Not If You Were the Last Vampire on Earth (17 page)

Chapter 40

Her

He deteriorated quickly. Halfway to Portland, he couldn’t drive anymore. It was dark out and I hadn’t slept much either so I told him to pull into the first house that looked decent.

We chose an apartment in a small complex on the second floor a little ways outside of Salt Lake City. Alex staggered into the room and collapsed on the couch.

“You were fine a couple hours ago,” I said, removing his shoes. I did a quick inventory of the room and found a few candles and a box of matches. I lit them, sending a swirl of vanilla cinnamon scent through the air.

He closed his eyes slowly. “I’m sorry.”

He kept saying that. Kept apologizing. Those two words were starting to drive me mad.

“You didn’t know,” I bit out, more sharply than I intended. The need to alleviate his guilt was taking a toll on me. I was exhausted and hungry and increasingly irritable with how quiet and brooding he was becoming. I sighed. “I need to find food or we’ll both be useless,” I said, picking up my sack. “Wait here. I’ll be back.”

Alex nodded but didn’t open his eyes. I strode over to him and quickly kissed his forehead before heading out so he wouldn’t think I was truly angry. I just needed some space. The other apartments in the complex were bare of cans or anything else edible so I had to travel further than I liked to find something.

I finally found sustenance in the form of canned beets and Ramen noodle packets at a gas station several blocks away. I stuffed my bag with all that could fit so I wouldn’t have to make another run before we reached the colony.

My chest tightened when I thought about the colony. I still hadn’t been able to figure out how to see Alex after I’d arrived. We needed to work out some form of communication. Maybe after he got some more juice and he was less grumpy, we could brainstorm together.

When I arrived back at the apartment, Alex was sleeping. I let him be. I set to work heating up the Ramen over several candles pushed together to make a stronger source of heat. The water didn’t boil. The flames were too weak. My effort resulted in soggy noodles in salty, tepid water but I was starving so I slurped it down. I wasn’t up to eating lukewarm beats, so I left them in my pack for later when we had enough to time make a real fire.

Alex moaned as I spread the candles back out around the room to maximize the light they gave off. I frowned as I went to him and kneeled down.

His breathing was shallow and there were dark circles under his eyes. I felt his forehead but he had no fever.

“Alex,” I whispered. “It’s happening so fast.”

He coughed. “Blood depletion is a quick process. A vamp’s body uses every drop and then it just stops.” He groaned painfully. “We are natural hunters. We are alert until the end so we can have the strength to eat. So when the end comes, there’s not much time.”

“End?” I asked in a frightened voice. He didn’t respond, just laid there with his eyes closed.

“Just a few more moments to rest,” he murmured finally. “Then we’ll make it to Portland.”

I wasn’t stupid. I could see with each passing minute he was getting further from me.

He opened his eyes, squinting as if the low candle light in the apartment hurt them. A ragged sigh expelled from him slowly.

“Do you need water?” I asked worriedly.

He shook his head. “No.”

I pursed my lips. “You need blood.”

He shook his head slightly harder. “No.” His weak voice didn’t convince me.

Glaring at him, I began to roll up my sleeve but he lifted himself up and grabbed my forearm forcefully. The strength of that action surprised me and I could tell he was using most of his energy to make his point because his arm trembled as his eyes misted. It was absolutely heartbreaking.

“No,” he repeated before releasing me and collapsed back onto the blankets.

Well, he wasn’t the only stubborn ass in the room.

I yanked off my sweater and grabbed the army knife from the Stone house I still kept in my sack. I held it over my wrist and shot him a hard look.

“This blood is coming out of me either way. Whether or not you put it to use is up to you.”

“Damn it, Tasha!” Alex growled.

I sliced the knife into my skin, wincing at the pain. I didn’t go too deep, just enough to make a point.

Alex sat up and grabbed my arm again, but I kept a firm hold on the knife. My eyes didn’t leave his. “You’d do it for me,” I said softly but determination laced my voice. “Let me do it for you. Don’t die on me.”

