The Renegade Hunter

Jo waited until Nicholas had scooted his chair in and glanced her way before giving up her position by the door and slowly crossing the room to reclaim her seat. She peered at him silently, and then merely raised her eyebrows in question. "So? Are you a vampire, or not?"

Nicholas hesitated. "Not in the traditional sense."

"Uh huh, and how does that work?" Jo asked dryly. "You see, to me that's kind of like an expectant mother saying she isn't pregnant in the traditional sense. Either she's preggers or she isn't, and either you're a vampire or you're not. Which is it?"

Nicholas frowned and picked up his glass to take a drink. His expression thoughtful, he swallowed, set down the glass, and said, "See now, I started this wrong. I started at the back end of the horse rather than the front."

Jo simply raised an eyebrow.

"Our vampirism is scientifically based."

Jo raised her other eyebrow.

"One of my ancestors was a scientist," he began, "and he was messing around with nanos and bioengineering, trying to find a way to repair injuries and cure disease from inside the body without the need for surgery. These nanos would be injected into the person and do the work... Kind of like-Have you seen that movie where they shrink this group of people and inject them into a sick guy in a shrunken ship?"

"I know what movie you're talking about," Jo acknowledged slowly, her curiosity piqued. "I can't remember the name, but I know the movie."

"Right, well that's kind of what he was trying to create, but only, as I say, with nanos instead of shrunken people."

"And he succeeded?" Jo asked with interest.

"Nah, he died," Nicholas said with a grimace. "I mean he did, but old age got him before he perfected it. Others took up where he left off, though, and eventually they did succeed... sort of. It wasn't quite as successful as they'd hoped." He paused to take another drink before adding, "Or perhaps it was more successful than he'd expected."

Jo raised her eyebrows again. "Which is it? Was it successful or not?"

"Both," he decided. "The end result worked, but... These bio-nanos did destroy illnesses in the body and repair injuries as intended, but once done they were supposed to disintegrate and be flushed from the bodies... only they didn't."

"They didn't disintegrate? Or they didn't leave the body?" she asked.

"Either," Nicholas said grimly, and then explained, "See, their program was general rather than specific. It wasn't like they created a bunch of different nanos with ones for cancer, ones to repair bones or skin, etc. They had one kind of nano with a very wide ranging and general programming, to repair the body and return it to peak condition and then basically self-destruct, but the body is in constant need of repair. Every breath we take sucks in pollution, the sun constantly attacks the skin. Just the simple passage of time sees a wear on cells and bones and tissue. The body is in constant need of repair, so-"

"So the nanos didn't disintegrate, but stuck around and continued repairing," Jo guessed, and he nodded, a smile curving his lips at her figuring that out.

"Exactly."

Jo considered that and then shook her head. "I don't see that as a problem. I'd think it would be a good thing to have something like that in your system, fighting off illness and repairing wounds."

"It is," Nicholas said solemnly. "But it comes with a price."

"Which is?" she asked with a frown.

"The nanos don't just see cancer or colds or a terrible burn as something that needs repair. They're programmed to repair all damage and keep their host at their peak condition... and they see the effects of even aging as something that needs to be repaired. They repair and fix it all."

Jo's eyes narrowed as she asked, "Are you saying people with these nanos don't age?"

Nicholas nodded. "And anyone over the age of twenty-five or thirty will actually reverse in age if given them."

Her eyes widened. "So it's kind of like a sip from the fountain of youth? You never get ill or age and the old become young again?" When he nodded, she smiled wryly and said, "Forgive me, maybe I'm just dense, but I'm not seeing a downside here. What's this price you mentioned?"

Nicholas grimaced. "The nanos use blood to perform these functions as well as to power and regenerate themselves."

"That's interesting," Jo said, eyes widening. "Smart too since our bodies make blood."

"But not enough to power the nanos," he said quietly. "They use more blood than a body can create on its own."

"I see," Jo breathed, sitting back as she understood the problem, and what he'd meant by not being a vampire in the traditional sense. "So I'm guessing the nanos gave you fangs so you can feed on others for that blood, but you aren't dead, and can go out in the sun, and I presume-since the source of your vampirism is scientific in nature-religious icons and items don't affect you?"

