by Dannika Dark
Claude suddenly coughed, blood ejecting from his mouth and spattering on his face and shirt. My heart sank. His ashen skin and bluish lips told the story.
Niko assessed him carefully. “I can’t heal them all,” he finally said. “His energy is dark around his chest. I’ll do what I can.” Niko’s hand hovered as if he was searching for the wound.
Claude’s eyes fluttered and then opened.
Gem cupped his face in her hands, staring at him upside down.
He struggled to smile. “Don’t cry, female. I’m not worth the tears.”
Wyatt leaned over. “Stop trying to out-die us. You’re not going anywhere. I don’t want to have to deal with staring at your handsome ghost for all eternity. You hear me? You’ll give me an inferiority complex.”
Claude’s lips twitched as Gem wiped away droplets of blood that were on his cheeks.
Niko placed his hand across one of the bullet holes, and after a moment, I squinted from the flash of light that cracked like a whip. Claude sighed. Watching Niko heal someone else besides me allowed me to see the magnitude of how much energy it required from him. Despite his hooded eyes and lethargic movements, he continued. Gem let go just as Niko healed another wound.
When he finished, his eyes didn’t carry that spark of light they usually held.
“Niko, maybe you should stop.”
Out of breath, he fell back against the bench. “How many more does he have?”
Gem pulled Claude’s jacket away and lifted his shirt. “One on his shoulder and I think his leg.” She rose up on her knees for a closer look. “It’s too dark in here; I can’t see.”
Niko’s beautiful brown skin now had a greyish hue. The graver the wound, the more of his gift it required. He probably could have kept going, but the quality of his light would have diminished, assuming he could stay conscious after repeated energy depletion.
Claude rolled to his side. “I’m good.”
Gem helped him to sit. “Are you sure? You don’t look good.”
He smiled weakly. “I always look good.”
Wyatt sighed and took off his beanie, rumpling his hair with one hand as he looked at Christian. “When you called for backup, I thought maybe you were outnumbered by two or three guys. Four tops. Half a city? Now that’s a twist I didn’t see coming.”
I leaned back and shut my eyes, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in my hand, my sore jaw, and my aching muscles.
“Why the feck did you bring my car?” Christian spat.
Wyatt snickered. “Because you drew the short straw. Plus, we couldn’t all fit in mine. It’s not as if we had time to contemplate anything. We hauled ass to get here.”
“Grand. Now what are the odds that I’ll never see it again?”
Claude gripped my right arm. “Let me see your other hand.”
I held it up, a bullet having pierced through the palm. “Sorry, but this is one injury you won’t be licking. Lie back and rest. It sucks to be a Mage in winter, but I’ll find a drop of sun if it kills me.”
Niko chuckled. “Apologies. I’m laughing at the truth of it.”
Some of the bullet holes around the van let in narrow strips of light, but it wasn’t the direct sunlight that I needed to heal.
It didn’t matter anyhow. We were almost home.
Chapter 20
Every lantern and candle in my bathroom was aglow, bathing the stone walls with an ethereal light. I had a magnificent bathroom located in the room behind my bed. There wasn’t a door, and as you walked in and turned left, you faced a standing shower and small window farther ahead. Lanterns were affixed to the left wall on each side of the oval mirror above the sink. Next to it, a toilet. The best part about the bathroom was that against the opposite wall sat the most glorious claw-foot tub. It was large and tucked inside the partially recessed wall. There was even a nice ledge in the wall where I could set my candles or toiletries.
I stood inside the dry tub with every intention of drawing a hot bath, but I ended up sitting down with my clothes still on. Exhausted, I reclined back, my injured left hand hanging out of the tub and my knees drawn up.
Sometimes it just felt good to slow down and gather my thoughts. As crazy as things had gotten in the Bricks, it was a good thing I hadn’t killed Cristo. Working for Keystone meant curbing my impulsive instincts, and we still had a baby to rescue.
“That’s an interesting way to wash up,” Christian remarked.
