Kiss of the Vampire

by Cynthia Garner

  He crawled up her body, muscles bunching as he moved. “Now,” he said, his voice deep and guttural, his eyes black rimmed in crimson. “Touch me.”

  She let go of the headboard and one of the spokes dropped to the floor. “I broke your bed,” she said, not really caring.

  Apparently he didn’t care, either, because he just shrugged and rolled to his back. “I’ll buy another one.”

  Whether he meant bed or spoke, she didn’t know. Didn’t care. He was laid out in front of her like a smorgasbord of delightful flesh. And she was going to feast.

  At the first touch of Nix’s soft hands Tobias thought he’d jump out of his skin. Her eyes glowed yellow and the heat in her skin had intensified, but she otherwise appeared to be in control. When she mouthed kisses along the cord in his neck, he moaned and cupped her head to bring her face up to his. She let him control the kiss for a few seconds, then she broke away to swipe her tongue across his throat. “It’s my turn,” she whispered.

  She made her way leisurely over his body, fingers and mouth caressing, stoking the fire of his arousal ever higher. His cock was as stiff as an iron pike and throbbed like the devil. When her tongue flicked into his navel, he jerked and let out a low curse. She laughed, the sound light and carefree. It was at his expense, but to hear her sounding so happy, he didn’t care. If it gave her joy she could tease and torment him all she liked. Her fingers wrapped around his cock, thumb swiping across the tip. He threw his head back and gritted his teeth. His fangs sliced into his lower lip.

  He had the fleeting thought that she might kill him. When she took him in her mouth… Christ. He knew she was going to kill him. She sucked him, mouth drawing strongly while her fingers stroked him. After a few seconds she let him go. “I’d forgotten how good you taste,” she whispered, holding his gaze. Yellow flecked her irises, her skin was flushed.

  “I need you.” Tobias reached out and cupped her cheek, amazed that he could still form words, let alone act with any tenderness. Desire was a living, breathing wild thing inside him.

  Nix smiled and kissed his palm, then reared back. Bracing herself with palms against his chest, she lowered herself onto his shaft. Inch by agonizing, wonderful inch until her buttocks rested against his thighs. She drew up just as slowly, then slammed back down.

  Tobias reached up and cupped her breasts. He swept his thumbs over the hard tips, eliciting a gasp from her. She rode him, her skin covered in a fine sheen of moisture, her eyes shining with carnal excitement.

  The snug clasp of her body drove him closer and closer to an orgasm. With a growl he flipped her over and took control of the rhythm. His body hummed with lust as he slammed into her again and again.

  “Bite me,” she moaned, twisting her head to one side, baring her throat.

  He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. That was what had always driven her demon wild before. Sex she could handle. Being bitten, the drawing of her blood, she could not.

  “Tobias, bite me.”

  Without responding, he leaned down and slanted his mouth over hers, trying to take her mind off the request. He would love her until the day he died, but he would never bite her again.

  Her scent made him crazy with need and her touch—soft and hungry and searching—made him ravenous. Leaving her mouth, he worked his way down her throat, stopping at the pulse pounding underneath her soft skin. He rested his lips there for a moment before touching the tip of his tongue to the spot.

  He closed his eyes and fought back the instinct that told him to fit his teeth into her, to take her life’s blood. Let her nourish him in a rite as old as time itself. But that could tip her over the edge, because his bite would more than double her arousal, which meant in all likelihood she would lose control of her humanity. Letting her demon fully take control could mean also losing her mind.

  He would make this good for her but there’d be no drawing of blood. Her tight sheath rippled around him and he shattered into a million pieces. He threw his head back with a loud shout and heard Nix’s cry, felt her pulsing around him, milking him, and knew she’d joined him. When he came back to himself he realized he’d collapsed on top of her. She probably couldn’t breathe. He shifted to one side, giving a little groan when his sated cock slid from her slick depths.

  She moaned, too, and turned into his embrace. Content for the first time in five years, Tobias closed his eyes and rubbed one hand up and down her upper arm.

