by Vivi Anna
Grabbing his jacket, she pulled him closer. Savagely they kissed, nipping playfully at each other’s lips. She groaned low in her throat as he moved his hand down to her breast, squeezing her through the fabric of her shirt.
A cry rang out in the night.
Kat pushed Hades away and turned toward the clearing.
“What was that?” Hades asked.
“Damian.”
Kneeling between Damian’s legs, Darquiel nestled into his groin. Clearly in pain, Damian bowed his back and shook his head from side to side. But his cock, still hard and standing straight, indicated intense pleasure as well.
“What is she doing?” Hades queried.
Kat shook her head and continued to watch. Damian began to scream. In two seconds flat Kat pushed to her feet and ran across the field. Slinging the shotgun forward, she pumped a round into the chamber.
As Kat neared their forms, Darquiel raised her head. Blood glistened on her lips and chin in the pale moonlight. Her eyes widened as she saw Kat barreling toward her with the weapon aimed. Jumping to her feet, Darquiel held out her hands in defense. Kat ran right into her, ramming the other woman’s gut.
They fell to the ground, Kat on top, the gun jammed between them. Kat glared down at Darquiel, rage making her see red, her finger twitching on the trigger.
Sneering, Darquiel pushed with her arms. Kat lifted in the air and flew backward, landing hard on her ass about seven feet away.
Kat shook her head and got to her feet. The impact had knocked the breath from her lungs. It felt like she had fallen out of a two-story window. Lifting her head, she stared at Darquiel. The girl was freakishly strong.
Damian was now up and kneeling at Darquiel’s feet, his arms wrapped around her legs, cowering next to her, protecting her with his body.
Kat raised the gun. “Move, Damian.”
He shook his head, but refused to look at Kat.
Hades took a step toward Kat. “Don’t kill her.”
“She was going to kill him.”
Hades glanced at Darquiel, his brow crinkled in thought. “No, I don’t think so.”
“She was feeding from me,” Damian sputtered. “She needs blood to sustain her life.”
“Move, Damian!” Kat’s hands shook with rage. She’d never been this fueled by anger before. Most times she handled situations with calm, cool precision. But not this time. This time it was way too personal.
Damian stood and shielded Darquiel with his own body, his pants still bunched at his ankles. Blood dripped down his leg from two small holes in his upper thigh.
“She’s inhuman, Damian. She’s trapped you.”
Darquiel stepped from behind Damian, placing a pale hand on his shoulder, seeming to comfort. “I am a vampyre. I am allergic to the sun, and I need blood to live. Without it I would eventually starve to death no matter how much food I ate.”
Kat stared at her, the gun steady and sure in her hands. She just needed one clean shot, but Damian was too close. He would jump in front of the bullet, she was sure.
“What did you do to my head?” Kat demanded.
“I clouded it. An easy trick to learn.”
Damian pleaded, reaching out to Kat. “Put down the gun. I can explain this.”
“Maybe if you pulled up your pants, she’d listen,” Hades said while his hand fell to the knife sheath strapped to his thigh.
Struggling to pull up his pants, Damian winced as the fabric brushed over his bite marks. When he had his pants fastened, he started toward Kat.
“Stay where you are,” Kat advised, her voice calm despite the quivers racing through her body.
Damian flinched at her cold voice but stilled in midstride. “Why? You have nothing to fear from me.”
“But I do from her? Is that what you’re saying?” Kat prompted.
“No. That’s not what I meant. Kat, you don’t understand. If I, if we could explain, you would see that this…that this was nothing.”
“I’m listening. And it better be good or I’ll blow her fucking head off.”
“Could we go back to camp and sit down and talk?” Damian suggested.
“No,” Kat commanded. “We do this here, now. I will not give her a chance to overpower me.”
Damian stumbled sideways. “Well, I’m sitting. I feel a little faint.” He dropped to the ground, landing smartly on his ass.
Darquiel rushed to him, concern furrowing her brow.
“You might as well sit with him,” Kat growled, gesturing with her weapon.
