Jade was filled with the bloodlust, and he fought to maintain control. Though his eyes flicked to the scarlet stains on his beautiful lady, he was more hungry for revenge. The stake clutched tightly in the hand of his prey did nothing to deter him. This wasn’t the first time he’d been threatened with one; it likely wouldn’t be the last.
“Kill her!” The sudden shout echoed through the room. “Or, the next cut will be the one that finishes her off. You fucking owe me.”
There was only one way to handle this. Jade was terrified of losing all control. It already hung in such a precarious balance. Never taking his eyes from the crazed man, he reached out a tentative hand. Tilting Lyric’s head to the side, he heard her sigh at his touch. His stomach clenched and ached as he brought his face to her bleeding throat.
Ever so delicately, he touched his tongue to a bead of blood and followed it up to the wound it had descended from. A small groan escaped him as he quickly grew erect. Even her blood stirred the desire to life within him. Though she held very still, he heard Lyric draw in a breath and hold it. She was afraid.
Jade might have been a blood hungry monster, but he was not stupid. As the stake whistled through the air towards him, his hand shot up to stop the downward swing midway. The crunch of bone brought a satisfied smile to Jade’s lips as he crushed the wrist held tightly in his grasp.
No sooner had the jackass started shrieking in pain than Jade tore himself from Lyric’s bloody neck. He was dying to sink his fangs deep, and it wouldn’t be her. The stake fell forgotten to the carpet, and Jade jerked the man off his feet. Drawing him close, he stared directly into the face of the miserable wretch.
“You’re as dead now as your precious woman,” Jade growled into his face. “You fucked with the wrong vampire, you sorry piece of shit.”
Everything happened at once then. Time seemed to slow right down when in fact, it was faster than ever. Pain, sharp and explosive, struck Jade low in his abdomen. The knife handle protruding from his body had him momentarily confused until Lyric screamed his name. The panic in her voice spurred him into action.
He wasted no time biting into the pitiful victim he held immobile. Going straight for the artery, Jade wanted his death. He needed it. A strangled gurgle came from his prey, and he ignored it, pulling hard on the wounds that flowed like a scarlet waterfall over his tongue and down his throat. He paused only to yank the knife from his body, letting it fall to the floor.
Lyric’s hysterics were hurting his sensitive ears, but they didn’t distract his focus from the feast in his grasp. His victim didn’t even have time to cry or scream once Jade started draining the life from him.
The heady glow that enveloped Jade was welcome, a relief from the pain scorching through his insides. The stab wound would never be enough to harm a vampire seriously, but damn, it hurt like a bitch. As he drank deeply of the satisfying human blood, he was caught up in the head spinning allure, the undeniable magic of the feed.
When at last he dropped the lifeless corpse to the floor, the need for more drove him. Turning on Lyric, he saw her frightened, pressed to the back of the couch as if trying to hide. His intentions warred within him as instinct commanded him to kill her and love encouraged him to hold her.
Every drop that fell from her wounds beckoned to him. He shook his head, refusing the desire to feast on her. She was sweet, delicious. How badly he wanted her.
Jade was fighting a losing battle. He was in kill mode, and the fact that there was a bleeding human within such close proximity was enough to force him past the point of no return. He actually caught himself taking a menacing step towards her. But, Jade would rather truly die once and for all than harm a hair on Lyric’s head. Betraying the undead lust dominating his focus, he threw himself toward the door.
“Jade?” Lyric’s word was a sob, and she struggled to get to her feet.
No, if she came after him there would be no stopping himself. He had to get out of there. He stumbled in his haste to flee the dreadful temptation. The sound of the door hitting the wall and bouncing back echoed on his way out.
He didn’t look back, but if he had, he would have seen Lyric throw herself off the couch, hands still bound behind her.
“Jade!” She cried, but he was long gone.
Collapsing to her knees on the bloodstained carpet, she cried as if her heart were breaking. The cooling body just a few feet away was her only companion until Storm and Griffin found her nearly an hour later.
