Blood Gifts Page 4

  Then the spiky-haired vampire flew at him quickly, knocking him to the ground, and landing on top of him. Luke shoved him so hard, the vampire flew at the ceiling and smashed into it, causing plaster to fall back down. Luke rolled out of the way as the vampire fell to the ground again. Luke jumped quickly to his feet, but the vampire did the same.

  "What's going on out there?" a woman's angry voice shouted from behind a locked door.

  Luke quickly grabbed the vampire by the back of his jacket and dragged him down the hall, around the corner. He didn't want humans to be collateral damage in this fight. The vampire pried Luke's hands off of him, turned and punched Luke in the face, sending him flying.

  Geric had dragged Karina behind him, down the stairs, to the lobby, which is where Karina knew she would have options again. She picked up a heavy wooden armchair with her mind and threw it at Geric's head. She had to jump out of the way as the chair flew towards them. He was in front of her and it hit him from the left side. He let go of her hand as he fell to the ground. She ran quickly back to the stairwell. There was no sign of Luke in the lobby. He must still be in the building. She had to find him.

  He hadn't been in the second floor hall where she had just been. She ran to the third floor and cautiously stepped into the hallway. She heard a loud scuffle around the corner. She ran toward it. Luke and the spiky-haired vampire were pummeling each other. She concentrated and, with her mind, picked up the spiky-haired vampire and threw him out the window at the end of the hall.

  Luke turned to look at her, out of breath. "Wow," he said. "Thanks."

  Karina nodded, she looked afraid, but she smiled. Luke ran to her, grabbed her hand, and ran down the hall with her, to the stairwell. They opened the door and started to run down, but Geric was there, stalking up the stairs angrily, with blood dripping from a gash on his head from the chair. Luke and Karina turned to run back into the third floor hall, but the spiky-haired vampire was back again, with a few cuts on his face from the glass of the window, blocking the door to the third floor. Luke put Karina in front of him and they started to run up to the roof.

  Geric and the other vampire walked calmly behind them.

  "Corin, keep your eye on the lovers while I go get something, won't you? And call Zachary up from the street," Geric said as he slipped quietly into the third floor hall.

  Karina stumbled onto the roof, the cool air hitting her hard. Luke protectively kept himself in front of her as they backed away from Corin.

  "Zachary," Corin said in a normal tone of voice without taking his eyes off of the two in front of him.

  Suddenly Zachary flew up from the street, quietly, and landed on the roof.

  Karina looked around for anything she could move with her mind. Lawn furniture, anything. There was nothing. Apparently, throwing vampires off the roof would do no good. They could just hop right back up there. She held Luke's hand as they were slowly backed into a corner. The low wall around the edge of the roof hit her upper thigh. Corin and Zachary stopped a few feet from them. Corin stared at them menacingly. Zachary looked stern, but almost bored.

  Suddenly Geric burst through the roof door and marched toward them with something in his arms. A little blond girl in pink pajama pants and shirt. She looked about five years old. She looked terrified.

  "Geric," Luke said with a growl to his voice again.

  "So troublesome," Geric said to Luke, his voice was happy and mocking again. "I just want to do us all a favor and save your talented mate from human mediocrity. Why so much drama?" He stopped walking about twenty feet from them. He was standing near the edge of the roof. Karina watched in horror, terrified of what he might do to the girl.

  Geric held the little girl up by the back of her pajama top. She squirmed a little bit. "You humans always seem to like these little things so much," he said, looking at the girl with a grimace on his face.

  "Geric, don't," Luke said.

  "I will make a deal with you, Hero," Geric said. He suddenly swung the little girl out so she was dangling over the edge of the roof, held only by the back of her shirt. Her eyes grew wide and she stopped squirming.

  "Let the girl go," he nodded to Karina, "or I let the girl go," he nodded back at the little girl in his hand.

  Karina gasped. Luke said nothing.

