I tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a sob. “I just dug a bullet out of you, and you’re worried if I’m okay?”
“I’ve known you long enough to be able to know when something’s wrong. Look at me,” he said, gripping me by my shoulders and trying to turn me around.
I shook my head, about to tell him to back off when pain so intense it took my breath away flared up in my arm. I gasped, clutching at the wrist of my injured hand.
“Sloane!” Leo crawled around in front of me, bending over so he could look at my face. “What is it? What’s happening?”
“It… hurts,” I said through clenched teeth.
“What does?” Leo breathed. “Sloane, dammit, you need to tell me – Whoa!” His voice cut off as he spotted my hand, his eyes rounding. “Holy shit. Is that from digging out the bullet?”
“It was… Scarlet Steel,” I rasped. My eyes were watering, making it hard to see what was happening.
“Wow,” I heard Leo breathe.
I forced my eyes open and my jaw dropped in awe. My skin was literally growing back, like watching it on fast-forward. It was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. Within seconds, my skin had stitched itself back together, and I was whole again. I turned my hand over, eyeing the smooth flesh. There wasn’t even a scratch.
Leo reached for my hand, turning it this way and that, and running his fingers over mine. “That’s amazing.”
For some reason, the wonder in his voice made my stomach churn. I pulled my hand back, cradling it against my chest. What he said deeply bothered me. It took me a few seconds to figure out why, and when I did, it slammed into me with the force of a lead weight. “It’s unnatural. Yet another reminder of how different we are now,” I said, my voice sounding very small.
Leo grew still, watching me with the kind of wariness of a man trying to approach a stray dog. At last he spoke, his breath fogging the air. “You’re still you, Sloane,” he said softly. “That never changed.”
“I wanted to bite you,” I blurted. I needed him to understand how dangerous I was, for his own good.
To my horror, he came closer. “I don’t imagine you can much help that instinct. It’s part of who you are now.”
He reached out and gently pushed back a few damp strands of hair from my clammy forehead. His touch – so warm and alive – sent shivers through me. Reluctantly, I looked into his eyes. They always reminded me of warm cocoa; even though he had to be in great pain, the fire in his eyes burned only for me. He licked his lips. I had learned over the years it was a nervous habit of his, when he was trying to figure out what to say. My insides tensed, dreading the words about to come out of his mouth. “How often do you need blood, and how much of it do you need?” he asked cautiously.
I relaxed. That was harmless enough. “Just a little, every few days, I think,” I replied. Aden had explained it to me one time, but my memories were starting to run together in one big blur because so much had happened recently.
Leo nodded, as if he were expecting this. “And when was the last time you fed?”
“I had some cereal for dinner on New Year’s Eve,” I said absently.
He shook his head. “That’s not what I’m asking.”
Oh, duh. He means blood. I suddenly felt like there was a knot the size of Texas in my throat. “Er, it was, um, the last time I saw you,” I mumbled, feeling my face heat.
Leo was silent for so long that I wasn’t even sure he was breathing. His breath hitched about the time I looked up at him.
“Drink from me,” he said.
My heart plummeted into my stomach so fast I was sure it skipped a beat. I stared at him, my mouth open in horror. “No way.”
“Sloane,” Leo started warily.
“No!” I said fiercely, violently shaking my head. “I can’t do it!”
“Can’t or won’t?”
I pressed my lips together, not answering. When I went to look away, Leo grasped my chin and forced me to face him. “What happens if you don’t get blood?”
“I… I don’t know.” Aden had mentioned that vampires become Rogues through gorging themselves on blood, but he never went into specifics into what would happen if we went without it for a long time. “We get weaker, I guess.”
“I can’t let that happen.” Leo turned his head so his neck was facing me. I could hear the thrum of his pulse through his veins. Every. Single. Tantalizing. Beat.
“Don’t,” I whispered, trying my best not to look at him like he was a meal and feeling like I was failing miserably. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“I know exactly what I’m asking.” He cupped my cheek, gently turning my gaze back toward him. His thumb traced the outline of my bottom lip. “I can’t watch you waste away. I won’t let you.”
