Chapter Twenty-Two
Meaghan watched her body get dragged through the long grass and rubble towards a group of head stones. She considered herself lucky that she was unable to feel the pain of the bruises and scrapes that were coloring her skin black and blue. She tried to ignore the blood as it seeped through the open wounds and concentrate on Terry who was beginning to turn a shade of gray. His lips going blue. He’d passed out in the van and she hoped that he would remain unconscious throughout the ordeal to come. Nemesis would delight in torturing him and—as he would never beg for mercy—his punishment would be prolonged. She raised her head to the sky and silently prayed. If you plan on taking him tonight, please, do it now.
“Here!” Nemesis ordered as she pointed to a patch of loose dirt. “There should be powerful magic over this fresh grave.”
The men threw Terry onto the ground. He groaned and opened his eyes in time to see Meaghan’s body dumped beside him. He looked past the body to Meaghan’s incorporeal spirit. “Hey … Megs. Sorry, I must have taken a little nap.”
She forced a smile. “Rest, Terry. Close your eyes and sleep. You don’t want to be awake for this.”
“We made a promise to each other, back in the orphanage, do you remember?”
“Yes, I remember. We promised to stick together.”
“Well, I intend to keep that promise, kiddo. Together to the end.”
“Very touching,” Nemesis interrupted. She turned to her cloaked companions and ordered, “Strip her.”
“No!” Meaghan screamed as she watched the women remove her clothes. “Please Nemesis, why can’t you leave me with some dignity?”
“Do you think the mental asylum treated me with any dignity? I want you to suffer as I suffered. Besides, when I bleed you, I want you to see every drop as the blood stains your skin crimson.” She leaned in towards Meaghan. “I want you to smell the blood on my master’s breath as he licks your skin, I want you to—”
“That’s enough!”
Meaghan turned to Terry who was trying to keep his face turned away from her. She knew he was trying to protect her modesty. “Close your eyes, Megs, close your eyes and block it out. From what you told me of the last sacrifice, it will be over soon.”
“Slight change of plans.” Nemesis informed them as the others lifted Meaghan’s body into a sitting position against the newly carved headstone. “Cutting your throat will kill you too fast and we can’t have that.” She motioned for the others to light the black candles and gather around. She accepted the sacrificial knife from Lilith and lifted it to admire the long, serrated blade before slicing it across Meaghan’s cast-less wrist. “This way I get to enjoy watching you as you go into shock.”
Meaghan gasped and held her hand to her mouth. She couldn’t feel the pain of her bleeding wrist, but she could see and smell the blood as it oozed out of the cut and ran down into her open palm. Nemesis placed a cup under the wrist and collected some of the blood while she chanted in Latin. The others joined the chant and squealed with delight when Nemesis sliced through Meaghan’s other wrist. She caught some of the blood then left both hands resting on Meaghan’s legs so that the blood could drain out. It trickled down Meaghan’s fingers, snaked down her thighs and began to pool on the ground around her. She dry heaved as tears streamed down her ethereal face. She felt helpless. Helpless to save Terry. Helpless to save herself. The smell of the blood overwhelmed her senses and, through the rapidly forming fog, she could see the demon taking shape. Nemesis and her coven dropped to their knees before him and kept her head down as she addressed him.
“Master. I have, at last, delivered you a virgin sacrifice. Take her and grant me what you have promised.”
“Do not presume to make demands of me, human. I have not yet tasted the blood.” His gaze drifted over Meaghan’s naked body and he sniffed the air. “I approve of this one. She is quite beautiful. I may keep her in your stead.”
“No!” Nemesis’s head shot up and she stared defiantly into the demon’s flaming red eyes. “You promised that if I made you corporeal, that you would send her soul into the ether and give me her gift of astral projection.”
He smiled and bared his fangs. “We shall see.” The demon ignored the extended chalice and lapped the blood from Meaghan’s thigh. He turned back to Nemesis. His eyes blazing as he roared. “What-is-this? You continue to try my patience!”
Meaghan watched as color rushed to Nemesis’s cheeks. “I don’t understand, I—”
“This woman is not pure. She has known a man. You have dared to deceive me again.”
Nemesis turned to Lilith. “You told me that she was still a virgin.”
“She is … was … she told me—”
The punch caught Lilith off-guard. She held her hand to her cheek as it began to bruise and glared at Meaghan. “You told me that you hadn’t done the dirty with Spartan boy. Why would you lie?”
