by Tamsin Baker
Nic chuckled. “Try whacking yourself with one.”
He leaned close, cupped my chin and pulled our faces together so his forehead grazed against mine. Not good enough. I wanted to feel his lips on my mouth. I hugged my arms around the back of his neck to drag him closer. He let out a primal, low growl, curled his hand at the back of my neck, and covered my mouth with a firm, assertive kiss. Our tongues twined together and he explored every part of my mouth. When he sucked on my bottom lip, I moaned in pleasure. Drowning in his intoxicating touch, thrumming started deep inside me, and my pulse sped as my throat dried.
He pulled away, his ragged breath mixed with mine. I gasped for air, yet still I tangled my hands in his hair and tried to pull him close again.
“Faith and Cindy, remember.” He cupped my face in his cool, smooth, palms, his thumbs tender as he stroked my cheeks. “Playtime after, once we have the girls safe, and these renegade vamps under control."
Playtime after. Sweet heavens. And he’d promised me an epic spanking. He'd been joking, though, right? I needed to get my head back in the game. If the girls were still alive. I recoiled back into the seat and squeezed my knees together to stop my legs from shaking. No, I couldn't think like that. They had to be alive. Maybe compromised, probably terrified, but bright-eyed, full of enthusiasm, and still full off the curiosity and thirst for knowledge that may have prompted the research shown on Faith’s bedroom wall.
Nic squeezed my thigh. “Confidence, my sweet. I doubt two blood donors are dead.”
I cringed at Nic’s blunt words, but my optimism blossomed. “Where is this Compton place?”
“Across the river, about twenty minutes’ drive over the main bridge.”
I didn’t need to check the photos from Faith’s room. She had no red dots so far across the river, so it was unlikely we would see Ben there. She and Cindy must have located it too recently to add it to her wall.
Gaspard took a right turn into blackness and we lurched across rocky ground. “Only five minutes, via the creek ford.” He grinned at me in the rearview mirror.
I grabbed hold of the roof handle with both hands as we splashed through shallow water and lurched across boulders.
Nic flung his arm across my chest and pinned me to the seat. “It just feels like a joyride, we are perfectly safe."
"I can't see you on a joyride—”
“Why not?"
He was just too elegant, too suave, too much of an alpha predator who enjoyed being in control. By the look on his face, I'd insulted him.
“I can’t see you letting go, giving up control.”
“You’re right.” He grinned and his eyes flashed.
The shaking and jolting stopped. Thank the heavens. We traveled on a gravel road running parallel to the creek.
“What's the plan, boss?" Jason cracked his knuckles.
“Avoid the front gates. Park at the edge of the property, by the orchard. Should be close enough to sense how many are in there.”
The mansion loomed ahead of us. A solid square of darkness surrounded by trees and shrubs of all sizes.
“How will we get in?” I leaned forward to get a better look as excitement built in my chest.
Nic looked at me, possessive and passionate. Unrepentant for any sins past, present and future. “You’re staying in the car.”
“I am not.” The dhampir in me soared to life. As if I’d let him leave me in the car while they had all the fun. I folded my arms across my chest.
“You can pout all you like.” He pressed his fingertips to my lips when I opened my mouth to argue with him. “You are staying safe in the car. The girls may not be here.”
If the amber glow in his eyes was anything to go by, then he thought they were and he was looking forward to a fight. Gaspard parked next to a solid brick wall at least nine feet high and topped with barbed wire and broken glass. The brambles weren’t as thick here, but there was also no sign of a gate. The three men leapt from the car so fast I was still undoing my seatbelt when Gaspard locked the doors with his key fob.
I banged on the window. Nic glanced back and blew me a kiss. I flipped him the bird. He laughed. Asshole.
Gaspard pulled a small bottle from his jacket and they sprayed themselves with a fine mist. I couldn’t see what it did and quickly forgot about it. They walked for a short distance, then Jason pointed at a spot where a thick tree branch battered the barbed wire. One after the other, they leapt to the top and over the side.
