Blood Hunt

by L. L. Raand

  “What about you?”

  Even in the dark, Jody’s eyes glowed for a few seconds like flames dancing at the edge of the forest, a firestorm threatening to flare and engulf everything in its path. “I can wait until morning. I would rather you stayed in the car—”

  “No way,” Becca said.

  Jody grinned, an expression Becca had rarely seen, and she found the fleeting flash of sharp incisors oddly and disturbingly erotic. “What?”

  “If one in ten times you’d allow me to finish my sentence,” Jody said quietly, “I would have said I would prefer you stay outside, but I can’t leave you alone out here.”

  “Why wouldn’t I be safe enough in the car?” Becca asked, more curious now than annoyed.

  “If you’d like a demonstration, you can stay here and let me call to you from across the parking lot. I guarantee you will come to me.”

  Becca’s skin erupted in goose bumps, and a blaze ignited in the pit of her stomach. “Damn you. Stop whatever you’re doing.”

  Jody chuckled. “I told you before, I’m not doing anything. However, once we have seen to Lara, you and I will need to see the Viceregal. She may very well do something.”

  “I don’t doubt it, not after my experience with her this morning. I can’t believe she’ll tell us anything useful, though—she seems to speak in riddles and definitely enjoys playing games.”

  “Of course. She’s a Vampire.”

  Becca snorted. “I can’t imagine she’ll say very much to Sylvan, and probably less to us.”

  “I’m sure you’re right. However, much can be learned from what is not said. And with Francesca, even more can be learned from who she says it to. But that’s not why we’re going to see her.”

  “What haven’t you told me?” Becca’s pulse kicked up, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear what was coming next. It seemed every time she thought she had control, Jody did something to strip it away. She’d never met a woman—let alone a Vampire—who could keep her so off balance so consistently. “I don’t like secrets.”

  “Then you will be very unhappy around Vampires. We survive by our secrets.”

  “And what if I told you I wanted to know yours?”

  Jody slid across the seat until her thigh pressed against Becca’s. Her mouth was against Becca’s neck before she had a chance to flinch. And then she didn’t want to flinch. Jody’s lips were warmer than they had been earlier when they’d kissed. Not warm exactly, but more like melting snow. The heat of bitter cold tempered by the slow infusion of warmth.

  “Jody,” Becca whispered. She slid her hand onto Jody’s thigh and felt the slender muscles tighten. “Tell me what you think I’ll fear.”

  Jody’s incisors pricked her skin, and Becca felt herself grow wet. The tip of Jody’s tongue danced over her skin, and she heard a quiet moan. Her? Jody? A tremor rippled through Jody’s body.

  “What are you doing?” Becca gasped.

  “I’m tasting you.”

  “Oh God.”

  “With your blood in my mouth, I can find you anywhere.”

  “How…How far?”

  “If I were risen? The connection would have no boundaries. But I’m not, so my ability is less than it might be. But unless you get into an airplane and cross an ocean, I can follow your signature. I will find you.”

  Becca had never known how much she wanted to be found. She’d never considered herself lost. She always knew where she was and what she was about and where she would be going the next moment, the next day, the next year of her life. Planning gave her life structure and made her feel secure. Now not only was her life topsy-turvy, but she was presented with the realization she’d avoided all her life. She had never been enough to please her father. Subtle putdowns, deadly disdain, a lifetime of being unseen had made her forget how much she needed to matter to someone, to be appreciated for more than just her abilities. To be loved for herself. For the heart of her. She slid her fingers around the back of Jody’s neck and into her hair. She pressed her mouth to Jody’s, letting her heat warm Jody’s cool flesh. When her tongue slid into Jody’s mouth, the sensation was like standing in front of a roaring fire after walking naked through a blizzard. Every cell in her body burst to life.

  Jody slipped her hand around Becca’s waist and eased her silk shirt from her pants. She let her fingers rest on smooth, warm skin and allowed herself a few seconds of believing she could touch her, hold her, taste her…and nothing more. And then the lust struck. Not blind, not mindless, oh no. Totally focused. She hungered for this woman, this human. Becca. She wanted her. She wanted her blood, she wanted her body, she wanted her soul. Jody groaned and closed her eyes, and Becca’s fingers tightened on her neck.

