Dark Awakening

“Ty, then. Has there ever been a regular human who was born with a vampire mark?”



“Not that I’ve ever heard.”



“Can vampires have babies?”



He tried to picture bloodsucking babies. “Fortunately, no.”



“Oh.” Her voice was small and quiet, and Ty felt another ill-advised tug of sympathy for her. He might not have a lot going for him as a vampire, but at least he knew what he was and where he stood. Lily obviously did not. And he had begun to get the distinct impression that she never had.



“I just wish I knew what this thing meant,” she said, tapping her collarbone and the intricate design that was hidden beneath her shirt.



“Well,” he said as the car rushed deeper into the night, “that’s what we’re going to try and find out.”



Chapter SEVEN



HOURS LATER, as the sun neared the horizon and the sky went from black to a dull, dishwater gray, Lily sat in a dimly lit room in some mom-and-pop motel in western Ohio. She perched on the edge of the room’s sole, king-size bed, more tired than she’d ever been in her life and yet unable to relax enough to sleep. She ought to, though. She was going to need all the strength she could get.



Instead, she found herself watching Tynan. No, Ty, she corrected herself, trying to look like she wasn’t fully absorbed in every graceful feline movement he made, fascinated by both his preternatural beauty and the paradox she was already discovering him to be. Lily had no problem believing Ty was as much a killer as Damien and these Shades who were after her. He was probably all sorts of things, she thought as she watched him in the faint reflection off the television. Probably most of those things were unspeakably awful.



And yet, he had been kind to her when he didn’t have to be. He had talked to her, really talked, painting her a rudimentary picture of a vampire society that functioned in a way that was utterly alien to her. And despite Ty’s cool veneer, she had seen flashes of humor, of hurt, even of pity that made her want to know more of him.



The two of them had forged the beginnings of a connection. Lily knew she should turn away from it now, before it got any stronger. He was an ancient killer who had ripped her away from her home! And she… she was just Lily. A little strange, a little unfortunate, and yeah, a little telekinetic, but still just Lily Quinn.



She slid her eyes back to Ty’s most excellent backside and sighed. Easier said than done. A lot easier.



There was a soft rustle of fabric as Tynan finished preparing the room for daylight. Fortunately, he seemed oblivious to the fact that he had such an attentive audience. He’d been too busy jury-rigging the bed’s comforter over the curtains, ensuring that no light would enter the room. Extra pillows were pushed up against the crack at the bottom of the door, and a DO NOT DISTURB sign hung on the doorknob outside.



The light of the single lamp illuminating the grubby little room was already dim, and then vanished altogether when Ty turned the knob on it as he finished making the room into a cave for the day. Lily’s heart tripped in her chest as the room was plunged into blackness, and her eyes, unaccustomed to it, blinked sightlessly. Her breathing grew gratingly loud in her own ears. Ty made no sound at all.



Then the bed dipped beneath his weight.



“Give me your hands, mo bhilis.”



His voice scraped deliciously over her nerves, like fingernails over velvet. Against her will, Lily felt her awareness of him heightening. He smelled of moonlight, and the very nearness of him made her skin tingle in anticipation.



“Why?”



“So I can tie them, of course.”



“You’re going to tie my hands again?” Lily asked, hoping the pang of hurt she felt wasn’t obvious in her voice. How could he tie her now? Yesterday she had hated it, but at least she had understood. Now, though, he had opened up to her, at least a little. He’d made her feel like she was something more than just a pawn in all of this. And her reward for responding to his kindness was to be bound like a prisoner?



“You don’t need to do that this time,” she said firmly. “If I was going to try anything stupid, I would have done it by now.”



“Glad to hear it,” Tynan said, his velvet voice far more soothing than his words. “Still, I’m sure an intelligent woman like yourself would agree that, given the situation, a little insurance is in order. What would I do if, for instance, you decided to get up, have a peek out the window, and wound up incinerating me? Or you could just decide to murder me in my sleep. Stranger things have happened.” His voice was infuriatingly reasonable.



“I’m not like that.”



“I don’t know you,” he replied, his soft purr now edged with warning. It shouldn’t have bothered her. What did she care what this creature thought of her? And yet his casual assertion that she could do something either stupid or homicidal if he left her untied rankled.



“I’m not an idiot,” she said, sounding a little more snappish than she’d intended. “I told you that I want to know what my tattoo means. Besides, didn’t we already establish that if I run, I’ll still have an assassin after me? And I don’t have any wooden stakes on me. I’m no Buffy. I’d be toast.”



