How I stole what I needed from lustful men was obviously a case-by-case scenario because this time was definitely different from the others.
My lips brushed against his in a slow, savoring way. As I brought my hands up so my fingers could slip along the fine-cropped hairs along the base of his neck, I willed myself to pull away from him enough to ask the question that would make this moment ten times better for me, but I was unable to follow through. His hands roamed my body until they restedon my hips. I could feel his desire pulsating against me in the form of his hot, heavy breath and throbbing member. Closing my eyes, I let the tantalizing sensation of sweet heat and his lustful aura dance across my lips.
One of his hands shifted from my hip, snaking upward along my side. The moment it rested under my right breast, I opened my eyes and forced my lips to part from his completely. Gripping his roaming hand in mine, I shoved him backward until he was pressed against the wall of the cramped bathroom. A seductive smile twisted the corners of my lips, and I regarded him with a look he would surely deem as hooded by lust. In reality it was pure hunger though. A slight chuckle rumbled from his chest. His aura—now a deep, dark red—moved around him freely as it danced to the melody of his need.
The words I needed to say rolled around on my tongue but never fell out. I needed to gather my thoughts before I said them. I needed to be sure I had in mind the changes I wanted him to make within himself once this moment was over. If not I would get carried away and lose sight of the goal I’d set for him.
His hands roamed my body. He leaned forward and skimmed his warm lips along the length of my neck. “You’re so damn beautiful.”
My stomach hardened at his words. Ugh, he was one of thoseguys. The type who would say an entire string of compliments to a woman to get exactly what he wanted from her in the moment.
I hated guys like him.
My lips formed into a small smirk because this was something I could change. Cradling the back of his head in my hands, I locked eyes with him. “Can I kiss you again?”
“Hell yes,” he uttered as he released himself from my grasp and nipped along the skin of my throat.
My heart pounded as a tingling sensation swept through me from the anticipation of what was to come next. Breathless, I pressed my lips to his once more.
The second I made contact it was as though an invisible floodgate had been opened and the energy I needed from him flowed into me. Allowing myself to become lost in the heady haze that came with savoring another’s energy, I continued to brush my lips against his in a fiery way while siphoning his life force into me. He didn’t seem to mind; none of them ever did.
My mouth filled with the spicy taste of sex as I continued to coax out the substance I needed from within him. That was all I would take, only what I needed. Regardless of how big of an asshat he was, he didn’t deserve to die. Forcing my eyes to remain locked on his aura, I searched for the telltale sign I was reaching the point of taking too much. No sooner had I finished the thought than the speckles of gray I’d been watching for appeared.
They peppered the dark red of his aura, dulling its beautiful color and dimming my excitement tenfold. This was when I should pull away, when I should release him from the mystical force that locked him to me.
But I couldn’t.
The sensation slipping through me was incredible. Gripping the back of his head, I forced his face to remain where it was as I crushed my lips against his with more vigor. Slipping my tongue past his parted lips, I tasted the depths of his soul. The spicy flavor that had filled my mouth seconds ago shifted into something sweet and light.
My eyes zeroed in on the specs of gray as they widened and spread throughout the vibrant beauty that was his deep red aura like a disease, claiming it for itself. I should stop, I really should. The problem was, I didn’t want to.
CHAPTER SIX
Images of Delvin, the first guy I ever fed off, crept from the depths of my mind. The way he had slumped, lifeless and unresponsive, onto the asphalt in front of me burned through my memory. I rocked back against my heels, releasing my hold on this guy as my heart constricted from the sudden recollection.
Just like that the spell was broken.
Mr. Blunt stood before me in a zombie-like trance. His face was devoid of any expression as the gray dots that had been eating away at the beauty of his aura paused in their growth. Pressing my lips together into a thin line I stared at him, taking in his dashingly handsome looks and wondering why all the sexy ones seemed to be the biggest assholes.
Changes. I needed to say the things about him I wanted changed from this moment forward.
If the moment of release was the worst, then this, the moment of refinement, was the best out of this whole deal.
“You need to be faithful to any woman you have the luxury of being in a relationship with.” I crossed my arms over my chest trying to decide if there was anything I could add. “Oh, and when you leave this room, you should probably grovel at your girlfriend’s feet for her forgiveness. Literally.”
Pressing my fingertips to my swollen lips I kissed them before reaching out to touch them against his, as though this was what I had to do in order to seal the deal. I moved to look in the mirror above the pedestal sink. After taking in a few deep breaths, I ran my fingers through my hair in an effort to smooth out my tousled strands. Smugness centered itself in my chest as I stared at my reflection. My honey-brown eyes lightened and brimmed with amusement as I came to the realization I’d just molded one more male asshat into something better.
This was a victory.
Without glancing over my shoulder at Mr. Blunt, I exited the bathroom. After closing the door behind me, I started down the hallway. He would be in there for a while. I hadn’t taken enough from him that he would be standing in the same position for hours, but I knew it would be at least a few minutes.
It happened every time.
