The Vampire...In My Dreams (4 page)

I couldn’t help smiling at the way she called me a witch in such a derogatory way, which meant she was losing her cool and I was winning some of the game. In our dancing back and forth, my attempts to strike the vampire and Dominic’s struggles to get free, I moved us closer to the edge of my front porch. If we could reach my house, I’d invite him in. The vampire couldn’t get to him then, at least for the time being, I didn’t think.

Suddenly, Dominic broke loose, grabbed my arm, and shoved me to the door. “Do it!” he shouted, as if he thought I knew all of the rules about being a vampire. Maybe the books were right.

I screamed back, “Come in, Dominic!”

I fumbled with the key in the lock, then jerked the door open. Dominic wrenched himself free and dove in, carrying me with him.

Both of us fell on the tiled entryway, but Dominic managed to break my fall with heroic effort. Lynetta hissed at the doorway, baring her fangs. The look she gave us was like she was the Medusa herself—minus the writhing snakes shooting out of her head, but able to turn a body to stone anyway.

Dominic jumped to his feet and slammed the door in her face. “Your parents?” he whispered, and helped me to my feet.

His touch was warm and caring and instantly heated my cold, clammy hands. “Away on a trip to Mexico, celebrating their eighteenth wedding anniversary. A witch at seventeen is considered responsible enough to leave alone. Besides, my Aunt Betsy lives two houses down if I have any trouble.”

His dark brows furrowed. “Trouble like me.”

Taking a deep settling breath, I touched the bruises already discoloring his throat in shades of black and blue. “I’m sure no one in my family would have expected me to have
this
kind of trouble, but for your own safety, you can stay here until Friday. How is your throat? Can I—”

“One of the advantages of being…” His words trailed off for a second, then he cleared his gravelly throat. “We heal at accelerated rates.”

“Oh.” I tried to keep my reaction neutral when it came to discussing his—differences, but I’m sure my eyes widened a little.

He kept his distance, though we only stood an arm’s length away, yet he seemed to want to draw closer. Finally he said, “I want to thank you for your help, Marissa. Only my lifemate would have been able to rescue me.”

Although gladdened he felt I was so useful, I really didn’t feel that way about my capabilities. I’d been lucky, that’s all. “I couldn’t let her hurt you, Dominic.”

“Because we’re connect—”

Silencing him with a shake of my head, I did not want to hear anything more about our fate being written in the stars. I didn’t believe it for one instant. Witches married warlocks and that was that. Any that made the mistake of marrying a human diluted the magical abilities in their gene pool, and their mixed children suffered. Though, my magic wasn’t all that great, and both my parents were magic users—guess it went to show there’s a dud in every bunch. Still, the idea of marrying a vampiric human was scandalous. What kind of children would that spawn? Or would it even be possible? And why was I even thinking about such a thing?

He gently rubbed his wrists where Lynetta had savagely gripped him. “Where can I sleep?”

“Do you have to sleep with your dirt? Or a coffin?”

At the notion, he grimaced. “A room without rays of sunlight filtering in will do. And no, I don’t sleep with a pile of dirt.” He shook his head. “Old wives’ tales.”

“You can sleep in the guestroom next to mine. It’s all frilly and purple, but the only other bedroom is my parents’ and—”

The phone rang, jangling my already frayed nerves. I grabbed the phone and read the Caller ID. “My Aunt Betsy,” I whispered as if she could hear me. I punched the on button. “Hello?”

“Marissa. I’ve been worried sick about you.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Aunt Betsy. You know Kate. She led me on a wild goose chase searching for vampires.” I winked at Dominic, and he smiled back at me. He had the most gorgeous smile, but not a tooth too big or wicked at all, making me wonder where he kept his fangs tucked away.

Silence met my ear and I knew at once something was wrong. My aunt had never been a worrywart, in fact I was lucky that none of my family had that dysfunction. “Aunt Betsy?”

“Something killed five humans and drained the blood from them. The police are trying to keep everyone from panicking. They’re saying it’s some sicko pretending to be a vampire.”

My blood chilled and I stared at Dominic. Could he have been in on the killings?

He folded his arms and shook his head.

I gulped, my thoughts a jumble while I considered what I’d been thinking earlier when I’d first spied him. Had he read my mind?

He nodded, a small smile curving his lips and a glitter of amusement sparkling in his dark brown eyes.

