Let Him In (Let Him Trilogy) (8 page)

“Be specific,” he demanded, speaking between clenched teeth.

She rolled her eyes. “Gee, someone needs a drink.”

Zane’s mouth drew tight, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled and exhaled loudly. Alexis dropped her gaze from his smoldering glare to the glimpse of flesh in between the silk panels of his black shirt. After every deep breath he took his broad chest seemed to get even bigger. Speaking of big...

Her eyes traveled down to the permanent bulge at his crotch. With the exception of her parents and siblings, Alexis had never met another of her kind, which would’ve been fine with her if not for the fact that Blodbadians could procreate only with each other. The opportunity to reproduce came but once a year, the only time the female was fertile and, because of it, the only time the male was capable of ejaculation.

“You know my birthday’s coming up,” Alexis said, trailing her inch-long fingernails down the front of her fishnet-clad thigh and to her pussy. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I want?”

Clenching his hands, Zane stepped forward. “Alexis—”

“Here’s a hint: it’s the same thing I’ve asked for the past five years.”

Zane seized her throat before she could blink. “If you do not answer my question, Alexis, you will find out what Mother’s first two days without blood was like.”

Her eyes widened. “You wouldn’t.”

Smashing the tip of his nose against hers, Zane bared his teeth. “Try me.”

“And you say my sense of family is—”

Zane jerked her up and off the bed, her feet dangling in the air as he charged out of the bedroom.

“My vision was blurry, all right?!” Alexis grabbed Zane’s fingers. When she tried to peel his hands from her neck he gave her the same pinched expression of annoyance humans did when under attack from flies or mosquitos. “And I could hear but it was faint, like I had earplugs in!”

Zane came to a stop in front of Sammy’s bedroom. “What about smell?”

“I couldn’t detect emotions—”

“But you could still smell the blood?”

Alexis blinked at that. “Couldn’t you?”

Sammy’s door opened up just wide enough for him to pop his head out. “What’s going on?”

Zane gave Alexis a hard shake. “Yes or no?”

“Yes!” she hissed. “Now put me down!”

He did and then turned away, squeezing his eyes shut tight as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I think I am getting a headache,” he said in a scratchy voice. His hand dropped as he opened his eyes to look at her. “Do you get those?”

Taking a step back, Alexis tilted her head to one side as she folded her arms over her chest. “When I haven’t fed enough.”

Sammy quickly nodded when Zane’s gaze darted to his. “Yeah, every day.”

Zane’s whole face relaxed and there was a slight widening of his eyes. “Your daily intake is less than half of what we need,” he said, moving to stand in front of Sammy, “and you’ve been doing it for years.” Placing his hands on Sammy’s shoulders, Zane dipped his head to peer into Sammy’s dark eyes. “Your senses must be severely impaired.”

Sammy glanced sideways at Alexis, who shrugged and threw up her hand.
I haven’t a fucking clue.

“Have you ever been unable to smell blood, Samuel?”

“Uh, no.” Sammy used his index finger to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “If anything, it’s stronger.”

Zane’s arms dropped to his sides. He slumped forward and came close to head-butting Sammy. “All right,” he murmured, nodding as he took a step back. “All right.”

“Wait!” Alexis took off after Zane as he stalked down the hall. “Tell us what that was all about!”

Zane picked up speed as he descended the stairs. “Nothing either of you need to concern yourselves with.”

Alexis glanced over her shoulder at Sammy, who was fast on her heels. “If you’re having prob—”

Coming to an abrupt stop, Zane whirled around, his teeth bared. Alexis managed to prevent a collision with him, but Sammy wasn’t so lucky, slamming into her back with a breathy “Oomph!” two seconds before his ass hit the floor.

“I am not having problems,” Zane snarled, “but the two of you will if you do not leave me be.”

“Don’t gotta tell me twice,” Sammy said as he scrambled to his feet and then up the stairs.

With a parting glare of warning, Zane stormed off. Alexis waited until he was out of earshot before she whispered, “What is going on with my brother, B?”

You have your own matters to deal with, my child. Leave him to me.

“Well,” Alexis said, rolling her eyes, “excuse me for asking.”

Lacey jerked awake at the sound of gravel popping and crunching under tires. She blinked rapidly at the two beams of bright light striping the ceiling, trying to find her way through the fog enveloping her brain.

The headlights vanished. When a series of short, loud honks broke the silence, she almost jumped out of the bed.

With her heart racing, Lacey dashed to the open window, making it there just as Clint slammed the car door. The pale blue moonlight made his silver wristwatch glint as he stormed across the front lawn, arms swinging madly. He stomped up the steps and disappeared under the roof of the porch. A second later the front door slammed hard enough to make the window rattle.

“Detective work not going so well?” she mumbled as she crossed the bedroom. “Serves you right.”

