Deadly Liaisons (26 page)

“More,” he coaxed, his brow wet with perspiration.

Her dark, dampened curls rested against the satin pil ow. Her breathing was shal ow, her skin deathly pale. Even her lips were colorless except for the light stain on the bottom where his blood had touched her.

“Come on, Tezra. Drink.” He continued to drip blood into her mouth, hoping the nourishment would entice her to feed soon. “We need to see Katie.” And the sooner Tezra was turned, the sooner her defensive abilities would kick in.

Tezra’s lips moved as if she was trying to say her sister’s name. She swal owed hard, then licked his arm with a tentative touch.

His heart soared.

She licked again, and the velvety tip of her tongue caressing his wound stirred him.

She ran her tongue over her lips.

“Tezra, feed.” His husky words sounded desperate. He wanted to force her compliance like any other human, but he couldn’t compel Tezra. Maybe that’s why she appealed to him so much. He couldn’t control her, though in this instance he wished he could. “You wil obey me in this.”

She opened one eye lazily and pursed her lips.

He touched her throat, feeling the slow pulse. Brushing away her hair, he exposed her breasts, then ran his tongue over the tip of one.

She weakly grasped handfuls of his hair, but her gaze wasn’t focused on anything in particular. Her tongue slipped out of her mouth, moistening her lips. Her action mesmerized him, and he hoped the bloodlust was beginning to stir her.

His tongue tangled with hers again. She grasped it between her lips and sucked, nearly making him spil his seed. Groaning, he managed to sputter, “Tezra, honey, you’re kil ing me.”

Her mouth curved up, and she licked his chin, her eyes barely open, her teeth stil human-sized. Regretful y, it didn’t appear she could extend them yet.

A shudder of need ripped through him, and he bit into his arm, then offered her the sustenance again. When she didn’t react, he pul ed away to kiss her, but she tried to rise, to fol ow the blood on his arm. His heart rate increased. God, how he wanted the sexual pleasure of feeling her canines sink into his vein.

Her eyes widened when he pul ed his arm farther from her mouth, her gaze focused on his blood. A smal growl rumbled in her throat. He smiled, but her fangs stil hadn’t extended.

None of the other women had been a problem, but then he reminded himself Tezra wasn’t like the other women he’d mated. A huntress telepath, she would never be quite like them or anyone else he’d ever known. On top of that, he was certain she truly didn’t want to be turned, only wanted to save her sister.

He moved onto his back. Her eyes remained fixed on his arm, two droplets of blood stil rising atop the pinprick punctures. She closed her eyes, and he took an exasperated breath.

The wound on his arm sealed. He bit his finger and inserted it in her mouth. Taking hold of his hand, she sucked on his finger.

His libido surged with renewed gusto.

She licked and sucked until he could barely last. Moving between her legs, he lined up for maximum penetration when she bit his finger hard.

A jolt of pain shot through his finger al the way up his arm. Yanking it free, he squelched a curse. “Gently,” he said, his eyes watering. He rol ed onto his back, then pul ed her on top of him. Her soft body pressing against his very hard erection nearly kil ed him. Tilting his chin to the side, he offered his throat to her, pleading silently that she’d bite him more tenderly.

At first, she snuggled against him, ignoring his offer, her satiny hair tickling his skin, his heart beating rapidly. Her tongue flicked over his nipple. Heat poured through his veins with the tickling, teasing touch.

He’d never been with a woman he’d wanted this much. He swept his hands down her back and cupped her soft ass. After spreading her legs apart, he moved his fingers into the drenched curls.

Stroking into her honeyed sheath, he felt her stir. Her head rose from his nipple, and she eyed the pulse in his neck.
“Bite me,
gently.”

Licking her lips again, she shifted her hungry gaze from his throat to his eyes. She drew closer to his neck, pressing her body against his painful arousal.

He groaned, but she ignored his complaint, her attention riveted to his pulse. Frozen in anticipation, he waited for her to hunt him down, to sink her fangs into his neck and suck his life force, to replenish the blood she needed, to send him hurtling toward the heavens.

Her teeth scraped at the skin of his throat, but her canines stil hadn’t extended, dammit!

