by Dee Carney
“When are you going to tell me about yourself?” he asked. Curiosity raged through him, and so did another type of anger. He had to hear more about this woman and why she was in such a desperate place. And here he was being a jerk about it. A couple of million dollars was pocket change to him. Not the difference between sleeping in a bed or sleeping on a park bench.
“Tell me about you and those teeth first.”
The edges of Bast’s vision went white and then faded to black over the course of seconds. His entire being burned from the inside, deep in his belly, turning into a cauldron of heat. It was as if he’d swallowed a ball of fire that pulsed inside him, needing an escape route. It pushed at his flesh, tendrils of feelers racing through his veins. Panicked and desperate in its need for release.
Bast groaned in part fear, part pain. He could deal with the stabbing sensations, like little needlepoints covering every inch of his skin, searing each place they touched. And he could even deal with appearing weak in front of Alice, as much as that sucked. But it was the unknown, the realization he had no idea what this all meant, nor how to fix it—assuming it could be fixed—that practically paralyzed him.
“Yes,” he admitted at last. He’d pay the damned fine. Whatever it took.
Alice squinted at him. “Yes to what?”
“Goddamn it, yes, I’m a vampire.” Bast snarled, his face contorting. He lifted his lips over his teeth, giving her the best possible view. Even if she hadn’t wanted to see, he probably would have done it anyway. They were so fucking sensitive now, they too pulsed, sending rhythmic pounding into his head. “Now what are you going to do?”
He couldn’t admit he needed her. That he would burn alive without her. Bast didn’t know how and he didn’t know why, but for some reason, Alice was the solution to this current problem.
For two heartbeats, she did nothing. Still studying him, Alice took a deep breath. And then another...right before turning tail and hauling ass toward the exit.
Bast swore and took off after her. She’d just managed to get her hand on the knob, pulling the door toward her before he launched himself forward. His palm slammed into the metal, forcing the door shut again. It crashed closed, the resulting boom cutting through the air, shattering what had been a perfect silence.
He could smell her fear as he towered over her. She stood tense, her back to him. He didn’t want this. Not like this.
Bast gently stroked his hands over her arms, trying to regain what had been happening between them. His stomach tightened in agitation, his vision swimming. The crawling-pushing sensation at his back climbed into existence, spreading with alarming swiftness.
Just a little more time. Please.
“Swear you won’t hurt me,” she said meekly, breath whispering against the dark metal.
“I swear.”
She turned to face him, blue eyes round with apprehension. “How do I know that you mean it?”
He gritted his teeth, wincing as they punctured the inside of his mouth. Bast straightened his spine, wobbling as he kneeled on a single knee. He looked the human in the eyes as he placed a fist over his heart. “My lady, I do swear to you my everlasting allegiance. I swear that in every matter, your life remains before my own. I swear that I am yours in protection and in loyalty, no matter the circumstance. And I s-swear that you may receive this pledge with the utmost confidence, assured I would rather have my tongue cut from my mouth, my eyes blinded and my body burned ’til only ashes remain should I ever break it...I...I—”
The world wavered then went bluish-black.
Bast awoke to the sensation of soft lips caressing his own. He was lying flat on his back, arms by his sides. His eyelids fluttered, threatening to shut again, but he pushed them open wider with some effort. Damn it, had he passed out?
It took a moment for everything to come rushing back. To figure out why he inhaled the scent of soap and rain as tendrils of dark curls obscured a woman’s face from his view.
Alice.
This woman slipped her tongue between his lips with delicate precision, kissing him tentatively. Sensual nips. Exciting him to full arousal. Her hand cupped his chin, holding him in place as her mouth tasted him. He remained still, fearing if he moved, she would stop. As relaxed as his tense body could manage, Bast followed the progress of his illness melting away. It was such sweet relief, every inch slowly leaving him. As if she pulled the heat roasting him from the inside with her very kiss. He didn’t understand it, nor did it make any sense, but Bast reveled in the sensation. When he was well he would search for a reason for this easement, but for right now, he would enjoy its soothing comfort.
Alice squeaked when he could take no more and threaded his fingers into her hair. She attempted to pull away, but Bast held her in place. Enjoying the taste of her. The scent. His cock betrayed his excitement, swelling with prurient intent.
He’d spoken with truth when he pledged his loyalty to her. They were old words from a time in his past, but the sentiment behind the allegiance proclaimed today remained the same. He would not harm her, nor allow her to be harmed while in his presence.
