by Cate Corvin
A face flashed into my mind, cold green eyes, a stern face chiseled from stone. A man who treated people like objects he owned.
Oh yes, I could picture it all too well.
“My father killed her.” Will’s eyes had gone a light shade, like chips of ocean ice.
“Oh, Will.” The sickness was a venom coursing through me. Percival had murdered Michèle. Even without concrete proof in front of me, I believed it. My poor stepbrother, bearing that knowledge alone for weeks... “I’m so sorry. And… fuck. My mom is there now.”
The tiniest wince crossed his face, and I loosened my grip on his hands. I’d been that close to pulverizing his bones.
“It’s not your mother he wants, Tori,” Will said. A deep tiredness had crawled into his voice. “It’s you. It’s always been you.”
Two
Tori
“We have to get her, Will!”
He put all his weight on my legs, pinning me to the counter before I could jump down. “Now why do you think I made you promise to stay put?”
Maybe my strength matched his now, but having Will wedged between my legs with his hands gripping my waist put me in a vulnerable spot. Mostly I didn’t want to shove him hard enough to hurt him.
“If you think I’m going to let Mom keep living with a demon-dealing murderer, you’ve got another thing coming, Will Godalming!” I wriggled forward to slide off the counter, but his hands left my waist and caught my wrists, pinning them back to the wall.
“I’m not suggesting you leave her, Tori. I’m saying let me handle it.”
I stopped my mad wriggle and glared at him, but he just stared back evenly. “You can’t go near the manor,” he said, not ungently. “I don’t know what he’ll do when he finds out you’ve been Made, but it won’t be pretty. He’ll probably kill you. He might even hurt Connie as punishment.”
A quiver rippled through me. “I can’t leave her there, Will,” I whispered. Was this why the psychopath kept her locked down so tightly? Some demonic rituals took a serious amount of work- purifying the body, flagellation, pushing the physical shell to its extreme limits.
Will was right. Once the obvious piece came into play, it all made a sick sort of sense. Every hour Mom remained with her husband, she was in danger.
“Of course not. I wanted to tell you before I went back home.” Will leaned his forehead against mine, and the thirst came roaring back to life even through my distress. His lips were only inches from mine. “I’m dropping out of Libra and I’m going to get her.”
Iron determination filled his eyes. He was a far cry from the spoiled Will he’d been mere months ago. “You can’t leave me here. She’s my mom. I need to be the one to help her.”
“Not at the risk of your life. He didn’t choose you and Connie by accident, Tori. It was premeditated, I’m sure of it. I don’t want you going anywhere near him.”
“How can you be sure?” I demanded. “You discovered this three weeks ago!”
But I stopped struggling against him, letting the weight of his body pin me in place. “You’re the one who digs into demonology, Tori. What does a proper sacrifice look like when a man wants wealth and power through infernal means?”
I exhaled through my nose, closing my eyes. Damn it all. “A child, or a woman.” They were the usual sacrifices. Demons were always hungry for the purity of a child’s soul, but women were just as popular with certain infernal courts.
“He got two for the price of one with the both of you.”
I thought back to last year’s fateful summer. Mom had gone to a slayer bastion to visit a Mater Dolorum, a healer who could reach inside her skull and soothe the hurts of losing her son and husband. She’d come home with a phone number scribbled on linen paper, a date set with a man who’d also lost his wife to mysterious, demonic circumstances. A man who’d been fully prepared to accommodate an daughter without a second thought.
Had he been searching the bastions for someone just like her? A person who was so broken down they’d think nothing of putting their life in his hands.
That sounded exactly like something Percival Godalming would do.
“If you drop out of Libra, you lose everything, Will. There’s no coming back for you. And if by some miracle you do get Mom to safety and Percival finds out it was you…”
Well, there’d be one less Godalming that day.
Oddly, the thought made my stomach twist in a painful knot, even though I’d considered killing Will myself more than once.
A tiny smile quirked Will’s lips. “But you and Connie will be alive and well. What’s a diploma next to that?”
