by Heather Linn
How did he do that with just his voice? It was hard to understand. It made me feel ashamed of myself. My mind hated him but my body was a traitor and I answered his demanding call each time it beckoned. I looked up without hesitation, meeting his gaze.
“If we die here, we die with pride. Do you understand Catalina?” I shook my head yes, just like he wanted me to.
I had lost so much perspective that the danger outside the mouth of the cave felt like nothing compared to the dangerous affect this man had on my sanity. I didn’t even feel him move closer. His one hand grabbed both of mine, and he squeezed them together. A soft moan slipped from my lips, just the promise that his hands in mine brought was enough to make me damp.
“If I have to die, I want to die feeling your lips against mine. I hope that is ok with you baby girl.” His words melted my fears, completely washing away the nightmare that was just outside the cave. His mouth on mine was the only thing that mattered now.
The more I moaned the quieter I tried to be and the deeper he kissed me, which aroused more moaning. He used his mouth and tongue to hush the moans I was making which made each kiss and caress of his tongue against mine more urgent and needy than the one before. We were so hopelessly lost in the lust of the moment that we never realized that we weren’t alone in the cave until it was too late.
Chapter Thirty-Two
At first, the fact that my hair was being pulled so hard didn’t even register. I just thought it was Jace getting into the moment. In fact, the hair pull turned me on even more, making me pant. It wasn’t until my head was pulled back far enough to see the fear registering on Jace’s face, that I realized that this was the end. This was the moment I was going to die. I screamed for Jace to run, but he refused to let go of me
“Get the hell out of here Jace! Now!” were the last words that would ever leave my mouth. I stopped struggling when the fangs sank into me; I knew that struggling made it even worse. I went stock still. The only movement I felt was coming from the beast attached to my neck wound. The beast was biting and sucking hard; drinking me, draining and killing me, and even though it was so pathetic, and so sordid, I was enjoying every sensation that each second of draining held. My skin was electrified. Every nerve ending was filling with the pheromone that the Dominus emitted into humans when they were excited and feeding. It got to the point that the only part of my body that I was aware of was the arm that Jace was feverishly tugging. I was almost certain that he was going to pull my arm from its socket. What in the hell was he doing? He had to know that he couldn’t get me away from the Dominus that had me.
The sucking continued and then I thought wait… electrifying? That isn’t how it’s supposed to feel! I’ve been bitten before and each time it had felt tranquil and calm, kind of like floating, but never, ever, electrifying.
Panic took my mind before I let go and succumbed to the darkness. I felt Jace’s grip break free and then my mind collapsed and broke. Whoever said death was peaceful was full of shit and clearly had never come close to death. Dying was pure panic. Shouldn’t I have been gone by now? How was it possible that I was still this much aware of what was going on around me? I heard Jace screaming “Drop her now!” and then my knees went out and I hit the floor.
The ground came up fast and I felt the gravely bottom of the cave. If I could feel the stones underneath me then I wasn’t dead yet. Why had the monster listened to Jace? Why had he released me? Had Jace distracted him? Had Jace given himself as a sacrifice in the hope of saving me? I couldn’t let that happen. He could still get away if he would just run.
I opened my eyes and then I closed them again. This couldn’t be real was the last thought I had before I drifted off again. I was still awake but I knew I was dying. My blood was flowing out of me. I heard hushed voices and I decided that voices were as good as anything to listen to while I slowly bled out. My blood pooled and flowed across the floor of the cave and I waited and I hoped. I hoped that I would see a bright light, a whirling dark tunnel, anything that would indicate that death would become something more thrilling than just lying in congealed blood on a jagged cold floor while the fire within me slowly burned out.
“What the hell is she doing here?” I could see him through my closed eyes, rather I could sense the image of him, and the image I sensed burned permanently into my mind. His hair was wild. His eyes were glowing and my blood was running down his chin. He was so handsome. I am sure that I smiled lying there dying and sensing him so near. It was Akia! He was here. I felt warmed by his presence and the warmth felt good.
