FORTY - TWO

At Tricounty Equine Hospital, Manny stood still while Glory snuffled around his scrubs, and knew he should probably leave her. But he found that he was unable to separate himself or Payne from the horse.

Time was running out for his Glory and it killed him. But he couldn't very well leave her to waste away, growing thinner and more crippled with each passing day. She deserved so much better than that.

"You love her," Payne said softly, her pale hand skimming across the Thoroughbred's back and going down onto the hip.

"Yeah. I do."

"She is very lucky."

No, she was dying, and that was a curse.

He cleared his throat. "I guess we need to - "

"Dr. Manello?"

Manny leaned back and looked over the stall door. "Oh, hey, Doc. How're you?"

As the head vet strode down to them, his tuxedo was as out of place as a pitchfork in an opera box. "I'm okay - and you're clearly well." The guy repositioned his bow tie. "The monkey suit is because I'm on my way home from the Met. I just had to stop and see your girl, though."

Manny ducked out and offered his hand. "Me, too."

As they shook, the vet glanced into the stall - and his eyes popped when he saw Payne. "Ah ... hello."

When Payne offered the man a small smile, the good doctor blinked like the sun had broken through a cloud bank and shone down upon him.

Okaaaaaaaaaay, Manny was so through with bastards staring at her like that.

Putting himself in the way, he said, "Is there any kind of suspension we could get her into? To relieve some pressure?"

"We've had her strapped for a couple of hours each day." As the vet replied, he inched to the side until Manny had to follow with his torso to keep blocking the view. "I don't want to run the risk of gastrointestinal or breathing problems."

Bored with the tilting thing, and wanting to spare Payne where the conversation was heading, Manny took the guy's arm and moved them off to the side. "What's our next step?"

The vet rubbed his eyes as if to give his mind a second to unscramble. "To be honest, Dr. Manello, I don't have a good feeling about where we are. That other hoof is foundering, and although I've been doing everything I can to treat it, it's not responding."

"There has to be something else."

"I'm so damned sorry."

"How long until we're sure - "

"I'm sure now." The man's stare was positively grim. "That's why I came in tonight - I was hoping for a miracle."

Well, didn't that make two of them.

"Why don't I give you some time with her," the vet said. "Take all you need."

Which was doctor talk for Say your good-byes.

The vet put his hand on Manny's shoulder briefly, and then he turned and walked away. As he went, he looked in every single stall, checking his patients, patting a muzzle now and then.

Good guy. Thorough guy.

The kind who would exhaust every single avenue before laying down a stop-loss scenario.

Manny took a deep breath and tried to tell himself that Glory was not a pet. People didn't have racehorses as pets. And she deserved better than suffering in a little stall while he worked up the courage to do right by her.

Putting his hand to his chest, he rubbed his cross through his scrubs and had a sudden urge to go to church -

At first, all he noticed was the shadows getting stronger on the wall across the way. And then he thought maybe someone had turned the overhead lights up.

Finally, he realized that the illumination was coming out of Glory's stall.

What ... the ...

Skidding around, he recoiled ... and then had to catch his balance.

Payne was on her knees in the fluffy sawdust, her hands on his horse's forelegs, her eyes closed, her brows tight.

And her body glowing with a fierce and beautiful light.

Above her, Glory was stock-still, but her coat was twitching and her eyes were rolling back in her head. Little chuffing whinnies rolled up her long neck and came out her flaring nostrils ... as if she were overcome by a feeling of relief, an easing of pain.

Those injured front legs of hers were softly aglow.

Manny didn't move, didn't breathe, didn't blink. He just held his cross even harder ... and prayed that no one would interrupt this.

He wasn't sure how long the three of them stayed as they were, but eventually, it became obvious Payne was straining from the effort: Her body began to vibrate and she started to breathe unevenly.

Manny broke into the stall and pulled her free from Glory, holding her lax body against his, and moving her out of the way in case the horse spooked or did something unpredictable.

