CHAPTER 21. SLOW DANCING
A surging, seething, murmuring crowd of beings human in name only filled the huge room. Rave shook his head as he scanned the jumble of costumed students, wondering what he had gotten himself into. He had mingled with groups of humans before, but never one so large or boisterous. This was not his first new experience with humans since he’d met Leesa, he thought, smiling as he recalled their brief kiss. And he was pretty certain it wouldn’t be his last.
More than a hundred students were dancing to the beat of the classic “Monster Mash,” a song he’d heard many times over the years. He liked the offbeat lyrics and rhythm, and found himself humming as he squeezed his way along the wall past the dance area. He’d avoided the long lines out front by finding an unattended door in the back. The lock had provided little resistance—he simply ripped the door open and slipped inside, the noise covered by the pounding music. Once inside, he used his heat to weld the metal lock back together.
To blend in with the costumed students, he’d borrowed one of Balin’s buckskin outfits. His usual moccasin-style shoes, a pair of buckskin gloves cut off at the fingertips, and a long brown and white eagle feather stuck in a braided headband completed the look. His bronzed complexion only enhanced the effect.
He spotted Leesa near the bar, talking to a guy in a devil costume and a very skimpily dressed girl he recognized as her friend Cali. Leesa looked very sexy in her pirate costume. As always, his inner heat rose a couple of degrees at the sight of her.
Rave had yet to meet Cali, although he had seen her several times with Leesa when he’d been watching her. And Leesa had talked a lot about Cali on their walks. The time had come for him to cease being a phantom boyfriend—for tonight at least. He slowed his pace and approached the three humans. He wasn’t surprised when Leesa was the first to look his way. Her face brightened with a broad smile when she saw him.
He looks amazing, Leesa thought as Rave glided toward her. And those buckskin clothes fit his muscular frame quite nicely, thank you. He even moved like a real Indian, or at least her image of how an Indian moved, formed by movies she and Bradley had watched on television when she was a kid.
As if he could read her thoughts, Rave raised his right palm and grunted, “How.”
She laughed and put her hands on his waist, raising herself onto her toes to kiss his cheek. As soon as her lips touched his skin, the familiar warm tingling shot through her. She let her lips linger there a moment longer than she had intended, then grabbed his left arm in both hands, squeezing his forearm as she introduced him to her friends.
“Hi, Rave,” Cali said, extending her hand. If she noticed his buckskin gloves, she didn’t show it.
“Hi, Cali. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Leesa’s mentioned you once or twice, too,” Cali replied with a grin. “At least, I think you’re the guy she’s always talking about.”
Rave laughed and shook Andy’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Andy.”
“You, too,” Andy said. He ran his fingers across the smooth buckskin covering Rave’s arm. “Great outfit,” he said. “Looks real.”
“It’s real buckskin, if that’s what you mean,” Rave said. “A friend of mine makes them, seldom wears anything else. I borrowed it for the occasion.”
“Cali’s from your neighborhood, Rave,” Leesa said, still clinging to Rave’s arm. “East Hamptom.”
“Uh-oh,” Rave said, smiling and turning toward Cali. “I bet you warned Leesa to keep away from me, huh?”
Cali returned his grin. “Only if you call telling her stories about strange noises, blue fires and human sacrifices warnings. Other than that, I said go for it.”
Everyone laughed.
“Now that your escort has arrived,” Cali said to Leesa, “I’m gonna take this little devil onto the dance floor.” She grabbed Andy’s arm. “You guys wanna come?”
Leesa looked to Rave and was glad to see him shake his head. With her leg, dancing had never been her thing. “We’ll pass,” she said. “You guys have fun.”
Cali swayed vampishly. “We will. Catch you two later.”
“She’s pretty funny,” Rave said as Cali and Andy began weaving their way toward the dance area. “I can see why you like her.”
“I’m glad you like her. I was worried whether you two would get along.”
Rave laid his hand on top of hers. “For you, I’d try to get along with a vampire if you wanted me to. Not that I’m comparing Cali to a vampire,” he added quickly.
“Ha! Don’t worry. I know what you meant. But speaking of vampires, there’s a couple things I need to talk to you about.”
