by Lisa Sanchez
A nagging sensation festered in the back of my mind, eating away at the peace and serenity I felt. Something. There was something I was forgetting. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs to capacity and exhaled, enjoying the silence.
I opened my eyes. The corners of my lips turned up into a smile as I looked up at the bright midday sun shining down on me through the glass ceiling above. I lay perfectly still for a moment, my mind oddly blank, until suddenly, the events from the past day came barreling through my mind. Jessica’s house…the Chromandi…the poison…Xan…the sun.
“Oh, God!” I shouted and sat up. “The sun!” I was on my feet before I knew it. My back, which oddly enough was no longer in pain, came into contact with a smooth, hard surface. I spun around, finally able to take in my surroundings.
I stood in an empty solarium, my back flush against one of the cool panes of glass that made up the small, light-filled room. As I continued to look around, I saw the sunroom appeared to be situated in the center of the property, and was most likely meant to serve as a greenhouse of sorts or a place where the owner could enjoy the delights of the outdoors without actually leaving his/her home.
“What the — ” Strategically placed at various points around the outer perimeter of the room were what looked to be some sort of video surveillance devices. I didn’t have time to investigate further as the sound of labored breathing filled the small space.
I spun around on my heels to see Xan crouched on the opposite side of the room, his beautiful bronze skin, practically glowing in the sunlight. He kept his head down, between his knees, his hands clasped behind his neck. He breathed heavily, a low growling sound emanating from deep within his chest with each labored exhale. Covered in a thin sheen of sweat, his entire body shook. A sick feeling grew in the pit of my stomach. I’d seen him display the same symptoms just a day before. Things were about to go downhill fast.
I raised my arms, intent on blasting my way out of the glass room with my magic, but nothing happened. I stared down at my hands, momentarily shocked before narrowing my eyes, locking my jaw and giving it another go round.
“Don’t…bother,” Xan said through gritted teeth. His voice sounded strained, like he was on the edge of losing control, or in a great amount of pain. “The room’s been charmed. Once in, there’s no way out.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the nearest video camera, and then back at Xan who refused to lift his head to meet my eyes. “Shit,” I muttered under my breath. We’d been set up. Lucian had kidnapped Jessica and her mother, knowing full well I’d move Heaven and Earth to find them, and used his Chromandi goons to take me down while I searched, snatching Taylor in the process. It was obvious he was on to Xan as well, which was why we now found ourselves trapped in an indoor greenhouse. He’d dumped me in the solarium, knowing Xan would come for me, knowing he’d risk sun exposure to save me. Sick and twisted, Lucian was going to use Xan to take me out. The vampire who had watched over me for half my life, who had served as my protector would in the end be my destroyer.
“No,” I said, shaking my head as I paced back and forth, desperately trying to think of something, anything to do to get us out of the sun. “I don’t accept this! There has to be a way!” I took several steps toward Xan only to stop dead in my tracks as a horrific growl emanated from deep within his chest.
His head snapped up with a hiss, and his razor sharp fangs extended. The sound of his labored breathing filled the glass room as he glared at me through a pair of savage, yellow eyes. “Stay the fuck back!” His voice was raw, gravelly, animalistic, and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
My heart pounded as I took a step back, my body instinctively fleeing from the danger Xan posed to me. But my head and my heart refused to be afraid of him. He might have been a vampire on the verge of losing control, but he was mine, and I stood my ground refusing to flee.
“I’m not afraid of you,” I said as I moved toward him. “Let me — ”
I was hit with a blast of energy that sent me flying back against the far wall. I moved to get up only to find he was pinning me in place with the last bit of strength he had left.
“I said stay back!” He was panting rapidly, his chest heaving with each breath. “Please…carino. Listen. If there is any chance of us…getting out of here, I need you to…find Gabriel. He can…help.”
“Find Gabriel? How the hell am I supposed to do that? You’ve got me pinned to a wall which, as you pointed out a few minutes ago, is impervious to magic!”
Xan’s head shot back, his teeth gnashing together. With his eyes squeezed shut, he let out a loud, agonizing groan.
