“Three.”
“Stop! Please!”
I drag the cane along her back, enjoying the sight of the goosebumps that raise where I pass. My other hand finds her swollen, soaking wet pussy, and I thrust two fingers inside as I thumb her clit. Her hitching breaths becomes rhythmic moans and she pushes her ass against me, mumbling curses and prayers to a deity I have yet to find proof of. I free my straining cock, aching to push inside her, but we’re not done. Her pussy walls tightens and I pull out, giving her a hard smack right across the plumpest part of her ass, not quite touching her pussy, but dangerously close. Kat buries her head in the mattress and screams as shudders wrack her body.
“Four,” I say calmly, even though my insides are anything but calm.
“Red!” she screams. “Red! I’m not allowed to tell you! I can’t! It’s not there! Please!”
I stop my hand mid-air, then I throw the cane and pull Kat over to her back, climbing up on the bed, pinning her under me. I scan her eyes, looking desperately for the truth. “Did someone wipe your mind?” I growl.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. How can I know?”
Her sweet scent keeps increasing. It’s maddening. It’s wrong. It’s not the time. Something has frightened her, not only me, but our latest minutes together have peaked it, and that’s all on me, and I can’t resist it. I’m losing the battle with myself as if I was a newborn. I put my nose to her neck, sniffing along her rapidly thudding artery. Pushing her thighs wide apart with my knee, I slam inside her at the same time as I bury my teeth in her neck. She’s mine. All of her. Every molecule. I fuck her with abandon as I pull her blood. It spurts hot and sweet, hitting the back of my throat, filling my whole being with her essence. It makes me come alive. I exist with a constant, cruel thirst, and the only respite I have from nature's cruel punishment of vampirism is when I drink.
“Lou!” Kat arches, spasms, her pussy clenching around my thrusting cock. She digs her nails into my back, tearing open my skin, drawing blood. Her orgasm, her taste in my mouth, her whimpers and her submission, it all comes together in a white-hot furnace and I twitch in her as I explode. I roar as I spill my seed, clutch her hair, force her to see me, monster, fangs, her blood on my lips, then I catch her mouth, move in her, thrusting hard until she comes again, weaker, exhausted, trembling.
I rise a little and look down on my human. Her cheeks are flushed, but pale underneath, and her gaze is drowsy. I bite down on my wrist and mix my blood with hers, sealing the wound on her throat.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers hoarsely.
“Shh.” I stroke her hair. “You have nothing to be sorry about. We will talk about this tomorrow.”
I’m the one who should be sorry. I took too much blood. I took her body without asking. I’m weak. Every moment I spend with her, I endanger her. I was angry and afraid, and I took it out on her.
I feel no satisfaction. My insides crawl with unease. Dawn is but a minute away and sleep will claim me soon. I will do right by her. Somehow.
“Is it dawn?” Her cool little hand touches my cheek, much like it did when I lay on that gurney, the night she stumbled upon the monsters that lurk in the shadows, the night when she met death in the shape of me. “You look so tired, baby. Come.” She pulls me to her and I snuggle in, pulling the sheet over us, holding her tight as my consciousness fights the curse.
I have no illusions. This will not end prettily. I won’t wipe her mind and risk turning her into a vegetable. I won’t turn her. One day I won’t be able to stop in time, and I will feed until she is no more.
There are three possible outcomes for Katarina Donovan’s days with me, and they all end with her death. One way or another.
It’s all my fault and I can’t even regret taking her. I will do everything in my power to keep her safe, that’s my promise, but how can I protect her from the real danger?
From me?
Chapter 15
Kat
I lie awake in Lou’s arms for a long time after the new day has claimed his consciousness. As soon as the sun becomes visible on the horizon, he goes absolutely still. There is no breathing, no heartbeat, and every time my heart gets a little stab of worry.
When I go to the bathroom, I have to hold onto the walls. I’m dizzy. Touching my undamaged neck, I wonder what my platelet count is. I don’t think it’s within the acceptable range anymore. What if that other vampire, Bass, is right? Will Lou kill me, even though he doesn't want to? Maybe a human-vampire relationship is doomed?