Rave raised his eyebrows. “Oh? I was thinking you’d want to talk about volkaanes or kissing.”
Leesa gave his arm a quick squeeze. “That too,” she said, smiling. “We have lots to talk about.”
“Do you mind that I’m not much into dancing?” Rave asked.
“Are you kidding? I’m glad.” She held her red-stained boot off the floor. “Kinda hard to be much of a dancer with this leg.”
The band began playing the first slow chords of Coldplay’s “Yellow,” a song Leesa really liked.
“Dancing to this might be fun, though,” Rave said, swaying gently to the rhythm and gazing into her eyes.
Leesa felt herself melting under his gaze. She’d never liked a guy nearly enough to want to slow dance with him, but looking at Rave’s handsome face and the firm muscles outlined by his tight buckskin outfit, she suddenly couldn’t think of anything she wanted more.
“Are you asking me to dance, Mr. Maston?” she asked flirtatiously.
Rave held his arms open wide. “I believe I am, Miss Nyland.”
Leesa slipped into his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his waist. He leaned his head against hers and they began moving to the music.
Rave’s volkaane heat flowed into her, flooding her body with a delicious, almost indescribable warmth, as if someone had opened her veins and replaced her blood with sweet, warm syrup. She would not have been surprised one bit if her skin was glowing from the magical heat inside her. Cocooned in Rave’s embrace, she began to feel like she was floating, weightless, in some transcendent place, up among the stars, perhaps. Yet at the same time, she felt more solidly grounded and supported than ever in her life. She was certain she could feel Rave’s heart beating against her chest—or was that merely her own heart thumping?
This was not just dancing; this was a joining, a commingling of body and spirit. She had never felt anything remotely like this, had never even imagined this kind of feeling. She thought it might be even better than their brief kiss, though it was hard to compare sensationally wonderful to exquisitely delicious. Except for the music, the room seemed to have gone silent, as if she and Rave were alone in their own little world, the music playing solely for them. The song seemed to last for hours, yet somehow ended all too soon. Evidently, Rave felt something similar, because he kept swaying with her after the music stopped.
“Wow,” Rave said when he finally eased his body away from hers. He kept his arms draped over her shoulders and stared down into her upturned face. “I think I’ve just become a big fan of dancing.”
“Mmmmm, me too,” Leesa sighed. “Slow dancing, at least.” Even the band’s launching into a pounding rendition of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” couldn’t break the moment. “I hope they have another slow song in their repertoire.”
Rave kissed her lightly on the forehead, and his warmth tingled into her again. She wondered if she’d ever tire of the feeling, but very much doubted it.
“If they don’t, we can always ask them to play that one again,” he said. “You said you had some things you wanted to talk about. Want to go outside for a few minutes?”
“Sure,” Leesa said. She dropped her arms from around his waist, but immediately grabbed his hand. “We can go out the side way. It’s a lot less crowded.”
Rave pulled her gently
toward the rear of the building instead. “I’ve got an even better way. One reserved especially for volkaanes.”
As Rave led her through the narrow space between the dancers and the wall, Leesa spotted Cali and Andy gyrating enthusiastically to the music. She looked for Caitlin and Stacie, but there were too many people bouncing about. Wherever they were, she was pretty sure they were having a good time.
Rave guided her out into the hallway to the door he’d come in through. Placing his palms flat against the metal door, he gave a quick thrust. The welded lock ripped open and the cold night air washed over them. He smiled at Leesa. “My private exit,” he said.
They stepped out into the night. The grounds behind the building were dark. A gauzy film of high clouds turned the full moon into a pale disk. A bit of light filtered through the sheet-covered windows, and a row of streetlights a hundred yards away added some meager illumination. Leesa could hear talking and laughter from the crowd in front of the building, as well as music from inside, but no kids had made it around to the back.
A cold breeze raised goose bumps on her arms. Sensing her discomfort, Rave took off his jacket and draped it across her shoulders. The buckskin, warmed by his volkaane heat, melted the chill from her body almost immediately.
She leaned against him and playfully squeezed his bicep. “I’m impressed,” she said, looking back at the broken lock. “You’re stronger than you look. Could a vampire do that?” she teased.
Rave’s expression turned serious. “With one hand,” he said. “Their strength is double mine.”
