The Polanski Brothers: Home of Eternal Rest Read online

  Edgar Polanski had Liam by the throat, half lying over the edge of the table that Ethan was strapped to. Joy had never seen her father this angry, ever. It almost frightened her to see his usually calm exterior rigid and radiating rage.

  “Do you have any idea what you’ve done, Liam?” Her father said Liam’s name like it had the plague as he jammed his face into Liam’s. “I’m going to have to kill you, you know, and I hate to do that. Such a pity, but you must never, ever hurt one of mine.”

  Liam’s usually calm exterior twisted with fury as he struggled beneath Edgar, clawing at the hands that held his neck. “I’ll see you in hell first, Polanski!” Liam screamed into Edgar’s face.

  “Ah, but I’ll have the better room, Liam, and I’ll be waiting for you…” Edgar’s voice was hushed, his words floating out of his mouth on a hiss of contempt. “You’ve killed people, Liam. That’s not nice.”

  “I killed humans, Polanski! Humans that are useless. What kind of vampire are you anyway? Living amongst the lesser like you’re one of them?”

  Edgar shook Liam hard, making his chattering teeth echo in the small basement. “And who are you to judge, Liam? You will pay for what you’ve done. What would have happened to my family if the police had found out about those vampire bites, Liam? For that alone, you will suffer…”

  Larkin helped Joy up, but she shrugged him off and shuffled to her father. “Daddy! Daddy, stop! If you kill him, you’ll be no better than he is!” Joy tugged at her father’s arm, gripping the bulging muscles of his arm, but he wouldn’t be deterred.

  “Larkin, get Ethan and take Joy now!” Edgar yelled with sharp clarity. “Do it now, Detective!”

  Larkin grabbed Joy by the arm, tucking her close to him as he untied Ethan and hauled him over his shoulder. “Move your butt, vampire,” he ordered Joy.

  “But --” Joy protested on a yelp.

  “Detective,” Edgar growled. “Learn how to control your wayward woman and get her out of here!”

  “Now is not the time to get cheeky, woman. You heard your father. Move it!”

  As Joy let Larkin pull her out of the basement, she looked over her shoulder one last time to see her father reaching into his suit jacket. Joy knew what he had. A stake. A wooden stake and Liam would die…

  * * *

  Joy continued to protest as they made their way to Larkin’s car and laid Ethan in the back with a blanket.

  “Joy! Stop it. Your father’s doing what he has to, to protect you and your family. Shut up already, woman! It’s not enough I have you in my head, but I have to watch your yap move too?”

  Joy begrudgingly got into the car and let Larkin strap her seat belt around her. Larkin kissed her forehead and said, “Good girl. I think I could adjust to you silent.”

  They drove back to the parlor and left Ethan in the care of Joy’s mother. After explaining the situation, they headed back to Joy’s apartment. Her mother was upset to say the least, but didn’t seem at all concerned about Edgar. Her father must have a side to him that Joy had never witnessed. She’d left her mother with a kiss and the promise that Joy would hear from her when her father arrived home.

  As they drove to Joy’s apartment, Larkin didn’t let go of her hand once as he explained the conversation he’d had with her father on the way to Liam’s cabin.

  “So he knows Ethan is gay?” Joy asked Larkin, biting her lip and worrying over her father’s reaction.

  “He sort of guessed, I think. He said he knew something was troubling Ethan and he and your mother had discussed it at length. I didn’t really tell him the details. He sort of pieced it together after I told him about Liam and Alan. He knew Liam had both you and Ethan at the cabin. It was easy for him to piece it together after that. I tried to be evasive, but you must know your dad when he wants answers.”

  Joy groaned. She certainly did. He could be as stubborn as she was. “Well, now it’s up to Ethan to talk to my parents.” Joy had explained to Larkin why Liam was picking people off and the detective in him seemed satisfied, albeit a bit sickened and bewildered. Alarm crept up her spine and she asked, “Maybe we should go back and help Daddy? I’m worried, Larkin. I’ve never seen him like that.”

  Larkin chuckled as they pulled into Joy’s driveway and parked. “Yeah, well, don’t worry too much about your dad. I had no idea how strong he is and he’s older than Liam, according to him. I think he can take care of himself. I know Liam’s going to regret screwing with your family. Your dad knows his dad and I think Liam just might be grounded for bad behavior.”

