Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Warren
Seeing Levette had scrambled my brain, just as Lena had said it would. I cursed that little princess for being right—again. She had a knack for it, which was impossibly annoying and got on my nerves.
Perhaps it was naivety, but I had truly convinced myself that I would not see Levette during my short visit, and if I did happen to cross paths with him, I would be fully equipped to handle it.
I had, of course, been incredibly wrong.
He was undoubtedly more handsome than the last time I had seen him, though enough time had passed that my memories had started to warp some.
He’d chosen to stick with the latest fashion trend, though his tailoring was suited to his figure in a way that most men chose to avoid.
And his eyes—oh, I had missed them terribly.
If there was one thing Levette Fortier knew how to do, it was gaze at you like you were the most important person in the world.
Now, stalking my prey with the blood of Levette’s human pet still on my hands, I realized just how smart Lena had been when warning me not to accompany her.
When it came to Levy, the rest of the world mattered little.
Even after all the hurt, the anger, the betrayal…
he was my weakness, and I became someone else around him.
Wait for me, mon amour. Let’s dine together.
When two monsters were in love, the world around them became a playground for their vicious games. Levette and I were no different. We would hunt and feast and bask in what it meant to be dark creatures together. I would think about what that meant for me—for us—tomorrow.
I had told Levy that I had loved him, with extra emphasis on the fact that it was in the past, but we both knew it was a bold, terrible lie.
It was cowardice, in all honesty. I chose to hide behind the lie, finding it easier than admitting that even in my most furious moments, even when I wanted to die, I was still in love with him.
It was easy to lie to myself about it when I was not confronted by the object of my affections directly, and Lena had been all too willing to keep me occupied, so I had little time to reflect on him. But when I saw him standing before me, the lie tasted bitter on my tongue.
“Are you lost, friend?” I asked the intoxicated man as he stumbled into the wall for the third time. “I can help guide you home.”
The black-haired man narrowed his eyes, brushing my hand away as I tried to help him regain his balance. “Get your hands off me. I ain’t your friend! I can get myself home.”
“Is that any way to treat someone offering you assistance? My, how uncivilized people are in this decade.”
I couldn’t hide my predatory grin as Levette appeared over the man’s shoulder, his handsome face hidden under the dim streetlights. Even still, I could easily see his hungry gaze as he looked over at me. I ran the tip of my tongue over my fangs in anticipation.
The drunken man looked between us in disgust. “Listen here, now. I ain’t any kind of queer, so you both can just—”
I lunged forward, cutting off his vile words as I ripped the skin on his throat open and began to gulp down his blood. Levy held him still for me, his grip on the man’s arms tight to keep him in place. I glanced at him, moaning as I drank, watching as Levette inhaled sharply.
We’ve already messed things up, love. You may as well lose control with me and enjoy the night.
My permission was all Levette needed, it seemed, as he bit down on the opposite side of the man’s neck, his eyes never straying from mine.
As our victim wilted, his blood being drained by us both, Levette’s hands began to wander, pulling me closer. The nameless man became the only barrier between us, the hunger for each other beginning to overpower the need to feed.
Levette had not been wrong when he had first explained that our senses became heightened as vampires.
Every feeling, every emotion became an explosion.
Lena had taught me control, but I did not think she would ever be able to guide me to have the willpower to deny the chemistry between Levette and me.
I could feel the man’s body beginning to give out, his pulse weakening.
Levette tightened his grip, and I moved my lips, groaning as they connected with Levy's, the last of the man’s blood pouring out between us.
Levette dropping the lifeless body to the ground barely registered to me; I became focused on licking the blood from Levette’s skin and tasting what I had craved for so long.
Descending on him like he was my very lifeforce, I slammed Levette into the wall and kissed him with all the love and fury that I had inside me.
The smell of iron around us only fueled the chaotic energy consuming us and I could barely think for wanting to strip him of his clothes and devour him where everyone could see.