Meaghan didn’t answer. She couldn’t answer even if she’d wanted to. Her body and corporeal body in shock from blood loss. As her body began to die, she felt her spirit drifting away. She stared at the blood, unable to think, unable to care what was going on around her. Blood surrounded her. Her own blood, Terry’s blood. It was more than she could bear.
“She is dying,” the demon announced. “And when she is dead, I will allow her to join with her body and I will take her with me.”
“No!” Nemesis screamed. “You are to send her soul into the ether. You promised me. You said that you would do this if I supplied you with blood sacrifices.”
“Stupid girl. You offered me those sacrifices and I agreed to take them. I never promised to give you anything. I was promised the blood of a virgin and you tricked me. I will take this woman and punish you for your deceit. You will be stripped of all the powers that you were given.” He waved his hand, first over Nemesis and the Meaghan. Nemesis fell to her knees and pounded the ground with her fists.
“You bastard. You promised!”
The demon laughed and turned his attention to Meaghan. She felt the familiar tug of her body and found herself hurtling back. Once joined, the smell of the blood overpowered but she was too weak to vomit. She gagged and slumped back against the grave stone as the demon leaned in towards her.
“It’s nearly time to go little one.”
“Over my dead body!”
Meaghan recognized the voice immediately and weakly cried out. “David.”
“Corel? How is that even possible?” Terry tried to raise his head but didn’t manage it.
Clarissa’s crew scattered in all directions.
“It’s a long story, Palmer.” David turned to face the demon. “This is not your world. You have no power here.”
“So, she is your woman, vampire.”
Terry turned to Meaghan. “Did he say vampire?”
She nodded weakly as she listened to the conversation going on beside her.
“Yes. She’s mine. Go back to your dimension and take your hell-hound with you.”
“I will go … this time, but my pet has unfinished business.” He glanced at Meaghan, “I suspect we will meet again my lovely.” In a puff of smoke, he disappeared.
David tore off his jacket and wrapped it around Meaghan. “Hold on, kitten.”
“Corel. You must get her to a hospital. She’s—”
Derrick suddenly appeared before him. “What the fuc—”
“Terry Palmer. I’d like you to meet my brother Derrick.”
“Sorry to startle you, Detective Palmer. David, I have four of them tied up in their own van. Looks like they were trying to escape. How is Meaghan?”
David shook his head.
Terry struggled to sit up. “No. She can’t die. You have to do something, Corel. If you and your brother really are vampires, surely you can help her.”
“I want to, but it would mean turning her and—”
“You’re concerned about her phobia?”
“I don’t know if she would be able to cope.”
“She’s a lot stronger than we give her credit for, Corel. If you love her, you have to at least try.”
“I concur, David.” Derrick told him as he knelt down beside them. “We’ll all help her to manage her phobia.”
****
David gazed down at Meaghan’s face. The color all but gone and dark shadows were beginning to form under her eyes. He whispered, “Forgive me, kitten,” and as he gently cradled her in his arms, he drank from her. When her heart slowed to almost a stop, he opened a vein on his wrist and put it to her lips. She lay still. He had expected her to gag or at least pull away but she remained motionless as the blood filled her mouth and dribbled down her chin.
“You’re too late.” Nemesis’s face twisted into a smirk. “I’m glad that she’s dead.”
David’s first reaction was to tear the smirk from her face but Derrick’s expression reminded him that it was against their code to kill a human, even if it had been their intention. The demon was not likely to return. The police could deal with the Clarissa.
He stared down at Meaghan and noticed her eyelashes subtly flutter. It was barely a movement, but it was there. Again. He looked across to Derrick.
“Yes, I saw that too.”
“You saw what?”
“She moved her eyes.” Derrick told Terry. “The blood seems to be taking affect.”
David leaned close to Meaghan’s ear. “Come on, kitten, you can do it, I know you can.”
Nemesis balled her hands into tight fists and screamed. “No. It’s not fair. She was supposed to suffer and die. She can’t—” suddenly she stopped talking and looked around before asking, “Did you hear that?”
Derrick stood up. “I heard a howl.” He paused to listen. “Yes, there it is again. Definitely a howl.”
Terry groaned as he tried to raise his head. “I didn’t hear anything.”
Nemesis smiled. “At least I get to watch the four of you die. He’s coming for you. My hound will gnaw off your limbs and eat you slowly. I can’t wait to see the look on your faces when you see him. He’s fucking big and his fangs could tear through a rhino hide. He looks like a friggin’ nightmare.”
