A Darker Crimson

by Carolyn Jewel

  “Very nice, Officer Donovan,” the vampire whispered. “Very, very nice.” She shuddered when his lips brushed the back of her neck. “No biting,” he murmured. “I promise you.”

  “I don’t think…”

  “Let’s not think. Either of us,” he said.

  She reached up and behind herself, touching his head. He adjusted to the change in her position. His hands slid down, underneath her breasts, and just held her. Such strong hands he had, and really, it was astonishing how warm she felt, how the heat followed where he touched, and even more so when he gently pinched her nipples. She about melted. And he was there to sop her up. The touch of his mind came gently, a touch edged with desire that drew her into the reactions of her own body and redoubled them into a heady mix. He was as caught up by whatever was happening to her, as taken over as she was. She didn’t have time to wonder why.

  He shifted his head, got his mouth near her ear. His tongue flicked out, wet her earlobe, and then he nipped. Not a bite. There was no blood drawn. She didn’t feel the warmth of breath on her, but it was okay. The thought of Korzha holding her like this emptied her of any other thought. This was what she wanted. She got her hand lower down, over his belly. He flexed his hips enough to allow her hand between them. Her fingers settled on his erection. It wasn’t possible to be close enough. She had to have him inside her.

  He whispered, “If you still want pleasure, if you need pleasure now, I can give you that. Let me give you that.”

  Jesus. What was she thinking? She leaned forward, sliding out of his grasp. His hands slipped around to her back, but he left his palm on her bare skin. Her desire wasn’t all gone. Whatever Lath had done to her, the demon wasn’t responsible for her physical state now. The truth was, she was attracted to Korzha. This freaking vampire. More than a little. Maybe a lot. And not just when she was under the influence of paranormal passion or because he was gorgeous. The thought that she was legitimately attracted to a vampire was scarier than anything that had happened with Lath. Korzha moved his hand along her back, fingertips tracing the bumps of her spine. She couldn’t. She couldn’t. Not with a vamp. Not of her own free will. Not on purpose. Oh, but couldn’t she with Korzha?

  Claudia hung her head and concentrated on putting her clothes to rights. “You broke my bra.” Her fingers shook. Rats. Oh, just rats. Her skin still tingled with his touch. She wasn’t small enough to even think of going without.

  “There’s nothing wrong with having sex, you know.” He sounded tense. “It is an enjoyable way to pass time.”

  She pulled her bra out from under her shirt and assessed the damage. Pass the time? “Yeah, well.”

  “You wanted me. Or are you going to deny what you felt? I made us both feel good, and you know it.”

  “I don’t have sex every time I feel the urge.” Why not with Korzha? Why not? It would be her choice.

  “Maybe you should,” he said.

  She glanced over her shoulder at him and then returned to rescuing her bra. “I don’t have sex with vampires, okay? Or werewolves.” She choked back tears. But, why not? Why not let Korzha hold her? “In fact, I hardly ever have sex at all.”

  Korzha stretched out, elbow on the ground, head on his hand, staring at her.

  On the third try, her fingers cooperated and tied a knot in the broken bra strap. A vampire. She’d let a vampire take her in his arms. “What kind of idiot throws herself at a vamp? Might as well offer you my throat now.”

  “Mm. Yes, you could.” He seemed torn between amusement and annoyance.

  She slid her bra under her clothes and managed to contort herself into it. She stood without his help, and he still stared at her. Hard. Her face heated. “Cut out that voodoo head stuff, would you?”

  “Voodoo head stuff?” During the day, Korzha’s hair had slipped loose from the scrunchie, and the effect was unfortunate, considering Claudia would rather be immune to his looks. “Dear-heart, what on earth are you talking about?”

  “You know what I mean. That stuff you do when you want someone to do something with you.”

  He stood up, rolling his eyes. “Do something? Did you think we were doing something?”

  “You had your hands up my shirt, you perv.”

  “And you had your hands on my cock.” He took a step toward her. “My hands were up your shirt, not down your pants.”

