Desperate to hide the effect that Kara’s touch had on her, Rose cleared her throat. “What?” she asked. She froze as she glanced down and saw the scars. Kara’s fingertip lingered on a deep, jagged scar across her collarbone. “Oh, that.”
“Fy faen,” she breathed. “Rose, what happened to you?”
“Theron liked to torture people,” Rose said. “I had it easy, considering.”
Kara’s hand fell, and her gaze shifted up to meet Rose’s gaze. Her eyes flashed with a mixture of sympathy and anger. “I hope you killed him painfully.”
Rose shifted uncomfortably. “I believe it hurt him, yes.”
“Good,” Kara said, leaning back. “You died afterward, then?”
Rose nodded. “I used too much power. My body couldn’t handle it.”
Kara suddenly leaned back in her chair again, straightening her body. She grabbed the bottom of her shirt and jerked it up, revealing her bare stomach.
Rose blushed. “Uh…what are you doing?”
Kara tapped her finger against a deep, gruesome scar in her side. “This was my first battle wound,” she said before dropping her shirt. “I was sixteen and small and not quite fast enough yet. I got caught in the side by a battle-axe. It almost killed me. I lost a lot of blood, developed a fever, and couldn’t even keep down water. But it healed eventually, and after it did, my father had new armor crafted for me. I assumed it would be a set of armor that better protected my sides, but it wasn’t. It exposed this side, specifically. I thought it looked ridiculous and foolish. But my father told me that warriors should expose their scars. He said that it shows the enemy what you’ve already survived.” She sighed, her light blue eyes softening affectionately. “You shouldn’t try so hard to hide your scars. You’re stronger and more resilient than you know. Be proud of that.”
Rose stared at Kara, struck speechless by the sincerity and affection in that statement. She’d seen many sides of Kara in the short time since she’d met her—the cunning side, the flirty side, the vulgar, humorous side, the venomous side, the seductive side—but this was a side that she had never expected to see.
Kara sighed and stood, stretching her long, muscular arms over her head. Her shirt rode up again, exposing a tattoo of a strange, unfamiliar, colorful flower on her hip. “I should probably get in bed before I pass out,” she said, yawning. “Maybe this time, I will have a wet dream about you, instead of Alana.”
Rose blinked in shock. “Uh… What?”
“Goodnight, sexy,” Kara said as she sat down on the other bed.
11
Love Letters and Corpses
Rose closed her eyes and stepped underneath the water, allowing the warm, soothing water to wash over her and rinse the shampoo out of her hair. She could still feel the suds from the shampoo snaking down her back when she suddenly heard Kara’s breathy, accented voice right outside the shower.
“Hello,” she said simply, as if this were a completely normal situation.
Rose’s eyes widened in shock. She jerked the shower curtain back and peeked into the bathroom, careful to keep the shower curtain covering her body…or most of it, at least. She stared, her mouth ajar, at the fully-clothed vampire in front of her. Kara leaned against the white wall, her arms crossed across her chest, her thin, black shirt stretched tight against her skin. She seemed completely at ease as she watched Rose, a lazy smile tugging at her lips.
“Um…Kara?” Rose sputtered. “Why are you in here?”
Kara tilted her head toward a stack of clothes and towels on the sink, but her cornflower-blue eyes never left Rose. “I brought you some towels.”
Rose stared blankly at her. “There’s this thing called knocking…”
Kara smiled. “Then, you would have had to come to the door naked.”
“Oh,” Rose mumbled, squinting as water dripped into her eyes.
Kara’s eyes trailed downward, as if she could see Rose’s drenched, naked body through the black shower curtain. “Not that I would have minded.”
Rose swallowed and tugged the shower curtain a little further closed until it covered every part of her body, except for her face and her fingertips.
Kara’s light blue eyes dilated with lust. “I do love seeing a woman wet.”
Rose’s eyes widened at the double entendre. “Oh my word.”
Kara chuckled at her. “You’re so cute when you blush.”
“Uh…” Rose mumbled awkwardly, her blush deepening.
“I also brought you some clean clothes,” Kara added. “I figured you’d need some. Erik said that your bags are still in the trunk of your rental car.”
