“Don’t be afraid to really dig your nails in,” Natalie moaned. “That’s tickling me.”
“I’ll dig in all right,” Chessa muttered. She glanced over Natalie’s shoulder and gave Rene a hard look.
His eyebrows rose. Then a frown furrowed his forehead as he realized something was up beside his dick. “Chessa?”
“Hold her still.”
Natalie slowed her rocking motions and glanced back, “Is something wrong?”
“No, Nat, but this is gonna hurt.” That was all the warning she gave as she dug her fingernails into the seam and split apart her skin.
Natalie’s breath hissed between her teeth and her back arched away.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Rene said, his hands gripping Natalie’s hips tight as she struggled away from Chessa.
Her skin parted like opening gills on a fish, and Chessa reached inside to tuck her fingers under the long ridged cartilage within the slit to pull it free.
As Natalie’s wing sprang from her back, it opened and unfurled with a snap like a sheet in a brisk wind.
“The other, get the other,” Natalie said, reaching back to claw at the seam on the opposite side.
Chessa scarcely had time to pry open the slim pouch when the second wing extended.
When she was finished, she ducked beneath Natalie’s wings and lay on her back beside Rene whose mouth was still agape.
“Natalie, you look like a fish,” Chessa said, reaching up to tip her jaw closed.
“Now that’s not somethin’ you see everyday,” Rene said, his voice awed.
Chessa turned and caught his fierce frown. “So, what do you think about our girl. She’s all grown up.”
“That’s the difference, isn’t it?” he said. “Between you and the poor bastards you turn.”
“It’s the most…noticeable.”
He was silent for a long moment, his gaze following the long, graceful length of Natalie’s wings. Finally, he drew a breath. “They gonna pop out like that every time we have sex?”
Chessa laughed, relieved he seemed to be taking the transformation in stride. “Natalie can repress that urge, same as she has her need to feed while she fucks you.”
Their gazes slid back to Natalie, who stared transfixed at the mirror above the dresser. The glass reflected light onto the wings that spread far beyond the width of the bed. The same pale color of her skin, they shone with the sheen of soft, short velvet that covered the thin membrane stretched between the cartilages forming the boning of her wings.
Rene ran his hand over the bottom edge of one of them. “I’ve stopped bein’ surprised, I guess. Day before yesterday, I think I’d have had a lot more to say.” His head swiveled back to Chessa. “Can she fly?”
Chessa snorted. “What do you think?”
His forehead furrowed deeper. “Damn, Chessa. What the hell you need to ride in squad car for?”
Chessa grinned and lifted her eyebrows. “Can you put them away by yourself?” Chessa directed the question to Natalie who still stared at herself in the mirror.
Finally, the younger woman turned, her expression still wide-eyed with shock. “Can I?”
“Give it a try.”
Natalie closed her eyes and frowned as she concentrated. Her wings folded fluidly and withdrew into their pouches, the seams appearing to melt away.
“Guess that answers that,” Rene said.
The whine of the wind against the shutters and the hum of the air conditioner were the only sounds in the room for several seconds.
Then Natalie rose…and fell, and came up again. Her jaw firmed and her lips thinned. Triumph, power fueled her movements as she took Rene, her chest rising and falling with her steady breaths and movements.
Chessa’s breath caught as she watched Natalie and realized the scared young woman who’d cowered from a flock of birds was gone. She’d been reborn, finding herself and the answers to most of her questions within the cycle set by a rising moon and a curse that controlled the appetites and fates of all the Born.
While the couple continued to ebb and flow against each other, Chessa shoved off the bed and headed toward the shower.
In Natalie’s face, she’d seen a glimpse of her own past and felt closer to the child she’d lost so many years ago. She quietly shut the door behind her, sat on the closed toilet seat and wept.
When the bathroom door opened, Natalie glanced up at Chessa and noted her features appeared drawn.
Worried, she opened her mouth to speak, but Chessa shook her head and raised a finger to her lips.
