Passion Unleashed d-3

by Larissa Ione

  Serena’s blood hit his tongue, the rich flavor making him both moan and flinch. The tang of death tainted the sweet spice. It poured down his throat in a cascade of warm silk, and he wished like hell that he was drinking from her in a frenzy of passion instead of draining her in the hopes that she’d come back to him.

  The flow began to thin and slow, even as her heart frantically tried to compensate for the blood loss. Her pulse tapped against his teeth as she hit the critical stage that tempted all vampires. At this point, they had a choice: stop and let their prey live or take a few more pulls and feel the high as the victim started to die.

  Wraith needed her to die.

  He took two more strong pulls. Her pulse was weak and thready, barely there. Quickly, he leaped to his feet and used his fangs to open a vein in his wrist. He held it to her lips. Blood ran in a thick stream down her chin.

  “E? Why isn’t she feeding?” Panic made his question into a shout.

  “She’s too far gone.” Eidolon cursed. “We’ll have to force it down.” He palmed her forehead with one hand and placed the other on her chin to open her mouth, CPR style. “We may need to insert a feeding tube.”

  Wraith fired up his gift and dove into her mind. It was all swirling light in there, no substance, no awareness except for a heart-shattering sadness.

  “Oh, no, my lirsha,” he whispered. “Come back. Come back to your dreams. I’m here. I’m waiting.” He inserted himself into the swirling light, forcing substance to form around him. He put himself in front of the Great Pyramid, with golden sands all around him.

  And then she was there. Standing in front of him in a sheer, flowing white gown. “Where have you been? I’ve been so lost.”

  “I’ve been right here, baby. I’ll always be right here.” He caught her by the shoulders and brought her to him. “I’m going to have to let you go, but only for a little while.”

  “But—”

  “Do you trust me?”

  Her liquid eyes beamed up at him. “Yes.”

  He struck, burying his fangs in her throat. She gasped before sighing and relaxing against him. She tasted good here, no taint of death. Just the pure, sweet nectar that only she could have running through her veins. He wanted to make love to her in the dream, but even now he felt her fading in his arms.

  Reluctantly, he disengaged his fangs. Reaching up, he cut open his own throat with the blade he imagined in his hand.

  “Josh!”

  “Shh. It’s okay. Drink. Drink now, and drink hard. Hurry, Serena!”

  She latched on as if she’d been feeding for centuries. She was a hunter, with killer instincts whether she was seeking ancient relics or taking blood. So. Freaking. Hot.

  Distantly, he heard Eidolon’s voice. “That’s it, Serena. Swallow.”

  It was working. She was drinking in the dream and in real life, and… she was gone. He was standing alone in the sand.

  He snapped back into the hospital room, where she was swallowing weakly as his blood flowed onto her tongue.

  The heart monitor beeped quietly. The blood pressure machine hissed as it released air from the cuff around her upper arm. An IV dripped saline incessantly into the tube connected to the back of one hand. And he stood there, feeling cold and empty.

  Fuck that. This would not be a clinical operation. The woman he loved would take him the way this should happen. With him tangled up with her.

  In one smooth move, he swung up on the narrow bed and stretched out beside her. As Serena swallowed, he nuzzled her throat and whispered to her. Soothing, comforting words he was surprised he knew. She was icy—too icy, and too still.

  He didn’t know how much time had passed when Eidolon peeled his arm away from her mouth and sent a healing wave into him to seal the wound.

  “She’s not drinking anymore,” E said. “If this took, she’ll wake tomorrow at dusk.”

  “It will take,” Wraith said fiercely. “It has to.” He spent a few more quiet moments with Serena before Eidolon shook his shoulder gently. “It’s time, bro.”

  “No.”

  “Wraith, Shade is about to collapse.”

  Wraith glanced over at his brother, who was trembling so hard his teeth were chattering. His dermoire’s glow had faded and began to flicker.

  “You’ve got to let her go.”

  A sob welled up in Wraith’s throat. The moment Shade let go of Serena, she’d die. And if the turning didn’t take…

  I’ll lose her forever.

