Night Huntress 06 - Eternal Kiss of Darkness (9 page)

She had no qualms about wanting to forget him forever—or at best, never to see him again. If only he felt the same single-minded detachment over her.

“Your sister believes you to be recuperating from the flu, and your job is secure. I know this situation is not of your choosing, but it will be over soon.”

Kira’s fists clenched, and her natural sweet scent soured. “My sister isn’t well.”

“Is she in danger of dying in the next few days?” Mencheres asked bluntly.

Kira hesitated, biting her lip. “No.”

“Then I cannot justify the risk.”

“Look, she’s scared!” Kira snapped. “I don’t suppose that happens very often with vampires, but it does with the rest of us. These hospital stays are hard on Tina. They beat on her back to loosen the mucus in her lungs, then give her treatments to help her breathe easier. She’s my little sister, I told her I’d be there for her.” Kira’s voice wavered, becoming huskier. “I told her she could always count on me.”

Mencheres closed his eyes. Kira didn’t know it, but loyalty was one of the qualities he prized most. And he understood, all too well, the sense of responsibility Kira felt toward someone she considered hers. He studied her strong, lovely face and the curve of that stubborn jaw. Any manipulations Kira might have tried on him were justified. Mencheres would have done the same himself, if he were her.

“There is one thing that might hasten my ability to erase your memories.”

Kira’s expression became hopeful and she took a step toward him.

“What? Whatever it is, I’ll do it.”

Would she still say that once she heard what it entailed? “Your blood would give me greater power over you. For humans with very strong minds, drinking them is sometimes necessary before they can be mesmerized. You are very strong-willed, Kira. Perhaps more than my blood in your system is preventing me from manipulating your mind.”

Kira paled as she digested what she’d have to do. Mencheres watched her, keeping his expression blank. Was her protectiveness for her sister greater than her fear of offering her throat to a vampire?

She swallowed hard, then gave a short nod. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

He was surprised by her quick capitulation. “You realize this means I will bite you and drink your blood?” he asked, just in case she hadn’t understood.

Kira let out a small laugh. “You’re a vampire. I didn’t think you’d use a needle and a straw.”

“You’re not afraid?” he challenged.

Her pale green gaze was steady even as her pulse began to race. “You promised not to harm me. So then I have nothing to be afraid of.”

Loyalty. Bravery. Determination. Kira’s attributes were like a torch shining on all his dark years of ruthlessness. Long-dormant emotions rose in him, and his eyes flared green. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d met someone of her quality, and her blood would become part of him when he drank from her. When Kira pulled back her hair and came to stand only inches away, he found that he wanted her blood inside him so badly that he dared not touch her lest he injure her with his urgency.

She shivered, glancing over her shoulder. “It feels like something just brushed up against me… do you feel that?”

It was his power uncurling and wrapping around her in all the ways he couldn’t allow himself to. Mencheres tempered it, only letting his aura caress hers without that coiling energy stroking along her skin like dozens of hands.

“Come closer,” he rasped, still not trusting himself to touch her. It had been
so long
since he’d felt anything this strong for a woman. The unexpected surge of need snaking through him had his skin humming with energy. If this was how he felt in anticipation of biting Kira, what would it feel like to possess her body? To make those full, red lips part with a slow, rapturous scream as he drove his flesh deeply inside her?

A sound escaped Kira, almost a gasp. Mencheres reined himself back in again, trying to squelch the sudden flare of lust that resulted in his unconsciously flicking his power along the most sensitive cluster of her nerve endings. The depth of his response to her was astounding, as if something long asleep in him had unexpectedly awakened with a roar.

“Like this?” Kira asked, tilting her head to the side with her eyes closed.

The smooth line of her neck with its vibrating pulse was almost his undoing. Mencheres clenched his fists, drawing himself back under control with great effort.
Slowly. She’s never been tasted before.

The knowledge that he’d be the first to claim her blood aroused a primal instinct in him. He enfolded Kira in a smooth, strong embrace. Her pulse thundered beneath his lips as he brushed them over her neck. Her flesh was so soft, her scent mingling with his as he drew her close. She didn’t speak, but her breathing came in small, unsteady puffs that warmed him where they landed. His arm slid down her back, pulling her even closer, smothering his moan at the feel of her body flush against his.

“How much… will you need to take?” she whispered unsteadily, her heart rate jumping when Mencheres grazed her throat with his fangs.

“Have no fear.”

His voice was low, almost a growl, as his hand threaded through the thick mass of her hair. The sensuous friction of her breasts against his chest, rising and falling from her rapid breathing, intensified his craving to explore all of her. Thoroughly, relentlessly, and slowly. But though he held her far closer than necessary, his hands remained on her back and on her head, holding her steady instead of learning the tantalizing curves of her body.

She gasped when Mencheres sealed his mouth over her neck, sucking on it with slow, steady pressure. He didn’t pierce her yet, but readied her for his bite, bringing that smaller, succulent vein closer to the surface. His eyes closed at the lemony nectar taste of her skin, the way her pulse leapt against his mouth, and at the shiver that raced all over her body. Her scent enveloped him, a mixture of apprehension, hesitation… and something else. Excitement.

A dark thrill of triumph washed over Mencheres. She might not be aware of it, but a part of Kira yearned for him to bite her for reasons that had nothing to do with her sister.
You want to be claimed this way
, he thought, flicking his tongue across her neck once more.
And you shall be. Now.

His fangs sank into her flesh in the next instant.

E
verything in Kira froze at the feel of those sharp fangs puncturing her skin, but she wasn’t prepared for what happened next. Instead of pain, a cascade of pure sensation flowed over her. Sweet, luscious warmth seemed to spread slowly from her neck, down her shoulders, and lower, until it felt like her body was submerged in heated chocolate. All her worries drained away in such a rush that she felt dizzy, only realizing how heavy the stress had been when it was no longer there to weigh her down.

