Chapter Nine
She stood in her lounge with Seb laid carefully at her feet, and breathed deeply, trying to replenish her lungs after virtually dragging him into the house.
Kneeling beside him, she closed her eyes and raised her palms. Taking a deep breath, she stilled, reaching out into the ether to seek her sister, and her brother.
She found Thea exactly where she was supposed to be; hours away in York. Adam was on his boat, by the feel of it. Probably nursing a large Scotch.
Remaining wholly still, she let the peace of the bay flood her, and reached out to the spirits that had been with her since she was a child.
“Protect us from outside eyes
See nothing, dim the lights
Keep us safe tonight
As I will it
So mote it be”
Her words drifted up and hazed, as if filled with heat. She felt the peace of confirmation settle within her. The spirits had come to her aid. They were safe. For now.
Reaching down to him, she felt his pulse and breathing were steady, and yet he still rolled in and out of consciousness, delirious ramblings falling from his lips. Unsure if she had the energy left to get him to the bed, she went to fetch blankets and pillows. Exhaustion pulled at her and she knew there was nothing left to do now, but let him fight the poisonous blood that roiled through him.
His skin was hot; burning. And his breaths came fast and heated against her.
She had lain on the sofa to sleep, and at some point he’d clearly moved. He was wrapped around her, his body heat searing against her back, and the sudden tightening of his grip snapped her from sleep.
She gasped as fangs scraped her skin. He groaned against her, his moist tongue working her neck in soft laps, and she moaned in return, unable to move as shivers raced up her spine, curling behind her ears.
Each brush of his teeth had her nipples tightening, and she felt herself become wet in a rush. For a few short seconds, she whimpered in his grasp, until he became still, settling his lips as if to make a bite.
Gasping for breath, she wrenched away, coming to her senses. Pushing at him, she rolled, pulling them both from the sofa. They landed on the floor in a heap.
He’s eyes didn’t open, he just rolled onto his back, and slept on. She lurched to her feet in a rush, dizzy from exhaustion.
“Oh, by the gods.” Jess stared down at him, her hand touching her neck. It was still damp from his tongue.
She looked around, struggling to get her bearings.
Cuffs—she needed cuffs for just such an occasion.
She raced to her bedroom, feeling the pull of old power. She sat at the ornate wooden dresser and opened the center drawer. Phials of herbs, crystals and magical items lay before her.
Jess reached for the small wooden chest, a doorway to a stash of items that she could always access if she needed them…
Holding her palm above the open casket, she drew an image of the shackles to mind, before reaching in, and pulling them out.
She’d been so grateful to Thea for showing her how to set this up, it reminded her anew of how much she loved her crazy siblings—although this probably wasn’t what Thea thought she’d be using a location spell for. Lurching from the dresser, she threw thanks to the spirits, making rash promises of endless mint humbugs.
The cuffs hummed with power, and kneeling beside him, she carefully locked the ornate shackles on each wrist, surprised by the urge to be gentle, considering how he’d been about to bite her.
“Now, what do I do with you?” She rested her palms on her thighs and stared down at him, stroking his forearm.
As if in answer, his eyes flicked open, fastening on her. She jerked back in shock, before giving herself an internal shake. Dammit, she was also a creature of bitchass power, and she was not about to start jumping at shadows. “You’re awake, then? Hungry, I suppose?” The sarcasm in her voice was lost on him as he frowned in confusion at her.
“Jess?”
“Dammit, Seb.” Her anger spiked, to protect her from the very real fear that she might’ve already lost him “Why didn’t you warn me?!”
“You filled my dreams.” His quietly spoken words floored her.
“You dreamed of me?” She found she had unknowingly clutched his hand, leaning closer to draw in his lush scent.
“I did. I dreamed of you in the rain, watching me. I dreamed…” His words died, as his eyes clouded then went wide. “NO! No.” He sprang to his feet, the speed knocking her flat.
As he loomed over her, his eyes pooled black. He jerked confusedly at the shackles on his wrists, shaking his bound hands at her. “What is this? What?” He came down over her, straddling her thighs, much as the female had done to him hours earlier.
Stunned by the speed of his movements, she had no time before he came down on her hips, his jean-clad thighs trapping her against the floor, his bare chest covered with a sheen of sweat.
