Breathless (19 page)

“This is terrible,” Leesa said. “I hope she’s okay.” That didn’t seem likely, though.

“You have a boyfriend coming tonight, don’t you, Leesa?” Andy asked.

“I hope so,” Leesa said. “I haven’t seen him yet.”

“If he doesn’t show, Cali and I will walk you home.”

“He’s probably outside stuck in line with the unconnected masses,” Cali said, trying to lighten the mood.

“Should we go take a look?” Andy asked.

“No, no,” Leesa said, certain Rave wouldn’t want any extra attention drawn his way. “He’ll find his way in, don’t worry.”

21.  SLOW DANCING

A
surging, seething, murmuring crowd of beings human in name only filled the huge room. Rave shook his head as he scanned the jumble of costumed students, wondering what he had gotten himself into. He had mingled with groups of humans before, but never one so large or boisterous. This was not his first new experience with humans since he’d met Leesa, he thought, smiling as he recalled their brief kiss. And he was pretty certain it wouldn’t be his last.

More than a hundred students were dancing to the beat of the classic “Monster Mash,” a song he’d heard many times over the years. He liked the offbeat lyrics and rhythm, and found himself humming as he squeezed his way along the wall past the dance area. He’d avoided the long lines out front by finding an unattended door in the back. The lock had provided little resistance—he simply ripped the door open and slipped inside, the noise covered by the pounding music. Once inside, he used his heat to weld the metal lock back together.

To blend in with the costumed students, he’d borrowed one of Balin’s buckskin outfits. His usual moccasin-style shoes, a pair of buckskin gloves cut off at the fingertips, and a long brown and white eagle feather stuck in a braided headband completed the look. His bronzed complexion only enhanced the effect.

He spotted Leesa near the bar, talking to a guy in a devil costume and a very skimpily dressed girl he recognized as her friend Cali. Leesa looked very sexy in her pirate costume. As always, his inner heat rose a couple of degrees at the sight of her.

Rave had yet to meet Cali, although he had seen her several times with Leesa when he’d been watching her. And Leesa had talked a lot about Cali on their walks. The time had come for him to cease being a phantom boyfriend—for tonight at least. He slowed his pace and approached the three humans. He wasn’t surprised when Leesa was the first to look his way. Her face brightened with a broad smile when she saw him.

He looks amazing, Leesa thought as Rave glided toward her. And those buckskin clothes fit his muscular frame quite nicely, thank you. He even moved like a real Indian, or at least her image of how an Indian moved, formed by movies she and Bradley had watched on television when she was a kid.

As if he could read her thoughts, Rave raised his right palm and grunted, “How.”

She laughed and put her hands on his waist, raising herself onto her toes to kiss his cheek. As soon as her lips touched his skin, the familiar warm tingling shot through her. She let her lips linger there a moment longer than she had intended, then grabbed his left arm in both hands, squeezing his forearm as she introduced him to her friends.

“Hi, Rave,” Cali said, extending her hand. If she noticed his buckskin gloves, she didn’t show it.

“Hi, Cali. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Leesa’s mentioned you once or twice, too,” Cali replied with a grin. “At least, I think you’re the guy she’s always talking about.”

Rave laughed and shook Andy’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Andy.”

“You, too,” Andy said. He ran his fingers across the smooth buckskin covering Rave’s arm. “Great outfit,” he said. “Looks real.”

“It’s real buckskin, if that’s what you mean,” Rave said. “A friend of mine makes them, seldom wears anything else. I borrowed it for the occasion.”

“Cali’s from your neighborhood, Rave,” Leesa said, still clinging to Rave’s arm. “East Hamptom.”

“Uh-oh,” Rave said, smiling and turning toward Cali. “I bet you warned Leesa to keep away from me, huh?”

Cali returned his grin. “Only if you call telling her stories about strange noises, blue fires and human sacrifices warnings. Other than that, I said go for it.”

Everyone laughed.