“Stay in the car.” I imitated Nic’s sexy baritone and blew out a snort. I yanked my phone from my bag and Googled “how to escape from inside a locked Mercedes”.
Yes! Thank the sweet heavens for Google. I quickly braided my hair and re-checked all my weapons. I knew the stakes were safely wedged into my boots, but I double-checked to make sure they were in place and I could easily reach them. Freedom sounded easy as long as I could find the escape button. With a deep breath, I flattened the seats and crawled to the trunk lid. Not knowing the model number, I couldn’t find a photo of the exact location of the button, but it didn’t take long to find. The lid opened with a hiss and a snick. Inwardly cursing vampire hearing, I climbed out of the car on tiptoes.
I stood perfectly still, straining my ears for any indication that one of the vampires heard my escape. No sounds came from inside the wall or inside the mansion. In fact, it was eerily quiet. Too quiet. If even the tiniest nighttime critters had the sense to stay away, what on earth was I playing at? I drew on my dhampir heritage and quieted my misgivings. Saving two innocent young women from becoming thick shakes, that's what.
Maybe leaping to the top of a nine-foot wall was beyond my capabilities. But I could climb a tree. At least, I could years ago. I neared it with slow, steady steps. The branch I needed started from at least six feet up. I’d have to jump to reach it or try and walk my way around the gnarly old oak from the other side. I did a few practice jumps and on the third, my fingers made contact. I hauled myself up and for several moments lay flat on the branch. When my breathing settled, I got on my hands and knees and inched my way to the wall. The branch thinned out before reaching the barrier but it also wasn’t far above it.
Unfortunately, the drop on the inner side of the wall was even higher than the outside, and the brambles thicker. I’d have to try and jump clean over to a flat area that looked like lawn.
I picked a spot with minimal broken glass and let my feet drop down over the side of the branch. The wood gave way, I flailed my legs, and the barbed wire caught my jeans. Spikes dug deep into my calves and I let out a silly girlish squeak. Damn it, this was supposed to be a silent approach. Another item to add to my long list of skills I needed if I wanted to be a kick ass vampire hunter. Something flew close to my ear. I wobbled, tried to grab the barbed wire to stop from falling but instead tumbled off the wall.
Chapter Fifteen
“I told you to stay in the car." Nic caught me easily, leapt across the brambles with me in his arms and swung me to the ground, his hands still circling my waist.
"I told you I wouldn't." I tried to wriggle free but I couldn't match him in strength, and he had both his legs between mine so I couldn't knee him in the bulge I felt in his jeans. Not that I would, damage him there, I mean. Not permanently at least.
“You were waiting for me.” I tried to fist my hands on my hips but he wouldn’t move his hands from my waist.
He nipped my bottom lip. “You weren’t exactly quiet.” He nuzzled into my neck. “I don't want you hurt, and I smell your blood."
“Just a few scratches." I closed my eyes as he touched his tongue to the most sensitive part of my neck. “Barbed wire.” Delicious shivers almost took my breath away. “The girls?"
I seemed to have lost the ability to talk in complete sentences.
He lifted his head and his stubble grazed my cheek. “We sense four humans, probably in the basement. No vamps, newbie or otherwise, but their scent is all over the place. I’m guessing six or more. They’re
probably out hunting.”
I pulled away. “Why hunt if they have donors—willing or not—on hand?”
“We are predators, mon ange, it’s what we do.”
An unsettling heaviness took up residence in my chest. I knew exactly what vampires were—cold-blooded killers who cared little for the humans they regarded as barely better than cattle. But Nic himself stood testament to the fact that wasn’t always the case. He was more hot-blooded than any male I’d ever met, and if he had been truthful with me, then he looked after willing donors on his property. I believed him, but I still needed to check for myself.
We’d have to talk about it. I trusted him, but my attraction to him had been so sudden, thorough, consuming, and so unexpected. I raked my gaze across the ugly mansion.
I couldn’t sense anything, but somewhere inside were four possible victims. “What are we waiting for? Let's get the captives and go.”
