Bitten by Darkness (8 page)

“A
revenant is a vampire who feeds on humans. It’s … not good to do that.”

“What are
you talking about?” she demanded.

“Revenants
are vampires who have become addicted to human blood. It makes them crazy,” he
said as bluntly as he could. He wondered if she realized what he was saying.
If she would take the implications of his knowledge to their
logical conclusion.

She
stared, brow wrinkling adorably. “I’ve never heard that before.”

He looked
away first. This was ridiculous. He shouldn't be here, chatting with her in her
robe, for God's sake. He eyed her thigh, the smooth skin calling to him. He
wanted to run his hands down those legs. Bite her hip. Leave a mark. He stood
up, careful to keep his groin turned away from her. He was still half-hard and
damned resentful about it. “I need to go.”

She stood
up and to his shock, put a hand on his shoulder. “I'm sorry.” Her palm burned
right through his thin shirt, but he couldn't shrug her off. His cock had gone
from somewhat calmed down back to rock hard in two point five seconds. “Sienna,
you have nothing to apologize for.”

She slid
her palm down his arm. When her fingers trailed over the back of his hand, he
found himself pulling hers to his lips. She sucked in a sharp breath as he
kissed her. When he opened his eyes, she was staring at him, pupils blown. He
licked the delicate skin on the inside of her wrist, savoring the scent of her
blood running just beneath. He was so screwed, to use the local vernacular.

She
swallowed,
then
slid her free hand into his hair.

“You
seriously think you can do shit like that and just walk away?” she forced out
between clenched teeth. Her fingers flexed in his hair and he tried to ignore
how much that turned him on.

He lifted
an eyebrow.

“I'm not
kidding,” she said.

He licked
her again just to piss her off, then surged up and covered her angry retort
with his mouth. She gasped—probably outraged, he thought—and he dipped his
tongue inside, kissing her gently, in direct contrast to their violent moods.
Her hand relaxed as he coaxed her temper away, worshiping her gorgeous mouth
until he thought he'd die if he had to let her go.

“Jasper,
what are we doing?” she whispered when he finally lifted his head.

He shook
his head and kissed her jaw. “You're so beautiful.”

She shook
under his arms. When did he pull her so close? Her fluffy robe felt like fur
beneath his lips. “Are you naked under this?”

She
huffed
a laugh.
“Yeah.”

He
groaned and nibbled down her collarbone as he brought a hand up to cup her
breast. Even through the thick fleece he could feel her nipple perking up for
him. She was warm and loose and obviously aroused. He flicked a thumb over her
softly, telling himself he would let go and walk away in just a minute.

“Jasper,”
she breathed, grabbing his hand and sliding it beneath the pink robe so that he
was touching bare skin.

“Jesus,
fuck,” he muttered, kneading her breast. Her nipple pebbled under his palm.
“You're killing me.”

“I didn't
start this,” she muttered, throwing her head back.

He stared
at her in disbelief. “You answered the door in your robe. You invited me
inside.” He repeated himself so that she would understand the depth of his
bemusement.
“In your robe.”

She
smirked at him. He growled, all his hard-won control suddenly gone. She asked
for it with that smile and her beautiful strong body and her hands, wrapping
around his neck. He surged into her and ground his aching cock against her hip.
She grabbed his face and kissed him and he let her, but when his arousal
suddenly spiked, he tore away, panting. His upper incisors hurt the way they
did when he was about to feed, but couldn’t let them down. He didn't want her
to see them. She didn't protest, kissing down his cheek like a woman on a
mission. He bit back a moan. When her front door slammed open, they both froze.

“Sienna,
I need your help!” her friend Linda called out before she realized what she'd
interrupted.
“Sienna?”

Jasper
looked over. The girl was gaping at them. He cursed as Sienna disentangled
herself. Her friend was clearly distraught and very confused and he was
not
an animal. He forced his fingers to
unknot, releasing Sienna’s hair.

“Linda?
What are you doing here?” Sienna asked.

Her
friend shot an agonized glance at Jasper and
blushed
bright red before answering. She looked like she wanted to freak out or cry and
couldn't decide which one to try first. To his surprise, though, she took a
deep breath and calmed down before saying, “Dillon's hurt.”

“Dillon?
Shit, what happened?” Sienna pushed him away and strode over to her friend.

He closed
his eyes, willing his erection to subside. Now was obviously not a good time
for fucking, not that it ever was, considering that
Alucard
had been dogging his steps for centuries now.
Dammit
.
He shouldn’t have let it get this far. He spared a brief moment to squash the
sense of dismay he felt at Linda's interruption. If she hadn't, he would've
nicked Sienna and given her his blood it would've been all over for them both.
He should be relieved, not disappointed.

“What
happened?” Sienna was already dragging Linda to her bedroom, presumably so she
could put on some clothes.

“I don't
know. John just called me and said he's at the hospital.”

“Okay,
I'll drive you. John's already there, right?”

Linda
nodded, trailing her into her bedroom. Sienna didn't bother to shut the door so
Jasper saw as she dropped her robe to the floor. She bent over her dresser,
completely nude and he ground his teeth. Was she doing that on purpose? He
couldn't look away. Her smooth back flared out over her perfect, gorgeous ass.
His hands twitched and he had to take a deep breath to force his incisors back
to human normal. He closed his eyes and willed himself to calm down. When he
opened them again, Sienna had pulled on jeans and a sweater. She shoved her
feet into boots.

“I'll
drive you both.” Jasper stood up, hands in his pockets. He knew his voice was
harsh.

Sienna
shook her head. “You don't have to.”

He sighed
and followed her and Linda out of her apartment. “I know I don’t have to. I
want to.” He sent a meaningful look at her back, where it did no good at all.
He rolled his shoulders, trying to relax.

