Rose frowned at her outstretched hand that was apparently invisible to him. “I was going to help,” she muttered as he made another attempt to stand.
“It’s adorable that you think you can,” he scoffed, wincing at the pain.
She dropped her hand. “Never mind, then. I hope you enjoy your pain.”
He chuckled at her acidic tone. “I’m fine. Just lead me to that building.”
She didn’t look convinced. “If you say so,” she sighed. “Come on.”
But before Rose could take a step, Kallias grasped her hand and jerked her back toward him. She gasped as her body suddenly collided with his.
Kallias swallowed as her soft body pressed against him. He hadn’t meant to pull her against him. He’d only intended to pull her to a stop. She smelled of vanilla, honey, and blood. Lust and hunger swept over him, threatening to override his self-control. He moved his hand up her arm toward her neck.
“Your neck is bleeding. It will draw attention,” he murmured.
For a moment, Rose didn’t respond. Her almond-shaped azure eyes stared up at him, dark with desire. Her mouth felt too dry, her throat too tight. His nearness affected her in ways she didn’t want to admit. She shuddered as his fingers trailed along her skin until they reached her neck. His touch set every nerve in her body on fire. She could feel her heart racing against her chest.
She cleared her throat. “Well, what do you want me to do? Stitch it up?”
His lips twitched upward at her sassy remark, but he didn’t meet her gaze. His dark, hungry gaze remained on the blood that coated her neck. His mouth watered at the sight of the blood, at its sweet, delicious scent. He needed to heal her wound, and he knew of only one way to do so without creating a blood bond.
Rose froze in shock as he pressed his lips against her neck. Just as she was about to ask him what the heck he was doing, his mouth parted against her skin, and his tongue traced the bite wound on her neck. Her hands seemed to act of their own accord, clutching at his jacket as if her life depended on it. As he licked her wound, a strange, euphoric sensation surged through her body. Her head fell against his chest, and she couldn’t hold back the soft moan that escaped her lips.
“You can let go of me now,” Kallias chuckled in her ear.
Rose blinked, suddenly realizing what she was doing. Her cheeks burned as she took a wobbly step backward, purposely avoiding eye contact with him.
He watched the pink flush that darkened her face with a cocky smirk.
She glared murderously at him. “Did you just drink my blood?”
His brown eyes danced with amusement. “Baby, you insult me,” he teased. “You would have enjoyed it far more than that if I had fed from you.”
She stared at him speechlessly, her eyes wide with shock.
“But…I did taste you,” he said seductively, “and you taste amazing.”
Rose blinked. “So…there’s this line between normal and creepy,” she told him, scowling. “You blew right through the creepy line and just kept going.”
He laughed. “I healed your neck,” he explained. “Vampires have healing enzymes in their saliva, remember? We’ve talked about this before.”
She frowned and reached up to touch her neck. Her eyes widened as her fingers traced the smooth skin. It felt as if there’d never even been a wound there.
She stared blankly at him. “You licked me.”
“Yes,” Kallias said. “And as you can see, it worked.”
Rose narrowed her eyes at him. “Yeah, well, next time you decide to act like a dog and lick me, could you at least give me some kind of warning first?”
His smile faded. “I’m nothing like a dog,” he grumbled.
She glanced anxiously at the blue-streaked horizon. “We need to hurry.”
His dark gaze swept over her again. “Your shirt is covered in blood, too,” he flirted, wearing that mischievous smile of his. “Maybe you should take it off.”
She scowled at him. “Right…because walking around in just jeans and a black bra would definitely be less conspicuous,” she muttered sarcastically.
Kallias grinned. “I knew it looked black,” he said, staring at her breasts.
Her jaw dropped. She crossed her arms over the torn shirt and glared at him. “I can still leave you here and let you burn to death in the sun, you know.”
He staggered away from the wall. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he laughed.
Rose watched the uneasiness of his steps worriedly. “Do you need help?”
