Lover's Kiss Read online

  She threw the doors open and ignored the cold wind that snapped her jacket behind her. The breeze tickled her legs pushed her hair behind her. The right corner of her lip raised in a contemptuous smile. She would never be Mother Nature's bitch again.

  Beth walked to the railing and leaned forward to look down the side of the building. Her eyes grew wide and she stumbled back a half step. That was a long ways down! How the heck had she climbed up the side of the building? She remembered jumping and reaching for things to grab on to a few times. She shook her head in disbelief.

  "Fuck this!" Beth spun and went back inside. The elevator seemed like a great idea all of a sudden. She rode it down and strolled through the lobby, pausing to smile and wave at the security guard near the door.

  He waved back and asked, "Do you need a taxi, Miss Adams?"

  "I'm good, just staying local," Beth replied.

  "Have a good time," he said before ducking his head back down to whatever was on his desk.

  Beth nodded and pushed the door open. She glanced back quickly and saw him checking her out. She turned her head back before he could notice and slipped out onto the sidewalk. It was nearly seven o clock, early enough that she could get away with just about anything.

  Beth paused and glanced up and down the street. Should she check out some of the meat markets to try and find a mark? She was dressed to kill— literally! She could lure out some unlucky punk easily. Some tasty young piece of meat that she could show the greatest thrill of his life. Greatest, and last.

  Beth spun to her left and started walking. She walked past a few smaller bars and then considered checking out the Fillmore. She'd never been there, but according to the marquee tonight's show didn't start for another hour. She walked on and moved past the Hockeytown Café after slowing and staring through the windows. Not enough people drinking and milling about.

  She walked on, studying the people that were huddled in their coats as they moved down the streets. Even the couples and groups were rushed by the cold. February in Michigan was a dreadful time, she remembered that much and had to fight a grateful smile. Penny had given her a gift beyond anything she could have ever imagined.

  Three young men in suits jogged across the road and ducked into a bar around the corner. Beth watched them and smiled. The man in the back had dark hair and just enough scruff to look like he was trying a little too hard to look like he wasn't trying. He was the kind of guy she would have admired from afar and never approached. She'd been way too shy.

  Not anymore.

  Beth followed them into the bar without bothering to look at the neon name above the doorway. She paused at the entryway near the hostess's station, looking for the three.

  "Good evening, welcome to—"

  "I'm meeting someone," Beth interrupted the hostess. She flashed the surprised girl a smile and swept by her towards the bar.

  All three men were leaning against the bar and talking while preparing to pull out some bar stools and sit down. Beth moved up to the man with the scruff and reached up to rest her hand on the back of his neck.

  He jerked and turned around. She kept her grip on him, stopping him from escaping. "What the— uh, hello?"

  Beth smiled. "Hi, I'm Liz."

  "Uh, Liz? This is— damn, you've got a really cold hand!"

  "It's cold outside," Beth said. "I could go sit down and wait for you to notice me and buy me a drink if you'd like?"

  "I'm sorry?"

  "Jesus, Mark!" one of his friends said.

  "Dude, she's a hooker, get rid of her," the other one said.

  "Hang on," the first one said. "What do you do and how much?"

  Beth's eyes widened. "Hooker?"

  "You're not?" Mark asked.

  "No, I'm not," Beth said. She turned to the first friend that asked her what she'd do and smiled sweetly at him. "If I were, you couldn't afford me. Which is just as well, you wouldn't be able to handle me."

  He laughed. "I don't know, there's three of us and one of you."

  Beth tilted her head and smiled, considering it. She'd never tried draining more than one but Penny said her body would adapt. Then again, that first time her belly had swollen until she looked pregnant. Was that the adapting it did? "Maybe another time. Right now I'm only interested in Mark."

  "You— what the heck is this? I didn't do anything to—"

  The bartender delivered three beers behind the men, pausing the discussion until they paid for the round. As soon as they were gone, Beth licked her lips and stared at friend number one. "I'm thirsty, do you mind?"

