Hot Decadent Rising (Breath of Darkness) (24 page)

Once again she
was so close to detonating. The heat and the friction were driving her insane.
She was at the edge of total bliss, lingering there for an eternity, so close
to tumbling over it. “We can’t do this right now.” She almost screamed in
protest when he slowed his pace. She was so afraid he stop. “This is a bad
idea. I should…aw fuck. I can’t do this.”

***

Eli had known it would be difficult to
abstain from exchanging blood with her, but he had no idea the need to bite
her, and to taste her blood would ride him so hard. He was blown away by the
need, by the thirst he was being subjected to.

In truth, he’d
never even considered a blood exchange during any sexual encounter. It was the
ultimate act of intimacy, reserved only for mates; unless blood loss had turned
into a life or death situation. In time they would exchange blood. She was his
mate. It was inevitable. It was the only way to bring her into his world, but
doing it at that moment would be a mistake. She was human. Her ways were very
different from his. He wanted their first time together to be a perfect memory
in her mind.

The need in him
rose as he leaned forward and kissed her neck and shoulders. He’d slowed his
pace in an attempt to regain control, but it wasn’t working. He didn’t want to
stop. He also didn’t want to do anything that was certain to scare the hell out
of her, but he was so damned thirsty for her blood. He reluctantly pulled out
of her, and then he rolled her over onto her back.

She blinked up
at him, and then reached for him. “I feel it in you. You want to bite me. You
want to take my blood into your body when you cum.”

He needed to
distance himself from her to gain control, but he allowed her to pull him down
to her. “I won’t lie to you. I do want your blood, but don’t worry, I won’t do
it.” He whispered as he lowered his body between her legs.

“Will it change
me? I mean, will it make me be like you?”

“Only in the
movies. If I had rabies you might end up with that if I bit you,” he teased.
“To bring you into my world you would need to take my blood.”

“I want you to
do it, Eli. I want you to bite me.”

Entering her
body slowly, he shook his head. “It isn’t necessary.”

Her fingers,
gently massaging in scalp, were tangled in his hair. “It is to me. I want to
give you whatever you need from me. I don’t want to look back at this night
knowing you were disappointed for any reason. I want to give you all the
pleasure you’ve given me.”

“There’s no
reason for you to even consider worrying about disappointing me. You’ve already
given me more pleasure than I’ve ever known. I don’t have to do it right now.”

“You’ve met and
surpassed every desire I’ve ever had. I know that taking my blood is something
you really want to do. It seems strange and I won’t
lie…
a
bit icky to me, but I’m not afraid of it. Tonight I chose to be with you,
knowing that you’re not human, and that you think and act differently than I
do.  I knew that you might want something out of the ordinary of me. I’m
not afraid of you. I need you to take my blood to make this night a perfect
memory.” She turned her head to the left and exposed her right shoulder and her
neck.

The temptation
of her offering was too much to resist. As she lifted her hips to meet his
every thrust, he bent his head and trailed kisses from the corner of her mouth
to her jaw. By the time his lips reached her neck she was so close to climaxing
that she was whimpering for release and arching her entire body against his.
His cock was throbbing, aching deliciously as he pumped his hips. He was so
close. He couldn’t hold it back anymore. His lips moved from her neck to her
shoulder, his teeth nipping as his mouth slowly journeyed back up to her neck
where he sank his teeth. 

She screamed his
name as pain turned to darkly erotic pleasure. He felt her entire body shatter
with his. Her sheath tightened and released in steady spasms as he emptied
himself deep inside her. All the while he suckled greedily as the taste of her
sweet blood exploded in his mouth. He felt her blood mix with his. Perfectly.
Completely. He felt it weaving an unbreakable bond between them. He would never
be alone. He would never be the same. She was a part of him now, until the end
of time.

He needed to
finish the exchange. He needed her to take his blood. He had to fully bind them
together, but he knew better than to approach it just yet. She wouldn’t be
willing. He could take control of her mind and force her to do it. She would
never know, but he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t do it that way. He would wait.
Eventually, she would want to taste his blood. Instincts would kick in and she
would want to take his blood into her body to complete their bond.

With a swipe of
his tongue he closed the wound with the natural healing agents in his saliva.
When she turned her head and met his gaze, he realized he might have taken too
much blood. Her eyes were glassed over and she appeared to be having trouble
focusing on his face. “How do you feel?”

Slowly parting
her lips she smiled at him. “Absolutely wonderful. And you?”

“I’ve never felt
better.” Satisfied that she was okay, he rolled over and collapsed onto his back.
He’d sort of wished he’d taken too much of her blood. It would’ve forced him to
give his blood to her.

“I won’t go
there so forget about it. Drinking blood is not my thing. And it will never
be.” She turned her head to look at him. “Was it good for you?”

“Good?” He
pulled her up so that her head was resting on top of his chest, and then he
wrapped his arms around her. “Babe, good doesn’t even come close to describing
how wonderful it was.”

“I agree.” She
yawned as she snuggled up even closer to him. “It was pretty damn great for a
one night stand.” 

He knew she was
reminding him that they were going their separate ways in the morning, but he
wasn’t going to ruin the moment by arguing with her. In all honesty, there
wouldn’t be any quarrel. He wasn’t letting her go. “Sweet dreams.”

He was in a
state of perfect tranquility. All that he’d ever wanted was safe in his arms.
He kissed the top of her head as he pulled her leg over his waist. Savoring the
way her body was wrapped around his he closed his eyes and drifted off to
sleep.

