“I’m back home,” Eric said. “How’d it go? You catch her?”
Everyone had returned to their homes safe and sound, including the soulless they’d hunted this night. “Yeah, listen, how was Karl when you left him?”
“He seemed fine. She didn’t have a chance to bite him. I guess she put him to sleep or something, and maybe sensed us, so we scared her off. It seemed kinda strange though. Did she put up much of a fight?”
None, but neither did he by letting her escape him. A fact sure to raise red flags. There would be questions among his hunters, like why didn’t he kill the soulless woman when he had the chance. Questions for which he had no real answers. Though, she hadn’t harmed Karl. “No, I didn’t kill her. She didn’t harm Karl.”
“Wow! I know what you’re saying but still.”
“No buts. She did nothing to Karl.” They had few rules among the hunters but only one could not be ignored. When he’d first become a hunter, there were no rules at all—only to kill any and all soulless creatures. Or any and all creatures suspected of being soulless. Back then, people feared if the soulless took blood but didn’t kill their victim, they stole the victim’s soul instead and those could become bloodsuckers too. Better to be safe than sorry. Because of the rise in soulless, the mindset was rising again, among some of the modern hunters.
“We do not harm innocents,” Samuel reminded both himself and Eric.
After what at least the history books recorded as the second coming of the Black Death in Europe, things changed. He changed.
“I know you’ve seen a lot in your time,” Eric said.
What an understatement. During his life, he’d seen countless men and women brutally murdered who were not soulless, who were really human. Their bodies burnt in mass graves. Entire villages destroyed, by humans.
It made Samuel think the soulless were not the only depraved ones, and despicable acts existed even among the human hunters. He feared some of the hunters enjoyed the business of killing a little too much. While he remained convinced the soulless ones needed eliminating, he’d stopped hunting them for a while until he could make more sense of his own abilities and how he really wanted to utilize them.
When Samuel had rejoined the hunt, he’d become a leader, but there were other groups out there. His group killed no one unless the soulless they encountered tried to kill or otherwise, harm a human, which they always did. But his people never killed humans, whether blood got taken or not.
The rest of Eric’s words caught his attention. “And I happen to agree,” Eric continued. “The woman didn’t take a bite out of Karl. A kill wasn’t justified.”
Samuel nodded his head even though Eric couldn’t see him. “Unfortunately, not all hunters feel the same way.”
“True, our group is probably the most discriminating when it comes to hunting soulless.”
“I know there is some unrest among the younger ones.”
Eric sighed heavily over the phone. “Give them time to come to understand.”
They destroyed the bloodsuckers they hunted because they usually witnessed or had evidence of an attempt to kill. Yet, in all of this time, other than his father, Samuel never met a soulless who didn’t take blood from a human with the intent to kill or cause harm by stirring up the human’s negative, destructive emotions.
“I’ve seen villages burned.” Samuel found himself pacing as he spoke while the memories flooded his mind. “Wars started by one of these beings, just so they could feed on the blood of hatred and fear born in the aftermath. These young ones only think they know.”
“Which is why you lead us, my friend. Now, go home get some rest.”
Samuel hung up the phone and took Eric’s advice. After he got home, he stripped down to nothing but skin before lying on top of his cotton sheets. His mind remained focused on all he’d learned. Before tonight, he thought his father was the only exception. He’d never heard of another who didn’t need blood to feed. And now…Thalya. If there were two, could there be others? His eyes closed and he allowed his conscious mind to shut down as his psyche drifted into the realm of sleep.
The scent of twilight enfolded him, teased at his senses. He woke to a warm soft body beside him. His arm automatically shifted to go around her slender waist and gather her closer to him. His shaft hardened to the point of pain with want for the woman in his arms. “Are you real?” he whispered to her, nuzzling at her throat.
“Does it really matter?” she replied, shifting her naked body and turning into his embrace. They stared at each other. He looked into her dark eyes but found nothing dead about them. They glowed with an inner light.
Neither said another word for fear this, whatever this was, would disappear.
Slowly, he placed his leg possessively over her bare ones and his arm curled tighter around her waist, trapping her to him. He took no chance for her to get away from him again. Not now, he had her where he wanted her.
She combed her fingers through his loose hair, fanning it out and over his shoulder.
He smiled, enjoying the feel of her curves against every part of him. Even his hair seemed energized from her touch. Raising his hand, he extended a single finger to trace the outline of her lips while his cock pulsed aggressively against her stomach. Leaning forward, pressing himself further into her flesh, he captured her lips with his mouth.
She opened for him, inhaling him in.
His tongue filled her waiting mouth. He’d never tasted anything more delicious in his life. More. He wanted, needed more and deepened the kiss. If she had a soul, he’d take it into himself for safekeeping. She swallowed the moan he groaned into her mouth. A tugging sensation in his chest had him freezing, like she sucked his soul right out of his body into her own.
A shiver of ice raced down his spine. A kiss beginning in paradise ended abruptly in fear. Remembering what she’d told him, horror filled his mind and he thrust her away from him.
She fed with a kiss.
