by Nova Archer
The odor of fear, Eve’s fear, distinctive by the licorice taste, intensified as they got closer. Caine pushed forward intent on crashing through the doors. Eve was calling to him. He was sure of it. She was waiting for him to come. He wouldn’t fail her again.
Before he could, Mahina grabbed his arm, yanking him to a halt. “I can hear some chanting. Sounds like two voices.”
“Are you sure?”
She screwed up her nose and tilted her head, then shook it. “No, but it’s strange. I can hear him, but also this low-level hum just under his octave. Like a second voice, but not.”
“I don’t care if it’s Balam himself having a sing-a-long with the bastard, I’m going in. Eve is still alive—I can feel it. But I’m not sure for how much longer.”
Mahina let him go and nodded. “Okay, but stay behind me. We’ll go in together on three.”
They both looked over their shoulders at Jace and Lyra as they crept along the side of the warehouse wall. Mahina put up her hand to tell them to stop where they were and to wait for them to move. They both nodded that they understood.
Resigned to being held back, Caine huddled behind Mahina as she took a position in front of the double metal doors. Wrapping her hands around her gun, she counted, “One...two...three.”
She kicked in the door and rushed through it. Caine was right behind her. If she had turned they would've been nose to nose, but she never got the chance to do just that.
The sound of gunfire rang in Caine’s ears even before he knew what was happening. Mahina pushed him to the ground as she took two bullets, one in her gun hand, and the other in the side.
Diving across the room, Caine watched as the detective fell to the floor, her weapon falling from her crimson stained hand. Blood quickly drenched the side of her shirt. The side not protected by the Kevlar vest. It had been a lucky shot.
Finding refuge behind a turned-over metal filing cabinet, Caine surveyed the room and spied Mel standing by a makeshift stone altar, candles all around, with a gun in his hand. Behind him on the altar, blood stained the stone, dripping down the side. And Eve lay spread out on top, his robe that she wore pulled open and her naked form glistening in the flickering light of the candles. Her arm hung lifelessly over the flat surface.
“You’re too late assholes! The deed is done.” Mel laughed hysterically as he swung his weapon back and forth. Caine didn’t think he was in control; the vampire was insane.
Clenching his teeth, Caine wanted to rush out and rip Mel’s throat out with his bare hands. Tears sprang to his eyes. She couldn’t be dead. She just couldn’t. He would’ve felt it. He was sure he would’ve felt it deep inside his soul. He was too late. Again, too late to save the woman he loved. History had a nasty habit of repeating itself.
Glancing over the cabinet again, Caine caught sight of something that had his heart racing and his throat constricting with emotion. Movement from atop the altar.
He could clearly see the rise and fall of her chest. Eve’s head turned to the side. Her eyes opened. They stared right at him, into his soul.
Ducking back down, Caine had to think and consider. If he rushed Mel, he could get shot and have no chance of saving Eve. But what other option did he have?
He glanced over at Mahina, as she still moved on the floor. She had managed to pull herself to the side behind a stack of wooden flatbeds. She was slumped over, but still alive. She looked up and met his gaze. She shook her head, letting him know she had no ideas.
Pressing his lips together, he tried to think of something else. Panic surged through him. If he wasn’t quick enough, Eve would die.
The radio clipped to his collar, crackled to life.
“Chief, I’m just outside the doors. I have a clear shot.” It was Jace.
“Are you sure?” he whispered into the radio. “You might hit Eve.” Glancing over his shoulder, Caine could see Jace’s face in the crack between the double doors.
“I won’t. Lyra has a smoke screen spell. It’ll work, trust me.”
Nodding, Caine gave him the thumbs-up.
On a count of three, Caine took a deep breath and watched as a thick layer of black smoke erupted from beneath the doors and moved across the room as if alive. Caine popped up from behind his metal shield and charged. At the same time, Jace burst through the doors and fired two shots at Mel. Both low and aimed at his legs.