  “I want you,” Becca murmured, letting her head fall back against the seat. “Please, Jody. You already tasted me. Take more.”

  Jody’s incisors completely erupted, and enough blood still filled her system for her sex to swell and throb. Her mind reached out, soothed Becca’s. She could show her a dream, make it painless for her, make her forget it ever happened. She could have her, and Becca would never hate her for it. But Becca would never know her either.

  Jody pushed herself across the front seat of the car until her back slammed into the door hard enough to leave a dent in the frame. “No.”

  Becca grabbed the wheel, clutching it to hold herself in place. “God, I’m sorry. Talk about throwing yourself at someone.”

  “Lara—I need to take Lara inside,” Jody said hoarsely.

  “I know. And now…Now you’ll need to feed, won’t you?” Becca had done exactly what she hadn’t meant to do. Again. She’d offered herself to Jody and once again been denied. And now Jody would take that passion, that undeniable hunger that Becca had stirred, and satisfy it with someone else. God, that’s going to drive me insane.

  “I won’t,” Jody said. “I won’t feed.”

  “Don’t make that promise,” Becca whispered. “I don’t even want you to. Please. Let’s just go.”

  “Yes. Let’s go.” Jody opened the door and slid out.

  Becca watched her, her heart in her throat. Outlined in moonlight, Jody resembled a sorrowful statue, glorious and bereft.

  Chapter Twenty

  Becca recognized the voluptuous blonde even before the woman rushed out of the shadows, her hands grabbing for Jody, her mouth curved into an ecstatic bow. “Jody!”

  How could she ever forget stumbling upon Jody feeding in a darkened room in the back of the club, or this woman’s seismic orgasm when Jody’s incisors had sunk into her neck? The blonde had been with a dark-haired man, but he had seemed an afterthought. Even though he’d been pressed against the blonde’s back, fucking her enthusiastically as she lay in Jody’s arms, the woman’s attention had all been for Jody. When Jody had stroked her bare shoulders, fondled her breasts, and ultimately bitten her, the blonde had come screaming, and her orgasm wasn’t triggered by the man moving rhythmically inside her. She’d ignited when Jody had fed from her throat.

  Becca didn’t even know her, and she didn’t like her. A very uncharitable thought and one that was not typical for her. But whenever anything involved Jody, her normal behavior went right out the window.

  Becca was a hair’s breadth away from pushing the blonde’s hand aside when Jody smiled, deftly avoided the clutching fingers, and said, “Tricia. You’re exactly who I was looking for.”

  Says who? Becca clamped down on the tip of her tongue to stifle her protest. The rational part of her brain emphatically extolled, not your business, not your business, not your business. The rational part of her brain even understood that Jody needed to feed, would always need to feed or cease to exist. Sex and blood were inextricably connected in the Vampire’s body and psyche. She got that, and she actually thought she was okay with it. What she wasn’t okay with was the idea of someone sharing something so intimate with Jody. Damn it, she was jealous. She couldn’t quite bring herself to believe something so incredibly special mean
t nothing to the parties involved.

  Jody insisted that the bloodlust and the sexual release that followed were byproducts of her insatiable need to feed. Her biological drive to sustain her existence couldn’t be denied or altered, and any pleasure derived from the act was secondary and often inconsequential to her. Maybe that was true for Jody—that the orgasm she experienced in the throes of bloodlust had little meaning—but Becca was damn sure that wasn’t true for hosts. She’d seen enough of them—human and Were—climaxing in the midst of being bitten to know. And from the imploring look in Tricia’s eyes, she was desperate for Jody to take her right now.

  Becca had to struggle not to say, “Go find someone else. This Vampire is taken.” And what if she did, and Tricia actually left? Jody would still need to feed. Could Becca feed her? Would Jody let her?

  “This is Lara,” Jody said, drawing Lara to her side with an arm around her shoulders. “She is mine, and she is hungry. I want you to feed her.” Tricia’s eyes registered surprise for just a second, then blanked, as if all thought had fled. When she blinked again, as if awakening, she instantly focused on Lara. Her smile was back, and so was the throaty purr of pleasure in her voice. “Oh, I’m so happy to meet you. Yes, please. I’d love to feed you.”

