Blood Mate (11 page)

He’d been sure
that if the curse were broken, he would go back to being the man he’d
been before it. He hadn’t been a killer when he was turned, so
surely those rules—the fine print—didn’t apply to him. The book
had been created for the first vampires. Not for him. He was special.
He was different. He was holy.

And he was about
to drain the life from the man standing in the way of what he wanted.
With the curse behind him, all he wanted was her. Three times he’d
drunk her blood, and each time he grew more possessive. What was one
more murder in all the thousands upon thousands he’d been forced to
commit? What was one more life if it could simplify everything?

The front door was
locked, but locks posed no challenge. August ripped it off its
hinges. Nothing would stand between him and his goal. Fluorescent
lights hissed and blinked as he stomped down the hallway, gaining
speed the closer he got to the scent of his prey.

When he opened the
door, Dominic looked up.

“Can I help
you?”

“You can die.
That would help a lot.”

The red haze that
blurred August’s vision made Dominic pink, like meat. Should he
drink or snap his neck? He’d never been faced with that decision.
Choosing to kill was a novel concept.

Before Dominic
could react, August was on him, his fangs in his throat, ripping at
the flesh. The first drop of blood had barely touched his tongue when
Nicolette’s tear-streaked face leapt into his mind. His phantom
mate was on her knees, begging him, begging for her husband’s life,
promising to give him anything he wanted.

Dominic struggled
in his arms and August let go. The vampire ripped into his own wrist
and gave the man some of his blood to undo the damage he’d created.
Dominic sputtered and choked on it, trying to get away, trying not to
swallow, but it was a futile fight.

When August had
forced enough blood down the man’s throat, he gripped his shoulders
and stared hard into his eyes. “None of this happened. Forget me.”

He cursed and
punched a hole in the wall on his way out. The damage would be a
mystery Nicolette’s husband would never unravel.

***

Nicole crammed a
few more dresses and an extra pair of jeans into the open suitcase.
She couldn’t bear leaving Dominic forever. She wasn’t strong
enough for that, and she feared what August would do when he found
her gone. But she needed the illusion that she could somehow be free
in the world again, just for a little bit.

She reread her
quickly-scrawled words:

Dominic,

I’m sorry to leave
you a note like this, but my Aunt Norah broke her leg. She needs help
with the children for a few days while she makes other arrangements.
I didn’t want to disturb you at the office. I’ll call as soon as
I can.

Love Always,

Nicole

The beauty of the
explanation was that it was easily believable. Norah hadn’t spoken
to the rest of the family in years. Nicole found herself grateful for
the family strife that would give her a way out for a while.

She sat on the
suitcase to force it closed and drove the locks home. She wanted
nothing more than to explain things to Dominic, beg him to run away
with her, but he would never believe her story.

On her way out of
town, she stopped by the flower shop and gave them the injured-aunt
excuse. They couldn’t guarantee her job would be there when she
returned, and she didn’t expect it to be.

She just needed
space, a few days to try to cope with the reality of her life now.

Chapter Eight

August had driven
for five days, stopping only to sleep on the side of the road. The
death and decay rose up around him, his face and body having turned
gruesome from lack of feeding. Each time he caught her trail, he lost
it again. And the weaker he got, the harder it was to pick up.

He needed to feed.
He needed to kill someone. After the red haze that had come over him
with Dominic—the momentary belief that he could kill without
remorse—August was back to a sense of dread over the prospect. What
was the point of taking Nicolette—of destroying her life—if he
would go back to killing? If he allowed himself to succumb to his
urges, every shred of who he’d once been would be lost forever, and
Nicolette’s sacrifice would become meaningless.

Either way, she’d
be alone out there. When her husband and family and friends were
gone, she’d be alone, like him. He needed her. She needed him. She
just didn’t know it yet. He wouldn’t leave her as a lone freak to
face the aging world unchanged.

Except for his
foot on the gas, he held his body absolutely still. He sensed her
nearby. She’d stopped moving. He sped forward, as if she were
pulling him to her on an invisible leash. He wondered if she would
get a sudden sense of dread—of fear—if she’d know he was coming
for her in time to run.

He smiled when he
saw the silver Lexus parked next to the last room of a run-down
motel. Motels were public places. No invitation needed.

August didn’t
bother knocking or issuing threats; he forced the door open and
stepped inside. She sprawled on one of the double beds, watching a
show on television. Her eyes rose to his, wide and horrified when he
slammed the door. She scrambled off the bed to get to the bathroom,
but he grabbed her before she reached it.

“Were you
planning to fly out of the country?” She’d picked a motel next to
an airport. If she’d flown far enough away, he might not have found
her, at least not without killing a few people first. But as long as
Dominic was alive, she wouldn’t leave the country without him.
August was glad he’d resisted the urge to kill the attorney.

“I… um…”

“Close your
eyes.”

“What?”

Those obviously
weren’t the words she’d expected from him after five days of
hunting her.

“Close your
eyes.” He shouldn’t feel bad about her having to endure a bite
from an ugly, rotting vampire. It was her fault he’d gotten to this
state. Her running.

“Are you going
to hurt me?”

“Why would I
hurt you?”

“I ran.”

“And it was
pointless. Wasn’t it? What did you feel you would accomplish? Is
this how you wish to go on for the rest of eternity with me? Run and
get caught by a grotesque monster every few days? Wouldn’t you
prefer I fed from you in a more attractive form?”

“No.”

There it was. That
ridiculous guilt of hers. The martyr complex.

“You’ll have
to drink my blood tonight.”

She tried to
struggle free of his grasp. “What? No! You said… ”

“Unless you want
to suffer. The amount of blood I’ll have to take from you at this
stage, you’ll heal, but it will be painful without my help, even
with the link between us. I told you I wouldn’t allow you to suffer
unnecessarily. I gave my word.”

