by Amie Gibbons
“Don’t tell me you can if you can’t.”
“I can.”
“Ryder.”
“I can, sir. I know I can. Because letting you two down scares me more than anything I might see inside a killer’s head or even makin’ myself sick.”
“I’m not that scary, Ryder.”
“Disappointin’ you is. Both of you. I’d face any fear not to disappoint you.”
“Ryder, how much have you had to drink?”
“Ummmmmm. Not sure.”
“That’s what I thought. Take a few more minutes. Make sure you’re okay. I’ll get you another drink.” He nodded at Quil. “Be careful, she talks when she’s like this.”
“She always talks,” Quil said.
I snorted and Grant walked away.
“I’ve never been a jealous man, sweets,” Quil said, makin’ me freeze with a mouthful of mashed potatoes and look at him. “I have even shared women in the past. But I will ask you, do I need to be prepared for that here?”
I swallowed hard.
“No. I have feelings, he doesn’t.” I shrugged. “I’m moving on.”
He stared into my eyes and I blushed.
“You’re adorable, you know that?” he asked.
I grinned. “I’ve been told.”
Grant was back a minute later with something that looked suspiciously like the Cumberland River drink.
“Ah, Dave’s here,” Quil said as Grant handed me the drink.
“Thanks, sir.”
“Pace yourself, Ryder. You’re no good to me sick.”
“Yes, sir.”
I sipped my drink as we went through the party rooms again, getting visions and chattin’ with Quil.
He told me he was born in sixteen twenty-eight in a small town just north of Rome, his parents died when he was a teen, and he was twenty-six when he was made.
He’d been married, but his wife and baby died in childbirth. He was the oldest, had three little sisters, and he took care of them until they married. He was a hunter, and after winning a competition in archery, he was celebrating with friends when he saw Jade.
His wife had been dead over five years, and he hadn’t touched another woman since. But she was exotic and exuded sexuality, like no woman he’d ever met. He was showing her how to shoot in the woods when she stripped. They’d had sex right there, and she turned him after. Which I already knew.
“So you loved her?” I asked.
“I did,” he said. “For about fifty years. After that, we stopped seeing each other like that and I just worked with her, then for her when she established this nest. Don’t worry, there haven’t been feelings there for a long time.” He leaned forward and slowly ran his hand past my knee to go under my skirt and up my thigh.
“Quil.” I giggled and slapped the hand, but it didn’t shirk back. “We’ve got people all around us.”
“Oh, well that would be bad, someone could see.” He slid his hand out and pulled me down the hall.
“Quil,” I said with a warning finger as he opened one of the doors to reveal a bedroom. “We’re working.”
Quil sighed and leaned his head against my shoulder. “I’m going to run to the bathroom and get some cold water on me. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Then his weight was off me like it’d never been there and it was my turn to sigh.
I went into the kitchen, grabbed some fruit, and chatted with Tom and a few other guys. They said they were ‘Len’s boys.’
No, I didn’t ask what that meant. I didn’t want to know.
Quil was back in a few minutes, and the guys went to dance.
“So what happened to your sisters?” I asked, popping a grape in my mouth.
“They all married and had kids,” he said.
“Well yeah, you said that, but you didn’t keep track?”
“After I became a vampire? No. They thought I was dead. If I popped up again, it would cause confusion. Do you know how many vampires have been killed because people who knew they were dead saw them walking around town? I had to leave home. And I have no idea what happened after that. We didn’t exactly have the internet and phones to stay in touch.”
As though on cue, his phone rang.
“Speaking of,” I said.
He pulled it out and made a face like someone just shoved a rotting skunk under his nose. “Now, what could he possibly want?”
He scowled at the phone, letting it ring as though debating whether to answer or not.
“Who?” I asked.
“King of Miami, pain in the ass if there ever was one. Oh no, he’s not like the queen, in fact, he loves humans. He’s one of the ones who have been pushing for vampires to come out for years. But he’s old, powerful, and… imagine the god Pan, and you’ll get a handle on Carvi. He wants to fuck everything that moves.”
I laughed.
He pinched his nose for a moment before answering. “Yes?”
I got a hint of a pleasant sounding voice.
“No, we don’t need you up here, honestly...” The voice cut him off and Quil rolled his eyes as it babbled on, I couldn’t hear much of anything beyond a stolen syllable here or there.
Quil covered the mouthpiece. “Sorry, sweets, I apparently need to take this.” He gave me a quick kiss, the guy was still jabberin’ on, (man, he could talk like me, and that’s saying something) and walked down the hall.
“Ooookay,” I said, wanderin’ onto the dance floor they’d made in the dining room by pushing the table to the side.
“That’s a horrible way to treat a lady,” Len said, grabbing my hand and spinning me around.
I laughed as we matched up in a waltz.
“What? Quil takin’ a call?” I asked.
“And leaving his lovely date all alone.”
“Ryder,” Grant said over the earbud, makin’ me jump, “stop dancing with Len, you need to get more of the new people.”
“Right, sorry, sir.”
“Earbud?” Len asked next to my ear.
I nodded as we broke off.
