She must have felt us staring, because she turned to meet my gaze.
“Yes? Do I know you?” She took a long drag off her cigarette and blew a stream of smoke at me.
I fought the urge to cough and wave my hand in front of my face. Instead, I shook my head and reached for a stake.
Richards’s gaze flickered over to Reese. “How lovely to see you again.” She had said almost the exact same words at the clinic. Had he wiped her memory of him being there too?
“When were you turned?” Reese asked. He moved around to stand between Richards and me.
Is he protecting her?
Richards stared at him, then off into the middle distance for a moment. “I’m not sure,” she said, shaking her head and taking another drag off her cigarette. “I woke up in a hospital and knew I had changed.”
“Have you talked to Mendoza?” Reese asked her.
Her stare sharpened. “Why should I?”
“No reason. I thought you knew him. He owns this place, you know.”
“Yes,” she said softly, almost to herself. “I know that.”
I fingered the stake I had tucked into my waistband.
If I moved quickly enough, I could stake her. God knows she deserved it.
But that wasn’t why we were here.
As I was debating killing the former clinic director, Dahlia slid up next to Richards.
“Look, Leah, I found someone for us to play with.” She turned around and tugged on her hand, speaking to the person behind her. “Come on.”
And, of course, Garrett moved out from behind her.
I couldn’t stand to watch him with them. Instead, I turned to face Leah and Dahlia. “It’s been lovely seeing you all. I’ve had a very nice time.” I grabbed Reese’s arm. “We’re going somewhere else now.” I marched away, Reese’s sleeve bunched in my fist. He turned back to wave at the little group by the bar, his arm pulling out behind him as I kept walking.
I’ve had a very nice time. I always say that at the most inappropriate times. I shook my head.
Reese let me get him halfway across the room before stopping me. “If we want to take out the Sanguinary all at once, we have to get into that ball. And if Mendoza is hosting it, we won’t get in without an invitation. So we need to figure out how to get one. Tonight. Politicking won’t work; we’re out of time. We have to draw attention to ourselves.”
I sighed. He was right, of course. I stared around the blood house, hoping for inspiration. What would be sure to get us invited to the Sanguinary’s Halloween ball?
The chandelier in the center of the room cast a hard, glittering light over the space, sparkling off the jewels worn by the women. Its illumination didn’t reach the far corners, though; those were lit by softly glowing lamps on the tables in the balcony. Many of the bleeding rooms had their burgundy velvet curtains drawn to conceal what was going on inside them, though the gasps and moans from them were audible. On the main floor, the edges of the room stayed dark, the few still-open bleeding rooms shadowy and indistinct.
A dais had been raised in the middle of the room. A woman in a black sequined gown stood upon it, singing some sort of vampire torch song with a smoky voice and the suppressed quiver of energy that I had come to recognize as peculiarly vampiresque.
In fact, the whole room virtually hummed with that vamp energy.
Vamp energy.
Fueled by blood.
Reese and I shared energy, even when he wasn’t taking my blood.
And just like that, I knew the answer.
Blood.
Chapter 17
If I didn’t do it now, I wouldn’t be able to do it at all. I took a deep breath, turned to Reese, and said, “Let’s go to a bleeding room.”
Reese nodded with a disconcerting lack of surprise. “Yeah,” he said. “That’ll be a good place to talk.”
Oh, hell. He didn’t get it. I was going to have to be more explicit.
But not yet.
He reached out and took my hand. We worked our way through the room, moving toward the sides. Most of the bleeding rooms were still occupied. We finally found an open one toward the front. As I stepped inside and sat down on the velvet couch, my heart started beating faster.
Reese stopped, one hand on the curtain as he prepared to draw it closed. “We could go somewhere else, you know.” His brow creased in a slight frown as he looked at me.
“No.” My voice sounded breathless. I shook my head. “This is good.”
“Okay,” Reese said. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.”
