“It couldn’t help me escape for ten years.”
“I’m not talking about your physical strength, Dante.”
I hadn’t let her break me. That much was true. But at times I’d said what she wanted, did what she wanted, just to avoid the torture. To avoid losing a body part. At times I actually believed what I was saying because I couldn’t bear the thought of the pain.
Was that strength?
“It is all strength,” Bill said.
There he went reading my mind again. I still didn’t believe him when he said he couldn’t.
“Sometimes we need to do things we don’t want to do for the greater good,” Bill went on. “You survived, and you survived intact. That is strength.”
“Your grandfather’s right, Dante.” My father’s voice came out of thin air again. “You were young, but you still faced your fate like a Gabriel. I’m proud of you.”
“Then you…know?”
“Only what Bill has told me. The rest can wait. Until you’re ready.”
It would definitely wait until I could see him.
“Do you know how to find Uncle Brae? We need to tell River.”
“I don’t. When I passed, I came straight here. It took a little while for my father to see me, just as it’s taking you.”
“But Uncle Brae…”
“Braedon is alive. I haven’t seen him. But more importantly, he’s my twin. I would know if he had passed.”
“But you’re…”
“Dead or alive, I would know. He and I have a connection beyond our bodies, and we will find him. But your mother made it very clear that I was to go straight to you, to protect you.”
“How can you protect me? You’re a ghost.”
“I still have the power to glamour humans. As for other vampires, they won’t be able to see me. I won’t allow it.”
“You can control who sees you?”
“I can. It’s pretty awesome, actually.”
His words made me smile. I could visualize the glint he used to get in his eye when something amused him. Still, I couldn’t see him. I sat down at the table with a plunk. This was all too much.
Then Erin’s words buzzed in my ears. Dante, your father is…here.
He was. Perhaps I couldn’t see him, and perhaps he wasn’t alive. But he was here. I could tell him what he meant to me, how sorry I was that I’d contributed to his terrible fate. How much I wished he’d been there for Emilia the last ten years, and that it was my fault he hadn’t been. I could tell him all of this, because he was here. And for that I was thankful.
I raised my head, and—
There stood my father, as plain as day, in front of me. My mouth dropped open.
“So you see me now.” His left eye squinted a bit when he smiled, just as I remembered.
“I do.” I stood.
“Dante,” he said. “I don’t know what’s going on. Why you, Braedon, and I were taken. But together we will find out. And we’ll make sure it never happens again.”
Chapter Eighteen
Erin
The Vampyre Texts tome was large and ornate, leather bound, the printing on thick parchment. I lugged it out of Bill’s house and to my car, walking as stealthily as I could. This was why Dante was brushing up on French, to read this book. To try to figure out what was going on between us and why.
I had to help in any way I could, even if it meant stealing—no, borrowing. I had every intention of returning it when we were done.
Still, the idea burned at me. I’d never stolen anything in my life. Back home in Ohio, when I was thirteen, I’d found a fifty-dollar bill on the floor of a small antique shop. I’d turned it in to the clerk. Jay had rolled his eyes when I told him, saying I’d just made the clerk fifty dollars richer.
Stealing definitely wasn’t something I took lightly.
I quietly returned to Dante’s bedroom. He was still in the kitchen talking to Bill and Julian.
My fingers burned. I hoped I hadn’t just made a huge error in judgment. I’d seen the heavy volume on a shelf in the living room while I was going back to Dante’s bedroom. It had invaded my mind, until I made the rash decision to leave his bedroom, grab the book, and haul it out to my car. The others were busy in the kitchen, and I hoped they were involved enough that their acute vampire hearing wouldn’t kick in and give me away.
Since no one had come after me and I was now safely back in Dante’s room, I was relieved to know it hadn’t.
I sat down on his bed, my heart beating rapidly.
I’d just stolen—nope, borrowed—something. Without asking. I’d never done anything like that before. Of course, my entire world had recently been upended. Who knew what I’d do next?
I looked at my watch. Dawn was near, and Dante would need to feed from me soon. Should I go out and remind him? Surely he’d come get me if he needed me.
Plus, I had to get to bed soon. I had work tonight, and the responsibility of telling Dr. Bonneville, if she was in, that I couldn’t continue my research work for her because I hadn’t found anything. Kissing fifty dollars an hour goodbye wasn’t easy, but what could I do?
My groceries were still in my car. Luckily I hadn’t bought anything that would spoil. I sat, waiting. Dante would come get me when he was ready.
I didn’t have to wait long. He burst into the room.
“I can see him now, baby.”
I smiled and launched myself into his arms. “That’s great!” Another shift to my reality. I was excited that Dante could see his father…who was a ghost. Life was getting more than complicated.
He gave me a quick kiss on the top of my head. “I know you need to get home. And I need…”
He didn’t say the words, but I knew.
“Let’s go,” I said.
As soon as we walked through the door, Dante threw my three bags of groceries on the kitchen counter and plastered me against the refrigerator door. “I need you, Erin. Now.” His lips came down on mine.