"Payne?" Oh, God -

Her eyes fluttered. "Did I ... aid her?"

Manny stroked her hair back as he looked at his filly. Glory was standing in place, lifting one front hoof and then the other and then going back to the first as if she were trying to figure out what had caused the abrupt comfort. Then she shook herself ... and went over to nip at the hay that she hadn't touched.

As that wonderful sound of a muzzle tip working at dry grass filled the silence, he looked back down at Payne. "You did," he said hoarsely. "I think you did."

Her eyes seemed to struggle to focus. "I wished not for you to lose her."

Overcome by a gratitude he didn't have enough words for, Manny curled her up closer to his heart and held her for a moment. He wanted to stay like that for so much longer, but she wasn't looking well, and Christ knew who else may have noticed the light show. He had to get them out of here.

"Let's go to my place," he said. "So you can have a lie-down."

When she nodded, he swung her into his arms, and damn if she didn't feel perfect. As he shut the stall behind them, he glanced over at Glory. The horse was woofing back the hay like the stuff was going out of style.

Holy shit ... had it really worked?

"I'll be back tomorrow," he said to her, before he strode away, buoyed by an incandescent hope.

Down at the security guard's station, he smiled as he shrugged at the guy. "Someone's been pulling double shifts at the hospital. She's wiped."

The man rose from his seat as if Payne's mere presence, even if she were out cold, was enough to get his attention. "Better get her home. You have to take care of a woman like that."

Too right. "That's just where I'm headed."

Moving quickly, he went out to reception and then waited for the buzz to sound so that he could push the final doors open. With any luck, the head vet hadn't seen a thing -

"Thank you, Jesus," Manny muttered, as he got his cue and shoved with his hip.

He wasted no time going over to the car, although getting out his keys while keeping Payne off the ground was a scramble. So was opening her door. But then he put her in the passenger seat, all the while wondering if she was ill. Shit, he had no way of getting into contact with anyone from her world.

Going around and sitting behind the wheel, he thought, Fuck it, he was just going to drive her back to the vampires -

"May I ask something of you?" she said in a slurred way.

"Anything - what do you - "

"May I take your vein for a moment? I find myself ... curiously depleted."

Okay, right. Talk about your Johnny-on-the-spots: He locked them in and all but tore off his arm and threw it at her.

Her soft lips found the inside of his wrist, but her bite was not swift, as if she were having trouble summoning the energy. Still, she got the job done and he jumped, the sharp pain nailing him in the heart and making him a little light-headed. Or ... maybe that was a function of the sudden, overwhelming arousal that shot not just through his balls and into his cock, but raced around his entire body.

On a groan, his hips rolled in the Porsche's seat and he let his head fall back. God, this felt good ... the sucking rhythm she fell into might as well have been on his erection - and even though it should have hurt, the pull and swallow registered only as pleasure, a stinging, sweet pleasure that he was damned certain he would die for.

He fell into a blissful state; it felt like centuries that they were linked with her fangs in his flesh. Time had no meaning, and neither did the reality that they were in a parking lot in a car with clear windows.

Fuck the world.

It was only him and her together.

And that was before her diamond eyes opened and looked up at him, locking not on his face but his neck.

Vampire ... he thought. Beautiful vampire.

Mine.

As that thought coalesced in his mind, he acted on autopilot, shifting his head to the side, offering his jugular to her -

He didn't have to ask twice. In a great surge, Payne sprang up, all but launching her whole body onto him, her hand shoving into his hair and tightening on his nape. As she held him in her grip, he was utterly immobilized, hers for the taking ... prey for her predator. And now that she had him, she moved slowly, her fangs dropping to his skin and dragging up the column of his throat, making him stiffen in anticipation of the puncturing and the sucking....

"Fuck!" he barked when she bit him. "Oh ... yeah ..."

