Blood and Kisses - By Karin Shah Page 0,66
minutes to live.
“Take me back to the alley where we found Akos,” he gasped.
She didn’t ask why and turned the car around like a professional moonshiner running from the revenuers. He put a hand on top of hers on the steering wheel. “Slow down. We can’t attract attention.”
She nodded grimly and brought their speed closer to the speed limit.
“How did you find us?” Gideon’s face was ashen, and he was beginning to wheeze. The car reeked of blood as more of the precious fluid darkened his clothes.
Thalia struggled to concentrate on driving while her heart felt like it might explode. “Locator spell.”
She pulled up to the curb and jumped out, leaving the engine running. “The police—” said Gideon, hoarsely.
“Will see nothing I don’t want them to see.”
She muttered the last word of a spell she’d worked in the car as she’d frantically raced to his side. She felt the magic flow from her, could see it color the air.
People nearby were about to experience missing time. She grimaced and hoped none of them thought they’d had an abduction experience.
She yanked the rusty passenger side door open. It groaned in objection. She clutched Gideon’s arm and half-dragged him out of the car. A sick pressure squeezed her heart, tears blurred her vision. Tottering under his weight, she managed to help him into the alley.
An older, gray-haired man stood there, frozen, a look of surprise on his homely face.
“Who is this?”
“Akos’ bait,” he whispered, pulling the man to him with one arm. He sank his fangs into the man’s thick neck and drank.
Gods, he hated having her see him this way. When he fed, the beast was never more than a hairsbreadth from the surface.
Gideon stepped out from Thalia’s supportive hold and turned his back on her so he couldn’t see her.
The rich, warm blood spurted into his mouth, urging him to drink deeply, to take his fill. The blood rushed to his head like the finest champagne. The pleasure of feeding dulled the pain of his injuries. His wounds began to heal. Still he drank. The man moaned, and Gideon came back to himself. He wrenched away, panting. He’d come very close to taking too much.
His eyes found Thalia’s sober face. Her eyes were huge with concern, her soft bottom lip pinched between her teeth, her breathing irregular.
“I’ve taken a bit much, but he should be okay. I’ll meet you at Mina’s. You’ll be safe there.” He didn’t want to leave her alone, but after what she’d done to Akos, his adversary would also have to feed before he went to ground at dawn.
“Your wounds?” Thalia protested.
“Almost healed. I need more blood, but I don’t have much time left before dawn.”
He could see the reluctance in Thalia’s expression, but she agreed, and he led her back to the car. “Where did this car come from?”
Thalia looked abashed. “I stole it. I took it from the emergency department parking lot and it’s only for the people who drive themselves.”
“Why didn’t you take one from the parking garage?”
“I don’t have any money.”
Despite his weakness, Gideon smiled.
He left the older man in the alley and followed Thalia back to Mina’s car, watching over her while she wiped her prints off the stolen vehicle. The sky was turning an ominous gray. Gideon left her and flew to one of the few places he could find prey in Rochester at this hour—the local Perkins.
Hours later, Gideon awoke in the dark room. He looked around, disoriented for a moment, and saw a glimmer of light shining around the edges of the curtains. Memory flooded back. He was in a spare bedroom at Mina’s.
His feeding the previous evening had gone smoothly, but he’d cut it close—the first rays of sun had begun to burn the back of his neck as Thalia had let him in. She’d led him to the nearest bedroom, and he’d gone straight to sleep.
A faint shaft of light from the hall pierced the darkness, and he knew why he’d awakened.
Thalia. He could tell by her scent, the rhythm of her breathing, even the beating of her heart. “Come in,” he said gently, as if to a wild creature.
She slid into the room and closed the door softly behind her. The latch fastened with a whisper and a click. “I can’t sleep.” She walked further into the room, her arms wrapped around her body as if she were cold. She wore a floor length wrapper of chenille, borrowed from Mina, no doubt. She was wound