“What of the vamps? I will not tolerate unapproved hunting in my jurisdiction.” He gripped his hands on my elbows. “I will not tolerate harm coming to any humans here.”
“I know.” I believed it for sure. The memory of him ripping of Adrian’s head was still a bloody scene I would never forget. “But it may be Cindy and Faith. We could rescue the girls and wait for the vamps to return.”
"I doubt they will return if they sense their defenses are breached. The captives are safe at the moment, and we will release them as soon as we have the residents here either dead or contained.”
“But—”
“Do not argue with me on this, mon ange.” His commanding voice, even whispered, sent a shiver of acquiescence through me. “Or I will carry you back to the car and cuff you to the steering wheel.”
“Don’t try and do whatever it is you’re doing.” I glared at him.
He grinned. “It was worth a shot.”
The boyish grin and twinkling eyes melted my anger away. “If I don't argue?"
"I'll let you stay, on a couple of conditions."
“Who made you the boss?"
“Until you are faster, stronger and more in control of your skills and strengths.” He smirked. “It is what it is.” His eyes flashed amber. “Accept it, or I cuff you in the car?”
His smirk telegraphed that he wasn’t expecting me to match him for speed and strength, let alone fighting skills, anytime soon. So, not that many options. Even if I could free the captives alone, I certainly couldn’t face down several healthy, possibly aggressive, vamps.
I needed Nic and his men, and he knew it. I pursed my lips. “What are the conditions?"
He grinned like a cat with a bowl of cream before his face returned to his professional mask. “You do not put yourself in danger. You stay behind me at all times. If I give you a directive, you follow it, immediately and without question.”
“You are worse than Ben.”
He caressed his hands from my waist to my hips and raised an eyebrow while he waited for my answer.
“Okay. Yes, I accept your conditions." I slapped my hand into his chest. "I'm not happy about it, though.”
“Noted.” He grinned. “There is one more condition.”
I groaned and let my head fall back. He made a low, guttural sound, pulled me tight against him, and teased the sensitive skin over my collarbones with his lips.
At a brush of his teeth, I caught my breath and held it. His fangs extended and he grazed the tips against my throat, the touch threatening and yet erotic at the same time. Moisture pooled between my legs. I needed him to fill me, I desperately needed the pressure and friction only he could provide. His blood circulating in my veins called out, demanding our union.
Sweet heavens above. Clarity bloomed. This was the other condition. He was going to bite me. Right here and right now. I grasped the idea like a voyeur in my own body. I knew it and welcomed it. My heart pounded and I rubbed my mound against his erection with an aching need. He let out a deep, primal growl. My body responded, wet and aching with desire.
“Breathe, Louisa.” His breath drifted across my cleavage. “No noise, my love, they may return at any time.”
“No noise, got it.” I clutched my arms around his torso, careful not to obstruct his access to my neck.
He gripped the back of my head and tilted it to the side. I sucked in air and sharp points broke my skin. He penetrated agonizingly deep. I gasped at the sudden pain, until a myriad of sensations spilled over me. An elixir flashed through my veins and enveloped my whole body. Waves of dizziness washed over me, followed by a surge of hedonistic pleasure so strong my head fell back and my knees gave way. If he hadn’t gripped me against him I would have crumbled to the ground.
Just as I found strength in my legs again, he sucked deep and long. Intense ecstasy shot from my neck to my slit, my inner muscles clenched and I orgasmed. I bit down on the soft leather of his jacket lapel. The world around me narrowed into nothing but Nic and me. Words could not even begin to describe the sensation coursing through my body as my blood emptied into him. Panting and biting down, I just had to feel, to exist in the moment.
A second, deep pull on my blood triggered another roaring climax and I let my head back to scream. A growl sounded at my throat, he clapped a hand to the back of my neck and cut off all sound with a searing kiss. I tasted my own blood on his lips.
He released me and licked my skin where his fangs had penetrated. “Look at me, Louisa.”
Gripping him, I rubbed my forehead into his chest.
“You are stunning, my beauty.” He lifted my face and forced me to gaze into his eyes. “I need you quiet and focused.”
