Steal the Light (Thieves) (28 page)

I fell to my knees beside him, tears streaking down my face. I hadn’t told him. I hadn’t told any of them that this was the place Halfer had taken me to. Not this cheap motel room, but a place where Daniel died again and again and there was nothing I could do to save him.

Then I saw it—the slightest movement of his chest. It was light. It was so shallow I would have missed it if I hadn’t been close, but it was there all the same.

“Okay, buddy, come on.” I put my wrist to his mouth. “Wake up. The dinner bell is ringing.”

I got nothing. There wasn’t even the slightest movement to let me know he was in there somewhere. I reached into the pocket of his leather duster jacket. Daniel was extremely handy and almost never went anywhere without his Swiss Army knife. He was forever pulling it out and using the little screwdriver or the corkscrew or the file. I flipped through the tools, locating one that would work. The corkscrew was applicable. I was opening his favorite vintage.

Sharp pain bit at me as I forced the tip of the tool into my wrist. I didn’t go far or drag it down. I cut just enough to bleed. If I could just give Daniel a taste, he might be able to do the rest for himself.

I pressed the wound on my left arm against his lips and squeezed with my right hand to get the blood flowing. After a moment, I felt the beautiful press of his mouth on my wrist and then his tongue caressing my skin.

“Come back, Daniel,” I implored him.

His eyes opened but they still had a sleepy look to them. He shoved my arm away and managed to push himself up to sitting. He slumped there with his back against the bed, an accusatory look in his eyes.

“What are you doing, Zoey?”

“Saving you.” I tried to put my wrist back to his mouth, but he pushed it away. Anger bloomed inside me. “Do you really want to die that badly? Or is it me? Do you not want me? Do you want me to get you some hooker, Danny? Would a prostitute be more acceptable?”

Daniel laughed, but it was a wretched sound. “Not want you? That’s a laugh. I can’t help but want you. Even if I hated you I would want you. I…Zoey, you don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t know what you’re asking for. Get my cell phone and call the club. It’s where you should have gone in the first place.”

“No.” I wasn’t about to argue with him. There wasn’t time. Even now I could see the small strength that one sip had given him was waning. “I’m the only one who can help you.”

Daniel shook his head. “No. I won’t take you. Not like this.”

“We did this before and everything was fine.” I didn’t understand his stubbornness.

“I was an idiot. I could have killed you.”

“But you didn’t, and you won’t kill me now.” It was painfully obvious to me that my little wrist wasn’t going to be tempting enough for Daniel. We were going to have to do this the hard way. I pulled my T-shirt over my head.

“I can hurt you in other ways, Z.” Daniel’s eyes had closed. He leaned his head back against the bed as though even the small act of talking sapped his strength. “When we did it before, we didn’t know what it meant. If we did this now, it would mean something. It would bind us in ways you don’t want.”

“You have no idea what I want.” I got out of my shoes and slipped my pants off. I wanted him to live, and I was willing to fight him to get my way. He had no idea how far I would go to not live in a world without him. Even if he went back to ignoring me tomorrow, I would be all right with it because he was alive.

“You don’t want this.”

I ignored him in favor of unclasping my bra and sliding out of my underwear. I wasn’t the smartest girl in the world when it came to vampires, but I knew a few things. Vampires liked sex with their blood. It was an integral part of the feeding process, and Daniel had denied himself for a long time. Vampires fed off of sexual energy as readily as the blood. He needed both badly. I hoped the combination of the two would be too much to resist.

I straddled his half-dead body and sat on the part of him I hoped would come to life soon.

Daniel’s eyes flew open, and for a moment, he just looked at me and breathed. He shook his head even as his hands came up almost unwillingly to circle my waist. His fingers roamed over my skin in restless patterns, finally making their way up to cup my breasts. His thumbs flicked over my rigid nipples, sparking pure arousal across my skin.

