CREAM (On the Hunt) (17 page)

That was right, she had gone to sleep last night after her change. It hadn’t occurred to her to be scared. She’d been too tired. She decided to trust Teaghan and closed her eyes.

She tried to relax. This was part of her life now. She had to sleep or else she would start to age and then deteriorate.

Teaghan started the car and peeled out of the drive. Jeliyah slapped her hands over her ears with a cry of pain. The squealing tires could have been hundreds of nails scratching a chalkboard through a football stadium sound system and she wouldn’t have known the difference.

“Sorry about that.” He opened the glove box and pulled out a pair of his earplugs. “Wear these for the next few days. It’ll help with the adjustment. Use the shades too.”

“What about you?” She stuffed the earplugs in and jammed the shades in place. It was night and yet the headlights and streetlamps shined like tiny suns. How could Teaghan stand it?

“I’ve been like this for a while, sweetness. I’ve adapted. You will too. Until then, shades and earplugs. We might have to get you some gloves too.”

“Remind me why I wanted this again,” she grumbled under her breath.

She didn’t think she would need the gloves. Her skin was more sensitive—she could feel every fiber of the clothing she wore as if they were separate pieces of thick yarn. The reasoning behind the vampire preference for silks and satins—and little-to-no clothing or very loose clothing in Teaghan’s case—now made sense. But her skin was acclimating faster than her other senses, possibly because there was no way to dampen what her skin encountered.

“Stop complaining and sleep already,” Teaghan said.

She wished she had thicker earplugs or a better brand but made do with what she had. Jeliyah closed her eyes again.

Teaghan had reached the highway before she got herself calm enough to let the sleep pull her under. It wasn’t like human sleeping, but then she’d known that already. Her mind remained active along with her other senses. She heard every car that passed and the hum of the car engine vibrated through her.

Her temperature dropped to match her surroundings. The sensation of her consciousness curling into a comfortable ball while the rest of her body remained upright on her seat intrigued her. It was almost as if her mind had separated itself.

Not so bad, right?
Teaghan asked through their mental link.

Doesn’t talking like this disturb my rest?

Nope. The mind and body separating is vampiric sleeping. The mind staying with the body too long taxes the body until the deterioration starts. Only blood and lots of it can fix the damage. When there is nothing left, the mind shuts down and the body takes control to hunt for food.

And that’s why vampires attack anyone with a pulse.
More revelations. The speculation of her former teachers had only scratched the surface of what the vampires truly endured.

Sleep wasn’t just the need to remain human-looking. It also kept vampires from becoming mindless killing machines. Jeliyah imagined that losing one’s consciousness to the frenzied need to feed had to feel horrible.

“It is,” Teaghan whispered.

For the first time since seeing the jagged, sunken scar that ran across his chest, Jeliyah got another insight into Teaghan’s life before she met him. If they were going to be stuck with each other, he would need to share a lot more or else this relationship wouldn’t work.

“Do you want it to work, necromancer?”

Jeliyah turned her mind to soaring eagles and windswept mountains to keep from answering a question she didn’t have an answer for yet.

Jeliyah entered the hotel room, a little surprised their stuff was still there and unmolested after three days. The staff must have assumed she and Teaghan were still there. That meant she didn’t have to buy new clothes just yet. She hadn’t wanted to waste time worrying about wardrobe while back on her old stomping grounds.

The second they’d entered the city Jeliyah had felt as if people were walking over her grave. She’d looked over her shoulder every other second when she visited the bank to retrieve the contents of her safe-deposit box. She hoped Niccolo’s words held true and people would see her as a necromancer before sensing her as a vampire. So long as she stayed close to Teaghan, they would think the vampire alert originated from him and not her. She didn’t want her former acquaintances trying to hunt and kill her—the only punishment for a necromancer turned vampire.

Teaghan said into his phone, “You’ll find us in the same spot I killed the twins’ rogue. Be there.” He stabbed the call end button and reholstered his phone. “We’re on. You ready?”

Jeliyah looked around the room, wishing she could stay there and pretend to be her version of human again—a naïve necromancer only concerned with retirement. She nodded as she shouldered her duffel bag with ease. Her new strength continued to surprise her. “Let’s get it done.”

Grabbing his own bag, Teaghan led the way back to the car, where they stashed their things in the trunk. He made quick work of checking out and then drove them to the meeting spot.

After parking the car, Teaghan said, “Lose the shades and pull your hair over your ears.”

Jeliyah didn’t question it. She had to play human. Doing it while at the bank had nearly blinded her. Fluorescent lighting should be considered a hate crime against vampires. She’d excused her reaction to the people who noticed as a piercing migraine, which hadn’t been far off the truth since a splitting headache had followed. As with most things where vampires were concerned, the headache didn’t last long, once she left the bank. She still didn’t want to go through it again.

The grounds surrounding the Marceaux estate were vampire friendly and blessedly dark. Jeliyah’s vampire eyes saw every detail of the roots and trees around her as though they were bathed in light. What she thought would be a cacophony of noise from night creatures sounded no different to her vampire ears than to her former human ones. While louder than before, the ambient noise could be ignored so it didn’t bother her.

What she couldn’t tune out was the heat Teaghan radiated across the short distance that separated them. Vampires did give off heat. All part of the mind inhabiting the body. And Teaghan’s body inhabited every part of her mind.

His scent of musk was the only one she smelled. His heat turned the cool night into a hot summer day. She didn’t understand this reaction. She’d sat beside him in the car for almost twenty-four hours without a single errant thought. He’d slept for a few hours at a rest stop before continuing to the hotel without her thoughts turning to sex. A few minutes in the open forest and suddenly her libido revved to life.

She faced the tree she stood near and focused on memorizing the pattern of the bark. The jagged pattern reminded her of Teaghan’s scarred chest and how the rough skin felt when she licked it. The memory made her pussy tingle with need.

