by Shah, Karin
In a breakneck maneuver, Gideon wheeled around and wrapped his leathery wings around his enemy’s large body. They plummeted toward the earth, a two-ton stone.
With a sound like thunder, the pavement deformed as they hit the ground, and the adjacent buildings shook.
Shaking off the force of the impact, Gideon blew fire in Akos’ face. The rogue twisted his lizard-like head away on his long neck, and the fire blackened the wall of a nearby building. His head snaked forward and he buried his long teeth in Gideon’s flexible neck.
Gideon cried out with agony as Akos’ poisonous, dagger-like teeth, slipped beneath tough scales and punctured muscle and bone, slicing through his jugular. Incapable of maintaining his dragon form, Gideon staggered back, blood flowing from his neck and chest, poison invading his blood stream.
Akos shifted back to his human body, his face stretched in a smirk of triumph. “At last, I’ll be rid of you.” He looked around. “There’s only one thing missing.” Headlights flashed. An engine rumbled. He turned back to Gideon, crowing with satisfaction. “Ah, here she is now.”
A late model sedan screeched around the corner. Its headlights shone like a spotlight, throwing a grotesque silhouette of Akos on the wall of a nearby building. The shadow shrank as the car raced nearer.
Akos looked over his shoulder, his smirk dissolving as he realized it wasn’t going to stop. He screamed as the car plowed into his back, knocking him to the ground and crushing him under its wheels. The passenger door opened and Thalia leaned out, her face white in the reflected light. “Come on!”
Gideon hesitated. He wanted to end this now. But he was gravely wounded and Akos, fueled by the Claiming would not be easily killed. If Gideon stayed to finish him now, it might be the last thing he did. He slid into the car. “Let’s go.” As he put pressure on his wound, he realized the persistent feeling he’d forgotten something had disappeared.
Thalia checked the rearview mirror. Akos squirmed on the wet pavement, and she knew he was healing his broken body with every passing second, but she’d stopped him temporarily.
Seeing Akos standing over Gideon, she’d reacted without thinking. For a second, she relived the nauseating crunch as the metal bumper had hit solid flesh and bone, and the thud as the rogue’s body had been taken under the tires.
To be on the safe side, she watched Akos until he was no longer in view. Then she looked across the bench seat at Gideon. He was hurt bad. Much worse than the last time. The skin of his neck had been laid bare, revealing the muscles and ligaments beneath, but it was the blood gushing from his neck that told the true story. If she couldn’t get him blood, he had only minutes to live.
“Take me back to the alley where we found Akos,” he gasped.
She didn’t ask why and turned the car around like a professional moonshiner running from the revenuers. He put a hand on top of hers on the steering wheel. “Slow down. We can’t attract attention.”
She nodded grimly and brought their speed closer to the speed limit.
“How did you find us?” Gideon’s face was ashen, and he was beginning to wheeze. The car reeked of blood as more of the precious fluid darkened his clothes.
Thalia struggled to concentrate on driving while her heart felt like it might explode. “Locator spell.”
She pulled up to the curb and jumped out, leaving the engine running. “The police—” said Gideon, hoarsely.
“Will see nothing I don’t want them to see.”
She muttered the last word of a spell she’d worked in the car as she’d frantically raced to his side. She felt the magic flow from her, could see it color the air.
People nearby were about to experience missing time. She grimaced and hoped none of them thought they’d had an abduction experience.
She yanked the rusty passenger side door open. It groaned in objection. She clutched Gideon’s arm and half-dragged him out of the car. A sick pressure squeezed her heart, tears blurred her vision. Tottering under his weight, she managed to help him into the alley.
An older, gray-haired man stood there, frozen, a look of surprise on his homely face.
“Who is this?”
“Akos’ bait,” he whispered, pulling the man to him with one arm. He sank his fangs into the man’s thick neck and drank.
Gods, he hated having her see him this way. When he fed, the beast was never more than a hairsbreadth from the surface.
