9781936653027BorntobeWildArsuaga

by Cynthia Arsuaga

  “Why?”

  “I want to make sure there is nothing in the room to indicate where we’re at.”

  “What would I do without you looking out for me? Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. Okay I think we’re good.”

  She opened her eyes, no pain, and no voices in her head.

  “He’s gone. I think he’s upset with me. And confused. I hurt him. He’s hurt and in pain.” She sat down on the edge of the floral bedspread covered bed. “I should have left him a note or something Jordy. Not just up and leave without a hello, good-bye, or kiss-my-ass, nice knowin’ ya, or I can’t have sex with you anymore, you’re a vampire and I’m a human.” The air in the room was warm and suffocating. The urge to get in her car and drive back to Virginia nagged relentlessly in her mind.

  Jordan knelt down in front of her. He reached out and tightened his hands on her shoulders. “You’re being absurd, Alex. I can see it in your eyes. It’s him. He’s still in your head trying to get you to come back. Fight, Alex. He misses his meal ticket. No offense, sis, but that’s all you were to him. He doesn’t care about anything except where his next blood meal is coming from.” His words fell on her like blows, hard and compelling.

  “He’s not here. I’m telling you, this is me talking, not him. I…I actually like him, Jordy. The least I could have done was let him know I pursued this virus hunt back to Florida where it originated. I owed him an explanation since he risked a lot for me.”

  “Well, I think I’m going to stay with you tonight just in case he decides to make a surprise visit.”

  “No, I’ll be fine. You don’t have to babysit me. I’ll take one of those PM sleep aids to help me sleep. I should be fine. Go back to your room so I can get ready for bed. I’m setting my alarm for five. We can get on the road by six, okay?”

  “Works for me. If you have any trouble during the night, you call me, promise?”

  “I promise. Now, go.”

  Within the hour, she’d settled into bed and fell fast asleep.

  The lightning and thunder raged outside the window. Her eyes snapped open and rolled around in their sockets trying to focus. Something woke her from her sleep, the wind and rain pounding on the window, perhaps? No, something else, something in her head called out to her. She turned an ear toward the window and listened intently, but nothing in the night moved except the product of the storm. The wind whipped through the trees across the parking lot tormenting the branches. I’m dreaming. It’s nothing.

  Closing her eyes, she lay back down, tucking the pillow under her head. Sleep soon lapped at the edge of her consciousness again. Suddenly a dark shadow rushed toward the bedside. Reflected lightning flashed it into reality—a man! He stepped forward, reaching out and stroking her back with the tips of his fingers until he heard a gasp from the other side of the pillow. Her nipples hardened under the T-shirt.

  She turned to face her dream lover, terrified of who he might be. A faceless stranger or was it Stefan standing at the foot of her bed? His bright white face and teeth stared at her longingly from above with dark, smoldering eyes, rimmed in glowing red reminded her of him. It had to be him. A hand slid along her arm and across her belly, resting just below her breast, then locked eyes with her. Feeling a tingle in her stomach, was she frightened of him or herself? His eyes and touch told her everything she needed to know, and released the fear. Mutual longing replaced it.

  As his hand moved up her T-shirt and over the breast, she parted her lips. His thumb caressed a petal pink areola and into a hardening nipple, gently rubbing the whole time.

  His thumb drew circles around the nipple, and warm fingers played with it, rolling playfully back and forth, with a slight tug. She closed her eyes and breathed deep. His palm flattened over her chest and squeezed her whole breast, pulling it between his fingers, and bringing it up to his mouth, where he sucked it in and let it slide back out with a loud pop.

  The sound crackled like lightning making her squirm and tingle between her legs.

  He brought his head down and planted delicate kisses over her two bountiful mounds, flicking his tongue over them, evoking faster and harder breathing from her.

  His tongue ran circles around her nipples, sucking them into his mouth, his teeth scraped across them. He bit them, pulled and tugged on them.

  The warmth and moistness between her legs increased.

