Luscious Craving (34 page)

“You used me, Ash, and you didn’t even do it yourself. In my book, that makes you a pimp and me a whore.”

“No, Candace. It wasn’t like that.”

“You’re wrong,” I said. “It was. You had all the knowledge, all the power, Ash. What you did was worse than lie. You withheld the truth, because you knew that telling it would make the difference between satisfying your desires and denying them. You’re right. You did fuck me, and it had absolutely nothing to do with love. You’ve left me with nothing, not even my self-respect.”

I pulled against his grip. He released me, but neither of us backed away, backed down. “So, if you’ll excuse me, I happen to think an explanation of some kind is in order. Why, Ash? I want you to tell me why.”

For a split second, I thought I saw him waver, thought I saw a thousand competing wants and needs in his
starshine
eyes. Then, his expression shuttered, so thoroughly and completely I could have sworn I actually heard the sound of a door slamming shut.

“I can’t do that. I’m sorry.”

“Never mind,” I said. I stepped away from him then, genuinely uncertain what I would do if I stood that close to him for one second longer. Throw myself into his arms and beg. Slide one of the stakes of silver I always wore in my hair out to plunge it straight through his black and treacherous heart.

“Come to think of it, I’ll bet I can come up with an explanation, myself. Could it possibly be safer for me not to know? All you’re trying to do is protect me. You have only my best interests at heart. Would those statements feature prominently on your list of excuses?”

“Yes, damn you,” Ash shouted. “And they’re not excuses. They’re the absolute truth.”

I laughed once more. “I used to think you were so remarkable, Ash.
So unique.
So unlike any other man I had ever known. Just lately, I’ve found out the truth. You’re just like all the rest, vampire or not. You trot out the same lame justifications for your actions and expect the little woman to swallow it whole.

“
You killed a man, Ash
,” I cried.
“An important one.
Oh, excuse
me,
you had one of your little Bat Pack soldiers do it for you.”

“
Hamlyn
wasn’t what you thought he was,” Ash said, his voice tightly controlled. “He was much worse than your run-of-the-mill corrupt politician.”

“Are you telling me he was a vampire?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“Let’s just say he was being controlled.”

“By another vampire?”

“Something
like
that. I had no choice.
Hamlyn
had to be eliminated. He was dangerous, Candace, on levels you can’t even begin to fathom.”

“Of course, not,” I said. “I’m not capable of understanding any of it, but you put me right in the middle of it anyway, you condescending bastard. Ash, you chose the
Sher
. Why?
To protect me or to humiliate me?
You know what? I don’t care. You can go to hell. I’m leaving. Don’t expect me to come back another time.”

I started for the door.

“I can make sure you don’t do that,” he said. His tone stopped me in my tracks. “I can make sure you never leave
me, that
you never want to go.”

“Yes, you can do that,” I said. “And do you know what I’ll be then? I’ll be your human drone. Or your vampire pet, if that’s the course of action you choose. Not even
I
expect I would be able to stop you from draining me a second time.”

I turned back and walked straight to him,
then
I lifted my hair from my neck and tilted back my head to expose my throat. I knew what he was seeing: the place where the tattoo did its best to cover up my scars. The ones he had given me in that
San Francisco
elevator long ago.

“Go ahead,” I said. “Get it over with. Make me what Dune was. I put an end to her existence, by the way. Not much choice, as she was doing her best to end mine. Maybe I should have let her kill me and saved us both so much trouble. Personally, I think we both deserve better than this, but it’s your choice. You’ve done such a fine job of proving you’re the one in control, why stop now?”

“Damn it!” Ash said. “Damn you. No.”

“You are the one who is damned,” I replied. I let my hair fall. “And you know what? I’ve decided I don’t want an explanation after all. All I want is to never see you again.”

“That isn’t going to happen,” Ash said quietly. “I am never going to let you go.”

I walked to the elevator doors. They slid open without a sound.

“Just answer me one thing,” I said, without facing him. “Are you a member of the Board?”

I heard his startled exclamation.
Knew that my long shot had hit home.
I still might not know what the Board was, but it was clear Ash did. And all of a sudden he was by my side.
Swinging me around to face him.
The expression in his eyes was wild. Filled with the very last thing I had ever expected to see there: genuine fear.

“Who told you about them?” he said. “How do you know about the Board?”

I yanked myself out of his grip. “You don’t give me an explanation, but you expect one?”

He reached for me again, and I danced out of reach. I was in the elevator now. Ash surged forward, blocking the doors with his body. From somewhere deep inside me, I felt a scream begin to rise.

“Answer me, Candace,” Ash said. “If you knew
Hamlyn
was being controlled by the Board, then you already know too much. Answer me!” he repeated.

I pulled in a shaky breath. “No.
Your days of controlling my mind and actions are over, Ash.
Now get your fucking foot out of the door.”