Darquiel sat cross-legged beside Damian, putting her arm around him as he leaned into her. Kat found the act more possessive than comforting.
Kat nodded to her. “Talk.”
“When I was a girl of fifteen, I traveled to the Vanquished City with my mom and dad and little brother. My dad was a real archaeologist. He located and excavated lost technology to enable us to progress as a society. To study what went wrong the first time around.” Her voice was cold and calm as she spoke. “We made camp at the perimeter of the city. That first night, we were attacked. Our guide was the first to be slaughtered. His heart was ripped from his body. They put it in a plastic bag and took it with them. I know,” she paused, “because I held it in my hands later that night.”
Kat could only imagine the girl’s horror at what she had experienced. Just hearing about it made Kat’s skin crawl.
“My mom and dad were next. They had their throats torn out and their bodily fluids were consumed. My dear little brother was the last to die. He had hidden at the first sign of violence. But they soon found him. They could smell his fear.” She shivered slightly and Damian placed his hand on her leg. “They made me watch as the leader, Baruch, slit his throat with a small razor he had imbedded in his thumb. He did it slowly, and I watched as every spasm of pain flashed across Tom’s face. They took me with them to their lair beneath the city. Baruch took a liking to me. He thought my pain looked exquisite etched across my pale, innocent face.” She hugged Damian closer to her, but kept Kat’s gaze. “You see, I know what hell looks like. It’s the face of my brother as he slowly died from blood loss, pain and suffering swimming in his clear blue eyes. You can point whatever you like at me, but I have already died and been to hell. There is nothing you can do to me that would be worse.”
Kat continued to watch Darquiel, the gun still raised. She had heard stories about cannibals living in the wastelands, blood rituals, and human sacrifices. She hadn’t believed them. She couldn’t believe that humans could do that to each other. But, obviously, they could do a lot worse.
She felt sorrow for Darquiel’s plight, but still didn’t trust her. Darquiel had been made into something unnatural and tainted. Could her mind have sustained such torture and torment without becoming twisted and corrupted? That was the question Kat was not sure she could risk finding the answer to. It might kill them all.
“If your story is true, then how could we possibly trust you? You could be leading us into a trap. An ambush for your bloodsucking friends.”
Damian jumped to his feet and charged toward her. “You bitch! How can you say such a thing?”
Hades grabbed him before he could reach Kat and the shotgun she still held steady and firm. “Don’t be stupid. If the blood wasn’t pumping elsewhere in your body, you would realize she has a sound point,” Hades said.
“Damian, I’d put you down if I knew you weren’t under her influence,” Kat hissed between clenched teeth. Damian slumped against Hades.
Darquiel stood. “Damian, it’s okay. Her question is valid.” She turned toward Kat. “You have no reason to trust me, and there is no guarantee I can give you that you will accept. So it seems we are at an impasse.”
Kat turned her gaze to Damian. His face was drawn and tired. He met her stare, his eyes pleading, begging her. She ignored them.
Her attention returned to Darquiel. “As soon as we reach the city’s border, you will leave. If you don’t, I will blow you away. We’ll be picking off
your remains for days.”
Darquiel nodded. “Agreed.”
“No!” Damian shrieked.
Kat ignored his plea. “The rest of the time you will be bound. I will not take any chances.”
Darquiel nodded again.
Kat lowered her gun and glanced up into the sky. “Let’s break camp and get on our way. It will be dawn soon.”
When Hades let go of Damian, he rushed to Darquiel and hugged her hard.
“You two, go first.” She motioned with her weapon toward the woods.
Darquiel and Damian trudged forward. Kat followed with Hades close behind. They returned to camp without incident and started to pack up to get back on the road. The wastelands were only a day away, and who knew what was waiting for them there.
Eyeing Damian and Darquiel, Kat rolled up her tent and shoved it into the canvas bag. Damian was reluctantly putting away their food and water supplies while watching Darquiel slumped against a tree, her wrists tied tight. Kat could feel her well-laid plans unraveling thread by thread.