His hands grabbed onto her shoulders, pulling her even closer. "Take it all ... take - Oh God ...oh, shit - "

Something stroked his cock. And given that he knew exactly where his palms were, it had to be her. Shifting around, going straightup greedy, he gave her as much space to move as he could ... and move she did, up and down against his straining erection, his hips helping her, countering the strokes.

His breath was loud in the inside of the car as he panted, and so were his moans: It didn't take long at all until his balls went numb and the tip of his cock tightened up against the mounting pressure.

"I'm going to come," he groaned. "You'd better stop if you don't want me to - "

At that, she popped the bow on the scrubs and burrowed inside -

Manny saw motherfucking stars. The instant her skin was against his, he orgasmed like he'd never had one before, his head jacking back hard, his hands digging into her shoulders, his hips bucking like crazy. And she didn't stop the drinking or the pumping - so just as it had been before, he kept it up with the releasing, the pleasure ramping higher with every spasm through his erection.

It ended way too soon.

Then again, they could have kept at it for a decade and he would have remained starved for more.

When Payne pulled out of him, she eased back and licked her way around the sharp points of her fangs, her tongue pink against the white. Man ... that gorgeous glow was back underneath her skin, making her seem like a dream.

Oh, wait, she was one, wasn't she.

"Your blood is strong," she said in a husky way as she bent to him again and licked her way up his throat. "So very strong."

"Is it?" he mumbled. And then he wasn't sure whether he'd even spoken. Maybe he'd just thought the words.

"I can feel the power coursing through me."

Man, he'd never been into the SUVs before - the damn things were too clunky and drove like boulders falling down a mountainside - but what he wouldn't have given for a backseat that you could fit more than a set of golf clubs in. He wanted to lay her out and -

"I want more of you," Payne murmured as she nuzzled him.

Well, he was still hard as stone even though he'd -

"I want you in my mouth."

Manny's head kicked back and he groaned as his cock twitched like it was taking a jog down there. But as much as he wanted her, he wasn't sure she knew what she was in for. Even the thought of her lips on his -

Payne's head went down into his lap before he could find the breath to speak, and there was no preamble; she sucked him right down, pulling him in and holding him in her wet, warm mouth.

"Fuck! Payne!"

His hands went to her shoulders, ostensibly to pull her back ... but she was having none of that. Without coaching, she knew just how to rock him, pulling up and sucking down before licking under his shaft. And then she explored him with a thoroughness that told him she was enjoying it as much as he was, and wasn't that a turn-on.

Except then he felt her fangs teasing around his head.

He jacked her up fast on that one, capturing her mouth in a hard kiss while he held on to her face and started to lose it all over her hands. But that didn't last. She jerked out of his palms and went back to where she'd been, catching him in midorgasm, lapping up what his body seemed to have in spades for her.

When the kicking spasms stopped, she pulled back, looked at him ... and slowly licked her lips.

Manny had to close his lids at that, his erection pulsing to the point of pain.

"You are taking me to your home now," she growled.

Not a request from her. And the tone suggested that she was thinking exactly as he was.

So that was going to lead to one and only one thing.

Manny gathered himself from the inside out and then opened his eyes. Reaching up, he touched her face and then rubbed her lower lip with his thumb.

"I'm not sure we should, bambina," he said roughly.

Her hand tightened on his cock and he moaned. "Manuel ... I think that is very much where we need to be."

"Not ... a good idea."

She pulled back farther, and retracted her hand, her glow fading. "But you are aroused. Even now."

You think? "And that's my point." His eyes raked over her face and went to her breasts. He was so desperate for her, he was tempted to rip her scrubs in half and take her virginity in his car. "I'm not going to be able to hold back, Payne. I'm barely doing that now...."

She purred in satisfaction and licked those red lips again. "I like when you lose control."

Oh, God, that was soooo not helping.

"I ..." He shook his head, thinking this was pure fucking hell - denying them both hurt that badly. "I think you need to do what you have to and leave me now. While I can still let you go - "

The knocking sound on the window made no sense at first. It was just the two of them in the empty parking lot. But then the mystery was solved:

"Get out the car. And give me your grip."

