Blood and Sand (24 page)

Alive. Alive. Alive.

She was alive, and she wanted him.

Bracing himself over her, Baojia pulled away a fraction of an inch, staring into deep blue eyes.

“I need you,” he said softly. “I need—”

“Yes,” she breathed out her answer, then reached up and pulled his mouth down to hers.

Need. Desire. Ache. He ached for her. He felt her hands ripping at his shirt as he tore at hers, desperate to feel the pulse of her heart against his chest. Desperate to hear her blood. Desperate to hear her call his name. Natalie’s quick fingers slipped down the front of his slacks where his flesh, roused by anger and desire, leapt beneath her fingertips.
 

“Aah!” He arched up, fangs dropping as the ecstasy of her touch ignited him. His eyes sought hers, locking on to her hungry gaze as he sat back on his heels, stripping the jeans down her legs, fumbling with the shoes she finally kicked off. His hands ran up the inside of her legs, lingering behind her knees when he heard the quick intake of breath. He reached up and pulled at the blue panties she still wore. They were torn at the corner, from her fall or his hands, he didn’t know. He didn’t care. He rid himself of his own clothes before he bent down.

Bh=" were toraojia breathed in, letting his senses fill with her scent as his fangs scraped along the inside of her thigh. “I want to bite you.” He licked at her flesh. “Here.”

Her heart was racing. In excitement or fear? “It won’t hurt?”

Baojia’s mouth moved along her shivering skin before he looked up to meet her wide blue eyes. “I’m going to bite you here, put my mouth on your flesh, and suck. I’m going to let my amnis flood your senses until the only thing you can feel is fire in your veins. You will experience the most intense pleasure imaginable. You will come. And you will want more.”

What do you know? He’d finally rendered her speechless. All she could do was nod.

He fluttered his tongue along the artery, sucking until her skin was red and swollen under his mouth. At the same time, his fingers stroked along her belly, up and over her breasts, finally running down the length of her arms until he had linked their hands, palm to palm. And everywhere his hands went, his cool energy went, too. He could feel her react, her body flush with life, her skin prickling in awareness. And when she started to pant, he bit.

“Baojia!” she cried out as he drank from her, swallowing thick gulps of her rich blood until her back arched and she came with a violent shudder. He immediately sealed off the wound, then he slid up her body and inside with one smooth movement, capturing her cries in his mouth as he thrust. His hand ran down over her thigh to grip and lift it higher. He listened for her pulse, timing his steady strokes to the beat of her heart as the air around him became laden with the scent of her pleasure and blood and sweat and life.

She was alive. In that moment, she was everything.

And when he felt her come around his flesh, felt the heady rush of pleasure course through her again, Baojia let go and surrendered.

Natalie was curled into his side, still naked. She was so warm, he wanted to drape her over his body like a cloak. His hands teased through her hair, pulling out tiny pieces of rock and debris from her run through the desert. He could feel his senses slowing. Sunlight was near.

“Natalie?”

She was drowsy, too, nuzzling into the skin of his chest. He could feel her tongue flick out occasionally to taste his skin. Her lips closed over one nipple and bit lightly as his eyes rolled back in his head.

“Hmm?” she purred.

“Dawn is coming.”

That brought her up short. She looked around the room. “Are we safe here?”

“I don’t feel anyone around, and anything truly dangerous will be sleeping soon. Reach into my pants on the floor. Sewn into the front of them is a weapon.”

“You could definitely say that.”

He closed his eyes and laughed. “No, a sword.”

“That’s certainly one name for it.”

“Woman—” He reached down and pinched her backside. “An actual sword. I’m going to pass out in a few minutes. I’ll be asleep until nightfall. Keep the sword out, just in case.”

Her voice was suddenly insecure. “I thought you said we were alone down here.”

“We are. I’m just being cautious.”

“I’ve never used any weapon like that before.”

“We’ve got to start training you,” he mumbled. “You have… good balance and coordination. You should pick up the basics well enough until I can put together a proper training regimen for you.”

“Baojia…” All the playfulness was gone from her voice. He looked down to see her hiding her eyes from him. Not good.

“We’ll talk more tonight.” He reached down and tilted her chin up so she was forced to meet his eyes. “Okay?”

She nodded, uncertainty still etched on her features.

“When I fall asleep… I don’t breathe, Natalie. I don’t have to, except as habit and to sense the air around me, so when I’m asleep, I don’t breathe at all. And you know my skin is cooler, so—”

“You’re going to feel…” She gulped. “To look kind of…”

“Dead,” Baojia said. Her heart sped up. He could tell she was afraid. “Think of it more like a coma. It’s just a very deep sleep. When I am older, I will be able to wake from it; right now I can’t. But I will wake at nightfall. Don’t forget that. I will wake and be just as I am now.”

She nodded, and he could feel the heaviness descending on his limbs. A cloud started to fog his mind.

“Grab the sword,” he said.

“Okay.” She reached down and got one of his short swords from his pants. “Okay. I’m not going to freak out.”

“Good girl,” he whispered. “Your turn… to guard me.”

Her tentative smile was the last thing he saw before his eyes closed.

Her scent was the first thing he smelled upon waking. It was the scent of skin and blood. Their scent together, mingling in a pleasing way. He wanted her by the ocean, outside in the water with the fog blanketing them. Maybe a hot tub. That had definite possibilities. Of course—he felt a rock beneath the pallet on the cavern floor—just a bed would be an improvement.

Cave in the desert. Bed near the ocean. He just wanted her.

Baojia’s fangs lengthened instinctually as his eyes flickered open. Natalie was not next to him. Candles still lit the room, and he heard a rustle of movement from the corner. His eyes darted over to the disturbance. It was her, rifling through a low cabinet that appeared to need a good dusting. The whole cave looked like it hadn’t been used in years. She must have heard movement, because she spun around, sword raised.