  Joy swiped at Larkin’s shoulder. “That’s not funny, Larkin. Daddy said he was going to kill him!”

  “Yep, baby, and it’s the only way. Something ain’t right about that pasty freak. The vampire world will thank your father. Hey, I just had an idea. Maybe you could embalm him?” Larkin was joking, but Joy wasn’t laughing.

  “Quit trying to cheer me up, would ya? I’m worried about Daddy.”

  “You should be more worried about me. He really gave me what for over this whole mind reading thing.”

  Larkin got out of the car and came around to Joy’s side to help her out, but she was already beginning to feel much better. She’d begun to heal as vampires were wont to do. “He knows you can read my mind?”

  “Yeah, honey. How do you suppose I was going to tell him that I knew who took you and Ethan?”

  “Oh, great. And what did Daddy have to say about this?”

  “C’mon, you need to feed. I’ll tell you inside.”

  Joy smiled and let Larkin guide her up the stairs to her apartment. He was concerned about her feeding… what a man.

  “Of course I’m concerned about you. I love you.”

  Joy caught another odd nudge at the edge of her brain, rather like the one she’d had just before she could hear Larkin in her head as clearly as if he were in the room with her. She chuckled then. “Yes, Larkin. I believe you now.”

  “Get out of my head, Joy.”

  “Not until you get out of mine, Detective,” she taunted. Oh, this power was delicious!

  “Look, Joy. Your dad explained the whole mind reading thing. You know what it means, don’t you?” Larkin pushed her unlocked door open.

  “Um, now we can say, ‘can ya hear me now’ and it has real meaning?”

  Larkin chuckled as he settled Joy on her couch and went to the fridge for her storage of blood. “Among other things… it means we’re lifemates and you’re stuck with me.”

  Huh?

  “You heard me, woman,” Larkin teased as he brought her back a mug and the mason jar of blood she stashed in her fridge.

  “You and me? Lifemates? How do you figure?”

  “I didn’t. Your dad did. He said some lifemates don’t just smell their intended. They can hear them and sometimes, like in our case, it happens to one before the other. Apparently, you were so busy being pig-headed and stubborn about me that you couldn’t hear me until you really needed to.”

  “My father told you this?” Joy was astonished.

  “Yep. He said that your mother and he didn’t develop the mind reading thing until they’d been together awhile, but they did sniff each other out. It’s a vampire gig, I guess.”

  Joy rolled her eyes. “And why didn’t you figure this out, detective that you are?”

  “Oh, no. Don’t go blaming me. I’m not a vampire. How was I supposed to know the ways of you creatures of the night?”

  Joy set the cup and blood on her coffee table and patted the spot beside her on the couch. “So I have to live with you for eternity?”

  Larkin plopped down next to her and pulled her close. “You say that like it’s a bad thing, Elvira.”

  “Who is Elvira?”

  “You know, the woman on television? Mistress of the dark… comedy?” He shook his head. “Never mind. Anywho, you’re my woman. Adjust.”

  “So I don’t get a say in this?”

  “You could have Liam…”

  Joy laughed
as she snuggled close to Larkin’s broad chest and listened to the beat of his heart, a heart that reminded her of something. “But we won’t have an eternity, Larkin.”

  “We can…” Larkin’s sentence trailed off into the air.

  “I don’t know if I like what you’re thinking, Larkin, and yes, I can hear what you’re thinking. I love you and I don’t want you to do something you may end up feeling damned for.”

  “I don’t feel damned, Joy. In all of this crazy madness, it seems right.”

  “I can’t do this, Larkin. I just can’t. It’s not like I’m asking you to be my steady and give me your high school ring. I’m asking you to give up your life -- or at least life as you know it.”

  Larkin squeezed her arm. “I know what it means. So let’s not talk about it, let’s do it.”

  Joy’s indecision gnawed at her stomach. “I can’t. I love you too much.”

  “Okay, so I love you, you love me. It’s like a Barney thing. Established, now let’s get me turned.”

  “Who is Barney?”

  Larkin grinned and kissed her. “You know, the big purple dinosaur that kids like? He sings that song, I love you -- you love me?”

  Joy shook her head. “Um, no.”

  “Forget it, baby. Let’s get to the turning thing.”