“I’m not going to hurt you, you know.” Reese’s frown deepened.
“I know,” I squeaked.
“Then what’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing.” My shoulder tingled where he’d bit before, neither painful nor soothing, but somewhere in between. The sensation of being alive. And knowing it, I couldn’t help wanting more.
“Look, let’s leave.” He pushed the curtain all the way open.
“No.” There. My voice sounded steadier. I looked at him and caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. Looking out into the main room, I saw Garrett standing stock-still and staring at me.
“Close the curtain,” I said quietly and firmly.
“Okay.” Reese shrugged and drew the curtain closed, cutting off Garrett’s stare.
I settled farther back onto the couch, and then shuddered, a little from excitement, a little from fear.
“What is wrong with you?” he asked. “You’re acting strange.”
“Strange? How strange? I mean, strange how?”
He shook his head. “Look. I don’t know what your problem is, but you’ve got to get hold of yourself. We need to figure out how we’re going to get into this party.” He lowered his voice and leaned toward me. “If we’re going to take these guys out, we need to come up with a plan.”
“You’re going to bite me,” I whispered. My voice trembled more than I would have wanted it to, but at least I’d managed to say it out loud.
My invitation to him.
For the case, I told myself.
Reese threw himself back onto the couch with an exasperated explosion of breath. “Dammit, Cami. Just because we’re in a bleeding room doesn’t mean I’m going to bite you. Calm down.”
“No,” I said. “That’s the plan. You. Bite me. Now.”
Reese stilled. “Why?”
I pulled the collar of my satin top wide, exposing the scars on my neck and shoulder. “For power. They already think I’m Claimed by you. Bite me. Take whatever power you’re supposed to get from it, pass it along to them.”
Reese sat back in the far corner of the couch. “I don’t know how to take power.”
“This connection between us—you feel it, too, right?” At his silent nod, I continued. “Is it normal?”
“No,” he said quietly. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever heard of before.”
“Then tap into it, pass it on to the Sanguinary. Let’s see if we can use it to get their attention.”
His pale face was as stone still as it was stone cold. “You’re sure you want me to?”
My voice dropped, almost to a whisper. “I’m sure it’s necessary, Reese. We need to have at least one thing in our favor.”
“We’ve got your Sucker Squad,” he said, in something approximating his usual tone.
I smiled. “Yeah. And we’ll get them to come in on Halloween. But we won’t be able to do even that if we can’t find out where the ball is. We need an invitation, and to get that, we need to try this.”
“Okay.” Reese took a deep breath and scooted closer to me on the couch. I pulled the satin even farther away from my neck. He leaned in and I turned my head away from him, squinching my eyes closed.
Reese hesitated over me and then leaned back. “I can’t do it if you’re going to look like that.”
Dear God, please give me the patience to deal with reluctant vampires.
Though come to
think of it, I wasn’t sure God would listen to a vampire killer praying for enough patience to convince a vampire to bite her.
“Reese,” I said gently, “I’m terrified. But this is important.” I took a deep breath and schooled my face to an impartial expression.
“Okay.” He nodded, and once again, I pulled the neckline of my jacket back. He leaned forward, burying his face in my neck.
So of course I got the wild giggles.
“What?” he demanded.
“Nothing,” I gasped out between guffaws. I cleared my throat and got control of myself. “Nothing. Go ahead.”
He leaned in again and sank his teeth into my neck, right where it met the line of my shoulder. I felt them slide in with a sharp pain, like a pair of needles, and suddenly I didn’t want to laugh anymore.
I felt his fangs pumping out whatever drug it is that vampires use to calm their victims—whatever it is that creates bite addicts. It moved like liquid heat across my shoulder, down my arm, into my fingertips. I felt it slide through my veins and into my heart, which began throbbing in time to the motions of Reese’s mouth on my shoulder.
I whimpered a little, but when I felt Reese’s fangs start to glide out of my skin, I pushed his head back down.
