Love Me to Death (Underveil) (23 page)

“Yes. Nik. Yes.”

He liked the familiar form of his name. It was like she had taken a bit of him as her own. Leaning over her, pressing his chest to her back, he reached down under them and ran his fingers around where his body entered hers. He groaned and flicked her clit, and she writhed. He did it again and then pressed against her as he moved in and out.

“More,” she groaned. “Faster.”

He maintained pressure with his fingers and increased his thrusts until she screamed and he was almost screaming with her. When her muscles contracted, he rocked into her even harder. So hard, the table scooted forward with each slam of his body into hers.

“Now, Nik! Go with me.”

Before they shoved up against the wall, he did as she asked and came harder than he ever had in his very long lifetime. And as he lay sweaty and slick over her back, gasping for breath, he realized her request was much more far-reaching than she had probably intended. He’d go with her anywhere. His heart and soul were hers.

He reached up and entwined his fingers with hers over the lip of the table. And they lay there for a while, catching their breaths.

“Well, that certainly lived up to the hype and expectations,” she said with a smile.

He slowly pulled out as she gave a disappointed whimper. He kissed her cheek. “Glad I didn’t disappoint.” He stepped back, giving her room to straighten up.

“Ha! Disappoint?” She turned to face him. “I’ve had more orgasms today than I had in the entire time I dated my ex-boyfriend.” She took his hand and pulled him toward a door off the living room.

“Who is he? I might have to kill him.”

She led him into an outdated bathroom with pale blue tile, pulled back the shower curtain covered in colorful fish, and turned on the water. “Don’t bother. He’s not even worth the effort.”

Nikolai smiled, not only at her words, but at her demeanor. She was totally at ease even after the mind-blowing sex. He followed her into the shower and enjoyed watching the spray ricochet off her body and run across her skin in rivulets.

Then he noticed the angry bruises across her pelvis and upper thighs from where he had slammed her body against the table, and dread prickled through him. “I hurt you.”

She picked up a pink bath pouf. “You’re kidding, right? I was the one saying ‘harder,’ and ‘faster,’ remember? Turn around.”

He wanted to purr like one of Zana’s cat shifters when she rubbed the soapy sponge over his back. Then she scrubbed lower, taking her time and driving him mad…again.

“So, how long were you with this guy?” he asked, surprised by his level of interest in her affair with a human. Maybe it was because he couldn’t imagine a woman this responsive not finding fulfillment with even a novice human lover. Maybe it was because he needed to know she valued him over this human. Certainly that wasn’t it. He couldn’t be jealous. He was a Slayer. Jealousy was for insecure weaklings.

She scrubbed down his legs. “On and off for two years.”

He almost choked. “Two years?”

“Yep. Turn around.”

She ran the sponge over his chest, studying him as if memorizing his body.

“Two years…” he mused. “Less orgasms than you’ve had with me today.”

“Definitely. He sucked and I mean that figuratively.” She ran the sponge lower, then systematically scrubbed the rest of him efficiently and effectively, and by the time she was done, he was so hard it hurt. “Rinse time,” she said, taking the hand-held nozzle from the wall and rinsing his body. “Now, my turn.”

He thought he just might die when she began lathering her body as if it were the best feeling on earth. She rubbed the sponge in circles over her breasts, and her eyes drifted shut. She even moaned when she scrubbed between her legs. By the time she rinsed, he was a total wreck. “Now, Mr. Itzov. You had me eye spying tables and crossing my legs all morning after you told me your plan, so here is my retaliation.” She stepped out of the shower and wrapped in a towel. “I make plans, too, you see.” She pulled a towel out of the cabinet and handed it to him. “Because we have a limited amount of time, and even though we don’t know what ‘all hell’ is, we know it’s going to break loose around this time tomorrow, I think we need to maximize our time together.”

Nikolai couldn’t agree more. Nor could his aching cock straining against the towel around his waist.

“So, while you had me thinking about tables, what I want you to think about is my tongue, okay?” She leaned forward and swirled it around his nipple. As difficult as it was, he kept his hands at his sides. This was her show, and he needed to give her the floor.

He swallowed hard as she unwrapped the towel around his waist. “So, I’m thinking after we eat something—because when all hell breaks loose, we don’t know when we’re going to get to eat again—I could use my tongue here, kinda like this.” And she leaned over and circled the head of him with her tongue, but pulled away after only two passes. He groaned.