  Geric nodded impatiently. "Come on now, you know I'll do it. I can drop little girls off the roof all night, just give her up."

  "I'll do it," Karina said, stepping out from behind Luke. "I'll go. Just put her down."

  "Karina," Luke said. He knew he could jump off the roof and catch the little girl if he had to, he was just trying to formulate a plan.

  "No, it's not worth this," Karina said. She walked forward and Corin grabbed her arm roughly.

  Geric smiled with delight. He still dangled the little girl. "Escort the young lady from the premises, please," he said to Zachary and Corin. They quickly obeyed. Karina gave Luke one last worried look before she walked through the door to the stairwell.

  "Alone at last," Geric said as he watched them go. "Well, except for the small one," he said, shaking the little girl a bit. She whimpered.

  "Geric, put her down," Luke said.

  Geric smirked. "What would be the fun in that?" His mood was quite chipper now. He glanced at the little girl happily. He shook her a little bit to make her whimper again. Then he laughed. He glanced back at Luke.

  In the distance, Luke saw the two vampires pick Karina up and super speed down the street. He made a note of the direction they had gone.

  "You have to be wondering, Hero," Geric said, "am I fast enough to catch the little girl if she falls?" His eyes were bright as he stared at Luke. "Well," Geric said, "are you?"

  Geric suddenly threw the little girl to the opposite side of the roof, so high in the air it was obvious he intended for her to fall over the other side of the building. She screamed. Luke sped over and jumped in the air and caught her gently just before she sailed over the other side of the roof. He glanced back. Geric was gone.

  He looked down at the little girl in his arms. Her eyes were wide again. She stared up at him. Her little fists each held a handful of his T-shirt. She was desperately afraid.

  "It'll be okay," Luke said to her. He held her close and ran back into the building and down the stairs. He got to the first landing. "Do you remember what floor you live on?" he asked her gently.

  She nodded and said, "Three."

  He stepped out into the third floor hallway. "Do you remember what number is on your apartment?"

  She nodded again. "3B."

  He quickly walked to the door of 3B, and set her gently down in front of it. He had to carefully pry her little fingers off his shirt.

  "Are your mommy and daddy home?" he asked her.

  She nodded. Tears were starting to run down her face. He wiped her tears away with his thumbs and said, "You'll be safe now, okay?"

  She nodded again. He knocked on her apartment door loudly, then super sped away before her parents could answer the door.

  He sped down the stairwell and out of the building. He ran down the street as fast as he could go in the direction he had seen them take her. He tried to follow her scent. He lost the trail a few times and had to back track to make different turns. He realized they had taken her outside of town. He ran down the highway and into the woods. It was really a park, green grass with trees here and there. Then he saw them. Geric had just caught up to them and they had stopped to confer with him.

  They saw him speeding up to them and took off running again. But he was too fast. He pulled Karina out of Corin's arms and set her down. They all stopped running at once.

  Karina had been pondering something as the vampires talked a moment ago. Wooden stakes through the heart killed them. They were standing in a wood. She had telekinesis. Now that Luke had distracted them, she tried her plan. With her mind she quickly broke off a small branch from a nearby tree and slammed the broken edge of it into Zachary's heart. He burst into dust immediately and fell to the ground. She was shocked. So was everyone else.

  Luke didn't waste a moment. He quickly grabbed the branch lying in the pile of dust and shoved it through Corin's heart. He turned to dust as well.

  Geric's eyes were wide. He had just lost two of his clan. He stood farther away than the other two had been, so Luke picked up the branch and threw it at Geric.

  Geric deflected it easily with his arm. He stared in shock at the dust on the ground. Then he looked back up at Luke. "This is not over," he said. Then he sped away, a blur through the trees, away from town.

  "Oh, my God," Karina said and turned to Luke. She threw her arms around him and he held her tight.

  Chapter 12

  Luke and Karina had decided it was too dangerous to go back to her apartment for her things. So Luke had picked her up and sped to his apartment to get money, clothing, and his car. They would have to buy Karina clothing when they got to where they were going.

