Vermilion Lies

by L. D. Rose

  Never mind the mental tango he’d danced through.

  Somehow this short trip brought out pieces of him he didn’t want to face, stirred parts of him he didn’t want to feel, showed him exactly who and what he was; a half-breed leech with a reflection, a fanged murderer with emotions, a monster just like her, and he couldn’t handle it. This gothic sorceress took everything he ever believed in and flipped it upside down, turned it inside out, warped it and sculpted it into something he could no longer recognize. She made him weak, made him stupid, and she made him feel alive again.

  And if he didn’t end this soon, she was going to be the end of him.

  Grabbing the soap, he lathered himself up, ensconced in sweet, flowery musk, when the tang of her ripe cherry scent sideswiped him. Convinced he’d imagined it, he stilled, pulse leaping in his throat as he tilted his head and drew in a deep breath.

  Nope. Definitely not hallucinating.

  Something shifted in the hallway and he abruptly pulled open the shower curtain, exposing himself as steam escaped the stall in a rush.

  Cindy sprang back a few feet, shock flooding her face before it flamed into embarrassment, her bloodless cheeks blushing a faint pink. She hovered by the door he’d unintentionally left ajar, her eyes raking over him as she worried her bottom lip with the tips of her white incisors.

  His skin prickled, goosebumps rising over every inch of him from more than the cold air. Her scent intensified, her eyes growing impossibly darker, before she tore them away. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I . . .” Her voice failed her and she cleared her throat, looking at the floor. “I’m just . . .”

  “Cindy.” The single word was rough, husky, ensnaring her gaze. “Come here.”

  Her breath left her in a soft whoosh as she ventured closer, hesitantly, cautiously, and he spurred her toward him with a curl of his fingers. When she reached the edge of the tub, her eyes smoldering with fear and desire, his galloping heart trampled all logic as he leaned forward and cupped her face.

  “What do you want?” he murmured, his tone pitching deeper.

  Gently, he lifted her chin, staring into midnight skies that held far too many secrets, veiling the answers he desperately wanted to find.

  “I want to forget,” she whispered, lush mouth quivering. “Make me forget.”

  Temptation beat under his skin with its own pulse.

  Then he dipped his head and kissed her.

  A brush of lips, a bit of pressure; he tried to take it slow, to keep it chaste, but when she moaned against him, he could no longer rein himself in. Her lips parted and he plunged his tongue between them, his piercing grazing the soft recesses of her mouth as he dragged her into the shower with him.

  He kept her upright as she stumbled under the spray, her palms landing on his chest, slipping across his soapy skin as she fervently returned his kiss. Water thrummed along his back, soaking her clothes as they explored each other’s mouths, rekindling the fire they’d started on the couch. Her touch caressed his bruised ribs and his belly tightened as she brushed his abs, tracing the lines of his body.

  And when she wrapped a hand around his straining erection, his breath caught and his fangs popped into place, his gums throbbing in time with the raging pulse in his dick.

  Her lips curved as she stroked him, her thumb grazing the barbell at his tip, the Prince Albert he’d gotten on a dare a few years ago. Pleasure rippled down his spine, contracting his every muscle as he blindly gripped the curtain rail to keep him steady.

  Then she dropped to her knees in front of him.

  Oh shit.

  Looking up at him with her onyx eyes, she took him into her mouth and he finally unleashed the groan building inside him.

  Hot, wet, her tongue flicked his tip, sending another shock of ecstasy into his skull and knocking his head back. He swelled tighter, grew harder as her mouth sank down the length of him, consuming him as he trembled above her.

  Fuck. No way was he stopping her now.

  Dax bunched his hands in her hair as he slid in and out, in and out, pleasure rocking him with each stroke. Cool hands brushed the insides of his drenched thighs, cupping his sac and squeezing him gently. She teased his piercing, biting down on the stud and lightly tugging on it with her teeth. His hips bucked of their own accord, his fists balling tighter in her hair as she cuffed her hand around his shaft and pumped him faster, her mouth doing things to him he would never forget.

