Raven took it from his hand.
“Kris…” before she could get the words out, Kristian was gone.
Raven leaned back on the door just thinking about how much his bite turned her on. Never in her life would she have thought that a vampire’s bite would be so sensual. She reached up to her neck feeling for the marks. She shivered at the sensitive area. Her fingers were covered with blood when she looked at them.
Raven quickly pushed herself off the door and rushed out of the house. If she stayed there she knew she wouldn’t have time to think of anything but being with him.
* * * *
The sound of clapping came as Shane walked around the corner.
“Your first kiss. How wickedly sweet,” Shane teased.
Kristian turned to look at Shane once he heard his car start and drive off.
“What do you want, Shane?”
“I want you to be a vampire, Kristian. Do you know if anyone saw you like this, the Blackburn family would lose a lot of its reputation?”
Kristian’s hand began to shake from the blood traveling through him. He’d had human blood here and there, but never the taste of slayer’s blood. Now he knew why the vampires who killed slayers drained them. It was like human blood times ten, plus a speed rush. God, he would never get used to it.
“Kristian, are you all right?”
“Yeah, yeah. I took her blood and it’s like nothing I’ve experienced before in my life.”
“Yeah, I heard slayer’s blood is to die for.”
Kristian sat down at the table.
“Yes, it is. It’s like my entire body is on fire with it. I feel so renewed.”
“Renewed enough to go out and get your mate?”
Kristian growled at him. “Why are you so stuck on me having sex? You do it enough for both of us.”
Shane opened the refrigerator, took out two beers and passed one to Kristian.
“It’s not that I want you to just go out and have sex now, I want you to go out and have sex with your mate. You are the first vampire to be mated with a slayer. You will make history. You are one of the few full bloods running around here, now this—good grief man don’t you know when you have it made?”
Kristian could hear Shane talking, but he wasn’t listening. All he could think about was Raven and her leaving him. He knew she hadn’t left him, but she had left at least for the night. Now he wondered whether he should go to her tonight, or let her come back to him. Should he woo her like the vampire he was and mate with her and make her his now and forever? He didn’t care if she didn’t have sex with him tonight—at this moment he wanted her by his side. Why had he let her leave him like this? He wanted her and needed her as much as humans needed air.
“Are you listening to me, Blackburn?”
“No,” Kristian snapped.
“Well,” Shane said and grabbed his beer from the counter. “I don’t have to stand here and not be listened to. I can get ignored anytime. I’m going to go watch television then. It’s raining and there’s nothing out and about tonight.”
“Good night.”
“Nite.”
Kristian drank the rest of his beer before standing from his seat. He had sat for an hour just contemplating what to do. The sun would be up soon, but his tattoo on the underside of his wrist would keep him safe. To others it looked like a lightning bolt. It was very small, but still detectable. He’d it done as a child, as his parents told him. They wanted him to grow up as normal as he could. As normal as he could, being the prince. Not that many lived by the rules of his parents anymore. He hoped that one day his parents would live in the twenty-first century.
Kristian concentrated on Raven to make sure she had made it home safely. With her blood running through him, their connection was much stronger than before. Sensing that she was home, Kristian decided to go watch some television. He had promised her space and he would give it to her.
Chapter 6
The taunting of laughter was what woke Raven out of her sleep. She jumped into a sitting position, looking around her room. The laughter got louder and louder but she didn’t recognize it.
“Free me!” the dark voice echoed in her ears.
Raven reached over and turned on her light. Her room lit up and she breathed in deeply when she did not see anyone in her room. Maybe it was just a dream.
“Not a dream, Slayer! Free me!”
Raven looked around the room for anyone to be there but no one was there but her.
“Now!” the sound vibrated around her.
The paint on her walls melted, running in long trails of goo. The temperature in her room rose higher until Raven could feel the sweat coating her body. She wanted to move but didn’t think it was a good idea.
A loud boom erupted in her room and Raven screamed as the walls fell away.
“Come to me, little girl. Come to me!”
Fire spread around her. Her room was a torch of flames. The only safe place was on her bed.
“This is a dream. This is a dream. This is a dream,” Raven began to chant.
It had to be a dream because there was no way in hell she was in hell. She had been a good girl. She never stole anything. She went to church. Sometimes. Well, she knew she didn’t deserve to be here.
“No way out,” the voice screamed at her.
A hand of fire touched the edge of her bed. Raven pushed back against the headboard of her bed. Another hand and another and another touched the edge of her bed.
“Raven,” another voice sang her name. “Let my master out.”
“No. If your master is here then he deserves to be here!”
“Let my master out!” A man jumped up on her bed. It resembled a man, but he was covered in nothing but flames.
To her he should be screaming but he wasn’t.
“No,” the man spoke. “No! No one tells my master no!”
The man leaped toward her. The moment his burning body landed on top of her she screamed from the fire overtaking her. She fought to get the man off her but he only laughed at her as her flesh tore away from her body.