My heart dropped ten stories. Jeez, what in the world had I said—no, not said, but thought—about him?

“Marissa? Are you still there, dear?” Aunt Betsy’s concerned voice brought me crashing back to earth.

I swallowed hard, but my throat had dried up like Texas did in the middle of a drought-ridden summer. “Uhm, yes, okay, well, uhm, we’ll be extra careful, and it’s getting really late so I need to—”

“You and Kate aren’t to go out at night without a proper chaperone until the criminal is caught,” Aunt Betsy warned.

I looked at Dominic, wondering if he knew who the killer was. How many vampiric creatures hidden under the cover of night stalked new victims? Never in a millennium did I realize chasing after a cute guy late at night would turn into a sinister game of chance. “All right, well, I’ve got school tomorrow, so—”

“Did you need me to come over and tuck you in?”

“No!” My heart thudded. “I mean, nobody’s done that to me since I was little. I am seventeen.”

“It was a figure of speech, dear. I didn’t want you to be afraid to be by yourself.”

I was losing it. Slowly, I let out my breath. “No, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, then, Marissa. Call me when you get home from school tomorrow. Goodnight, dear.”

“Night, Aunt Betsy.” I hung up the phone, worried I’d made a grave mistake by inviting Dominic into my parents’ home. What was worse, I now knew he could read my thoughts!

“Most of the time, Marissa.” Dominic rubbed his smooth chin, his face an emotionless mask. “Sometimes, when you’re stressed, your thoughts get a little jumbled and it’s hard to read them.”

I groaned, my mind shifting through a million different notions. What in the world had I been thinking of him? My cheeks heated when I considered him being stripped naked. Never had I seen a boy naked before, well, except for Cousin Jimmy, but he was only an infant and Aunt Betsy was changing his diaper and…

Dominic grinned.

My body temperature grew to sauna levels, and I folded my arms in exasperation. “Quit reading my thoughts!”

“Sorry. I can’t help myself.” He cocked a brow, devilishly sensual and totally unnerving.

“Can you read Kate’s?”

He shook his head. “No. I can read only yours. That’s why I know you’re the one for me.”

Great. Most of the time I could control my tongue, but my thoughts, too? It would be like walking along the edge of a crumbling cliff. Unless I was stressed out an awful lot, I’d have to start curbing my thoughts around him. Then I considered what my aunt had said. “Did you hear how there have been several killings in the area?”

“Yes. When you thought about your aunt’s comments, I read your mind. You wondered if I had anything to do with them. I did not. The only one I’ve fed off is Lynetta. Until she’s turned me completely, I’m not supposed to feed off anything or anyone else.”

“Anything else?”

“Mammals. Anything with warm, red blood.”

My stomach churning, I made a face. “And me?”

“I’ll bond to you instead. Since you are truly my intended, she won’t be able to break us apart once we’ve bonded.”

I walked into the living room and collapsed on the soft blue velvet sofa. The ceiling fan spun around overhead, the way my mind was spinning. Motioning to the couch, I offered for Dominic to take a seat. “Is that all there is to it?”

To my guarded relief, he kept a pillow’s distance between us when he sat down next to me. I still wasn’t sure I trusted him.

For a moment, he stared at the fireplace mantle covered with family pictures, then he turned to me. “You have to kill her. It’s the only way to release me from her grasp permanently.”

My mouth dropped open. Sure, the sick creature appeared evil to the core, and sure, I thought we’d all be better off if she disappeared from the earth forever, but I had to kill her? With mediocre witch’s skills, not even a sliver of the vamp’s physical strength, and not half as fearless as the wicked creature—I had to kill her? Dominic couldn’t have surprised me any more if he’d told me that he wasn’t my supposed lifemate but my long lost brother instead.

He smiled.

I frowned, wishing he’d quit reading my mind, at the same time chiding myself for not remembering to watch my thoughts better. “You didn’t tell me that part.” I wondered how in the world I’d gotten myself into this mess. No, Kate. After all, she was the one who made me chase after Dominic in the first place. As for me, I had been content to sip a chocolate milkshake at the burger place. I studied Dominic’s intense gaze and sensed him pleading with me to agree. “And if I don’t kill her?”

“She’ll turn me all the way.” He ran his hand over the soft sofa. “I’m afraid once I’m turned, I’ll still want you for my own. We’re meant to be together. Only I won’t be able to control myself once I’ve been fully turned.”

