Danior had arranged for a rental car and directed her toward the door that led out to the parking lot in swift strides. They carried nothing. Except for the clothing Danior had bought for her, Maggie had nothing in any case, but Danior had checked the luggage they did have when they went into the airport. He'd told her arrangements had been made to transfer it to the ship once they reached New York, but he seemed singularly uninterested in whether or not their luggage actually made the trip with them.
Unspoken was the far more urgent need to be free of any sort of encumbrance if they should meet up with the hunters.
Pushing the door open, Danior held it, catching her when she would have gone through and lifting his head to listen, almost seeming to sniff the air. After a moment, his grip relaxed fractionally. “Hurry,” he said in an under voice, placing his hand on her back, along her waist. “Slot 652."
Nodding, Maggie proceeded him, scanning the numbers on the pavement nearest her and trying to determine what direction to take. Danior strode past her, grasping her hand and leading the way once more.
Unnerved by the tension she sensed in him, Maggie focused on searching for the car.
Suddenly, Danior stopped, going stiff. His tense wariness caught her attention, and she looked up, shocked to see a woman standing not twenty feet away from them. Petite and blonde, she was everything that Maggie was not.
"Danior,” she said, and in her beautiful voice was a threat. Death emanated from her lips.
"What are you doing here, Tatiana?” Danior demanded, clenching his hands into fists.
"I had to see if it was true.” She laughed coldly. “How far the mighty fall."
Danior's lips curled in a chilling smile. “You were ever one for theatrics, Tatiana, but I'm afraid we'll have to miss the rest of the play. We've an urgent need to breathe more healthful air."
She chuckled. “I know, but I'm afraid that won't be possible."
To her left and right, two men cloaked in black stepped out, almost indistinguishable from the dark save for their pale, skin and glowing eyes.
"You led them to me."
Maggie glanced at him sharply at the tone of his voice, or rather the lack of any tone at all, as if he were being excruciatingly careful of his words. She could read nothing in his expression, but she knew, quite suddenly, that this woman had once been Danior's woman. She turned to look at the woman again, fighting the sickness that welled inside her, the jealousy.
She smiled at the look on Maggie's face. “They needed someone who had a blood bond with you. How could I refuse?"
A sense of unreality washed over her. Time seemed to slow, the moments stretching into minutes. She blinked, turning her head to look at Danior once more and seeing nothing but a blur of motion as he launched himself at the nearest man. They collided mid-air, struggling, slashing at each other with their teeth. Cold washed over Maggie as she watched helplessly, trying to fight the shock off, trying to think if there was anything she could do to help. Should she try to help? Or would she only be in the way?
Would her efforts only distract Danior and hamper him instead of helping?
Cringing away from the fight, she moved her head to see where the others were.
The second man stood where he had been, awaiting a chance to strike. The blond woman, Tatiana was watching the two men who struggled with a smile on her face.
Rage filled Maggie. This woman had meant something to Danior. She knew just from the way he'd behaved that he had been stunned that Tatiana had betrayed him. What had that cost him? Had it divided his heart and mind? Distracted him from the strength and purpose he needed to defeat the hunters who'd come to kill him?
She couldn't seem to will herself to move, however. It was like a nightmare. Every smallest movement required the utmost concentration.
It was almost as if she'd been enthralled.
She knew with sudden enlightenment that she had been. One of the vampires had her. Which one, she wasn't certain. Danior, in an effort to protect her? Or one of the others?
She didn't know, but as she watched Danior slay the man he'd been fighting and struggle to his feet to face his other foe, she began trying to break free of the mind control that held her rooted to the spot, helpless, unable to help Danior.
He was weakened from his battle with the first vampire, bleeding from wounds on his face and neck and hands, bleeding, she saw to her horror, even from slashes that had cut through his leather clothing and into his chest, his shoulder.
She dragged her gaze back to the vampiress, realizing abruptly that it was Tatiana that held her. She allowed her hate to swell inside of her, allowed it to consume her mind. Little by little she felt the control over her slip, like the faint loosening of a binding rope.
