Bitten by Darkness (11 page)

She
looked at him, standing strong and elegant next to a ship from
outer space
. “You're an alien.” She
rubbed her hand. It tingled.

He smiled
crookedly.
“Yeah.
Sort of.”

“Sort
of?” she scoffed. “Jasper, you just told me you came from another planet. That
means alien.
Little ‘green-men.’”
She curved her
fingers into air quotes.
“And probes.”
She almost
burst out laughing at the confusion on his face. Or maybe it was from the
overload of weirdness. She had to bite her cheek to tamp down the hysterical
giggles.

“Technically,
I came from
Dekcol
, a planet in the
Gliese
581 system. I wasn't lying, though, when I said I
used to live here. This is my family's home.” He waved at hand at the mansion.
“And I'm
not
green,” he tossed her a disgruntled look.

She
rolled her eyes. “Maybe you're green somewhere I haven't seen yet,” she said
then promptly blushed.
Oh my God what am I doing? Flirting with an alien?

She
ignored his chuckle and frowned, trying to cover up her embarrassment. “You
said that those not-stars were spaceships. And you implied that they had
something to do with all these attacks?”

He sighed
and turned away. “I suspect my enemies have followed me. Or come ahead of me, rather.”

“Wait a
second. You're telling me that your enemies are vampires?” Something wasn't
making sense. Her shoulders tensed up and she rubbed her neck, hoping to stave
off a tension headache. It didn’t help that he looked good enough to eat. She
wanted to climb all over him. His grey eyes glowed in the moonlight and the
shirt he wore didn't leave much to the imagination. She tore her eyes away.
Alien
,
she reminded herself.
No touching.
She valiantly tried to forget what
it’d felt like to kiss him, but he ran a hand down her back, obviously trying
to soothe. It wasn’t his fault it had the exact opposite reaction. She tried
not to let on how much she enjoyed his touch.

“What did
your mother tell you about vampires?”

She
shrugged. “They consume human blood to live. They're insane, like zombies.
Sunlight and wooden stakes kill them.”

He moved
closer. “Not quite. Yes, stakes will kill them, but only if they go through the
heart. Beheading works better. Sunlight is uncomfortable, not fatal. Revenants
consume human blood, but it’s an addiction, not a necessity. It causes brain
damage and the craving for more can make them act violently. Your mother was
only half-right. Vampires only become revenants when they consume sentient
blood, human or otherwise. It's an addiction to which some of my people all too
easily fall prey.”

Her heart
gave a dull thud.
His people?
“What are you
saying?” She twisted her hands together to hide the trembling.

He took
her wrists, kissed her fingers. His warm breath puffed against her skin. “My
people come from a planet tidally locked with its sun. Life evolved along the
thin line where night meets day. Where I come from, many creatures drink blood.
What makes my people different from the other life forms on the planet is our
sense of self.
Our sentience.”
He looked at her
steadily. “We're much like humans, in that sense.”

She tried
to pull her hands away, but he wouldn't let go. She stared at him and he
returned her gaze, grey eyes serious. He was so beautiful, yet what he was
telling her made her want to run. She stopped struggling, and let him keep her
fingers locked in his palms. He was warm. She remembered how soft his lips felt
and blushed. She was so confused. She didn’t know if she wanted to run away or
kiss him. Was he a monster?

He took a
deep breath and continued. “Except for one special situation, if any of us
drink the blood of another sentient creature, we lose our sense of ourselves.
We grow addicted. We lose our grasp on sanity.”

She
swallowed nervously and prodded that empty space inside her, not surprised to
find Jasper filling it up, just a little. She was so screwed. “Why would anyone
do that? It's like … cannibalism.”

“It's
exactly like cannibalism. Except some of them thought that if they drank the
blood of a sentient being from another planet, it would be okay. That because
it wasn't one of us…” He broke off and gripped her tightly, as if he was afraid
she would fly away if he let go.

Maybe
he's afraid, too, she thought, thinking hard. “It's not okay,” she said,
suddenly angry.

He closed
his eyes. “No, it's not.”

“You've
never—” she broke off, not wanting to ask.

“No!” His
face went grim.
“Of course not.
I would never do such
a thing. My brother married one of you. I think of Earth as my home.” His hands
shook slightly.

She
remembered him drinking milk the first time she saw him. Was it only a few days
ago? “What do you eat?”

He
smiled, suddenly, and all the tension left his spine. “I like milk.”

She
huffed. “Yes, I know, but that can't be all you eat.”

“I hunt.
The deer in this forest are quite delicious.”

She
wrinkled her nose. “You drink their blood, don't you?”

He
nodded. “Yes. And then I let them go. I don't actually have to kill them. Their
bodies replace the lost blood soon enough.”

“This is
crazy.” She bit her lip, wondering why the discovery that he didn't even kill
his prey made him so much more attractive. “You're like, the anti-vampire.”

He stared
at her, grey eyes widening, then laughed out loud.

She
looked around nervously, not forgetting about the monsters that attacked them.
“Uh—”

“Yes, we
should go inside. The cloaking-veil is still working, but it’s better not to
tempt fate,” he said, hand on her back, gently steering her toward the French
doors set adjacent to the courtyard.

“You
never told me why they would drink human blood.
If it makes
them insane…
I don't get it.”

He sighed
as he closed the doors behind them. “Why does any man do abominable things?
Power, of course.”
He flicked on a light switch. They were
in a conservatory. The piano in the corner was dusty and all the plant stands
were empty, but the room still felt welcoming.

“That's
very human of them,” she said sardonically.