For the first time since the first night, I try the door, but it’s as sealed as ever. I’m restless. I long for fresh air, I miss my work. An image keeps popping up in my mind. A drop of my blood on Bass’ lips. I let him take it and it feels like betrayal, like adultery. I take in the comatose vampire in the bed, this unique creature, who after all our talks and walks has opened my eyes to the world outside my little pond and made me curious about what is out there, about everything I have yet to discover. Human lifespan suddenly feels so short. Even shorter if he can’t keep his thirst in check.
I want to be with him. I want to be safe. I want us to be equals. Can’t he see that?
When he stirs, I have barely slept. I’m delirious with exhaustion, but my mind is running on overdrive.
He turns on his side and tilts his head, his warm, brown eyes scanning mine, then they glitter as his lips turns up into a smile.
“Kat.” He strokes my cheek.
I lean into his touch. “Hi, you.”
“You have no idea what it means to me, to wake up next to you.”
I wonder if he’s ever going to ask what it means to me. I don’t want this bitterness that gnaws on me, but he took me from my life. Maybe I even let him a little, too enchanted and too curious to fight it. I’ve been like in a trance but last night woke me brutally. Sean’s and Bass’ words have poisoned my mind. I want to be with this man, I do, but I want more. I can’t just be his toy.
“You look sad.” He props up his head on one hand and reaches for my hand, intertwining our fingers. “What’s up?”
“What are your plans for us, Lou?”
His face splits into a beautiful smile that makes my heart melt. “Let me show you!”
“Tonight?” His sudden enthusiasm is infectious, making my mood lighten.
“Come on. Shower. Eat. Then I’ll show you!”
A couple of hours later finds us outside an apartment complex downtown. I stare up at the high glass and steel building and then take in the newly planted recreational area next to it, the newly paved roads.
“What is this place?”
Lou dangles a couple of keys, rattling them before me. “Let’s go find out.”
The lobby is cool and clean, made of white marble and light wood material and the elevator takes us to the top floor in mere seconds. I’m not stupid. Of course I have a suspicion about why we’re here, but I’ll let him run the show. Watching Lou giddy is a liberating experience after all the seriousness. On the top floor, there’s only one apartment, and Lou steps inside as if he owns the place.
I gape at the sight of the large open spaces, which would have been bright if the sun had been up. There’s a fireplace, a spiral staircase to a second floor, a gigantic patio, also in two levels, and I count to seven rooms.
“Is this—?”
“You didn’t think we were going to live at the club, did you?”
“Did you buy this? Is it yours?”
“And yours.” He spreads his arms. “Do you like it?”
“Like it? It’s beautiful! I squint at the darkness outside. The city lights twinkle below us, but in the distance the desert and the mountains are pitch black. “I wish I could see the view. It has to be spectacular.”
“It is. You can see it in daytime, love.”
“You see it? Now?”
“Of course. Clear as day. Or, as I remember day.”
“Vampire sight. Speed. Strength. Is there anything you can’t do?”
Lou cocks his head and turns to look out the windows again. “Watch the sun rise,” he says somberly. “Do you want to live here with me? I mean… do you like it? Does it feel all right?”
“I like this place a lot, Lou. It’s a step up. I’m a bit overwhelmed, but it’s beautiful.”
“Come. I have so much to do tonight, but tomorrow, we move here.” He pulls me toward the patio and pushes the whole wall open. The night air is brisk, and I shudder.
Tomorrow? My chest tightens. I thought I had more time. I haven’t decided if I want to talk to Bass again about turning. I don’t know what I want, but the opportunity is quickly slipping out of my hands.
“I cannot give you a child. That’s the only thing I am taking away from you, and it isn’t fair.” Lou wraps his coat around me and pulls me into his arms, kissing my head.
A child? The sudden turn of the conversation gives me whiplash. I’m moving from food to mother material.