Chapter Thirteen
Numb didn’t begin to describe Lyric’s mental state. Though she shivered slightly, she had no conscious awareness of the chill that stole through her. It meant nothing.
Water dripped from the tips of her long black hair. The gentle hand that pulled a hairbrush through her tresses trembled slightly. Ever since Storm and Griffin had gotten her back home, she’d barely spoken a word. Storm had insisted that she shower and change. Unable to muster the strength to resist, Lyric had allowed her friend to guide her through the motions.
When she’d repeated the events of the evening to them, it had been robotic and detached. The only time she had exhibited obvious emotion was when Griffin had cut his finger and used the blood to heal the cuts inflicted by Taylor’s blade. A whimper had escaped her as she recalled the predatory bloodlust in Jade’s eyes when he tasted her blood. The way he’d looked at her as if he couldn’t decide if she was his mate or his next kill.
Clutching tightly at her fuzzy robe, Lyric closed her eyes and relived the night over and over in her mind. A barrage of questions assailed her, one after the other like a flurry of punches. What could she have done differently? How could she have stopped Jade from running out on her? Why did she feel like she would never see him again?
Storm laid the brush aside and got to her feet. “I’ll bring you some tea. Do you want anything else?”
Lyric managed to shake her head from side to side. It took all of her willpower to perform the action. Though she genuinely appreciated Storm’s need to take care of her, part of her just wanted to be alone.
The murmur of voices carried to her from the kitchen. Griffin and Storm spoke in hushed tones, but it wasn’t hard to decipher their words in the small confines of the apartment.
“It’s alright. You can leave. Thank you for helping me get her home safe.” Storm spoke softly, almost timidly.
“Think nothing of it,” came Griffin’s low, melodic response. “Is she going to be ok?”
“I don’t know. I hope so. I’ve never seen her like this before.” A sigh.
“And how about you? Are you alright? That wasn’t exactly a pretty sight Jade left behind. That kind of thing can be pretty traumatic.”
There was a pause, and then Storm said, “I wish I could say that was the first dead body I’ve seen. I’ll get over it. But, thanks for asking.”
The sound of the door opening and closing was accompanied by the sensation of Griffin’s vampiric energy slipping away with his exit. Lyric glanced up when Storm re-entered the room.
Her blonde locks were a mess, and she still wore her burlesque attire. The expression of sisterly affection that she wore was comforting, but it also sent a streak of guilt through Lyric.
“You should go, too. You’ve got to be exhausted.” Try as she might, Lyric was unable to muster a smile. “I’ll be fine. I think I just need to rest.”
Storm eyed her with disbelief. “Are you sure? I can stay if you want me to.”
“I’d love it if you came by in the morning. We could go for brunch.”
Despite the mind-numbing pain that filled Lyric, she knew how much worse it would be without a friend like Storm to count on. Without her, Lyric would be completely alone. Judging by the way that Jade had deserted her, she didn’t doubt the truth in that assumption.
When Storm finally gathered her things to go, she hesitated by the door, clearly torn as to whether or not to leave. “Promise you’ll call me if you need me. Even if you just want to talk about it.”
“Of course.” The door closed, and Lyric sighed.
Dragging her heels, she made her way to the door, locking it securely. Surveying the empty apartment, she waited to feel something. Where were the tears that she kept waiting for? Shouldn’t they have started by now?
The ache inside her was hollow, as if her insides had been scraped clean. She kept waiting for more, wanting to unleash what seemed to lie coiled tightly inside her. Head down, her wet hair clung to the sides of her face as she made her way down the hall to her bedroom. She considered curling up on the couch in the living room, but memories of making love to Jade in that room haunted her.
Unable to get settled in comfort, she tossed and turned until finally she just gave up and stared up at the ceiling. Every time she closed her eyes, Lyric saw Jade. Pupils dilated and fangs bared, he’d been ready to kill her. He’d tried to warn her from the start, and she hadn’t listened.
