He stroked her in small circles as she undid his pants one-handed and tugged them out of the way. He released her wrist, licking the blood from his lips as she wrapped her hand around him. It didn’t take long for them both to be gasping and panting in pleasure and desire.
“Take me,” Angelina whispered. The small wounds on her wrist had already closed over, as always happened when a vampire fed on a human.
Rainer pressed both her wrists into the wall and kissed her again. Deeply. Passionately. The flow of pleasure was too much to be denied; the taste of her sung in his blood as his heart picked up, returning to a normal beat, and he felt himself equalizing.
“Rainer, please.”
She did not have to ask again. He plunged into her with one thrust, finding his seat deep in her welcoming heat. Angelina tightened around him. Her head fell back, and she cried out. Her fingers dug into his shoulders. Her mouth sought his out. He began to thrust. Hard, fast, trying to put all of his emotion into this act.
Pleasure coursed through him. He buried his face into her neck. Her scents. Her taste. The feel of her. It was overwhelming. So much. He kissed her, thrust into her harder and harder. He found himself deeper with every stroke. The pleasure was so intense that it was blinding. He clung to his lover, grinding his teeth together against his arousal.
Angelina let out a shriek. She tightened around him, clamping down so hard that he could hardly move. She yanked his head to one side and slammed her face into his neck; her teeth scraped on his neck, her small, blunt canines biting down on his jugular.
That finished him. An explosion rocked through his body. He filled Angelina, continuing to thrust until she went limp in his arms and he had nothing left to give her. Bracing himself against the wall, he held her tightly, panting into her skin.
Her lips gently pressed against the marks she had left on his neck. “Sorry,” she murmured.
“Sorry?” Rainer laughed. “Don’t be sorry for that, Angel. It was… good. Vampires find it very sexy to be drunk from during sex and with your little teeth so close to breaking my skin…”
Angelina giggled. She slowly released him, and he eased himself out of her. Taking her hand, he led her to the living room, where he slowly undressed her and then took her again, more gently this time. Night was dark outside, a chill coming through the glass windows, but they kept warm as they clung to one another.
Angelina lay in his arms, stroking his chest gently as their heartbeats returned to normal. She smiled at him, which was unlike the dazed look she’d had the last time they had been together. He grinned back at her, relieved and happy to see her so relaxed.
“There is something I need to know,” she murmured.
He nodded at her to continue.
Angelina sighed and leaned back on the couch. “It’s about Marcus.”
Rainer tensed. The last thing he wanted to do was to talk about that bastard. “What about him?”
“The blood challenge that you issued. What is it about? I mean, what does it mean?”
Ah. Of course. He should have seen that this was going to come up. The thing was, he didn’t want to have to tell her about this. It was going to make her worry. After this beautiful moment that they had shared together, he didn’t want it ruined by the dangers of what the future might hold.
“It’s… complicated,” he said, then whined. That wasn’t going to stop her. There was too much reporter in her.
“I’m pretty smart; I’m sure I can keep up.”
Rainer sighed. “A blood challenge is like… well, you know the old ‘throwing down the gauntlet’?”
“So, it’s a duel?”
“Basically,” Rainer admitted reluctantly. “Only there aren’t any rules. Other than, if you forfeit or fail to respond to the challenge, it’s the same as losing it. You become a non-person and, if you’re lucky, not recognized as a citizen. If you’re not lucky… anybody who sees you can legally kill you and bring your head in for a reward. And everything you have then goes to your opponent.”
Angelina pulled back, horror written across her face.
“It doesn’t have to be to the death,” he added quickly. “After a certain length of time fighting, you are allowed to give up. Plus, if you’re injured enough that you can no longer fight, the round is ended and given to your opponent.”
“Round?” Her eyes flashed—clearly she wasn’t happy with him for this.
It almost made him grin, but he knew that would only get him into more trouble. Even though he had only done it to protect her.
