Her lopsided smile looked more like a grimace. Turning the tap on at full blast, she splashed cold water on her face and rinsed the taste of blood from her mouth.
The taste of blood didn't awaken her hunger or drive her into some sort of frenzy.
She'd heard that newly turned vampires were a nasty, bloodthirsty bunch. They were hungry, disorientated and desperate. They wanted blood, and didn't care who they had to kill to get it. Eva straightened up with a shuddering breath.
She wasn't a vampire. She wasn't dead. But...she just wasn't the same. She could feel her blood thrumming powerful in her veins. Her body felt stronger, and her senses were sharper. The water from the tap dripped into the sink with a plop that was far too loud and clear. Even her eyesight seemed to have improved. She wasn't leaning forward, but even from this distance she could see every tiny, delicate line in her eye. She stared at those feathery lines radiating from her pupil to the edge of her iris, and slowly backed away from the mirror.
She heard a sound at the door. It was just a breath, a small sigh, and yet she heard it distinctly.
Eva whirled, holding her breath as the door was unlocked from outside.
With another quiet sigh, Gabriel stepped into the room.
“You've recovered fully,” he said, looking at her with a satisfied smile.
Her hand pressed against her throat. “How?” she breathed. “How am I still alive?”
Gabriel walked to the bed and sat down, not meeting her gaze. He seemed to be trying to avoid answering her question.
“Something is...not right,” she said, staring down at her body. “I feel different. I should be heavily bandaged, lying in bed, unable to move, or speak, or drink at all. But I...I'm feeling fine! I'm not covered in blood, or bandages. Look at me! How could I have recovered fully?” She glared at Gabriel's side profile and saw a muscle working in his jaw. “What...did you do, Gabriel? Tell me the truth.”
“I cleaned you up. I washed all the blood off your body.”
Eva inhaled sharply. His huge hands had been all over her body. He had washed her all over while she was unconscious.
She shook her head quickly to clear it. “And?”
Gabriel met her eyes this time, his mouth set in a tight line.
“What else did you do, Gabriel?” she demanded. “You did more than just wash me. Why does my body feel...” Better, stronger, sexier. “... different?”
“You have my blood in your body now.”
“You...” Disbelief turned to rage. “You turned me? I...”
“I didn't turn you, Eva.”
“Then how did your blood get in my body? Why?” Her voice shook. “Why did you put your vampire blood in me?”
“I did it to save you.”
“Save me?” She laughed hysterically. “By turning me? I'd rather...”
“You're not a vampire, Eva,” he said levelly.
“Then what am I? A...freak, a ghoul, your minion...? What?”
Gabriel blew out a breath. “You're still human, but...you're connected to me.”
“Connected to you,” she repeated numbly. “So I am your minion.”
From his expression, she knew that what she had just stated wasn't too far from the truth.
“So I'm like your puppet. You can force me to do all your dirty deeds. You can command me to kill someone, and I'll do it with a smile on my face.” She shook her head slowly as she backed into the wall.
“I won't command you to kill. That's not why...”
“Then what? What would you make me do, Gabriel?”
“I want you to find her.”
“Her?” It took her a moment to realize who he was talking about. “You want me to find your long lost vampire fiancee.”
“Yes.”
“That's all?”
He exhaled heavily. “Yes, Eva. That is all you have to do.”
“And after I find her...” She narrowed her eyes.
“I will release you.”
Eva smirked. “That sure is a nice way of saying 'Then I'll kill you.'”
Gabriel let out a slow sigh. “I will release you, Eva. A vampire can choose to release his...” Mate.
“His what?”
Gabriel stared at her for a moment before replying dispassionately, “I swear that I will release you completely when you have completed your task. The connection between us will be irrevocably and forever severed. You will never see me or hear from me again.”
Eva thought for a while, then nodded. “Okay.” What else could she say? She wasn't exactly in the best position to argue or bargain. “Deal!” She stuck out her hand.
Gabriel stared at her for a long while without replying. She was beginning to worry that he was going to go back on his word when he grasped her hand suddenly.
“Deal.”
Her body jerked visibly at his touch. His hand seemed to burn her, sending a jolt of electric current up her arm and through her whole body. Every nerve ending came alive, and heat pooled low in her belly to explode between her thighs. Eva was aware that her breath was coming in sharp, short spurts, and her body gravitated towards his almost against her will. She arched her back, her body begging for more.
“Eva...” he said hoarsely against her ear.
“Take me,” she whispered, her mind foggy with lust. She didn't know what made her say those words. All she knew was that she was going to explode if he didn't touch her. And she wanted him to touch her all over. She wanted to feel him deep inside her. Her need was a pulsating physical ache, torturing her and driving her out of her mind.
“I...”
Eva raised her head and hissed, “This is part of the deal, Gabriel. Pleasure me, take me fully, or I won't help you find her,” she spat.
His eyes bore into hers, and she saw his fangs stabbing out. She gave a cry when he grabbed her suddenly and threw her onto the bed.
She saw him tear off his shirt and kick off his pants in a blur, and when she felt his hot, bare chest press down on her, she closed her eyes and smiled grimly.