  They walked down dank stone steps to his apartment, and Luke unlocked the door. It was a one-room apartment, very neat and tidy, hardly any possessions in it.

  "You don't have much," Karina said, shivering at the door.

  "I like to travel," Luke said as he opened a drawer and pulled out a small pewter trinket box. He opened a closet and pulled a few shirts off hangers and a couple pairs of jeans from a shelf. He put it all in a duffel bag. He pulled a backpack from the closet and filled it with the meager contents of a few drawers. He carried it all with one hand and put his other hand on Karina's back as he led her out of the apartment.

  The sun was starting to come up as they ascended the stairs.

  "This way," Luke said as he walked to a carport on the side of the house. He pulled a tarp off of an old dark green car and th
rew the tarp in the trunk. It was a car he had fixed up, a muscle car from the '70s. He threw his duffel and backpack in the back seat, then led Karina to the front seat and helped her in. She seemed to be in shock. He shut the door behind her and sped around to the driver's side. He got in, started the car and quickly pulled out onto the road. He started driving, and kept glancing at her to see how she was doing.

  "You okay?" he asked her.

  "I feel like I'm dead," she said quietly.

  "What?" He was startled by this.

  "I can't go home. I can't take anything I own with me. My friends won't know where I am. And my life is sort of over. My town, my business... and vampires are after me." She stared at the road ahead.

  "I'm so sorry for this," he said quietly, and put a hand on her forearm. She had her arms wrapped around herself. She loosened her arms so she could hold his hand.

  "You can call your friends," he said kindly, "when we get to where we're going. They can take care of your apartment and everything." He squeezed her hand.

  "Okay," she said. A few tears rolled down her cheeks. "Why do they want me so bad?" she asked. "Even if they change me, I wouldn't be theirs." She looked over at him with worry.

  "You actually would be, the way they do it," Luke said.

  "How do they do it?" Karina asked.

  Luke took an exit off the highway to get onto another road, as he answered her. "Well, first of all, whoever turns you into a vampire... your personality is sort of infected with their personality. Infused with it. So if they changed you, you would be a lot like them. You would also have a bond to whoever changed you. Making you feel a pull to them. Making you loyal to them." He looked at her.

  She looked worried as she stared out the window. "Is there more?" she said flatly.

  "Yes," he said. "In the first three days of your vampire life you are very vulnerable. The Runic clan uses this time to do magic on you. They put spells on you that will make you loyal to them, make you love them, obey them."

  "Oh, my God," Karina said. "I would really be their slave." She looked shocked.

  "Yes, but it won't happen," Luke assured her. "I won't let it." He squeezed her hand again.

  "Well, who changed you?" she asked. "What group are you a part of?"

  "It doesn't work like that. I mean not every vampire is part of a group." He checked the gas gauge then. They should have plenty for a while. He glanced over at her. "I was changed by a priest," he said.

  She looked over at him then, her eyes wide with surprise. "What?"

  He laughed. "He was a good person. He was a priest before he became a vampire, but even afterwards he was sincere about it." He smiled at her. "He saved my life. I was dying from a wound. I had been attacked by robbers on the road as I traveled by foot." He sounded quiet, talking about things that had happened so long ago.

  "How old are you?" Karina asked quietly.

  "I'm 251," he answered.

  She mouthed the word "wow". He smiled.

  ***

  Luke drove up to a bright little motel just off the highway, inside the first town they had come to. Karina had dozed off in the front seat and he didn't want to wake her. He got out of the car quietly and went to rent them a room. When he came back she was awake and looking anxious again. She got out of the car when she saw him, and he led her to their room.

  "Home sweet home," he said as he opened the door and let her inside. She walked exhausted to the bed and lay down on it fully clothed, on top of the covers. He chuckled and pulled the covers back, pulled her shoes off, then picked her up and set her back on the bed, so he could pull the covers over her.

