Blood: Under the Skin Book 1

by K. B. Ladnier

The whole time I drank, the man’s free hand held the side of my head, his thumb tracing the skin of my forehead back and forth gently. I felt safe in his arms, yet I didn’t understand why.

  When my wounds started healing, my mind became clearer and my body more invigorated, I opened my eyes and focused on the man above me.

  It was Hollis Grey who had come to my aid.

  “Hollis?” I asked, my voice rasping and eyes growing wide at who it was that held me so close and gentle. I turned my head to glance at the scene around me. Three piles of ashes were scattered in different spots a long the alley.

  “I’ve gotta say, Lucy,” he said, gaining my attention with his amused tone. “You sure do keep my job interesting.”

  Oh, fuck…

  Chapter Seven

  Hollis

  If not for all my years in the STF, seeing some of the most gruesome crime scenes caused by vampires, I would’ve lost my shit at the state Lucy was in when I found her. Those blood suckers were lucky that all I had done was stake them.

  The sound of her sexy, rasping voice drifted up to me as she pulled her fangs from my wrist, her eyes barely able to focus on my face.

  “Hollis…”

  My lips tilted into a smile as I gazed down at her wrapped up in my jacket.

  “I’ve got to say, Lucy. You sure do keep my job interesting,” I jested, trying to lighten the mood and let her know she was safe with me.

  She let out a whisper of a laugh before succumbing to the blood loss and the sedative that the vampires released from their fangs while biting her. My blood wouldn’t hold her over once she woke up, but thankfully I kept a small supply stashed away at home.

  The guys at the station wouldn’t be thrilled when I told them the reason I’d be skipping work to tend to her, but I’d deal with that shit storm later.

  I’d been on my way to see her and tell her about the case taking a turn for the better, when I heard her whimpering in the alley. I’d never been more scared in my life.

  I’d honestly never been scared of much of anything really, but ever since meeting the blonde vixen curled in my lap, I had felt things I hadn’t in over a hundred years. That was my secret, though no one knew it but a select few throughout my life.

  I was a dhampir; half human and half vampire.

  My mother was turned just days before my birth. Somehow, whatever it was that vampires released to turn a human, only half changed me while in the womb.

  Normally, the infant would die because the mother’s body wouldn’t be able to sustain it while the toxin took over, but I didn’t. The venom would have changed my mother, but my birth was too much and her body rejected the turn.

  She died and I lived.

  I have all the strength and power of a vampire with only some of the weaknesses. I could be in sunlight, but it was annoying and could start to burn if I stayed in it directly for hours. Silver only burned me if it got into my blood stream, but my skin was immune. I wasn’t immortal, but I’d live for a few hundred years. I could eat human food, but I had to feed off of blood a couple of times a month to keep sustained completely. There were pros and cons in being what I was.

  As I walked the dark, wet streets back to my car with Lucy in my arms, I pondered what she would say when she found out about me. I hoped my saving her would help my case. I trusted her completely, yet I had no clue why. I’d never in my hundred and forty-two years, fed a vampire my blood. But seeing her there, bitten to hell and dying in front of my eyes, set me off.

  I wanted this girl more than anything and could think of nothing but her since the second I set my eyes on her in that tattoo shop.

  The scent of her blood beneath her veins was an ambrosia that made my mouth water in hunger and her beauty could never be compared to any woman I’d seen walk this earth. I was hers in those first seconds.

  I laid her down across the back seat of my STF issued black Camaro and drove her back to my place. I could’ve looked up where she lived, but I was so on edge from almost losing her, I decided to take her home with me instead. It was light-tight and I slept in a coffin out of comfort rather than need, so she’d be fine in there.

  When I pulled up to my apartment, I raced her upstairs, hoping my neighbors wouldn’t question the unconscious girl in my arms. Not that they would, knowing who I worked for, but I didn’t want to take the chance.