“Now that your escort has arrived,” Cali said to Leesa, “I’m gonna take this little devil onto the dance floor.” She grabbed Andy’s arm. “You guys wanna come?”

Leesa looked to Rave and was glad to see him shake his head. With her leg, dancing had never been her thing. “We’ll pass,” she said. “You guys have fun.”

Cali swayed vampishly. “We will. Catch you two later.”

“She’s pretty funny,” Rave said as Cali and Andy began weaving their way toward the dance area. “I can see why you like her.”

“I’m glad you like her. I was worried whether you two would get along.”

Rave laid his hand on top of hers. “For you, I’d try to get along with a vampire if you wanted me to. Not that I’m comparing Cali to a vampire,” he added quickly.

“Ha! Don’t worry. I know what you meant. But speaking of vampires, there’s a couple things I need to talk to you about.”

Rave raised his eyebrows. “Oh? I was thinking you’d want to talk about volkaanes or kissing.”

Leesa gave his arm a quick squeeze. “That too,” she said, smiling. “We have
lots
to talk about.”

“Do you mind that I’m not much into dancing?” Rave asked.

“Are you kidding? I’m glad.” She held her red-stained boot off the floor. “Kinda hard to be much of a dancer with this leg.”

The band began playing the first slow chords of Coldplay’s “Yellow,” a song Leesa really liked.  

“Dancing to this might be fun, though,” Rave said, swaying gently to the rhythm and gazing into her eyes.

Leesa felt herself melting under his gaze. She’d never liked a guy nearly enough to want to slow dance with him, but looking at Rave’s handsome face and the firm muscles outlined by his tight buckskin outfit, she suddenly couldn’t think of anything she wanted more.

“Are you asking me to dance, Mr. Maston?” she asked flirtatiously.

Rave held his arms open wide. “I believe I am, Miss Nyland.”

Leesa slipped into his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his waist. He leaned his head against hers and they began moving to the music.

Rave’s volkaane heat flowed into her, flooding her body with a delicious, almost indescribable warmth, as if someone had opened her veins and replaced her blood with sweet, warm syrup. She would not have been surprised one bit if her skin was glowing from the magical heat inside her. Cocooned in Rave’s embrace, she began to feel like she was floating, weightless, in some transcendent place, up among the stars, perhaps. Yet at the same time, she felt more solidly grounded and supported than ever in her life. She was certain she could feel Rave’s heart beating against her chest—or was that merely her own heart thumping?

This was not just dancing; this was a joining, a commingling of body and spirit. She had never felt anything remotely like this, had never even imagined this kind of feeling. She thought it might be even better than their brief kiss, though it was hard to compare sensationally wonderful to exquisitely delicious. Except for the music, the room seemed to have gone silent, as if she and Rave were alone in their own little world, the music playing solely for them. The song seemed to last for hours, yet somehow ended all too soon. Evidently, Rave felt something similar, because he kept swaying with her after the music stopped.

“Wow,” Rave said when he finally eased his body away from hers. He kept his arms draped over her shoulders and stared down into her upturned face. “I think I’ve just become a big fan of dancing.”

“Mmmmm, me too,” Leesa sighed. “Slow dancing, at least.” Even the band’s launching into a pounding rendition of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” couldn’t break the moment. “I hope they have another slow song in their repertoire.”

Rave kissed her lightly on the forehead, and his warmth tingled into her again. She wondered if she’d ever tire of the feeling, but very much doubted it.

“If they don’t, we can always ask them to play that one again,” he said. “You said you had some things you wanted to talk about. Want to go outside for a few minutes?”

“Sure,” Leesa said. She dropped her arms from around his waist, but immediately grabbed his hand. “We can go out the side way. It’s a lot less crowded.”

Rave pulled her gently toward the rear of the building instead. “I’ve got an even better way. One reserved especially for volkaanes.”