The heat from his mouth pooled in my gut and slid down the veins in my legs, leaving a sexual ache behind. I moaned aloud and closed my eyes. My breath started coming faster and faster.
But something was wrong. Even through the fog of fang-induced pleasure, I knew this wasn’t working the way it was supposed to. I wasn’t feeling any sort of overwhelming power moving from me to Reese.
For that matter, despite the heat of the moment, I wasn’t feeling any of that spine-tingling connection between us, either.
“Wait,” I said. “Stop.” I hit Reese on the shoulder. “Stop it!”
He unlocked his jaw and raised his head, his eyes wide. “What?”
“You’re not doing it right. Whatever it is you’re supposed to do to get power from me, you’re not doing it.”
He wiped his hand across his mouth, and then moved my jacket back onto my shoulder. “I guess it isn’t going to work.” He turned from me and started to stand up.
“Wait a minute.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him back down onto the couch. “You did this on purpose,” I said. “You didn’t even try to draw power from me. Dammit, Reese. Do it again. You get down here and you bite me good.” I pointed at my neck. “I want you to take blood and power. Right now.”
He laughed a little at my tone. “Okay. But I’m worried about what this will do to you.”
“Don’t be,” I said. “We can handle this.”
We leaned toward each other and he once again slid his fangs into my neck.
This time, the heat from his fangs became a fire, rushing through me and igniting every nerve ending into tingling awareness. The brush of his lips, the gentle caress of his tongue against my skin made me writhe with pleasure. His hands trapped me on the couch, pushing me back into its softness. I strained upwards, pushing my neck against his mouth.
His lips never quit working against my throat, but he picked me up, cupping my butt in one hand and using it to pull me farther down on the couch while his other hand cradled the back of my head. Leaning over me, he gently pressed one knee against my thighs until I opened them. He knelt with one leg on the couch and the other standing on the floor, both arms still holding me. Lifting his head, he looked searchingly into my eyes. A shudder ran through me, lust and power combined.
“Are you sure you want this?” he asked. His voice was raw and ragged. His eyes were almost completely dilated; I could see only the tiniest rim of white around the edges of his pupils. They were beginning to glow with that strange blue light.
“Yes.” I whispered. “Please.”
He leaned in and kissed me. His mouth was cool and I could taste the tinge of copper that was my blood on his tongue. A single thought raced across my mind—this should be really disgusting—and was gone. It wasn’t disgusting at all. It made the fire in my veins burn hotter and brighter, and I tugged at Reese’s jacket, pushing it off his shoulders and down his arms. His kiss deepened and I moaned in the back of my throat.
I managed to undo his bow tie with one tug, and then we were both lying on the couch, my legs wrapped around him, his tongue deep in my mouth. I played with his fangs with my tongue, testing their sharpness. He bit down, ever so slightly, and his fang slid inside my tongue. My breath caught in my chest, but the sharp pinpoint of pain faded as a small amount of blood welled to the surface. Reese melted against me and whimpered as I ran my tongue against his, mingling the taste of him with the taste of blood.
He traced a trail of kisses down my neck and into the cleavage line of my jacket, then licked one long line back up to the puncture marks on my shoulder. I pushed my head back against the couch and drew in a shaky breath. With one hand, he unbuttoned my shirt and slid it gently off, pushing my bra out of the way as he moved down to kiss my breasts. My nipples grew taut under his tongue, and I whimpered with pleasure.
I fumbled with his shirt and pants, finally pushing them to the floor. He moved his mouth down to my stomach, smiling against it as I used my feet to finish pulling his clothes off of him.
He gently slid one fang through the top of my bellybutton as if piercing it for a ring. I nearly screamed aloud with the combined pain and pleasure, barely managing to capture the sound in my throat. Moving back up across my body, Reese covered my lips with his own, and I whimpered into his mouth.
Reese lifted up just enough to use both hands to slide my pants to floor. I stared into his deep blue, glowing eyes.