  I shifted her weight to one arm once I got inside and immediately went to the bathroom to start up my shower. It pained me that she had been so exposed as they attacked her.

  I stepped under the spray of water still fully clothed and began wiping her down with a wash cloth. I concentrated on being as clinical as possible while cleaning her, getting it over with fast, yet gently.

  Scars from their bites littered her body. The wounds had thankfully closed, but the scars could take days to disappear unless she had enough blood to replace what she’d lost. I tried to be strong as I wiped away the crimson streaks, but it broke me.

  I hadn’t cried in a long time, but seeing her like this was tearing me apart the more I wiped away.

  Once I was sure that all the blood was gone, I wrapped her up in a towel and laid her on my couch. I grabbed one of my t-shirts and some boxers then dressed her before drying her dreads the best I could. She groaned in her sleep, giving me a hint of relief that she was being somewhat responsive.

  I tucked her into my coffin and laid one of my throw blankets over her body before sitting on the floor next to it. I wouldn’t be resting today. I’d stay with her until she woke up.

  Remembering her friend Claudia, and how worried she’d be if Lucy didn’t come home before sunrise, I grabbed my cell from my pocket and dialed one of the agents from the station.

  “Hey, Grey. What’s going on?” Agent Brody was the one to answer.

  “Hey, I need you to look up and give me the number for a Claudia Adams. She’s a registered vampire.”

  I heard him clicking away on his keyboard before he read the number to me.

  “Thanks, man. I appreciate it,” I replied before hanging up. I dialed Claudia and waited, my eyes never leaving Lucy as she slept.

  After the fourth ring, she answered.

  “Hello?”

  “Claudia? This is Hollis Grey.”

  “Oh! The agent, right? What can I do for you? And how’d you get my number?” She asked suspiciously.

  “That’s not important. I’m calling because Lucy was attacked tonight. I got rid of the vampires who did it, but she was hurt pretty badly.” I gritted my teeth as the memory of them tearing into her surfaced.

  She gasped. “Oh, God! Is she alright? Where is she? I’ll come get her.”

  “She’s fine. I have her with me. The sun will be up in fifteen minutes, so it’s best I just keep her here.”

  Claudia began to argue, but I cut her off.

  “Listen. I’m not going to hurt her. I gave her some blood and have her resting at my place. It’s light-tight so don’t worry. She’s knocked out from the blood loss and sedatives released when they drained her, but I’ll have her home after sunset.”

  Claudia was silent for a moment before she responded. “Please take care of her and have her call me when she’s awake. I don’t know what else to say to you for saving her, but…thank you…she’s all I’ve got in this world.” Her voice was still worried, but I could hear the relief.

  “I will. I’d never do anything to harm her.”

  “You know? I believe you. I don’t know why, but I do. Bring my girl home safe, Agent Grey.”

  “I will.”

  Not one for pleasantries when talking on the phone, I hung up without saying goodbye. I rested my arms across my bent knees and dragged my hands through my hair. What had started out as me just going there to ask her to come along on a stakeout of a suspicious spot, turned into more than I ever thought I could handle.

  Truth was, I’d have faced a hundred vampires on my own if it meant saving her. Though, the biggest question was; why were they af
ter her in the first place?

  “Hollis…” I heard her whisper in her sleep, catching my attention.

  She was shifting around with a pained look on her face. I reached in and grabbed her hand in mine, bringing it to my lips and kissing her knuckles gently. As I held it, she instantly began to relax and her expression softened.

  It was hard for me to conceive how she had grabbed a hold of my heart so easily by doing nothing but being herself. How was it possible to care so deeply for someone you barely knew and be willing to die for them if need be?

  The fact of the matter was, I was already falling in love with her with no reason to explain it. And it terrified me.

  We stayed like this for hours; me sitting by her side as she rested. I was afraid to leave her for long, but I knew it was only a matter of time before she woke up. And when she did wake, she’d be ravenous for blood.