No! My chest ached as though someone had tried to rip my still beating heart from it. Xan was in pain, and I was helpless to do anything about it.
“Fuck! We’re running out of time,” he groaned.
Tears welled in my eyes as I watched him fight against his powerful bloodlust, the muscles in his neck and jaw straining as he fought to speak.
“Just listen…you need to project your subconscious self to him. Just…picture him in your head and focus. Imagine yourself floating up and out of your body. You can do it…you have to.”
You can do it…you have to. His words echoed in my ears over and over again. I held our fate in the palm of my hands. Somehow I needed to learn how to astral project, or we were done for. Any minute, Xan could lose his tenuous hold on his bloodlust and come at me, draining me dry. Or, he’d simply perish, leaving Lucian to finish me off.
I closed my eyes and pictured Gabriel in my head. There was a tightening in my chest, and I felt dizzy.
“Control…your breathing, carino. You’re…hyperventilating. Take slow, easy breaths. That’s…ahh fuck!” Slamming his fists onto the floor, a loud hiss escaped his lips as they peeled back, further exposing his long, snake-like fangs. He stared at me with those eerie, yellow eyes. “Hurry! My strength…it’s fading. I can’t hold on much longer.”
I swallowed hard and closed my eyes once again, doing everything I could to block out the sounds of his animal-like panting, and focused on the image of the only person left who could help us: Gabriel. Taking slow, easy breaths in through my nose and out my mouth, I pictured myself hovering, floating high above my body. The familiar electrical buzz I felt when teleporting sparked, radiating from the center of my body outward. I felt light, airy, almost like I was in a dream.
Looking down into the glass room as I floated further up, I saw myself pinned to the glass wall, my eyes closed in deep concentration. Continuing my journey upward, I saw Xan out of the corner of my eye and was pulled back into my body with a loud gasp. My eyes shot open to see Xan, lying supine on the cold floor, motionless.
“Xan!” I prepared to struggle against the magical hold he’d placed on me only to find it was no longer there. Xan’s strength had finally given out. He was dying.
I didn’t think. I just moved. I flew across the glass room like a rocket until I was kneeling over him, searching for any sign of life. “Xan!” My hands flew up to my mouth as I rocked back and forth on my knees — hot tears falling like rain down my cheeks. “Please…please hold on!”
I grabbed hold of his hand, lifting it up to my cheek as I continued to rock back and forth weeping. My voice was barely audible through the deluge of my tears. “Please, please, Xan. I need you. I…I love you.”
A low moan rose up from where he lay, and I looked down through blurry eyes to see his chest moving, a shallow rise and fall. He struggled to speak as a pair of warm, caramel eyes looked up at me.
“Mi amor. My love.” His voice was faint, weak, and I had to lean forward to hear him. “Don’t give up. Find Gabriel.”
“Sshhh,” I said, reaching out to caress his cheek. “Save your energy.” He was so still, so pale. The life almost completely drained from him.
“I’m sorry I…failed you, Ainsley.”
; I shook my head, gasping for air. “You didn’t fail me, Xan. Sshhh…please…”
“You must know. I’ve always…loved you. Watching over you has been…my honor.”
I watched in horror as he struggled to pull air into his lungs, his breaths coming in intermittent, slow, shallow pants.
“No!” I couldn’t watch him die. I wouldn’t. Xan was my heart, the very air I breathed. There was no way I was going to sit back and let him go without a fight. Xan needed blood, and I was going to feed him. I swept my hair off my neck and leaned over him. “Xan! Feed from me!”
“No.”
I grasped his face between my hands. “Stop trying to be the hero. You need to feed. You’re dying!”
“No. I won’t…feed from you. Won’t…hurt you.” He’d given me his vow just days before to never lose control with me again, and he was sticking to it. Even though it meant his certain death.
“Please.” I sobbed uncontrollably. “You can control yourself. I know you can. You won’t hurt me!”
