A Diamond at Midnight (2 page)

Hunger turned her more dangerous than ever. She was a law unto herself and God help the one who thought to step between her and food this night. The only pleasure she received these days, came from the blood she drank.
The sweet warm flow of it as it dripped onto her greedy tongue.

She focused on the thoughts of the city as it awakened with the promise of lusty desires. Those who lived in a dull world by day would emerge by night, changed. They thought to sate their wicked appetites under the cover of darkness. Still, one mind was different. She closed her eyes and stopped dead in her tracks, then tuned her every nerve, her every thought to that one pattern of thought. His boredom struck her like a cattle prod. His need to escape the madness of the city, to leave behind all that was colorful and slip inside his pale loneliness. She searched him out. Coming to an open door, music blasting so loudly the windows vibrated with the intensity, she stepped over the threshold and became like all the other partygoers. With the power of suggestion, they would see an image of mist and beauty and nothing more.

Diamonique
weaved through the gyrating bodies, until she was directly in front of the one she’d chosen to give her nourishment. As if sensing her, he turned around. The beauty of his eyes struck her. Eyes the color of the daytime sky she missed so much; striking and sensual, as they caressed her face. Something about his eyes seemed familiar, but she couldn’t think why. The song changed to a slow romantic tune and a woman’s lilting voice filled the room.
 

Her lids closed and an image of Cain sprang to mind. It startled her. Thinking of him made her remember all the passion they’d shared. The music, the soft lights, all of it coaxed her into wishing for the unattainable. For once, she let herself float along, feeling the rhythm catch in her heart. Cain’s face, his strong arms and powerful body took over her thoughts. She ached to have his lips pressed to hers just once more.
Diamonique
wanted his hot gaze searing her and seeing into her soul the way only he could. She needed and wanted and the music gave it to her. If only in her imagination, it was enough.

With her eyes closed, it felt as if she were drifting in a dream. Her hands went where she wanted Cain’s to be once more, stroking her own neck the way his lips once had—driving her mad with the tease of his tongue. Her hands journeyed downward, until her fingers hooked beneath the hem of her skirt. A hot breath against her cheek startled her out of her fantasy.

“You’re beautiful.”

It was the man she’d come to entice.

Not Cain.

That should have pleased her. Cain was the past.

The song ended, she stepped back and breathed a sigh of relief. But as she studied the handsome stranger, his silent intensity washed over her. His eyes were dark with an enticing promise of an inner fire. She could see and feel what he wanted so clearly in her mind.
His body covering hers, entering hers, their passions mounting and dueling.
It stopped abruptly; the images disappearing so fast she wondered if she were truly in charge of her own mind.

The music changed once again, the tempo faster, the romantic tune gone, but the mood was still there. She was still as edgy, still as ready, and the stranger was still standing in front of her, staring at her, waiting for her to surrender.

Diamonique
glided a step closer, bringing their bodies into contact. She could smell his natural masculine scent. For the first time, she realized what it was about a man that made women lose their heads. That smell, that all too enthralling maleness. It made her long to run her tongue over his beautiful full lips.

Rising up on her tiptoes, she took a taste. Initiating the first contact gave her a sense of feminine power. He kept his hands at his sides, as if not sure how to respond.
As her fingers went to his hair, his arms closed around her in a tight embrace.
Diamonique
grabbed handfuls of dark silk and pressed her lips to his, she was eager to taste him. She coaxed his lips apart with her tongue and delved inside. She angled her head, deepening the kiss and felt the sudden change in him. He’d had enough of standing and doing nothing. When she was ready to pull back, the room spun. She’d gone too long without blood. Her cells were shriveling with each second that passed, her mind turned to mush, as she tried to concentrate on the male in her arms. She wanted to kick herself for using her power of flight when she was already so weak. It made her vulnerable. Not since Cain had she felt this way.

Diamonique
longed to feel this man succumb to her lips at his throat. She used her voice like a weapon, softly luring him outside, away from the revelry. To her shock, he smiled and took her by the hand as if unaffected by the hypnotic notes. Suddenly, he was the one in control as he steered her down the alley behind the nightclub, beyond the eyes of the curious.

She tuned out the smells, the stench of the trash that hugged every crevice and seemed to cling to her skin like a sickening glove. She frowned as she tried to concentrate, but all she received for her efforts was a headache and no answer as to why she was letting him take the lead.