I saw his body ripple, as if it was literally at war with his mind, his heart. And then, in the blink of an eye, I knew which one had won. He was beside me in the elevator, his arms banding around me, tight, mouth crushing down upon mine.

I swear to God I felt my heart stop. My breath backed up into my lungs. Ash’s mouth was desperate and determined.
Coaxing, demanding, wild.
I kept mine still beneath it. To this day, I believe it is the hardest thing I have ever done. Slowly, slowly, his touch gentled. His lips on mine became a plea and a promise. And as they did, I felt my heart begin to beat once more. I reached up, slid a single stake of silver from my hair.
Brought it down until the sharp point just touched the exposed flesh of his jaw.
Ash jerked back, a purely involuntary motion, and the point nicked him. I saw a bead of bright crimson blood well up,
then
trickle slowly down his throat.

“You once asked how I would feel if you did not exist,” I said. “Ask me again now.”

For what seemed an infinite space of time, he did not move. I hardly dared to breathe. I gazed upward, he gazed down. Then Ash took one step back, and then a second. By the time he had taken the third, I was in the elevator alone.

“We are not over,” he said. “This is not the end of things. We are not done.”

I did breathe then, pulling in a single slow and steady breath. “You’re wrong. Everything about us is wrong, Ash. Just like everything about us is over and done.”

I reached out, jabbed the
down
button on the elevator, and the doors slid closed. The last thing I saw was my vampire lover, his eyes, now and forever like the stars. And down his neck, the thing that lay between us, now and forever. Binding us together, driving us apart.

Blood.

Also by Cameron Dean

PASSIONATE THIRST

Don’t miss this special sneak peek
at the next seductive book in
the Candace Steele Vampire Killer trilogy!!!

Eternal Hunger

It was a stormy night.

I live in Vegas, so I can’t exactly also claim that it was dark. I can say this much, however: There’s better weather in Hell.

The rain came down in solid sheets, the drops just short of hail but still hard enough to sting. The wind was straight out of a late-night horror film. Some unseen force that should not be sentient but still manages to have a mind of its own anyhow; pushing against me with invisible hands, tearing at my clothing, howling through the city like a long-lost soul. It was the sort of night when anyone with half a brain cranks up the knob on the gas fireplace, slips her favorite DVD into the machine, and curls up on the couch.

So what was I doing? I was pounding the streets of Vegas, soaked to the skin, tracking someone who probably thought the weather was nice.

My name is Candace Steele, and I hunt vampires.

Usually, I do this indoors. I work undercover security at one of the newest casinos in town, the Scheherazade. I look like a thousand other females in Vegas, serving drinks and flashing some skin. In fact, I’m one of a kind. Because while I’m making my rounds, I’m also doing something else: spotting vampires and getting them tossed out on their undead asses if they attempt to cheat the casino.

But tonight I was off, and all I wanted was to go to a movie. I almost got there, too, right up to the ticket window. Then I felt it: a surge of cold straight down my back, one I knew damn well had nothing to do with the storm.

There was a vampire nearby.

Immediately, my adrenaline started to kick in as my vampire-hunting instincts began to take over. I flipped up the collar on my jacket in a feeble attempt to keep the rain from streaming down the back of my neck, slid one of the silver chopsticks I always use to help control my wayward curls out of my hair and into my jacket pocket, and kept on going, hot on the trail of the cold.

Vampire Hunter Rule #1: Never, under any circumstances, go out into the world unarmed. Rule #2: When in doubt, make silver your weapon of choice. Silver is a purifier. A little goes a long way when it comes to vampires.

By the time I reached the far end of the block, I was completely soaked. The wind was so strong I had to lean into it, as if walking up an incline. But the internal cold I felt still pulled me forward, steady as a lodestone. I crossed the street, stepped up onto the curb, and saw the vampire.

He was young. Not more than early twenties.
Wearing a muscle T-shirt and skin-tight jeans that had probably been plastered to his body even before the rain got to them and finished the job.
Stepping out from under the cover of a parking garage not twenty paces away, oblivious to the weather, looking entirely too pleased with
himself
.
With his own power.
New kid on the block
, I thought.
On a feeding high
.
His eyes slid over me, barely registering my presence. I felt my adrenaline kick up a notch. My biggest weapon in my fight against vampires isn’t anything I carry with me, anything external. It’s me, myself. The fact that, unaccustomed to humans being able to detect what they are, most vamps literally never see me coming.

As if to prove he was no different than the rest, the vampire in question pivoted on one thick black-booted heel and began to walk away; his arrogance, his enjoyment of his own power, showing in every single stride. It might have been a balmy summer night for all the notice he took of the weather. Water streamed down my face, dripped from the end of my nose.

For ten endless blocks, I trailed the vampire, until I wanted to take him out for no other reason than to take myself out of the wet and the cold.
Come on
, I urged him silently.
Make your move you undead creep. Turn off. Show me where you’re going
. The street we were on was still way too public to risk a confrontation, even given the storm.