Bound by Sin: The Beginning of a Prophecy (Prophecy #3) (11 page)

My chest constricted and my heart flung itself against my ribs as heat
shot up my neck. My tongue ran across my teeth and I quickly forced words from my mouth. “Why would I be jealous of something I can’t lose?”

The woman laughed and grab
bed his hand. “Money?”

Gavin reached
in his pocket and flashed a roll of cash. With that, the woman led us inside the building.

Walking in, a thick haze of smoke filled the room. The man behind the counter looked up and she said, “Second floor, room 213.”

He nodded and a disgusting smile snarled across his face. I felt like every man in that room was staring at me, undressing me with their eyes, wondering if I was available to be taken advantage of.

What the hell have you gotten yourself into, Brooke? My God, are you really going to see where this is going?

The woman led us up a stairwell. The wooden rails had been stripped of their finish and the walls were stained yellow from tobacco. Cobwebs stretched across the corners of the ceiling and clung to the discolored wallpaper that was curling back from the walls.

Staring at Gavin’s back
, I wanted nothing to do with this part of him. I desired no further insight into the darkness that he’d been forced to live in, and I wondered how I’d been so blind, how he’d managed to hide this from me for as long as he had. How had I ever been so deceived?

The prostitute stopped in front of a white door. She smiled and said, “I do love it when I have an audience. You just look a little too upscale for this, love. The things men can talk you into, eh?
Especially good-looking ones.”

The door creaked open. A sma
ll bed was against the far wall next to a radiator. The light fixture that hung from the middle of the room only had one light bulb that worked and the room smelled of cigarettes and liquor. As soon as the door shut, Gavin released his hand from mine and slid the chain into the lock.

The woman leaned
against the windowsill next to the bed, motioning with her finger for Gavin to come to her.

Turning to me, his face twisted with remorse. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed before facing the woman.

I wanted to grab him. I needed to yell at him. The chorus of emotions erupting inside me left me in a state of confusion. I was angry at him, I hated him, but I was undeniably madly in love with him. I was terrified, jealous, possessive, and sickened at the fact that I was now trapped in this filthy hotel room with a cheap hooker foaming at the mouth to devour him.

Within moments he’d moved in front of her, his back to me
, and all I could see was the woman’s fingers making their way through his thick mane of hair. All the fear I’d had was quickly replaced by rage. I watched her hands move down from his neck to his broad shoulders,
my
shoulders. I forced the scream that was bubbling up in my throat down, trusting that he’d meant it when he said he wouldn’t hurt me.

Gavin glanced over his shoulder
, his eyes sharply staring at me. “Turn around, love.”

I stood frozen, refusing to turn away from him.

His face twisted back in my direction again. “I said,” he paused and wet his lips with his tongue, “turn around.”

The woman had removed his shirt and was working his belt free from his pants.

“No!” I said, gritting my teeth to keep from yelling it.

He
glared at me as the woman yanked his pants to his feet. Her hands slithered up his legs, grabbing his ass through his boxers before her hands disappeared around the front of him.

“Face the
damn
wall!” he demanded.

Drawing in a deep breath I said, “Whatever you plan to do with her. I want to see it. I need to see
what
you really are.”

The woman laughed and I heard an angry groan come from Gavin. His hands found their way into her hair and he
sadistically jerked her head to the side. The rough way he was handling this woman made it apparent he was angry. The woman let out a breathless moan, and the jealousy inside me threatened to rupture out. I bit down on the inside of my cheek to try and keep my composure. My hand gripped the corner of the wall, and I had to force my eyes to remain locked on the two of them. Gavin placed his mouth against hers and I saw her body relax. The touch of his lips did that; his kiss was intoxicating, and I knew that feeling rushing over her was closer to ecstasy than anything she’d ever experienced. There was no kiss like his. Although I knew this was not the same, watching him give away something that I wanted to be only mine made me feel like my heart had just been torn loose from my body and placed in a vice grip.

Gavin
’s shoulders rose as he drew in a loud breath, and the woman’s arms flew around his body. I saw her fingers dig into his flesh, his flawless skin puckering around her candy-apple painted nails before her grip on him released. Her arms fell weightlessly to her side and Gavin pulled in another deep breath. The way that breath sounded was almost like water pouring over a cliff – it was a rush – like something more than air was in it. The woman let out a pleading groan and her head rolled to the side. Gavin’s mouth quickly moved to her neck. There was a loud and distinct crunch just before the woman released a loud whimper. The sound of his teeth tearing into her flesh sent a sickening feeling into the pit of my stomach. My skin tightened and chill bumps coursed across me. The noise of him gulping down her blood like it was water made my stomach turn and my fingers instinctually plugged my ears to drown out the gruesome sound. I found myself humming to try to make sure I couldn’t hear. I wanted to look away but couldn’t. I was in complete shock and my eyes were glued to him. This man, this creature that I had fallen in love with, that I had trusted, stood before me feeding on another human being. In that moment, it was like time slowed down. I could hear the blood being jetted from my heart. My own breathing became amplified and echoed in my ears. I felt a thick film of sweat drench my forehead, and every last hair on my body stood on end. Gavin had turned just enough to the side that I could see the muscles in his neck move each time he swallowed.

