Awakening - Book of Fire (Blood Heritage #1) (34 page)

He follows her and has to agree he is hungry for more than her love. The rumble in his gut confirms his need. She chops up some vegetables and cheese and gets out the crackers. The light meal satiates their hunger and the finger foods help keep them in the mood to feed their other cravings.

She doesn't even get everything put away before he lifts her up onto the counter satisfying himself fully. There is something about sex in the kitchen that is irresistible. Now he is truly ready to get some sleep. When they return to the bedroom, Allie opens one eye pretending she is asleep on her bed. She gives them a "
really?"
kind of look returning to sleep. She is a smart dog. He helps Amber to undress hanging up her clothes carefully, and then drops his own beside the bed in a rumpled up pile.

The day has left them both in a strangely happy mood, though life has taken many turns and they don't like much of what they are learning, there is a certain kind of freedom in knowing what you're dealing with. The answers begin clarifying for them and they are no longer completely in the dark, neither are they fighting this battle alone. Amber wants him to ask about the body recovered from the fire scene to see if he can determine if there is irrefutable evidence that it is in fact Dawn. She feels in the pit of her stomach something is amiss and can't help but hope Dawn is still alive.

Rissa walks from Amber's house. It's not too far back to her apartment over the shop. She intends to head past home and spend some time at the club dancing and getting her fill of excess energy. Rissa is a very fast learner and her instincts are sharp. She knows the sexual tension will make it easy for her to take what they are offering. She can simply dance with them and they won't know what hit them. They will simply wake in the morning with what seems like an intense hangover. She has no need to kill anyone, unless they ask for it. She prides herself in the knowledge that she is capable of that much control. There is no need to bring unwanted attention to herself, and there has been enough death in the area in recent weeks.

She walks into the club and all eyes turn toward her, she has that special something that no one can describe, but everyone wants to be near. She is strikingly beautiful, but it is something more than that. A dark-haired man with beautiful brown eyes walks up to her taking her by the hand. Not a word is spoken as they dance close together, their bodies moving in perfect rhythm with the beat of the drums. He is beautiful, but he has little control of himself.

She feels his breath quicken and his heartbeat racing. He wants her. She can feel his arousal as she stares into his eyes, it only takes the lightest touch when they are this open, this available, so she kisses him and his eyes close in pleasure. He washes over her and through her, and the sensation is exquisite. Her body is alive with electrical energy, spiraling tendrils of sensual pleasure within her sending wave after wave of intense and luscious warmth. She has to stop this before he is too weak to stand. She pushes him away sending him wandering aimlessly back toward the bar. He appears to be really drunk. The bartender gives Rissa a strange look, knowing something is up, since he has only served the guy a couple drinks. She gives him a million dollar smile as she exits the building.

She figures she’d better get out of there before she causes more trouble. She has taken him too far, she will have to learn to control how much she takes much better. He is unfortunately such an easy target, and she is very hungry. She has every intention of simply going for a walk to spend some time alone when another young man follows her out of the bar asking if she needs a lift somewhere. She agrees and he drives her the four blocks back to her place. She invites him up and in the privacy of her home allows him to give her a nice big drink. She toys with him, she is no longer so hungry but the pleasure of what he gives her is too much to resist. Slowly and gently she coaxes him into her, he willingly succumbs, wrapping golden threads of his life around her little finger she licks and lingers, she touches him and teases him; though he never even gets his clothes off, he will think it the most phenomenal sexual experience of his life. She plays it off as if he has been an excellent lover as he swoons at her feet.

She kisses him on the cheek as he leaves and he feels a cold shiver run through his body, perhaps a bit of intuition telling him to beware far too late. Good, she thinks, serves him right for going home with a stranger. He hasn't even asked her name. She knows he is a married man and will pay hell for not going home last night. She in her euphoric state of revelry and playfulness is basking in her ability to ensure his punishment will be fitting to his crime. While he is resting on her bed she is spending her time texting his wife and telling her where her husband is and more importantly, what he is doing. It is unfortunate for her prey that she is psychic, and already a bit predisposed to disliking men in the first place. They make it so easy to extract just a tiny bit of revenge for all the shit they have done.

Your husband is here spending the night with me--I am not the first--just thought you should know--come by if you need proof....

She uses his phone to send the message knowing that will inspire even more curiosity on his wife’s part. His wife spends the better part of an hour watching their shadows through the lighted window. She is watching as Rissa dances with him, kissing him, sucking him dry, his wife seeing only red. He will go home to an empty house and she will be much happier for it. Rissa has not left him much to live for and she knows he will likely be gone before the week is out. It is amazing how men respond to the brutal realities of their own actions. They live happy as clams in denial of their darkness, but when the mirror reveals their ugliness they cower in the corner and give up on living without a fight. This man is a complete dog and deserves what comes of this, she feels no guilt for her part in his undoing.

Another one bites the dust... she is humming the song as she prepares the shop for the daily grind. Rissa is in a fantastic mood. She has found her calling, to rid the world of cheaters, rapists, and addicts. She doesn't have to kill them, just allow them to destroy their own lives. The vamp can simply watch and be there preying on their weaknesses as they are revealed. They will throw themselves at her and she will simply oblige their desires. She will pull out their darkest dirtiest secrets and fly them like a flag for the whole world to judge. Rissa will let them punish themselves as they realize all that has been lost. She will let their wives, girlfriends, and everyone else out there punish them, she will literally become the hand of justice. Men of the world beware, someone is watching who can see the truth behind your fancy suits, smooth lines and cruel intentions. The change has made her feel somewhat detached but still she can avenge the hurts she and women like her have suffered. She likes the idea of calling herself a vamp with it's double entendre, it suits her well.