  “I missed this.” Her voice was soft and sad.

  “What?” he asked, though he had a feeling he knew.

  “Cuddling.” She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. “For a vampire, you’re a good cuddler.”

  His eyes popped open. “Cuddler? You’re calling me a cuddler?” He turned and slid her beneath him again. “I’m going to enjoy making you take that back.”

  Her grin was slow and wicked. “And I’m going to enjoy watching you try.”

  Chapter Twelve

  A few hours later, Tobias held Nix, her head resting against his chest while she idly stroked her fingers across his ribs. The sun had set and moonlight filtered in through the sheer curtains. The room was filled with the musk of sex and the lazy sense of satisfaction. “You’re different,” he said, his voice low. He rubbed his hand up and down her arm. Everywhere her body touched, his skin was warm.

  “Hmm. Different how?” Her voice was sleepy.

  “Calmer.” He raised his hand and combed his fingers through her short curls. She was using the same shampoo he’d always loved, a clean citrus scent with a light overlay of raspberry. She smelled good enough to eat. Not that he was going to. “Much less demon than before.” She hadn’t even drained off that much energy from him during their lovemaking.

  “It’s the tai chi.” She rubbed her cheek against him like a contented kitten. He was astonished, because when they’d made love before the kitten had had claws. And she’d used them. Had enjoyed using them.

  “The what?” He tilted his head to glance down at her.

  “Tai chi.” Nix rose up a little, a smile curving her lips. “I tried karate. I tried kickboxing. I even tried yoga.” She met his look of surprise with a wider grin. “I know, me and yoga. Can you believe it? With some of the positions I swear I thought I was going to get stuck. Anyway, I finally latched on to tai chi, and that’s what worked. It centers me. Calms me. I do it every night before bed to get rid of the stresses of the day.”

  “Amazing.” Tobias couldn’t deny it worked. The proof was in his arms. He pondered that and felt a slash of sadness that they hadn’t arrived at the solution years ago. He might not have had to leave her.

  She cast him a sly glance. “Of course, I think having sex with you might do just as well…”

  He cupped her chin and rewarded that observation with a long, slow kiss. When he drew away, she let out a little sigh, her mouth holding a contented smile. She settled back down against his chest. As if she’d read his mind, she asked, “So, what have you been doing with yourself for the last five years?”

  He glanced down at her. There was no censure in her tone or her eyes. She appeared calm, serene even. This was such a change from the way she was before. It gave him hope that she finally did have a handle on her demon. Certainly their lovemaking hadn’t been as violent as it had in the past. “I’m on Natchook’s trail again.”

  She rose up on one elbow. She stared at him for a few seconds and then said, “I know you didn’t look for him at all while we were together. What changed?”

  “We changed. You and me.” He didn’t know how else to put it. When he and Nix had been together before, the driving need for revenge had lessened. She had taken over his thoughts and desires so that not much else could find room in his mind. He’d let her distract him from his mission. Willingly. Gladly, even. Because being with her had given his life purpose. Much more than any vow of revenge could do.

  He knew eventually his mandate for upholding the law would have taken hold, but for a while he’d been happy and hadn’t wa
nted anything to ruin his serenity. All that had changed when he’d come to realize how detrimental he had been to Nix’s mental well-being. “I couldn’t take the chance that you’d lose your grip on your humanity, and then your sanity, because of me, honey. It seemed a good time to get back on his trail. I eventually would have started looking for him again, anyway. It’s always been my mission to find him and bring him to justice—”

  “You mean kill him,” she interrupted. When he just stared at her, she gave a little shrug. “Let’s not sugarcoat it here, Tobias. You’re an executioner. A guilty verdict has been pronounced and you’re here to deliver the death sentence.”

  “That was my directive as an Enforcer of the High Laws.” He clenched his jaw. Regardless that Natchook had used him to get to his target, Tobias would still have volunteered to follow him and be the one to bring him to justice. “He murdered the leader of my people, Nix, in full view of hundreds of thousands. He was found guilty; he has no defense.”