She kept her hands flat against the carpet, trying to stay calm and still, so as not to push his rage, not wanting him to lose control. “Seb, listen to me.” She kept her voice slow and soft. “I was looking for you, and I did come for you, as soon as I knew something was wrong—”
“No! These…why these?” He shook the shackles at her, his eyes were dazed. Lost. “What happened?” His voice broke on the last, and his form crumpled over her; his chin touched his chest as a raw wounded sound reverberated through him.
Jess lay still beneath him, her elbows lifting her a little from the floor, as yet another wave of tears flooded her vision.
“Seb.” Her breath caught on his name, as the tears tracked into her hair. “I can try and explain. I can be here with you.” She came to an awkward sitting position, all thought of danger lost in the face of his pain. She pushed inside the loop of his cuffed wrists and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I can help… I can.”
He rested his cheek against her hair, heaving in great breaths… Breathing?
“You’re breathing?” She raised her face to look up at his, and watched with a mix of horror and anticipation as his eyes changed, filling with an inky blackness.
His arms tightened around her, pinning hers around his body. His lips parted, and she watched his fangs lengthen. She began to pant in reaction, the soft bruise at her neck burned and the shivery sensation returned. She had to fight the all-consuming need to drop back and offer herself up to him. What the hell was happening?
“Sebastian.” She stayed rigid in his grasp, unable to sense anything other than his hunger, she struggled to keep her voice clear and precise. “Seb. I don’t want to hurt you. But I will. You have let me go.” His head tilted to the side in confusion, and she knew she had no choice left. She could feel the metal of his cuffs digging into her spine, and cursed herself for being in this unbelievably stupid position.
Knowing this was going to sting like a bitch, she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, feeling the charge emanating from her core she willed a pulse to the surface.
The electric jolt surged from her and stunned him. The veins corded in his throat as the current raced through his body, hitting the metal of the cuffs and re-entering her. She groaned at the pain, but still managed to shove him back and pull out from the loop of his arms, moving away in a rush.
The second the contact between them was broken, he was recovering, pushing to his feet and coming towards her.
She allowed him to back her across the room until she rested against the cool wooden door, where she raised her hands towards him; palms up, fingers splayed. “Seb, it’s been a while since I’ve been tazed—and never by my own bolts—which aggravates me no end. But believe me when I tell you, I will shoot you across this room if you don’t stand down.”
He came to a standstill before her, his eyes shimmering from brown to black. It was like watching a poltergeist possessing a new host.
Jess waited, watching him, keeping her hands charged to issue a bolt. She hoped that a couple of shots would be enough, extended use of energy like this drained her very quickly, and she had little left as it was.
Winging it here. Flash out of other options.
His cuffed hands hung in front of him and what was left of his shirt revealed the mess they had made of his chest. The wounds from the fangs that had pierced his body had closed, leaving marks in their wake, and her own bombarded senses wanted to touch him. Wanted to calm him.
Despite the danger, his change seemed to have amplified her reaction to him.
The emotion between them pulled at her, but now she was at a loss. Did this mean that he needed her only to feed?
Her heart clenched at the thought of all they’d missed out on. He’d been right; life really was too short not to just go for it.
“Jessica.” His voice was mesmeric as he whispered her name. “Jess help me, I don’t know… I need… I ache… What? What do I need, Jess?”
“I don’t know.” She yearned to ease him. “I think that your eyes changing is a sign that you need to feed—but you shouldn’t be breathing. You—a turned vampire—are a scourge…” Repeating Jason’s words filled her with sadness as she looked at Seb. They had gone from friends to enemies in mere moments.
“A vampire. Me?”
“What do you remember, Seb?” She reached out gently and took his hands, using his exhausted confusion to steer him, leading him back to the dim lounge. “Come, sit with me. We’ll work it through from when you left—”
“Jason! I hadn’t even thought. Will he… Can he do anything?”
The sudden look of relief on his face nearly broke her, and as she slowly shook her head she watched his hope race away like autumn leaves in the breeze. “No.” She shook her head, her own sadness at the loss of her best friend nearly flooring her. She’d drawn a line and chosen her side. Her loyalty had been tested…
“There is nothing he can do now, nothing anyone can do. It’s more than rules, it’s ingrained in him. You’re a vampire and he’s…”
***
Seb watched her search for the words, distracted by her teeth capturing her bottom lip as she struggled with an explanation.
He wanted to lick where her teeth had been. Her words were hard to decipher over the silky tone of her voice as it rubbed across his skin, and the heavy weight of his sack in his jeans was a stark reminder that even though everything had gone to hell, his shaft still remained hard—for her.