  He frowned. "Excuse me?"

  Beth leaned by him and grabbed his beer. She lifted it to her lips to cover her fangs extending. She bit her tongue and retracted her fangs before pretending to take a drink. Her tongue blocked the beer from entering her mouth and instead allowed her blood mix with the beverage.

  She put it down and grimaced. "What is that, horse pee?" she asked and turned to Mark's other companion. She reached for his light beer. "Do you mind?"

  Before he could answer she repeated the gesture. She set it down and shrugged. "Better. Mark, aren't you thirsty?"

  "You don't want to try mine?" he asked.

  "Do I look like Goldilocks?"

  His laugh was nervous but he took a drink of his pale ale while the other two watched, stunned by her bold behavior.

  As soon he lowered it Beth smiled. "Good, I didn't want you to taste the beer on my breath."

  "Wha—"

  Beth kissed him, surprising him and slipping her tongue through his open lips before he knew what was going on. She let another few drops of blood spill from her tongue before she healed the wound and deepened the kiss. On either side the two friends shifted awkwardly before reaching for their beers and taking a drink.

  By the time Beth pushed her very interested partner back the bottles of Mark's friends were both empty. She smiled and looked at Mark. "Well, do you want to get out of here?"

  "What?" he asked, his eyes glazed over. He shook his head and tried to focus. "Why? Where?"

  "To fuck," Beth said and smiled. "Some place close. You're cute and I want to gobble you up."

  "Gobble me up?" he repeated.

  "Oh yeah, baby, I'm going to drink you dry."

  He took another drink and set it on the bar. "Uh, guys, um, I'm gonna—"

  "Dude, did she just admit to swallowing?"

  Beth turned to friend number one and winked at him. She licked her lips and made a show of swallowing loudly. "Every last drop."

  "Fuck me!" Number two said.

  Beth turned and tilted her head. She looked him up and down and shrugged. "Maybe next time, but only if Mark doesn't work out. I'm going to do him so good he's never going to want to leave."

  Number one clapped Mark on the shoulder. "Get some!"

  Mark grinned and nodded. "I can't believe this is happening," he mumbled as he turned to Beth. The lines on his brow softened and a grin forced his lips upward when he looked at her.

  Beth licked her lips and winked. "Believe it."

  He nodded and reached for her hand. Beth let him take it and helped steer him back out of the bar and out into the cold. She felt him shiver and smiled. Soon he'd be feeling passion and bliss until he felt nothing. Her final kiss was the greatest gift she could give a living person.

  Beth pulled him out, turning and wondering where she could find a quiet place to drain him and dispose of his body. The river wasn't that far, but privacy was out of the question. That and fences kept people from getting too close. It was the international border, after all.

  She frowned and thought of the parking ramp she'd passed on her way to the bar. She nodded and turned to nibble on his ear. "This way, the parking garage. We can find someplace there."

  "A parking ramp?" he asked, his voice almost slurred.

  "Mmm," she said. "Do you want me to suck your dick until you fill my belly, or do you want to bend me over the hood of a car and take me?"

  "Holy sh
it," he mumbled. "You sure this isn't going to cost me?"

  "Baby, your money's no good to me."

  "I think I died and went to heaven!"

  "Not yet," Beth promised.

  He grinned and turned his head to kiss her. Beth pushed him back after a brief moment and nodded ahead. "Around the corner."

  He grunted and led the way, moving fast enough that she would have tripped and fallen in her heels a few weeks before. A lot had changed since then. Not only had she learned how to wear heels, but she'd had a complete overhaul that included stronger ankles and calves.

  He pushed open the door to the stairwell that led up to the second floor and tried to pull Beth in after him. Beth glanced around and stopped. She stared down the street, her eyes falling on a pair of policemen that were walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the road. They were headed in the other direction but it was easy for her to identify them.

  "Come on, uh, Liz," he urged.

  Beth ran her tongue over her teeth and shook her head. "Damn it," she muttered.