She had not counted on trouble from their guide, or the fact that Darquiel enthralled Damian to the point where Kat felt him slipping away from her—something she thought would never happen. She wasn’t overly conceited to think that he would never find someone else, but she hadn’t expected it this way or with this girl. After the hunt, Kat assumed that she and Damian would be partying it up somewhere with the money they got from the treasure. It was obvious now that that wasn’t going to happen.
As she strapped bags to her bike, Kat’s gaze swayed to Hades. He, too, fastened gear onto his saddlebags. Hades was another unexpected problem, and the last person she thought she’d ever team up with. For more years than she could remember, the two of them had been battling, unseen and apart, for treasure hunts. His presence, although invisible, continually pressed down on her. Always she felt like she had to compete with him, outdo him, and impress him. Now that she’d ended up here, face-to-face with him, she felt other, unwelcome emotions.
She was starting to like him.
Certainly, he pulled at her carnally. The man possessed a sexy, dark, and dangerous aura that made her mouth water and her lower parts boil. But there were other qualities about him that were starting to eat at her insides. He was charming in a wolfish way, which of course turned her on even more and made her laugh. Life didn’t bring her much to laugh about. So she found his easygoing manner refreshing.
With Damian slowly pulling away, Hades’s presence felt welcoming. It was just that Kat had no idea what to do with the sensation and with the feelings creeping up on her. Emotions didn’t work for her. They hadn’t helped her in the past, and she couldn’t imagine what good they would be in the future. They would get in her way, especially on the most dangerous hunt of her life.
While she shoved another pack into her saddlebag, she did the same with her emotions. Pushing them deep inside where she hoped the feelings would stay. The last thing she needed was to get involved with Hades. He was trouble in more ways than she wanted to consider.
7
A fter another grueling twelve hours on the road, the group pulled over into a boggy clearing surrounded by a clump of bushes and several huge boulders. It wasn’t the most pleasant spot to camp, with its soft ground and putrid smell, but at least it had water. Not clean clear water, but enough to wash in and siphon off for drinking.
Kat unpacked her tent and pitched it near the boulders to block out the increasing wind and to protect her back. Hades, Damian, and Darquiel did their own housekeeping and then settled down to eat. Since they were occupied, Kat thought it would be an opportune time for her to change clothes and wash. Taking her pack, she ducked behind the scragily bushes.
Stripping off her sodden and dirty T-shirt, Kat crouched down next to the swamp and dipped the fabric into the water. Her skin felt gritty and grimy after the long ride. Even with her jacket on, dirt had managed to coat her skin. She stood and rubbed her wet T-shirt over her torso and under her arms. What she wouldn’t give for a bath right about now. A nice, long, hot bath with scented soap.
Closing her eyes, she indulged in her fantasy, and continued to trail the wet cloth over her skin, circling her breasts and down to her navel. If she’d been more secluded, Kat might have considered taking off her pants and completing the job.
“How’s the water?”
As Kat’s eyes sprang open, she brought up the T-shirt to her breasts. But by the look in Hades’s eyes, he’d been watching her. Covering herself now didn’t make a difference. He’d already seen the goods.
Turning, she gave him her back and continued to wash her arms and shoulders. She wouldn’t give Hades the satisfaction of seeing her blush. She was surprised to find that she almost had.
“It’s wet,” she commented, trying to sound casual, as if his presence didn’t affect her. In reality her heart had picked up a few beats and shivers of anticipation tingled over her flesh. When he stepped up behind her, close enough to touch, Kat had to stop herself from spinning around and embracing him.
“Want me to wash you?”
She could hear the sexual proposition in his question. And she was more than tempted to take it. More than she wanted to admit.
“I got it, thanks,” she said as she rubbed the cloth up her neck.
Suddenly cool liquid dribbled down her back, bringing instant relief to the sweltering heat. A low moan escaped her lips before she could stop it. She glanced over her shoulder as Hades, his sexy dimple winking at her, wrung out his bandanna above her again.
