Prophecy: Dark Moon Rising (11 page)

“Why?” She stopped when he did and looked at the door they were next to.

“He’s in a terrible mood. Excuse me … I’ve … I’ve … got matters to attend to.” With that, he was scurrying off down the hall as fast as his legs would carry him.

She stared at the door and considered leaving, but then she remembered what Venturi had said.

When this war started there wouldn’t be time for anything.

She knocked on the door and then turned the handle, not waiting for an answer. Walking into the room, she closed the door behind her and flicked the lock. There were no lights on in the room, but the pale silvery light of the moon made up for that as it streamed in through the window. Valentine was standing on a small balcony outside. Both of the glass doors to it were open. His shadow stretched long across the floor to where she stood.

She watched him for a moment, studying the sweeping curve of his bare back while he stared at the world outside. His head was tilted slightly upwards. Was he staring at the moon and the stars? Her eyes followed the strong line of his arm to his hand as he raised it. He gripped something in it. It glinted in the light.

A bottle?

He swigged the contents and when he lowered it again, she could see that it was half full with a clear liquid. She frowned, struggling to make out what the label said where it was partly obscured by his hand.

Did he even know she was there?

“What are you thinking?” she said quietly, breaking the silence.

His back tensed. He brought the bottle up again and drank more of the liquid.

“You,” he said in a low voice full of so many different emotions that she didn’t know what to make of it. There was anger in there, but affection and hurt too. His fingers tensed around the neck of the bottle and she flinched, waiting for the glass to give way under the pressure. It didn’t. He lessened his grip and his shoulders sagged. “That devil of a Tenebrae.”

She wondered if he could see everything without having to be there. Walking towards him, she stopped as she reached him and ran her hand up his back. Her eyes traced his profile while he drank again. She caught a glimpse of the bottle’s label. Vodka.

“Does that even help?” she said. “It takes a lot to get drunk.”

“I do not wish to get drunk. I just want the pain to lessen.”

Guilt settled in her stomach and she fought hard to remind herself that she’d done nothing wrong. It was all Venturi’s fault, not hers. Although she had affections for Venturi, she would never act on them. She loved Valentine too much to hurt him.

Taking the bottle from him, she swigged it and then placed it down on the desk beside her. She turned him to face her. He looked beautiful bathed in soft moonlight. It played on his bare chest and shoulders, highlighting his defined muscles with glowing silver lines.

She smiled. “I can ease the pain.”

His eyes dropped to her body and there was a flicker of hunger in them. Heat settled in her stomach when he placed his hands against her hips and shifted them upwards, pushing the bottom of her camisole up so his fingers were brushing against her bare sides.

“What did you have in mind?” he whispered in a husky voice that had no trace of anger or hurt left in it.

Her smile turned coy. “Seducing you.”

He eyed her suspiciously. “Is that why you came here?”

She nodded. “That, and I missed you.”

He seemed reluctant and she got the feeling that he needed more convincing. There was an edge of doubt in his eyes.

“Valentine,” she whispered, her hands lingering on his chest. “Look at me.”

His eyes met hers. They seemed to search them and his hands came up to catch hers.

“Tell me he means nothing to you.” His grip on her hands tightened.

“I’m not in love with him, Valentine. My feelings for him are a minute fraction of what I feel for you.”

She dodged him when he went to kiss her. He growled and she shook her head.

“I can’t seduce you if you do that,” she said with a wicked smile and he grinned.

Drawing her hands away from his chest, she held onto his and led him towards the bed. She’d never been in his room before. It reminded her a little of her own but seemed much larger. The two mansions had been built around the same time so it was no surprise that they had a similar layout.

Sitting him down, she stepped back and took a deep breath while she looked at him. He leaned back, splaying his hands out behind him to support him, and she couldn’t take her eyes off his body when every muscle tensed. She mentally berated him for distracting her and went back to the table. Picking up the bottle of vodka, she took a hefty swig and swallowed it down.

A glance at Valentine revealed that he was still waiting for her, his eyes fixed intently on her body.