The woman
tried pushing him away from her, but, despite her frantic movements, Gavin kept his hold on her. I watched the woman’s eyes fly open in shock and pain. Her mouth opened wide to let out another moan, one loud enough that it broke through my hums and made me tremble. Her eyes glazed over, her pupils swallowing her irises as she drifted from this world to wherever she’d find eternity. Within seconds he’d released his hold on her, and her body collapsed lifelessly to the floor of the hotel room. Staring at her neck, I expected to see blood, but the wound was clean. He’d sucked every last drop of blood from her.

Keeping his back to me,
Gavin ran the back of his hand across his face, then wiped it on the sheets of the bed. A bright red streak smeared across the thin white material. The tension in his body relaxed and he turned to me, looking no different than he had the moment I’d first lain eyes on him. Not a notion that he was a murderer, a demon – the perfect illusion he’d created almost made me question if he’d really just taken the life of the woman lying motionless next to his feet.

I knew I should be terrified, I
knew that I should feel remorse, but all that was overcome by relief when he walked to me and pressed his lips to mine, his hands creeping up my back and to my neck, reminding me that we belonged only to one another; the unrelenting sensuality of his lips enabling me to ignore the copper taste of blood that still lingered in his mouth. Pulling away, he said, “My demon, the one thing I’ve no control over… except that I won’t let it devour you.”

Glancing down to his chin
, I saw a small trickle of blood. My eyes enlarged and my heart held back several beats. I immediately wiped over my chin to see the red fluid on my own hand. I let out a loud gasp and fell back into the wall.

“What?
” he asked, his eyes narrowing. He ran his finger underneath his chin and wiped the red trail away. He glanced down at his fingers, rubbing them together. “Oh, the blood? Not my favorite thing to do, but I’ve no idea the next time I’ll have an opportunity for this… and I have to keep you safe. Better to take both the soul and her blood. Keeps the urge away longer.”

All I could do was stare at him.
My gaze faltered down to the floor, resting on the body. Had he not left and found this woman, that would have been me. There was no doubt. 

He walked to
the window and pushed it open. “Come on, then.”

My mind shut
down. I could no longer attempt to process any of what had just happened. My eyes darted over to Gavin, who was now standing on the ledge. “Out the window?”

“Well, we can’t very well walk back down through the entrance without her, now can we?
I’ve no one to clean up this mess here. No one to cover it up for me.” Laughing, he said, “Out of all you’ve just witnessed, climbing through a window has you unable to move? Just not sure about you sometimes.” He grinned and held his hand out. “Trust me.”

Stepping over the woman, I climbed up onto the ledge.
My feet dangled over the edge, and I gripped the cold concrete, my nails bending against its texture. I was terrified of heights. I forced my breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. “There’s no stairs, no way down, Gavin.” My voice quivered and I scooted back onto the ledge.

“It’s not a long way down.” Gavin stood on the ledge, looking down,
his hair falling in front of his face. “Come on.” He bent over and reached beneath my arms, lifting me to my feet.

I closed my eyes, s
queezing them shut as tightly as possible. I fell into him as he picked me up into his arms. Reaching around his neck, I gripped his shoulder and buried my face in the crevice of his neck.

“Trust me. I told you I’d keep you safe, you
really
should trust that. Besides, when it’s death himself that’s in love with you, what do you have to be afraid of?”

I felt his hold on me tighten. Safe. I felt safe in his arms, like nothing could touch me.

Trying to calm my nerves, I said, “I think the fact that I just followed you into a questionable hotel with a prostitute should tell you I trust you.”

“Aye, well, you really had no choice with that, now did you, love?” He gave me a
swift kiss and pulled away. Arching one brow, Gavin stared into me. “Don’t scream.”

“
Wh –” Before I was able to finish my word he leapt from the ledge. My stomach rose up into my chest. The wind whipped around me, my hair flying up into the air as we fell.

Gavin’s boots met the concrete of the alley
with a loud thud. His landing made it seem like he’d done nothing more than jump over a crack in the sidewalk, not launch us both from the edge of a window twenty-five feet in the air.

Placing
me on the ground, he said, “Now, shall we go back to our hotel?” and grabbed my hand.

I
looked up at him, slack-jawed and completely unable to form words.

Each corner of his mouth
curved up and a small laugh trickled from his lips. “Well, I see not having to hide who I really am will make it much easier to impress you, aye?”

Gavin

Chapter
Fourteen

Walking back
to the hotel, I couldn’t help but be surprised by her strength. She’d handled everything so well. Almost having been abducted by a vampire, staring at his lifeless body sprawled out in the floor…despite my blatantly telling her I was resisting killing her as I lead her through the slums of London to a whore house where she’d no idea what would happen and subsequently watched me take the life of a stranger, she was still able to trust me. She was still walking next to me, clinging to my hand like I was her salvation.

She was truly unlike anything I’d ever known. Beautiful, possessing, and strong. A goddess. She was my
mortal goddess.