I felt as if I’d slipped into a very deep well, and there was no way to fight my way out of the blackness. “Great.”

Why couldn’t he have wanted Debbie Damint, the hottest blonde bombshell at school? She had perfect school scores, perfect nails—I glanced quickly down at my fingernails, broken and chipped as usual—beautiful figure, great in sports, had tons of girlfriends and boyfriends. She was the girl I loved to hate most.

“Nope, not Debbie Damint.” His lips curved up while his eyes sparkled with amusement.

“You haven’t even seen her. All the guys make fools of themselves over her.”

“There’s only one whom I desire to make a fool of myself over.”

Were all vampires as charming as Dominic? Did they get a special class in it?

“You bring it out in me, Marissa.”

“Quit reading my thoughts!” Jeez, I really had to concentrate on keeping him out of my mind.

The grin still tugged at his lips.

“Okay,” I said, hoping to change the subject again. “So if I don’t help you, she turns you into a full-fledged vampire, and you’ll be able to get into my house anytime you want? Great, now what have I done? The first time my parents ever let me stay home alone, and I have screwed up big time.”

“If you kill her, all will be well,” he said, as if he were telling me I could bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies, which, for all of my other failings, I was very good at if I say so myself.

But this was not about cooking. Unless I cooked the vamp, somehow. “Jeez, Dominic. How in the world am I going to be able to kill her? I’m not very good at witch’s spells.”

His fingers drew closer to me, as if he were reaching out, trying to console me for feeling so inadequate. “You not only distracted Lynetta, the spell you chanted bothered her enough that she began to loosen her grip on my wrists.” His words were said with pride, and he even puffed out his chest a little.

The spell had worked after all? Wow. I’d had Kate confine my wrists so I could practice the incantation, but I didn’t think I’d really mastered it. The spell was great for self-defense, if I could get the hang of it in a pinch—which considering how it helped Dominic, I guess I had learned it all right.

“You used a release spell, didn’t you?” His eyes still showed great admiration.

“Yes, I did.” So, he wasn’t disappointed that I was a witch after all? Most humans didn’t really want to get involved with them.

“You saved me,” Dominic simply said.

Partially satisfied, I nodded. Though I couldn’t understand why the vamp hadn’t fully released him then.

“She’s an ancient and awfully powerful. Plus, you’re not a fully-trained witch, are you?”

That bothered me. Again, I wondered why he didn’t seek out a witch with greater abilities. It wouldn’t be hard to find one. “No, I’m not fully trained. We all advance at different rates. Uhm…” I clutched my fingers together and couldn’t look at him, but I thought he should know the truth. “Some say I’m a, well, a…” I hated to say what others teased me mercilessly about, “…a slow learner.”

He shrugged as if to indicate it didn’t mean anything to him, but seemed anxious about what to say to console me. Finally, he reached out and touched my hand. “Yeah, but they don’t have lifemates whose destinies are written in the stars.”

I wanted to groan out loud. I was a slow learner and was to be mated with a vampiric human whose old flame wanted me dead. How was this a good thing? “So then, how do you propose I kill her?”

“When we begin to bond, you will gain some of my strength…some of my abilities.”

“Great. I can grow hair on my chest.”

He laughed out loud.

The sound of his hearty, well-meaning laughter cheered me. He laughed with me, not at me like some of the other boys did.

He squeezed my hand. “They’re idiots, Marissa. Will you help me? Save me from a fate worse than death? Will you?”

If I helped him, would it be the dumbest thing I ever did? Or the bravest? Or maybe a little of both? Still, could I do it?

I considered Dominic’s mournful look. Killing an ancient vampire would prove impossible, wouldn’t it? And the idea of Dominic’s sucking my blood and my sucking his…I shuddered.

I cleared my throat. “If I agree to allow you to bite me…”

A flicker of interest showed in Dominic’s dark eyes.

“
If
…” I repeated, “what new powers might I possess?”

Chapter 4

DOMINIC

Marissa sat beside me, the most stunning girl I had ever known. Her shiny hair begged for my caress. Her full pink lips waited for my kiss. Even her silky blue shirt touched her beautiful breasts the way I wanted to. And her eyes…clear blue and full of intrigue. Not filled with fright or condemnation but with genuine interest.