A Vampire's Soul (12 page)

“No!” I shrieked. If the animal meant to harm Gabriel, then it would have to take me first. I tried to move forward, but felt long fingers around my wrist, holding me fast.

“You have made your choice,” the gravelly voice hissed in my ear, “and the lesser beasts are pleased. Now they, too, have chosen. Watch and remember so you will know always what he was . . . and what he chose to become.”

Blue-gold eyes turned toward me, blazing with an intensity that reached down into the core of my being. I knew that my fate was now joined to Gabriel's in ways I couldn't begin to understand. And then I watched as he turned his head and looked up at the creature straddling him. Something passed between them . . . something given, something taken. And the air, which had become heavy with its own silence, was torn open in a deafening bellow that threatened to split the heavens.

The bony fingers holding my wrist loosened their hold, and I fell to my knees, unable to tear my eyes away from the scene before me. Wickedly sharp fangs now pierced the soft flesh of Gabriel's throat, his blood overflowing the leopard's jaws, running in a frantic rush from the wound. Weak from so much blood loss already, Gabriel made no move to protect himself. With the weight of one massive paw holding him down, he passively accepted whatever fate was to be his.

I turned my head away, unable to watch the life force ebb out of the only love I would ever know. Everything was lost before it ever had a chance to begin. Did Gabriel even know I loved him?

“Watch!” a voice commanded from above me.

Raising my head, I looked at the beast. Muzzle and fangs stained with blood, it stared back at me with unblinking eyes that had changed from orange to a familiar blue-gold. Now I understood the need for my approval.

“Did you think you are the only ones who pray for deliverance?” the Wraith asked with a sneer in its voice.

Yes, I suppose I had. I was wrong about that, and so much else, it would seem. My head was suddenly filled with images that were not my own. Images that showed the natural order of life, the delicate balance among all living things, being unjustly tipped in mankind's favor by greed and deceit. Helpless at their inability to restore stability, the lesser beasts prayed to the Dark for help. Needing a champion of their own, they asked for . . . a reason to make men afraid of the Dark once more. Now eyes that flickered between orange and blue-gold gazed at me, telling me that I, too, was a part of that prayer.

And then I saw the beast lie down on top of Gabriel, covering him with its long, muscular body and blood-spattered paws. It sank inside him, and my breath caught in my throat. I knew better than to try and make sense of what I was seeing. It was beyond my comprehension. Understanding wasn't needed. Acceptance was.

The lesser beasts had made their choice. The strongest among them would sacrifice themselves in order to enhance Gabriel's own abilities. Now he would be able to call upon the leopard's lightning-quick reflexes, speed, and strength. Take the acute senses, razor-sharp fangs, and claws and use them as his own. The blending of fallen angel and savage animal would birth a new predator. One that was near invincible. One that was forged in blood.

A vampire. And I had witnessed its birth. I was there. And I remembered.

F
illed with a mix of relief and sadness, I threw back the quilt and stumbled out of bed. I had just reached the bottom of the staircase when the front door burst open and Gabriel took me down in a move that would have made an NFL linebacker proud. We sailed about a dozen feet through the open kitchen doorway, but he made sure it was his back that hit the ground instead of mine. Cushioning me against his chest, he rolled over, pinning me beneath him on the braided floor rug. Somewhere in our flight I had automatically snaked an arm around his neck. I now put the hand of my free arm against his chest, feeling the accelerated beat of his heart.

“Rowan, are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?”

His tone was frantic, and his hands were all over me, although what he was expecting to find, I couldn't imagine. I'm not sure he knew either. It wasn't until he pushed my T-shirt up and I felt cold air brushing across an exposed nipple that I found my voice.

“Gabriel!”

He froze, his expression as easy for me to read as a first-grade primer. Anxiety and worry screamed at me. He traced my cheek with his thumb and then put it to his mouth, sucking off the moisture.

“You've been crying . . . you still are.”

He covered my naked breast with his hand, and my nipple hardened as it happily nudged his palm. Loosening my arm from around Gabriel's neck, I put my hands on either side of his face and looked up at him. Anxiety and worry now gave way to loving concern—concern that centered entirely around me—my well-being, my safety, my happiness. My dream had not been a dream. It was the memory Gabriel needed me to remember. The moment when I had first seen him, before he became a vampire, when he was still an angel, albeit a fallen one.

Now I struggled to recall the words the Wraith had said to me, telling me how and why Gabriel had been punished so cruelly. It was no good, they were gone, but the despair Gabriel had experienced had not left me. That I felt all too clearly. His sense of being forsaken, abandoned, was almost more than I could bear. I wanted to ask him how long he had been imprisoned. The Wraith had said something about the last Armageddon, but who knew when that had been. I was starting to believe time was a concept that could be adapted to suit many needs.

Gabriel had told me there was a bond between us, and now, for the first time, I truly felt it. It made no difference what he was. Vampire, angel, or man, he loved me. And I loved him. It really was that simple. Moisture trickled out the corner of my eye, sliding toward my ear as I lay on the floor.