He didn’t seem at all nervous or excited. Was this nothing new to him? Lucya had probably done things to him that she couldn’t even imagine. She growled at the image of them and then her eyes widened when she realised that Valentine was frowning. He’d probably thought she was growling at him. Panic loomed in the pit of her stomach.

Another swift gulp of vodka did nothing to settle it.

“Valentine?” She went across the room and hesitated in front of him, flitting about like a butterfly while she struggled with what she wanted to ask.

“Is something wrong?” His frown was gone and he seemed as relaxed as ever.

“Tell me … it doesn’t matter … forget it.”

“Prophecy, what’s wrong?” He took hold of her hand and she stopped, looking down at it.

She stared at it, not brave enough to look him in the eye and say what she wanted to.

“Lucya…” She bit her lip when he tensed. “Tell me I mean more to you than she did.”

He dragged her down onto the bed, trapping her underneath him, and she barely managed to stop the vodka from spilling all over it. She wriggled when he buried his face into her neck, kissing and licking it. This wasn’t exactly the answer she’d expected. Giggling, she held the bottle up and emptied the remains of it onto his head and back. He growled and pushed himself up off her. The vodka dripped off the strands of his hair onto her chest.

She stopped him when he went to dip his head. Holding him at arms length, she silently demanded an answer.

He smiled. A bead of vodka rolled down the length of his nose and then dropped onto her chest. It slinked down her chest and settled in the notch between her collarbones.

She itched for him to lick it up.

But she still held him.

“What I felt for her, is nothing compared to what I feel for you.” He held her gaze.

She smiled and released him, closing her eyes in satisfaction when he lowered his head and licked the vodka up from the hollow of her throat. Tilting her head back, she sighed out her breath and raised her knee when his hand travelled downwards. She focused on the sweep of it up her thigh and the way he held her knee.

A frown flickered on her brow.

“I was supposed to be seducing you.”

She tried to push him off her but he leaned into her and caught hold of her hands, pinning them to the bed. He grinned, giving her the distinct impression that she wasn’t going to be seducing him after all.

He was going to seduce her.

She was already putty in his hands. What more could he do?

She sucked her stomach in when his hands left hers, trailing down her sides to the waist of her combats. Her vision unfocused while he unbuttoned them and she didn’t stop him when he slowly eased them down her legs, removing them and her boots. She sighed when he kissed up her thighs, nipping at her hip, and then pushed her top up, bunching it up near her neck. His hands found her bra-clad breasts. She arched her back into his palms and moaned at the feeling of his strong fingers against her skin.

Valentine slipped his hands beneath her, swiftly undoing her bra. He eased it off her along with her camisole and sat back on his heels, looking down at her where she lay in front of him in nothing but her black knickers.

He took a deep breath and held it while he raked an appreciative glance over her body and relished the hungry look she was giving him. He hadn’t expected her to come here, and definitely hadn’t expected her to come alone. Not that he was complaining. This was exactly what he needed to exorcise his demons. He needed the feel of her skin on his and the looks she gave him that told him everything, all of her feelings and what he meant to her.

She frowned, looking a little confused.

He dropped his gaze to her hand when she traced a finger down towards her breasts and along the underside of one, drawing his attention to it. He watched for a moment, hardening painfully as her finger swept over the soft mound to the nipple and teased it until it was taut. He felt as though she was teasing him with that touch, as though she’d reached out and ran her delicate fingers over his flesh.

Divesting himself of his trousers, he ran a hand down his length. Her eyes fell there and darkened, her tongue coming out to sweep along her lips in a way that made him want to groan when his body responded.

Kneeling on the end of the bed, he crawled up the length of her body, pressing soft, wet kisses to her stomach and breasts. She mewled and her hands came down to capture his head, her fingers tousling his hair. She held him to her breasts as he explored them, suckling and torturing her pert nipples. Kissing upwards, he pressed a long one to the mark over her heart and smiled when it pulsed red, the magic responding to him. He traced a finger over it, drawing the magic around and then watching it seep into his skin when he broke contact with her.

