MARKED (Hunter Awakened) (22 page)

We came together, crying out into each
other's mouths as our bodies tightened around each other in an
attempt to merge. He held me against him as my breathing slowed and
I could feel his heartbeat steady against my chest. The hand on my
back moved up and down my spine, sliding over sweat-slicked
skin.

“Before you make an inquiry, you are safe.”
Elias's voice was low in my ear. “You do not need to worry about
any sort of protection. Vampires cannot contract or transmit any
disease, save vampirism and then only by other means.”

It showed just how much I trusted him that I
hadn't even thought of the fact that we'd had sex twice with the
only protection being my birth control pills. Still, I was glad
he'd told me.

“That is one of the benefits of my
condition.” Elias lifted me off of his lap and set me on unsteady
legs. He kept his hands on my waist as he stood. “I shall show you
another if you would follow me upstairs.”

“What's upstairs?”

“My bedroom.”

The smile Elias gave me made me throb in
still sensitive places. I threaded my fingers through his.

“Do you remember what I said about how
certain vampires are powerful enough to keep their hearts beating
and blood circulating?”

I nodded, remembering my previous revelation
about how he was able to have sex. I'd always wondered that about
fictional vampires. Very few writers, whether in books or on
screen, addressed the fact that if a vampire's heart didn't beat,
they would be impotent.

Elias continued. “One of the benefits of that
particular ability is that, within a twenty-four to forty-eight
hour time period of having consumed a fair amount of blood, one of
these vampires would be able to maintain and regain his ability to
have intercourse much more than the average human.”

Was he saying what I thought he was saying? I
looked up at him as we went up the stairs, our clothes forgotten on
the floor behind us.

Again displaying his uncanny ability to know
what I was thinking, Elias answered my unasked question. “Before we
were attacked back at the cabin, I had consumed my usual
forty-eight hour ration of blood.” He led me down the hallway.
“Shall we test the limits of my abilities?”

Of course, I said the only thing I could say
to that. “Hell, yes.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

When I woke up, I had no idea was time it was
or even if it was day or night. Elias's bedroom had thick, heavy
curtains that blocked out any light that may have been outside.
Also contributing to my complete loss of time was the fact that I
hadn't really fallen asleep so much as passed out. If I'd been the
least bit skeptical before of Elias's truthfulness about what he
was, everything we'd done tonight—or was it today?—would've
convinced me.

I had climaxed more times since he'd taken me
to bed than I had in most of my other relationships put together.
I'd stopped counting his orgasms after the sixth one and that had
been just a little over halfway through. Every muscle in my body
ached as if I'd spent the night running a marathon, or playing a
soccer double header. I had some aches in places where I'd never
known I had muscles. The juncture between my legs was throbbing,
mostly in a good way, but I could tell that it was sensitive enough
that the slightest movement would be intense. I really hoped that
the plan for the day was to stay in bed, because I didn't think I
could manage anything else.

I was far from the most sexually experienced
person in the world, and when compared to most of my peers in my
particular profession, I was practically a novice, but I knew that
no human could do what Elias had done. It was physically
impossible. The arm draped over me tightened, pulling me even
closer to him. He was still asleep, or at least doing a very good
impression of a sleeping human. I hadn't asked him if vampires
needed to sleep. Unless he was faking, it seemed like they did need
their rest. After that marathon, he more than deserved it.

This was nice, I thought, waking up in his
arms. While I'd never been one to have one night stands or
completely casual sex, I also wasn't a spend-the-night kind of
girl. I would only sleep with men that I trusted to some degree,
but there had never been any that I had trusted implicitly enough
to literally sleep with them. Most of the men with whom I'd had
sex—not that there were very many—might have fallen asleep after
sex, but it was generally just for a couple of hours, and then they
were gone.