  He looked down at her and a smile curled his lips. He lowered again. This time the unknown lover covered her face with feathery kisses, until their mouths finally met in a hot and wet mutual confrontation. Their lips parted and tongues intertwined exploring each other with strong, powerful strokes. The muscles in her body tensed as her tongue slowly traced its way along his front teeth, feeling the rounded edge of his incisors, and the protruding, razor length of his fangs. Licking the tip of one of them, she experienced the metallic taste of blood. He sucked her tongue deep into his mouth tasting the blood and shivering as it coated his throat. He lost control wanting more, and more. Feeling urgency, she pushed away from him.

  “Oh God, this is only a dream. You are a dream aren’t you?” she hissed into the darkness.

  “Yes, Alexandra, you are dreaming.” He laughed. He glanced at the digital clock on her nightstand, checking how much time he had for games. “Do you want to play, prinţesa?”

  “Play? I don’t understand. What kind of play?” Her words caught in her throat, her breathing grew hard and heavy.

  “Whatever you want.” He clasped his hands behind his back. “In fact, if you tell me where you are, I can come and get you and make this entire dream come true.”

  “Oh God, you aren’t a dream. You’re in my head trying to track me. Get out, get out. I’ll scream, I swear I will. Jordan will hear me. He’s next door.”

  “Don’t trouble yourself Alexandra. I’ll leave,” his lips stretched tightly across his teeth, baring the fangs. He drew closer to her, bracing above her only inches away from her quivering lips. “If you actually want me to leave, I will. Do you want me to?”

  Placing a kiss on her lips, stifling the scream she attempted to make. He rose up again, looking deeply into her eyes. “I told you the first night we were together; you could not turn back once I possessed you. You can’t run from me prinţesa. Tell me where you are?”

  “Oh God, I can’t.” Her breathing became rapid, her heart slammed in her chest. Tears welled and the stress brought on feelings of lightheadedness. “Please, don’t hurt me, Stefan,” she whimpered, barely above a whisper.

  “I wouldn’t think of harming you. You are my prinţesa. You will come to me of your own freewill.” He ran his fingers along her cheek and down under her chin, slightly tilting it up. He lowered his lips to hers, brushing them ever so close without touching. With a gasp of anticipation, she took a deep breath and held it. “You will come to me prinţesa. I love you.” A soft and gentle kiss touched her forehead.

  The kisses moved—cheek, to jaw, chin, earlobe, settling at her neck. He licked over the position at her artery and let just the slightest prick of his elongated fangs draw a couple drops of blood from her. He parted his lips wider spreading over her inviting soft flesh. Feeling her submission in his arms, he drove his teeth into her throat, releasing a rush of hot elixir into his mouth. He drank deep with every burst of sweet sanguinary fire that rushed from her. The voiceless scream of a nightmare formed in her throat.

  Beep. Beep. Beep.

  The clock alarm went off, faintly hearing it in the background, as the dream faded into the edges of her subconscious.

  “No!” Yelling, she sat up in bed, startled by the now piercing alarm. Shivering, the sheets clung to her sweat-soaked T-shirt as she breathed a sigh of relief as the dream melted into nothing. The last remnants of the fitful sleep faded into the darkness of the room. Breathing hard, Alex fell back down on the bed and rolled over. “It was only a dream, actually more like a nightmare.”

  What a relief to wake up and be alive. After a few moments, sh
e sat upright, and touched her fingers to her throat, no blood and no marks. “Thank God.”

  Chapter 13

  Same Night, Virginia Beach

  Stefan awoke and returned to the oceanfront house. He hoped Alexandra slept on what he told her the night before and would forgive him for the blood exchange. She just had to. He was not willing to give her up.

  When he arrived, the Mustang was gone. Maybe she went back to the hotel, and planned to meet him at the beach club.

  Twenty minutes later, he finished his shower, dressed, and headed into the kitchen for nourishment. His house blood supply drew low. Time to order. He grabbed a bag of his favorite type and popped it in the microwave to warm up. Taking his glass of evening brew to the living room, he sat upon the sofa to contemplate the evening’s events.

  First, he had to set things right with Alexandra. All the women who passed through his life, mortal and immortal, over the five centuries, none touched or affected him like Alexandra did. He thought he imagined the glow emanating from her, until Sheena admitted seeing it too.

