by Maya Daniels
Staring at the amber liquid in my glass, I watch the ice cubes float futilely. Marcus has a point, of course, but I will not admit weakness. Not even to the two of them.
“I will handle her.” Saying I will handle April makes hunger roar in my ears at the words. I want nothing else but to control her ever since I carried her in my arms. Turning to look at them, I lean back on the bar.
“You will?” The raised eyebrow, along with the incredulous look on Andrei’s face, make me grind my teeth.
“Don’t you have something productive to do?” I scowl at him over the rim of my glass.
“All I’m saying is, I’ve never seen anything like it.” He shakes his head, looking at Marcus for confirmation. “She was turned not even a full week ago, and still I barely managed to get her off Marcus. I’m ashamed to admit I got out of here so fast, the heels of my boots were hitting my ass on the way out.”
“I refuse to keep hiding like a coward.”
“After everything, I dare say you don’t need to worry that anyone will accuse you of cowardice, Sire,” Andrei drawls right before he stiffens. “We have company.”
I stay leaning on the bar, sipping the tasteless drink, but my insides are burning with anger. Both males slink stealthily near the front door, their feet silent on the wooden parquet. I can hear the anxious breathing of whoever is on the other side, the air whizzing slightly through their nostrils.
A human then.
Marcus positions himself at the wall where the open door will hide his presence, his body coiled up to rip whoever it is apart. When an unexpected guest shows up at your door without notice of a dozen predators throughout a building, it makes even one of us too wary to simply yank a door open. Alias, this human seen alone.
How peculiar.
Andrei relaxes his body, his demeanor almost bored when he pulls the door open, facing our guest. An unremarkable man wrings his hands, staring wide-eyed while sweat drips down his hairline, perfuming the air with his stench.
“Last time I checked, I didn’t order food.” My softly spoken words spook the human and he staggers, his too-wide, bloodshot eyes jerking to me over Andrei’s shoulder.
“Ma…mar…” stuttering, he almost swallows his tongue when I near the entrance of my personal nest. “Marcus…” Nervously swiping a hand to clear out the beaded sweat on his upper lip, he drops on his knees.
I lift an eyebrow at Marcus.
“How did you manage to get here without anyone to announce you?” The human keeps shaking, prostrating himself at the door.
“He is one of ours.” Marcus comes from behind the door, his glower wasted on the human.
With his face pressed on the carpeted hallway, the shivering man pretends to be an emu, burying his head in the sand. How they have survived this long is beyond me.
“Sir, I have news.” After the fifth try, the human tells the carpet his message. Lucky for our enhanced hearing or it would’ve been wasted words.
“How did you get here without being seen.” The note of danger is not lost on the man. Not that stupid, I guess.
“There was no one on my way here, sir…Master…” he rambles titles that make no sense whatsoever.
“This is what we have fallen down to?” Frowning at Marcus, I make sure he knows my displeasure at the display. “We rely on this to keep us updated on the Council?”
“I will check what is going on.” Without waiting on approval, Andrei disappears from the spot he was occupying.
“What news?” Grinding his teeth, Marcus quivers in rage. “And stand up before I maim you, vermin.”
“One of the Council…the Amazonian woman…she is driving on streets around the hotel.” It takes the human a few tries before he lifts himself up, sitting on his haunches. “She is not coming too close, but she makes sure we can see her. There was no one around, so I came here to tell someone.” A vein is pulsing on his neck like a frightened bird pulling my gaze. “I thought they somehow breached the perimeter when I found the hotel empty and quiet. I ran up the stairs, hoping you were safe.”
“How very noble of you.” Addressing him dryly, I press the bridge of my nose with my thumb and forefinger. “I wonder what Eshe wants.”
“An alliance?” Snickering, Marcus hauls the human up by the neck of his shirt. “I’m more interested in where everyone else is, if what he says is true.”
“Oh, it’s true.” Andrei appears at the end of the hallway, coming from the stairway. “The building is as empty as a tomb.”
“It is?” The glass I’m still holding cracks under my fingers.