“You’ve seen the hound?” David asked as the significance of her brag became clear to him.
“Of course I’ve seen him. He belongs to me. What a stupid question.”
“How many times have you seen him?”
“Twice.” She motioned with a flick of her head as she looked over their shoulders. A twisted smile wrinkled her nose. “Correction, three times.”
David and Derrick shared a look. David rose to his feet keeping Meaghan tight to his chest. David nodded his understanding of their telepathic conversation and helped Terry to his feet and then lifted him over his shoulders. Together they started walking towards David’s car which was parked beside the black van. Terry strained his neck to look in the direction of Nemesis’s gaze.
“I don’t see a thing.”
“Don’t look back,” Derrick told him. “No matter what you hear, don’t look back.”
“Wait! Stop! What are you doing?” the woman screamed as a throaty growl pierced the silence followed by a roar and the crunch of shattering bones. A blood curdling scream tore from her throat. Then the sickening sound of tearing flesh dulled the scream. She gurgled as her mouth filled with blood. Then, nothing.
****
Pain surged through her body and Meaghan clutched her stomach as she dashed for her bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
“Oh god, these cramps are unbearable, I feel like I’m dying,” she called out to the man in the other room.
“You are dying, kitten. At least your body is.”
Meaghan rested her forehead on the cold marble of the vanity and contemplated what David had said. She remembered the events of the previous night. Nemesis had cut her left wrist. The wound had been deep enough to slice through her vein. She had lost a copious quantity of blood. Blood. She waited for the nausea to overwhelm her but while she experienced the familiar quickening of her heartbeat, she discovered that she could not only tolerate the thought of blood, she suddenly craved it. Opening the bathroom door slightly, she poked her head out and saw David sitting at the foot of her bed.
“David. What happened to me last night? What do you mean by saying that my body is dying?” Before he could answer, the realization hit her. “I’m becoming a vampire?”
With a single nod of his head, David confirmed her suspicion. She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. Pain shot through her like a bolt of electricity and she slammed the door shut as she rushed for the toilet. When the pain eased, she called out.
“How much longer will I feel like this?”
“Not long to go now.” He waited for a response. Nothing. Minutes passed before he called to her.
“Meaghan?”
She stepped into the bedroom wearing a cotton bathrobe she had thrown on to warm herself while the convulsions shook her body but she found that her body had stopped shivering. She held out her right hand to show him that the cast was gone and she waved her hand around, drawing patterns in the air with her fingers. “My wrist … it’s completely healed and David … I tore off the cast with my teeth.”
“One of the perks of being a vampire, my love. We heal very quickly and we have very strong fangs.”
She smiled coyly. “For someone recently deceased, I feel surprisingly alive. Actually, I feel pretty wonderful.” She opened the curtains and stared out at the stars. “Even the stars seem brighter.”
“You will discover that everything is a little brighter, my love. Colors are more vibrant and your hearing will become exceptional.”
“What else?” She asked as she bounced on the balls of her feet. “What else can I do?”
“You will be stronger … as strong as ten men. Faster than a car—”
Striking an arrogant pose, she laughed. “Just wait until I show those macho men at the station. There are a couple of guys that I would like to put on their arse. Wait until the next time they challenge me in the gym, I’ll show—”
“You can’t go back to work, Meaghan. Not as a police officer anyway.”
Meaghan’s shoulder’s dropped and her expression turned solemn. “I guess that it would be hard explaining why I can’t work the day shift?”
David nodded. “If it makes you feel any better, at least you can join the company firm.”
Tilting her head to one side, she asked, “And what does the company firm do?”
“I guess you would call us private investigators. It should be right up your alley.”
“At least that’ll make Terry happy. He’s been trying to talk me out of being a cop for years. He’ll … oh, my god. I completely forgot about Terry. Did you turn him too?”
“Derrick took him to the hospital last night.”
“Is he okay?”
“He’s in surgery now. There was a lot of damage to his internal organs and he lost a lot of blood. Derrick compelled one of the officers to call him as soon as they have any news. All we can do now is wait.”
Memories of the previous evening came flooding back. The attack on Terry. The demon. The last thing she remembered was the demon leaning over her and the overpowering smell of blood. Her stomach rumbled in response.
“What happened to Nemesis?”
“Who?”
“Clarissa.”
David sat down on the end of the bed and took her hand. “Have you heard the expression … you reap what you sow?”
