The Vampire Shrink

CHAPTER 5

By the time we left the hospital, the mountain skyline was shimmering in the midst of a breathtaking colour and light show. Brilliant shades of red, orange, blue and purple swirled around and through each other, muting into pinks, peaches and lavenders as shafts of sunlight streamed through openings in the kaleidoscope of colours. Off to the east, faint points of light floating in an indigo void sparkled as the sun retreated behind the towering peaks in the west. Nothing’s as magical as a Rocky Mountain sunset.

We were all exhausted and worried about Emerald, and the ride back to my office was a silent one. It appeared my companions had buried the hatchet because Ronald offered to take Midnight home and she accepted. Before they left I rescheduled Ronald’s appointment and thanked him for being such a big help. He seemed ill at ease with my expression of appreciation, but gave me a tentative smile. I looked forward to finding out if I could help alleviate the sadness I saw behind his warm tawny eyes.

I wrestled with myself about whether I should go up to my office and work for a while or head home to a glass of wine and a hot bath. Guilt won the match and I rode the elevator upstairs, daydreaming about sinking into an aromatic bubble-filled tub.

I was gratified to find several voicemail messages from prospective clients and I sat at my desk for the next hour returning calls and answering emails.

I had just decided to pack it in for the evening when my office door opened and two of the whitest men I’d ever seen walked in. I don’t mean just pale, like the British actors on the BBC, but chalk-white. Unlike the makeup Midnight used, the tone of their complexions hadn’t come from a tube. Suffice it to say they weren’t sun worshippers.

One of the men was tall, dark-haired, and handsome and the other short, odd-looking, and muscle-bound.

Startled, I asked, ‘May I help you?’

How did they get in? I’m positive I locked those doors.

No response.

They ambled in and circled around, prowling through the couches and chairs in the middle of the room, their eyes fixed on me.

The shorter of the two came and sat on the corner of my desk and leered at me. He smiled a closed-mouth smile and reached out a tattooed hand to touch my hair. I jerked away.

He wore a sleeveless T-shirt that showed exaggerated biceps and triceps rippling across his upper arms. His hair was that artificial colour of burgundy so popular with the goths, and it flowed down his upper body like stringy octopus arms. His eyes were so light-blue they were almost white. He reminded me of a demented miniature muscle man – a nightmare come to life.

These guys made my stomach hurt. It wasn’t only that they’d invaded my privacy, or that they appeared dangerous, or even that they could assault me at any moment. It was something else, some basic preverbal fear that caused the hairs on my arms to stand up and the warning system in my head to fire a red alert. I kept having the strange, less-than-comforting intuition that death was in the room, and my usually manageable radar was picking up so much fearful information that it plunged into overload and threatened to shut down.

I glanced over at the phone on the far corner of my desk and began sliding my hand in that direction.

The tall man stepped around behind me, put his hands underneath my jaw and pulled my head back, somehow rendering me powerless. He bent down, brought his mouth next to my ear, and whispered, in a very sensuous voice, ‘I’ve heard so much about you, I thought it was time we were formally introduced.’ He grabbed the hand moving towards the phone.

‘Who are you? What do you want?’ I tried not to sound as worried as I felt.

His hand trailed across the hair at the back of my head and he moved to sit directly in front of me on my desk, jamming his legs into the space under the desk with mine.

‘No!’ I stifled a scream and reacted instinctively, making an unsuccessful attempt to push away. He bent in close, his hands gripping both sides of my chair and effectively blocked any move on my part. I was glad I’d worn a trouser-suit instead of a skirt, because I wanted as many layers between us as possible.

Think, Kismet. Don’t let the lunatic know how afraid you are. Don’t give him that power.

He lowered his mouth to within an inch of mine and I twisted my head to the side, shifting away from his hot, unpleasantly sweet breath. He grabbed my chin between his thumb and first finger, holding tightly enough that I knew there’d be bruises, and forced my face back level with his. ‘I’m Bryce. I believe you’ve heard of me.’

