"They're vampires like you?"

"Not exactly like me. We... come in variations."

"You aren't supposed to exist." She moved the oil lamp closer to inspect my wounds. The light danced across her high cheekbones. The whites of her teardrop-shaped eyes bright like milk. She checked my torso again for more wounds. My body tensed with every touch, from pain and desire.

"Psychics aren't supposed to... exist either."

"You need to be in a hospital, now."

"And be ...dissected for study? No, thank you."

She stared at my folded wings, the bits of fur on the wooden floor, and I knew she understood. Once again, I was privy to her thoughts: He was right. It would be a media circus. I would be hara.s.sed, thrown in a cage, and killed eventually. She understood me.

How many centuries had I kept these secrets to myself? I doubted Brittany would have understood my silent fears and me.

Ilida swore. "There's only so much I can do for you in the middle of nowhere."

"You have a gift... for swearing."

She couldn't suppress a smile at that. Friends had often told her about her colorful language I heard her think.

"Does it bother you?"

"It... amuses me."

Everything about her I found refreshing, beguiling. Too bad, I was about to ruin it. That was my lot in life, ruining good things. She looked towards the window. Snow continued to fall in thicker clumps. I studied the musty upholstery as blocks of her thoughts flowed into my mind. She was going to try to leave me, or it was on her mind too. She's caught between her survival and duty to me.

"My father thinks I sound like a sailor."

He's uptight, I wanted to say, but couldn't find my voice. I could hardly believe I wanted to defend her.

"You kill don't you?"

"Not unless they deserve it." From my position on the couch, I heard her heart rate speed up and the roar of her warm, warm blood pump through her veins. The way her sweater contoured her b.r.e.a.s.t.s as she cleaved for breath was enticing, as always.

"You have a dark sense of humor."

"That wasn't a joke. I kill."

"I guess you would have to," she said as she parted the blankets covering me. Her hand accidentally brushed against my over-exuberant c.o.c.k.

I captured her brown eyes with mine. How could he feel pain and l.u.s.t all together? It was the hunger for blood. That's it, but I knew better. I think I've always known.

"Sorry," she whispered.

What was I going to say? d.a.m.n you for giving me a b.o.n.e.r? I appreciated it. At least I'm alive and able to feel. We've been down this road before.

"You have a lot of wounds."

"I went in without back up."

"You went after the Jacquerie by yourself?"

"I seized the opportunity."

"Does everything have to be a gamble to you?"

Before I could answer, she cut me off. "Don't bother I know the answer. I have to get more medical supplies out of the trunk. By the way, I'm only a recreational therapist," she said as she pulled off her plastic gloves.

I nodded my head. Could have fooled me. She acted as though she knew what she was doing. She could be a doctor if she wanted. "I'm sure you know what to do."

"I think so."

"Have some faith and please try to come back."

She stood up, a mere five-feet six inches. Her quilted coat seemed to swallow her up.

"And what If I don't?" she asked as she reached for the flashlight.

"You know you will. You're a good person. A real Florence Nightingale."

She sighed, pulled on her hood, and opened the door. Snow blew in, then she closed the door behind her.

As Ilida approached the car, she waved her flashlight around hoping she wasn't being watched. How bizarre her night had become. She hit the man she loved with her car-something out of a nightmare, for sure. Yet, they conversed as if... As if it was a normal thing.

How does he live like that? Does he have friends? Family?

Snow piled high on top of the hood and around the wheels. She had to kick the snow away a couple of times before opening the door.

She sat down in the driver's seat. Her hands gripped both sides of the steering wheel. He was going to bite her eventually. He was just biding his time waiting for the moment. She should start the car and drive like...No! She couldn't do that. She hit him with her car. She should be responsible for him, but what would he do to her afterwards? How would she defend herself against a seven-foot tall bat-man?

Her thoughts and fears made her body move sluggishly. Her feet felt as if lead weights were around her ankles. Moving was becoming difficult, knowing what her fate would be.

Ilida unlocked the trunk, took out her EMT-sized first aid kit. It was an old habit from her pre-med days that refused to die. Her pink bag held everything a doctor would need in the field.

She opened the door to the abandoned home. The wind refused to let her close it. With a hard slam, it shut. She briskly walked over to him with her first aid box in hand. "How are you?"

"As okay as I... will ...ever be."

"I have to give you something to knock out the pain. I have morphine and lidocaine."

"Not... necessary, Ilida."

His voice sounded worse than before-heavy with fatigue. He's slipping away. Keep him talking, Davis. "Why won't it be necessary?"

"Y-you'll need a year's supply of it to deaden my pain."

"I can't do this to you..."

"You have to, or I'll bleed to death."

G.o.d, this was all her fault. Her hiding from herself caused this. Ca.s.sandra warned her. If she knew how to control and use her powers effectively, she wouldn't have run. "I don't want to cause you any more pain than you already have."

