The sleepy-eyed clerk behind the counter looked up in surprise. "What seems to be the problem, son?"
Cameron rushed to the counter. "Someone slashed my tires."
The older man shook his head. "There"s one all-night wrecker in town. You need me to make the call?"
Cameron plunked his bags down on the counter. "No, I need your f.u.c.king car keys. I"ve got to get back to my girlfriend right now."
"Now, son," the older man began, "I can"t just hand over my truck so you can go see your lady friend..."
"You don"t get it." Cameron took out his gun. "This is life or death. And unless you want this entire town to turn into a vampire bloodbath, you better close this rat hole of a store and take me to your truck this f.u.c.king minute."
The clerk put his hands in the air. "All right, son, no one needs to get hurt here."
Cameron"s gut tightened as he led the man out of the store at gunpoint. He"d explain everything to the poor clerk once they were in the truck and rolling. He didn"t have time to wait for a wrecker or a ride. He had to get to Eden before someone else did.
Eden stepped out of the bathroom, towel drying her hair. The silk of her white nightshirt swirled around her legs, a sensation she"d never noticed before. Was this what love did for you -- heighten all of your senses, making you feel as if you"d never been so alive? She wanted to twirl around the room, giddy with happiness. She giggled, imagining Cameron walking in on her doing just that.
"I think he might find that very amusing."
"Me too," she answered. Then she opened her eyes.
She dropped the towel, a scream tearing itself from her throat as she backed into the bedroom wall behind her. The woman who had spoken to her in a clear, melodious voice sat on the edge of the bed, composed and watchful.
"Surely you"ve been expecting me, Eden." The woman lifted a hand to examine her nails. "You knew I"d catch up with you eventually."
"Who... and what..." Eden trailed off, silenced by terror.
"Oh, yes. Where are my manners?" The woman came to her feet, but not by any human means. One moment she was seated, then a split second later, her body unfolded itself to a standing position, like some perverse marionette. Eden swallowed back a rush of bile.
"I"m the Countess of Bathory." The woman glided toward her, floating rather than walking. "But those closest to me call me Elizabeth." She drew closer, so close that Eden could smell her -- a strange mix of reptile and lilacs.
"I do hope we"re going to be close, Eden." The countess leered at her, baring fangs that looked more like something you"d see on a cobra than a vampire. "Very, very close."
The Dodge pick-up truck roared down the highway. The old guy from the liquor store floored it.
"Son, if you"d just told me the whole story back at Luther"s, you wouldn"t have had to pull a gun on me." The clerk took a nervous drag from his cigarette and gave Cameron a glance before turning his gaze back to the road. "Last thing I want is for some h.e.l.lsp.a.w.n vampire to kill your lady friend."
"Look, man, I"m sorry about the gun." Cameron clenched and unclenched his fists. Would they never get there? "It"s just... I swore on my own life to protect her and..." He broke off, pounding the dashboard with the flat of his hand.
"Does this woman know you"re in love with her?" The clerk turned off onto Main Street, nearly clipping a mailbox in the process.
Cameron slumped down against the seat. "I think she does, yeah."
"You mean you haven"t told her?" The clerk looked at him.
"Not in so many words." Cameron couldn"t hide the defensive note in his voice.
"Son, there"s only one way to let a woman know you love her." The clerk shook his head. "You have to tell her. That means words."
"I"ll tell her as soon as we get there." Cameron clenched his eyes shut and said a prayer to anyone who happened to be listening. "Once she"s safe, I"ll tell her until she can"t take it anymore."
Once she was safe. Because she had to be all right. He couldn"t lose the only woman he"d ever loved.
"You"re supposed to be dead." Eden inched away from the countess, hoping that her slow trek to the bedroom door would go unnoticed.
"A simple matter, really." The countess waved her deathly white hands in a dismissive gesture, looking at Eden with cold blue eyes. "I"d been moldering away in my grave inside that church in Hungary since 1614 when those delightful little scamps from House Minotaur decided to raise me up." She shrugged her narrow shoulders, making her icy blue gown move artfully around her pet.i.te form. "A witch did a little blood magic over my grave, and there I was, in the flesh." She smoothed her skirts. "You really underestimated me, dearest. I tracked your scent all the way from the place where you slaughtered my Chupacabras and followed you here. And so we meet, at last."
"My bodyguard will be back soon," Eden told her.