  Joy pushed at his solid chest. “Larkin, if you let me turn you -- well -- well, nothing will ever be the same for you. You won’t want big, greasy burgers and pizza. You won’t want to work the day shift. I mean this is huge, Detective! It has far reaching ramifications that you can’t possibly begin to grasp.”

  “I know what it means, Joy.”

  Joy sat up and pulled away from Larkin’s reach so she could look him in those sexy eyes of his. “And what about the blood thing, sissy? The idea makes you sick. You can’t be a vampire and not drink blood.”

  On cue, Larkin turned green. “But if I’m a vamp it won’t matter, won’t I crave it?”

  “Yes, you will, but this is a major, life altering choice, Larkin. It’s like changing from a giraffe to an elephant!”

  Larkin snorted. “I hardly think it’s quite the same. I’ll still be me, just a bigger bad-ass version of me.”

  Joy shook her head at him. “That’s what worries me, right now you’re focusing on the tough guy bullshit, but you’re not paying attention to the rest of the vampire stuff. You will live for eternity. E-T-E-R-N-I-T-Y!” Joy spelled. “You can’t ever go back to being human again, Larkin.”

  Larkin shrugged his broad shoulders and grinned again. “But then I get to spend E-T-E-R-N-I-T-Y with you, right?”

  Joy couldn’t help but smile back. “Yes, yes, Larkin, you do, but I really think you should give this more thought. You’re thinking with something that doesn’t have a brain,” Joy said as she pointed to his crotch.

  Larkin reached for her hand and dragged her back into his arms. “I am not either. I’m thinking I could do a lot of good with all those acute vampire senses as a cop.”

  Joy frowned against his chest. “Back home?”

  Larkin kissed the top of her head. “Nope. Right here in Easton.”

  Joy’s smile was smug, but she kept her face buried in his chest to hide it. “Not a lot happens here in Easton, Larkin, and what about the counseling you said they were going to make you attend… You’d have to go before they’ll reinstate you.”

  “No, but I can live with that now. It doesn’t all have to be about guns and dope, and I’ll go to counseling. I realize that little boy’s death had an impact on my life. A lot of shit has had an impact on my life lately, Joy.”

  No truer words were spoken.

  “Are you a sissy vamp? You have a willing participant here, Joy. Quit jabberjawin’ and hit me with your best shot, woman.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “Are you afraid I’ll be able to take you in hand-to-hand combat when I’m a vamp?”

  Joy shoved him down on the couch and straddled him. “Shut up, Larkin. I’m older. I’ll always be able to take you.”

  Larkin grabbed her hips and ran his hands along them. “Prove it.”

  “Don’t goad me, Detective,” Joy warned.

  “Goad, goad, goad…”

  “Dammit, Larkin, stop!”

  Larkin pointed to his neck. “Right here. C’mon, you girl.”

  Joy’s limbs trembled. God, Larkin’s neck looked inviting… “You need -- to -- to -- think about this more.”

  Larkin pulled her down to graze her lips with his, sending that now familiar fire of sensation to her pussy. He skimmed her mouth with his tongue, slow and simmering. Joy squirmed above him, rubbing her lower body against his in an enticing circle. Lord, this man made her body parts turn to butter. Larkin cupped her breast, thumbing a nipple through her shirt, making Joy groan with need. She couldn’t think clearly when he was doing that. Joy grabbed Larkin’s wrist and muttered against his mouth, “Stop trying to charm me, Detective. It won’t work.”

  Larkin chuckled and lifted her shirt and bra, enveloping a breast with his lips before saying, “Yes, it will. You’re my lifemate and you have to do what I say…”

  Joy’s hips bucked. “I do not -- oh…” Joy sighed as he nipped the underside of her breast, licking as he skimmed his way to her nipple. “There is no rule in the lifemate handbook that says thaaaat. Ohhhhh…” Joy gave in, pulling her shirt and bra off and then attacking the button on Larkin’s jeans, but Larkin placed a hand over hers. “No nookie until you turn me, miss.”

  “Are you going to hold out on me every time you want something, Larkin? Because let me tell you a thing or two. I will not be threatened. Do you hear me?” Joy sat up and crossed her arms over her bare chest.

  “Far be it for me to threaten.” He smiled from beneath her. Turning his head, he pointed to his neck again. “Give it to me, baby.”