“God, I can smell you.” He breathed in, his fangs glinting in the low light. A single finger trailed down my torso to my pussy. He was right. I was already warm and soft. The intimacy of what we were about to do flared desire through my system.

“Touch me, Danny.” It had been so damn long.

He pulled his hand away like he’d touched a hot stove. “Zoey, please walk away. Don’t do this to us. Don’t bring this out. Don’t.”

“I love you, Daniel.” I leaned forward and kissed him. It was soft and sweet at first, and then I licked my tongue across that gorgeous, full mouth and felt his fangs. “Take me, Daniel. Call me by my title.”

His hands shook as they caressed my breasts. He left one hand on my breast but the other sought my core and began to pinch and rub that place that got me moaning. He slipped his fingers into my pussy as his thumb rubbed against my clitoris. He sighed, and strength or no strength, he was coming to life against me. His cock swelled. “Companion.” His voice turned dark and thick. “Mine. You are mine.”

“Yours, Daniel.” I pressed closer to him. Need suddenly filled the room. I needed to be with him. I needed to give the gift of my body.

I felt him change. I felt the instant he stopped being my Daniel and became all vampire. He pulled my head back, exposing my neck. His eyes bled to a dark blue and there was no white left. His fangs were longer than I remembered, and for the first time I felt trepidation.

“You will call me by my title, companion,” he growled. “You will call me master.”

The first orgasm hit as he plunged his fangs in. As I gave myself over to mindless pleasure, I had one overwhelming thought.

God, I prayed, let him remember. Let him remember that he loves me.

Chapter Eighteen

I woke up with a little shriek, unsure of where I was. I’d had the dream again. I was back in Hell where nothing was meaningful and I was a useless thing. I tried to shake off the nightmare as my eyes adjusted to the dim light.

I was in a dingy motel room lying on a bed I probably wouldn’t dream of sleeping on normally. Now it was heaven. I was under the covers, naked, and I was not alone.

“Hi,” Daniel said quietly as though he was afraid of startling me. The gray color of his skin was gone, and he looked closer to normal than I had ever seen him. Even when he was healthy Daniel was pale, but now he was practically glowing.

I fell back onto the pillow. I was still weak, my head light as though I was slightly tipsy. Even weakened I felt a rush of relief that he was here and I was here with him. The only discomfort I felt was a slight pain in the muscles of my neck.

Daniel frowned as he leaned over and pushed back my hair. “I’m sorry, baby. I lost control a little. Your neck is pretty bad.”

“Don’t—” If I was thinking about how close I’d come to dying, then I was sure he’d already thought of it a thousand times. “Don’t tell me how stupid I was.”

The dream was still riding me, and I couldn’t stand the thought of another lecture on my own idiocy. I wanted to curl up and cry. That feeling was so close to the surface it would overwhelm me if he said the wrong thing.

“Shhh, I promise I won’t tell you how stupid that was. It can be our secret.” He slid over to get closer to me. His smile was so warm and intimate, I began to relax. I could see the adorable dimples he got when he really lit up. “Thank you, Zoey. You were magnificent. Tonight, you were amazing, and I owe you my life. Now sit up.” He lifted me up slightly, and there was a Styrofoam cup in his hand. “I took too much. You need to drink this. It will make you feel better.”

I looked at the cup but couldn’t quite make my hands reach out for it. “Do I want to know what it is?”

“No, you don’t. Bottoms up.”

He held the cup to my lips and I drank. It tasted better than I expected. It wasn’t sweet. There was a solid feel to it. Even as it slipped down my throat, I started to feel better. When I had gulped it all down, Daniel tossed the cup away and pulled me into his arms.

“I thought you would be mad at me,” I whispered into his chest. The drink was warm in my belly, and now I realized how cold I’d been without it. I nestled close to him, and I heard the reassuring beat of his heart. My blood was pumping in his veins. I had brought him back to life. I could keep him alive.