“Hi.” He held up his hands. “I surrender.”

A lingering trace of fear haunted that stare, but she threw the sword down and leapt onto the bed, kissing his face and holding him tightly.

“Oh, that was weird. I’m not going to lie, the way you just go out is kinda freaky, George. I maybe had a little minor panic attack at one point, but then the whole crazy night caught up with me and I fell asleep. I just woke up a little bit ago, so I was looking for some water. There’s a cabinet over there, but I—”

He pulled her down and shut her up with a kiss. She talked too much for just waking up. Of course, when she didn’t talk it bothered him more. Natalie’s natural state was chatty. He’d learn to live with it.

“Hi,” she finally whispered when he released her lips. “How did you sleep?”

“I sleep. There’s no variable. I’m awake, then I’m gone.”

“Yeah, I noticed that. You don’t toss or turn. You really are kind of… comatose. We’ll call it that.”

He smiled. “Whatever you can live with.” There it was again, that doubt. It leapt to her eyes any time he mentioned the future. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. What?”

He tu8">eyecked a curl of hair behind her ear. She was wearing what was left of his shirt and the panties he’d left in tatters. It must have been something about the crazy, panicked night; he wasn’t usually such a barbarian. “I know you feel unsure about… us. About all this.”

“Yeah?” She squirmed.

“Give it a chance. Us. This.” He swallowed the odd lump in his throat. “Whatever it is, it’s new for me too.”

She bit her lip and sat cross-legged on the bed. “We’re so different, Baojia.”

“Yes, we are.” He knew she was thinking about her mortality. So was he. More and more every night. “But nothing in life is certain. Not in human life. Not in immortal life. Just remember that.”

Slowly, she nodded. “I’ll try.”

“And do not
ever
do something like this again, Natalie.”

He saw her eyes start to narrow. “Don’t. Don
t lecture me. You’re not my father.”

“I most certainly am not.”

“So don’t think—”

“My name is Chen Bao Jia,” he said quietly, sitting up next to her in the bed. “Sired to water in 1884 by Don Ernesto Alvarez.” He reached out and tilted her chin up so she met his eyes. “Protector of a family that no longer wants me. Subject to no clan.” Her eyes filled with tears as he continued in a soft, urgent voice. “I offer you my protection, Natalie Ellis. Will you accept it?”

She blinked back her tears and lifted her chin proudly, but he put a single finger over her mouth.

“I offer you my protection. Do you understand what I am saying?”

Natalie paused and then she whispered, “Yes.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“This would have been a lot easier if you hadn’t taken my phone, you know.” She was holding a candle while he dug a tunnel out of the
cave. The wax kept dripping onto her hand. “Ouch!”

“Lift it up a little higher.”

Her shirt had been ripped beyond repair during the fight, so he’d given her his. Baojia only wore a pair of pants while he dug through the sandstone rubble. She had to admit, the view was nice. Well, what she could see of it, anyway.

“You have super strength, right?” She watched as he hefted a boulder the size of a Saint Bernard out of the way. “Shouldn’t this be going faster?”

He turned, frustration evident on his dark features. He pointed to his chest. “Water vampire.” Then he spread out his arms. “Desert!”

Natalie bit her lip and tried not to smile. “You’re really cute when you’re angry, George.”

He blinked, obviously not expecting her answer. Then she saw him try to suppress the smile. “Just… hold the light. I’m almost through the biggest pieces and the smaller will go fast. We’ll be out of here soon.”

“Can I help?”

“You can hold the light, Natalie.”

“Don’t you have super night vision, oh elemental creature of the dark?”

He spun and walked toward her. “I have excellent night vision when there is some natural light.” He grabbed the candle and set it on a rock nearby. “Moon. Stars.” He grabbed her and pulled her to his chest. “But there is no light down here. None.”
 

He bent down and kissed her, 8">eyHe grabbedhis lips hard with anger, then softening when she melted. He did this to her. In his arms, she felt like the center of the world. She reached up to hold his shoulders, because her knees actually felt weak. Finally, he pulled away. “Now be quiet and hold the light.” Then he shoved the candle back in her hand and went back to work.

She swayed a little, leaning against a boulder to regain her balance. “Okay.”

How, how, how had this happened? She’d fallen. Hard. Natalie had thought she was going to die the night before. No matter how she had protested, she’d run through the desert searching for Brigid and Beatrice with no thought of leaving alive. She’d had the Taser, at least. And then Baojia had come. Furious. She’d seen him cut off the head of her attacker with one stroke. It was… otherworldly.
He
was otherworldly. And then he wasn’t. He was a man, angry with her for risking herself. Desperate to feel alive. Giving her…
 

Do you understand?

He hadn’t said it with words. Watching the strong, silent man she was falling in love with, Natalie realized he might never give her words. But she could probably live with that, because she had a feeling he would give her everything else.

Do you understand?

She understood. Now she just had to decide if she could live with the rest of it.

The muscles of his back flexed effortlessly as he moved the enormous rocks that had fallen in, blocking the cave. No sweat marked his skin in the flickering candlelight. He didn’t breathe harder because he didn’t need to breathe. When she’d lain next to him through the day, he had appeared, for all intents and purposes, dead, though his skin had retained the same soft tan color, and she could feel his energy humming every time she touched him. So Natalie had closed her eyes and laid her hand on his arm when she fell asleep, comforting herself with the single sign of life his body exhibited. But he hadn’t turned to her in her sleep and held her close, because he couldn’t.

Tell me you understand…

He might give her everything, but could it be enough?

“Why are you upset?”

She blinked back the tears that had started gathering in her eyes. “How did you—”