Vampires Need Not…Apply? (Accidentally Yours #4)(19)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing. I just think it’s amazing. For most humans, elevated pregnancy hormones make them more cautious and protective. But you, you turn into a goddamned daredevil!” Ixtab said.

Awkward silence.

“Evel Knievel rode a motorcycle, not a barrel,” Penelope said quietly.

“Oh. What. Ever! The point is you have more than yourself to think about now.”

“I know. That’s why I’m here in New York. I need to see him. I need to fix this. Not for me, but for the baby, too. It deserves a chance to have its real father.”

“No! Dammit. It deserves to live, which it won’t if you go anywhere near Kinich. Besides, you’re forgetting that he doesn’t want to see you. He doesn’t want to risk hurting you and the baby.”

Long pause. “You’re right,” she said with a heavy sigh. “I know you’re right.” Long pause. “Can’t I talk to him on the phone? Can’t he at least say it to my face? Or ear. Crap. Whatever!”

I tried that. He said hearing your voice would send him into a frenzy. “What’s the point? He’s only going to tell you what I’ve already said. Give him time, Penelope, and I’m sure—” Sobs broke out on the other end of the phone.

Normally, crying humans didn’t bother Ixtab much, but for some reason, it really got under her skin when Penelope did it.

Maybe you really care for her?

What? Me?

Ha. Never.

Okay. Maybe a little. Ixtab tapped her foot on the cold concrete. Okay. A lot. “Fine. I’ll go to his apartment and get him on the phone, but don’t come near his place.”

“I’m staying upstairs with you at Helena’s,” Penelope said.

“That’s too close.”

“Ixtab, stop. You’re not my mother.”

Clearly not. Ixtab was far from being an angel. “You’re absolutely right. If she were here now, she’d…” What kind of punishment would an angel dole out? “She’d… poke you in the eye! Uh-huh! That’s right.”

Penelope made a little caah “whatever” sound.

“You know, Penelope, I consider you like a sister. Only a less annoying, mortal-ish version with a heart. And a conscience. But clearly the Creator didn’t pluck you from the brainy branch. Did he? Kinich. Is. A. Vampire. One who would like nothing more than to gobble you up like a ten-year-old holding a hand-dipped waffle cone filled with birthday cake, M&M’s, and topped with vanilla ice cream. And video tokens. Well, maybe they wouldn’t eat the tokens, but you get the gist.”

“Ixtab, I can’t help it. My brain says stay away, but everything else says to go to him, that it will all work out if I trust him, if I trust our love. I didn’t do that before when I should have, and it only made things worse.”

“Getting anywhere near my brother is a death sentence, Penelope. I’m seventy thousand years old, and you’ll simply need to trust that I know what I’m talking about.”

“Ixtab, you don’t under—”

“But I do. I do—Wait. Why are we even having this conversation? You know, I could never understand people with a death wish. Seriously. You’d never see other animals pulling this crap, but you humans…oy vey. Would a dog base jump off the Empire State Building? How about a chipmunk? You’d never see those furry little bastards doing stupid crap like free-climbing El Capitan, and they’re goddamned nuts. And evil. Oh yes, evil. Which makes Alvin and his sweater-wearing, pop-star buddies all the more disturbing. I digress. Point is, humans who don’t value the gift of life really irk me.”

“I know I’m being an idiot,” Penelope said, “but I can’t think of anything other than Kinich. It’s driving me insane. And in my heart, I know he wouldn’t kill me. It—it doesn’t make sense, Ixy.”

Ixy? Did she just give me my first nickname? Ixtab suddenly felt warm and gooey inside.

“Why would the universe,” Penelope continued, “and fate go through so much to bring us together only for him to kill me? We’re meant to do this—this saving-the-world thing together. Two parts of one soul, Ixtab. You said so yourself. We are mates. And…” She sighed deeply. “I can’t breathe without him. I’m afraid that one day soon, I won’t be able to get out of bed. Or see this through for me or the baby. My soul can’t keep going like this—all broken.”

Dammit. Failure wasn’t an option. Ixtab would have to put Penelope on life support, aka daily cleansing.

“Please, Ixtab. Will you get him to call me?”

“Yes. I’ll go to him now. But stay away from his apartment. Go straight to Helena’s.”

She pressed End and headed back.

Five minutes later, Ixtab stepped off the elevator and heard a wail that turned into a nasty gurgle. The noise came straight from Kinich’s apartment. “Oh, fancy fudge.”

She bolted through the door and found Kinich hunched over a pair of twitching legs. “Kinich! No!”

She tackled him to the floor and felt a spark of pent-up, evil energy release from her body. Christ almighty!

Kinich’s eyes blackened and his lower lip quivered as he stared straight up at her. He seemed just as shocked as she was.

She looked over her shoulder, horrified to see the victim. Antonio? Oh, gods. Please no. He was unconscious and bleeding from the neck.

She launched off of Kinich and scrambled to Antonio. “No. No. No!” She ripped off her veil and reached for his neck, pausing for a moment. Dammit, she had to stop the bleeding, but if she touched him without getting her mind straight, he’d likely die anyway.

She closed her eyes and urged her cells to open, to pull the flow of energy inward instead of readying to release.

Nothing.

Antonio’s breathing shallowed, and his blood ran freely onto the floor.

“Oh, hell.” Maybe she’d be able to pull the bad energy back out before he woke up.

Good f**king luck with that. Once transplanted, dark energy always seemed to stick better to its new home and was ten times harder to pull out.

Doesn’t matter; there is no other choice.

She compressed the wound with the veil. Ixtab gasped and felt her entire body surge with a powerful light that circulated between them. In and out. In and out. It was as if…

Our lights are dancing together.

What the…?

She looked over at Kinich. “Dammit, sunshine. Get your ass on the phone and call that vampy doctor.”