Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
The super speed running? Freaking amazing ability…
When she wasn’t running into things. On the downside, after an hour of running Gemma panted like she’d completed a marathon without any training and boxed twenty-four rounds.
Actually, she had run about the distance of a marathon.
She’d never been much of a runner or jogger—or anything that had to do with impact activities—before her turn.
Holy bejesus did her thighs and calves burn.
Leaning against a tree, she wiped water out of her eyes.
No surprise the skies had opened up minutes ago, and lightning flashed nearby.
She’d smelled the impending precipitation for the past half hour.
At least her leather clothes were more repellant than cotton.
Not warmer, though. Not designed to run in, that’s for sure.
There was definite chafing in areas where her yoga pants would’ve been much more forgiving.
Boom!
She jumped at the nearness of the lightning strike.
Now in the mountains she’d seen from the church, she wondered how to find the dwarves. Shelter would be nice. What she wouldn’t give for a warm fire and a cup of coffee or tea.
A small person stared at her through the branches several feet away.
She swallowed and wondered how many more watched from hidden places.
“I’m Gemma. I need to talk to Fontaine. Could you—”
Boom!
She ducked as the sky lit up and the air around her crackled. The lightning struck a tree far too close. Little sparks lit the darkness, but no fire since it was so wet.
The dwarf no longer watched her. Would he bring Fontaine? Should she wait or go?
“Damn you, Skarde,” she muttered. “Next time I see you, I’m going to tie your balls in a knot. I wouldn’t be freezing my ass off if it wasn’t for you. I wouldn’t even be in this ridiculous world.”
“Good thing I’m not Skarde.”
She jumped. A chill slid across her shoulders as she straightened and turned. With a swallow, she met the dark gaze of VanFliet. Periodic movement on his face distracted her as bugs marched across his skin. She shuddered.
He was as tall as Skarde, but the similarities stopped there.
His hair was platinum blond, long with braids along the sides of his head to keep the length of it at his back.
She wondered how she hadn’t detected him since he gave off one hell of a chilling vibe.
Didn’t becoming a vampire grant her some sort of super spidey-senses?
So stupid of her, forgetting this particular vampire lurked near the Vorche mountains.
“You’re new. There hasn’t been a new vampire in a long time.
How…” His eyebrows rose. He smiled, which came off more like a leer.
“You’re the one. Skarde turned you. Oh, hell.
This is truly unexpected. There’s no vampire with a larger stick up his ass about morals or a greater fear of Magdalene’s prophecies than him. ”
“I don’t believe we’ve met.” Gemma crossed her arms.
As VanFliet smiled, a flash of lightning lit up his features, making him even more handsome. But he wasn’t just a pretty boy. For an instant, the bugs scattered from his eyes. There was a hint of evil in his gaze, even if that gaze wasn’t directly fixed on her. He was dangerous.
He flipped his hair. “No. We have not had the pleasure.”
No shit, the guy had done a hair toss. His hair was incredible, but something about the small vanity made him less intimidating.
She compressed her lips against an inappropriate giggle and waited, expecting him to introduce himself. When he didn’t, she asked, “Are you going to tell me who you are?”
“I assume you know who I am.”
Oh, the ego of these guys knew no bounds. She chose to play stupid, hoping to irritate him. Perhaps it wasn’t the best choice. If he had a short fuse, it could prompt him to attack, but surely no man who did an intentional hair flip would randomly attack a woman.
She said, “Nope. No clue who you are. If you took away the strange insects walking across your face, I think you’d be reasonably attractive, but the bugs are a turn off for me. There might be some girls…” She shook her head. “Sorry, I can’t think of any I know with a bug fetish.”
He scowled. “VanFliet.”
“That sounds like a last name. Do you have a first name?” She bit back a smile when he huffed. Damn if the so-called evil vampire didn’t roll his eyes.
“Just that.”
“Well, Just That VanFliet, I’m surprised to meet anyone out here. Why are you lurking in dwarf territory during a thunderstorm?”
“No, the name is VanFliet.” He kept his stance wide, arms at his sides as if expecting her to assault him. “Why did Skarde turn you?”
“Why did your maker turn you?” She shot back. “Because you were pretty?”