‘Stop it! Let go of me—’

He swallowed my words with his mouth, clamping his lips on mine with enough pressure to cause my teeth to break the skin on the inside of my lip. Then he sucked my lower lip into his mouth and held it between his teeth until I gave an involuntary yelp of pain. Only then did he pull back with an evil grin and gazed at me with his dark-green eyes, which were suddenly magnetic. I tried to look away, but I couldn’t. I literally couldn’t. It was as if his eyes were pulling me. I managed to briefly squeeze my eyelids shut, but he dug his fingers into my chin again, jerking my head roughly. ‘Open your eyes,’ he roared.

My breath caught and my eyelids flew up. His eyes were directly in front of mine, the green darker than before, almost black. I fell into them and the edges of my vision blurred. A strange haze settled over everything as part of my mind drifted off on a cloud.

I felt as if my arms and legs were encased in armour, that even thinking about moving would require way too much effort, and that it really wouldn’t matter because they were too heavy to lift anyway. Nothing really mattered.

Bryce watched me with a smirk. ‘See? You’re feeling much more relaxed now. Aren’t you sorry you made such a fuss?’

‘What do you want?’ I mumbled.

I made what I thought was another valiant effort to raise myself out of the chair. Since nothing happened, I could only assume the message hadn’t travelled from my brain to my body. My muscles were pudding and my mouth was dry as the Sahara. Maybe I’d had a stroke and was spending my last moments on Earth in the company of a psychopath.

He laughed. ‘I enjoy it when you struggle. It excites me. I’m not sure you really want to know what I want. Let’s just keep it a surprise, shall we?’

Bryce lifted a piece of his long hair and brushed it against my cheek. ‘You really are quite lovely. All that long, dark hair and sexy eyes – I can see why Devereux is attracted to you. I’m here because I overheard him talking about you to my little servant, Midnight. I think he’s quite smitten with you, and nothing would make me happier than to keep Devereux from having something he wants or, even better, to take it away from him once he has it.’

‘No one has me,’ I said, despite the fact that I had no idea what he was talking about and the part of my mind that had floated away was still missing in action. False bravado was one of my favourite defences. Never let the violently delusional know you’re afraid.

All this time the smaller man had been laughing and slapping his leg with one hand. I slanted a glance at him and he showed me his top row of teeth, exposing a very real-looking set of fangs. He definitely had the best pair of fakes I’d seen so far. I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction he thought I’d have to his cosmetic dentistry, but I obviously didn’t give him whatever facial expression he wanted because he lurched at me. I recoiled from his touch.

‘I could rip your throat out with these,’ he growled.

Abnormally fast, Bryce reached over, grabbed the small man by the throat and threw him onto the floor. ‘Leave her alone, Raleigh. I told you – she’s mine.’

Raleigh glared at Bryce, making noises that sounded more animal than human. Then he got up off the floor, stumbled to the nearest couch and stretched out, lacing his fingers behind his head.

She’s mine? What does that mean? Am I his to harm, or—? This is bad. I wish I could find the ‘on’ switch for my brain.

I hadn’t worked with any physically dangerous or psychotic clients since my residency at the psychiatric ward during graduate school. Now I tried to remember the skills I’d learned for dealing with them. Since I’d seen Bryce throw the small man around like a cardboard cutout, I knew I had no chance of doing anything that required physical strength. I thought my only hope would be to use my tools as a therapist. Maybe I could reason with him. Or maybe I should just keep my mouth shut. I definitely needed to keep a clear head and that had become a problem.

Bryce turned his attention back to me and searched for something in my expression. He leaned in, ran his tongue over my lips and then kissed me again.

I twisted my face away. ‘Stop it! Get away from me!’

He angrily shoved my chair back from the desk, stood up, and lifted me, holding me like a child in his arms.

I pushed ineffectually against his chest and kicked my legs, trying to get him to put me down, and for one sick moment I was reminded of a scene from that old science fiction movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, where the robot picks up the woman and she can’t get away. Bryce felt that cold and alien to me.