After securing the towel around his waist again, she pulled a brush from a drawer and drew it through her hair. “Yeah, like that, and then I’d see how much of you I can take in my mouth because that’s a real consideration, seeing how large you are. Not that I’m complaining or anything.”

“No, of course not,” he said in complete disbelief as she strolled out of the bathroom.

“So, what do you think of my plan?” her voice called from the hallway.

“I…um. It’s a very sound plan. I like it.”

She leaned against the wall. “I’m a little sore still, but I guess being immortal, that will pass soon. Look, the bruises are almost gone.” She opened her towel and showed him the fading marks along with the rest of her lovely body. What hadn’t faded were the glyphs under her collarbone, and those turned him on almost as much as the red in her eyes or the thought of her mouth on his body.

Her gaze dropped to the bulge in his towel. “Are you thinking about my plan?”

“I am.”

“Are you hungry?”

“Not for food.”

She grinned. “Too bad. I am. Get dressed and let’s go. I’m craving pancakes.” And with that, she left him all alone in the middle of the hallway wearing nothing but a hard-on and a bath towel.

Chapter Twenty-One

E
lena shook her head. “You can’t take the sword to breakfast. You’ll scare people.”

“We’re in danger. I won’t go without it,” he said. “I should never have had it out of arm’s reach this whole time. We’re lucky no one found us.” He tightened the strap one notch and checked the location of the hilt. “I’ll put it under the Veil. I can put my whole self under it if you’d feel better, but I’d rather not leave that kind of signal and trail.”

“No. I want a real date. Like two regular people going out.” It was probably silly and maybe just an attempt to hold on to the last vestiges of being human, but she needed this affirmation.

“Let’s just get something to go.”

“Look, Nik. I don’t know why it’s important to me, but it is. I just want one more normal human experience before whatever is going to happen tomorrow happens. We’ve never done anything remotely natural or normal together.”

“We’ve had sex.”

“Was that normal, really?”

“It was natural.”

“It was freaking
super
natural.” She sighed when he grinned. “Please.”

“It’s nonnegotiable. Sword under the Veil. Normal date.”

She shrugged. “Okay.”

Then it dawned on her that she didn’t even have her car anymore. It had probably been towed from the convenience store when she’d been shot. She sighed. That seemed a lifetime ago. They’d have to teleport. So much for a normal date. She held out her hand, and Nik took it.

“May I?” he asked. “I know an excellent all-night diner. I think you’ll like it.”

She grinned. “Sure.”

He placed his hands on either side of her neck and chanted. Her mind rushed back to the first time they’d ever done this. She’d envisioned herself straddling him, and he’d been furious. She chuckled. No way would he have that reaction now. This time, she just emptied her mind and enjoyed the buoyancy that came with her molecules shifting for transport, then the slam of reconfiguration as they reached their destination. Nearby, a car honked. The warm air was scented with exhaust fumes and the faint taint of sewage. When she looked around, buildings towered on all sides. The sun was not even up yet, and already, the sidewalks buzzed with people.

“Where are we?” she asked as they stepped out of the tiny alley onto the sidewalk.

“New York City. You said you’d never traveled outside of your home state. I thought I’d put a spin on your normal date.”

She took his hand, thrilled by this adventuresome, romantic side of him. “Cool.”

“Cool,” he repeated, grinning.

As they strode down the street hand-in-hand, Elena’s heart soared. She was actually spending time with Nik like a normal person. Well, sort of. They
had
teleported well over a thousand miles in seconds, and the god of a man holding her hand had an ancient sword strapped to his back, used to kill immortal creepies. But still, since the convenience store, normal was relative.

The diner was fantastic. For fleeting moments, she could almost imagine “all hell” would not break loose in less than a day. That she and this beautiful man could just enjoy their pancakes and coffee without the fate of the human world hanging in the balance.

But it did hang in the balance. Since seeing Uza’s cats transform into human form, Elena could no longer deny this bizarre, invisible world was as real as her feelings for this man. Real and dangerous.

“Are you okay?” Nik asked, finishing of the last of his scrambled eggs.

“Yeah. I just…”

The curvy brunette waitress refilled their coffee and grinned at Nik. He ignored her completely and took Elena’s hand. “You just what?”

