In the Dead of Cold (23 page)

“No, don’t go,” she said. She heard his breaths one after another in the quiet room, and then she realized that hers matched his.

“I must.” He smiled down at her through the darkness. Then he kissed her as he took his fingers from her. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.” She stared up at him, feeling empty with him gone. “So silver kills you?”

“It can.”

Jane reached up and fingered the locket she wore around her neck. “This is silver. Can it hurt you?”

“Only if I eat it, or you somehow figure out a way to implant it into me. I can touch it, and nothing will happen. I guess it’s a bit like antifreeze. It’s probably not good for your skin, but it won’t kill you if you touch it. But it can if you drink it.”

“I see.”

“That’s very pretty, by the way. Where’d you get it?” He fingered it, leaning closer to look at it in the dim light.

“It’s very old. My grandfather gave it to my grandmother for a wedding present, and I inherited it a few years ago when she passed away. Are you sure I don’t need to take it off?”

“I’m sure. Leave it on. I like it on you.”

“Is there anything else that hurts you, like silver?”

“I’m not sure if I like you knowing all my secrets.” His grin made her smile. Then he grew serious. “Vitamin K.”

“Vitamin K?”

“In small doses in regular food, it’s not bad, but it promotes blood clotting. So a big dose can make us really uncomfortable, and it shuts down our system even quicker than silver can.”

“Oh.”

“And you were right about Bart.”

“What?”

“I can smell him on you. I think that and my being sick from being shot were what made our dreams so horrible. Why don’t we take a shower together? Then you can sleep.”

“Only if you promise to rub soap all over me.”

HE HAD HAD more than enough of her blood. The sweet, satisfying taste of her still lingered on his tongue. Of her—looking at her, listening to her, touching her, loving her—he would never have enough.

Milo got up and brought her a glass of water. After she finished it off, he helped her into the shower, holding her against him under the hot spray as he moved a bar of soap all over her body. “Do you know how perfect you are? How beautiful you are?”

“As you are.”

He put the soap down and, with his hands, rubbed bubbles over her belly, then across her hard nipples. She slid her own share of suds down his chest and abdomen.

And right then, the hardest part of his body needed to be inside her. Her tight pussy probably needed a rest. But he thought if he didn’t make love to her right that minute, he’d implode.

He moaned as she lathered his abdomen with soap. The groan he let out was raw and untamed.

Before he could move or speak, she dropped to her knees, seeming not to care that the shower spray rained down on the top of her head. Her hot, perfect mouth slid over his cock.

“Oh…Jane…” He lost his fingers in her hair and could do nothing more than suck in a breath as she sucked him. Tight and moist, she massaged him with her tongue and fondled his balls. She paused.

“What? After yesterday, I thought you liked this.”

“Oh, I love it.”

“Me too.” Then she slipped her mouth back over him.

He thought he’d almost come undone. He slid his hands down her wet body as far as he could reach, massaging her back, before he moved his fingertips to her neck. When his thumb reached the spot of his bite, he caressed it.

It was her turn to groan. She sucked even harder. Hell, she had almost his entire hard cock down her throat.

He couldn’t take it. Her mouth was too hot and sweet and wonderful.

He wanted it to last, but it was impossible, just as pulling her off his dick was impossible. “Swallow. Please swallow.” He was amazed he could come so fast after using the energy to heal, but after tasting her blood, he thought he could move the world.

She swallowed.

He groaned and worked to breathe as she swallowed every drop. She didn’t stop the breathtaking blowjob until after he was fully spent. She sucked and moved and ran her tongue around his head until he thought he might melt and slide right down the drain. He couldn’t even cry out with the ecstasy of it. He could only let out a long-drawn-out, “Ahhhhhh…”

He did pull her to her feet then and kissed her hard, needing to feel her mouth on his. She tasted of him, and her mouth was hot from him. He liked it and filled her mouth with his tongue as she groaned into his kiss.

“That was wonderful. And don’t think you’re done yet.”

He lifted her up in front of him, her breasts pressing against his chest, and turned to press her back against the wet tile. As her legs wrapped around his hips, he lowered her down on his cock. She was as tight and wet as her mouth had been. With his hands tucked under her curvy little ass, he moved her.