She heard his snort in the darkness and realized she’d managed to amuse him. Knowing he thought she was being funny didn’t exactly make her feel any better.



“What?” she asked irritably.



“You can’t kill us with stakes, sweet. You’d need a blade. Think you’ve got the strength to cut off a man’s head?”



She kept her voice deliberately sweet when she answered him. “If you’re that curious, I’m willing to try.”



This time he laughed, and the silken sound of it sent a shiver of pleasure down Lily’s back. This was ridiculous, sparring with him, deliberately egging him on, though the information about how to kill a vampire was at least useful, if completely nauseating. But she was glad to have pulled Ty back out of cold-blooded vampire minion mode and glad it hadn’t even taken much effort.



“You’ve got a mouth on you, woman.”



She could hear his smile in the words, turning the insult into a sort of backhanded compliment. Lily felt her own lips curving up in return, felt her tense muscles beginning to relax with their easy banter. Ty’s eyes lit as he watched her, cat’s eyes glowing a soft silver through the thick darkness that surrounded them. They were all she could see.



“My mouth is part of my charm.”



“Aye. That it is.” There was a rough edge to his words, and tension flooded back into Lily’s system, though this time it was of a very different sort. She knew he was looking at her lips. They felt warm, as though his gaze were a sort of kiss. Desire, unwanted but undeniable, fluttered nervously in her belly. Disconcerted, Lily tried to shift the conversation back into safer territory.



“Look, Ty. The point is, I won’t mutilate your corpse, and I won’t fry you. I won’t even run up the telephone bill. But you’re not tying me up again.” She paused, wondering if an appeal to his better nature was worthwhile. But the heat in his eyes decided for her.



“Being tied up in a hotel room all day while you sleep, or whatever, really creeps me out. I only managed to sleep yesterday because I was exhausted. Today, I’ll just be sitting here. Please don’t do that to me.”



He hesitated for a moment.



Then his hand brushed hers. Lily pulled away with a jerk, startled by the sensation of his skin against hers, by the way her lack of sight seemed to have intensified her sense of touch. Caught entirely off guard, she could only utter a single word.



“Please,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper.



His voice was soft, husky, and strangely soothing. “Give me your hands, mo bhilis. I won’t hurt you,” he coaxed. “I can help you, I think. If you let me.”



It was so appealing, the thought of letting another soothe her, of giving over just a bit of control so that she could rest. And as strange as it was, she felt certain that Ty was sincere in his offer. Just another puzzling piece of what was shaping up to be a very appealing whole.



“Are you still going to tie me up?”



“I can’t take the chance of leaving you free, no matter how small the possibility of you escaping. But it won’t matter to you if you sleep. Let me help you, Lily. I don’t have many gifts, but this is one I’m glad to share with you. One I promise you’ll appreciate.”



She relented. It was an offer she knew she’d be a fool to refuse. Lily wordlessly held her hands toward him, where they were caught in a grip that was surprisingly gentle. He began to wrap a length of what felt like thin rope around her wrists, binding her hands with a knot that felt intricate even without seeing it. She dipped her head, trying to watch what her eyes struggled to pick up in the darkness. Each subtle brush of his skin against hers was a torment to her, but not because he repulsed her, Lily found to her chagrin. Memories of their first encounter came flooding back, and she felt heat rush into her system as she recalled what it was like to have those hands in her hair, his body against hers.



His lips on her skin.



“Don’t look at what I’m doing. Look into my eyes,” he said. His voice was low, hypnotic, pulling Lily’s gaze right where he wanted it. Her breath caught in her throat at the way his eyes glowed, as bright as twin moons. There was such power there, the sort of strength and ruthless determination that no human could possess. Unnerved, she tried to look away, but she was caught, seemingly unable to move. Panic bloomed quickly in her chest.



“No, no, don’t do that,” he murmured, and again his voice was a balm to her frayed nerves. “Relax, Lily. Just look at me, and let everything else go. Just for now. No more worry. No more fear. Just you and me, here and now. Let go.”



Her breathing slowed. Ty’s words felt like a caress, and she found that it was easy, so wonderfully easy, to focus on the moment so long as she kept her eyes locked with his. As his hands moved over hers, winding the cord, she found it harder and harder to care about him tying her up. His touch was gentle, and Lily relaxed into it. His words echoed in her mind like a chant.