Lisa Renee Jones (9 page)

“I’m dangerous, Kelly,” he said. “The one time I let myself forget that, I made someone I cared about a target for my enemies.”

Translation. That person had died. God, how much had this man endured? “A woman?”

“Yes.”

“Human?”

“Yes.”

“Did she know what you were?” “Not until she was already dying.” Her chest tightened on those words. “Why didn’t you convert her to vampire?”

“It’s against our laws to convert a human without council approval,” he said. “But I would have, if I could have. She was...” He shook his head and seemed to rethink his words, then started again. “I hesitated when I saw the awareness in her eyes, the knowledge of what I was. And, the hatred. She hated me.”

“No,” Kelly said, rejecting that answer. “She couldn’t have hated you simply because you suddenly grew fangs, Aiden. You have to be mistaken.”

“It wasn’t sudden to anyone but her,” he said. “I lied to her by hiding it from her. And I’m not mistaken.

A vampire attacked her and, well, I’m not sure what she thought in the end. Maybe she thought it was me when she saw my fangs. I don’t really know anything except that I hesitated before I converted her and in that short moment, I was attacked. By the time I killed the other vampire, it was too late. She was dead.”

“Oh God. Aiden-”

“I won’t let you become a target.”

“I’m already a target.”

“I plan to fix that. When I leave here, you’ll be safe.”

“And without my memories. I get that part loud and clear.” She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “When you bite me, will it hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt.” His eyes darkened, turning into inky velvet, laden with desire. “But I have no intention of biting you, Kelly.”

“I plan to fix that,” she assured him, repeating his own words.

“You have no idea what you’re asking.”

“I’m not asking.” She untied her robe and let if fall off of her shoulders, then full away from her body.

She was naked, offering herself to him.

He pulled her to him, his hand on the back of her head, a snarl on his lips. “You have no idea what you are playing with, Kelly.” He pulled back, letting her see his fangs. “Look at me. This is what I am.” She sucked in a breath at the sight of his elongated cuspids, at the darkening of his already too black eyes.

He turned away from her instantly, but not before she saw the torment flash across his handsome face.

He’d thought that Darla had looked at him with hatred, and she didn’t want him to see that in her, to imagine that in her.

Her heart squeezed at the pain he’d felt in his life, at the pain he still felt. She pressed her hands to his face, urging him to look at her. “You’re a vampire,” she said, wanting him to know she fully understood.

Her fingers traced his lip, his fangs. “I see you, Aiden, and I’m not afraid. I see you and there is no monster here. There is just the man who woke something up inside me that no other has before.” She leaned into him and pressed her lips to his, molding her nipples against the dark hair on his chest. “Now it’s your turn. See me, Aiden, not someone from your past. Be with me.” Another second passed, then another, and she worried he wasn’t going to respond. Then, suddenly he was kissing her, his mouth devouring hers. Passion simmered before exploding into a wild, raging river of desire. Minutes faded into the pleasure of his mouth, his touch, until finally, finally, they were both naked, and he was buried inside her. She whimpered with the scrape of his fangs near her ear, erotic chills racing down her spine and he hadn’t even bitten her yet. Her body clenched around his cock, an automatic reaction, to what was more erotic than she imagined possible.

“No pain,” he whispered, pulling back to look at her, “Just intense pleasure.”

“Do it,” she pleaded, her body aching with some sort of blind anticipation. “Do it now.”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely.”

A moment later, his fangs sank into her neck and pleasure slammed into her like nothing she’d ever experienced before. He was like nothing, or anyone, she had ever experienced before. She didn’t want it to end, but it would. It would end and he would leave, taking her memories with him.

If she let him.

It was Saturday night and he and Kelly sat at her kitchen table reviewing internet news stories.

“Nothing,” Kelly said, shoving aside her computer. “We’ve been at this for hours, Aiden. Thankfully, the drug seems to be off the streets or surely we’d have another victim, considering Troy was right. When we discovered there was a mild indicator of stroke, I was sure we’d have more victims. But we haven’t, and I don’t see any stories that resembled wolf or vampire attacks.” She smiled. “Oh my.” He tried to smile at the joke, knowing she was trying to ease the strain he was feeling, but he couldn’t manage. Not even for Kelly. Aiden scrubbed his jaw and leaned back in his chair. No one had seen or heard from Troy for weeks and it was eating Aiden alive. Not even Evan or Marcus, and they were looking. He’d had no choice but to contact them.