  Eidolon gave Wraith’s shoulder a little squeeze. Oh, Gods… Wraith closed his eyes and nodded. Instantly, Shade’s power cut off, and Serena’s chest stopped moving. Her heart thumped once. Twice.

  And beat no more.

  The only sound in the room after that was the sound of Wraith’s scream.

  Chapter 32

  Blackness swirled in an endless void. There was nothing there but a cold wind and a gnawing, relentless loneliness.

  And hunger. Hunger… such as Serena had never experienced.

  She felt like her stomach was caving in on itself with starvation. But the hunger went deeper than that. To the bone. To the soul.

  She couldn’t open her eyes, so she lay still and listened. She heard the thump-whoosh of a beating heart. Of whisper-light breaths. Another sense roared to life: smell.

  She caught the scent of something smoky, maybe brimstone? Then there was the heady, musky odor of… Josh.

  Warmth burned into her side, a heavy, satisfying heat that stretched from her shoulder to her toes. She peeled open her eyes, but closed them immediately against the intensity of the light above. After a moment, she tried again, driven by the insane hunger.

  Squinting in what she now realized was very dim, reddish light, she looked up at the dark ceiling and the weird chains and pulleys she’d seen earlier. Josh was stretched out on the bed beside her, one leg over hers, one arm draped across her belly. His face was tucked against the crook of her neck and shoulder. He couldn’t get any closer if he wanted to.

  “Josh?” she said. Or tried to say. Her lips moved, but no sound came out. She licked her lips, her tongue catching on sharp points—ouch.

  Were those… fangs?

  The past few days rushed over her like an avalanche, cutting off her breath… breath? Wait… was she breathing? Sort of.

  Vampire.

  She’d talked to Josh about becoming a vampire, but that was all she remembered. Until now.

  Hunger pangs sliced through her. With a yelp, she jackknifed into a sit.

  Josh was right there in her face, eyes wide and mouth dropped open. “Serena!”

  “Hurts,” she moaned, clutching her belly. “Hurts.”

  Josh raised her upper lip with his thumb and let out a whoop of victory. “Baby, it worked. Oh, man, it freaking worked!”

  A veil of red came down over her vision and the sound of a beating heart drove her to the brink of madness. She wanted to attack him, to ravage his neck with her mouth, ravage his body with hers…

  He seemed to know, and he tugged her to him, cocking his head aside to expose his throat. “Take what you need,” he whispered. “Take it now, and don’t worry about hurting me—ow!”

  She buried her new teeth in his neck, instinct guiding her beautifully. And nope, she wasn’t worried about hurting him at all. She felt a moment of regret when he barked in pain, but then he moaned and pulled her down on top of him.

  On some level, she thought she should be disgusted by the fact that she was drinking his blood, but the hunger had hijacked her body, and the need to just be with him had hijacked her heart and mind.

  A deep, throbbing ache began between her thighs, and once again, he knew, because he dropped a hand and cupped her intimately. She’d been naked beneath the sheet. How handy.

  His fingers were magic on her core, sliding through her slippery center and brushing her clit with just the right amount of pressure. His other hand fumbled with his jeans, and in seconds she felt his hard length rubbing
where his fingers had been. He made a rough sound of need that matched hers. This would not be a long, leisurely encounter. Her desires roared through her on a primal level she couldn’t understand.

  He arched up as she gripped his rigid shaft and lowered herself onto it. The broad head stretched her sensitive opening, the velvet surface a bold contrast for the thick, textured shaft as it slid deep. The moment they locked together, she came in the most intense, longest-lasting orgasm of her life. Josh joined her, his shout of ecstasy ringing in her ears.

  “Bond with me,” he panted as he came down. “Be my mate.”

  He took her left hand and threaded her fingers through his. The markings on his arm began to pulse. Feeling warm, a little drunk, and nicely sated, she lifted her head from his throat.

  “Lick the punctures,” he rasped. “Stops the bleeding.”

  She did, and he groaned, pumped his hips so hard her knees came off the mattress. Another release roared through her, a full-body orgasm that hummed through her veins all the way to her skull.