She’d been in his dreams, her skin close to his, soft and warm. The taste of her sat on the back of his tongue. Her hands had felt soft on his skin, the water warm around them. Water?
“Seb?”
He snapped his gaze back to hers, feeling that same mindless need to have her—the closer she got the worse it became.
“Seb!” She pushed away from him, rising to her feet, static crackling in her palms as she held them up at him. “When that happens you’re going to have to try and warn me. You can’t just tune out and think that you’ll be tapping me up for a snack. I am not, nor have I ever been, a food source.”
He came to his feet, towering over her. He could feel her power, scent her skin, her hair…
“Food? What? Food is the last thing on my mind. I can feel you. I can smell you. I want to touch you. My skin is burning.” He clenched his head, scraping his hands back through his hair.
His blood pounded through him, the beat of his heart reverberated like a bass drum. He stared at her, her long dark hair, pearlescent skin, the swell of her breast and curve of her hip. “I’m so tired, but when I close my eyes you’re there; something is urging me to seize you, to touch you.” His face came close and the heat of his breath and body nigh-on overwhelmed her. The way he drew her scent into him was like a physical pull.
His lashes lifted to reveal the swirling interchangeable depths of his eyes. “I need to taste you.”
***
The power in her palms faded away as her body softened at his words. Desire coursed through her and she was too tired to think. She just didn’t want to fight it.
She’d expected a rage of hunger, violent and uncontrollable, but his lips cushioned against hers.
His breath was ragged, in direct opposite to the gentle pressure of his mouth.
Easing her lips apart, the sweep of his tongue and scrape of teeth and fangs made her catch her breath, passion and a hint of fear rolling together in a heady mix. It had been so long, it seemed so long since she’d been held against him—there had never been another like him.
He gripped her wrists between them, holding her against the door, using his body to cage her in.
The strong heavy beat of his heart matched her own, and his muscles flexed as he leant against her.
Her mind fought to regain control, while her body heated and readied for him. Never had she felt such a need to touch a man’s skin. Lifting her hands within his grasp she splayed her fingers, loving the feel of corded muscle beneath her palms.
He stilled, slowly drawing his head back a fraction. His black eyes focused on her face, her eyes, her lips, studying her, before leaning forward. He touched his tongue to her bottom lip, mouthing across her jaw before offering the tip of his tongue to the delicate skin behind her ear.
This time, she arched her neck without thought.
His lips were hot against the skin at her hairline, while his stubbled jaw scraped her neck. The heat of his breath forced her skin to shiver as his cuffed hands embraced her jaw, the chain linking them together resting low against her throat.
His fingers teased into her hair. She knew he was angling her for better access to her neck, and she felt a confusing compulsion to urge him on, instead of what should be a natural urge to fight him off; she relaxed in his grasp, releasing a whimper as she pushed up and against him.
His lengthened fangs trailed over her skin, and she could stand it no longer.
Grasping handfuls of his hair, her nails scraped his scalp pulling him closer, as she turned her jaw to offer him better access.
He waited, suspended for a moment in time, each panted breath a promise against her skin, before placing his fangs against her.
His long, heavy moan reverberated through her. But as her nails grazed his neck, he pulled back from her fingertips, the warmth of his body and pressure of his weight gone as he yanked away, backing across the room, stumbling to his knees on the carpeted floor.
He pulled in heaving, ragged breaths, his eyes clenched shut as his body shook.
Fisting his hands on the carpet, his head dropped forward. His dark hair hung into his eyes and the mass of chest and shoulder that was visible through the tattered shirt glistened.
She clenched her thighs involuntarily against the ache, stunning herself by calculating how hard it would be to wrestle him from his jeans, all the while wondering what the hell she was playing at. He was a vampire. She should not be encouraging him to bite her!
***
“What the hell were you doing?”
His coarse words had her frowning. “Me?” She spread her palms in question before sliding her gaze guiltily away on a mutter. “I’d have thought that was obvious.”
“Obvious? Christ, Jess, I’m sorry—I was going to bite you! And then you weren’t there anymore. Then it was her, and—”
“Her? Are you kidding me? I offer…and you’re thinking of someone else?!”
He watched as her hair undulated away from her body as her temper rose, her eyes eclipsed, glowing lavender, the mesmeric swirl drawing him in. Her fist and eyes clenched, as she breathed heavily, her feet leaving the floor.