“There will be three rounds of fighting. No weapons, just fists against fists. No rules. Fighting until one of us collapses or is otherwise deemed unable to fight.”
“Unable to fight. As in dead?”
Rainer shrugged. “Sometimes. It is a blood challenge after all. But if one of us kills the other in the first two fights, they immediately forfeit and are killed themselves and all their properties are given to whoever the other chooses as a second.”
“So that’s it, huh? And who are you going to choose as a second? Do they have to fight if you die?”
“No. The second does not fight. They just take the properties if something goes wrong. Which it won’t. I promise. I’ve got a lot of fighting experience under my belt, and Marcus is just a slimy social leech.”
“Isn’t calling a vampire a leech a racial slur?”
Rainer shook his head. “Wasn’t calling him a leech because he’s a vampire.”
Angelina sighed. She wrapped an afghan around herself and picked at a hangnail on her thumb. “Okay. So that’s that. I guess it’s too late to call it off. I wish you hadn’t—”
“If I hadn’t, you wouldn’t be here with me. So don’t talk like that, Angel. You are too important to me to lose. I…” He couldn’t quite say it. Not yet.
“I don’t want to argue with you,” she said slowly. “So, I’m not going to. Yet, at least. Not about this. What I want to know is… What are we now? Are we really a couple now?”
Rainer stroked her hair from her face. “Do you want to be?”
“I… need some more answers. For starters… how many children do you have?”
Rainer tensed. Pain flared through him, and he sucked in a deep breath. “I… I only had one. Matthew. He… he was half human. I didn’t know that he was going to need blood. He was only Tommy’s age when he…” He dropped his chin and closed his eyes. “I was always very careful. You have to drink from the same individual for three days straight for a pregnancy to occur. There’s been a time or two when I’ve messed up and could have gotten a woman pregnant, but I’ve always followed up.”
She resumed picking at her thumb. And a memory flashed through his mind. A young woman three years ago. Masked. With blood that was sweet and salty. A party, one of the big ones with all sorts of drugs and alcohol. He’d been in a relapse, having investigated a murder that reminded him far too much of Jennifer’s death—only this one, the husband really did do it.
So he had gotten high and drunk and took a woman into one of the side rooms. She told him about so many terrible things happening in her life. Dead parents. No friends. No money. He barely remembered it. Couldn’t remember if that woman was a brunette or a blonde or a redhead. Couldn’t even remember if she was white or Asian or Native American or African or something else entirely.
Angelina sighed and rested her head against the back of the couch. And Rainer waited, his heart beating shallowly in his chest as he waited for her to speak.
Chapter Eleven
The next few days moved quickly. Rainer was always busy, having meetings with various vampires, fielding interview requests from rival media companies, putting out his own statements and training. Always training. Angelina rarely saw him and when she did, he was too tired to do much besides give her a quick kiss before he collapsed into bed.
Before she knew it, the day of the first battle between Rainer and Marcus had arrived. Rainer was up and out before she woke, and Angeli
na was upset until she saw the note he’d left her. He was going to the arena early so that there would be less fodder for Marcus’ argument that Angelina was part of Rainer’s ‘property’.
Morticia showed up around noon, saying she’d been sent by the Elders to bring Angelina to the arena. Her regular babysitter was there with Tommy, and after Angelina called Rainer to double-check with him that Morticia was legit, she left with the stunning vampire.
The arena reminded Angelina uncomfortably of a gladiator’s Coliseum. Thick, concrete walls rose up high, with bleachers set up in a circle around a wide field, where the dirt had been packed down hard. Angelina twisted her hands around her sleeves, her breathing shallow. The arena had a roof over it, all sunlight blocked out entirely. She and Morticia sat in a high private box, where they had an unobstructed view of the arena. Below them, the bleachers were packed with a loud crowd. Several banners waved but what they meant, Angelina didn’t really know.
“You seem surprised,” Morticia drawled. “Though about what I’m not sure.”
