9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Cora

Once she was alone, Cora locked her door, secured all the windows, then spent an hour in the shower. It felt like she had to remove all the grime and dirt in layers, but by the time she emerged, she felt much better. Another meal and a good night's sleep, and she’d be good as new.

Except there was a weird ache in her chest that wouldn’t go away. It had started the moment she’d watched Pike drive away and only gotten worse over time. It was almost ten at night now and instead of feeling tired, she was wide awake and jittery, as if she’d downed an entire pot of coffee.

Lying in bed and staring into the dark wasn’t going to do her any good, so she decided maybe a mug of tea and a boring documentary would do the trick. Throwing off the covers, she unplugged her cell and pulled on a comfy bathrobe. She didn't bother turning on any lights until she was in the living room, and then she only flipped the switch for the small set of recessed lights that illuminated her bookshelf covered wall.

That provided enough light for her to see the figure standing perfectly still in the living room, watching her with a blank expression.

Screaming in surprise, Cora grabbed the closest thing at hand, a brass bookend, and threw it with all her force. The person plucked it out of the air, tilted his head in confusion, then dropped to his knees and watched her with unblinking eyes.

By now, she realized it was Kimble standing there. Adrenaline was still coursing through her system, and her heart was pounding as she pressed a hand to her chest and sagged against a nearby bookshelf.

“Fuck, Kimble,” she breathed. “You’re lucky I didn’t have a gun.”

Kimble gave her a small, apologetic smile. “Flock. Safe.”

Cora shook her head. Had she really been expecting more? Straightening away from the shelf, she gestured for Kimble to get up.

“Don’t kneel like that. It makes me feel like I’m demanding weird things from you or something.” She refused to acknowledge that she was glad he was here. If she called Pike, the bear would probably come over as well. By then, it would be too late for them to leave so they’d need to spend the night.

She might not have planned to invite them over, but she was ready to take advantage of the situation.

The vampire got to his feet slowly, keeping his hands clasped together in front of him. Holding out his hands, he smiled eagerly.

“Flock.”

Cora watched as he opened his hands to reveal a piece of jewelry. It looked like a bronze disk with a garnet or ruby set in the center. The entire thing was about an inch in diameter and etched with symbols.

“What the flocking flock?” Cora asked with a laugh at her bad joke. “I hope you didn’t steal that.”

Kimble shook his head and moved his hands closer to her, offering her the necklace. “Tool-gift for human flock.”

Cora blinked at him, impressed with the sentence. “That was a lot of words, good job!”

The compliment didn’t affect Kimble; his focus never wavered from getting her to take the piece of jewelry.

“Tool-gift for human flock,” he repeated and offered it again. He must’ve practiced those words to say to her.

“You don’t have to give me gifts,” Cora said. “Especially not jewelry. I’m not really a jewelry person. ”

Even as she said the words, she plucked the necklace from Kimble’s hand. It was surprisingly cool to the touch considering Kimble had been grasping it in his hands.

“It looks old, like an antique,” she murmured, examining the intricate carvings on the face of it, forming circles around the stone. It reminded her of the cuneiform writing she’d seen as a kid during a school trip to a museum.

The chain was made of the same metal as the disk with an unfamiliar clasp that took her a few tries to get undone. It didn’t help that Kimble was intensely focused on her the entire time, as if he was trying to push her to move faster with the power of his gaze alone.

Getting the clasp closed was as hard as getting it open but when it locked in place, she felt a flash of static electricity wash over her skin. That wasn’t the only weird thing, the disk got hot. Not warm but hot. It wasn’t enough to be uncomfortable, but it was noticeable. Within seconds, the heat was gone. The disk hung down past her collarbone and felt so light it might as well have not been there.

Pressing a palm over it, she refused to think about the significance of the gift, and her eagerness to take it. She liked the idea of jewelry but had never worn it much. However, she couldn’t imagine taking this piece off.

Pressing her palm over it, she smiled up at Kimble. “This is one of the nicest things anyone has ever given me.”

Kimble beamed and lowered his face to hers. “Flock,” he whispered, and she could hear the devotion and love behind those words.

The urge to say something stupid like I love you too pressed against the back of her throat, but she stifled the words. Swallowing hard, she pressed her lips against his.

A happy sigh came out of Kimble as he opened his mouth and invited her to deepen the kiss. Swept up in the moment, Cora slid her tongue in his mouth and found his fangs half descended.

Running the tip of her tongue over them, she shivered. The thought of him sinking those fangs into her made her want to press his face to her neck. She’d never understood why so many people swooned over vampires until now!

She had no idea how long they stood there kissing. She tangled her fingers into his messy black hair to hold his head still while they kissed. With a soft groan, Kimble wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight against his body, then stood up. Her feet left the ground as he effortlessly held her.

She could feel his lean muscle through his thin t-shirt. She wanted to run her hands over his body and when she was done doing that, she wanted to go back and do it again with her tongue.

The first indication that Kimble wasn’t feeling well was when he swayed a little. She wouldn’t have noticed except when it happened again, he abruptly ended the kiss and set her down. Blinking rapidly, he opened his mouth to talk and then went corpse white.

“Sit down before you fall,” Cora ordered, grabbing his hands from around her and leading him to her couch. They were nearly there when Kimble’s legs gave out. He crashed painfully to his knees.