A surprised gasp ripped from her throat when Teaghan crowded her close to the tree.

“Quiet,” he snapped in a harsh whisper.

He must have heard something she missed while she’d occupied herself musing about sex. Her errant thoughts would get her killed. She needed to focus.

Or that was her plan until Teaghan undid her jeans and yanked them down her legs. She tried to pull away from him but he held her trapped with his arms on either side of her.

She asked, “What are you doing?”

“Getting you off so you stop distracting me.”

“You—” Her words ended on a sharp cry of pleasure as Teaghan surged his hard dick into the depths of her pussy.

She clawed at the tree, shredding the bark, and whimpered loudly. Her whole body tightened as an instant orgasm claimed her. No warning or buildup—the sensation of Teaghan buried inside her hurtled her over the edge of ecstasy. She squeezed her eyes shut and sucked at her bottom lip.

“We’re just getting started, sweetness.” He pulled back and then thrust home again.

The remnants of the last orgasm combined with the next and had Jeliyah panting and crying. It was too much. The sweet sensation far surpassed the night before last.

“You were new then, still changing.” He pressed his hips against her ass, shifting his dick inside her and prolonging her overexcited state. “What you’re feeling isn’t an orgasm, sweetness. You have to readjust your scale. This is just titillation.” He kissed her hair. “When you orgasm, the whole forest will know it.”

Grabbing her in a firm grip, Teaghan pumped in a fast tempo that left Jeliyah breathless and happy she didn’t need air, because she couldn’t pull it in fast enough. Despite the overwhelming assault to her new senses, she found herself pushing back against Teaghan and circling her hips so she pumped his dick.

Teaghan hugged her waist with one arm as he moved with her. His breath came out in huffs that feathered across her neck. He kissed her there, scraping his fangs over her skin.

Her keen of need filled the night. She wanted his fangs. It surprised her how much she wanted them. Some part of her knew his bite would feel as good as his dick.

Teaghan nibbled at her neck, teasing her. “Beg.” He punctuated his command by flicking her clit.

Jeliyah’s eyes rolled skyward and she arched back so her head rested on Teaghan’s shoulder and the rough bark of the tree excited her nipples through her shirt. As much as she wanted to heed Teaghan’s command, her mouth wouldn’t obey her. All she could manage were sounds to convey the unmatched pleasure he was giving her. She didn’t know if she could handle the vampire version of an orgasm if her current state was the preamble.

“Aren’t you two cozy? And vulnerable.” The newcomer’s words barely registered before Teaghan snatched Jeliyah’s gun from its holster and shoved it against the forehead of the man who’d spoken.

Teaghan snapped, “Fuck off.” At the same time, he pulled the trigger.

The man didn’t have time to dodge. His head snapped back as the bullet entered, killing him. The death and smell of blood sobered Jeliyah a little.

She stared at the corpse. “Who was that?”

“Who the fuck cares? Shut up and come.” He pinched her clit and increased the tempo of his thrusts.

Jeliyah had no choice but to let the pleasure suck her under once more. If she’d been human, the gruesome scene would have killed her libido. Her vampire self had no such issues. The scent of blood excited her and made her fangs lengthen.

She shoved back, dislodging Teaghan, and turned. With a small kick, she freed one foot from her pants so she could wrap her legs around Teaghan’s waist. The force of her jumping on him backed him up against another tree.

He laughed as he cupped her ass, squeezing it and guiding her pussy onto his shaft. “That’s right, sweetness. Fuck that dick.”

An animalistic rumble of satisfaction left her throat as she bounced, driving Teaghan’s arousal deep so his tip teased her core. She let her head fall back, secure in the knowledge that Teaghan would protect her so she could let the passion of the moment sweep her away.

Teaghan ripped her shirt open and latched his mouth on to one of her nipples. He sucked it and thrilled it with his tongue, not letting up until she cried out loud enough that a few night birds took flight to escape the sound. When he switched nipples, he dragged his mouth over her skin between her breasts.

Her other nipple got a few licks before Teaghan bit her, sinking his fangs into the swell of her breast. Crackling white noise filled her mind and made her skin tingle. Her movements stopped as she convulsed. Teaghan had been right. Everything until that point had been preliminary. The marvelous gratification rendered her incapable of doing anything except reveling in it.

Vampires should have invented a new word for this sensation long ago because orgasm wasn’t potent enough. Climax, zenith, pinnacle—no word equaled the strength of something this glorious. A strength that built when Teaghan squeezed her ass and guided her to keep riding, to continue bringing them both to gratification.

Jeliyah didn’t think it possible to experience another soul-searing orgasm so soon after the first but her body proved her wrong. It craved everything Teaghan had to give and demanded more. She let the abyss have her and found herself enveloped in a warm glow that she craved more than the heat. The glow soothed her frenzied emotions, allowing a sense of peace and rightness to settle around her.

Some intuition told her Teaghan felt it too. He released his bite and hugged her waist. His head rested between her breasts as he shook from his own release. He was breathing hard. That simple fact made Jeliyah smile.

Teaghan had had centuries to acclimate to his vampire body but Jeliyah still had the ability to leave him panting. He growled under his breath but didn’t correct her thoughts. She hugged his shoulders, basking in the glow they shared.

She didn’t know how long they stayed that way before Teaghan lifted his head and met her gaze. He searched her face with an expression of uncertainty marring his features. It didn’t look right on him.

He whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Jeliyah gave him a sad smile as she cupped his face and laid her lips against his. The kiss they shared was gentle and conveyed more than thoughts and words ever could. The bond Jeliyah had forged was permanent. They were part of each other. Once they finished this hunt, maybe they could finally find a quiet place to talk so they could find out what that truly meant.