“Cat! Open your eyes now! That is an order! Open them now!” That was Jace, Jace was still alive. How nice of him to stay and wait for death with me.
“Who in the hell are you?” screamed Akia. “Talk to her like that again and I will rip your throat out, do you understand me.” The hate nearly masked the confusion in Akia’s voice.
“Really? Is that what you are going to do? You kill her and now you are going to kill me too? The sick thing is you are more worried about shutting me up than you are about what you’ve done to her. You are a pathetic excuse for half human scum.” Jace clearly wanted to die with me. I felt my lips twitch again, I had no control.
“Kitten is that you?” said Akia softly. My mouth wouldn’t move. I couldn’t make any sounds come out.
“Arrgghh! Please stop calling me kitten,” I thought, irritated to the last.
“Catalina, it is you! You are supposed to be dead. I felt you die so long ago.” How had he heard me? I was positive that I hadn’t spoken. In fact, I didn’t think that I could have spoken if my life depended on it. The irony in that last thought almost made me want to laugh.
“Oh my God,” I thought, “My ring.” I took a quick inventory, concentrating on my finger. I had to know if the ring was there. Could I be just dreaming; my body’s last ditch effort to make peace with dying? The weight of the ring was gone. Jace must have taken it off earlier when he had tugged at my arm. What in God’s name had he been thinking?
“My ring, please put my ring back.” I knew I either had thought it or said it, I wasn’t sure which.
“Put her ring back on now!” I heard Akia tell Jace, who clearly had no intention of listening.
“If I put that ring on her finger, you will lose her again, do you understand that you big stupid beast?” Damn it Jace, why are you trying so hard to make him want to destroy you?
I had to think fast before this spiraled out of control. Resting in peace couldn’t be this complicated for anyone else in the world but me.
“Akia make him put it back on. I forgive you. It was an accident. I know that now. Please make him put it back on?”
“Put it on her finger now or I will rip you to shreds!” It wasn’t a request this time, it was a snarling order that came out of Akia. I didn’t know if it was because Jace was scared, or if he was just tired, but did what he was told.
I felt safe again as soon as the metal slid on my finger. When the ring made solid contact with my skin, I could see the steel door being slammed in Akia’s face. I heard him gasp and I knew that he felt our connection break too.
Chapter Thirty-Three
The next few minutes were scattered voices at best. I heard something tear and felt hands at my neck. I wondered if Akia was finishing me off. I was too warm to care. Then I heard the humming. Wow, he must have been really enjoying this. The thought should have pissed me off or sent chills down my spine, anything, but it didn’t. I was warm and Akia was so happy that he was humming and strangely, It all made sense.
“Why is she making that noise?” Akia sounded concerned instead of pissed, but when the humming continued over his talking, I realized that the sound couldn’t have been coming from him. I didn’t think Jace would hum if I was dying. So where did that leave me?
Jace answered Akia. “She knows she’s dying, you moron, that is why she is humming, she is somewhere warm and safe and happy and her mind is finally free now.” Jace managed to ke
ep his voice soothing as he rubbed my hands, telling me with his touch that he understood that is was OK if I gave into the warmth and vanished. “Can’t you see she’s dying?”
“Like hell she is,” and in a flash the pressure that Akia had been keeping on my neck was gone. I heard a thump and a second later I was overwhelmed with the scent of Akia. I had missed his scent so much.
But Jace didn’t like what was happening. “Get away from her. If you touch her, I’ll kill you myself.” Jace’s voice was further away now, and I concluded that he was the thump that I had just heard. The imaginary power struggle I envisioned between Jace and Akia caused me to shiver, and then warmth came flooding back.
“I would like to see you fucking try” Akia answered back. “Now if you want to help me, get over her so we can save her.” Save me? How?
