He stared down into the depths of her soul. “Do you mean it? Are you willing to give up everything to be my one true consort?”
“I never meant anything so much in my life,” she told him. “I’ll give anything, I’ll sacrifice anything, I’ll be anything, if it means giving you what you need and what you want. Let me fill you up. Let me give you peace.”
He kept his gaze locked on her one instant longer. Then he swooped her up into his arms and carried her to her room. How did he know which one was hers? She didn’t think to ask.
He pulled her near the bed and then the door shut behind him. How did he shut it from across the room?
She couldn’t see anything but his eyes. She couldn’t think about anything but the fulfillment they would both experience in one another.
He pulled her into his embrace. His eyes kissed her soul. The ecstasy was overwhelming. She sank into the bottomless pool of his essence. Could she ever experience any rapture more blissful than this?
But something more enchanting was to come, she knew. In moments, all her pent-up tension would shatter into a million droplets of dew.
Andrei held her tight against his iron frame, and her body quivered in anticipation.
“Dara,” he breathed, “are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure you want to give your life and future to me—only to me? Are you sure you’re ready to sacrifice everything you know to join me in the other world?”
“Yes.” In that moment, she would have said yes to anything. “Yes. I’m ready.”
He bent her over backward again and put his mouth against her throat. A low growl of desire rumbled from him, and her blood sang in answer. Her heart beat even stronger, and she gasped for breath.
He lifted her up and laid her down on the bed. She danced in the deep pools of his eyes.
With a gentle, electric motion, he brushed the hair back from her forehead. When he traced the graceful curve of her neck with his fingers, her skin felt like it was on fire.
“Dara, my Dara,” he said.
Andrei leaned over her. Why didn’t he get in bed with her? Was he waiting for her to tear his clothes off? If that’s what he wanted…
But he was still leaning over her, nuzzling her, his tongue tasting her, his hands on her.
Then, with a growl, he opened his mouth and bit her.
She felt no pain when his sharp teeth pierced the skin of her neck. Her blood sprang from her body, and it was the most sensual sensation she’d ever experience.
His lips closed over the wound, and he sucked blood from her in powerful gulps.
As her life’s blood poured out through the holes in her throat, she realized what was happening.
She tried to fight back, but she couldn’t move; he must have bound her with some kind of spell.
Her pulse began to slow. Her blood didn’t spurt into Andrei’s mouth anymore; he had to suck it out. Soon, she wouldn’t have any left, and then she would die.
No! She didn’t want to die.
Anger welled up in her, and the trans he had put her in broke. She struggled against him, but he was far too powerful for her; his need overwhelmed her. Nothing in the world could fight against strength like that. He had her right where he wanted her. Once he sucked the last drop of blood from her veins, he would leave her corpse lying there on her bed for the landlady to find in the morning.
Her vision wavered. A bottomless pit of darkness loomed before her, and she dangled over the precipice.
At the very last moment, he tore his mouth away from her and stood up, leaving her there on the bed. Not an ounce of strength remained in her body.
It took every bit of willpower for her to move her eyes to him.
He looked down at her with satisfied smile as her lifeblood dripped from his mouth.
She began to shiver. Without any blood in her body, the cold seeped through her flesh.
Then Andrei did something she never expected. He covered her with a blanket and then kissed her gently on the forehead.
A moment later, he vanished, and she sank into a black abyss.
Chapter Three
Dara was slow to wake. When she realized her alarm had been going off for an hour, she shot out of bed.
She slapped the alarm clock off, and blinked several times to make her eyes focus on the time. It was eight o’clock in the morning. She had to get up and go to work. She didn’t dare call in sick. She needed every penny just to cover her rent.
The moment she stood up, a wave of nausea hit her. She almost puked on the carpet. Her head weighed a ton, and it took every ounce of her determination to make her limbs move.
Then she remembered last night.
She stared around the room in wild horror. Was Andrei still here? No.
Her entire body was sore. What had he done to her? What kind of monster would do this to an innocent girl he met on a park bench?
But she already knew the answer to that question. She didn’t want to admit it, but there was only one explanation. Andrei was a vampire.
But if that were the case, why had he left her alive?
It had to have been a bad dream. Last night’s events were her imagination playing tricks on her. Maybe she was just sick, and it had been a fevered dream.
She threw her robe around her shoulders and staggered to the bathroom. A hollow-cheeked visage stared back at her from the mirror. Dark circles surrounded her eyes, and her colorless skin hung from her bones. And there, on her neck, surrounded by purple bruises, were two round holes.
Dara nearly passed out. It had all been real.
For several minutes, she stood there, unable to accept the truth.
She couldn’t think about it right now; she was late for work.
Hurriedly, she splashed water on her face and got dressed, throwing on a scarf to hide the bite marks in her neck. She should have taken a shower and eaten a good breakfast, but she only had time for a cup of coffee.
Though some of her strength had returned to her, she stumbled out of the apartment and almost fell down the steps.