"No, dearest, I don"t think he will." Elizabeth let out a snarling laugh. "My Chupacabras took care of his car. The slashed tires should slow him down nicely."
"You killed all those girls, didn"t you?" Eden held her breath. If she could just get close enough to the fireplace, she could get the poker...
"They were mere distractions. Practice kills, if you will. But their blood made me even stronger. All the better to catch you with, dear Eden." The countess tossed her long white hair over her shoulder. "The vampires from House Minotaur despise you, you know. They resent the way you, a mere half-vampire, are trying to change our ancient ways with your synthetic blood and energy feeding." Her overly large, soulless blue eyes peered at Eden. "You can"t make a snake into a lapdog."
"What does any of this have to do with you?" The poker was so close... if she could just keep the old hag talking...
"They brought me back to kill you. They knew they couldn"t do it. What they didn"t realize was how strong I"d be. Too strong for them to control." She grinned, showing her hideous fangs. "They can"t put me back in my grave now. It"s too late."
"So why did you kill those other girls?" Eden backed into the frame of the fireplace, her heart thudding in her throat.
"Surely my legend must be better known than that." She frowned. "I bathed in their blood. Hence the severed arteries." She ran her tongue over her bottom lip. "But what I truly crave is virgin blood." She hedged closer. "Minotaur staged that shootout at the club, trying to kill you before I could get my hands on you. They fear me. They thought if they killed you first, maybe I"d just go away." She threw back her head and cackled. "As if anything could make me lose my... desire for you. All those victims during my first lifetime couldn"t compare to you."
She reached out, tracing a frigid finger over Eden"s cheek. "I was put in solitary confinement until my death... over mere servant girls!" The countess sighed. "But you, Eden, are a different story. What could be more potent than the blood of a virgin dhampire?" She tilted her head, studying Eden"s face. "And the daughter of Master Cain? With your blood, I will be strong enough to rule the entire vampire world. You were worth waiting a few centuries for."
"Too late." Eden wrapped her hand around the handle of the poker. "I"m not a virgin anymore."
She swung the poker out before the countess had time to react, striking the vampire so hard that the creature flew across the room.
Eden"s breath came in painful gasps. The countess lay on the floor, giving all appearances of being dead.
Trying to collect her ragged nerves, Eden backed her way toward the bedroom door, never taking her eyes off the countess.
The countess" gaze rose. "Oh, Eden, you disappoint me so."
In a motion so swift that even Eden"s dhampire vision couldn"t detect it, the countess grabbed the silver knife from the bedside table and threw it.
It was intended to be a strike to the heart, a killing blow. Eden dropped to the floor, watching her blood spurt out in a ruby torrent. The silver burned her chest like a fiery brand.
"You see, Eden." The countess glided toward her, her head wound already healed. "I shall have my way with you yet."
"Not if I send you to h.e.l.l first," Eden gasped. She was down to her last moments of consciousness -- she knew this beyond a doubt. Marshalling the last reserves of her power, she did something she"d never done before.
She called upon the earth to open. A gaping crack formed, taking the countess down into the fault line which Eden knew ran into the depths of the earth. She willed it to close again, hearing the crunching sound of the countess" form being ground to a powder, and when she saw that it was done, she closed her eyes and surrendered to the darkness.
Chapter 12.
Cameron ran into the house, the clerk, whose name had turned out to be Bud, following a safe distance behind him.
At first nothing seemed amiss. But his gut knew better. Even as he approached the bedroom, he knew deep down what he"d find.
She was crumpled on the bedroom floor like a discarded doll. Blood pooled around her, and the handle of his silver knife stuck out of her chest, catching the overhead light.
"No." He sank to his knees beside her, oblivious to the blood soaking into his jeans. "No, Eden. Wake up."
Her eyes remained shut.
"Come on." He checked her wrist. Only a faint pulse.
"Bud, call a f.u.c.king ambulance! Tell them we have a dhampire with a knife in her chest." He squeezed her hand. "Don"t die on me, not now." His voice broke, and suddenly every tear he"d never shed for his son, for all the sorrow in his life, began to fall. The old wounds reopened, combined with the gut-wrenching horror of losing this woman he"d come to love with emotions more powerful than anything he"d ever imagined.
"Just stay alive for me, all right?" He took the knife from the sheath on his left wrist. "Because I love you." He took the knife and made a cut on his left hand.