I searched his eyes, protests on my tongue, but Leo pressed a finger to my lips, silencing me. “Drink,” he said softly, once again turning his head.
His neck was only inches from my mouth. I wanted it, craved his blood like oxygen or water. Damn, I was thirsty. Before I fully realized what I was doing, I grabbed hold of him, swift as death, and sank my fangs into a vein in his neck.
He cried out at first, then relaxed into me with a moan of pleasure as I drank. Warm, exquisite blood flowed into my mouth, the best thing I had ever tasted. The animal in me took over, clutching him tighter as I drained the life from him.
Slow down, a little voice inside my head warned. Or you’ll kill him.
Who cares? said another voice, much darker and more sinister than the other. Humans were meant to be fed on, to serve us.
“Sloane,” Leo rasped. The weakness in his voice snapped me out of my bloodthirsty haze, and I abruptly retracted my fangs and straightened. Hastily, I wiped away the remaining drops of blood on my mouth with the back of my hand as Leo sagged, trying to catch his breath.
He shook his head and blinked several times, as if trying to wake up. “Wow,” he breathed, reaching up and cupping his neck. “That was better than sex.”
I flushed, mortified. I had suspected Leo wasn’t a virgin, but sex was something I had no desire to talk about with him. I wouldn’t even know what to talk about, considering I was still a virgin. Sure, I knew how it worked, but that didn’t mean I had hauled every guy I’d been remotely attracted to into my bed.
His eyes finally cleared, and he stared at me like I was a goddess. I squirmed, uncomfortable under his stare. The blood singing in my veins was amazing. It had an electric tingle to it, making me feel alive, invincible.
Not human.
I loudly cleared my throat. Leo blinked and the twinkle in his eyes vanished. It took him a few seconds to find his voice. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” I whispered. I squeezed my eyes shut. How ungrateful did that sound? “I mean, thanks.” I mustered up a small smile. “I’m feeling much better.”
“Good,” he said, rather breathlessly, then fell over onto my lap.
“Leo!” I rolled him over so his face was up. “Leo,” I said again, brushing his curly, damp bangs back. “Leo, look at me.”
Lazily, he opened his eyes, a drunken smile on his face. “I’m a little dizzy, kind of like that demonic machine you insisted we ride at the fair one time. What was thing called? A Tilt-A-Something?”
“Tilt-A-Whirl,” I finished tightly, feeling a hard ball of guilt form in my gut. “I drank too much. Plus you’re high off vampire endorphins. You should sleep it off.”
“Are you kidding?” he said lightly as I ripped another strip off my sweater. I gently rested his head on the pavement so I could wrap up his bleeding leg. He continued rattling on as I worked. “We’re cold. We’re horny. We’re alone, and we’re most likely going to die by morning. I think we should get it on.”
“Leo!” I snapped, blushing even harder. Without meaning to, I tied the tourniquet off with a jerk, but that only made him laugh. I rolled my eyes as I crawled to the mouth of the tunnel and leaned against it, lifting his head onto my lap.
I knew we needed to get out of here before we turned into popsicles, but I couldn’t risk going anywhere with him in this drunken state.
His laughter died away as he gazed up at me, his eyes slightly glazed over. I frowned.
“Rook told me you’re running after Orion because you’re trying to save a guy,” Leo said.
I sat there for a moment, stunned. So that explains the stormy-eyed glare he got when we were sitting on the swing.
I made a mental note to tell Rook to be more discreet with his forthcoming information, provided we lived through this. Deep down, I hoped the others were all right.
“Orion needs to be stopped, regardless of why I’m doing it,” I said casually.
“Do you love him? This guy?”
I blinked, my heart picking up its pace. “Excuse me?”
Leo’s eyes bore into mine for a few seconds. “You do, don’t you,” he murmured, his expression sobering. “It’s written all over your face.”
I looked out over the water. “You don’t know what you’re seeing. You’re hallucinating from the endorphins.”
He laughed bitterly. “Wow. I’ve been beaten out by a vamp.”
That sent a surge of anger through me. Did he think he had some sort of claim over me?