“It’s not a joke, Will,” I whispered. “It’s your life.”
He shrugged and stood up straight so we no longer leaned together. “My life, my free will. I want you to stay in Libra where you’re safe. Càel will protect you. I can’t bring Connie here, but I’ll take her as far as I can until I find her a safe house. She’ll be safer with me and Sura than anyone else.”
“Did… did Sura agree to this already?” I felt strangely numb. There was no mockery in Will’s face. He was truly going to drop out of school and defy his father to go on the lam with my mom and an incubus. “He knows?”
“Well, apparently he’s been feeling everything I feel for the last four years, so he pried it out of me pretty easily.” Will looked far more comfortable with that fact than I would’ve ever believed. “He already agreed to come with me, but I haven’t given him the finer details yet.”
I looked up at him. The rapid beat of his pulse had my mouth watering again, compounded by the heat of his body so close to mine. “Please let me come with you. She’s my mom. We’re better together than apart, and she’s going to fight you every step of the way if she doesn’t believe you.”
“Absolutely not.”
“You’re not my keeper,” I growled. Will scowled.
“I’m well aware of that, thanks. You can’t come. If two vampires show up with us, Father will know something’s going on. It’ll be much easier to get her out if everything seems normal.”
Time to change tack. “When are you leaving?” I wrapped my hand in the front of Will’s shirt, digging my fingers in so hard he’d never break free, and pulled him down several inches.
My fangs itched, dimpling my lower lip. It took every last drop of willpower to keep my eyes focused on his face instead of his throat. The bloodsong pounded steadily, luring me closer, reminding me of just how sweet and rich his blood would be flowing into me...
“Tomorrow.” He didn’t mind the closeness, his gaze dropping to my lips. I swallowed convulsively. “I wanted to tell you before I left. I’ll leave you a new number to contact me. No matter where we take Connie, you’ll know.”
Whatever the cause, I couldn’t stand the idea of Will and Sura leaving without me, least of all to take on the responsibility of caring for my mom. Will wasn’t just doing this for me, but because Mom needed help, and he was a good person under the layers of the bastard he’d been.
“Thank you.” I breathed the words and reached up to touch his face. He leaned into the touch, the faintest prickle of stubble grazing my palm.
It sucked hard to be left behind while someone else rescued my mom from that psycho. Bad enough to be stuck indoors like a caged animal, unable to help; it was even worse knowing I would have no say in where they brought Mom.
I’d be alone in Libra for real. With them gone, and Càel out doing our recon, anytime I left the tiny bedroom I’d be paired with a slayer who possibly hated me to act as my chaperone.
The impending loneliness weighed on me, but in the end, nothing else mattered so long as Mom was safe. I trusted Will to do right by her.
“There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Tori.” He was much too close now, the bloodsong humming in contentment. “I wish I’d figured it out the first time.”
There was a good chance I wouldn’t be seeing Will for a very, very long time. It could be weeks… months… years before
Thraustila forgot that his son had left his side for a slayer the king believed dead. I couldn’t just walk the streets openly.
And Will would never be able to come back to Libra once he left for good.
I pulled him into me, needing to hug him for what might be the last time for the next several months, putting every last drop of appreciation that he’d give up the final remnants of his life to save my mom into that hug, and a world of sympathy for what Will had lost- not just a normal life, but now he had the burden of knowing who was responsible for his mother’s death.
There wasn’t an ulterior motive to the embrace until my head tilted up to face him, and suddenly Will’s soft mouth was on mine. The bloodsong pulsed into overdrive, filling every cell with its hum as his tongue parted my lips and slipped inside.
I held back a sigh as Will explored my mouth and new fangs, careful not to cut himself on the razor-sharp points. He ran his hands up over my hips and snaked them around my waist, holding me in place.
There was nothing frantic or escapist in kissing Will, just a slow, steady exploration of a man I’d been sure I’d hate forever. My fangs barely grazed his lower lip, and when he drew back, misgiving pricked at me. Like me, Will had been raised to believe Shadowed Worlders were lesser than slayers. What if he thought my new form was disgusting?
