Blonde and Blue (40 page)

By the time Arys opened the door, I was gripping the window sill so hard my clawed nails left gouges in the wood. I whirled around to face him. I hadn’t sated the bloodlust in days. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. He had wanted me to be pushed to the breaking point. It was nearing quickly.

“Alexa, this is Roxanne. She was supposed to meet a blind date in the bar, but lucky us, she has agreed to keep us company.” Arys flashed me a smug smile and a wink. He ushered Roxanne into the room and locked the door. She didn’t seem to notice.

She stared at me with a big smile plastered on her pink lips. The spellbound expression she wore was unsettling; I didn’t like it. The vampire in me thought back to something Kale had once said. He preferred it when they knew it was coming, when they begged and screamed. If this mesmerized complacency was the alternative, I’d prefer the screams, too.

No sooner had that thought crossed my mind than I wondered what it would take to make Roxanne scream. My fangs filled my mouth, four brutal points that I ached to sink into her. I moved toward her, and Arys stepped in between us.

He must have seen the intent in my eyes because he smiled and shook his head. “Patience, my love. This is about satisfaction through control, not weakness because of the loss of it. Follow my lead.”

Roxanne stood there like a human doll, waiting for us to play with her. It was disturbing to see someone so completely lost in the thrall of a powerful vampire. I hated that I kind of liked it.

“Roxanne, sweetheart,” Arys purred, taking her hand and bringing it to his lips. “We won’t keep you long. Just a little taste, alright my dear?”

She didn’t even speak. Gazing up at him with those glazed eyes, she merely smiled timidly and nodded. Arys kissed his way up her bare arm, and she giggled. I waited for jealousy to hit, but it never did. I wanted to watch him in his element. The seduction and the hunt, that was Arys at his best, and I wanted to see it.

He took his time, making his way from her wrist to her neck. Her eyes closed, and her head fell back. Desire flowed from her, tantalizing and hot. My grip was slipping, and I knew I couldn’t cling to sanity much longer. The bloodlust was a powerful master, and once again, it had made me its slave.

His lips on her skin, the scent of her growing desire, and the sound of her heart beat growing louder in my ears, it all came at me in a rush, driving me into a frenzy. Arys, being the incubus he was, manipulated her sexual response to him, encouraging it to flow freely as he fed upon it.

The energy in the room became suffocating. I snarled, baring my fangs. Arys lifted his head to find me on the edge of the abyss, about to step past the point of no return. He gripped her forearm, and with a sudden aggression that spoke to the wolf in me, Arys bit into her wrist.

Blood spilled forth, and I was ravenous. I lunged at them, willing to knock Arys aside to get to that glorious red stream. He held me back with a hand on my throat, cutting off my air supply just enough to shake some sense back into me.

“You can’t bite her, Alexa. You’ll turn her or kill her. That’s not what you want.”

I wasn’t listening. I was staring at the blood that ran down Roxanne’s hand to drip off the tips of her fingers. It was all I could smell, all I could focus on.

Arys sat Roxanne on the end of the bed. Her eyes fluttered open and then closed again. She sighed softly. Gripping both of my arms tightly, Arys forced me to look into his eyes.

“It will always be part of you, but it doesn’t have to own you. You can control this.” He shook me when I growled at him. “Stop giving in so easily. You’re stronger than that.”

Then he slapped me.

It was startling. The sound of his hand hitting my cheek was loud in the quiet room. I laughed. It earned me a glare.

“Let me have her. Just this once.” I was detached, hearing myself talk but not fully aware it was me.

The power flared between us as Arys struggled to get through to me. “You will master this or else it masters you. Got it? Is that what you want? To be just another killer?”

“Why not?” I snapped. “It seems to be good enough for you.”

Arys dragged me close and pressed his forehead to mine. His eyes closed, and I felt the warm push of calming energy. It filled me from head to toe, bringing me back to myself. I hovered precariously in that awkward place between who I was and what I had become.