"No they don't," Nicholas agreed.

She was silent for a minute, her gaze returning to her glass as she now began to turn it on the table, her mind suddenly whirling with questions. She started with, "And you have these nanos in you?"

"Yes."

Jo nodded. It was nothing more than she'd expected. He'd flashed fang and apparently bit her earlier. She asked, "How long have they had this technology? I'm guessing not long," she added thoughtfully. "I'm sure it would be all over the news if-"

"Actually, it's been longer than you'd think," he muttered.

Jo narrowed her eyes on him as another question popped into her head. "How old are you? I mean you look like twenty-seven or so, but if the nanos make you look young again..." She paused. He was suddenly avoiding her eyes and looking uncomfortable and even reluctant. Jo got the distinct impression that this question was not something he wanted to answer, and she began to suspect he was much older than he looked. Probably her father's age or something, she decided. No doubt he was given the nanos because of heart disease or another infirmity related to old age. The thought made her sigh unhappily. She had never been into older men. At least not way older men. Her parents had died in a car accident when she was younger, but while her father might be dead, she wasn't looking for a replacement daddy. Five years was usually her limit for age difference with men. On the other hand, the guy looked her age. And he didn't act like a geriatric.

"So?" she prompted. "How old are you?"

Nicholas peered at her solemnly and then admitted, "I was born in 1449."

Jo released her glass and gaped at him. "What? I think I heard that wrong. What did you just say? What year were you born?"

"1449," he repeated solemnly.

"How-You can't-That isn't possible," she said finally. "They didn't have that kind of technology back then. Heck, they-"

"My ancestors did," Nicholas assured her quietly.

"Your ancestors" Jo echoed blankly. "Well, where the heck are your ancestors from? Venus? Saturn? Mars maybe?"

Nicholas smiled faintly, but shook his head. "No, they were mortals from a place called Atlantis that fell before the coming of Christ."

"Atlantis?" Jo echoed, eyes wide. She'd heard of the place, of course. She doubted anyone hadn't heard of Atlantis. There were all sorts of myths about the place. Even its very existence was something of a myth since most people weren't sure it ever existed. Apparently it had... and jeez, he wasn't kidding about advanced technology if they were playing with nanos there way back when.

Atlantis, she thought on a sigh. Wasn't it just like her that in a country full of Canadians she falls for the oddball guy from Atlantis? That thought reminded her of an old show that she used to watch in reruns as a kid, The Man from Atlantis. The memory of it made her glance at his perfectly formed hands and then lean to the side to peer at his shod feet under the table. Straightening, she asked, "Do you have webbed feet, like the guy on the Man from Atlantis?"

"No," Nicholas snapped with disgust. "Good God, woman, you saw me naked."

"It wasn't your feet I was looking at," Jo said dryly, and then her eyes widened as the man actually blushed.

Releasing a pent-up sigh, he said, "That show was a load of nonsense. We're vampires, not fish."

"But not traditional vampires, Atlantean vampires," Jo suggested with gentle teasing.

Nicholas smiled reluctantly. "The fact is, we prefer to be called immortals rather than vampires, but the vampire thing is more expedient when explaining things."

"I suppose it would be," Jo agreed. She peered at him silently for a moment, but then asked, "So Mortimer and the guys run around hunting down Atlantean vampires? I presume that's why he has those cells and the blood in the office and such. He and Bricker and the others know about your existence and hunt you down?"

Nicholas hesitated, and then sighed and said, "Mortimer, Bricker, Decker, Anders, and all the other men you met at the party are also Atlantean vampires... I mean immortals," he corrected himself with a grimace.

Jo's eyes widened. "Mortimer? My sister's boyfriend, Mortimer, is a vampire too?"

He nodded. „

Jo sat back in her seat with a frown. "So the blood in the garage..."

"Their supply," Nicholas said quietly. "We drink bagged blood now. It's against our laws to drink any other way."

When Jo arched her eyebrows at that and raised her fingers to the puncture wounds on her throat, he grimaced and added, "There are exceptions to the rule. It's allowed in cases of an emergency where bagged blood isn't readily available... or between lovers."

