Chapter 7
I woke up in a sweat, uncomfortable, hungry for Leandro and wishing I could be back asleep again. Dreaming of him always led to me waking up hungry for him and being his. I might have downplayed how much I had done with him to my team, but the reality was, I had been his and I had enjoyed it.
My dreams were simply more of the same. Spending a night with him. Often just one night. As we crossed paths once more. But they always involved me giving myself to him willingly again. I couldn’t shake thoughts of him from my head.
Although I knew it was addictive to be fed on, I didn’t think that was part of what I desired.
I didn’t dream of having him feed on me or even bite me.
It was always everything else. The commands, doing as he pleased, letting go and not having to worry or feel unsafe.
It didn’t matter what he did to my body, just that I was his and we were together.
Knowing it would take me a while to get back to sleep, I got up and made my way through to the kitchen to get a drink of cold water and see if I could cool my thoughts down.
It had been almost exactly a week since I had told my team about Leandro and the cruise I had been invited on and it wasn’t long until I was going to have to decide whether to go on it or not.
Naomi and Alan had been keeping an eye on the flights and cruise cabin prices, noting that there were still plenty of last-minute cheap deals.
On top of that, we had been able to make a lot of money working for the academy.
If we had thought the turned were growing in numbers and getting more reckless, the problem was only getting worse.
And to make matters worse, each mission we went on was always a little bit harder than the intel we had suggested it would be.
If we weren’t hearing the same complaint from several other vampire hunter teams, I would have thought the academy was still trying to get me to end myself. The other members of my team too.
Just like the night we’d found two vampires instead of one and completed two contracts, there was often another vampire around, some of which had smaller contracts out for them, some that ended up being the vampire who had turned our contract vampire, and some that were just extras.
It had put the team through our paces and I had begun teaching them some of the fighting styles that Leandro had taught me when I was with him.
While I knew we had been a capable team before, it had helped me practice what I’d learned and begin committing it to muscle memory, and I didn’t doubt that it had helped save us more than once already.
The bigger concern was what this meant for Vegas, however. I knew that it was a bad sign for the turned to be so active. And we were beginning to get media attention.
Yet, despite all these worries, every time I closed my eyes, I dreamed of being fucked by Leandro.
It was the way he was both in control and could clearly have overpowered me, and yet he wanted my willingness.
He had wanted me to say yes and then had appeared to take genuine delight in giving me pleasure.
I hadn’t been a prude. I’d had several relationships, and even the odd hook up in the years I had been an adult, but nothing had compared to the pleasure Leandro had given me.
And that was where the desire and passion was coming from.
It was easy to give my body to someone who wanted to care for it and pleasure it.
The trust had grown quickly, because he had quickly shown he could handle it and give me more than ever.
The way his hands had roamed my skin, taking in every inch of me, building me into heated desire and turning my insides into a puddle of need and hunger for him... well, it was no wonder I wanted more.
It was the love-making and fucking of someone who had more experience and skill than I could ever hope to find in a human. And that was likely to be another reason that humans gave themselves over to vampires for as long as they were wanted.
Not being wanted anymore was a huge part of the risk.
Leandro had assured me he would take care of me for the rest of my life if I gave myself to him, and a part of me trusted that, but it only meant putting a roof over my head and food on my table, and if I carried on like this with the academy I certainly wasn’t going to need him for that.
While I was still considering paying for my entire team to go on this cruise with me, I was making enough that I had begun to save and invest toward my future. I wasn’t going to make the same mistakes my parents had and end up poor if there was something I could do about it, and right now, I could.
It was the amazing sex and the feeding that was what I would want if Leandro took me in as his enthralled. And I was tempted.
By the time I was at the bottom of my glass of cold water, I was no cooler mentally than I had been when I’d left the bedroom.
I needed to admit to myself that if Leandro wanted me, I would let him do whatever he wanted to my body.
And if this situation as a vampire slayer ever grew too much to handle, I would run straight to him.
