“I know nothing about him. For all I
know, it could be no one, or me for that matter. I don’t—”
“It’s not you. I’d know if it was you.”
Aaron flushed when Mac looked over at him with a raised brow. “You don’t smell
like a guard and you said Mel said it was one of her guard’s children. I’d
smell that on you.”
Mac nodded. “Okay, it’s not me, but as I
said, I don’t see him. The woman, here’s a picture of her.” He handed over the
snapshot of the pretty girl and then sat back down. “I guess we could start
where she was found.”
“Here. She was found here in Ohio. As a
matter of fact, not far from the Blood Moon.” Pete didn’t look up or she would
have stopped talking. Aaron watched his son pale. “Her throat was bitten, but
it was the dagger in her heart that killed her. Not that she wouldn’t have died
anyway. Whoever bit her didn’t do it right. Dominic said that he bit too deep
and that he tore at her vein rather than simply fed from it.”
“Pete,” Aaron said softly, and she
looked up. When he nodded toward Mac, her mouth snapped closed. “Mac, are you
all right?”
“When he bit her, he held her to his
chest. He told her that he was hungry and that he wanted her to enjoy it. He
let her feel the sexual pull we all have then I bit her. I knew it was deep,
too deep, but her blood tasted so good going down my throat.” Mac closed his
eyes. “When I felt the heat of it, I knew that it wasn’t enough, that I needed
more than she was giving me. So I played, made her blood spike up by making her
needy. Then I took out my knife and opened her blouse; the buttons popped off
and hit the dirty alley with a small ping. I felt her heat leave her body as
she cooled and I lifted my head and told her to come.”
Aaron started to rise to go to his son,
but Mel entered and stopped him. She didn’t speak, but watched him as Mac
continued to speak behind her. Aaron listened in horror as his son told them
how the woman died.
“The knife was sharp. I honed it right
to make sure. I don’t care if I’ve had enough. I only want to make her blood
stronger, filled with her fear. Then I bite her again, sink my fangs deep into
her flesh, knowing that I’ve not sealed the other wound. Not that it matters,
she won’t see morning again anyway. The bra comes off and her breasts spill
from it. I cut those too, make them bleed until she is limper in my arms. When
I feel her life slipping away, I plunge the knife into her still beating heart
and drop her to the ground. I let her lay there dying because humans are only
good for one thing and that is to feed me.”
Mel reached over and laid her hand on
Mac’s head. His body went limp and he looked to be resting. Aaron looked at Mel
when she dropped into the closest chair and wasn’t surprised when Shamus
shimmered into the room seconds later. He held his mate as she cried softly.
“I didn’t know. I thought he was only
dreaming about the man. I didn’t know he was dreaming that he was him.” Aaron
looked over at his own mate and she came to him and sat into his lap as he
continued. “How long has this been going on? Mel, you know, don’t you?”
“I didn’t know how deeply the connection
was either. I had a thought that was what was going on, but I didn’t know for
sure. Shamus said to let him tell us so that we could see how deep it is. He
thinks that Mac can see him, but the man can’t seen Mac.”
“It’s just a theory. I’m not sure really
either, but it seems like something that would happen to a necro like him.”
Shamus leaned forward and took Sara’s hand. “He isn’t harmed by what he’s
dreaming other than the fact that he’s not sleeping. And for the record, I
don’t believe that he has ever fed from another person either.”
“Why is that important?” Sara looked at
Shamus then at him. “Why do you care if he’s fed from another person or not? You
told him that he could live a long time without biting another person.”
“He can. He will. But the reason it’s
important is because this connection isn’t because of blood. It’s something
more. Something that has nothing to do with what Mac is, but something we don’t
understand.”
“Mac is connecting with a person he’s
never met before on a level that only vampires can use.” Pete leaned back in
her chair. “That’s fucked up, if you ask me. How on earth do you catch a guy
you’ve never met or even touched without so much as a simple clue?”
Aaron had to agree. But the fact that
the body still lay in the castle gave them one thing they didn’t have before. And
that may or may not help them catch a killer. She would have his scent.
Chapter 3
Brandi Daniel, Andi to anyone who knew
her, put the last screw in the drywall. She wasn’t all that thrilled about
having to work all this overtime, but the money would be good and she had a few
things to get yet before she moved on. This was her last gig in this area and
she was so ready to quit this place and the strange people that lived here.
As soon as she moved out of the way the
three men she was working with started to put the mud in place. It wasn’t
really mud, but a heavy plaster that covered up the seams as well as the screws
she’d only just put in. She stretched her tired back and started to put her
tools away. No time like the present to get her shit together.
“You gonna go with us to get a beer
after this, Andi? We all got our paychecks this morning and at least a couple
of us owe you a beer.” She shook her head and laughed. “Ah, come on. You know
you could wet your whistle with a cold brew like the rest of us.”
“Nah. But thanks. I have to get going
tonight so I can meet up with the owners tomorrow. I have that meeting in the
big house and I can’t be hung over or late.” She grinned as she picked up her
heavy bag. “Besides, you guys will ‘one more’ me into a coma and I have to look
my best.”
They laughed good-naturedly and she took
her stuff out to her beater of a truck. She loved the old thing and was happy
to still have it with her after all this time. She lifted her tools over the
bed and stopped suddenly. She was being watched.
Andi knew that there were things in the
woods around the place where they’d been working. The odd guy she’d met when
this project started had told her to stay out of the forest after darkness. Bradley
Wolfe had made it sound like a matter of life and death and she believed him. But
there were times, like right now, that she thought something out there was
watching them all and was waiting for one of them to get close enough so they
could have a nice snack. Shivering, she went back inside.