Grinding her teeth now with the effort, she focused on the pain this woman's betrayal had caused Danior.
She focused on the fact that the woman was the epitome of those women who'd tormented her her entire life.
With an effort that made her break a sweat, she took a step forward, and then another.
Tatiana's attention shifted and Maggie's followed, almost as if she were a puppet.
Relief filled her when she saw that Danior had slain the second man ... until she saw that he was too weak from the battle to rise. Even as she stared at him, struggling to break the mind hold so that she could run to him, Tatiana fell upon him, tearing a gash alone his shoulder and neck with her teeth.
She meant to kill him, to finish him off now that he was too weak to fight her.
Without any conscious effort whatsoever, Maggie broke the hold on her and surged forward. Mindless, beast-like, she fell upon her prey. Grasping her by her hair, she tore Tatiana from Danior and slung her away with a strength she'd never known she possessed.
Tatiana struck one of the concrete supports of the garage, wrapping halfway around it. It would have snapped the back of a human. The vampiress landed in a crouch and launched herself at Maggie, her teeth bared in a snarl. Maggie's heart seemed to leap into her throat as she watched the woman flying at her. Ignoring it, she waited until the woman was almost upon her and slung her fist directly toward the oncoming teeth. Pain slid up her fist, her arm, and into her shoulder. It shook her terror from her, however, and, before the woman could recover and scramble to her feet, Maggie fell upon her, pummeling her and tearing at the vampiress with her own teeth until she realized the woman wasn't moving any more.
Gasping for breath, she sat back on her heels, staring in horror at the bloody corpse that she'd made. As abruptly as the animalistic madness had descended upon her, it vanished. She scurried away from the woman's body, crab like, unable to tear her gaze away.
Her stomach heaved bile into her throat and she braced her palms on the pavement, retching until she could do nothing more than gag. After what seemed an eternity the heaving ceased. Wiping her mouth on her sleeve, she spat the vile taste from her mouth and looked around.
Danior lay motionless.
On the instant, everything else vanished from her mind and Maggie scrambled toward him. She didn't even realize that she was sobbing hysterically until she saw the tears dripping onto Danior's face.
Scooping his head against her chest, she rocked him, stroking his hair. “Don't die, Danior. Please! Don't leave me!” she sobbed, knowing it was already too late.
But he was warm still, she thought angrily. He couldn't be dead.
When he touched her face, she jerked all over.
Leaning back, she blinked the tears from her eyes and looked down at him. “Danior?"
"It's ... nearing dawn. Go. Save yours..."
"Not without you,” Maggie ground out. Shifting, she caught him beneath both arms and thrust upward with all her strength. Her back burned. Her arms burned with the strain, but she staggered back, dragging him with her. It would be easier, she knew to run to get the car, but she couldn't leave him with the others. Someone might happen upon them before she could get back.
When she'd finall
y managed to drag him into a darkened corner, she leaned down and kissed him, briefly, on the lips. “I'll be back in a minute,” she said, fishing the car keys from his pocket and turning to look at the numbers on the parking slots nearest them.
When she returned, he lay much as she'd left him. It took sheer determination, but she finally managed to get him in the car. Once she'd done so, however, she wasn't certain what to do next.
They were supposed to take a ship, but which dock? How to get to the dock? How was she going to get him onboard, in this condition?
Shaking off her doubts, she fished around in the glove box and unearthed a map. He would heal, she told herself. By the time they'd reached the docks, he'd be OK and they could board and everything was going to be alright.
Chapter Nine
Danior was dying. She couldn't see why. The blood had ceased to flow. His wounds, even the worst of them, had closed. Unless ... unless that bitch had broken him inside somehow. But everything else was healing.
"Danior, please,” she said, cupping his cheek. He felt frigid, impossibly cold. “What's wrong? I need you to tell me how to help you."
His eyelids fluttered.