Daylight had almost fled when Thalya’s consciousness returned to her. Naked, she lay on her back alone on her bed. Her hand reached up to touch the wetness leaking from her left eye and running down the side of her face. “A tear?”
She sat up. How does one with no soul cry?
Yet, a teardrop glistened on her fingertip. Then she remembered her dream of lying in Samuel’s arms, finding heaven in his kiss, only to have it suddenly wrenched away. The soulless did not dream. What the hell is happening to me?
She shook off the strangeness she couldn’t name and didn’t want to even try. It would get her nowhere. So, she refocused. Thalya got out of bed, not even bothering to look outside or check a clock to know the time. Always aware of the hour, she even knew the exact moment the few television shows she watched were on.
A plan formed for the evening, starting with a nice soak. Although the soulless didn’t need to bathe, she accepted the concept of showers and baths. Of pretending, she had the luxury of being able to feel relaxed. The illusion seemed to be something she needed in her life, and she had quite a few of those.
Afterward, she’d get ready to go see two shows on Broadway—she’d seen both before, many times, but with a different cast—then she would go hear one of the best lounge singers outside of Paris who favored depressing songs. She had no time for this other nonsense of dreams.
After her bath, wearing nothing more than her damp hair curling midway down her back, Thalya walked into her closet, the size of a studio apartment. In her mind’s eye, she pictured the outfit she’d wear for the evening and headed for the rear rack. Normally, she favored black, as the majority of the clothes in her closet could attest. But she had a thigh high gold knit dress she hadn’t worn yet. Perfect for the events. Before stepping into it, she sat at her dresser to powder and lotion herself. Again, not a necessity, just rituals she performed, and then put on a pair of gold strapless Manolo’s.
Grabbing a full-length black mink stole, Thalya headed out for an evening of pure visual and aud
io sensory stimulation. And, she’d be able to lap up the surface emotions of those around her. God have mercy on anyone stupid enough to even think about spilling anything on her fur ’cause she sure as hell wouldn’t.
Night had descended over Manhattan when Samuel rolled out of bed. He’d slept through the day. Nothing unusual. As a hybrid, he could go about by day, but he preferred the night. Still, he never slept this late. The sun had already settled below the horizon. He must have been more tired than he thought. Like a stuck video, the remnants of his dream kept replaying in his head. He could still taste Thalya on his lips and hungered for more.
Perhaps he should be afraid. The dream seemed real—too real. Maybe because he knew what it felt like to kiss her. No question, a risky business, but nothing had happened when they’d kissed earlier. And what a kiss. It rocked him to the depths of his soul. He would have wondered if it’d done the same for her but it couldn’t have. Unlike him, she had no soul to be rocked. Now, he needed to keep reminding himself of that.
Could this be her way of trying to take his? He didn’t know but would damn well find out, along with what drew him to her. To accomplish both, he’d have to find her again, which shouldn’t be too hard. He’d start at the park and see if he could backtrack her trail from there. Another of his talents, he was a tracker. The best.
A God did exist, and he took care of his helpers here on earth. Before Samuel entered the park, the wind shifted and he caught a familiar scent on the night air. He looked up, glancing across the street.
Thalya stepped out of the entrance of the building on the corner. The glow from the nearby lighting surrounded her entire frame. Her hair hung long and loose down her back.
Even from this distance, he could tell the full-length fur she wore was the real thing. Gorgeous. Dressed to impress, perhaps for a date. The heat of anger rising in his gut shocked him. It didn’t matter. Despite his shock, he couldn’t stop it. The thought of her meeting another man, human or otherwise, made him want to kill whomever she was meeting.
When she turned to walk away from him, he found himself following her. It might have been simpler to stop her and talk to her, but he didn’t bother to ask himself why he didn’t choose that option. Simply get the answers to his questions and move on with his life. Something kept him from doing so. Kept him far away from her. For now. Maybe he only wanted to see where she went at night.
She didn’t seem to be in any hurry. She walked in the direction of the theatre district, at a leisurely normal human pace.
After tailing her for a few blocks, she stopped in front of one of the theaters and went through the entrance. A few people stood in the ticket line so the show might not be sold out. He got in line and bought a ticket. He hadn’t been to the theater in years. Not since the great bard, Shakespeare, died. He did enjoy movies though. However, he didn’t have much time to watch them.
He entered the theatre moments before the show started. Opening up his senses, he scanned for her unique scent. His eyes traveled over the row of heads in front of him before he saw her, a few feet back from the stage. The two seats next to Thalya on either side were empty. Yet, all the other seats in her section were filled. She must have either bought those tickets as well or used persuasion to turn the owners away.
His seat put him toward the back, but using his own powers of persuasion, he convinced the usher otherwise. The overhead lights had darkened, so the only lights on were the low ones along the floor to guide you to your seat. He stopped at her aisle and moved past the four people sitting in her row before halting at the empty chair next to her.
She didn’t acknowledge him, though no way—even without tapping into her extra resources—she didn’t know he stood there. Her gaze remained fixated on the empty stage.
But he would not ignore her. He couldn’t.