The kiss was devoid of the passion I’d become used to. This was a kiss of pure need.
I responded, letting him take what he desired, what he ached for, as my nipples hardened and pressed into him.
He broke the kiss and rasped, “I can’t be gentle right now, baby. I need to get my cock inside you. My teeth inside you.” He pushed my pants over my hips.
Already I was throbbing for him, so ready to be penetrated. I hastily stepped out of my jeans and panties while he unbuckled his pants and freed his cock. He trapped me, hoisting me up. A refrigerator magnet gouged into my back, but I didn’t care. I existed in this moment to fulfill his need. I had no other reason for being.
And I was okay with that.
He thrust upward into my pussy. I gasped at the intrusion. I was wet for him, no doubt, but the lack of foreplay had me tight as a drum. He speared through my tight tunnel, filling me to the brim with his cock.
Then he opened his mouth with a low growl, his fangs in full descent. “Need you, Erin.”
I closed my eyes and turned my head to the side, giving him access to my neck. And when he sank his teeth into my flesh, the stabbing pain morphing to a pleasure so intense, an orgasm hit me out of nowhere.
“Dante!” I cried out, relishing the tugging on my neck, the pulsing in my pussy.
He sucked and he thrust in perfect rhythm, the sound of his mouth on my neck sending me further into ecstasy. And then he plunged upward, taking me so deeply that we were truly one body, joined not only sexually but by blood.
The blood bond.
He withdrew his teeth and licked over my puncture wounds. Then he gently withdrew his cock and set me down until my feet touched the tile floor.
I turned my head and met his gaze, my blood smeared over his lips and chin. Without thinking, I leaned toward him and slid my tongue over his bottom lip, tasting my blood.
It tasted like…blood. I’d tasted my own blood before, when I’d bitten my tongue or had a nosebleed.
“Dante?”
“Hmm?” His eyes were glazed over. He looked…satisfied. Completely physically and emotionally satisfied.
“You said my scent is irresistible. Is my blood, as well?”
“Your blood tastes a thousand times better than your scent smells.”
I was oddly flattered. “What does it taste like? To you, I mean. It just tastes like blood to me.”
He smiled, his teeth still covered in blood. Oddly, I found him attractive like that.
“Imagine the richest dark chocolate or the most complex Bordeaux. It’s hard to describe, because you don’t have the need I do. But it’s like sinking your teeth into the most succulent piece of rare beef. Or letting the most precious Osetra caviar float over your tongue.”
“Oh. Your words. They’re so…beautiful.”
“My words don’t do your flavor justice. You have to also imagine having a base need for blood. Your very life depends on that sustenance. So imagine tasting something so rich and thick and powerful after you’ve been without food or water for days. That’s how you taste to me, Erin. I could take more of your blood right now, and even though I’m full, the effect would be the same as if I’d been starving and finally had found sustenance.”
I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his, blood and all. He spoke like a poet when he talked of his need for my blood. I slid my lips across his, tasting my own blood on them. I’d tasted it before when kissing him after he’d fed, but this time I concentrated, trying to taste what he tasted, feel what he felt when he fed.
I closed my eyes, imagining, letting my feelings swirl around us as we kissed.
Though I didn’t taste chocolate or wine, I did taste something—something amorphous that I couldn’t describe.
It was absolutely delicious.
I deepened the kiss, hungering for more of the elusive flavor. Our tongues twirled together, and my pussy began pulsing again. His cock hardened once more, and I jumped into his arms, our mouths still fused. He carried me up to my bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed, still holding me on his lap.
We kissed. And we kissed. And we kissed.
The ineffable flavor intensified. I couldn’t get enough. Enough of Dante. Enough of my blood on Dante’s lips and tongue.
I ground on his lap, against his erection, and then I sank down on his hardness, still kissing him with everything I had.
I rode him, my nipples poking through my bra and shirt. And still we kissed.
My pussy was so slick as I slid up and down, taking him, releasing him, and then taking him again.
Each time he filled me was a new experience, an emptiness released. Each time. Each fucking time.
Still our mouths didn’t separate. I couldn’t stop kissing him, couldn’t stop longing for that intense flavor I couldn’t name.
I moved faster, faster, and then he grabbed my hips and pushed me down on him. Still I kissed him as he contracted inside me. And still I kissed him as I joined him in climax.
Still I kissed him as we came down together.
Finally, when our mouths parted, we each drew in a deep breath of air.
“Damn, Erin,” Dante said.
“I know.”
“What was that?”
“Amazing, I’d say.”
“I mean…”
“Why did I keep kissing you? I love kissing you.”
“I know that. I love kissing you too. But I hadn’t washed up. And—”
“Didn’t matter. I wanted to taste what you taste. What you crave. I wanted to be a part of it.”
“And?”
“It wasn’t wine or chocolate or caviar. But it was…something.”
“It’s not exactly like wine or chocolate or caviar, Erin. It’s you.”
“I know that. I mean, I know that’s what you tell me. I just wanted to try to experience what you experience.”