A small part of her brain that was still functioning knew that this mating frenzy was just a side effect of having his blood in her body. She didn't really want him. This was just sex, wild, meaningless sex.
This was all about blood and sex.
It was her strange new blood that was making her horny as hell. So horny she didn't really care what she had to do to have him. If she had to use his fiancee as a bargaining tool, so be it. She'd do anything, just to ease that screaming, maddening ache.
She laughed deliriously as his fangs scraped against her neck.
Languidly, she spread her arms out above her head and giggled. So this was what blood lust felt like. She could almost understand the violent craving of new vampires. They craved blood just as she craved sex now. The need, the hunger was overwhelming, overpowering all your other senses.
His touch had awakened her hunger, and sparked this crazed coupling.
The want, the desire was so intense.
Intense, raw and undeniable.
She wanted this big, bad vampire. And she wanted him all to herself.
All of a sudden, she felt furious, inexplicably angry that he had asked her to find his long lost fiancee.
As his mouth moved down her body, Eva dug her nails deep into his broad back and scratched him hard. She drew blood but it didn't satisfy her.
She clawed more viciously into his back, and snarled, “I won't find her for you, Gabriel.”
He stopped kissing her breast and blinked down at her.
She glared up at him, and spat, “Is she your mate, Gabriel? Answer me now.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Gabriel gazed into Eva's eyes and saw her deep hurt and anger. She was pinned beneath him, and the heady scent of her arousal was driving him mad.
He wanted to claim her right now. Plunge into her again and again, and make her scream his name.
It would just be sex. Sex and blood. Easy and emotionless.
He got blood and sex easily enough. Human women seemed to find him irresistible. After taking what he needed from them, he simply wiped their memories clean and threw them back where he'd found them. Fast food, fast sex. Convenient and clinical.
But with Eva...he was a total wreck.
When he thought he'd lost her, he had been terrified, lost, desperate. He would have done anything, given up his life for her. It was time to face the truth. He couldn't lie to himself any longer. And he would never lie to her.
“I thought she was,” he said, staring down at her flushed face. She looked even more beautiful when she was angry. “All this while, I thought that Vonetta was my true love, my true mate. I searched for her, wanting to make it up to her. I realize now that what I felt towards her...was guilt. I felt responsible for her suffering, her turning. Maybe I did love her, as a human. We were betrothed to be married. But now...” He trailed off when Eva pushed him off her and sat up.
“Go on,” she said, facing him squarely. She folded her arms across her breasts and jerked her head up.
After a long sigh, he went on, “I think I would have married her out of a sense of duty if we had remained human. But as a vampire, the thought of taking a mate never crossed my mind. I never really thought of Vonetta as mine. I just wanted to find her so I can take care of her, and try to make up for all her suffering. I have never felt so intensely...” He barked out a short laugh. “In fact, I've never felt for another person all these years.”
Eva's lips parted as she stared at him. “So what changed?” she asked softly at last.
“I found you,” he said honestly.
She gasped as the full meaning of his words hit her. “Are you saying what I think you are saying?”
Gabriel winced slightly. She might not be prepared to be a vampire's mate. In fact, the very idea might scare her out of her wits.
But she had to know. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Vampires recognize their mate by instinct, by scent and by blood. We are instinctively drawn to our mates. The attraction and desire is powerful and consuming. The fact that I have not been able to find Vonetta after all this time...is because there is no blood bond between us. But I didn't want to acknowledge that.”
Eva lowered her head, staring down at her hands. “She's not your mate,” she whispered at last.
Gabriel soldiered on, “Blood healing can only be done if there's a blood bond. My blood could heal you because of the blood bond.”
Eva swallowed, her brow creasing. Finally, she asked very quietly, her breath hitching a little, “How do you know for sure...that I am your mate? How do I know?”
“Your blood.”
“What?” Her eyes rounded.
“Blood doesn't lie. I had your blood on my lips, and...in that instant, I knew. Yet, I denied it. And you know, because you feel.” Gabriel stared down her quivering body. She had pushed her hand between her thighs, desperately trying to ease her body's painful, pounding need. There was a silent plea in her eyes, but she bit her lip hard to stop herself from articulating it.
Gabriel took her hand very tenderly in his. “Your body and your blood cannot deny the bond, Eva. The want, the hunger is overpowering and undeniable,” he whispered, leaning towards her. “The need to mate is so raw, primal and painful.” He closed his eyes, feeling the blood pound painfully in his groin. It was the most exquisite, excruciating torture. And only she could deliver him from this torment.
But would she?
He wouldn't force her. He would never force her.
Trembling, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her. She lay back on the bed and whispered, “I need you now, Gabriel. Please...”
She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him urgently to her. She panted, her head tossing on the pillow, feverish with desire.
In a flash, he'd covered her hot, naked body with his. He took her in his arms, and kissed her tenderly, lovingly. When he deepened the kiss, her lips yielded immediately to his demand, and her tongue tangled hungrily with his. His hands moved down her body, cupping her full, lush breasts. He could feel her hard, erect nipples stabbing into his palms, and he groaned into her mouth.