He stared at me for what seemed like an eternity before his fangs lengthened over his lips. I closed my eyes and tried not to cry out as he bit down. It was excruciating pain. Every time he sucked in blood, I felt the sharp points of his teeth aggravate the sensitive wound.

I didn’t know how much he needed but after a couple of minutes, blackness started to enter my vision. I was feeling woozy. How much had he had? I struggled to stay conscious. I needed him to get enough to make it through this.

Against my will, my eyes closed and I slumped against his side. The pain stopped suddenly. I could feel his hand cradling my head.

“Tasha?” he asked urgently. “God damn it.”

I forced my eyes open even though my body was screaming at me to go to sleep. “I’m fine,” I slurred. “Are you…”

“It’s already helping,” he said. He used his sleeve to wipe the remnants of my blood off his lip and his fangs slipped back inside his mouth. He did look better. He had a deeper color in his cheeks and his eyes were brightened.

He slid off the couch and switched places with me, helping me onto the cushions.

He kissed my cheek, my forehead, my lips. They were nervous, fluttering kisses. “God, are you okay?” he asked, running his large hands over my shoulders.

I leaned back and sighed. “Did you get enough?”

“Shut up.” He sounded frustrated. “The truth. Please. How do you feel?”

“I’m just tired now.”

“Lack of blood,” he said quietly. “You sleep. I’m already feeling better.”

I smiled with my eyes closed. “I’m glad.”

“Well don’t be. We are
not
doing that again.” His voice sharpened. “An hour here to rest, and no more. Then we’re leaving. And if my stores are gone in Portland, you go on without me.”

“Okay. Whatever you say,” I agreed half-heartedly. I was too tired to argue.

“You hard-headed woman,” he muttered.

“You stubborn jackass,” I replied, yawning.

“I don’t even know how to thank you. What you just did.”

I smiled sleepily. “You just did.”

Chapter 41

Her

The ride to Portland was dramatically different from the ride to Oklahoma City. I slept through several hours of it in the back. When I was awake finally and in the front seat, Alex’s communication to me was clipped and given in as few words as possible. It was as if he spent the whole time I slept cursing himself over what happened in that apartment and then decided the best course of action was to be a silent asshole.

If the tension in the cab wasn’t pushing down on us like the great weight that it was, I’d have made a game out of it.
How Many One Word Answers is Alex Capable Of
? As it was, neither of us were in a game-y mood.

Luckily, his store in Portland was exactly as he’d left it (in a nursing home) and he loaded the box under the driver’s side seat after downing two vials. And then we were once again on the road, this time making a beeline for Seattle. No more languid stops. No more meandering. We were racing to my crossroads.

“I’ve never gotten to that point,” Alex said suddenly after a long stretch of silence on the drive.

“Mmmm?”

I gave him one syllable back. I’d spent the early morning trying to lighten the mood and he’d snapped at my attempts more than once so I was feeling quite sullen and had no desire to talk to him.

“I didn’t realize how quickly blood depletion happens. I mean, I knew about it. But I’d never experienced it. I felt woozy once. After a party. We went to the beach and had a bonfire. I hadn’t eaten the day before. The girl I told you about? Melinda? My first time? She was there. She was also a vamp. When she saw my state, she called her best friend over. Apparently, her best friend was a human and thought it was a riot to let Melinda bite her sometimes. Anyway, she offered her arm to me and I was already kind of drunk and I bit her…”

I kept my eyes on the window outside but my ears were captivated.

“Anyway, I immediately felt better. And sickened. I hated drinking from someone. It was the first and last time I ever did. I told you one day I’d tell you about the time I drank someone’s blood. I’m sorry that last night I doubled my count. More than sorry. So you’ll forgive me if I’m having trouble with what happened between us.”

I snorted. “Whatever. There’s nothing to forgive. Your guilt is suffocating.”