Maybe his love for her wasn’t enough. Maybe Jade had been right all along. He was more monster than man, and that would never change.
That thought did it. The floodgates opened with the first sob. Hot tears streaked a moist path down her cheeks regardless of her attempts to wipe them away. Before long, her body shook with the intensity of her pain. Nausea combined with heartbreak to twist her insides in a wretched mess of physical and emotional agony.
The sound of her pain brought Frisk to her side, nudging her with feline head bumps until she raised a hand to pet him. The suffocating darkness made it hard for her to breathe. Lyric focused on taking deep breaths, drawing the air into her lungs. Everything felt so wrong without Jade at her side. Would she ever get used to it?
She wondered if perhaps she was too quick to jump to conclusions. But, then she saw Jade again in her mind’s eye, remembering the moment that she saw it in his eyes. He could kill her as easily as he’d killed Taylor.
Yet, he hadn’t. He’d run from her and left her with a corpse. If Storm hadn’t come … Lyric shuddered, unable to finish the thought.
The glowing red numbers on the digital bedside clock ticked by; each minute felt longer than the last. Lyric watched them, knowing that sleep wasn’t coming any time soon. Her sobs subsided, and the tears, too, began to dry up. Yet, there was no end to the black hole of despair that consumed her.
She stared at the clock until the numbers were just a red blur. Clutching a handful of Frisk’s soft fur, she ached for Jade.
* * * *
It had been more than four centuries since Jade had craved liquor as bad as he did right now. Drowning his sorrows in booze would be a most welcome relief from the self-loathing and guilt that terrorized him. Now, his only escape came in the form of blood, rushing hot and fast from an open wound, the very same thing that had led him to this moment of disgust and regret.
Regret. It was so very new to him. In all of these years since he’d shed his humanity, he had never felt much regret for it. Until now.
If he were dead as he should have been ages ago, he wouldn’t be here now to turn a mortal woman’s life upside down. Even as he had the thought, he knew he didn’t mean it. Then he never would have been there that night to save her. And, he most certainly never would have experienced the joy and splendor of holding her in his arms as he claimed her as his own.
Who was he kidding? He was a fucking idiot, running from her as she’d cried out his name. That sound continued to resonate throughout his entire being. He’d left her, like the vile creature that he was. He left her bloody and wounded beside a dead man.
A sharp wrap at the door pulled him from his pity party. With a scowl, he rolled off the couch and went to answer it, promising bad things for whoever stood on the other side. His senses tuned into that familiar energy as he jerked the door open unnecessarily hard.
Griffin stood there, his expression masked but unpleasant. Rather than waiting for an invitation, he pushed past Jade into the house. The action irritated Jade, but he remained calm. Closing the door, he turned to his friend, awaiting the lecture he assumed was coming.
“Please tell me that you’ve got a really good explanation for what happened tonight.” Griffin spoke calmly, watching Jade in a way that made him feel like he was on display.
Jade weighed his options before responding. What could he say? The truth was all he had to offer. “There’s nothing I can say to explain away my actions this time. I fucked up. Big time.” He pushed his disheveled dark mane away from his face, forcing himself to meet his friend’s hard gaze. “So, you found her?”
“Oh yeah, I found her. On her knees beside a corpse, sobbing your name into the bloodstained carpet. That’s how I found her, Jade.” Griffin’s tone held a note of contempt. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”
The impact of Griffin’s words was worse than a punch in the gut. Jade felt sick. He had nobody but himself to blame for what had happened to Lyric. And, he’d gone and left her like the coward that he was. He hated himself for asking, but he had to.
“Is she ok?”
Griffin leaned against the wall at his back and crossed his arms over his solid chest. “She’s alive and physically well, if that’s what you mean. But, from what I saw, she’s an emotional wreck.”
Jade’s heart sank. How could he have expected any different? He couldn’t help but feel judged by Griffin, which was something extraordinary in its own right. Since when had Griffin started caring about his exploits with human women?
