Chapter 18
I watched her from the shadows. Next to me, Carlos’s silence was deafening.
“I know you’re dying to share your thoughts.” I said, keeping my eyes on Quinn.
“You’re following her from the shadows instead of at her side. You helped her tonight, you should not be trailing behind her,” he grumbled.
“She tends to get in trouble when she walks home, I’m just making sure she gets home safely. Especially after what that drunk human did.” The desire to tear him apart for daring to touch her had been great. I still wanted to hunt him down but knew that Carlos wouldn’t allow me.
“You want to escort her home, then escort her home,” he muttered. “This, following behind like a puppy, is beneath us.”
I waited for a human woman to walk past us. Carlos turned around to watch her with a hungry smile.
“Not for her.” I continued watching Quinn. “Nothing is beneath me when it comes to her. I will protect her from the shadows if it’ll keep her safe.”
She reached her apartment building and hesitated before going in. Her head turned slightly towards our direction. “I don’t know if I’m imagining things, but I feel you there. Thank you. I’m home, safe. See you tomorrow night.”
I watched her walk inside, fighting the desire to follow her. She’d sensed me, an intriguing revelation. Was she drawn to me as much as I was to her? No matter where I was, all I could feel was her presence.
“Come on,” Carlos’s words pulled me back. “You walked her home. I’m hungry, and I know you are too. Her little declaration that we must not feed there has me a little irritated. She already interrupted our earlier feeding.”
I followed him and we fell into a slow walk, seeking out a human for the hunt. Carlos targeted a human man, and we trailed him into Flagstaff Gardens.
‘ I want fear, ’ Carlos whispered to me through our bond. ‘ I’m tired of them being without flavour. I want him running and terrified. ’
Before I responded, he cut off the human’s path, baring fangs, his eyes red. “Look what we have here,” he growled. “A human, all alone. Have you ever had reason to fear the dark as you do now?” With vampire speed, he moved to the shadows. To the human, Carlos would have simply disappeared.
The human’s heart raced as he looked around. The distinct scent of fear rose, calling me forward. Unable to resist, my fangs lengthened, and I released a savage growl.
‘W ait, ’ Carlos commanded me. ‘ Not yet. Scare him first. ’
He wanted to draw it out. I smiled, enjoying the slower chase as much as him. I forced back my hunger and tapped the human on the shoulder, only to smile, showing him what I was as he turned around.
“What are you?” his voice trembled.
I chuckled. “We are exactly what you think we are.”
“Run,” Carlos whispered from the shadows, and he released a deep growl. He moved forward. “Let me breathe in your fear as you try to escape.”
The human froze, his eyes wide, flashing with terror. The feral in me rose, responding to the delicious scent of fear. The feral was hungry. I was hungry.
“He said run,” I growled.
Finally he ran, stumbling as he fled from us. Gasps escaped his mouth as panic roared to life in his chest. We let him get halfway across the garden before I could no longer hold back.
“Remember, don’t kill him.” Carlos was right next to me as we gave chase.
The fear made it hard to control my nature, and it would be so easy to let myself go. To let the feral take over. So I pulled up something to help gain control, to force back the enticement. I didn’t expect it to be Quinn. Her face, her voice. Her smile. I took a deep breath and nodded to Carlos. I was in control.
Carlos stopped in front of the human, who turned around, running straight into me.
“Please don’t kill me,” he begged.
The two of us laughed. I struck first, coating his throat, with a slow lick of my tongue before sinking my fangs in. The taste of his blood had me groaning as he also let out a moan from the effects of my bite. Pinned between Carlos and me, he couldn’t move. Not that he wanted to, with the desire and pleasure currently gripping him.
With effort, I lifted my head, warm blood trickling from my chin.
“Forget you saw us, go home,” Carlos compelled him, evidence of our bites in his throat already closing.
I watched as the human left, oblivious to the fact that he’d just fed two hungry vampires. He’d most likely feel fatigue over the next few days. The scent of his blood and the thunder of his heartbeat called to me.
Carlos grabbed my jaw. “Stop watching him, let him leave,” he warned.
I wrenched my gaze away. He then leaned forward, his tongue sliding over the blood on my chin, cleaning me. A growl of contentment rumbled in my chest. When he was finished he waited as I licked away the blood that dripped from his jaw.
“I much prefer them like that,” he said. We left the park. “That fear really adds a kick to the blood that I became accustomed to, long ago. This hunting in cities is a nuisance; we need to be careful they don’t scream. It draws too much attention.”
I grinned. “I don’t know, I do like when they scream. There’s just something about it. Music to my ears.”
Laughter burst from him. “That’s because you didn’t know how to release venom into your bite until I taught you. All you had were their screams.”
The two of us walked through the quiet streets of Melbourne. A few drunks wandered past us on their way to the next bar. Even sated, I could easily have another. I couldn’t remember any other way, just the aching hunger and never-ending need for blood. I held no bitterness towards what I was. But for the first time in my long life, I saw myself through someone else’s eyes. I could understand her fear. She could have come across any other vampire and not be in the danger she was with me. I’d promised her she would be mine, heart, body and soul. I was already hers and she didn’t know it. I’d do anything to protect her, but what if it was me she needed protection from?