Caterpillar, a Paranormal Romance With a Touch of Horror (25 page)

“Cat, I know you’re not going to like this, but you are going to have to trust me.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but I liked the other option even less, so I didn’t ask questions.  “Do what you have to do.  Just get it off me!”  My voice rose and rose until I was nearly shrieking.

Tegan grabbed my free hand and made a gash across my palm with his pocket knife.  I did scream that time, all the nerves in my sensitive palm crying out in pain.  He turned my hand over and held it over his cupped palm, milking my blood and collecting it in his hand.  When a small puddle had formed, he walked to the porch railing and flung it out into the yard, in the direction he’d been looking only moments before.

Several more vines had worked their way across the porch and had wound themselves around my other leg and I could feel something tugging at my hair.  The fire had spread throughout my entire body and I was feeling disoriented and light-headed, whether from hyperventilating or something else I didn’t know.

Having very little strength left to fight, I fell over onto my hip, my legs finally giving way.  A combination of the strength of the vines tugging at me and the poison they were injecting into me was enough to overcome my resistance.  Rather than the painful landing I expected, however, I was cushioned by a springy bed of flowers that broke my fall.  The scent of lemon and jasmine drifted to my nose and a soft pillow of thick grass cradled my head. 

I lay there, dazed, as the burning and stinging from the thorns receded.  Gradually, the haze that had invaded my head was cleared by the crisp scents surrounding me.  As strength once again imbued my body, I looked down at my limbs.  No longer were they wrapped in deadly vines; they were dusted with petals from a variety of flowers the like of which I’d never seen. 

Tegan appeared at my feet.  An expression of concern was etched on his face.  The sight stirred something to life in my belly, making me feel pleasantly warm all over.  His eyes traveled from my feet up my legs and torso to my eyes.  I couldn’t help but smile at his assessment.  Relief replaced his serious expression and he dropped to one knee by my side.

“Are you alright?”

“I am now,” I said and, honestly, I felt great.    “What was that?”

“I think it came from where the golem was killed, where its blood was spilled.”

“How did you know what to do?”

“I didn’t.  Well, I mean I know your blood is powerful and I just hoped…”

“How do you know my blood is powerful?”

The look he gave me was strange, as if he was mentally debating whether to tell me the truth or not.  Then he said, “Because I can feel it.”

“Feel it?”

“Inside me,” he said quietly.  “If what they say is true—” He stopped, as if catching himself before giving away too much.

“What? If what’s true?” I prompted.

He sighed.  “Can we talk about this later?  I don’t want to get into it right now.  You’ve been through enough.”

My mood was too sublime to argue.  “Later then.”

“Yeah, later,” he agreed.  He stood.  “Let’s get you inside.”  With that he bent and scooped me up into his arms and started toward the door.  The muscles in his jaw were like granite, belying his casual tone.

“What’s the matter?”

“Do you even need to ask?”

“No, there’s something else.  What is it?”

“It’s nothing,” he said, then abruptly changed the subject.  “Where are your keys?”

“They’re still in my purse.  And don’t change the subject.  Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Cat, it’s—”

“Tegan, tell me.  For once, just tell me the truth, the
whole
truth.”

He stood, holding me lightly, looking down into my face, his blue eyes clouded with…was that pain?  “It’s your blood.”

I was puzzled for just a second before understanding dawned.  It was pain, pain from hunger.  I hadn’t even thought about how difficult it must’ve been for him, not only to draw my blood but to touch it.  “I didn’t even—”

“Don’t worry about it.  It’s no big deal.  And it’s not your fault.  Now, get your keys.”

I could tell by his expression that he was uncomfortable with the subject matter so I graciously acquiesced, knowing that whenever “later” came, we’d have plenty to talk about.  I wouldn’t give him any outs then.

I drew my purse off my shoulder (how I had managed to keep it there through all that had happened I didn’t know) and pulled out the keys.  Tegan dipped low to let me slide the key into the lock.

Once inside, he took me straight into the bedroom and gently laid me on the bed.  “Let’s get you cleaned up,” he said, walking into the bathroom.

“I’m fine.  Really,” I said as I heard the faucet cut on.  Tegan re-emerged carrying a towel and a couple of wet washcloths.

“Well, that may be the case, but you can’t very well go to work like that,” he tipped his head, indicating my legs.  I looked down and saw that, without the covering of the flower petals, I had a ton of little nicks, scratches and punctures.  Though none of them were actively bleeding, there was dried blood caked on my legs. 

I’m going to have to quit wearing skirts,
I thought to myself, still able to see the scratches I’d obtained on my mad dash back to the house from the gazebo and Jessica Nolan’s dead body.  I knew that, at least for a few days, pants were in order.

Tegan picked up my legs, sat on the bed beside me then lowered them back down onto his lap.  He took one of the washcloths and began gently scrubbing away the dried blood.  “If this bothers you, you don’t have to—”

“I’m fine, Cat,” he said, but there was a little nip to his words that said otherwise.

