Page 46 of Burn Falls
“I know you only fuck. You don’t date.”
“Who said this wouldn’t lead to that?” I asked, staring back at him in the mirror.Yes, you can see vampires in mirrors.
“Maybe it will, but you can’t compel Calla to forget what you are afterward.”
Athan was right. Calla’s inability to be compelled had thrown a few wrenches into everything I thought about this world.
“I can pretend.” I smirked.
He chuckled. “Pretend to what? Make love? Pretend your skin isn’t cold compared to hers?”
I shrugged and turned toward him, leaning against the bathroom counter. “It’s like riding a bike. I haven’t forgotten what it used to be like, and I’ll tell her I have bad circulation or something.”
Could I really could be a gentle giant of sorts when it came to sex? When I slept with women I’d picked up at a bar or whatever, I didn’t make the house fall down or anything. I may have broken a few bedposts or knocked pictures off the walls, but humans did that too. Or so I’d heard. But no matter what I broke, or how loud I growled my orgasm, I was always able to compel them to forget, or at least get them to forget that they were questioning the oddness or the fact that my skin was cold to the touch and my dick felt like a rod of ice when it entered their warm pussy. Or even that I had no semen when I came.
When I first turned, I realized that my erections were linked to drinking because as I fed, my body circulated the blood through my veins causing my dick to get hard. That was the only time it did, and it worked now given I had blood bags at my disposal and didn’t have to prowl the streets for my next meal when I wanted to use my hand.
“Plus,” I went on, “you know that I’m only doing this so I can make sure another human doesn’t die around here. We’re only going to dinner. I’m feeding on a blood bag before I go, and I won’t have any desire to take her to bed.” The erections only lasted as long as the high of the blood lasted and not until my next feeding. I couldn’t imagine walking around like I was popping Viagra twenty-four-seven.
“What about her mother or siblings? Aren’t they in danger?”
I’d thought of that, too. “They have no idea who attacked Miles, but Calla does, and if you were in that vampire’s position and knew that Calla saw you, then wouldn’t you be trying to tie up loose ends?”
“But he hasn’t come back.”
“I know,” I groaned. “Makes me think it’s a Fledgling.”
A Fledgling was a term we used for a human who was recently turned and hadn’t tasted human blood yet. Once they drank human blood and were able to stabilize the beast inside of them, they would become a full vampire. It took a few weeks to a month before they weren’t considered a Fledgling.
“Right, and you keep telling yourself that you’re only taking Calla to dinner to protect her.” Athan chuckled. “But keep in mind that I’ve never known you to want to wine and dine a chick before.”
“Can’t explain it other than I never want her out of my sight.” I moved past him and into my room to grab my wallet and cell phone from the nightstand and then we walked at human speed toward the kitchen that led to the garage.
“Can you ask about Valencia?”
I stopped and turned to him just before grabbing my keys off the hook by the door. “What do you want me to ask exactly?”
He shrugged. “Her deal. You know, boyfriend and all that back in Seattle.”
“You didn’t get that info the other night at the bar?”
“I’m pretty sure she’s single if the way she was rubbing up on me while we were dancing is any indicator, but I just want to make sure.”
“You thinking of visiting Seattle then?”
He lifted a shoulder again. “Maybe.”
“Good. You can help Calla pack and move while I’m at the hospital.”
“Whoa.” Athan threw his hands up in front of him. “I never said I wanted to do manual labor.”
I rolled my eyes and snatched the keys. “It’s effortless for you. Plus, I was going to ask you to go keep an eye on her until I make it there. If the vampire is tracking her—”
“I know. We’ll get to the bottom of this one way or another. Peppe had a few more calls to make to see if anyone might know of baby vamps out this way. I’ll follow up with him.”
It wasn’t as though the vampire that attacked Miles could track Calla from thousands of miles away, but if he knew who he killed, then it would be easy to find out who Calla was in relation to Miles.
“Get on that since the State Troopers have nothing. Also,” I opened the garage door, “since Calla and I are going to dinner, I bet Valencia doesn’t have plans. It’s her last night in Burn Falls.”