Rose glanced toward the stack of clothes. “Um… Did you happen to bring something other than skintight leather pants? Because I don’t really do leather,” she stammered. Her gaze darted back toward Kara, subconsciously trailing down to the tight, black leather pants that clung to Kara’s long, muscular legs. “No offense to you, of course. You obviously look sexy in leather, but I…”
“Sexy?” Kara interrupted, her lips curving into a wide smile.
Rose’s eyes widened, heat rushing to her face. “Sexy? What? No. I didn’t say sexy. Did I say sexy?” she stammered, her words rushed and anxious. “I don’t think I said sexy. I’m sure I said something more neutral. Like good. Or fine. Or all right. You look all right in leather. No, that doesn’t sound right. Bad lie.”
Kara grinned, clearly amused by Rose’s rapid rambling. “You said sexy.”
Rose felt like her face would burst into flames at any moment, even though the shower water felt cold already. “Where is Kallias?” she blurted.
“He and Erik went to the bar for drinks,” Kara answered.
“Oh,” Rose said. “I should finish my shower.”
Kara flashed a flirty smile at her. “Go ahead.”
“Without you watching me like some kind of voyeur,” Rose added.
Kara shrugged. “I’m a Viking. We were all voyeurs.”
Rose’s eyes widened in shock.
“I’m joking,” Kara laughed, pushing away from the wall and heading toward the door. “I’ll leave so you can finish showering that sexy body of yours.”
—
A low wolf-whistle greeted Rose as she stepped out of the bathroom.
Rose glanced around the room with a frown, her lips twitching as she noticed Kara lying in bed, watching her. “You’re as bad as a man,” she teased.
“Yeah,” Kara laughed. She folded her arm behind her head and shifted her legs, drawing Rose’s attention to the way the black, leather pants hugged every inch of Kara’s lean, muscular thighs. She smiled lazily. “I suppose I am.”
Rose blushed and quickly averted her gaze, choosing instead to glare at the tight clothing that clung far too closely to her own curves. She tugged self-consciously at the sleeveless shirt. “Uh…you wouldn’t happen to have any looser clothing, would you?” she asked Kara. “These are a little too tight for me.”
“They are?” Kara asked, her voice lilting and breathy. Her intense, light blue gaze trailed slowly down Rose’s body—achingly slow—sliding over each of Rose’s soft, sensual curves with such an intensity that Rose could almost feel it. “I think they fit,” Kara paused, licking her lips slowly and hungrily, “perfectly.”
Rose swallowed uneasily, her mouth suddenly dry. For a moment, she just stood there, her bright blue eyes wide, her skin burning beneath the heat of Kara’s gaze. “I…uh… I usually wear looser clothing,” she stammered.
Kara tilted her head to the side, her sleek, black-and-blue hair spilling over her shoulder. “Loose clothing just gets in the way when you’re fighting.”
“Oh,” Rose said hollowly. She ran her gaze over Kara’s clothes, noticing how the skintight leather and cloth stretched and clung to Kara’s lean body, shifting and moving as effortlessly as she did. She realized that the clothing was kind of ideal for Kara’s lifestyle. It just…also happened to show off Kara’s perfect, gorgeous body. “Is that why you wear
…that?” she asked breathlessly.
Kara’s smile widened. “It’s one reason.”
“Oh,” Rose said, swallowing, “and the other reason?”
“The way you’re looking at me right now,” Kara answered.
Rose’s eyes widened. “What?” she sputtered. “I’m not… I wasn’t…”
Kara unfolded herself from the bed so quickly and so gracefully that it seemed as if she’d never been in bed at all. “Relax,” she said as she prowled toward Rose, her steps deliberate and purposeful. Rose instinctually took a step back, but Kara pursued her, closing in on her as she continued to walk backward, toward the wall. “I know I’m sexy, and I know that I look good in these clothes.”
Rose took another step back. “You’re also a bit cocky, don’t you think?”
Kara grinned. “Nope. Just confident.”
