by Michelle Fox
"Adele." I infused her name with power, and still she didn't respond. Whatever was happening to her, it rendered my claim meaningless.
I gave her a good shake, but her head just lolled and her hand flopped to the floor. Her fingers splayed open on the bathroom tile, releasing an opaque amber bottle with a white label. Snatching it up, I examined the label. Vicodin. Prescribed to a Lori Williams. Quantity sixty.
Dropping the bottle, I slapped Adele's cheek. "Did you take them all?"
Only then did I notice how shallow her breathing had become. Her skin had gone from white to gray. She was dying.
I cursed under my breath. I needed her alive. If she died, it would distract Zion from what I needed him to do. But saving her also had consequences, and Adele would pay the highest price of all.
Growling with frustration, I put my wrist to my mouth and ripped open a vein with my fangs. Raising her head up, I pressed my blood between her lips and willed her to drink.
Lifting her hand to my mouth, I pierced her delicate skin with my fangs and took from her what no one should give. Her pulse barely throbbed against my tongue but I kept drawing more of her in, making my claim on her soul bigger and bigger.
Live.
Breathe.
Hold on.
I thought it all at her with everything I had inside me. It wasn't enough. Her heart stopped. The shell that had housed Adele went still.
I let her go and withdrew my wrist. I had failed. A silence full of dread settled over me. I sat in it, unable to let go and unwilling to do what needed to be done because that would mean admitting she was really dead. I didn't know her or understand her, but I also found the idea of never seeing her again more disturbing than not.
I was the vampire. I was the one who was supposed to get under her skin, not the other way around. Damn it.
But then...she took a breath, a great gasping one that made her chest heave. A flush of pink warmed her ghostly skin. Her eyes opened and she looked at me, her gaze clear and steady.
"Davian," she whispered, one hand rising up to cup my cheek.
"What did you do?" I thrust her off me and stood up, backing away.
"I wanted to die. I actually did die. For a moment, but then you came and got me." She rolled onto her hands and knees and crawled toward me.
"Where did you get the pills?"
She sank back on her heels and watched me, her head cocked to the side. "I found them. I always find them."
"You can't do that again."
"You'll have to stop me, Davian. I think you're the only one who can." She pushed herself to her feet and came to me. "Make me stop."
I didn't say anything, and she laid a hand over my still heart and pushed into me. "You have to or I'll keep going."
"I'll make sure there aren't any pills."
"Then I'll find something else. I'd rather it be you." She pressed her whole body into mine. "You're the best drug I've ever had."
"I'm not a drug."
She laughed and tapped her temple. "To this brain you are. You're amazing. Absolutely amazing. I've never felt this good."
I grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back, putting some distance between us. I should feel nothing for her. She'd puked her guts out, fouled the air with the stench of her choices and then tried to kill herself, yet every time I looked into her eyes, the light dancing there captivated me like no one else ever had.
But she was unstable. A liability. She needed to be controlled. Maybe after I'd dealt with Zion, I could sort out what there was or wasn't between us. Just then, however, I didn't have that luxury.
So, I stared deep into her eyes, drilling down into the darkest corners of her soul. I threw everything I had into my words, wanting to be sure the compulsion stuck. "You will not use anything ever again. Do you hear me?"
Her pupils widened, becoming black pools that soaked up all the power I pushed into her.
"No pills. No homemade drugs. Nothing. You will use nothing. Tell me you understand me."
She nodded. "Yes. Nothing. I won't use, not when I have you."
"Even if you don't have me, you will not use. You will stop this madness, Adele. Forever."
"Forever." She sighed the word and collapsed in my arms.
"Adele?" Nothing answered me except the sound of deep, even breathing. Shaking my head, I scooped her up in my arms and left the suite.