“You—”
I touched my fingers to his lips, quieting him. “I know it won’t be the same for me. I get that. But what I’m telling you, Dante, is that I tasted something divine. I can’t describe it, but it was amazing. Absolutely quenching.” I gazed into his dark eyes. “And I want more of it.”
Chapter Nineteen
Dante
“I’ll give you as much as you want, love.”
“I know. I just never dreamed…” She closed her eyes. “I never, in a million years, believed…”
It was no accident that she wasn’t finishing these sentences. Was she finishing them in her head? I didn’t know, and I wouldn’t ask.
Our bond was real, and it was strong.
She’d been descended from a vampire somewhere high in her family tree. Did that help her appreciation for the taste of her blood on my lips? The thought warmed me. Maybe we weren’t so different after all.
I loved her, and I knew without a doubt that she loved me.
But until she truly accepted me as vampire, she could never accept anything vampire in herself. And until she truly accepted me as vampire, our relationship wouldn’t deepen.
We wouldn’t live together. She’d put the kibosh on that anyway. We wouldn’t marry, have children—
The image I’d seen before hurled into my mind—of Erin handing me a vampire child.
Where had that come from? Any child born of a human and vampire was always human. That’s what I’d been taught growing up, and Jack had corroborated it. He was a physician—a vampire physician. He would know.
Yet the picture was clear in my mind. A vampire child. My child. Erin’s child. Was it a girl or a boy? I didn’t know. But I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was vampire.
I shook my mind to clear it. Something was messing with my mind. Maybe the “dark presence” Bea described, which my father had corroborated.
No. This was not a dark image. It was a happy image, an image that filled me with joy.
The darkness had not caused it. I was certain.
I hadn’t felt the darkness since the previous evening at the restaurant. Would I feel it again if it was near? I had to believe I would. That I’d be able to escape as I had previously.
“Dante?”
Erin. Her touch on my cheek. The warmth of her palm, the tingle of blood beneath her skin. She brought me back to reality.
“I understand,” I said.
“Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me.”
“I know this is hard for you, Dante. I know you want me to…”
Accept you. Those were the words she still couldn’t say.
“I do. But I also understand, more now than ever.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re struggling with the fact that people like me—vampires—exist. I’m struggling too. I was always taught ghosts didn’t exist, at least not as unique individuals like they were as mortals. But now, not only do they exist, but my father is one of them.”
“He certainly appears to be.”
I shook my head. “And he took his own life…”
“He did?” Her mouth dropped into an O.
“Yeah. He was told to in a dream by my mother, apparently. That he needed to become a ghost to protect me.”
“I’m so sorry, Dante.”
“I can’t even begin to deal with what it all means. My father is dead because of me. That’s something I have to learn to live with, but I can’t right now, because his very existence has me so rattled. It goes against everything…”
She was silent for a moment, and her eyes became glassy with the sheen of unshed tears. She managed to hold them back as she cupped my cheek. “Think of it from his perspective for a moment. He’s in the same boat you are. He didn’t believe in ghosts either, but your mother came to him in a dream so real he had to believe. He had to do what she asked. He had to protect you. It’s what fathers do. He’s probably struggling with reality as much as the two of us are.”
I truly hadn’t thought of it in that way. “You’re so smart, Erin. So intuitive. So in tune with others
.”
“That’s part of being a health care provider,” she said. “You learn to intuit when patients can’t express themselves verbally or otherwise.”
“No. It’s something unique about you.”
She laughed. “I assure you there’s nothing unique about me. Any nurse or doctor who cares about what she does develops intuition for others. It’s part of who we are.”
I smiled. I still wasn’t buying it. She was special. Unique. And I loved her with all my being. “Don’t sell yourself short.”
“I don’t. But it’s—”
I placed my fingers over her lips. “I choose to believe you’re special, Erin. Because you are. Especially to me.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck. “You’re special to me too. I am trying, Dante. I’ll get there. I want to get there.” She pulled back, her eyes widening. “Oh! I almost forgot. I have something for you.”
She jumped off the bed, pulled on a pair of sweats that had been draped across a chair, and ran downstairs.
I zipped up my jeans. All that, and we hadn’t even undressed completely. Amazing.
I walked into the bathroom and regarded my reflection in the mirror. My whole face was smeared with dried blood from our make-out session. I couldn’t help but smile. She was coming closer to full acceptance. It wouldn’t be long now.
At least I hoped it wouldn’t be.
I washed my face quickly and returned to the bedroom. About five minutes later, she came back up. “I had to get something out of my car. It’s down in the living room.”
I arched my brow. “You went outside like that?”
“Yeah. So?”
“Take a look in the mirror.”
She went into the bathroom and let out a squeaky scream. Her face was still smeared with dried blood just like mine had been. She turned on the faucet. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know you were going to go outside.”
“Oh my God.”
When she came out a minute later her face had been scrubbed clean. “What if someone had seen me?”
“Did anyone?”
Unhinged: Blood Bond: Parts 4, 5 & 6 (Volume 2) Page 15