“They are all in the building.” Pushing past the human he stands in front of me. “Sire.” Adding it as an afterthought, he grins. “April is prowling the place. And she was pissed when I left her.” Andrei looks pointedly at the atmosphere I created in the apartment. Marcus barks out a laugh, and my lips twitch, unbidden. “I can’t blame them for staying out of her sight.”
“No.” Shaking my head, I chuckle. I’ll use all the advantage I can get tonight, and keeping her unnerved is the best way forward if I am to succeed. “I suppose we cannot.”
April
Stalking the hotel like a ghost trapped in the building, I try to calm myself down. My fingers trail on the carved railing of the rounded staircase leading to the reception area, I think. The space is wide, pretty round tables with white covers tied in bows in several places, positioned on one side. The long table opposite them tells me it’s set up for a wedding or something like that. Tall, blown glass vases filled to bursting with large red lilies are scattered on tabletops, breaking the monographic feel of the room.
Stretching my toes, pointing them at each stair, I descend slowly, enjoying the quiet here. It’s too loud in my own head lately without that jerk Sebastian adding to my misery. At least the rest of them run and hide like cockroaches I used to see in the sewers I called home. A smile stretches my lips as I remember monsters hiding from little ol’ me. It amuses me to no end how the tables have turned, even when I hate myself for what I’ve become.
Reaching the bottom step, I leave the vast room behind, following twisting hallways and idly watching the antiqued furnishings, beautiful paintings, and decorative scones nailed on the sides of the walls. The fact that I enjoy my surroundings more because of my new sight is not lost on me. I just choose to hang out with my friend Denial, as usual. When my feet take me to the center of the building, I slow down to a snail’s pace, drinking it in.
The area opens in a circular room, tall windows with golden drapes like portals to other worlds surrounding it in a semicircle. Sunlight bathes everything in a warm glow through the white, gauzy curtains under the golden drapes, leaving it empty of movement and breathing, unlike the rest of the hotel. I can’t see the roaches hiding but I sure as hell can hear them. Only, not here. This space is clear of the tainted occupants.
A rounded, raised platform with a low, white railing around it sits in the center under arched moldings, like a masterpiece displayed in a museum. In the middle of it, a long black piano waits, the little, rectangular-embroidered chair the only company it keeps. My feet climb the two small steps up, pulling me in like a siren song.
This whole place is like living in a dream. Never in my wildest imagination have I dared to think of a place so beautiful. A frozen jewel in time, in the middle of monster invested LA. Yet, here I am. My feet touching marble and expensive rugs, my hands trailing over carvings that have withstood time, just like I will after a century, or two.
“We have a lot in common, you and I.” Walking around it, caressing the smooth cover of the piano, I address the building. “We will both be forever frozen just like we are today.”
It doesn’t answer me. I mean, of course it doesn’t. But I pretend that she can hear me. Deciding the hotel is a girl, I keep talking.
“Even with monsters infesting your core, you still look beautiful, regal, and calm.” Lowering myself on the small, embroidered chair, I fold my arms over the keys of
the piano, sending a menacing sound echoing through the space. Pressing my cheek over my forearms, I close my eyes. “Maybe I can be just like you. Beautiful, even with the monster inside me.”
The hotel stays quiet, a witness to my insanity, and a smile hurts my cheeks. I can stay here forever, eternally asleep like the sleeping beauty from the bedtime story my mother read to me as a child. Wariness weighs my body down, the daylight pushing as hard as it can to drag me down to sleep. I fight it, just like every day since I became a monster. It’s the only time I feel human and I’ll be damned if I miss a second of it.
A gentle rustling of air stiffens my shoulders. My whole body goes rigid with the imperceptible brush of a shoe on the soft rugs. Keeping my eyes closed, I hone in on the sound, the exact spot whoever it is that is occupying it popping clearly in my mind’s eye.
And then I smell him.
That expensive cologne that makes my thighs clench and my lower belly flutter, mixed with the natural musk of his skin. My fingers dig holes in the beautiful piano, holding me still when everything in me wants to fly in his arms. I will stake my own heart before I do that. With a dull wooden stake, at that.
“Come closer, why don’t ya?” murmuring with a wicked grin, I stay with closed eyelids, stalling the temptation of his handsome face.