He meant to rake her long nails across his neck, to draw the blood and let her feed that way, but she pul ed her hand away, her gaze stil focused on his throat. Not being able to wait any longer, he lifted her hips and entered her.

She bit him on the neck.

Not gently either. Streaks of pain shot al the way from his neck through his shoulder. Yet he chuckled. How he loved every soft, sweet inch of her.

Her sucking began, turning his thermostat up to blazing hot. Shoving his erection into her again, he pumped without reservation, her lapping and soft moans driving him insane.

But the sweetest kind of insanity.

Her body rocked against him, hard, relentless, her tongue stroking the wounds she’d made. Her lips latched on and sucking again, drew out his blood, bringing him to the peak of ecstasy before he could slow the process down.

She arched her back and cried out his name. He groaned again—hot, satiated release.

“Ahhh, Tezra honey.” His hands brushed over her hair and skin, wanting the intimacy to last forever.

She touched his wounds with her fingertip and licked the blood off her finger like she was sucking on the sweetest candy cane.

His erection stirred deep inside her.

Reaching up, she ran her tongue over the wounds to seal them, dropped back down and closed her eyes. She whispered, “You sure…are bossy…you know?”

Grinning, he wrapped his arms around her and pul ed her close, her head resting against his sweaty chest. “You have to learn who’s in charge.”

“Hmmm,” she said, deeply sighing, “say that to me again, when I’m…not so…sleepy.”

Then she lifted her head and pressed her chin against his chest, her eyes sparkling.

Now what the hel ? She studied him so intensely he swore she was trying to control his thoughts, and him an ancient vampire!

“Vixen, rest,” he growled.

She laughed, but foreboding fil ed him. If she was attempting to control him like the women he’d turned before her, what else would she try to do? The memories of changing the others returned to him with a vengeance. Tezra might not think she could be like them, but her penchant for revenge could push her over the edge if he didn’t keep her under his tight control.

Already, he sensed disaster in the form of one hot, sexy SCU investigator/hunter now turned vampire.

***

After they rested, Daemon drove Tezra back to Patrico’s house, though he tried to keep from driving too fast and had to wipe only one traffic cop’s mind of the speeding ticket he wanted to give him. Even so, Tezra kept her eyes shut the whole way back.

Wel , except when she gave Daemon her I-told-you-so glower as the cop tried to write him up.

He couldn’t tel how she was feeling about being a fledgling vampire. Maybe worried she wouldn’t be able to reach Katie, maybe concerned that Krustalus wanted Tezra for his own. Daemon wished she would talk to him, but then again, perhaps it was just his driving that was getting to her the most.

After shutting off the car’s engine, he glanced at Tezra and found her staring at Patrico’s house. He reached over and patted her leg. “Are you al right, Tezra?” He tried to settle the worry that the change had turned her into something he’d grow to despise. The silence between them was kil ing him.

“Yes,” she said, but she didn’t sound sure of herself at al .

And for once, he felt he had no control over the situation. No way to soothe her fears. No way to reassure her everything would work out the best for al concerned.

Because for the first time in years, he wasn’t sure himself.

***

What if Katie didn’t respond to Tezra’s trying to help her rejoin the world? What if her attempts did more damage than good?

No matter how hard Tezra tried to dismiss her insecurities, they flooded her. Not only that, but she couldn’t help worrying that her canines would suddenly extend. Just pop out for no reason. Hel , if that happened when she was trying to talk to Katie, it would probably put her into a coma!

She glanced at Daemon, his look concerned, and she offered a smal smile, but his expression didn’t change. He already knew her better than that. Her anxiety must be imprinted al over her face.

He rubbed her shoulder and kissed her cheek. “Come, Tezra. Let’s see your sister.”

She should be thril ed with the prospect of aiding Katie, but she couldn’t help agonizing over the change. So far she didn’t feel any different. She didn’t crave blood, her teeth were back to their normal-size, she moved like she typical y did—maybe a little slower than normal, reluctant to face Katie, fearing failure. But then she smel ed the sea, not like she usual y did but the more subtle fragrances—the salt and fish, even the wet sand and rain saturating the clouds overhead.

Over the crash of the waves out back, the sounds of birds chirping and singing, but when she listened even closer, the whoosh of the sea breeze stirred the needles of the pines and the sound of voices inside the house carried to her ear.