“Stop!” Raven screamed over and over. She fought with the man to get him off.
“Raven!” her mother’s voice scared her as she fought with the now invisible man on top of her.
“Raven, honey, calm down. It’s only a nightmare.”
It took Raven a few moments for her eyes to focus on her mother standing over her bed.
“Are you alright?”
Raven looked around the room. She looked to the left then right, not fully awake yet.
“Raven?”
It took several long deep breaths before she was able to calm herself.
“Honey?” Her mother’s voiced with concern now.
Raven shook her head to clear the dream. “Yes, I’m fine. I…I just had a bad dream.”
Her mother’s brown eyes watched her closely. “Well, it must have been some dream. You’re soaking wet from sweating.”
Raven looked down, and her pajamas were stuck to her body like a second skin. She didn’t believe for one moment her sweating came from the dream. She believed that she had really been pulled into hell. She remembered that Arthas had said that there were many different hell dimensions.
“Are you going to be able to go to school? You seem very hot.” Talia touched her forehead. “You are hot.”
Raven shied away from her mother’s touch. “I’ll be fine mom. I will go take a shower and be good to go.”
Talia stared at her for a few more moments. “If you say you will be all right.”
“I will.”
Her mother began walking out the door then stopped. “Your father came home last night from work and told me that a stranger’s car was in the driveway. Whose car is it?”
Raven’s eyes widened. “Oh it’s ummmm…a friend’s car. The window in my car got broken from some debris during last night’s storms. He let me borrow his until my car is fixed.”
“That must be som
e friend, then.”
“Why do you say that mom?”
“Because your dad knows cars and he said it’s an Aston Martin DBS.”
“So?”
Raven didn’t know much about cars, so the name didn’t mean anything to her.
“So? Your friend loaned you his two-hundred and eighty thousand dollar car.”
“Th—what? You saying that car is worth that much?”
“Yes, and I’m surprised that this friend let a teenager hold such an expensive car. Take it back and get a rental, because if you wreck that car there is no way I’m going to be able to afford to replace it.”
Raven looked over to the package sitting on her dresser. If only her mother knew what type of money she had come into.
“I will tell him about it, and make sure to give it back to him. But he’s so stubborn he will not take it back.”
Her mother smiled at her. “It sounds like my daughter is lying to me. Don’t tell me you are dating some old man, Raven, but I doubt any high school boy can afford that type of car.”
Wow, her mother could read her like a book. Kristian was…wait…she’d never asked Kristian how old he really was. He said around twenty-six and now she knew he had to be older.
“Well, Mother, I am dating this guy and he’s kinda older.”
Her mother moved back to the bed.
“How much?”
Raven looked away.
“How much older, Raven? God, tell me he’s not in his sixties or seventies.”
“Ewwwww, not even.”
Talia took a deep breath of relief.
“He’s twenty-six.”
Her mother watched her closely. “Is he the one who loaned you the car?”
“Yes, and he does have a lot of money, but that’s not why I’m dating him. I didn’t know about the money until last night when I left his home.”
“So you lied about your car’s window?”
“No, I didn’t and he said he would get it fixed for me. When he gave me the keys to his car, he never said it was expensive.”
“You know I cannot approve of this. He’s almost ten years older than you.”
“Only seven.” Plus whatever his real age was, she thought to herself.
“Is he married? Have kids? What do you know about him?”
“He’s not married, no kids and I know a lot about him. I didn’t know he was that old when I met him. He looks around twenty.”
“Well, how long have you known him?”
“About five months.”
Lies!
“Why am I just hearing about him now?”
Raven took a deep breath. “Because I knew neither Dad nor you would approve, but I really like him.”
“Is that why you have been sneaking out night after night?”
“What do you mean?”
“I have come into your room for the past couple of nights and you have not been here. I thought maybe you were out because of your headaches. Were you with him?”
“Yes,” she lied again. “But I’m not doing anything with him, Mom, I promise!”
Talia snorted at her. “You’re telling me that my nineteen year old daughter is sneaking out of the house all times of the night to go to a twenty-six year old’s home and she’s not doing anything? How dumb do you think I am?”
“I know it sounds like a lie but I have no reason to lie to you. I’m not having sex with him and he hasn’t pressured me into being with him.” Yeah, another lie. “He is okay with just having me around.”
“I don’t believe that, but if you say so then I have to go by it. But if you decide that you have to have sex, just remember protection is a must. You just turned nineteen last week and I know you feel grown, but you are still my daughter and until you graduate in a few weeks you are still my responsibility. I don’t want you to have any children yet nor get any diseases.”
“I know, Mother, and I’m not doing anything so you don’t have to worry.”
Talia gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Get ready for school. You only have an hour.”
“Okay.”
“And when Mr. Patience decides that he wants to meet us, let us know so that I can hide all the guns in the house from your father.”
Raven and her mother laughed.
“I’m going to make breakfast.”