  If Becca hadn’t been watching so closely, she would’ve missed that slight transformation, but now she recognized the thrall. Jody had ensnared Tricia and diverted her attention to Lara. Now Tricia probably believed Lara was the one she had always wanted. She certainly acted that way—sliding her arms around Lara’s waist and rubbing her breasts against Lara’s chest. Beneath Lara’s tight T-shirt, the muscles of her chest rippled, and her breasts tensed. Lara’s mouth opened, and white flashed against her dark red lips.

  “Oh yes.” Tricia clutched Lara, kissing her. “I want to feed you.”

  Even in the low light, the flames that leapt to life in Lara’s eyes were as bright as the sun. She groaned and grasped Tricia’s hips, dragging her hard against her body. Lara’s incisors rested on her lower lip, larger than Jody’s and glistening with the anticoagulants that would allow her to feed from Tricia’s vein.

  “Wait,” Jody said quietly to Lara. “You cannot feed out in the open.”

  “Others do,” Lara said, her hips grinding into Tricia as she licked her neck.

  Tricia moaned and bunched Lara’s T-shirt up in one hand, scraping her lacquered fingernails over Lara’s back and leaving long welts. Lara panted, her body shaking.

  “They are fools,” Jody said. “You’ll find cover before you feed.”

  “No,” Lara rumbled, pinpricks of blood blossoming on Tricia’s throat. “Let me drink her now.”

  Jody jerked Lara’s head away from Tricia’s neck with a seemingly effortless tug. “You must learn to feed safely. You never feed when you’re exposed and unprotected, unless you want a stake in your back. Come with me.” Jody signaled to Niki, who’d been standing a few feet away. “You need to guard the door. Becca will stay inside with me.”

  “All right,” Niki said. Her dark shirt was soaked and clung to her shoulders and arms. She’d unbuttoned it, exposing her bare torso, and her breasts glistened. A line of fine red pelt dusted her abdomen. Jody traced her fingers down the center of Niki’s torso, and Niki shuddered, a low groan reverberating in her throat.

  “The room is filled with pheromones, and every Vampire is casting for an available host. You’re already half-enthralled,” Jody said. “Can you hold?”

  “Yes,” Niki said, her face angular and hard. She swept her hand down her body, wiping away the moisture. The muscles in her abdomen rippled under her palm. “You don’t have anything to fear. I know how to absorb a call without losing control.”

  Jody nodded. “Yes, as the Alpha’s second you would. Sylvan was right to send you.”

  Niki’s eyes flashed. “I won’t fail her. Or you, Vampire.”

  “Good.” Jody glanced at Becca, then met Niki’s gaze. “The human’s safety first, do you understand, Wolf?”

  “I know my job.”

  A push of power flooded Becca’s mind, and she looked around. A circle of Vampires with flaming eyes closed in on them. Urgently, she said, “Jody. We’ve got company.”

  “I know.”

  Tricia whimpered and writhed in Lara’s arms. Lara’s eyes were blind with bloodlust. She dipped her hand into Tricia’s dress and drew out her breast. She licked the nipple, an incisor dimpling the hard core, close to piercing it. Tricia whined oh yes, oh yes, oh yes over and over again.

  “What do we do?” Becca murmured.

  “They’re drawn to Tricia’s blood and Lara’s hunger.” Jody grabbed Becca around the waist and yanked her against her chest. “Kiss me.”

  “Wha—”

  Jody’s tongue filled her mouth, hot and firm and demanding. Heat surged down Becca’s throat and flooded her chest, boiling the air in her lungs. Her breasts instantly swelled, and her nipples pebbled. She moaned, delicious tingling spreading from the pit of her stomach deep into her core. She tasted earth and fire, power so primitive her very cells shuddered. She arched into Jody and swallowed hungrily. So good, so thick and rich. So strong. Blood. Jody’s blood.

  “Oh my God,” Becca gasped, pulling away from the kiss.

  “Hurry,” Jody said, holding a snarling Lara at arm’s length with one hand. A thin trickle of blood coursed from the corner of Jody’s mouth. The sight of it stirred a foreign hunger in Becca’s belly. “Lara can’t control her hunger, and she’s exciting the others.”

  “What did you—”

  Jody’s eyes flared. “Blood rights, remember?” Jody gripped Lara, with Tricia clinging to her, and grasped Becca’s arm. She pulled them all into a dark, narrow passageway crowded with feeding Vampires. “Don’t look at anyone. Don’t slow down.”