Leesa did not like hearing that. “But your inner fire is enough to overcome it?”
“That, and this.”
Leesa barely saw him move, but suddenly he was standing fifteen feet away on a patch of weed-dotted broken asphalt, grinning. In a flash, he was back beside her. She swore she felt the breeze from his movement on her cheek. All she could say was, “Wow!”
“Our fire and speed against their strength and fangs,” Rave said. “Surprise is usually the deciding factor. Quickness lends itself to surprise. But I never take a vampire lightly.”
“Did you hear about the girl who was killed a few days ago?” Leesa asked.
Rave nodded. “Yeah. I heard her throat was cut. Why?”
“The story’s going around that the blood was drained from her body.”
A grim look tightened Rave’s face. “I hadn’t heard that.”
“I don’t know if it’s true, or just a story some jerk started because it’s Halloween. But another girl went missing last night.”
Rave was surprised—and worried. If it was the work of vampires, this was bad. Vampires didn’t usually make two kills in the same place, so close together. Either the Destiratu was affecting them more powerfully than he thought, or there was a rogue in the area, driven by the bloodlust more strongly than its brethren.
“Do you think a vampire could be doing it?” Leesa asked.
“If the girl’s blood was drained, then almost certainly. Is there some way we can find out for sure?”
Leesa thought about it for a moment. “Maybe Andy can. He’s already met with the campus cops about security. He might be able to find out. You don’t think it’s Stefan, do you?”
A vampire as powerful as Stefan would not be so affected yet, Rave knew. Nor would he be so foolish. “No, I don’t,” he said. “But that doesn’t make him any less dangerous. Have you seen him recently?”
“Not since we talked about it.”
“Good. Try to keep it that way. After I get you home, I’ll do a little hunting and see what I can find.”
Leesa wasn’t certain she liked the idea of his hunting a killer vampire, then chided herself over the oxymoron. Was there any other kind? Yes, she realized—the one-fanged kind.
“You’ll be careful?” she said, taking his hand.
Rave squeezed her hand. “Always.”
Now that one-fanged vampires had entered her mind, she decided to ask Rave about them. He knew so much about vampires, maybe he’d know something about the one-fangs as well.
“Do you know anything about one-fanged vampires?”
“Grafhym? Sure.” He studied her face. “But I’m surprised you do. Where’d you hear about them?”
Leesa smiled wistfully. “It’s a long story.”
Rave grabbed her other hand. “I’ve got time,” he said. “Want to sit?” He nodded toward a low cinder block wall bordering the asphalt area behind the building.
“Yeah, let’s.” She limped across to the waist-high wall and sat down. Rave sat close beside her. The jacket plus his heat kept her plenty warm.
For the second time in little more than a week, Leesa told the story of her mom’s encounter with the one-fanged vampire and her gradual withdrawal from the outside world and from her family. She was surprised when Rave’s expression turned from curiosity to what looked like jealousy, before finally settling on concern and compassion.
“I never knew my mother,” Rave said. “So I can only imagine how sad and confusing that must have been for you.”
So it had been jealousy she’d seen on Rave’s face. It was hard to imagine anyone being jealous of her mom. “What happened to your mom?” she asked.
Rave swiveled around to face her, pulling his feet up onto the wall and balancing easily with his arms around his knees. He didn’t look at all upset.
“My people do things differently from yours,” he explained. “We don’t have families. We don’t have parents.”
Leesa frowned. “I don’t get it. How can you not have a mother and a father? What do you volkaanes do, spring full grown from a cocoon or something?”
Rave chuckled. “No, nothing quite so exotic. But we don’t marry, and we don’t live as couples. Children are raised communally. I’ll tell you as much as you want to know about it later. But let’s get back to your mom and the grafhym.”
Leesa’s head was filled with questions about Rave’s childhood, and it took her a moment to remember where she’d left off with her story. “Professor Clerval might have found a way to help my mom,” she said. She repeated everything the professor had told her, finishing up with how grafhym blood might cure her mom.
“Professor Clerval knows a lot about vampires,” Rave mused. “More than I would have guessed.”
“His office is filled with books and old manuscripts. He read to me from one that was two hundred years old, written in Italian, no less. Supposedly by a female vampire.”