Shaking off her lethargy,
Diamonique
moved in front of him and let him look his fill, allowed his eyes to travel the length of her body. His gaze took in the flow of the silky dress, breasts that threatened to spill out of the scoop neckline, and the black spiked heels encrusted with the diamonds that were her namesake. He watched as she moved her legs apart and let the silk fall away from one calf, the slit reaching clear to her waistline. His eyes heated instantly. His heart beat loud in her ears, his blood pumping hard.

Beckoning her to drink.

Pleading for
Diamonique
to sate herself with this stranger.

She lifted her hand to the back of his neck and pulled him down, then silently slipped inside his mind, reading his thoughts easily. He was a flurry of sexual lust. He ached to sink his heavy length inside her body. Nothing seemed to matter to him except the swell of hip that protruded from the open dress.

Diamonique
felt his hands there, even as her teeth scored his soft skin. His musky male scent bombarded her senses, as she tasted his sweet blood. Only once before had she tasted such nectar. Before she could explore the remembrance, his strong capable hands massaged the junction of her thighs. Her tongue continued to tease the blood from his willing veins, each in their own way fulfilling their lust. She let the moment drag out, longer than ever before. She loved his strong, capable hands massaging where she needed him the most. Even as her tongue continued to lap sweet sustenance,
Diamonique
felt her own climax mounting.

Then he spoke.

“My beautiful, Diamond, I thought I’d lost you forever.”

That voice! Warm velvet skimmed the length of
Diamonique’s
body. Every muscle went rigid with disbelief.

It was Cain!

The one who’d turned her into this monster of the dark.

She wrenched out of his arms.

“You were projecting false thoughts,” she accused, “so I wouldn’t know it was you.”

She readied herself for battle. But he only stood there, eyes full of laughter as if mocking her. His grin triggered
Diamonique’s
rage as his gaze traveled over her body with
a possessiveness
he had no right to.

Her blood craving withered.

“You must have a death wish.” Her voice deliberately harsh and cold as her cells began to pulse with life once more, giving back her strength as her rage grew. Unfortunately, she was also able to see the man who’d so easily hidden his true self from her. No wonder she hadn’t recognized him, as an ancient, Cain had cloaked his appearance.

“Now why would you say that, love?”

“You dare come to me after what you’ve done!”

His eyes lit up with understanding, as if just remembering.
 
“Ah, you must mean the whore. Is that what has you all in a lather?”

Diamonique’s
spine stiffened. Her fists clenched and unclenched in an effort to stay in control. “She has a name, use it.”

“
Sareena
is dead.”

She hadn’t expected that, but then she didn’t really care. “And you’re telling me why?”

He drove a hand through his long black hair and sighed, as if tired. “It’s a long story, but her death affects you a great deal.”

“Screw off.”

“You have a wicked mouth, Diamond.”

“And you and I were finished a century ago. Leave here, Cain. This is my turf.”

“Afraid I can’t do that, love.”

“Then I will.”

She turned to go, but he grabbed her and hauled her close.

Too close.

She tried to jerk free, but he was too strong. “Let go, damn you!”

“No. You will listen to what I have to say.”

Diamonique
knew it was useless. Cain’s stubbornness would continue until she heard him out.

“Fine.
Speak.”

****

Cain couldn’t help himself; he so enjoyed watching Diamond get all riled. She was just so damn delicious when her face heated and her breasts rose and fell in agitation.

“Good girl.” He hoped to piss her off more. He was rewarded when she stiffened her spine and stuck her impertinent nose in the air. Good. He’d take stubborn any day over the cold, empty look he’d seen in her pretty, green eyes moments earlier.

“You stepped over the line when you took
Sareena
to bed.”

She swiped her tongue over her lips and licked the remaining droplets of his blood into her voracious mouth, causing his body to ache for her touch. “She meant nothing to me. There was never anything more than sex and only that once. Why must you read more into it?”

She smirked at him, which set off
his own
anger.

“It’s always just sex with you, Cain.”

Cain looked her over with renewed interest. “Who says?”

Chapter Two

“I don’t suppose you’re here to tell me that you’d decided to join dear
Sareena
in death like a good little boy?”

Laughter rose up at her question. “I think you know me better than that.” He leaned in close and whispered, “I’ve always been a
very
bad boy. Don’t you remember, love?”