Though I doubt she realizes what it is she’s feeling.
“Have you ever been here?” she asks, turning toward me.
I’m taken aback momentarily by the way the sun shines off her features, illuminating them in its bright glow. It’s fucking beautiful and hits me like a punch to the gut. My fingers itch to reach for her, to pull her against me so I can feel her.
I clench my hands into fists. “Yes. Many times. Though, it’s been quite a while.”
“How long?”
I glance at the driver, who runs a human car service. I very much doubt he’d take too kindly to me mentioning it’s been at least a century. “A few years.”
“Well, we welcome you back,” the driver adds. “Miss? What about you?”
“It’s been quite a few years for me too.”
“And you know the Astor family? Agatha was a wonderful woman. Very kind, gave back to the community whenever she could.”
“Agatha was my grandmother,” Rainey says, and the man’s eyes practically bulge out of his skull.
“You’re an Astor? Unless you’ve changed your name, of course,” he adds, his gaze darting nervously to me in the rearview.
“No. Still Astor.”
“That’s great too, of course. Keeping your last name. Oh, miss, it is so wonderful to meet you.”
“Thanks.” She doesn’t bother to correct him, so I don’t either.
Rainey falls silent again, and I study the man’s expression in the mirror, searching for anything that goes beyond someone excited to meet a member of one of Salem’s founding families.
“Here we go,” he says a few minutes later as the car pulls onto a private drive. Gravel crunches beneath the wheels, and we stop just outside a large black gate with an A embedded in the iron.
“We’ll walk from here,” Rainey says and climbs out. I follow, and the driver gets out right after me, walking around to the back of the car. He’s a short man, standing an inch below Rainey, and when he looks up at her, it’s with total adoration.
“It truly was so wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Astor.”
“Miss,” she corrects with a glare in my direction as though I told the man we were married.
“Miss Astor. Your family has been such a wonderful part of our community, and it just hasn’t been as bright since your grandmother passed on.”
“Thank you.” Her smile is kind, but her tone betrays a layer of sadness hidden beneath appreciation for the driver’s kind words.
“You’re truly welcome. If you need anything, anything at all, please let me know. I’m always so happy to help out a friend. And the Astors have been friends of my family for generations. Generations,” he repeats. “Anytime and anything.” He’s talking so bloody fast I can barely keep up with him.
“Thank you, and we will.” Rainey takes her bag from the trunk, so I reach in and grab mine before joining her at the fence. Then, she reaches into her pocket and withdraws an iron key the size of her palm.
“What are we waiting for?”
“The driver needs to be out of sight,” Rainey tells me with a forced smile as she waves. Once his car is out of sight, she turns and unlocks the gate.
“Why did we have to wait?”
She sets her bag down. “Because.” Gripping the key in both hands, she pulls it apart, revealing a hidden blade. Then, she runs it over her palm.
Copper tang fills the air, the scent of it a powerful roar in my head, an invasion of every single fucking sense within me, and I jump back, putting space between us before I fucking lose my mind. “What the fuck are you doing?” With no adrenaline, no immediate threat, there’s nothing to distract me from the allure of the crimson in her veins.
“You can’t get in without my blood,” she says, stepping toward me. “My grandmother had the property warded against supernaturals. The only way around that is to give you my blessing.” She reaches me.
My body shakes, desire for her, for her blood, nearly overwhelming me. Then, she stretches up and runs her injured palm over my cheek.
If I thought the scent of her blood was overwhelming, it’s nothing to the blood-hammering, stomach-twisting, cock-hardening, potent assault racing through my body as she spreads it over my skin.
“You okay?” she asks. I barely hear her over the sound of the blood pounding in my ears as I fight to gain control over myself like I had to do the night she nearly died.
But this is nothing like that.
My hunger is strong—stronger than anything I’ve ever felt, and before I realize it, I’m reaching for her. Hand cupping the back of her neck, I yank her toward me and slam my mouth onto hers.
She bucks, fighting against my hold for just a moment before she sighs and grips my arms with both hands. Rainey opens beneath me, her tongue slipping into my mouth, giving me a full fucking taste of the woman beyond the hunter.
Delicate.
Deadly.
I fucking devour her mouth, spinning her and pinning her to the gate with my body pressed against her. My cock is beyond hard, my body ready to claim the woman as my mate even if my brain tells me what a horrible fucking idea that would be. None of that matters now. I want to claim her, possess her, just as she owns me.
My hands roam down her body, gripping her ass and lifting her as she wraps her legs around my waist. Her hands are in my hair, tugging as she gives me back every demanding moment of this kiss.
She nips my lip, and I growl in response, the caged beast within straining against the chains I’ve used for so long.
The gate creaks, and I pull away, releasing her mouth as I slide her down my body. Our breaths are little more than ragged gasps, each perfectly in tune with the other, and I stare down at her, unable to tear my gaze from her swollen lips.
Lips I’d just tasted. And already, I want more.
“What the hell was that?” she demands, shoving me back. I stumble back two steps and run a hand through my hair. The farther I get from her, the easier it is to contain myself because, fuck me, her blood is driving me wild.