  Jody shouldered her way down the hallway to the room where Becca had first witnessed her feeding. Niki followed behind them, growling at anyone who came too close.

  “Inside,” Jody said, propelling Becca forward and following her in.

  A bed covered with a plain white sheet stood against the far wall. Several overstuffed chairs and a rug were the only other furnishings. Smoked glass wall sconces provided dim illumination.

  “No one enters,” Jody said to Niki, who took up a post next to the door with her back against the wall.

  “Understood,” Niki snapped, and Jody slammed the door shut.

  “Now,” Lara gasped, an agonized groan reverberating in the back of her throat. “Now.”

  “You must hold her enthralled,” Jody said to Lara. “I’m going to release her from my thrall, and you will hold her mind. If you don’t, I will not let you feed.”

  “I’ll try,” Lara panted. “I’ll try. I’ll try. I want her. Please. I want her so much.”

  “I know, but you must learn to ignore the pain. Feel her mind. Read her desires. Feed her needs and she will feed yours. If you can’t, you cannot feed. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.” Lara doubled over, the ridges in her stomach contracting spasmodically. “Please. Let me have her.”

  Jody cast a quick look at Becca. “Sit in one of the chairs. You’ll be safe there. Don’t come near us until it’s done. No matter what you see, stay away.”

  For a second, Becca considered retreating into the hall. She wasn’t bothered by Lara’s hunger or Tricia’s lust, she wasn’t even watching them. She was watching the flames consume Jody’s eyes. Jody must have cut her own lip to bleed into Becca’s mouth, and now Becca couldn’t stop wanting her. She tasted her with every beat of her heart. She’d watched Jody feed from Max when she’d wanted to be the one to feed her. She couldn’t watch Jody take Tricia too.

  Jody’s eyes met hers and held. I won’t feed.

  Did she hear that, or was it an echo, a mere projection of her own desire? She couldn’t ask that of Jody. She didn’t even want to. She didn’t want Jody to suffer, and she definitely didn’t want her to go without the blood she needed to sustain her
self.

  The rational part of her mind, what little was left of it, reasoned that Jody had brought her into the room for her own safety. Not only that, but Niki couldn’t guard the door effectively if she was trying to ward off Vampires who wanted to feed from Becca.

  So she’d stay, damn it, and she’d watch. This was Jody’s life. If she really wanted to know her, she couldn’t hide from who Jody was or what she had to do.

  “I’m all right,” Becca whispered and curled up in one of the big chairs, drawing her legs beneath her and wrapping her arms around her knees.

  Jody leaned back against the door and drew Tricia into her arms, Tricia’s back to her front. Jody’s arms came around Tricia’s middle, one just below her breasts, the other slanting across her hips. An intimate restraint. Tricia grew limp for an instant, her body sagging as if a puppet master had cut the lines on a marionette, then her head snapped up, and she glanced around the room as if dazed.

  “What?” Tricia moaned.

  Lara cupped Tricia’s face in her hands, a gesture surprisingly tender, and Tricia’s lips parted with a sigh. Lara stroked her tongue over Tricia’s mouth and Tricia arched against her.

  “Lara,” Tricia murmured, her hazy gaze lighting on Lara’s face. “Touch me, baby, please. I’m so ready.”

  Lara’s face was in profile to Becca, but she didn’t have to see Lara’s expression to imagine the hunger in her eyes. She saw Lara’s arm move between her body and Tricia’s, saw Lara’s pants drop to the floor and Tricia’s dress hiked up above her hips. The hard muscles in Lara’s ass flexed and released as she worked her hips between Tricia’s spread thighs. Tricia’s face convulsed with pleasure and her head sagged back against Jody’s shoulder. Lara reached down and hooked Tricia’s thighs over her forearms, pulling Tricia’s legs up around her hips.

  “Oh my God,” Tricia whimpered. “What are you doing to me? Oh my God, you feel so hot. How can you be so hot? You feel so good.” Trica’s head thrashed on Jody’s shoulder, her throat rippling with moans. Lara thrust faster and Tricia’s hips heaved. “Oh God, you’re making me come. Oh, I have to come. Please. Please. More.”