“April.” My name is like a caress, his voice soft and dark, like an immortal sin. “Come, my redemption.”
“Actually, I think I’m going to stay right here.” Breathing through my mouth so I don’t succumb to my urges, I grip the piano tighter. “It’s nice and warm.”
“We have a problem. I need you up with the rest of us.”
“See”—Finally lifting up, I face the jerk, and my stomach flip flops when those dark eyes lock on mine, but I turn that to anger—“that’s where you are wrong,” snapping at him, I bare my fangs. “You. You, Sebastian, have a problem. Me? I only have an insisting pest that won’t leave me alone.”
“The Council is out of hiding, it seems.” He narrows his gaze, pulling on his shirt sleeve, an amazing telltale sign that he is upset.
Good! I hope he is as livid as I am.
“How uneventful.” Crossing my trembling hands across my chest, I glare at him. “You didn’t think they’d hide forever, did you?”
“You have no control over yourself, yet.” Snarling, he takes a step towards me, thinks better of it, then straightens up. “I was daring to hope we’d have more time.”
“Hope is a bitch.” At his incredulous look, I laugh in his face. “Hope and Faith are both bitches. Cruel ones at that. I could’ve told you that from day one. All you had to do was ask.”
“Get over here, April.” Growling the words through clenched teeth, his shoulders bunch up, stretching the fabric of his expensive shirt.
Damn snob.
“No.” Sitting my butt on the piano keys, I send an ominous sound around us.
“Now, April. Or you will regret your stubbornness.” The points of his fangs poke under his upper lip and a cruel, humorless smile sends a shiver of fear down my spine.
I’m nothing if not a mule.
“Make me.” Lifting my chin up, I stare down my nose at him.
It happens so fast. In my idiocy, I believed he can’t stand a second of sunlight on him. But Sebastian is not your typical vampire. Oh, no. I’m not that lucky to end up with one of those suckers. As per usual, I get stuck with the asshole of them all, as old as Earth itself, to boss me around.
One moment, I’m glaring at the jerk Sebastian. The next, the room tilts and blurs around me, my world turning upside down when I’m thrown over a meaty shoulder. My hair sways on the back of his muscular thighs and my ass is lifted in the air. A beefy arm wraps around my legs, pressing them to a firm chest as I’m carried through the hallways like an animal ready to be slaughtered. Pounding my fists on his kidneys I make Sebastian stumble, and growl like a feral animal.
“Put me down you jerk!” Screeching like a banshee, I keep hitting him with my fists. “I will rip your throat out!”
Jostling me up, he makes my head spin for a second. “I’m going to spank your ass until you beg for mercy for this one, April.” My heart lodges in my throat, and to my embarrassment, wetness sleeks my thighs. “And you will beg.” Chuckling, he sniffs the air and his feet falter for a step. “Oh, how you will beg.”
Like a pathetic idiot, I stop fighting him, my whimper making him chuckle.
Well, fuck.
To my horror, as soon as Sebastian crosses the threshold of the penthouse, with Andrei holding the door open for him, his large palm connects with my ass and a loud smack splits the air. My upper body jerks up, lifting me ramrod straight in his arms, and I see Andrei gaping at me, his blue eyes wide.
“You didn’t!” Outraged at his audacity, I do the one thing I’m sure freaks him out.
I bite him.
Sinking my fangs in the only area reachable, where I don’t need to twist like a pretzel, I bite his thigh, making him stumble and drop on his knees. Jittery with the excitement that always follows the taste of blood, I lock my jaw firmer around the muscle, hating the fabric of his pants for getting in my way. The groan rumbling through him and vibrating my chest is not the sound I expected. At all.
“Out!” The words are dark and dangerous, sending apprehension straight to my heart.
What the hell were you thinking? That stupid voice in my head screams a bit too late, as usual. Hindsight and all that.
The soft click of the front door closing and the deathly silence surrounding us makes my heart skip a beat before jackhammering against my ribcage. Sebastian stays on his knees, his fingers tightening around my leg. His breathing is harsh, so unlike his furtive self that I got accustomed to. It brings dread like icy fingers crawling up my spine.
