Blood and Kisses - By Karin Shah Page 0,24

face them.

At first glance, they looked like Ken and Barbie. They were young and attractive, wearing business suits and dress shoes. The man sported an expensive watch, the woman, fine gold jewelry at her ears, fingers, and throat. But a closer look revealed crazed eyes, disheveled hair, and bloodstains on their clothing. The pair hissed, exposing pointed fangs dripping with saliva, and attacked.

Before Thalia could react, a black blur streaked like a whirlwind into the room, knocking the intruders to the floor. The shape coalesced. Gideon.

The strangers were already off the floor. Gideon dodged the woman, who stumbled against the wall. He grabbed the man by the throat, lifting him off the ground. The air filled with the man’s desperate choking.

“Run,” Gideon ordered as the woman steadied herself and lunged at Thalia.

Thalia threw up her hands, swiftly muttering the words of a spell. Blue light flashed, and the woman stiffened and fell like a log, her body no longer under her control.

The male intruder clawed at Gideon’s hands and kicked out with his feet. His face purpled, and his coughs grew fainter.

Gideon’s face was frightening in its grim intensity. Thalia put a hand on his arm. Snarling, he turned blazing red eyes in her direction. She swallowed, but didn’t let go. “Don’t kill him. We need them.”

The scarlet glow in his eyes began to wane until only ebony remained. He nodded and released the man who reeled back and dropped to all fours, retching on the hardwood floor.

“Do you think they killed Lily?”

Gideon shook his head. “They’re puppets, like the revenant that attacked us before. True vampires wouldn’t have been able to enter without an invitation. Your wards are potent. Their master must be incredibly powerful.”

“What’s going on?” Spirit stood in the doorway.

“Where have you been?” Gideon faced Thalia’s familiar, his back to the bathroom.

The sound of breaking class told him he’d made a big mistake.

Gideon dashed through the bathroom door, but he was too late. The vampire’s minions had leaped through the thin glass of the tall old window and disappeared into the night.

He swore and slammed the side of his fist against the sturdy wooden window frame. There was no way he could risk going after them and leaving Thalia alone.

He felt her come up behind him. “They’re gone.”

She braced her hand on the frame and lifted her leg to climb through. “Don’t just stand there. Let’s go after them.”

Gideon gripped her wrist. She hesitated, turning her blue eyes toward him questioningly.

“You couldn’t keep up,” he said gently. “And I’m not leaving you behind. It could be a trap.”

Thalia sighed and lowered her leg.

While she finished packing, Gideon kept watch at the window, anger still surging through him. How could he have been so lax? He had failed to detect their presence until it was almost too late.

“I’m ready.” Thalia held up her small suitcase in the bathroom doorway. “What should we do about the window?”

“I can still feel your wards. They should keep out any average housebreaker. Do you have duct tape and plastic garbage bags?”

She nodded and went to get the items.

After sealing the window, they went out to the car. Gideon opened the passenger side door and, leaving it ajar, went around and slipped into the driver’s seat. Spirit bounded onto the passenger seat and then into the backseat. Thalia placed her small, soft-sided suitcase on the floor mat in the back, slid into the seat and fastened her seatbelt.

Thalia, Spirit said. Did you look closely at this picture?

Gideon looked over the seat to see what Spirit was talking about. The familiar was indicating the newspaper Gideon had thrown on the backseat earlier in the evening.

Thalia released her seatbelt and leaned between the seats. She had changed, and her orange T-shirt rode up exposing the smooth, creamy skin of her hip. Gideon looked away.

“Gideon. I knew this woman.” She handed the newspaper to him, folded so he could see the picture of a dark-haired woman about Thalia’s age, grinning at the camera. How many innocent faces had he seen over the millennia? They came and went like shooting stars. Their lives were so short it should be easy to brush away the injustice of their violent passings. Instead they burned into his memory.

Ironic when he barely remembered the details of the faces of those he had slaughtered those many eons ago.

Thalia gestured to the newspaper. “I went to school with her. She was in all my classes. I didn’t realize it before because her last