Jo almost smiled at the term. Lovers. She hardly knew the man. At least, she'd met him for only the first time last night, but lovers was a much nicer term than some she'd heard. She peered at him silently for a moment and then asked, "So Mortimer is one too and sneaks out to the garage for blood." She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "God, I have to tell Sam. She'll be-"

"She'll know," Nicholas assured her solemnly. "She's his life mate. He would have told her and then eventually he will turn her."

"Turn her?" Jo asked sharply. "You mean make her one too? You can do that?"

"We're each allowed to turn one," he admitted.

"Wow," Jo breathed, unsure how she felt about that. She supposed it was good news in a way. She wouldn't have to worry about Sam getting ill or dying, but... a vampire... jeez.

"In fact, he should have already, but the scuttlebutt on the street is that she's refused for now because it would mean leaving you and your other sister behind in ten years."

"Really?" Jo asked, unsure how to feel about that. "Why would she have to leave us in ten years?"

"Not just you, everyone she knows in this life. It's to prevent anyone noticing that she isn't aging," he explained. "We have survived as long as we have only because our existence is kept secret from the general population."

Jo nodded. "Otherwise you guys would probably be hunted down and experimented on and probably drained dry so the fat rich could become like you."

"That is an issue now," Nicholas acknowledged. "Though until the last few centuries it was more a concern of being hunted down and killed."

Jo grimaced, but said, "You mentioned Sam is his life mate. Bricker has said that a time or two as well. I just thought it was some weird Californian term for girlfriend, but-"

"A life mate is much more than a girlfriend or even a wife," Nicholas interrupted her quietly. "She, or he, is rare and precious. They are the one person in all the world that an immortal can relax around and be him or herself with."

"Why?" Jo asked at once. "What makes them so special?"

"Ah... well..." Nicholas frowned and glanced away. It was a moment before he glanced back and said, "To explain that I have to explain some other things."

"Go ahead."

He nodded, and then took a breath and began, "The nanos gave us more than fangs."

"Speaking of which, I understand why the nanos gave you fangs, but how did they do it? Surely the nanos weren't programmed to alter you physically in that way?"

"No. They were programmed to keep us healthy and at our peak. In Atlantis, the fangs weren't necessary. Those who had been injected with the nanos were given transfusions to make up for the problem of not producing enough blood on their own to sustain the nanos. But then Atlantis fell and there were no more transfusions. Atlantis had been very isolated by the ocean and a ring of mountains. When it fell, it sank into the ocean and the survivors-mostly immortals-had no choice but to cross the mountains and rejoin the rest of society, but the rest of the world wasn't nearly in the same league technologically as Atlantis had been. The people were ages behind, still primitive. There were no more transfusions."

"I'm guessing that was a problem," Jo said dryly.

"Most definitely," Nicholas agreed. "So the nanos altered their hosts, giving them what they needed to survive in the new terrain. They gave them fangs, made them faster, stronger, and gave them better night vision, making them nocturnal predators."

"Why the night vision?" she asked. "You said you could go out in daylight."

"We can, but it's something we try to avoid," he said and explained, "The sun causes damage, and more damage means more blood is needed to repair it, and more blood needed means biting more people since we were forced to feed off the hoof back then."

"Off the hoof... cute," she muttered.

Nicholas shrugged apologetically.

Jo sighed and said, "So you avoided going out in sunlight to avoid the damage and reduce the amount of blood needed."

He nodded.

"Sensible," she murmured, and then cleared her throat and said, "So you used to actually run around biting people, but now just get blood from the blood bank?"

Nicholas was silent for a moment and then cleared his throat and said, "It is against our laws to bite mortals now."

Jo's eyes narrowed. She hadn't missed the fact that he was avoiding her eyes as he said that... and that he hadn't really answered her question and said whether he'd bitten people in the past, but now fed on bagged blood. She let it go for now, however, and said, "What else can you do?"

Nicholas looked wary. "What do you mean?"

"The guy at the check-in desk downstairs and the other one who was telling us dogs aren't allowed in the hotel, but then suddenly did an about-face," she reminded him dryly, and Nicholas grimaced.

