Blood Kiss

by J. R. Ward

  Boone was the smart one.

  Axe just sat by himself, hands steepled, brows down, not writing a thing--but the guy's dark aura meant that even if he didn't say much, you couldn't help knowing he was in the room. Novo didn't talk much either, but when she did, everyone listened. And Peyton, yes, Peyton cracked the occasional joke.

  Yet it was Craeg, silent, brooding Craeg, who was the one she was tuned in to.

  And P.S., she couldn't figure out why in the hell he wasn't getting up.

  It was more than a lack of verticality, actually. He was sitting there like a deer in the headlights, staring at the blackboard like he'd forgotten how to rise out of a chair.

  "Craeg?" Tohr prompted. "Have you separated from reality? Having a little vacay on me?"

  Peyton got to his feet. "Lemme give it a shot," he said, scooting out and heading around behind the counter of chemicals to the blackboard. As he picked up a piece of chalk like it was a dead spider, he glanced at the Brother. "I thought this stuff was outlawed after the turn of the century?"

  "You want me to write using your face instead?" Tohr drawled.

  "Are you allowed to say that to students?"

  "You a good enough fighter to get me to stop?"

  Peyton shook his head. "Nope. Not even close."

  "Smart answer, son. You're going to do well." Tohr clapped him on the back. "Why don't you save your shy little buddy back there and show us what you know."

  Paradise looked down again at what she'd written in her notebook. Back at the beginning of the night, it had been hard to walk into the break room where everyone gathered and try to act natural around Craeg. He, on the other hand, had seemed totally nonplussed by her appearance or anyone else's--he'd made little eye contact with anyone, and said three words tops.

  It had been about what she'd expected. And yet considering the amount of energy she needed to put in to just breathing normally around him, it had seemed unfair.

  Back online, she told herself. She needed to concentrate on the training stuff. It was not only appropriate, more productive, and the reason she was in the room--it was also less likely to make her go insane.

  She mostly succeeded at the goal.

  Two hours later, they were allowed to get up, stretch their legs, and hit the loo. She had intended to walk down to the ladies' locker room by herself, but Novo fell into step with her.

  "Mind if I ask you something?" the female said as she pushed the door open and held it for Paradise to go in first. "It's personal."

  "Ah . . . sure." She picked one of the five stalls, de-pants'd it and hit the seat--and tried not to focus on the fact that she and a relative stranger were about to pee in the same place. "What is it?"

  You got this, she told her bladder.

  Novo naturally had no problem. The female probably had no problem with anything.

  "You ever do females?"

  Paradise whipped her head toward the stall wall. Her first thought? Crap, might as well do up my pants. We're going nowhere after that one.

  "Did I shock you?" the female said with a laugh before she flushed.

  There was the sound of a metal panel opening and then the running of water.

  "Hello?" Novo prompted.

  "Ah . . ." Paradise looked around as if maybe the peach metal stall walls or the white ceiling or the pale gray floor would help her out.

  "So that would be a no." There was another laugh. "I'm not surprised."

  For a moment, Paradise thought about trying to front just to keep up with the coolness Novo seemed to have in spades. But similar to getting distracted in class, that was not why she was here.

  "Actually, I haven't done anyone."

  "Yeah, I figured that, too."

  Paradise frowned. "So why did you ask?"

  "I like being right."

  Staring at the gray tile at her feet, Paradise thought, What the hell. "But you do? Females, that is."

  "In the past. And males. I love who I love. The bits don't matter to me."

  "Wow."

  Novo's voice got sharp. "There's nothing wrong with that, you know."

  "No, I'm not . . . I'm not criticizing or judging. I just think . . ."

  "That's dirty and wrong, right."

  Paradise thought about all the restrictions on her because she was an aristocrat. And then imagined what it would be like to simply be who and what she was, without excuses or compromises.

  "No," she said. "I think that is really amazing."

  And what do you know, on that note, she got her own job done. After she flushed, she opened the panel and was surprised, given the silence, that the female was still by the sinks.