Coming to his knees, exhaustion swept through him in a rush, Jess was levitating and he was a vampire. His head fell forward, and he rapidly blinked in confusion. “Jess, what’s happening?”
***
For the second time that hour she found herself torn between his pain and her anger.
What had happened to her? Her usual humor and sense of what-will-be had been broken, by him. A man. Now a vampire.
Her booted feet hit the floor with a bump, and she took a shuddering step back as her mind tried to process how quickly this had become so screwed up.
Jess felt the chill fall through her as she stared down at him, and he stared up at her, his eyes confused, his hands cuffed and his body covered in bites.
What had she been thinking?
“Jess?”
The creature within him waged a war that was clearly visible in his still interchanging eyes, and once again Jess questioned how his heart still beat and breath filled his lungs.
The pack vampire had bitten him, and he’d clearly turned. Surely, he should be enraged, fighting to return to his Sire? The thought of the female rewarding him crawled through her, and the image of her slim arms encased in slave bangles wrapped around him would be forever stamped in her memory.
“Jess, say something…anything!”
He rose before her, his scent rushed through her senses. What was happening? She let out a shuddering release of breath, and wished for a scrap of control over her own body—just a moment to clearly focus.
She held her silence and willed herself to process a logical response. Logic was always her fail-safe; she needed to assess the situation to be able to move forward, and for that she needed information; as much as she could gather.
“Seb, step back. Space… I think we need space between us—physical space. We need to think.”
***
He moved back, watching warily as her features set with each step, her eyes cleared back to brown, revealing nothing. His ability to read and judge the emotions and reactions of others had always been strong, but he could literally feel her withdrawal.
The connection between them that had brought such heat, chilled. Would this be the same with everyone? Would he be able to detect base emotion—or was it just her? The physical distance between them lifted a portion of the haze, allowing him to focus his thoughts, and to process, for the first time, the difference. To feel and hear the changes within him.
***
She looked at the four feet of distance they had put between them, then at him as he stood framed by the window, the sun encircling him. The sun?
She stared past him, out of the window, and he turned to follow her gaze.
Do I know nothing about vampires? Never, before last night, had she knowingly seen one.
Now she’d seen six. She’d killed two of them, and had one in her living room, who stood at the window, as weak sunlight reflected off and prismed across the walls and ceiling around him.
For what seemed like the hundredth time in the last twenty-four hours, she lifted her eyes skyward. What the hell is going on?
“Jess, how am I standing in the sunlight?”
Her little voice was screaming long-practiced warnings to hold back, until she could figure out what was going on, while her gut was telling her to trust him.
She’d been keeping her magic a secret for a decade.
A decade of finely honed skills outweighed a newly awakened libido, didn’t it?
“Why am I not bursting into flames?”
Good question. She shrugged, casting her hand out before her, as if she could pluck the answers from thin air. But she also didn’t want him to panic either. “I don’t know. Maybe different hives have different traits? The movies are just…movies. Throw in a cup of human fear, and you’ve got hundreds of myths and old wives tales.” She struggled to remain completely passive, rapidly flicking through everything she could rationalize that might make sense.
Yet, as she returned his stare, his head nodded ever so briefly, and he folded his arms across his chest—he’d clearly made a decision. “And this…this between us. Why does it feel so much stronger now?”
Starting to pace, Jess watched him watching her as she roamed around her living room. “I’m not sure, exactly, but I have heard that physical attraction between people—people who are other—is stronger.” Heard? Reading gossip on the Facebook pages of the O’Leary girls, you mean. Nice one, Jess.
Promising vile retribution if her little voice didn’t shut-up, Jess longed for patience. Although she had to admit her little voice had a point; her family did such a good job of protecting themselves, that they all knew about their magic was what their Nana had told them growing up. And there’d been a lot more fancy and a lot less fact in those stories.
“Have you ever experienced anything this strong before?” He stood stock-still. She could see him processing everything around him. Taking it in, storing it.
“No. But then I’ve never…with someone who was…” Her words trailed off as she watched him. A predatory glint shadowed his gaze. The slight smile that touched his lips had a feral edge that made her heart pound in her ears and her breath falter.
“Good.” His voice was low. As he turned away, he took a step closer to the window. “Do you think I’d be alright to go outside?”
Nerves bloomed to life inside her. “You’re newly turned, it’s trial and error—with a big margin for error.” She looked pointedly at him. “I don’t think it’s a good idea just yet.”