The men, Bob, Kent, and Bo, had been
working with her on this project for the past four months. They’d become pretty
good friends, though she wouldn’t call them best friends. She didn’t do friends
well and they seemed to like that about her. She helped them clean up their
work as Kent finished off the wall. They’d smooth it down to perfectly clean
when they came back in tomorrow. She’d be finishing up with getting her last
pay when they were getting the wall prepped for paint. At least she hoped she’d
be getting paid. She needed to move on.
She drove to the little hotel she’d been
staying in and ordered a pizza. She was really sick of pizza and hamburgers,
but it was cheap and hot. There wasn’t anything she could work with where she
was staying, which was probably just as well. She didn’t like to cook anyway. She
was in bed by nine-thirty and asleep not long after. The dream started not long
after that.
The man was never really very clear. He
was large, but not like he was fat. Tall, very tall as a matter of fact. When
in the dream she was near him, he stood over her five-foot-ten frame easily and
made her feel very tiny. She didn’t feel threatened by him, which she supposed was
what creeped her out the most.
“You’re very beautiful, did you know
that?”
His voice purred along her skin and made her hair stand on end.
“And you
smell like heaven to me.”
She snorted. She usually smelled like
sweat from hard work and sawdust. She didn’t answer him, but found herself
moving toward him. His small chuckle made her want to move back, but he pulled
her into his arms.
“Stay with me for a little while longer.
I need to touch you.”
He buried his nose in her throat and she shivered.
“I want to taste you. Lick
you in places that will have you screaming out my name.”
“Please,”
she begged him
and wrapped her arms around his head to hold him closer to her. Need coiled in
her belly and she felt the stirrings of her body reacting to his.
“I need
you too.”
His hands seemed to be everywhere. Her
breasts tightened when he cupped them. And when his mouth grazed over the tip,
she moaned. When he lifted her up she couldn’t have stopped her legs from
wrapping around him if her life depended on it. She found herself beneath him
and his cock hard against her softness.
“Do you have any idea what I want to do
to you?”
She shook her head as this question.
“I want to fuck you hard, take you until
you can’t walk on the morrow.”
Before she could tell him that was fine
with her he took her mouth. His tongue tangled with hers. If he fucked her half
as good as he kissed she might not be able to walk for a week. His laughter made
her pull his head back to look at him.
“You can hear my thoughts.”
He
nodded. “
How? I don’t…it’s a dream. I can do or have you do whatever I want
because it’s a dream. Just like the times before.”
There had been several times before,
about five, and each one had left her feeling sated, yet not really satisfied. She
wanted…no, she needed more from her dream lover.
He looked at her strangely, but she was
in control of this dream and wanted him inside of her. Thinking about that,
thinking about him naked with her, she felt his hard cock at her entrance. Leveraging
up using his body, she took him inside of her. His groan brought her close to
the edge. But he took her hands in his, held them above her head, and held her
still.
“You would take what you want without
me?”
She didn’t know what he meant.
“I would very much like to enjoy this
too. If you don’t mind. And if you’d allow it, I’d make it more than worth your
while to wait a bit for me to show you.”
He was making fun of her. She didn’t
know how she knew that, but he was. When she struggled to get him off her, he
leaned down and took her nipple into his mouth. Her entire body became a living
flame. He moaned against her breast and she felt it all the way to her core. She
wanted to touch him, run her fingers through his hair and along his muscles. She
thought of all she wanted to do to him and he lifted his eyes to hers.
“You learn quickly, little one,”
he said without
lifting his head from her breast.
“What would you have me do first? All of
those ideas seem very satisfying to me.”
“Make me come. I need to come so badly. Please?”
She canted her
hips up and felt his cock slide deep.
“Please, come inside of me and bring
me with you.”
He rocked into her. She had a feeling
that he was holding back, not taking her as hard as he wanted to. But when he
hit that spot deep inside of her, she cried out for more and he gave it to her.
His cock filled her quickly now and when he nipped at her throat, then her ear,
he whispered for her to let go.
The climax ripped from her. She screamed
out her release so loudly that she was sure the block heard her. Another then
another climax tore from her every time he commanded her to come. When he
stiffened above her, threw back his head, and roared, she came again. Stars and
bright lights danced behind her eyes, her body felt drained, wrung out, and
weighted.
Andi waited to feel his weight drop onto
her, but he didn’t. When she opened her eyes, expecting to see him still over
her, she was alone. He was gone, as he always was. When she laid back down, her
heart still pounding in her chest, she remembered it was a dream. Closing her
eyes she wondered if she could order that same pizza every night for the rest
of her life and smiled. It would be worth the cost to have it delivered. When she
rolled to her side she shot up out of bed.
Christ, she was naked.
~~~
Bradley watched the girl as she paced.
He could see the dark circles under her eyes and knew that something had
happened last night. When he’d seen her yesterday she’d been anxious to see him
and to finish up this project for him. Now…now she looked as if she’d been ill
for some time and was not yet over it. He looked over at his partner and friend
when he spoke.
“Miss Daniel, perhaps if you told us
what we can do to have you stay for the next project we can work from that
point. You’ve done a very good job for us and frankly, we’d like to hire you
full time.” Aaron looked at him again when she didn’t answer. “Miss Daniel?”
“Huh?” She looked at them both as if she
didn’t have a clue as to who they were. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“I think she’s ill. Maybe we should have
Thomas have a look at her. She acts as if she’s drugged.”