Taken by surprise, Mel stumbled to the right and fired off a shot. But it was enough to afford Caine time to reach him and kick the gun from his hand. But that didn’t put Mel down.
Growling like a wild animal, he launched himself at Caine, his hands out like claws making a grab for Caine’s throat. As he jumped, his boots knocked over a couple of candles around the altar. They fell over and rolled across the floor into a corner.
Sidestepping, Caine landed a punch to the side of Mel’s head, right to the temple. This time he was stunned and fell to one knee. Taking advantage, Caine grabbed him by the hair and kneed him in the face. Not giving him any time to react, Caine dragged Mel across the floor and put him on the ground. Caine kneeled over him and punched him two more times in the face.
“We got you, Mel. You’re going to jail for the rest of your unnatural life.”
That was when he started laughing.
Caine stared down at him incredulously.
“You’ll never take me. My soul is reserved for him.”
Caine watched in horror as blood erupted from Mel’s mouth like a geyser. He bent down and tried to pry Mel’s lips apart. The vampire convulsed on the floor, clawing at Caine’s hands. Finally, Caine got his mouth open but it was too late.
Mel had bitten off his tongue and was choking on the blood.
In a matter of seconds, Mel’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he sagged onto the cement floor, dead.
With no further thoughts for Mel, Caine pushed to his feet and rushed over to the stone dais. Eve blinked up at him, her eyes glassy with tears. He stroked her hair and murmured to her. “I’m here, Eve. You’re safe now.” Leaning over, he pressed his lips to her forehead. Her skin was cold and clammy. He ran a hand over her neck and found her pulse. It was there, but weak. Had the bastard given her too much V?
After wrapping her back up in his robe, he slid an arm under her legs and around her waist just as fire erupted in the corner of the room. A few lit candles had found their way over to two jerry cans of gasoline. Suddenly, Caine became aware of the smell of fuel all around them. He glanced down at the cement floor around the stone altar. It was slick with gasoline. The place was going to go up into flames any minute. With his senses so focused on Eve, he had missed the obvious odor. A stupid error.
Standing up, he cradled Eve in his arms, pressing her close to his chest. He wanted to feel her heart beating next to his. When he turned, he saw Jace and Lyra tending to Mahina on the ground. Blood stained the cuff of Jace’s jeans. He’d obviously been shot.
They both glanced up at him as he walked passed, Eve safe in his arms.
“Time to go,” he grunted. “The place is going to blow.”
One on either side of Mahina, Jace and Lyra lifted her up and followed Caine out of the slaughter room.
As he rushed out of the building, Caine kept looking down at Eve, making sure she was still there, still real. Her breathing was shallow and he worried that she wouldn’t make it.
By the time he walked out of the warehouse, a few other police cruisers had surrounded the building, their red and blue lights flashing like beacons. A fire truck was wailing in the distance.
Eve moved in his arms and he looked down at her. She smiled up at him and opened her mouth to speak. She mumbled something that he couldn’t quite hear.
He leaned his head down closer to her mouth. “What was that, honey?”
“Did you get him?”
He nodded. “Yeah, baby. Mel’s dead. He can’t ever hurt you again.”
“The other one, too?”
“There was no one else th
ere.”
Her brow wrinkled in thought. He’d seen that look of concentration so many times before. She was thinking hard about something.
“Are you sure?” she rasped.
He nodded. “You’re safe, baby.”
Nodding, she snuggled into his chest and smiled. “You came for me. Just as I dreamed.”
Tears filled his eyes. “I’ll always come for you, Eve. No matter what.”
“I love you,” she rasped as her eyelids fluttered close.
His heart convulsed with emotion. An emotion he hadn’t felt in a long time. One he thought he’d never feel again. Smiling, he pressed his lips to her forehead and whispered, “I love you too.”
But she was already unconscious and didn’t hear a thing.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
“He’s coming for you, sweet thing.”