Even then, it wasn't really an after sex
cuddle thing. On the odd occasion when I had woken up with an arm
around me, I'd always wiggled out of it to avoid the embarrassment
on both our parts. It had always felt awkward and forced to me,
like that's what the guy thought was expected. Not with Elias,
though. Having his arm over me, his body perfectly spooning mine,
it all just felt so right and natural.

I almost laughed at that. Who'd have thought
that the first time in my life when something felt this natural,
when I found someone I could trust without reservation, it would be
with a vampire? Sometimes destiny had a bizarre sense of humor.

I was still contemplating the weirdness of
this situation when, suddenly, the warmth in my stomach hardened
and froze into a ball of ice. Something was wrong.

Elias must have felt me stiffen, because one
moment he was asleep and then next he was awake and whispering in
my ear. “What is it?”

“I don't know how or why I know it, but
they're here.” Even though I was whispering, my voice sounded loud
to my ears.

Elias was up and out of bed before I could
even sit up. He pulled open a dresser drawer and found a pair of
pants. As he pulled them up, he tossed me a pair of boxers and a
t-shirt, both too large for me, but they were better than being
naked. I didn't even need him to explain why he'd given me shorts
and short sleeves. His clothes were going to be big on me, so a
pair of pants or a sweatshirt would get in the way if I needed to
move fast. Sometimes working action sequences taught you important
information, like what you didn't want to be wearing if you were
running for your life.

I pulled on the clothes as quickly as
possible, silently cursing the fact that I didn't have either bra
or panties. I really hoped my whole sixth sense thing was wrong. At
the rate I was losing clothes each time they found us, the next
time I'd end up having to run naked. While that may have been a
horror film staple, I really didn't have any desire to make it a
reality.

“We shall go down the hall to the stairs.”
Elias wasn't whispering, but he also wasn't speaking in a normal
voice.

I didn't know if vampires had super senses
and he'd heard the intruders inside, but I was more than willing to
follow his example. “Then what?”

“I built a secure room on the first floor. We
will go down the stairs and you will go to your right. Turn the
corner around to the back of the stairs and place your hand on the
panel at the base of the stairs. It will open and you will hide
there until I am sure that you are safe.”

“Fuck that.” I kept my voice down, but the
intensity was there. “If you're going, then so am I.”

Elias glared at me.

“Look,” I whispered as fiercely as I could.
“You said you read everything you could about me. If that was true,
then you would know how completely pointless it is to argue with
me.”

The expression on Elias's face told me that
I'd made my point, but he wasn't willing to concede just yet.

I continued, “We can either stand here
arguing until you see that you can't win, or you can just give in
and realize that I'm coming with you, whether you like it or
not.”

Elias scowled, but I could tell that his
resolve was weakening. Finally, he sighed. “All right, but stay
close behind me, do not do anything rash and I shall find you a
weapon.” He started to turn, then stopped and turned back. “You are
only to use it as a last resort.”

I nodded. I would only use it as a last
resort, though I doubted that my definition of a last resort would
match with Elias's. There was no need to tell him that though. I
figured this was one of those occasions where it would be better to
ask forgiveness rather than permission, especially if it involved
saving his life.

I followed him out of the room and down the
hall, every muscle in my body tense, coiled and ready for sudden
movement. We made it to the stairs without incident and Elias
paused there. He peered into the shadows, then started down the
stairs. The house was strangely silent and that did nothing to
soothe my nerves. Something was coming, I could feel it. I'd never
thought of myself as psychic or whatever, but there was a certainty
to this feeling that I couldn't describe. I only knew that
something was going to happen and soon.

“With what sort of weapon are you
comfortable?” Elias whispered as we started towards one of the
doorways that lead off to a different section of the house. “Gun?
Knife? Sword?”

I had the sudden image of me swinging a
broadsword and I had to stifle a nervous laugh. The sad thing was,
with all of my stunt training, I was probably more qualified to use
a sword than a gun.

