Blood and Kisses by Karin Shah Page B

Everett’s sentence as quickly and as mercifully as he could, but Everett had grown in guile.
    With reflexes augmented with stolen power, Everett plunged the sharp wooden stake he’d hidden behind his back toward Gideon’s heart. But Gideon needed no augmentation. At a speed invisible to human eyes, he parried Everett’s thrust, drove his hand into Everett’s chest and removed his heart.
    The fight took no more than a second. Everett was still striking out with the stake as he crumpled to his knees, dead. This time for good.
    Gideon never knew how long he’d held Everett’s lifeless body while the sky lightened toward the dawn. Grief for the boy he’d known strafed his large frame with bone-rattling shudders.
    The monster had destroyed another innocent life.
    It would have been better to permit Everett to die the night they’d met, to allow him to meet his god peacefully, with a clean conscience. But the demon was always there, in disguise, ceaselessly searching for new victims.
    He was no better than Everett.
    He should have faced the justice of the dawn long ago.
    But as the sun had peered over the horizon, and the first cruel rays branded his skin, the demon had taken control. It refused to allow him to surrender his life, forcing him to rise to his feet and return to the safety of his room in the basement while Everett’s frail body withered into a pile of ash and swirled away on the indifferent wind.
    “Gideon?” Thalia’s voice was husky with concern, and he realized he’d been lost in the past for several minutes.
    “There are only a few ways to kill a vampire,” he continued, as if nothing had happened. “Beheading, draining all the blood, and even then, if he makes it to the dawn, the healing sleep will save him. Others, such as destroying the heart through the use of a stake or other instrument, fire, and sunlight, are permanent. Garlic, holy water, crosses,”—he shook his head—“all useless. We can recover from almost any injury, including a broken neck. As for fire, only a complete burn will do. We reflect light, so we do have a reflection. We have amazing vision and hearing. We’re incredibly fast and strong, and some of us can even fly and change our shape.”
    “Can you?”
    Gideon nodded. “I’ve even learned to change my mass. I could be as small as a bat or as large as an elephant.”
    He locked her eyes with his. He had to make her understand exactly what she intended to confront. “A vampire that has gone rogue has nothing left to lose. The Claiming is a madness that poisons the mind. He will use any weapon, mental or physical, to get what he needs. He will lie and cheat and manipulate. He will play on your weaknesses, and he will kill anyone who gets in his way.”

Chapter 6
     
    “Let me do the talking,” Thalia said as she slammed the car door and headed up the brick front walkway of one of the Victorian houses that crowded Park Avenue.
    Moths danced in the fuzzy light of a nearby street lamp. Their fluttering wings reflected the light and cast the shadows of their tiny, fragile bodies on the ground.
    The night was warm and sweet. Flowers perfumed the air. Fireflies glowed and faded over the tiny front garden. It seemed impossible that somewhere a killer hunted.
    She caught her heel on a crack, and Gideon put a hand under her elbow to steady her. The touch of his hand on her bare arm stirred her senses, sparking a fire that coursed up her arm and through her body like a bolt of lightening.
    She smoothed her blue silk sundress to regain her composure, but it didn’t help. It only reminded her of Spirit’s surprise when she’d come down wearing the dress. She’d assured him she’d worn the garment because some of the older witches were conservative in matters of dress. He hadn’t said a word, but she could tell he hadn’t believed her. Why should he? She hadn’t believed it herself.
    She had dressed for Gideon.
    She might not be pretty, but she was proud of her body.