Fading Darkness (Bloodmarked #1) (5 page)

Amazingly, she heard and responded, “Luce?
I’m in the bedroom!”

Clearly. The music slowly faded as she
turned it down, and I stepped through the doorway into the master suite and
noticed she was in her bathroom standing at her vanity sink. Passing through
the brightly decorated Balinese-style bedroom, I made my way toward her. She
was curling her hair and by looking at her reflection in the mirror, I could
tell she had already applied her many layers of make-up she always wore. She
saw the look on my face. “Don’t say anything, you’re next.”

“No thanks, I’m good,” I said halfheartedly,
knowing this was one battle I wouldn’t win. I shoved aside a pile of cosmetics
and slid up onto the ample counter space. I knew I’d be in that bathroom for a
while so I pulled my legs up under me.

I watched Holly work through her hair while
I played with a frayed piece of material at the hem of my jeans. I tried to
hold a reluctant look on my face to convey my disdain for primping and playing
dress-up. She ignored it and continued rolling chunks of her straight hair with
the iron. Holly’s mom was from the Philippines, and her dad was of German
descent I think. It gave Holly an exotic look that was almost difficult to
place, but it drew guys in from across any room.

This also made it more difficult when
protecting her, because vampires were partial to attractive humans. Shane
called it “fine dining” once and ended up with a stake two inches from his
heart. We almost killed each other after that but with a great deal of
restraint, we quit fighting. That was the same night I helped him with his
first big infestation problem.

Holly finished her last curl and turned her
full attention on me. “Okay, your turn,” she said smiling.

“Yay, I’m so excited!” I exclaimed with mock
enthusiasm.

“Could you at least pretend to enjoy
yourself tonight so it doesn’t bring down my mood?” she pleaded.

“No. You know I’m only doing this to protect
you. I’m suffering this for you, isn’t that enough?” I asked, a little
surprised at the harshness in my voice. I guess when it came to normal human
activities I was kind of resistant. Those types of activities weren’t for me,
and I knew I didn’t belong in Holly’s world. Doing things like this just
reminded me of how much I didn’t fit in and could never live a happy life.
Monsters didn’t deserve happiness.

“How are you such a bitch all the time?” she
spit back.

I knew she was right, and she didn’t deserve
that, so I tried to recover with my best look of shock and horror mixed with
feigned innocence.

Her face turned apologetic and she said,
“You know what I mean. You’re just wound a little too tight. You really need to
get laid.”

I felt my face get hot. How did I not see
that coming? Anytime I have ever mentioned a guy’s name to Holly, the
conversation would become all about sex or getting me a boyfriend. This was
usually a topic I tried to avoid, since it was never in my future. Maybe that
was why I never mentioned Gavin to Holly, not that I considered him in that
way, but I didn’t want her painting that picture for me. I was a little scared
of what it might look like, or what looking at it might do to me.

 After recovering from the shock, I snapped
back, “Oh thanks for clarifying. I was worried for a second that you were
insulting me. I was almost mildly offended.” Adding even more sarcasm to my
tone, I continued, “And yes, my ill temper has nothing to do with the dark,
evil world I live in and everything to do with sexual frustration.”

I realized my tone had switched from
sarcastic to a little more skeptical toward the end of my rant when I
entertained the idea that being romantically challenged and terminally lonely
may be a logical explanation for my moodiness, or at least some of it. Great,
like I didn’t have enough issues at the moment.

Holly observed the internal debate I was
struggling with and seized on my moment of doubt when she returned with, “Are
you sure, ‘cause you don’t look so sure anymore, darlin’?”

Okay, so even if she was right, it didn’t
matter because I would never allow myself to let anyone into my messed up life.
Happiness, like I’ve told myself a thousand times, was not in the cards for me.
Besides, that pent up frustration worked wonders for kicking bad guy ass. It
was just another weapon in the arsenal, alongside anger, rage, vengeance, hate,
and several other destructive feelings.

Evading uncomfortable topics of conversation
has become pretty natural to me, and Holly was used to it, so she never pushed
too hard. I asked her how classes were going and from the frustrated look on
her face, this was her uncomfortable subject.

