The Comanche Vampire (14 page)

Sometime,
somehow he moved to the floor and positioned Anne there. He opened her jeans
and slid them down.
 
Then he maneuvered
out of his.
 
She gasped and panted
beneath him but she never denied Ned.
 
In
his need, his wildness, he might not have heard if she had.

When
Ned mounted her, he entered with force and power.
 
His cock rammed into the depths of her body
and consumed the space.
 
Ned rode her
hard, pounded her as if he galloped across the plains.
 
He plunged in and out with such rapid rhythms
he lost all sense of time and place.
 
All
Ned knew was Anne and her body.
 
She
slaked his extreme thirst and when he came, he shouted an undulating cry, sharp
enough it would’ve once chilled the blood of any settler along the Brazos.
 

He
climaxed before Anne, and her hands grasped the shirt he still wore, clinging
tight.
 

“Ned,”
she moaned. “Oh, Ned.”

Her
body bucked beneath him and she thrust her pelvis hard against his body.
 
“Now, woman,” he chanted. “Let it go.”

When
the sound of his voice hit his own ears, Ned realized he’d spoken
Comanche.
 
It marked the first time he
used his original tongue unbidden in decades but he didn’t pause to ponder
it.
 
Anne came against him, shuddering
and moaning. Her musk filled his nose with scent and he felt the beat of her
heart against him.
  
Contrite now for his
rough use of her, Ned sat on the floor and cradled her in his arms.
 
She cuddled against him and when she caught
her breath, he swore her sigh meant contentment.

“You
okay?” he asked.
 
Her head moved in a nod
against his chest. “I’m fantastic. I thought you might fuck me to death but it
was amazing.
 
Did you bite me?”

Anne’s
fingers strayed up to touch the bruise on her breast.
 
Surprised she’d noticed, Ned answered. “Yeah,
I did.”

Her
soft laughter wasn’t much more than a whisper. “What are you, a vampire?”

Surprise
caught Ned like a fish bone in his throat. “Maybe I am.”

She
giggled. “There’s no such thing, not really.”

He’d
thought to tell her now but her response halted his notion.
 
She
wouldn’t take me seriously now if I tried.
 
But I should and I will.
 
It’s not
the right time, not yet.
“Could be,” he said.

“Huh-uh,
there’s not,” Anne said with a yawn. “Now I’m sleepy.”

“Then
take a nap.”

“Here?”

“Sure.”
Ned didn’t mind.
 
He’d sit in the middle
of the living room, without pants, and hold her as long as necessary.
 
Sleep didn’t matter to him and he had little
else to do.
 
He’d taken her hard and
fast, now he wanted to cherish Anne.
 
“Are you sure? I’m probably heavy.” He leaned down and planted a kiss on her
forehead. “Nope, you’re not.”

“Okay,
then.” Ned watched her lashes drop to her cheek.
 
Within five minutes, her breathing slowed and
shifted.
 
In ten, she slept with her face
turned toward him in repose and her body a limp weight in his arms.
 
He gazed down on Anne with tenderness.
 
What
did I ever do to deserve this woman and her love?
 
Nothing.
 
Ned marveled at what he’d gained but fear,
the first he’d known in more than a century, seized him at what he had to
lose.
 
If he freed it, a tide of terror
would consume him so he willed his mind still.

Through
the hours of the day, he sat with Anne in his arms.
 
With Ned’s heightened senses he focused on
the beauty of the golden dust motes floating through the air.
 
He admired the way tiny beams of light
filtered through the wooden mini-blinds and danced across the floor.
 
Anne’s breath blew against him and he heard
the steady drumbeat of her heart.
 
If he
concentrated, which he did, Ned heard the whoosh of blood through her veins and
arteries.
 
Outside, the horses nickered
and occasionally neighed.
 
The clock on
the wall ticked with relentless rhythm.
 
Her scent, a combination of some sweet perfume and musk, entered his
nose and remained in his consciousness.
 
Anne’s skin warmed his always-cold fingers with body heat and the silk
of her hair tickled his arm.
 

Ned
soaked up all the small things and appreciated each.
 
Although he’d thought Anne’s nearness would
arouse him, he found it enhanced his emotions instead. A love as constant as
the stars, one he thought would last as long as the heavens, filled his
soul.
 
He would’ve known total
contentment if he wasn’t a vampire and didn’t need to confess the truth to
Anne.

He
had to tell her and he shouldn’t have bitten her a second time.
 
One more and she’d become a damned creature
of the night, but Ned wouldn’t make her one, not without her knowledge and
permission.
 
He wasn’t sure he would even
if she asked because he’d always vowed he’d never wish this existence on
anyone.

Although
he didn’t sleep, he drifted into a somnolent state.
 
His thoughts scudded through his mind, lazy
as cumulous clouds drifting through a summer sky.
 
Hours passed and when Anne stirred, the late
afternoon heat had warmed the house.

Her
eyes opened and she blinked. “Hey, what time is it?”

“Around
four or so.”

“You’re
kidding!”

“No,
it’s the middle of the afternoon.”

Anne
wiggled, sat up, and exited his arms. “Oh, God, I’m sorry. You must be so
stiff.
 
I can’t believe you held me so
long.
 
And you have to work tonight.”

He
loved the way her cheeks flushed and her hair curled in every direction. “It
wasn’t a problem, Anne.”

“Did
you sleep?”

Did
he lie or not? Ned fudged. “I got all the rest I need.”
 

Her
brown eyes met his. “I doubt it, but thank you.
 