"Drink from me." He pressed the bleeding wound to her inert lips. "Take all the blood in my body if it will keep you here a minute longer."
She stirred, an almost imperceptible sign of life. He heard the sirens approaching at breakneck speed.
Bud had the door open and showed them the way. The paramedics burst into the bedroom. "Sir, you"ll have to wait outside," one barked at him.
Cameron stood in the bedroom doorway, watching as they frantically but methodically checked her vitals. An oxygen mask was strapped to her face and an IV port inserted into her hand.
"Someone have the ER page Dr. Orloff and tell him we might need him." The female paramedic stepped away as they loaded Eden onto a stretcher. "Do you know if she has a living will?"
Cameron shook his head blankly. "I can make one call and find out."
"It would be best if you did that, sir." The paramedic glanced at Eden, who looked painfully pale and fragile. "That"s why I had them page Dr. Orloff. We may have to bring her over."
At first, the words didn"t register with him. Then the full meaning hit him.
If she approached certain death, they"d make a full-fledged undead vampire of her.
One call to Mr. Charles had settled everything. Eden did in fact have a living will. It specified that she was to be brought over in the event of her impending death.
Mr. Charles faxed the paperwork to the hospital and a.s.sured Cameron he was on his way via helicopter. "I"m her power of attorney," the Englishman had explained during their brief phone call. "I need to be there for any event that should arise."
Cameron waited outside the hospital. When the rain began to fall after dawn, he continued to stand, letting it pour over him like a penance.
He"d failed her. He could never face her again.
The same way he"d failed Sammy, the same way he"d failed Brenda, the same way he"d failed the Slayer Squad.
He wasn"t worthy of love, hers or anyone else"s.
He stared up at the blacked over windows of the fourth floor. Paranormal ER, the paramedics had told him. The nurse had given him permission to wait outside the ER in the hallway. But he couldn"t.
He couldn"t. He couldn"t face the loathing she"d surely have for him if she survived this.
He stood in the rain until he couldn"t tell whether the wetness on his cheeks came from the clouds or from his tears.
"She"s asking for you." Mr. Charles placed a hand on Cameron"s shoulder.
He woke with a start. Somehow he"d fallen asleep on a bench outside the county hospital. The rain had stopped and day had come and gone, leaving the night to surround them again.
He took the paper cup of steaming coffee Mr. Charles offered him, clinging to its warmth. "She"s not dead?"
"No." Mr. Charles shook his head. "I"m not at liberty to divulge more than that. She insists upon telling you everything herself."
Cameron stood up, stretching his aching muscles. Warring emotions tore through him. He wanted to see her so much it hurt, but he feared facing her after he"d failed to save her from the attack.
But he owed her that much. If she wanted to curse him and send him packing, the least he could do was to honor what they"d shared by taking it like a man.
He thanked Mr. Charles and went into the hospital, wondering if they had a doctor on staff who could st.i.tch his soul back together.
She looked more like herself, he realized, pausing in the doorway of her small hospital room.
The white hospital gown clung to her curvy form, and her jet black hair fell to her shoulders, mussed and limp. She was pale, almost deathly so. But still beautiful enough to rip at what remained of his heart.
"I didn"t know if you"d come." She regarded him with a troubled expression.
He sat down in the chair beside her bed. "I didn"t know if I would either, honestly." He looked at the IV in her hand. He"d put it there. He"d done this to her.
"Let"s make this as quick and painless as possible for both of us." She raised her hand, and his spine stiffened in antic.i.p.ation of her touch. But she merely brought it up to rest on the bedrail. "I know how you feel about vampires, and I understand why you feel that way." She closed her eyes, pain in her face. "If you want to walk out right now and never look back, I won"t try to make you stay." She gripped the rail. "The evil b.i.t.c.h that brought this h.e.l.l on me is dead and gone forever, you know."
He nodded. "Mr. Charles told me everything. They"ve got half of House Minotaur in custody back home, even as we speak."
She winced. "You don"t owe me anything. I"ll see to it that you"re paid in full, and give you a good recommendation for your next job."
He gaped at her. "How can you recommend me for anything after the way I let you down?" He slumped forward in the chair, burying his face in his hands. "I don"t know how you can even stand the sight of me."
A soft laugh bubbled from her lips. "Maybe because I love you, you arrogant jacka.s.s."