“Your blood,” I choke out, strangled words barely audible over the sound of our breathing. “I can’t help it.” My gaze flicks to her wide eyes. “With it on me like this—”
She nods in understanding, though I don’t think she fully grasps how much strength it’s taking to not rip her clothes off and fuck her right here. And based on the way she’s responding to me? The arousal coming off her in waves? She’s just as into this as I am.
Finally, she slips the key into the lock on the gate and swings it open.
After lifting her bag, she steps through, so I grab mine and follow.
Magic blasts me, a potent repellent that nearly shoves me back outside the threshold even with her blood marking my cheek.
“It will feel better after a few minutes,” Rainey tells me.
Which is good fucking news since, right now, it feels as though my body is being ripped to pieces. “This is powerful magic,” I comment as she locks the gate behind us.
“Yes, my grandmother had powerful friends.” She continues walking, her tone letting me know she’s not quite interested in conversation at the moment, so I focus instead on not letting the contents of my stomach come back up.
Because shit, whatever power this is—it’s making me want to hurl.
Large trees line the gravel drive, and as we get closer, I can feel the magic waning. It rolls off me, water on a blade rather than my body soaking it up like a towel.
Rainey’s blood is affecting me more than I care to admit—as evidenced by my actions a few minutes ago. Even now, I can feel it weighing heavily on my skin, and I know that if I don’t get it washed off quickly, there’s no telling what will happen.
I can only hold myself back for so fucking long. “Do I have to keep your blood on me?”
“Not once we reach the house.”
We round a corner, and I stop in my tracks, dread churning in my gut. “What the fuck happened here?”
30
This is the first time I’ve seen the devastation left behind after the attack that killed my grandmother. The fuckers who attacked her broke in, killed her, then burned the place to the ground to keep any of us from recovering the old texts she kept in her library.
Charred brick juts up in places where tall walls once stood. The family home that housed generations of Astors for centuries is nothing but a crumbling pile of rubble. Trees overhang, years of being left alone has left the grounds in overgrowth with grass and shrubs overtaking most of what remains.
“What the hell happened here?” Elijah repeats.
I glance over at him. His hair is still mussed from my fingers, and my mouth tingles from our kiss. That reaction—I wasn’t prepared for it. “They burned it to the ground when they killed her,” I tell him dryly.
My sister showed me pictures from when she flew out here. I was still in the academy, so I hadn’t been able to leave. That, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. From what I’d remembered of my grandmother, we didn’t get along all that well.
She always regarded me with coolness, but I’d still loved coming here and being around all this history. I start walking again and move around the base of the house.
“Who did this?”
“A local vampire clan.”
“How did they get past the wards?”
“We believe that they sent humans in first.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.” But I don’t want to dwell on the past, it’s riddled with ghosts that still haunt me, and I worry if I pay them too much attention, they’re going to drag me down into the depths of hell. “It’s back here.”
“What is?”
I glance over my shoulder at him. “The entrance.”
Moving cautiously, I lead us around the back of the house and across what used to be my grandmother’s rose garden. The paths are overgrown now, so I move carefully, not wanting to spill any more of my blood.
Even if it’s a droplet from a thorn. After Elijah’s reaction—I’m not sure my clothes will last another round of that. What scares me more than that, though, is the way I answered his call. The way my body was ready for him. I would have let him take me right there against the gate had he not set me down.
And that’s dangerous.
The small garden shed comes into view, it’s once vivid walls now nothing but peeling chunks of faded grey paint. The door is unhinged, half hanging, so instead of bothering to try to open it, I grab the handle and rip it right off its hinges. Tossing it to the side, I steal another glance at Elijah.
Jaw set, eyes hard, I can see the struggle all over his face, but I can’t risk taking the blood off his cheek. Not until we’re safely inside the bunker. Until then, the magic wards could do incredible damage to him before he’s able to get safely off the property.
With a wave of my hand, I knock down the spider webs near the door and move inside. It’s musty and full of dirt and debris. As I turn in a slow circle, I can almost see my mother sitting on the stool, her dark hair up in a bun as she showed me how to properly transplant a small rose bush.
So many happy memories.
Destroyed by flames.
I reach the rusting metal cabinet in the corner and grip the side, pulling it off the wall. A set of stairs is revealed to me, but I know Elijah can’t see it.
That’s more of my grandmother’s spell work. Or rather, the spell work she paid handsomely for. My family comes from old money, but I haven’t touched a cent of it since I inherited all of it after Delaney died.
To me, it's money tainted by death. Stained with the blood of my family. I reach back and hold out a hand. Elijah eyes it with complete unease. “If you want to follow me down, you’re going to need to take my hand.”
A low growl escapes from his throat, but he links his fingers with mine. Warmth spreads up my arm and swirls in my belly as I swallow hard and begin the descent.
“Close the cabinet behind you,” I order and set my bag down on the step beside me so I can pull out my phone and turn on the flashlight.
