Caught in Darkness Page 15

  He broke the kiss, held her gaze for a beat, and then dropped his eyes to her waist as he methodically released her shorts and slid them off her legs. His hands burned their way back up her legs, making her squirm with anticipation and desire, before his fingers hooked beneath the hem of her panties. They were gone an instant later and the air was heavy with expectation as his gaze lingered over her. His jaw was tight and his eyes were dark with a very different kind of hunger and that expression went straight to the coil tightening inside of her.

  As she watched him examine her suddenly-nude body she frowned, realizing that he was still fully clothed. That won’t do at all. She watched as he swallowed visibly and, deciding that was her cue, she lifted her hands again and pressed them into his chest to get his attention. His eyes immediately focused and lifted to hers, and she offered him a seductive smile as she curled her fingers into the fabric of his shirt.

  Without hesitation he shifted his weight, leaning over her as he lifted his arms to allow her to remove his shirt on her own. She complied eagerly, letting the fabric fall to the floor beside them as her eyes reacquainted themselves with the sight of his perfectly-muscled chest. She only had a moment to stare, however, before he was leaning into her again and had curled one arm around her waist, pulling her in close. Their lips met hungrily, her hands losing themselves in his hair and her body burning anew with the sensations of his bare chest pressed to hers. His tongue rolled over hers and her hips arched into his in response, reminding them both that he was still half-dressed.

  She barely had time to miss him when he pulled away suddenly, his irritated growl hanging in the air, and then he was back and kissing her like a man starved. It took her a full thirty seconds to realize that he’d shed the remainder of his clothing. His arm was once again shoved between her back and the couch, holding her chest to his, and his other arm was braced above her head, supporting the bulk of his weight. One of her legs was bent at the knee, the inside of her thigh brushing teasingly over the outside of his and sending jolts of electricity shooting through her.

  Then, suddenly, she could feel him everywhere as he surged into her core. He filled her to the brim with one swift thrust and she cried out into his mouth, her nails scraping his scalp. And she had been right. The fire that was spreading through her body was unlike anything she’d ever felt before, and it was addictive. Her body was practically purring in ecstasy with him buried so deeply inside her and she was acting purely on instinct now, all thoughts—rational or otherwise—scattered to the wind.

  He broke from the kiss then, allowing her to drag in much-needed air even as he bowed his head and trailed blazing kisses across her throat and down her collar until he’d captured one of her breasts in his mouth. She gasped, her head falling back as her body arched up, at the perfect angle to take him even deeper as he plunged into her again. His teeth scraped, lightly, over her nipple as a rumbling growl vibrated up his chest and she cried out breathlessly. Her hips lifted to greet his next thrust, rolling into his and forcing him to release her breast in order to exhale harshly.

  She was moaning and mewling beneath him, one hand tangled in his hair and the other now curved over his spine, as one leg lifted and curled around his hip. He bowed his head again, sliding his tongue around her neglected breast as he continued to surge into her, and she knew she wouldn’t last much longer. She was delirious with a kind of pleasure she’d only ever fantasized about, and when his fangs scraped gently over her nipple she cried out his name, her back arching again as her hips slammed into his. Suddenly he was thrusting into her at an amazing pace, hard and fast and filling her every time, and she felt like she was about to explode.

  And then he hit just the right spot, surging forward again quickly, and his name tore from her lips in ecstasy. One more thrust sent him tumbling after her and he released her breast, growling something incoherently into her skin.

  Oh, had she ever been right. Everything about him was impressive.

  ****

  Seth wasn’t sure he’d ever been so distracted on a hunt. But dragging his mind entirely away from Veronica was proving to be an impossible feat. Of course, the lingering taste of her blood in his mouth was certainly not helping. Two nights had passed since they made love for the first time, and in the hours since that afternoon they had hardly left his condo. She had, conveniently, been given the following day off work and so Seth had opted to forgo the search in favor of keeping her in his arms that night. The feel of her skin on his was unlike anything he had ever experienced and even now, several hours after their latest bout of lovemaking, all he wanted was to return to her.