Dear god, she didn't know what to do. Dawn approached. She had little time to get them on the ship or they'd both assuredly die.
Tears stung her eyes, blurring her vision. She kissed his cold lips, fighting down panic. “Please, love, don't die. Tell me what to do,” she whispered brokenly. Pulling him up into her arms, she rocked him.
Something tickled her mind, making her dizzy. Words whispered in her ears like a soft breeze. She focused on them, striving to understand.
He was speaking to her with his mind.
We shared a blood bond, he spoke inside her head, his voice thready, as though his mind could barely connect with hers.
"What is it? How do I fix it?"
To break it is mortal....
No! Oh god, no! Maggie sobbed, clutching him tightly. You can't die. I'm going to save you .
You have to leave and find the ship. Before the sun rises. There's no ... time.
The connection with him broke. She could no longer feel him inside her, trying to speak.
Maggie cried out. She had to do something—now. Her thoughts were chaotic. She couldn't focus. All she could think about was the thirst. It drove the vampire, fed them, kept them alive. If he had fresh blood, it could save him.
She had no other choice. It was this or nothing, and she couldn't give up without trying.
Without hesitation, she turned her wrist up to her mouth and bit it, wincing as her teeth sliced into her skin.
Choking on the well of her own blood, she hurriedly brought it to his lips, letting the warm red liquid fall onto them. She pried his mouth open, forcing the blood to flow into his mouth.
A weakness washed through her limbs, up to her head, making her dizzy. She blinked, her eyesight going fuzzy, her breath as thready and weak as his.
She collapsed on one elbow, barely registering the suction of his mouth at her wrist. She was so tired of a sudden.
Her head drooped and she slumped over him.
His hands touched her, drawing her wordlessly up his body, until her face neared his neck.
She smelled blood there. The scent awakened her. Her mouth watered as her fangs lengthened. Without conscious thought, she sank her teeth into the crook of his neck, reveling in the blood that welled into her mouth like ambrosia.
Instant fire burst through her veins. She choked on the blood but continued sucking, caught up in a vortex of feeling—emotions and memories flooding her brain and driving it into darkness swirling with raw ecstasy and understanding.
* * *
Warm lips called her from the night, pulling her out of a slumber so deeply intense, she half feared she'd died.
Slowly, opening her eyes, the world came into focus.
Danior looked down at her, propped up on one elbow.
"Did we die?” she asked, her voice hoarse from disuse.
He smiled, stroking the backs of his fingers up her cheek. “No, thanks to you."
"I don't understand."
"You blood bonded with me when you shared your blood and took mine. I didn't think it was possible to share such a bond with another vampire after it had already once been given, but your strength drew me back from the edge. You kept Tatiana from pulling me into death with her."
Maggie sat up, studying him uncertainly. She hated to ask, but she had to make sure. “Are we ... are we safe?"
"Yes, amour , we are."
Maggie breathed a sigh of relief, throwing her arms around him to hug him tightly. The dread was gone, the uncertainty, all of it, leaving nothing but this huge swell of happiness. She could hardly believe what had happened, but she wouldn't question what fate had brought her. “I love you,” she breathed against his neck.
He stiffened in her arms, pulling back to study her face, holding her gaze for a long, silent moment.
Finally, he smiled and pushed her back onto the bed, covering her mouth in kiss that made her toes curl and her insides heat to the point of combustion.
He broke from her mouth, breathing raggedly, staring down at her with intense, passion laden eyes. He ran a thumb across her bottom lip, curling his fingers along her cheek. “You are everything to me, Maggie. When I lay dying, I could think of nothing but that I would never see your face again, never touch your lips or kiss your hair. You have brought me back from an empty abyss I've lived in for a thousand years."
He kissed her again, softly, so sweetly tender it brought tears to her eyes.
"I love you, Maggie,” he whispered against her lips, pouring himself into each word and kiss so that she was engulfed in the rapture of his love.
The End
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Carnal Thirst cd-3 Page 9