Closing my eyes for a few seconds, I tried to think about anything but being under Leandro. I was too distracted and I needed to focus. I needed to sleep so I would be strong enough and well rested enough to fight more vampires and lead my team again. There were always more vampires to slay.
When I opened my eyes I had to blink several times to believe what I was seeing. Where I had been in an empty kitchen before, I was no longer alone.
Leandro, the vampire I had been trying to forget, was standing only two feet away studying me, the corner of his mouth turned up in the same smirk I’d seen him express many times while I was with him.
His eyes obviously roved, not a word coming out of his mouth. I couldn’t speak, aware of how little I was wearing. I had an old, short PJ top that didn’t cover my stomach and some shorts on, anything more than that far too hot in the Vegas heat.
“You’re... aroused. Pleasant dreams?” he asked as he came a little closer.
My mouth fell open. I wasn’t sure how he could tell. A moment later, I looked down, worried that my wetness had leaked through my shorts or something. Leandro chuckled.
“No visible signs. But I know you. I can smell it. Were you thinking of me?” Again he took another step closer, taking away almost all the distance between us.
I was forced to look up, my breath catching in my throat at seeing the object of my dreams in my kitchen. How was he here? How did he find me?
“You look good, Anais.” He reached out and stroked my cheek. “Tell me you were dreaming of me the way I dream of you.”
Again, I couldn’t seem to find the words, and he dropped his hand and stepped away, putting the distance between us I needed to gather my thoughts.
Was I imagining this? Was I asleep in the kitchen or something? Had all the vampire hunting for the last few weeks sent me over the edge and made me hallucinate?
“Say something, Anais. Please.” He looked at me again. “I can leave if you don’t want me here but I came to ask for your help.
“You need my help?” I replied, knowing this wasn’t a conversation my mind would have invented. Why would Leandro need my help?
“If you’ll give it. I know that I’d be asking a lot, but if it makes a difference, it would be killing vampires with me again.”
I frowned, still not sure what to do, but it seemed that this was real and he was here to talk to me.
“You had better tell me what you need help with,” I replied, hoping I sounded calm and reasonable.
He shifted to the dining table with the ease and grace I had pictured in my dreams and then sat down on one of the chairs that had been left out.
I didn’t fail to notice that he’d chosen a seat from where he could see all of me still and his gaze wandered once more, taking in my bare stomach and uncovered legs.
Fighting the urge to cover up, I went over to the coffee machine and pulled out two cups. I knew that he might not want the coffee and didn’t really need to eat or drink, but it was a very unsociable time, not long before dawn and technically the middle of the work-night for a hunter like me.
If nothing else, I was going to need the caffeine to stay awake long enough to hear him out.
“Although Ludis and his turned aren’t a problem anymore, they were looking for something…
something I can’t find. A contact of mine thinks that another vampire took it.
” Leandro looked down at his hands and I could hear the frustration in his voice.
But there was another edge to his tone that I wasn’t sure I’d heard before.
Fear.
Leandro was scared.
I finished making the coffee as he explained that he didn’t know what the relic was or exactly who had taken it, just that there were far more turned and the vampire was making more.
An army. He needed a slayer who could help him take them out faster than they were being turned and go after the relic.
While he spoke, I put the coffee in front of us both and joined him at the table. The wood of the chairs felt momentarily cold against my legs, but I welcomed the shock to help keep me awake and focused.
If Leandro was here because he was scared, the last thing he needed was for me to hit on him or try to get into his underwear.
Not to mention that I didn’t live alone anymore.
If the rest of my team woke up to find us in bed together, they would never believe me if I tried to deny a suspicion ever again.
“My uncle is adamant that I need to deal with this.” He finally looked up at me again.
“Before the turned go after him with this relic, just like Ludis was planning?” I asked, interrupting his story for the first time.
“Something like that.” Leandro ran his hands through his hair, not touching his coffee. I slowly sipped on mine, using it as a focus so I wasn’t thinking about touching Leandro as well. Why did he have to turn up when I was already horny and couldn’t sleep?