  He now remembered the story the gypsies in his country told many centuries ago about a young maiden with a light so bright within her soul, only those with a truly good heart could see her would find salvation. Could Alexandra be the one the old gypsy women spoke of? He always thought it mindless drivel of superstitious people, but now…

  Damn! He was still hungry. The past several days he got by with the bare minimum of blood. The infinitesimal amount he took from his nibbling off Alexandra was nothing to satiate his ravenous appetite. Before going to the club, he would take care of the problem and partake of a tourist or two. He liked this time of year—summertime on the Strip at Virginia Beach—a time when many of the wild and crazies came out. Along with tourists from around the world venturing out onto the streets, walking up and down and in and out of souvenir shops and cheesy nightclubs looking for their thrill of the summer. Fortunately, the vamp groupies frequented the same streets and clubs making getting an extra blood boost easy. They never paid any attention to what went on around them and made his job easy for pouncing on them in the shadows. He could charm them, take a meager amount of blood, leaving them dazed and high on adrenaline, and he’d move on to another victim, repeating the process. He could do at least ten a night and feel satisfied, not needing to worry about feeding while on duty at the clubs.

  Until three nights ago, that is. He prepared to end his existence, until seeing her walk into the club. In that instance, everything changed. He smiled. The way she responded to his touch, his mind touch, confirmed their mutual rapport and desire. She would forgive him. He had to believe that or go mad.

  He decided to leave earlier than usual and hit a few night clubs along the Strip before heading over to The Black Rose. Action along the Strip started earlier than at Gregori’s club, so finding suitable prey wasn’t difficult. He locked up the house and ventured into the night.

  With the temperature in the low seventies, a light breeze off the ocean with clear skies—a perfect early summer night lay ahead. With his vampire speed and the close proximity of his house to the oceanfront tourist strip, he was deep in the action within minutes, scoping out his first victim.

  He stepped into one of his favorite clubs, Shark Bait, an appropriate name for a beach club he always thought, but also fitting for the clientele who frequented it. The young women were always predatory and looking for a good bite, which he was willing to oblige. The club buzzed with life. Activity reverberated everywhere in the people-packed room, definitely the hot place to be. He made his way toward the bar. Right away he spotted two primed and ready young women standing next to the brass railings, moving with the music blaring through the speaker system.

  Sauntering up to the two women, he flashed his typical gleaming white-toothed smile, the kind which always made the young ladies smack their lips before he even said one word. And tonight was no different. Right on cue, both licked their lips as he approached within a few feet.

  “Good evening ladies,” Stefan said in his low, velvety voice.

  “Ooh, aren’t you a cutie. I could wrap you up and take you home and eat you all night long,” the petite bleached blonde said in what she probably thought was her sexy voice. Scraping fake fingernails across his black silk shirt and feeling the taut sinewy muscle below, she sighed wantonly.

  “And I’ll join you,” the taller blonde chimed in.

  He grinned. “Ladies, why are we standing around here? That’s the best offer I’ve received all night. Let’s go.”

  He slid his arm around each of the women’s waist, guiding them through the crowd toward the front door. After moving past the bouncer at the entrance, he maneuvered them to the right and around the corner to the back of the building. The women giggled as they fondled over his body. “Where we going, baby?” the petite blonde asked.

  “You’ll see.”

  Within a few moments, the three were in the back alley, obscured from the street and no one around.

  The petite blonde lifted her head to Stefan, “Why are we back here. Don’t you have a place we can go, baby?”

  “Yeah, it stinks back here. The dumpster is over there.” The taller blonde pouted.

  His jaw tightened. Spoiled bitches. He grabbed the petite blonde and covered her lips hard. Lust grabbed his crotch. Bloodlust yanked his fangs. He broke the kiss and ran his tongue over her neck and sunk his teeth in her soft flesh.

  Pulling her hips hard against his steely body and rock-hard erection, he ravenously drank her blood, oblivious to her helpless and eager gasps. In his frenzied state, one bite would not satisfy.

