Back to the subject at hand, luv. Guns dont work on us, either. There are only two exceptions to that rule. One, if the bloke is lucky enough to shoot our necks in two and our heads topple off. Decapitation does work; not many things can live without a head, and a head is the only part on a vampire that wont grow back if you cut it off. Two, if the gun has silver bullets and enough are fired into the heart to destroy it. Now, thats not as easy as it sounds. No vampire will stand still and pose for you. Likely hell be on you and the gun shoved up your arse before any real damage is done. But those silver bullets hurt, so you can use them to slow a vamp down and then stake him. And youd better be quick with that silver, because youll have one very brassed-off vampire on your hands. Strangulation, drowning, none of that does anything. We only breathe about once an hour for preference, and we can go indefinitely without oxygen. Just a breath now and then to put a dab of oxygen in the blood and were sound as a pound. Our version of hyperventilating is to breathe once every few minutes. Thats one way to tell a vamp is tiring. Hell start to breathe a bit to perk up. Electrocution, poisonous gas, ingestible poisons, drugsnone of those work. Got it? Now you know our weaknesses.
Are you sure we cant test some of those theories?
He wagged a finger at me reprovingly. None of that, now. You and I are partners, remember? If you start to forget that, maybe youd best remember the things I just mentioned would work really well on you.
It was a joke, I lied.
He just gave me a look that said he knew better. The bottom line is that we are very hard to put down. How youve managed to plant sixteen of us in the ground is beyond me, but then the world never lacks for fools.
Hey. Piqued, I defended my skills. I would have had you in pieces if you hadnt made me drive and then sucker-punched me when I wasnt looking.
He laughed again. It transformed his face into something I just realized was very beautiful. I looked away, not wanting to see him as anything but a monster. A dangerous monster.
Kitten, why do you think I made you drive? I had you pegged five seconds after speaking with you. You were a novice, green to the gills and, once off your routine, helpless as a babe. Of course I sucker-punched you. There is only one way to fight, and thats dirty. Clean, gentlemanly fighting will get you nowhere but dead, and fast. Take every cheap shot, every low blow, absolutely kick people when theyre down, and then maybe youll be the one who walks away. Remember that. Youre in a fight to the death. This isnt a boxing match. You cant win by scoring the most points.
I get it. Grimly enough, I did. In this he was correct. It was a death match every time I confronted a vampire. Including this one.
But now were off topic. Weve covered our weaknesses. On to our strengths, and we have many. Speed, vision, hearing, smell, physical strength-all are superior to a humans. We can scent you long before we see you, and we can hear your heartbeat a mile away. In addition to that, all of us have some form of mind control over humans. A vampire can suck a pint of your blood and seconds later you wont even remember seeing one. Its in our fangs, a little bitty drop of hallucinogen that, when combined with our power, makes you susceptible to suggestion. Like, for example, someone didnt just suck on your neck but you met a bloke and had a chat and now youre sleepy. Thats how most of us feed. A little dab here and a little dab there, and none the wiser for it. If every vampire killed to eat, wed have been outed from our closet centuries ago.
You can control my mind? The thought horrified me.
His brown eyes suddenly bled to green and his gaze drilled into mine.
Come to me, he whispered, yet the words seemed to resound in my head.
No fucking way, I said, chilled at the sudden urge I had to do it.
Abruptly, his eyes were brown again and he threw a cheery grin my way.
Nope, appears not. Good on you, thatll come in handy. Cant have you getting all weak-minded and forgetting your goals, can we? Probably its your bloodline. It doesnt work on other vampires. Or humans who imbibe of vampire blood. Guess you have enough of us in you. Some humans are immune to it also, but only a very small percentage. Have to have extraordinary mind control or natural resistance not to let us in and meddle about. MTV and video games have solved that problem as far as most of humanity goes. That, and telly, as it were.
Telly? Who was that?
He grunted in amusement. Television, of course. Dont you speak English?
You sure dont, I muttered.