I fight to think and not drown in his scent. All I want to do is put my hands on him and find his hard angles, see the goosebumps raise as I drag my nails over his skin. “Children,” I say. “I’m almost thirty. I hadn’t even decided yet. Med school, internship, not finding the one I wanted to spend my life with… life has kept getting in the way. I support an orphanage in Venezuela. They are my kids.”
“You do? You keep amazing me. There are so many things I don’t know about you.”
“Of course there are.”
“Did you visit them? Your children?”
“Not yet. I haven’t had the time to travel.”
“Do you want to?”
My heart jolts. “More than anything!”
“Let me take you. I have robbed you of your life, your profession, your friends and family, but let me make some of that up to you. Please, let me show you the world, my favorite places. Do you want to help children in need? Use your trauma emergency skills in war zones, or dig wells, plant trees… There are so many people in need, Kat. With me you will never be bound to distance, finances, administration. You have the know-how, I have the means, and together we have the passion.”
My chest aches. I want these things so much, but the feeling that we will never get there suffocates me. “There are sooo many things I don’t know about you! I didn’t know you were such a philanthropist.”
“I have been given a gift and a curse. My existence isn’t natural. I have spent decades trying to find the source of vampirism, but it’s as much of a mystery as life itself.”
I put a finger to his lips, silencing him. “Maybe vampires are natural too? Did you ever think about that?”
He cocks his head and holds my gaze. “Do you know what I found?”
“No.”
“People. Love. Hate. Passion, compassion, and destruction. Humans are complex and interesting. There is art, and music, literature.”
“Nuclear weapons and famine. Greed and politics.”
“Always. Cruelty is the other side of the coin.”
“Sometimes it feels as if it’s winning.”
“It’s because your news outlets are biased and sensation seeking. They are not the only truth. Let me show you all that is good in the world. Evil isn’t winning.”
“I never thought a creature of the night would be the one to show me light.”
Lou laughs and hugs me tighter. “Tomorrow I will have this place set up for us. Just one more night at the club and then we’re out of there.”
I nod, my head swimming with this turn of events. Yes, I want to be with Lou. I’ve come to crave him. I miss him every second we’re not together. Leaving the club will be like breathing again, but it’s clear that he still won’t trust me. I need to be like him. I want to show him that I’m serious.
I want him to make me a vampire.
“Lou. Please make me like you.”
He pushes me away, holding me at an arm’s length. “I am not taking your life.”
“You don’t find me worthy.”
“That’s not it! I love to listen to your breath, to your heart. I love your warmth, your soft skin, and your vulnerability. I love knowing that I can be strong for you.”
“I can be like Selene. We can have what she and Lucius have.”
Lou frowns, seems to hesitate. “He never intended to turn her. He felt like me. But when the option stood between him losing her forever, or turning her, he turned her. You are beautifully alive and that’s the way it should be.”
I want to cry. I fight the growing lump in my chest. “So if I was close to dying, would you turn me then?”
“That will never happen,” he growls.
I take a step back, my stomach clenching from the sudden rage on his face. He grips my chin and tilts up my head, forcing me to meet his gaze.
“Do I need to put you on suicide watch?”
I jerk my head out of his grip. “Of course not! You’re such a dick!”
His lips thin in anger. “Tomorrow, we move. I will make this place comfortable for you, but for now I’ll take you back to the club. You are not to interact with anyone there tonight. Am I making myself clear?”
“Yes, Master,” I say dully, pushing our inequality on him, hoping that somewhere inside that stupid vampire mind he’ll squirm, knowing that he’s doing me wrong.
Dark eyes turn even darker. With lust. With confusion. With fury.
The thrill that runs through me isn’t fear. It’s raw, unabashed desire for this man, for his body, and for his brilliant mind. I want to scream at him to listen to me. He may think he’s cursed, but I know I can help him, that together we’ll be good. Now and forever.