  He pulled away and gently placed the petite woman down on the ground, sitting her up on the dumpster. With a glazed look, she raised her eyes to him, her voice soft and breathy. “I thought you fucked before you sucked our blood?”

  “Not this time.” He turned to the taller blonde who stood back watching Stefan sample her friend. “Your turn.”

  Stepping toward him, she licked sensuous lips in anticipation of pleasure to come. Unbridled sex burned in her eyes. He tried to subdue his growing erection and focus on satisfying the bloodlust, not sex. She moved closer, his eyes wandered over her luscious body. He was losing the battle.

  The top of her shapely legs exposed themselves from beneath the cut-off denim shorts. They seemed to go on forever. She ran her palms over his shirt, scraping her fingernails across the hard taut muscles underneath. “Baby, you know you want me. Fuck me when you bite me.” Her voice was demanding, deep, and carnal.

  The depth of desire in her icy blue eyes torched his blood, already running hot in his veins. Her hips roughly rubbed against his large, hard cock.

  His eyes closed. His breathing quickened. He wanted this woman to be Alexandra. He desired her. His thoughts were of her, called for her. Alexandra. He bent his head to meet her lips capturing them in a hungry embrace. His mouth moved along her jaw, his tongue teasing the skin underneath. Stefan nibbled her earlobe as his hands dropped lower and grabbed her ass. He couldn’t last much longer. Her blood pulsing in her veins beckoned him. The smell of her intoxicating scent of arousal called another part of his beast within. Alexandra. He bit into the skin of the young woman.

  Time seemed to cease. A stinging sensation and the smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils. Pain pierced through his brain.

  The tall blonde screamed and he saw her thrown from his grasp from behind onto the chain link fence. Slamming hard against it, she fell to the ground like a ragdoll.

  His own voice broke through the darkness. He threw his hands up to the source of the pain, his neck. His hands burned. A silver chain! He twisted his body around swiftly to off-balance the perpetrator of the chain, but to no avail.

  He fell to his knees as a hard blow came from behind hitting his head. His senses confused. He stared at her with intense glowing red eyes. Stefan’s gaze asked what she wanted. She wasn’t the one holding him captive. Her human boy toy had him chain
ed, powerless. What kind of game was afoot now?

  “Ecaterina, what the fuck are you doing?” he growled.

  Pressing her finger to his lips, she stepped within inches. “Shh, baby. You don’t want to draw attention. Not with these two bimbos slumped over on the ground with blood dripping off them. I told you I’d come for you one day or night as the case may be. And tonight is your lucky night.” The huskiness in her voice meant absolute business, nothing personal.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “All in good time, baby. All in good time.” She glanced over at the two women. “Hmm. Seems a shame to waste these two. You always were such a pussy about following rules. No sense in wasting good blood.” Pouncing first on the petite blonde resting on the dumpster, she sucked her dry in moments. Then she turned attention to the other blonde lying motionless by the fence.

  Within minutes she stood amid a scene of carnage covered in blood and gore with two cooling corpses at her feet. Assessing the end-product of her handy work, she laughed. “The police will have a field day with this one. I love it. Who cares, only part of the grand plan.” She sashayed back to stand in front of Stefan.

  “Okay, baby. You listen carefully to what I’m about to say.” Fisting his hair, she jerked his head back. “You see this syringe, Stefan? It is filled with a virus, a deadly vampire virus and if you don’t do as I say I will stick you with it. You’ll go bye-bye within a week. A very long and painful death I’m afraid. Do you understand?”

  Anger welled inside him and he literally saw red in his vision.

  She chuckled. “I’ll take the look in your eyes as a yes. You are not to fight with my boy. We are walking to my car and you will get in without struggling. He is quite strong and will break your neck, maybe not to kill you, but enough to incapacitate. You will do as I say or you’ll be punished more harshly. Hold out your hands.”

  “Go to Hell Ecaterina!”

  “Oh baby, I’ve been there, got the T-shirt and the bad hair days to prove it. By the way, I told you my name is Cat.” Pulling out a pair of gloves, she put them on, reached into the other pocket and retrieved a set of silver handcuffs.