She clutched his shoulders and screamed “Yes!” as he pounded into her hot slit. His desire reached fever pitch, and he shifted his mouth to her neck, broke the skin with the sharp points of the fangs he’d allowed to descend, and sucked the blood from her pulsing vein. Tempest gasped, and her body stiffened.Malveaux soothed her with a distracting suggestion.
Almost out of his mind from the taste of her crimson gift, he pumped frantically, enjoying the body rushes provoked by the ingestion of her blood. Satiated, he lifted his head from the small wounds, laved his tongue over them to stop the bleeding, and threw back his head with passionate abandon. The tension finally reached critical mass, and together Tempest andMalveaux exploded in pleasure, both groaning and clinging to each other.
As the wave subsided, Tempest relaxed her grip on his shoulders, opened her eyes, and met his. He gazed into the dark brown depths of her eyes and felt as if he were standing on the edge of an abyss, a dangerous black hole filled with forbidden emotions and needs. It was a place he never knew existed, at least not for him.
Tenderly, he brought his lips to hers, teasing his tongue into her mouth. She opened for him and danced her tongue around his. He deepened the kiss, slowing the movement of his lips, and held her tighter. His c*ck went rigid again inside her, and he groaned as she tightened her muscles, holding him like a hot, wet hand. The kiss became more intense, more intimate. He began moving his c*ck inside her warmth in long, slow strokes, locking his mouth on hers. It was the first time he’d experienced a kiss more erotic than f**king.
As they climbed toward orgasm, his thrusts became deeper, faster, until they each groaned their release.
Finally breaking the kiss,Malveaux used one hand to turn off the water.
“I think we’re water-logged enough. Let’s go find a bed.”
He braced her ass and walked them out of the shower stall. He grabbed a towel, his half-erect c*ck still nestled inside Tempest’s vagina, her legs still wrapped around his hips.
She sucked his lower lip into her mouth, slowly released it, and then smiled. “You really are onehelluva lover, Dracula. I’mkinda sorry you’re an undead psycho fiend because we could’ve had some fun together.”
He laughed. “We will have some fun together, my sweet offspring. After tonight, our lives will change forever. But it is possible that you could still have your musical career. It’s perfect for a vampire, since you would work at night. In fact, we might relocate to a better place for a musician to find success, and I can be your manager. After all, humans can’t resist me. Imagine the deals I could negotiate for you.”
She met his eyes, expression serious. “See? I knew it. I can read between the lines. You won’t really turn me into a bloodsucker. You like me too much. You don’t want to hurt me.”
He laughed, but was troubled by her words. They held a ring of truth.
“Wishful thinking, my dear.You definitely have the wrong idea about me. I’m a heartless killer who never had a warm thought about anyone. It simply isn’t part of my programming. You’re merely support personnel.Granted, beautiful and amusing, but of no real consequence.”
She searched his eyes, then quirked an eyebrow.“Yeah, sure.Whatever you say. I’m a goodbullshitter , too, and it takes one to know one.”
It suddenly occurred to him that she might be picking up some of his thoughts. Maybe the slight sharing of blood had opened the gates both ways. How else could she know about his momentary weakness?
He’d have to complete the ritual before he had any more lapses of reason.
They reached a nearby bed, and he used the towel to blot the water from the easily-reachable parts of their bodies. He threw the wet cloth aside, lowered them onto the thin mattress, and then kissed her.
Abruptly she turned her head and pushed at his chest. “Hey, wait! I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. We’ve had sex a bunch of times without any protection. You must have zapped me with vampire voodoo because I’ve never forgotten to use a rubber. Can vampires transmit diseases? Can you get me pregnant? Am I even more screwed than I thought?”
He lifted his head and grinned. “No. No.Definitely yes. I’d say you’ve been thoroughly screwed.”
“Do all vampires have as big an ego as you do?”
“No. I’m unique. Let me give you a demonstration.” He found her lips again and began pumping his erection into her willing wetness. She groaned and lifted her legs higher to take him deeper. She contracted her vaginal muscles, causing him to spasm inside her.
He loved the feel of her tight pu**y and her firm, curvaceous body. She was everything he could have asked for and more.
