He walked over to me and offered his hand. I took it. He reached his other arm around and gave me a firm hug and a kiss on the cheek. I squeezed him back and pulled away. Tears glistened in his eyes.

"Geez, Dad, no need to get all weird on me."

He wiped away the tear and grinned. "I'm proud of you, son. Very proud."

I felt my own eyes clouding up and wiped them furiously. "Thanks." I gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder and went into my room.

Elyssa hadn't stirred since I'd left her. I fought back more tears and decided to do what I could. I pulled off her boots and her clothes until she was in a lacy black bra and matching panties. I guess if a girl is going to fight vampires, she's going to do it in her best underwear. She looked beautiful despite the filth and blood.

I drew a bath and put her in it, leaving on the underwear. If she regained consciousness, I didn't want her to kill me for taking liberties. I took a rag and gently wiped the grime off her face and arms. After cleaning the crusted blood off her shoulder, the bath water looked like raw sewage. I drained it and examined her shoulder. The twin fang marks were puckered and raw. My heart sank. If her body was recovering, then those should have healed by now.

After the water drained, I used the hand shower to wash her down again. I dried her off and decided to remove the soaked bra and panties. I put her in my Darth Vader T-shirt and Chewbacca boxers. Then I tucked her into my bed. I put my ear to her mouth and listened for any signs of life besides breathing, but found none.

I sat next to her for several minutes, tears trickling down my cheeks. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to contact her parents, and even if I did, they might descend upon me in holy vengeance. A light bulb sparked on inside my head. I found Elyssa's pouch buried under her clothes and emptied it out. Her phone clattered atop the pile.

I flicked it on only to discover it was password protected. My heart dropped another notch. If I could contact her family, I could have them meet me somewhere. That way I would be the only one in danger. Or, I could tell them where to pick her up and watch from a safe distance.

But how would I know if she recovered? I doubted her family would send me a postcard. I paced back and forth, straining to think of something I could do. I tried to guess her password, using her name in upper and lower case, and the name of her mom—Leia, the vampiric hair stylist. No luck. I dropped the phone on the bed and sighed.

Dad was making coffee in the kitchen. I wandered in, face screwed up in misery and told him about Elyssa.

He was incredulous. "She's the dhampyr?"

"Yes." A long sigh escaped me. "We're in love."

His incredulity increased as indicated by his jaw dropping open a fraction. "Tell me exactly what happened."

I gave him the 411. Told him how I'd fed off her and then reversed the flow in an attempt to revive her.

"That's not possible," he said. "You and I can feed off each other because of what we are, but we can't give back what we take."

I shrugged. "Somehow, I did." I thought for a moment. "I don't know if it makes a difference, but I transformed into some kind of monster."

He sucked in a breath. "Explain."

I told him about the creature that had erupted from me and slaughtered all those vamplings. Dad blanched. Seeing someone who supposedly knows a lot more about this stuff than me go sick with worry didn't inspire a lot of confidence in my actions.

"What is it?"

He dropped into a chair. "You spawned."

"Well, we are called demon spawn, right?"

"Right. We're called spawn for a reason. You literally spawned or manifested into your demon form." He leaned forward. "You must never let it happen again. I can't believe you didn't go on a rampage and kill everyone."

"I almost went Incredible Hulk, but thinking about Elyssa brought me back."

"You were lucky. Very lucky. Only older spawn can manifest and maintain control. I still can't manifest at will, and even if I did, I would probably rampage."

I shuddered with fear at what might have been. "I was furious when it happened. I lost control."

"That's how it starts. You were starving, outnumbered, and angry. In this case it was a defense mechanism."

"Well, it worked."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Like I said, you were lucky." He ran a hand through his matted hair. "You took out all the vamplings?"

"I think so."

"Thank God. Those things would spread like a plague if left uncontained and they can infect animals too. Those idiotic rogues are going to make a horrible mess if the Conclave doesn't step in and do something about it."

"Vamplings can spread vampirism?"

He nodded. "Vampires have control over turning a human into a vampire. Vamplings have no control or will for that matter, only hunger. Anything they infect will die and leave an animated corpse. Even animals. All we need is a vampiric rat infestation again."

"What about Elyssa? Did they infect her?"

"From what you've described, I think she's clean of infection. A vampling would have to drain her completely of blood to infect her—I think—but I'm not exactly an expert on vampirism."