All she knew for sure was that the shackles she’d put on him were charmed, and any creature held by them wouldn’t be able to go more than a few feet from their captor. A fact she wouldn’t be revealing until she had this all figured out.
She couldn’t risk that he’d do something stupid, like leave, not until they understood what was happening. The vampire blood in his veins was as clear as a GPS signal, a bounty on his head.
And Jason would hunt them forever.
Them. Somehow all this had changed things to them.
Thea’s reading of the tea leaves came back to her again. Never could she have imagined standing on opposite sides to Jason. But she couldn’t let him hurt Seb. Not only would he never forgive himself, neither would she.
What was she supposed to do now—go on the run with a vampire of indeterminate species? And what about when he needed to feed…?
“Seb? Are you hungry?” Her voice cracked as she spoke. She knew this could take them to a bad place, but they had to know what they dealing with.
Scraping his hand back through his hair he leant back against the windowsill, a confused look on his face. “Hungry? Jess, I don’t think this is the time to worry about food.”
She waited a beat, holding his gaze, waiting for him to process what she’d meant.
His jaw slackened as realization hit. Something akin to horror flashed across his features. “No! Jess, I won’t be doing that—not to anyone. I just…” His voice broke as the words died in his throat and, unable to stay away, she rushed to him.
Feeling his hand tremble in hers, and seeing his frame begin to shudder, she pulled him down, to sit on the floor.
His breaths came in heaving gasps, and beads of sweat sat on his forehead.
“Hey now.” Cupping his jaw, his skin was burning hot, another confusion to add the list; she’d always assumed vampires would be cold to the touch. “Calm down. Seb, what’s going on?”
He’d closed his eyes tight as he shook his head, as if to clear it. “When she…” He swallowed, struggling to form the words. “…when she bit me, I felt it.”
Softly stroking his arm, Jess waited, unsure she was going to like what he was telling her.
“She wanted my fear, that’s what they need.” His unconsciously palmed the marks that littered his chest. “That’s why the other one bit me too, but I was so fucking angry. At you…at Jason, that I wasn’t afraid. It’s not just the blood that feeds them, Jess, it’s the fear. The horror of their victims.”
As his chin touched his chest, shuddering breaths left his body, and she could barely hear his final words. “I’d rather die than become that.”
Panic bloomed to life within her; she’d have to watch him. And they’d have to get some answers, but the cuffs wouldn’t be coming off until they did. Not unless she could get him to accept a binding spell that would keep him near her, and to do that she’d have to tell him what the cuffs did.
She was going round in circles.
Maybe Jason was the only one would who could help, but as it was, she wasn’t strong enough to face an enraged werewolf; her magic needed time to recoup, and she didn’t know how much time they had.
Still slowly stroking his cheek, his breathing had deepened while she’d been lost in her thoughts, but as she lifted her eyes the heat of his gaze had focused on her breasts.
His speed was breath-taking as he grabbed her, pushing her flat onto the carpet, his cuffed wrists holding her hands above her head.
She knew something crazy was seriously affecting her judgment, but the heat of him was searing, and she was so tired of trying to fight the attraction between them.
He nuzzled her jaw, his whiskers scraping her skin as if he was rubbing her scent into his. The weight of his hips pressed heavily between her spread thighs, and she fought back a moan as he rolled against her.
The constant ache she felt from his nearness was only growing stronger, and the urge to wrap her legs around him was almost undeniable.
His head lifted, and he gazed at their wrists; his bound by her shackles, hers bound by his hands.
His chest tanned and barely covered, was just out of reach, the layered muscles shifted beneath torn cotton as his grip shifted, lacing their fingers together.
Could she do this? Could she take what was on offer? Slake her lust with him?
She had no idea how this would end, but she’d chosen her path, couldn’t she at least enjoy all of him, while there was still time?
Bloody right I can.
He clearly wasn’t going to hurt her, or anyone for that matter.
“Seb, you’re filthy.” She looked down at his tattered shirt and further, down the length of his jeans. She swept her eyes closed as heat and longing filled her face, and she arched her hips to his. With her voice barely a whisper, she said, “Wouldn’t you like a shower?”
His eyes pooled black as he watched her, the soft rise and fall of her breasts against his chest seemed to mesmerize him.
“A shower?” The dazed tone of his voice pleased her, she wanted to keep him off balance, to stop him thinking about anything else, to enjoy this like it could actually be real.