He’d also
promised Dominic would die of natural causes and she could stay with
her husband until then. And yet, he’d almost broken that vow.

August didn’t
have to be able to read her mind to know she had a death wish
already. He’d seen a reflection of his own eyes in hers, the slump
of shoulders, the resignation, the burning need to escape it all. She
was his mirror.

“Nicolette, we
have to be together. We’ll both go mad otherwise. You may not think
you need me now, but you will. And I need you. You have no idea how
much.”

He was surprised
when she let him pull her closer, her eyes squeezed shut as he’d
requested. He struck at her throat, feeding as quickly as possible.
She cringed against him, and he wasn’t sure if it was his current
ugliness and decay or if the bond between them still caused the bite
to feel like pleasure.

Savoring her blood
was something for another time. He drained her like he was draining a
body dry. He barely tasted her. He just needed to repair. The smell
that had risen off his flesh for the past two days faded to nothing.
His face lost its shrunken form and ashen pallor. His skin healed,
papering over the ugly truth of what he could so quickly become
without human blood. He became perfect again.

He stopped when he
heard the moan of pain escape her lips. Despite her earlier protests,
she didn’t fight when he brought his bleeding wrist to her mouth.

“Drink. You’ll
feel better. I promise.”

Her mouth latched
around the wound and she drank for several minutes, something deep
and primal between them grabbing hold of her. When she finished, it
was she who initiated the kiss, her mouth pressing against his in
fevered desperation.

August’s eyes
widened. It was just the bond growing stronger, the mutual feeding
causing her desire to spiral out of her control. It wasn’t real.
Just a mirage. She’d feel angst about it later. She’d blame him
for “taking advantage,” even though she was the one who was now
stripping her clothes off at an impressive speed and tugging on his
pants to get them down.

He held her wrists
tight, forcing her eyes to meet his.

“Owww. August,
you’re hurting me.”

“Good.” The
pain was the only real thing between them.

Her shirt gaped
open to reveal the tops of flushed breasts. He ripped it the rest of
the way off her body and took her bra as well. “Pants, off!” he
growled, too impatient to deal with the logistics of her clothing and
too busy with his own. He had fed plenty, he was fine again, but he
wanted to taste her, he wanted to drink more of her.

August pushed her
against the faux wood-paneled wall and sank his fangs again into her
throat. She writhed against him until he angled his hips and was
inside her, then she went still and started to cry.

He cradled her.
“Shhhh, poppet. It was always going to happen. You’re fighting
nature and destiny and blood. You can’t fight this. You can’t
fight me. You don’t want to.”

Minutes passed
with their bodies locked together like that, still, like a sculpture
of embracing lovers frozen in time.

Finally,
Nicolette’s hips began to move and rock against him in a belated
consent to her own destruction.

“Yes, just like
that,” he whispered. He went back to feeding as she fucked herself
on him. When he’d had his fill of her blood, he sealed the wound
and then moved her to the bed to finish what she’d started. He
drove in and out of her until they both came, and then his fangs were
in her throat again, taking just a little more. Always just a little
more.

They lay in the
bed, panting, their breath slowly matching rhythm. He pulled her
against his body and closed his eyes. “Sleep now. We’ll go back
in the morning.”

***

Nicole lay in the
vampire’s arms, her tears choking her. How could she allow… How
could she initiate…? All illusions were gone—like the illusion
that she could keep things strictly blood. She’d assumed he would
try to fuck her at some point, but never would she have guessed it
would be her throwing herself at him begging him to take her. She
hadn’t said those words. She hadn’t said any words, but her body
had said it all.

Now the only thing
left was shame and the resolve that it could never happen again. She
could never betray Dominic like this again.

August’s hands
stroked over breasts, and she flinched.

“You started
this. You jumped on me like I was your last source of oxygen.”

She tried to pull
his hand away, but he wouldn’t be moved, and she didn’t want him
to be moved. His hand pressed against her skin made her want to
spread her legs and guide him back inside her.

As if responding
to her thoughts, he caressed the flesh between her legs until she
began to move against him.

“You knew what I
was asking for when I said you would give yourself to me. You knew
what this bond was about and what it meant. I didn’t lie to you. I
told you from the beginning that you were my mate, and one way or
another you would give in and accept it. You can’t take it back,
and now that I’ve been inside you, there will be a lot more where
that came from. You can count on it.”

“Will I ever see
him again?” She couldn’t imagine August would allow her to go
back to Dominic now. Not after this.

“Since Dominic
thinks you’re with your aunt, you will keep that lie going. You’ll
stay with me for a while doing exactly what I tell you to do, no
matter what I ask for, and then I’ll think about forgiving you and
letting you see him again. Disobey one command and Dominic is out of
your life forever.”

If the feeding
made her crazy, it made August even more so. The possession of her
blood overtook him so that the small strands of humanity she’d seen
had already begun to fray. Nicole wasn’t sure that even obeying his
every whim would allow her to go back to her husband at this point.

“You’ll fuck
me exactly as I demand, then you’ll go fuck him. You’ll take us
both, and you’ll like it. Someday I might make you take us both at
once.”

“H-he can’t
know about this.”

“We’ll see.”

She spread her
legs wider as he slid his other hand between them. He used the
fingers of one hand to fuck her, and the fingers of the other to rub
her clit, then he bit her, and she came again, bucking against him.

***

The next morning,
a new type of energy buzzed beneath the surface of the vampire.
Nicole lay in bed with the sheets tangled around her, contemplating
if she was ready to sit up yet. August was dressed in a black suit,
medium-gray shirt, and black tie. He sat in a chair in the corner
beside the window drinking a cup of coffee. His face was so lit up,
Nicole wondered if he was plugged into an outlet somewhere.