I relaxed but only slightly. "Is there anything I can do to help her?"

He sighed. "I'm sorry, son, but I don't know what you can do."

I decided not to tell him about my plan to return her to her family. He might not agree with such an idiotic plan. "Well, maybe you should clean up. No offense, but you stink."

He chuckled. "I think you're right."

I went into my room and sat down at my computer. Elyssa was even paler than before. Her face felt cool to my touch. A tear tumbled from my eye and splashed on her cheek. Nobody could help me now.

And Elyssa would probably die.

Chapter 36

Super powers, magic, and blood that vampires would kill for—all of it for nothing. Elyssa's hold on life was dwindling or, at the least, not increasing and I couldn't do a thing about it.

The answer came to me in a flash. I knew what might fix her. I had the answer flooding through my veins. My sweet demon-spawn blood. I hoped it was as wonderful as the vampires made it out to be.

Elyssa was forbidden to drink from humans—not that I was entirely human—but I knew a way around the restriction. She drank from blood packs. Why not from a coffee mug? I found one of Dad's big coffee mugs with the words Mondays Suck! emblazoned on the front. Somehow having the word "Suck" on it seemed appropriate.

I took a knife. Positioned my hand over the mug. Gritted my teeth and sliced my skin open. It hurt like hell but I didn't care. Thick cherry-red blood dripped into the mug for a second or two. Then it stopped and the blood in the cup congealed into a coagulated lump. My hand had already healed. I groaned. Super-healing was going to make this painful and difficult. Then I remembered something. I dug through the smelly gore-coated ninja outfit Elyssa had given me and found one of the silver-coated knives. She hadn't mentioned whether silver would slow my healing abilities, but now was as good a time as any to experiment. I rinsed the glob of blood from the mug, set it on the counter as I took hold of the silver blade.

The kitchen knife had stung. The silver knife scalded my skin. I slashed my palm and whimpered. Blood poured freely into the mug and kept pouring. Silver apparently kept my blood from coagulating. Just before the mug overflowed, I grabbed another one and placed it underneath my hand. When the second mug was full, I stanched the flow with a wad of paper towels. My hand still felt like I'd rubbed it raw with fiberglass shards and then pressed it against a hot stove.

I wouldn't be blinging out with silver pimp chains anytime soon.

After taping up my hand so I wouldn't gush blood all over the place, I took the steaming mugs of fresh blood into the bedroom.

Fancy a hot steaming cup of blood, dear?

Elyssa's nostrils flared when I placed a mug under her nose. Her eyelids fluttered but didn't open. I propped her head up on my knee and put a mug to her face. I started to feel a bit ill as I faced the reality of what I was about to do. I buckled down my nerves and trickled some blood into Elyssa's mouth. She coughed. Swallowed.

I gagged hard and averted my gaze.

Within a few seconds, she had gulped down the entire mug. I put the second to her lips and let her drink it down. Then I took a napkin and wiped the blood 'stache off her face.

I could just imagine the Got Blood? billboard.

I pressed the back of my hand to her cheek. It felt slightly warmer. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.

The minutes ticked by but Elyssa didn't move. A cold knife of fear twisted in my stomach. What if her body was still alive, but I'd destroyed her mind? Dad had warned me that was possible. Elyssa had been weak. Poisoned by the vamplings. And then I'd sucked her dry. Left nothing.

Tears flooded my eyes.

I'd killed the girl I loved and left only an empty shell.

"No, no, no," I moaned. What had I done?

I ripped the bandages off my hand. The blood had clotted and the wound was healing despite the silver poisoning. I grabbed the knife. I would pour the blood straight from my hand and into her mouth. She could suck me dry. I didn't care. Life had nothing left for me to care about without Elyssa.

I slashed my hand, crying out at the pain, and held it a few inches over her mouth. She gulped the steady stream of blood. I cut my hand again and again as it tried to heal. The pain was so overwhelming my hand went numb. My skin blanched partly from pain but mostly from blood loss.

The room spun. I felt cold. Sleepy. I shook my head, fighting the urge to pass out.

* * * * *

I jerked awake.

Something or someone was watching me. I looked left. Tear-filled violet eyes gazed back at me.

"Elyssa?"

She smiled and caressed my cheek. "I'm here."

I sat up. Crusted blood had glued the sheets to my hand. I peeled the sheet away and looked at my palm. Some of the multiple cuts had healed.