His voice low, almost a whisper, Arys loosened his grip. “You are the light in my darkness. I can’t watch you become something you will grow to hate.”

Something in his tone struck a nerve deep down. I blinked a few times, and the bloodlust cleared from my vision. “Arys…”

Opening his eyes, he gazed deep into me, and then he released me entirely. Together we approached the bed where Roxanne sat in a deep thrall. I could do this. I had to. I was stronger than the bloodlust.

Arys watched me as I sat on the floor before her and took her bloody wrist in my hands. The scent of her blood filled my lungs, and it tore at my fragile control. I ran my tongue over her smooth, lightly tanned skin. The urge to rush into the kill was strong, but I wasn’t giving in this time. I slowly licked the red rivulets that dripped into the palm of her hand. No words could describe the way it felt;
orgasmic, pure bliss
, they didn’t even come close. Tasting her was like finding a peace I never knew existed. It felt right, like I was finally whole. And, I knew it was all a lie.

As I drank the blood from Arys’ bite, I saw it all so clearly. We were all creatures in unbearable pain, always seeking escape from something, even if we didn’t know it at the time. Every one of us found our moment of peace in something dark and twisted. This was mine.

On the bed, Arys knelt beside our victim. I could see them from where I sat. He bit into her neck, and she gasped. Or had it been me? I wasn’t sure.

A roar filled my ears as the power Arys and I shared grew to an explosive level. He reached out for me, his hand seeking mine. I surrendered it to him, crying out when a hot jolt of electricity burned my skin where it touched his.

Blood in my mouth and Arys’ skin on mine stirred my longing. Heat flooded my loins as I watched his lips against her skin, his tongue running over the wound. It wasn’t enough. The hunger grew, and my moment of peace was shattered.

Arys must have felt me slip because he stopped me from doing something I would deeply regret. With a snarl, I bared my fangs, craving the sensation of having them buried in flesh. The blood wasn’t enough. The need to tear into Roxanne was driven by more than the bloodlust. Caught up in the throes of power and hunger, my wolf struggled to break free.

I was on my ass across the room before I had a chance to hurt her. Trapped by Arys’ energy wall, there was a sense of déjà vu as I remembered how recently this had happened in the bathroom at The Wicked Kiss. One day, Arys wouldn’t be there to save me from myself.

With a hand on Roxanne’s face, he got her up on her feet. Her eyes were open but unfocused. Stuffing some cash into her hand, Arys spoke slow and clear. “Go downstairs, get into the first cab you see and go straight home. You won’t ever tell anyone anything you might remember because they would never believe you. There is no such thing as vampires.”

She nodded and allowed Arys to lead her to the door. I was intent on the barrier he’d thrown at me. Like the last time, I was certain I could bend it to my will. Instead of fighting it, I concentrated on pulling it into me and making it mine. A strange, almost sick feeling hit my stomach as the barrier broke. I couldn’t breathe as it rushed into me, becoming one with my power.

It was easier than I’d expected. It also proved what I’d suspected for a while. Arys and I could turn our power on one another, but we could also take that power into ourselves. His power was mine, and therefore, he couldn’t truly harm me, not if I took the control back from him.

Free of his hold on me, I lunged at the door as Arys closed it behind her. Astonished but alert, he reacted quickly. Arys shoved me back, blocking my path to the door. I wanted her, and he had just let her go.

“Come on, Alexa.” He taunted me, curling a finger in invitation. “You have some aggression to unleash. Let’s have it.”

He was right. I had a burning need for violence and gratification. Licking the blood from my lips, I advanced on him with a wicked yearning clawing at my insides.

The fire in Arys’ midnight eyes brought a naughty smile to my face. Pressing my body against his, I grasped a handful of his hair and pulled his head down to mine. I licked his bottom lip before nipping it with my upper fangs. Sucking it into my mouth, I delighted in the spicy taste of his blood.

