Chapter Seventeen
What felt like seconds later, the sound of metal grinding and squealing in protest startled her awake.
Viktor’s body still pressed along hers but his muscles strained as he pushed against the trunk door. It popped open like a tin can.
She threw her arms over her head in reflex, but who was she kidding, they weren’t going to protect her from the sun and an agonizing death. The pull she had felt earlier, when Viktor taught her to sense the sunrise, had moved considerably since then. Instead of going up like a roman candle, she remained alive, curled in a little ball.
Viktor stroked her hair. “I did not expect it to make so much noise and wake you.” He kissed along her neck, taking his sweet time, and she melted into his arms. They had crossed a line last night and there was no going back.
Distant starlight greeted her gaze as she allowed Viktor’s hair to stream through her fingers. “It’s night already. I slept so good.” She stretched, her body arching into his.
He raised himself on an elbow, admiring the lines of her motion.
“I’m still tired though.”
“You have not fed today.” He closed his eyes as she tugged him by the hair, back to her lips for a small kiss.
“Neither have you and you seem fine.” She glanced at the bent and broken trunk lid. “More than fine.”
“That is nothing.” He nipped her throat.
“Well, your nothing is quite impressive.”
A husky laugh. “Thank you.”
She had walked right into that one. It was wonderful, lying here, being teased by her…boyfriend didn’t quite describe their relationship. Neither did lover since they hadn’t completed the deed yet. Master? Never. She decided on sire for now. Until she could use one of the first two. “Eoin is going to kill us once he finds his car.” She stroked her hands over Viktor, more than happy to pick up where they had stopped.
“Me, yes. You? He would not dare risk the wrath of Angie. He is an angry dragon. Not a stupid one.”
She brushed her fingertips over his kissable lips. “Why would she care? We only just met.”
“Ken is her best friend.”
“Betty’s Ken? Well, that makes us almost family.” She giggled at Viktor’s wiry smile.
He sat, dragging her along. “We must start our journey if we are to ever reach the city.”
She groaned at the thought of the long walk.
A car passed their hiding spot.
So, maybe not a long walk? They could try to catch a ride. Two vampires in a dark forest seemed harmless enough that someone might stop.
She climbed out of the trunk, smoothing the wrinkles out of her clothes. There was a faster way to reach Riverbend from New Port. A lovely interstate, but had Viktor chosen a rural, two lane highway to avoid Eoin’s search pattern. Just because it was rural didn’t mean no one used it though. “How far do you think we have to go?”
“I can carry you.” Viktor sounded sincere.
She bit the inside of her cheek. It would be cozy being in his arms. “No.” A woman had to draw a line as to how helpless she was going to act. Trixie had been lugged around enough in the last twenty-four hours. That was not her. She lived by her own rules, created her own paths. She caught stray animals and helped them find homes. She loved pink and drawing in detail, and she was good with cars. She never let peer pressure change her values and she still believed in true love.
That was Patricia Russell. Except she was now a vampire. She couldn’t forget who she was at the core.
She walked to the edge of the dark road with Viktor on her heels. “I don’t need you carrying me.” She didn’t need to walk a bazillion miles either.
Headlights appeared in the distance. She held out her thumb to hopefully hitch a ride.
“They will not stop.” He crossed his arms, leaning on a tree.
The car sped past.
She ground her teeth, wishing he’d been wrong this once. “Doesn’t mean I won’t try.”
Viktor slung her over his shoulder, like a caveman, and ran. Not at human speed. They traveled so quickly the trees blurred. It was as if he barely touched the soil and glided over the ground. So awesome, and probably another super power she wouldn’t have until she was an adult vampire.
After what seemed like an hour. Viktor slowed to a stop and caught his breath. He set her on her feet. She stretched the spasms in her lower back from being in such an awkward position for so long. Twinkling lights on the horizon drew her attention, sparkling in a dance under the stars.
He pressed against her back. “Riverbend.”
“We’re almost there.”
“No, we have still a lot of ground to cover.”
“It looks so close.”
“Because the land is flat. And?” he whispered his question in her ear, sending a shiver down her spine.
“I can see even farther since I’m a vampire.” If she rolled her eyes any harder, she’d go back in time. “It’s beautiful.”
“She is beautiful.” A rough sound. Impatient hands that turned her to meet his kiss.
And, oh, what a kiss.
It held the same dark temptations as this morning, but it also held something else—a tenderness, soft pleasure, with a playful nip. Shuddering, she pulled away, her mind blank and it took her a moment to recall what they’d been discussing.
“So—” She cleared the husky roughness from her throat. “Will we reach it before daylight?” She didn’t want to hide underground.
A set of headlights burned in the night and grew brighter. They were close to the road again! She waved her arms over her head in her best impression of a cheerleader.
A pickup truck slowed to a stop. “Are ya stranded?” shouted an elderly gentleman wearing jean overalls. The vehicle and driver appeared to be the same age.
“Yes,” she answered simultaneously as Viktor said, “No.”
“Well, which is it? You need a ride or not?” The driver peered at them through thick glasses.
“We need a ride.” She grabbed Viktor’s hand and tugged him to the back where she jumped into the empty bed. “Thanks,” she called to the driver.
Viktor followed with a thunderous scowl. She half-expected him to drag her out kicking and screaming. He settled next to her, knees bent, arms resting on them.