Squeezing and rolling her rosy nipples between his fingers, he kissed down her neck and chest, and finally latched his mouth on her breast and suckled greedily. God, she tasted so good. His tongue danced around her nipple, twirling and flicking it. She was starting to pant as she speared her fingers through his hair.
His body was cradled between her sweet thighs, and he couldn't wait to penetrate her. But he wanted to make sure she was ready for him. He didn't want to hurt her.
Sliding a finger through her wet curls, he smeared her juices over her clit and pussy lips. Slowly, he pushed a finger into her and felt her walls ripple around his finger. She was so wet, and so very tight.
“Eva...” he gritted, unable to hold off much longer.
“Now, Gabriel, please...I want to feel you inside me,” she begged. “I want you, in me.”
He knelt before her, and spread her wide for him. She was so beautiful, so perfect. Her arousal, her fierce, unrelenting hunger was fast driving him over the edge, but he was determined not to hurt her.
Pushing her knees up against her chest, he pushed the tip of his throbbing cock against her hot, wet slit and stopped. She cried out as he inched deeper into her, and he stilled completely.
She was too tight, too small. He pulled out a little, and she hissed. She dug her nails into his biceps, and wrapped her legs around his hips to urge him deeper into her.
Gabriel pushed himself inch by inch into her, clenching his teeth at the pleasure of her slick heat. With a final thrust, he buried himself fully inside her, and his forehead fell forward against hers.
“Eva...” he breathed. “You feel so good. So perfect.”
She raised her hips to him, and they began to move in rhythm, their bodies melding perfectly. They fitted together so well. He began to thrust harder into her as she arched her back, her eyes closed in ecstasy.
Eva gave a small cry and gasped, her eyes flying open. Gazing deeply into his eyes, she began to pant hard and he felt her walls clench hard around his shaft.
She threw her head back as her orgasm shook her body, and Gabriel plunged his fangs deep into her neck. Immediately, he felt her climax violently as he sucked her blood into his mouth. He pounded hard into her as he took her blood, and she orgasmed again and again in his arms.
Gabriel withdrew his fangs from her neck and kissed the puncture wounds close. He thrust into her once more, and shot his seed deep into her body. She shuddered as she came with him, and fell back on the pillows, her hair plastered to her face. Her skin was covered in a sheen of sweat, and Gabriel pressed his lips to her forehead as he slid languidly in and out of her, still savoring his beautiful mate.
“You are mine, Eva,” he murmured. “You are my mate.”
He laid down beside her and pulled her to him. She curled up against him, resting her cheek on his chest.
Unconsciously, he turned and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He loved her. There was no denying it.
He heard her sigh deeply. Frowning, he curled a finger under her chin and tilted her face up.
Her eyes look troubled and anxious.
“I...I may be your mate, Gabriel but...I have a job. I need to get back,” she said at last. “You need to let me go.”
His hand tightened around her waist. “I will never let you go,” he growled. She shrank back, and he saw her fists and jaw clench tightly. From the look in her steely eyes, he knew that she was thinking of killing him. Again.
That stubborn, rebellious woman had tried to kill him. Not caring if she lived or died, she had fought him tooth and nail and had managed to injure a Master vampire with nothing more than a piece of porcelain.
If he didn't release her, she would try something even more drastic. He was sure of it.
“I will never let you go, Eva. You are my mate.”
Her eyes blazed. “You...”
He silenced her with a fierce, bruising kiss.
“But I will not keep you here against your will.”
Eva gaped at him, unable to speak, still breathless from his kiss.
“I can go back,” she whispered, a slow smile breaking across her face. “You won't kidnap me again...” She eyed him suspiciously.
“I won't kidnap you. But if you try to run from me, I will chase you. And when I catch you, I will punish you,” he said, making his threat clear. “I will punish you every night, endlessly, and I won't stop even when you beg for mercy, Eva. Do you understand?”
He saw her shiver, but it wasn't with fear.
She licked her lips, and the scent of her sudden arousal made him grab her and pin her arms over her head.
He pushed her legs apart with his knees and thrust hard into her. She cried out in pleasure, as he pistoned in and out of her.
This time, he took her hard and fast. Without mercy.
“Tonight. I will escort you back,” he snarled.
Her eyes widened, and she began to shake her head in objection.
“Gabriel...you don't have to escort...”
“I will not lose you, Eva,” he growled and bit down on her neck.
She screamed as her body shuddered beneath him. Gabriel's fists tightened possessively, savagely around her wrists as he took her hard, pushing them both to a shattering, devastating climax.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Eva took a deep, steadying breath as Gabriel wrapped his arms around her. She was wearing her old jeans and one of Gabriel's huge t-shirts. She smiled up at him as he pulled her closer and began to fade into mist without a word.
Eva braced against the sudden dizzying plunge, feeling the ground disappear from under her feet. The mist wrapped around her securely, and she felt a soft pressure against her cheek. It felt like a kiss, a sweet, tender caress.
With a gasp, she opened her eyes and saw that she was standing in the messy living room of her apartment. The light from the street lamps flickered through the blinds. Eva switched on the table lamp and saw stacks of books and dirty coffee mugs on the table, her shoes and socks lying all over the floor.
Dark Mate (MATE series) Page 6