The cab she meant to hail screeched to a stop to avoid running over her.
“Are you okay?” the driver asked when she pulled the door open. “You look terrible. Do you need me to take you to a hospital?”
Shaking her head, she said, “No, I’m just late for work.” She gave him the address to her office.
With concern etched on his face, he got back in the taxi and eased into traffic. All the while he drove her to work, he eyed her in the rear-view mirror.
* * *
When she got to work, Dara went straight to her desk.
Her cubicle-mate, Beth, glanced at her from the other side of the cubicle. “Morning—” she started to say, but then her eyes widened. “Are you all right? You look like hell.”
Dara smiled. “I’ll be all right. I just had a long night. Didn’t get much sleep.”
“Oh?”
Sighing, Dara said, “I met someone on the way home. Things got a little wild.”
Beth shook her head. “You should take it easy, you know. You’re going to get yourself in trouble one of these days.”
Dara dropped her eyes to her desk. “I think I already did.”
“What?”
“This guy—” She took a deep breath, not knowing what to say next.
“Did he…?”
What could she say? That she’d taken a vampire home, and he’d sucked her blood?
She looked up at Beth. “I guess I’m not that good at picking them.”
“You should let me set you up some time,” Beth said.
Dara snorted. “A blind date? No thanks.”
“I mean it,” Beth replied. “What you need is a real man who will stick by you no matter what. Stop fooling around with one-night stands. Get yourself a decent guy who’ll stay home and watch movies with you on Saturday night.”
Dara smiled. “Thanks, sweetie. I really appreciate it, but I don’t want to talk about anymore; just want to
put it behind me.” She took a deep breath. “I need to concentrate on these receipts right now. I’ve got a mountain of paperwork to get through this morning. If I don’t’ get it done, Alicia will be gunning for my hide.”
Beth’s hand fell onto her shoulder. “All right. Just let me know if I can help.”
* * *
Somehow, Dara got through the rest of the day. When she was about to leave, Beth waved her down.
“Are you going to be able to make it home all right? Do you want me to take you? I can make some soup or something.”
“No.” Dara forced a smile. “I think I’ll just go right to bed and sleep through.”
“All right.” Then she said, “A couple of us are going to get together this weekend at Mingles. Are you going to feel up to it by then?”
Dara shook her head. “Thanks, but I don’t think so.” The thought of it made her stomach tighten into a knot.
Frowning, Beth said, “Well, maybe next weekend.”
“I don’t think I’ll go on any more dates for a while. Maybe I’ll just become a nun.”
Beth snorted. “You? Yeah, right. Hey, don’t you know that old saying? When you fall off the horse, you’ve got to get right back on.”
Dara nodded. “I’ve heard it before. Just give me a chance to recover before you go throwing me into the rodeo ring again, will you? I need some quiet for a while.”
Beth frowned. “What’s going on? You’re starting to scare me.”
“I’m the same person I always was,” Dara told her. “I’m just not that into the bar scene for the next bit. That’s all.”
Beth looked her straight in the eye. “No. There’s something different about you. I don’t know what it is, but something deep inside you has changed.” She sighed. “I hope you get it figured out, because you’re my friend, and I don’t like what I’m seeing.”
Feeling like a heel for keeping the truth from her friend, Dara reached out to pat Beth’s arm. She would have given anything to tell her friend the truth about what happened last night, but there was no way she would believe it.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She hurried out of the building and headed home on foot. Some fresh air would do her good.
The chill of evening seeped into her core, and she had to wrap her arms around herself to keep warm. When did the weather turn so cold all of a sudden?
She was still weak from blood loss, and the chilly breeze seemed cut straight through to her bones. She would have hailed a cab, like this morning, but she couldn’t afford to do that all the time.
As she walked, her mind kept going back to Andrei. How could she have known what he was? How could a person protect themselves from him and his kind? He looked and acted exactly like any other human man.
But he wasn’t like any other man, was he? If she lived a thousand years, she would never meet anyone else like him. The thought made her heart cry. All her life, she only wanted a man to love and cherish, a man who would look her in the eye that way. She would never be satisfied with any other man again.
Her thoughts drifted back to the moment when he sank his teeth into her throat. It had not been painful; it had been the most sensual experience she’d ever had.
“No,” she said out loud, startling an old woman passing in the other direction.
Picking up her pace, Dara shook her head. She had to get Andrei out of her mind. He’d sucked her blood and left her for dead. What did she want to dream about him for?
She was so tired and weak from blood loss, she didn’t realize she walked right past her apartment until she was two blocks away. Sighing, she turned around and headed back.
Inside her apartment, she stuck her head in the fridge, but the sight of everything in it turned her stomach.
She went back to her room and collapsed into her chair by the heater. It put out lukewarm air, not enough to chase the cold out of her bones. It took everything in her to pull the blanket off the bed and wrap it around her.
With revulsion, she looked around the room. Was it always so shabby. How could she stand living in this dump? But she couldn’t afford anything else. She ought to take Beth up on her offer to share a room. They could move into a nice apartment with a view of the park. Then maybe she could afford to eat decent food.
