Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife) (33 page)

"Good for you," Jennifer finally decided to drop her arms as hiding it was useless given he’d
already seen it anyway.

"My group is very particular about how they work, they won’t like that you are so," he didn’t
finish, they were both aware that she was injured, damaged goods, and as far as vampires were
concerned she was already a liability without that problem to add to the package.

"Well they can shove it," Jennifer did a little more rummaging to see if she could dig up a jacket
but Marcia had nothing lying around and anything Manson or Clive had here would be monstrously over
sized. "Damn-it," she all but growled when nothing turned up, she really did not want to run around in
nothing but a sports bra, ever really, but this damaged and showing it off to vampires seemed like
wheeling out a meal cart. She supposed she could put the medical gown back on but that didn’t seem
like it was a good choice of camouflage either considering her company. She was just thinking that she
was out of options when there was a knock on the door. "Crap, who is it?" She wasn’t sure if she was
comfortable letting anyone in on the vampire in the room until she was sure what was going on.

"It’s me," Doug called from behind the closed door.

"Crap," Jennifer was still trying to come up with some excuse to send him on his way but the
vampire opened his fang-filled trap before she did.

"Come in Father," he said without missing a beat, Jennifer glared at him, easily done considering
he was so solidly in her personal space, still.

Her Cousin came in with a bag that when he put it down dramatically thunked against the desk,
"I brought your stuff for you from my trunk." He unzipped the bag and pulled out some of her forgotten
arsenal from the night before.

"Thanks Doug, I don’t suppose you have a shirt lying around that I can borrow, preferably
something you don’t care if you ever see again as it will probably have to be burned after tonight
anyway." She really hoped so, she was not enjoying having just one vampires eyes on her broken
places let alone a potential covens worth of them.

"I probably have something in the lost and found," he smiled and turned to go check. As soon
as he was out of the room Jennifer exhaled, she was waiting for the vampire to say something she didn’t
want him to. While they waited for her cousin to come back she made her way over to the items that
Doug had brought in for her. She had one Beretta, the Remington and assorted harnesses, which she
knew with one look were going to hurt putting over her bruising.

"You could stay here tonight," the vampire suddenly broke the silence out of nowhere.

"Yea right, like I’d trust you to do this," she had no idea what he was doing when she wasn’t
around. She thought his activities were more likely to involve blood orgies rather then revenant hunting.
"I appreciate the act of you trying to cut me out but Dimitri was mine first, so curb your impulses to treat
me like a helpless human female, kay?" She was hoping there wasn’t anything else on the subject that he
felt the need to cover, again, because she was getting tired of hearing it. If he didn’t actually want her to
come along he should have left by now but he was still standing around waiting for her, which was a
mystery all in itself.

She was still rummaging pointlessly through her weapons when he grabbed her shoulder and
spun her to face him. Jennifer was going to tell him to keep his mouth shut but words failed her again at
his proximity. "You don’t like it," she was going to ask him what but he put his hands on her ribs, they
were cold and filled her with a sense of calm even though his hands anywhere near her should have
installed panic in their place. "You don’t like anyone taking care of you," he clarified when she stood
stock still as he ran his hands over her bruised ribs down to her waistline. One hand trailed haphazardly
lower his fingers flirting with the waistband of her elastic exercise pants. She should have reacted in
some way, slap his hand away, punch him in the jaw, but all she found herself capable of was holding her
breath. "I find however the idea of looking out for you, as a helpless human female, rather appealing."
He seemed to sense that he’d pissed her off again but he didn’t move back because that would give her
better leverage for punching him, instead he leaned in.

"I hate you," she rasped but it was pretty obvious at this point that she couldn’t be telling the
truth because his fingers were still toying with the elastic below her belly button and at her adamant
announcement of despising him he slipped his thumb beneath her sports bra in a spot that if he wanted to
push his luck he would brush the underside of her breast. She should have punched him, instead her
heart fluttered and she nearly fell into him. If she wanted to hate anyone in that moment it aught to be
herself because if he did decide to push his luck by moving a hand in either direction she didn’t think she
would have stopped him.

"I found a couple shirts that will probably fit you without getting in your way," this time Doug did
not knock on his way back in, Jennifer nearly jumped out of her skin at his arrival but the vampire was
probably expecting it, that and he had lightening fast reflexes. One minute she was practically in his arms
and the next she found herself behind him in a way that probably completely blocked her from her
cousins view. She was still close enough that for a moment she put her forehead against his back and
tried to catch her breath but contact with him in any physical way didn’t seem to help that course of
action along. So she stepped out around his six foot, muscular frame and simply acted like she had
nothing to hide, because so far, outside of her obvious attraction to a dead guy, nothing had happened.

"Thanks Doug," her voice didn’t sound right, she felt off kilter, again, as she stepped around the
vampire, but her Cousin stayed oblivious. A fact she wasn’t entirely certain she was grateful for, it
would be a kindness if he noticed so he could smack some sense into her. But since he didn’t notice and
she was less than willing to point out to him that she was lusting for a corpse she just walked up to Doug
and took the first shirt he made to hand over. "This will do fine," she didn’t hesitate to slip the shirt on
over her head. It was a size larger than she’d normally wear, as having too much material to grab onto
was never a benefit in her line of work, but she was simply grateful not to be half naked in front of the
vampire anymore. "You are a life saver Cuz," she gave him a brief, if not awkward hug before making
her way back to the weapons on the table. She avoided eye contact with the vampire, it was the only
way she could think of avoiding or denying that anything had potentially happened minutes before
between them. "I don’t suppose you know how out in the open we might be while looking for this guy?"
She asked the vampire keeping her focus solidly on what was in front of her, she was debating if putting
the hip holster on would be a waste of her time.

