Final Choices

by Lydia Parks

  Except for one, who just happened to be over three hundred.

  But she wasn’t actually dating Nathan. In fact, there wasn’t really a word to define their relationship. Why should there be? How many people had any kind of relationship with a vampire?

  “Are you seeing anyone?”

  Terra’s eyes snapped to Austin’s. I don’t think that’s any of your business, is what she meant to say. “No.”

  “No one? I find that hard to believe.”

  “No one serious.”

  “Oh, I see. So you do have one or two not-so-serious guys.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  He grinned. “You didn’t have to. A young woman as good-looking as you has to have a few guys hanging around. The whole male population of Atlanta can’t be that stupid.”

  Terra glanced around the room, trying not to smile. If nothing else, Austin was good for her ego.

  “So tell me about your male friends. Anyone interesting?”

  Her eyes snapped back to Austin’s as a small warning bell went off in her head. Why was he asking these questions? “You want me to introduce you to them? And here I thought you were making a pass at me. I didn’t know you were into guys.”

  Austin laughed. “I am making a pass at you. Guess I’m not too good at small talk.”

  “No, you’re not.” She slid out of the booth and hurried toward the cash register.

  Austin followed. “Here, let me get that.”

  Terra ignored his offer, paid the bill, and headed outside.

  As she pulled open the driver’s door, Austin pushed it shut. “Wait.”

  Terra turned to find him standing close. She leaned back on the car and looked up into his dark eyes.

  He stared at her mouth for a long moment, grinned, and then lowered his mouth to hers.

  His lips were warm and full and tasty as they covered hers. He kissed her briefly, drew back just enough to take a deep breath, then kissed her again. His hand slid behind her neck, drawing her up close as he urged her mouth open with his own.

  Terra reached out to hold his waist, unsure what to do, unable to remain unresponsive. Austin’s masculine scent filled her senses, hammering her wall of defense into powder.

  He took her mouth with greedy force, tilting his head to reach deeper, groaning as he wrapped an arm around her.

  Terra shook with a rush of desire and heat.

  But she knew better.

  Using every ounce of willpower she could find, she pushed against his chest with both hands.

  Austin resisted her efforts at first, then released her mouth and leaned back to look at her. He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Damn.”

  Terra pushed him back farther. “I think that’s enough for now.”

  He grinned. “Sounds like there’s hope for the future.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  He didn’t respond, but continued to grin.

  She wished he wouldn’t do that. He had the sexiest grin she’d ever seen.

  She straightened and turned to her vehicle door once again. “Okay, Detective Williams, shift’s over. I’m going home. I’ll see you tonight.”

  He nodded, then stepped back and watched her get in her car.

  His gaze rattled her so that she forgot to take off the emergency brake until after she’d completely backed out of the parking space, cursing the car for responding so poorly. She popped the brake and started forward, refusing to look in the rearview mirror. He was probably laughing at her.

  Why was she so attracted to this stranger? It wasn’t as if she were some sex-starved teenager. “Jeez.”

  Chapter Three

  Nathan sat in his living room, listening to silence, or as close to it as the world got these days. The refrigerator hummed, a clock ticked, and traffic noise seeped in through thin exterior walls.

  Somewhere out there something disturbed his existence like pebbles falling into a peaceful pond.

  If he suffered from human emotions, he’d have too many regrets to count—they’d devour him. Fortunately, he didn’t.

  Did he?

  Why had he told Terra that he’d missed her?

  Because it was what she’d wanted to hear. There could be no other reason.

  Could there?

  “No.”

  Yet, he felt a hollow ache in his chest, somewhere in the vicinity of his long-dead heart, an ache of more than loneliness and need. He wanted Terra by his side, in his arms, in his bed for the rest of his existence.

  Nathan stood quickly. This was a dangerous line of thought. He’d fallen into the trap once before, and regretted his mistake for nearly a century.

  His mistake had taken the form of a beautiful young woman named Iris, the daughter of a shopkeeper. At seventeen, she had the exuberance of youth with all the refinement of one much past her years. Her long brown hair, streaked with red, gold, and black, reached her narrow waist when not bound, reminding him of a magnificent cape as it draped her bare shoulders. Her lips were round and ruby red, and her eyes were the color of amber, meant to trap more than hapless insects. But her gentleness was what brought him to her. He was a moth to her flame.

  After a month of nights, watching her stock shelves and wait on customers with kindly smiles, he'd entered the shop against his better judgment. He needed to get closer, to hear the rustle of her skirt and smell the scent of her skin. Perhaps, had he been in the darkness for more than a century by then, he would have understood the weakness she caused in him, and he would have left her untouched.

  Perhaps he would have seen her fire.

  “I see you fancy the girl.”

  Nathan slid his gaze from Iris’s shapely figure to the ruddy face of the man standing before him. The oaf was round like a barrel and barely five and a half feet tall. His breath smelled foul from the ale he’d consumed, and his black, toothless grin made Nathan cringe.

  “I beg your pardon.”

  The man gestured with his head. “The girl. My daughter, she be. And a good catch for the right man, if you get my drift.”

  “You’re saying she’s for sale?”