He snorted, “I’m six and a half feet tall. What could you do? Carry me?”
She glared at him. “Forgive me for being concerned,” she snarled.
He glanced at her. “I’m fine. My legs are a little broken. That’s all.”
“Broken?” she sputtered. “You’re walking on broken legs?”
He shrugged as he began to walk unsteadily down the alley. “They’re already healing. Besides, I’ve endured far worse pain than this. I can handle it.”
She fell into step beside him. “What about your stomach? Will it heal?”
Kallias braced one hand against the wall as he walked and held the other over the wound in his stomach. Thick, dark blood oozed through his fingers. “Eventually,” he muttered. “Healing usually requires blood, and I haven’t fed in…a while. I can still heal without feeding, but the process will be much slower.”
Rose wanted to ask how long he meant by a while, but she wasn’t sure she would like the answer. “Hang on a second,” she said as they turned the corner. She snatched up her backpack from where she’d hidden it behind the dumpster and slung it over her shoulder, ignoring the curious look that Kallias gave her.
He continued to watch her as they walked the rest of the way in silence.
Finally, Kallias interrupted the tense silence. “I’m almost out of time.”
“We’re almost there,” she assured him as they turned onto a dark street.
Kallias noticed that the buildings that lined this street looked significantly older than the rest of the buildings in the city. Some of them looked as if they were still in use, like the computer repair shop and the used goods store, but others appeared to have been closed long ago. He breathed a sigh of relief because he knew that rundown and abandoned buildings like these were not likely to have cameras outside. As they continued down that street, his steps seemed to become more unsteady. They’d nearly reached an old burger shop when he staggered.
“Careful,” Rose warned as she noticed him losing balance.
She reached out to grab his arm, intending to help him regain his balance, but instead, she only wound up trapping herself between his body and the wall as he caught himself against it. She swallowed uneasily at their closeness.
Kallias braced his hands on the wall on each side of her. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she said breathlessly. “Are you?”
He removed his hand from the wall and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Yeah,” he sighed. He stepped back. “We should keep moving. I’ll be dead soon.”
She sighed at his pessimism and brushed past him, leading the way toward the building. Between a mechanic’s shop and an old flea market set a rectangular building that spanned across a large portion of the street. Built of blocks that looked as if they were once beige or yellow, the building seemed long forgotten. A sign hung crookedly over the entrance with illegible, faded blue letters. The old warehouse had very few windows, just four or five small, rectangular windows around the top of the building, and those windows were covered with boards. Thick, heavy chains looped through the door handles, and a sign with shiny red letters that read, “No Trespassing,” hung from the chains.
“Like I said,” Rose sighed, gesturing toward it. “Chains.”
Kallias stepped forward, and with a smirk tugging at his lips, he grasped the chains and tore them from the door with one easy pull. The locks and broken chains fell to the ground, clanging on the concrete, as he shoved open the
doors.
Rose blinked. As he stepped inside the dark, dusty building, she knelt to look at the broken chains. She picked them up, examining where they’d snapped into. The chains felt heavy in her hands, too heavy to have broken so easily.
Kallias hissed as his skin began to burn. “Rose, hurry,” he pleaded.
Rose jumped to her feet, her eyes widening as she saw the faint pink line along the horizon. She rushed inside, and the doors slammed shut behind her.
Kallias finished locking the doors and turned to look at the inside of the building. Just one large room stretched before him, full of boxes and dust. Boxes covered most of the floor, but the back corners of the room were empty, providing plenty of space to sleep. Planks of wood covered the windows, leaving the building in total darkness and, fortunately, shielded from sunlight.
He frowned as he heard Rose’s heart racing. He stepped behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder, planning to ask her why she was so nervous, but the moment his fingers brushed her shoulder, she jumped and screamed.