“Are you hurt?” Cora asked, dropping to one knee next to him. Kimble looked up and shook his head, but his gaze wasn’t right. He didn’t seem to be able to focus on her.

“You need blood,” she realized. “Can you get on the couch if I push it closer? Once I’ve got you comfortable, I’ll call Pike. He can tell me where to order the blood from. You’re going to be fine, Kimble. I’ll take care of you.”

Kimble managed a half smile before his eyes rolled back and he slumped sideways. Cora wasn’t fast enough to catch his head before it hit her hardwood floors.

“Damn,” she muttered, staring at the unconscious vampire. “If this keeps up, I'm going to make you wear a helmet all the time.”

***

Pike arrived less than a minute after the blood delivery guy dropped off a little cooler packed full of bags of blood. The moment Cora opened the door, he rushed to Kimble’s side.

“Why do you keep doing this to me?” he whispered, picking up one of Kimble’s limp hands. “I swear I'm going to be the first shifter in history that has a heart attack.”

Carrying the cooler to them, Cora took a spot on Kimble’s other side. “I got up to make myself some tea and found him in my living room. I don’t know how long he’s been here. ”

“He wasn’t home when I got there, so your guess is as good as mine.” Pike tried to smile, but the remnants of his earlier fear made the smile look forced. “Have you fed him yet?”

“No,” Cora said, opening the cooler and handing one of the bags to Pike. “It just arrived.”

Accepting the bag, Pike slipped his big hand under Kimble’s head and lifted. Pressing the bag to Kimble’s mouth, Pike whispered pleas for him to eat.

The vampire didn’t move.

“Should we open the bag and pour it in his mouth?” Cora asked.

“That doesn’t work,” Pike said with a tired sigh. “He chokes on it. Would you talk to him too? It might help.”

Putting her mouth close to Kimble's ear, she spoke in a calm but firm voice. “Kimble, I need you to open your mouth and bite into that bag right now. If you don’t, I’m going to be pissed.”

Kimble jerked slightly and opened his mouth. Pike was able to maneuver the bag between his lips and press it up onto his half-descended fangs.

“Drink it,” Cora ordered. She grabbed one of his hands in hers and held tight. “Do it, Kimble. Drink!”

Her commanding tone worked, as Kimble’s fangs fully descended, and he started to weakly suckle. Cora heard Pike breathe out a sigh of relief.

“Tough love,” Pike murmured. “I like it.”

Cora grinned. “We can’t all be big softies like you.”

When she straightened up, she found Pike regarding her with a longing expression. “It’s going to be a rough night. He’s not going to want to stay at my place. I don’t know why he’s so depleted from simply traveling from home to here, but it’s going to be almost impossible to keep him contained until sunrise.”

“I think he might have robbed a jewelry store on the way here,” Cora said, tugging the disk out from under her shirt. “He gave me this before he collapsed. Even if it’s stolen, I’m not kicking out the guy who brought me something pretty I actually like. With your help, we can board up the windows, and he’ll be as safe here as he would be at your apartment.”

Pike’s expression turned ecstatic. “We can stay?”

“For tonight at least,” Cora amended quickly .

“That’s fine,” Pike assured her. “I’ve been living one night at a time for nine months. I can keep doing it for as long as you want.”

His eagerness made her feel guilty. “I might not be sure about being part of the flock, but I’m determined to help you two. You’re important to me. I'm just not sure how important yet.”

Pike nodded his head. “That’s fair. More than fair. I bet a lot of other humans wouldn’t be so accepting so quickly.”

Noticing that Kimble had stopped drinking with the bag only half empty, Cora squeezed his hand again. “Keep going, Kimble. Finish this bag and then you can sleep.”

“We’re going to stay with you Kimble,” Pike added. “We’re all going to stay together all night.”

Kimble made a weak, happy sound and started sucking again. It took another five minutes of their encouragement, but he finally finished the bag.

“Should we try for another?” she asked.

Plucking a pillow from the couch, Pike put it under Kimble and then lowered his head. “Not right away. Let's start getting the house vampire-safe and try feeding him another bag later. He’s so depleted it’s going to take most of tonight and tomorrow to bring him back.”

Cora couldn’t feel the weight of her necklace on her skin, but it weighed on her mind. “Do you think he did something bad for the necklace and that’s why he’s so weak?”

“Show it to me again,” Pike requested and then leaned in close when she pulled it back out from under her shirt. “That’s magic. I don’t know what kind or what it does, but it smells powerful. However he got that, it probably wasn’t by force. He must have traded for it and that’s why he’s like this.”

“Should I take it off?” Cora asked. It felt wrong to remove it, but she shouldn’t be playing around with magical items she didn’t understand.

“Kimble wouldn’t have given it to you if it was dangerous to any of us,” Pike assured her.

“I wish I could’ve told him not to do whatever he did,” Cora murmured. “I feel guilty as fuck.”

Reaching across Kimble’s supine body, Pike took one of her hands in his. “Don’t. When Kimble gets an idea in his head, there is no stopping him. ”

Because she hated feeling guilty or helpless, Cora focused on practical matters. “Come on, I’ve got some sheets of plywood in the shed out back and all the tools we’ll ever need in the work van. Let’s play post-apocalypse and zombie proof this house!”

Pike laughed. “You’re strange, and I love it!”