  The man scoured at Nathan and drew himself up with indignation. “She’s not some common whore, my Iris. You misunderstand me. I’ll not allow her to be courted by one so course.”

  Nathan glanced at Iris as she started down the stepladder across the store. Her skin, the color of fresh milk, promised miracles of ecstasy to one fortunate enough to hold her.

  When her eyes caught his, he drew in a sharp breath of surprise. Never had he seen such pure sorrow in a young woman’s eyes. It reached to the very bottom of her soul, and touched him in a way nothing had since he’d stepped into darkness.

  “Pray, kind sir, forgive me.”

  The man continued to frown for a moment, then nodded. “I see you’re a man of class, so you understand that I’m only concerned for her welfare, as I’ve always been. I raised her from a brat, when her good mother died in childbirth. She hasn’t a mean bone in her body, I’ve seen to that. She’ll not sass you.”

  “I see.” His eyes followed the girl from the room. When she disappeared into the storeroom, Nathan turned his full attention to her father. “I wish to have an evening alone with Iris, to see if she suits me.”

  “Sir, I don’t see how that’s possible. She’ll not fetch so good a dowry if she’s soiled goods. And I promise you, she’s as pure as the driven snow.”

  Nathan withdrew a bag of gold coin from inside his coat and dropped it with a thud onto the wooden counter.

  The shopkeeper snatched the bag up, opened it, and examined the contents. He stared at Nathan for a long moment in disbelief, then returned his attention to the purse.

  “Is that a reasonable sum for an evening with your daughter?”

  “Aye,” the man muttered. “For this you can do as you wish. I’ll not get a better offer for that one.” He tucked the coin bag under the counter and smiled, his eyes glistening with greed. “I have two mo
re that are not quite so old, if you’d prefer to take your pick.”

  Ignoring the comment, Nathan walked to the back where he found Iris standing with her back pressed to the wall, apparently listening to the transaction. Tears filled her beautiful eyes, but did not run down her cheeks.

  He offered his hand to her. “My dear,” he said, “you have no need to fear me.”

  She didn’t respond other than to place her trembling hand in his and follow him from the store without a backwards glance.

  As he led her out into the night, he caught the scent of dust and flour on her skin, but it could not hide the wonderful hint of night-blooming flowers that seemed to emanate from her very core. Her pale skin glowed in the moonlight, as if she were a creature like himself. The pounding of blood in her veins and the warmth of her slender fingers in his palm assured him that she was not.

  “Come, my sweet Iris, and walk with me through the woods. The night is young.”

  “Yes, sire,” she whispered. “As you wish.”

  The tenderness of her voice sent a wave of warmth through him, reaching to the ends of his extremities.

  Later, he wondered if he’d heard the underlying determination in her simple statement, or placed it there in retrospect.

  The night held magic he thought he’d lost—magic of longing and need, with promise of fulfillment as Iris slipped her arm into his and matched his pace without hesitation.

  Her scent, completely intoxicating, pushed him to the brink of control, and he stopped to draw her into his arms.

  She met his kiss without fear or schooling, and his need swelled. A flower, she was, a perfect bud, and he would be the first to enjoy her as she blossomed under his instruction. Her blood would be pure and sweet and irresistible.

  He felt her warm breath on his face as he dropped his mouth to her shoulder, savoring the scented saltiness of her skin.

  “Do with me as you will, sir, but please take me from this wretched place.”

  He raised his head to gaze down into her gorgeous eyes. “You do not like it here?”

  “No, sir, I will die if I remain.”

  “I see.” He considered the possibility of having Iris at his side for all eternity, and smiled. She would be a mate like no other, undoubtedly as tender in bed as she was at that moment. When the time came, would he be able to resist giving her the gift of eternity? Offering her the taste of darkness?

  Time would tell. First, he would savor her sweet nectar, both as human and beast, and then he would make his decision in a calm, calculating manner.

  “My sweet Iris,” he whispered, as he lowered his lips to her warm neck. “Tonight will be a treat for us both.”

  She shivered as she stood in his embrace and slid her hands inside his coat to burn trails of fire across his ribs. He groaned and he ran his hands over her shoulders, pushing the cotton material as far to the side as it would move. Her well-muscled shoulders were soft under his fingers—heated, luscious. As he encircled her slowly, his palms passed over long, thin ridges on her back.

  Nathan opened his eyes and found the ridges nearly invisible to even his superhuman vision. But they were definitely there, scars left by a brute with a buggy whip, or perhaps the branch of a sapling. He was wondering how far down the scars ran when she pushed her fingers into the waistline of his breeches.

  His human response left no room for questions as he circled her buttocks with his hands, sliding the thick material against her skin.

  Iris made a soft noise of pleasure and pressed her face into his shirt.

  No, the night would not be uneventful, he thought. Lifting her chin, he took her mouth, and she surrendered. When her hands rose to his shoulders, he lifted her into his arms.

  Within a few minutes, Iris lay across his bed, her clothes gone and her beautiful hair draped across her shoulders. Nathan pushed the locks aside as he stretched out on top of her, reveling in the warmth of her skin against his.

  “You are so cold,” she whispered.