Kallias spun her to face him. His warm, rough hands cradled each side of her face. “Shhh. Shhh,” he soothed, his breath falling against her forehead. His thumbs rubbed gently under her ears, calming her. “Rose, it’s okay. It’s just me.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she whispered, her blue eyes wide and frantic. “I didn’t mean to scream. I just can’t see, and… Do you think anyone heard me?”
“Relax,” he said in a surprisingly gentle tone. “No one heard you.”
She blinked at the darkness, hoping her eyes would adjust enough for her to see something, anything, but it was as if her eyes were covered by a pitch black blanket, a blanket too thick to see even the slightest light or outline. It was unnerving to be stripped so suddenly of sight, but at the same time, she felt intensely aware of certain things, like how close Kallias stood to her, how he touched her with such surprising gentleness, and how he smelled of leather and blood and mint.
“Can you see?” she asked. Her voice sounded breathless and strained.
“Of course,” he said. “I am a nocturnal creature.”
“I can’t see anything,” she admitted again, “at all.”
“Relax,” he repeated. “I’m here. I’ll take care of you.”
She frowned at the way he worded that.
Kallias must have thought twice about it as well because he suddenly dropped his hands. “Uh…I just meant that I will make sure you don’t fall,” he muttered. He winced as he saw the fingerprints of blood on her face. He glanced down at his blood-covered hands. “Oh. Sorry. I got blood on your face.”
Rose laughed. “Well, my skin is not exactly clean anymore anyway.”
His eyes darkened as he glanced at the bloodstains on her skin, lines that trailed from her throat to her exposed chest. “Yeah. I noticed,” he said huskily.
She frowned worriedly at the dark desire that she could hear in his voice, suddenly realizing how foolish it was for a human with blood all over her clothes and skin to wind up trapped all day in a deserted building with a hungry vampire.
She shivered as the warmth of his closeness disappeared, leaving her surrounded by the cold darkness. She heard his footsteps moving away from her and the shuffling of cardboard and paper. “Are you okay? I mean, did the sun…”
“I’m fine,” he interrupted before she finished the question. She’d noticed that he did that often, almost as if he could hear what she was going to ask before she asked it. “The light never really touched me. It just feels like a mild sunburn.”
Rose frowned and tried to follow the sound of his deep, accented voice, but she lost her balance and fell forward as her foot collided with a wooden crate.
Before she hit the ground, Kallias caught her, his arm sweeping roughly around her stomach to pull her back onto her heels. The wooden crate scraped across the floor as he kicked it out of the way. “If you would have just waited, I was trying to clear a path for you,” he grumbled, his breath warm against her ear.
“I was following your voice,” she muttered indignantly.
He had yet to let go of her. “There are boxes and crates everywhere. Are you trying to hurt yourself?” he growled in her ear. “Forget it. I’ll just carry you.”
“Look, I don’t appreciate you using that tone with me. So, I suggest you…” she trailed off as she realized what he’d just said. “Wait. You’ll what?” Rose gasped as he suddenly hoisted her into his arms and cradled her against his chest. “What the heck do you think you’re doing? Put me down right now!”
“I already told you,” Kallias complained. “I’m carrying you. Obviously.”
“No. Absolutely not. Put me down,” she snarled, kicking her legs.
“Be still,” he grumbled as he carried her across the room.
“You’ll drop me!” she cried, slamming her hands against his chest.
He rolled his eyes, even though she couldn’t see them. “No, I won’t.”
Rose sighed in defeat, accepting her fate. “That’s it. I’m going to die.”
He stepped around a stack of boxes. “I’m a vampire, remember? I have supernatural strength. I could carry a car if I wanted, and I’d never get tired. I’m not going to drop a human. So, stop insulting my strength, and just be still.”
“Have I mentioned lately that you’re an arrogant jerk?” she asked.
He laughed, “A few times.”