He rubbed
his face and she suddenly realized that he was tired. Well, so was she, not
surprisingly. Not after what happened.

“What
kind of power?” She ran a finger down the piano's surface.

“It gives
the revenants strength.
Longevity.
Some of them gain
mental abilities.”

She eyed
him, wondering if he ever fidgeted.
Probably not.
“It
didn't help the ones we killed on the road.”

He lifted
a shoulder. “It doesn't last. They have to keep feeding and feeding.”

“An addiction.”

“Yes.”

“Why do
you call them revenants?” she asked. She thought she knew the answer, but
wanted to hear it from him.

“It’s a
form of contempt. It’s like calling a human murderer a psychopath.”

She
nodded slowly. “Not everyone calls them that.”

“True.”
His eyes gleamed in the darkness. He was gorgeous. For a moment she’d forgotten
how much she wanted him.

“Is that
the only way to gain power?” she asked, suddenly uncomfortable. She didn’t
really expect him to answer.

He walked
over and skimmed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “No.” She shivered.

“What
aren't you telling me?” She tried not to sway into his lean strength.
Failed.

“I have
certain advantages.” He rubbed a finger over her bottom lip and just like that,
arousal flared through her like a flame running along a line of gunpowder.

“Jasper.
What are you doing to me?”

He dipped
his head down and kissed her. She shuddered, gripping his shirt so she wouldn't
fall down. His tongue stroked over her lower lip.

“You're
mine. It's not safe for either of us to do this and still, I can't stop
myself.” He kissed her jaw. “I want you so desperately—” He devoured her mouth,
licking inside. “My blood burns.”

Sienna
gasped, feeling the hole in her soul filling up with heat. “What
is
this?
God.
You're driving me crazy, Jasper.” If he
hadn't been pressing her against the piano, she would have fallen. “I feel like
I'm on fire.” She gasped as he scraped his teeth down her jaw. She wanted him
to bite her.

“Sienna,
I'm so sorry.” He ran his lips over her neck. The scrape of his stubble made
her shiver and shove closer.

“Wait.
Wait, Jasper. You said you had power, too. How? What kind of power?” She
struggled to look at his face, fighting the desire pooling in her core. “You'd
better not be mind-fucking me.”

He stared
at her then barked out a short laugh. “No.
Not at all.
I would never do that to you.”

She could
see the truth on his face: he was as shocked by this attraction as she was.
“What's happening to us?”

He ran a
thumb over her mouth. “My people have one true mate. Most never find their
match. My brother did, with Sara, a human.” He looked at her steadily. “And
here we are.”

Sienna
struggled to wrap her mind around his explanation. He thought she was his mate?
“So, what?
You're my soul-mate? That's so cheesy.”

“Something
like
that.” He didn't smile.

She
licked her lips and dug her fingers into his arms. “You're serious.”

His eyes
flared. “Yes.”

“What
about choice?”

He leaned
in, rubbing his cheek against hers. “I don't know how to stop it.”

She
trembled and turned her head, catching his lips with hers. “I don't know what
to do.” She kissed him, pouring all the loneliness she felt into him. He wasn’t
lying about being her perfect match, she could feel it, inside, where before
there had only been emptiness.

“We have
to let it happen,” Jasper said, breathing into her ear. “Once the bonding has
begun, it could damage us if we tried to stop it.”

She
refused to think about how little she really knew about him. Refused to dwell
on where he'd come from. He let his hands trail down her back and she shoved
closer, excitement racing through her when he groaned and pushed his erection
into her hip.

“This is
insane,” she panted.

“I
promise I would never hurt you,” he said, sliding his hands beneath her shirt.

She
arched her back, reveling in the warmth of his fingers. He splayed his hands on
her back and she melted into him, kissing him again. When he bit at her
collarbone, she wrapped a leg around his hips.

“Sienna,
Jesus. You're so beautiful,” he murmured, hand on her ass. He picked her up and
she wrapped her legs around him as he strode out of the room, kissing her on
the forehead, her cheek, her jaw.

“Where
are we going?” She tried not to think about what he'd told her. She didn't want
to think about where he'd come from. Desire sparked along her spine and she
tilted her hips until his cock pulsed against her clit. Even through their
clothes his heat seared her.

“Bedroom,”
he gasped.

She threw
her head back. “Not going to make it.” She dug her fingers into his shoulders
and he stumbled, tumbling her onto the stairs. She didn't let go. He fell
heavily on top of her. Sienna didn't care. He was so hard and hot and
everything she'd always wanted. He kissed her again, the sharp points of his
incisors adding an extra edge of danger.

“Your
teeth—” she managed to say as he licked down her neck.

“I'm
sorry.” His voice was low.
Wrecked.

She shook
her head and wrapped both legs around him again. “No. God, I don't care. I know
who you are.” Even as she said it she realized she meant it.
I may not know his entire life history, but
I know how strong he is, inside, where it’s truly important. And I know he
makes himself vulnerable every time he kisses me.
She could see it in his
eyes.

He
groaned and shoved her sweater up, baring her breasts. When she saw the look on
his face, half desire, half fierce possession, she decided she'd never been so
happy to skip wearing a bra in her life. She tightened her thighs around him,
jerking him back to awareness. He held still for a moment longer, shuddering as
his dick twitched against her, then bent his head and took a nipple into his
mouth. His teeth worried at the bud, teasing it until she cried out, sparks of
heat racing directly to her clit. His incisors were sharp little points of
pleasure, biting into the soft skin of her breast. She grabbed his hair and
hung on.

“Off,
take this off,” he muttered, pulling at her top.