"Oh yes." He sighed. "Well, the nanos also make us able to read and control people. It makes it easier to hunt them, and that way we can make it so they don't feel the pain of the bite. We can send them our pleasure instead. We can also read if they're healthy and so on."

"Nifty," Jo said dryly, now wondering what thoughts of hers she'd been unknowingly sharing since meeting Mortimer, Bricker, and Decker up north... or more worrisome, when she'd been controlled and what she'd been made to do.

"The ability isn't just with mortals though," Nicholas continued quickly, probably noting her upset. "We can read other immortals too if they aren't guarding their thoughts and they can do the same with us. It makes it rather trying at times. Around other immortals we are constantly on our guard, constantly having to remember to keep up a mental wall to keep our thoughts and feelings our own... except with a life mate," he added solemnly. "They are that very rare person we can neither read nor control. Being with them is like finding an oasis in a desert. You can be yourself without having to guard your thoughts all the time. They are your mate for life, a very long life that gets terribly lonely if you don't have one."

Jo was silent for a minute and then said, "So not being able to read or control someone makes them a life mate?"

He nodded. "It's how we recognize them. That, and old appetites awaken."

"I don't understand, what do you mean by old appetites?"

Nicholas smiled wryly. "After a couple of centuries, most things become boring. Places, jobs, and so on. We have to move every ten years or so to prevent anyone noticing we aren't aging, which helps somewhat, and most immortals change careers every fifty to a hundred years or so, some even more often. But there are some things that we just drop and don't bother with after the first couple of centuries."

"Like what?" Jo asked curiously.

"Food."

"Food?" she echoed with surprise.

Nicholas nodded. "Food becomes little more than a troublesome bother and we tend to lose our taste for it around one hundred and fifty or so."

Jo raised her eyebrows, but supposed she could un-demand that. There were nights when she was trying to figure out what to make for dinner for herself and it just seemed a big bother. She suspected after a hundred years, which would be around thirty-six thousand, five hundred dinners and as many lunches and breakfasts, she too would think, Why bother? But... Her gaze slid to the empty chicken bucket between them. If Nicholas was truly born in 1449 he was well over the hundred and fifty marker, yet was eating. Jo didn't think for a minute that Charlie had eaten all that chicken on his own while she'd slept.

"And sex," Nicholas said suddenly, drawing her attention again.

Jo's eyes were incredulous as she asked, "Sex? You can get tired of that?"

He shrugged and said almost apologetically, "With non-life mates, it starts to become a lot like masturbation after a while."

"Oh right, you can control them and make them do what you want," she realized, and frowned, wondering if he'd done that with her. Had her passion been real? It had certainly felt real. She'd ached for him with every part of her body. Or thought she had. "So, was what we did-"

"It was real," Nicholas interrupted firmly. "I ca-didn't control you or put thoughts or feeling in your mind. I never have with any woman, at least not intentionally," he qualified with a frown.

She relaxed under the knowledge that he hadn't controlled her, and she did believe him when he said that. It might be foolish, she hardly knew the man, but when it came right down to it, Jo trusted Nicholas and had from the start. Just as Charlie did.

"So, sex can become boring," Jo commented, finding it hard to fathom.

"I'm afraid so," Nicholas said solemnly. "The best way to explain it is that it becomes just a function; repetitive and boring. There's no real feeling for the other person when you know you can read and control them, and once you've sown your wild oats, so to speak, it's just not that interesting anymore." He frowned and then glanced down and muttered, "Until you encounter your life mate."

"And what's it like with a life mate?" she asked quietly.

Nicholas sighed and looked unhappy as he admitted, "Then it's all brand-new again; incredible, passionate, all-consuming, and addictive. You can't get enough at first. Being in the same room with them makes your body hum and ache. Their scent is like an aphrodisiac, their smile makes you want to rip their clothes off, their touch makes you want to bury yourself deep inside them and stay there forever."

