“Then you are -- human?” one of them said curiously.
“Entirely,” Lara answered calmly.
One man leaned forward, a youngish, serious person. “I have different concerns. If the lupi enforce the law, however successfully, and they all -- transform -- for several nights a month, does that not give our massive criminal elements free rein for those nights?”
“Well, no,” said Lara, before anyone else could speak. “Whatever form they take, the lupi are more than capable of protection and apprehension. What we might have, of course, is a communication problem on those nights. Now in the beginning I don’t believe this will matter -- you have such major problems here that any clean up, with or without communication, has to be better than nothing. But in the longer term, as things improve, and people begin to understand what is and isn’t acceptable, we will need humans in the force too, to partner and complement the strength of the lupi.”
“In fact,” said Will, as the humans took that in with varying degrees of doubt and hope, “I would suggest Lara leads this force.”
Henry, April’s father, blinked at that. “That would certainly make the force more agreeable to humans -- but will the lupi accept a human’s command?”
April laughed. “Of course they will, when the human concerned is Will’s woman.”
For some reason, she glanced across at the vampire. She had noticed him before from time to time, listening in. If he hadn’t been tied to the chair, she could almost have imagined he was the vampire representative on the Council. Now he was looking directly at April, and when she met his gaze his hard eyes lightened unexpectedly. In fact, they almost sparkled. In spite of herself, April’s stomach twisted with sudden desire. She wondered how formidable he was at full strength -- the thought was delicious and terrifying.
The muscles in his tied arms flexed. She saw them straining at the ropes and felt almost sorry for him -- until the ropes snapped.
The vampire rose to his feet. His bound legs he freed by simply stamping on the chair once. It broke in pieces.
The unexpected crashing of the wood drew everyone else’s attention at last, but April was already on her feet, running toward him before she could properly think. The knife was in her hand. Will’s belated warning, “April, no!” rang in her ears as she flew to recapture the vampire.
He caught her in his arms like a lover, only he didn’t dally. In the instant April struggled to bring the knife into position, he began to run with her for the door. Craig and two other lupi blocked it. Undeterred, the vampire increased his speed impossibly, sweeping April up off the ground. The next instant, he simply ran up the wall, crashing out through the ceiling in a mighty jump that left April’s stomach several feet below.
Chapter Two
The cold, rushing air struck her like a blow. The vampire ran across the roof with astonishing speed, completely unhampered by the burden that was April. Numb, she made no effort to free herself, and by the time she realized he was going to jump, she could do no more than twist uselessly in his arms.
Then he leapt off the roof into space.
Jesus, I’m going to die.
Without permission, her hands clung to him.
Well at least I can die in the arms of a man who hasn’t had time to piss me off.
Hysterical laughter rose up in her throat and choked off with the jolt of landing. And then she was flying through the air once more as he ran over the more rickety, semi-vanished roof of the next building. It seemed she was not going to die today. Or at least not yet.
The ride was exhilarating, crazy, like being swung round in circles by her father when she was a child, like running alone and free through the city the first time she had changed, like surrendering to the dizziness after a wild orgasm -- all these rolled into one. It helped that she couldn’t do a thing about it except hold on for the duration. If she killed him at the wrong time, she’d die too. Besides, it might have been a weird way to have fun, but fun it undoubtedly was.
Struggling against the force of the air, she turned her face up to see him. His cold, sculpted features were perfect, the dark eyes which gazed into the distance unreadable. Only the slightly parted lips seemed to hint at any sort of emotion or exertion. There was a faint bruise on his head, the only obvious injury from crashing through the lupi’s ceiling.