I had successfully created a stalemate, and
it was on to a more neutral conversation about the good reviews of the new club
we were attending tonight.

I sat there listening to her rave about the
place as she applied the minimal amount of makeup to my face that I allowed. She
did a quick curling job on my hair while her iron was still hot to tame all the
wild strands that were out of place. This wasn’t too bad, but seeing the outfit
she had picked out for me really made me cringe. I bit back several swear
words.

“You’re joking right?” I asked, appalled by
the extra-short black mini skirt, midriff-baring fuchsia bustier that will
barely cover my black bra, and to top it off, thigh-high black boots with
4-inch heels. “I mean, I already have my own underwear, so where’s the outfit
that is supposed to go over that?”

“Come on, you’d be the hottest person in the
place! Didn’t you tell me vampires go for the hot ones?”
Did I actually tell
her that?
“You’ll need to go big if you’re going to take the attention off
of this,” she added, raking her hands downward gesturing to herself in
exaggerated arrogance.

The idea of turning myself into bait wasn’t
new. I’ve done it before to lure vampires away from potential victims, but this
was… for lack of a less cliché word at the moment- overkill.

She continued making her point by adding,
“It’s either this or skinny jeans, but didn’t you once call them
limited-mobility
pants
?”

“They are limited-mobility pants. It’s not
easy throwing roundhouse kicks in those things without ripping out the seams.”

“Well, there you have it then. Go with the
skirt.”

“Really? Those are my only options, either
limited-mobility pants or a zero-modesty skirt?”

“Yes,” she said with finality.

I knew it was, as usual, pointless arguing
with her, so I caved. “Fine, but where the hell am I going to put my stakes?”

She perked up at this, “Oh, I have that
covered.” She rushed over to her bed, and leaned down to pull out a box
underneath it. She rifled through it eagerly and pulled out a satiny black
band. “This garter I have from an old Halloween costume should work!”

I didn’t even want to know what that costume
could have been, but the garter could be tucked right under the opening of the
boot, as long as it was tight enough. I slipped out of my jeans and t-shirt
tossing them on the floor along with some of my dignity and got dressed, or
undressed more or less. I braced myself for the sight before turning to the
full-length mirror in the corner or Holly’s room.

She gave me a look of appreciation before I
looked, and when I did see myself, it was just as bad as I was expecting. Wow,
was I really going out wearing next to nothing? I felt so exposed. That might
have had something to do with the fact that I was nearly naked.

My slender shoulders were only covered with
the straps of my bra, and my arm muscles stood out against the sideways slant
of the ceiling light. My 34-Cs were popping out of the tight bustier. I could
see all the definition in my abs that went all the way down to the low cut of
the mini skirt that barely concealed my toned thighs. In fact, I think the
boots covered more square inches of skin than anything else I had on. Actually,
my hair probably covered more skin than the clothes did. All I could think was
that in a fight, all modesty was out of the question.

“Damn, I wish I had a perfectly round, toned
ass like that,” Holly said with slight jealousy. “I’d take the whole rockin’
bod you’ve got going on, especially that Victoria’s Secret hair of yours that
most models can only pull off with extensions. It’s not fair.”

Fair? Oh Hol, don’t get me started on
that.
“Yeah, my life’s awesome. Having this rockin’ bod makes it all worth
living,” I said sardonically.

“Hey, just remember that rockin’ bod will
keep the vampires’ attentions off me, not to mention every other girl in the
club. Isn’t that what you want?” she repeated in order to remind me again why I
was wearing next to nothing.

“One,” I said ticking the number off on my
finger, “stop saying
rockin’ bod
, and two, that is the only reason I
would ever wear something so ridiculous.”

“I get it. You’re not diggin’ the outfit.
Try to keep those complaints to yourself the rest of the night though. Like I
said, I want to have fun tonight,” Holly demanded. “So let’s go have some fun,”
she said, pulling me out of her bedroom, and dragging me behind her like
another one of her accessories. I could tell her focus was on one thing, and
one thing only. F-U-N. I’m not sure what that is, but I was going to give it my
best effort to pretend I knew for her sake. My only goal, though, was keeping
her alive and to kill any bloodsucker in my general vicinity.