When he leaves me alone in the room, his eyes speak what his mouth won’t say. He begs me for forgiveness. He begs me to find a way past his stubbornness, and I know what I need to do. I only have tonight.
In our parting kiss, I fight not to feel fear, because I know he can smell it and I don’t want him to know something is off.
As soon as enough time has passed, I try the door handle. It’s locked. I kick the door. I want to scream. It’s a couple of hours until Alaya comes by with my ‘lunch’. I hope I can convince her to let me out. It’s as if I’m boiling inside as I pace back and forth and when there’s a knock on the door I’m so tense that I scream. Darting to it, I stop flat from the surprise of seeing Sean’s angel-like features.
He crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe. “Thought you might wanna see something else than these walls.”
I throw my arms around him. “You have no idea!”
He looks around the room and tsks. “So, he’s just keeping you in here?”
“We’re moving.”
Sean spins around and looks at me. “Really? When?”
I take a deep breath and exhale shakily. “Tomorrow.”
It’s as if a shadow passes his otherwise so bright features, then he shrugs and grins. “A parting drink then?”
I gesture to the door. “Lead the way. Is uhm… Bass here?”
Sean walks ahead of me through the corridor and stops so abruptly that I crash into him. He scans my face as he narrows his eyes. “He’ll come by later.” A flicker of excitement passes his gaze, then he pushes his fingers through his blond locks and clears his throat. “Let’s get that drink.”
The room is half full, and the air is tense with excitement. A group of human women stand around a bench with restraints, giggling as one of them is being tied to it, unaware there are vampires — predators—all around. They think it’s a game. They think it’s sex. They’ll soon learn they are prey. And then they’ll leave with very fuzzy memories.
“Alaya, babe,” says Sean. “Give us a couple of GTs.”
I side-eye their interaction, surprised by his cocky tone. From the looks of it, so is Alaya. She turns to me. “What can I get you, hon?”
“Umm…” If I’m going to approach Bass later, despite him scaring me half to death, I’ll need some liquid courage. “Whiskey. Make it a double.”
/> “Sure thing, love.”
Sean opens his mouth to speak but slams it closed when Alaya turns to him, showing a brief flash of fangs. “You will get a drink if your Dom approves.”
Sean gapes, looks around and then back at Alaya, throwing out his arms. “Dude’s not even here!”
“Not my problem.” She glances at Lucius, sitting at his throne, sipping a glass of red. Wine or blood, I can’t tell for sure. Sean follows her gaze and when he looks back he seems a little paler. “You see,” she says, “a human sub hanging here without his Dom isn’t of much use to anyone. Now scamper before I attach your neck to the tap.”
Sean stumbles back, muttering something I can’t hear. “Fuck. Come on.” He pulls me toward the couches where we sat yesterday and sits down with a loud groan.
I take a mouthful and swallow as tears well up in my eyes. “So,” I say as I sit next to him, “when is your Dom coming?”
“Soon,” Sean says grumpily, clearly pissed. “He can’t wait to meet you. How’d it go with your Lou? Could you explain the smell of your blood to his satisfaction?” His light blue eyes flash of something wicked. It’s only a brief moment, then it’s gone.
I swallow hard and my pussy clenches as I think of last night’s punishment. “He-eh… we sorted it out. He thinks I cut myself on a shard.”
“Good girl,” says a deep baritone behind me.
I freeze and my pulse skyrockets. The inside of my wrist tingles with the memory of how he stole a drop of blood from me.
Bass is here.
He falls heavily next to me, his powerful body making me feel infinitely small. “So, young one, how are things going in your little corner of the world? Miss me?”
“She’s moving out,” says Sean behind me.
I frown and throw an irritated glance over my shoulder. He’s starting to annoy me a little. He was rude with Alaya, and he keeps taking over conversations. He’s the reason I ended up on this couch in the first place yesterday, falling out of grace with Lou, even though that turned out favorably enough. The memory of my spanking, and how he took me after still makes my heart race.
Her Vampire Hero (Midnight Doms Book 4) Page 12