Eve bolted straight up from where she lay. Panic gripped her tight as she surveyed her surroundings. Swiveling her head back and forth, she tried to figure out where she was.
The room was white walled and she was in a bed with metal railings. A machine beeped beside her, and a tube ran out of her arm. Hospital. She was safe and sound in a hospital.
Caine slept in a chair next to her bed. Slumped over to one side, his face was slack. His blue shirt was streaked with blood. He had come for her. He had rescued her just as she knew he would.
Leaning back into her pillows, she let out a deep breath and cried.
Her entire body convulsed with emotion as she let it all out. All her trepidation, her despair and longing, seeped out in long wailing sobs.
Caine jerked awake and shot forward in his chair. He reached for her hand. “What’s the matter? Are you in pain? I’ll call the nurse.”
She shook her head, unable to form any coherent words.
Reaching up, he stroked his hand over her forehead and hair. “You’re all right, Eve. You’re safe.”
She couldn’t respond. When she opened her mouth, more sorrowful moans escaped. She could hardly breathe from the pressure on her lungs. Her head throbbed with the intensity of her distress. Instead of fighting it, she succumbed to it. Allowed it to pull her under like a wave rolling across the sand.
Caine held her through it, softly murmuring to her, gently stroking her hair and her cheeks.
She had survived death. That’s all she could think of. That’s all that raced through her mind. She knew she had been so close to her end that she could still feel the icy press of the blade on her chest, on her neck, like a premonition of how it would feel in the afterlife. Caine had arrived just in time. A few more moments and she would’ve been dead.
Reaching up, she buried her hand in his hair and pulled him close. She needed to feel his warmth, the heat of his body against hers. Maybe then she’d stop shaking.
He must have discerned her desperate need for him. He stood, and slid in next to her on the bed. He wrapped an arm under her neck, one around her waist and pulled her tight to him, nestling his head on top of hers.
He held her like that, close, firm and warm until the last of her sobs trembled past her lips and until the last quiver of fear passed over her skin.
Nuzzling into his chest, just under his chin, Eve sighed. It felt so right being there with him like this. She never wanted to move, but knew that soon she’d have to do just that. Nothing lasted forever. Especially not something that felt so damn good, and so perfect. Something that their different societies would never let them have.
“Am I crushing you?” His voice was so quiet and low, she barely heard him.
She shook her head, and wrapped her arm around his waist, pulling him even closer.
Chuckling, he ran a hand up and down her back. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“I don’t want to move. It’s perfect right here.”
He hugged her tight, and pressed his lips to her head. She could hear him take a ragged breath, and then let it out. He was about to say something. And she was sure it was something she didn’t want to hear. Not now. Maybe not ever.
She clenched her hands into his back. “Please don’t speak. I...I couldn’t handle hearing those words now.”
“Eve...”
She shook her head, and then looked up into his face. “Just kiss me. For now. Just kiss me.”
And he did.
Leaning down, he covered her mouth with his. At first, it was gentle, soft, testing. Then it turned feverish, like a raging inferno of emotion.
He took her, sampling her lips with his teeth and tongue. She could feel the sharp point of his fangs as they scraped over her bottom lip. But she didn’t care. All she wanted right now was Caine. And everything that went with him.
Streaking her hands over his back, she hungered for the feel of his warm flesh. The IV tube in her hand pulled as she moved her left arm, but she didn’t care. That pain was insignificant compared to what she felt right now with Caine next to her, his heart racing, his breath shallow with desire.
Darting under the hem of his shirt, she found the hard muscles of his chest and the soft stripe of hair that lined his sternum down to his trousers. The memory of tracing that line with her tongue flooded her mind and her senses. She wanted to feel that passion again.
She trailed her fingers down and clasped the button on his pants. With a skilled flick of thumb and forefinger, Eve popped it open.
Caine groaned as her hand streaked down into his pants and touched him. The heavy weight of his erection felt so damn good in her palm. Life affirming.