I couldn’t even duck my head before he caught my mouth again, pushing me back against the wall. He kissed me harder, uncaring of the fangs filling my mouth, until the sharp edge caught his tongue.
The taste of sweetness and copper filled my mouth and the thirst came roaring back to life. Will smelled so alive; mouthwatering and masculine. I ran my tongue over the scratch on his, every muscle in my body locking up tight.
The scratch healed under my touch, and I dimly realized I’d locked my legs around Will’s hips, my fingers clawing through his hair.
“Don’t let go,” he said hoarsely when my grip loosened.
He wanted to be bitten?
“I’m not disgusting to you?” My voice came out much smaller than I’d meant it to, the high pitch betraying my nervousness.
Will shook his head. “How could you be disgusting to me?” He pushed forward, his hips grinding against me, and a thrill of heat moved through me. “Vampires drink blood to live. That’s all there is to it.”
“Yes, but… my teeth could take out your throat, Will. I’m a predator now.”
“And I don’t care. You’re alive and that’s all that matters. I don’t care what form you exist in, as long as you still exist. You could be a demon. You could’ve been bitten by moonspawn. You might be a vampire now, but the only thing that matters to me is that you’re here.”
My heart pounded unsteadily in my chest. I hadn’t planned on kissing him, but now that I’d thoroughly kicked that door down between us, a clenching fist of apprehension had taken hold of me. Until his tongue was in my mouth, it hadn’t occurred to me that he might be put off by my new teeth.
“Is it the fangs?” Will touched my mouth, tracing the edge of my lips. “If it’s the fangs, I can reassure you that there is no one braver, smarter, or more beautiful than you. The fangs are like... a sexy cherry on top.”
A sexy cherry? Oh, Will. “That’s so sappy!” Sure it was… but I wasn’t imagining the lightening of my heart.
“I’ll be as sappy as you want if it makes you feel better.” Will’s hand slid around to the back of my head. “It’s okay to have reservations about this, Tori. Becoming a vampire wasn’t exactly a gentle process for you. You don’t have to pretend like everything is perfectly okay when you still need to come to terms with what happened.”
I swallowed, my throat still roaring with fire. The rapid pulse in Will’s neck was like a neon beacon again. “I have come to terms with it.” My words were almost snarled, giving away my hunger. Why did he have to smell so good? “It’s everyone else who hasn’t, and I can’t even blame them.”
“You mean Connie.” There was no hiding my true fear from Will’s sharp eyes.
“Yeah. She already lost James to a demon. God knows what she’ll do when she finds out I’ve been turned.” I took a deep breath, tasting mint, cedar, and blood, and exhaled. Not even that deep gulp was enough to dispel the desire to drink, nor did it help that Will’s hips were still crushed between my legs.
“Same thing I did, Tori. Accept what you are and move on. As long as I have you-”
“As long as you have me?” God help me, but I didn’t like the shiver of approval that went down my spine; the bloodsong had a different idea, urging me to lean into him.
Will tipped my face upwards again, examining me intently. “As long as I have you, I don’t care what you are, and neither will your mother. The people who love you won’t care.”
My heartbeat stuttered. Oh, sweet Christ. Could Will possibly-?
“I hope she doesn’t,” I whispered.
Will leaned in, taunting me with his scent and lips and the powerful tension in his limbs. I licked my lips, everything burning inside. “She won’t.” His lips brushed mine as he spoke. A tremor went through his hands, and I raked my fingers through his hair and over his neck.
His pulse jumped under my fingertips.
I kissed him hard, my fangs piercing the flesh of his lip. Will drew in a short, sharp breath as I sucked, tasting several sweet droplets that were a tease to the forbidden main course.
Every fiber in my body lit up just from the taste, satisfaction coiling deep in my stomach as the primitive voice in the back of my mind spoke up and washed away everything else: bite him, taste him, feed.