Something thick and silky threaded through her fingers. After a hazy moment, Kira realized she’d raised her arms and was now gripping Mencheres’s hair. He made a deep, guttural sound that vibrated against her neck as he swallowed.
My blood. Mencheres is swallowing my blood
.

The thought should have frightened her, or at the very least, made her uneasy, but Kira found herself pressing closer to him instead. Shards of pleasure spiked in her as his fangs slid deeper in response. The heat spreading through her began to swirl and concentrate in one spot, making her gasp at the sudden intense need in her loins. Her hands tangled tighter in his hair while a dark, inexplicable urge had Kira rubbing her neck against his mouth.

Pleasure stabbed into her with enough impact to make her gasp as his fangs slid into her again. She heard herself moaning. Felt another dizzying sweep of heat. How could a
bite
be responsible for so much bliss?

Mencheres lifted his head all too soon, leaving cool air on her throat instead of the hard, sensual pressure of his mouth. The firm caress of his hands on her back and head vanished, too, resulting in disappointing emptiness instead of the feel of him gripping her.

She didn’t even think before she yanked his head back down to her neck. “Don’t stop,” she gasped.

A harsh noise escaped him as his tongue slid a long, slow path across the spot on her throat where he’d bitten her.

“You don’t really mean that.”

Like hell she didn’t. She needed more of that wonderful, seeking heat flooding all through her. More of
him
touching her. Her breasts rubbed against the muscled wall of Mencheres’s chest as she tightened her grip on his head, keeping him cradled in the crook of her neck.

His hands reached up, clasping her wrists in a gentle yet unbreakable hold as he lifted his head away from her. That clawing need in her began to ebb, leaving behind a warm, light-headed lethargy, as if she’d just emerged from a hot tub after breathing nitrous oxide.

Kira swayed as a tingling wave of dizziness overtook her. Mencheres lifted her, then she was placed on something soft. She opened her eyes to find that he’d moved them over to the couch. She expected his mouth to be stained red, or to see crimson trails zigzagging down his face, but nothing marred his strikingly handsome features. His eyes were still bright emerald green, meeting hers with an intensity she couldn’t name.

And she had not the slightest idea of what to say. The uninhibited feelings that had led her to shove Mencheres’s head to her throat,
demanding
that he bite her again, had faded, leaving Kira torn. Was her impassioned reaction just what happened to everyone Mencheres bit? Was that why he’d said she didn’t really mean it when she’d told him not to stop?

Or had she not wanted him to stop because the vampire’s bite was an excuse to act on the desire she felt toward him? She certainly wouldn’t let her unhealthy attraction loose under any other circumstances. No matter how well-intentioned his actions were, he was still her captor—her
inhuman
captor. She wasn’t about to further complicate an already-twisted situation.

“Are you feeling better now?” Mencheres asked, none of her discomfiture coloring his tone.

Kira looked away, taking in a deep breath. She noticed her heart wasn’t racing anymore. In fact, it had the same relaxed cadence as if she’d just woken up.

“Fine.” Then she forced herself to ask, “Is that whole ‘more, more!’ response common when you bite someone? Or do I owe you an apology?”

Mencheres moved away from her before he answered. “It is very common.”

His tone was so stiff that Kira shot a glance at him. His face was utterly closed off, as expressionless as a statue.
Why would you expect anything different?
she asked herself. This might be a new experience for her, but Mencheres must bite a different person every day. The only reason he wasn’t yawning was probably because he didn’t need to breathe.

Then abruptly, he was kneeling in front of her, his hand cupping her face and his green eyes blazing into hers.

“Nothing happened, Kira. I did not bite you. You did not come back to my house. You went home from work Tuesday morning, and you have been ill in your bed ever since.”

A strange thickness pressed on her mind as his voice seemed to vibrate through her. For a split second, Kira felt elated. It must be finally working! But just as quickly, dismay swept over her. If it was, then she would forget Mencheres. She’d never even realize she’d met him…

She blinked, and that insistent pressure vanished from her mind. Mencheres’s eyes were still locked onto her, so bright they didn’t even seem real; but she no longer felt the urge to fall inside their glow.

“It’s not working.” The strangest feeling washed over her.
Regret? Relief?
Kira let it go before she could determine which.

Mencheres was across the room with his back to her before her next blink. Nothing from the square set of his shoulders gave her any indication of what he was thinking.

“We try again in two days,” he said.

That would make it a week since that fateful morning at the warehouse. The maximum amount of time Mencheres said it would take for the effects of her drinking his blood to wear off. Kira bit back the question that immediately popped up in her mind.

What if in two days, he still couldn’t erase her memories? And if Mencheres couldn’t make her forget everything she’d learned about him and the other vampires… would he
ever
let her go?

M
encheres lay on the bottom of the pool, the rays of the late-afternoon sun shining mutedly through the opaque glass. He’d been down here for over an hour in the artificially warmed water, yet even this normally relaxing pastime did little to soothe him. He kept thinking about how Kira’s skin had felt under his mouth yesterday, how she tasted, and how her scent assumed a richer, deeper fragrance with her arousal.

He knew that arousal was only due to how he’d bitten her. Kira’s response had been the same Mencheres had encountered from countless women and men he’d fed from before. What was so different was
his
response. When Kira moaned for him not to stop, for a moment, he was tempted. He could drink from her the entire time he took her, draining only the smallest amount of blood but giving her the same incredible sensations from his bite—and more. His desire had been so great that it caused physical pain for him to set Kira away. Mencheres couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted anyone with such intensity. Perhaps never.