  “I know, I know. It’s just…” Nix sighed. Her gaze dropped and she started playing with the hair on his chest. “You’re not an enforcer anymore, and you’re on Earth now. All that happened a long time ago.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” Tobias put two fingers under her chin and lifted her face to stare into her eyes. “He used me, used our friendship, to get close enough to Kai Vardan to murder him.” Even now he still felt the sting of that betrayal, the sadness over losing someone who could have, would have, made a difference in the lives of his people. “Kai was a good man, Nix. A noble man in the truest sense. He didn’t deserve to be assassinated.”

  “I’m sure he didn’t.” Her expression remained gentle, her tone soft. She lay back down, her head next to his on the pillow. “But wouldn’t justice be better served here, now, to bring Natchook in alive? To take him to court and try him according to our laws?”

  “And what?” Tobias briefly closed his eyes against the memories rolling around in his head. Two men, as close as brothers, or so he’d thought. One betraying the other without remorse. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. “What charges would he be brought up on? Murder in another dimension over two hundred years ago?”

  “Why not? There’s no statute of limitations on murder.”

  He shifted to his side, going up on one elbow and propping his head on his hand. “It’s been done before, holding a trial for crimes committed before an Influx. The last one was before you were born, about fifty years ago.” He pressed his lips together. “Too many prets believe the rift gives everyone a second chance. A clean slate. Not one person brought up on charges was ever convicted. The preternatural council finally stopped doing it.”

  “Why spin your wheels, I guess.”

  “Exactly,” he said, “It’s either make them pay for their crimes or let them get away with it.” Her little growl brought a slight grin to his face. She wasn’t happy with that last choice. Neither was he. His smile quickly faded. “Which is why pret laws have evolved to be swift and sometimes brutal.” He gave a little growl of his own. “I have no intention of letting Natchook get away.”

  She looked at him in silence for a few moments. Then she said, “Fine. I’ll help you.”

  “You’ll what?” Tobias sat up, the sheet bunching low around his hips. He couldn’t have heard right.

  “I said I’ll help you. As soon as we figure out what’s going on with our current case and put it to bed, so to speak, I’ll help you catch Natchook.” When he continued to stare at her, she raised her brows. “What?”

  He narrowed his eyes. Just what was she playing at? “When I find him, I’m going to kill him,” he reminded her, just in case she’d already forgotten.

  “I know.”

  “And you’re all right with that? What about what you just said?” If he lived five thousand years he’d never understand women.

  “For one thing, I don’t want you going after him alone. You need someone to watch your back.”

  Tobias shook his head. “No. No! It’s too—”

  Nix shot upright, the sheet falling to her waist. “Don’t you dare! Don’t treat me like I’m some helpless little woman.” She pressed her finger to his chest to make her point. “The job I do every day is dangerous, Tobias. I’m not sitting at home baking cookies; I’m a trained professional. I can help you.”

  His eyes dropped to her bare breasts. His blood heated and he muttered, “I can’t have this conversation when you’re like that.”

  Her lips twitched. She yanked the sheet up and held it in front of her breasts. “Better?”

  “Yes.” What, was he insane? “No.”

  She didn’t stop her grin this time. The sheet dipped, showing off the inner slopes of her breasts. “I thought you were a big, bad enforcer. Dedicated. Focused,” she teased. Damned if the little minx wasn’t plumping her breasts together a little to enhance her cleavage.

  “Oh, believe me, I’m focused. I’m absolutely focused.” He dragged his eyes back to her smiling face. “Seriously, though, I don’t want you involved with Natchook, honey. He’s too slippery. I…” He pressed his lips together, his gut tightening with fear. “I have no doubts about your skills, but he’s evil, Nix. You’d be nothing more to him than a pesky little mosquito, a pest to be swatted away.” He stared into her eyes. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  Her slender throat moved with her swallow. “Why?” she asked. “You walked away before for my own good.”

