CHAPTER TEN

 

A number I’d heard in the news report kept running through my head like a ticker tape. Twenty-seven. Twenty-seven. Twenty-seven.

“No,” Bo said, casting his eyes down.

“No what?” My breath was coming in short, quick pants.

“No, I didn’t kill all of them.”

I closed my eyes and a sigh of relief blew through my lips. “Thank God,” I whispered. “How—”

I stopped myself from asking how many Bo had killed. Information like that would only make things harder, and I didn’t need things to get any harder.

“Never mind,” I said. “So, you still haven’t been able to find the one who killed your father, right?”

“No.”

“And you won’t stop until you do?” I couldn’t keep the bitter edge from my voice.

“There’s no point. I’m dying. Nothing can change that. If I give up now, it will all be for nothing,” he said, pushing himself off the wall and stepping toward me. “My death and the life I’ll never have with you will have been for nothing.”

My chest squeezed painfully. I couldn’t bear to think about it, much less talk about Bo dying.

As I looked into his eyes, I could see that demons were eating away at him on the inside, and I doubted things were going to get any better. He’d started down a path that he couldn’t come back from. He’d chosen a fate that he was locked into—no way out, no going back. And now, like it or not, I was traveling that road with him. My fate was going to be just as ugly, at least for my heart. I could see that our epic love story was going to end badly. And there was nothing I could do about it.

In an effort to avoid bursting into tears like an emotionally unstable psychopath, I looked back to the framed pictures dotting the shelf to my right. I saw the smiling, happy faces of Bo’s parents.

“What does your mom think about all this?”

Bo shrugged. “She’s devastated, of course. But even though she’s not at all pleased with my choice, she understands it. She’s tried to help me as much as she can. She gets me bagged blood to help me keep my strength. She’s been taking samples of my blood to the lab, trying to find a cure, or at least a way to slow the effects of the poison. She’s been great.”

A cure? My eyes darted back to him. I latched on to the mere suggestion of hope with both hands and I held on tight. “Has she found anything?”

Bo shook his head in defeat. “No. And I don’t think she will. Not in time anyway.”

“Is that why she seemed kind of…sad to meet me?”

Bo’s grin had a hint of irony behind it. “Yeah. In school, I guess I was a pretty typical guy. You know, string of semi-serious girlfriends, lots of texts from lots of different people in between, all that. She was always after me to settle on one.”

He chuckled at some memory. “She used to complain and say I left a trail of broken hearts that she had to clean up. They’d all call and cry on her shoulder.”

When Bo looked at me, his expression changed. The look on my face must’ve plainly indicated my displeasure. I wasn’t liking the Bo I was hearing about, the one I hadn’t met, and I doubted very much that I would’ve wanted to know him.

“In that way, what’s happened to me hasn’t been all bad. I met you,” he said, tucking my hair behind my ear. “Being…this has changed me in ways that I can’t describe, but not all of them are bad.”

Needing to hear something positive, I asked, “Like what? What good has come of it?”

“You,” he said, as if that was enough.

“What else?”

“Besides you?”

I nodded.

“I’m stronger than I’ve ever been. I don’t need much sleep. I heal almost instantly. I can hear and smell and see things a thousand times more clearly and farther away. I can run fast, jump high, move more quickly than human eyes can see. I can be invisible if I need to be,” he said, adding that last with a sardonic smirk.

“Huh,” I said, at a loss as to how to respond to that. Tossing my hair over my shoulder dramatically, I said, “Well, little did you know, but I can do all of those things, too.”

Bo’s grin widened and he reached out and set his hands at my waist.

“Is that right?”

“Oh, yeah. You didn’t know I have super powers?”

“Oh, trust me. I knew you had some kind of power.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“I’ll bet.”

“What about aging. Do you age?”

“Not really. You?”

I pursed my lips. “Occasionally.”

Getting into the spirit, he countered, “Can you grow limbs?”

“No, but my sister’s pet lizard could drop his tail off and grow a new one.”

He smiled at that. “Touché.”

“See, you’re not so special.”

“Well, do you have venom that can kill a bear and turn a human into a vampire?”