“I didn’t expect it to be so… elaborate.”
“Elaborate?” Morticia looked over the arena and shook her head. “This was hastily put together. In the old days, we’d have feasts and parades and it would be glorious.” She heaved out a heavy sigh. “Trust it to Rainer to pull off something like this. I’ll admit, it’s impressive for the time he had to pull it together, but if he had only had a month or two, it would have been quite the affair.”
The word ‘affair’ made her flinch. She wasn’t sure why. She slept in Rainer’s arms every night, although they had not made love since he rescued her from Marcus. Not only did they simply not have the energy with everything else going on, Angelina could feel herself holding back. Even though it was frustrating, since she found herself fantasizing about him at the most inopportune times, she knew deep in her heart that she had to tell him before they went any farther.
He was a father. He had a child that he’d been helping to feed, helping to put to bed, doing everything a father should. And he didn’t know it yet.
Angelina started twisting her hands again. He’d shared his tragic story with her, the loss of his son and wife. It just never seemed like the right time to tell him about Tommy. Not with this hanging over their heads. Now, as Rainer entered the arena from one side and Marcus entered from the other, she found herself thinking that maybe this wasn’t going to end as she had thought.
Up until now, she hadn’t had any doubts that Rainer would win. Now, though, with it all becoming so real, the possibility was all too real that he could lose… that he could die…
Both of the vampires wore shorts that hugged their figures and nothing else. Not even shoes. The fluorescent lighting bounced over their rippling muscles. Their skin gleamed as though they had been oiled. Angelina moved to the edge of her red velvet seat and gripped the railing, her eyes focused on Rainer. He moved with purpose, confidence, his stance wide, his shoulders thrown back, his head held high.
“Is there an announcer?” Angelina squeaked, willing Rainer to look up at her. He did not. “How do we know when it’s going to start?”
“It starts when they start to beat the crap out of each other.”
Angelina turned to shoot a filthy look at her but even as she did so, Marcus charged forward. The stands went wild as he flung himself at Rainer; Rainer ducked, Marcus flying over his head.
“And here we begin,” Morticia purred.
Angelina’s mouth was dry. She wanted more than anything to call this whole thing off. To pull Rainer out from there, to go back to the apartment (she didn’t care whose) and just tell him everything. About that week three years ago, about Tommy, about why she had delayed so long in telling him. She wanted to kiss him from head to toe and show her appreciation in every way she could for what he was doing for her.
She didn’t want to be sitting here, watching helplessly as Marcus skidded to a stop and turned, throwing out a punch that hit Rainer in the jaw.
The crowd cheered and Angelina gasped. Rainer recovered himself quickly, deflecting a second punch and throwing out one of his own. It clipped Marcus on the side of the head. Rainer followed it up with a punch at his solar plexus. Marcus caught him by the wrist and attempted to twist him, but Rainer’s skin slipped out from his fingers. Rainer seized Marcus, then, grappling a hold on him, lifted him up into the air. Marcus, though, kicked him in the knee. His leg twisted; Marcus sprang out of Rainer’s hold and slid around behind him. He wrapped one thick arm around Rainer’s shoulders and neck and punched him rapidly in the kidneys.
“No!” Angelina shouted as she leapt to her feet. The crowd cheered. It was so sickening, that they would be enjoying this! Angelina slammed her hands against the railing, shouting with every strike. “No, no, no!”
Rainer squirmed and struggled. He dropped to one knee. Angelina screamed, thinking that was it, but he reached around behind himself. He grabbed Marcus and flipped him over his back, making him land hard in the dirt. Rainer dropped over him quickly, pinning him down as he punched every inch he could reach. Angelina screamed again, more out of anger and frustration than anything else.
This was wrong! This sort of violence—it wasn’t the way things should be resolved. Marcus should have proved that he wasn’t worthy to be a king the moment he kidnapped her. But vampires. They were different. And she had a funny feeling the Elders were more interested in entertaining themselves with this election of a king than they were thinking about the good of the vampire people.
