“No, Gloriana. You turned her last night and are still fairly weak. Go get a bottle of synthetic for yourself. I’ll feed her.” Jerry sat beside her on the couch. “Now here’s what you do, Sienna. You remember me, don’t you?”
“Sure, though you seem to have a couple of names. Is it Jerry or Jeremiah or Blade?” She stared up at him, her face paper white.
“I go by Jeremy Blade this century. We change our names if we think we’ve used the same one too long. When you live for hundreds of years, it’s sometimes necessary.” He glanced at me where I stood in the kitchen doorway. “Now I want you to take my hand and pull my wrist to your mouth. Smell it and see what happens.”
“Smell?” She tentatively took his hand. “This is weird. My senses are totally out of whack. Like I’m hyped up on something. Just like Glory told me they would be.” She glanced around. “Is there chocolate here somewhere?”
I walked over and pulled out that Snickers wrapper. It left a smear on my upholstery. Damn Aggie. One name? She’d be lucky to have that when I got through with her.
“Here’s what you smelled. But concentrate. Lean in, toward Jerry’s wrist. Smell something else?”
She closed her eyes and pulled his arm toward her. “Oh, geez, my teeth are shifting again. Your blood!” Her eyes popped open. “I smell it, Jerry. And it’s, um, delicious. Better than the chocolate. Though I never would have thought . . .” She wrinkled her nose. “Wow. I can actually hear your pulse too. It’s like a drumbeat. Bu-bump, bu-bump, bu-bump. Singing ‘Drink me,’ clear as can be.” She grinned and there were her fangs. She ran her tongue over them. “Damn, my teeth are sharp.”
“That’s so you can bite into my vein there, in my wrist. Go ahead, pierce it carefully. We don’t rip into skin like you did Caine.”
“Guess that was pretty harsh. But the bastard deserved it. Am I right?” She looked at me for validation. I nodded.
“He’ll heal and not even scar. I’m sure it hurt. But you don’t want to act like an animal when you drink. For one thing, you’ll lose some of the blood you’re after.” I leaned over the back of the sofa and pointed to the blue vein that we could all see clearly in Jerry’s wrist. I had my own thirst to contend with and took a deep swallow of synthetic then pointed. “There. Position your mouth like you’re going to give him a hickey, but your fangs will sink in. When his blood begins to fill your mouth, suck.”
“Oh, man.” She frowned at me. “You won’t mind? This is your boyfriend I’m getting groovy with.”
“It’s feeding, not sexual. At least not like this.” I ran my hands through Jerry’s hair. “Trust me, when you are with your lover and feeding is part of it, it can be quite a turn-on. You’ll have to find your own man to experience that with.”
“Got it. It sure won’t be Ray again. Bastard. You think drinking my blood while I was unconscious turned him on?” She pulled Jerry’s wrist closer and inhaled. I could see her hands shaking. “Probably did, the perv.”
“Go on and drink. My blood is vintage, about five hundred years old, even older than Glory’s.” Jerry reached for me with his other hand. “Don’t worry about hurting me. I’m a warrior. I can take the little pain your bite will cause me.”
“You sure? I . . .” She licked his arm. “Oh, sorry. That was icky of me.”
“No, that was right. Instinctual. You just anaesthetized the area. Our saliva does that. It’ll help dull the pain. Go ahead. Bite. I want you to feel better. It pleases me to help you. Because you are Glory’s child.”
“Oh, geez. That’s bizarre. Here goes.” She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, her nostrils flaring. Then she sank her fangs into Jerry’s skin. He winced. Obviously this newbie had no finesse.
I slid an arm around him, my cheek against his. “Thanks. You’re being awfully cool about this. I wonder what I could possibly do to make it up to you.”
“I’ll figure out something.” He turned his head and kissed me. His mouth on mine always made me realize how right we were for each other, his taste the perfect completion that I always searched for.
I pulled back with a sigh. “Don’t let her take too much.”
“I won’t. I’m timing her.” He rested his free hand on her hair, then gently pressed on her forehead. “Enough, Sienna. That’s enough.”
“Mmm.” She gripped his arm with both hands, refusing to let go.
I walked around behind her and grabbed her shoulders. Together, Jerry and I managed to wrench her free.
“Oh, gosh. I’m sorry. I was so into that.” She was flushed and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. When she saw the blood there, she shrieked. “Oh, shit. What have I become? Glory, am I some kind of mindless animal?”