Chapter Four
Davian
Our new suite was just a few doors down from the first one. It had two bedrooms, but I hesitated to leave Adele alone. Choosing the larger room with a king-sized bed, I set her down and then lay beside her. Dawn was coming. I could feel the change in temperature. The heat of the sun had hit the atmosphere and filtered through the building, slow but inexorable. Humans would never notice, but the dead always did.
The air conditioning kicked on, and I welcomed the cool breeze from the vent at the head of the bed. I needed to sleep, but I worried about Adele. I'd claimed her when I didn't plan to keep her. Now I might never be able to let her go. My life was complicated enough with just me in it. I couldn't fathom how I would manage with my own thrall...who apparently didn't mind if she killed herself.
Funny how the living thought life was so cheap. On the other side of the spectrum, I knew how precious it was. If I could go back...
No. I wouldn't torture myself like that. Instead, I took a deep breath and entered a meditative trance, eventually allowing sleep to overtake me.
***
"Davian?" A warm hand touched my shoulder. The voice sounded concerned.
Frowning, I opened my eyes and found Adele's heart-shaped face hovering over me. She backed off and sat next to me on the bed.
"What is it?" I rubbed my face to bring the feeling back. Vampire nerves tended to go numb when we slept.
"You were shouting in your sleep."
I froze, hand still on my face. Lowering it, I asked, "I was what?"
"Dahlia! Dahlia!" She deepened her voice, imitating mine. "Who's Dahlia?"
I rolled away from her, to the other side of the bed and stood up. "No one."
"Really? You seemed very worried about her."
I kept my back to her, not wanting her to read my face. "It was a long time ago."
"I get those."
"Those?"
"Bad dreams about bad things."
I half turned to look at her, but now she kept her back to me, her shoulders slumped.
"Bad things?"
"My parents died when I was a kid. I didn't handle it well." She waved a hand at the room, and then turned to sweep it my way. "It's probably why I'm in this mess."
I nodded. "We all have something."
"Yeah. But I don't scream in my sleep about it. You shouldn't be either. You're dead, right?"
"Dead, but different."
She laughed. "Well, if you can keep me clean, I'll take different." She stood and stretched, arching her back. Then walking over to me, she smiled. "For the first time, I don't crave a damn thing. Thank you."
"I had no choice."
That made her wince. "I was in withdrawal, not thinking clearly. It was dumb."
"Yes, it was."
"I'm sorry. I don't want to be that person, the perpetual fuck-up but it's what I do."
"Did."
She gave me a confused look.
"It's what you did. No more, Adele."
Her mouth a resolute line, she nodded. "Yes. No more." She darted in and kissed me again, her mouth warm and soft with a hint of minty toothpaste.
I shouldn't have done it, but I wrapped my arms around her and deepened the kiss, tasting her in a new way for the first time. It was a terrible idea, but I didn't care. Maybe it was just our blood bond, but something in her called to me.
Her kiss danced in my mind. It brought forward the memory of my first love, out in the old grove under a full moon. Her name had been Elissa and her body had held a seductive, juicy warmth. But her parents had intervened and taken her away, sco
lding me for daring to touch what could never be mine.
Adele had the same sweetness to her and an ethereal glow that reminded me of the moon. And I'd already claimed her. No one could take her from me. It would be up to me to let her go, but sinking into the pleasure she plucked from my lips, I wondered if I would be strong enough to do it.
Even though keeping her would ruin her life.
Adele broke our kiss and leaned back, her gaze searching my face. "What is it about you, Davian? Is it the blood?"
"Yes," I told her, although I wasn't certain that was true. Thralls were deeply bonded to their vampires, but it didn't usually involve this much kissing.
She bit her bottom lip."I want you like I've never wanted anything."
I shoved her away, uncomfortable with the way she watched me...like she was hungry enough to swallow me whole. A dark temptation twisted in me, big enough to swallow us both. "Don't want me Adele. This won't last."
"Why not? You're immortal. That's forever."
"Because I'm not good for you. Not like this."
