by Ashlee Sinn
“Two weeks? Are you serious?”
“I don’t joke.”
And at those words, I lost it. Viktor’s seriousness broke that last straw for me. I started to laugh. And laugh. And laugh until my stomach hurt. Was it possible for a vampire to laugh themselves to death?
“I think you need some fresh air.” Viktor stood and reached into the top drawer of a wooden dresser sitting against the far wall. He pulled out a sweater and tossed it to me. “You may want to put this on. The sun is out and it’s an unusually warm day for this time of year, but you will be noticed if you go out in just a sundress.”
I slipped the sweater on as I thought about his words. “Have I had this dress on for two weeks?”
“No. I bathed and dressed you each day.”
And something about that confession caused my insides to dance. Viktor stayed by my side the entire time I fought for my life. Or for my new life. I wondered how many times he’d done this in the past.
As though hearing me, Viktor answered. “Never.”
“Never what?”
He shook his head. “Let’s go. Central Park is right down the block.”
Could Viktor read my mind? Were we now connected in a way that I’d regret in due time? I stood, amazed at how agile and perfect I felt. I still had a million questions for Viktor, but for now I settled for his outstretched hand and dimpled smile.
CHAPTER 2
We never let go of each other. In the elevator, through the lobby, and down the sidewalk, Viktor continued to hold my hand. Even when I stumbled as the bright sunlight punched me in the face, he had constant contact with my skin. And while I’d always been attracted to Viktor, something had changed between us. Aside from the obvious, that is. I felt as though we were supposed to be connected. Always.
As we crossed the final street to reach one of the entrances to the park, I looked up at the trees. It was spring and I could see the tiny leaf buds pushing their way to the surface. Fighting to break free and bring life again, I swear I could hear the moment each one of them popped through their rough exteriors to reach the sun.
“Is this what it’s going to be like?” I asked Viktor, eyes still focused on the tree.
He wrapped his arm around my lower back. “I’m honestly not sure what’s going to happen to you.”
“What do you mean?”
He sighed and looked up at the tree with me. “Changing you like this…with only my blood and without the help of the magic usually required to make a vampire? I don’t know if that’s going to make you different from the rest of us or not.” A child screamed in the distance, playing with his brother and skirting the outstretched reach of his mother. We both snapped our heads in that direction. “But if you’re anything like me, yes. This is what it’s going to be like.”
Every sight had been sharpened, every noise fine-tuned to a perfect pitch. I felt like a teenager again, full of energy and invincible. The world was at my fingertips as long as I cherished every moment. “This is amazing.” I caught Viktor’s smile from the corner of my eye. He was watching me like a proud parent. “What?” I asked with a giggle. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
We started walking again. The exhaust fumes assaulted my nose but the smell of candied apples and fresh caramel corn was strong enough to cover it. Viktor’s arm warmed my back and I swear tingles of electricity pulsed from his skin to mine.
“I’ve never had a partner before.” Viktor hadn’t answered my question right away and I wondered what had taken him so long.
“A partner?”
He caught my gaze and heat rushed into my blood. “An equal in every sense.”
I couldn’t stop the words. “You think I’m an equal?”
“Of course I do,” he said with a determination I hadn’t recognized in him before.
My throat clenched with all of the emotions flowing through me. In just a few weeks, I’d gone from being a feared vampire hunter, to a hunted mark, to the equal of one of the most powerful vampires in the world. And while I’d lost most of my previous life at this point, I had a sneaking suspicion that it was only just beginning for me now.
And with Viktor by my side.
I stopped walking and waited for him to look at me. When he did, I tilted my chin up and pressed my lips against his. Viktor hesitated at first, and I briefly wondered if it as because of our public location, but when he gently pushed my shoulders away, I suspected it was from something else.
“Sophia, how are you feeling right now?”
I stared up at him in confusion. His dimples called to me, his bright blue eyes piercing my soul. “I’m feeling great.”
Viktor eyed me a little longer, his gaze dropping to my mouth. “You don’t feel them?”
“Feel what?” Brushing my tongue against my lips I suddenly understood. “Oh.” The sharp points of my newly elongated canines scratched my flesh and my gums ached in the spot where they’d just been released. “Oh!” I said a little louder, slapping my hand across my mouth. My eyes darted around, trying to determine if any innocent bystander had just witnessed something that they wouldn’t be able to explain.
But Viktor’s laugh brought my focus back to him. “Don’t worry, Sophia. They won’t see that.”
With a hand still smothering my words, I asked, “How do I get them to go back inside?”
“Tell them to.”
“Tell them?” I glared at Viktor.
“Concentrate on your mouth and forced them to retreat. You control your own body.”
After giving him another death stare, I closed my eyes and told my fangs to go away. And they did. So I made them appear again and hide again. Over and over I practiced my control.
“Would you like to go somewhere more private,” Viktor asked, amusement drifting from his voice.
I looked up at him once more, savoring his beauty and the excitement he was trying to mask in his eyes. “You like this don’t you?”
“Like what?”
“Me. Like this.”