“My life has changed a little since we last worked together,” I replied, knowing I would need to tell him about my team and make sure he understood that the academy was paying far closer attention to me this time.
“It has?” He asked the question gently, but I could see him searching my face as he looked for answers or some indication of what I meant.
“A little. It isn’t just me anymore. I finally have a team I like and work well with.
They’re good people and I can’t just up and leave them behind to fight vampires.
Not right now. The turned here are also causing a lot more trouble.
There’s more of them amassing. And the academy has lost several slayers in the last few weeks. ”
Leandro frowned. “There are others talking of the turned growing more brave all over. I had hoped it wasn’t as bad as the other Brethren were talking about.”
I shrugged; I didn’t know what the Brethren were saying. “We’re being sent after bigger and bigger groups. My team and I are only alive because we’ve been working together and hunting with a lot of caution. With each night, our work grows more dangerous.”
“Does the academy do much to recruit and train new slayers?” Leandro finally took a sip of his coffee and settled back to listen to me for a while.
I tilted my head to the side as I considered the question. They definitely trained their slayers in some ways, but considering how much I had needed to work on with my team, they didn’t do that enough.
“Given they keep their existence a secret, it’s not as if they can advertise the academy to get recruits. And training isn’t as good as it used to be, but it is still... better than no training. They’re not used to this level of turned.”
He nodded as if this explained everything, but didn’t get up or acknowledge any other element I had talked about.
“My team needs me to keep leading them.”
“My uncle approved of me having a whole army of my own,” Leandro replied without missing a beat. “If you think they’d be willing to fight as well, a team might be a good idea this time.
I lifted an eyebrow as I processed this different offer. This wasn’t what I had expected from him. “They’re not... like me. And they’re not all female.”
Leandro let out a quiet chuckle. “Are you worried that I’ll want to fuck them and enjoy making them mine the way I do you?”
Far too swiftly I shook my head, but he only laughed as my cheeks heated and no doubt went red.
“If it takes away any jealousy or anxiety, I’d promise to only touch you the entire time. Assuming you’ll let me. My previous offer still stands. If you’ll be mine and give me full access to you whenever I want, I will take care of you for as long as you wish.”
“What if I grow old and ugly?” I responded. “It’s not wise for me to rely on you to find me attractive, especially when I will age far faster than you, if you Brethren age at all.”
“We age,” he replied, not responding to my main fear. “But my offer is regardless of age, or any other factor. I would want to have access to you as long as I wished. But regardless of my long-term interest, you would be taken care of.”
I shook my head. “And I would be left addicted to being fed on and possibly more just to be discarded as you wished. Food and a roof aren’t all a person needs. Not all I need.”
He let out a growl that took me by surprise. “If you truly think I would be so callous about your needs and what I would be doing to you, then you haven’t learned anything about who I am.”
Blinking at the vehemence in his words, I tried to figure out how to respond. Did he truly mean what he said with the conviction that appeared?
After another second while I tried to gather my thoughts, Leandro let out a sigh.
“Sorry. I know anger doesn’t help. There is only one way I can earn the trust I wish for.
Time and showing you I’m constant. If that’s not enough, that’s not enough, but you already know I want you to choose this.
If I will have you submit and give me your everything, I want you to give that to me willingly. ”
“Thank you,” I replied, not sure how else to acknowledge the goodness in that statement alone.
“But that isn’t why I’m here. How I feel about us aside, I do truly need your help. I need someone I can trust.”
It was my turn to sigh. “The academy really isn’t going to like me leaving without some kind of explanation, but then again, I’m not sure how much I care about that.”
His mouth twitched up into the smirk I’d seen on his face when he first arrived.
It was both irritating and made me want to kiss him.
Heat flushed through my body as his lips drew my gaze.
If I could, I’d have leaned across the table and slipped into his arms, but I had to focus.
He’d just told me he wasn’t here to screw me but to get me to fight with him.
Now I had to decide if it was wise to say yes or not.