Rational thought became a boring backdrop to the feel of Will in my arms and between my teeth. I didn’t hardly think at all as I scooted to the edge of the counter, wrapped myself around him as firmly as possible, and nibbled my way down his jaw.
Unlike feeding on Càel, who outmatched me in strength and had no problem holding me down while I drank, the new predator living in my head knew Will was meant to be my prey. There was something completely thrilling that he was at my mercy the closer my teeth drew to his neck.
His hands tightened on my hips and he let his head fall to the side. Every rasp of his breath was like music to my ears while my tongue grazed over the tendons standing out in his neck and found the tender little pulse of an artery between them.
I kissed the spot I intended to mark, burying my fingers in Will’s curls. He was hard as iron and throbbing against me, which just incited me to squeeze him between my legs tighter.
Deep inside, there was an instinctive part of my vampiric mind that knew biting his throat was tantamount to a public declaration. As Suraziel had said, vampires only bit the throats of the ones they loved.
Those thoughts slithered through my mind in a haze. All I really knew in that moment was that I had chosen Will as one of my own. No matter where we went in this world, we were irrevocably linked together by our actions against one another, both cruel and kind.
Will was mine. That possessive voice grew louder, clamoring for both his blood and fealty.
I let his pulse beat against my tongue, then wrapped my lips around the spot and sucked gently. The phantom taste of copper filled my mouth. Will drew another rasping breath, hitching on a groan, and leaned in with a shiver. His cock throbbed against me, teasing me despite the material between us.
I angled my jaw just right to make a set of flawless marks like the ones I’d given Càel.
My saliva numbed the sting when I bit down. Will’s sigh told me it hadn’t hurt, but the predator was howling in victory now, overshadowing all other cares. His blood was mine to take and no one else’s.
I drew a deep drink, the taste filling my mouth like wine. When I was a human, I couldn’t have fathomed the idea of blood tasting delicious.
Now, it was everything.
By the second draft, Will was coiled around me as firmly as I’d wrapped myself around him, like a creature with no beginning or end. One of his hands rose and ran through my hair,
and I didn’t stop until I felt his fingers twitch, then slacken.
I broke the suction on his throat, running my tongue over the marks until they healed and I’d lapped up every last streak of copper-red from his tawny skin. “Will? Did I take too much?”
My body was humming with energy as his blood flowed through me. How was I supposed to live on cold, tasteless donor blood when I knew a flavor like that existed in the world? It was like asking a slayer to live on dust and ashes: impossible.
I gripped his face, forcing him to look at me. He blinked hard, and his nostrils flared when he took a deep breath. Trepidation filled me. He’d just told me something that had upended his world, and I’d listened to the predator inside me and pressed my advantage to feed on him.
“More,” he said, and it was my turn to blink. “I want to feel you there again. I want the scars so deep they never fade.”
That was all I needed to hear for that primal, roaring voice to take over again. He kissed me hard, uncaring of the taste of blood in my mouth, and we descended into rushed kissing this time. I moved my way down to his neck and his fists tightened in my hair when I found that perfect spot.
My fangs parted his skin again, and just as the first delicious taste filled my mouth, the armory door crashed open. Light spilled in and illuminated the damning scene: a vampire wrapped around a slayer, my mark on his flesh, and Will’s complete submission to my needs.
Headmaster Burns’ lips thinned to a straight line. He pointed behind him, out at the training grounds. “Out.”
I swiftly ran my tongue over the marks as Will reluctantly released me. “Headmaster, sir, I was the one who-”
“I don’t want your excuses,” Burns said, not ungently. “The rules were quite clear.”
Shame twisted in my stomach, but my god, it was hard to feel guilty when feeding on Will had felt so right.
We stepped out of the dark intimacy of the armory into the neatly-clipped field. The lanky Headmaster looked down at both of us like the scarecrow of judgment. “Mister Godalming, return to your quarters. Miss Holmwood, pack your bags.”