Raven's Desires (Night Hunters)

by Reily, Aminta

  “What to get! What to get!”

  Raven tossed items around until she came across a crowbar.

  “Not a good weapon, but it should help.”

  Raven grabbed the crowbar then raced back towards Kristian and the wolf. Once she was close, everything seemed to go in slow motion. She saw Kristian standing behind the beast. Blood was splattered everywhere. Kristian grabbed the head of the wolf and twisted it. Raven heard a loud snapping sound that would haunt her until the end of time. The wolf stopped struggling and went to the ground hard.

  Raven had never witnessed anything like this before in her life. Her gaze went to Kristian. She saw his chest rising and falling. His eyes were not red anymore, but she could clearly see his fangs in his mouth.

  Raven dropped the crowbar, making Kristian growl and turn towards her.

  “I’m going to leave now,” she whispered.

  Raven closed her eyes. Her body swayed back and forth as what had to be pure fire traveled through her veins.

  A slayer is born.

  The voice was in her head. So deep, so dark. What did it mean, a slayer is born?

  The world around her spun just before she lost consciousness.

  * * * *

  Kristian watched as Raven began to fall to the ground. He moved quickly, catching her before she touched it.

  He scooped her up into his arms and he knew from that moment he would not let her go. Raven had fully transformed into a slayer. She was stronger, even more powerful than he was. She only had to accept her destiny now.

  Kristian carried her back to her car. He would get someone to come dispose of the body.

  Kristian placed Raven in the car and drove home quickly. Not only was Raven a slayer, but he felt something deep inside him boiling—something he’d never felt before in his life. He felt a connection with Raven, a connection he could never explain.

  Raven slept the entire trip and Kristian was grateful. He didn’t want her jumping out of the car running and screaming. He knew she had seen his eyes and fangs. Even though she had, she did not leave him to fight the wolf alone. Raven had come back to help him and in that moment she had fulfilled her destiny. She let the Gods know that even in the face of danger, she would fight to protect anyone. With every fiber in his soul he knew that Raven would be one of the greatest slayers of all times.

  After parking Raven’s car, he carried her inside. He would call for her car to be picked up soon and have it fixed.

  Kristian carried her into the bathroom, sitting with her next to the tub. He turned on the water and quickly stripped Raven’s clothing from her. Trying not to look at her body, he quickly wiped off the dirt and grime. Afterwards, he stood and carried her into the bedroom, laying her on the bed. Glancing at her, Kristian felt his body responding to her nakedness. He quickly grabbed one of his shirts to cover her,then pulled the covers over her then went to wash up.

  He sighed. The sun would be up soon and he needed to rest. He lay beside Raven and for the first time in his life felt completely relaxed as he went to sleep.

  Kristian had only been asleep for a few moments before he heard Shane’s voice.

  “Score one for my man, Kristian. Finally living up to his…”

  “Shane, go away,” Kristian growled then snuggled closer to Raven.

  Kristian heard Shane inhale deeply, then snarl at him.

  “No. What the hell is the slayer doing here? Do you know she is a slayer? Are you willing to die while you are sleeping? You know she will do it once she finds out what we are. Once she knows we are vampires, we are dead.”

  “Times have changed, Shane. The Council protects us now. The magical spell around us lets a slayer know we are good. Their radar doesn’t go all crazy when we are around.”

  “Hell, I don’t trust that crap, and even if I did, that doesn’t explain why she is here.”

  Since Shane wasn’t going to shut up, Kristian decided to get up and explain everything to him—even down to his feeling that Raven might be his mate.

  Chapter 5

  Raven opened her eyes, slowly awakening from what felt like the best sleep she’d ever had. Her body was relaxed, not tensed as it had been for the past months. Her head was not pounding against her skull causing her agonizing pain. She could not remember the last time she had awakened to such peace.

  Her peaceful morning quickly reversed at the feel of someone’s arm draped across her waist. Her body immediately tensed knowing that no one should be in her bed. As if reality slapped her in the face, the room became clear and she could see that she was not home. Not in her own bed. If she was not home, where the heck was she?

  Slowly, she tried to ease from under the arm around her waist, but it only tightened on her, holding her closer. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she turned her head, looking at who lay beside her.

  Her tension eased from her body when she looked at the face of the man who had eased her pain. His face was sculptured to perfection. God had not forgotten any features when it came to making this man…er…whatever Kristian actually was. His pale skin glowed in the moonlight. She could not find one single flaw about Kristian. His hair was long, thick, needing to be touched.

  Raven sighed, then looked away from Kristian. As much as she wanted to stay in his arms, she could not. Kristian had a lot of things to explain to her. Things she knew she would not be prepared to accept.

  The arm around her waist tightened more, keeping her pinned when she tried to roll out of bed again.

  “Where are you going?” His voice sent a chill up her spine, stopping her movements.

  It was not a cold chill—more a burning flame that travelled through her. His voice had ignited a passion deep in the pit of her body, and she knew then she had to get away from Kristian before she did something stupid like have sex with him. She had only been with one guy, one time about a year ago, but the sex was so bad that they did not try it again.