I still had little control of my limbs, and I was forced to acknowledge that this situation wasn’t likely to have a happy ending. ‘Let me go! What are you doing?’

He walked me over to a couch back against the far wall. The motions I made with my arms and legs were pitifully useless. I hated feeling helpless. I thought about all the opportunities I’d had to take self-defence classes and how I’d always come up with some excuse to avoid them. I didn’t know if learning to take down a man wearing a big foam helmet would have helped me fight off these two vampire wannabes, but it would have been better than nothing.

‘Let’s have a therapy session.’ He sat on the couch and held me tight in his lap. I kept pushing against him, getting more and more pissed off about whatever he’d done to cause this bizarre almost-paralysis, but his arms were steel bands. The sweet, coppery smell that rode his breath was stronger now.

‘What do you want? Why did you come here?’ I demanded, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

‘Maybe I need someone to talk to,’ he replied in a fake whining voice. He opened the top button of my blouse and ran his finger across the exposed skin. ‘Maybe I’m just a lonely vampire searching for my soulmate. What do you think?’ He laughed, enjoying some private joke, and then he recovered himself. ‘Actually, I’ve already found my soulmate, but Devereux isn’t cooperating. In fact, he was obsessed with you, even before you physically showed up. How pathetic is that?’

Devereux? His soulmate?

‘But never fear,’ he said. ‘I will deal with you and show him the error of his ways. He might be angry with me for a while, but he’ll come around. Now, let’s talk about you. I hear you don’t believe in vampires. I thought I’d change your mind. Watch.’

He lifted his top lip so I could see the upper row of teeth and as I watched, his canines grew longer and longer until they protruded a good quarter- to a half-inch below his other teeth. Then they contracted back up into their normal place and extended again, as if he could will them to move in and out of his gums. He grinned at me. ‘How do you explain that?’

Shit. Another psycho magician.

‘I can’t explain it.’ I stared at his mouth, trying to figure out how the trick fangs worked.

Keep him talking . . .

‘Go ahead,’ he leered, his eyes sparkling. ‘Touch them.’

Touch them? I wasn’t going to stick my fingers in some psychopath’s mouth. He’d probably bite me. I didn’t want to think about where those teeth had been.

‘No. That isn’t necessary – I believe you.’ Placate the lunatic.

‘Oh, but I insist.’ He grabbed my hand and forced it up towards his mouth, laying the tip of my index finger on one of his fangs. It contracted while I touched it and I was able to snatch my hand away. Maybe my instincts could override whatever he’d done to me after all.

He sneered. ‘I’m old enough to have total control of my fangs, but if you get me aroused or angry enough they seem to have a mind of their own. And right now I’m feeling very aroused.’

Breathe, Kismet. Stay calm.

‘You don’t have to hurt me. Why don’t we talk about your feelings—?’

‘I don’t think so.’ He grabbed my hand again and shoved it down into his lap, which was filled with a large erection. ‘Let me show something else with a mind of its own.’

Oh no. This can’t be happening.

In one quick motion he had me lying flat on the couch with him on top of me, roughly pressing his lips against mine. Bile rising in my throat, I pushed at him again, my muscles finally deciding to cooperate, but he grabbed my wrists, holding them over my head in a vice-like grip as he forced his tongue into my mouth. Terror flooded my brain. After a few seconds, he kissed his way down to my neck and then, with a flash of pain, he bit me.

I screamed and kicked and shoved against him in a futile effort to dislodge an immovable object. I tried to raise my knee to administer the only effective self-defence strategy I knew, but he weighed on me like a slab of cement and I thought that maybe I wouldn’t have to worry about him raping me because he’d probably crush or smother me first.

He made loud sucking sounds at the wound on my neck and I started to feel light-headed. Suddenly the pain stopped and I opened my eyes, which I hadn’t realised I’d closed. He wasn’t on top of me any more. I heard male voices yelling, and the sound of furniture being pushed around.

