Eternal Kiss of Darkness

One look at his lap revealed that he was enjoying this a little too much. Kira's gaze flew to Mencheres, but instead of jealous or censuring, his expression was faintly amused.

Carefully, Kira pulled out her fangs, surprised when Mencheres gripped the boy's hand before she could even ask what to do next.

"One way to heal the punctures is to cut your tongue on a fang and hold it over the wounds before you remove your mouth," he said. "Or you could draw your thumb across your fang and press your blood across both holes. In either choice, preventing more blood loss and stained clothing is the intent."

She thought it was ironic that the ride took them through a singing graveyard as she followed Mencheres's directives. She opted to cut her thumb instead of her tongue, placing it over the twin punctures she'd made when Mencheres lifted his hand. Seconds later, when she checked, those puncture wounds were completely healed and so was the slice on her thumb. No evidence at all remained of what had happened, except the satiated warmth spreading throughout her body in place of that former gnawing hunger.

The guilt and shame Kira expected to feel was curiously absent. Instead, she felt better in a way that wasn't only due to her lack of hunger. All the heartbeats and the warm bodies inside this building no longer felt like temptations seeking to turn her into a murderer. The people around her felt like people again. Who would have thought that feeding from a human would make her feel more connected to her lost humanity instead of less?

"Take your glasses down," Mencheres said quietly. "Then look into his eyes and tell him he remembers nothing of what transpired except the entertainment of the ride." She shot a glance at Mencheres. "I can do that . . . already?" She felt worlds better, stronger even, but not like someone who could alter a person's memory with a mere stare and a comment.

His mouth quirked. "Yes, already you have that ability."

Kira tried to muster her inner hypnotist as she slipped her glasses down her nose, directing her gaze at the young man who still leaned against her with a dreamy smile.

"So, ah, nothing happened except, um, you liked the ride," she stammered. God, that was a pathetic attempt at mesmerism. She'd have to do better to make this stick.

The young man sat up, that blankness leaving his eyes as the buggy started its trek toward a set of mirrors where the automated voice informed them that soon they'd see if one of mansion's ghosts had hitched a ride in their carriage. Mencheres reached over and pulled Kira to him, his arms encircling her in a loose embrace.

"That worked?" Kira blurted to him in astonishment.

He still had that faintly amused expression. "Of course."

She was overwhelmed with how smoothly everything had transpired when the young man turned to her with a grin.

"Look. You've got a ghost sitting on your lap."

She looked at the mirrors lining the wall across from them to see video footage of a plump bespectacled man superimposed over her in the carriage. The sight of the three of them with their grinning ghostly passenger only added to the surrealism Kira felt. Her first feeding as a real vampire was graced by a fake ghost.

The ride slowed as the next room revealed the disembarking platform with its large conveyor belt. An employee took down the safety bar in front of them and the three of them exited the carriage. The young man waved at his friends with the same hand Kira had bitten before he walked away, never realizing he'd been involved in a true supernatural event on the fake haunted ride.

Chapter 22

Mencheres and Kira were almost back at Big Thunder Mountain when he felt a shift of power in the air around him. For an instant, he tensed, but then that wave of energy struck a chord of recognition in him. Bones. How like him to be early.

"My co-ruler will be here momentarily," he told Kira.

She took her sunglasses off as if just remembering she didn't need them anymore.

Her eyes hadn't flared once after her feeding, and her manner was far more relaxed. He hoped she'd recognize the wisdom of forgoing those plasma bags in the future. Not only would fresh blood taste better and make her stronger, it would also satisfy her hunger more thoroughly.

He saw Bones and Cat part through the crowd on the other side of the roller coaster.

His co-ruler did not look happy.

"Bloody hell, grandsire," were Bones's first words as he approached. "You've left behind a wreckage of burned bodies, dead vampires, missing persons, threatened Guardians, and video evidence of our race's existence. Then you go on holiday. You really do have a death wish."

Kira's jaw dropped. Mencheres gave her hand a squeeze, noticing Bones's sharp brown gaze follow the gesture.

"Not anymore," he replied coolly. "I knew that establishment was being monitored; only a fool wouldn't expect those rooms were videoed. Yes, I intended to kill those three vampires, but not anyone else, and certainly not while leaving a tape behind with my actions documented. I did not do this deed."

"You were going to kill Flare, Patches, and Wraith?" Kira asked, shock plain in her voice. "I didn't believe Radje when he said that . . ."

Mencheres glanced down at her. "They tortured you. Of course I was going to kill them.

"

Cat cleared her throat in the tense silence that followed. "Uh, before this goes any further, let's at least introduce ourselves to your friend. I'm Cat, and this is my husband, Bones. We're part of Mencheres's twisted little fang family."

Kira shook the hand Cat extended to her after replying with her name. Bones shook Kira's hand as well, but with a far more speculative gaze than Cat bestowed on her.

Mencheres met his co-ruler's gaze impassively, not answering the silent question Bones directed at him.

"Normally I would believe you, because you are the most patient, calculating person I've ever met," Bones said, getting back to the original topic. His gaze flicked to Kira again. "Yet in this instance, I'm tempted to believe Radjedef's assertion that you were motivated to act without your usual careful planning."

"Is it safe to talk about this out here?" Kira asked, nodding at the families who passed by on their way through Frontier Land.

Mencheres gave Bones a challenging look. "It is if you weren't followed." Bones let out a snort. "I was careful, grandsire."

"That 'grandsire' thing is too weird, considering you look older than he does," Kira muttered.

A dark brow rose even as Cat laughed. "You know, I never noticed, but she's right.

Especially now, with his whole baseball cap and Disneywear thing going on. Quite a different look for you, Mencheres. Don't think anyone would recognize you like this."