  Just when he couldn’t take it anymore, she surged forward, swallowing him whole, right to the hilt. Stars exploded before his eyes in red and white flashes of light as she bobbed up and down, deep-throating him, the sensation so intense, so foreign, so hot, and fuck, didn’t she have to breathe—

  No, because she’s a vampire.

  Fangs scraped along his fragile skin, nicking him at his base, bright pinpricks of pain searing through him and ratcheting up the pleasure another notch. His eyes snapped open, a ragged gasp wrenching from his chest as he looked down, thrusting into her, watching himself disappear into her perfect mouth again and again. Her raven strands weren’t long enough to hide the sight, and he glanced away, up at the fogged ceiling, an exquisite pressure gathering in his pelvis.

  Fuck, he wasn’t going to make it.

  The unmistakable scent of iron hit his senses like a bomb. Blood, his blood, from the nicks she’d left in him, smeared all over her mouth, and oh God, he was going to come—

  “Stop.” The word erupted from his throat, a desperate howl rather than a stark command. She immediately released him, flipping her hair back to meet his gaze, her liquid black eyes locking on his face. Her lips were swollen, red, her chest rising and falling with the quickening of her breath. Her saturated sweater clung to her breasts, her legs folded under her, and he wanted it off, wanted it all off, needed her naked and vulnerable beneath him.

  Grasping her shoulders, he hauled her to her feet, hands groping, mouths colliding. Tasting his blood on her lips, he growled, pressing her against the closest wall as the spray struck them both. Cindy broke the contact to peel off her sweater, exposing her breasts to the humid air. Her nipples hardened into pale pink peaks, and he rubbed his fingertips across them before filling both palms with her flesh.

  God, she was perfect.

  Lowering his head, he caught one with his mouth, latching on to the bud and drawing on it hard. She moaned, the sound deep and sensual, her black fingernails digging into his biceps. Sliding his tongue along the ridged skin, he flicked the tip, and she squirmed helplessly before he seized the other.

  She arched her back as he kissed his way down the flat planes of her belly, following the streams of water and lapping at the pool in her navel. Her breath shallowed when he unbuttoned her soaked jeans and tried to pull them down over her hips. The fabric resisted, stuck to her skin, and he was ready to rip them off with his teeth when she grabbed the waistband, cursing before she shoved them down.

  Dax couldn’t repress a smile as he sat back on his heels and watched her push the jeans to mid-thigh, wriggling her hips. Laughing softly at her struggles, he helped her yank them to her ankles before she stepped out of the wet clump and kicked it aside.

  “Tight jeans.” He grinned wryly, but his breath deserted him when she straightened, baring her flushed and hairless sex right in front of his face.

  God. Damn.

  “Sorry.” A throaty apology as she steadied a hand on the tiled wall, totally oblivious to her effect on him. “Not sexy.”

  Dax slipped his palms up her smooth legs, grazing the backs of her knees, mouth watering at the sight of her standing naked in their own personal rainfall. “Very sexy,” he murmured as he kissed the insides of her thighs.

  She sucked in a breath.

  Prop
ped on his knees, he scooped an arm beneath one of her legs and tossed it over his shoulder, spreading her out before him. Her scent inebriated him, invading his brain and eroding him to mere base instinct. Slender muscles tensed under his hands before he licked a long, wet line over her core, dragging his tongue piercing across her silken flesh.

  “Dax.” A guttural sound as she rose onto her tiptoes, firing a bolt of lust straight into his aching cock.

  There was nothing, nothing like that moan on the first lick.

  With tremendous effort, he forced himself to draw back, hunger battering at him like a trapped bull. “Tell me if it hurts,” he rumbled, the words whispering over her sensitized skin. Not everyone liked a little metal. “I’ll stop.”

  Her hand fisted in his hair and she tugged his head back, willing him to look at her. When he met those obsidian eyes, they swirled with passion and darkness, brimming with desire and an emotion he wasn’t ready to decipher.