  She smiled up at him. "Climb in here with me," she said. She scooted over as he climbed in with her. He gathered her in his arms and held her close. She fell almost instantly to sleep.

  Chapter 13

  Karina was up, pacing. She had called Nina and Leanne on a disposable cellphone and told them she was fine and not to look for her. Luke had taken her to a discount store and bought her a few pairs of jeans and some shirts. They had both showered. He had ordered her a pizza for lunch. It sat half eaten on a table near the bed. And now she was waiting for Luke. He had gone to buy a map and put gas in the car. This was bizarre.

  She felt like a fugitive on the run from the police. The pizza box started to rattle across the table. She stopped her panicked thoughts. The box lay still. Luke came through the door then.

  "They will never stop coming, will they?" she asked him abruptly.

  He closed the door behind him. "No, they won't," he said quietly.

  "And they live forever," Karina said as she paced. "They really—"

  "—Shh," Luke said, interrupting her. He stepped over to her and wrapped his arms around her. "It's going to be okay," he said.

  "When?" she asked frantically. She put her arms around him too and put her head on his chest. He held her tight.

  "There's a good chance we can stay hidden from them," he said, trying to comfort her. "And if nothing else, I could change you myself."

  "Whoa," she said, pulling away to look up at him. "I'm not ready for that," she said.

  He laughed a little bit. "I won't force you," he said. "It's just an option I wanted to make you aware of."

  "Oh," she said, putting her head on his chest again. "How does that work?" she asked cautiously.

  "You would have to drink my blood," he said.

  "This blood right here, running through your veins?" she asked as she closed her eyes and listened to his heartbeat.

  "That blood right there," he said.

  "Wow, this is heavy," Karina murmured into his chest.

  "I'm sorry," he said as she looked up at him. He took her face in his hands.

  She stared up into his bright blue eyes. "Mesmerize me," she said quietly.

  "What?" he laughed, startled by her request.

  "Like before, when you came in through my window," she said quietly.

  "But I had no effect on you," he said, confused.

  "No, you did," she said, "just not as much as you wanted. I felt very calm about having an intruder in my house. Plus I slept the whole day away afterwards. You definitely affected me."

  "Why do you want to be mesmerized?" he asked, with concern. He buried his hands in her hair.

  "I want to feel calm again," she said simply.

  "I can do that," he said gruffly. He looked into her eyes and thought the thoughts he usually thought when mesmerizing a person.

  Karina began to feel the haze of calmness envelop her again, like the first night they'd met. "Make me your verae," she said dreamily.

  "No," he said firmly. "You were weak after I drank your blood before."

  "You need to eat," she said.

  "I hunted in the woods after I put gas in the car," he said. "I've had my fill of blood for now."

  "Oh," she said dazedly. "Do you love me?" she suddenly asked.

  "I do love you," he said.

  She began to lean on him more and closed her eyes like she was weakening. "I love you too," she said.

  He stopped mesmerizing her. She stayed calm. Her eyes flickered up to meet his. He stared down at her for a long moment, deep in thought.

  "Kiss me," she said softly.

  He considered it. "Is this you talking? Or is it mesmerism?"

  "Shh," she said, calming his fears. "It's always me..."

  He leaned down and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him tighter. They became entangled in each other, and she pulled him to the unmade bed. Their clothes came off quickly and they fell back onto the blankets. She moaned when he pressed his naked body to hers. She thrust her hips into his. He put himself inside her, then made love to her. More gently than the first time, but they still worked themselves up to a frenzied crescendo. Her orgasm crashed through her and she felt herself lose control as she screamed into his neck. He groaned as he came. Then he pulled her closer to him as their breathing began to calm down. She opened her eyes dreamily, exhausted by pleasure, and glanced around the room.

  "Oops," she said. Their belongings were scattered everywhere, and a piece of pizza was sliding down the wall.

  He glanced around the room too, and laughed.