“You must lie still,” he warned, his tongue flicking over her ultra-sensitive nipple. “I need to be careful not to cut you. My incisors are razor sharp and your skin is very tender.” She felt his big frame shudder over hers as he took the bud of her nipple into his mouth and sucked it to the rhythm of his fingers moving inside her.
Strange things were happening to her body. It was as though she could feel every individual cell, every separate blood vessel, every nerve ending. Her pleasure was so intense she cried out, involuntarily beseeching some heretofore unknown goddesses of the universe.
Her mind told her she could not possibly be enjoying such extreme pleasure, but her body ignored such logic. At that moment she was merely a sentient collection of nerves and bone and blood meant only for the pleasure given her by her lover.
Julian took one last, hard pull on her nipple and lifted his head to gaze down at her. His eyes had changed from their beautiful blue and gray to a luminous gold with flecks of silver and red spiking his irises. His lips were drawn tight across his gums, giving full expression to the two pointed fangs that were normally his incisors. She decided he had never looked so beautiful—or so dangerously masculine—since she’d known him. At that moment she knew she was totally, unquestionably his.
In one swift, fluid motion he slipped his fingers from her and plunged his extraordinary length inside her. She was instantly orgasmic, every part of her being crying out in jubilation, as if she had lived only for this moment, for this one, perfect entrance into her body.
In that instant she was one with Julian—one heart, one body, one spirit.
He drove into her over and over, deeper and deeper, his mouth at her throat. The last words she remembered hearing before the shattering of her mind and body was Julian’s words in her ear, “Be still my love, so I can take from you only what I need.”
JULIAN BURIED himself deeper inside Simone. Unbelievably he’d been able to control The Need for the time it took to bring Simone to the edge of a climax.
He’d been able to nibble at her neck without any damage to her fragile flesh. He was well aware that his control had come from discipline taught him by his parents in his early years as a human.
According to Michael, he could expect the same carry-over of the Whitcombe vampire traits to follow him when he became mortal again.
And the gateway to that mortality, he reminded himself, looking down at Simone, was in his arms right now, her hot, moist sheath clasped so tight around him he could think of nothing else but feeding The Need.
The throbbing and burning in his gums peaked as his fully descended fangs broke the first layer of flesh on Simone’s arched neck. She was making it easy for him. He felt a faint pang of guilt, but threw it off quickly. He needed what she had to give him.
Carefully, he sank his fangs a little deeper, slipping an arm under her back when she arched it in reaction to his sting. A moan vibrated deep in her throat, and her heat tightened around him before she relaxed in his arm and his tongue caught the first drop of her blood.
Control. Control. Move slowly, cautiously, he reminded himself. Take just a little, no more than what you need.
He sank his fangs a fraction deeper. The second taste of Simone’s blood pushed him over the edge. It was the most intense mind and body altering experience he’d ever had in his near century and a quarter as a Whitcombe vampire.
Beneath him, Simone’s body bucked up against his, and he knew she had fallen over the edge with him. For a second he lost touch with his body as it melded with hers.
From his dark side, a craving pushed him onward, urging him to bite deeper, to drink from her until he had taken all of her life force as his own. But the Legacy, his mission, and yes, even a desire to protect Simone from himself, beat down the evil force that would have made him one of Zurik’s kind forever.
He cried out against Simone’s neck as the beast within him stilled. He spilled himself inside her, relieved that he’d taken only enough to quell The Need.
Later, when Simone stirred in his arms, he planned how he would get her to drink the rest of her water after he put in the sedative Michael had left with him. She would have to spend at least one more day here with him while he was in his death sleep, because Michael had too much to do to keep a close eye on her.
He looked down at Simone’s lovely face, lined with fatigue from her bout with the virus. Startled, he realized his heart ached at the thought of how short her life would be if, when the moment for that decision arrived, she offered it in exchange for his own.
Would she make that decision? he wondered, as he leaned down to kiss her forehead. Would she make that ultimate sacrifice for him if it were asked of her?
She had to. If she didn’t . . .
He wouldn’t let himself finish the thought.
Chapter Eighteen
EARLY ON THE fourth day of her recovery, Simone sat on the edge of the bed, happy to be back in her own apartment.
Not that she didn’t miss being with Julian, because she did. Very, very much. She had grown accustomed to sleeping during the day when he did, and waking at night with his body spooned around hers. And oddly enough, she had grown accustomed to the dark, creepy room where he slept. As a matter of fact, in some secret part of her, she found the darkness, relieved by the light of only one soft bulb, very sexy. And those dark satin sheets were something else. Silk and satin were Julian’s favorite fabrics, she had quickly discovered.
Simone hugged her knees to her chest as she remembered how wonderful it had felt to slide around in that big bed, Julian on top of her, fierce in his desire for her, yet gentle in his approach. She could sense the opposites of his nature warring inside him when he allowed himself a taste of her blood.