After
locking her door, she turned to him and searched his face. God only knew what
she saw there
now
, but she nodded
shortly.

“Okay.
But you have to give me a ride back home after. I don't know how long I'll
stay.”

He tried
a smile and his face didn’t crack. Apparently unresolved sexual frustration
wasn’t fatal.
“Of course.”
His eyes strayed to her
breasts, lovingly outlined by the soft fabric of her sweater. If he’d been
human, he’d be sweating by now.

“It's
already getting late.” Sienna looked like she wanted to argue, but he stared
her down.

Linda
looked from Sienna to him and back again. “It's not that late, it’s only eight
o'clock. We need to
go
.” She wrung her hands.

Half an
hour later Jasper pulled up in front of the hospital. Linda jumped out. Sienna
made to follow her, but Jasper tugged on her sleeve. “I'm going to park. I'll
see you inside.”

She
frowned at him. “You don't—”

“I know.
I'm coming in anyway.” He had a bad feeling about Dillon's injuries. His
talents didn’t lie in telling the future, but he had a finely honed gut
instinct that was rarely wrong, especially not after the years he'd spent
honing his skills on
Dekcol
.
Thank you,
Alucard
, he thought bitterly.

She
sighed and pulled away.
“Fine.
I don't know where they
have him, though.”

“I'll
find you,” he promised. She nodded sharply and strode away. He watched her go
inside, fighting against the sudden unease he felt at letting her go off on her
own.
She can take care of herself
, he told himself sternly as he drove
away.

Ten
minutes later he slipped into the room where they'd put Dillon after patching
him up. The boy was pale, his blood loss clearly apparent. John and Linda stood
by the bed near an older lady who was sitting down. She looked up as he came
into the room.

“Who are
you?” Her tone was faintly hostile.

Jasper
smiled reassuringly. “I'm Jasper, a friend of Sienna's.”

The woman
looked at Sienna who was leaning against the wall near the window. The shades
were drawn, but Jasper didn't need to see outside to know that the moon had
risen.

Sienna
nodded. “
It's
okay, Mrs. Gilbert. He's the one who
helped after the incident in the forest.”

The
woman's face softened. “Oh.
Nice to meet you, Jasper.”

Jasper
inclined his head.
“You too.”
He glanced at Sienna.
“What happened?”

She
sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “No one really knows. They found him on
the ground outside their house like this. The doctors gave him a transfusion.
Now they're just waiting for him to wake up.”

Jasper
frowned as the instinct that had been nagging at him solidified into certainty.
Dillon had been fed upon, he was sure of it. He strode over to the bed and
touched a finger to Dillon's hand while the others looked on curiously. It was
cool, but there was no sense of coercion lingering on the boy's skin.
If there had been– He shook his head.
The revenants usually
didn't bother with mind games since they lacked the self-discipline for it, but
there was always a possibility. Happily, Dillon hadn’t been tampered with.
Jasper would've sensed it the moment he touched him.

“I think
he'll be okay,” he said, standing up straight. Sienna was eyeing his hands.
Dillon's mother looked relieved and Linda and John went back to staring at
Dillon.

“And who
are you to make such a statement? Are you a doctor?”

Jasper
froze and looked toward the door. Could it be? He knew that voice. An older
woman stood in the entrance wearing a doctor's jacket. She’d slung her
stethoscope around her neck. Her hair was silver and done up in a complicated
braid that fell over her shoulder. Her blue eyes were like ice until they
reached his face when she gasped and paled. Jasper blinked. How was this
possible?

“Sara?”
He thought his brother’s mate was
dead
.

She
stared at him as if she'd just seen a ghost. He couldn't move. The family bond
that had been missing for centuries tried to snap into place, but then it
slipped away, which wasn’t unexpected. Ambrose was dead and he’d been Jasper’s
step-brother. They had shared a blood-vow, but without the biological
connection of true brotherhood, the family bond that had been such a miracle
for them was now impossible. His brother's wife paled even further as she
realized what had just happened.

“Jasper,”
she coughed, clutching at the doorframe. “I thought you were dead.” She didn’t
mention the failed bond. He didn’t blame her.

“I
thought
you
were dead. I looked for you,” he managed. The last person he
expected to see was Ambrose's wife.
And I didn't expect to see her because
she was supposed to have died over two centuries ago.
How was this
possible?

“Yes,
well.
Obviously not.”
She didn't let go of the wall.

“Jasper?
Who is this?” Sienna's voice held an edge.

He
swallowed and shook himself out of it.
“Sienna.
This
is my brother's wife, Sara.”

 
“I thought all of your family was gone?” She
stared at him then turned to look at the doctor.

He ran a
hand over his face. “Yes, well, obviously not.”

Sara
barked a laugh that was more a release of tension than amusement.
“Jasper.
My God.”
Suddenly she let
go and strode over to him. She was hugging him before he could do anything.
Tentatively he put his arms around her. She felt … odd. He leaned in, trying to
get skin-to-skin contact, but she held on too tightly for him to put a palm on
her neck or wrist. He wouldn’t be able to read her without it.

“Sara.
Jesus,” he said, dismissing his worry. She smelled the same, like vanilla
cookies, except now with an overtone of disinfectant. “You're a doctor?”

She
pulled away.
“Yeah.
I've been a doctor for a while
now.”

He
smiled. “Good. That's good. You were always wonderful when it came to helping
people.”

She
smiled, a bit of tension creeping into her expression. “Yes, well.” She waved a
hand as if to say: what can you do. “What are you doing here in Dillon's room?”
She turned to the bed and grabbed the boy's chart from the slot at the bottom.