I laid back and let him clean my legs. I stared at the ceiling and contemplated Tegan, the man, and Tegan, the vampire, the
demon
, taking such good care of me.  I thought of his secrets and wondered how many more there were, what other horrors he carried within him.  His life was a mystery, a bizarre tale from a science fiction book, though mine was no better.  And yet, he’d saved me, and I him.  The attraction I felt for him, physically and…otherwise, it was like gravity.  It was luring me in, steadily pulling me closer and closer.  I wasn’t sure that I wanted to fight it anymore.  But how could we go forward, knowing what I know about my life, my future?  And how did he,
could he,
fit into it?

With each swipe of his tender ministrations, I could feel another layer of resistance being brushed away from my heart.  For the first time in days, I actually felt relaxed, safe.  I felt almost happy. 

Chapter Twenty-Three

Later, as I drove to work, I thought about my morning.  Tegan’s TLC (plus the poison from the vine no doubt) had put me straight to sleep.  When I’d awakened from my impromptu nap, my legs were clean and feeling much better and my hand was bandaged.  

Tegan had left me a note telling me to rest, that he’d be watching out for me.  I looked for him, but he was nowhere to be found.  I wasn’t sure what he meant by watching out for me, but it made me feel a little safer even if I couldn’t see him.

By the time I got to work, I was actually smiling.  I didn’t know the exact cause, although I had my suspicions, but I couldn’t rule out the strange flowers that had disappeared from my front porch.  Whatever it was, I didn’t want it to go away.

As I walked toward the back door, I saw Marvin.  He was standing with his back to me, facing the building.  Unfortunately, I didn’t need to see his face to positively identify him.  All he needed was a curly tail to complete the package.

“Morning, Marvin,” I said politely.  I marched toward the door, adopting my most no-nonsense stride and demeanor.  Merv half turned toward me and leered. 

With his body in profile, I could see that his corpulent body had been hiding something—or some
one
.  Peeking around Merv was a tiny Asian girl that couldn’t have been a day over eighteen.  She looked back at me, her slanted brown eyes filled with uncertainty and maybe a little fear.

“Kitty Cat,” he schmoozed.  Turning back to the girl, he put his arm around her shoulders and drew her forward.  She hesitantly moved into the curve of his body.  “This is Yoshi, my fiancée.”

My mind was reaching for the appropriate comment, but all I could think of was
Oh, sweet Lord!  Merv’s ordered a bride. 
For whatever reason, the standard “congratulations” escaped me.

As I struggled for an appropriate response, I noticed that Merv’s face had darkened from its usual shiny pink to a dusty plum color.  He sputtered and spat and hiked his pants up over his ample belly.  Then he pointed one stumpy finger at me and shook it angrily.   His words confirmed my horrifying suspicion that what I thought I’d
thought,
I’d actually
said
instead. 

“Now you look here, Cat.  Yoshi’s no mail order bride.  We met at a club,” Merv blustered indignantly.  Yoshi just continued to stare at me as if the barrel of a gun was poking into her back.  All that was missing was for her to raise her arms in surrender.

“Marvin, I didn’t mean—” I stammered.  Lies had never come easily to me, even when they were for someone else’s benefit.  “I shouldn’t have—” I gave up any attempts at fabricating an excuse; that just wasn’t happening.  Plastering my most sincere smile in place, I stepped toward Yoshi and stretched out my hand.  “It’s nice to meet you, Yoshi.  I’m Cat.  I work with Marvin.”

Merv seemed to calm somewhat.  I was surprised that he was going to speak to me at all, much less offer any explanation as to why she refused to shake my hand.  “Yoshi doesn’t speak very good English.” 

I dropped my hand.  “Well, congratulations to you both, Marvin.  I’ll leave you two alone.  I’m sorry I interrupted.”  I turned and all but ran toward the door. 

I was just putting my purse away when Rainn burst through the door, closing it behind her and taking a seat in the chair that faced my desk.

“You found a dead hooker?”  Bad news obviously traveled fast and it seemed always to find its way to Rainn.  “How whore-ible,” she said with a grin, stressing the first syllable.

“Been working on that all morning, haven’t you?”

“Bet your pretty patootie,” she admitted with a pleased smile.  We both laughed.  “So tell me.  Was it whore-ific?  It must’ve been a whore-endous shock to find her like that.”

“Stock-piled ‘em, did ya?”

“Nah.  That’s all I got.  Shot my wad in the first thirty seconds.  I thought I’d spread ‘em out a little more, but we both know I have no self-control.”  Yes, we both knew Rainn had no self-control.  Everyone who knew Rainn knew Rainn had no self-control.

“Now that it’s out of your system, did you know Marvin’s engaged?”

“
Shut
up
!”  Rainn’s eyes were quarter-sized. 
Her
shock shocked
me
.  It was unheard of that
anyone
knew gossip before Rainn. 

“Have I stepped into the Twilight Zone?  Could it be possible for anyone but God to know something before you do?”  I couldn’t resist teasing Rainn.  I’d probably never get another opportunity like that again.

“It’s been known to happen,” she said.  Then, more in the character of Rainn, she offered, “Once.”  We both grinned.  “So tell me about his purchase.”

“She’s Asian.  And young.  And she speaks very little English.”

 If possible, Rainn’s eyes got even bigger.  “I was kidding!  About the purchase, I mean.  A mail order bride?  Merv’s engaged to a mail order bride?” 

“He says not, but that was my first thought.  You’ll have to draw your own conclusion.”