Pulse. Part 5

"I didn't want to scare her!"

"You didn't want to scare her? Vampires are scary! That's what we do! We scare people!"

"She'd had enough scares for a day. No thanks to you."

"She's just a human!"

"Should we talk to her?" Stuart gave an exasperated sigh. "Try and calm her down?"

"You're not afraid the little pixie will stake you?"

"You're a pillock, Jaegar."

Jaegar shrugged and downed the last of his Vampire Wine.

"Let's go together," said Stuart.

They walked up to Aaron's room, and Stuart knocked lightly on the door. "Kalina," he called. "We'd like to talk to you. Rationally."

"Go away!"

"Should we use compulsion on her again?" Jaegar said. "I had to do that twice last night."

"It's not ethical, Jaegar!"

"But making a little girl cry is ethical?"

Kalina swung upon the door. Her hands were on her hips. "You guys don't have to do that creepy eye thing with me," she said. "I can handle it."

Both Jaegar and Stuart started.

Behind her, Aaron's diary lay open on the bed.

"I've been doing a little reading," said Kalina. "Look a I'm not going to lie to you. You guys both weird me the h.e.l.l out. Vampires weird me the heck out. But a I loved Aaron. A lot. Human or vampire. And a it's not ideal a but I guess being a vampire he can't help. Not his fault. All the times he missed my cheerleading practices a probably out flying to a werewolf lair a or whatever. All the times he had to "excuse himself" whenever we got hot and heavy a I thought he was just embarra.s.sed about being a virgin, or weirdly religious, or gay, or something."

Stuart felt supremely uncomfortable; Jaegar was grinning widely.

"Well, at least I know it wasn't because he didn't like the way I smelled." Her weak joke was lost on them.

"Aren't you afraid of us?" Jaegar took a step towards her.

"Well, yeah," said Kalina. "But you haven't killed me yet. And a you loved Aaron too, right? So I'd say you're less scary than Dracula, right now."

"You're very brave," said Stuart.

"I'm not brave," said Kalina. She went over to the photograph of her and Aaron and began fingering the edges. "But Aaron was one of the good guys. That makes you the good guys. And whatever hurt Aaron...they're the ones I don't want to meet in a dark alley."

Stuart and Jaegar exchanged glances.

"All the same," said Kalina. "If you've got a stake or garlic handy, I'll like to keep it with me. Just in case."

chapter 7.

Kalina took Aaron's journals into the living room. She lit two candlesticks and sat at the dining room table, thumbing the pages. "I'm not afraid," she said to Stuart and Jaegar. "I'll read it a right here."

"As you wish," said Stuart. He had not expected this.

He had, on a few but thankfully not too many occasions, been compelled to reveal to humans the existence of vampires. It had always ended badly. With the exception of her initial tears, he thought, Kalina had handled it remarkably calmly. She attacked the problem with the same determination he had seen her exercise in cheerleading practice, when she worked twenty to a hundred times on the same move a the same jump, the same twist, the same twirl in the air. She was not the type to run screaming from a situation, he thought. It was a bravery that unsettled him.

"It's weird," said Jaegar. "Having food around the house." With the exception of Marilee (oh, but he could not think of Marilee!), all the humans that Stuart had spent any significant amount of time with fell neatly into one of two categories. Food a mostly Jaegar's food, for once Stuart got hold of his powers he had stuck nearly exclusively to Vampire Wine and the occasional animal - or s.e.x.

Stuart had been a rake in his day a more romantic than Jaegar, perhaps, but in the end no less promiscuous. The only difference between the two of them was that Stuart sincerely believed he was in love with each woman he met. Jaegar had never lied about his intentions. "They want what I want," he'd say. "And as long as I can keep the thing a secret a keep their reputations pure a I'd say they almost want it more than I do." Some of them, t.i.tillated, had even given up a portion of their blood willingly; although inevitably, Jaegar had taken more than they had offered.

But Kalina was different. She was not dinner; she was not a slave or a concubine. She sat at the dining table ("I a.s.sume you guys have nothing...not-bleeding to eat.") with Aaron's journals spread out before her and a red pen in her hand, highlighting the text, scribbling in its margins, as if she were memorizing its contents for a scholastic exam.

"This place is like home to me," she said, catching them staring. "I was here all the time. I should have told you before." She gave them a wry smile. "Aaron would cook me dinner. But he was always *dieting' - trying to get into the next-lowest weight cla.s.s for wrestling. Just imagine that."

"I miss food sometimes," said Jaegar, putting his feet up on the coffee table. "But blood tastes so much better."

"Can't you make him stop?" said Kalina. She looked up. "Actually, Jaegar, could you come here a second?"

He sauntered over. "Of course, precious," he said. "What can I do for you?"

"Sit down."

He sat and stretched an arm over the back of her chair.

"So, Jaegar, Aaron writes a lot about vampire abilities. They're so interesting. You can fly! You can run faster than the wind."

"We're terribly interesting."

"You can sometimes read minds."

"Only sometimes."

"And -" Kalina looked up. "Apparently you can bend people to your will a just by staring at them. Also known as glamouring. Or compulsion. You can even..." her voice grew more pointed. "You can even, for example, get a woman to fall in love or l.u.s.t with you, kiss her, then erase her memory, so that she forgets anything ever happened a or remembers it as little more than a dream." She fixed her gaze on him. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you, Jaegar?"

"No, of course not!" Jaegar gave her his most winning smile. "I'd never do a thing like that to a pretty young thing like you."

"Good," said Kalina. He felt her digging the point of her stiletto heel into his toe. "Because if I were to ever find out about you doing... anything like that to me, I would stake you right where it hurts the most." She smiled sweetly. "Got it?"

"Only stakes through the heart can kill, my dear."