I would claim him as powerfully as he had claimed me.
“My love,” Levette whispered as he licked the column of my neck, his fangs tracing the soft skin and pricking my jaw. I sighed at his touch, thirsting for more of him.
Grabbing his hair in my fist, I yanked his head back until his shining eyes were on me. He growled at the interruption, and I laughed, licking the tip of his nose.
“Did you think I would make it that easy? Not this time, baby.” I pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek and took off at a full sprint, laughing as his barrage of frustrated thoughts came barreling down the bond to me.
Quelle taquine rusée! You will run after teasing me so cruelly?
The wind carried my chuckles with it as I showed him snippets of where I was, before taking off again. Absolutely, I will. Now, are you going to stay there pouting, or are you going to chase me?
I imagined the string of French curses he called into the night as I descended on the bayou, running through the trees with a lightened heart for the first time in too long.
Where are you?
The place where I realized I had fallen in love with you, I replied.
Stopping just within the tree line, I stared out across the water at where Levette had brought me years ago.
A place full of love, and acceptance, and individuality—it had made me hate myself a little less, and love Levette a little more.
It had been one of his most sincere and beautiful gifts, to show me that I would not always have to be afraid of myself or loving someone that my heart desired.
Even through my angry years or when I felt the lowest at his betrayal, I always found part of me at peace knowing that Levette had been the one to give me that.
I could smell a small group of witches approaching from the east, their human scent coated in herbs and smoke. After joining Lena’s coven, I had been in contact with many different paranormal beings. Everyone had a different, extremely distinctive scent that was hard to forget.
Witches smelled like the earth, usually mixed with whatever they had used for their spells that day—sometimes it was flowers, sometimes bones, and other times I did not even want to consider what the scent was.
The wolves, unsurprisingly, smelled like wet dogs.
My nose always scrunched at the offensive, foul smell whenever one was near.
I had no issue with them, but my nostrils said otherwise.
I would often try to hold my breath around them whenever Lena had business with any, or would make myself scarce so I did not have to subject myself to it.
The fae were my favorite creatures, outside of my own kind, of course.
Descended from the old forest spirits, the fae smelled like…
well, magic itself. Their scent was entirely unique and pleasant, and sometimes I fantasized about sticking my fangs in one to see if they tasted as sweet as I expected them to.
There were other paranormal beings in the world—hybrids and demons and banshees—but I had never been in contact with any.
Lena had extensive knowledge of every creature, and so I assumed she had met some in her past, but she refused to do business with demons, and apparently, banshees and hybrids were rare to come across.
The sound of bones crunching in the distance had me spinning around.
A wide, devious grin split across my face as Levette came into view, an unconscious witch in each hand.
One was a young man in his mid-twenties, his sandy hair combed tightly against his head.
Even from afar, he smelled of fear and sage.
The woman, perhaps his mother, looked weathered, her blood tainted with the hatred she survived on.
We would be putting the woman out of her misery, and her son would never have to grow up in the dismal world she was raising him in.
“I brought you a gift, mon amour,” Levette announced, letting the witches fall beside him as he pushed into me.
His lips were dangerously close to mine, and I wanted desperately to close the distance, but I was not quite finished messing with him.
Levette had always been the one to toy; now it was my turn.
I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear, tilting my head at him. “Did you? And what do you expect for such a gift?”
Levette reached out, grabbing my chin with his finger and thumb, tilting my face up at him. “To taste you again.”
Waiting until he was about to press his mouth against my skin, I pulled my face free of his grip and nodded towards the bodies. “We’ll see. Which one do you want?”
A comforting shiver of delight ran down my spine as Levette laughed, taking a step back. He looked between the boy and me, his dark eyes calculating. “If I say the young man, will you snap again? I wonder what it will cause you to do…”
This fool was goading me, and I was loath to admit how well it was working. “I did not snap. I merely asserted my position.”