Sensing her approaching orgasm, he lifted his mouth from hers and gazed into her eyes. “I’m not going to mute your awareness this time as I take your blood. I’ll erase the pain, but you’ll feel everything else clearly. I want you to experience me inside you in every way. After I take your blood, I’ll give you mine.”
Thrusting vigorously, he lowered his mouth to her neck and pierced the vein.
Tempest gasped, pushed at his chest and yelled, “No! Please don’t do this!” She started sobbing, her efforts to dislodge him useless.
Despite her resistance, her body continued to respond to his pounding c*ck and slipped over the edge.
She surrendered into her body’s release, and relaxed her arms, exhausted, no longer able to fight.
He followed, groaning with his own orgasm, and then lifted his mouth from her bleeding neck.
Pointedly ignoring her, he raised his upper body, used his sharp fingernail to make a cut above his nipple, and grasped the back of her neck to guide her mouth toward the blood flowing from the small wound.
“Drink.”He knew she couldn’t refuse a direct command.
She drew her tongue across the dripping lines of blood as he silently repeated the first half of the magical words necessary to seal the bond.
She turned her head away. “Please don’t. I don’t want to be a vampire. Don’t do this.” Her sobs forced him to meet her tear-filled eyes, and he felt an overwhelming pain.
The memory of the night he was captured, raped, and forced to give up his human life came back to him like a waking nightmare.
He dropped Tempest’s head and stared down at her. Fuck it. He couldn’t do it. Couldn’t be what his sire was, even if it meant his own destruction. He’d find someone else. Either a willing participant or someone so foul that she -- or he -- deserved to be the servant of the damned.
He climbed off Tempest and stood looking down at her as she cried, one arm thrown over her eyes.
Something triggered his awareness, and he swiveled in time to see a dozen vampires transforming from mist to male forms.
Quadestepped forward, smiling.“Ah,Malveaux . What a pleasure it is to finally meet you, although I’m sure the pleasure is all mine.”
“What do you want?”Malveaux growled.
“Why, I want you dead, of course, and I’ll take your little human plaything as a trophy of war.” He signaled his undead companions. “Kill him. Take the girl.”
Tempest yelled and kicked her legs, fighting hard as two of the vampires grabbed her and wrapped her in the blanket from the bed.Malveaux leaped at her captors, only managing to pull at the arms of one of the bloodsuckers holding her before a wooden spear pierced the center of his chest, and he fell, gasping.
Chapter Eleven
“Malveaux!”Tempest screamed as she saw him crumple to the floor. She goggled at the wooden shaft protruding from his chest and watched the blood ooze from the edges of the wound. He lay motionless, still as death, his skin a sickening gray.
Quadestood overMalveaux , shaking his head. “And I thought The Assassin would be a worthy opponent. Someone I could kill with pride. What a disappointment. Ah, well.” He turned his pale eyes toward Tempest, who still struggled in the arms of a huge, foul-smelling male. “I hope at least he was a good f**k and that he went out with a bang.”
He laughed, flashing fangs. He obviously found his bad joke hilarious.
Tempest shuddered. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the man in charge was dangerous. He looked like a larger, heavier Billy Idol, his light blond hair standing out in spikes around his head, his upper lip in a permanent sneer. No British accent, though.Closer toBoston , but with something else thrown in.
As tempting as it was to dismiss him because of his caricatured appearance, she knew it would be a mistake. Something crazy and dark gazed out of those cloudy eyes.
He sidled over to Tempest, lifted one side of the blanket covering her, and grabbed her breast.
“Hey, a**hole!Let go!”
An evil grin quirked his lips.“I look forward to finding out what The Assassin saw in you, why he became so distracted around you.” He bent down, licked her nipple, then laughed as she flailed, pushing him away. “Excellent!A wild bitch.” He cupped himself. “I can’t wait.”
“Should we cut his head off, Master?” a tall, skeletal vampire asked, pointing toMalveaux .
QuadestudiedMalveaux , his head tilting from side to side. “I suppose we should. Just to put him out of his misery. But then again, his death is so much more hideous this way, and I do enjoy a horrible, lingering end for my enemies.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Tempest demanded.