“What he told you fits with what I know about grafhym,” Rave said. “They’re rare, and my people don’t hunt them, so I’m no expert. But it sounds like your mother’s story could be true. Whether the other stuff is real, I can’t say. Maybe the sun does hurt her skin, maybe not.” He smiled. “I’m a little skeptical about the tomato juice, though.”
“Yeah, I know. That always seemed the silliest part of the whole weird thing.”
“Maybe some of her behavior is the result of being bitten by a grafhym, and some is simply her mind’s reaction to it,” Rave said. “I just don’t know.”
“But you think there could be a grafhym in Sleeping Giant Park?”
“Sure, why not? It’s a big park. I’m sure a one-fang could find plenty of places to hide.” Rave dropped his feet from wall and slid closer. “Want me to find it for you?”
Leesa’s eyes flashed open wide. “Could you find it? Would you do that for me?”
Rave slipped off the wall and pulled Leesa into his arms. “I told you, there’s very little I wouldn’t do for you, Leesa.”
Leesa sighed. She’d never felt so loved, so protected. It was wonderful. She pressed her head against his shoulder, relishing his warmth and his strength.
“So, about that kissing stuff?” she said when she finally pulled her head off his shoulder and looked into his face.
Rave’s face broke into a wide smile. “I was hoping you hadn’t forgotten about that.” He rested his forearms on her shoulders and clasped his hand
s behind her neck. “There’s been a bit of progress on the kissing front.”
Leesa was delighted to hear that. “Really? Tell me.”
“Don’t get too carried away. It’s still dangerous, and we have to be careful. But…” his voice trailed off, teasing her.
Leesa playfully pounded her fists against his chest. “What? What?”
“I’ve been doing some special breathing exercises my friend Balin showed me. So we should be good for five seconds or so.”
Five seconds sounded disappointingly quick to Leesa, until she realized it was more than five times as long as their first kiss. And she certainly remembered how amazing that was. “Well, what are you waiting for?”
“Patience, sweetheart. I said we have to be careful. Balin suggested we’d be safest if we kissed with someone there to pull us apart, in case we both lost control.”
Leesa frowned. She wanted to kiss him right now—and she didn’t want anyone watching! “I guess we could get Cali. I’m sure she’d love to watch. But she might let us go longer than we told her to, just cuz she’s Cali. Stacie would be a safer choice, I think.”
“I’m not sure how we’d explain it, anyway,” Rave said. “We can’t tell them my kiss could kill you.” His face brightened. “Do you have your phone with you?”
Leesa patted the pocket of her shorts. “Yeah. Why?”
“Does it have an alarm?”
“Yeah....”
She smiled as Rave explained his idea, finishing by reminding her not to be touching him when she switched her phone on. Just to be safe, she moved another step back before setting the cell’s alarm to go off in one minute and placing the phone atop the wall. She waited while the seconds ticked off. It seemed to take forever, but finally there were only five seconds left. She moved into his arms and pressed her mouth to his.
The feeling of warmth that exploded into her as their tongues connected was beyond imagining. She felt like she was flying, like a thousand tiny mouths were kissing every inch of her body, like her skin was wrapped in the most delicious chocolate and every pore could taste it. Way, way, way too soon, her phone’s alarm beeped, and she felt Rave’s lips pulling away from hers. Sighing, she collapsed into his arms.
They held their silent embrace for several long moments before Rave spoke. “Triple wow,” he said.
Unable to speak, Leesa replied with a long “mmmmm” as she remained nestled against his chest. Finally, she pulled her head back and looked up at him.
“Did you have much trouble controlling it?” she asked, still a bit breathless.
Rave smiled. “A little,” he admitted. “I’m glad we had the alarm. I’m going to keep working on those control exercises, that’s for sure.”
Leesa grinned wickedly. “You’d better, mister. I’m not sure I want you spending your time doing anything else.”
Rave laughed. “What about the grafhym?”
Leesa pursed her lips. “Oh yeah, that too.” Her face brightened. “You can practice the exercises while you’re looking for it,” she joked. She grabbed his hand and led him back toward the building. “Let’s get back to the party. Maybe they’ll play another slow song.”