Pot meet kettle, I thought wryly. I dug my nails into my jeans to keep from doing anything stupid.
“Let me guess: He’s the one who made you this way?”
“No,” I said quickly.
He smiled. “I knew it.”
His shoulders sagged, and I once again I felt bad for deceiving him. “Leo, it’s so much more complicated than what you think.”
“Really?” He looked back up at me. “Because the way I see it, you like this guy enough to risk your life for him. Sounds pretty uncomplicated to me.”
His feelings are hurt.
I sighed. “I’m sorry, Leo. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”
“How about telling me you still care about me?”
That earned an indignant glare. “Of course I still care about you. Why do you think I just saved your leg?”
“You know what I mean.”
My breath caught at the depth of emotion in his eyes, of a passion that burned like starfire. After a few seconds, I wetted my lips. “Leo, it’s cold. Maybe we should continue –”
“Hear me out,” he said, holding up a hand.
Our breaths fogged the air between us as I tensed, waiting.
“I don’t know when I’ll get another chance to say this – maybe never, at the rate we’re going – but I want you to know that I’m not mad.”
I stared at him, my gaze tearing up. “Leo,” I whispered. The word sounded tiny because my throat was so tight.
He reached up and cupped my face. His fingers were like ice. I laid my hand over his, trying to warm it, but it was no use because my hand was just as cold. “I still feel the same way,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper as he leaned in. This close, I could hear his teeth rattling. “And if for some reason we don’t make it, I don’t want to leave this world without telling you how I really feel.”
I started to shake my head, but Leo held my face steady as his forehead touched mine. I couldn’t move as his lips parted, hovering over my own. “I’ve done a lot of thinking, believe me,” he whispered against my lips. “And no matter what common sense said, that you were a vampire and dangerous and all this other bullshit, I still couldn’t stop thinking about you. My heart trusts you. It always has, and it always will. I love you, Sloane McAllister.”
Before I could draw breath to respond, his mouth closed over mine in a scorching kiss that set fire to my senses.
Leo.
Right then, I didn’t care that we were freezing or that the world was against us. None of that mattered. My Leo. My best friend.
I wanted to feel human again. And there was something else, something darker that pushed me to claim him, to truly make him mine. Without really knowing what I was doing, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. His hands dove into my hair, running down my back as he pinned me against the concrete wall, suffocating me with his hungry, passionate kisses.
“Sloane,” he breathed against my lips, coming up for air.
“L –” The first letter was all I could get out before his mouth plunged onto mine again. He nibbled at my bottom lip, and I grinned, feeling my fangs elongate. The scent of his blood still hung in the air, almost impossible to ignore.
As his lips brushed down my chin and along my throat toward my chest, my breath caught. He nuzzled my neck, nipping at it slightly. “Bite me,” he whispered into my ear.
My eyes snapped open, the spell broken. “What did you just say?”
I found his eyes, and my euphoria instantly vanished. His pupils looked wider, making his eyes look black.
Like someone on drugs.
The icy serpent of dread slithered along my skin. Almost instantly, my fangs retracted. “Leo,” I said, my voice sounding ragged because I was out of breath and a little dazed. What just happened? Had I seriously been making out with my best friend, and then contemplating biting him? The fact the kiss had happened at all floored me. I didn’t even know exactly how I felt about Leo, if I liked him that way or not.
What’s wrong with me?
Licking my lips, I said, “I think maybe my biting you did something to you. You’re not in your right mind.”
He smiled. It was a little unhinged. “Please, baby, you won’t hurt me.”
Baby?
I didn’t bother hiding the irritation in my voice. “I’m not your ‘baby.’” I reached for his hands, trying to untangle myself from his arms. “We need to get someplace warm, where we can dry off and you can sleep.”
He caught my wrists, desperation in his eyes. “Please? I won’t ask again, I promise. It just feels so damn good.”
He’s addicted to my bite, I realized with horror.
“Leo, you’re not –”
My voice abruptly cut out, and my head snapped around toward the tunnel, listening.
“What is it?” Leo said, but I held up a finger, shushing him.