“Y-e-s.”
“Well, let’s just say that she got a taste of her own medicine.”
“You mean … she’s dead?”
“She may have believed that the hell-hound was a pet but, like any wild animal, he’s a natural born killer and serves no master. Derrick and I recently learned that they are sent to deliver an evil person to hell. They stalk their victims and on the third visit, they kill them.”
Meaghan sighed. “Despite all that she’s done … I can’t help but feel sorry for her.”
David cupped the back of her head and kissed her gently on her forehead. “You have a kind heart, Chérie. Few people could find it in their hearts to forgive someone who attempted to take their life.”
“I doubt that I’d have been as forgiving if she had killed Terry.” She paused before asking, “David, he is going to be all right, isn’t he?”
“We’ll go to the hospital as soon as you have fed. It wouldn’t be safe for anyone there if you suddenly decided to snack.”
“Fed? As in, eaten blood?”
“It’s the final part of the transformation. If you don’t consume blood—”
“I’ll die for good?”
He nodded. “I know that the last time we tried, it didn’t work out very well.”
“Oh, I’d say it worked fine if the objective was to make me puke and pass out.”
“At least you have retained your sense of humor.”
“I don’t see that I have much choice. Besides…”
“Besides?”
“I can’t believe that I’m going to say this, but, I’m kinda hungry.”
David undid the buttons on his white silk shirt, exposing his chest. He dragged a fingernail across the side of his neck, the skin opened and blood began to trickle from the wound. Meaghan licked her lips. Her newly formed fangs shot through her gums with such force, she heard them snap as they broke the skin. She lunged forward, knocking him onto his back as she straddled his waist and sunk her fangs into his neck without hesitation. She gripped his shoulders, digging her long nails into his flesh as she siphoned the warm liquid from his veins. Her taste buds danced as the thick, coppery fluid ran across her tongue and down her throat, igniting every nerve ending in her body.
He sat up, lifted her, her legs still wrapped around his body as he unzipped his jeans, allowing them to drop to his knees. He untied her robe and threw it across the room as he positioned her over his lap. She felt a wave of pleasure as he entered her, filled her with moist, solid heat. She rode him, keeping a tight grip on his shoulders, lapping every drop of blood as it oozed from his neck. The taste tantalizing, deliciously decadent. She craved more. They came together in an explosion of sensations … passion, urgency, ecstasy. He flipped her onto her back and pulled free of her fangs as he pinned her to the bed by her shoulders. She tried to sit up, she reached for the blood, needed more but he held her fast.
“You’ll bleed me dry kitten. As it is, I may need to feed again before we go to the hospital.”
She gasped, suddenly aware of what she’d done. David’s face had turned deathly pale and dark circles formed under his eyes.
“David. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t stop.”
“Don’t be sorry my love.” He leaned down and caught one of her nipples in his teeth. He tugged gently and she bucked beneath him ready to continue their lovemaking.
The sound of David’s phone broke the mood. She pouted as he released her nipple and eased himself from her in order to reach the phone. He laughed at her pout but his expression hardened as he turned to her. “It’s Derrick. Palmer is out of surgery but it doesn’t look good. The doctor says that he isn’t likely to last the night.”
Meaghan sprung from the bed and rushed to her wardrobe. She threw on a pair of jeans and a t shirt and searched for a pair of boots. Combing her fingers through her bed-tussled hair, she secured her unruly locks into a ponytail with a rubber band and turned to David.
“Show me how to get to the hospital in the shortest time possible.”
****
“You must concentrate on keeping to a human speed,” David informed Meaghan as they left the underground parking station. “I know that you’re anxious to get to Palmer, but, we mustn’t draw attention to ourselves.”
“I’m sure we could have been here much faster if we’d run.” She bypassed the elevator and ran up the stairs in a blur of speed that would have gone undetected by the human eye. At the top floor, she paused. “No one would have seen me.”
“It’s not the running that causes humans alarm, it’s the sudden appearance when you stop.”
“There wouldn’t have been any cause to stop. If we hadn’t been in your car, we wouldn’t have been held up in traffic and at the red lights.”
“There is a downside to being a vampire, kitten.”
Meaghan pushed open the exit door, almost breaking it off its hinges. She cringed and checked to see if anyone saw her grand entrance before turning to David. “Is that one of the downsides? Super strength?”
“Among other things.”
“Such as…”
“Such as our ‘allergy’ to the sun.”