  He followed her gaze. "Cops? You are a hooker, aren't you?"

  "No," Beth snapped. "I know those two. That's all. Not because they arrested me."

  "Oh, uh, that's cool. Or did you, um, you know, do this to them too?"

  Beth frowned and glanced at him. "What?"

  He held his hands up. "It's cool if you did. I don't own you. I just— I mean, I think you're beautiful and cool and I really, really want to get to know you better."

  Beth smiled and shook her head. "You're sweet."

  He grinned.

  "And you're lucky," she added. "We're not going to do this tonight."

  "What? That's lucky? But—"

  Beth licked her lips and pouted. "I'm sorry, Mark. I really am. You'd thank me though."

  "No way, I'd give anything to make love to you."

  Beth swallowed and nodded. "I'll remember that. Go home, Mark. Go home and get some rest."

  "What, but… um, okay, I guess."

  Beth raised an eyebrow at his reaction to her suggestion. She felt bad for the poor guy. Sure, she'd been ready to kill him a minute ago, but now she wished she had a chance to at least give him a blow job. She'd done that a few times back before she'd died. Would she be better at it now? She glanced down the street and saw John and his partner nearing the corner. She didn't have time.

  "Sorry, baby, another time I'll make it up to you, I promise," she pulled him down and kissed him hard. She pushed him away when she felt him trying to pull her to him and smiled. "Go home, remember?"

  "Oh, yeah, sorry."

  Beth smiled and blew him a kiss before she turned away. The cops had disappeared. She cursed and struck out, moving fast in spite of her heels. She had to find them. No, she didn't have to, she wanted to. She wanted to see what John was doing and where he was going. She'd forgotten all about him after the drug user last night. She'd forgotten about the drug user too when she'd seen Mark. Was she really that fickle?

  "I'm a woman, I get to change my mind," she said to herself.

  "You got that right, sister!"

  Beth turned in surprise and saw a black woman in a black fur coat waiting on the side of the curb for a cab. She puffed on a cigarette and smiled at her. Beth smiled back and hurried on. She shook her head, she had to be more careful about what she was doing.

  She turned the corner and saw John and his grumpy partner ahead of her and talking to a group of younger black men. She frowned and ducked into the entry of the store she was passing. That's all she needed, those two to be racial profiling and catching her stalking them. She needed to find a safer way to watch them.

  Beth glanced across the street and lifted her eyes to the roof of the building. Another night of roof hopping? She followed the roofline to the building next to it and swallowed. It was too far to jump safely. Or unsafely, as far as she was concerned.

  "There's not enough heroin in the world," she mumbled and then winced. She looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear her. Seeing herself safe she ducked out and turned to cross the road. It was early and busy, she'd have to follow at a distance. John hadn't been the first man to have sex with her, but he was the first one she'd enjoyed. More than enjoyed, for that one final night she'd let herself go and had fallen in love with him.

  And now she was stalking him. Like a hunter stalking her prey.

  Chapter 9

  Beth fell further and further back as the night stretched on. It was a Sunday and there weren't as many people out looking for a good time. John and Officer Nettle, or Officer Smashnose as she called him, had written a few tickets but mostly they just wandered through the streets looking for people doing something wrong. She had to admit, for the most part they weren't being jerks like she'd heard they could be.

  The worst part of her chase was waiting whenever they went into a building. She had to wait outside and try to look busy as other people walked by. She'd been hit on twice and propositioned once so far. It was a pity she was do focused on following the policeman, it was practically an all she-could-drink buffet in spite of the blowing snow and cold.

  Speaking of drinking, she was getting thirstier by the minute. The streetlights and signs in the shops and restaurants were dimming while the people walking on the sidewalks and sitting in the warmth of their cozy booths grew brighter. She needed to feed soon, even if that meant losing track of John. If she didn't she'd end up like she was the night before, when nothing mattered except taking the junkie in the alley.