Up. Down. In. Out. Slow. Then fast. Then slow.

While his tongue did the same to her mouth. The groan he felt rumble in her throat added to his building need.

It was her turn to come, and Milo felt the orgasm spark through her as she cried out, “Yes, oh yes…”

Any stronger and Milo thought she might break his ribs with her thighs as the shudders overtook her and she squeezed him. He was still hard but not quite ready to come because she’d sucked him dry.

He stopped and waited, allowing her trembles to subside. Slowly, she loosened her grip on him. He set her on her feet, reluctant to pull out of her. His kiss, however, didn’t stop.

For another full minute, he made love to her mouth with his lips and his tongue with one heart-stopping kiss after another. Before she was given the chance to catch her breath, he broke the kiss and spun her around, placing each of her hands against the wall and pressing his cock against the soft wetness of her ass. Now knowing and understanding her reaction, he moved her hair aside and leaned over her and hotly licked the spot on her throat where he’d so thoroughly enjoyed tasting her. She let out a small squeal and wiggled her entire bottom against him, making his dick harder, despite the fact that he didn’t believe it was possible. To keep her need as high and strong as his, he kept his tongue on her skin, tasting her as he moved over her shoulder and down her back. With his fingertips, he traced tiny circles over her back as well, and he felt the tingles his touch put into her.

“Still want more?”

“Yes, please. More.”

Her voice came through the spray of the shower, deep and throaty with desire.

“What more do you want?” His question was no sooner out before he slid his cock into her hot, wet folds. At the same time, he pressed his lips to her shoulder and sucked.

She moaned and breathed, pressing against the wall and leaning over. “More… All…”

He pulled out of her.

“No, don’t leave.”

“I love the way you beg. Relax. I’m not going anywhere.” He knelt down on one knee, and with his tongue, he licked his way to her clit from behind.

“Ohhh…” She tried to pull away, tried to lean forward.

“Oh no, you don’t.” Milo grasped her hips and held her in place while he took his time exploring and tasting her. Then he took one hand, snaked it between her legs, and pressed it against her belly to anchor her. With his other hand, he slipped two fingers into her slit, still teasing her with his tongue while she moaned and wiggled.

The sounds he drew from her turned him on as much as her squeezing pussy did.

He then ran his tongue around her tight bottom to lubricate her before he stood up. He still pumped her with two fingers, helping her search for release. When he stopped, he thought she might cry.

“No, don’t stop!”

“Lean over; relax.” She did. She was like putty in his hands, warm and pliable, looking for the best position. He buried his fingers in her again, this time from the front. With his other hand, he reached up and swirled his fingertips on the sensitive spot of her throat, making her pant. “You’re so tight, so ready to come.”

“Yes.” Her single word was little more than a breathless utterance.

Smoothly and carefully so as to not hurt her, with his fingers still lost within her, he slipped his thumb into her ass.

She gasped and arched back against him.

“Have you ever done this, played here, other than in the dreams we share?” he asked.

“No.” Her single-word answer was breathy.

“Then we’ll take it slow. I don’t want to hurt you.” He slipped his fingers out. Slowly. In. Slowly. Then his thumb out. Slowly. In. Slowly.

She bent her knees, reaching for more of his fingers.

He took them out.

“No, don’t leave.”

He slipped in three fingers.

She cried out but held him.

“We did this once in a dream. Do you remember?” He massaged the spot on her neck and nibbled on her ear. Both her pussy and her ass tightened.

“Yes.”

She sounded as if she forced the word out.

Pulses like the flapping of butterfly wings continued to press around both his thumb and his fingers as her pussy and her ass contracted. He circled his tongue in the middle of her back while his fingers and thumb massaged and worked her and claimed her.

When her orgasm exploded, he felt it quake through her entire body. Even the spot on her throat vibrated beneath his fingers. Knowing he pleasured her gave him a sense of fulfillment he’d never felt before.