He also wanted her more than he wanted his next heartbeat. “Why did you stay?”
“I don’t know,” she murmured. Alice managed to pull away just enough to speak, making him want her all the more. The way her lips brushed his made his balls tighten. “I guess I’m going to trust you.”
“I’ll never hurt you.” Nor would he take her blood without her willing permission again. The familiar gnawing in his belly signaled his hunger, but he would not succumb to it so easily.
Alice’s hand slid to her neck, covering the pulsing rhythm of her carotid. It was a subtle move, almost so casual he could believe she didn’t realize she’d done it. Her gaze snapped to his. “In the bathroom earlier...you—you had bitten me, right? That’s what I felt when I...when I...”
“When you climaxed, yes.” Bast released his grip, allowing her the freedom to flee, which he knew she must have desperately wanted. He sat up, another pang of hunger stabbing him in the belly. “I fed from you while making sure you wouldn’t know that I had. It’s how we’ve managed to stay alive as a species. If feeding was painful or traumatic, humans would hunt us down to the last one.”
“So it always feels that way?” she asked quietly.
“No.” He stifled the urge to wrap her hand in his. “But for you, I would have it no other way.”
“And you need that now, don’t you? To feed from me.”
Bast paused, unsure of what to tell her. How to tell her. “Normally, I can go days without feeding. What I took from you, while not a full meal, should keep me satisfied for a while. Normally. For some reason I don’t know about or understand, I am as starved as if I’d gone days without feeding.”
“Does that mean yes or no?”
“Yes,” he replied. “Yes, I need to feed from you. Or if not you, I must leave and find sustenance. I’m not sure how long I could go on without nourishment. When I told you earlier I don’t get sick, I meant it. This fever is completely foreign to me.”
Alice sat back on her haunches, watching him. There was no way to tell what kinds of thoughts were rushing through that brain of hers. Whether she was more afraid now than before. Whether she wanted to run straight for the front door and never return. Whether she was looking for a way to exterminate him now and rid the world of a would-be menace.
“Am I being naïve in trusting you?�
� she asked.
It didn’t matter whether the question was directed toward him or a general musing aloud. “You’re not. I gave you my word, and I will hold to it. But you can either decide you trust me or decide I’m not worthy of it. What you do now is totally up to you.” There were consequences to her knowledge and he’d undertaken a new responsibility, but it was a burden undertaken willingly.
Her hand lowered, moving away from hiding the area of her neck he coveted. Mouth watering, Bast waited for the permission he desperately needed.
There was a brief nod from Alice, a quick jerk of her chin, and he crawled cautiously toward her. Not intending to frighten, hopefully settling some of her apprehension instead.
Alice rose to her knees, facing him, and Bast heard the fluttering of her heartbeat. The way it raced. He wanted to rest his hand against her chest, to feel its frantic movement as he drank from her. But because this gift was so precious, he chose not to revel in it but to give her trust in him the respect it was due.
His gaze went to that beautiful pulse, the place where her flesh rose and fell in rapid succession. The place where he would kiss. “Just a little bit, princess,” he whispered. It was a promise.
She trembled as his arms wrapped around her, but Alice turned her face away, allowing him access. Her chest rose and fell during each shuddering breath, and his cock stirred at the feel of her breasts pressed against him. By the time he bit down, blood immediately flooding his mouth, he was rock hard.
Alice gasped, her hands tightening on his shoulders. A soft whimper escaped her mouth, the motion sending more of the sweet blood he’d been craving as he nursed the wound. The cry that came upon its heels was less surprised, however, and more seductive in nature. Bast pulled again, and Alice released a sound so innocent yet so carnal, he was at a loss as to whether to continue the pleasure she was feeling or to end it before he gave in to its lure.
She writhed in his arms, her pelvis brushing against his straining erection. The fervor in her movement, the way she dug her fingertips into his muscles, was not lost to him. Bast wanted to keep her there enthralled, in the place where she shuddered. He could scent her arousal and imagined their naked bodies coming together the next time he drank from her. And there would be a next time.
And maybe when that time came, he would be buried deep inside her cunt. Her slick walls grasping onto his cock every time he pushed inside of her and then withdrew. If this sensation of feeding from her—taking her life’s blood—was this passionate, this all-consuming now, it would only be that much more glorious when he took her as a man, not just as a vampire.