“Dear, sit down,” Morticia said. She still sat in her seat, holding a cup of tea of all things. “Have something to eat. These potato skins are delicious.”
“I don’t want any fucking potato skins,” Angelina snarled back at her. She leaned half out of the box, her gaze on Rainer. He and Marcus had broken apart by this point. Blood smeared both their bodies, but she couldn’t tell whose blood it was. The two of them circled each other, glaring, and Angelina held her breath. Maybe Marcus would just concede? Maybe if she shouted loud enough, someone would call an end to the violence and—
Rainer was the first to charge this time. Marcus crouched, taking the impact as Rainer ran into him. He quickly got Rainer into a chokehold and pounded his fist into his skull, again and again.
“Stop!” Angelina reached out, as though she could help Rainer. “Stop it!”
“I quite agree.” Morticia sipped her tea as she came to stand beside Angelina. “Look at that. He’s damaging himself in the first battle. After that, his fingers are going to be completely shattered. How does he expect to fight tomorrow?”
Rainer elbowed Marcus in the chest. The other vampire stumbled, and they both collapsed again. Rainer, moving jerkily, rolled over and smashed his elbow into Marcus’ face. But Marcus kicked him in the hip and, as Rainer rolled away from him, jumped to his feet again. With surprising speed, his knuckles bleeding, he sprang over Rainer again.
Angelina screamed again, and Morticia rolled her eyes. Marcus wrapped both his hands around Rainer’s throat and squeezed. Rainer punched at him, tore at his arms and hands but couldn’t break his grip.
“He said they weren’t allowed to kill, not in the first one,” Angelina shrieked. “Somebody stop him! Stop him!”
And as though they had heard her, two tall, broad vampires rushed out from one side of the arena. They seized Marcus and yanked him away from Rainer. He struggled briefly before shaking them off and standing there, panting.
The two vampires dropped beside Rainer. Angelina couldn’t feel her fingers as they wrapped tightly around the railing. Her heart slammed into her ribs and she held her breath. After several moments, Rainer stirred. He sat slowly with the help of the two regulators. Angelina’s knees nearly gave out. She sagged against the railing. He was alive, he was alright.
“And the first battle goes to Marcus,” Morticia sighed as she finished off her tea. “Disappointing. I thought Rainer would last longer than that. I didn’t even have time to
try the nachos.”
Angelina whirled on her angrily. “What the fuck is wrong with you? He could have been killed?”
Morticia shook her head. “Not in the first battle. I’m surprised, didn’t Rainer tell you that? No, nobody’s going to die until the third battle. I do hope that Rainer puts up a better fight… I’d much rather he didn’t die. Although I suppose if he’s not strong enough to take out the likes of Marcus, what good is he?”
It took all of Angelina’s strength not to slap the woman across the face. She didn’t agree with violence to solve problems, especially after what she had just seen, but it was so tempting. How could anybody be so callous? So unconcerned with another’s life?
She’s a vampire. She’s witnessed so much violence that she must have gotten numb to it all.
Or perhaps it was an act? Angelina hoped that was the case.
“I need to go to him,” she said as she watched Rainer get hauled out of the arena, while Marcus strutted around the sides, his arms lifted in victory. “He’s going to need blood.”
“Which one? The victor or the loser?”
“Rainer!”
Morticia gestured for her to follow, and Angelina hurried after her. Soon enough, they were navigating a long, dark tunnel. Grunts of pain came from the end and Angelina sped up, past Morticia, to come into a locker room. Rainer lay on the floor, his face twisted with pain as a vampire bent over him, prodding and poking.
“Rainer!” Angelina rushed to his side. She grabbed his hand as tears started to burn in her eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” Rainer grunted. “I just wasn’t expecting him to have brass knuckles.”
Angelina’s jaw dropped. Weapons weren’t allowed! “He cheated?”
In Bed with the Vampire Page 13