  Josh watched her with golden eyes. “You’re so beautiful.” His voice was like erotic thunder, and it rolled through her as yet another orgasm. He came, too, and before the last tremors had even quieted, he said again, “Bond… with… me.”

  Shade and Eidolon had explained the ritual, the benefits, and the consequences, though she’d faded in and out for a lot of the conversation. If what she remembered was true, the ritual involved the sharing of blood—which obviously wasn’t a problem—and when it was over, she’d have markings on her arm to match Josh’s. They’d be bonded for life, and neither could have sex with another.

  She drew her finger down his chest. “Explain to me the benefits.”

  He gripped her hips and held her still, because every tiny movement made him hiss. “Mindfuckingblowing orgasms. A mental connection. No more loneliness. Or empty sex. You’ll have a protector. A partner. Someone who will love you forever.”

  “Sweetheart, you sold me at the orgasms.”

  “Gods, I love you.”

  She smiled, and he reached up, stroked one of her fangs with his thumb. An incredible sensation shot to her core, and she nearly climaxed again. “Oh. Oh, my.” Talk about an erogenous zone.

  “They’re so hot,” he said. “I never thought I’d say that.”

  “They feel… right.”

  “They look right.”

  She was a freaking vampire! Awesome. “So, are we going to do this bond thing?”

  “Oh, yeah. You’ve already taken my blood, so your half of the ritual is done.” He threw his head back and closed his eyes. “Ride me. Ride me hard.”

  He didn’t have to tell her twice. She began to rock on top of him, felt the electricity build quickly between her thighs. He reached up to cup the back of her head and pull her down. She thought he was going to kiss her, but when he sank his fangs into her neck, she gasped.

  And came. The world around her shattered, and she heard a shout, dimly realized it came from her.

  He was right there with her. He grasped her left hand with his right, and his arm lit up. Fire shot from her fingers to her shoulder, and a sense of fulfillment poured into her as she collapsed onto his chest. For a long time, they lay like that, tangled up, exhausted, her breath coming in panting spurts.

  “I’m a vampire,” she managed a few minutes later. “Why am I breathing?”

  “Eidolon says it’s reflex. Like, the body doesn’t remember it doesn’t need to breathe.”

  “Interesting. Guess we’ve got a lot to learn.” She sighed, because she’d become part of a new world, but in the old one, she had a father whose job description included vampire slaying. Talk about your dysfunctional families. “I guess I’m going to need to call Val. Let him know I’m not dead.”

  “Well, you sort of are. Undead, anyway. And yeah. Call. He’s left about a thousand messages on my cell phone.”

  “And won’t he be thrilled to know I’m a vampire,” she muttered. She drew a harsh breath, remembering Josh’s hatred of them. “What about you? I know how you feel about them. Us.” God, this was surreal.

  He tipped her face to his with a finger beneath her chin. “I don’t care what you are. Who you are doesn’t change just because you grew fangs and are on a liquid diet.”

  “But it’s more than that, isn’t it? Am I… evil?”

  He snorted. “If you believe those Aegis idiots.”

  “So, I’m not?”

  His hand came up to brush her hair out of her face. “Becoming a vampire distills certain aspects of your personality into a purer form so you’re a little more honest about who you are, whether that’s evil or good, but you’re still you.”

  “I don’t understand how you can get past the vampire thing, though, after everything—”

  “Stop.” He rolled over and propped himself on one elbow, so she was looking up at him. “I was totally fucked up and pissed off for so long. What my mother and her clan did to me… well, there are no words for it. But I blamed all vampires. Hell, I blamed the whole world. I’ve got a lot of apologizing to do. Starting with my brothers.”

  She cocked her head, watching him, because something was different… “Your face! The tattoo is gone. And you have a new one—no, two—around your neck.”

  His fingers feathered over his cheek where the markings had been, and then down his throat. “One means I’m post-s’genesis, and the other means I’m mated.”

  She had no idea what the s’genesis thing was, but she had lots of time to ask about it. “Well, I think they’re better than wedding rings,” she teased. “You can’t take them off.”