I glanced left where he was standing in the doorway, arms folded. “Did you have fun today?”
Christian swaggered to the mirror, where he proceeded to admire his dark beard. He raised his chin, studying the rogue hairs that grew below his jawline.
“There’s a razor if you want to give it a whirl.” I gestured toward a plastic one on the sink.
“I don’t mess with perfection.”
“How’s Claude?”
“Receiving affection from all the ladies in the house. Is that what it takes to get dinner in bed?”
I reclined my head, my thoughts nebulous. “This guy is really pissing me off. How could he have known we were following that woman if you scrubbed her memory?”
Christian pivoted around and stepped inside the tub, making himself comfortable at the opposite end by mirroring my position. “She must have been a Blocker.”
“I thought that was a Mage gift.”
“Never assume. A Mage Blocker can thwart other Mage gifts. But there are those in the Breed world who also have a natural blocking ability against other Breed gifts. There aren’t many out there, and most of them don’t want others to know their secret.”
“I’m guessing that means Vampire gifts don’t work against her.”
“In her case, no.”
“Why didn’t she just lie about Cristo?”
“Because I was looking her in the eyes, and she knew I would have caught her lying. Afterward, she sent a text. He could have sent a message back and told her to leave, but I bet he had a grand time conceiving a plan to do away with us by staging an attack. Criminals in the Bricks look at murder as a recreational activity.”
“Swell.”
“How’s your hand?”
I held it up and turned it so he could see both sides. “Have you ever had a ripped cuticle? Imagine that times a thousand.”
“What about Niko?”
“He’s tapped out. Poor guy. He went straight to bed and probably won’t wake up for hours. That was really something he did for Claude.” A quiet moment passed as I reflected on how selfless Niko was. He could have kept his gift a secret when he joined Keystone and let every man fend for himself. “We might need to think about relocating to Florida. Isn’t that the Sunshine State?”
“Just be glad we don’t live in Washington.”
I shuddered at the thought. Even when it snowed, the sun in Cognito poked out from the clouds every so often, so I couldn’t complain. It just required patience. I was fortunate to have learned how to heal from sunlight. For years, I’d had to hide until my body healed naturally.
Then again, I wasn’t exactly getting shot up and attacked by forty men back then.
Christian began unlacing my boots and pulled them off one at a time. “We need to keep the blood sharing a secret,” he said quietly. “If Viktor knew what we were doing, he’d break us apart.”
“Maybe he’s right.”
“And maybe not.” Christian peeled off my socks and tossed them over the edge of the tub. “It’s what makes you and me a force to be reckoned with. I couldn’t have fought off that many men had you not healed me.”
“With my blood,” I added, staring at the bloodstains on my pants as I drew my knees up even closer. “Blood is addictive, and you said yourself that Vampires shouldn’t be sharing it.”
Christian licked his lips. “Rest assured, I don’t crave you in the wee hours of the night.”
I flicked a glance up at the same time he looked at me, and butterflies tickled my stomach. “Nothing whets your ap
petite?”
He smirked darkly. “I wouldn’t go that far, Precious. But the things I crave have nothing to do with blood. I haven’t had bloodlust since I was a youngling.”
“When you gave me your blood, I could taste your desire. You don’t need to lie.”
He bent his arm and leaned his head against his index finger. Light played on his shadowy face, and he averted his eyes. “Yours doesn’t taste like other Vampire blood. Maybe it has to do with your being mixed, but it has a unique flavor I’ve never known before.” He waggled his brows. “Worry not. I’m a man who can control my urges.”
I snorted. “Except for sex.”
“Haven’t had much of that lately either.”
I tucked my hair behind one ear. “What was she like?”
“Who?”
“The woman you previously worked for. The one who… didn’t need your services anymore. I’m good at reading between the lines.”
He pursed his lips and tilted his head to one side. “She found herself a big pussy to latch on to.”
I quirked a brow.