Raven got up from the bed and made her way to the bathroom. She flicked on the lights and stared at herself in the mirror. At first she just looked normal, but then she noticed a little difference in her skin tone. She looked paler—her skin resembled a greyish color.
Turning her head she examined the two small marks on her neck where Kristian had bitten her. Surprisingly there were only two small red marks where his fangs had penetrated. She touched the marks, trembling at the sensation inside her. How could his bite marks do such a thing to her?
Raven looked back to the mirror and screamed at the flaming man standing behind her. She turned around backing up to the sink to try to get away from the man but no one was there.
After taking a couple of deep breaths she finally calmed herself.
“God, I’m losing my mind,” she whispered.
After calming herself enough to move again she slowly looked into the mirror, and then turned around to make sure that no one stood behind her. After looking into the mirror once again she let out a deep breath. If this was a slayer’s normal life she didn’t want it. Day after day, week after endless week of being stalked by demons was not something she looked forward to. She might not be ready for it, but she knew she had to embrace this new thing and be ready for anything that evil threw at her.
Raven decided not to think about the man in the mirror any longer. She had only a month left in school, and she was ready to graduate and start a new life—a life she knew would involve Kristian. No matter how much she denied it, she knew Kristian would be a great part of her life.
After a quick shower, Raven dressed and had some of her mother’s famous pancakes and coffee. She felt new and rejuvenated and ready for class.
* * * *
“Wow, that looks expensive,” Maxwell Conway, Raven’s classmate said as she got out of the car. “Whose car?”
Raven closed the door and immediately noticed the stares from the surrounding students. She’d never paid the car any attention but she was sure that a lot of them must know what type of vehicle it was.
“It’s a friend’s car, Conway.”
Maxwell walked beside her, giggling like always. Maxwell always liked being around her, ever since elementary school, when he used to pester her like a fly, always pulling her hair or pinching her. She finally got fed up with it in middle school and kicked his butt all over the gym. Ever since then he’d stop pulling her hair and pinching her, but then he started to just be around all the time. Like now, it was like he was waiting for her to show up. It didn’t bother her as much as it did a couple years ago. Lately, she even looked forward to her morning walks into the school with him.
A lot of people whispered about her and Max being a couple but it could never be. For one, he was about a foot shorter than she, making him about five-feet-six-inches. She didn’t like short men at all. Also, Max wasn’t a drop-dead handsome guy like Kristian. Hell, she doubted anyone was as handsome as Kristian, but Max was cute in his own way. Just not a man for her. She loved her men tall, handsome, blue eyes and blond hair. Now that was her type of man.
“That must be some friend, then.”
Raven placed her bag on her shoulder. “Why do you say that?”
Maxwell stopped beside her, turned then pointed at the car. “It’s not like we run into a lot of Aston Martins on the road, Raven. That car is a classic, a rich person’s car. Now, who is this friend of yours?”
Raven shrugged. “Just a friend.”
“Raven!” Cynthia Bradshaw, a friend—well kind of a friend, walked up to her.
Cynthia was like Maxwell. They’d sort of befriended her without her knowledge. She never made the
m go away because they were nice and friendly.
Raven put on her best I am glad to see you smile as the blonde walked up to her.
“Where were you? The school trip was awesome! The band Broken Promises left no broken promises. The guitar lead, Dylan, is a hunk! Oh my god, I just wanted to eat him up.” Cynthia finally looked at Maxwell. “Oh hiya, Max.”
Max didn’t speak but waved at Cynthia. Raven frowned at the way he always shied away or got quiet when Cynthia was around. Maybe her little Max had a major crush on Cynthia. With a little makeover she was sure Max could pull off being a stud.
“I heard the band is great. I even heard a couple of their songs. It didn’t really do it for me.”
“Are you nuts? That band is great! You need to give them another try.”
Raven shrugged her shoulders, not really caring about the band.
“Oh, you gotta hickey!” Cynthia’s voice almost startled her.
This chick had such a high pitch voice that it could put anyone on edge.
“What?” Raven said, but she already knew Cynthia meant the bite mark on her neck.
When she looked in the mirror and saw the faded bite mark she didn’t think anything of it. She did expect to see two tiny holes there, but there was no trace of skin breakage—just a spot where it appeared that someone gave her a major hickey.
“Here, silly,” Cynthia said as she touched Raven’s neck making her stomach cringe.
It didn’t hurt, but more like an electrical shock that went through her body, starting where Kristian had bitten her.
Raven slapped her hand away.
“I know I have a hickey,” Raven said while pulling her collar on her shirt up.
“Must be the same man who let you borrow his car,” Maxwell’s voice crackled with hurt as he spoke.
Raven looked at them both. She didn’t need to lie about it and maybe it would get Max off her back about dating.
“Okay, I can’t lie. I met this man and we have been dating for a while. I haven’t really talked about him much because I don’t know where this relationship is going.”
“Man?” Max repeated.
“Yes, Max, he is a man. He’s twenty-six and has a great job as a detective.”
Raven's Desires (Night Hunters) Page 9