The male voice snapped Manny's head around to the window ... where he stared into the barrel of a gun.

"You heard me, man. Out the car or I'll shoot you."

As Manny moved Payne back into her seat and away from pointblank range, he said softly to her, "When I get out, lock the doors. It's right here."

He moved his hand over to the dash and tapped the button.

"Just let me handle this." He had about four hundred dollars in cash in his wallet and plenty of credit cards. "Stay inside."

"Manuel - "

He didn't give her a chance to respond - as far as he was concerned, that gun held all the answers and made all the rules.

Snagging his wallet, he was slow in opening the door, but quick about his up and out - and when he shut Payne in, he waited to hear the locks go down.

And waited.

Desperate to hear the punching sound of Payne getting as safe as she could, he only half heard the guy in the ski mask bark, "Your wallet. And tell the bitch to get out the car."

"There's four hundred - "

The wallet disappeared. "Tell her to get out or she comes with me. And the watch. I want the watch."

Manny glanced over to the building. There were windows everywhere, and surely that guard had to take a wander to check shit out from time to time.

Maybe if he went slow with the handover -

That gun muzzle pushed right up into his face. "Watch. Now."

It wasn't his good one - he didn't operate with his Piaget on, for chrissakes. But whatever - asshole could have the fucking thing. Plus, as he feigned hands that shook, he figured it would eat up -

Hard to say what happened in what order.

In retrospect, he knew that Payne had to have opened her door first. But it seemed like the instant he heard the horrific sound of the passenger side getting cracked, she was behind the robber.

And another bizarre thing was that it wasn't until Manny cursed that the bastard seemed to realize a third party had entered the scenario. Except that couldn't be true - he would have seen her coming around the car, right?

Whatever - however it all went down, Ski Mask ended up leaping to the left and going back and forth with the weapon between Payne and Manny.

That tennis match thing wasn't going to last. With god-awful logic, Manny knew the guy was going to zero in on Payne because she was the weaker of the -

Next time the gun muzzle swung back in her direction, Payne ... disappeared. And not as in ducked or dodged or took off at a dead run. She was there, taking up space one moment - and gone the next.

She reappeared a split second later, and caught the man's wrist as he went to put the gun back in Manny's face. The disarming was just as fast: One, she twisted the weapon away; two, she snapped it out of the SOB's hold; three, she tossed it at Manny, who caught the thing.

And then it was beat-down time.

Payne spun the guy around, grabbed the back of his head, and pounded him face-first into the Porsche's hood. After she polished the paint job a little with his piehole, she repositioned him and got a grip on the SOB's baggy-ass jeans. Hefting him up by the hair and what was either his waistband or his rectum, she hauled him back and threw him ... about ten yards.

Superman didn't fly half as well - and the robber ended up knocking on the side of the horse-pital with his forehead. The building didn't have much to say in response, and what do you know, neither did he. He landed facedown in a flower bed, and stayed there, his limbs going dead meat and then some.

No twitching. No moaning. No attempt to get up.

"Are you all right, Manuel?"

Manny slowly turned his head to Payne. She wasn't even breathing hard.

"Jesus ... Christ ..." he whispered.

As Manuel's words drifted away on a breeze, Payne fussed with her baggy top and her loose pants. Then she smoothed her hair. It seemed like the only thing she could do to make herself more presentable in the wake of the violence.

Such a wasted effort at trying to feminize herself. And meanwhile, Manuel was still just staring at her.

"Will you say nothing further?" she asked in a low tone.

"Ah ..." Manuel put his free hand on his head. "Yeah. Ah ... let me go see if he's alive."

Payne wrapped her arms around herself as he walked over to the human man. In truth, she did not really care in what condition she had left the robber. Her priority had been to get that lethal weapon out of Manuel's face, and she had accomplished her task. Whatever happened to the thief was immaterial ... but she clearly didn't know the rules of this world. Or the implications of what she had done.