Christian straightened his arm and drummed his fingers on the edge of the tub. “She mated with a Chitah. And I didn’t love her, for feck’s sake. I just… She just reminded me of that connection. Maybe it was her drinking my blood that brought out those feelings.”
“Is that something you normally do with your clients?” I smiled impishly and bumped legs with him. “You probably didn’t have many women hire you to protect them, so the whole caveman instinct kicked in. I think it’s understandable, but you can stop playing bodyguard when we’re out on a job. I’m not a client.”
Christian barked out a laugh. “You’re an entirely different woman, comparable to none. Especially being as new as you are. Rarely have I seen someone not born into our world acclimate so well. You’re tough, fearless—”
“Pretty? I bet she was pretty.”
“Aye, she had a soft face. Her hair wasn’t as black as yours, but her skin was simply flawless. She had the complexion of a Vampire even though—”
“She wasn’t a Vampire?”
“Mage.”
“So much for sticking to your own kind, Mr. Poe. Good to know. Anyhow, it doesn’t sound like she was your type.”
“And what type is that?”
“B negative?”
We both chuckled.
“She wanted to be tough, but she wasn’t born that way.”
I pulled my arms inside the tub and put them on my lap. “So you want a tough girl? Someone to bend you over her knee and give you a spanking? What a naughty boy you are.”
His cheeks flushed. “Put a cork in it. I don’t want a relationship. She just reminded me of my humanity.”
“Ah. The pesky thing you keep trying to kill. You act as if caring about someone will ruin your reputation.”
He pinched his beard, deep in thought. “I’ve seen too many men lose their lives for a four-letter word. If the fates gave us immortality, it wasn’t for us to waste on such a frivolous emotion. That’s not the Vampire way.”
Christian’s hand stroking my ankle belied his words. He clearly craved physical affection. Maybe that was why he engaged in debauchery—to have that connection with another person. The same craving I felt whenever he touched me so tenderly.
“Didn’t mean to bring up a sore subject,” I said.
“Doesn’t matter. She wasn’t the biggest mistake in my life.”
Were the women he had sex with a means to make him forget that he actually had a heart and had made the mistake of listening to it once or twice? Thinking about what went on inside Christian’s head had become not only a pastime of mine, but a means of torture.
“Should I cook dinner?” I offered.
He gave me a crooked smile. “If you enjoy the suffering of others, by all means.”
“Don’t you ever get hungry, even for blood?”
“No.”
“So you just live in a state of nothingness? Never hungry, never full.”
He scratched his scruff, a sign he was hiding something.
“What?” I nudged him with my foot. “Tell me.”
“We didn’t have exotic fruits in Ireland. When I came here, you ate whatever was local. It wasn’t until years later that I began noticing strange fruit. Watermelon fascinated me. Such a hard exterior with ugly markings, and yet when you sliced it open, it was gorgeous. Juicy and bright red.” He licked his lips. “I’d never tasted anything like it. Every so often, I crave watermelon.”
A smile touched my lips. “Am I strange fruit?”
When his smoldering eyes latched onto mine, a sexual heat pooled low in my body. At first I thought the blood exchange was making me feel that way, or the fact that he was the man who’d rescued me from the fire. The worst part was that I couldn’t stop analyzing my feelings about him and what they meant, because I’d never felt such an unyielding attraction to anyone before.
“You’re strange indeed,” he murmured. “Did you come in here to hide away like a little mouse?”
I shrugged. “I like to be alone when I’m hurt.”
Christian abruptly leaned forward. “Let me see your hand.” He took my injured palm and turned it over, running his finger over the partially sealed wound. “You need to fix this. There are twenty-seven bones in the human hand, and I’ll wager the bullet shattered at least one.”
“I can’t keep drinking your blood,” I said, retracting my arm.
Christian gripped the edge of the tub and slowly put his knees down, forcing me to open my legs. “There’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing. You’re my partner. You came in here to hide like a wounded animal because that’s what you’re used to doing. You’re not alone, Raven. Together we’re stronger than any of them,” he said, nodding toward the door. “Don’t think I haven’t figured you out.”