  Her face was wary, like she wanted to assess Paradise's affect.

  Paradise met those intense teal eyes without hesitation as she went over and washed her hands in warm water with soap that smelled like lemon.

  "In fact, I envy you," she found herself murmuring as she checked her reflection in the mirror.

  No makeup and fluorescent lights were not a good combo when you hadn't slept for almost forty-eight hours--and had gone through organized torture.

  "Why are you any different?" the female asked.

  "I'm sorry?"

  "If you like girls."

  "Oh, no." She thought of her response to Craeg. And then enjoyed a couple of mental snapshots of his hand pumping under that sheet. "Yeah, no. I'm into males."

  Novo shrugged and straightened. "So it still stands. Why are you any different?"

  Paradise stared at her reflection, and thought about her bloodline. Her father. "Long, boring story."

  "Long stories that people don't want to talk about are never the boring ones."

  At the change in tone, Paradise shifted her eyes over. Novo was looking toward the door out of the bathroom, her strong body strung tight, her hands squeezing the edge of the sink so hard her knuckles were white.

  "What happened to you?" Paradise whispered.

  Novo shook herself back into focus. "Nothing that matters anymore. We're heading to the weight room, right?"

  "Did they say that?"

  "Yeah."

  Paradise must have been watching Craeg walk out of the classroom. "I'm losing my mind."

  "You're okay. Splash your face with some cold water. It'll bring you back--works for me all the time."

  Paradise watched the female leave . . . and then she cranked on the faucet that was marked with a C.

  Might as well give it a go.

  Maybe it would cool off her libido, too.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Sitting at the desk in Tohr's office, Butch stood the long, thin metal key up on the end that had the red tassel . . . and let the thing fall to the blotter. As gravity made it tap out, the sound was a solid thunk. With a curse, he picked it up, stood it on its other end . . . and let it fall. And again. And again--

  "Are you ready?"

  He looked up at Tohr, who'd leaned in through the glass door. "Hey, yeah, sure. Who're you sending in first?"

  "Axwelle. Figured you might as well start the eval with the one most likely to be considered a sociopath."

  "Perfect." He swiveled to the computer, tapped in a few commands and got the hidden video camera rolling. "Pull him out of the workout."

  "Roger that."

  As the glass door eased shut, Butch watched his fingers work the tasseled key some more. He hadn't wanted to say it to his Marissa, but to him and V, it was pretty clear what the thing was. The problem? When nada had come up on the Internet search, V had hit his connections in the vampire underground . . . but nothing had surfaced with any of the sex clubs or groups.

  A key to get you in so you could get it on. So to speak.

  Ordinarily, Butch would have wondered if people weren't hiding something or lying, but V was a legit member of the wonderful world of kink--plus the brother wasn't above using a little muscle to get information if he had to.

  Yet another reason the two of them were tight.

  So wh
at else was it. Where else could he--

  At the sound of a knock on the glass, he glanced up and motioned with his hand. "Hey, man. C'mon in, sit down."

  As Axwelle entered, the guy made a move with his hands like he was used to cramming them in the pockets of his jeans, but then had nowhere to go with the impulse in his training uni. "Can I stand?"

  "Nope." Butch nodded to the chair on the opposite side of the desk. "There. And that is not a suggestion, that's a requirement."

  They had to make sure the trainee's face was in full view of the lens up in the corner behind him.

  Axwelle--or Axe, as he called himself--crossed his arms over his chest and planted it in the seat. "What's this about?"

  "Just want to talk to you for a little bit. Get to know you better." Butch frowned and sat forward. Then he dangled the key by its red tassel. "You recognize this?"

  "No."

  "Then why did your eyes just go to it?"

  "Because it's in your hand and you're not holding anything else. There's nothing on the desk, either."

  Butch held the tassel between his thumb and forefinger and let the thing swing from side to side. "That's the only reason, huh."

  "Do I look like I worry about keys?"

  "How do you know it's a key?"

  Eyes that were nearly as yellow as Phury's locked on him and stayed put. "What else could it be?"