Shaking his head, he frowned at me. Daylights burning, luv. We have a lot to cover. Weve gone through the senses and the mind control, but dont forget our strength. Or our teeth. Vampires are strong enough to break you in half and carry the pieces with a finger. We can throw your car at you if we want to. And well rip you apart with our teeth. The question is, how many of our strengths do you have in you?
Hesitatingly, I began to tick off my abnormalities.
I can see very well and darkness doesnt affect me. I see as well at night as in the day. Im faster than anyone I know, humanly speaking. I can hear things from far away, maybe not as far as you can. Sometimes in my room at night I could hear my grandparents downstairs whispering to each other about me
I stopped, judging from his look that Id revealed too much about personal issues.
I dont think I can control anyones mind. Ive never tried it, but I think if I could, people would have treated me differently. Dammit, there I was opening up again.
Anyways, I went on, I know Im stronger than the average person. When I was fourteen, I beat up three boys, and they were all bigger than me. That was when I couldnt hide anymore from the fact that something was very wrong with me. Youve seen my eyes. Theyre different. I have to control them when Im upset so other people dont see them glow. My teeth are normal, I guess. Theyve never poked out funny, anyhow.
I glanced at him through lowered lashes. Id never spoken of my differences to anyone like this before, even my mother. It upset her to know about them, let alone discuss them.
Let me get this straight. You said at fourteen you truly realized your uniqueness. You didnt know what you were before? What did your mum tell you about your father when you were growing up?
That was a very painful subject, and I felt a shudder go through me at the memory. A vampire was hardly the person I ever thought Id be talking to about this.
She never mentioned my father. If Id ask, as I did when I was little, shed change the subject or get angry. But the other children let me know. They called me a bastard from the time they could speak. I closed my eyes briefly, the shame still stinging. Like I said, when I hit puberty I started to feeleven more different. So much worse than when I was a child. It got harder to hide my weirdness, like my mom told me to. I liked the night most. Id wander for hours in the orchard. Sometimes I wouldnt even sleep until dawn. But it wasnt until those boys cornered me that I knew how bad it was.
What did they do? His voice was softer, almost gentle.
In my mind I could see their faces as clearly as if they stood before me.
They were shoving me around again. Pushing me, calling me names, the usual stuff. That didnt set me off. It happened almost every day. But then one of them, I cant remember which, called my mother a slut, and I lost my temper. I threw a rock at him and busted his teeth out. The others jumped me, and I beat them. They never told anyone what happened. Finally, on my sixteenth birthday, my mother decided I was old enough to know the truth about my father. I didnt want to believe her, but deep down, I knew it was true. That was the first night I saw my eyes glow. She held a mirror up to my face after stabbing me in the leg. She wasnt being mean. She wanted me upset so I could see my eyes. About six months later, I killed my first vampire.
My eyes stung with unshed tears, but I wouldnt cry. Could not cry in front of this thing who had made me retell what Id tried to forget.
He stared at me in a very peculiar way. If I didnt know better, I would say there was empathy in his gaze. But that was impossible. He was a vampire, they didnt do compassion.
Abruptly I stood. Speaking of my mother, I have to call her. Shell be worried sick. Ive come home late before, but Ive never been out this long. Shell think one of you bloodsuckers killed me.
That caused his eyebrows to fly into his hairline. Your mum knows youve been luring vampires with promises of shagging and then killing them? And she allows you to do this? Blimey, I thought you were joking when you said she knew you were putting a dent in our population. If you were my child, Id have you nailed inside your room at night. Dont understand people nowadays, let their kids do anything.
Dont speak about her that way! I burst out. She knows Im doing the right thing! Why wouldnt she support that?
His eyes bored into mine very steadily, clear dark pools of brown. Then he shrugged. Whatever you say.
Suddenly he stood in front of me. I hadnt even had time to blink, he was so fast.
Youve got good aim when you throw things. Found that out last night when you chucked your cross at me. Just think, a few inches lower and you might have been planting daisies over my head by now. He grinned as if amused at the mental image. Well work to improve your speed and accuracy. Youll be safer if you can kill from a distance. Youre too bloody vulnerable up close.
He grasped me by the upper arms. I tried to pull away, but he held on. Iron bars would have had more give.