With her ear hovering close to the door, Lacey waited for the sound of Clint’s heavy footsteps signaling his retreat to his room. Instead she heard some guy singing about being better off dead. “Great,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes as she yanked open the door. “Happy Hour.”

Grinding her teeth, Lacey crept down the stairs. Peering into the living room, she found her father sitting in the recliner with a bottle of whiskey between his legs. Illuminated by the moonlight streaming through the bare window, his wet cheeks glistened. The sight of his tears fanned the flames of anger burning within her. Why couldn’t he just let go? 

A loud sob burst out of her father. “Sh-She’s dead! They k-killed her, I know it!”

Lacey closed her eyes with a sharp exhale of breath. “She was not—”

“Yes she was!”

“—kidnapped.”

“There were witnesses!”

“Who saw her getting into a van. Willingly, not forced.”

“She was afraid!”

“Yeah, of spending the rest of her life as a wife and mother.”

“That is not true!” Clint yelled as he shot out of the chair, sending the bottle of whiskey flying into the air. It hit the wood floor with a clunk, the dark liquid making a gunk-gunk-gunk sound as it poured out. “She loved us more than anything!”

“
You
are a blind
fool
.”

With a heart-stopping bellow, Clint lunged at her. Lacey gasped and jumped back just as he suddenly became airborne, legs and arms flying up as he let out a startled grunt. He came down hard, the back of his head slamming against the floor.

“Daddy!” Lacey ran over to him, kicking the whiskey bottle he’d slipped on out of her way before dropping to her knees. “Are you okay?!” She cupped his damp cheeks.  “Daddy, please—say something!”

“Leave me alone,” he whispered, recoiling at her touch.

She blinked. “What?”

Clint grabbed her wrists, yanked her hands off his face. The skin around his eyes crinkled as he narrowed them. “I want you to
go away
and
leave me alone
.”

Lacey’s heart couldn’t have hurt worse if his hand had punched through her chest and seized it in a death grip. She bolted out of the house, swallowing past the hard, burning lump that had formed in her throat.

Leave me alone.

Her vision blurred as she shot across the front yard, its dampness seeping through her socks. Rocks poked her chilled feet as she sprinted down the dirt road.

I want you to go away and leave me alone.

She ran until her chest began to feel like it had been pumped full of acid before coming to a sudden stop that almost made her topple forward. With her hands clenched tight around her knees, she swayed like the branches of a tree in a soft breeze as she sucked air into her burning lungs.

He was going to hit me.
 

The thought robbed Lacey of the remaining strength in her trembling legs and she crumbled to the ground. Her butt hit the hard road, rocks jabbing into her soft flesh. The external pain ejected the inner pain as turbulently as water from a geyser. She rocked back and forth as tears streamed down her cheeks like a faucet that hadn’t been turned off completely.

Stop it! He’s not worth it!

Fighting against the forceful sobs making her entire body quake, Lacey angrily swiped at her blurry eyes. “I h-hate him,” she said in between hitches of breath. “I fucking hate h-him!”

And this time, she
almost
meant it.

“Identify the male of whom you speak and I will take great pleasure in making him hate himself.”

Lacey was on her feet long before the thought to move had come. Her eyes darted from side to side as she tried to take in every inch of her surroundings all at once. After several sweeps her confounded brain registered the broad, towering form standing in front of one headlight. Her heart leaped into her throat as she leaped back. “I have pepper spray!” she blurted.

The man remained quiet for so long Lacey was beginning to think she hadn’t actually spoken. But then a soft chuckle broke the harrowing silence that had stripped her nerves bare. “Where?”

With slow blinks, Lacey gaped at him.
What does he mean, she wondered as she looked down.
A burst of heat engulfed her head like the tip of a match striking a course surface. Too hot to sleep in flannel pajamas, she’d borrowed one of her father’s thin, white tee shirt’s, which was so big it looked like a dress on her. And she was sans underwear.

Icy, tingly darts ripped through Lacey’s body, turning her nipples into stiff peaks. Taking a step back, she folded her arms over her breasts as she looked up. Illuminated from behind by the headlight he stood in front of, the man’s face was nothing more than a shadowy mask—but she could see his eyes perfectly. Their irises were such a light shade of blue that they appeared almost colorless...and they also appeared to be glowing as they slowly swept up and down her rigid body.  

Floating...why do I feel like I’m floating?

He took a step forward. “Do you require assistance?” 

I can’t breathe. Where did all the air go?

Lacey took a step back. “No.”

I think I’m going to faint. What will he do to me if I...? No, I can’t faint.

“Are you certain?”

Try breathing again. Good, that’s good. Now answer him.

“Yes...thanks...thank you,” she said, forcing the words out between pants.

The man’s unnerving eyes held hers with a penetrating gaze that she felt inside, as if he was looking through her instead of at her.