  "You tell me."

  "I thought this was supposed to be a get-to-know-ya. What the fuck does some whatever-it-is have to do with my ass?"

  Butch studied the kid's face, looking for tells. Huh. You know, without the half-job tattoos and piercings, the guy might have been handsome. And he might well be a good poker player, considering all the mask-in-place he was rolling.

  Axe put his puss just inches from the key. "I'm still staring at it. Is this working for you?"

  Butch took his own sweet time before changing subjects. The thing with liars? Silence and stillness were often the best challenge to their fronts, and he looked for tics, blinks, and twitches.

  Eventually, he smiled. "You ever see someone die?"

  Not on the list of questions Mary had given him to help her ascertain a trainee's psychological state. But he was good with winging shit.

  "What are you suggesting?"

  The thought of his Marissa crying over that dead female made him more aggressive than a bull, but he drew back on that throttle.

  "Just asking." He looked at the key to give the male some "personal space." "It is one way to get to know you better, isn't it? An icebreaker, they call them, when two people go on a blind date and have to make conversation."

  "You want to know if I've ever killed anybody."

  "Not the question, was it. I asked, have you ever seen death happen?"

  When there was no answer for a period of time, Butch glanced up. Axe wasn't looking at the key anymore. The guy was focused on the middle distance in front of his nose.

  Gotcha, Butch thought.

  Gentling his voice deliberately, he murmured, "Who was it, Axwelle."

  "Don't call me that."

  "Why, it's your name."

  "I don't answer to it."

  "Why."

  An angry glare went point-blank on Butch like a gun muzzle. "Because I fucking don't, okay?"

  "Fine, back to the Grim Reaper. Tell me the story."

  "Fuck you."

  Under any other circumstances, Butch would have lunged across the desk and grabbed the cocksucker's neck for that kind of attitude, but there was too much purpose behind this.

  "Hmmmmm," was all he said.

  Axe slammed himself back in the chair and did the re-cross thing with his arms. As his shoulders bunched up, it was hard not to approve of the heft of all that muscle. Strength without brains and a copious lack of psychotic, however, were going to do none of them any good.

  "Can I go now?" Axe demanded.

  "No, son, I don't think you can. And before you get all huffy on my ass, I'm going to point out to you that this wonderful little bonding time we're sharing is the first of at least three sessions."

  "Are you a shrink?"

  "Fuck, no, are you kidding me?" He laughed. "I take pride in my own little stretch of madness, as a matter of fact."

  After all, he was seriously religious, putting his faith and the course of his life willingly in the hands of a belief system that was not concretely verifiable. And that was nuts, right?

  Then again, the fact that his religion enriched his mortal coil and centered him and brought him meaning even after he had been "turned" into another species was enough proof for him.

  With a shrug, he said, "The only way to get out of this office is to tell me what happened. As soon as you do, you're free to go back to the weight room and power-lift until either your knees give out on you or you begin to vomit. So much to look forward to, right?"

  *

  If Craeg had thought that sitting behind Paradise in class was bad? That was nothing compared to watching her do pull-ups.

  Across the mats, and to the accompaniment of the clanking of free weights, Paradise was lifting her body in perfect form up to the chin bar and then releasing . . . and up . . . and releasing. Her knees were cocked parallel to the floor, her ass was . . . painfully tight (for him, not for her, clearly), and her torso was in control from pelvis to shoulder.

  Every time she hit the low point, her breasts punched up against the loose shirt they all wore--

  "Fuck," he groused as he lay back down on the bench and gripped the bar above his head.

  Popping the four hundred and fifty pounds off its support, he took the weight down to his pecs and shoved it back up like the thing had insulted his dead mother.

  "You want a spotter?" Novo asked.

  When all he could do was grunt, she assumed the position behind his head, keeping her hands just under the now-bent bar.

  "Three . . ." she counted. "Two more. One . . . good. You got it."

  As she helped guide the load back into its holding position, he flopped his forearms onto his chest and caught his breath.

  Novo put her face in his line of vision. "I think you need to take a break."