Manuel was halfway across the grass when the "victim" rolled over with a groan. Hands that had been on the gun went to the mask that covered his face and shoved the knit weave up to his forehead.

Manuel knelt down. "I'm a doctor. How many fingers am I holding up."

"What ... ?"

"How many fingers?"

"... three ..."

Manuel put his palm on the guy's shoulder. "Don't get up. That was a hell of a belt to the head. Do you have any tingling or numbness in your legs?"

"No." The guy stared at Manuel. "Why ... are you doing this?"

Manuel waved the question off. "It's called medical school - creates a compulsive need to treat the ill or injured regardless of circumstance. I think we need to call an ambulance - "

"No fucking way!"

Payne dematerialized over to them. She appreciated Manuel's good intentions, but she was concerned that the robber had another weapon on him -

The instant she appeared behind Manuel, the guy on the ground shrank away in horror, raising his arms and cringing back.

Manuel looked up over his shoulder - and that was when she saw that he wasn't naive. He had the gun pointed at the man. "It's okay, bambina. I got him - "

In a sloppy scramble, the robber got to his feet and Manuel let the muzzle follow him as the human stumbled and caught his balance against the building. Obviously, he was getting ready to run.

"We're keeping the gun," Manuel said. "You understand. And I don't need to tell you, you're lucky to be alive - you don't aggress on my girlfriend."

As the human tore off into the shadows, Manuel rose to his full height. "I need to turn this weapon in to the police."

Then he just looked over at her.

"It is all right, Manuel. I can take care of my presence with the guard so naught will be known. Do what you must."

On a nod, he took out a small phoning device, opened it, and hit a few buttons. Putting it up to his ear, he said, "Yeah, my name is Manuel Manello and I was held up at gunpoint in my vehicle? I'm at the Tricounty ..."

As he spoke, she looked around, and thought she didn't want it to end like this. Except ...

"I have to go," she said as Manuel hung up. "I cannot ... be here if there are going to be more humans. It will just complicate things."

His phone slowly lowered to his side. "Okay ... yeah." He frowned. "Ah, listen ... if the police are coming, I need to remember what just happened or - shit, I've got a gun in my hand for no reason I can give them."

Indeed, it would appear that they were trapped. And for once, she was grateful for an imprisonment.

"I want you to remember me," she said softly.

"That wasn't the plan."

"I know."

He shook his head. "You are the most important piece in all this. So you have to take care of yourself and that means wiping me - "

"Dr. Manello! Dr. Manello - you okay?"

Payne glanced over her shoulder. The first human male they had seen at the desk inside was running across the lawn in a panic.

"Do it," Manuel said. "And I'll figure something out - "

As the scampering guard came up to them, Payne faced the new arrival.

"I was on my rounds," the man said, "and when I was checking the offices at the other end of the building, I saw you through the window - I ran as fast as I could!"

"We are fine," she said to the guard. "But would you look at something for me?"

"Of course! Have the police been called?"

"Yes." She touched below her right eye. "Look at me, please."

He was already locked on her face, and the extra focus just made her work easier; all she had to do was open the way into his brain and put a mental patch over everything that pertained to her.

As far as the human knew, her surgeon had come and gone alone.

She kept the man in a trance, and turned to Manuel. "You need not worry. His memories are so short-term, he will be fine."

From far off, a howling sound rang out, high-pitched and urgent.

"That's the police," Manuel said.

"Then I shall go."

"How will you get home?"

"In the same manner as I got out of your car."

She waited for him to reach for her ... or say something ... or But he just stood there with the cold, silent night air between them.

"Are you going to lie to them?" he asked. "And tell them that you scrubbed me?"

"I do not know."

"Well, in case you need to come back to do that, I'm at - "

"Good night, Manuel. Please be safe."

With that, she raised her hand and quietly, inexorably disappeared.