The mental state I’d been in earlier had kept all logic from me. Now, as I ducked between people
, I feared that someone would see us. Bringing Brooke in closer to me, I took in my surroundings. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary here. There was no disorder, no one hiding in the shadows waiting to claim a victim into the darkness. So ordinary that had that intruder not come into our room, I would have believed nothing would happen, that the prophecy was nothing more than a myth. That’s what I wanted to believe.

Rounding the corner
that lead to our hotel, I felt eyes piercing into me. My gaze met a man, a creature. He sat on the bench on the edge of Hyde Park. I glanced up to the window of our suite, and the man had a perfect view from where he sat. Clutching Brooke tightly to my side, I narrowed my eyes into an intimidating stare. The man folded his hands into a prayer pose and lifted his face to the side, clicking his teeth as he stared at Brooke. A devilish grin cast over his face and he rose from the bench.

Holding Brooke back, I stopped in front of the glass doors to the hotel, my stare unwavering as I watched the man slowly make his way behind the
bench. He shoved his hands inside the deep pockets of his coat and disappeared into the park.

“What? Why’d you stop me like that?” Brooke asked, a hint of fear coating her voice.

I shot a reassuring smile down to her and tucked her hair behind her ear as we entered the hotel. “Nothing. Just looking at the park. That’s all.”

I
knew that was not a mortal man, and it was no coincidence he was here. The way he drank in the sight of Brooke; when his eyes rested on her, there was a flash of want. Fearing not only that we were indeed being hunted, I worried that the magnetic pull I’d had to her was something reaching for beyond me. She was different, the embodiment of grace, and in some sense, she was like forgiveness to my soul. I was terrified that something inside her was like a pull to anything dark, like a beacon sucking in the desolate blackness of the night.

I’d called down and reserved the room for several more days earlier that morning, and it was a good thing I’d done so. At least we’d have a few days to disappear before they found the remains of that wretched being in our room.
We had to leave the next morning. There was nothing guaranteeing that the daylight would make travel safer, but light makes it harder to hide darkness. Crimes are much easier to keep hidden in the cover of night. Mortals were still oblivious to our world, which meant I appeared human to them. For right now, immersing ourselves within them would provide protection. Visibility. We needed visibility to be safe.

Stepping onto the elevator, I wa
s reminded of the moment I gave into want with Brooke, the moment all control fled from me. The innocence she had, the ragged heaving of her chest when I’d pinned her against the wall of that elevator in Boston, the irresistible blush that so easily would paint its way over her cheeks. Now she stood clinging to me, her complexion faded and worry evident on her face. I’d broken her, broken myself, and in the end I knew my inability to deny myself of her would be the reason everything in this world would shatter to pieces. My weakness for woman lead to the birth of evil, and the helplessness I’d found in loving Brooke would lead to the death of all innocence.

Turning the doorknob, I said,
“We’ll need to leave first thing in the morning.”

She nodded and walked through to the bedroom. It was evident that she was troubled, fighting an internal battle with her own emotions. Instinctually, she should fear me, she should run away the moment my back turned to her… but the emotional attachment she had, the way I’d woven myself into her veins
, made it nearly impossible for her to fathom her life without me.

I made my way into the bathroom
on the opposite side of the suite from the ransacked room that housed the corpse and peeled my shirt from my skin. Pushing the stopper down, I twisted the silver knobs and ran warm water into the deep tub. As I sat on the side of the basin I watched Brooke. She sat on the edge of the bed, her hands folded in her lap and her head bowed. Her eyes were frozen in an intense gaze aimed at the floor. I massaged my temples, trying to devise a way to get her away from harm, away from the impending doom… a way to make her mine without damning her.

I entered
the bedroom and without a word scooped her up into my arms, the motion jarring loose the tears she’d been fighting to keep in. Setting her on the side of the tub, I pulled her shirt over her head. “I’m so sorry, love. Never intended for it to go this way,” I said, and inched her pants down to her ankles.

I finished undressing her and pressed my
lips to hers. My tongue found its way into the warmth of her mouth, feeling along the back of her teeth, flicking against the thickness of her tongue. Just as my hands traced up her neck, she pulled away.

“I can’t. Not right now. I just – “

I tenderly caressed the sides of her face, my thumbs wiping away the tears from her cheeks. “All I want is to love you. Make you feel safe,” I whispered. Giving her a sweet kiss, I picked her up and placed her in the warm water.

Her body sunk beneath the surface, stopping just above her breasts. I tossed my pants to the side and climbed in behind her and drew her body against mine.

“Just love you,” I said as I wrapped my arms around her tightly.

There we rested in complete silence. The only noise was the soft splash of water when one of us would move. Brooke’s head melted into my chest and I lovingly ran my hands through her hair. I embraced ever
y second of holding her, of feeling her body against mine, of just having her love me. I knew this was most likely the last peaceful moment we’d have, and I just wanted to always remember it. I wanted to be able to recreate each remarkable movement of her body lying against mine. Memories. I needed to make memories. If I was unable to keep her safe, if I was unable to keep her with me forever, I wanted moments to relive in my head. I needed to remember the way she felt. I needed these moments of love I’d never before experienced and knew I’d never again find if she were taken from me.