Blood Hunger (An Adult Paranormal Romance) (Deathless Night Series #1) (26 page)

     He picked up the pace as they continued on, breaking into a jog as they hurried back, Emma close on his heels.

    
Emma was practically sprinting to keep up with Nikulas as they rushed back down the tunnel towards the cave, a small flashlight in his hand to help her see.

     About twenty feet from the entrance, he stopped, putting his index finger to his mouth. Standing eerily still, he listened as Emma tried to unsuccessfully keep her breathing quiet. It didn’t impede his ability in any way, but he appreciated her efforts.

     After a few seconds, he gestured for her to stay behind him and stay quiet as they went ahead and entered the cavern. And after their last encounter, he wasn’t taking any chances.

     Aiden was nowhere in the room.

     Grabbing Emma’s hand, Nik pulled her behind him and away from the tunnel as he cautiously walked farther inside. There was no movement. No sounds. No one was there.

     Worried, he let go of Emma and did a slow tour of the place, looking for signs of a scuffle. Tilting his head back slightly, he scented the air for any unfamiliar scents. Nothing. The fire in the pit had burned down and needed more wood. The torches were still burning pretty good though. Aiden’s bag was where he had left it. Nothing was disturbed that was out of the ordinary.

     He scowled. Where the hell was he?

     Looking down at Emma sitting on one of the large stones, he asked her, “Do you see anything that looks strange?” She shook her head with a shrug. “Me either. So, where is he?”

   
 
Emma just looked at him without answering. Her worried expression echoed his own.

     “Maybe he went to feed.” Nik was unconvinced even as he said it. Aiden had just fed a couple of nights ago; he shouldn’t need to drink again already.

     Not knowing what else to do, he glared into the fire, brow furrowed, hands low on his hips, trying to figure out where that damned Brit could be. He wanted to go look for him, but there was no fucking way he was leaving Emma alone. There was also no way in hell he was bringing her along into another potentially dangerous situation. Much as he loved his best friend, he would wait him out.

     He had just sat down next to Emma when he heard someone coming down the tunnel, whistling.

     He glanced over at Emma. They regarded each other with bemused expressions before simultaneously swiveling towards the entrance as Aiden came strolling in, not a care in the world.

     Carrying a head.

     A grey, bald, and quite mangled head.

     What was left of the neck was ragged and dripping blood, having been violently torn off of the body it had been attached to just a short time ago. The eyes were wide open and staring straight ahead, the shock of being killed so savagely still showing in their depths.

     When he noticed the two of them sitting there, a broad smile crossed his face.

     “Finally! There you are. It’s been bloody dull here since you two left. What’ve you been doing?” Casually dropping the disgusting head onto the floor, it landed in the dirt with a soggy thud. 

     Nonchalantly, he plopped down on the rock next to it and put his blood-stained hands out toward the heat of the fire. “Why didn’t you put some more wood on the fire, mate?” When no one answered him, he looked back and forth between their baffled expressions. “What?”

   
 
Nik was the first to regain his power of speech. “Whatcha got there, Aid?”

   
 
“Hmm?” Eyes wide, he was the picture of innocence, as he followed Nik’s gaze to the head at his feet. “Oh! That. It’s a head. I tore it off of a beastly thing…I don’t even know what it bloody was. But it was creeping around our little hideaway here.”

   
 
Recalling that Aiden wasn’t yet aware of what had happened while they were out, Nik filled him in. “Those are the same creatures that attacked Emma a few years ago,” Nik told him. “We just ran into some more of them ourselves, a couple of miles from here.”

   
 
Aiden’s face lit up like it was Christmas morning. “Did you happen to keep the heads?”

   
 
Nik shook his head. “No, man. Sorry. They don’t last very long.” Pointing with his chin towards Aiden’s trophy, they watched it as it started to flake away.

     “Bugger.” Aiden nudged at it with the toe of his boot in disgust. “I wanted to add it to my collection.”

   
 
Emma asked hesitantly, “Your collection?”

   
 
Still sitting next to her, Nikulas put his hand on the back of her head, smoothing her soft hair. “Yeah. Aiden has quite the collection of his foe’s heads.”

   
 
“Um…” Emma tore her gaze from Aiden’s lunatic grin, looking up at Nik, who pulled his hand away with an apologetic look. “And where exactly are these heads located?” she asked with a surprising measure of calm.

    
Aiden answered her before Nik could. “Don’t worry, luv. They’re hidden away. It wouldn’t be easy lugging them up to the apartment with all of those humans around. The smell and that, you know.”

   
 
He sounded so seemingly sane while talking about things so obviously insane, such as head collections. Emma could only blink at him blankly.

     Nik was the one who broke the spell. “Still no word from Dante?” Aiden shook his head. “From anyone?” Another shake. “Where the hell could they be?”

   
 
Resting his elbows on his knees, he contemplated the far wall for a moment before saying to Aiden. “Emma and I did a wide loop around this place. I didn’t see or scent anyone besides us, and those things.”

   
 
“It wasn’t these piss poor vamps I scented,” Aiden told him.  “It was someone else. Hard to tell who or what. The scent was kind of wonky.”

   
 
“Wonky?” Nik asked him.

     “Mm hmm, the wily sods covered it up to confuse us. And they did a bang up job, I tell you. Even I can’t place it.” Despondently kicking away his disintegrating head, Aiden got up and grabbed some water out of his pack to wash his hands.

     “Well, I’m not going to waste my time worrying about it.” Nik stood up. “Daylight is coming, and tonight we’re going after my brother and Emma’s sister, with or without the rest of the guys. I’m tired of waiting.”