Jo swallowed. The man had lifted his gaze to her halfway through his words and his eyes were flaming that silver she'd noted earlier. She supposed it must have something to do with the nanos and the night vision thing, but didn't ask. The hungry look in his eyes was making her squirm in her seat and goose bumps rise on her skin. Jo was pretty sure her nipples were suddenly erect too; like a dog salivating at the sight of food, her body was responding to just his look.

"You can't read me," she said abruptly.

Nicholas stilled, his eyes losing some of their silver sheen and going wary. "What makes you think that?"

"Oh, I don't know," Jo drawled. "Maybe the fact that you said, 'I can't read you' last night in this kind of wondering tone after trying to send me back to the house."

"I was hoping you hadn't caught that," he muttered, flopping back unhappily in his chair.

Jo blinked. "Let me get this straight. You can't read me, and your appetite for food and, I'd say," she added dryly, "sex has returned?"

"Yes, but-"

"And according to you these are signs of a life mate. Yes?"

"Yes, but-"

"Also according to you," she continued over him, "life mates are rare and as wonderful as an oasis in the desert?"

"Yes, but-"

"But you don't want me," Jo finished for him bitterly, and then asked, "What? You're gay? 'Cause I have to say, if you're gay, you did a very good imitation of a straight guy here this afternoon."

"I'm not gay," Nicholas assured her on a sigh.

"And yet you don't want me... me, your life mate," she said with feigned good cheer. "Weird, huh?"

"It's not that I don't want you, Jo," he said, and then cursed with frustration and admitted, "Jesus, all I can think about is you. I nearly gave myself hypothermia taking a cold shower this afternoon, then nearly scalded myself with a hot one to warm up after, and I still can't think of anything but you. You naked, you half naked, or even you not naked but in a short little skirt that I pull up so I can bury myself in you."

Jo blinked as that image rose up in her mind. She didn't normally wear skirts, but she had one or two for special occasions and did have one little black leather number that would be perfect for what he suggested. If she'd been wearing it last night, Jo suspected Nicholas would have tugged it up and they'd have gotten a lot further than kisses and caresses before they'd been interrupted by the sounds from the men in the garage.

Damn, Jo realized with dismay, just a couple of words had gotten her hot all over again. Sighing, she said, "So what's the problem? You want me, I want you..." Jo paused and frowned, and then said, "Of course, I'm not talking marriage or anything here. We need to get to know each other better and I am very busy. But I wouldn't be averse to the occasional dinner or movie followed by really hot sex."

"Jo," Nicholas said quietly, and reached across the table, holding his hand out.

She placed her hand in his and felt a quiver of excitement shiver its way up her arm and then spread through her body when his fingers closed over hers. Jeez, she had it bad, Jo acknowledged, and then noted the way Nicholas stiffened, swallowed, and closed his eyes and suspected he was having a similar reaction. They both had it bad, and really she'd had enough talking, they should move this discussion to the bed and talk with their bodies, she thought faintly, running her thumb softly over the back of his hand. Nicholas released her at once and sat up.

"I want you," he admitted grimly, and his eyes were glowing silver again.

Jo suspected that was a tell with him. Like an inbuilt mood ring; when his eyes were sky blue, he was serene. Molten silver meant hot and horny. Which was fine with her, she was feeling rather hot and bothered herself.

"But I can't claim you," Nicholas added firmly.

"Claim me?" she echoed blankly, and then gave a laugh. "You make me sound like lost luggage, Nicholas. No one can claim me. I have free will."

When Nicholas looked all mournful and sad and merely shook his head, Jo rolled her eyes. She supposed it was some tortured vampire thing she didn't understand, but she wasn't in the mood for it, her body was still tingling from just holding hands with him, not to mention the memories of what they'd done earlier.

Standing, Jo moved around the table and dropped into his lap. She slid her arms around his shoulders and said, "Fortunately for you, I'm free and willing."

"Jo," he said sadly, but she didn't want to hear it and covered his mouth with her own. Nicholas kept his mouth closed and reached for her arms, presumably to push her away, but the moment she let her tongue slide out to run over his lips, he froze.

Jo smiled, and then slid her lips to his ear and nibbled briefly before whispering, "I ache for you."

Nicholas sucked in a harsh breath, and then it was like something snapped. Suddenly his head jerked around so his lips could claim hers, and he launched himself to his feet with her in his arms. In one quick step he was tumbling her to the bed, and then the phone rang.