"Who hurt you?" she asked, her voice soft and resonating with an understanding I didn't want. She was far too perceptive for my comfort. The bond must be broadcasting my emotions. I closed my eyes and clamped down, refusing to share.
"You can trust me. I won't tell anyone." Her hand cupped my face and I turned into her palm, kissing the sensitive skin there. She started to speak again, but I covered her mouth with mine, wanting to cut off further questions. I didn't owe her my past, and my demons were too heavy to share without consequence.
She sighed and moaned into my lips. My body stirred and my senses spun. She smelled like a forest on a hot day, a mix of sunlight and pine and fresh grass tinged with lilac. I hadn't been so close to the sun since I'd been turned.
Unable to contain myself, my hands roamed under her shirt, cupping her breasts. She pulled away and yanked off my dress shirt, tossing it to the floor. Her beautiful breasts sprang free, begging to be touched.
I couldn't say no. Her body was a lure made of heat and blood. I needed more.
I guided her to the bed and sat her on the edge. Then I kneeled before her, awestruck by the perfection of her body. Cupping her breasts in my hands, I graced each rose nipple with a feather-light kiss. Rising a bit, I kissed the left side of her chest where her heart lay. Its rhythm quickened so much, her heart beat trembled under my lips.
"Beautiful."
Adele grimaced."On the outside. The inside is a different story."
"Do you ever say anything nice about yourself?"
She shrugged. "Too busy doing bad things for there to be anything nice about me."
"Well, you're beautiful, and now you're clean, so you can work on nice."
That earned me a crooked smile. "Maybe." She leaned down. "Kiss me. Kiss me until my toes curl. I want to know what that feels like with you."
I put a hand to the back of her head and pulled her to my lips where I drank her in. My tongue swept through her mouth, tickling and stroking until she moaned. I nibbled at her lips, careful not to nick her with my fangs. When I sucked on her bottom lip, her entire body went slack and she had to support herself by putting her hands on my shoulders.
Pushing her back until her top half was flat on the bed, I nudged her knees apart and caressed her inner thigh. Her pelvis arched up, reaching for me, but I didn't give her what she wanted. I stayed on the periphery, running my fingers up and down her thighs and following that with more light kisses, raising goose bumps up and down her legs with my mouth.
"Davian." Her tone was scolding, but the moan after that told me she didn't mean it.
I went still, pleased to see that sent her hips into a frenzy of squirming. "Yes?"
"Don't make me wait." She sat up and captured my hand, placing it right at her core.
I slipped a finger between her nether lips and located the sensitive bud nestled there. She gasped and fell back onto the bed. "Yesssss."
"Shh," I said, moving lower and exploring her wet passage. Her body clamped down on my finger, so I added more, one by one, until I had four inside her. I stretched, reaching up and stroking her from the inside. At the same time, my tongue sought out her sweet bud. I worked her from the inside and outside, stroking and flicking until her breathing became ragged.
My whole life, I'd never had power. Not even after I became a vampire. But in that moment, I held Adele's fate in my hand. Her body danced on the bed because of what I did. I was in total control, and she was at my mercy.
I took wicked delight in stringing her along, refusing to let her have the ultimate pleasure. I would take her almost to the top and then back off. After a few rounds of that, she sobbed my name, begging.
"Daaaav...iaaaaan. Davian!"
I waited until her voice reached a crescendo before starting up again. She writhed around my tongue, her hips grinding and thrusting themselves at me, begging without words. We danced like this for I didn't know how long, but I relished every second of it. I didn't often take a lover, and this would not last, but in the moment, everything was perfect.
I ran my tongue across her sweet bud, pressing into the delicate flesh and then lifting it up somewhat roughly. At the same time, I pushed my fingers into the sensitive spot at the top of her passage. Her hips arched and I stopped.
"Hold still."
"No!" She pounded the bed with her fists and growled, the full power of her wolf behind the sound.