The waitress moved to the next table, and she tried to untangle her thoughts into a coherent thread. “I just wish we had more time.”

“We have forever.”

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at what would have been a totally cornball sentiment had he not meant it literally. “No. I mean before whatever Uza alluded to happens.”

“Ah.” He wove his fingers through hers. “Well, I’ve learned to plan for the future, but to also live in the present.”

She looked down at their entwined fingers. Hers looked so tiny and delicate laced through his. “I wish we could stay here, like this, forever in the present, not thinking about the future, but I really think we need a strategy or plan.”

“We don’t know what will happen. Planning is futile,” he responded.

“You didn’t get where you are without planning and training. Because of your experience, you can adapt to handle any situation.” She took a deep breath and realized she was trembling. Nik placed his other hand over their entwined fingers. “When whatever horrible thing is coming happens, you’ll be able to act on instinct and training, while I only have ignorance. Everything is new to me. I need help to learn how to fight whatever is going to come along. If I’m really this Uniter person, I need to stay alive.”

“I’ll protect you,” he said.

“What if you’re injured or we get separated?” She pulled her hand from his. “I have some wacky superpowers now, and I need to know what to do with them.”

The waitress returned and dropped the check on the table. Nik picked it up and retrieved a roll of cash out of his pocket. He slid some bills from the roll, put them with the check, and handed it back to the waitress. “No change,” he said.

The girl’s eyes widened. “Wow! Thanks. Thank you so much.” Then she scampered off super quick, probably thinking he had made a mistake and would catch it.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Elena. You’re too important to me.”

Her heart skipped a beat. He cared. “Then you’ll train me and get me ready?”

He stood and held out his hand. “I will.” She placed her hand in his and stood. He pulled her against him in an embrace. “I want to show you something first.”

“What?”

He looped his arm around her waist. “Well, you’ve never been to New York City before, so I thought I’d show you Times Square. It’s only a short walk from here.”

She adored this side of him. It felt so human to stroll from the restaurant arm in arm. The streets were buzzing with people rushing to work.

He guided her to the end of the block and turned left.

Then she saw them—three creatures walking in a huddle directly ahead. She froze, jerking Nik to a stop. “It’s some of those things,” she said with a shudder.

“What things?”

“The ones on the snowmobiles.”

“Wood elves, here, in New York? That’s impossible. They can’t tolerate urban areas.”

“Well, they’ve developed a tolerance, look.” She pointed to the three creatures crossing the street one block up with a large group of people. They stopped halfway up the block from them, crossed the other side of the street, and looked into a luthier shop with stringed instruments hanging on display in the window. “Don’t suppose they’re musical, huh?”

“Not at all,” Nik said, tensing. “Something is up.”

Then, one of the glowy creatures like she’d seen in the forest with Nik exited the shop.

“And a light elf, too,” Nik said. “Very strange.”

The light elf saw the three wood elves and basically lost it. She screamed at them so loudly everyone within a mile radius should have heard it, but no one reacted. Obviously, the creatures were under the Veil. They spoke a funky language Elena couldn’t understand, but pissed off was pissed off in any tongue.

Elena covered her mouth to prevent a scream as one of the wood elves pulled out a gun and shot the light elf in the chest. The creature shrieked, fell to the ground, and disappeared.

“Oh my God,” Elena whispered. “They killed her.”

Nik took her hand and pulled her back against the building. “No. She’ll be fine. She teleported back home to heal. They just wanted to get rid of her. If they killed her, the light elves would eliminate every wood elf from the planet. They have some kind of pact that goes way back.”

The oddest thing about all of this was that the people on the sidewalk continued on as if nothing had happened. They hadn’t heard the gunshot. They hadn’t seen the woman fall.

“So, has shit like this been going down my whole life, and I just never saw it?”

“Yes,” he answered, never taking his eyes off the men as they headed down the sidewalk. “We should follow them. I find it odd they’re here, but odder yet they’re wearing human disguises. They plan to lift the Veil, and when they do, they are in violation of the code. I will have to take them prisoner.”

She punched him in the shoulder. “Hey, big guy. Stop thinking like a cop. Who will you turn them over to? Fydor? I think your Slayer duties have been suspended.”