Pressed into the hardness of his chest as he ran, April could feel the pumping of his legs, the flexing of his shoulder and chest muscles against her breasts. Her nipples grew hard with the feel of him. She should have been cold, and yet her whole body became suffused with heat. Unable to escape, forced to hold on to him, she could only give herself up to the strange, languorous pleasure of his pounding, speeding body moving against her, of his thick arms like steel bands around her. She should have been petrified, and instead she had the insane urge to put her lips to the strong column of his throat, to shift position so that his hand would close fully over her eager breast. Closing her eyes, she laid her cheek on the leather lapel of his coat, to let herself wallow, just for a moment, in sheer sensual sensation.
She had to snatch her breath back from the wind as he jumped again, and this time when he landed, he glanced down at her. “Enjoying the ride, little wolf?”
“If you call me that again, vampire, I’ll cut out your dead heart.”
He laughed and his muscles bunched, giving her some warning that he was about to jump once more.
“My heart isn’t dead,” he said, slowing the pace and then stopping altogether. April’s pulses hammered. She was shaking from reaction -- though to what particular event she was too confused to tell.
Unexpectedly, the vampire pushed one hand under her to tug at his shirt. His knuckles skimmed her covered nipples, making her gasp at the shooting pang of pleasure. At the same time, he let her slither to the ground against his body. The leather coat fell around them both, enveloping her with him. His heat invaded her flesh. She hadn’t expected him to be warm.
Against her abdomen, she could feel his cock, harder and bigger than before. And Christ, it seemed to be growing further. Her excitement rose unbidden, releasing a flood of hot moisture between her legs that she hoped he couldn’t smell. A lupi would.
He had pulled his shirt open, revealing his muscled, naked chest with its faint scattering of dark hairs that she could make out only too easily, even in the gloom. Half fascinated, half frightened again, she glanced up at him. He took her trembling hand in a cool grip, casually forcing the knife from her fingers. She had clutched it all that time.
As it clattered on the flat, concrete roof, she cried out at her own stupidity, the betrayal of her body’s hunger. She had been too long without a lover.
The vampire did not let her hand go. Instead, he dragged it upward to his naked chest and pressed it there.
“Not dead,” he repeated, low, and she realized she could feel the slow, regular beat of his heart under her palm, strong and steady -- as if he hadn’t just run and jumped a mile across buildings carrying her not inconsiderable weight. Her eyes widened.
“Then you’re not…?”
“A vampire? Of course I am,” he said, squashing her unreasonable hope at birth. “But my organs still work. My body’s no more dead than yours. Is it?”
His skin felt warm and smooth under her hand. When she spread her fingers, they brushed against one stiff, male nipple. Her breath caught. “No…”
“And guess what?” The vampire smiled. “It’s supper time.”
Taken by surprise again, April wrenched instinctively backwards. New fear twisted through her with a vengeance. But his grip was strong. Straining and writhing against him only made her hot and increasingly conscious of her own arousal. And his.
She saw in his gleaming eyes that he recognized her awareness. Abruptly, he dragged her to the side, then spun her round until something cold and hard pressed into her back -- a sort of dilapidated chimney. The vampire pushed his hips into her, effectively holding her prisoner. Angry and afraid, she
still couldn’t prevent her overwhelming reaction to his body. It was strong and hard and scary, and she wanted it. She wanted the huge, steel-like shaft pressing into her stomach to be thrusting between her legs instead, to push inside her and give her this one wicked release. The strength of the desire shocked her, drawing some of her fear.
When his hand pushed her hair back from her throat, she took a swing at him. He saw it coming. Despite her own speed, he was faster, catching both her hands and grasping them easily behind her back. His massive strength was overpowering -- but April had no intention of giving up. Foiled physically, on more than one level, she fell back on her wits.
“You faked it all,” she gasped out, to distract him with his own cleverness. “You let me take you at the church so you could find out what we were doing.”
“True,” said Max without a great deal of interest. His free hand smoothed the skin of her throat, his fingers seeking and finding the favored vein.
“Why?” she demanded. “What’s it to you?”
“I hear things. Neither lupi nor ordinary people thrive on chaos. Vampires do.”
“Because you leech on us!”