Tezra glanced at Daemon, and from the expression on his face, he knew. He recognized her insecurities, recognized how the changes in her were throwing her off-kilter. Taking her hand, he squeezed with reassurance, then transported her to the dining room, giving her another minute to brace herself for the next phase in her life.

Surprisingly, she didn’t feel dizzy at al , which was definitely something positive.

She tightened her hold on his hand and nodded, ready to take the plunge, or at least she hoped so. Then they joined everyone in the living room. Patrico sat on one sofa, while Voltan stood slightly behind him. Katie sat opposite Patrico, and Atreides reclined next to her. He wasn’t interested in her sister, was he? He had better not be.

Everyone eyed Tezra and Daemon and she wondered if they realized Daemon had changed her. Wel , everyone but her sister.

But she couldn’t tel from their facial expressions how they viewed Daemon’s decision.

Tezra gave Atreides a look like he should move it or lose it. He glanced at Daemon who nodded.

Atreides smiled darkly. “Anyone want some coffee?” He disappeared into the kitchen and banged around.

It was now or never. Tezra sat next to her sister. Reaching out, she took Katie’s hands. Her stomach rol ed like the waves curled and crashed on the beach. She gathered her strength to delve into her sister’s fractured mind.

Tezra hoped the smel of the salty air and the screeching of seagul s in flight in the seaside setting would bring the cheerful memories back to her sister. “Katie, do you remember a time when we played at the beach? We col ected seashel s and—”

Pul ing her hands away from Tezra, Katie looked away from her.

Tezra tried a different tack and recaptured Katie’s hands, rubbing her thumbs gently over them.
“You will listen to me, Katie.

Hear my words and don’t think about anything else unless I give you permission.”

She wasn’t sure she was having any effect on Katie, but it surprised her how easy it was to attempt vampiric mind control, as if she’d been born with it. She could see how seductive having the power could be.

Daemon drew close to Tezra and touched her shoulder. “I want you to quit, Tezra, if your head begins to hurt.”

Her gaze shifted to him and she nodded, but she had no intention of stopping, not until she rescued her sister from the darkness.

“I mean it, Tezra.”

Not about to al ow him or anyone else to control her, not when this was so important, she turned away from him.
“Remember
when we spent Christmas with Aunt Ritania? She gave you an amethyst ring, your birthstone, but gave me a Mickey Mouse
watch because I could tell time. But I wanted an emerald, my own birthstone, something pretty and feminine. Not a Mickey
Mouse watch. It was a boy’s watch, for heaven’s sake.”

Katie looked away, but Tezra touched her cheek and forced her to face the memories.

“They’re dead,” Katie said softly.

Tezra stared at her sister in disbelief. To hear her sister’s first words spoken in a decade, Tezra’s heart ached with joy. Yet bringing up the subject of their parents’ murder didn’t seem like a good idea now. But another notion concerned her. Had her sister not been as traumatized as everyone thought? Tezra didn’t think she’d done anything to reduce her sister’s fears enough to bring her out of her silent world.

Katie looked at her, her expression solemn, her eyes barely blinking.

“Uhm, yeah, Katie Bird, Mom and Dad are dead. I’m…” Unable to keep her emotions in check, she pul ed Katie into her arms and crushed her against her chest, traitorous tears rol ing down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry for everything that happened.”

Pul ing away, Katie wrung her hands and shifted her eyes to the floor.

The rejection hurt, but Tezra wasn’t finished explaining. “I wanted so badly to catch the kil er vampire who was murdering police officers, I didn’t think of our family’s safety.”

Katie looked back at Tezra, her eyes fil ed with tears.

“Can you ever forgive me?”

Katie’s jaw tightened. “I-I…” She clamped her mouth shut.

Daemon took Tezra’s hand and rubbed it.

With a sinking feeling, Tezra realized she had a long way to go in helping her sister to mend. “What, Katie? Tel me how you feel. I’m so, so sorry.”

Katie swal owed hard and fisted her hands in her lap. “I-I…” She shook her head and avoided looking at Tezra.

Shaken, Tezra feared her sister hated her for what happened. “Katie…”

“No!” Katie’s green eyes were icy daggers. “I…h-had a fight.”