“Quit making light of this, Tasha,” he growled.

I rolled my eyes and he fell silent again.

We said nothing more other than me giving him clipped directions from Ike’s map.

The terrain went from concrete to dusty curves as we drove through Yakima and up north out of town. Mountains greeted us then crunchy, dirt roads and finally thin patches of dirt grown over with forest as we went deeper into the wilderness. I told Alex to make a sharp left at a cabin up ahead and the truck started climbing. Higher and higher we went, leaving the base of the mountain and winding up while the green around us grew thicker and seemed to entomb the vehicle.

Alex stopped the car several yards away from the clearing. I could see the thickest part of the forest on the north side of the river, the way Ike had described it. Less than a mile walk from here, if the directions were correct.

I hadn’t seen another human face in four years.

My eyes roamed over the spot where I’d walk in amazement until they were pulled away by the sound of Alex clearing his throat.

When I turned to look at him, I was blasted with the feeling in his eyes. A mix of hope for me and sadness for us. And underneath all of that were traces of determination.

“Maybe you could keep your vamp status a secret,” I said meekly. I felt sick. Now that the moment had come, I wasn’t sure if I could get out of the car.

Alex smiled sadly and ran a finger under my chin. “Ike trusted us. That’s his family in there and even he won’t cross over the lake.”

I shook my head, not wanting to believe this was it.

“How will we see each other again?”

He didn’t answer. His eyes misted a little and he coughed to drive them away as he busied himself with gathering my pack.

“I thought about that a great deal,” he confessed. “And I’ve come up with a solution.”

I waited expectantly.

“We don’t.”

I deflated. What a stupid solution.

“It’s a different world,” Alex explained. “The Sweep changed everything. It really did make us enemies. I understand why Ike doesn’t mingle with his human family. The temptation is too great.”

I rolled my eyes. “Alex-”

“I fed from you,” he said solemnly, cutting me off.

I growled impatiently. Were we still on this? “I let you,” I snapped.

Alex closed his eyes. “I swore to myself I never would and when things got tough and I came near to death, I fed. That is why you will go in there alone. And why this is where we say goodbye.”

“This is just a case of hurt pride. Quit licking your wounded ego.”

He didn’t smile with me. Joke with me. His face remained serious. I felt a stone growing in the pit of my stomach. “Alex.”

“That cabin we passed at the base of the mountain? I’ll wait there until nightfall. To make sure you made it in. If anything happens, if you don’t find it, whatever, I’ll be there. Okay? And then…I’ll go.”

“Alex,” I said again, only this time it was a pleading whisper.

“I’m going to stay in the truck. If that’s all right. I just…take care of yourself, T-bone.”

I reached out to touch his arm, but he was rigid. Like if he moved at all, he’d puddle out from his resolve and lose himself. His determination pushed against me like a cold wind and I settled on giving him a tight peck on the cheek before sliding out of the truck and banging closed the passenger door.

I went around to the back and hugged each of my dogs. When I told Alex I wanted them to stay with him, he smiled to himself. I’d seen how attached they’d grown to each other and I felt he needed them more than I. They saved me when I was all alone in Tucson. Now that I had found a home again, they needed to save Alex who had a long stretch of solitude before him.

Self-imposed solitude.

I felt my sadness harden into anger. I turned from the back of the truck and went to the driver’s side where Alex was still staring rigidly at the tree line. I pounded on the window but he didn’t turn towards me. If anything, he became more still.

“It’s not fair!” I yelled through the glass. “You can’t just shut everything off! If our places were switched you would have done the same thing!”

The only reaction I got from him was the slow closing of his eyes and his deep exhale. I shook my head in disbelief and snatched my pack off the ground. “Hypocrite!”

I marched away, letting my anger make my departure much easier than it should have been. I afforded Alex one last look back at the truck when I came to the bank of the river, but his gaze was fixed on the horizon to the east. Okay, then. I tightened the sack on my back and began taking my last steps away from him.