I wrinkled my nose. “Surely you’re not counting that as a positive.”

“Only if one of us is getting mauled by a bear.”

“So what about all that stuff you see in the movies, like garlic and sunlight and crosses? Is any of that true?”

“Only the part about a stake through the heart. Anything through the heart would kill me, just like it would a human.”

His venture into the subject of his “abilities” had me thinking. “So, if you bit me, would I turn into what you are?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“Well, I’m old enough now to where I have pretty good control over my fangs and how much, if any, venom I excrete with a bite.”

“These others, the ones you’ve been…taking care of, have they turned humans?”

A guarded look came over Bo’s face, like a thick curtain dropping down into place behind his eyes.

“Some, yes.”

“But why? Why would they want to do that?”

“That’s another question I’m trying to get an answer to.”

“Would you ever consider turning someone?”

“Never,” Bo declared with a resolute shake of his head.

Even though it wouldn’t happen, couldn’t happen—and if it could, I wasn’t even sure I’d want it—I was curious about one thing.

“So if you weren’t dying and I wanted you to turn me, you still wouldn’t?”

“No.”

“Why?”

Bo stepped back and pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “The venom, it does something to you. It makes you crave things, think things, things that aren’t good, aren’t right.”

“But you’re fine.”

“I’m living with the pain and the constant reminder of what someone like me did to my father. If it weren’t for that—for that consuming vision of them tearing his throat out—I don’t know what I would focus all this energy, all this hunger and thirst on.” He paused, looking away from me, toward the dying light that was streaming through the door. “But I’m afraid it wouldn’t be good. And I could never subject another person to that. It would be like issuing a death sentence to possibly hundreds of people, potential victims.”

“You’re sure the only reason you’re strong enough to resist it is because of your dad?”

He bit his lip in thought then looked back at me. “Probably not entirely. I’d say it has a lot to do with the amount of vampire blood I take in and what it’s doing to my body. I’m degrading, more and more every day. I think it’s affecting my thirst.”

I didn’t want to go down that depressing road again, so I completely changed the subject.

“When can we leave to go to see Lucius?”

Bo glanced back at the door, as if when he’d been staring out it only moments before, he hadn’t really seen anything.

“Any time now. Do you want to go now?”

“Maybe we should, so we don’t get back too late.”

Bo shut off the stereo and headed toward the door. I walked out and started up the steps while he cut off the lights and relocked the door.

“Do you mind if we take your car? I usually run, but that’s not really an option for you,” he said with a quirk of his lips.

“How far is it?”

“About thirty miles or so.”

“Just thirty?”

“Yep. Just a hop, skip and a jump,” he teased, his grin maturing into a smile that made my knees weak.

When Bo reached the top of the steps, I asked, “How do you know that’s not one of my super powers?”

Bo looked deep into my eyes. “Because I know what your super power is.”

“What?”

“It’s to drive me crazy.” The soft way he said it made my stomach flip over.

I laughed nervously. “Ya think?”

“I know,” he said, winking at me and taking my hand. “Come on.”

Once we were in the car and on the road, my apprehension started to kick in.

“So, this Lucius, how will he feel about a strange human paying him a visit?”

“He’ll be fine. He’s…old school in many ways.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He was born in the days when women were still treated like fragile princesses and people still had manners.”

“Ah, the stone ages,” I quipped.

“Close,” Bo replied.

“How old is he, really?”

“Just over four hundred years I think.”

“Four hundred years? Lucius is four hundred years old?”

Bo nodded. “He’s one of the oldest ones left.”

“Why is that?”

“He’s managed to stay hidden from the younger ones, the ones that kill and turn without thought for human life. Like the ones that killed my father.”

“Why would he be hiding from other vampires?”

“According to Lucius, hundreds of years ago, vampires were mostly found in Europe and they lived in peace, adhering to a very strict code of conduct. They rarely turned anybody and they sort of had a policy about killing humans.

“But then, some time ago, apparently one of the elders broke the rules and turned a few humans just for fun, a few ‘bad seeds’. None of the newer ones respected the code. They were like animals. They craved the thrill of the kill, the power of being higher on the food chain. When the other elders realized that they couldn’t control the new turns, they set out to terminate them.