I listened closer; this time I was sure of it. Footsteps were coming up the tunnel.
Instantly, I positioned myself in front of Leo, pushing him behind me. “Stay back,” I said, voice sharp.
My heart started pounding harder as the yellow beam of an old flashlight came into view. I glanced to either side. There was no way we could avoid being noticed; the space was too small. If we dove for the water, whoever it was could have a gun and easily shoot us while we tried to swim away. It wasn’t worth the risk.
Bracing myself, I clenched my hands into fists, praying I was strong enough to take whatever was about to appear on the other side of the tunnel.
CHAPTER 15
The light shone directly in my eyes, blinding me for a few terrifying seconds. When the beam lowered, I blinked a few times to clear my vision. A man in his late thirties slowly came into view. His face, though handsome, was badly bruised, like he had recently been in a scuffle. He looked homeless; a tattered coat hung around his scrawny frame. His jeans had holes in them as well, and not the fashionable kind. Though I could tell his skin was olive-toned, it was very pale, like he hadn’t seen the sun in a while.
A feeling of déjà vu came over me, but I couldn’t place the man’s face. Immediately, I reached out with my “sixth vampire sense” and searched for any telekinetic signature that would mark him as a vampire, but I couldn’t find one. There was something off about him though, something strange about his blood, like it had been tainted by a substance I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
His unruly black curls were frizzed out to the point of being a fro, though bald patches dotted his head haphazardly. He looked at me in confusion and perhaps a little bit of fear before his dark eyes darted behind me, and he squinted. I heard him gasp right before he said, “Leonardo?”
I blinked. Huh?
�
�Oh, my God,” Leo said, stepping around me toward the man. “Father?”
“What?” I looked from Leo to the stranger. It hit me as I further studied him. The athletic build, the hair, the eyes, the complexion; it all screamed Leo.
Leo stumbled forward, brushing past me and looking like he had seen a ghost. Worriedly, I watched him shuffle up to the man. Leo stopped in front of him, and for the longest time neither of them spoke. They stood there, gaping at each other.
Then Leo finally said, “Dad?” He reached out, touching a stray curl of the man’s hair.
The man watched Leo’s fingers like a caveman seeing fire for the first time. “Son?”
I blinked, and then the two were wrapped up in a hug, crying onto each other’s shoulders. I shifted my weight and crossed my arms, looking away in hopes of giving them some semblance of privacy. Happiness radiated off them, triggering a memory of my dead father. I could still feel his hand falling limp in mine as I stood by his hospital bed and cried, knowing the cancer had finally won. A sliver of jealousy uncoiled in my gut as I watched Leo and his father.
At last they separated, and Dr. Rinaldi’s eyes glanced my way, as if just now realizing I was still there. “Sloane, is that you?”
I flinched, giving him an awkward wave. “Hi, Dr. Rinaldi.”
He smiled, beckoning me closer. Unsure, I went to him and gave him a hug. The weird scent was stronger up close. It was the kind of natural smell an animal has, though it was hard to pinpoint because his clothes stunk like they carried a week’s worth of body odor. “It’s good to see you,” he said, smiling at me then looking at his son. “Both of you. Come. We should get you out of those wet clothes.”
Dr. Rinaldi began walking back into the tunnel. Leo followed without question, though I lingered for a few seconds, gazing at the retreating man’s back with mistrust.
Leo paused, looking at me with a quirked brow. “Sloane? You coming?” He sounded like he was back to himself, though his voice was still heavy with emotion from seeing his dad.
“Yeah,” I replied, walking up to him. “Sorry. I just spaced out.”
We walked into the tunnel, which was slick with ice in parts, and silently followed Dr. Rinaldi down several winding sewer tunnels. My stomach twisted with nerves the deeper we went. If we needed to escape, I would have no idea how to get back to the surface. Leo didn’t seem perturbed; he trailed his dad like a lost puppy. He hadn’t taken his eyes off him. I couldn’t blame him. I wouldn’t be able to either if I suddenly saw my dad.
Dark Horizons (The Red Sector Chronicles) Page 15