I sat up, feeling like the morning after, and saw Devereux and Bryce struggling with each other, dancers in a strange ballet. Raleigh was nowhere in sight.

Watching the two of them was surprisingly entrancing and I couldn’t shift my eyes away. It was as if they moved in slow-motion. I was fascinated by Devereux’s light-blond hair contrasted against Bryce’s dark, silky veil. I hallucinated that their hair was flowing out around their heads as if they were submerged underwater and, while some part of me knew that couldn’t really be happening, I was lost in the spectacle.

The harsh sound of Devereux’s angry words jarred me out of my trance.

‘If you touch her again, I will kill you,’ he bellowed in an unnaturally amplified voice. ‘She is under my protection now. Ignore that at your peril.’ He released Bryce, who laughed in his face and then vanished.

Literally vanished.

I stared at the empty place where Bryce had been and tried to coax the neurons in my brain to fire in some helpful way. I blinked quickly a few times to clear the fog. Perfect. I’d finally lost my mind.

That didn’t just happen. I must be sleeping.

Devereux straightened his clothing, smoothed his hair back from his face and walked over to me. He sat down, opened his arms and I sagged against him, forgetting for a moment that I had my suspicions about his mental state, and allowed myself to be held. I could hear his heart beating and felt his warm breath on the side of my face.

We just sat like that, with him holding me, collapsed and shaking against him, for several minutes.

‘Did he hurt you?’ Devereux asked. ‘I could not live with myself if I failed to arrive in time to keep you safe. I never thought Bryce would risk my anger by coming here. I made a terrible mistake. Please forgive me. I will pay much closer attention in the future.’

‘Thank you, I’m okay,’ I mumbled, but I didn’t know what I was thanking him for. Had he appointed himself my bodyguard? Was he saying that he was the reason I’d been attacked? Since Bryce said Devereux was his soulmate, was this some kind of lovers’ quarrel I’d got in the middle of?

‘No, it is not a lovers’ quarrel,’ Devereux said, responding to my unstated question. ‘We have never been lovers. Bryce refuses to accept the fact that I do not return his feelings. I am not as he wishes me to be, despite his many attempts to sway me. I have no judgements against bisexuality, but that is not my preference. His irrational jealousy has caused him to wreak havoc in the vampire community. He believes if he takes over the coven, he will coerce me into doing his bidding. He is wrong. He has made a fatal error now by involving you.’

Involving me? That didn’t sound good. Devereux stroked my hair, and I surrendered to the calming rhythm of his hand. I didn’t know how to make sense out of anything that had happened. I prided myself on my logical mind, and none of the puzzle pieces fit. My body was in shock and the wound on my neck throbbed. I couldn’t really have seen someone disappear before my eyes. That was impossible. It was probably a delusion triggered by the attack. But it had looked so real.

I was grateful to find that all my clothes were still buttoned, snapped and zipped. Thankfully, Bryce hadn’t had the time to follow through on his intention to penetrate more than my neck.

I’d listened to many rape and assault victims talk about their horrible experiences, but I’d never truly understood how it felt to be at the mercy of someone who meant you harm. I sat there drowning in an unfamiliar mishmash of feelings, second-guessing myself about what I could have done to talk him out of hurting me. Or, at the very least, what I could have done to shake myself loose from the effects of whatever drug he must have slipped me.

Maybe it was some new version of the date-rape drug that could be passed along by body fluids. That would explain why he focused on my mouth so much – he wanted to make sure I got the whole dose. Yeah, that must have been it. Right. Even I didn’t believe that.

I knew better than to blame myself for any part of what had happened. I was well aware how damaging it was to blame the victim for her own victimisation. But I couldn’t sort out the avalanche of emotions.

I should have been able to do something. What was all my training for if I couldn’t handle one mentally ill maniac?

But damn it to hell – I couldn’t move my arms and legs! What the hell kind of weirdness was that? Were all vampire wannabes closet hypnotists? Had he pressed a nerve in my spine to cause paralysis?