Rose took another step back, squeaking in surprise as her back collided with the wall. She swallowed as Kara closed in on her. “Are you always so…”
Kara leaned in close and growled, “Blunt? Seductive? Predatory?”
Rose blushed. “I was going to say bold, but those words work, too.”
Kara shrugged, a cocky grin playing at the edges of her lips. “Usually.”
“Is that a Viking thing, a vampire thing, or a…you thing?” Rose asked.
Kara’s light blue eyes sparkled with amusement. “Probably all three.”
Rose nodded. “And…does that usually work for you?”
Kara’s smile grew. “It always works for me.”
“Really?” Rose challenged. “What if the woman is straight?”
Kara laughed at that. She stepped forward, obliterating the tiny bit of space that Rose had managed to keep between them. Her long, muscular body pressed against Rose’s softer, curvier body, pressing Rose against the cold, black wall. Rose braced her hands against the wall, inhaling sharply as she felt Kara’s legs pressing against hers through the layers of leather and jeans, Kara’s stomach pressing against hers through the layers of thin fabric, Kara’s breasts pressing against hers through layers of not-thick-enough fabric. Her heart raced frantically against her chest as she watched Kara, wondering what on earth she was doing.
Kara tilted her face toward Rose’s, until their lips nearly touched. “Rose, I’ve been a lesbian for fourteen hundred years. You think I can’t tell?” she laughed. She lifted one hand, and with a gentle nudge of her finger, tilted Rose’s head to the side. She moved her mouth to Rose’s ear. Her lips curved against the shell of Rose’s ear as she smiled and whispered, “I don’t do this with straight girls.”
Rose turned her face back toward the intensely seductive vampire, her eyes wide with shock. “Oh,” she squeaked, her voice embarrassingly breathless.
Kara stepped back, finally allowing Rose to breathe again, and winked.
The doorknob clicked as Erik opened the door and stepped inside. He froze just inside the room and glanced at them, his eyes widening. His knowing gaze lingered on Rose a little longer than necessary as Kallias squeezed past him.
Rose blushed and stepped away from the wall, dragging her hand through her drenched hair as she tried to regain her composure. She frowned as she noticed a smudge of red liquid on Kallias’s face. “Is that blood?” she blurted.
He sank down onto the edge of the bed and wiped his hand across his face. He scowled at the blood on his hand. “It’s not mine,” he said dismissively.
“Let me guess,” Kara teased Erik. “Someone wasn’t happy to see you.”
Erik lifted an entire bottle of whiskey to his lips and swallowed a huge gulp of the brownish-amber liquid. He shrugged. “I mean, I know torture must suck, but you’d think these people would learn to forgive and forget eventually.”
Kallias and Rose both scowled at him.
Erik winced when he noticed the way they were looking at him. “Ah, I just realized…that was probably an insensitive thing to say, since there are people in this room who have been tortured,” he mumbled. He winced again. “And…I also just remembered that I’m not supposed to mention that. Sorry, Rose.”
Kara’s intense, blue gaze shifted toward Rose.
Rose looked away. “It’s fine,” she grumbled. “I’m not made of glass.”
Kara snatched the bottle of whiskey out of Erik’s hand and took an oversized gulp of it. She grimaced at the bottle. “There’s no blood in this.”
Erik took it back, glaring at her. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “That’s because I’m starving, and it’s not a great idea to give a starved vampire a taste of blood.”
Kara stared at him for a moment. Then, she walked over to the nightstand and grabbed the empty glass that set on top of it. She returned to him and managed to steal the bottle from him again, despite his vice-like grip on it. She poured herself a glass of whiskey and handed the bottle back to him. Then, she lifted her free hand to her mouth and sank her fangs into her own wrist.
Rose straightened in shock as the scent of the fresh blood assaulted her senses. The blood smelled like sweet, enticing warmth, and its scent caused an intense, fiery wave of hunger to pour through Rose’s veins like electricity. Her mouth watered as she watched the thick, crimson liquid pour out of the small holes in Kara’s wrist. “Um…” she sputtered, “Kara? What are you doing?”
