RYKER

 

Fighting the sluggish sleep dawn brought, Ryker double-checked the lock on Aliza’s spare room door, pulled out the sofa sleeper, then whipped his shirt over his head.

He was a fool. How could he have let Aliza sleep for so long? He should have shaken her awake and begun his hunt for the rogue vampire, but instead, he had wasted his time watching Aliza rest. A mixture of pain and pleasure had danced across her face. Emotions he hadn’t experienced in such a long time. Emotions he had been happy to avoid, but now, he longed for the sensations that made him feel alive. His fangs had tingled and mouth salivated as he stood over her, but he knew this woman wouldn’t survive any more blood loss.

Then he ran out of time and had to lock himself in her spare room. He was over three hundred years old and knew how vulnerable a vampire was when daylight approached…yet he couldn’t disturb her. He had wanted one more minute, relishing her innocence and naivete. In her passion for life that showed clearly through her swings in emotions.

He had waited too long, and when dawn threatened on the horizon, he didn’t have enough time to leave.

Don’t fool yourself. You could have made it to the back of the SUV and covered yourself with a blanket.

But what if she hadn’t been attacked at random?

He had examined her wounds while she slept and couldn’t rule out a vampire. The hospital had cleaned the injuries and lathered them in disinfectant and antibiotic creams, overpowering any remaining scents from the attack. The cuts themselves resembled what could have been made from vampire teeth. Contrary to legend, vampires didn’t leave puncture wounds. They cut the victim’s skin with their teeth and sucked out the blood. The two slits were the hallmark bite, and both Aliza’s neck and wrist had the same pattern.

If the vampire Ryker came to Dubuque to find had attacked her, why did it leave Aliza alive? That didn’t fit the pattern, and neither did Aliza being female. Perhaps she lived because the vampire couldn’t hypnotize her to answer questions or do what it asked, just like Ryker couldn’t.

Or maybe the vampire had a different agenda.

As Ryker crawled on top of the spring mattress, a chill shot up his spine, thinking how he’d killed Leila the last time he was in Dubuque. The one vampire who he had loved, and who loved him in return. The one that made him a child.

A child.

It took three steps to make a new vampire. First, one had to drain the human of blood to near death. Second, the changing human needed to be fed the vampire’s own blood over two consecutive nights. Lastly, the newly changed vampire had to gorge himself on fresh human blood to ensure the transformation was complete.

Was that the vampire’s plan with Aliza? Would it find her to feed her blood?

If it came back, Ryker would kill it. Get his duty over with so he could leave this city and let the memories remain behind.

Ryker pulled his hair aside and relaxed his head into the mattress, falling into a dark, almost dead sleep.

 

* * *

 

At dusk that evening, Ryker woke up to arguing from the other room.

Had that rogue vampire come for Aliza?

Ryker sprang from his bed and took a deep breath while he listened for vital signs. They were both human. Aliza’s words were sharp and loud. The man shouted, though not quite as loud as she.

“Get out!” Aliza yelled.

“No! You were being stupid. They tore it down. The house is gone, and it’s all over. Why can’t you let it go!”

“I don’t want to hear it. Get. Out. I’m sorry I called you. I knew I should have walked there myself. I can’t believe after everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours, the first thing you say when you see me is, ‘Do you still have my Hawkeyes Jersey?’ Come on! You’re over thirty years old.”

“Hey, I said I’d take you to the house now that I have my stuff back. I just don’t know why a pile of rubble is so important.”

“If you can’t understand why the house is important, there’s a reason you’re no longer in my life.”

“Baby, you know I loved you.”

“Loved? Enough to cheat on me?”

Ryker flung the door open and a burly Brutus of a man’s eyebrows furrowed. He held a yellow and black shirt tightly in his hand. Aliza sat on the couch, her dark hair flowing over her hands while she clutched her temples.

Ryker rushed between Aliza and the man, a little faster than he would have liked to keep up his human facade. “I think the lady asked you to leave.”

“Who are you?” A blood vessel on the man’s forehead enlarged and pulsed, causing Ryker to salivate. Brutus’s face reddened slowly, only tempting Ryker further.

Ryker drew on his strength, pushing down his fangs yet allowing his hypnosis out. “Leave now. Don’t come back unless the lady invites you.”

With a face almost as red as the sofa Aliza sat on, the man turned and left the apartment.

After Ryker shut the door, he sat beside a crying Aliza, the scent of her salty tears heavy in the air. He draped an arm around her back and rubbed the side of her arm while holding her warm body, relishing the memories of carrying her and caring for her last night. “Sorry I wasn’t out here sooner.”

She shook her head; silent tears fell down her cheek. “None of this is your fault. No need to apologize. I’m just…so…dumb. I shouldn’t have called him. It’s just that I woke up so late and have nobody else.” Her tense body slowly relaxed in his arm as she wiped her tears. “I tried waking you up…”

Ryker’s fangs tingled more than before. His eyes latched onto a vein in Aliza’s neck…a vein that should be throbbing, but instead, blood struggled to flow. Oh, she was sick. So very sick. “Shh…”  he hushed. “I’m sorry. I wish I could have been awakened.”

