"Do not we all?" She came around to stand in front of me. "Vampires feed on human blood. We feed on emotional energy, you and I. Even noms feed on each other in emotional ways by loving, hating, killing." She gave a delicate shudder. "We are all each other's prey, my dear. The strong conquer the weak."
"Noms?"
"Ah, you're not familiar with the term? Noms are nominals or normal humans, although others disparagingly call them nom-noms because we feed upon them."
"Like the Cookie Monster?"
"Is that the little blue creature?"
"Uh, yeah." I felt the conversation derailing so I jerked it back on track. "Don't you scare noms half to death so you can feed off them?"
"It is part of what I must do. Otherwise my feedings would be most bland."
"But Dad said your kind feeds on fear. That you like to play with your food before you kill it."
"I admit I do enjoy a fresh kill when it is prey, but I neither kill nor eat humans." She looked into the distance. "I suppose others of my bearing have different tastes. I truly have no idea since I haven't seen another of my kind in years."
I gave her a suspicious look. "My dad also said never to trust felycans, that you're fickle."
"Well, I am female, Justin." She smirked. "Perhaps you can trust me, or perhaps not. I suppose it depends on what your goals are."
"I want to save my dad."
She sighed and gazed at the cluster of cats lounging indolently on the roof now that they'd eaten. "I know several tomcats who may be willing to fight with you, but it will be their choice. Once I transform them, there is no going back. It is also very difficult to keep them suitably fed once they are larger."
I decided to play dumb. "You can make them larger?"
"Oh yes. I am surprised your father neglected to tell you."
"I only found out what I am yesterday. He didn't have time to fill me in on every little nuance."
"Of course not," she said, patting my hand. "I honestly know little of your kind, but I do know your brethren are very unpleasant to deal with, not to mention demonic in nature." She shuddered delicately. "Your psychic energy, however, is positively top-notch. In any case, my lamb, I was pleasantly surprised to make your acquaintance."
"You tried to force yourself on me. To feed on me. You call that making my acquaintance?"
She wrinkled her nose. "That I did, and I am very sorry. But you are so delectable I could just dandle you on my knee."
I didn't know what dandling was and I had no desire to find out. "What were you going to do to me?"
"I would have taken some of your essence just as you do to your prey. I can smell your delicious aroma whenever you are around." She sniffed the air in my direction and grinned. "It excites me so. I do wish we could come to an arrangement. Perhaps," she said, tapping her chin, "I can help you in exchange for my original terms."
I really didn't have a choice. "I suppose. But nothing permanent."
"You ask me to risk so much for so little. Could you not give us a chance? I promise you our affair would be absolutely delightful." She almost sounded like Mary Poppins.
I sighed. "Stacey, kiss me."
"You are so forward, good sir."
"Very funny. I just need to see something."
She leaned in. Her breathing grew heavy, her eyes closed. Our lips met. Hers were soft and feverishly warm. Her tongue pressed against mine. I braced for the unpleasant sandpapery feeling, but her tongue felt normal. Hot. Willing. I pulled her closer, trying to feel something in my heart, anything that would make me want her besides raw physical need. Something that would make me agree to this bargain without hesitation.
One of her hands stroked my hair. The other raked fingernails lightly down my back. She kissed my neck and traced my ear with her tongue. It definitely didn't feel rough. In fact, it felt pretty amazing. Her soft breasts pressed against my chest, and my hand wandered down the curve of her back, reaching her firm bottom and squeezing.
My body reacted, its second brain springing awake in anticipation of ravishing this shapely temptress. I jerked away. What teenage guy worth his salt wouldn't be aroused after kissing like that? But it hadn't been magic. It hadn't burned through my veins with a desire to consume her and make her part of me. Despite the physical allure, her kiss had been but a pale reminder of the fiery earth-shaking touch of true love mingled with a kiss. Whether I had a soul or not, Elyssa affected a part of me beyond the physical and I would never have that with Stacey.
"Why can't I get her out of my mind?" I shouted to the sky in exasperation.
Tears welled in Stacey's large amber eyes. "You are too in love with her," she said. "I even kept myself fully human to make it more comfortable so my tongue would not cause a rash."
"I'm sorry, Stacey. I really am. But I'm willing to make a bargain with you anyway if you'll just help me."