How dare those assholes waltz in here and make me feel unsafe in my own office? Unsafe in my own life?

I’d never thought of myself as someone who’d ever need to be rescued. I didn’t like the feeling.

Devereux gently turned my head and inspected the bite on my neck.

Something about what he found made him frown. ‘You have lost some blood. You will probably feel dizzy for a while. May I?’

He moved in closer for what I thought was a better view and I felt his tongue brushing against the bleeding holes in my neck. Outraged, I pulled away and yelled, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ I immediately felt woozy from the sudden movement, but I’d be damned if anybody else was going to snack on me tonight.

‘I have stopped the bleeding. One true thing about the vampire legends is that we have a substance in our saliva that helps wounds heal faster. And, of course, blood is a wonderful delicacy and I would never pass up the opportunity to partake. It is my nature.’

Something about the words ‘it is my nature’ roused me from my stupor. Suddenly it all came back to me. I was in my office and Devereux was one of the lost souls pretending to be vampires. And I’d been attacked by a lunatic.

‘I am not pretending to be anything,’ he said. ‘I apologise for invading your mind, but we do not have the luxury of time. Bryce is indeed a lunatic, and you need to fortify yourself with facts. Facts are important to you, are they not?’

I struggled up from the couch, my face hot with anger, and was just about to vent some of it on Devereux when he stood and picked me up in his arms, all in one invisible movement.

Now, I’m not a small person. In my two-inch heels I could easily reach 5’10’, and no one had ever complained about how I filled out my swimsuit. But for the second time in one night I’d been scooped up like a sack of potatoes and made to feel like a helpless infant. I couldn’t even remember the last time anyone had the nerve to touch me without my permission, but that seemed to be the name of the game with these people.

I pushed against him and, just as with Bryce, it was impossible to wriggle free. His arms were unyielding. Closing my eyes tight to hold back the waterworks I felt gathering there, I tried very hard not to cry, but I was suddenly so exhausted I didn’t know how much longer I could keep everything inside. Part of me just wanted to curl up in his arms and sleep.

‘Please listen now.’ Devereux moved gracefully around the room, apparently trying to soothe me. ‘There is much I need to tell you. We must talk about the dangerous situation you are in. I am grateful you have finally come, but your arrival has inflamed Bryce’s irrational thoughts. I must protect you . . .’

I have finally come? What does that mean?

‘No.’ I shook my head. ‘Please put me down. I’m sure you mean well, but this has been a terrible night and I just want to go home. I appreciate your pulling Bryce off me, and you’ve been very kind, but I’ve had enough.’ What did he mean that I’d finally come? Come from where? The tears I’d been trying to hold back slid down my face and I made a pathetic sniffing sound.

He studied me briefly, lifted my chin up towards him and gently kissed my lips. He pulled back, gazed at me with soft turquoise eyes for a few seconds more, then bent down and kissed me again, lightly at first, then deeper. His lips were warm and silky and, without even thinking about it, I put my arms around his neck and kissed him back.

Hey, wait. I’m kissing a stranger. And liking it. What’s wrong with me?

He let my feet find the floor and wrapped his arms around me, never altering the intensity of the kiss. He brushed his tongue along my lip and I opened my mouth for him. Whatever else he might have been, he was one awesome kisser.

Somebody hose me down, I’m going to spontaneously combust.

We reluctantly pulled our lips apart and he enveloped me into a warm hug. I could feel both of our hearts beating out different rhythms. It occurred to me that my sensing Devereux’s heartbeat was proof he wasn’t a vampire. Everyone knew the dead had no heartbeat.

The ridiculousness of that thought made me want to laugh out loud – or scream. I didn’t know which was more upsetting: my granting validity to the possibility of the existence of vampires or kissing a beautiful nut-case. I was in deep shit any way you sliced it.

He stepped back from me and brushed a stray lock of hair from my face. ‘I think you have had enough excitement for one night. Please allow me to drive you home. I promise I will be a perfect gentleman.’