Samuel continued to watch her and almost took off his leather jacket before sitting down. He barely managed to stop himself in time from such a stupid act. He wore his short sword sheathed and strapped across his back. He didn’t have on the jacket with the strap on the inside panel to hide the sword. This woman completely screwed up his focus. He sat down.
As soon as he settled, she took his hand. All without saying a word. Maybe she couldn’t completely ignore him either.
Her soft hand felt surprisingly warm in his, reminding him of her body in his dream. He didn’t know which surprised him most, the fact she took his hand or he kept it there. The curtain went up and the performance began. For the first forty-five minutes they didn’t speak. He became wrapped up in the drama playing out on stage, but as good as the actors and story were, nothing could make him forget he held her hand.
A very stupid and dangerous thing to do. But it felt so right. It warmed his soul.
Chapter Four
Thalya spotted him as soon as she’d set foot outside of her building and knew he followed her. She could have lost him at anytime, but like last night, she hadn’t wanted to do so. She wanted to spend more time with him.
Maybe too much.
The fact she’d wanted him to find her again scared her. Such an emotion should be impossible for her, so this could not be fear. Probably nothing more than a remnant of her stolen emotions from the night before. When her kind stole emotion, they sometimes echoed it.
A loner by nature, as most of her kind, but she could not deny a need for his company. It seemed the only understandable reason she could think of why she allowed him to sit next to her, why she held his hand and didn’t plan on letting it go. While she felt neither heat nor cold, the warmth of his life force pulsed from the points where they touched, seeping into her bones. An unfamiliar sensation but one she found herself in no rush to give up.
At intermission, the lights came on and people moved about. Since they sat in the center of the row, no one bothered to try to get past them. By some unspoken signal, their heads shifted to face each other.
The skip of her heartbeat acknowledged the beauty of the man beside her. Her painter friend would have loved to immortalize him on canvas. She could see him sitting bare-chested on top of a black charger, animal skins wrapped around his waist and a spear in his hand. A warrior lord of old. She blinked but the vision remained. Unfortunately, without the horse and fully clothed. Too bad.
“Hello again,” she said. “Thank you for coming.”
“I’m—I’m not sure why I did. Did you do something to me?” His forehead crinkled up in confusion as he admitted the information to her.
“Trust me, when I do something to you, you will most definitely know.”
“Is that a threat?” he asked but showed no fear.
“Consider it a promise. Here’s another one, when I do something to you, you will enjoy whatever it is.” The scent of his heat rolled off him in waves. She didn’t even have to glance down to see if an interesting bulge grew in his jeans. Aroused male filled her senses; he couldn’t hide it from her. Just like last night. No matter how much he tried to block his emotions, his lust leaked through.
They continued staring at each other, both using their powers in an attempt to read the other’s thoughts or in her case, also his emotions.
The tiny pinpricks to her scalp warned her of his attempt at piercing the outer layers of her psyche. She probed back. She only picked up his sense of arousal and attraction, so she returned the favor. Thalya let him read hers. Simply a matter of basic truth and simple biology. The lights dimmed and she leaned nearer, placing her hand on the side of his face and turning his head to her. She kissed him, briefly this time, but still a potent meeting of lips. When the lights went dark, she stopped touching her mouth to his.
“Are you feeding from me?” Samuel whispered.
“No.” Thalya transferred her attention to the stage. “I told you the emotion I feed on.”
“But you could feed on my lust?”
Good, he admitted it. She turned to look at him again. He wore his hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wanted to pull the band hold
ing it together out, so it would fall free. His hair should be untamed. Like the man. Instead, Thalya leaned toward him and placed her lips at the edge of his ear. “Do you want me to?”
Samuel didn’t say anything, just raised his head to stare at the stage. The lust in him spiked to the level of red heat.
It scorched her bare arm even through his leather material. She smiled briefly. She wouldn’t feed off his lust as consuming it would only kill it, the last thing she wanted to do. But she sure as hell wanted to get off on it before it disappeared.
A short time later and still holding hands, they walked out of the theatre.
The fine hairs at the nape of her neck tingled. She’d gotten careless. Danger. A threat lay in wait for them but in the crowd, she couldn’t sense whom it came from. She’d been too focused on Samuel before to notice they’d been followed earlier. When she tried to pull her hand out of Samuel’s, he held her fast.
“Is this some trick?” Thalya asked, rethinking her decision to trust him. “Have you betrayed me? Are you going to try to kill me after all?”
“What are you talking about?” he asked, his confusion genuine. “I mean you no harm. What’s wrong?”
“How can I believe you? You’re blocking me, and you hunt my kind,” she spoke softly but he heard her.
“If I was hunting you, I wouldn’t have sat with you…” His entire frame suddenly stilled. “Wait. Something is watching us. Come on, let’s go.”
Maybe he didn’t have someone else following her. She believed him.
People coming out of the theatres filled the sidewalk. They remained with the crowd. Whoever watched them would do nothing with so many people around. The one thing both hunters and soulless agreed on being secrecy. The general human population should not know of either’s existence. The hunters because such knowledge could cause mass hysteria and panic and subject them to laws not governing the supernatural. The others because humans would be more on guard.
Then someone screamed, “He’s got a knife!”
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