  They'd gone into a small restaurant and had been in there a few minutes. Beth held back on the far side of the street at a bus stop, waiting. She studied the two people waiting with her, one was a black man that looked her age. He had a knit cap with a Detroit Lions symbol on it and a fluffy black coat. Ear buds were tucked into his ears, letting him loose himself in his music while he waited.

  The other person waiting was a middle aged woman that kept glancing at the black man. She was as far as possible from him as she could be, even going so far as to stand on the other side of Beth. Beth caught her glancing down at her shoes and then up and away.

  "Cold night," Beth said and offered a smile.

  "Yes," she mumbled. "I hate Michigan in the winter."

  "So, move," Beth said when the woman's eyes rounded. "Sorry, that was bitchy. I mean why not move south?"

  "Family," she answered. "I've got one son going to Oakland College and my daughter and grandbaby live here. I want to spend as much time with them as I can."

  "That's nice," Beth said and used the excuse of conversation to look at her more closely. There was a darkness that spread through the glow radiating from her. Beth studied it, trying to understand more about her. Sickness or disease, maybe?

  "How about you? Do you work down here?"

  "Yes," Beth said. "No family though, just my partner."

  The grandmother's eyes widened. "Oh! Partner?"

  Beth smiled. "Business and pleasure."

  "Oh!" she said again and fell silent. She rocked back and forth on her feet for a moment, the black man sitting nearby but oblivious to them forgotten. "I almost had a thing with a girl thirty years ago. She was my maid of honor and—"

  "Liz? Liz!"

  Beth spun away from the woman to see John jogging across the street. She stared at him, her eyes wide. She'd fucked up and lost track of him, now he'd seen her.

  "Liz? What's wrong? You— I can't believe you're here. I mean, I thought—"

  Beth looked beyond him and saw Smashnose standing on the far side of the street with two paper cups in his hands. Coffee, she assumed.

  "Liz?" he repeated. "Say something."

  "I'm— um, I'm sorry," Beth said. "I didn't—"

  "You look good. Great, really. I mean, I think you do. What with the coat and all. How are you doing? Why haven't you called?"

  "Officer, pardon me, but back off," the grandma said. "Give her a chance to answer."

  John's eyes widened and he c
lamped his mouth shut. Beth turned to the middle aged woman and thanked her with a smile. She was older than she'd first thought. Maybe a little more than middle aged, especially if she had a grandchild. She pushed the thoughts away and turned back to John.

  "I've been waiting," she explained. "Making sure."

  "Making sure? Of what? I was worried sick about you! I tried to dig up more, but I couldn't find anything."

  Beth opened her mouth to respond and then turned back to the old woman. "You're sick, aren't you?"

  The woman gasped and then shook her head. "What? No, I—"

  "Cancer?" Beth guessed.

  She clamped her mouth shut but that only let her chin tremble. Moisture welled up in her eyes before she blinked it away.

  "I'm sorry," Beth said. "But I might be able to help."

  She shook her head. "There's no help. Pancreatic."

  "Hang on now," John interrupted. "Liz has, or had, some serious health issues too. She knows some doctors."

  Beth shook her head. "That's not the help I can give."

  "Then what?" she whispered.

  Beth glanced at John and then turned to lean in to the old woman. She whispered in her ear, "Peace and happiness. A blissful passing. No drugs, no pain, just a blessed oblivion."

  Beth backed away and looked at the fear in the woman's eyes. The wrinkles in her face eased and she nodded. "That sounds…nice."

  "There's a club near here, Paradise Lost," Beth said. "Come and visit me. If I'm not there, ask for me. When you're ready."

  The shaken woman nodded. "O— okay."

  Beth turned back to John. His brow was furrowed. "Relax, Officer Retkin. Girl talk."

  He shook his head. "Liz, we need to talk."

  "Sorry John, I can't right now."

  "Can't? Why not?"

  "It's complicated," Beth said and smiled. She was getting thirsty enough a nice quiet walk in a dark alley with John sounded like a good idea. She pushed the thought away. She couldn't do that. "I'm heading back home right now, I have to meet up with my girlfriend."