Chapter 10 #2
Adrian’s touch dropped to her shoulders; then his hands slid down to her elbows. She read the struggle in his body, the slight pressure and release as he debated whether to maintain his hold or set her aside. When she leaned in, his grip on her arms tightened.
“Emma….”
Before she could lose her courage, her fangs elongated and pierced his throat. And despite his subtle groan of encouragement, she only swallowed a mouthful. Adrian had all the time in the world to push her away. When he didn’t, she licked the two punctures and sealed them. His breath quickened.
“Don’t go,” she whispered. “I don’t need anyone else.”
A thin ring of bright silver surrounded his dilated pupils. His chest heaved, and for a moment, indecision flickered across his handsome features.
“Lie down with me?”
“You need to rest.”
Heat flushed her cheeks as she realized what her desperate cries must have sounded like. “Just lie down with me. That’s all. Please. I… I don’t want to be alone.”
When a deep sigh moved his muscled chest, Emma knew she had him. “All right.”
Adrian was the first to sleep. Even after he’d recovered some blood from her, the net loss had drained him to the point of exhaustion.
Once or twice, Emma stirred to find him practically comatose beside her. Shortly after nightfall, she crawled from the bed and explored their sanctuary.
It didn’t take long to determine their current location lacked most conveniences, more of a waystation to hide from the sun than a safe house.
The tiny, single-bedroom rural home had running water, electricity, and an empty fridge.
She’d hoped to find blood inside overlooked by Adrian in his haste, but the last stock date told her no one had visited in months.
Had her injuries and fear of failing their mission been the only reason Adrian offered his blood to her?
She twisted around and watched the steady rise and fall of his chest. His face had lost its hard edge, and in sleep he looked peaceful.
It was the only time she’d ever witnessed Adrian with his guard down completely.
Since he had earned his rest, she crept to the bathroom on tiptoe and gently shut the door.
With the lights on, Emma examined her body for signs of scarring, and found none.
Everywhere she’d been damaged from the mage’s spell, she found only a smooth canvas of ivory.
She frowned. She’d seen vampires, acolytes, and even adepts with sun scars before.
It didn’t happen often, but occasionally one of their kind was forced to take refuge in a normal, everyday home without solar protection.
And a single beam of sunlight through vertical blinds was enough to leave grotesque burns. Scars.
So how the hell had she survived a flash of sunlight at point-blank range?
Not for the first time, the council’s words echoed in her mind. That her sire must have been an elder.
The thought haunted her the entire time she stood beneath the tepid spray of the shower head, irritated the water grew no hotter but grateful the little house had one at all.
After what seemed like hours, Emma stepped from the shower and toweled off. At least the last residents, or some maid service even, had freshened the laundry more recently than they’d stocked the blood supply.
Adrian stirred. Confused. Exhausted. She practically felt the whisper of the sheets stirring against her skin, but told herself it was the towel. Her imagination at play, because she couldn’t know the exact moment of his awakening.
“Em?” Adrian’s voice penetrated the cheap wooden door.
“I’m right here.” She nudged the door open with her foot and found him sitting up in bed. Shadows smudged the skin under his eyes, creating deep hollows and drawing attention to his gaunt face. They both needed blood from a source other than each other.
“You look better.”
“Amazing what a shower can do.”
He watched her without saying anything at all before slipping from the bed, a marble Adonis constructed with all hard lines and masculinity. His clothes did nothing to hide his perfection, because the sight of his naked body had been seared into her memory since their day on watch together.
On that day, instead of monitoring the cameras and overseeing the daily security of the coven house, they’d thrown caution to the wind and irresponsibly given in to the forbidden attraction between them. Little monitoring had happened after that, but they’d both acknowledged it couldn’t go on.
Emma chuckled as she thought back on that long morning. Slowly, Adrian crossed the floor to meet her, only a few steps needed in the tiny room.
Beneath his awe-filled gaze, her newly healed skin flushed with radiance.
Power coursed through her veins. Most vampires wouldn’t be on their feet again yet after losing so much blood, but her morose mood gave way to waves of surging confidence.
The abrupt boost of courage unnerved her, accompanied by foreign thoughts of contacting the Overseers.
They’d have to tap into their resources.
“We have to go after him again,” she said.