  But this night apart was necessary for more than one reason. And, though his search really was important, he couldn’t help putting emphasis on the other one. He needed to figure out what was going on inside of him. Or, more accurately, he needed to take a deep breath and allow himself to admit the truth. Despite all of his (admittedly poor) efforts, he had fallen in love with Veronica.

  He sighed, letting himself lean against the wall of Troy Wilson’s living room. Some of the papers on the coffee table were recently disturbed, lending credence to the tip that they had been seen in the area recently, but he still couldn’t focus. As much as it hurt to admit, loving Veronica was exactly the problem. Whatever feelings they held in their hearts didn’t change the fact that she was still—as she should be—human. Vampires were incapable of Bonding with humans, which meant he would inevitably lose her.

  His eyes closed and his fists clenched, one sliding back to slam into the wall, as he realized exactly how hard he’d fallen. Never once had he considered forming a Bond of his own, despite knowing several couples who had. Bonding was nothing to be taken lightly, as it quite literally bound the life-forces of the two vampires in question. He preferred to be in control of his own fate, but he also recognized that he lived a dangerous life and whoever he Bonded with wouldn’t survive his death if or when it ever came to that. Bonds, by nature, were unbreakable and inescapable, and because of that Seth had long ago decided they weren’t for him.

  Until now.

  There was no doubt in his mind that, were Veronica a vampire instead of a human, he would be suggesting it by week’s end. But that wasn’t an option for either of them. Their time together was painfully finite—even more so if he did what he was supposed to and left town once his job was complete. The very idea sent a foreign stab of pain straight through his heart. He couldn’t decide which was worse—the idea of leaving her behind, or the possibility that his doing so would hurt her just as much as it would hurt him.

  Forcing his eyes open, Seth looked around, attempting to return his focus to what he was getting paid for. But his mind was just not on the job that night. The apartment was empty, though it likely had been recently reoccupied, and he wasn’t in the mood to sift through the minutiae in search of a clue that might lead him toward their new hideout. He needed to go back to Veronica—and though he knew he should go back and sit her down for a serious, uncomfortable conversation, he also knew that he wouldn’t.

  ****

  Veronica was curled up on Seth’s couch, dressed in nothing but a pair of panties and one of his black t-shirts, trying to tell herself that she really needed to be getting some sleep. Though she’d slept until nearly noon that morning she was still tired—a combination of their frequent lovemaking and the blood loss that came with feeding a vampire twice in a twenty-four hour period, she was sure. Before he’d left Seth had instructed her to try to sleep, telling her he wouldn’t be back until early morning anyway, and she knew he was right. But she just couldn’t bring herself to go to bed (his, of course) while he was out there searching for murderous monsters. She wanted to be up and waiting when he came home, either to make sure he was all right or to help him get better (though she suspected he’d refuse to drink from her even if he was injured).

  Her head snapped up, eyes wide and blinking rapidly, a moment after her chin hit her collar. Okay, Veronica, if you’re
falling asleep while you’re trying to justify not sleeping that’s probably a sign. It was hard to argue with that logic so, with a final, resigned, glance toward the locked front door, Veronica pushed to her feet. She did still have to work in the morning, after all.

  She’d barely taken three steps toward the hall when she heard the doorknob start to turn. Pulling in an anticipatory breath, she turned to face the door, but before she could start forward again she finally registered the prickling sensation at the base of her skull. It was the same feeling that she’d had when she’d found Richards in her house, and when she’d seen those two now-deceased vampires walking toward her and Seth in front of the bakery. And, though she hated putting any faith in what Dennis had told her, experience agreed that that could mean only one thing: there was a vampire that was definitely not Seth on the other side of the door.

