Running From the Night (16 page)

Gently, she placed a hand on the side of his face, and he felt a surge of warmth flow from his face through his body. It was like she sent a gentle but powerful surge of energy into him. Her tongue found his, and he responded in kind.

Whether seconds, minutes, or hours passed, they finally separated. He gasped. She smiled and blinked slowly. For several long minutes they stared at each other until finally he broke the silence.

“I don’t know about you, but if it’s possible to have sex through a kiss, I feel like we just had it.”

Her smile deepened. “Physical pleasure has limits. Non-physical pleasure does not. The trick is uniting the two.”

“Sounds nice.”

“You wish to learn?”

“I’d love to learn.”

“And yet you waver.”

“Can’t deny that. I’m trying not to complicate my life any more than I already have.”

She nodded slowly. “The woman you introduced me to previously and the woman who left not long ago.” She swirled a finger on his leg. “Both have feelings for you, one is hesitant.” She gave him a pitying look. “I find it humorous that three people can have such feelings and be so conflicted. Humans make things more complicated than need be.”

“Enlighten me, then,” Jelani said, leaning back and trying not to revel in the sensation of that finger sliding round and round on his leg.

“A flower fearful of being picked, while you fear inflicting the pain of picking. You ignore the possibility of your own pain, should either of your little flowers reject you. You are all confused and over-thinking children that have tiny pieces of wisdom that flicker in your inexperienced minds.”

“Wow,” Jelani said, looking down. “You know how to put it to a person.”

“The girl whose scent you now carry is enjoying herself with you.”

“Enjoying herself with me?” Jelani blinked. “You make it sound like she’s having her way with me or something.”

“So slow to comprehend,” Saaya said, shaking her head at him. “She is enjoying one of the many aspects of a relationship with you. There are many things that girl would like to experience with you, but there is one that she can enjoy now. Not many men in your position would hesitate.”

“You seem to come to all this information like a veteran stalker,” Jelani said dryly.

“The other girl,” Saaya continued, ignoring him, “would give you her heart, but she is wary. Both women know about each other, but one is guarded.”

“So, do you have some sagely advice to share?” That predatory smile returned, and it made Jelani’s stomach go cold. “You have something in mind?” he asked, voice going hoarse.

“I doubt your human sensibilities could withstand the experience.”

Jelani didn’t know whether to rise to the challenge or run from it. Did he truly want to swim with a shark? “I’ll take your word for it.”

“You’re no fun.”

“I’m fond of my life.”

The smile never left her face. “If I’d wanted to uncreate you,
jaan
, I would have done it long ago.”

“That makes me much more comfortable.”

“It should,” Saaya replied. Her voice seemed to float on the air, like a primal whisper of desire, charging the space around them. “I still cannot say why, but I find you … interesting.”

An unnerving sensation came across him. It was similar to when that Hunter had told him to stop, back in the park. He had been compelled to stop and was helpless against the other’s will. This was similar, but the power behind it was so strong, so big, he might have struggled against a mountain. Though she did not impose her will on him, she could crush him with a thought; he could feel it. She was testing him. Experimenting.

“You mind telling me why you keep doing that?” He closed his eyes as he spoke. It took all of his concentration just to be able to talk. Then, abruptly the weight on his mind was gone. He blinked in surprise.

“So strong a mind, you have. I’m impressed.” She considered him for a few moments. “You have remarkable restraint. I was hoping you would succumb and come over here to help me disrobe.”

Jelani wanted nothing more than to do just that. “Disrobe? You make unusual choices in words.”

“Are my words so unusual that they would distract you from the rest of me?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “No, I don’t think so. You talk so much and ask so many questions to divert your attention and deny your desire.”

“I told you I already have too many complications for my liking.”

“Those complications could disappear rather easily.”

Just as he was becoming comfortable again, the damn girl said something that sent yet another chill through his body.

At seeing the horrified look on his face, Saaya giggled. “I mean, the two women in your life could feel compelled to shift their focus elsewhere.”

“So you would throw the mind trick at them and make them just go away?”

