Chapter 15 Collision #2
Vesperin’s hand covered Cyrus’s, where it rested on his lap. "Stay here. I’ll go up and make sure Xara isn’t in." With that, she opened the door and left.
Cyrus followed, the door slamming too loudly in the night. The crisp air burned his nose; he’d missed it after a week trapped underground. A week spent in an empty room, wishing for the moment the lock would click and he’d be escorted to the lab to see Vesperin.
Over the top of the car, Vesperin met his eyes. "What are you doing? I told you to stay in the car."
Cyrus rounded the car to stand by her side. He couldn’t see Valkar’s face behind the visor, but smugness radiated off him. Prick.
"We saw how that turned out last time, doll." Cyrus wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into his side. "I’m staying."
"Fine," she sighed, and was Cyrus dreaming, or did she sound pleased?
The incubus smiled.
"Are you going to be good from here?" Valkar’s words were muffled by his helmet.
"You’re not coming in?" Vesperin paused, eyes narrowing on the vampire.
Valkar laughed, the sound ominous through his helmet, like a great, unnatural puff of air. "You clearly don’t need me, wife. I have some things to take care of while I’m here in Solar City."
Vesperin shrugged off Cyrus’s touch, and his hand fell to his side.
She stepped close to the vampire, and Cyrus held his breath. It was dark, past curfew. He glanced up to the windows of the nearest building, not one flicker of a curtain or blind. Good little hunters would already be fast asleep by now.
"If you think of deceiving me, Rhyden, I’ll call in the information of your base to the hotline on an anonymous tip. It would cause you a great deal of pain if your illegal, Aether-infused guns were apprehended, hm?" Vesperin goaded lowly.
In a flash, one of the vampire’s hands shot out, and he gripped Vesperin’s hand, lifting it between them.
"I don’t need your threats, but nice try, wife.
I have my own ways around the law, even here in your sweet little Solar City.
Besides, I bet you couldn’t pinpoint my base on a map. " He released her wrist.
Water lingered on Cyrus’s fingertips, swirling in the air and splashing his cheeks.
That drew the vampire’s attention. "You won’t use your Stella on me, Cyrus. You don’t want to hurt her, and we both know that would."
"I don’t know if Ves was cursed with you as a Soulbond, or if you were just blessed," Cyrus retorted, flicking water at Valkar’s leather jacket.
A soft hissing noise filtered beneath Valkar’s helmet, and he wiped the back of his hand over the water.
Droplets flung to the pavement. "I’ll be back for you, wife, and before you think of leaving to Nova Zone 21 without me"—he stepped forward, looming over Vesperin, and Cyrus curled around her back, eyes narrowing on the vampire—"ninth floor, Solar City General Hospital. "
"That’s…" Cyrus trailed off as Vesperin growled:
"Leave Lucien out of this."
"You brought Doctor Lucien Quenlan into this when you came to me. He’s collateral. Think of it as security." Valkar stepped back from them. "I’ll come back for you. Twenty-four hours," he warned, throwing a leg over his motorcycle and revving the engine, the rumble piercing the night.
With that, the vampire sped away, tires screeching over the pavement.
The night was quiet in his absence, and Vesperin turned, fists thumping on Cyrus’s chest. "I hate him," she seethed.
Cyrus touched her shoulder, bending until his nose pressed into the top of her hair. "I know, I’m sorry."
At least you don’t hate me anymore, he thought.
Cyrus watched Vesperin swallow her pills, chasing them with a gulp of water.
She’d made him wait in the emergency stairwell while she made sure Xara was gone. Now, they stood in the dorm’s quiet, empty kitchen.
The clink of the glass on the countertop made him flinch.
"Cyrus," Vesperin started, "why didn’t you wither him?"
He had known this was coming, and still—
"I wish I could tell you, Ves." He paused. "Do you believe in fate?"
Her fingertip swirled in the slight condensation left on the counter from the glass. "Maybe I did at one point, but I’ve gone through too much to think everything happens for a reason anymore. Why? Do you?" Her grey eyes trapped him, pinning him to the spot.
The incubus swallowed. "Yes. I met you after all this waiting. I knew it’d happen eventually, and here you are."
"Here I am," she sighed, wistful bitterness clouding her pretty words. She was pretty all over. Everywhere. He loved, loved, loved her. His pretty doll.
Cyrus ached to be near her—since he couldn’t be inside her… and he didn’t mean that sexually, not really. Just that he loved her so much, he wanted to wrap himself around her and never let her go. Merge their Souls.