“If only it’d been that simple.”
“I could say the same,” she muttered. “Why the bugs?” She cocked her head and stared at him, her healing intuition kicking in. “They help you. That’s interesting.”
“How the…” He snapped his jaw closed. “They’re my protectors.”
She needed to touch his hand to know exactly why he used them, sensing VanFliet was unhealthy. How odd for a vampire to be sick when Skarde had implied they were impervious to illness. The need to know VanFliet’s problem overwhelmed her sense of survival. She stepped toward him.
He backed up.
“Are you scared of me?” she asked. “I swear I won’t hurt you. I want to know why you need the creepy crawlies.” In a flash of movement, she reached out and touched his hand.
He yanked his hand away from her.
“Wow. Would not have guessed,” she whispered. “The medicinals Fontaine mentioned weren’t for Tania. She got them for you. Did you kill them, or did she when they couldn’t fix your eyes?”
“You lied. You do know who I am.”
“I’m a firm believer in proper introductions upon a first meeting. Will you let me examine your eyes without the insects? Maybe I can help.”
“Why would I trust you? For all I know, you’ll shove a knife in them.
” Holy shit, she could hear the fast thump-thump of his heart.
That meant he was excited or interested in her assessment, right?
Maybe it meant he was preparing to go on the offensive.
A subtle sniff picked up the smell of his blood, not that it meant he was actively bleeding.
Just that she could scent him. Such a peculiar ability, but from a medical standpoint it made sense she could smell good food.
His blood wasn’t the scrumptious aroma she associated with Skarde, but more like a low quality beer, the kind that tasted somewhat watery and lacked a hearty hops flavor.
“I won’t attack you. I’ve got no interest in killing you, and your blood doesn’t interest me.
So, no worries there.” She smoothed out her voice as if trying to settle a fussy child.
“I want to see if you have something treatable or if whatever’s going on is irreversible.
I have some medical training where I come from. Will you let me look?”
He removed a huge knife from a sheath at his side.
“Will it make you feel safer to hold that?” Gemma tried hard to keep her humor out of her voice but failed. A laugh burst out.
“You’re not right in the head.”
She giggled. “Skarde didn’t understand me either and often accused me of being crazy.
I think that’s why he dumped me. The guy might have an ass sculpted by Nordic gods…
” She leaned to the side to try to check out VanFliet’s butt.
“Yours isn’t half bad, but his…” She rolled her eyes heavenward.
“Incredible. The rumors of him in bed are one hundred percent true. I thought he and I had something, which is why it caught me off guard when he went psycho on me in the middle of trying to kill a deranged witch and her zombies. I wonder if he wasn’t half insane from something the witch did to him…
Maybe he didn’t intend to dump me.” She tapped her lip.
“Damn it. He’s going to be pissed at me for misinterpreting him, which means he’s likely on his way.
Are you two friends? Maybe you used to be friends? ”
“You know goddamned well we’re not friends.” VanFliet’s grip on his knife slackened as the wrinkles between his brows deepened. “At least, not right now.”
She continued, “Here I am trying to help another one of you numb nut vampires, but you can’t say a nice thank you. Why is your kind’s response always to threaten me. Cade did the same thing before I punched him in the nuts. I guess I’m your kind too.”
“What?” He grinned. “You didn’t. To Cade? You cocked him in the balls? And he let you live?”
“He was being an asshole. I won’t nut punch you unless you turn into an asshole.
You weigh at least twice, maybe three times, as much as me.
You have a solid foot or more over me. I don’t know jack about your world or how to do this medieval battle stuff.
You could sit on me and win.” She smiled to try to calm him.
“There must be some seriously badass women in this world to make you boys so jumpy around me. Kudos to those ladies for training you guys well.”
“I don’t understand you at all.”
She sobered. “I want to see if I can help you. It’s my thing. Helping people medically, that is.”
He waved the knife. “Fine, look. But make it fast.”
“The bugs… You must get rid of them.” She shivered.
The insects jumped off him. VanFliet waved the knife again.
“Can you come down to my level so I can see?”
He bent to her level.
She angled his head to get better light, which was impossible in the rain. A stare into his eyes and her mind lit up with information. “Remarkable.”