The Tempting Touch Of Fire (Elemental Awakening, Book 1) (31 page)

I wanted a lot of things, but the Dark Shadow only laughed. She laughed and laughed and laughed; taunting me, teasing me, belittling me. What I wanted was a pipe dream. What I wanted no longer existed for me.

The young guy returned for a final drink, a final smile and his final chance of escape.
Leave now,
my Light-filled side commanded.
Run while you can.
Instead I found myself saying, “Meet me out front in fifteen?” He nodded, in a daze. And I hadn't even used an ounce of
Sanguis Vitam
.

Fifteen minutes felt like fifteen hours. I worked on autopilot, but never failed to know where my target currently was. One sip of his drink. A bark of near drunken laughter in response to one of his friend's jokes. A hand through his sandy blonde short hair. A quick glance towards me at the bar. Then a furtive gaze over the top of another sip from his glass. He took a break to go to the toilet, but I wasn't concerned he would escape. His eyes never left me as he crossed the floor.

He wanted me to follow him, but I wouldn't.
Sensations
was off limits. He didn't know this, but even my Dark Shadow resisted my prey's pull. Patience was the hunter's helper. Patience and a keen nose for blood.

I served the last customers of the night and cleaned the bar top. Loaded the last of the glasses in the dish drawer under the bar, the rest would go out to the kitchen and the larger dish drawers there. The busboy could handle those. The bell was rung, the bar was closed and Doug proceeded to gently round up the crowd and suggest they head for the door. He never turfed them out immediately. Always gave them a moment to gather their courage and finish their drinks.

The pull that brought the Norms to the bar was hard to switch off. Even if the vampires had all but left, waiting in the shadows on the street outside, the Norms clung to the safety they perceived in the dim light of the club. It was only their sense of propriety that convinced them in the end to leave.

I chucked my apron in the hamper by the basement door and fished my keys out of my pocket, giving the illusion of normalcy. Doug watched as I crossed the floor to the front door. Normally I would say good-bye, but my fangs were too long to talk.

I stepped out into the cool night air and walked some distance away. Stashing my keys back in my pocket, I removed my disposable contact lenses and discarded them in a nearby bin. No more than thirty seconds later my prey emerged from the sanctum of the club.

I sighed. He'd had his chance not to follow. I hadn't even looked at him as I left the bar. He could have taken a bit longer to finish his drink, Doug would have allowed it. Even knowing I needed to feed, Doug still fights for the Norms rights to say no. He would have provided a safe haven for my young guy, if the young guy had indicated he needed one.

He hadn't, so here we were. Him saying goodbye to his friends. A few coarse comments and ribbing from his supposed mates and then with hands in pockets he sauntered over to where I stood in the shadows of a tall building. Waiting.

“
Hi,” he said awkwardly. Not sure what to do now when faced with the object of his desire. I smiled winningly and batted my eyelashes a little demurely making sure he couldn't see the red that now would be obvious in the lights. This one would like a little less brash and a little more girl, I thought. He relaxed ever so slightly.

“
Do you live around here?” I had a sudden hankering for more than just blood. Or at least, my Dark Shadow did.

“
No, North Shore.” Damn. I didn't ever take them home, even when the Dark Shadow won and I let her feed off more than just blood. It was never at my place. That was my sanctuary. My haven from the evil in the world.

“
Come on,” I said and clasped his hand, “walk with me a bit.”

His palm was sweaty. He was nervous. I didn't think he had picked a girl up in a bar before. I'd have to make sure I gave him a good memory when I finally glazed him, but first, we needed a quiet spot.

I had no intention of harming him. My Dark Shadow may have wanted more than just blood and sex, but I was still in charge. I would take only what I needed and no more, and in return he'd have a memory to rival all others. That way, Lucinda wouldn't feel compelled to hunt me. To follow that Nosferatin pull that would lead her to a vampire about to kill.

Young pre-college boy didn't know what he was offering, but he was offering it willingly. There was no theft about to be performed.

I led him down a dark alley away from the late night, or early morning bustle, of Karangahape Road, or K Road as we called it. He followed without a care, he was so besotted he didn't even realise the danger he was willingly walking into. I stopped at the darkened stoop of the back door to a business, long since closed for the day. Turning to him, I laced my arms about his neck and pulled his body against mine.

“
You're cute,” I purred against his ear, his hands started roaming hungrily. I wished for the thousandth time, that they would fight. That this one would be the one to deny me what my body craves. This one would hold the key to my salvation. But he didn't. He wanted me as much as I wanted him. But, for a very different reason.

His hand had made it under my tank top, one smooth move and he had released my bra strap at the back. I was impressed, but also hungry. My eyes when I opened them cast an eerie red glow about the alley we are in. I let him cop a feel then pulled back and whispered, “Look at me.”

He did, they all do. It was so damn easy I wanted to cry. In a second he'd think he was between silk sheets, wrapped up in an unknown woman's embrace. She'd be hot, he'd think he was in heaven. I made him believe he performed magic with his hands and mouth. That she told him he was the best she had ever had. She cried out in ecstasy again and again and he knew it was because of him. I made him believe he was a god tonight.

Then I bit. I bit before I lost my courage. I bit before the Light inside rebelled. I had come too far to not feed this night. If the Dark Shadow was denied now, people would die.

The first mouthful of his life giving blood exploded in my mouth. I cried out in bliss, giving the guy in my arms real material for his glazed induced dream. One swallow led to another and another. The world dimmed to just me and my prey. So sweet, so thick, so beautiful. In that moment I worshipped the body before me. I honoured it with each pull of blood from its veins. I relished it. I devoured it. I consumed it.

I was alive again and the world was a brighter place.

And then I heard the faint beat of his heart; staggering, failing, slowing. The Dark Shadow growled when I tried to withdraw my fangs. This was the hardest part. The battle of wills. She was strong, but then so was I. I would not harm this boy, this giver of life. I would not kill despite my body's desire to do so. We raged a war for a few more seconds, seconds that felt too long for the boy and not long enough for the vampire within.

Finally, I won. I licked the puncture wounds closed. And breathed freely for the first time in days. My eyes would be cerulean blue again. My skin clear and soft and supple. To a Norm I would look full of life, glowing, ethereal almost. To a vampire I would be considered dangerous. There is nothing more powerful than a well fed Nosferatu.

The guy pulled back in a daze, his face one big lazy smile.

“
You were fantastic,” I whispered into the space between us. “Go catch a taxi and go home to sleep it off.”

He nodded, brushed a kiss against my lips. I let him. And then he was gone. And I was alone, in the murky shadows with my guilt and my rage and my hurt and anger and anxiety.

I was one of them tonight. I was the predator humans should fear. I was not the vampire hunter, I was the vampire.

The tears began and I slouched down into the darkness of the stoop.

I felt so damn alone.

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