I looked around for people I hadn’t met yet, but it was impossible to remember. I slipped down the hall to grab Quil.
No Quil. Huh. Maybe he went upstairs for some quiet?
Flash.
“What’s wrong, sweets? Shouldn’t you be out with your people?” Quil leaned over a small form that was obviously me in the living room.
“Grant’s being a jerk. He said...he said...you know what, it doesn’t matter. I just need to get away.” I sounded really upset.
He wrapped his arms around me.
“Is there somewhere I can lay down for a minute?” I asked, voice cracking.
“Of course, sweets.” Quil held me close and walked upstairs with me.
“Ariana, you okay?” Grant was leaning in front of me when the vision left.
How did he get over to me so quickly?
“You were really out of it,” he said.
“I was?” I asked. “How long?”
“You were staring at the wall when I got here, maybe ten seconds ago.”
“No.” I shook my head. “That’s not possible. The only time they take over a second or two is if it’s a present time one.”
“So this was a present time one,” Grant said.
I shook my head again. “No, Quil was talking to me.”
He’d been talking to me!
Our eyes met and I got the dizzies as ice slipped through my belly and I slammed my hand to my mouth.
“I just saw them go upstairs!” I said.
I took off, Grant close behind.
We pushed across the crowded living room, Grant barkin’ at people to get outta the way.
I prayed we weren’t too late.
Chapter sixTEEN
It took too long to get across the room and I kicked off my heels and sprinted up the stairs so fast even Grant couldn’t keep up. I must’ve been breathin’ hard, my lungs and legs had to be burnin’.
Couldn’t feel anyt
hing through the fuzz though.
It’s already had Quil alone over a minute.
Any cop’ll tell you all it takes is a second. One second for the bad guy to take off with a kid, to kill you, to get you out of public to rape you.
One second.
I yanked open the first door. Bathroom.
“Grrrrr!”
Grant tapped my shoulder and put a finger to his lips, gun already out.
I drew mine and we hit the next room and the next. All empty. Guests were supposed to stay out of the upstairs.
I grabbed the next and twisted.
“Locked.”
Grant jerked his chin and I scrambled outta the way. He kicked the door open and burst in, me close behind.
The demon with my face had my vamp by the throat with a silver whip. He bucked and struggled, but the silver dug into his skin, obviously close to cuttin’ him as she pulled him across the carpet.
“Quil!” I yelled, running forward.
Whatush.
“Owwwww!” I fell to the ground as pain lanced through my arm and my vision went red.
Tears bleared my eyes as I lurched up, gun still in my other hand. I hadn’t noticed the other whip. I should’ve.
She grinned my grin as she pulled the wicked object back for another strike and I scrambled back, lookin’ down at my arm.
Couldn’t help it.
A shallow slash trailed down my arm, at least six inches. Blood oozed outta the thin cut and dripped down to the ground from my elbow.
Grant brought his gun up and I followed suit.
“Don’t do it, General,” she said in my voice, holding up the whip. “One little cut with this will kill him.”
“If you wanted to kill him, you wouldn’t have been trying to drag him away.”
She flinched. “Better dead than escaped.”
“He’s already dead,” Grant said.
With a smirk she (it?) flicked her wrist, and I choked as the second whip twirled around my neck.
I gagged as she yanked and fell to my knees.
“Your little girl isn’t, and I’ll kill her before you can even squeeze.”
Grant held stone still as I gasped and pulled at the evil, cold whip as she dragged me across the floor, the whip threatening to take off my head if I didn’t wiggle to go with it.
My vision darkened and I met Quil’s eyes before blacking out for a second.
I blinked back on.
I could breathe again!
I looked up just in time to see the demon pull back the whip and slash Quil across the leg. He must’ve gotten free while she was busy with me.
Grant double tapped her in the head, the shots shatterin’ my hearing, and probably everyone else’s too.
She screeched and clawed at the holes in her head, but orangey skin filled the holes as I pushed to my feet and lunged for my gun.
I grabbed it and shot her in the middle, flinchin’ at the noise and hittin’ her in the shoulder as Grant pulled a sawed-off shotgun out from under his jacket.
He pumped it and shot the demon straight in the face, blowing it away in a mass of noise and orange surprise.
My ears exploded, leaving only a ringin’.
And I thought our pistols were loud.
I risked a glance at Quil. His eyes were closed and he took breaths he didn’t need as he leaned against the wall, tryin’ to pull himself up.
“Stay down!” I yelled as Grant shot the demon in the middle, the noise so muffled the first shots had to have caused hearing damage.
Quil pushed against the wall and launched himself at the demon, taking her down and punchin’ her in the ball of wax somewhere around where the face had been.
“Your invitation is revoked, demon!” Tom’s voice yelled loud enough to clear my ears.
The demon screamed as she flew across the floor and through the window with a fantastic showering of glass shards.
Len and Tom ran in and fell next to Quil on the ground.
I ran to the window and raised my gun, ignorin’ the fire in my arm as the wound crackled.
I shot, and shot again, and again. I emptied my magazine into her and the ground.
She laughed.
It wasn’t any strange demon laugh, it was my laugh. The deep belly one I give when I hear or see something really funny.