Meaghan screwed up her face as she pointed out, “It’s the middle of the night David.”
“At present. But we don’t know how long we’ll be here. If we’d run here and the sun came up before we leave, we would have been stranded. The car has specially tinted windows and the underground parking protects us as we leave.”
“What about the windows in the rooms?”
“Taken care of.” David slipped his arm around her in order to slow her down as they made their way to the Intensive Care Unit. “Slowly, kitten, slowly.”
“How is it taken care of?”
“After an incident last year when Anna was admitted to hospital—prior to her conversion—we realized there was a need to protect ourselves so we could enter the wards. Derrick and I paid to have all the windows in the hospital replaced with treated glass.”
“Didn’t the board question your agenda?”
He shook his head. “We’ve always generously sponsored the hospital so they had no reason to suspect any ulterior motives. We told them that it was a safety precaution and they were happy to comply.”
“Meaghan!” A young police officer rushed towards them. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“David, this is Adam.” She instantly realized her mistake. David was believed to be dead. She turned to David with wide eyes but he merely smiled and offered his hand. If Adam understood the connection, he didn’t react.
The men shook hands and Adam hugged Meaghan. “You look pale. I heard that the scum that attacked Detective Palmer also hurt you. Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Fine now. How is he?”
Adam bit his lip. His expression spoke volumes and tears rimmed his lower lashes. He shook his head but choked when he tried to speak. Meaghan hugged him again. “I’ll stay with him for a while. You go and have a coffee. You look as though you need it.”
“Will you call me if…” A sob caught in his throat.
“The moment there is any change.”
Adam forced a smile and headed towards the cafeteria. They watched as he walked away, his shoulders slumped, his head down.
“Palmer seems to mean a lot to him.”
“He means a lot to everyone at the precinct.” She stepped inside the room and gasped. Terry was hooked up to an intravenous drip and transfusion bags. His complexion ashen and dark circles defined his eyes. She hurried to his side and lifted his hand. “He feels so cold. Isn’t there something we can do?”
“He may not want our help, kitten.”
“Why wouldn’t he? He’s not like me. He doesn’t have a problem with blood.”
“If I turn him, he won’t be able to return to the force. All those people who you said look up to him and rely on him for support would lose him.”
“The force is my life…” Terry’s voice was barely above a whisper. “But I see that being dead agrees with you, Megs. You look completely healed.”
She hugged him as gently as she could but he still groaned under the pressure of her embrace. “Trying to hasten my death, Officer Lamb?”
“Let us help you, Terry.”
“No, Megs. It’s like Corel said. I would have to give up the force and I can’t do that. It’s my life.”
“No, Terry. It’s your death!” She dropped his hand and walked to the window. “You are so pig-headed! Let us save you. We can work out the consequences later.”
Terry looked into David’s eyes. “I know that you could overpower me and turn me into whatever the hell you are, Corel, but, you seem to be an honorable man. Promise me that you won’t let her talk you into it. Give me your word.”
“You have it, Palmer. It is not something that I do lightly.”
“Well I’m not prepared to lose you.” Meaghan flew at him, fangs bared and ready to attempt a conversion despite having no idea what to do. David intercepted her and held her firmly.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”
“No, but I don’t care,” she sobbed as she struggled in his arms. “I have to try.”
“Please, Meaghan,” Terry mumbled. “Just let me go in peace.”
David saw the look of desperation on his love’s face and felt his own heart break. “There may be something…”
She grabbed his forearms. “Whatever it is, please try.”
“Palmer. What if we were able to save you but you would be forever linked to us? Could you handle that?”
“Would I be undead?”
“That depends on how you look at it, old man.” David laughed. “You would be alive, so technically you would be undead but not in the same sense as us.”
Terry smiled at Meaghan. “I’m already forever linked with you, Megs, have been since the orphanage, so I may as well make it official.” He questioned David. “In what way linked?”
“A telepathic bond. You will be able to communicate across long distances telepathically.” When Terry turned his attention back to Meaghan, David instantly regretted his idea. Despite Meaghan’s rejection, Palmer still loved her.
“So, we’ve come to an agreement?”
“Yes. I accept those terms. How is this done? I’m not sure if I have enough blood for you to take, Meaghan.”
“There’s no need for the taking of your blood, Palmer, but, I hope that you’re not squeamish.”
“You mean…”
“Just close your eyes and pretend that you’re drinking a warm milkshake laced with pennies.”