  What I’d given her of mine was only enough to heal her, but with having lost almost every ounce of her own, I had a feeling she’d awaken with a blood haze.

  Vampires always went into this state when deprived of blood for too long. They’d lose their sense of humanity and attack the first victim they could get their hands on. She wouldn’t be able to kill me, but she could weaken me significantly. Knowing what I do about Lucy, she’d beat herself up pretty bad about it.

  She started to stir, letting me know it was time to grab the blood. Sunset wasn’t for another few hours, so odds were she would feed then go right back into her resting state.

  I stood and went to my fridge, grabbing the jug of blood I’d picked up from the Donor’s Market and returned to stand next to the coffin.

  I only had to wait mere moments before her eyelids flew open and her sight zeroed in on me. Her chest started heaving and her fangs elongated. Her gaze went back and forth between me and the jug as she laid there, still as petrified wood. I held up the jug and swished the contents around to get her full attention.

  “It’s okay, Lucy. Look. I have blood for you right here,” I soothed, careful not to startle her with loud words or make any sudden movements. She was in complete predator mode.

  With the speed of a snake, she shot up from the coffin and sprung at me. I’d expected her to go for the jug, since I had given her full view of the blood with the cap of the jug open so she could smell it.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  She bypassed the jug completely and wrapped herself around me like a spider does the prey caught within its web. The ferocity of her attack made me drop the jug and stagger backwards, my back slamming into the wall hard enough to crack the drywall.

  “Lucy!” I yelled, but it was hopeless.

  She threw her head back with a growl and slammed her fangs down into my neck, drinking deeply with fervor.

  I groaned at the euphoria I felt as she pulled on my blood. For humans, this was an awfully painful experience when not given a dose of sedative from the vampire’s fangs. But for other vampires, it was intimate and lust inducing if any amount of attraction was between both participants. She had felt nothing for her attackers, so the effect was different for her.

  I was immediately turned on, my body igniting with an intense burning need to feel every inch of her. Her moans of ecstasy weren’t helping much either. She tightened her legs around my waist and her hands drifted up into my hair, pulling me closer into her.

  “Lucy…you have to stop. I don’t think...I can control myself with you if you don’t let go,” my voice shook with my growing need for her.

  She pulled her blood covered, plump lips from my neck and turned her hungry eyes to look straight into mine.

  “Then lose control, agent.”

  The sensual way she said that was all it took for me to lose my own mind.

  “With pleasure,” I replied before turning us around and slamming her into the wall.

  She laughed just before I pushed my tongue out and licked the corner of her mouth, tasting my own blood before diving in.

  I claimed her mouth with all the passion that had been building between us.

  Her nails dug into my back as her tongue fought for dominance over mine, pulling a deep moan from me. I yanked her hands from my back and thrust them above her head and against the wall, leaving no escape for her now that I she was within my clutches. I pulled my lips from hers and felt my fangs flick out. She gasped in surprise at seeing them. I gave her a cocky grin before removing one of my hands holding hers up to rip down the center until it stopped just below her navel, then plunged forward, biting the top of her breast with force.

  She tasted sweeter than I imagined, growing my desire for her with every pull. She made the sexiest sounds as she tried desperately to pull her arms from my grasp to touch me, but she was going nowhere.

  I pulled my fangs out and licked her wound.

  “You’re a vampire?” She breathed, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

  I didn’t answer her, simply releasing her arms and anchoring her to the wall with my hips. I leaned back to run my hands up under her shirt, languidly sliding them from her stomach to the swell of her perfect breasts. I wanted to savor the feel of her smooth skin beneath my rough palms. Her eyes closed and head tilted back, hissing with pleasure as my fingers glided up and down continually.