Rather than risk an ugly encounter by asking, he said only, “Thank you. For finding her and taking her home. I owe you.”
Griffin shook his head, his eyes never leaving Jade. “You don’t owe me anything. But, I’m not sure I can say the same about that young lady. She counted on you, Jade, and you let her down.”
“Dare I ask when you became such a bleeding heart for the mortals?” Jade attempted a smile, but it twisted into a sour smirk.
“You know I don’t give a damn about them beyond my next meal,” Griffin scoffed. “But, that girl loves you, and the fact that she’s still alive confirms that you are head over heels in love with her. Otherwise, she’d have been worm food the night you met her. So, maybe you need to stop being such a jackass and go to her. Before it’s too late.”
Jade weighed the wise words of his friend. So simple and so true. And, something that he could not do. He could have killed her. It was a chance he couldn’t risk again.
“I can’t do it, Griff. She means too much to me. I never should have gotten involved with her in the first place. None of this would have happened.”
“It’s too late to walk away and pretend you didn’t twist her entire life into something else completely. That’s cruel Jade, even for you.”
Frustration coursed through him, and Jade was stricken with confusion. If he gave in to what his heart instructed him to do, he would be with her right this minute. But, he’d done enough harm to her, and he couldn’t bear the thought of exposing her to further danger.
“That’s why I’m never going to see her again. It’s past time I got out of this city. Staying here this long was a mistake.” Even as he said the words, he didn’t believe them. They felt like a betrayal to Lyric, and he fought to hide the lie in his eyes.
Griffin gave him a look that clearly stated how ridiculous he thought Jade was being. “It was just a goddamn human. Far worse things could have gotten a hold of her. Why is this such a deal breaker?”
“It wasn’t just a human. It was a human that watched me kill his fiancée and felt like he owed me one.” Jade laughed, but it was bitter and lacked humor. “Can you believe that? Here I’ve been worried about myself and other vampires, and it was a human behind all of this. He nearly drove me to kill her.”
“No,” Griffin shook his head, fixing the other vampire with serious brown eyes. “Otherwise, you would have done just that. If you had the strength to resist once, why not again? Why are you so afraid of yourself? It’s so … unbecoming of you.”
Jade managed a genuine smile
at that. Leave it to ruthless, cutthroat Griffin to make him feel like a fool in a tactful and classy manner. If there was one person on this earth that he could be honest with, it was this man.
“I can’t let myself do to her what I did to Emma.” He almost choked on the name of his long dead wife; it had been so long since it had passed between his lips. “I keep picturing Lyric like that, dead. The thought scares me more than anything I have felt since I killed my wife. I can’t relive that with her.”
Silence fell, heavy but comfortable. The two men stared into one another. The calculating look Griffin wore instilled a sense of curiosity in Jade. He wondered what was going through his friend’s mind, but then decided that he didn’t want to know.
Pushing himself away from the wall, Griffin paced the length of the kitchen once before spinning on his heel and raising one finely sculpted eyebrow. “Why don’t you just eliminate the possibility of killing her?”
Immediately Jade was shaking his head vigorously. “No, don’t say it. It’s not even an option.”
“It’s always an option. Turn her, Jade, and your worries are over. Besides, what were you planning on doing as she aged anyway?”
Jade turned away to stare out the window at the darkened street. Panic gripped him, and he struggled against the urge to go to her and do just as Griffin suggested. It couldn’t be so easily cut and dried.
“I hadn’t thought that far ahead,” he replied honestly, watching the traffic pass his house but seeing only a blur of lights. “I was just living in the moment, enjoying the scent of her skin and the beat of her heart. The sound of her breathing deeply as she slept next to me.” He hung his head, ashamed and mournful. What had he done?
A low chuckle came from Griffin. Before long it was a full out laugh. “Oh my dear friend, never have I heard you sound like such a … human. Go to her already, or you’re going to spend the next several centuries mourning the loss of her. And, God forbid, I should have to listen to that drivel.”
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