A beam of light surrounds us, and Elijah squeaks the cabinet closed. Keeping my phone in the hand holding my bag, I lead us farther into the dark until finally, the stairs end. Setting my bag beside me, I turn around and grab the red-handled lever on the breaker box.
I flip it, and the lights above flicker on. Yellow light fills the tunnel ahead, so I turn off my light and start walking back down the hall. Elijah follows in silence, our echoing footsteps the only sound between us. Seconds later, the air vents flip on, and fresh oxygen saturates the tunnel.
Brick and mortar surround the two of us on all sides, this tunnel as old as the burnt house above. It was built at the same time and not included in any of the architectural plans, to shield it—and my family’s secrets—from prying eyes.
I open the door at the end of the hall, and we step into the study. Bookshelves span floor to ceiling on two of the four walls. The other hosts three doors, two bedrooms, and a bathroom, and behind me, on the same wall as the door we came in through, is the kitchen and dining room.
“Come here. Let’s get that blood off of you.” I toss my bag to the ground and walk into the bathroom. After flipping on the faucet, I let it run for just a few minutes before grabbing a napkin and dipping it in the water.
Elijah stands behind me, his body vibrating with whatever the hell my blood has done to him. Not sensing he’s got the strength to do it himself—I stretch up on my tiptoes and wipe his cheek. My blood comes off easily enough, so I move to the other side, wiping enough to ensure I’ve got all the crimson off his cheeks.
Then, I take the rag and shove it into the trash can, spinning the bag to seal it inside. I know it won’t fully cut off the scent for him, but I’m hoping it will dull it enough that he can get by.
Both hands on his chest, I shove him gently out into the living room. His entire body relaxes, and he breathes deeply.
I cross both arms. “Now that you’re less likely to kill me, how about you tell me what the hell that kiss was about?”
“I told you. Your blood.”
“I’ve bled plenty around vampires before. Hell, I’ve bled around you. And neither you nor they ever tried to bang me on the front lawn.”
His jaw tightens, and he glares at me. “I’ve never quite had that experience myself,” he replies tightly. “Though I will admit your blood does something to me, unlike any other. Having it smeared on my skin, it was a bit too much for me to handle.”
“So, what, you got a whiff of my blood, and all of a sudden it’s a trip to fuck-city?”
“You are different for me, Rainey. I don’t know why, and I don’t know how to fix it. You just are. The way I react to you—”
“I felt plenty of how you react to me. But if it truly was my blood, why were you able to care for me after the alley?”
“That was…different. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it had something to do with nearly losing you,” he snaps. Then, like the predator he is, he stalks toward me, and I instinctively take a step back. “You felt it too,” he says so low it’s nearly a purr. “Outside. I could sense it. Your arousal.”
“It’s been a while,” I snap back. “But even as I’d like to break my dry spell, there’s no way in hell I’m doing it with a vampire.” Even as the words leave my mouth, I hate them. And for pretty obvious reasons. He’s the sexiest man I’ve ever laid eyes on, and at this point? I’d love nothing more than to have at it right here, right now. Let him fuck me on the couch, the table, the floor. I honestly don’t even care.
Work off some of this frustration.
But for even more obvious reasons—I can’t. We can’t.
“Noted.”
But neither of us moves.
If I’m really honest with myself? It’s deeper than physical when I’m around Elijah. As if a part of me sees beyond the vampire to the man beneath. And that part of me? It wants him just as badly as my lungs crave their next brea
th.
“You can’t leave this bunker without my blood,” I warn him. “If you try, it will kill you.”
A muscle in his jaw ticks. “Understood.”
“I need to go call Jane.”
Elijah nods and lifts his bag. “Where am I staying?”
I point to the room directly ahead of us, and he turns away without another word. I head back up through the tunnel, climbing the stairs and emerging into the garden shed. With a deep breath, I pull out my phone and tap on her contact info.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Jane.”
“Where the hell are you? Did you have Skittles for breakfast again?”
Laughing, I shake my head even though she can’t see it. “No, I’m in Salem.”
“Salem?”
“Massachusetts. Since my captain put me on forced vacation, I figured why the hell not?”
“Wait a minute—forced vacation? What happened?”
Shit. I forgot to tell her. “There was an incident involving some men trying to throw me over the edge of a roof. She thinks someone’s trying to get to me.”
“What the hell, Rainey? Why didn’t you tell me? That’s some serious stuff!”
“I didn’t want to worry you.”
“So you take off to Massachusetts without saying goodbye? Terrible move.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m fine.”
“Are you alone?”
“No.”
“Oooh, that sounds a bit better.” Sensing the humor back in her voice, I can practically see her wiggling her perfectly shaped eyebrows.
I roll my eyes. “It’s not like that with him, Jane. We’re friends.”
“Sure you are. Listen, I’ve got customers, but you let me know when you want to give me the juicy details. And maybe don’t die.”
“Fine. But hey, I don’t have great service. I’m staying at my grandmother’s old house, and she lived in the middle of nowhere.”
“Okay. Check in with me every day?”
Blood Hunt Page 20