I blinked in surprise. “What do you mean by that?”
He took a lock of my hair between his fingers and looked at it for a moment. “I know why you hate Vampires. Your Mage Creator was a cruel man. Most people despise their tormentor, but you hate your Vampire maker because he’s the one who abandoned you to evil. He was your hope—your salvation. You trusted him, and he betrayed you. The Mage side of you is the only part you understood—no matter how vile or terrible, it made sense. You never learned what it is to be a Vampire. It’s as simple as that.” Christian hovered as if he might lie on top of me. “I won’t abandon you. I won’t betray you.”
I trembled when he stretched out his neck before me, his artery pulsing with healing blood.
“Drink,” he whispered, his neck brushing against my lips. “Don’t fight it.”
Everything about his offering was so sensual that my fangs extended. I wanted to fight against my Vampire nature—against the very idea of consuming blood from another person—but I couldn’t. The scent of him, the feel of his warm neck, his willingness to give himself to me—it called to my Vampire heart, and I cradled his neck in my hands. My body hummed with desire, and I hadn’t even tasted him yet.
I wasn’t even sure I wanted to.
I pressed a kiss below his jaw—completely unnecessary when drawing a vein closer to the surface.
But I couldn’t help myself.
Christian wrapped one arm around me, holding me close as my lips locked over his neck. I felt the low rumble deep in his throat when my fangs barely touched his skin. As I began to suck on his neck, renegade pleasure raced through me, and I pulled him even closer. My teeth hadn’t even broken the skin, and already this bathtub was getting much too small.
The moment my fangs pierced his flesh, Christian sat up with me in his arms so I was straddling him. Ancient blood filled my mouth—the lifeline of generations of Vampires who came before him, all woven together. My hips rocked against his, stroking against the granite-hard erection beneath his trousers. His arms were everywhere around me, but he was careful not to pull too tight, not to squeeze too hard and shatter my bones. There was n
othing deadlier than being within a Vampire’s grip.
I finished swallowing a mouthful and licked the wound to seal it, but I couldn’t stop tasting him, kissing him, sucking on his skin.
Damn. Christian was everything my body craved, and I wanted him to kiss me back, to carry me to bed. He reached under my shirt and cupped my breast, his thumb circling the rounded tip of my hardened nipple beneath my bra.
I moaned, pressing my body into his touch. My lips dragged their way up his scruffy jaw, across his cheek, and down to his mouth. Just before our lips met, he turned his head away.
“What’s wrong?” I asked in confusion.
“We’re not supposed to feel this way,” he said on a jagged breath. “Don’t get your heart attached to me, Precious. I’m not a thing to love.”
“Who said anything about love?”
He sharpened his gaze at me. “You’re not the type to have casual sex.”
“How do you know what type I am?”
He stroked my stomach as he withdrew his hand from beneath my shirt, causing me to shiver. “Because I know. You’re hungry for a man’s touch, and I just happen to be within proximity.”
I jerked my neck back. “You make it sound like I’m desperate.”
He grinned as if proud of pushing my buttons. “Who’s grinding who?”
I rocked my hips, his erection stroking me between the legs. Christian moaned as if he were in pain, his eyes hooding. “I can’t stroke what isn’t there, and it seems like you feel a whole lot more for me than you’re admitting to.” I sighed and got out of the tub, putting distance between us. “Let’s see what’s going on downstairs.”
He glared up at me with a look of reservation and doubt. “You’re not mad?”
I turned on the faucet and washed my bloody hand. “Maybe you’re used to women who spring tears from their eyes and flounce out of a room, but that’s not me.”
Christian rose to his feet and stepped out of the tub. He strode over to the doorway and then casually leaned against the wall. By the expression on his face, he looked as if he was trying to figure me out. “I think we’ll work well together if you just stop trying to get in my trousers. I know the eye candy must be torture, but fecking control yourself.”