He held her under the spray of the shower while the strength moved back into her legs. While she basked in the afterglow of her multiple orgasms, he again caressed her with soap and washed away the scent of sex before rinsing off his own sensitive cock.

“Let’s go to bed.” Jane still pressed her face against the tile.

“Wonderful idea.”

“I don’t think my legs are strong enough to hold me, much less walk to your bed.”

Milo chuckled as he helped dry her with a fluffy towel. Then he swept her into his arms and carried her to bed, where he wanted her to stay forever.

They were snuggled together for no more than a minute when Milo’s phone buzzed. He took Mr. M.’s call with hardly a word spoken.

“What?” Jane asked when he ended the call and met her gaze.

“August’s very ill. Mr. M. asked if you would consider taking his hand and reading his thoughts. Can you walk?”

* * * *

“Have you given him…blood?” Jane asked once she and Milo reached August’s suite. She had saved Milo with quite a bit of hers. She’d finally come to accept Milo and his colleagues for what they were.

Mr. M. looked at her. “We have. From the stock we keep for emergencies.”

A strange thought rushed through Jane’s mind at that moment. Was there a specific refrigerator marked STOCK BLOOD, or was there a vending machine where any vampire could put in a dollar bill and get a cold one when he or she was thirsty? And from where did the stock come? Donors? The local blood bank? Each other? She said nothing, however, because Mr. M. continued.

“He doesn’t seem to be accepting it, though. That’s why I’ve asked you to read his thoughts. We can generally read into each other’s thoughts, but he’s too ill for any of us to read him clearly. I’m guessing he requires the blood of someone specific.”

Jane met Milo’s gaze. “Like you need only mine now.”

Milo inclined his head. “Yes.”

To say August was ill was an understatement. When Jane saw him, she thought he looked near death. He shied away from even the small light radiating from the lamp across the room. His face was devoid of color, his lips dry and cracked, his eyes closed. He moaned and rolled away from Jane’s touch when she put her palm on his cheek.

She sank on to the bed next to him. Ignoring Milo, Mr. M., and James, who stood nearby, she clasped August’s hand in hers. She did her best not to meet James’s gaze. She didn’t have time to feel embarrassed for having thrown herself at him.

The visions that touched her were dark, wild, and frightening.

In the first one, she was with August in a gymnasium filled with people both dead and alive. She fought the urge to let go of his hand. One after another, August grabbed a live puppet-looking person and bit him. After a few swallows, he’d shove them away in frustration. Their blood ran down his chin and covered his clothes.

August then ran from the gym into what looked like a morgue. It too was filled with dead bodies, all of which had had their throats bitten open. They lay everywhere, on the floor, on the counters, on the metal slabs. August stumbled over one and landed on his knees on the floor. “Melanie…” His voice sounded raw and filled with pain.

“Who’s Melanie, August?” Jane asked in the dream.

He didn’t answer.

He ran out the door. Jane followed. Intense heat, bright hot sun, and endless desert sand overwhelmed her, and for a moment, Jane couldn’t breathe or see.

August was several feet ahead of her. On his hands and knees, he tried to eat the sand. But he choked again and again. He crawled to another dream door. The heat burned her skin, and Jane thought she might not make it the short distance to the door to follow him. The extreme change in temperature going from the desert heat back into the cool morgue made her shiver. The morgue held a few more dead bodies.

“Melanie!” August called out, his voice sounding harsh and hoarse.

He went out another door. It led to a jungle not too different from the one where Milo and Jane had shared a dream.

Jane stayed inside the doorway to the morgue and didn’t follow him all the way outside. She didn’t think she could handle another snake.

“Melanie! I need you.”

She let go of his hand, and the visions stopped. Fatigue gripped her. Jane worked to ignore it. August continued to moan and thrash on the bed. She turned to Mr. M. “He keeps returning to the morgue, calling for someone named Melanie.”

“Dr. Melanie Stevens,” Milo supplied. “He’s talked about her.”

“James?” Mr. M. said, looking at him.

“Yes, sir?”

“Take a team to her house. If she’s not there, go to the morgue. It will be dawn soon, and I can’t imagine her being anywhere besides home or the morgue. Bring her back here as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir.”