“Let’s go then,” I said in reluctant
agreement.

“Oh, hold on,” she said rushing to the
kitchen, “I gotta finish my drink.” She picked a glass up off the breakfast bar
that was a quarter full of some pink-colored liquid and chugged it, slamming
the glass back down so hard it almost shattered. Her face puckered from the bad
taste of whatever alcohol she was drinking tonight. “Okay, let’s go,” she said,
half-stumbling her way toward me.

“Let’s do it,” and with that, I knew I was
in for one
rockin’
night. Oh joy.

The cabbie dropped us off about a block away
from the new club because the streets were so cluttered with the masses of
people wanting to check out the latest hot spot in town. Holly carefully
removed herself from the cab and immediately fished her phone out of the
oversized clutch she was carrying. Maybe we wouldn’t have to use the fake IDs
after all because she was texting someone she knew on the inside to sneak us in
through the side door. We made our way alongside the long line of young college
students hoping to get wasted and hook up. As we approached the front of the
line, I noticed a neon sign that read “Dawn of Night.” I knew it was something like
that.

We walked, or rather, she stumbled around on
her stilettos while I kept her upright, past the front door where the heavy
beating of the speakers ricocheted off the frame, traveling out into the street.
We ended up on the other side of the building.

Whoever bought this place must have spent the
entire budget for lighting on the front because there were no lights in the
narrow alley. The flood lights weren’t even working, so for most people it
would be tough to see where they were going. But with my sensitive sight, I
easily navigated us toward the door we were sneaking in. As we waited for the
person on the inside to come open the locked door, Holly grew impatient and
began slurring a string of cuss words and even punched the door with impressive
strength.

“Ow,” she stretched the word out slowly,
shaking her hand as if she could shake away all the pain. With her flailing
back and forth in a drunken rant, the air stirred around me and I picked up a
brief scent of blood. It was gone before I could pinpoint it, but it almost
smelled stale.

“Damn it, I think I might be bleeding,” she
breathed, still trying to hold back the pain with deep breaths.

That must have been what I smelled. I shook
it off and turned my full focus back on the buzzed and already emotional girl
beside me.

“Relax, Hol, I’ll take care of it,” I
soothed as I grabbed for the door and felt the vibrations from the music inside
on the cool metal handle. I gave a swift push down on it as it made a
metal-on-metal groaning noise in protest. After little resistance the latch
succumbed to the pressure and gave out. I pushed the door open and gestured for
Holly to go in.

“Huh,” she looked at me in appreciation.
“Now, why didn’t we just do that before?”

“This was plan B, in case plan A failed. It
did,” I explained hoping that would suffice. I didn’t want to admit to her that
I hated using my abilities in front of her. Somehow, there was a difference
between her knowing about me and her actually seeing me as a freak. It felt as
if I was bringing her further into my world when I gave demonstrations of my
inhuman characteristics, which, of course, felt wrong.

I ushered her in past me while holding out
my hand as a spot. She made it through the threshold on her own, but I didn’t
think she would have the same fortune on the dance floor. I had a feeling I
wouldn’t be able to avoid the sweaty masses grinding against themselves,
spilling various types of alcohol over everyone around them as they bump into
each other in an awkward rhythm that, to them, seems like dancing, and to the
really drunk ones, probably seems like really awesome dancing.

The inside reminded me of an old theatre
that had been gutted and updated to a very modern look. There was a wide open
space in the center of the room that was the dance floor, and there were
graduated levels on the main floor. The dance floor was the lowest, then there
was an outer ring of tables that was a step up from the dance floor, and toward
the main entrance was a long bar that was one more step up. This level wrapped
around the side walls creating another level of seating that was separated from
the middle level by a rail. On the opposite end of the dance floor was a large
stage that could be used for major bands.

Tonight, they just had a DJ playing in the
booth to the left of the stage. There was a mezzanine that was high above the
bar area, and from the dance floor, several sectioned seating areas could be
seen past the railing. That must have been the VIP section. It was hard to make
out with all the flashing colored lights pulsing in the otherwise very dark
building.