She nudged him with her elbow. “Say thank you.”
Viktor’s frown deepened. “Thank you.” It came out threatening.
The truck pulled onto the road, wind blowing in their hair, and them on their way to Riverbend.
“I could have run the remainder of the way. I was not tired.”
“Save your energy.”
Heat flared in his eyes. “What do you plan on doing with my extra energy?” He scooted closer, fingers slipping under the hem of her shirt to tease along her abdomen.
“I—I don’t know.” Blah, so she needed to practice her flirting. She’d spent so much time deterring men’s attention that she didn’t know how to act if she wanted it. She hadn’t any muscle memory.
Trixie’s awkwardness charmed Viktor.
His retinue of acquaintances consisted of lieutenants that helped run his territory and his few shifter friends, who were all dominants. Trixie brought out his protectiveness. Her new life was filled with predators, including him. She had to be kept safe. It would be such a loss if she lost her Trixie-ness.
“I have a few ideas on what we can do with my extra energy.” When they found some alone time, he planned on showing her a few of them. There was no need to hurry in his seduction. Trixie was his.
The truck rumbled along the two-lane road at the same speed he could have run. The ride wouldn’t save them time, but it did give him a chance to plan their next move. He didn’t visit Riverbend often.
The vampire nest was small since the city was not as populated as New Port and it had a higher population of shifters, which vampires didn’t feed upon. Their blood tasted awful and didn’t sustain them.
The local lieutenant kept a tight rein on the nest so he didn’t need to watch them closely. They also didn’t get along. He wondered who could have fathered a dhampir, which were the offspring of a vampire and a human. Procreation with humans was still possible, just rare. His lieutenant might know where to find this child who tattooed black magic. The dhampir might be from another nest and hadn’t reported to the local one. Too many possibilities.
Trixie snuggled against him, pressed along his side, head resting on his shoulder. Their hair tangled in a mix of black ink and pink cotton candy in the wind. Arm around her shoulders, he held her tight, luxuriating in the sense of companionship.
She filled a gaping hole in his soul he hadn’t known existed. He’d been surrounded by people and never realized how alone he was until he’d met her.
She sighed. A happy noise filled with such simple satisfaction.
He stroked his fingers under her chin and raised it to plant a tender kiss on the tip of her nose. He knew he unnerved her. Truth be told, he was more nervous. There were so many things he could do wrong in their budding relationship and he was an expert at making mistakes
“Where are you folks heading?” The driver shouted out his window as he came to a stop light.
They had finally arrived at the outskirts of Riverbend.
“Downtown,” Viktor replied. They would start their search in the bar district, which was a block from the main shopping area. Tattoo parlors dotted the neighborhoods between.
“I can drop you off on the corner of Twelfth Avenue and Charlevoix Street.”
“That is sufficient, my good man.” He knew Charlevoix Street. It ran through the whole city, dividing East from West.
Trixie pulled out the cell phone her sister had given her the night before. “Crap, it’s dead and I don’t have a charger. I’ve never been to Riverbend.” She twisted around for a better look. “It looks like a city.” She laughed. “I’m not sure what I was expecting. Do you have a smart phone?”
He stared.
“I’ll take that as a no. We have no GPS, map, or Google. This search might prove to be futile.”
He smiled on the inside at her word choice. His vocabulary—the one she had teased him about—was affecting her own.
“Is there at least a river in Riverbend?”
The truck pulled over by the curb. They thanked the driver, again, and jumped out.
“If we follow Charlevoix, it will cross the river that runs through the city.” He winked in reply to her happy grin. “Yes, there is a river.”
She pointed across the street. “There’s a coffee shop and it’s still open.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him along to her destination.
“I do not have any funds.” He had wanted to be in and out of the city before his presence was noted by any of the supernatural creatures.
“Don’t sweat it. I have a little cash.”
“Coffee has little nutritional value.”
She rolled her eyes. “I want to charge my phone. They usually have charging stations.” She hesitated. “We can drink coffee?”
“Anything liquid. Sometimes it tastes off.” He shrugged, confused by her little dance of glee.
They claimed the closest table, where she used the coffee shop’s universal charger to plug in her phone. “I’ll search the area for tattoo parlors and make a list.”
He ordered two coffees in to-go cups. “Your plan is to wander parlor to parlor asking questions?”
“That’s what detectives do.”
He nodded. “Or we could ask Betty.”
Her eyes narrowed. “She’s on her honeymoon.”
“Do you think she would mind the interruption if it caught this dhampir?” The coffee arrived and he took a sip of the liquid lava. “Fuck.” Vampires could still burn their tongues.
Trixie growled something under her breath as she typed furiously on her phone. “There are fifteen tattoo parlors in the city.”
“And we have no transportation.” He raised an eyebrow as she bared her tiny, kitten teeth. “That is a lot of walking.”
She went back to typing.
“We could contact the local nest.” He frowned. If he did, they would expect him to visit. Make his presence known. “Somebody should know the dhampir’s name. They are very rare and I doubt she has gone undetected all this time.”
Trixie remained focused on her phone.
“Are you listening to me?”
“Sort of. Something about the dhampir and I don’t even know what that is.”
He leaned forward. “What are you doing?”
“Texting Betty.” She tossed him a scowl as he hid his smile behind the coffee cup.