Natalie looked back at the bed. Rene was asleep and not likely to wake any time soon—the dark purple smudges beneath his eyes indicative of his exhaustion.
She followed Chessa’s silent lead, dressing swiftly in jeans and long-sleeved shirt. She hadn’t thought the rumblings in her belly were so loud they’d given away her hunger, but perhaps Chessa was hungry too.
They let themselves out the door and headed toward the elevator.
“Are we going back to the bar?” Natalie asked, trying to resist the itching at the roof of her mouth that urged her to let down her teeth. The thought of a meal already had her salivating.
“No way we can get anywhere in a car—the road’s swamped. Rene and I barely made it here. But there’s a bar in the hotel.” Chessa flashed her a smile. “You game?”
“Find a dark corner to feed?”
“One of us play look-out?”
Grinning, Natalie’s steps were light as she headed to the elevator. She liked the sense of connection she felt with Chessa. Finishing each other’s thoughts. They’d even worked Rene like a tag team until he’d cried “uncle” from too much use and slept.
The patter of some small creature trailed behind them, and Natalie glanced over her shoulder. A rat sat on its haunches in a door well, its nose quivering as it sniffed the air.
She grimaced. “Yuck! Rats!”
“Probably driven off the streets by the storm. Filthy bastards,” Chessa said, reaching for the down button.
The doors slid open, and Natalie stepped inside beside Chessa, turning to face the entrance. As the doors closed, she saw three rats in a line heading their way.
She shivered as the doors cut off the view.
Chessa’s eyebrows drew into a frown. “We’ll talk to the desk clerk after we feed. They should set some traps.”
The bar was dark and packed. It seemed every guest in the hotel, except Rene, had decided to ride out the storm in the lounge. Pictures of men leaning into the driving rain played on CNN while glasses clinked and laughter rang out. Music played from an old-fashioned jukebox in the corner, and a couple circled on the small square, parquet dance floor.
“Pick one,” Chessa said, “I’ll find us a dark booth.”
Natalie drew a deep breath and peered around the crowd at the bar for a target. Someone young. Someone stupid. And clean. The Arno’s of the world were only meant as last resorts.
She trailed behind the men, scenting each, recoiling at heavy cologne or cigarette smoke.
One man caught her looking his way. “Can I buy you a drink?”
Not bad. Mid thirties, blond hair cut short and trimmed neatly around his ears. He wore a yellow polo shirt and blue jeans. Nice laugh lines crinkled around his eyes as his smile deepened at her perusal.
If he only knew what she really wanted.
“I’m with a friend,” she said, leaning close to speak softly into his neatly turned ears.
“Shall I join you?”
It was so easy. She led him away from the lighted bar, into the corner booth where Chessa waited. He slid around the seat, appearing happy to be sandwiched between the two of them.
His interested gaze took in Chessa’s intense expression and his chest rose.
He probably thought this was his lucky night. But it was theirs. He lifted his hand to snag a waitress’s attention and ordered a round of drinks.
Natalie looked around the bar. No one paid t
hem any attention. Laughter burst again from across the room. Everyone was in high spirits. Snug and dry while the storm swirled around them. She let the warmth of the man’s thigh pressed against hers and the heated aroma of his skin seduce her teeth into lengthening.
Chessa gave her a little nod, and they both leaned into him.
His breath snagged. “Sure we want to keep the party here?” he asked.
“No one’s watching,” Natalie said, gliding her fingers up his thigh while Chessa distracted him with a little innocent nibble at his ear lobe.
Suddenly, Chessa jerked away and unsnapped her cell phone case which hung on her belt. “Back in a minute,” she said. “I have to take this.” As she walked away with the receiver to her ear, shouts erupted at the bar, drawing Natalie’s attention.
Some patrons lifted their feet from the floor. Drinks spilled on the counter top as others lurched away.