He dipped his head and kissed her neck, breathing in the tempting fragrance of her blood at the same time. His teeth itched and his blood spoke to him, urging him into taking hers. He nicked her, stealing a drop of her blood before licking the wound. She groaned and bucked her hips up, rubbing her crotch against his in a way that made the flicker of desire in his veins explode into wildfire.

He drew back and looked at her. She craned her neck, her lips telling him how badly she wanted a kiss there. He refused her with a sly grin and took hold of her hands. Bringing them up to the headboard of the bed, he pressed them down on the pillows there, her wrists crossed over each other.

“Keep them there,” he said in a low whisper.

She nodded, wide-eyed and obedient.

He groaned at how submissive she looked and then eased slowly back down her body, drawing her knickers down her legs and tossing them onto the floor.

When his head reached her thighs, he parted her legs a little and looked down at her pussy before licking up the inside of her thigh. Before she could finish her moan, he bit down on the tender flesh of her thigh and sucked hard on her blood. He let it pool in his mouth and then released her. Raising his head, he looked up the length of her body to her face. She was watching him, her hands still behind her head as though they were tied there.

Prophecy waited. Anticipation burned in her stomach. A trickle of blood oozed down his chin and she licked her lips. Her body hummed and buzzed with the pleasure of his bite.

She furrowed her brows and her lips parted when he moved so his head was above her stomach and opened his mouth a fraction. The blood he was holding in it spilled onto her skin and ran over her, tickling her. It crept down into her navel, filling it. She flung her head back and gasped when he lowered his head and licked the blood off her. Her whole body burned with a desire she’d never felt before, spurred on by the wickedness of what he’d done. His fingers smeared the blood into her skin before his tongue laved her, cleaning it off, making wherever he touched tingle.

A shiver of pleasure bolted through her when he sucked the blood out of her navel.

His touch disappeared and before she could bend her head to look, he’d bitten her thigh again, drawing another mouthful of blood from her. Her abdomen tightened, humming delightfully as she grew wetter. She wanted him. This wasn’t seduction, it was torture. A terrible, pleasant kind of torture.

She watched the blood drip onto her breasts and her chest. When it touched the mark over her heart, it seeped back into her body. Valentine raised a brow at it and she did too, but before she could say anything, he stole her thoughts away. He licked around the underside of her breasts, chasing the rivulets of blood. Her muscles contracted and her arousal soared when he groaned, obviously getting as much pleasure from this as she was.

It was a struggle to keep her hands above her head when she wanted to grab hold of him and kiss him into oblivion. She wanted to taste his blood, wanted to lick it off every inch of him just as he was doing to her.

Her hips bucked up when he teased her arousal with one slender finger and she closed her eyes and sighed out her breath when he scraped an incisor over her chest, cutting her. He suckled the wound gently while his fingers played against her pert nub, edging her towards a climax. Her body tensed, desperate to make the most of it and impatient. He stopped teasing her and she frowned but then moaned when he slid a finger inside of her soft folds. She arched her back off the bed, clamping down on his finger as it thrust into her. Her fingers shifted, digging into the pillow and gripping it tightly as she rocked against his finger. He ground his erection against her leg and she opened her eyes, meeting his and seeing the hunger in them. She moved her leg, silently begging him to be inside her.

He hesitated for a moment and then moved in between her legs. He nudged against her entrance and slowly slid inside, stretching her and making her shudder. When he leaned over her, she switched into her vampire guise, hungry for the taste of his blood and driven on by the smell of hers in the air.

He grinned and gave her slow, shallow thrusts while he brought his finger to her mouth. She moaned when he teased her lower lip with it, caressing it. She could taste the sweet metallic tang of her blood on it and couldn’t stop herself from sucking it into her mouth. She caught it on one of her incisors and suckled greedily, drawing out what precious little blood she could get from it.

His eyes switched, gradually morphing from green into lapis blue. His movement inside her was painfully slow and deep. Delightful tingles swept through her each time their hips met, turning into fire in her veins. She sucked harder on his finger and his thrusts became quicker. He stared at her mouth with intent eyes, transfixed by what she was doing to his finger. Running her tongue along the length of it, she moaned when he rewarded her with a deeper thrust.