I heard footsteps getting closer and when Akia didn’t react as if to a threat I realized that Jace was going to cooperate for the time being. How romantic! They were going to work together to save me. The only thing that could have made this better would have been for Darien to be there too. Darien. Just the thought of him made my heart ache, but the ache dissolved almost as soon as I felt it. I was fading too fast to worry much about not having Darien there. Lost in my false warmth, I thought that I was giggling when in reality I was gurgling on my own blood and taking my last few breaths. I felt Jace drop down beside me on the hard, rocky earth. Then I heard Akia say something.
“Hold your hands over her wound as tightly as you can.” I felt Jace’s hands, tenderly at first, gingerly touching me, so afraid he was going to hurt me. “I said hard,” Akia shouted. “I don’t give a damn if you crush her windpipe! We can fix that easier than we can stop her from bleeding to death.” Apparently Akia’s words registered with Jace.
That was all it took. The pain his hands caused as he tried to slow my bleeding neck wound made me stop humming immediately and I was instantly upset. I had been enjoying my slow descent into death and now these two were taking the pleasure away from me. Why was it that all the men in my life wanted to take from me instead of just accepting me and giving me what I wanted?
“We need to get blood into her,” said Akia. I can’t do it alone. I haven’t fed enough yet today, only what I’ve taken from her” Akia’s voice dropped. I heard the shame in it and then I heard Jace.
“Feel bad for yourself later asshole. Right now we have to save her.” Damn Jace, way not to cut him a break. It really wasn’t his fault he ripped half my throat out.
Oh wait, yes it was! That’s right Jace, tell him to stop bitching. The fact that my thoughts were becoming less incoherent meant that Jace had managed to staunch the blood flow. Akia turned and confronted Jace.
“My blood will heal her wound but I don’t have enough to put into her, to replace what she’s lost. You are going to have to feed her too. Are you willing to donate or do I have to slit your throat and pour you into her?” There wasn’t a hint of anything but power in Akia’s voice when he asked.
“Says the beast that bled her out in the first place. Unlike you, I wasn’t trying to kill her; I was trying to keep her alive. If draining me dry will save her, I’ll do it.” I wanted to scream “No one is going to die to save me,” but the words wouldn’t come.
One of them tilted my head back and held my neck at what I could only assume was a painful angle. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t protest, I couldn’t even stop the fingers that were prying my mouth open, holding my head steady, and then I felt something warm slide down the back of my throat. The body is an amazing thing. I couldn’t move and I couldn’t talk, but somehow I was able to swallow, and I could hear Jace’s soothing voice encouraging me.
“Good Girl, Kitty Cat.” I loved hearing his words of approval and my mouth reacted by sucking every drop of Akia’s blood that he allowed me to have. I knew that his blood was going to make me better.
“Really? She hasn’t killed you yet for talking to her the way you do? What did you do, beat her about the head, drag her off to your cave and now that she’s coming to, she’s forgotten who she was?” Even with Akia’s blood flowing from him to me, he was still a smart ass, though he probably had a point.
I almost had to laugh at the cave comment. Jace had dragged me into the cave. Mind you it was to get me away from the Hunt, but still the irony was not lost on me, even this close to death.
“If I had been the one to say good girl to her I am pretty sure she would have ripped off parts of me that I would rather keep.” Akia wasn’t sounding the least bit amused.
“I guess that says a lot about which one of us she views as more Alpha.” Jace was so sure of himself, I was proud of him but I didn’t know why.
“I will be so glad when she is better and we can test that theory rodent. Now take your hand off her neck slowly so we can see if she is healing.”
The pressure against my neck eased. I was able to breathe again, slowly and painfully, but I could breathe. The fact that I had just consumed more Dominus blood was heavy on my mind, but there was no time to worry about that now.
“Give me your wrist now human!” Akia’s voice was so dark and inhuman, that if I had been able to speak I would have told Jace to run as far as way as he could, and never come back. I was trapped in my own body, as useless as a blindfolded prisoner. I heard the movements. I heard the sound of skin being ripped from bone and the muffled sharp cry that escaped from Jace’s lips. Then blood was flowing into me again. This time it was Jace’s blood that filled me.
