"Yuck," I said once he finally dropped his hand.
He didn't look offended so much as relieved. That's when I noticed both his hands were smeared in red and so was the front of my shirt. This couldn't all be from Maximus forcing me to drink his blood. That whole lack of a pulse meant vampires didn't bleed much even when they were cut. Add that to the steering wheel being ripped off, and I'd missed something big.
"What happened?"
He tossed the steering wheel into the back before flopping back into the driver's seat. "You started hemorrhaging from your eyes, ears, and nose. Then your heart stopped. I had to give you CPR and blood to bring you back."
Hearing that I'd come so close to dying should've terrified me, but all I could muster up was a weary "This day sucks."
Maximus's incredulous expression made me want to laugh, an even more irrational response, but what was I supposed to do? I couldn't cry because that wouldn't fix anything and we didn't have time for me to slowly rock myself while shaking, which was the only other thing that sounded appealing.
"I must be using too much power within too short a time," I said. "Plus, I'm not fireproof anymore, but remnants of Vlad's aura might still be messing with my system. Between the two, I should've guessed that my body couldn't handle it."
Maximus still stared at me as though he couldn't believe my nonchalance over almost dying. I ignored that, directing my attention to more important issues.
"What happened to the steering wheel?"
"It was in my way when you needed help" was his reply.
"Well." I forced a smile that must've been lopsided at best. "Thanks. Too bad we have to get another car now."
His teeth flashed in a matching humorless grin. "That's the least of our problems."
Great. "What's the worst of them?"
Maximus pulled out his cell phone and wagged it at me. It didn't ring but the screen was lit up, showing an incoming call.
"This is the third time Vlad's tried to reach me. I have to answer or he'll get suspicious."
"Don't you - !"
Maximus held up a finger. "Don't even breathe loud," he muttered before answering his phone with a brief "Yes?"
I froze when I heard Vlad's voice. That familiar, cultured cadence affected me so much that for a few moments, I didn't breathe at all.
"Maximus," my ex said coolly. "Am I interrupting anything?"
Smoky gray eyes bored into mine as Maximus replied, "No, why?" in a tone so casual that I blinked. Good liar, I noted for future reference.
"Because this is my third call" was Vlad's implacable reply. Guess it was too late to keep him from being suspicious.
"I left my phone in the car while I found someone to eat," Maximus said glibly. "Everything all right?"
Even if I wasn't a couple feet away in a closed space, I still would've heard Vlad's whiplike reply. "No, everything is not all right. When did you last see Leila?"
I couldn't help it - I sucked in an audible breath. Maximus frowned at me before responding with "Last week, when I dropped her off at Marty's trailer in Atlanta."
Nothing from Vlad for so long, I wondered if he was speaking too softly for a nonvampire to overhear. Then Maximus asked, "Are you still there?" dispelling that idea.
"Yes."
One word, bit out so harshly that I flinched. Something had Vlad furious. I wanted to grab the phone and demand to know if he'd tried to kill me, but of course, I didn't. I waited, breathing as shallowly as I could despite my heart racing.
"Why did you ask about Leila?" Maximus prodded, still doing a great job of sounding guileless.
Another loaded silence. Then Vlad replied, "She's dead," in a tone so casual that tears sprang to my eyes. Even if he hadn't ordered it, he didn't care. Hearing the apathy in his voice cut me in places I didn't even know I had.
I must've made some sound because Maximus scowled while holding his finger to his lips in the universal command for silence. Then he said, "What? How?" with such believable shock that I mentally upgraded him from Good Liar to Fantastic One.
"A gas line ruptured near Martin's trailer. I'm told both of them were killed instantly in the explosion. I leave for America tonight to return Leila's remains to her family."
Oh shit! In the midst of everything, I'd forgotten Gretchen and my father would also think I'd been killed. I began to mime at Maximus that we needed to stop Vlad, but he clapped a hand over my mouth, tightening it when I grunted.
"That's terrible," he said, rolling down the car window with his other hand. Traffic noises soon merged with my grunts, muffling them. If he hadn't saved my life twice in the past week, I would've taken off my gloves and dosed him with enough electricity to make him glow, but he had so all I did was glare.
Well, that and I bit him. He deserved it.
"Yes, tragic," Vlad said, sounding bored this time. "Meet me in Atlanta tomorrow. We'll fly from there to Gretchen's."
"That might be difficult," Maximus replied, flashing his fangs at me when I continued to chomp on the fleshy part of his hand. I took that as Keep it up and I'll bite you back so I stopped after one final, angry nip.
Iciness returned to Vlad's voice. "Why?"
"I told you I was checking on some of my people while I was in the States. Seems a couple of the younger ones have taken to feeding in the open. I have to deal with that, of course."
"Of course," Vlad all but purred. "If you don't punish their disobedience now, who knows what betrayals they'll inflict on you in the future?"
From the way Maximus's features hardened, he, too, thought those comments were more warning than instruction.
"Pass on my condolences to Leila's family," he said, mouthing, Don't make a sound at me.
Since his hand was still clamped over my mouth, I couldn't, but my glare promised that we weren't done with this.
"I will," Vlad replied.
Then they hung up. Vampires weren't big on saying good-bye, as I'd learned after years of living with Marty. Once he double-checked that the call had truly ended, Maximus took his hand away from my mouth.
"We can't let my family believe I'm dead" were my first words. "That's too cruel."
"What's more important? Their safety, or their temporary sadness?" he retorted, nailing me with a hard stare.
"Safety? They have nothing to do with this!"
"Not yet," he countered ruthlessly, "but they will, if you reveal that you're alive. You think they can fool Vlad? One sniff and he'll know they're only faking grief."