Vampire Most Wanted(36)
The truck would need to be hosed out, she thought with a grimace. It probably wouldn’t help though. Divine suspected the smell of burnt flesh would linger in the vehicle for a long time to come.
Turning back, she opened the driver’s side door and slid out. Divine took a moment to stretch and crack a few bones before moving toward the door at the back of the SUV. Once there, she peered in at Marcus briefly, and then caught his legs and started to drag him toward her, but dropped them and quickly stepped back when he suddenly sat upright, his expression half asleep and half alarmed.
“Divine.” He sighed her name with relief, lowering the fists he’d instinctively raised. Marcus slumped where he sat, letting his hands drop to the floor, only to raise them again and grimace with disgust as he peered at the ruined skin now clinging to his hands. “Gross.”
“Yeah,” Divine agreed with amusement. “I was going to get you settled next to a tree or something and sweep out the worst of it, then head into town and find somewhere to hose it out. Maybe hose you down too.”
“I wouldn’t say no to either suggestion,” Marcus said dryly, sliding forward on the vehicle floor until he could get out of the SUV. Moving a few steps away from the vehicle, he then tried to shake off the worst of the flakes clinging to him. “I don’t suppose there is a lake or anything near here?”
“Actually, we’re about half an hour or forty-five minutes from the ocean,” she admitted, and when he glanced at her in surprise, she shrugged. “I needed to take you somewhere no one would hear you screaming. I know the people who own this property. It’s about forty minutes from San Bernardino, spans hundreds of acres, and they’re out of town. I figured this was our safest bet.”
Marcus glanced around then. They were parked on a dirt path near a copse of trees. He couldn’t see the lights of civilization in any direction, although the copse could be blocking some.
“So you parked me here and went for a walk while I screamed my head off?” he asked with amusement.
“Actually I went for five or six walks,” Divine informed him dryly, and then added, “But not here, on the edge of the nearest town, and each time to find you a host.”
Marcus tilted his head uncertainly. “A host?”
“Someone to feed on,” she said succinctly. “You needed blood to heal.”
“You let me bite someone?” he asked, and she suspected he was having some memories of his feedings, because he looked horrified. She could understand that. The man had been in agony and out of control. If she hadn’t been there, helping to control the situation, he probably would have killed every one of the mortals she’d brought to him. But she had been there.
“They are all alive and fine and back at home,” Divine assured him solemnly. “I realized when you launched yourself at the first one that you weren’t fully in your head. I controlled her mind while you fed, forced you to stop when you’d had enough, and then returned her to her bed and fetched another,” she assured him, neglecting to mention that she hadn’t been able to slip into his thoughts and stop him by controlling him, so had had to get physical with him.
“Hosts to feed on,” Marcus muttered unhappily.
Divine didn’t comment. Even after all these centuries, she disliked using the word blood. She didn’t know if it was the need to hide what she was from the mortals she’d lived with over the years that made her avoid use of the word, but she found herself reluctant to say the word. Hosts to feed on just sounded less nasty to her.
Marcus turned back to the vehicle. Leaning in, he grabbed his duffel bag and straightened. He carried the bag around to the back passenger door, set it inside, and then turned to peer at her solemnly. “Thank you for getting me to the SUV and taking care of me.”