I kissed him, seeking to feel his tongue on mine. It was a hard and bruising kiss. I wanted to devour him. Arys groaned, his hands sliding to my waist. Our power was heightened, creating a dizzying storm that I could feel both in and out. Urgency gripped me. 

I clawed Arys’ arms and chest in my haste to tear his shirt off, leaving bloody scratches behind. I wanted him, and I didn’t want to wait. I ran a finger through a crimson smear on his abdomen, pausing to taste it. It fueled my desire for him.

I slipped my underwear down from under my skirt, kicking them off. “I need you now.”

A wolf-like growl came from Arys. He grabbed me roughly. His fingers dug into my arms as he slid my top up and over my head. Undeniably, he felt it, too, the rabid need that drove me. Shoving me on the bed, Arys pressed his face into the swell of my cleavage and bit into my left breast.

I made a pained noise that fed his voracious appetite. His mouth was hot and wet against my sensitive flesh as he sucked at the bleeding wound. Blood seeped from the bite, escaping him to stain the soft material of my white bra.

Arys pushed my skirt up, exposing me to him. In our struggle for dominance, he pinned me to the bed with strong hands on my hips before lowering his head to the cleft between my legs. The velvet touch of his tongue had me quivering.

Riding the high of the bloodlust and power, my every sense was amplified. Arys attacked me with a wild passion. The sharp sting of fangs on the inside of my thigh was shocking splendor. I reveled in the way his head of silky hair felt nestled between my legs. 

With a hungry fervor he consumed both my blood and my pleasure. Arys eagerly fed from my lusty energy and the blood that flowed from his bite. I found myself spiraling into that wonderful state of bliss where both mind and body was his to command. I writhed on the bed as he brought me to a glorious climax.

It did nothing to sate my desire for him. I was just getting started. Impatience gripped me when Arys paused to remove the last of his clothing. I couldn’t calm the beast inside me that, when paired with the hungers of the vampire, knew no restraint.

I was sticky with blood. It decorated me in splashes of scarlet, like crude body art. The scent of it was heavy on the air. I reached for Arys with the intent to spill his, too. I wanted to bask in every part of him.

Capturing one of my bloodstained hands in his, he turned me around and forced me up on my knees. I was pressed against the headboard so my back was to him. Lifting my skirt so it bunched up around my waist, he held firmly to my hips and entered me from behind.

I cried out as he thrust roughly into me. Every stroke was ecstasy. I hated that I couldn’t look into his eyes, but I loved the raw, carnal way in which he took me. I braced myself against the wall above the headboard, my fingers slipping to leave bloody handprints.

Our lovemaking grew into a high-paced, tense fervor. The metaphysical power we created broke free of our hold. It seemed to feed upon the both of us. The lights dimmed to almost complete darkness before surging again. I felt the effect ripple throughout the entire hotel.

I waited until I was sure Arys was close to the peak of pleasure, and then I turned slightly so I could shove him off me. I forced him down on the bed, straddling him but careful not to give him what he wanted. Not just yet.

Raking my claws down his chest, I delighted in the red ribbons that blossomed in my wake. I dipped my head to glide my tongue along a fresh scratch as I rubbed my groin against his. Tauntingly slow, I took him inside me just enough to make him groan before releasing him from the warmth of my body.

He grabbed my hair in a grip that was excitingly painful and threw me down so that I was beneath him. “You little tease.”

I laughed, a throaty sound that was laced with a growl. Forcing my legs apart, Arys took me again. Buried deep inside me, he unleashed any hold he might have maintained on rationale and control. With eyes flashing dangerously, he bit deep into my neck, hard enough to make me shriek.

I felt the telltale warmth of blood trickling down my shoulder to the bed below. I held tight to Arys, blood pooling beneath my nails as we moved together as one. The power we commanded was like a steadily growing wind whipping through the room. In the distance, I heard thunder, and I wondered if we’d somehow caused it.