Alice cried out, and he glanced into her face to watch the way it twisted as she came again. From between closed lids, tears leaked and ran down the sides of her face. She looked as otherworldly as he felt in that moment. Beautiful and serene. When she went limp, becoming a dead weight, his wonder hastened into heart-rending concern.
“Alice?” Christ, he almost forgot to lick the wound closed. Heart kicking, Bast tended to the puncture wounds, studying her composure in the meanwhile. “Alice, are you with me?”
He could still hear her heartbeat, ticking a little too rapidly. She breathed easy, some of the bliss still set into her features. So, not dead. And while certain he hadn’t taken too much blood from her, apparently it had been more than her body could deal with.
Shit. He was an unthinking, unfeeling asshole. Hadn’t she said she lived a meager life, barely scraping by? If she was malnourished, which was most likely the case, feeding him twice in one night would have been a strain.
“Fuck,” he muttered. How long ago had it been that he vowed to protect her? Ten, maybe fifteen minutes ago.
Annoyed with himself, Bast hoisted her slight body into his arms, stood and then carried her toward the guest room. He toyed with the idea of removing her sweatpants but wrestled his libido into submission and decided to leave them on. Instead, he tucked her beneath the sheets, rolling back the comforter out of her way.
She was safe in his home—in one of his beds—where he could keep watch over her as the sun rose and the day lazily went by. His own eyelids were heavy, demanding sleep. His internal clock screamed at him to rest. Tonight had been trying, both physically and mentally. Time to refresh. The hunger had been sated.
As he partially draped his body over hers, he assured himself it was for the protection of both of them that he kept her so close.
Not because he wanted her to stay.
Chapter Eight
“If it breathes, it can bleed!” a human screamed. “If it can bleed, it can die!”
The lone steed dancing upon spindly legs, eyes wide with terror, paid little attention to its rider’s declaration. Glistening with sweat, its sides heaved as it darted between blazing bushes and trees dripping sparks and fire onto dried leaves below.
Aurak RithRagoth dove forward, dark wings folded back, streamlining a perfect body made for cutting through cross breezes, and ended up bypassing the horse and its quarry. Sparing them.
For the time being.
His clawed fingers hooked in, the rage of having witnessed the aftermath of destruction vibrating not just through his wings, but through the enormous bulk of muscle and sinew. It propelled him through the sky, urged him to take action. To give voice to the voiceless.
There had been voices, not so long ago. No more, though.
Quiet now. Destroyed without mercy or pity. Put to permanent night before a single sunrise had been glimpsed.
So many eggs smashed by the humans. Killed before they could grow fully into the powerful creatures they would be. How many hundreds? Their nests hunted systematically. Even the shells that hadn’t been brutally crushed had been cracked, their stone-hard casings displaying zig-zagging shadowed patterns.
Marbled fields of oceanic blues, honeycombed reds, kaleidoscope grays and the precious, rare blacks speckled with lethal spider web designs. All gone.
Their guardians had been lethargic in their duties. Complacent.
Danger hadn’t existed for their kind in so long. Not danger from other creatures with two legs, nor even four. Famine. Disease, maybe.
But now...
He blinked away the shimmering blur in his eyes, tears turning to ice as they dripped down scale-covered cheeks. So different from the curls of smoke drifting from his nostrils and the flames he called forth to set ablaze the frightened humans and their belongings.
For every one of his
decimated kind, he planned on taking one of the evolved monkeys in the most vicious balance of justice he could deliver.
Did the humans have any idea—any idea at all—what they’d done?
His kind was mostly elderly now. So old, they’d forgotten what it had been like when they’d ruled the skies. When they’d lived as savages, killing indiscriminately. Fighting each other over the tiniest bauble in the name of greed.
Even the adolescents, those just emerging into adulthood, were a few hundred years old. For such a long time there had been no viable births. The ones which had managed to live through incubation sometimes hatched deformed. Oftentimes simply too weak to survive.
He’d come to the humans to learn of their ways. Their success at survival. He’d wanted to offer them secrets. Treasures. Anything at all to assure that another generation of his race would arise.
“They will disappoint you,” his closest friend, Murh ThraxJhar, had cautioned. “Go beyond them. To the others.”
“The others? The ones who drink blood and shun the sun? Or the ones who bay at the moon, you’re considering perhaps. Or what of the ones who live in the trees, or the oceans?” Disbelief and disdain had bloomed within his blood. A droplet of fire fell from his mouth, thick and caustic. Even his words had felt bitter. “Breed with those...aberrations? Never.”