  “But I never stopped loving you, sweetheart. Never.” He leaned forward and put his hands on her shoulders. Rubbing his thumbs over her soft skin, he added, “I left because I loved you. And now…”

  When he didn’t go on she prompted, “And now?”

  He stared into her eyes. “I don’t think I’m strong enough to do it a second time.”

  At Tobias’s low confession, Nix felt her heart stutter. She searched his eyes and read sincerity in their smoky depths. And such a deep, abiding love; she felt fear grip her. What if she did something and screwed it up? Again. God, she’d have to keep such a tight control over herself she’d be as taut as a rubber band. She saw a hell of a lot of tai chi in her future.

  “Whatever you’re thinking that’s put that look of panic on your face, stop it.” His strong hand cradled her cheek. His cool palm immediately began to heat from the warmth of her skin. “This time we’ll face things together.”

  “Swear.” She wasn’t sure she could take it if he walked away from her again.

  He leaned forward and cupped her face with both hands. “I swear it. I’ll do everything I can to help you.”

  “All I need is for you to love me, Tobias.” She stroked her fingers down his jaw and then rested her hand on his chest. “Just love me.”

  “I will. I do.” His lips touched hers softly. Once. Twice. He wrapped his arms around her and lay back against the pillows, holding her against his chest. “Nix…” He drew a breath and held it, then blew it out in a long sigh.

  “What, Tobias?” She glanced up at him. “What is it?”

  “There’s something I should tell you.” His head moved against the pillow. He stroked his fingers through her hair, setting up a pleasurable tingle in her scalp from the impromptu massage. “Whatever happens—with this case, with our jobs—remember that I love you. That I always have your best interests in mind. But I have a job to do, too.”

  “O…kay.” She frowned a little, wondering where he was going with this and unable to shake the feeling that this wasn’t what he’d been planning to say.

  “It’s just…” His fingers raked through her hair again.

  Nix couldn’t hold back a little moan at the sensation.

  His responding chuckle was filled-with-humor sexy and he dug his fingers in a little harder. “I’ll probably be leaving town once this case is solved. Knox will take over again as the vampire liaison in your quadrant, and I’ll pick up where I left off with finding Natchook.”

  She settled more comfortably in the cr
ook of his arm. “Right. And I told you I’d help you.”

  “It would mean giving up your job, your home.”

  Nix propped herself up on her elbow. “My home is wherever you are.”

  His eyes darkened. Pheromones started rolling off of him as the emotions she saw in his eyes manifested themselves. Hope, love, guilt, and satisfaction roiled together to undulate over her skin, seep into her soul. “You’d give up your career?”

  He was so sweet. So clueless. “My job is catching bad guys. I won’t be giving anything up. I’ll be focused on one particular bad guy and I won’t be doing it in Scottsdale.” She drew in a breath. “I want to be in your life, Tobias.”

  He stared at her, so much emotion roiling in his eyes it almost brought her to tears. “You’re not just in my life, honey. You are my life.” He drew her down for a long, lingering kiss.

  Drawing back slightly, she asked, “So, tell me, if we won’t be catching the bad guy here, where will we be?”

  His big hand curved over her hip. “My last lead took me to Fairbanks. That’s where I was when Amarinda called.”

  “Alaska?” She snuggled close again. “From desert to snow and back to desert. That was quite a trip for you.”

  “Alaska was like a barren wasteland because you weren’t there.” His voice turned gruff. “The last five years have been the worst of my life.” His hand tightened on her hip. “I missed you, honey.”

  She pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “I missed you, too. A couple of days ago if someone had told me you’d come back into town and I’d be happy you were here I would’ve told ’em they were crazy. Or tried to rip their lungs out.” She snickered. “But they would have been right.” She paused and traced a random pattern on his chest with her index finger. “When you’re young and in love, everything seems perfect.” She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. “Now I know I don’t need perfect. I just need you.”