Amber pushes open the shop door to find Rissa deeply in thought with a broad smirk on her face. Her friend must have had some night last night. "
That is some smile, you must be thinking about something wonderful
."

Amber's voice breaks the spell of Rissa's thoughts and she focuses back on the here and now.

"Have a good night?" Amber asks.

Rissa answers,"You don't know the half of it, but you know me, I'm not the kind of girl to kiss and tell, though.. I already know that you are"!

They have a good laugh over this while Rissa makes Amber her morning coffee. "
Want to make that coffee cake your man has been raving about?"

"Sure, that sounds really good. I might have to run and get a couple things but we should have just about everything in the back..I'll go check."

The coffee cake is ready forty-five minutes later and though Amber makes four batches it's a total sell-out.

"This will have to be a permanent fixture on the menu! Rissa says, I only wish I’d gotten to try it. I do miss eating and I can't even imagine an eternity without chocolate and wine. There is always a price to pay for everything...Such a bummer."

Amber laughs exuberantly. Rissa flushes with an intense glow in her cheeks as she thinks of other pleasures of the flesh, she has never made love to a man but if this is what it's like, she admits she's been missing out.

Rissa and Amber spend their day pondering the humor of all the hype about vampires. Perhaps, Rissa wonders out loud, "I am something entirely different. I might be a Sucubus, although I don't have to sneak into anyone's room, they quite willingly invite me. I also don't turn them into empty husky shells or anything creepy like that. I just have a little nibble and send them on their way. Or maybe a Banshee, without the screaming and luring men to their doom. Hungry ghost sounds like the perfect description of what I truly have become. I didn't really find anything in the book that described what the possible changes of our awakenings would be. I wish I had a guide book. I might have to try this drinking blood thing, although it doesn't seem like a good idea since the mere thought of it makes me want to hurl. Funny, I can still feel sort of hungry, sort of nauseous and not to be too facetious they don't really seem like ghost pains." Maybe if I were drinking blood, I wouldn't have to feed so often. It seems the energy I consume doesn't last very long."

"Your world hasn't changed much Amber, and now that I understand the process more, I realize how wrong I was. I remember thinking the blood-letting ceremony was your awakening, but it seems it was merely a show of the power you already have. Rissa gazes hard at Amber. You realize when you give in to your power, you're going to be one hell of a bad-ass."

Amber waves it away. She's not ready to allow anything to change in her world. She doesn't want to be a Vampire, or a Shifter, or anything else unexplainable and unpredictable at all. The mere fact that she doesn't even know what she will become makes her uneasy. She is happy with who she is, and where her life is going, why can't she just have her happiness? She doesn't see any need for more change.

Rissa is in a sarcastic and humorous mood and can't stop chatting on some wild tangent about a series she used to watch as a child, the lead character being the only man she can remember ever having an actual crush on.

"It seems to me that even with our relatives hiding throughout the years, there would have been sufficient information to get at least some of it right. Maybe we are the cause of the infamous X-Files and it's truly our people that are carefully and methodically leading the public in a massive campaign of misinformation. Unfortunately this makes it hard for me to find out what the heck is going on. Thanks, guys...She makes the sign of the cross. What a funny gesture that seems to be now. Irony is everywhere, and habits die hard. I need to go see the elders, they are having a meeting in a few days when the energies align. The alignments of the planets are very important to them, it's how they manage to stay hidden from his sight. It's how they have survived this long, there are no exceptions to the rules. When it's the proper time there is too much interference for him to focus in on their power. I wish I could have taken you to them sooner but it was not safe, for you or for them."

"I understand," Amber replies. "I can see if there's anything later in the book that we missed, we didn't actually get all the way to the end. The library is full of others as well, it's possible that a guide book exists. Feel free to come over anytime you want to look at them, I would bring them to you, but I'm sure they're in a protected space and if they leave the house something terrible will happen. If I've learned nothing else in life, I always trust my instincts, they rarely do me wrong. There is something special about the house, it makes me feel protected as well, like there is a shadow over it keeping it hidden from sight."

"This seems to be the major theme of the day, our current goal is absolutely to stay hidden, but what is the next step? How do we intend to take on someone, something so powerful? We don't know anything about what he truly is capable of. Perhaps after we meet with the elders, there will be more answers. Maybe they will know what our journey entails, if nothing else we need a place to start the search. There are so many questions that still need answers. Who is he really? What is his purpose? What can he do? What are his weaknesses? To begin the short list. There is so much more I want to understand"...Rissa's voice trails off as she falls back into thought.

"Are you sorry you took on the change? "Amber asks with great sadness in her voice. "It seems to me you have lost so much.... What was it like taking your own life, not knowing what would come next?" ... Sensing things are going in a bad direction..Amber tries to lighten the moment.."At least Awakening is better than a day at the spa, you look spectacular"! Rissa remains deeply contemplative. She's not upset, instead she's struggling to remember what life was like before this all happened.

Rissa looks deep into Amber's eyes simply saying, "
It was worth it"....
The intensity in her gaze and the passion in those words gives Amber a shiver that settles deep within her.