Adrian’s jaw tensed. “Emma, you saw what he did to you. You are not going anywhere near him.”
“But now we know and we can prepare. Plan a strategy. He won’t catch us unawares with his handful of sunshine again.”
“You were ordered by the council to get to the bottom of it. They never implied you’d have to wrestle the goddamned thing out of his hand.”
Emma raised her chin defiantly. “It’s my mission.”
“The hell it is, now that it’s almost killed you.”
“I survived, and I’ll do it again.”
“Dammit, Emma!”
A tangled web of fear, frustration, worry, and grudging respect invaded her thoughts. Crystal clear to her all at once, she realized the source of the alien emotions flourishing in her mind.
She was feeling his thoughts, experiencing his mind, his cocksure arrogance, his protectiveness over her, and his predisposition for creating strategies. And his pigheadedness.
He seemed to come to the same realization. His jaw tensed, and a frown nudged the usual stoic expression from his face.
“You’re not facing him again, Emmaleigh. That’s final.”
“You’re not the boss of me.” No matter how many times she swallowed, she couldn’t dislodge the hard lump in her throat.
He was angry, so very angry, but not at her.
The fury directed inward, a knot of self-loathing she never wanted him to experience.
Adrian blamed himself for her suffering, and the only way she could possibly know that was if…
“We’re blood kissed, aren’t we?” Those were the strongest and most intense bonds, the supposedly unbreakable connection of lovers and soul mates.
He hesitated before he answered. “You know the answer to that.”
“You’re right, I do. But not how. It’s supposed to take time for a pair to become blood kissed. Angie said it took her and David months.” Multiple feedings, blood exchanged over a course of weeks. Otherwise, some of the more capricious members of their kind would be bonded a hundred times over.
The connection between them flourished with a life of its own. Both awestruck and terrified, Emma placed her palm over his bare chest. The powerful thump beneath matched the rhythm of her pulse.
“I don’t know,” he said, his Scottish brogue creeping into his quiet voice. He placed his hand over hers and held it over his heart. “This is something different and new. Stronger than I expected.”
“What do we do? The rules—they’ll never allow us.”
“I’ll renounce my title,” Adrian murmured. “Due to the bond, they can’t force us to separate, but they could make it hell for me unless I resign first.”
“Adrian, no—” He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.
“I’ve made up my mind. It’s better than the alternative.”
The only way to break a blood kissed bond between vampires was for one party to either die or create another, stronger bond to override the first. And as far as she knew, the only pair in vampire history to do that were Pazuzu and Lamashtu, the Ancient Ones. “Then what do we do now?”
“We use the resources at hand.”
Adrian made a logical argument about the danger of leaving until they knew more about the hunters and their movements. So she gave in to his counsel and made a call.
River picked up on the first ring. “Jackson-Silva residence.”
“Hi, this is Emmaleigh Whittaker.”
“Did you need that address again?”
“No. I’m calling for your help. Officially calling.”
River hesitated, and in the background, a man asked what was happening. “How may the Daughters of the Moon help you?” she asked, filling her voice with professional civility.
Emma pulled in a deep breath and held it until she found her courage. “Adrian and I were attacked during our investigation, and no, we did nothing to provoke it, I promise you. But we’re weak, and I’m afraid of what’s waiting for us outside.”
“You need food.”
“Blood, yes. I know it’s not an easy thing to ask for, and I’m not asking you to bring us a feeder. A couple of animals or even pig’s blood from the butcher would be enough to get us by until we can reach another stash.”
“Can you tell me about the attack?”
“Hunters. I….” Emma twisted her finger around the phone cord and shuddered. “They had a mage capable of casting a sunlight spell. He almost killed me. Adrian barely got us out of there alive.”
“Where did the assault take place?” Crisp and to the point, like placing a police report.
“I think that is better discussed in person, River. This is much bigger than a random attack, and I am willing to tell you everything about our mission, but face to face.”
The low hum of background noise silenced. She’d been muted. “Where are you?” River asked when she returned to the line.
“Um… I don’t actually know. One sec. My companion can give you directions.” Emma pressed the speaker icon on Adrian’s touchscreen phone, and he rattled off the address along with a few basic directions.
“We’ll be out as soon as we can procure your… dinner.”
“Thank you,” Emma replied.