She didn’t like it.

Didn’t like him. 

She wanted to go.

Now.

Lacey tried to move. Her feet refused to budge. She swallowed hard. “I’m okay...really.”

He’s not leaving. Why isn’t he leaving? Because he’s wondering what to do. What’s he going to do?
   

The sound of Lacey’s fast, shallow breaths and the man’s slow, deep ones periodically broke the emasculating silence, which made her feel as though she had a million microscopic insects flitting around inside her chest. The tension was becoming unbearable. She was going to scream. Any second now.

“You do not remember me,” he finally said.

Lacey thought she heard disappointment in his deep voice. She couldn’t see his face, only those spooky eyes—and she definitely didn’t remember them. Or meeting anyone so damn tall. He had a good ten inches on her, which would make him around six foot three, even taller than her father. “No,” she replied, shaking her head, “sorry.”

He cocked his head to one side. She saw a flash of white, realized he was smiling. “Did you enjoy the Devil’s Food cake?”

Although it didn’t seem possible, Lacey’s body became even more rigid, as if her bones were made of cement that had just set. Her recent conclusion that the man was only a friendly neighbor seemed stupid now that she was face-to-face with him on a back country road in the middle of the night. Had he always been so damn tall? Or was he wearing lifts in his shoes? And she didn’t remember him having such freakin’ broad chest and shoulders. Had he started drinking steroid shakes every day?

The man cleared his throat, jerking Lacey from her thoughts. “Uh, yeah, it, um...”
Stop hemming and hawing, damn it!
“Was good. It was good. Thanks. Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” he replied, taking a step forward. When Lacey took a step back, he chuckled. “I am not going to hurt you, baby.”

Lacey wanted to not-so-politely inform him that she was in no way, shape or form anyone’s baby, especially not his, but her irritation at his choice of endearment wasn’t so great that she forget the position she was in, and so she bit the insides of her cheeks instead.

“Would you care for a ride back to your house?”

Yeah, right—like she was willingly going to get into his van!

“No,” Lacey replied, shaking her head. When he expelled an angry-sounding breath, she added, “But thanks for asking.”

“Very well. I shall be going then.”

Lacey nodded. “Okay.” But he just stood there, his eerie eyes probing her wide ones. “Um...bye?”

She heard a soft growl, and it took her a moment to realize it had come from him. Her heart skipped a beat and then started pounding hard and fast when he replied, “Not good bye—
later.
”

One ice-blue eye disappeared for just a second. He just winked at me, Lacey thought, her scalp prickling.
Is that supposed to be some kind of threat?

With movements as fluid as water the man drifted to the driver’s side door. He opened it, started to climb in and then paused. “You need to move,” he said. When she didn’t budge, he turned his head toward her. The interior light illuminated his face, enabling her to see the hard set to his jaw and mouth. “
Now.
”

The change in his voice with the last word was as effective as a riding crop against a horse’s rear end, and Lacey was standing in the ditch at the side of the road before she even realized she’d moved. Her reaction made her want to punch herself in the face. Hard. Regardless of the situation, she had never before backed down from anyone, and yet he had managed to turn her into a quivering mass of gelatin. It was not acceptable behavior.

The van crept by. Lacey narrowed her eyes as they met the man’s frosty stare. I’m not scared of you, she thought, straightening her back and lifting her chin.

The tail lights blinked red a moment before the vehicle came to a jerking stop.

She ran. 

Zane’s unblinking gaze remained on the van’s side mirror even after the girl disappeared from sight. He should have been basking in the knowledge of her submissive nature, made evident by how swiftly she had responded to his commanding tone. Instead, he was wracking his brain for a logical explanation as to how he had been able to smell her.

You have fed well over the past few days, my child. Your body is healed, your senses no longer impaired. But do not give into the allure of her blood—

“I cannot,” Zane interrupted, “for that eludes me still.”

I do not understand.

Zane snorted a humorless laugh as his head fell back against the seat. “That makes two of us.” He closed his eyes, inhaled and exhaled heavily. “I do not understand any of this.”

Explain yourself, my child.

“I could smell her,” he replied, dragging his hand down his face. “The scent of her hair and skin, even her breath.”

Impossible.

“And yet it happened.”

You are mistaken—

“I am quite familiar with the odor of blood, goddamn it. Having not been able to smell anything else for thirty years makes me an expert on the fucking subject.”  Zane shook his head. “What I smelled was not blood.”

And I assure you it could not have been anything else. If such a thing were possible, I would know. Trust me, my child, it is not.

Zane’s gaze returned to the side mirror. After blocking his thoughts from Blodbad, he allowed his mind to wander back to the girl. Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply. Her scent was gone. He tried to recall it, exhaled sharply when he could not.

He could remember only that no scent had ever been sweeter.