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.“So, what shall we do with him?” Joseph asked.Marcus smiled.“Carlos?”BOUND IN BLOODJ.P.Bowie143Carlos pulled Martin to his feet then pushed him into Joseph’s arms.“Kill him,” he said.“No, no, no!” Martin whirled away out of Joseph’s waiting embrace and ran smack into Marcus who snapped at him, fangs flashing.Hysterical now, Martin tried again to run for the door, but this time Roger and Micah grabbed him and led him back in front of Carlos.“Please, no…”Chris tugged on Carlos’ arm.“Carlos, he’s scared enough.”Carlos grinned at him, showing just the tips of his fangs.“You think? Then I’ll let you decide his fate.”“Just do what Joseph did to the other one,” Chris said.“That seemed to work okay.”“Boring,” Roger protested.“I say we carve him up!”“Ugh, no.” Micah grimaced.“You want that blood in you? Yuck.”“Please,” Martin whimpered again.“Oh, for the love of the gods,” Joseph muttered.“Do something, Carlos.His constant pleading is bad for my nerves.”“If you insist.” Carlos reached for Martin and lifted him up with one hand on the hunter’s collar until their eyes were level with each other.“You have no idea how I have longed for this moment,” Carlos said, his voice low and venomous.“There was a time when I dreamed of all the many ways I could make one of your kind suffer.To make you pay, as it were, for the death of a loved one, and now that I have you here in my grasp…” He pulled Martin’s knife from inside his coat, the one Martin had used in his attempt to kill Carlos, and held it for the quaking man to see.“Poetic justice, is it not?” Carlos said quietly.“To die with your own knife imbedded in your throat?”Martin squealed with terror.His pale eyes grew huge as the silver blade glinted in the half light.Chris tugged on the tall vampire’s arm again.“Carlos, he’s not worth it.Just make him forget all about us, and let’s get out of here.”Carlos nodded.“Consider yourself lucky tonight, hunter.Christopher has saved your worthless life.” He fixed Martin with another riveting stare then, after a moment, he let the terrified man fall to the floor where he lay in a crumpled heap.“Not your average fearless vampire hunter,” Roger remarked through his laughter.BOUND IN BLOODJ.P.Bowie144“Don’t think he’ll be doing much hunting in the future,” Micah said.He looked over at Chris.“So, you all right after all this?”Chris nodded.“I think so—though I feel like I’ll wake up any minute and find this was all just a dream.” He gazed up into Carlos’ eyes.“And I hope like hell it isn’t.”“Well…” Marcus chuckled and put his hand on Roger’s shoulder.“I think our work here is done.I suggest we go home and enjoy some wine and each other’s company.” Chris gaped open mouthed as Marcus and Roger rose into the air, hand in hand, disappearing through the hole torn into the roof, followed a second later by Joseph and Micah.Carlos smiled at Chris’ amazement.“Are you ready for this?” he asked, drawing Chris into his arms.Chris wound his arms around Carlos’ neck, kissing him long and hard.“With you, I’m ready for anything.” He felt himself secured in a tight embrace, then, slowly at first, they rose into the air, leaving Martin to gaze upwards at them with uncomprehending eyes.The night breeze was cool against Chris’ bare skin, and when he dared to open his eyes, he saw the lights of Los Angeles beneath him as he and Carlos glided over the city towards the hills.Despite everything he had witnessed in the past hour or so, all of it still seemed totally unbelievable, like it belonged in a dream, but Chris knew he wasn’t dreaming.The press of Carlos’ powerful body on his, the strong arms wrapped around him was all the proof he needed to know he was wide awake, and that knowledge filled him with an elation he had never before experienced.“Can we go to my place first?” he shouted above the rushing of wind around them.“I need to get dressed.”Carlos pressed his lips to Chris’ ear.“If we do that, we might not make it to our friends’house.”Chris turned to grin at him.“That would be all right, too.”BOUND IN BLOODJ.P.Bowie145Chapter SeventeenOnce safely inside Chris’ apartment, they lost no time in making for the bedroom.But once there, Carlos surprised Chris by taking a robe from the closet and wrapping it around Chris’ almost naked body.“So you won’t distract me while we talk,” Carlos said with a gentle smile.“But I want to distract you,” Chris protested, trying to shuck off the robe.Carlos held it firmly in place then bent his head to kiss Chris lightly on his lips.“There are things you should know before we go further.”“I think I just found out the most important thing about you,” Chris said, gazing into the golden-brown depths of Carlos’ eyes and feeling a visceral thrill in the pit of his stomach.“And you are not afraid?”“Of you?” Chris hesitated.“I was.I remember being afraid when you first told me, but now, what I’m more afraid of is losing you or of not remembering you.These past few days seemed empty.I knew I was missing something.I just didn’t know what it was.” He reached up to touch Carlos’ face.“And now, I know it was you and the times we spent together, how happy I was, and how much I loved you.Still love you.You’re not going to take that away from me again, are you?”“Not unless you wish it.”“I don’t!”Carlos cupped Chris’ face in his hands and kissed him again gently.“You must understand there will be difficulties ahead of us.Your friends and your parents cannot be told of what I am.”Chris nodded.“I understand.I just don’t want to lose you, Carlos.” He paused for a moment, thinking.“Am I right in guessing that Ron, the guy who runs that Italian restaurant, isn’t a vampire?”BOUND IN BLOODJ.P.Bowie146“You are correct.” Carlos sat on the bed next to Chris and drew him into his arms.“Ron is still mortal.My cousin’s lover Tony is also mortal—although to be honest, I feel there is a need for him to accept the change soon.”“Why?”“He has been with Andorra a long time.A very long time.Longer than I can remember any mortal surviving the passage of time without the change.”“How long?”“Over one hundred years.”Chris’ eyes grew big as he stared at Carlos.“How…how old are you?”“I was born in the seventeenth century.”“Oh, wow.” Chris remembered a remark Roger had made in the restaurant the night he’d first met Carlos’ friends.About Marcus and Joseph being older than God.He’d thought it strange then, and now—“Marcus was a Roman centurion,” Carlos said, answering Chris’ unspoken question.“And you can read my mind, too.”“Yes.”“So Ron will have to change eventually?”“If he wishes to remain with Jean-Claude, then yes.But there are many more years before he must make that decision.”“How did you become a vampire?”“By foolishly not listening to my cousin Andorra’s warning.” Quickly, Carlos related the events that had changed his life forever.Chris listened with a sense of awe.Yes, there were hundreds more questions he had, and he didn’t doubt that some of the answers would leave his mind reeling [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]