Page 18 of Incandescence

I breathed in the outside air that was now saturated with pollution. I recalled an air that had been much cleaner and sweeter before I’d been taken away. But there were still familiar scents.

We passed a little florist shop and I slowed to smell the roses.

When I looked up, I saw Maya approach a buff, shirtless man with a shaved head who walked out of a liquor store, a carton of beer hoisted over a tattooed shoulder.

“Excuse me, sir.” She smiled up at him. “I hoped you might be able to help my friend and I out.” She twittered nervously, and waved an absent hand my way. “My car is getting fixed and we really need a lift. It’s only ten minutes away, and we wouldn’t ask except for a family emergency.”

The man gave her a frank, appraising look that showed his approval. I dropped the rose and stepped forward, my gut churning for a whole different reason.

Then the man nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’m a sucker for pretty ladies.” He jerked his head to the old sedan parked nearby. “‘Course, you’ll have to put up with my obnoxious little brother. He’s eighteen today and hasn’t yet learned how to handle his alcohol.”

She nodded. “That’s fine, we’re just thankful to get a ride.”

The man looked my way. “Shame your friend there doesn’t look half as happy.”

She laughed. “Oh, don’t worry about Jack. He’s the strong, serious type.”

Jack? I hid my surprise at the name she’d christened me. Guess I should tell her changing our identities was all but useless at this point. At least until the vampire’s blood cells died off and our systems created our own. In the meantime, the vampire could still track us, no matter what name we went by.

I rubbed vaguely at the tense knot in my belly. I also had no idea how soon real hunger pains would cripple me. I’d never consumed so much vampire blood and didn’t know if that meant I’d go longer without needing another drink, or quite the reverse.

The man clucked his tongue. “Yeah, I just be he is. “ He strode toward the car and opened its trunk. After placing the carton of beer with a dozen others already inside, he pulled open one of the cardboard cartons and dragged out a six-pack. Slamming the trunk down, he cocked a brow our way. “The backseat is free.”

Maya told him the address before we settled into the backseat. I tried not to wrinkle my nose at the smell of weed and filth that permeated the car. Tried not to think of what drug the driver might be on behind the wheel. But mostly I tried not to think about what I’d wanted to do to that same man after the way he’d looked at Maya.

I snapped my seatbelt into place, my hands fisting even before the driver’s brother turned in his seat with glassy eyes and a goofy grin. “Now this is a party,” he slurred, before he guffawed and said, “I’ve never had a threesome before.”

I leaned forward, my blood—and the vampire blood—pumping hard through my veins. “And you’re not about to today.”

The driver handed his brother the beers then fired up the engine. “Chill out, little brother, there’s a hooker waiting for us both when we get home.”

The birthday boy hooted, “Hell yeah!” and ripped open the six-pack to free the beers. Using a lighter as a bottle opener, he pried off a cap, then gave a beer to the driver even as the tires screeched and the car pulled out onto the road. He then pulled free the rest of the beers and uncapped each bottle before offering us one.

I looked at Maya, who shrugged and accepted. With a nod of thanks, I took one too, relishing the yeasty, cold brew as it slid down my throat. The fact that it wasn’t the blood that sustained me for once didn’t seem to matter.

I frowned. Did I enjoy the beer because I was no longer in the nest? Normally I had to force myself to swallow anything other than blood.

“So you two live around here?” the driver asked, taking a long draft of his beer before glancing at us in his rearview mirror.

“I do,” Maya conceded.

Birthday boy slurped back his beer. “If you’ve got some free time, you should come party with us.” He sniggered. “I’m sure the hooker will be long gone by the time the real party starts.”

I was about to reject his offer when Maya leaned forward in her seat and asked, “Where’s the party?”

He gave us the address and I frowned at the uncomfortable feeling of anxiety pushing through me like barbs. I’d never been the possessive type, maybe because my wife had been the jealous one.

Clara had assumed I screwed other women like a gigolo. She had no reason to believe I’d kept my dick in my pants and my conscience clean.

In many ways, I believe my wife had helped harden my heart toward the donors in the nest. Aside from physical release, I’d never once wanted to lay claim to any of them.

Until Maya.

I turned away from the beautiful woman next to me and stared out of the window as shops, tall buildings, apartments and townhouses whizzed past. Everything was so incredibly different. The houses, cars, fashions, even hairstyles.

And everyone appeared to be in a hurry, rushing from one place to the next as if they too were being chased by a deadly vampire, even as many of them had tiny, cordless phones pressed against their ears.

I exhaled softly, wishing I had nothing more to worry about than a career, a wife and family, and that I’d met Maya under any other circumstances than we had. But mostly I wished vampires had stayed in folklore and not reality.

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