She knew it had been Julian’s concern about her health, his desire to protect her from himself, that had allowed him to keep his vampire nature in check. That had allowed him to give dominance to the human characteristics that were still part of him. Her heart swelled with pride. She couldn’t remember anyone wanting to protect her that much except Dottie.
Dottie! Oh my God, she’d almost forgotten what had put her in Julian’s bed in the first place. More than a week and a half had passed since she’d fallen ill, which meant she was that much farther away from finding her stepsister. She supposed she’d have to do as Julian had hinted and accept the fact that Dottie might be dead. No, not maybe. She most likely was dead, and the ruse that horrible vampire had used to get her to believe Dottie might still be alive was the cruelest joke anyone had ever played on her.
To get her mind off something she couldn’t do anything about, Simone went to the television and turned it on. A tooth paste commercial had just begun and she considered turning the set off, but decided to wait for the midday news scheduled to follow.
The program started off with a Breaking News Report. The focus of the story was the suicides just that morning of several city officials within hours of each other.
The television screen split in half vertically with one half displaying the news anchor and the other half divided into two panels, one featuring a well-known local psychiatrist and the other a top-ranking New Orleans police officer. The physician was the first to be questioned by the anchor.
“In your opinion, Doctor, does it look as though all of these individuals might have been under the influence of some kind of mind control? Or maybe even drugs?”
“Anything is possible, of course, but I think either scenario is highly unlikely. A more reasonable explanation, although admittedly highly coincidental, is that the individuals were no longer able to bear the stress of the hurricane’s aftermath. That, unfortunately, they saw no alternative to their sufferings other than taking their own lives.”
The camera shifted to the police officer who looked more than a little uncomfortable. The question directed to him caught Simone’
s attention. “And what can you add, Captain, to the rumors that a dangerous underworld element—some are even hinting at the supernatural—is responsible for the deaths of these three officials?”
The Captain’s unease increased visibly. “They are just that, rumors. There’s absolutely nothing to corroborate any suggestion that anything supernatural, or sinister, is at work here. Obviously, the suicide of several officials following each other so closely is bound to—”
“What about the rumor that all those young women who were brought to the emergency room a while back with neck wounds were victims of some kind of supernatural activity?” the newsman asked before the Captain could finish.
“Nothing at all to those rumors, either,” the Captain insisted, looking like he couldn’t wait for the interview to end. “After times of stress like the one we just went through, people are eager to jump on any possible explanation for the ordeal whether credible or not.”
The newsman was just as insistent and jumped in again. “We’re also told young women have been showing up at the clinics disoriented, acting as if under some kind of spell and that most of these women were heretofore presumed either missing or dead.” The anchor took a quick breath and hurried on before he could be interrupted. “And there’s the break-in at a local blood bank, where I’ve heard people—not quite human people, by the way—lost their lives. What can you tell me about that?”
“I’d say someone is spreading ridiculous, unfounded rumors.”
“I think the medical community would side with the Captain in this,” the doctor interjected.
The news reporter started winding up the interview, but Simone had already tuned him out. There were young women thought missing or dead showing up at the clinics? In spite of herself, she allowed hope to spring forth inside her. Dottie could be one of those women.
A thought suddenly struck her, and she rushed across the room in search of her cell phone, frantically trying to remember when she’d last seen it. That would be the afternoon she went to The Next Level, she decided. But she didn’t remember ever taking it out of the inside pocket of her shoulder bag and it wasn’t there now. She had to find it. It was possible sometime during the past week Dottie had tried to call—especially if she were one of those women seeking medical help.
In any event, aside from Dottie, there were other things for which she needed her cell phone. She’d fallen ill before she got in touch with her stepfather. She had to touch base with Angela again to be sure she’d notified Dottie’s client that he should see about hiring someone else to look for his missing daughter. And she needed to check on Casey again. Poor Casey. Suppose her mother never returned?
Simone reflected for a moment on what it would be like going home without Dottie. Things just wouldn’t be the same without her stepsister. She would feel as though part of her life had been taken from her.
She looked wistfully around the room. For two weeks this tiny apartment and Julian’s special room had been her home. She would miss this too when she left. She would miss it more than she would have imagined missing anything just a few short weeks ago.
She forced her thoughts back to the missing phone, and suddenly it was as if a bright light had been switched on. The logical answer was that either Julian or Mike had taken the phone to prevent her receiving a message that might take her out of the apartment again. Anger rolled through her. She would be forever grateful to Mike for rescuing her, but it still did not give him or Julian the right to treat her like a child.
She headed toward the door. She would find out if her suspicion was true. If it was she’d deal with it head on.
“HERE’S YOUR PHONE,” Julian said late the next evening, holding out the instrument and looking like a little boy caught with his hand in his father’s wallet.
“Thanks,” she said, setting the phone down on the coffee table.
Julian reached for her hand, drew her to him and waited until she lifted her gaze to his. “Michael said you were angry that he took the phone.”
“I was. I am,” she admitted.
“We did it for your protection.”