"None," she could feel the vampire behind her and tried to ignore him, it was an impossible task.

"I’ll leave you two to it," her Cousin was probably going to go make phone calls to what was left
of her people and she couldn’t think of a single reason she could verbalize that he shouldn’t leave her
alone.

"Great," she grumbled as the door closed and his receding foot steps seemed to feel like her
impending doom. She had just made up her mind that the Beretta would probably have to go in her
waistband, an unpleasant idea given her unusual commando status, when the vampire got close enough
to bump into her. Contact with him felt like a lightening bolt through her system, every time her heart
raced and not because she was frightened, the contact was subtle this time, his chest touched her back
and she felt his thigh practically between her legs. Mortified she practically fell onto the table but instead
panting she caught herself with her hands but she still felt like she’d just assumed the position for him to
have his way with her, which he didn’t do. Maybe he was waiting to see what she was going to do, if
she would do something, but outside of keeping completely still and trying to breath she didn’t move an
inch. She had no idea what was wrong with her, she’d laid eyes on the monster behind her in that gas
station the other night and something in her had clearly gone awry. "I don’t know what you’re doing to
me," she just really wished he’d un-wedge his leg from between hers.

"I would really like you to stay," if there was anything she could say for the vampire, he knew
how to say the wrong thing to her. His comment got her blood boiling for completely different, hostile
reasons, she used the hand hold that she was using to keep herself from falling over on the table to push
back off of it. She spun around and grabbed hold of his shirt, using the fabric to force him around and
slam him back on the desk. She was fully aware that the only reason he ended up with his back on the
desk looking up at her with her elbow to his throat was because he let her do it.

"I need you to......." she was going to say shut up, they were burning through too much time
standing around doing nothing, but he used the elbow she was holding against his throat to yank her off
her feet. It was inconvenient that she sprawled forward and ended up straddling his lap before she could
finish her sentence. This was not a place she should want to be but when he pulled her down and they
were flush against each other she definitely liked where she was.

"Haven’t you ever wanted to be safe?" he asked with his hand in her hair, his mouth was again
inches from hers. It was against all of the rules but she was caught in his kaleidoscope eyes, watching
them subtly swirl from brown with golden flecks to amber. It was terrifying being caught in that stare
and knowing it wasn’t because he was using his vampire mind games on her. If she hadn’t set the Bowie
knife down in search of cloths she might stab him, she felt that helpless, that scared of herself and
whatever was going on between the two of them, but she had set it down. He could have kissed her,
really given his strength and undead status she was perfectly aware that he could have done anything he
wanted. Instead he seemed to simply be waiting for her to answer his very personal, at least in her line
of work, question.

"Safe is boring," she answered pushing out of his arms clumsily, when she slipped off his lap and
nearly fell on the floor he caught her. She huffed hating the fact that having him around seemed to turn
her into a clumsy moron. As soon as she was back on her feet instead of panting in his lap he was
smoothly back on his feet. When she turned back around to face him, which was no easy task, he had
her Beretta in his hand. "So what you’re going to shoot me so I have to stay here?"

He smiled, "having an unpredictable yet fragile human around won’t be boring at all." He was
back up in her space, "we aren’t taking your car." Jennifer was going to grouse about it, but he used
that distraction to put the Beretta in her hip holster and swing the holster around her, he was buckling it
onto her before she could ask him what he was doing. Again before she could think twice about it he
was on his knees in front of her buckling the strap down her thigh, he didn’t go out of his way to avoid
brushing against every inch of her, from her upper thigh to her knee. She should have been revolted that
he was touching her at all, instead she tried to focus her attention to staring at the top of his head, which
didn’t prove helpful at all. "Get everything you’re bringing with you and meet me outside," like he could
sense she was looking at him he tilted his head up to look at her. She didn’t say anything until he was on
his feet, she did not want him taking off without her so she grabbed hold of his arm. It was almost a
childish gesture, or it would have seemed that way if she wasn’t so aware of the fact that her breasts
ended up pressed to his biceps. At the contact she felt herself blushing scarlet and was almost tempted
to release her hold, but in the end she was more determined to keep from being left behind then she was
of being embarrassed.

"No way, if I’m going to be forced to take vampire transportation you’re waiting for me." He
smiled but said nothing as she let him go and turned to grab the Remington, loaded it, put more ammo on
the strap that was rigged to carry it and slung it over her shoulder. Once she was done there she
gathered the Bowie knife he’d given back to her that she’d abandoned on her own desk and slid it into
it’s place on her belt. Considering all the time they’d wasted doing whatever it was they’d been doing
Jennifer figured it was probably unwise to bother talking about how they’d travel. "Let’s go then," she
didn’t think she was going to like traveling with the vampire, she’d already had a little taste of it, so she
had a good idea what was in store for her, which didn’t make the situation any more agreeable.

Chapter 22

Jennifer ended up holding on tight to the vampire with her eyes closed, she had no idea what he
did because she didn’t open them again until it was over. She knew the speed with which he was
capable would only be disorienting for her, she had no great urge to vomit on the vampire, even if her
stomach was empty. It didn’t feel like more then a few minutes that he’d been doing, whatever vampires
called how they moved, before she felt the world go still around her again. "You can open your eyes
now," she felt as well as heard the vampire purr at her, probably because not only had she had her eyes
closed but she’d basically buried her face in his chest to. It was surprisingly warm where she was which
seemed impossible but she knew that vampires tended to warm up a bit when they’d fed, and she didn’t
want to go there. She was working her way up to opening her eyes when she noticed yet another
anomaly.