“Please, don't cry,” Gabriel begged, a deep furrow appearing between his brows.

“I remembered,” I told him, trying to keep my voice as calm as I could with more than six feet six inches of vampire inadvertently flattening me. “My memory came back.”

“You remembered?”

Somehow he didn't look as reassured by this news as I thought he might. The hand cupping my breast moved reflexively, his thumb brushing gently over my skin. I nodded and swallowed, trying not to draw any attention to what he was doing. If I did then he might stop, and I really didn't want him to do that.

“How much have you remembered?” Gabriel asked cautiously.

“It was in the clearing . . . when you were crucified.”

My words had the same effect as a bucket of cold water. The color drained from his face. He took away his hand and pulled down my T-shirt, disappointing my nipple. I knew he felt embarrassed to be copping a feel while I was dealing with something very profound. It was also kind of rude, and Gabriel now asked my forgiveness.

“It's all right,” I said, stroking my fingers gently over his shoulder. “You couldn't have known when it was going to happen. No one could.”

I gazed up at him, my attention diverted by the perfect shape of his mouth, especially the full bottom lip, a lip I desperately wanted to latch onto so I could suck it until I lost the strength in my jaw. Agreeing with this sentiment, my body let me know how delighted it was to find itself in such a familiar position. Lying beneath Gabriel, it went straight into sexual overdrive. My breasts became full and tight, and my nipples transformed themselves into bullets that threatened to do some serious damage if Gabriel leaned any farther forward. My spine melted, reforming itself as a puddle on the floor, and the heat that was dancing along my rib cage was approaching inferno level. Every muscle south of my belly button clenched.

And I wasn't the only one.

Gabriel was also on fire. I could feel the heat pulsating through his clothes and washing over me. His thigh was sandwiched between my legs, and I could feel his erection. Rock-hard and enormous, it poked at my belly through the pants I was still wearing. In a way it was gratifying to know that neither one of us had much control over our physical responses to the other.

The only sound filling the kitchen was our ragged breathing. We were both having difficulty dragging air into our lungs. Gabriel was a long cool glass of water, and I was a woman in the desert dying of thirst. Fuck sipping slowly; I wanted to guzzle him down. The mane of white hair I was so accustomed to see flowing over his shoulders was now fastened in a thick braid that fell forward and coiled on my chest. On any other man such a style would have looked seriously gay, but it made Gabriel look every inch the Viking warrior I was certain he had actually been at one time. I could almost see him wearing battle braids and leaping from a longboat ready to do battle.

The other advantage of having his hair pulled back, one I hadn't considered before, was the lack of visual interference. Nothing to get in the way of his wide forehead, high cheekbones, and angular jaw. Eyes framed by thick lashes bored into me while the line of his nose divided the perfect symmetry of his face.

“What were you doing?” I asked, stroking a forefinger down his braid and raising my eyebrows.

“Working out.”

“You need to do that?” I was surprised; I'd assumed all his muscle tone was natural, and required no upkeep.

“Not really, but I find it useful for dealing with stress.”

His eyes were glowing, and I saw slivers of gold begin to distort the smooth field of blue.

“What types of stress?”

“The kind that comes with frustration.”

He opened his mouth just enough for me to see the tips of his fangs. It was an absolute turn-on and my body moved into high-octane range. I needed Gabriel to either get in me or get off me, and soon! It was another moment or two before I realized that, no matter how aroused he was, my lover wasn't going to make the first move. Our physical desire for each other was mutual, but he would smother his own lust and walk away from me if he thought I wasn't ready. Grateful that I lacked such discipline, I let him know just how ready I was in the rush of breath that escaped me.

Shifting his weight slightly, Gabriel rubbed the hard length of himself across my pubic bone. It was enough to unleash everything I'd been holding inside since discovering he was a vampire. Like a dam bursting, I chose to express my feelings on a purely carnal level. We couldn't get our clothes off fast enough. Somehow, I was already naked before I'd even managed to tug Gabriel's muscle shirt out of the pants he was wearing. I cursed under my breath at the uncooperative fabric, making him grin as he took over. Jumping to his feet, he stood over me, and stripped off his clothes. I think the offending shirt ended up in the sink. Lying back down on top of me, he lifted his hips, allowing me to slide my hand between us and close it around his cock. I felt him shudder as I took the heavy weight of him in my palm, opening and closing my fingers as I massaged him.

Neither one of us was in the mood for gentle seduction. Gabriel kissed me hard and fast. His mouth was demanding, possessive, and I wanted everything he was prepared to give me. Greedily I pushed my tongue into his mouth, feeling the sharp points of his fangs as I slid between them, right before he nipped my lower lip. It was the most incredible turn-on. He growled. The sound rumbled deep in his chest as he looked at me, and my spine clenched in anticipation. Kneading my breast with one hand, Gabriel busied his mouth with the other, suckling my flesh and scraping the taut nipple with his teeth. I almost came right then, but held back because what I wanted, what I needed, was more.