Grant appeared next to me, with a… was that a grenade!
He pulled out the pin with his teeth and lobbed it at the demon. She shouted and zoomed away and the explosion took the tree outside.
I ran to Quil and fell next to his leg. The long gash wasn’t clotting like I expected and the skin took on a sickly silver sheen no human skin ever saw.
“Ariana, can you suck it out again?” Len asked. “We would, but it’s demon enchanted silver... even if we spit it out, it would burn us, and it would take too long. Even then, we’d try, but you’d be able to get it all out without problems.”
“Yeah,” I said as Len tore the rip in Quil’s pants bigger to see around the cut.
It was about four inches long. Shallow, but it didn’t matter.
“I can do it,” I said. “But I can’t with an audience.”
I slipped off the camera necklace and tossed it to Grant and he caught it one handed as I took out the earbud.
“Once you’re done, you know what will happen?” Len asked me.
I looked at Quil, who was watching me with pain filled eyes, sweat drippin’ into them, and nodded.
“We can’t help the reaction, and after how much you’ll have to get out, he’ll need blood too,” Len said.
I nodded again and Len and Tom walked out, but Grant stayed by me, starin’ with a complete poker face.
“Grant, if I don’t do this, he’ll die,” I said.
“I get that. You don’t need to be alone,” he said with a voice to match his face.
“Bullshit!” I yelled.
He didn’t even blink.
“You know why! Now leave or I swear I’ll do this in front of you.” My voice broke as tears slipped out.
Grant scowled and left, pullin’ the door closed behind him.
Without another word, I lowered my face to Quil’s leg and started sucking. I didn’t bother spiting any of it out. We’d already wasted enough time.
And I’d need the strength for when he needed to take it back. As his blood filled me, I sucked harder, the process takin’ longer this time since it wasn’t just a scratch and the silver had already had time to travel.
I sucked forever, waitin’ for Quil to tell me when it was all out.
Without warning, he pulled from my mouth with a moan and grabbed me, getting on top of me before I realized we got it all.
He kissed my bloody mouth hard, eyes red.
He growled and reached under me, tearing away my panties with one pull and bit down on my neck. It hurt! I could feel it as the fangs went straight into my jugular.
It hurt only a moment before pleasure rode through me and didn’t stop.
I barely felt him slip into me and I hung onto him and let him do the movin’ as he bent his body to take both of what he needed from me at once.
I held his head to my neck and whimpered as he moved. My toes curled and the world went dark as the pleasure of orgasm, teeth, and the certainty that we were both very much alive, okay, at least animated, took me.
Quil pulled his fangs out and licked my neck clean, but wasn’t close to done with me. He grinned, staring down into my eyes with those beautiful swirls of sea, and moved slower, more deliberately. He stroked my arms as he lowered them to the ground and pinned them, supporting his weight by his hands over my wrists.
Excitement shot through my blood as I moved with him, strugglin’ against his hold when I knew full well I couldn’t break it.
I moaned as I felt myself tighten around him and he moved faster, going deeper as small sounds tore through his throat. He thumped in harder, to the point of near pain, and my world went dark as I pressed up against him for all
I was worth, barely holding onto conscious thought enough to bite down on my lip and not scream.
I went limp with the release just in time to feel Quil clamp down on my wrists and come inside me.
He moaned into my neck and I trembled with the aftershocks as he pulled out.
The world was fuzzy again. How much did he take?
He stroked my hair and licked my neck again before going for my arm. I couldn’t move as he did his pants up, pulled a clean towel from the walk-in closet, cleaned my wound the best he could without water, and wrapped the whip slash.
“You’ll need to go to a hospital for this, I can’t heal it because of the silver,” he said in a husky whisper before lying next to me. “Thank you, sweets.”
“For sucking your blood, or letting you take mine, or for not yelling at you for screwing me like that while an army, including my team, is right outside the door?” I asked.
How was I gonna live this down with the guys?
“All.” He kissed me, his eyes alight with passion as he pulled back. “I don’t care what your boss says. You saved me. And that was amazing.”
“Oh no, it was, but… people are right out there.”
He leaned back and ran his hands over my left arm.
“What are you doing?” I asked, exhausted and yet not at the same time as my body went out of whack due to his blood and my blood loss conducting a mini-war inside me.
“Making sure she didn’t get you anywhere else,” he said, checking that arm, then the injured one more gently, then down to my stomach, then each leg, brushing with feather-light fingertips the whole way.
“You’re beautiful,” he said once he was done.
I bit back a laugh. “Flattery will get you nowhere. I’m too sore to even think about more sex.”
“Did I hurt you?” he asked.
“Just my neck. And that’ll be okay. That’s twice in one week I’ve had to suck silver out of you. How did you not die, I mean really die, before this?”
“Normally, people with silver aren’t too dangerous because we move so much faster than humans, and I haven’t had to deal with anyone sending a demon after me.” He paused. “I’ve been bled with silver seven times now. The first five I either got to a doctor who was able to pump it out, or had someone on hand to suck it out.”
“Why hasn’t your leg healed?”