  “Smart-ass.” He nodded at her arm. “That’s what you get for being so smug.”

  She lifted her left arm and watched in amazement as a replica of his tattoo began to set in her skin.

  “You’re mine now,” he said. “No getting away.”

  “You think I want to get away?”

  “Hope not, because I’m a hunter, remember? I get what I want.”

  She smiled. “And what do you want? Right this minute?”

  He showed her. Right that minute.

  Wraith waited until Serena fell into a deep, exhausted sleep before he climbed out of bed and left her to recover from the feeding, the sex, the bonding, and the little thing of changing from human to vampire

  Leaving her was the hardest thing he’d ever done, but he had a few things to do, like arrange for his vampire torture and find his brothers. Considering what he needed to say to Shade and E, the torture sounded like fun.

  He found them just down the hall in the staff break room, door open. They met him at the threshold.

  “Everything okay?” Shade asked, and Wraith punched him in the shoulder.

  “You know it is.” As incubi, they would have sensed sex taking place nearby.

  “So Serena’s all fangy?”

  “And bonded.”

  E cocked an eyebrow. “Yeah, the lack of the facial dermoire was pretty much a dead giveaway.” He clapped Wraith on the back. “Congratulations, man. It’s good to know you’re happy.”

  “Yeah, about that.” Wraith moved inside the room. “I owe you both an apology. More than that, but I don’t know how I can make up for a lot of years of hell.”

  His brothers just stood there, either stunned or not buying a word. Probably the latter. He’d never given them a reason to trust anything he said or did.

  “So, ah… I’m sorry. You guys have bailed me out of a lot of shit situations. I can never make it up to you.” Wraith had to smile at his brothers’ silence, because now they weren’t meeting his gaze. The male sappy crap was embarrassing them. Good thing, because he’d hate to be alone in that.

  “It’s all good.” Shade’s voice was low and rough with emotion.

  Eidolon nodded. “I think we’re all good.”

  “Bullshit.” Wraith swiped a couple of oranges out of Gem’s basket on the counter and beaned his brothers with them. “I put you thr
ough hell for a lot of years, and a sixty-second suck up job isn’t going to erase that.”

  “Well, hitting us with fruit isn’t going to help!” Shade shouted, returning fire. The orange veered to the left, splattering on the wall.

  “Hello,” Wraith taunted. “Charmed.”

  “Don’t you have more sucking up to do?” E said, but his mouth was quirked in a half-smile.

  “I do.” Wraith made a beeline for the coffeemaker, needing to take his mind off how much it bit dick to beg forgiveness. “But it’ll take a lot of time. I’m willing to do what it takes to make it up to you guys.”

  E and Shade had fallen silent again.

  “Look, why don’t we change the subject?”

  His brothers nodded vehemently.

  “Okay, then. How’s Tayla?” More than a change of subject, Wraith really did care. He’d wanted to kill the slayer in the beginning, but he couldn’t deny that she was perfect for E. “The Aegis dudes didn’t take her demon thing well.”

  “They wanted to execute her,” E growled. “Kynan made them see the light.”

  Shade smirked. “Now that you made him the most important human on the planet, he threatened to walk if The Aegis didn’t let Tayla stay on.”

  “Ah, blackmail. I always knew that human had it in him.” Wraith would have loved to see that scene. “So, did they welcome Ky back, too?”

  “They made him an Elder.” Eidolon grinned. “That sonofabitch is now in charge of the whole damned organization.”

  Now, that was funny as hell. “What about Gem?”

  “She’s moving Kynan into her place as we speak.” Eidolon bent to retrieve the orange Wraith had thrown at him.

  “Good for her,” Wraith said. “So what’s with the new brother? And why was he able to bring back Ky?”

  “A mating with a human gone wrong,” Shade said. “His gift is all fucked up. He kills everything he touches, but apparently, he can bring the dead back within a brief time window—”

  “And only if they aren’t dying of a demon-inflicted disease,” Wraith finished, still slightly bitter about that. “Where is he?”

  “Gone,” Shade said. “Guess he had some things to do. People to kill. Dunno.”