  After familiarizing myself with the feel of every inch of her torso, I grabbed the edges of the shirt where I’d ripped and pulled the last bit apart, startling another gasp from those sensual lips as the two sides now slid down her arms and off. Now that I’d felt her, I needed to see her. I admired every square inch of her pale, tattooed body, in awe at how beautifully the ink complimented her. Her entire body was covered in an elegant and abstract design of flowers, mandalas, swirls and filigree. Her breasts themselves were all that was left untouched by ink. I wanted to trace every line with my tongue twice over.

  After I had my complete fill of her naked body, all control and slowness of the moment disappeared. I turned my penetrating gaze to her. That was all she needed before ripping my shirt from me. In no time, the rest of our clothes piled on the floor.

  We clawed and bit at each other, taking one another in with every caress, lick and kiss, battling for dominance over the other. It was pure fucking bliss when I slid into her, shuddering in delight at her tightening over me.

  I took her there against the wall in a flurry of blood and passion. It was hard. It was fast. It was destructive. With every sound she made, I fell harder for this magnificent creature within my arms. I knew without a shadow of a doubt, I could never and would never want to forget the feel of her. The taste of her. The smell of her. She was everything that I would kill for.

  And heaven help anyone who tried to take her from me again.

  Chapter Eight

  Lucy

  What just happened? I questioned myself.

  One second I was being rescued by Hollis from those asshole vampires, the next I’m jumping his bones like my life depended on it. All I could think about was his blood and fucking him into next week.

  I haven’t lost control like that since I was newly turned and even then, I had some semblance of my actions. This time was all pure instinct and carnal satisfaction.

  And what the fuck! Hollis was a vampire? How had I missed that?

  Then again, I could have easily overlooked that little detail because I was so enraptured by how good looking he was. I knew I wanted him, I just hadn’t known how badly until I’d awakened half-starved.

  At some point after giving into our hunger for each other against the cracked wall of his apartment, we had climbed into his coffin and did it all over again. The blood haze I had been in lifted pretty quickly after everything began, but I didn’t stop wanting him until just after the sun set. I was mortified by my actions, even though I enjoyed it. I didn’t want to feel ashamed, but a part of me was. I was in no place to be screwing someone else after the fall out I had with Sloan. Oh god, Sloan. He was going to be pissed.

  Another thing plaguing me, was th
e fact that if Hollis was a vampire, why was his complexion was so dark and his eyes lacked the red pigment all vampires carried?

  “You look like you’re concentrating pretty hard on something there.” Hollis said beneath me, his chest rumbling against my cheek that lay there.

  My legs sat on either side of his waist as I draped myself over him. His skin was surprisingly warm beneath my cold touch. We’d been like this the last thirty minutes, lying in silence as I stewed over the predicament I’d gotten myself into, yet I couldn’t bring myself to pull away either.

  “I’m thinking about all the things that tell me you’re not a vampire, except you have fangs and drink blood like one.” I lifted my head and set my chin on my hands, looking up from his chest in question.

  He stared down at me with a contemplative expression, possibly deciding how to explain himself. Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around me and sat up, bringing up a hand to glide through my dreads that were steadily losing their tightness.

  “I’m half vampire, half human. A dhampir. I was half turned in the womb when my mother was bitten. I aged and grew like a regular human would, eating food and going through puberty like any other teenage boy. However, once I reached the age of eighteen, I stopped aging like everyone else and started craving blood. It was like a switch flipped. All my heightened senses hit me with the force of a tsunami. I didn’t understand what was happening, but instinct took over.”

  I gaped at him, not expecting him to be so informative. He seemed like a closed off kind of guy, yet he was sharing something with me that could change the world of vampires as we knew it. I had never in all my life known it was possible to be half turned. Why did he trust me with this? I realized we’d just had sex and all, but I couldn’t fathom that meant he’d suddenly share his secrets.

  And this was a big fucking secret.

  “So, you eat food and drink blood?” I asked him, wondering just how much he’d share with me.

  He nodded. “And I can be in sunlight for extended periods of time. It hurts my eyes, but sunglasses help. I only have to feed a couple times a month though.”