As Rave led her through the narrow space between the dancers and the wall, Leesa spotted Cali and Andy gyrating enthusiastically to the music. She looked for Caitlin and Stacie, but there were too many people bouncing about. Wherever they were, she was pretty sure they were having a good time.

Rave guided her out into the hallway to the door he’d come in through. Placing his palms flat against the metal door, he gave a quick thrust. The welded lock ripped open and the cold night air washed over them. He smiled at Leesa. “My private exit,” he said.

They stepped out into the night. The grounds behind the building were dark. A gauzy film of high clouds turned the full moon into a pale disk. A bit of light filtered through the sheet-covered windows, and a row of streetlights a hundred yards away added some meager illumination. Leesa could hear talking and laughter from the crowd in front of the building, as well as music from inside, but no kids had made it around to the back.

A cold breeze raised goose bumps on her arms. Sensing her discomfort, Rave took off his jacket and draped it across her shoulders. The buckskin, warmed by his volkaane heat, melted the chill from her body almost immediately.

She leaned against him and playfully squeezed his bicep. “I’m impressed,” she said, looking back at the broken lock. “You’re stronger than you look. Could a vampire do that?” she teased.

Rave’s expression turned serious. “With one hand,” he said. “Their strength is double mine.”

Leesa did not like hearing that. “But your inner fire is enough to overcome it?”

“That, and this.”

Leesa barely saw him move, but suddenly he was standing fifteen feet away on a patch of weed-dotted broken asphalt, grinning. In a flash, he was back beside her. She swore she felt the breeze from his movement on her cheek. All she could say was, “Wow!”

“Our fire and speed against their strength and fangs,” Rave said. “Surprise is usually the deciding factor. Quickness lends itself to surprise. But I never take a vampire lightly.”

“Did you hear about the girl who was killed a few days ago?” Leesa asked.

Rave nodded. “Yeah. I heard her throat was cut. Why?”

“The story’s going around that the blood was drained from her body.”

A grim look tightened Rave’s face. “I hadn’t heard that.”

“I don’t know if it’s true, or just a story some jerk started because it’s Halloween. But another girl went missing last night.”

Rave was surprised—and worried. If it was the work of vampires, this was bad. Vampires didn’t usually make two kills in the same place, so close together. Either the
Destiratu
was affecting them more powerfully than he thought, or there was a rogue in the area, driven by the bloodlust more strongly than its brethren.

“Do you think a vampire could be doing it?” Leesa asked.

“If the girl’s blood was drained, then almost certainly. Is there some way we can find out for sure?”

Leesa thought about it for a moment. “Maybe Andy can. He’s already met with the campus cops about security. He might be able to find out. You don’t think it’s Stefan, do you?”

A vampire as powerful as Stefan would not be so affected yet, Rave knew. Nor would he be so foolish. “No, I don’t,” he said. “But that doesn’t make him any less dangerous. Have you seen him recently?”

“Not since we talked about it.”

“Good. Try to keep it that way. After I get you home, I’ll do a little hunting and see what I can find.”

Leesa wasn’t certain she liked the idea of his hunting a killer vampire, then chided herself over the oxymoron. Was there any other kind? Yes, she realized—the one-fanged kind.

“You’ll be careful?” she said, taking his hand.

Rave squeezed her hand. “Always.”

Now that one-fanged vampires had entered her mind, she decided to ask Rave about them. He knew so much about vampires, maybe he’d know something about the one-fangs as well.

“Do you know anything about one-fanged vampires?”

“
Grafhym
? Sure.” He studied her face. “But I’m surprised
you
do. Where’d you hear about them?”

Leesa smiled wistfully. “It’s a long story.”

Rave grabbed her other hand. “I’ve got time,” he said. “Want to sit?” He nodded toward a low cinder block wall bordering the asphalt area behind the building.

“Yeah, let’s.” She limped across to the waist-high wall and sat down. Rave sat close beside her. The jacket plus his heat kept her plenty warm.