“They might discover happiness elsewhere.”

“I don’t think that’s what I want.”

“There are things I could show you, experiences I could give you that are ages beyond what those two little girls can offer.”

“I’m not as interesting a guy as you seem to think. You’d get bored with me, then I’d be left with nothing.”

“I would like to leave you with something now.”

“Oh?” Jelani wasn’t sure whether or not he should be wary of the offer. “And what’s that?”

Before the words had completely left his mouth, she was on him and had him pressed against the couch. He was so caught off guard he could neither move nor make a sound.

“Relax and let me do this.” She lifted herself just enough to pull his shirt over his head, exposing the bruise on the front of his shoulder that was beginning to turn purple. She
tsked
at him. “All that time you’ve been trying to ignore this. I could practically smell the blood flowing to the spot, silly boy.”

“No, really, it’s fine—”

“It’s purple,” she interrupted. “Now be silent and try to relax. I will not harm you.” Despite her words, Jelani felt a freezing rush of pure fear when he saw her eyes glow in a lavender color that seemed to smolder at him as her fangs elongated. His mind screamed, but he dare not utter a word.

“Be calm, my Jelani,” she said, her voice flowing through the air with such power it made his blood tingle. Slowly, gently, she lowered her head to his shoulder and he winced as her fangs penetrated his flesh. The pain only lasted several seconds and then the area went numb. He could feel the blood being drained from the bruise, and it was the most strange and fearful experience he’d ever had. After a couple minutes, she pulled away and sat, staring at him, her face straining at what looked like repressed laughter.

“You should see yourself,” she said. “Your eyes are as wide and round as a rabbit’s.”

“Considering the circumstances, can you blame me?”

“I suppose not, but I told you I would not harm you.” She seemed to think for a moment. “The blood never lies. You like her more than you admit to yourself.”

“Who?”

“You don’t need me to tell you that.”

“And what do you want from me, exactly?”

“I cannot answer that question now.”

“Why not?”

“Your friend approaches.”

“What?” Jelani frowned, looking at the door. “Daniel?”

The lock turned, and the door opened. In stepped Daniel, huffing and stepping in to remove his shoes. Jelani wished he had a camera to capture the combination of surprise, alarm, desperation, and relief that mashed together on his friend’s face when his eyes rested on Saaya.

“Uh, hello. Saaya, right?”

“You remembered. I’m flattered. If you were not attached to that beautiful girl, I would kiss you.”

Daniel’s face reddened despite his composure. “Yeah, well, you’re not someone a person could easily forget. What brings you here?” He glanced back and forth between her and Jelani. He held Jelani’s gaze for a second longer before looking away. Jelani knew that look. There would be questions later.

“I came here to make passionate and intoxicating love to your roommate today, but he has denied me at every angle. I’m starting to feel self-conscious.”

Jelani’s and Daniel’s mouths dropped open at the same time. Daniel recovered and cast Jelani a look that suggested he should give a show of disapproval at Jelani’s rejection of the exotic woman. Jelani just stared at him, mouth twitching.

“Well,” Daniel said, clearing his throat. “I could leave …”

“No,” Saaya said. “I would like very much for you to stay.”

Daniel cast her an uncertain look. “You have something in mind?”

Saaya laughed, and Daniel visibly relaxed. “You two are quite a pair. No, Daniel, I have no intention of trying to include you in my efforts to seduce your roommate. I wish to discuss other things.”

Daniel came into the living room and sat on the couch opposite Jelani and Saaya. “Okay. What’s going on?”

Jelani gave his shoulder a testing stretch. To his astonishment, the pain was gone. When he opened his shirt a bit, he saw that the skin had returned to its normal color, and the two puncture marks from her fangs had indeed begun to close and the scar was fading.

“The Hunter,” Saaya said, interrupting his amazement, “has been trying to decide whether to make another attempt at your lives now, or dispatch my brother and me first.”

The two friends were caught off guard at her abruptness. “Well, that was straight to the point,” Jelani said.