Something inside me snapped when he turned his head away from me, stubbornly refusing what I offered freely, willingly. He’d given up. Not trusting himself to remain in control and not fighting for the feelings we shared for one another.
“Stop it!” Angry and desperate, I slapped him hard across the face, the echo of it reverberating off the glass walls of the greenhouse.
A pair of hungry yellow eyes met mine. I gasped. Oh, my. If pleading with him to feed wouldn’t work, then maybe triggering the animal in him would. I lowered my eyelids, took a deep breath and slapped him again. Hard.
Xan let out a loud hiss as his fangs glistened in the light. “Stop! You…don’t know what…you’re doing,” he said, panting heavier now. Adrenaline coursed through him, giving him the last bit of strength he needed to attack his prey.
“Yes…I….do.” I balled up my fist and hit him with everything I had, square in the jaw. The force of the blow sent a sharp, jarring pain, shooting up my arm. “Now bite,” I said, yanking back my hair to expose the bare column of my neck. My carotid pounded away, clearly visible to him with the rapid beating of my heart.
I didn’t see him move. One minute he was lying on the floor, the next he was on me. His razor sharp fangs sank deep into my throat, taking long, slow pulls of the one thing that would sustain his life: my blood.
Just as before, there was an explosion of heat and pleasure, and — oh, God. It was good. With each glorious pull, I came closer to the edge, ready to fall into a blissful oblivion. I moaned loudly, holding him to me as he continued to feed.
“Oh, God…Xan.” His mouth, his scent, the noises he made as he pulled my life-giving blood down his throat were all-consuming, and I wanted nothing more than for him to devour me body and soul.
He pulled back abruptly, his feral eyes meeting my own, a trail of deep red running down his chin. A wicked grin crossed his glorious face. “Time to get out of here.”
At the same moment, the glass wall opposite us shattered with a deafening clatter. Large shards of glass flew across the room at light speed. Shielding me with his body, Xan scooped me up into his strong, capable arms, and stood. He wheeled around to face Gabriel, who stood just outside the glass room with a large pick-axe in his hand and a murderous look on his face.
My eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets. “Oh, my God! How?” I turned, completely astonished, searching Xan’s face for an answer. “I wasn’t able to project myself. I couldn’t do it. How did he find us?”
“I summoned him while I fed from you.”
“You what? How is that — ”
“I’ll explain later, carino. We have to get out of the sun. Now.” He whisked me across the small room, stepping through the broken glass wall.
“Wait,” I cried out, flailing my arms like a mad woman. “Stop!” Cupping Xan’s cheek with my palm, I turned his face toward the nearby surveillance camera before holding out my free arm, extending my middle finger and flipping the camera the universal sign for “get fucked.”
“Game on,” I said into the camera before Xan and Gabriel poofed us to safety.
Chapter 16
Xan, who still held me in his arms, collapsed onto his knees with a loud groan before setting me down gently on the living-room floor of his apartment.
“Xan?” I shot up onto my knees to face him. His head hung low, almost resting on his chest as his entire body shook. Placing a hand on each cheek, I lifted his face to meet my gaze and drew in a sharp breath. “Your eyes…”
“He needs more blood.”
I turned my head and looked up to see Gabriel standing before us, austere and grim, holding several bags of A-positive. His eyebrows lowered in concern as he looked down at his weakened friend, his lips drawn into a thin line. Crouching down, he handed the liquid life to Xan, who immediately sank his fangs into the bag and drank.
Gabriel squeezed his shoulder. “There you go, my friend. Drink.” Gabriel stood from where he’d been kneeling. “Drink and regain your strength.” Mad-dogging me with a grim look, he gave a slight nod of the head before turning to leave.
Leaving Xan to his needs, I stood up and followed Gabriel over to where he stood near the front door. His dark eyes were hollow, almost lifeless as though he were a shell of his former self, less than what he once was. I couldn’t help but wonder what it was that haunted him. He was extraordinarily handsome, just like Xan, with his tan skin, dark hair, and emerald eyes, but I’d never seen him display any type of emotion save for when he was near Taylor. He seemed uncharacteristically protective of her, and I’d noticed a spark in his eyes as he’d watched over her.