“They started a war that ended up killing most of the vampire population. The younger ones killed many of the elders, and evidently still hunt them today. Because of that, the elders scattered to the four winds. That’s when Lucius came here. He says that this country was his salvation, and that it’s been a peaceful refuge until recently.”

“Does he know who’s doing it now? Turning people, I mean?”

Bo shook his head. “No, but with every one that I drain, I’m one step closer to finding out. I’m pretty sure there’s one person who’s responsible, one who’s been spearheading all the activity around here.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because I can see hazy images of all these vamps feeding from another vampire, a stronger one, but it’s like their memory is so saturated in pleasure and endorphins, I can’t get a clear picture or even a name of the one they’re feeding from.”

“Why would vampires feed from each other?”

“I think the vampire that’s turning them is feeding them some of his blood right at the beginning and establishing some kind of control over them. The thing is, it takes very powerful blood to control another vampire. Maybe even an elder’s blood. I’m not sure.”

In my head, I went back over everything that Bo had just explained. I found that several things were bothersome.

“So, did you ever…you know?”

“What?” Bo’s eyes left the darkening road ahead of us to find mine.

“Feed from another vampire?”

“Only to kill them.”

“They didn’t try to make you drink any blood when they turned you?”

“They might have tried if I hadn’t gotten away when I did.”

“What would’ve happened if they had?”

Bo shrugged. “It’s hard to tell. I don’t know how much power, how much influence the controlling vampire actually has. I mean, for all I know, these people could’ve been sick freaks long before they turned. It does make you wonder, though.”

I fell quiet after that, digesting all that Bo had revealed. It was so surreal, so scary this other world out there; I wasn’t at all sure I was ready to be a part of it.

My last question to Bo, before we reached our destination, was hypothetical, or at least I hoped it was.

“If your blood was powerful enough to give you some control over me, what would you do with it?”

The look Bo cast me was one of mild horror. I’m sure he was thinking What a question!

When I merely raised my eyebrows expectantly, Bo sighed deeply and fell silent to give the matter some thought.

Finally he spoke, answering my query. “I’d try to make you forget about me.”

I didn’t know what to expect in his answer, but that wasn’t it. “You would do that?”

We looked at each other intently, far too long for one of us to have been driving. He seemed to have an instinct for the road, though, that allowed him to stay on the asphalt no matter in what direction his eyes were turned.

“I’d like to think I would, but honestly, I don’t know if I’m strong enough, selfless enough. But yeah, I’d like to think I could do it.”

Once again, a thoughtful silence descended over the interior of the car. Bo appeared to be as lost in thought as I was, so when he pulled off the road and parked along the edge of some trees, I was surprised.

“Where are we?”

“As far as we can go by car,” he answered, getting out to come around and let me out.

Bo offered me his hand, but he didn’t let go of it. He shut the door behind me and tugged my hand, pulling me close to him as we set out into the forest.

“So how far does Lucius live from here?”

“About three miles.”

Inwardly, I cringed. I was in good shape, but a three mile hike through the woods was not my idea of a fun night.

As we trekked along the well-disguised path, Bo led me over fallen trees and through a shallow creek, around water holes and in and out of pine stands. It seemed we’d been walking forever when Bo stopped.

His head whipped around and his eyes darted to and fro, trying to locate something. His expression was one of fierce alertness. The tiny hairs on my arms rose to attention.

I whispered, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Without looking at me, Bo raised a finger to his lips. I held my tongue, swallowing my next worried question. Something about Bo’s body language had made me immediately apprehensive. It was more than his caution; it was as if an ominous warning was rolling off of him and crashing over me in cold, menacing waves.

Though there was no denying that my senses had been more acute since drinking Bo’s blood—something I didn’t even want to think about, much less question—I still wasn’t able to discern what had him so tense, and that just made me all the more concerned.

But then, milliseconds after I detected a pleasant brown-sugar smell on the light breeze, I heard the whoosh of an object flying through the air right before something slammed into me, sending me careening through the woods like a human projectile.