You are not a scared little human, April. You are a monster, too. For once, the voice says something useful, and even at the right time.
Gathering the anger around me like a cloak, I yank my fangs from his thigh, ripping fabric and muscle along with it. The snarl he sends my way only fuels my crazed state. Taking advantage of his distraction, I flip my legs over his head, gripping his lower back for leverage. Landing just a hairsbreadth away from the closed front door, I crouch, hissing like a pissed off cat. I’m going to scratch his eyes out, too, if he comes any nearer.
He turns around slowly, ignoring the blood gushing from the back of his leg. Power pours out of him in waves, pressing on my chest like a tank. I glance down for a split second, making sure my ribs won’t crack open by the strength he blasts my way. Everything in me wants to submit, to obey and beg forgiveness.
Everything but the survivor in me.
That tiny piece of my soul that keeps refusing to accept the fact I’m a monster struggles and fights to be heard. And I grasp it with both hands, holding for dear life. Grinding my teeth, my fangs biting in my lower lip and sending small rivulets of blood down my chin, I square off with Sebastian. Our eyes are locked, his intent gaze daring me to keep on fighting him. That’s one thing I’m willing to obey.
Striking like a viper, he pins me on the door, the doorknob stabbing in my lower back and pushing me closer to his chest. His kissable lips are lifted at the corners, sending a thrill through me. His face is so close I can feel his breath on my face, and it raises goosebumps over my arms and legs. His pupils are blown, overtaking the dark color of his eyes, the long, thick lashes framing the black holes while they try to suck me in.
“Get the fuck off me.” My words are breathless, and I hate it.
“Or what, April?” His lips graze mine when he speaks. “You will bite me again?” Cocking his head, one eyebrow lifts in an arch, mocking me. “Go ahead, my redemption. I freely give you the sustenance you need.”
When I hesitate, he chuckles darkly, my whole body quivering from the sound. “Go on,” he dares me. “Take what you need.”
“No.” My rebuttal is faint, stretching his smirk.
“Oh, but you will,
little one. I can feel your hunger.” A knowing look enters his gaze, tightening my belly. “You cannot fight it for much longer.”
I gape, stunned when he tilts his head, baring the column of his neck to my throbbing fangs. My mouth waters, the scent of blood now dripping sluggishly down his thigh, mingling with his cologne and his natural scent and pushing my insanity to a point of no return. My back arches on its own accord, bowing me away from the door and pressing my heavy breasts to his firm chest. The pressure entices a low moan, which is answered by the tightening of Sebastian’s hands on my hips.
The taste of his blood is still on my tongue, and I remember the taste of his mouth when he devoured a piece of me with his kiss. Unable to control my reaction to his nearness, I jerk forward, trying to capture his lips. He pulls back, making me chase his mouth in my desperation to feel him connected to me in any way. Chuckling, he looks down at me, his hunger matching my own.
“So impatient.” He glides the tip of his aquiline nose over mine, down over my lips, and back up.
I feel my claws sinking in his skin, parting the coiled flesh like butter. My hands get slick when warm blood covers them. If immortals can die in any way, I have no doubt that this is it. The asshole is a master of torture and I hate him for it. As if reading my mind, he crushes his mouth on mine, forcing his tongue past my lips.
Madness overrides rational thought, and I match him, bite for bite and snarl for snarl, clawing at his back and shoulders, sending tatters of his shirt fluttering on the floor. He is not close enough. Even as he is pressed so tight my lungs can barely expand to suck in the much-needed oxygen, he doesn’t seem close enough. Sinking my claws in his hair, I force his mouth as open as I can without breaking his jaw. He doesn’t seem to mind, grabbing my ass cheeks in both his hands and ramming my back on the door that cracks under the power of the impact.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, panic pings my chest that Sebastian is tasting my blood through my lips. Fear, the useless bitch, tries to bring me to reality, sounding alarms in my head that he is about to die. Just because I’m a monster, my O negative blood didn’t magically disappear now, did it? All that goes down the gutter when his thick, hard erection settles at my core, pressing the seam of my jeans between my slick folds. The insanity comes back doubled, ripping sounds from my lips that I never thought possible from a human. Vampire…whatever.