  “That’s—”

  Korzha sneered. “What you just felt was all natural, and you know it. Don’t cheat yourself or me by pretending it wasn’t. Or do I need to explain the birds and bees to you? I have a penis in fine working order, I assure you.”

  “Could you be a little cruder?”

  “Yes. But I won’t.” He continued to glare. “I apologize, Officer, for daring to lay a vampiric hand on you. But I won’t apologize for enjoying it. Nor for your enjoyment, either. Or for wanting to make love to beautiful woman, even if she is human.”

  She drew in a breath. Oh, jeez. She felt more rhinos in her chest. “I didn’t mean that,” she said.

  “Yes, you did. I know what was in your head just now. And I know what you were feeling when my vile unhuman hands were all over you.” He threw an arm in the air. “I felt you, what you felt. I assure you, the moment got away from us both. That’s it. Face it.”

  “Look, Korzha—”

  “You talk too damned much,” he said, turning back to the cave. “We need to get going.”

  “Fine,” she said to his back. “Let’s go.”

  He faced her again. “Donovan.” He wasn’t sneering anymore. He wore an oddly plaintive expression and, for some silly reason, that made her heart feel too big for her chest. “Is this necessary? All this protestation?”

  “No. You’re right. I know you’re right,” she said. “I am such a loser. My life just totally sucks.” She gave a half-sob. “I’ve screwed up every relationship I’ve ever had. All three of them.” Korzha held out his arms and she walked right into them.

  “Hush, dear-heart,” he said.

  “Let’s go.” But her words came out muffled by the lump in her throat. Something tickled her cheek and she wiped at it. Oh, great. Just great. Tears. And it was true, she was attracted to a vampire.

  “If you’d like, we can go.” But his voice went all soft, a mellow invitation to take up where they’d left off.

  “No,” she said. “I’d probably screw that up, too. And then you’d hate me, and I don’t want that.” She looked at him, and her body tingled with the shivery wraith of his touch, as if he still stroked her. And he knew it.

  “But, it would be nice for a while, yes? Very nice.” They stared at each other. She understood, at last, what he seemed to already knew. They were going to end up having sex. If Lath did that to her even once more, she’d be all over Korzha. That freaky mind thing pulled him in too, and it wasn’t his fault he was affected. They both were. It intensified feelings they had for each other anyway. What’s more, he knew she understood, finally.

  “Oh, yes,” he said, lengthening his vowels. “Let’s. Let’s be lovers while we can. For as long as it lasts.” He seemed pleased.

  “Look,” she said. “Look, um, let’s just cross that bridge when we get there.”

  His eyes gleamed. “Here is the chasm. Right in front of us.” He smiled, the expression mirroring the softness in his voice. “I would adore taking you to bed. With or without the biting.” Even more softly, he said, “Biting or not? Which do you prefer?”

  She said, “Go to hell.” But she didn’t mean it, and he knew that too.

  He grinned. “We’re already there.”

  “Can’t we just get out of here?”

  With a shrug, he said, “Let’s do that, too.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Korzha recited all the curses he knew. He started in Romany then Romanian and Hungarian, then threw in High German and Middle English, moved on to Russian and Latin, and progressed through the Romance languages: French, Italian, Spanish. Then he visited a few of the Gal
lic ones he’d picked up and ended with English. None of it did any good. Even the old favorites diverted him for only a moment. He cursed himself, he cursed Orcus, he cursed demons. He cursed Jaise and Aslet and Lath and all the Bak-Faru. He didn’t curse Donovan, because that only made things worse for him. Too many of the curses had a sexual element. He was frustrated enough without being reminded.

  They’d been traveling for centuries, though in reality only about four hours had passed, when Donovan called a break. He’d have loved to take to the sky just to speed things up, except every half hour or so, he felt or heard distant demons on the wing. There were patrolling.

  It was going on thirty hours since he’d last fed. He didn’t feel a dire hunger yet, but hours of closeness to a human hadn’t kept his mind off his need. Unfortunately, they continued doubled-up on the horse. She wasn’t a horsewoman and probably never would be, but even so, more than once he’d been tempted to risk flying just to end his torture. But then he’d catch the shadowed darkness of demons overhead, searching.

