Blood Pact

moaned and crumpled.

    Vicki caught him, smearing his back with blood. Holding him awkwardly, she dragged her legs out from under, and gathered him onto her lap.

    "No . . ." He pushed her wrist away as she laid it against his mouth. The brief taste of her nearly catapulted the Hunger to freedom. The bloodscent alone tore at hastily erected barricades. "I don't trust . . . myself.”

    She laid her wrist against his mouth again, blood dribbling down over lips clamped shut and staining his cheeks. That he was too weak to stop her merely proved her point. "Oh, for Christ's sake, Henry, stop being a martyr. I trust you.”

    She felt him hesitate, then she felt his lips part. The torn flesh wrapped barbed lines of pain around her arm as he pressed against her and began to suckle. Muscles tensed, but she managed not to pull away and slowly the familiar rhythm pushed the pain to one side, her body responding with something very like post-coital lassitude. Resting her cheek against the top of Henry's head, she sighed.

    "Isn't that nice," Celluci grunted, glaring down at the tableau and wiping at the blood on his face. "Love conquers all." Sucking his breath through his teeth, he squatted beside them and peered into what he could see of Vicki's face. "Are you okay?”

    Caught in the incessant pull of Henry's need, she didn't bother to raise her head, wouldn't have even bothered to answer except that the concern in his voice demanded a response. "I'm fine." And then, because she belatedly realized Celluci deserved more than that, added, "I think I'm fine.”

    "Great." He shifted position. Somehow, this was more intimate than watching them make love. He barely resisted the urge to grab Henry and violently stuff him back into the isolation box. "How do you know when he's had enough?”

    "He'll know. He'll stop.”

    "Yeah? What if he needs more than you can spare?”

    Vicki sighed again, but this time the exhalation had an entirely different sound. "He won't take more than I can spare.”

    Celluci reached up for the open lip of the box and hauled himself to his feet. "You'll excuse me if I don't put a lot of faith in that.

    A few minutes ago he was ready to kill both of us.”

    "That was then . . .”

    "And this is now? Very deep, Vicki. Very deep bullshit. He stops in fifteen seconds or I'm yanking him off the tit.”

    "There'll be no need, Detective." The statement, although barely audible, left no room for argument. Henry, having pulled away just enough for speech, molded his mouth back over the wound, pressing the edges of the torn flesh together in order for the coagulant in his saliva to work. He could feel Vicki's life wrapped around his own and, while the last thing he wanted right at this moment was to break free of it, continuing to feed would only endanger them both. She would die from loss of blood and he would die from loss of her. He had taken all he was going to.

    This was the second time she had saved him. The first time, she hadn't known the risks and, defeated by the demon, the Hunger had lain in darkness with him beyond the need for control. This time, she knew what she was offering and offered in spite of the Hunger raging free. I wanted to hear her say I love you. I just heard it.

    And what had he given in return?

    "I'm sorry, Vicki." He rested his head against her breast, conserving the little strength he'd regained. "I can stop most of the bleeding, but I can't repair the damage. You're going to need a dressing of some kind.”

    Vicki glanced down at her wrist and her stomach twisted. "Jesus H. Christ." She swallowed bile. "It looks like it should hurt a lot more than it does.” Then suddenly, it did. "Oh, damn . . .”

    Celluci grabbed Henry's shirt out of the box and dropped to his knees. "I think Jesus H. Christ about sums it up. Fuck, Fitzroy, you're a god-damned animal!”

    Henry met the detective's stormy glare with a calm gaze of his own. "Not when I can help it," he said quietly.

    "Yeah. Well." Celluci looked away first, burying his confusion. He almost kills both of us. He chews a big fucking hole in Vicki.
    And I feel sorry for him?in the wrapping of Vicki's arm. "You're lucky," he grunted as he began to bind Henry's shirt around the wound. "It's messy, but I don't think there's any tendon damage. Move your fingers.”

    "It hurts.”

    "Move them anyway.”

    Muttering profanities under her breath, Vicki did as instructed, all three of them anxiously watching the digits