I was drenched, my core hot and swollen, desperate to feel Gabriel muscle his way inside me. I wanted him to stretch me open, make me take him deep. With a will of their own, my legs wrapped themselves around his waist. He raised his head and looked down at me. My aching breasts and the torturous pleasure he been administering were forgotten. I grabbed the thick braid that hung over his shoulder and wrapped the rope of hair around my hand.

“Now,” I gasped in a voice thick with hunger, “I need you in me now!”

He knew how to follow directions. With one hard thrust he was all the way in, slanting his mouth over mine so he could swallow my shriek of pleasure. He was thick, hard, and just as hungry for me. And he felt bigger than before. My body took everything he had as he pounded into me. He kept one hand braced on the floor while the other was curled around my waist, his fingers gripping my flesh with each thrust of his hips.

I climaxed almost at once. Awash in a sea of orgasmic relief, I came and came again, and with each release I could feel Gabriel's body getting tighter. Every muscle pushed to its breaking point until he finally released the roar trapped inside and emptied himself inside me.

Collapsing, Gabriel buried his face in the hollow between my neck and shoulder, his breath hot against my skin. I placed my hand against his neck. His pulse was pounding so hard it was like a seismic event. If we had had difficulty breathing before, it was almost impossible now. The muscles in my thighs and lower body were screaming in protest at the violence of his invasion, but I brushed it aside. I didn't know it was possible to feel like this. Ecstasy. Euphoria. Bliss. None of those words did justice to the wave of pleasure that was continuing to ripple through me. Gabriel's lips pressed against the curve of my neck, the tip of his tongue tracing small circles as he lapped up the sweat on my skin.

Lifting his head, he opened his eyes and smiled down at me. And I stiffened. It was a purely involuntary action, but an understandable one, considering it was the first time I had truly seen his eyes change. His brow became a troubled frown.

“Your . . . eyes . . .” It was all I could manage.

The hot electric blue of Gabriel's iris had bled out to cover the sclera, and his pupils were now a brilliant gold. I had seen the same thing happen that night in the diner, only I had assumed I was having some sort of sex fantasy. Now I knew the reason why. Anasztaizia had warned me that vampire eyes could transform in this way, especially when the need to feed or have sex was strong enough. Considering what we'd just done, and the fact Gabriel had been licking my jugular, I was pretty confident I knew which appetite had the upper hand right now.

“Do it!” I said, my fingers digging into the back of his thick neck. He stared down at me, the frown deepening as if he did not trust what he was hearing. Tightening my legs around his waist, I pushed my hips up and felt him move deep inside me. All that was important was to satisfy this other hunger in him. “I want you to do this; I need you to do this,” I told him, my voice thick with emotion.

Pulling back, Gabriel broke my hold around his neck with ease. I watched his lips curl back as his fangs dropped. They seemed to go on forever. Pulling my hair to one side, I offered him free access to my neck. His pupils were now glowing twin suns.

“Are you sure?” The tip of his tongue darted out and he licked his lips. “You can still refuse me.”

It was foolish to think he couldn't sense my anxiety and the way it was spiking, but I needed him to know the reason for it. I had to reassure him before he made any wrong assumptions. “I'm worried that I won't know what to do . . . and that it'll hurt,” I admitted.

He grasped a loose curl and wound it around his forefinger, smiling down at me. “Giving yourself is all you have to do, and I promise, a bee sting feels worse.”

“Then do—”

He struck before I was able to articulate the rest of my sentence, his fangs puncturing my skin with pinpoint precision. I don't know about bee stings, but I've had red ant bites that felt worse. The long incisors sliced effortlessly through my skin, honing in on the vein running beneath the flesh and piercing it. As his fangs withdrew, I could feel my blood being pulled up, like liquid drawn into a syringe.

My body freaked out. Going into full panic, my self-preservation mode kicked in. I had no idea what a potent asset Mother Nature had given us in adrenaline. Twisting and turning, I tried to squirm out of Gabriel's grasp and free myself from his mouth. I drummed my heels in the small of his back, but it made no difference, so I dropped my legs and tried wriggling my way free. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten he was still buried deep inside me. Feeling his cock move reminded me of my accommodating position. Curling my hands into fists, I pounded on his back, his upper arms, his ribs—anywhere that I thought would make him release me. It was all pathetically useless.

With his mouth firmly latched onto my neck, he caught hold of my hands, securing the two of them easily in his one. As my blood was drawn out of me in long, slow pulls, my rational mind shut down completely, allowing primal instinct to take over. I went limp, gathering myself for one last-ditch effort at freedom. But Gabriel now had free access to my emotional state and was able to anticipate my next move.

Rolling onto his back, he wrapped his free arm and both legs around me, immobilizing me with his superior strength. I ceased my pitiful railings against him and accepted the inevitable, relaxing enough to release my mind as I did so. The resulting effect was off-the-wall amazing. A barrier deep inside me shattered, releasing a tidal wave of passion that I had never felt before. Now that I had stopped trying to fight what was happening to me, I found myself drowning in a sea of erotic pleasure. It was the most singular mind-blowing experience I've ever had.