When he reached the back corner of the room, Kallias lowered her onto the cold concrete floor. The movement stirred up the dust into the air, and she coughed as she breathed in the thick air. Kallias stared at her for a moment, noticing the blood that stained her face around her nose and the bloodstains along her throat and chest. The top of her torn shirt looked nearly black from the blood, instead of the light blue color of the rest of the shirt. Her red hair fell around her shoulders, disheveled and tangled. Purpling red marks covered her arms.
“Do you feel okay?” he heard himself ask. “How badly did he hurt you?”
“I’m fine,” she said. She coughed as she inhaled another lungful of dust. “I mean, I’m a little sore, but hey, at least I don’t have a hole in my stomach.”
He flashed a sarcastic smile that she couldn’t see. “Cute.”
She heard shuffling near her as he found a place on the floor to sit. It drove her nuts to not be able to see him. “Where are you?” she asked impatiently.
“A foot or so to your left,” he answered. He sounded distracted.
Rose reached out toward him to feel the distance, and her breath caught in her throat as her hand collided with bare skin. She knew that she should have pulled away as soon as her fingertips brushed against his feverish skin, but her fingers had a mind of their own, curiously tracing the lines of his muscular chest.
She blushed. “You took off your shirt,” she realized.
Kallias stared at her, his lips twitching into an amused smile. “If you keep touching me like that, I might take off more than that,” he teased.
She pulled her hand back and looked away, her face hot with humiliation.
He chuckled at her reaction as he returned to pressing his wadded up shirt against the wound in his stomach, soaking up as much blood as he could.
After a brief period of unnerving silence, Rose said, “I have a question.”
“Of course you do,” he muttered bitterly.
“Your friend. Erik,” she said. “Is he a vampire, too?”
He glanced at her. “Yes.”
“Oh,” she said nervously, nodding. “And the ones that are trying to kill me? The others that Theron kept mentioning? They are vampires, too, right?”
“Yes,” he said again. “Where are you going with this, Rose?”
She shrugged. “I just find it interesting that you think that my best chance for survival is to rely on the same kind of creatures that are trying to kill me.”
“Only a vampire can take down a vampire,” Kallias told her.
“And
do you honestly think that, if you had died, your vampire friend would have come when I called him? To protect a human?” she asked skeptically.
He watched her for a moment. “Yes,” he said assuredly. “Erik has questionable morals, to say the least, but when it matters, he’s…good, in a sense.”
“So, he’s like you, then?” Rose asked.
He scowled. “You misunderstand. I never claimed to be good.”
“No,” she agreed, “but you proved that you are. Several times.”
“You’re speaking too soon,” Kallias warned her with a dangerous edge in his voice. “I made a choice to save your life. I may not get such a choice if I lose control and act on the instinctual urge inside of me, the urge to kill you.”
She blinked at the warning. “I don’t think you will.”
“You shouldn’t be so sure,” he said. “I know I’m not.”
A tense silence settled between them after that. Rose heard only the soft rustling of fabric as Kallias continued to press his shirt against his wound. She stared blankly at the blackness around her, desperately wanting her eyes to adjust.
“I don’t understand you,” Kallias said after a while.
She jumped, startled by his deep voice. “Uh…what?”
“Most humans are terrified of me,” he said, “but you aren’t.”
“In their defense,” Rose said, “the way you dress doesn’t really help matters. I mean, you walk around all decked out in leather and tattoos with weapons strapped to every part of your body. Even without the fangs, you look intimidating. Theron, on the other hand, dresses like a retired schoolteacher.”
“That’s because Theron wants humans to trust him,” he said. “I don’t.”
She nodded. “So you intimidate people for their own protection.”
Kallias shrugged. “If that’s what it takes.”
“Because you don’t trust yourself not to hurt them,” Rose added.
He fell silent for a moment, not sure how to respond. Finally, he said, “I have never met a human that wasn’t intimidated by me, and yet, here you are, sitting next to me in a dark, deserted building, and you are calm. And the most ridiculous part is that you know what I am now. So, why aren’t you afraid of me?”
The Stone of the Eklektos Page 25