"Ignore it," Nicholas growled, leaning to tug her borrowed T-shirt out of her jeans and push it up to reveal her breasts.

Jo gasped as he bent his head to suck the nipple of one into his mouth, and then scowled with irritation as the phone rang again. She never had been able to ignore a ringing phone. It might be something important. Cursing under her breath, Jo reached out to grab the phone and pulled it to her ear, gasping, "Hello?" as Nicholas drew on her nipple, sending excitement rocketing through her.

"Mrs. Smith? This is the front desk. There's a pizza delivery here for you."

"Oh... um... yes," Jo moaned as Nicholas pressed a hand between her legs. Shaking her head, she reached down to push his hand away, and cleared her throat before muttering, "That's fine. Send him..." She paused on a gasp as Nicholas nipped lightly at her nipple. Fortunately, the officious-sounding woman on the other end understood.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. We don't allow anyone without room keys past the lobby at night."

"What?" Jo asked blankly, grabbing at Nicholas's hand as he began to undo her jeans. He stopped at once and levered himself off the bed to begin stripping off his T-shirt.

Jo watched him, eyes eating up the wide expanse of chest revealed as the receptionist explained, "It's a security thing, ma'am. We've had some trouble with people breaking into the rooms and robbing the guests while they were absent, so we no longer allow anyone who isn't staying here past the lobby unless the guest comes to get them."

"Right," she breathed on a sigh as the T-shirt went flying and Nicholas started on his belt.

"The delivery man will be here at the desk waiting for you though."

"Right," Jo repeated and hung up blindly, feeling around for the phone hook rather than looking. She was too busy watching as Nicholas finished undoing his jeans and pushed them down. She sat up as he stepped out of them and scampered off the bed, barely missing being pinned by his body as he did a belly dive onto the bed.

Rolling over, he growled, "Your turn. Strip for me."

Jo felt liquid pool in her belly at the heated look in his eyes, but shook her head. "As soon as I get back."

"What?" Nicholas sat up in surprise as she headed for the door. He was on his feet and catching her arm before she could get the door wholly open. "Where are you going? Who was on the phone?"

Jo's eyes wandered naughtily down his body. The man was magnificent naked and smelled good enough to eat. She briefly considered dropping to her knees and doing just that, or at least licking and nibbling a bit, but then her stomach rumbled, reminding her that food waited below and that she was hungry.

"That was the front desk," she explained. "The pizza I ordered is here."

"You ordered pizza?" Nicholas asked with horror.

"Well you ate all the chicken you so kindly bought, presumably for both of us," Jo pointed out dryly.

"Oh, right," Nicholas muttered with chagrin and glanced guiltily back toward the empty bucket on the table, but then he frowned and turned back. "Why isn't the delivery guy bringing it up here?"

"Security. They don't let anyone without room keys past the lobby. She said they've had rooms broken into and robbed while guests were out, but I suspect it's to discourage guests from having prostitutes in. I have a friend who works in one of these hotels downtown, and she said they have a terrible problem with prostitutes propositioning guests in the hotel. I'm guessing security here is hoping a guy's less likely to have a prostitute in if the front desk makes them go down to collect them."

Nicholas grunted at this, but then asked, "What name did you give?"

"Smith," she said patiently. "It is the name you checked us in under... and I'm paying cash."

He relaxed, but frowned. "I don't know if I have enough money on me at the moment to-"

"I do." Jo pulled her wallet from her back pocket and waved it between them. "I don't carry a purse. My wallet is always in my back pocket. Comes in handy on those occasions when I'm on the run and hungry, huh?" Jo grinned and then leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, one hand sliding the wallet back in her pocket, the other reaching down to briefly squeeze the more than firm erection he sported. "Mmm, still hot and hard. Good thing pizza is good cold. We'll pick up where we left off when I get back."

Nicholas growled and tried to draw her into his arms, but she quickly slid away and ducked out the door, promising, "When I get back."

Jo heard him sigh a moment before the door closed and smiled to herself as she scurried up the hall to the elevator.