I let her rant and rave for a moment. With my free hand, I pushed her pelvis firmly into the mattress, pinning her down. She did her best to cooperate, but couldn't suppress a quiver that shuddered through her body the next time my tongue touched her heat. She was close to an edge I couldn't pull her back from.
Holding her down with one hand, I wrapped my lips around her nub and alternated between suckling and flicking it with the hard tip of my tongue. Adding to that, I kept steady pressure with my fingers from the inside. She screamed and every muscle in her body tensed, but she stayed still...almost.
I kept going. Suck. Flick. Press and move in a slow circle. I repeated that pattern over and over. First, her breathing hitched, then it stopped, and she fell silent. Pleasure consumed her from the inside out. Her entire body tightened and clenched, shaking from the power of my touch.
My eyes closed, I drank in every sweet drop of her orgasm. She tasted of life and passion, of everything I'd left behind after I'd turned. Again, my past came forward and I was running in green woods, the air streaming around me so fast I thought my feet might leave the ground. I remembered being warm and having a heart that thundered in my chest. I remembered thinking of my future with a sense of hope. And then I lost everything...including my soul.
I sank back on my knees, leaving Adele to her pleasure while I grappled with my pain. The night they came had been perfect. Clear skies. Stars as bountiful as diamonds in a dragon hoard. The bloodsuckers tried to sneak up on us, but they got caught. It didn't matter, though. They'd been stronger and faster and showered the earth in our blood. Only Dhalia and I had survived....for a brief time.
In the end, I hadn't been strong enough to save her.
"Davian?" Adele called for me. The bed squeaked as she sat up. Her hand touched my shoulder.
I flinched. "Don't."
"Are you okay?"
I met her eyes for a moment and almost lost myself again. She radiated a warmth that drew me in and left me not caring if I got burned. Claiming her had been a mistake. Allowing further intimacy compounded it. She might be free of drugs, but I doubted she would ever be free of me. And I hated myself for that. I stood and spun away from her, retreating to the other bedroom and slamming the door shut behind me.
She called for me and I clapped my hands over my ears, humming an old folk song my mother had loved to block out the sound of her voice. My back against the wall, I slid to the floor and tried not to let the past consume me.
Chapter Five
Davian
After a whil
e, a soft knock sounded at the door. "Hey. Are you in there?"
I didn't answer.
She knocked some more. "You forgot your phone. It's been dinging and ringing a lot."
Even though I didn't need to breathe, I sucked in air and stood. Opening the door, I snatched the phone. I moved to shut the door, but Adele caught it and forced it back open.
"Hey."
I glowered at her.
She fiddled with the hem of my dress shirt—she'd put it back on—wrapping it around her hand."I'm sorry if it was anything I did."
I clutched the doorframe until the wood groaned a warning. I wanted to hit her, to destroy her because then maybe I would find my equilibrium again. I didn't allow my past to bother me anymore. For years, I'd kept it buried deep, but one bite of an addict I barely knew, and I'd been thrown back to square one.
"I don't know why, but there's something about you." She laughed, the sound high and shaky. "It's crazy. I know. But we have a connection."
"Go to your room and wait for me," I said.
"Did I do something wrong?" Hurt darkened her eyes.
I refused to look. "Just go."
She hesitated but then said, "Okay."
I shut the door and she didn't try to stop me this time. Turning my attention to the phone, I quickly went through my notifications. Hang ups from the Contessa and several texts from her.
Are you there?
Call me.
Then: You've been made. Get out.
Dropping the phone to the floor, I shattered it with my heel. I scooped up the pieces and then flushed them down the toilet of the attached bathroom just to be safe. Zion wouldn't get any useful information from me.
With long strides, I hurried to the other bedroom and rapped on the door. "Adele. We have to go. Now."
"What?" She opened the door and looked at me, confusion stamped on her face.
"We're not safe here. We have to leave." I wrapped my hand around her wrist and pulled her after me, heading for the door. "Let me lead. I'll deal with anyone in our way. You just stay close, okay?"