I was going to argue that I could drive myself, but it just wasn’t true. I could either take Devereux up on his offer or call a cab, and since I needed my car the next morning, the choice was clear.

Well, there you have it: if Devereux was really a vampire he wouldn’t know how to drive, right? Don’t they all sprout bat wings and fly?

Devereux chuckled softly. I was going to ask him what was so funny, but my body’s lack of coordination suddenly captured my attention.

I had intended to walk over to my desk and gather my things to leave, but even that small attempt to move under my own power proved to be too much for my legs and my knees buckled. Devereux caught me and lifted me into his arms again. I’m not saying it wasn’t pleasant, but I felt like a limp rag doll and I didn’t understand what had happened to cause me to be so lethargic. ‘What’s wrong with me? Why am I so weak? What did Bryce do to me?’

‘He bespelled you and then he drank your blood.’

‘What? You’re kidding, right?’ Oh, please, no more vampire fantasies. My brain is going to explode.

‘No. I am very serious. Bryce is a master of enchantment. We all have the ability to use our eyes to entrance mortals, but Bryce takes special pleasure in manipulation and control. He is very powerful and, to use psychology terms, he altered your brain waves. That is why you feel so confused: he surely had intended to drain you to near-death, and he would have had I not arrived when I did.’

Reality check.

‘Do you mean he used his fake fangs to make holes in my neck and actually sucked my blood out and swallowed it?’ My professional self refused to accept what Devereux was telling me. I didn’t want him to be crazy.

He raised one of his perfectly arched eyebrows and stared down at me for a few seconds. ‘Humans have the most remarkable ability to ignore what they do not wish to see. The stronger the mind, the harder it is to accept what is hiding in the shadows. I would rather we had the time to introduce you slowly to the ideas you resist, but that is not possible now. This situation is not something that will go away like a bad dream. Bryce will not stay away. His misguided feelings for me have gone far enough and I must take action. He is destroying the unity of the coven.’

I started to ask more questions, but he shook his head. ‘No, that is enough for tonight.’

He walked me over to my desk, bent down so I could pick up my briefcase and my purse, and we left to find my car.

I must have fallen asleep on the ride to my house because the next thing I knew, we were there and he was lifting me out of the passenger side of my car.

As he carried me up to my front door I asked, ‘How did you know where to go? I didn’t give you directions to my house.’

‘I performed my “little parlour trick”. I can do the same with your alarm code if you wish, or you may simply punch in the numbers.’

I gazed up at his face, decided I didn’t have the energy to argue, entered the code and unlocked my door. We stepped into my living room and I blurted, ‘Hey, I thought vampires could only come in if they were invited.’

The moment I said it, I couldn’t believe it had come out of my mouth. Embarrassment warmed my cheeks. I must have had some kind of head injury or something because I’d never make light of someone’s delusion if I was in my right mind. I’d just flunked Being a Therapist 101.

‘I’m sorry. That was very thoughtless of me.’

He laughed. ‘I am pleased you are getting into the spirit of things. But that particular bit of vampire lore is false – we can come and go as we desire. Where is your bedroom?’

I tensed. ‘My bedroom? Why do you want to know where my bedroom is?’

He stared down at me, the warmth in his eyes replaced by something remote and cold. ‘Yes, it is wise for you to be afraid. No matter how much some of us might wish to pretend, we are not human and we do not live by human rules. We are not humans with fangs. But for tonight, allow me to put your mind at ease. As delightful as it would be to take you to your bedroom and make love to you, I am offering only to carry you to the comfort of your bed. I would be lying, however, if I said I do not hope for an invitation in the future.’

‘Er, thanks?’

He carried me upstairs to my bedroom, held me easily with one arm while he pulled back the bedclothes and laid me down. Then he removed my shoes, covered me with the blankets and gazed into my eyes. The last thing I remember was that wonderful voice saying, ‘Sleep.’