He shifted his hands so that they cupped my chin. “I liked you the moment I laid eyes on you, Sophia.”
“Tell me about it,” I whispered, mesmerized by his confession and wanting him to swoon over me some more.
“You are strong. So strong, and I saw that when we first met in the library.”
“When I was forced to work with you.”
He nodded. “I couldn’t wait to spend more time by your side. No human has impacted me in that way for a very, very long time.”
I gently kissed him. “And what was it about me that had such an impact?” I asked with a teasing lilt.
“You were stubborn. Determined. Fierce.” He bent forward and brushed his cool, soft lips against my forehead. “You reminded me of someone I knew a long time ago.”
“Who?” I breathed, lost in his eyes and his story.
But Viktor shook his head. “That is not important now. Not now that I have you all to myself.”
Viktor’s eyes bled black. Or actually, everything around me darkened and I noticed Viktor hadn’t changed at all. I glanced to my right and then my left, and still the world around me had a shadowy hue hanging over it. “What’s wrong with me?” I asked in a panic.
Viktor laughed. A real laugh that I hadn’t hear escape his lips since…well maybe never.
“Don’t laugh at me,” I shouted. An elderly couple walking by glanced our way.
“I’m not laughing at you,” he teased. “I just forgot how new everything must seem to you. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt that way.”
“What way?”
“Seeing the world through immortal eyes.” Viktor reached down and took my hand again. We started walking along the path which led us over a small hill. “I don’t think I could ever go back to witnessing life as a human again. Even if I had the chance.”
“No?”
He shook his head. “Not in a million lifetimes. Everything is so…alive to me now. So many senses are open for u
s to explore and paint the world with as a vampire. See that pond over there?”
I followed his outstretched arm and took in the pond filled with toy boats, ducks, and swans. The water pinged and rippled against the shoreline, creating a soft symphony of background noise.
“You would never be able to hear the crashing of those tiny waves or the laughter of the boy on the far side of the pond without having these extra senses. And while there may be a need to filter some of that out as you begin to adapt, there is also a comfort and belonging to the earth surrounding us that you will never take for granted again.”
I squeezed his hand, forcing him to stop and face me. “I had no idea you were so poetic underneath that warrior façade.”
His lips brushed against mine. “There are a lot of things about me that I haven’t been able to share with you yet.”
My fangs broke free again and I giggled. “I guess I won’t be able to hide the effect you have over me anymore.”
Viktor slipped his hands behind my back and lifted me up high enough that our lips were level with each other. “You’ve never been able to hide your feelings well.”
Playfully, I punched him in the shoulder and then pulled him down into a kiss. And this wasn’t a kiss meant for the public to see in the middle of a park. No, this was a kiss that I could finally use to show Viktor how much my body had wanted his from the beginning.
Viktor’s tongue danced across mine, skillfully darting around my outstretched fangs as though they were not an impedance at all. His hands slid lower, squeezing my cheeks and sending vibrations of pleasure directly to my core.
“How are you doing that?” I breathed into his mouth.
“We are one now, Sophia. We have shared our life force and we will forever be connected to one another in ways you can’t even begin to imagine.” He devoured my lips, an uncontrolled hunger racing out of him in a way I’d never seen from him before. “You are mine and I am yours.” One of his hands began to slide up underneath my dress along the outside of my thigh.
I breathed a sigh that could only be interpreted as an invitation. “This feels amazing.” Every cell in my body pulsed along with his own. Each place our skin made contact, and electricity darted out and increased the pleasure tenfold. “I want more,” I breathed.
“As do I,” he responded.
And then I felt the air rush past as a gust of wind circled our bodies. That was when I noticed that while we had been momentarily alone, several people were closing in on us in all directions. I spotted a small bridge in the distance. A walking path on top and below, but long enough that it provided shadows underneath.
“Let’s go over there,” I said with a sexy grin. Pulling Viktor behind me, I set out at a fast pace. At least I thought I was moving briskly until Viktor tugged on my arm.
“Sophia, slow down.”
“What?” I said whipping my head around, surprised by how fast my hair wrapped around my neck.
With a laugh, he smiled at me in a way that melted my insides. “You can’t move that fast without making those around us suspicious.”
“Oh,” I said when I noticed a group of teenage boys pointing at me. I flashed them a glare and they instantly hung their heads and walked in the opposite direction. I smiled.
“And you can’t do that either,” he teased. “Come on, follow me.”
Viktor led the way to the bridge, moving torturously slow in my opinion. But it did give me a chance to watch his muscles move underneath the long-sleeved shirt that hugged his built frame. And his jeans that fit well enough that I felt the tingling between my legs grow with each step he took.
As soon as we reached a darkened area, I rushed forward and turned Viktor around so that he was facing me and I could consume his lips. My libido heightened to a place I never would have thought possible even while I’d endured Sebastian’s mark. Viktor groaned when I slammed his body against the damp stones but he responded in kind. In one quick move, he lifted me up to his waist so that I could straddle him and his impressive arousal.
His hips ground into mine, the thin piece of panties barely containing my growing need for him. My fangs dropped again and I not so gently brushed them along Viktor’s neck and up to his ear. He physically shivered with the move.