Holly and I grabbed a table close to the
stage on the wall after we waited in line at the bar for 25 minutes to buy
drinks that she would, indubitably, have gone in less time than that. I was
already squirming in discomfort of being surrounded by all these people who
were indulging in the simple pleasures of their lives.

I spent the rest of the night going through
the motions and tuning out the world around me while placating a very
intoxicated Holly by nodding and smiling in response to all her offensive
comments about what the other girls were wearing and which guys she wanted to
do. She even tried setting me up with a guy sitting at the table in front of us
on the lower level, which I expertly dodged. I was used to a lot of male
attention no thanks to my freakish good looks. It was annoying to get hit on by
perfect strangers who were only looking for a piece of ass.

We were a few hours into the night when I
sensed one of
them
in the crowd. I spotted him approaching the dance
floor from the stage area. How did I miss him coming in? He targeted a girl in
the crowd wearing only slightly more than I was, and moved toward her like he
was just another drunk person in the crowd, even staggering and bumping
shoulders with everyone around him.

He wasn’t exactly being stealthy about his
vampire secrecy. Anyone could have felt the cold skin of his arm, which was
noticeably different in comparison to their own. Their skin tended to feel
slightly warmer after feeding, but mostly, it was cold.

He came up behind her while she was swaying
to the electronic dance song with her head tilted back. He pulled her long red
hair back from her shoulder, and she spun around in response to his touch. She
looked at him and quickly accepted his advances. He put his arms around her and
began kissing her neck.

If the feeling of his presence didn’t make
me throw up then watching this might do it. At least he didn’t wait long to
make his move. I told Holly to stay at the table, and I followed him out the
side door where she and I came in, which happened to be on the side of the
stage nearest to us.

By the side stage area, there was a stack of
metal railing pieces that were probably set up around the stage when big bands
came in to perform. I placed one of them in the path between the dance floor
and the door.

When I pushed open the slightly ajar door
further, I heard giggling from the girl, and I saw the two against the far wall
of the next-door building, still in the middle of foreplay.

“Mind if I join,” I interrupted before the
biting could begin.

“You’ll get your turn pretty girl,” he said
turning away from the redhead. “Hey, aren’t you that one girl?” he asked with a
confused expression that was unusual for vampires.

Stupid was a very common look for them, but
this one almost looked unfocused. If he were human, I’d say he looked drunk. I
was done with pleasantries, and after a long night of pretending to be normal,
I was very impatient and just wanted to end this.

“Honey, why don’t you go back inside and
find your friends?” I directed at the girl.

“Find your own man,” she snapped back.

“This one is my man, and I really need to
talk to him about getting my child support he still owes me,” I replied
impatiently.

“Omigod. I’m outta here.” She gave him a
shocked and partly disgusted look before she felt her way back to the door with
half-closed bloodshot eyes. Once she was safely inside I pulled the door shut
and twisted back around on the platforms of my borrowed boots.

“Well come on then, darling. Give your baby
daddy a kiss,” he taunted.

“With pleasure,” I replied, reaching under
the rim of my boot for a stake. I pulled it out as he advanced on me. With a
quick jab to his nose, he staggered back far enough for me to land a kick to
his face. It was over before I exerted much energy at all. He made it way too
easy.

As I turned to go back in, I sensed
something move above me and got that eerie feeling of being watched, but it
wasn’t that sickening feeling most vampires gave me. I knew it was
him
.
That oddly familiar feeling I got from him made me uneasy. Maybe my imaginary
Peeping Tom wasn’t so imaginary. What was his deal?

“Are you stalking me or what?” I asked the
ghost of a man who, at the moment, was being too shy to show himself.

“I was just in the area. I heard this was
the place to be on a Saturday night,” said a smooth low voice from behind me.
The sound made me spin so fast I got dizzy. He was super sneaky, and it was a
little unnerving that my senses couldn’t react in enough time to his speed and
agility. But once he stopped long enough for my eyes to focus on him, it was
almost painful to take in the full sight of his well-built frame and his
contradicting features.

His face was hard but sensitive, his body
strong and intimidating but lean and inviting, his eyes both cold and warm, and
at the moment, very hot as they lingered over every inch of my exposed skin.