“Thank you,” I said and stepped forward. I wrapped my arms around his waist as he stood unmoving, still. “Thank you for helping us. For helping him.” Dropping my arms, I stepped back, wiping a stray tear from my eye and looked up to meet his empty gaze. I reached out and rubbed his shoulder. “We’re going to get her back. We’re going to get all of them back. I won’t rest until we do.”
I watched the muscles in his jaw clench as he breathed deeply through his nose. There was a flash of something in his eyes, but it was gone before I could decipher it. “Go take care of your vampire. He needs you as much as you need him. Call me when you’re ready to kill Lucian.” He looked over toward Xan and back to me before flashing out of the room.
It only took a moment before I felt the familiar burn of Xan’s stare boring into the flesh of my back. The intensity of the sensation nearly stole my breath away as it tugged and pulled at me. I turned around and was spellbound, held captive by his gaze.
He stood, half-naked and bloodstained, like a deadly animal that’d just tasted the spoils of his kill. The yellow eyes were gone, replaced with warm, penetrating brown orbs that crept over me, easing me and filling me with a sense of safety and love. We both stood unmoving, lost in one another’s gaze for the briefest of moments before coming at each other hard.
“You came for me,” I said, breathless and enraptured by his thick, woodsy scent. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. I closed my eyes and gave myself over to the sensation of his smooth skin and taut muscles against my cheek and listened to the rapid beat of his heart as I held onto him for dear life.
“I’ll always come for you, mi amor. Tu eres mi vida. I live only for you, carino.” He tightened his arms around me and pressed his lips to the top of my head. His warm breath fanned over me like a blanket of comfort, and I never wanted him to let go.
I pulled back, watching my hands as they ghosted over the tan skin of his shoulders and down the rock hard expanse of his chiseled pecs. I fought to draw breath into my lungs, the air thick and heavy with desire. I’d come so close to losing him. I’d almost died myself. The thought of being separated from Xan for any length of time made my heart ache and my stomach turn. Entranced by the magnificence of his body, I ran my hands back
up over his shoulders until they finally came to rest against his thick biceps. Looking up into his eyes, I was lost — completely under his thrall, and unable to deny the feelings that had grown so quickly any longer.
I was in love with a vampire. I was in love with Xan. And no — it didn’t matter to me that we’d only just met. I didn’t care that we were under attack by a psychopath and the timing was all wrong. He was beautiful. He was strong. He was sexy as hell, and he’d been watching over me for half my life. Xan was my destiny. I’d learned early on that life was short, and I wasn’t about to risk losing him again. Not without showing him how I felt. Ready to cast away my innocence, I slid my hands down the length of his arms, grabbed hold of his hands, and lifted them up so that they rested on either side of my neck.
“Touch me.” My chest heaved, and my lungs fought to pull in air as his fingertips slowly traced down my neck and along the length of my collarbone. I trembled, an icy cool shiver shooting up the length of my spine from the almost maddening, delicious torture of his caress.
Xan’s lips turned up into a sinfully wicked smile, exposing his deadly fangs once again. “With pleasure.”
Pulling me to him roughly, he flashed us to his bedroom, atop the black, silk sheeting of his bed. “The things I want to do to you, cariño.” His voice was like hot, liquid sex pouring over every inch of my flesh, and I welcomed the burn. I craved it. “You just have no idea,” he whispered into my ear as he hovered over me.
Lifting my hand up to his face, I traced the contour of his bottom lip, my finger grazing over the tip of his fang as I looked up into his dark desire-filled eyes. “Show me.”
The look on his face as he bent down to brush his lips against my own was indescribable. His expression was raw, powerful and full of need. He looked as though he wanted to devour me — and I liked it. No, I loved it. I was completely desperate for him.
I whimpered as the soft whisper of Xan’s lips left mine and traveled down my jaw, ghosting over the column of my neck. The sensation of his mouth on my flesh was better than anything I could have imagined and — God — I wanted more. I wanted his mouth all over me.