  The enforced contact put all manner of temptations not just within reach but in his grasp, if not directly in contact with him. It’d be better for them both, he thought, if for ten or twenty or thirty minutes they could just let their bodies do the communicating. Maybe even better for her, too. They could work out a little mutual aggression, explore the frustration and get it over with. He wished he didn’t want to protect her, too. That kind of involvement with a human never came to a good end. For the human.

  All things considered, a few minutes of respite between them seemed a splendid idea.

  He directed the horse toward an outcropping of black rock and dismounted. “We haven’t much time,” he said, striding away from her. She slid down, stomach scraping the horse’s back, hands clinging until her feet hit the ground. She backed away and stared at the horse. Korzha faced her, admiring her behind and feeling like a jerk for his sullen behavior. She must be sore, he thought, and too proud to say so. He put his hands on his hips trying to decide if he was irritated or felt sorry for her. She turned around.

  “Unlike you,” she said, looking him up and down. “I need bathroom breaks.”

  “One of the many limitations of humanity.” He gave her an amused grin, and was appalled to find himself considering, seriously considering, what he would do about her. He was thinking about the future, but more disturbing was that he was actually thinking of a future that included her.

  “Oh, yeah?” she said in that tough-girl voice that seemed to make his heart melt every time he heard it. She took a hobbling step away from the horse. “You’re just jealous.”

  He wouldn’t make her, not now that her deal with Jaise was off. All the same, his body reacted to the idea even though nobody knew better than him the risks of a vampire going rogue. God knows he wouldn’t mind having sex with her. Not at all. He watched her. Who was he kidding? He was dying to make love to her. It was all he could think of lately. Such a lovely body, athletic, sleekly muscled. And the mental connection that came with having bitten her once already would make sex all the more delicious. He did his best to shut off his feelings for her, but it didn’t do any good. He still wanted her.

  She passed him, and he refused to look at her; though, damn, he could feel her. Nose in the air, she headed for what her human senses would consider far enough away to be private. It was unlikely she’d go far enough for him not to know what she was doing. He pulled the pack with most of their things off the horse and whispered to the animal. Don’t go far. Rest. He knew it would do as he commanded.

  Donovan marched around the side of a boulder to take care of her business. He knew exactly when she heaped dirt over the hole she dug. He leaned against the other side of the boulder and opened his senses. She rummaged in her satchel and took out her water. Soon after that, he smelled the scent of baked grain. She’d taken out one of the packets of bread. To be fair, and all things considered, excluding what had happened at the cave, they got along well. For a vampire-hating cop, she wasn’t bad. Besides, here in Orcus, she was a desperate mother. He could do little but admire her resolve, grieve for her anguish and wish she’d go to bed with him. Wouldn’t that be nice?

  His thoughts drifted back to sex and, specifically, sex with Donovan. Current circumstances favored him. They were stuck together for at least the time it took them to circle around the city, with no privacy from each other. He’d not spent this much time in the company of a single human in more years than he cared to count. They might have tacitly agreed not to talk about what happened during their earlier encounter, but he couldn’t stop thinking about his hands on her and the desire that radiated from her and into him. He could feel her now; firm breasts, soft skin, the feel of her nipples coming to a peak under his palms, the rush of blood to his cock, the human scent of her, blood scent, heartbeat, pulse. He really, really wanted to fuck her.

  On the other side of the boulder, he heard her whisper, “Go to hell, Tiberiu Korzha.”

  As long as she went with him, he was amenable.

  A strange animal yowl split the air, a distant coughing. Aside from bats, it was the first indication he’d heard of wildlife. With the back of his head leaning against the boulder, he watched the moon and stars and let sight take him back to the centuries before electric lights had obscured the night sky. The yowls continued, closer now. He blocked out the sound, closing his eyes and imagining looking into Donovan’s dark brown eyes as he entered her, feeling that lovely slide into female warmth and damp. Heaven. She had eyes to drown in, he thought. They could have sex without biting. Although, sharing blood would be nice. So very nice.