“I can’t let them harm humans,” he said. “I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”

And this, she realized, was why she was so attracted to him. He was a good man who longed to do what was right, and something in her had recognized that from the moment of their dubious first meeting.

He placed a hand on her shoulder. “I guess your training starts now. Do you know how to cloak yourself in the human Veil?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know how this Veil business works at all. I need a full tutorial.”

“We need to follow those wood elves, so abbreviated lesson for now. If you’re like the rest of us, you simply wish it so. Try it now. Wish to not be seen.”

I don’t want to be seen
, she thought, and her body hummed for a moment, then returned to normal. “Did I do it?” That seemed ridiculously easy. She must have done it wrong.

“Test it. See if humans interact with you.”

She approached a man speaking on his phone at the corner. “Excuse me,” she said. The man did not acknowledge her. “Hello!” she shouted, waving her arms in front of him. Still no response.

“It appears you are successful,” Nik said. “Let’s go.” The three wood elves had taken off and were about to turn the next corner.

She broke into a run to keep up with his long strides. It turned out that the creeps shot the block, and blocks in NYC were big. As they followed them around to the street that ran in front of the luthier shop, one of them looked back and met her eye to eye.
Shit
.

“Slayer,” he called to the other two. One pulled a sword out from under his full-length jacket. The blade was much smaller than Nikolai’s but equally ornate.

“Shoot him,” the one with the sword ordered. Nik pulled a dagger out of his boot and shoved Elena behind him. To her horror, the man pulled a gun out of his coat pocket, but before he could raise the muzzle, he was sporting Nik’s dagger in the middle of his chest.

An old man walked out of the luthier shop, and the elf with the sword went blurry for a moment, then solidified.

“Fuck. He lifted the Veil.” Nik bolted toward them, but got there too late to save the poor human, whose head separated from his body with one quick slice from the elf.

The elf handed the sword to his companion and shouted, “Kill them both, and then find the cello,” and sprinted away down the street at full speed.

Nik withdrew his sword, and before Elena knew what had happened, he freed the remaining elf’s head from its body in a black, sticky mess.

Nik leaned down to retrieve his dagger from the first elf’s chest right as his body disintegrated. He picked it up, and it was clean of the black blood. So was the sidewalk. In fact, there was no trace of the elves anywhere.

The poor human was another story. A crimson pool crept across the pavement from the headless body and oozed into the street. People screamed and shrieked all around. And then a woman came out of the shop. A young woman about Elena’s age, wearing an apron, clutching a violin.

“No! Uncle Frank!” The young woman shifted her weight foot-to-foot, anguish filling her cries. “Not you, too. No, no…” She threw her body over his, violin crashing to the pavement and splintering into pieces.

“Take us to the Time Folder, please, Elena,” Nik said, pulling her several feet away. He placed the wood elf’s smaller sword in her hand. “We need to get there quickly, and you can teleport us much faster since I used so much energy getting us here. They saw us, and others will arrive right away.”

She pried her eyes from the gruesome scene, took his hand, and pictured Stefan’s living room.

Nik sighed with relief when he reformed in the Time Folder’s place, holding Elena’s hand. They had made it out safely. He knew he should have called first, but had they waited, the elves certainly would have come with reinforcements. Darvaak emerged from the bedroom wearing rumpled clothes and a furious expression.

“It’s a bad time, Slayer. Zap out now,” he ordered.

“We can’t,” Nik replied. “The wood elves just executed a human on a busy New York City street. Elena was seen. They will hunt her now.”

“They are hunting her anyway,” he said, looking over his shoulder toward his bedroom.

Nik’s radar immediately blipped. Something was wrong here. Darvaak continued to talk quickly. “Fydor has activated troops all over the planet. There’s a huge bounty on Elena’s head. Big enough to tempt even me, so get the fuck out of my house.”

He’d never seen a Time Folder rattled before. “What’s going on?” he asked, concerned that perhaps an enemy was in his bedroom. Hell, he could even be a hostage, as weird as things had gotten. “Who’s here?”

“Stefan?” A woman’s voice called from his bedroom. “What’s up?”

He ran his hands through his gold hair and took a deep breath. “Put the swords away. She’s frightened enough.”

“Stefan?” the voice called again.

“Some friends are here. I would love you to meet them if you are so inclined.” He shot a warning glare at Nik.