“What the hell’s happening over there?” the man seated next to her exclaimed.
That’s when she heard it. Squeaks. The patter of feet. Tiny rodents’ feet. Dozens of them. All heading her way.
Natalie brought her legs up onto the bench seat and then crawled onto the table. The blond man crawled over the back of the seat, escaping the first creatures that jumped to where she’d been seated.
Natalie stared, transfixed. Their eyes glowed red and the acrid smell of rotten eggs and rat shit filled the space around her, sucking the air from her lungs.
When the first one leaped to the table beside her, a feeling of inevitability, surrender, filled her limbs with leaden weight. They crowded around her, climbed onto her lap. The first little bite roused her, causing her to cry out, and she backhanded the creature, sending it slamming against the wall.
But just as quickly as they swarmed her, they moved on, like a wave lapping at her knees, crowding her with their little furry bodies, and then ebbing away.
It was over—so fast she didn’t really have a chance to wonder what it all meant. An exit door had been pried open and the rats filled the doorway as they raced outside.
Natalie trembled as raucous shouts continued, mostly directed at the establishment. Behind her she heard footsteps. A hand clamped around her wrist.
When she raised her head, she was staring into Fernando’s dark face.
CHAPTER 20
“Let me help you,” he said, extending his hand, palm up.
She didn’t want to touch him. From his intent stare, she knew his presence here wasn’t a coincidence. She decided to brazen it out and gave him her hand.
After she clambered off the table, she tried to pull away her hand, but his grip tightened. He tugged her closer, drawing her in like a fish on a reel, turning her until her back was flush with his belly and chest. Although lean, she could feel the tensile strength of every muscle pressed close to her.
She swallowed and glanced wildly around for Chessa, but didn’t see her in the agitated crowd.
“You can still catch your friends,” she said, glaring at him over her shoulder. “They just went out the door.”
His smile was slow, amused. But it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I hoped you weren’t the one we sought.” His hand crept up to cup her breast and thumbed her nipple through her shirt. He pressed his cheek to hers and whispered, “I’d so much rather make love to you.”
Natalie bit back a moan. Not of desire. Her heart raced, her skin broke out in cold sweat. She’d arrived at her moment of reckoning.
She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to slow her breaths and recapture her calm. “Are you the one who’s been stalking me?”
His cheek rubbed hers. “The one? No, love. We are many.”
Revulsion rose up and she tried to strain away from him. “I don’t understand why.”
“I’d love to take the time to explain it to you, but in the end it really doesn’t matter, does it?” His thumb toggled back and forth, flicking the tip of her breast.
It ruched beneath his teasing, puckering because she was so very afraid. Goose bumps rose on her arms, and the fine hairs on the back of her neck lifted. “Well, what the fuck are you waiting for?” she gritted out. She jerked against him again and slammed her heel against his instep, but he quickly shifted behind her, deflecting her kick so it glanced off the top of his boot.
“Easy,” he crooned. “I didn’t come here alone. We’re leaving through the kitchen as soon as my men clear our way.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Sure you will. You aren’t at full strength yet. I can easily overcome you. And why fight? You’re only upsetting yourself.”
He forced her forward, butting his knees against the back of hers so they collapsed beneath her, only to scoot her forward toward the bar. The crowd parted, forming a corridor. How the hell could she escape when there were so many?
“I don’t understand,” she said. “Why are you doing this?”
“Not because I want to, I assure you. I’d much prefer sliding my cock inside you than taking off your head. But this is necessary.”
Taking off her head? Her panic increased a hundredfold, and she bucked against him. To no avail.
The bartender looked up, and just as quickly turned away. There’d be no help there. No help from anyone in the bar, she realized as so many of them flashed the tips of their fangs while they passed.
“But why?”
“This is a revolution. We’re fighting a war. You’re just a pawn, love. You and the nit growing in your belly.”