Gideon stepped out from Thalia’s supportive hold and turned his back on her so he couldn’t see her.
The rich, warm blood spurted into his mouth, urging him to drink deeply, to take his fill. The blood rushed to his head like the finest champagne. The pleasure of feeding dulled the pain of his injuries. His wounds began to heal. Still he drank. The man moaned, and Gideon came back to himself. He wrenched away, panting. He’d come very close to taking too much.
His eyes found Thalia’s sober face. Her eyes were huge with concern, her soft bottom lip pinched between her teeth, her breathing irregular.
“I’ve taken a bit much, but he should be okay. I’ll meet you at Mina’s. You’ll be safe there.” He didn’t want to leave her alone, but after what she’d done to Akos, his adversary would also have to feed before he went to ground at dawn.
“Your wounds?” Thalia protested.
“Almost healed. I need more blood, but I don’t have much time left before dawn.”
He could see the reluctance in Thalia’s expression, but she agreed, and he led her back to the car. “Where did this car come from?”
Thalia looked abashed. “I stole it. I took it from the emergency department parking lot and it’s only for the people who drive themselves.”
“Why didn’t you take one from the parking garage?”
“I don’t have any money.”
Despite his weakness, Gideon smiled.
He left the older man in the alley and followed Thalia back to Mina’s car, watching over her while she wiped her prints off the stolen vehicle. The sky was turning an ominous gray. Gideon left her and flew to one of the few places he could find prey in Rochester at this hour—the local Perkins.
Hours later, Gideon awoke in the dark room. He looked around, disoriented for a moment, and saw a glimmer of light shining around the edges of the curtains. Memory flooded back. He was in a spare bedroom at Mina’s.
His feeding the previous evening had gone smoothly, but he’d cut it close—the first rays of sun had begun to burn the back of his neck as Thalia had let him in. She’d led him to the nearest bedroom, and he’d gone straight to sleep.
A faint shaft of light from the hall pierced the darkness, and he knew why he’d awakened.
Thalia. He could tell by her scent, the rhythm of her breathing, even the beating of her heart. “Come in,” he said gently, as if to a wild creature.
She slid into the room and closed the door softly behind her. The latch fastened with a whisper and a click. “I can’t sleep.” She walked further into the room, her arms wrapped around her body as if she were cold. She wore a floor length wrapper of chenille, borrowed from Mina, no doubt. She was wound tight.
Nervous.
Reasonable when he considered she was about to face the most difficult challenge of her life, but he didn’t think that accounted for the wide dilation of her pupils and the skittering cadence of her heart. Her sweet, fresh scent held a hint of musk.
She hadn’t come to him to talk.
He should send her away. Nothing had changed. The reasons he’d broken it off earlier still remained and they were still good, solid reasons. But somehow he couldn’t seem to remember them.
Not with her standing here, her breath coming fast, the heady scent of her arousal in the air.
He held a hand out to her.
At that minute, nothing seemed more important to Thalia than having this time with Gideon. Not the challenge, not the community, not the rogue, nothing. She didn’t know where the courage had come from, but when she’d finally given up on sleep, she knew sh
e had to be with Gideon. Their time together was running short. No man had ever called to her as he did. Maybe it was because he was a vampire. She didn’t care.
She’d almost lost him last night.
And maybe he didn’t want her, maybe he’d turn her away, but she needed to try. To be with him was worth the risk of rejection.
She could barely see him in the dark room. He was just a shadowy figure on the bed. She could see his eyes, though. They gleamed in the dim light seeping around the window shades.
She took his hand. He pulled her toward him and she went into his welcoming arms. He simply held her for a moment and though she savored the warmth of his embrace, she feared he intended no more than that. But then he cupped her cheek in his large hand. His thumb caressed her cheekbone, the slightly callused surface scraping her smooth skin and sending a flare of heat zinging though her. His eyes held hers for a long intoxicating second, and he lowered his lips to hers.