“How’s that feel?”
She smiled, reluctantly charmed by the rogue. “Fantastic.”
“Good, because you’re doing me later.”
Kat burst out laughing, unable to stop herself. The man had magnetism; that was for sure. She found it impossible to dislike him.
“Do women really fall for your wit and charm?”
“No. It’s my body they can’t resist.” He flexed his brawny arm. His bicep bulged like a rock under his skin. Impressive. But Kat’s gaze traveled lower. She imagined he had interesting bulges all over his powerful frame.
He smiled when he noticed her wandering eyes, and took a step closer to her. Kat turned her head around and braced herself for what she knew was coming.
He touched her shoulder first, caressing her skin with the gentle stroke of his thumb. She sucked in a breath as he moved his hands down her back, rubbing her tight, sore muscles in little circles.
Another groan escaped her lips.
Hades chuckled. “Enjoying this?”
“Hell, yeah. I can’t remember the last time I had a good back massage,” Kat confessed.
Positioning his palms near her shoulders, he started to massage, pushing his thumbs under her hair along the back of her neck. “Damian’s neglecting his duties?”
Although his words were said casually, Kat could hear the tension in his timbre. Was he jealous? He had no claim on her. His jealousy was misplaced. Damian and she had an open relationship. If Kat wanted to pursue something more with Hades, she would.
“None of your business,” Kat said as she rotated her neck, enjoying his strong hands on her flesh. She wanted to fall into him and let his hands roam lower in more needy places.
“Hmm, what if I want to make it my business?” He nuzzled his face into her hair and started to slide his hands down over her chest.
She let out a low moan as his large, meaty palms covered her breasts possessively as if he had every right to them. While he squeezed and molded, rubbing his thumbs over her tight peaks, Kat thought he could have her fleshy mounds, just as long as he didn’t stop the delicious things he was doing to them.
Pushing aside her hair with his nose, Hades pressed his lips to the side of her throat. “I love the smell of your skin.” He trailed his tongue up and down her neck, stopping to suck on a particularly sensitive spot just below her ear.
With a sigh, Kat leaned into him. He felt so good. Strong and sturdy. D
amian had never felt that way, though he was certainly strong; he could lift her off the ground and fuck her against a wall, even had on several occasions. He could hold his own in a fight, but he had always seemed frail to her, as though one mighty blow of a powerful wind would knock him over like a domino.
In comparison, Hades was like a rock. There was no doubt in Kat’s mind that he could face anything and remain standing, stable and unaffected. She recognized herself in him. And that was a frightening realization.
Kat closed her eyes as he continued to squeeze her breasts, pinching and pulling her nipples into hard, tight peaks. Then she felt one hand move down her body to her stomach. He flattened his hand on her belly and pulled her tight against him. There was no mistaking the iron length of him digging into her ass.
“Can you feel how hard I am for you, Kat?
“Yes,” she said sighing. She wanted him; there was no doubt about it. Her legs trembled at the thought of him buried in between them. Deep into her throbbing pussy.
Hades continued to move his hand down. With a flick of his thumb and finger, he undid the button on her leather pants. He inched past the waistband and into the soft curls on her mound. With a moan he slid them farther and parted her plump nether lips.
Her body burned for him, but it was still her mind that fought the urges. Nothing but problems would come from their union. Kat didn’t need any more hitches in her life.
Opening her eyes, she moved her head, pulling away from his mouth, which was still nibbling on her neck. “Hades, I—”
“Shut up, Kat, and let your body speak. I know you want me just as much as I want you.” He slid his fingers back and forth in her cleft. “I can feel your lust on my fingers.”
As Kat grabbed his hand at her crotch and pulled it out of her pants, she pushed away and turned to face him. Anger flared through her. “Shut up? What do you mean, shut up? Where do you come off telling me to shut up?”
Hades chuckled and rubbed a hand over his swollen crotch. “Woman, you’re killing me, here.”
She took a step forward and got in his face. “You’re lucky I don’t kill you, asshole.”