She accepted what he probably deemed an apology, but she didn’t respond. If he had more to say she was determined not to make it easy for him.
“In case Zurik used another ruse to lure you away a second time,” Julian added, unapologetically.
What anger she had left dissolved when Julian slipped an arm around her waist. She cuddled against him, amazed for at least the hundredth time how easily she had accepted who and what he was. He seemed as normal to her now as any other man she had ever known. As normal as she was. If you could call normal being obsessed with a vampire to the point of trying to figure out ways to spend weekends with him after she returned to Mobile. A vampire who sipped blood from her neck that she willingly offered to him.
Julian planted a kiss on top her head. “Michael said you were a big help to him with the invitations.”
“I was only too happy to have something useful to do.”
When she’d gone downstairs earlier to confront Mike about the phone, he’d asked her if she could help with the Halloween Party invitations. She’d jumped at the chance to do something to occupy her hands and her mind, since she wasn’t scheduled to work until tomorrow night and then for only a couple of hours. They were handling her with kid gloves, afraid she hadn’t regained her full strength.
“I hear you have beautiful penmanship,” Julian said.
She wrapped her arms around Julian’s waist, wishing he’d stop talking and pull her down to the floor instead. Or at least drag her over to the sofa.
“I took a calligraphy course a few years back. Today was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to use it.”
She had enjoyed penning the invitations for the Halloween costume party. The bar would be serving complimentary hors d’oeuvres, and from ten until midnight all drinks would be half price.
“Did Michael mention he’s getting costumes for us to wear?”
She nodded. Mike had told her one of the costume shops in the Quarter had reopened since the storm. He was going there tomorrow to get one for each of the three of them, as well as the couple of vampires who worked part-time.
“It should be a great party. For a lot of people it will be the first opportunity since the storm to relieve some of their pent up stress. I’m glad we’re in a position to offer that opportunity to some of the locals.” As he spoke, Julian interspersed his words with little kisses up and down her neck, ending with the pulse at her throat and sending rivulets of delightful chills down her spine.
“I have a few extra minutes before I go downstairs,” he whispered as his lips made their way to her shoulder.
“Just a few?” she murmured, shivering as his breath danced over her skin.
“I’ll make it up to you tonight after work, I promise.”
She barely felt her body move before she realized they had sunk to the floor, her wish of a few minutes earlier now a reality. Julian’s erection pushed hard between her thighs.
She arched her neck, lowered Julian’s face toward her and held her breath until she felt his velvety tongue on her skin and his hard, hot length inside her.
JULIAN CLOSED HIS eyes and let his thoughts free-float while his body prepared for its death sleep.
The bed felt painfully empty without Simone spooned against him. He missed her warm breath on the inside of his arm, the first thing he’d felt whenever he awoke during the days of her illness. He folded his arms across his chest to mimic the sense of not being alone, of being held, and fought sleep to keep his mind alert.
He thought about the hours he’d spent with Simone after the bar had closed, the two of them reaching for each other to experience over and over the wonder of sex between them.
Simone’s libido was extraordinary, and without much promp
ting she was driven to orgasm, always taking him along with her. He grinned to himself in the dark, empty room, wondering who was seducing whom, and he immediately began to think of ways to bring her even more satisfaction.
But before he could sink into the fantasy, he remembered what day it was and how little time was left. And that the sex he’d had with Simone last night might be his last. He gasped at the pain that thought brought him.
He was as certain as one could be of another’s feelings that Simone would do anything at all for him now, especially if it meant he would join his body with hers. But he couldn’t take any chances.
He needed to conserve all his energy, physically, psychically and sexually until the ritual of sacrifice was over.
It was as critical for Simone to temporarily refrain from sex as it was for him. He needed her desire for him to build so that she would be ready to sacrifice her life for him if Michael had still not found the cure by All Hallows Eve.
HALLOWEEN NIGHT, as Simone dusted the collection of beer bottles that decorated the top shelf behind the bar, she went over the boring past few days. She needed to rest, to recoup her strength, Julian and Mike kept insisting, even though she insisted just as strongly that she was good as new.
Of course they didn’t listen to her. And Julian had very deliberately kept away from her so that they had no chance at all to be alone. No chance at all to have sex, which was what it was really all about, she had convinced herself.
She grumbled silently at the busy work as she picked up an old bottle of Jax beer that quickly rekindled memories of her Jax-beer-drinking grandfather.
The Jax Brewery in the French Quarter had been a local icon for eighty-four years, until it was sold in the 1970s to an out-of-state firm. She passed her cleaning rag gently over the dark brown bottle as if it were the last of a national treasure.
They were spending a pretty penny for the party, she decided, setting the Jax bottle aside and reaching for an old bottle of Dixie beer. Dixie was another local favorite and had remained in operation since the early 1900s until the recent hurricane swept through the city. The brewery had been flooded and the rumor was that it would never reopen. Another loss that might seem insignificant to some, but to others meant the loss of more local history.
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