Her eyes closed as his mouth worked a dark magic as smooth as melted chocolate and just as sweet. The rough velvet of his tongue glided past her lips and delved into the inner recesses of her mouth. The touch of his tongue against hers ignited a spark that scorched her nerve endings, leaving them tortuously sensitive. She gasped for air, but her breathlessness had nothing to do with lack of oxygen and everything to do with the sorcery of his touch.
He ran his fingers through the silky skein of her hair. The brush of his digits against her scalp sent a shivery thrill down her spine. Her hand found the back of his head. His hair was soft. She stroked his nape. He groaned. The sound hummed within her chest. That she could elicit such a response from this man evoked an answering moan. His lips played over hers, the tiny, stinging nip of his teeth, hot alchemy. She discovered the sharp points of his fangs with her tongue and drew back. His eyes glowed red in the dark.
Chapter 19
The demon rose strong in him, but he couldn’t stop. His body cried out for hers. He had to have her. He took her mouth again before trailing tiny kisses from the corner of her lips to her chin and down her neck. He bit lightly at the sensitive base of her throat, careful not to break the skin. She clutched his head to her and her excitement fed him, inspiring him to greater heights.
He opened her borrowed robe. The room was as bright as day to him, and he relished the sight of the intimate curves and hollows of her body, the dark rose nipples, the downy hair guarding her sex. He struggled from his clothing, leaving it in a heap upon the carpet. He could tell by the way her eyes grazed his body that her eyes had grown accustomed to the dark. Her breathing was heavy and uneven. She liked what she saw. There was a hint of fear there, too, and he remembered she was a virgin, but he had forgotten why he cared. He burned.
Nobility forgotten, he took her in his arms and brought her bare body against his. He rubbed his rough cheek on her satiny shoulder. The exquisite press of her nipples against his chest was more than he could stand. He drew her back to the bed and picked her up, setting her on top of him. Her moist center kissed his thigh, calling to his hand. He gently parted her damp folds and found her small nub. Her head fell back and she cried out. He stole the sound with his mouth, swallowing it when he recaptured her lips.
She’d thought his mouth magic, but his hands. Heavens. His hands.
He rubbed her, and she thought she might explode with delight. She liquefied. There wasn’t a bone or a cartilage left in her body. The swollen recesses of her body yearned for more, and he didn’t disappoint, easing a finger inside her. The vibrating touch of his thumb and the slick stroke of his finger threatened to send her staggering into a mysterious world of sensation unlike any she’d ever known. She ripped her mouth away from his and offered him her breasts. His feverish lips found the pink tip of one full globe, and she glimpsed that other world for one heavenly moment.
His hands fell away. Deprived of her goal, she clutched at his shoulders, unwilling to let him back away now, as he had before. “No,” she said. “Don’t stop!”
“I won’t.” He rolled them over until she lay beneath him and his erection found the throbbing ache his hand had left. She felt her eyes widen as he filled her. He was so hard, so thick. There was a tiny stinging pain, but it dissolved in the sea of pleasure he roused as he began to move.
Gideon rested on his elbows so he could see her face; her eyelids were half-lowered over her sparkling eyes, her full lips open in a blissful smile. Her gasping moans were music to his ears. Her head rolled back exposing her neck. Gods. How he longed to drink from her.
Do it, the monster hissed. Gideon forced him back. He would not hurt her.
At least not now. The demon got in one final word before Gideon conquered him, stuffing him back in his iron cage.
Thalia sighed and moved her slender hips, pulling him into the cradle of her thighs and he forgot his struggle. Nothing existed but the joy of their union. He took his time, reading the expression on her lovely face. Taking her to the apex of pleasure and then bringing her back, again and again. Finally he could hold back no longer, he lost control, driving into her as the tight clench of her muscles impelled him over the edge.
Thalia rested her cheek on Gideon’s sleek chest. She resisted the impulse to nibble his golden skin. Aftershocks still rippled through her, and already she wanted more. She felt her face heat and buried it in Gideon’s side. She’d never even imagined it could be like this. She leaned up on one slim elbow to look at his amazing face, and opened her mouth to tell him how much joy he had given her, then stopped. He was asleep.