She stood and walked away to stare out into the darkness. "I will not help you, Justin." Her voice quavered and she sniffled. "I suppose I am doomed to never find true love." She pressed the back of a hand to her forehead with a melodramatic flourish.
"Just because we aren't meant to be together doesn't mean we can't mess around."
"But I want you to love me and adore me. I want a man to come home to. Someone I can hug and kiss and laugh with." She started to sob.
I knew exactly what she was talking about. Except I wanted a girl, not a guy, of course. And I would never call a rundown place like this home. I hugged her. She turned and buried her face in my chest.
"Stacey, I want you to be happy. We didn't really get off to a good start, but I'd be willing to do what you want. How about we can, uh, date or whatever for a year, provided I survive this?"
I heard a tiny meowing and looked down to see a small black figure rubbing against my legs. I picked up the familiar feline. "Captain Tibbs!" I said. "I should've known you'd find a better gig."
"You are acquainted?" Stacey asked. She took the little cat and kissed him on the nose. "Do you know this man, little one?"
Captain Tibbs meowed a few times. Stacey looked at me with tenderness in her eyes. She put Captain Tibbs on her shoulder where he took a seat and purred while he licked his front paw.
"I will help you."
"What changed your mind?"
"Nightliss told me how you bravely saved her from the jaws of an evil hound."
With all the other crap that had been going on, I'd almost forgotten about the episode. It seemed so distant with all the other worries in my head. "I couldn't let that dog hurt her." And to think I'd thought she was a he.
Stacey pressed a palm to my cheek. "How heroic of you. You did not even possess your full abilities, did you?"
"No." I gave Captain Tibbs a look. "Why do you call him—I mean her—Nightliss?"
"That would be the English equivalent of what she calls herself. Besides, Captain Tibbs, as you called her, is a rather ridiculous name." She smiled sadly and looked me up and down. "You are a filthy mess and your odor is most disagreeable. Go home and clean up. I will ask other tomcats if they will help you. If they say yes, then they will be the help you receive from me. I expect nothing in return. If I cannot have your love, I will only be miserable in a relationship built on convenience."
It was a very melodramatic and very British way to put things, but it was a better outcome than I'd hoped for.
I kissed her on the cheek and hugged her while Nightliss batted at my ear from her shoulder. "Thank you. Thank you."
"Remember, only those who say yes will help you. It may be none at all."
"I'll take what I can get," I said, wondering how she could ask a cat anything of this nature. Then again, I should be able to believe in anything by now. I scratched the ears of a few nearby cats, discreetly checking if they had the proper parts dangling between their legs. I needed to be on their good side.
"You know the one you love can never love you back," Stacey said in a sad voice. "There is no pain like unrequited love."
I choked up and faced away from her. "Tell me about it."
Chapter 28
I left for home to take Stacey's advice and clean myself. She told me she'd meet me back at her place the following evening. I had driven about a mile when the Jetta sputtered and stopped. I cursed and hit the steering wheel. It took only a second to identify the problem. I was out of gas. With all the supernatural crap hitting the fan around me, I had forgotten the most mundane of things. I didn't know what to do except get out and run home. I'd have to make sure nobody saw my clothes. They looked like I'd come from a slaughterhouse and then gone mud sliding.
The shortest way to my place was to hightail it through Clarkston, an even more rundown part of town. I didn't know any backyard routes so I took to the back streets, hoping I knew where I was going. I ran past closed stores, boarded up homes, and mini-marts with thick bars on the windows. I had just passed the public bus terminal when I heard a faint noise that made me stop in my tracks.
It was the sound of fear. A bottled up scream that might come from a gagged mouth. The wrongness of it struck at my heart and I couldn't resist the pull. I sprinted toward the source, some hundred yards away behind a nearby strip mall. Two young thugs were holding down a girl who couldn't have been any older than I was. Her eyes were wide with terror.
"Let her go," I said before even thinking about it. It was rather stupid considering I didn't know if they had weapons.
The taller of the two turned and immediately confirmed they did indeed have weapons. He held a pistol cocked to the side in typical gangsta fashion. "You best get outta here, fool. You ain't got no business here."
His companion stood behind the girl with a leer on his face. "Sucka don't have a clue, D.J. School him."