“At least there hasn’t been another murder,” Kelly said. “Not here and nothing similar anywhere else. Not even a peep from Detective Wright beyond a few phone calls on the case.”

“I know. I know.” He shook his head, “Where the hell is he, Kelly?” He meant Troy, and he knew she knew that. They’d spent every waking minute together, and he’d held nothing back. Why would he? He was just going to have to erase her memories, erase himself from her life.

She pushed to her feet and walked to him, sliding into his lap, where he willingly invited her. “I love you, Kelly,” he said, before he could stop himself. “I fucking love you and the idea of losing you, like I have Troy, is eating me alive.”

She pressed her lips to his, then smiled against his mouth. “I fucking love you too and you aren’t going to lose me.”

“Kelly,” he said, leaning back to look at her. “You know-”

“I know that you think you can erase yourself from my mind, and us from my memories, but we’re more than that Aiden. You can’t erase us from my heart.” Her cell phone started to ring and she reached for it and then stilled, her gaze lifting to his. “It’s Detective Wright.”

“It’s Saturday night,” he said, a chill racing down his spine. This was trouble. He felt it in his bones.

“I’m on call,” she said. “I have to answer.”

He nodded and she took the call. He could hear the conversation. “Another murder,” Wright said. “We want you on scene to examine the body this time.”

“Where?” she asked, her gaze touching Aiden’s.

“Eclipse,” the detective said. “And hurry. It’s a madhouse here. Come to the backdoor.” He hung up.

Kelly was stiff, still holding the phone to her ear. Aiden took the phone from her. “It’s a trap, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Yeah. It’s a trap.” He kissed her. “And I’m going to kill that bastard for even trying to set it.” He stood her up. “Let me make some quick plans.” He grabbed his phone and dialed Evan and Marcus, and was forced to leave a message for both of them. He dialed Troy and left yet another message. Damn, damn, damn. This was going down and he was all that was going to be standing between Kelly and hell.

***

“No,” she said. “We need to end this.”

“What?” he demanded. “No Kelly. We agreed that you’d leave if this wasn’t obviously a police operation.

There’s no police Kelly. No yellow tape and no fucking police.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I can’t walk away if this is your chance to catch Andres.”

“Kelly-” She hung up and opened the door, shoving her phone in her purse. She stepped outside. The night was dark, humid, starless. Lightening flickered in the sky, a storm passing, or coming, she didn’t know. She didn’t care. She walked quickly towards the building, but not as quickly as her heart raced.

She wore jeans and flats that made her feel more ready to run. She was going to need to run. The thought chilled her to the bone.

The instant that she arrived at the back door, it opened, and Detective Wright appeared, music blasting behind him. The club wasn’t shut down, but then she’d known that when she drove up. He motioned her inside.

She didn’t move. “Where is everyone?”

“Basement level. They’re worried about public panic. They’re keeping this as low key as one can after the seventh murder in a short period of time.”

“Basement?” she asked. “Who has a basement in Texas?”

“Apparently this place. A basement and a dead body.”

She inhaled and let it out. How did one run away in a basement? They didn’t, she thought. They didn’t.

She was walking into a trap alright.

She walked forward, passing him, her arm brushing his. A wave of nausea overcame her. The man oozed evil, be it real or imagined, but like the storm, it didn’t matter. It simply was what it was.

A stairwell up and a stairwell down were directly in front of her. “Going down,” he told her, stepping behind her, his hands touching her waist. “Hustle. We don’t want to draw unwanted attention.” She started down the stairs, and the idea of that man at her back, was almost too much. She was halfway down when a tall man stopped at the bottom, his eyes glinting orange. A memory of Troy’s eyes during his attack drew her up short. She turned to run and smashed into Wright. He smiled. Someone grabbed her from behind. She fought and fought, but it wasn’t enough to save her from the warm, coppery taste of the liquid one of the two men poured down her throat.