I haven’t slept so well in a long time.” Anne
paused and then sighed. “Sometimes I have trouble sleeping so I needed the
nap.
 
You’re so sweet to hold me and not
mind it.”

Sweet
hadn’t been a word anyone had ever used to describe Ned, not in any of his
personas.
 
Pea’hocso
had been savage although Ned had to admit he’d had tender moments with his wife
and children.
 
He wouldn’t have guessed
Anne suffered from insomnia.
 
“Aw, I’m
more selfish than that,” he told her. “I let you sleep so we can go grocery
shopping when I get off, that’s all.”

Laughter
bubbled from her mouth and her smile outdid the sunshine. “I’m looking forward
to that.
 
I can’t wait to fill your
cupboards with something to eat.
 
I need
to go so you can get ready for work, but looks like I’d better redo your braid.
It’s a little mussed.”

Her
hands in his hair ignited wildfire and Ned feared it might erupt again. “I can
do it.”

“Oh,
no you won’t.
 
Get dressed and I’ll braid
it before I leave.”

It
took every ounce of willpower Ned could summon not to make love to her
again.
 
He steeled himself to enjoy her
touch without yielding as she braided his hair.
 
Dressed in his work uniform, he kissed her before she walked out the
door. “I’ll be by to get you around three-thirty or so.”

Anne
nodded. Her fingers fluttered up to touch his lips and he put butterfly kisses
on each one. “I’ll be ready.
 
See you
later, Ned.”
 
She paused and then said
it, the words pouring power and strength into his soul. “I love you.”

Maybe
because his first language meant the most or perhaps because he’d said it to
her first in Comanche but Ned gave it back in his tongue. “
U
kamkuto
nu.”

He
lit a cigarette and watched her leave, the smoke curling in slow spirals toward
the ceilings, the tobacco rich and full on his tongue.
 
But it was nothing compared to the emotion
brimming in his heart or the anguish at the secret he kept.

Chapter Seven

Ned
welcomed November because daylight savings time ended and the days grew darker.
 
In life, he’d preferred the spring and summer
but as a vampire, he liked winter.
 
By
the time the prairie tall grass turned from green to burnished gold, his
relationship with Anne had deepened into something richer than he’d ever known.
He cared little for the conventional notion of marriage.
 
He didn’t need some holy man to bless their
union or to put a ring on Anne’s finger.
 
The harmony they shared and the love between them mattered more than
outward trappings.
 
Ned delighted in being
in one accord with her.
 
His soul beat in
rhythm with Anne’s heart when they lay together.
 

In
the early evening dusk, he often stopped by her apartment.
 
Most mornings, they shared coffee before she
headed to campus and she spent every weekend at his place.

On
the second Saturday in November, Ned watched her sleep, curled under a blanket
in his bed, and willed her to wake with his mind.
Come on, Anne, I
gotta
go when Gary gets
here.
 
Ned’s bow and arrows waited by
the back door and his buddy would show up any time.
 
As if she heard him, Anne’s eyelids fluttered
open. “Hey,” she whispered. “What time is it?”

“Almost
time to go deer hunting,” Ned told her.
 
His ears caught the whine of steel belted tires on the main road. “
Gary’ll
be here in a few minutes.”

“What
time will you be back?”

“I
don’t know, noon at the latest, probably earlier.” Clouds colored the skies
leaden gray. Ned figured it’d rain or snow in a few hours.
 
Ahead of the weather, the deer should be
active but once the precipitation started, they’d hole up somewhere.

“Okay.
 
I think I’ll sleep a while longer.”

“Sure,
honey.” He’d started using the endearment for want of anything better. It
pleased Anne. “I’ll see you in a little while.” Ned bent down to kiss her and
as he walked through the house, the heat of her mouth lingered on his.
 

Wind
chill enough to penetrate his cold-blooded body whistled through the open
country.
 
Ned led the way, feet moving
through the dry grasses without a sound.
 
Although he lacked visuals, he knew the deer were ahead and to the
right.
 
He caught their scent on the
stiff breeze and swore he could smell them.
 
Gary followed and without turning around, Ned followed his friend’s
advance through the noise.
 
Gary’s boots
crunched against the frosty grass and as they moved into a thicket, closer to
the game, he managed to snap twigs in his path.
 

Ned
held up one hand.
 
He could see the band
of deer, six or seven of them.
 
They
huddled in the shelter of a large rock.
 
He fitted an arrow to his bow and fired.
 
It arced through the space and hit the deer on the side.
 
Blood appeared but the deer took flight as
the rest of the small herd scattered.
 
“You got her,” Gary whooped. “Looks like a heart or lung shot!”

“Heart,”
Ned said.
 
He slung his bow over one
shoulder and loped after the creature.
 
Without waiting for his friend to catch up, he darted through the brush
and tracked the wounded deer.
 
By the
time he caught up with it, snow drifted down from the heavy sky and the deer
dropped to its forelegs as he watched.
 
It pitched over dead, dark eyes staring upward so Ned cut the throat so
it’d bleed out. The warm rush of lifeblood tempted him and he tasted it.
 
Although not as satisfying as human, it’d do
in a pinch and with his energy flagging, he needed some so he drank.
 
Then Ned wiped his mouth and swigged water
from the canteen at his belt.
 
His
vampire moment passed and he focused on the kill. As he waited for Gary, he
eviscerated the doe. When his buddy didn’t turn up, Ned lifted the deer across
his shoulders and headed back toward where they’d left the truck.
  
The snow thickened until he couldn’t see
more than a few feet ahead but he emerged at the vehicle.
 
He chucked the deer into the truck bed and
climbed inside.