  “I um…I have to go to the restroom. You know, girly things.”

  When he didn’t release her she rolled onto her back, getting a better look at him.

  Kristian’s eyes opened and he watched her closely.

  Raven knew she’d lost a war she didn’t know she’d been fighting. Kristian had captured her heart and she didn’t know anything about him, which made the situation worse. She didn’t fall in love with a man she didn’t know.

  Kristian smiled at her, making her think he had read her thoughts. Which was crazy, because no one could read thoughts.

  “What?” her voice squeaked a little as she spoke.

  Kristian not only had her heart beating off the scales, but now she could not speak clearly.

  “You lie.”

  Raven snarled at him a little.

  “How would you know if I’m lying? You are not me. You don’t know what I want or have to do!”

  “Don’t I?”

  Raven stared into his blue eyes, refusing to give up the fight so quickly. Kristian seemed to be the type of person who intimidated people to get his way. Especially, women. True or not, she would not let him get his way with her.

  Taking a deep breath, she pushed past the lust and need, looked deeper into his eyes and lied. “No!”

  In a blink of an eye, Kristian moved from his prone position to lying on top of her. Raven did not have time to scream at how fast he moved. All she could do was hold back a moan, which was very hard to do, as his body pressed her against the bed, pinning her to the mattress.

  Raven bit her lip, hard. She knew she had bitten her lip too hard when she tasted her own blood.

  She heard Kristian draw in a deep breath before lowering his head slowly and smiling just before she felt his warm tongue slide against her bottom lip. The act astonished her and surprisingly turned her on at the same time. Liquid heat pumped through her body as his tongue slid against her lip. Raven knew if just his tongue teasing her could start a fire in the pit of her stomach, a full kiss would probably burn her from the inside out.

/>   Kristian lifted his head, staring at her. Raven was not as experienced with men as she was sure he was with women, but she was sure of what she saw in his eyes.

  Lust.

  Need.

  And more need.

  Instead of giving into her desire, as she so wanted to do, she gathered what strength she could manage and asked, “What do you think you are doing?”

  “You do not know?” His words were soft and sweet to the point she wanted to pull him to her and kiss him.

  “I know what you are doing,” she spat. “I want you to explain what happened last night, because I sure as hell don’t know.”

  “Don’t act as if you did not notice anything last night, Raven. You know exactly what you saw. You know exactly what I am and you are beginning to know what you are.”

  Of course she knew what Kristian was. Or what Hollywood called them. Vampires. How could vampires be real? They had to be real. Kristian was here, lying on top of her. He had fangs in his mouth. She remembered them as clearly as anything. She remembered those molten red eyes, the way they burned with hate as he looked at the beast that pulled her out of the car.

  The hatred that had rolled off Kristian would stick with her forever. He wanted to kill that beast, and he had.

  Gruesomely.

  Violently.

  Passionately.

  He took passion in killing the beast that tried to harm her. In a way, she should be thrilled that Kristian would put his life in danger to save hers. Problem with the Romeo and Juliet theme was the fact that he had fangs. Not to forget, he was a vampire. Simply put.

  Raven did not blink nor look away from him. She would not show Kristian any weakness.

  “I still am not clear what you are trying to tell me, Kristian. Besides the fact that you want to have sex with me, which, I might add, is not going to happen.”

  Kristian chuckled.

  “Watch,” he said softly then opened his mouth.

  All she saw was a perfect mouth of pretty, white teeth. Nothing unusual about that, besides the fact that they were all perfectly aligned. As she continued to look, she saw the two teeth at the top of his mouth growing longer. They looked sharper than the others did.

  When Kristian showed Raven his fangs, she had a deep gut feeling that she should be scared, but for some unknown reason, which she would question later, she did not fear Kristian. Unlike last night when rage poured off him in waves, now she could feel only calmness with him, and it didn’t frighten her. How could she feel his emotions? What was happening to her to make her think she could feel emotion from anyone besides herself? Yes, she knew she had a special type of power to control the volume of sound in her mind, but nothing else besides that.

  Taking her mind off her own thoughts for a moment, she looked closely at Kristian, examining his fangs closer. She took in every detail about this fascinating creature. His fangs. How they were set. Wondering what she could do if a vampire was to attack her with them. How could she escape if fangs ever bit her?

  After taking in his fangs she remembered how he’d moved the night before, and a moment ago when he moved over her. She watched every breath he took. Studying him more, she took in his eyes. How they had darkened from earlier. The passion still behind them, but more concern in them now. Maybe he wondered if she would run from him now that he was exposing himself to her. The real him.

  Kristian leaned closer to her, so close she felt the heat of his breath when he breathed out. She was startled for a moment, thinking he was going to kiss her.

  “You are studying me,” he said with confusion in his voice.

  “Yeah, what if I am?”

  Raven did not know what had happened to her, but at this moment she knew that she had changed. The Raven Nowles that she had grown to love was no more. In her place was a woman who did not fear the unbelievable. She knew that she had a mission to fulfill—a mission that should put her teeth on edge but it didn’t.

  Kristian watched her for a few moments before moving from over her body.