With one smooth motion, he bit my neck and slid into me at the same time.
And the world exploded around me.
It was light and motion and electricity, blinding and paralyzing me even as I wrapped myself tighter around Reese. The liquid heat inside me pooled in my very center, gathering and swirling as we moved against one another, building to a crescendo as we strained to match thrust for thrust.
Tiny flames of pleasure licked across my body as my sweat slicked across Reese’s chest and my blood gave his skin a rosy, heated glow. I could feel something powerful twist and surge around me as we moved in perfect harmony with one another, until it erupted around us and through us, moving across our skin and through our veins, pushing us over the edge to release. We clutched each other, crying out.
And then we lay together in silence.
Reese rested his forehead against mine, eyes closed, and I blew out a shaky breath. “Wow,” I said quietly.
“That’s an understatement.” Reese’s eyes were green again, his pupils having shrunk back down to something approximating their normal size.
“So,” I said. “How do you feel?”
He grinned that cocky grin of his at me.
“No.” I pushed his shoulder in mock anger. “Not that. You know. The power stuff.”
“Oh. That.” He unwrapped his arms from around me and leaned back. “I don’t know.” He frowned and shook his head.
“You don’t know? Shouldn’t you?”
“I don’t know, Cami. That was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.” He laughed a short, breathy laugh and sat up, reaching down to pull on his pants.
“Oh.” My voice was quiet. I, too, grabbed my clothes and began struggling back into them, suddenly aware that there was nothing but a velvet curtain between me and a big room full of overdressed vampires and their buddies.
As I pulled on my jacket and began buttoning it, I noticed several tiny puncture marks all along the tops of my breasts. I stopped briefly to examine them. I hadn’t even noticed when Reese had bitten me there.
Reese, having finished buttoning his own shirt, touched me under the chin until I looked into his eyes.
“Hey,” he said quietly. “Whether it worked or not, it was worth it.”
“I certainly hope so.” I found myself taking a big breath and sud
denly having to blink rapidly to avoid crying.
“It was,” he said.
I simply nodded and finished dressing.
“Ready to face your public?” he asked.
I reached up and wiped a smear of lipstick from his mouth. “I am now.” Squaring my shoulders, I turned to face the entrance as Reese pulled the curtain back. I froze, looking out into the room.
And into the faces of what seemed like a hundred vampires, all of them standing, silent and still, in a semicircle about six feet away from our bleeding room.
All of them staring back at us.
We definitely had their attention.
Chapter 18
“I think maybe it worked,” I whispered out of the side of my mouth to Reese.
He didn’t answer.
The big ring of vampires continued to stare at us.
In retrospect, we should have perhaps realized that the perfect silence we had experienced inside the bleeding room was not metaphysical in any way—it was echoed by the silence outside the bleeding room. We should have been able to hear the din of conversation, glasses clinking, feet shuffling, bloodgivers giving blood, and the like. But we hadn’t. Because all of that had stopped so that everyone could come gape at us.
“Do something,” I whispered. Don’t ask why—it wasn’t like the vampires surrounding us couldn’t hear me. But I felt a strong need to at least pretend that they weren’t following every syllable of any exchange between Reese and me.
“Like what?” Reese didn’t bother to keep his voice down.
“I don’t know. Say something.”
Reese cleared his throat.
He was saved from having to make some awkward speech, though. A rustle in the until-then perfectly still crowd caught our attention. The vampires parted, and Mendoza made his way through, followed by another vampire. This vampire was young looking—he’d probably been turned when he was eighteen or nineteen—with dark hair and a slight build. He wasn’t any taller than I was. He was attractive, but not astonishingly so, unlike many of the vampires in the room. The woman following him was thin and pale and wan, either a haggard-looking mid-twenties or a slightly rough mid-forties. I was guessing the former.
Sanguinary (Night Shift Book 1) Page 11