  “Keep going.” She feathered her fingertips across his wounded cheek. “Don’t stop.”

  His grip tightened on her thighs, his chest constricting at the intensity of her gaze. Beautiful, tragic. Dax felt another chip crack in his defenses.

  She was going to ruin him.

  And he didn’t fucking care.

  Without tearing his eyes off her, he swept his tongue over her again, gentler this time, a soft, fluid stroke.

  She inhaled sharply, her eyelids sliding to half-mast, her grip firm in his hair as he lapped at her again, and again, and again. When he delved deeper, she groaned, her body undulating as he pressed his fangs into her. He savored every delicate inch of her, his tongue tracing each curve, slipping into every valley, only teasing her clit as he passed through. She was wet, so wet, and he had to steady her hips when she bucked against him.

  Fuck, he wanted to devour her, to make her bleed and suck her dry, and it took every ounce of restraint to keep his monster in check. Ramping up the heat, he pushed two fingers inside her, slow and unrelenting, and she convulsed around him, hot and tight. Her legs quivered, her knees buckled, but he held her up while he found that perfect combination of finger and tongue.

  Once he locked in, he was merciless, thrusting inside her, eating her alive. He worked her until she cried out and writhed mindlessly, her pulse hammering like a nail gun beneath his lips as he penetrated her, nipped her, flicked his tongue against her clit. Once, twice, and it wasn’t until he nicked her with his teeth that she screamed his name and detonated all over him.

  The tang of her blood crashed into him like a wrecking ball, the sweet metallic aroma, the flavor of smoke and cherry. With his fangs throbbing furiously, he lapped up everything she gave him.

  Her knees cut out, but he slid her back up the wall, milking the wound, craving more of that honeyed copper in his mouth. Her femoral pulse beckoned him, a provocative beat pounding on his eardrums, so loud, so close, all he had to do was turn his head and—

  Suddenly, she wrenched his head back, pulling him away from her and lifting his face up. Still on his knees in front of her, he gazed up the length of her body, deliberately licking her blood off his lips as he met her scorching eyes. With one hand flexing on his scalp and the other braced against the tile, she stared down at him with a raw, carnal need on her gorgeous face. Wet black hair in disarray, full lips parted, pale breasts heaving as she breathed in choppy gasps. The water ran cold now, tinged pink at her feet before it circled the drain.

  And in that moment, something passed between them, something that would change them forever.

  Unleashing a low, sexy growl, she shoved him into the tub, the air bursting from his lungs as his back slammed into fiberglass. Panic spiked his roaring bloodstream, but mind-numbing pleasure flooded him in no time when she climbed on top of him, grabbed his rock-hard cock, and sat down on him in one fell swoop.

  Shouts ripped from both of their throats as he plunged full-length inside her.

  Oh my God.

  Sensation bombarded him as she stretched around him, so hot, so wet, so tight. He raised his head to look at their joined bodies while she settled into an easy rhythm, straddling him, the tub just big enough for the both of them. Her sex clenched him like a fist as she rode him, her hips pushing harder and harder with each thrust. Every move sent tidal waves of ecstasy over him, a groan resonating from deep in his chest as wet flesh struck wet flesh.

  Rocking up and down, she dominated him, throwing her head back and releasing an erotic moan. Her fingers clawed at his pecs, her breasts straining, her body jerking with every blow, and Jesus fucking Christ, she looked hot as hell.

  And he didn’t mind burning at all.

  Unable to forgo control any longer, he met her demands, driving into her harder, faster. Kneading her breast with one hand, he pressed a thumb into her swollen clit with the other, fueling her on. When her blazing eyes connected with his, she clasped a hand around his throat and squeezed, and fuck if a thrill didn’t electrify his every nerve at the strength in her grip.

  She could choke him out right now and he would die with a fucking smile on his face.