Aiden blasted through the backdoor of the bar, not giving a shit about anything but getting to Kelly. He’d sworn to protect her. He would not fail her. He couldn’t fail her.

A vampire greeted Aiden just inside the entry with a snarl. Aiden returned the greeting with the cooper blade in his hand. The vamp dropped like a rock, not expecting such an open attack. Another came at him, and this time a scuffle followed, that was more like a game of peewee football. He was done with it and down the stairs, grabbing Wright by the shirt, in seconds. He tossed him aside and watched someone dragging her down the remainder of the stair.

“Aiden!” she screamed.

He didn’t stop charging forward. He was in front of her, sending her a mental command to sleep, to spare her witness to what was to follow. He swung over her, and slammed his blade into her attacker, clear to the bone. A howl of pain followed and he maneuvered Kelly behind him, kicking what turned out to be Andres, down the remainder of the stairs. He took off and started running, knowing from experience that Andres took a blade like an inconvenience he would quickly recover from.

With Kelly in his arms, he found the top of the stairs and kicked the door open, only to find Troy once again waiting for him, the SUV pulled up, the back door open. Troy, however, was not inside the vehicle.

He had Detective Wright sprawled across the hood, a blade slashing through the air. Wright dropped to the ground, his head rolling, no ash to follow, no bloodlust present. Just a whole lot of asshole.

Aiden was in the backseat in seconds, and Troy was behind the wheel, and had them moving, just as fast.

Kelly was asleep and shaking. Why was she shaking? “Where the hell have you been?” he demanded of Troy.

“Right here,” he said. “I just didn’t want to hear you bitch – bitch.” He met Aiden’s gaze in the mirror.

“They drugged her, Aiden. You need to wake her up before she strokes from the pain, right here and now.”

Aiden went cold inside. “You’re sure.”

“Wright told me right before I killed him.” His tone went grim. “Aiden.” He hesitated. “They gave her a double dose.”

Aiden woke her up and she blinked up at him, the cloudiness of her visions telling him she didn’t really see him. “Hurts,” she mouthed. “Hurts.”

He lifted her, pulling her mouth to his, unprepared for what he unleashed in front of Troy. One minute he was kissing Kelly, the next she was on his lap, straddling him and tossing her shirt over her head, then her bra.

He didn’t want to be aroused. She was drugged and she was out of her mind right now. But she leaned into him, pressing her mouth to his and his cock thickened, pulsing against his zipper.

She pressed his hands to her breasts. “Touch me,” she whispered, against his mouth. “Please touch me.” He pinched her nipples and she cried out, arching into his touch, grinding her hips against his crotch.

“More.”

Aiden wrapped his arm around her slender body, holding her steady, knowing how easily he could make her come, knowing that was what she needed if he was going to get her inside the house.

He licked one of her nipples, swirling his tongue aroundit, and sinking his teeth into the sensitive flesh.

She cried out, her head falling backwards. He suckled the nipples, the sweet honey taste of her blood flooding his mouth. He drew on the nipples then licked the wounds from his fangs before suckling the second tight little peak, licking and teasing until he sunk his fangs into her.

The truck pulled into the driveway of the house he and Troy had rented together weeks before, where he’d looked for Troy with no results.

Aiden suckled Kelly’s nipple, then released it, but before he could seal the wound, her mouth came down on his. She kissed him hungrily, lapping at the blood on his lips. It was erotic, arousing. Powerful.

“We need to go inside,” Troy warned. “Before we get attention we don’t want.” His brother’s voice jolted Aiden back to his senses. He tore his mouth from Kelly’s, drew her breasts to his mouth and sealed her wound. But she was wild, touching him, kissing him, driving him crazy.

He shoved his hand in her hair, pulled her gaze to his. ”I know it hurts Sweetheart, but you have to behave until I get you inside. Once we’re there, I’ll fuck you as long and hard as you want me to. You have to be still and not draw attention to us until I get you there though. Can you do that for me?” She blinked up at him, a moment of awareness touching her gaze. “Hurry,” she pleaded. “Please, hurry.” Her pain was evident, and he sent her a mental command to sleep.