“But you’re a vampire,” she gasped, digging in her heels. “So am I. I don’t know what war you’re talking about.” She knew she was babbling, but she wanted to stall him long enough to figure a way out. He shoved her along, her puny efforts not impeding his momentum one bit.
Where the hell was Chessa?
Rather than struggle, which wasn’t affecting him at all, she hung limply in his arms and dragged her feet along the floor, forcing him to carry more of her weight. Slowing him down.
“I don’t expect your cooperation,” he said, grunting softly as he hoisted her onto his hip, carrying her as easily as a sack of potatoes.
She reached up to claw at his face and managed to punch his jaw, but the blow held no real force due to the awkward angle.
“Quit fighting me,” he said, giving her a hard jounce on his hip. “I promise to make this quick. I’ll find no joy in killing you.”
“Then why do it?”
Fernando brought her behind the bar and pushed open the swinging door, which led into a small kitchen. Then he dragged her through the kitchen down a narrow, low-ceiling hallway, until they were in a small back room with boxes stacked in every corner and a door to the outside.
He flung her into one corner and loomed over her where she lay crumpled on the floor. He bent and placed his hands on his knees. “We’re all vampires,” he said drawing a deep breath and leveling a cold, hard stare. “But those of us who were born human first, are treated like minions by your kind. We’re good enough to fuck. Good enough to fill your ranks of workers and protectors, but we have no voice on the council. We’re going to change that.”
Natalie scrambled to put her feet beneath her, crouching in front of him. “I don’t know anything about the council. I’m not your enemy.”
His gaze narrowed, and his upper lip lifted in a snarl. “Every Born is our enemy.”
“H-how did you know that…I was Born,” she asked, her breaths growing choppy with her rising panic. Her teeth began to chatter, so she clamped shut her jaw.
“I suspected last night at the bar. Chessa watched over you like you were her chick and she the mother hen. But the rats only confirmed it.”
“Figures they work for you.”
Fernando’s low laughter, so cold and laced with a dirty edge, made her quiver. “As if we had that kind of power. Don’t you know you have enemies all around you?”
“I don’t know anything,” she said, hating the tears welling in her ey
es. If she was going to die, she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.
“Let’s get this over with.” He straightened and unbuttoned his cuffs and the front of his shirt. “Don’t want blood stains, do I?” When he let it slide off his shoulder, she bolted up and past him, running for the outside door.
Her hand turned the knob, but he slammed into her back, trapping her against the door. His hot, naked skin burned her through her blouse as he anchored her there, pressing so hard she couldn’t expand her lungs. His breath stirred her hair next to her ear, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
The hard ridge of his cock dug into her buttocks. “See what you do to me? You shouldn’t have fought me.”
“What? You’re going to fuck me, first?” she asked, gasping for air.
“Would you like that? One last time to get lost in it? I could kill you at your climax. You’d never know.”
Tears leaked from her eyes. For once her hormones weren’t firing on all cylinders. His offer left her feeling only sick to her stomach.
“Back away from her, Fred.”
Natalie sobbed her relief at the hard-edged and deadly sound of Chessa’s voice.
“Now, what would be the advantage for me,” Fernando murmured.
“You’ll get a chance to fight.”
“I think I’d be better off with the girl. I don’t really think you’d risk harming her.” He twisted around, bringing Natalie in front of him and stepped deeper into the room. Toward Chessa.
Chessa stood with a gun in one hand and a two-by-four that had been split so one end was pointed. She hefted it above her shoulder, her gaze narrowing on him, never straying to Natalie, who strained against the arm he’d slung around her throat.
He kept moving forward until Chessa was forced to move aside. “You can’t go through the bar, Fred,” she said. “You won’t make it out alive. We’ve got your guys contained. Even as we speak, they’re dusting them off, one by one.”
Fernando’s arm tightened, choking Natalie, cutting off her air. He halted in the center of the room.
Suddenly, the door slammed open and rain swept inside, carried on a wind that almost lifted them off their feet.
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