I saw them blaze with heat then cool and
harden in an instant as they took me in, and suddenly I wondered if that kind
of heat could be transferred between two people because a part of me was
feeling a bit warm too. At that thought, something inside me snapped back to
sanity. What the hell was I thinking?

Being near him seemed to stir up feelings I
couldn’t even name, and right now, he was too close, close enough to devour me
with just a glance and make me melt from the inside out.

I stepped back from him, far enough that I
didn’t have to crane my neck to look at him, and he gave me a wolf-like smile
in response.
Cocky bastard
.

I hated that his mere presence had any effect
on me at all, but I needed space from him to breathe and to sober up from the
intoxication his proximity caused. I needed a clear head because he was a
vampire, and I could never afford to forget that. He couldn’t be trusted.

“So you’re just out taking in the local club
scene? Well, I guess there is an all-you-can eat buffet inside,” I accused.

“I already ate dinner, unless you were
offering dessert?” he added salaciously. Then his face hardened and became more
business-like. “I had a feeling this might be a hot spot for vampire activity
so, naturally, I thought I’d find you around.”

“So you admit you’re stalking me? And I’m
not here to kill vampires, I’m just out with someone tonight,” I shot back.

“So you weren’t out looking for trouble, and
yet, somehow, trouble found you?” he said, triumphantly, with a mocking
undertone. Apparently, he didn’t think I could handle the pressure of all the
vampires coming down on me.  “Still not willing to admit you need help?”

I actually cracked up laughing at the
absurdity, and his jaw worked with impatience. He really expected me to work
with him, killing his own kind. “Why would you want to help me anyway?” I said
in a clipped tone. Did he want to use me like Shane did?

“Let’s just say I’m not like the rest of
them and leave it at that,” he said vaguely.

“So I’ve noticed. And where exactly did all
that added strength and speed come from?” I asked hoping to pry some of that
mystery out of him.

“I eat my Wheaties,” he said dryly. His face
became more understanding and he added, “That would be a long, complicated
conversation that I don’t think you’re ready to have.”

“Hmph, you’re right, I’d be happy to never
see you again, let alone carry on another boring conversation with you. So if
you’re done stalking me, I have to get back to a fun night out with my fellow
humans,” I said.

“Human? Is that really what you think you
are? Somehow, I don’t think a girl who spends her nights with vampires and her
days avoiding human contact actually believes she’s a normal human being.” He
was being way too condescending and…
right
. I hated that he was right.

“How exactly would you even know how I spend
my days, nightwalker? And was that like an admission to stalking me?” I
accused.

Without flinching, he answered, “I may know
more about you than you do.” His face was pensive but quickly turned light as
he continued, “You aren’t exactly one to hide your emotion, which makes you
pretty easy to figure.”

Okay, he was really pissing me off. I didn’t
think I was that transparent. “You know absolutely nothing about me, and I
really don’t want to know anything about you, vampire. So stay away from me. I
don’t need your help and I’ll never ask for it, so you’re wasting your time
trying. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to get back to my human life now. Since
you’re so into watching, then watch me be human,” I ranted, wondering if I
believed anything I just said.

Maybe he did know more about what I was than
I did, and maybe I did want to know more about who and what he was. There was
that odd familiarity I felt with him, like there was some unexplained
connection between us. I hated admitting it but a part of me was curious. I
also wasn’t so sure I could handle the storm that was coming my way, but I
still worked alone, because I trusted no one. I had to get back to Holly, so I
spun to go back into the club.

I felt him close behind me as he reached one
arm out in front of me and pushed the door open. I jumped at his proximity and
turned to look up at him, his bright blue eyes smiling but his lips set in a
firm line. He gestured with a tilt of his head for me to go in. “I didn’t know
vampires had manners.”

“There are a lot of things you don’t know,
apparently,” his voice dripping with arrogance, overlaying honesty. “Like how
to keep yourself alive and not end up actually
dead
,” he said pointedly.
He took in the astonishment on my face and continued, “Oh yes, you
can
die,
despite what you think you know. And I am not your enemy.”