She grinned, nestled into the shelter of his strong arms, and slept as well.
The brown eyes in front of him were wide. The expression in them shocked, as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened. Her startled cry still died away in the hot, parched air. Gideon pulled free his curved blade. Inanna grabbed her stomach.
She stood bent over for a moment and put out a graceful, accusing hand. Blood dyed her palm and fingers like henna on a bride.
Her eyes changed color. The velvety brown he’d compared to polished agate became the sparkling blue of a sunny tropical sea. Now it wasn’t Inanna standing there, her arm outstretched, begging for mercy.
It was Thalia.
Her face was bleached white with pain. Her body shook. Tears spilled from her eyes and streaked her lovely face.
She collapsed, a sapling slain by a violent summer storm.
Blood pooled on the thick carpets, streaming into the thirsty sand.
He wiped his stained blade and left her without a backward glance.
And it began again.
What had he done?
Gideon opened his eyes and looked over at Thalia. She lay on her side, one hand pillowing her rosy cheek like a child. The dream faded, but its ominous message gripped him, twisting his stomach into a knot. He raised his hand and glided it an inch above her shoulder and down to her hip, reassuring himself that this was real. She was here. She was safe.
He brushed a strand of hair away from her temple, her scent rose to his nose, musky and sweet. He wanted her again. His body was already hardening in response. He didn’t think he could ever get enough of her.
He wanted more than just sex, though. She warmed him like the distantly remembered sun, banishing the cold that had encased him for so long. He wanted to bask in her warmth, to bathe in the sunny rays of her attention, but all those reasons he had dismissed in the heat of passion leaped back.
Yes, he’d been able to control the monster. This time. But the heat that warmed him also drew the monster. He couldn’t take the risk that he might hurt her. And even if he could control himself, she would age while he stayed young. Sure as the sun rose each morning, he would lose her, and when he did...
“Gideon?” Thalia awoke, a radiant smile on her face. He turned away and began to pull on his clothes.
If he looked at her, he might weaken.
“Gideon, what’s wrong?”
“This can’t happen again.”
&
nbsp; “What? Why not? I’m not asking for a lifetime commitment.” Thalia held out a beseeching hand, reminding him hauntingly of his nightmare. He could hear the stunned hurt in her voice.
He hardened his heart. This was the way it had to be.
Thalia studied his rigid back, her throat tight with distress. She knew this couldn’t last, but she’d thought he might at least consider an affair. “Why can’t we just enjoy what we have?” Thalia was proud of the steadiness of her voice while inside she felt herself shatter into a million tiny shards each smaller than the last. Perhaps it had been pity. The thought sent an icy wave of pain slicing through her.
“Because you are a poisonblood.”
Thalia flinched. His words were like a fist squeezing her heart. She pressed her lips together, swallowing a gasp.
“And I am a monster.”
“No.” She reached out to him.
“Yes!” One powerful hand raised to forestall any further interruption; he turned away from her, an imposing shadow in the dim room. “There’s so much you don’t know about me.” He seemed to go inward, moving away from her toward the dressing table, his face reflected in its large round mirror. His eyes were so dark they looked like deep pits in the planes of his face. “As a human, I committed acts that would disgust you. I disgust myself.”
Taken aback by the vehemence in his tone, Thalia bit her lip. Tears seared the back of her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Her hand covered her mouth, partially obscuring her mark. The man’s lament, “It’s not you. It’s me.” What they really meant was, of course, “It’s you.” The ache in her chest robbed her lungs of air.
Gideon took a step closer to the mirror. His eyes met hers in the glass before falling away. “I was born in the Middle East in the days before Babylon, before Sumer. We called ourselves the Kurut. You won’t find us in any history book.” He smiled without humor. “We weren’t important enough. My name was not even Gideon then.