Before I could give Elias an answer, however,
the door crashed open and four masked figures, all dressed in
black, rushed in. This time, they entered with their weapons drawn.
They'd opted for something a bit different, I saw. Two had swords.
Honest to goodness swords. A centuries old vampire offering me a
sword was one thing. This was something else. The other two had
crossbows with lethal looking arrows. When I saw that the arrows
didn't have metal arrowheads, I realized that whoever these
intruders were, they knew what Elias was.

They weren't here for me. They were after the
vampire.

Chapter Twenty-Six

I was pretty sure that these were four
different people than had been at the cabin although they wore the
same all black attire. None of them seemed to be injured and at
least one of them was female. Not that any of that mattered. I was
more concerned with the weapons they were carrying, weapons that
could hurt even a vampire. I took a step forward, but Elias
stretched out his arm to keep me back.

“Olivia, come to us. You're in danger.” The
largest of the four spoke in a slow, deep voice. It was a voice
that, under different circumstances, I would've trusted
immediately.

I wasn't sure which statement to address
first. I chose a blanket statement that would cover both. “You have
no clue what you're talking about.” Okay, a bit cliché, but it
wasn't like I had writers.

“You're a shit hunter, Olivia. You know
that?” The female pointed towards Elias with the sword she held.
“You've had a vampire working for you.”

I knew the circumstances may have warranted
that I make an exception for someone making a bad first impression,
but I really didn't like that girl. My temper burned away my fear
and I no longer cared that I was wearing Elias's too-big shorts and
t-shirt. I ducked under Elias's arm and stepped between him and the
black-clad hunters.

“Teal,” he hissed.

I didn't look at him. I knew he wouldn't move
because he knew that whoever these people were, they wouldn't hurt
me, but if he made a move, I might get caught in the crossfire.

“Let's get a couple things straight.” I was
making it up as I went, so I really hoped that this would work.
“One, my name's not Olivia, so whoever you are, you're the one
who's apparently shit at your job. Two, I know what Elias is and
he's protecting me, so I don't really think I'm in danger from
him.”

“Dale,” the girl lowered her sword and
addressed the big man. “What's she talking about? I thought you
said you knew she was Olivia Harmon.”

“Shut it, Jo.” One of the other men snapped
at her. “That's not important.”

“Do you mind?” My temper was still going so I
had no problem interrupting four armed intruders. “I'd like to get
this whole misunderstanding taken care of. I've had a bit of a
crazy week and I'm pretty tired.” I could hear the edge to my
voice. “One of you want to tell me why the hell you're attacking
someone who hasn't done anything to anyone? All he's done since I
met him is protect me.”

The girl let out a bark of a laugh and I
clenched my hand into a fist. Sword or not, if she didn't stop, I
was going to punch her.

“We weren't going after him, at first.” The
man who'd snapped at the female hunter spoke. The other three gave
him what I assumed were sharp looks. It was hard to tell with their
faces covered. “We were looking for you. It wasn't until we found
you and started our recon that we realized what he was.”

“And him just being a vampire is enough to
warrant all of this?” I waved my hand at them. I could sense some
of the tension leaving Elias as he realized that they didn't want
to hurt me.

“No.” The big man took half a step forward
and, just like that, the tension was back. “We hadn't decided for
sure what we were going to do until we saw him hurt someone.”

I straightened. “You mean those goons up at
the cabin? Sorry, but they were kind of asking for it.”

“Teal.” Elias's voice was soft, but
urgent.

I ignored him. “He hasn't hurt anyone.” I
echoed my previous sentiment.

“Tell that to Rufus Dietz.” The woman
said.

“Rufus...” My voice trailed off as everything
clicked

Rufus. The man who'd attacked me and then
been beaten so badly that he was still in the hospital. The night
before I'd met Elias. Elias. The man who'd told me that he'd been
watching me for a while. The man who'd promised that he'd never let
anyone hurt me. That he'd always protect me. The detectives had
said that Rufus's injuries had been bad, brutal even, as if the
person who'd beaten him had known how to cause pain without
killing. Kind of the type of thing that someone who'd lived over
two hundred years might know how to do.