“Then you probably shouldn’t have done that.” I rested my chin in his palm. “Do you have any idea what you just did to me?”
He kissed me softly, not a shadow of remorse in his eyes.
I took that as a yes. “The euphoria beat a dose of morphine and was more arousing than any foreplay, ever.”
“I’ve wanted to do exactly that since we met. But this is for expediency, another time we will take a more leisurely path.” He traced his fingertip down my cheek, to the place where he bit me. “Now I have tasted you, I will know where you are. Over time I will get a hint of your feelings.”
“You didn’t think to ask me first?” I stretched my neck to loosen my tightening jaw.
“You would have refused.”
“Yes.” I thumped his chest. “You had no right. Undo it.”
“No. These vamps are unknown to me and probably dangerous.” He clutched my hand, kissed the knuckles then held it against his chest. “I will not risk your safety. You are in my world now. Please trust me.”
“It’s becoming my world too.”
“Yes, but small steps okay?”
Not sure that Ben agreed with the small steps motto, but I did trust him. I trusted both of the men in my life.” I nodded into Nic’s chest.
He kissed my cheek. “Now your turn. They will smell your delicious blood a mile away. Once you drink from me, your cuts will heal and your focus will return stronger than ever.”
Smell me and hear me, no doubt. I didn’t scream or yell. Who knew how close the vamps might be, but I struggled ineffectively in his firm grasp. He spun me around, gripped my back to his chest, slashed his wrist with a claw-like nail and forced the bleeding cut into my mouth. I couldn’t help myself. I’d taken his blood before. Now he had my blood in him and like called to like. Was it thrumming through his veins like his did to me? I latched on and sucked his blood into my mouth. The tangy metallic taste didn’t bother me like the first time. The euphoric pleasure built into a crescendo, engulfed me, and I gripped his arm with both hands, eagerly sucking in as much of his blood—as much of him—as I could, until the cut healed.
I licked his arm and my lips to remove traces of his blood. I knew without touching that the wounds on my neck had healed, as did the wounds on my leg.
“Can you stand?” Nic turned me back to face him and cupped his hands around my face.
&nb
sp; “Feel great.” It was the truth. I felt like Wonder Woman and Buffy combined and on a course of red blood cell producing hormones.
Of course, Nic still looked fantastic while I probably looked like I’d been blown around in a tornado.
He pulled a handkerchief from his trouser pocket. “Let’s get the dried blood off you.”
I stood like a statue exactly where he’d left me. Utterly present in the moment, all my senses heightened and my mind and emotions totally focused on the goal—get the captives away and mete out justice to the wayward vamps. Worries and fears melted away. As long as I was with Nic, we’d be okay. I’d agreed to his conditions, but whether I could obey them remained to be seen. It would be hard to avoid danger, given the situation. I’d try to stay behind Nic, but damn, he could move fast. And I’d try to follow any reasonable directives. Immediately and without question wouldn’t come naturally, though.
He must have found a tap somewhere, because he returned in seconds with Gaspard, and two wet handkerchiefs. Nic licked every trace of blood from my neck while Gaspard rubbed the wet cloths over my calves and torn jeans.
Gaspard stood, pulled a small bottle from his jacket and sprayed my torso.
“What’s that? I saw you guys spray yourselves when you left the car.”
Nic answered, “A spray we developed to hide our scent so we can go undetected by other vampires.”
The sound of the front gates grating open stopped our conversation.
Gaspard nudged us both under a copse of young pine trees. A car pulled through the gates and stopped in a patch of gravel in front of the house. Four people exited the car. Moments later, another car pulled up, parked behind the first and another five people climbed out. In each group, one of the passengers teetered unsteadily. Much smaller than the rest of the group, the unsteady passengers were propped up by two of the others and half dragged, half carried through the front door.
“Seven vamps and two new donors by the look of it, boss.” Gaspard spoke so quietly I had to strain to hear him.”
Jason crept alongside us. It was pure luck I saw him approach, or I might not have been able to contain a screech when he whispered close to my ear.