It was as if their brains couldn’t compute the rate their energy had been depleted from them. Or maybe it was a recovery mode my curse seemed to leave them in, I couldn’t be sure. What I was positive of though was the length of time they stayed in the frozen zombie state depended on how much energy I took from them.
This guy had nothing to worry about, even though I’d taken more than I intended. He would be moving in fifteen to twenty minutes. Which meant in twenty minutes he would be groveling at his girlfriend’s feet, professing his undying love and begging for her forgiveness.
Whether she would take him back, I wasn’t sure. Hell, I couldn’t even be sure she was still sitting at their table after seeing him head into the back after me.
I paused at the end of the hall and glanced at their shared table. She was still there, eyeing her plate of food as though it was the most disgusting thing she had seen in weeks. Her shoulders had slouched forward, and from the way they shook every few seconds, I was positive she was crying.
The desire to say something to her rippled through me. I needed to explain myself, and I needed to do it before the arrogant tendencies of her boyfriend’s personality came through. Walking with purpose I didn’t pause until I reached her table. She glanced up at me, the blue of her eyes magnified by her tears, and frowned.
“What do you want?” Her words dripped with venom. “Here to gloat about how you just screwed my boyfriend’s brains out in the bathroom?”
Her words, while callous and filled with an intense level of hate, made me smile. It was possible I might have underestimated her upon first sight.
“We both know there wasn’t enough time for something like that to take place.” The words dropped from my lips with more bite than I normally would muster in a situation like this. I guess the effects from that asshole’s aura were coming on quick this time. “Unless your boyfriend is a one-minute-man, that is.”
I needed to dial back my attitude if I wanted her to listen to what I had to say. I inhaled and softened my features the best I could.
“Listen, I’m not going to
sugarcoat this. Sometimes the truth hurts.” I held her stare. “He followed me with the intentions of getting some. There is no denying that, but I’m sure this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, am I right?”
She appeared even more broken as the truth in my words tore at her already-fragile emotions. Then, she nodded. I waited for her to say something, to defend him like most women who chose to stay in a destructive relationship would, but she remained silent.
“You deserve to be treated better than that.” I pushed with my mind, wishing my powers of persuasion I used so easily on men worked on women as well. The attempt was in vain though; I knew it wouldn’t work. “What are you doing with someone like him?”
An irritated expression distorted her pretty features. “How is that any of your business?”
This girl had an edge I couldn’t help think needed to see the light of day more often. “Let me guess. You love him, right?”
The brashness that had emanated from her moments before died down as soon as the words left my lips. I knew then that was the issue; it was why she let him treat her the way he did, why all women like her stayed.
She loved him.
When would women realize that sometimes love just wasn’t enough?
“Yeah.” She nodded, but didn’t meet my stare. “I do. I love him. I also just found out I’m pregnant.”
My heart flitted in my chest. Generally I wasn’t a person who believed in fate or destiny, but in this situation I might make a small exception. My being here, and imputing those changes into her boyfriend’s mind, might have been the one thing this couple needed in order to provide their child with a decent set of parents.
This was how I was choosing to look at the entire situation anyway because it made me feel better.
“Things will work out.” I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Trust me. He loves you too.”
Her scoff made me smile. “Yeah.” She shifted to glare at me, shaking free of my hand. “That’s why he just followed you into the restroom. Who am I kidding? I can’t stay with him. I’m done. I have to be.” Her body trembled as she said the words. It was as though the hard realization of the situation had finally sunk in.
I chewed the inside of my cheek and watched as she searched through her purse. She pulled out a wallet and counted out some cash.
“I need to get out of here before he comes back.” She tossed the bills onto the table and then scooped them up just as quickly. “Wait. What the hell am I thinking? I’m not paying for this meal!”
If I didn’t say something to stop her, she would leave without ever allowing him to apologize for his dickhead ways.
“No. Don’t leave yet,” I insisted. “Just wait until he gets back, that way you can tell him all of this. Trust me, you’ll feel ten times better when you let him have it face to face and then storm out.”
Her eyes narrowed into little slits. “You know, you’re right. I’ve never told him off before. I’m not sure if it’s the hormones or what, but I like that idea.”
“Good.” I smiled. “Then stay and wait for him.”
Without staying another word, I went back to my table and sat, ready to enjoy the show. It wasn’t long after that her boyfriend exited the hallway and headed straight for her table. I watched as he dropped to his knees in front of her and blubbered like a baby about how much he loved her and how sorry he was for all of his actions. After a few minutes, I tossed some cash on my table, picked up the two crab rangoons left on my plate, and headed toward the exit with a smug smile stretched across my face.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Does this shirt make me look slutty?” Sage arched a perfectly plucked brow at me.
I paused in wiping the shot glass I’d been drying and eyed her, wondering if she wanted to know the truth. If not she was in for a rude awakening because that was all she was getting from me. The guy’s direct attitude from earlier still had its claws in me.
“Yup.” There wasn’t a single trace of hesitation in my voice when I uttered the word.