“Leech implies clinging,” said Max indifferently. “My use for people doesn’t last that long.”
As he swooped his head for her throat, April said desperately, “And your use for me? What is that? You brought me here just to feed from me?”
He paused. For an instant, something flickered in his dark eyes and was gone. “Not just. But feed, certainly.”
“What else? You think my dead body will influence the lupi? Influence Will?”
“It might, but I didn’t say anything about killing you.”
April stared. “You tear the throat from your victims, drink their blood until they’re drained. That’s how you live.”
“You know best of course. Hold still.”
“You’re playing with me!” she accused, writhing again in a vain attempt to evade his mouth, which began to tease her throat. His teeth grazed softly against the skin, sending intense sparks of sensation shooting right to her core. Sounds from below, running feet, shouting, told her the lupi were out looking for her. Her heart thundered. There was hope now of escape though at what price she couldn’t guess. She didn’t know the vampire at all, or any of his kind. She had no true idea what he was capable of.
His tongue lapped at her skin, making her shiver with some new, fearful pleasure. To cover it, she blurted, “The lupi are coming. They’re out looking for me.”
“I hear them,” he said, lifting his head slightly, allowing her a glimpse of his long, pointed incisors.
“So what is it you want? Why did you take me?”
“Why did I take you? Partly to annoy Will because he is making my life difficult. And partly… I’ve had the scent of your blood in my nostrils all day, strong and sweet, and I want to taste you.”
Something fierce jolted inside her. She wished it was disgust. His words were vile, and yet the way he said them was overtly sensual. As if drinking his victims’ blood was a sexual experience. Curiosity twisted through her, hot and wicked, fighting with the fear.
“What are you going to do?” she asked hoarsely. Her voice shook.
“You choose. I had thought to take you back to my lair for a few days of pleasure, but now… I’m not sure I can wait that long.”
He lifted one hand, slid it deliberately inside her vest and closed his palm on her naked breast. April gasped in shock. His touch was electric.
“Now I think I’ll have to drink here while I fuck you. Two delights in one.” His hand moved, brushing her nipple in slow, delicious circles. It made her weak, unable even to pretend a protest. More terrifying than anything was the fact that she didn’t want him to stop. She couldn’t bear him to stop.
His hips moved too, grinding his pelvis into her. He whispered, “While your people search for you, I’ll make you come, so that you have to bite your own screams to keep them away.”
April moaned. A breath of laughter touched her ear. His free hand smoothed over her upper thigh and came up firmly between her legs, making her gasp again. Through her jeans, her swollen clitoris throbbed against the side of his hand. He drew it back and forward slowly, in a sawing motion that almost undid her.
“What do you say, little wolf?”
April swallowed. “You’re asking my permission? Now? After you abducted me?”
“Permission? No. I know what you want. I just have a notion to hear you say it.”
“You’ll wait a long time!” April got out with what defiance she could muster when his hand was stroking fire between her legs. He only smiled. A cruel, predatory smile.
“Then I’ll just have to settle for the scream, and the drink. Unless you say no.”
His hand left her breast to yank down the opening of her jeans. Below, she could hear voices she recognized. Craig, Ella, calling to each other.
“What if I just shout out to them?” she whispered. “Will you let me go? Will you kill me?”
His fingers pushed inside the gaping jeans, found the hot wetness of her pussy and he smiled with pure satisfaction. “Do you want to find out?”
“I asked, didn’t I?”
“Then I’ll tell you. Nothing, but nothing will stop me from fucking you now.” With the words, he thrust his finger deep inside her and she moaned aloud at the extraordinary pleasure.
“Sh-sh. You don’t want to be interrupted at this point. Trust me.”
“Trust you? Aahh!” She tried to bite off the gasp as he pushed another finger inside her and twisted.
He said in her ear, “I hear the lupi have exceptional stamina. How much can you take, little wolf?” As he spoke, his thumb began to circle her swollen clitoris, flicking across it while his fingers thrust in and out.