“No, calm down.” I took Jerry’s place next to her on the couch. “Look. It will take time for you to learn control. But you will learn it. You’ve only been a vampire for twenty-four hours. Like he said, Jerry’s blood is really ancient. Premium stuff.” I smiled up at him. “I have a hard time pulling away from him myself.” I took a cloth Jerry handed me, wiped her face and cleaned off her hand. “Now relax. Do you feel better?”
“Yes. Jazzed. Almost high.” She sat up. “It’s hours until daylight. We should do something. Go out.”
“I’d rather you not be around mortals just yet.” I frowned down the hall. We had a mortal pretty close. “Aggie is right. She’s not on the menu. When you smell her blood, it will tempt you. Don’t give in.”
“Why would I? She’s not very nice.” Sienna got up and walked around the room, scowling at my Israel Caine shrine. I had one of her CDs there too.
“Nice has nothing to do with bloodlust. You want to go out, let’s head downstairs to my shop. Now you know why my store is open twenty-four hours a day. As a vampire, I wanted to be able to work all night. I hire shape-shifters to work it during the day. This time of night there won’t be many people there who aren’t paranormal, no one Jerry and I can’t help you handle.”
“Shape-shifters? Like Will? No, he was a vampire who could change into other stuff. Jerry too. So what are those? More paranormals?” Sienna grabbed her purse like she was ready to go.
“Yes, you have a lot of things you need to know. Gloriana, we should stay up here.” Jerry frowned, clearly not happy about a field trip with a new vampire.
“I’m too hyped to stay here. And I sure can’t stay in this tiny apartment all the time.” Sienna smiled at me. “No offense, Glory. Just a few minutes, Jerry? I’ll behave and maybe buy something in the shop.”
I knew Jerry was right, but couldn’t turn down the chance for the business. The mice fiasco had to have hurt sales. Sienna had shopped in Vintage Vamp’s before and spent a bundle.
“Okay, just for a while, but you’re going to run out of steam soon, Sienna. This burst of energy won’t last.” I was desperate to change clothes. “I’m taking a quick shower first. Jerry, will you wait?”
“Of course.” He reached for the remote and settled on the couch. He soon found a European soccer match.
“Okay, I need to fix my makeup. You never know when the paparazzi will try to snap a picture. Glory, you said you had one of those computer setups here so I can see myself. Can I use it?” Sienna dropped her purse and grabbed her tote from by the door.
“Sure. It’s in the bedroom. Follow me.” I led the way, then snatched clean underwear and a robe before I headed for the bathroom. “You can figure it out. It’s there on my dresser.”
She sat on the foot of the bed. “Thanks for this, Glory.”
I sighed. What had I gotten myself into? “No problem. Just remember that there will be temptations down there. It’s important for you to use self-control.”
“Hey, I’ve been stalked by fans, paparazzi, you name it, and never killed one of them yet. I think I can handle myself around, what do you call them?” She grinned. “Mortals.” She rummaged in her tote.
“She has the confidence of the innocent.” Jerry stood in the doorway and pulled me close.
“Yes. Be prepared to use the whammy down there. I figure she’ll get close to a mortal and show her fangs. I just hope no one gets a picture of it.” I pulled him back into the living room, where the noise of the game would drown out our conversation.
“She’s a public figure. This is going to be about as bad as it was with Israel Caine.”
“At least she isn’t an alcoholic.” I ran my hand up his chest. “But, Jer, when are we ever going to be alone again?” I’d just pulled his head down to kiss him when we heard shrieks coming from my bedroom. What now?
Four
We ran into my bedroom to find Sienna with my comforter draped over her head, swatting frantically at . . . bees?
“Get them off of me!” She flailed her arms, a quilted butterfly on steroids. “I’m highly allergic. Look in my purse for my EpiPen.” She sobbed and threw herself facedown on the bed, covered from head to toe.
Jerry ran to my window and jerked up the blackout shade then the window itself. “Where the hell could these have come from?”
“I have a pretty good idea.” I swatted at the bees—there had to be dozens—using a hardback book from my dresser. I’m always interested in self-help. This one focused on inner peace. I wish. Right now I’d take peace anywhere I could find it.
Jerry grabbed my hair spray and attacked them with that. It seemed to do the trick and most of them flew toward the fresh air coming in from the open window. With my fanning and Jerry’s spraying, we soon had all but a few out of there. He smacked one with his bare hand when it landed on my arm.
“Sorry about that.” He brushed it off. “Check on Sienna, I’ll grab her purse.” He strode to the living room.