The fresh scent of Aliza’s hair and the warmth of her hand upon his knee had Ryker remembering the last time he allowed himself to enjoy a woman’s company. The last time he held someone without tricking them so he could get a drink.

Finally, Aliza whispered, “Thank you,” and leaned her head into his bare chest. “I’m sorry. I’m so weak.”

Ryker reached up, placing a hand on the side of her head. “It’s okay. I’ll help in any way I can.”

Aliza raised a shaky hand and placed it on his bare side. “Wow, you’re cold.”

Goosebumps formed on his skin from her touch. “I’m fine.” His mouth salivated and his fangs tingled as they pushed into his bottom lip. His hunger grew unbearable.

“I should have given you a blanket while you slept.” Tears glistened in her eyes.

Ryker tightened his lips to hide his throbbing fangs as he wiped her last tear away with this thumb. With concentration, he whispered, “Everything is fine. Perfect, perhaps. I wasn’t cold at all.”

Her bottom lip quivered, and her mouth fell open as they shared an intimate glance into each other’s eyes.

Oh, his thirst was so strong. One little taste. His eyes returned to her neck. One taste. One drop… He was used to feeding every day, and it had been two days now. A young vampire would not have survived, but Ryker was old and disciplined.

He leaned forward, focusing on the diluted fluid in her veins. Her hands rubbed along his bare spine, warming him.

Warmth…like a fresh meal could give him.

His teeth were inches from her neck, and he had a whiff of her blood. Sweet, yet something slightly different. Something he hadn’t experienced before. She moved closer to him.

Oh, how would she taste?

I need a distraction.

Now, before I kill her.

Any distraction. Something I haven’t done in years.

He turned toward her parted lips, waiting for him, and he crushed them with his own, feeling the warmth and sensing the blood just underneath her skin.

It had been eighty years since he kissed a woman, and he thought he hadn’t missed it.

He had been wrong.

 

ALIZA

 

His lips were as cold as his body, yet they were intriguing. Something different and refreshing, like a glass of ice water after you’ve been thirsty for too long. He moved slow and careful, but hungry for more. She should stop. He was a stranger, a man she’d just met, but that wouldn’t have been a first. Sometimes, you just needed to take a plunge. To do what you crave. It was how she met Brad.

But remember how well that worked out.

A growl…

Then a sharp tingle on her lips…pain, but not worth stopping. There was nothing else to think about except this man and her. No houses. No ex-fiancé. No loneliness...

Ryker jerked away, turning his head down to the floor, away from her. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. Did he bring his hand to his lips and lick his finger?

“Sorry? For what? I…um…enjoyed that. Was it too soon? I didn’t push myself on you, did I?” Her stomach turned. Maybe that wasn’t what he wanted. Maybe she was just escaping all her troubles.

He licked his lips, then seemed to run a tongue along his teeth before turning to her. He ran a thumb across her lips, pulling away a finger of blood. “No, of course you didn’t. It’s just that…I cut you with my tooth.”

She chuckled and wiped her lip. “That’s a first. I didn’t even notice.”

Staring at her with intense amber eyes, he reached his other hand up and rubbed her cheek with his thumb. “I wish I could say the same.”

Aliza glanced away, suddenly uncomfortable. She focused on the papers sprawled across her coffee table instead, forcing herself to think of something different. Something besides what it would be like to kiss him again.

All the money she paid for lawyers was for nothing. It was eight at night and the house was gone. Even if she had gotten it out of foreclosure sooner, the city would have still condemned it and put a raze order on it. Tears threatened her eyes again, and she tried to make her voice not shake. “Can you take me somewhere? I’m so mad at myself. I slept through it and now, it’s all over.”

“Slept through what?”

If she said it out loud, she’d break down, and might never put the pieces back together again. It was stupid. It was only a house. “Just take me to my car. It’s parked at my old house.”

“I don’t know if you should be driving. You’re quite anemic.”

Aliza gently bit her bottom lip, noting the slight taste of blood that remained, but managed to give him the sweetest, big-eyed look she could.

“Fine,” he said, a charming half-smile on his mouth. “It’s the least I could do for injuring you.”

Aliza reached up and touched her lip. It was strangely pain-free. She touched the bandages on her neck she had forgotten about and that wound didn’t hurt either. It hadn’t ever hurt. There was something oddly similar between the two.

“One more thing.” Ryker’s face turned serious, his smile gone and his amber eyes vibrant with urgency.

“Yeah, what?”

“Don’t invite anyone in your apartment that you don’t know. Don’t step out into the hall to talk to someone either. Stay on your side of the threshold. And don’t go anywhere without me along.”

Without him along? Aliza wrapped her arms around her body. “After what happened last night, I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere alone for quite some time.” Her mouth grew dry as images from last night resurfaced. She didn’t want to think about them. Wasn’t ready to face it. If she didn’t think or talk about it, she still felt normal.

As normal as she could be, clinging to a stranger for safety and comfort.