  "Fuck that."

  "No, I mean it."

  "I got at least four more sets in me."

  "Your endurance ain't what I'm worried about." At that, her eyes went down to his hips. "Not that I don't appreciate the view. Just not sure what the virginal object of your affections is gonna think."

  Craeg lifted his head. And then sat up quick.

  Novo laughed. "Yeah, why don't you take care of that and come back?"

  "Damn it," he hissed, jumping to his feet.

  Marching across for the door, he glanced at the Brother Vishous. "I gotta go to the bathroom."

  Vishous smiled darkly. "Yeah, you do."

  Punching his way out into the corridor, he wondered if everyone had noticed he had a hard-on. The only good news? Paradise seemed oblivious--which meant she was either incredibly good at hiding her reactions, which he doubted, or she was as clueless about his little problem as he hoped.

  In which case he felt like an extra-huge douche bag.

  He hit the door to the men's locker room so hard it flew open, striking the wall and forcing him to catch the thing before it smacked him in the face on the rebound.

  "Not it, this is not it."

  Pacing around with his hands on his hips, he realized he should never have taken her vein. That blood exchange had created some kind of connection between them such that he was aware of every move she made anywhere at any moment--and the way that shit registered?

  Mr. Happy got all excited about the possibility of shaking hands with her.

  Which was never. Fucking. Going. To. Happen.

  More pacing. More cursing.

  Still hard.

  "Fuck me!" he belted out.

  Yes, please, his cock replied with a kick.

  For a moment, all sorts of fantasies played through his head: Slamming th
e thing in a heavy book. Dropping a cement block on it. Car doors, hammers, logs.

  This couldn't be happening to him. The hardest part of training to become a soldier under the Brotherhood so he could avenge his family . . . could not possibly be some blond female. He just refused to believe this.

  Not possible--

  With another kick under his uniform, his erection seemed to be laughing at him.

  Glaring down at his hips, he barked, "Shut up, idiot."

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Butch watched every move the kid made. From the series of fine muscle contractions under Axe's left eye to the chin itch he was rocking to the crack-of-the-neck finale.

  "Tell me, and I'll let you go," he repeated.

  Man, this was so much easier to do than when he'd been working for the CPD. Miranda rights? Yeah, whatever. Involuntary restraint? Blah, blah, blah. Coercion?

  Well, actually he'd done some coercion even back then.

  In fact, he thought back to that kid Billy Riddle who had attacked Beth before she had fallen into the vampire world and taken Butch with her. Man, he'd really enjoyed grinding that little bitch's nose into the linoleum in the emergency room. Hmm . . . that hadn't been coercion, technically--because he hadn't been after information. It had been flat-out payback for the bastard having jumped a perfectly innocent woman in an alley so he could try to rape her with his friend.

  Yeah, because you could really get through to an animal like that with arm's-length handling.

  Fucker.

  Refocusing on Axe, Butch murmured, "I'm waiting."

  Axe shrugged. "Kick me out if you want, do other shit to me if you want . . . but I don't owe you that. You don't get a piece of my soul--you haven't earned it."

  Sound logic, Butch thought--and exactly what he himself would have said if he'd been sitting in that chair.

  Butch leaned in. "Sooner or later, before your final acceptance, you're going to have to tell me."

  "Why the fuck do you care?"

  "I don't."

  Well, didn't that get him a pair of bug eyes. "Then what the fuck are you asking me for?"

  Butch planted his elbows on the desk and fanned out his hands, all Duh. "I need to know how you're going to handle it when you see it again. That's why. And one assessment of future behavior is past behavior. What you guys experience here in training is nothing compared to what the outside world is like. You gotta be prepared for situations when there is no time to think, when all you've got to go on to save your life or the lives of the people who are fighting with you are your instincts and your will to survive--and I guarantee you that when you get to those moments, the last thing you want is to have a lockup. The more you're exposed to trauma, the more hardened you become to it and the safer you are. And that is a really suck-ass fucking equation, but it is the goddamn truth."