Sage’s signature red lips twisted at the corners, and she crinkled her nose. “Good. Maybe the new guy will like what he sees.”
“Who? That Ben guy?” There had to be some other new guy because there was no way Sage was hoping to gain Ben’s attention. Better yet, why was she even trying? The guy seemed to notice anything with breasts that walked past him.
While he was on the attractive side and there wasn’t anything truthfully wrong with him, he still wasn’t Sage’s typical guy. He was middle-aged and still thought he was in high school. One of those who had latched onto the early nineties hip-hop music era and never let go. The type you expected to refer to himself as Mac Daddy or something of equal cheesiness.
“Yeah.” Sage grabbed a rag and began wiping down the bar top.
“What could you possibly want with him?”
“Nothing really. He’s just my backup.”
I shifted my full attention to her. “Are you serious right now?”
Some might deem it as smart having someone you could feed off whenever the need hit within range while at work, I wasn’t one of them. I preferred to use guys I most likely would never see again. This would be another thing Sage and I didn’t agree on. She liked to feed from the same guy for a month or longer leading him to believe they were dating and madly in love, then she dropped them like a fly and moved on to someone else who had managed to catch her eye. After wiping his memory, of course. I sometimes wondered if this was always who she had been, or if somewhere along the line something similar had happened to her, and this was her way of taking revenge on every man she’d come in contact with since.
A little grin twisted her lips. “There’s something about him I like.”
“What? The fact he’s been stoned out of his mind every day that he’s worked here so far?”
Sage once told me when she fed off people who were under the influence of something, she could feel traces of it in her system a few hours after. It had reminded me of myself, and the effects I harbored after feeding. Maybe that was the sensation she hoped to feel, stoned. If that was the case she should just find some pot and smoke it. It would be less complicated, I was sure.
“I know, but I think it’s sort of refreshing. He’s so passionate about music that he’s willing to poison his body to enjoy it that much more. It’s pure dedication really.”
I shook my head. What the hell was she thinking? How had what she’d said made any sense to her? Didn’t she see how off her reasoning was?
“Okay.” I raised my eyebrows to my hairline. “I’m going to chalk this incredibly weird conversation up to you going through one of your mini crisis things and leave it at that.”
Sage had been known to go through strange phases from time to time when it came to her feeding habits. I often related it to the way a person gets sick of cooking the same ten dinner meals each week for months at a time. How, eventually, they decide to branch out and try something new—like frog legs or squid.
This thing with Ben was another weird food phase for her. Either that, or the old saying of opposites attract was actually true.
“Maybe, maybe not.” Sage shrugged.
I grabbed the last shot glass from the dishwasher and began drying it off. A new song thumped through the speakers and the lights dimmed, letting us know there was only twenty minutes before the doors opened.
The same fluttery sensation that I felt every night at this moment spread through my stomach. Landon, the club owner, would be making his rounds, checking to be sure that everything was in working order before giving the signal to open the doors. I scanned the span of the main room, searching for him. Once I spotted him near Ben’s DJ booth, my heart kicked up speed.
Dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans and a pale yellow shirt, he looked good tonight. If I were normal Landon McGregor would be exactly what I would want—dirty blond hair, blue eyes, a slight tan, and a great build. He was sweet and not overly cocky, with a dow
n-to-earth vibe about him. I wasn’t normal though; this was what kept any feelings I had for him at bay.
It was safer that way. For both of us.
I tore my eyes away from him, knowing that the moment he completed the current section of his checklist he would be headed in my direction. It was best if I didn’t let him catch me gawking at him, if I continued letting him think I wasn’t interested in him.
Screwing my face into the most neutral expression I could muster, I continued puttering behind the bar, trying to appear busy.
“Hey, ladies, how is everything?” Landon’s voice caused my stomach to somersault. I had been so preoccupied with pretending to be busy that I hadn’t heard him walk up.
“We’re all good over here.” Sage answered before I could.
It was for the best. I didn’t handle talking to Landon well. Pretending to not desperately want him had a tendency to make me come off a tad bit bitchy when I spoke.
“You sure?” His question was directed my way. I didn’t have to be looking at him to know it either. I could feel his eyes on me.
His presence was strong, and his aura nearly sang to me each time I was around him. I could feel Landon from a mile away. Something about him was different from other guys. I knew this, but I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly. Sage had a theory he’d been fed from once before, either by a succubus or a vampire. She claimed once a human has been awakened to the supernatural like that they’re never the same again, regardless of how much mind shit you did to them.
I prayed she was wrong, not only because I liked the thought of Landon staying uncorrupted by this crazy world within a world I’d found myself trapped inside, but also because I couldn’t stand the thought of someone using him like that against his knowledge.
“Yeah, everything is good.” I locked eyes with him, and the almost electrical feeling that slipped through me each time I did coursed beneath my skin. His eyes were a deep gray-blue, a color that reminded me of the ocean after a storm. And like the churning waves of a choppy sea, they always sucked me in, captivating me completely.
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