"I wouldn't want to kill you." She dug her heel in deeper. "I'd just want it to hurt."

She was a feisty one. He'd never had a woman refuse him, not in centuries of living. The sensation was novel to him, exciting.

"Understood, my dear."

"Okay," said Kalina brightly, standing up. "I've had about all I can take for tonight. I'm going to go now. Mind if I take the journals with me."

"As you like," said Jaegar. "Here, let me walk you out."

"Jaegar!" Stuart's voice came warningly from the kitchen. "He's always like this," he said to Kalina.

"So," said Kalina. "Some guys really never do grow up."

She walked out; Jaegar followed her.

He stopped, sniffing the air. Something was wrong; he smelled it before his conscious brain could process her. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Jaegar a for the love of G.o.d a would you quit hitting on me?"

"Get in the house," he said. His voice had grown serious.

"Jaegar a stop it! You're grossing me out."

"Get in the house!" In a single, sweeping motion, he tightened his grip on her and almost threw her past the threshold. "There's danger here!" His voice grew louder.

"Get her on the ground, Stuart. Away from the windows."

What's going on?" cried Kalina, as Stuart pushed her down to the ground.

"Get down!" he cried. "Don't talk. Questions later. Don't move."

Kalina grew silent; her heartbeat seemed to throb louder than the grandfather clock. Fear flooded her veins. Her adrenaline had already been high before that a her exchange with Jaegar had left her invigorated, with a heartbeat faster than she would have cared to admit. She found his advances repulsive; she had no compunctions about letting him know it. And yet there was something about him a his beauty, his arrogance, his louche convictions a that excited her. She was able to tower over most men, intellectually as well as physically. Even with Aaron, she had sometimes seemed like the more mature partner, always cleaning up after his messes. She hated Jaegar a she hated him! And yet she liked that he was able to stand up to her, and she to him. However perverse Jaegar might have been, their exchanges were exciting.

But now she had more important things to worry about. She heard the knell of danger in both brothers' voices; she knew something serious was wrong. A wind like a hurricane burst through the house, shattering the gla.s.s of the windows.

"What's the lookout?" Stuart was calling out.

Jaegar was tense on the threshold. "Three vamps. One in white a a woman. She's the one controlling the weather. A man in black. And a little girl." He turned back.

"Oh, d.a.m.n it. I hate the little girls. They're always the dangerous ones." He tightened his muscles. "Take her to the safe-room."

"Got it." Stuart grabbed hold of Kalina's arms. "You're coming with me."

"I'm guessing these vamps don't drink Vampire Wine," Kalina whispered out between heartbeats. Her fear made it difficult to speak.

"Come on!"

He dragged her through the house, into the study, wresting aside a bookshelf.

"Secret pa.s.sage," he said, as a doorway opened up before them. "Get in there. Don't move until one of us says so."

"Got it." Think, Kalina, think. But she knew all the self-defense training in the world wouldn't help her against vampires.

"Listen, Kalina. If you're beaten a if a vamp gets close enough to drink you a then it's over. And you need to be brave enough not to let them do it. Vampires can't drink dead blood."

"You mean you want me to..."

"Your blood is special, Kalina. If a vamp drinks from you, it's the most dangerous a the single most dangerous thing that could happen. That vamp will become unbeatable. And I'm guessing the vamps outside aren't the ones you want to be able to survive forever."

"My blood is special?" Her mouth fell open.

"It's why we came a no time to explain!"

He pushed her through the doorway and closed the bookcase above her.

Her eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness. Kill herself? If a vamp got close a was that it? She'd have to... No, she wouldn't let herself think about that. She'd just have to make sure a vamp never got close enough. She needed a stake. Her eyes scanned the room for any signs of wood. There was nothing but the wine barrels.

"d.a.m.n it!" she thought. She ran over to the nearest barrel and picked it up, smashing it down to the ground. Nothing happened. "d.a.m.n it!" She tried harder, climbing up on a steel table and throwing the barrel down from a greater height. This time the vessel burst open like a watermelon. She grabbed one of the splintered shards of wood and waited. She could hear the sounds of fighting coming from outside, but couldn't tell who was winning. She held her breath, and waited.

"Kalina," Jaegar's voice came from upstairs. "They're gone. It's fine."

She lit a match, relief flooding her ribcage.

"Jaegar?" she called out.

"We got rid of them."

Kalina made her way upstairs. She looked through a crack in the door.

All she could see were a pair of tiny, child-sized shoes.

"c.r.a.p," she whispered.

"Goody, you're in there!" A gleeful girls' voice called out. "Now we can play!"

There was a loud flash, and suddenly the bookcase was gone. In its place stood a gaunt little girl a looking no more than thirteen years of age a with a cruel smile upon her lips. The force of the magic threw Kalina backwards down the stairs; she doubled over in pain, her hands tight around the stake.

"You do smell awfully good," said the girl. "Pity I'll have to sell you." She gave Kalina a sweet smile as she skipped down the stairs. "But Life's Blood fetches such a good price on the black market."

"Life's Blood?" Kalina jumped to her feet. "I haven't got any of that."

"Of course you have, sweetheart. Right in those pretty little veins of yours." The girl gave Kalina a discomfiting grin. "Can't think why those idiot brothers didn't drink of you first. Maybe they're saving you for a special occasion. Or maybe," she grimaced, "they just like humans. I hear Stuart Greystone is a sun-lover..."

She fixed her stare on Kalina, and Kalina could feel the slow cloud of compulsion slowly coming over her. Your blood is special, Stuart had said. She had to think fast. She held the stake closely behind her back.

"So why don't you drink from me?" said Kalina. "If my blood is so good...you can't resist..."

"Sorry, princess. I need to pay my rent for the next few centuries."