Your strength leaves much to be desired. Youre stronger than a human man, but probably as weak as the weakest vampire. Well have to work on that as well. Also, your flexibility is shit and you dont use your legs at all when you fight. Theyre valuable weapons and should be treated as such. As for your speed, wellthat might be hopeless. But well give it a go anyhow. The way I figure it, we have about six weeks before we can get you out in the field. Yep, five weeks of hard training, and one week to work on your looks.
My looks? Outrage filled my voice. How dare a dead man critique me? Whats wrong with my looks?
Bones smiled condescendingly. Oh, nothing horribly wrong, but still something that needs fixing before we send you out.
You-
After all, were going after some big fish, luv. Baggy jeans and a mediocre appearance wont cut it. You wouldnt know sexy if it bit you in the arse.
By God, I am going to-
Quit blathering. Didnt you want to call your mum? Come with me. My cell phones in the back.
Mentally I performed all sorts of tortuous acts on his bound and helpless body, but in reality I bit my tongue and followed him deeper into the cave.
FOUR
H ARD TRAINING. THOSE WERE THE WORDS HE used to describe the brutal, agonizing, death-defying ordeals even the military wouldnt inflict on their most hardened troops.
Bones ran me through the forest at speeds cars couldnt sustain. I stumbled over fallen trees, rocks, roots, and natural potholes until I was too exhausted to even vomit. Passing out didnt excuse me from my tasks, either. Hed simply keep dousing icy water on my face until I came to again. I practiced throwing knives until my knuckles cracked and bled. His response? To uncaringly toss me some Neosporin and tell me not to get it on my palms or it would ruin my grip. His version of weight lifting? Hefting stone boulders repeatedly, gradually increasing their size and density. StairMaster? That would be climbing up the cave inclines with large rocks strapped to my back.
After one week, I threw off all of his artificial impediments and refused to go farther, stating had I known his intentions beforehand I would have gladly chosen death. Bones just smiled at me with his fangs extended and told me to prove it. Seeing that he was serious, I reapplied my outfittings and trudged wearily onward.
By far, though, the most grueling activity was up close with him. He stretched my limbs until tears poured down my face, chiding me all the while for my lack of flexibility. Then, during our hand-to-hand combat, hed knock me into a state of unconsciousness that all the icy water in the world couldnt revive. I would wake up with the taste of his blood in my mouth, just to repeat the procedure all over again. To say I fantasized about killing him every second of every day was an understatement. Yet I got better, I had no choice. With Bones, it was either improve or die.
My first indication of increased stamina came after my second week of training. Bones and I fought and I actually didnt pass out. He still beat me soundly, but I remained conscious throughout. It was a mixed blessing. I had my dignity from not going night-night in the middle of our battle, but then was awake when he fed me his blood.
Disgusting, I spat after being cajoled and then threatened into putting his bloody finger in my mouth. How can you things live off that?
The words left my lips without forethought, as had many before them.
Necessity is the mother of all appetites. What you need in order to survive, you learn to love, he replied shortly.
All this blood better not turn me into a vampire. That was not our deal.
I felt uncomfortable arguing with his finger jammed in my mouth, and I moved my head backward until it slid wetly out. It was almost a sexual gesture. I blushed as soon as the thought flitted through my mind. He caught the flush, of course. No doubt the reason behind it as well, but just wiped his hand on his shirt.
Trust me, luv, you arent having nearly enough blood to turn you into a vampire. Since you fret about it all the time, however, Ill tell you how it works. First, Id have to drain you to the very point of death. Theres a trick to that, taking enough blood without taking too much. Then, stuffed full of your blood, Id open my artery for you and let you drink it right back out of me. All of it, and then some. Theres a trick to that, too. You have to be strong to make other vampires, or your would-be protégée sucks you dry and kills you while he or she is changing. New vampires are harder to get off an artery than a starving babe off a juicy teat. These measly drops of blood Im feeding you arent doing more than healing your injuries. Theyre probably not even enough to enhance your strength. Now, will you stop griping every time you have to lick a few bits off my pieces?