  “Yes, my dear, but it is a cold that you shall soon assuage.”

  “How, sir?”

  “By giving yourself to me, sweet Iris. Surrender all.”

  He pressed the thought into her head and her legs spread apart in response as her eyes closed. She turned her head to bare her neck and he started into her, anxious to be sheathed in her sweet flesh.

  As promised, she was pure, and he met her virginal resistance with a brutal thrust as the beast whispered in his head. She’s yours. Take her now.

  She screeched as he broke through her maidenhead and tried to wriggle free of him, but he held her down, stroked her forehead, and eased away her thoughts of pain. “Calm yourself, my dear. You’ll soon enjoy it.”

  Her young body relaxed under him and he started slow, easy movements, staving off the demon’s desires for a few more moments. Iris began to respond, rolling her hips into each plunging stroke.

  His fangs grew rapidly, and he listened to the hammering beat of her heart, matching it with his thrusts. She lifted her cunt to meet him. As the sharp points of his teeth dented her tender skin, the scent of her virgin fluids teased the beast nearly to insanity, and she cried out with her release.

  Nathan drove his fangs into the pounding vein in her neck and her sweet blood filled him with life and warmth and fear and desire. His own release came forth as an explosion in response, as he uncovered her darkness—an inky swirl of hatred and loathing. Absorbing all of her, he needed revenge as she needed revenge, and she cried out again, her body jerking rhythmically against his as he drank. On and on he went, falling into the abyss, needing every drop of her, and taking it without remorse.

  Her heartbeat quieted until there was no more, and Nathan raised his mouth from her neck. His ecstasy continued like an opium cloud, consuming him.

  Knowing that he had no choice—that he must have her again—he bit into his own wrist and held the wound over her mouth. Before long, she wrapped her arm around his, and drew hard, taking the gift he offered with all the selfishness of a fledgling.

  But the selfishness should have waned as she awakened to eternity. She should have raised her head and exposed her neck, smiling sweetly at him as she had her customers in the store.

  Iris awoke with nothing but the vengeance he’d tasted in her blood.

  Like an animal, she pushed him over to his back, straddled him on all fours, and grinned as she speared herself on his erect cock. Nathan raised up to meet her wicked move and she sank her newly developing fangs into his neck, tearing his flesh in her enthusiasm. As she drank, he exploded inside her again and again, releasing more than he had to give.

  He knew then, as he felt the weakness overtake him, that his darkness was nothing compared to hers.

  Iris withdrew from his neck and his cock and stood beside his bed, looking down at him with an expression he could not interpret. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and grinned. “Indeed, Nathan, quite a treat.”

  As she turned toward the door, he watched her, unable to lift a finger to stop her. “Iris, where are you going?”

  She glanced back from the doorway, her grin intact. “I have debts to repay, and they can not wait.”

  * * * *

  After a week of working beside Austin Williams, Terra was on the brink of becoming a jellyfish. The man was beyond gorgeous. Every inch of his six-foot-one frame was masculine, but he was kind and thoughtful, and he smelled better than any man she’d ever met. Every morning, she went home with her panties drenched, and yesterday she’d started on the third round of batteries in her vibrator. She couldn’t continue like this.

  Maybe he’d go home soon. They’d followed up on both of his leads and found nothing. Then he’d helped her work on her cases. It looked like they might have something on the Ricco Washington case—the man found in the park—but she wasn’t sure it would pan out.

  If only she could stop thinking about Austin.

  Terra toweled her hair and combed it out, then tied the s
ash on her robe and padded to the kitchen. Almost time for dinner. After staying awake half the morning with fitful dreams about her partner, she’d managed to sleep late. Now the real question would be what she should do with herself on her night off. Maybe she could put off considering the possibilities until after her meal. Trying her best to refocus, Terra pulled open the refrigerator door, and leaned down to study the unmarked food containers.

  A knock at the door brought her up with a start.

  “What the…?”

  She closed the refrigerator, walked to the front door, and checked the peephole.

  “Oh, shit.”

  Austin Williams stood at her door, combed, shaved and as gorgeous as ever.

  Terra glanced down at herself, then looked through the peephole again.

  “Terra?”

  Taking a deep breath and huffing it out, she opened the door an inch to peer out. “Yeah?”

  “Hi.” He flashed that incredible smile. “I just happen to know you’re off work tonight. I don’t suppose you want to join me for dinner?”

  “Well, I…”

  ”Look, I’m sorry I didn’t call first. But I was afraid you’d turn me down.”

  Oh, Christ, he was good. His brown-eyed gaze melted her resistance like a flame-thrower against a candle.

  “Okay, but I’m not dressed.”

  His smile grew somewhat wicked. “I don’t mind if you don’t.”

  Her face blazed at the thought that she didn’t mind at all, but she bit back the urge to say so. “Count to three, then come in.” Pushing the door closed, she ran on tiptoe back to the bathroom.

  As she pulled on jeans and a short-sleeve sweater, she heard him walk around her living room.

  “Nice place you have,” he called out.

  “Thanks.”

  Terra rushed through her makeup and hair, opting for the natural look in hopes that she wouldn’t seem too desperate. Already, her belly tingled with excitement.