Kara tilted her wrist to allow the blood to pour into the glass of whiskey, the dark red droplets swirling and mixing into the alcohol. “Fixing my drink.”
No matter how hard she tried, Rose couldn’t stop watching the blood.
“Do you want some?” Kara asked, her lips twitching up at the edges.
Rose’s throat felt like sandpaper, and her stomach clenched with such overwhelming hunger that she almost cried out at the pain. She licked her lips, still staring at the blood. “I…uh…” she stammered, “I don’t drink alcohol.”
Kara smiled seductively. “I wasn’t talking about the alcohol.”
Rose’s gaze snapped up toward Kara’s face, and her cheeks burned with embarrassment as she realized that all three of them were watching her. “Oh.”
Erik pouted at Kara. “Do you have to drink it like that in front of me?”
Never breaking eye contact with Rose, Kara brought her wrist to her mouth and licked the wound, slowly and thoroughly, licking every trace of blood from her skin. Her lips twitched upward again as she watched Rose’s face turn an even brighter shade of red. She tore her gaze from Rose, finally, and glanced nonchalantly at Erik as she sipped the blood-spiked alcohol. “Yeah. Why?” she asked, her voice sharp. “Are you going to kill me for drinking my own blood?”
A wounded look passed over Erik’s face. “Of course not.”
Kallias scowled at her. “We only kill vampires in order to save human lives. We don’t kill vampires for feeding. We kill them for murdering humans.”
Kara raised an eyebrow. “And when I kill a human? Will you kill me?”
Kallias stared back at her, his brown eyes dark with anger. Despite his seated position on the bed, he still carried that same intimidating presence that he did when he stood his full six-and-a-half-foot height, and yet, Kara didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by him. “Maybe,” he said unapologetically. “You’re safe for now because of this alliance, but after all of this is over…who knows?”
Rose’s eyes widened at the threat. “Kallias!” she snapped.
Kara sipped her drink slowly and leisurely. Then, she walked over to the nightstand and set the drink down. She turned back toward Kallias, bending at the waist so that she was at eye-level with him, and said, “I dare you to try.”
“Oh, for goodness sakes,” Rose groaned, throwing up her hands in frustration. “No one is killing anyone. Alana is the enemy, remember?”
“There are many enemies,” Kallias argued.
Rose narrowed her eyes at him. “But Kara isn’t one of them,” she stated assuredly. “Kara is our friend, and you need to start treating her like one.”
Kara straightened,
her brows furrowing, as she looked up at Rose. Her intense, light blue eyes burned with curiosity and confusion as she stared at Rose, as she tried to understand why Rose would come to her defense like that. But then, she looked away, afraid that her emotions might show on her face. With a soft sigh, she walked over to the black dresser that set on the other side of the desk. She opened the dresser drawer, and then, with no warning whatsoever, she tugged her sleeveless, black shirt over her head. She stood there shamelessly, clad only in a black sports bra and leather pants, as she sifted through her drawer.
Rose blinked in shock, heat rushing to her face. Like all vampires, Kara looked physically perfect…aside from that gruesome battle-axe scar in her left side, of course. Her pale skin looked smooth and creamy, and unlike Rose, Kara had no freckles on her pale, alabaster skin. A black dragon tattoo snaked down her spine, partially hidden by the black band of her bra and the waistband of her leather pants. Her lean, athletic muscles shifted as she reached into the drawer.
“Uh…” Rose stammered. “What are you doing?”
“Strapping on my toys,” Kara said as she pulled a long, black, belt-like band out of the drawer and began to wrap it around the center of her stomach.
“You have another drawer of toys?” Erik snorted.
Kara turned around to face them, smoothing the band around her stomach with her fingertips. “Hmm?” she asked, her brows furrowing.
Erik pointed at the other dresser. “I found your stash.”
Kara glanced at the other dresser, a soft laugh escaping her lips as she realized what he meant. “Not those kind of toys, pervert.” She reached into the drawer and pulled out a handful of small, slender throwing knives. “These toys.”
“Aw, that’s disappointing,” Erik sighed.
“Could this conversation get any more inappropriate?” Rose muttered.
The Tomb of Blood Page 29