbed somewhere between the waves of the two. Which riptide would finally suck her under?

She got up again, paced some more, and stopped before the mirror on the dresser. She still had a reflection. One question answered. Yippee. Too many others crowded for attention. Like, what was she supposed to do about her future?

A harsh pang twisted her stomach when she thought about the children. No way could she return to the preschool, no matter what Wallace said. She tried an experimental smile. The minute the tips of her fangs showed, Colleen clamped her lips shut. Proof positive something like her shouldn’t be allowed around children. Was her desire for children even her own or something planted in her mind by the vampires?

The vampires had done this. They’d created her to be this way. Nothing in her life was hers, not even that life itself.

Colleen glared at the mirror and chilled to the marrow. Her eyes had gone blood red.

Maybe it was her scream. Maybe it was the crash of the mirror shattering when she drove her fist into it. Either or both brought Jeremy and Wallace on the run. Wallace, with his inhuman speed, reached her first. He took in the sight of her face and the shards of the mirror and for once didn’t say anything. He moved aside and let Jeremy charge in and take her bloody hand.

“Are you all right?” Jeremy asked.

“No, I—” Colleen stared at her hand. The cuts had closed already. Her own blood sliding down her forearm stirred a twinge of greed. She shivered violently.

Silently, Wallace went to the bathroom and returned with a hand towel. Jeremy cleaned away the blood and bits of glass. Colleen stared fixedly at the window the whole time. Only after Jeremy left to dispose of the towel did Wallace come up behind her. Colleen flinched at his touch. Wallace moved away.

When Jeremy returned, he didn’t speak. None of them spoke. They climbed onto the bed, Colleen shut off from the men by her own somber thoughts.

She loved them both so much. Could they still love her, the way she was now? Could she even live with herself?

Her eyes must have closed, and time must have passed because when she opened them, the room was much lighter. Her head was pillowed against Jeremy’s shoulder. He snored gently against her neck. Wallace lounged at her other side, in exactly the same position he’d been in when she drifted off.

His eyes met hers. “Hey, sweetheart. Get any sleep?”

“I must have. I guess that’s a good thing. I wasn’t sure I could. I suppose you didn’t, huh?”

“Can’t. Not till sunup.” He reached behind her to card his fingers through Jeremy’s hair with an affectionate smile. “This lazy shit’s the only one with any sense. We’ve all been running on fumes since yesterday. You should try to rest today. I’ll be good in about twenty minutes.”

“Don’t try to pretend nothing’s happened. We all know what I am now.”

“Hey, you’re only half. They wanted the best of both.”

She nearly laughed. “There’s a best?”

“It’s got its high points. You get to stay up all night. The diet sucks, but what can you do?” His jungle gaze pierced her. “What do you want me to do?”

“I’m guessing there’s no cure.”

“Not that I’ve ever heard of. Gus has been looking for years.”

“It wouldn’t matter, would it? There’s no cure for DNA.” She started to lift her hands then let them fall. “How do you live like this?”

“You’ve got advantages over the rest of us. You’re still alive, for one. The sunlight thing’s our biggest speed bump. Well, that and slayers.” He shrugged. “You’ve got something no other vampire has.” He indicated himself and Jeremy with two quick jabs of his thumb. “Us.”

Colleen smiled wanly. She leaned over and kissed him. Her lips encountered the bump of his fangs, and she knew his must be feeling the same behind hers. A sudden, frightening flash burst into her thoughts, the two of them with those fangs mutually ripping at some hapless victim’s throat. She jerked back sharply.

Of course, he knew what caused her abrupt retreat. When he chose, he could know every thought in her head and vice versa. They were bound in a way no human, not even Jeremy, could know.

He caught her before she could pull away further. “I won’t lie to you. It’ll be rough. The difference between you and me is you won’t have to go through it alone. I’ll guide you along the best I can. Scarecrow’s here, too. He knows more about vampires than I do. Dude’s a walking encyclopedia on bats.”

Colleen glanced over at Jeremy’s peaceful, sleeping face. Wallace’s nebulous fears resonated inside her. She understood them now. How long would she live? Long enough to watch him age and die like the mortal she wasn’t anymore? Colleen wasn’t sure she could bear that, even with Wallace beside her to soften the blow.

Wallace must have sensed the gist of her thoughts because he rested his hand on Jeremy’s shoulder. “Forget that for now. That’s in the future. We’ve got more up close and personal problems.”

She leapt at the distraction gratefully. “Lebec’s still out there somewhere.”

“Yeah. Son of a bitch can’t let yesterday pass. He’ll be coming for us. We have to find him first.”

Colleen stared out the window. She now knew to the minute when the sun would rise. “Did the others really get away?”

“Yes,” Wallace said, this time without hesitation. “They ran when the fire started. I know we should’ve tried to catch them, but—well, hell. I had a lot of other things on my mind right then.”