~Fourteen~

IN
THE ABANDONED factory across from the hotel where Kara was staying, Jeremy Lang
watched her room. He’d come too close to opening the door before he realized Eli
was with her. He would’ve received a serious ass kicking if he’d entered the
room. As a matter of fact, he’d barely made it away from the door before the
pack descended upon him.

Jeremy immediately called Wes, the local
he had in place to take the pack from Samuel so he could and hand it over to
Mary. Wes claimed that Eli killed Samuel within minutes of confronting him. To
say he was disappointed would’ve been a huge understatement.  He was
utterly screwed. Mary would refuse to work with him anymore until he secured
the pack for her. He’d been convinced it wouldn’t take Wes much longer. He
figured a day or maybe two at the most. He couldn’t believe what had happened.
He’d assumed Wes was close to taking over the pack, but he never had a hope in
hell. Wes also claimed that the original pack refused to allow them to
intervene on Samuel's behalf. That meant one thing; Samuel never truly had
control of the pack. Eli had always been in charge of it.

He was pleased with his new assignment
from Mary. Normally no self-respecting vampire ever agreed to babysit a human
for any reason. They were a food source. Sometimes if a woman possessed sex
appeal, he didn’t mind screwing one, but in the end he always slaughtered her
to appease his thirst for blood and entertainment. Grace had amazing sex
appeal. Many years ago he’d planned to use her more than once before killing
her, but Max stole her. Kara didn’t know it yet, but she was going to help him
find her mom again.
 

Dealing with Leland was no easy matter.
The man was an arrogant asshole. He actually believed he was in charge. Jeremy
would rather kill him than deal with his bullshit for a moment longer, but if
he didn’t he would piss Mary off and his plan to continue his transformation
with demon blood would be shot to hell. She was the source of the blood. He
didn’t know how she managed to imprison the demon, Zack Savage, but she’d done
it.

She’d been draining the demon dry,
dispersing his blood among several vampires. It was making them stronger. It
gave them abilities they’d never had before. One day the blood would be so
strong in them that they would rise up and destroy demons all around the world.
Vampires would rule as they should have all along.  

 “The old woman gave you the key to
Kara’s room, right?” Leland asked.

Jeremy didn’t even bother to turn to
face him. “There’s no reason for you to be here. I really wish you would go
away.”

“What are we waiting in this pigsty
for?”

“As I said before, there is no reason
for you to stick around. I am waiting because I can’t get to her right now.”

“Why?”

“She’s with a Lycan.”

“A what?”

“A werewolf.”

“You’re afraid of a wolf?” Leland
laughed.

 “He is not alone. The whole damned
pack is watching the room.”

“Again, Mary gives me a vampire that
can’t get the job done.”

Jeremy turned to face him. “I do not belong
to Mary. She did not give me to you.” He held the key out. “If you want her
right now open up the door and go inside and get her.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll stay right here and watch. If
she’s his mate he knows you put a hit out on her. He also knows you had the
baby’s father put a bullet in the back of her head. Seeing you get torn to
shreds will be a great show.”

“What’s the plan?” Leland asked.

“You want to wait and do it my way?”

“Yes.”

“I’m waiting for help to arrive. When
they get here and your daughter comes out of the room we will attack his pack
hard and fast. We will kill as many wolves as possible and take your daughter.
Once we have her I’ll hand her over to you.”

“What good will waiting do?”

“It will put them out in the open. We
will divide the pack and separate her from Eli.”

“We should just get it over with.”

“Go ahead and give it a try, but I
suggest that you don’t. Leave now. Go the shack. I’ll meet up with you in the
morning.”

***

“Take
a look at this.”

Mary took the DVD. “What’s on it?” 

“Surveillance footage from the basement
of the hospital the night Kara was rescued.”

“It doesn’t matter. We found her again.
She’s dead.”

“I suggest you take a look at it. I
promise it’s going to matter a hell of a lot to Leland when he sees it.”

“Are you trying to blackmail me?” she
asked.

“We’ll discuss that after you watch it.”

Mary sat down at her desk and inserted
the DVD into her laptop. “What’s your name?”

“Phillip Wicks.”

“That’s right. I thought you looked
familiar. You were in the paper a few years ago. They called you a crooked investment
advisor. Didn’t you lose everything? What about serving time? Did you get
sentenced?”

“No. I was never convicted.”

“You flopped on the big guys, didn’t
you?”

“Just watch the DVD.”

“Whatever.” Rage bursting in her she
stared at the scene playing out. Demetri had stood guard over Kara until Mia
and Joseph arrived. He’d actually healed Kara. “How did you get this?”

“It doesn’t matter. All that truly
counts in this situation is how much you’re willing to pay to keep Leland from
seeing it.”

“Being a business man I suppose you have
other copies.”

Phillip nodded. “Of course.”

“What do you want for them?”

He smiled. “Revenge.”

“Against who?”

“Haden Drake.”

“He’s a demon, a powerful demon with a nasty
temper. Then there is his big brother, Nikolas Drake, for you consider. 
Some say Nikolas is as old and as powerful as Demetri. You need to forget about
it. You can’t kill Haden. You can’t hurt him. You would never even get close
enough to him to touch him.”

“I don’t want Haden to die. I want him
to live a very long life.”

“I’m confused.”

“Demetri is your backbone, which makes
you an extremely powerful woman. Unless he doesn’t do what you tell him to do.”

Mary glanced down at her laptop. “He
normally does as I wish.”

“He could get to Haden's wife and
daughter. Command Demetri to them kill them.”

“That’s insane.”

“I’ll give you a few days to think about
it. I suppose it’s a matter of figuring out what you have to lose if Leland
sees the video.”