What had Andrei thought when he saw this place? He must have known what a cheap bite she would be. Maybe that’s why he picked her. Maybe he could tell by the cut of her clothes that he could suck her last drop and no one would care.
The image of his face hovered in her mind, and his eyes grabbed her by the heart, even in her memory. Would she ever see him again? How would she react if she did? How could she protect herself from him?
Even when she closed her eyes, he still haunted her thoughts. She’d promised him her body and soul for all eternity. Would she ever meet another man who affected her that way?
A deep yawn reminded her she should go to bed, but she didn’t have the energy to get out of her chair.
She shivered as she sat there. Would she ever recover her vitality after he’d drained her life’s blood? Would she drag herself through the rest of her life as a burned-out shell?
At first, she struggled to keep her eyes open. Would she dream about Andrei? Would she relive the horror of his bite again and again in her dreams? After a time, she fell into a fitful sleep there in her chair with all her clothes on.
She didn’t dream about Andrei, though. She dreamt about a city, brightened by street lights. Beautiful people roamed its avenues.
* * *
There was a palace on a large estate in the middle of a vast city. In her dream, Dara lived there. The staff greeted her and bowed in reverence when she passed them. She held herself up straighter and looked down on them with benevolent superiority.
She was heading for a great hall. But when she reached the doors, an attendant stopped her from going into the room. He gestured toward a staircase to one side, and when she took it, she found herself in a mezzanine overlooking a gathering of beautiful people.
Leaning over the railing, she trained her ear to hear the discussion going on below her. She admired the faces of the members, and drank in their profound words. Then one man, who towered over everyone around him, addressed the people. They listened to him with rapt attention, and his words rang through the hall.
Dara caught her breath and took a closer look. With one imperious wave of his hand, he concluded his speech and turned back to his seat.
As she watched, she became aware of a powerful presence behind her. She turned around and all she could see was Andrei’s fangs as he opened his mouth for her throat…
Chapter Four
Dara snapped awake and immediately started shivering. The heater had stopped working.
No sound permeated the room, but she sat up straight and looked around.
He was here somewhere. Andrei. She didn’t have to see him to know he was there. The air buzzed with electric tension. She searched the corners of the room.
The curtain fluttered over the window, and a shadow moved along the wall.
“I know you’re there,” Dara called out. “Why don’t you show yourself instead of stalking around like a coward?”
Andrei stepped into view from the shadows. He smiled at her. “Hello, Dara. How are you?”
“How do you expect me to be?” she shot back. “You took every drop of my blood, and now I’m half dead. Did you come back here to finish me off?”
He took another step, and his smile broadened. Lamp light fell on his face, and she saw him clearly. His eyes still radiated their ethereal power. She couldn’t resist his gaze.
“I didn’t take every drop of your blood,” he said, “and you’re nowhere near half dead. You’re weak after that first feeding. Your body isn’t used to it. But it will make more blood, and then you’ll feel better.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
He titled his head. “I thought you would have figured it o
ut by now.”
She had, but she still didn’t want to believe.
Then she realized what he’d said: first feeding. She stared at him, aghast. “You can’t be thinking of doing it again. It would kill me.”
“I wouldn’t do it now,” Andrei told her. “You’re too weak. But in a couple of weeks, you’ll be back to yourself again. Then you’ll be ready.”
“You can’t be serious!” she gasped.
“Why not?” he asked. “What do you think I’m doing here?”
“No way!” she cried. “I’m not letting you do that to me again. Never in a million years.”
“Who said anything about you letting me do it?” he asked. “I’ll be the one to decide if and when I do it.”
Dara sat up straighter. “What do you mean?”
Andrei gazed down into her face, and her heart beat faster. He was a predator, and she was his prey. He could kill her with one bite. He could break her neck with a snap of his fingers. If he opened his mouth a little wider, would she see his fangs?
“You’re mine now, Dara,” he told her. “You gave yourself to me willingly. If I want to feed from you, I will.”
“You won’t,” she shot back. “No man has the right to do that to me.”
In a low voice, he said, “I am not a man.”
Up until now, she had only been able to guess at the truth. While the words remained unsaid, there was always the possibility that there was some other explanation for what Andrei was, and what she was going through.
“What are you?” she asked, daring him to speak out loud what she silently feared.
“You know what I am.” Keeping his eyes trained on her, he said, “I’m a vampire. I survive by drinking human blood, and you chose to put yourself in my power. You gave yourself to me, body and soul, for all eternity.”
“That was just foreplay,” she told him, as if saying it would make it true. “You knew I didn’t really mean it.”
“You meant it, all right,” Andrei replied. “You wouldn’t have said it if you didn’t mean it. You knew exactly what you were doing. You knew when you first met me that I wasn’t like other men, and you knew when you invited me up to your room that it wasn’t about sex.”
My Blood To Rise Page 2