“I was scared for you. There’s a difference.” Daniel kissed the top of my head. “While you’ve been resting, I’ve been thinking, and I made a decision. I love you, Zoey. I’m not going to fight it anymore. I thought I was bad for you, and I probably am. I thought I would hurt you, but the truth is I could have done that when I was human. I did do that when I was human. I forgot how good it feels to be with you. I feel more like myself than I have in years. I can’t believe I wasted so much time. I was wrong to deny us this. It’s our right. It doesn’t matter why I love you. It only matters that I do. I need you, and I’m not letting you go again. So you can tell that freaking faery who’s been stalking you to go to hell.”

Some of his words didn’t make sense. Why he loved me? What did he mean by that? Why was it our right? But the feel of him holding me and saying the words I longed to hear crowded out all the little doubts.

“I love you, too.” And I did. He was the first thing I thought of in the morning and the last thought I had before falling asleep. For the first time in years I felt safe and loved, and I was going to hold on to that feeling for as long as possible. I felt strong enough to put my arms around him and was surprised he still had his pants on.

“You didn’t…” The only other time I’d given him blood, it hadn’t ended with him being dressed.

“Have sex with your unconscious body?” Daniel chuckled. “No, I was a gentleman. But I wanted to, Zoey. I really wanted to. I thought I should ask.”

“What if I say no?” I wasn’t going to say no, but it felt nice to joke with him again. I was already warming up in all the right places at the thought of being with Daniel again. I let my hand run across his chest. I loved his big, hard body and the way it felt when he was on top of me. My hands started to find the waistband of his pants and delve underneath.

“If you say no, then I’ll ask again,” he said in that low voice that told me he meant business. He pressed his pelvis forward and groaned when my hand swept across his straining cock. “I will wear you down. Please, Zoey. Please let me make love to you. It’s been so long. I want to fuck you so bad I think I’ll die if I can’t.”

All vestiges of the dream were pushed out of my mind. Hell had no place here. This was heaven and I was with Danny.

I pushed the covers off and brought one leg up around his waist. I looked into his eyes, and they didn’t seem alien anymore. They were beautiful and filled with desire. It was a look he’d only ever given to me. “I worked hard to keep you alive, baby. I think I can make one more sacrifice.”

Then he kissed me. He pressed his lips against mine so softly, so gently, I could feel them shaking. I wrapped my arms around him and realized his whole body was quivering slightly.

“Danny, what’s wrong?” I asked, concerned he still wasn’t strong enough. His body had taken a beating. I didn’t want to push him.

He rested his head against mine. “I’m scared, Zoey. I don’t want to fuck this up. I haven’t…it’s been a really long time.”

“Well, I haven’t either.” I tried hard not to laugh. The humor bubbling inside me was affectionate. He might not remember the first time we made love, but I did. He’d been worried that night, too. He’d shaken with anxiety at the thought I might not like it. We’d been dumb kids who hadn’t really understood the promise we were making. But it was a promise we’d kept.

“It wouldn’t matter if you had,” he said. “You could have slept with the offensive line of the Cowboys and I would still shake at the thought of being with you. My whole life my only real fear has been that I won’t be good enough for you. I’m not a good man. I’ve done things in the last five years…horrible things, things I’m not proud of. I’m a monster, but if you’ll let me, I will do everything I can to make you happy. You never have to be afraid of me.”

“I could never be afraid you.” I didn’t care what he’d done to survive. It only mattered that he had. It only mattered that he was here.

His tongue surged in, playing against mine, tentative at first, but then he seemed to find his rhythm. He covered my body with his, his weight a welcome presence. He was so big. Danny made me feel delicate and feminine when he pressed me into the mattress, his muscular body holding me down. He kissed my mouth, his tongue sliding deep, but then he touched the tip of my nose with the lightest of caresses. His lips worked their way across my face, placing butterfly kisses on my eyes, a reverent kiss to my forehead. A low growl rumbled against my neck.

He worshipped me, not missing an inch as he kissed his way down my body.