  Joy was hesitant and afraid. “I’ve never done this before, Larkin…”

  “I wonder if it hurts,” he mused out loud.

  Joy’s stomach turned. She didn’t know if it hurt. “Are you sure, Larkin? I mean really sure?”

  “Yep. Do me.”

  Joy leaned forward and nuzzled the skin of Larkin’s neck. He felt so good… she let her incisors gently graze his skin and Larkin tensed beneath her. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Joy. Just do it, would ya? Oh, and tell me something. What happens after you bite me? Do I fall asleep and wake up a vamp, or is it like insta-vamp?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never done this before, Larkin. I think Cathy said it happens in a variety of ways.”

  Larkin kissed her cheek. “Okay, so let’s do this and find out.”

  Without giving any further thought to the consequences, Joy did just that, sinking her teeth into Larkin’s neck and relishing the salty tang of his blood. Larkin bucked beneath her and his arms came around her to hold her close. His grip grew in strength as Joy felt the surge of power leave her body and enter his.

  Joy lifted her head to look at him, worried she’d hurt him. Larkin’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and then he went limp. Ain’t that just like a man? she thought.

  Larkin’s skin grew cool to her touch as Joy watched the transformation take place, his body taking on a strange glow. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal. He looked the same.

  Larkin’s eyes popped open and he stared straight ahead at her, but he didn’t appear to see anything.

  Hookay, this was freaking her out!

  Oh, God. What had she done? Shit, shit, shit. Joy wasn’t sure what to do next. She was afraid to touch him. “Larkin,” she whispered into the room.

  “What?” Larkin’s mouth moved, but his body didn’t.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I feel fine.”

  “Then move or something. You’re scaring me.”

  Larkin sat up with a suddenness that scared them both. Joy jolted above him, still straddling his hips.

  “Whoa. That was weird,” he said as he rubbed his han
d over his forehead.

  “What’s weird?”

  “I dunno. It’s like I don’t have to put the effort I once did into something as simple as sitting up. I feel a little wired. Like jerky, ya know?”

  Joy ran her hand over his lips. “Open your mouth, Larkin.”

  He complied and as he opened wide, his incisors grew. Joy found herself incredibly turned on by them. Her fingers itched to touch them. “Oh, my,” she whispered, amazed and awed.

  Larkin put his hand to his mouth and felt the sharp teeth that were now his for eternity. “Cool…”

  Heat stirred in Joy’s loins, hot and thick, and she fought to control it. Larkin needed to adjust, not boink. “Baby?”

  “Take your clothes off, now.”

  “What?” Was he insane? How could he think of sex at a time like this?

  “Because I’m a man,” he answered her thought. “A man with a hard-on. Take your jeans off, now.”

  “What?”

  “I said take your jeans off now. If I don’t screw your brains out, I’ll explode.” His demand was husky and thick as he churned the words from his mouth with obvious effort.

  Joy pressed against the rock-solid ridge in Larkin’s jeans. Oh, my… “Does this mean no foreplay?”

  “It means do what I say, now, Joy,” he demanded. The urgent tone sent Joy tugging at her jeans and lifting her hips to shove them down her legs.

  Larkin tore at his too, and then they were naked. Larkin’s cock lay erect against his belly, thick and hard. Joy licked her lips, unable to concentrate on anything else but fucking.

  “Fuck me, Joy,” Larkin growled in a tone that Joy hadn’t heard before, but his command had her in its grip.

  Mesmerized, Joy grasped his cock and Larkin thrust upward into her hand. “Christ, that feels good, baby. It’s different now…”

  Joy had heard that your senses increased tenfold after turning and that must be true judging from the way Larkin was squirming from her touch. Joy settled over his cock, pausing only a moment before she impaled him, gasping on impact.

  The slick slide of flesh caught them both off guard. Larkin’s hands found her hips, clenching them hard as he jammed her down on him. His coarse pubic hair scraped her clit as they rocked. Larkin inched up to a sitting position, and Joy clamped her arms around his neck. Larkin drove into her with loud grunts. Their fusion of flesh sent Joy into a tailspin of sensation. She’d never experienced this with Larkin before, this driving need to be possessed by him. Their bodies crashed together. Heat and fissures of electricity shot to her cunt, slick with desire for Larkin. Joy ran her hands over his back as Larkin suckled her neck. Groaning she muttered, “Try those teeth out, tough guy.”