“So that’s why he hasn’t come after us,” Daniel said. “I’d almost dared to hope that he’d decided to just leave.” He looked intently at Saaya as though he could reason with the Hunter through her. “It really is pointless, you know. We’re not going to go around telling everyone there are vampires walking around.”

“The Elders take no chances.”

Daniel and Jelani responded in unison.

“Who?”

“Who?”

She sighed. “There are things you must know.”

O O O

“Okay then,” Jelani said. “Let’s have it.”

Saaya folded her legs on the couch, sitting erect. “The history is too lengthy to relate it to you here, so I will do my best to condense it and make it as accessible to your minds as possible.” She looked straight ahead, but her eyes looked someplace far removed from their living room.

“I know not the origin of vampires, and I suspect there are only a small few who do. The human legends are but large bodies of fiction interwoven with truth. The stories that have been passed through the ages are a result of early humans’ encounters with those who roam the night.”

“To a human, vampires are capable of extraordinary feats. Some attributes of vampires have a basis in human science and understanding, while others do not. I cannot say why this is, and it is pointless anyway. What I will do is try to help you understand as best I can.”

“There is a hierarchy within the vampiric world. At the bottom of this hierarchy are
skiek
; half-bloods. They are born to vampire and human parents, age as humans do, and are the weakest of our kind. They share no vampiric weaknesses except the thirst for blood, but are relatively stronger and faster than a human.”

“The next are
shaquora
, turned vampires who, as you already know, are humans that have been turned from the sun’s embrace, or re-created, as we say. They are susceptible to all vampiric weaknesses that vary in severity depending on the vampire who turned them. The thirst is strongest in a turned vampire and so they are watched more closely. They are a great deal stronger and faster than a human, and if the vampire who turned them is old enough and with strong enough talents, those traits may pass to the one they turned. Half-bloods as well as turned vampires are at the bottom of the hierarchy and often fall prey to the more powerful.”

“That brings me to the purebloods. They were born as vampires. The older the pureblood, the stronger and more resistant they are to the weaknesses and the thirst. Purebloods make up the vampire Councils and the heads of the covens. The oldest known to most are the Elders. They are the governing body of all vampires, and all answer to them. Elders can withstand the sun for lengthy periods of time. Some, for as long as half a day at a time. They have better control of the thirst and are possessed of certain evolutionary talents that grow and change during their centuries of life.”

Daniel raised his hand, then realized he looked like a student, and dropped it. “What are talents, exactly?”

“The respective abilities of each vampire.” Saaya waved the question away. “I will get to that later. I’ve gotten ahead of myself, and right now this is more important for you. In the hierarchy, beneath the Council are the warriors.” Both men visibly stiffened. Saaya looked amused at their discomfort.

“There are two ranks of warriors. The first are the Hunters. They are the first line of defense and the ones that monitor and track turned vampires, ensuring discretion and preventing mass feedings and turnings of the populous. They generally are susceptible to the sun, silver, fire, and garlic.”

“Garlic?” Jelani echoed, incredulous. “That’s true?”

“Later,” Saaya replied. “Hunters are charged with maintaining order and keeping the existence of vampires hidden from humans. This decree comes with no exception to vampire or human life, which is why you two are at risk. They are very good at their jobs and do not relent unless instructed otherwise by the Council.”

“You mentioned two ranks of warriors?” Daniel asked, leaning forward.

Saaya nodded. “Yes. The second rank is one you never want to encounter. They are the Reapers, the most skilled of vampires, and the most deadly.” She looked at Jelani, and her next words turned his blood to water. “If a Reaper had come for you that night in the park, your friend would be here alone, and you and that blond vampire would have been long dead.”

“So,” Jelani said, wanting to move on from the subject of Hunters, “the half-bloods are at the lowest of the scale, and the Elders are at the highest.”

A grin stretched across Saaya’s smooth brown face. “As far as the majority of vampires are concerned, this is true.” She held up a finger. “But the Elders, and some few privileged Council members, know the truth. There are two who exist in vampiric lore.”