He rounded the counter and stood by her side, a hand outstretched, reaching for hers. She crossed the last distance, clasping his hand; something in him eased.
He sighed. Given permission, he took control, holding her hand fiercely, fingers tracing over the back of her palm, running his nose along her wrist.
Beings like him were ruled by scent and touch.
"I didn’t wither him because some part of me sensed, on some intrinsic level, that he belonged to you." He looked up at her from under his lashes, relishing the pink on her cheeks.
Vesperin’s throat worked. "That… that can’t be true, Cyrus."
Cyrus leaned over her, shifting until she was caged against the countertop. "I still have to make up for our first time." Her cherry scent was dripping with desire. Red sparks glimmered in the air, but he reined them in. He’d made a promise.
The incubus dropped to his knees before her, palms on her thighs as his chin brushed her lower stomach. He stared up at her. The kitchen floor was hard against his knees, but the faint bite of discomfort did nothing to distract him from his need.
"What are you doing?" she breathed. Her fingers tangled in his hair, and he groaned as she tugged slightly.
He bent, nose pushing up her large shirt. It smelled like the vampire, and he gritted his teeth. He wanted to replace that scent with his own.
"Trying to make it up to you, doll," Cyrus crooned, nose against her bare stomach, skimming below her navel. Her flesh jumped under him.
Her fingers tightened in his hair. "Someone could walk in…"
"Let them," he mumbled against her flesh, fingertips skimming under the waistband of her leggings.
She stopped him with a harsh yank on his hair. He moaned.
"Do you need to feed? Is that what this is?" She forced his head to move until he stared up at her.
"I need you. I fed in the car ride over, when we stopped for gas." It wasn’t nearly enough, but he’d live. She was such a sight standing above him, hands in his hair, leading him. His tone lowered. "You’re so different than the girl I remember. Has anyone ever tasted you before in this life?"
Her lips parted as she drew in a shaky breath. "No. Never."
He moved his head lower, and she let him. He blew a hot breath over the apex of her thighs, knowing she’d feel it through the thin material of her leggings.
"Then let me be the first, please. I want to taste you. Let me make it up to you—how I took you so desperately on Sibeth. I can be better for you," Cyrus pleaded.
He had said almost the same words in her life before. And just like then, she melted.
Her acquiescence lingered in the air, so strong he could taste it. Her lips opened as she started to speak and—
A phone rang.
Vesperin’s eyes squeezed shut. "Fuck," she muttered.
"Yes, I want to." Cyrus kissed the exposed skin of her lower stomach.
She tugged on his hair in reprimand and twisted as she reached for her phone, where it lay on the counter. He followed after her, unwilling to release her. When she settled, he continued kissing over her stomach, fingers tickling underneath her waistband.
"It’s Sabine," she said. "I have to answer this." A silent warning was in her eyes as she pressed a button and raised the phone to her ear.
He smirked, mouthing, I’ll be good.
He wasn’t good.
His tongue flicked out, tracing over her navel. She flinched; her voice hitched as she spoke.
He was so consumed by lust, her words didn’t register until he heard her say:
"Fine, I’ll be there in twenty."
The phone clattered as it hit the counter. She pulled him up with her hands on his shoulders. Cyrus took the opportunity to drift his hands over her thighs, hips, curves of her waist, and sides of her breasts. She shivered, but her damned hands shoved against him.
"I have to go, Cy." The name slipped off her tongue, and he saw the shock in her eyes. "My parents want to meet me for a late dinner at their house. I can’t ignore them."
He pouted down at her. "You have to go? We were just getting to the good part. I want to taste you."
"I—yes. I can’t not go. You have to stay here. In my room. I’ll be back in a couple of hours."
Vesperin stepped around him, but he caught her wrist and pressed a kiss to her palm.
"I’ll be good. Promise."
"I know what your version of good entails. It’s not enough," she joked quietly, but something simmered in her eyes. Trepidation? He wished he could open his senses and sip at her emotion to get a clear read on it. She collected her phone. "A few hours."
Cyrus danced around the counter, trailing her as she walked to the door. "And when you get back…"
"I’ll go to sleep, and so will you. Separately," she stressed.
"We’ll see," Cyrus murmured.
Lucien fit the spare key in Vesperin’s door. He didn’t know what he was doing here. He had no excuse if he ran into her roommate.
He had just needed her. But she wasn’t here, so he settled for the next best thing.
It had been a long day of tests at the lab in Nova Zone 21, and he was spiraling after what he saw in the folder.