"Just do it!"

She donned a fresh pair of plastic gloves, as she looked him in the eye. Her hands shook furiously as she threaded a needle. After a moment, she took a deep, cleansing breath and said, "I'm going to push the needle through your skin now."

Daedalus gravely nodded his head. He was being brave, she thought. He should kill her for what she was about to do.

His teeth clamped together as she pushed the needle through his olive skin. Blood dotted through where the needle exited and entered. The pain reverberated throughout her body. This is what animals and people go through when doctors work on them. Repeatedly, she threaded his skin back together. Tears welled in her eyes. "I-I'm sorry about this."

From the orange glow of the oil lamp, she could see his face had paled even under his dark skin. I can't do this to him. She touched his forehead wiping the sweat off. When she pulled her fingers back to continue, it was a reflexive action; she looked at her fingers and saw red. Confused, she checked his chest, careful to not hurt him any more than she had. Red dots covered his chest. "You have..."

"Red... sweat."

Her own forehead dripped with sweat as well when his large hand wiped her forehead. She trapped his hand and held on for strength, comfort.

"Don't l-lose it now, Ilida."

His skin was clammy and it shook. She held his hand tight then lowered it.

"We're going to get through this together. Okay?" She hoped. His skin color had an unhealthy pallor to it. Quickly, she sewed the gashes on his arm and the side of his chest. Next was his thigh, the true point of impact. She moved the lamp along his leg to investigate. It was puffy and she saw the edge of what looked like bone sticking out of his skin. Blood continued to ooze. She threaded the needle again.

She bent down to pierce his skin with the needle when she froze. Remarkably, the broken bone and torn skin tried to seal up. Despair filled her chest when the wounds would open again. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Your skin. You're healing up or trying to."

"Vampires heal faster than humans."

She processed the information, filed it away for later, then moved on to the next task. "I broke your leg."

He nodded. His face made a pained expression, then he gritted out through his teeth, "My femur is broken... in two places."

If she could set his leg, relieve the stress there, then maybe he'd be able to heal himself sufficiently.

He obviously knew his body well. Better than most people, in fact, even through pain. A lone chair sat to the side of the room. It was just what she needed. After covering him with the blanket, she stood up on aching knees. "I'm going to set it."

"You do that."

Ilida picked up the chair and banged it against the wall as hard as she could. It took her two whacks when finally the legs broke off from the seat. One broke in half. That was okay. The long one would stabilize his leg. The other would be there to a.s.sist. "I... still have to sew up your leg."

"We've... pa.s.sed the point of... no return. What is it?"

"Nothing." Ilida wrapped his leg up in gauze, carefully making the splint. Stress appeared around his eyes and mouth. His eyes hypnotic. They changed from violet to red and back. Like at the club. She'd dismissed it then as her over-worked imagination.

His face, overall, was gaunt. His cheeks and eyes sunk in making the redness appear ominous. His skin was a jaundiced yellow. To make it worse foam bubbled up out of the corners of his mouth. He really resembled a rabid animal. He'd warned her but she wouldn't listen of course. He wasn't like the others. Was he?

"You can't... hide any...thing from me."

"Take my blood, Daedalus."

Chapter Twenty-five

f.u.c.k!" Mylen gums itched bringing forth fangs. They gthened from my thirst and antic.i.p.ation.

The little blood I had left boiled in my veins. She invited me to take her blood. It's a powerful aphrodisiac for vampires. You never refuse that sort of invitation. I'd be the first to.

I couldn't do that to her in this condition. Not once did I look away from her. I waited for her to take back the offer. Instead, her sad brown eyes pleaded with me. I looked away from her.

"You have to, Daedalus."

"I ...don't...have to do anything but die."

A tear ran down her high, round cheek. "Do it!

Her voice, her eyes pulled at me. I weakened. I cursed myself as I tried to halt the urge to collect that tiny drop of water.

I will hurt her, might even kill her in this state. Fear twisted my gut for what I might do if I bit her. Never mind the psychic implications. That was a concern for later, if I was still alive to worry. "D-do you know what you are inviting me to do?"

She shook her head calmly looking like the sage she is. "You're skin is yellowing and there's foam at the corners of your mouth. Do it now before you go rabid."

I looked that bad? I'd never let myself get that ravenous. I shook the rambling thoughts away. "Do you trust me not to kill you?"

"Hurry, before I change my mind."

She had pretty, eyes laced with bags. I dug into her soul until I found her subconscious. A male could stare at them for ours on end. I sent the suggestion of peace and contentment. I crooned to her, in her mind, like the familiar lover I am. Her fears quieted down. On some level, she knew I didn't want to do this.

Her eyes were shadowed. She was scared. I understood why, but she had to trust me or the experience would be bad for her.

"You've lost a lot of blood, already. I can't let you die because of my fears."

"Illy..."