  “Maybe the Gods were right for choosing you. You are so different from any other newly risen slayer I have met.”

  Raven sat up in the bed as Kristian paced back and forth in front of the bed.

  “Why do you think I am a slayer? What is a slayer, exactly?”

  Kristian turned to face her.

  “I know this because you know that I could have killed you right then, drained every drop of your blood, but you didn’t even flinch at the sight of my fangs. Instead, you studied me. Remembering every detail about me.” Kristian smiled. “You knew how to stop me if I would have attacked. Am I correct?”

  Raven looked away from him for a moment and she knew that he was correct. “You are right. So, what happened to me last night?”

  “I had your clothes cleaned. Go, have a bath and get dressed. We can talk about everything once you are dressed.”

  Raven frowned at Kristian. He did not answer her question. Maybe he didn’t know how to answer it—or, maybe he didn’t want to answer it.

  “What?” he asked after a long moment of silence.

  “You are buying time aren’t you?”

  Kristian stalked closer to her. For a brief moment, she felt like prey to a hungry predator. Shameless to say, she liked it. Kristian grasped her leg through the sheet pulling her down until she lay flat on the bed. He moved so quickly that she did not see him move, only felt his body pressed against hers, and this time she noticed one other thing about him. His very impressive erection pressed against her.

  “I know you feel it, Raven, and I’m not one who usually takes no for an answer. If you had grown up as I have, then right now you would be naked and begging me to make love to you.”

  Kristian had spoken the truth. She felt a strange and unusual pull with him. Not a normal I want to have sex with you feeling. It resembled more of a need for him, a connection that demanded to be fulfilled. This need for fulfillment was something she had never experienced in her life. She wanted to give the one thing she cherished to Kristian. Her love. However, she knew that Kristian was only waiting for her to give the go ahead. Her mouth went dry at the thought of making love to Kristian.

  Raven ground her teeth. Not now, she couldn’t do it right now. Raven needed to fight the rising need and find out what was going on in her life before taking the next step with this man. She doubted this step would be put on the back burner for long.

  Raven swallowed in an effort to not moan when he pressed against her. God, how could a man give off so much sexual need? His touch sent every fiber in her body surging with life. She closed her eyes for a moment to try to get her body to settle down. She had to find the rational part of her brain to make him get off her so she could go shower. Damn it, where is the rational part of my brain when I need it? Each section of her brain was fogged with lust and need for Kristian.

  Raven took a deep breath and opened her eyes. First mistake. Kristian’s eyes were dark with a hazy need. He looked like he wanted to devour her whole and she was on the brink of letting him do just that. Damn the marriage before sex rule her parents had drilled into her over the past years. Yes, she had sex once but then she planned on only having sex with the man she married. Kristian had shattered that plan in less than a day of knowing him and she didn’t really know him. She didn’t know anything about Kristian besides him having long fangs, a very impressive desire pressed against her at the moment, and a sexual prerequisite that could overload any woman’s rational thought and he knew how to use it and when.

  “Kristian…ummmm…I know what you feel and I do also…but can you let me find out what is going on before ravishing my body?”

  Kristian laughed.

  “So you accept the fact that I will be ravishing you?”

  What a cocky bastard he was. If he wanted to be that way then she could play hard to get.

  “No, I’m not impressed at all by this. So, you can just move so I can go shower and wash your touch off my body. I can’t
go around having you on me all day now can I?”

  “Ouch, that hurts.” Kristian stared into her eyes. “I know you are lying because I can feel your body calling out for me.”

  Kristian traced a heated path from the side of her neck down the front of the v-neck t-shirt to the valley between her breasts with his fingers. Raven couldn’t stop the shiver that wracked her body. It took every effort to keep her back from arching off the bed and pressing her body closer to his fingers so she could feel them on her heated skin.

  Raven wanted to kick him for playing games with her. She wanted to win him over, not the other way around. He knew exactly what to do to make her want to beg him, but she wouldn’t. No, Kristian would have to work harder at it.

  Raven took a deep breath and got some control over her body.

  “Are you done with your attempt to win me over?”

  “After feeling you shiver, I can say, yes. Have fun in the shower.”

  Kristian moved from over her. He continued to dress as she sat on the edge of the bed still in shock from what had just happened.

  “Once you are dressed, you can come downstairs to dinner.”

  “Alright.”

  Kristian gave her one look-over before leaving the room. Then and only then was she able to wrangle up the strength to move. Her legs wobbled as she stood.

  “Damn Kristian and his ability to make me weak. I will not fall.”

  Raven grabbed her clothes from the edge of the bed before heading to the bathroom. She needed a nice, long, cold shower to try to erase some of the tension rising inside her.

  * * * *

  Kristian made his way to the dining room. He spotted Shane sitting at the counter next to Veronica having dinner.

  “Evening,” he said, but they never answered. They were giggling and talking so much they hadn’t noticed he had entered the room.

  Once he opened the refrigerator they finally knew that he stood in the room.

  “Finally woke up, sleepy head?” Shane asked.

  “Look who finally sees me,” he said.