“Eve,” he moaned. “We shouldn’t...”
“Yes, we should.”
She rolled him over onto his back. His eyes were wide as she tore at the buttons on his shirt. But he must have sensed her need to control the situation, because he offered no help.
In seconds, she parted the cotton of his shirt, and ran her hands over his chest. She circled his nipples with her thumbs. And matched him moan for moan when she pinched and pulled at his taut flesh.
Another time she might’ve prolonged his pleasure, drawn it out, torturing him with each stroke. But right now she needed affirmation of life and passion. She needed to fill herself up with everything that was good in the world to forget the evil she had faced.
Kneeling beside him, she made short work of his pants and boxer shorts, having them down to his ankles in seconds. His erection was hard like steel. She loved the feel of him in her hand. As she stroked him she watched his face. Every flinch every grimace, sent shivers down her body. She loved that she could make him squirm, make him hunger for her so intensely.
Hiking up her gown, she straddled him, hovering above his erection. With one fluid move she sunk down on him, filling her slick channel with his hot flesh.
“Oh God, Eve,” he moaned as she started to rock up and down.
Bracing her hands on his chest, Eve moved, sliding up and down on Caine. With every stroke, she clenched her jaw, already feeling the orgasm building inside. Heat flooded her body. Flutters of pure ecstasy radiated over the entire length of her form. From her head to her toes, she could feel...everything. The soft breeze floating in the room, the way Caine bunched and flexed his muscles inside her, the sound of his labored breathing, and the smell of his skin. Everything important.
She would remember it. Nothing could take that from her.
Moving faster with more deliberate actions, Eve fell forward covering Caine’s chest. She wrapped her hands around his head and buried her fingers into the silk of his hair.
His fingers dug into her hips, and she knew he was close to coming. As was she.
She nuzzled his chin with her lips, moving up to find his mouth. She kissed him with everything she had, everything she was.
He moved his hands up to her hair. Entwining his fingers, he pulled her head back to stare into her eyes just as he thrust into her so deep, as deep as her soul, and found release.
She found it at the exact same time.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
As Caine walked
down the sanitized white hallway of the South Shadowwood Hospital, his shoes squeaking with each step, he glanced down at the white lilies in his hand and thought they were a pathetic gesture of his true feelings. Wishing he had thought of it sooner, Caine had snuck from her room when she finally fell back asleep to get the flowers. He hoped to make her smile again.
Eve lay in a bed a few feet away recovering from her ordeal. Thankfully, once Caine got her into an ambulance they were able to stabilize her. When they got to the hospital, the doctor was able to flush her system of the Vampatamine. The doctor told him a half hour more and she would not have made it.
He had stayed at her bed side for six hours, holding her hand, and eyeing the machine hooked up to her chest that monitored her vitals. Every blip and beep made him flinch with alarm. He’d seem countless of people, even close friends, in hospitals fighting one thing or another. But nothing had affected him like this. No one had gotten into his mind and soul like Eve had.
When she had woken and reached for him, frantic for his touch, his heart had nearly shattered by the impact of her passion, by the impact of her. Their union had been powerful. Something he would never forget.
She had possessed him utterly.
As he approached the door to her room, he paused. He could hear someone speaking to her. Not a voice he recognized at first.
He peered around the corner and spied a tall, older Hispanic man standing at the foot of Eve’s bed, his hands clasped firmly in front of him.
Captain Morales.
Now that he’d seen the man, Caine recognized the voice. He had phoned Eve’s boss the moment she was out of danger at the hospital. He didn’t realize that the man would come all this way to see her. Caine’s respect for the man increased tenfold.
“I’ll see that you get that pay raise when you come back to work,” Caine heard Captain Morales say. “But make sure you take your time, Eve. You take all the time you need to get better and...put all this behind you.” He paused, and then continued. “We have a good psychologist on staff if you need to talk to someone.”