I couldn’t help but notice that he tasted different than Akia. Akia’s blood was so hot that it burned going down. There was something about it that made it crackle and pop as I swallowed, kind of like drinking electricity. But Jace’s blood was something else; it was warm and pleasant and sweet. Kind of like a yummy dessert that you know you shouldn’t be eating, but you just couldn’t stop yourself from eating more.
My eyes flew open like they had a will of their own. The cave was dark but I could see them both standing above me, looking down at me quizzically. What happened next was something that I couldn’t have stopped if I’d wanted to. Both of my hands latched onto Jace’s wrist. My nails dug into his flesh, he couldn’t have gotten away if he tried. The sudden surge of strength running though me, thanks to Akia’s Dominus blood, gave me the power to hold him. He wasn’t going anywhere. The look of fear on his face should have been enough to make me stop, but instead, his fear did just the opposite. It made me suck harder, using my tongue to probe deeper into the wound to keep the blood flowing freely. He tasted so good.
“Cat stop, let go of him now!” Oh shut up Akia, I thought, knowing damn well that he couldn’t hear me. Akia closed the short distance between me and him in an instant and his fingers were pushing my chin aside before I could blink.
“Leave her alone, if this is what it takes to save her then she can drink me to death.” I wanted to call Jace a good boy, but speaking would mean spilling drops of his blood and that wasn’t worth it.
“You aren’t going to save her you fucking idiot, you are going to change her. I might have given her too much blood already but you are not helping. You are feeding the Vampire cells that are coursing through her veins right now. If you feed them enough they will grow and take over her human blood cells, then she will be lost to your kind and become one of me. And I doubt you want that, or do you?” Why was Akia ruining my gorging for me? This Dominus could piss me of like no one else.
As soon as Akia’s words registered Jace started to struggle and pull away. I wasn’t having it. There was no way I was letting go. I dug my tongue in deeper and the blood rushed out faster.
“I am going to get her off of you and then I want you to keep her here and I don’t want either of you to move until I make sure the Hunt is over, so make sure you stay put until I come back for you.” I didn’t get to hear Jace’s response because just then, the rock in Akia’s hand struck down against my temple and I fell into blackness.
Chapter Th
irty-Four
“You just don’t know when to die do you?” I had never heard this voice before, but instantly I wanted to run.
When my body refused to move, I froze in place instead. Something made me think if I didn’t move, then the creature that belonged to this nightmare voice, wouldn’t move either.
“Turn around and let me see you demon”. Wait, was he talking to me?
Was this horrific voice calling me a demon? Well now I just had to know who I was dealing with. I was almost positive I would regret it, but I just had to know. Slowly I turned and I could feel the air swishing around me. I was in nothing but a bra and panties. OK, if this was death I was going to be really disappointed. I guess I always thought death would be spent warm and cozy and comfortably well dressed, half naked and freezing wasn’t going to cut it.
“You are quite attractive for a human. I suppose I can see what he sees in you. After all he is my son. I suppose he likes pretty things too. In fact, if you’d been around when we first took over, I would have bedded you first.” Shit! My blood ran cold. I didn’t want to know more. There was no way I was going to look. I didn’t want to be standing face to face with any Vampire, let alone the one that had sired Akia.
“I said look at me you stupid foolish human or I will kill you where you stand.” The voice held more power than I had ever thought possible.
The fact that I was still alive made me doubt that he could kill me. If he had the power to kill me, I would have been dead already. I had to be dreaming. There was no other explanation. The world of dreams was the one place where I could be equal to this monster to the point where there was nothing he could do about it. Dreaming meant that I could torment him, and realizing that I could torment him meant I could let off a little steam and have a little fun both and that was all it took to loosen me up and find my courage. I looked up and I was face to face with the most amazing being I had ever seen in my life.