“Oh Jesus,” she whispered, as the orgasm began to roll. She didn’t know what to do with herself. Instinct made her reach for his mouth with her own. And yet, afraid of betraying her pleasure, either to him or to her friends below, she drew back at the last minute from his blazing eyes and buried her face in his chest as she fell apart.
The vampire’s mouth found her neck. Through the unbearable intensity, she felt the sharp probe of his teeth, adding impossible new pleasure to her over-sensitized body. She gasped out as they pricked and sank into her. The pain of it filled her for an instant, yet it was still part of the pleasure, even as the orgasm began slowly to fade.
His hand left her pussy and her mouth opened in a silent cry of loss. Her hands gripping his shoulders as if they were her only lifeline, scrabbled frantically in supplication. But it wasn’t his hand which she felt between her legs now -- it was his cock, hot and thick, sliding immediately into the welcoming wetness of her pussy, filling her, reaching impossibly far inside her.
The fading fire began to catch again. He withdrew, sucking on her neck, then thrust in while he swallowed her blood, withdrew and drank, pushed again in an unstoppable rhythm of terrible, forbidden pleasure. This time, her climax tore her apart.
The vampire groaned into her neck as if in pain. His whole body shuddered and rocked as he came, shooting hot wet seed deep inside her. With another low, smothered groan, he tore his mouth free. Somewhere, she was aware of his trembling tongue, touching the wound, licking, and then his hands were on her face, forcing it upwards, and his mouth seized hers. She could taste her own blood, and sobbed aloud at the weirdness of what was happening to her. But his lips were fierce, forcing hers apart, and she could only cling to him, meet his stroking tongue with hers, kiss him back with her own passion and gratitude for the astounding pleasure.
Her knees began to give way. As they buckled, he sank to the ground with her, still inside her, his mouth still locked to hers, and April realized with a rush of joy that it didn’t need to be over. She had never known pleasure like this in her life before. The intensity was killing her and suddenly she couldn’t live without more.
As their kiss broke, she rolled and straddl
ed him. His face was dark with passion, his eyes black in the darkening gloom. And yet she could almost imagine he was confused. Certainly, for the first time that day, she felt more in control than he was.
April squeezed his cock between her strong vaginal muscles and gasped at the renewed pleasure.
“Again,” she said fiercely. Something blazed in his eyes. It might have been triumph or joy. His hands came up and held her hips. His eyes gazed unblinkingly up into hers. And yet for a disconcerting moment, he didn’t seem aware of her.
Her breath caught. She tried to rise on his still hard shaft, but he held her steady. She squeezed him again and saw the pleasure cross his face like a pain.
He moved, rising to his feet, lifting her off him in one smooth action.
“Another time, little wolf,” he said. “Don’t forget to put your pants back on.”
Briefly, her mouth was crushed again under his, and then he left her, stepping back and fastening his jeans as he went. Then he simply turned his back and ran right off the roof.
Chapter Three
Max breathed hard as he pushed open the door of his lair. He’d run the whole way, far faster than was necessary just to lose the lupi, who couldn’t pick up his scent anyway. But not fast enough to block out from his mind the lost, devastated face of the girl. Or to smother the exultant joy of his body.
Kicking the door shut, he threw himself onto the couch that doubled as his bed and tried to breathe deeply. No wonder she’d looked bemused. He knew what he’d given her, and it was nothing to what he’d received.
Unable to be still, Max sprang up and paced around the dark room, without even taking off his coat, more like the restless lupi he’d been insulting all day than the cool, still vampire he’d become long ago. What was it about that girl that had triggered his release?
Vague, distant memories swam at the back of his brain, of girls in his youth, before he’d turned, of sexual release, ejaculating unwanted seed into rubber condoms, or otherwise avoiding impregnating the girl in question with either babies or disease. Safe sex they’d called it.
Loving the Vampire Page 2