“You are killing me, Sophia,” he growled. The Viktor that had been in control so many times began to seep into the damp stones surrounding us. And in his place, the hungry, sexy Viktor rushed to the surface.
He nibbled on my ear as I pushed deeper against him. In a subconscious effort, I listened for other humans in case they might happen upon us. But there was no one close. No one even within a half a mile from us. How did I know that? No idea. And the second Viktor bent me backward so that he could bite my breast, I stopped wondering.
Calling out in passion, I let him support all of my weight. With someone else, I may have asked how this was possible. But I was with Viktor. And I suspected my life was going to be full of impossibles now.
His hardened arousal pressed against me with each shift of our bodies. I couldn’t wait to have him inside and I said as much when he lifted me back up. “Here?” he asked.
“Yes,” I moaned. “I can’t control it anymore.” And I really couldn’t. My fangs pulsed with the need to sink into flesh, my sex pulsed with the need to be filled. Each movement sent a rush of excitement to my core, even my fingers tingled in anticipation.
“You should feed first,” Viktor whispered against my ear as he trailed kisses along my skin.
“No,” I stated.
“Trust me, Sophia. You should feed.” His tone had changed. He wasn’t commanding me to do it, he was suggesting that I would love it. With his eyes glistening with mischief, I had to ask.
“On who?”
While still cupping my ass, he let go of one arm and pulled down the collar on his shirt. “Me,” he growled.
I froze. While my new instincts screamed at me to not only obey him but to also feel his flesh around my fangs, I worried that I would hurt him. “I…I can’t.” The words slipped out of my mouth but my body reacted in opposition. It wanted him so bad. All of him.
“Are you sure?” he cooed a second before his finger slipped inside of me.
Pressed against his erection and feeling him inside tested the last of my control. In one swift move, I pulled my head forward and slammed my fangs into his neck.
At first it was cold. His skin, his muscles. But then I hit his artery and a rush of warm, liquid ecstasy flooded my mouth. The blood tasted like liquid gold, rushing across my tongue and dripping down my throat. Nothing ever tasted so good before.
And Viktor had never felt so connected to me.
Just as I thought my heightened state couldn’t get any better, Viktor thrust himself inside of me. My eyes widened and I would have screamed had I not wanted to break the precious contact my fangs had with him right now. In and out he moved, slowly at first, filling me up in ways I hadn’t thought possible. He teased my clit with one hand while moving me back and forth against him with the other. I sucked and pulled and pressed my hips as close to him as I could get, all the while enjoying the taste of his blood.
At one point, Viktor spun me around and pushed me up against the bridge. When my back slammed into the stone, it didn’t hurt but it did make me pull my lips away from his neck. As soon as I did, Viktor filled my mouth with his own. Using my legs to brace myself around his hips, he grabbed both of my wrists and held them above my head. His intensity increased, each pulse thrusting inside of me growing with urgency and need. I couldn’t get enough of him. The heat raced over my sex and radiated out to every extremity. I didn’t think I could hold out on my orgasm any more.
And then Viktor’s fangs pierced my neck.
There was no pain. No fear. Just an explosion of light behind my eyes as I came for the first time with him inside. I squeezed his erection each time he pushed deeper into me. My neck screamed out for more while his lips slowly licked against my skin. He increa
sed his movements again, sending another round of heat to my core.
My head hit the stones, my wrists grinding into the old structure. Viktor’s erection seemed to grow inside of me. Yet none of it hurt. Instead, it turned me on in a way I’d never experienced before and I pressed my forehead against his when we both released at the same time.
Viktor held me tight up against the bridge, panting into my ear and running his tongue over the puncture wounds. His head glistened in the limited light and his eyes had blackened into orbs that must have mimicked my own. We stayed there, permanently attached to one another for what seemed like forever. My sex pulsed around him, feeling satiated for now but craving more. When I felt Viktor chuckle against me, I pulled his head back.
“What?”
Kissing my lips in between his words, he answered, “I can feel your needs, Sophia. But I think we may want to pace ourselves.”
“Why would we want to do that?” I teased. His face felt so right between my hands, his body fitting inside of mine perfectly.
“We will have plenty of time to explore one another more,” he said, gently lowering me to the ground. “But for now, we should be aware of the group coming our way.”
I followed his gaze to see a cluster of children holding a rope and walking toward the bridge. They couldn’t have been more than three or four years old and I certainly didn’t want them witnessing what had just happened between Viktor and me.
“Fine,” I grumbled over top of his laugh. Pulling my dress down, I wiped at my mouth and tried to flatten my hair back into place. It took Viktor all of three seconds to look presentable again. Was that a vampire thing? Could I learn how to do that?
Viktor held out his elbow like a nineteenth century gentleman escorting me to a ball. “Shall we, Miss Sophia?”
His damn dimples made it hard for me to control my ravenous hormones. And so did his smile when it widened as he sensed the urges brewing underneath my dress. But we walked past the children in silence, ignoring their curious stares and innocent abilities to sense the abnormal.
CHAPTER 3