  When she cut off his air, his pleasure magnified, wave after wave of bliss rolling through him. Her hips ground into his, taking him deeper, and he cuffed her wrist, the tips of her white incisors flashing with every moan from her wet mouth. Mesmerized, the visual branded itself into his brain, embedded in his gray matter for all time as she fucked him with a tempo unlike anything he’d ever known.

  Drowning under the onslaught, his lungs burned as she dropped her head back, tensed, and shattered. She disintegrated like a star above him, breathtakingly beautiful, her chokehold loosening, her body quaking, her shouts becoming less and less human. Vertigo took Dax for a spin, but he couldn’t jump off the damn cliff, unable to let go enough for climax to engulf him.

  Sensing his struggle, Cindy gripped him by the shoulders and dragged him to her, sitting him upright as she resumed her sensual pace, still floating high on her orgasm. Her nails raked down his back, pain sizzling over his skin, clashing with the currents of pleasure in a mad rush. Goosebumps swept his body like wildfire and he seized her lips, licking the roof of her mouth as her fangs scored his tongue. When she withdrew, she yanked at his lip piercing with her teeth, sending another jolt of exquisite pain into him.

  He tasted blood, smelled it in the damp air, liquid heat trailing down his spine as he shuddered under the icy spray.

  Don’t stop, don’t stop.

  While she undulated on top of him, working him to a fever pitch, that sweet pressure built in his pelvis again, a storm surge brewing inside him. More. God, he wanted more. As if reading his mind, she tugged his head back and buried her face in his neck, never faltering, never losing rhythm, her hot breath ragged in his ear while he panted like a dog. She latched on to his throat, sucking his waterlogged skin, and he moaned.

  “You’re going to be the death of me.” His words came out tattered, desperate, and irrevocably true.

  His heart rammed against his ribs, nearly beating right out of his chest, his pulse slamming through every artery in his body, his fangs and cock throbbing like raw wounds. And she throbbed right along with him, all around him, all over him. Ecstasy barreled into him again and again, careening him closer to the edge of nirvana as she ruthlessly milked him, spinning him out of control, his entire body trembling with so much need, so much lust, so much hunger . . .

  Fuck, he was going to explode.

  “Please.” The word tore from his lips, begging her to end him. “Baby, please.”

  Tear me open.

  She scraped her fangs along his jugular, a question that nearly detonated him.

  “Yes,” he groaned, clutching her against him, driving her hips harder into his, his blood thundering in his ears. “Now.”

  And without a moment’s hesitati
on, she bit into him, sinking the blades in her mouth into his flesh.

  The pressure at the base of his spine erupted, blowing through his vertebrae, the backdraft knocking his head back as he bellowed. Pain lanced him, ecstasy fought back, a battle that wouldn’t cease as he burst inside her, thrusting until he couldn’t move. She didn’t let him go, her jaw locked on his throat as she gulped him down, emitting sexy little whimpers. He fell back in the tub, taking her with him, her body shaking on top of his as she drained the life out of him in every possible way.

  Dax’s eyes drifted closed as cold water pelted them, their bodies still bound to one another. Darkness washed over him and he descended into its depths, spiraling into oblivion. All he could smell was iron and sex, cherry and incense, ash and death. All he could hear was her sucking on him, slurping his blood, moaning against him. He tremored with the aftershocks of a mind-blowing orgasm, but he made no attempt to stop her.

  She drew on him hard, gorging herself, and a distant voice in the back of his skull screamed at him to stop, to save himself, but he couldn’t. Wouldn’t.

  This was exactly how he wanted to go out.

  When she finally released him, he was almost unconscious, perched at the brink of a vast abyss. He didn’t know where it led to, couldn’t tell where it began or ended, and he didn’t care. He sensed her nearby, but she didn’t push him off the ledge, didn’t let him fall to his demise. She only took his hand and brought him back from the precipice, back to the world of the living as she whispered two beautiful words in his ear.

  “You’re mine.”

  ELEVEN

  The Mako Corvette gave him away.

  Fool. Driving around a car like that near a desolate coast. Discretion had never been the Senary’s strong suit, arrogant pricks.