   
 
Aiden finished washing his hands and came back over to the fire, throwing another log on there before joining them on the rocks. “And how do you propose we do that, Nik? Not that I’m complaining, mind you. You know I fancy a good fight.”

   
 
Locking eyes with Emma, Nik answered, “I have no fucking idea.”

***

     Emma came back to consciousness as if in a fog. Disoriented, she lay still as she tried to place where she was - Hard ground digging into her hip and shoulder, some kind of lumpy pillow under her head, the smell of smoke from a low-burning fire, and she was cold.

     Except for her back. Her back was warm. She was laying on her side, fully dressed, knees pulled up in front of her, hands tucked under her cheek, facing the tunnel entrance from the other side of the fire.

     Why was her back warm when it was her front facing the fire?

     Then she felt the warmth against her back move closer, and a large, male hand swept roughly up her leg, over her hip and around her waist. The muscular arm that was attached to it pulled her even closer to the warmth, snuggling her entire length.

     Her eyes popped open wide, scenes from the last few days flashing through her mind. “Nikulas?” she whispered into the semi-darkness. Had he been here with her all day? The last she remembered before she’d drifted off, he’d been talking quietly with Aiden on the other side of the fire pit, ironing out their plans for tonight.

     “Shhhh…we don’t want to wake Aiden.” His husky voice was right in her ear, his breath tickling her, sending chills down her spine and making her shiver. Nik tugged her in closer, pulling her blanket up around them.

    
Aiden?
Her sleep-muddled brain belatedly noticed the soft snores coming from the other side of the fire. “What time is it?” she whispered.

     “We have about two hours until nightfall. Sorry I woke you up, I just…” He paused as he tried to explain, “I just needed to touch you.” His hand played with the bottom of her shirt. “Is that ok?”

   
 
Emma gave the fading embers of the fire a worried frown. He should be sleeping. They couldn’t afford for him to not be at his best tonight. All of their lives depended on it. She crooked her head around to tell him so, but paused when he came into view. He looked…so vulnerable.

     “Um, yeah, it’s ok,” she whispered. She laid her head back down and moved her arm down so her hand covered his on her belly. Truth was, even if he wasn’t nervous about tonight, she was. And having a strong, handsome vampire wanting to hold her didn’t sound bad at all. She could use the reassurance.

     But as he hugged her to him again, she squirmed, his hand pressing into her lower belly…and her bladder. “Nik?”

   
 
“Hmm?”

   
 
“I have to get up for a minute. I have to…um…I need a moment. A human moment. Outside.” She could feel her face flaming as she tried to discreetly tell him that she had to pee.

     Nik’s big body stilled behind her, but he didn’t let go of her. Finally he whispered, “It’s still light outside.”

   
 
She started to try to wiggle out from under his heavy arm. “I know,” she whispered back. “I’ll be quick.”

   
 
“No, Emma.” His arm was like a steel bar trapping her as she tried to shove it off. “No. You can’t go out there by yourself.”

   
 
She tried to roll over and slide out of his grasp, to no avail. “But I have to go to the bathroom.” Oh no, she was about to pee her pants.

     “Do it here,” he ordered.

     “No!” Her face flamed at the thought. “Jeez, I’m just stepping outside.” Renewing her efforts, she managed to get about halfway out in spite of his efforts to hold her there, when his hand fisted her shirt in his grip and his deep voice rang through the cavern.

     “I can’t fucking go with you!” They both froze at his outburst and slowly looked over at Aiden, who twitched in his sleep.

     Giggling, he said something about marshmallows, rolled over and continued to snore.

     Nik clenched his jaw and lowered his voice. “I can’t let you go out there alone.”

   
 
Emma temporarily gave up the struggle. Observing his bulging jaw muscles and the way his eyes frantically skipped over her face in the dim light, she finally understood. He was not just being a pain in the ass. He was worried.

     “Nik, I’ll be fine. I’ll just step right outside the entrance. I won’t go far, I promise.” She tried to reassure him that she’d be ok for the few minutes she’d be out of his sight. “If I see or hear anything at all besides a bird or a deer, I’ll call for you. You’ll be able to just reach out and pull me in to safety.”

   
 
Gritting his teeth, he looked away. She could tell he hated this. Despised this weakness that kept him from protecting her. A minute in the sun and she’d be toasting marshmallows over him.

     With Aiden, apparently.

     She tried again to reassure him. “I’ll be fine. Really.”

   
 
“But I wouldn’t be able to get to you!” he whispered harshly. “Not in the sun.” He looked around the room, and she followed his gaze, but there was nowhere private in here.

     “The tunnel…you could stay…”

   
 
“No, I’m going outside,” she whispered as she got up, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She didn’t have any toilet paper, but leaves would work. “
You
stay in the tunnel.”

   
 
Grabbing up the little flashlight, she turned it on and quickly headed out of the cave.

     Nik got up with her, a helpless expression on his face, and followed her small figure as far as he could. As they reached the entrance, he stayed far enough back so the suns’ rays wouldn’t hit him when she lifted the foliage to go out.

     Looking back at him, she gave him a small, reassuring smile before lifting the branches just high enough for her to get out and stepping outside into the late afternoon sunshine.

***

     A minute went by. Then two. Then five. What the hell was she doing? Tanning? How long did it take her to piss for God’s sake? He started pacing up and down the tunnel. When almost seven minutes went by and she still hadn’t come back in, he walked right up to the entry.