  The yowl sounded even closer. He heard another dry, animal cough, but from above him this time. How had something gotten above him without his hearing? He heard steps on the huge boulder behind him. He opened his eyes.

  Pad, pad. Pad, pad. Those were not the steps of a bipedal creature. He tracked the sound without moving. It was heading away from him. Toward Donovan with her human warmth and smell. Then he heard another sound and a chill went through him. There were two of them, cunning predators who’d gotten upwind. Dread turned to ashes in his mouth as he launched himself into action.

  Around the boulder, in front of him, lit by the moonlight and facing Donovan head-on, stood a version of the ‘dog’ he’d lulled to sleep before they left Biirkma. This one’s eyes glittered and its mouth drew back, exposing a set of razor sharp teeth. Its broad ears rotated. Unlike the domesticated one, he couldn’t reach its mind. The creature was feral, too intent on hunger and hunting. Donovan stood, her satchel at her feet. She had her knife in her hand.

  Overhead, a pebble skittered. The first one’s. The thing in front of Donovan snarled and took a step toward her. Its glowing red eyes glanced upward. There were two, this one in front, and the one behind and above on the boulder. Teeth like that, long and sharp, teeth like Korzha’s own, were for killing. The creature on high shifted, adjusting to the other’s movement. Warm-blooded creatures. Donovan balanced herself, as yet unaware of her dual danger.

  “Above and behind, Donovan,” Korzha said in a low voice. She twitched in acknowledgment of his warning, but he was too late. Too late.

  The creature facing her went belly-down, a low growl rolling from its open mouth. Its claws scrabbled on the rock. The second beast crouched. The one on the ground leapt. All Korzha saw before the one above descended too was very sharp teeth. He threw himself forward as Donovan’s knife flashed. The second creature landed a hairsbreadth from him. It was larger than the one Donovan knifed, broader through the chest and much heavier.

  Korzha roared, a sound calculated to frighten. Both animals started, and that provided critical seconds. Donovan’s knife glinted in the moonlight then disappeared into the female’s body again. For a human she was fast, and she’d judged her blows exquisitely, her expression intent and grimly focused. She looked like a woman who’d fought for her life more than once. She could take care of herself.

 
; Korzha’s inattention to his own situation cost him, because the male now faced him, hackles raised. The male was faster than he expected. Stronger, too. It jumped at him. If he went up, ducked or dodged, the thing would have a clear line to Donovan. He stayed where he was. The male hit him hard enough to knock him off his feet. Its heavy jaws closed on Korzha’s upper arm, teeth rending. Pain exploded everywhere. He rolled, and got a hand in the creature’s jaws to prise his arm free. With another roar, he got the thing’s head back, exposing its throat. He caught blood scent, warm and liquid. His own.

  The female took another blow from Donovan, a kick in an attempt to keep it from lunging at him. Donovan had injured it badly. White-faced in the darkness, she tightened her fingers around the hilt of her knife and hurled herself after the beast who was trying to protect its mate. Two females protecting their males, Korzha fancied. That’s how he’d like it to be. If only she were like him. He howled, and felt his sinews stretch with the effort of keeping his grip on the male.

  Donovan dove, straddled the female, grabbed it under the muzzle and slit its throat. Life spilled out in a gush of blood. The female flailed once and went limp. Chest heaving, eyes wide, Claudia stared at Korzha.

  “Kill it. Break its neck.” Dirt smeared her face, and her sleeve was torn.

  “Not yet.” His mouth thinned. Already his injuries were sapping his strength. “Turn your back,” he ordered. He didn’t want her to see this.

  “Are you crazy?”

  “This thing now or you later. You decide.” His lips drew back in a snarl, exposing his fangs. He strained to pull the creature’s head upward. His injured arm was numb. “Turn your back. Please.”

  She hesitated a moment longer, then faced away. “What if there are more of those things?” She ripped off her sleeve.