Quadeswiveled his gaze back to Tempest. “While the spear remains in his heart, he’ll be lightly conscious, suffering, until he dies of thirst. I hear going without blood for weeks is, to say the least, painful.” He paused, his wicked grin reappearing. “Why don’t we let you choose? What’ll it be, my dear?A quick decapitation or a slow, torturous drying out?”
Tempest shifted her eyes toMalveaux sprawled on the floor, his gorgeous face lifeless as a corpse. She didn’t know what the punk rocker was talking about. It was obviousMalveaux was dead. Nothing alive could be that color, but when it came toMalveaux , what did alive mean? She believed he was a vampire, but she didn’t understand how he could still be conscious while impaled.
Her chest felt so tight she could hardly breathe. Tears sprang to her eyes, and she had to press her lips tightly together to forestall her chin’s quivering. She had a powerful sense of déjà vu , remembering the bad feelings she’d experienced less than twenty-four hours earlier when she’d thoughtMalveaux dead.
Ever since he’d entered the bar, her life had been shit, but why was she so sad? Why did seeing him like that hurt so much?
One thing was certain. She f**king well wasn’t going to help the vampire a**holes kill him.
Quadepushed his face close to hers.“Why so quiet, little human? Vampire got your tongue?” He noticed the tears gathering in her eyes. “What’s this?Tears?For your vampire captor? Is it possible you have feelings for the rotting carcass?”
He walked over and kickedMalveaux in the ribs. Tempest gasped, struggling to break free of Frankenstein’s grasp, “You f**king a**hole. Leave him alone.”
She managed to extricate an elbow and slammed it hard into the tender area at the base of the big monster’s throat. She didn’t know if the trick would work on vampires as it did on humans, but she was beyond logical thought.
Apparently, it did work the same because the big guy dropped her to the floor as he clutched his neck, gagging.
She rose up from the blanket like a nude, avenging warrior goddess, her hands fisted and her eyes narrowed.
Quadebarely had time to give her a surprised look before she leaped through the air, executing one of her favorite martial arts moves, and thrust her feet into the center of his chest, sending him flying backwards into the wall.
She figured he wouldn’t be hurt, but he’d be pissed. She was right.
The circus of the fanged surrounded her.Quade’s minions formed a growling, wild-eyed, canine-exposed circle,their hands pulling at her.“Stop!”Quade commanded. “She’s mine.”
He seemed to will himself to become vertical, then brushed off his studded leather pants and smiled.
In the split second he hesitated before sauntering to where Tempest stood, she clearly heard a whisper in her mind. Offspring. She froze, listening. You must pull the spear from my chest. I will confuse them for a few seconds. That’s when you must act. I will come and find you.
What? She stared down atMalveaux , then atQuade and his slaves. None of them gave any indication that they’d heard anything. Sliding her gaze back toMalveaux , she could’ve sworn she’d seen his eyelids flutter. Then everything went crazy.
All the vampire thralls swarmed towardQuade , arms out, hands grasping, just like a scene in Night of the Living Dead . For the second time, the Master flashed a surprised expression as he backed up, attempting to evade his now-attacking troops.
Tempest eased over toMalveaux , knelt, and grabbed the spear lodged in his heart. “Fuck,Malveaux . I can’t just rip this thing out of your chest. You’ll bleed to death or something.” He gave an almost-imperceptible nod, and she heard, Youmust. Quickly.
Well, it was his funeral.
She wrapped her hands around the shaft and pulled. Nothing happened. The sucker was in there. She let go, shook her hands, then grabbed on again. This time she pushed with her legs as well as her arms, lifting herself as she felt the spear begin to give. As it loosened, it made horrible, flesh-tearing, organ-rending sounds.
She stuck her tongue out. “Yuck. That’s the grossest thing I’ve ever heard. For sure you’re dead now.”
She tugged one last time, and the wood came free.
“Get off me, you bloodsucking morons!”Quade bellowed. “I’ll rip your hearts out for this! Grab the girl!”
Just as she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and noticed the undead herd turning back in her direction,Malveaux’s body vanished, and a silvery mist floated out of the room. I’ll find you, she heard.