  The knob stilled as the mystery vampire clearly realized that the door was locked and Veronica held her breath. Would they break in or give up? And, more importantly, could she make it to the kitchen—where her purse, and pepper-spray, were innocently resting—before the intruder actually became an intruder? The low-level rattling resumed and Veronica made her decision, spinning on her foot and running toward the small kitchen that was opposite the living room.

  Her hand landed on her purse in the same instant that the door swung open.

  Her stomach on the floor somewhere between her feet, Veronica shoved her hand into the side that held the pepper-spray even as she spun around, putting her back to the counter and facing the doorway.

  The intruder took all of a step and a half before stopping and shifting his gaze to her. He was tall—really tall—with long, perfectly straight dark hair that was currently pulled back into a loose, low ponytail. He was wearing black denim jeans over heavy black boots with a black shirt and, of course, a black leather jacket. Imposing was just about the perfect word to describe him. And he was frowning at her, not quite bothering with a glare.

  “Who are you?” he demanded after a long minute. His voice was deep and held just a little gravel, all of which was surrounded by a faint, unusual accent.

  It took a moment for his question to sink in, but then Veronica found herself fighting back the strange urge to laugh. “Uh-uh,” she said, finally pulling the pepper-spray from the purse and aiming it at him. “You’re the guy who just broke in; I get to ask the questions here. If you don’t like that, feel free to leave.” Please.

  The frown deepened and something similar to impatience darkened his eyes. “Woman, I don’t owe you any answers. I have it on good authority that you don’t live here, so spare me that argument. And I don’t like having to repeat myself.”

  I’ll bet you don’t. She would also bet he rarely had to, but she refused to let him loose in Seth’s condo. “You’re right,” she began, opting to go with as much truth as she was comfortable with, “I don’t live here. But I do have permission to be here, and you had to break in, so that still gives me the right to ask the questions. Or kick you out.”

  At this he raised a single, dark brow. “You think you can kick me out?” She had the distinct impression that he almost thought that was funny.

  Tapping the nozzle of her pepper-spray, she said, “Don’t think I won’t use this. It’s industrial-grade, it packs a punch.” She was really wishing she hadn’t been dumb enough to leave her cell phone on the charger in Seth’s bedroom. There was no way she’d make it all the way down the hall, into the room, and be able to get a call out.

  The mystery vampire sighed, closing his eyes for a moment, before looking back at her and saying, “I’ll be very upset if you push that nozzle, and if you do have permission to be here then that would only cause more problems.” He paused, blatantly looking her over—though she couldn’t actually read his impression—and added, “You’re close to Hunter, I take it?”

  For the first time Veronica hesitated. So he knew whose condo he’d just let himself into…but was that a good thing, or a bad thing? She swallowed, grateful that her hands were staying steady, and replied, “Yes, I am. And he’ll be angry if you hurt me.”

  This time she knew he was amused, as his lips twitched in a near-smirk and he said, “I imagine he would.” Slowly—for her benefit, she was sure—he dipped a single hand into his coat pocket and extracted a shiny black smartphone. He held it up, screen out, and added, “I’m here to pilfer his electricity, as my phone’s dead. For both our sakes, please don’t try to spray me when I start walking.”

  “If you need to recharge your phone,” Veronica returned, “go rent a hotel room.”

  “Don’t get smart,” he scolded, sounding almost bored. He lowered his arm, phone still in hand, and took a step forward.

  “Don’t come any closer,” Veronica warned, ignoring his words. For all she knew his phone was just off and he was trying to get her to relax her guard.

  The vampire stopped, looking increasingly agitated, and said, “Fine, there’s another way to do this. Catch.” Without warning he proceeded to toss his phone to her.

  On reflex Veronica jumped, one hand releasing her pepper-spray as she fumbled with the expertly-tossed device before finally cradling it to her chest. It was another second before she realized how dumb that was, her eyes snapping back up to where the vampire had been standing. She expected to find him directly in front of her, fangs exposed and smirking arrogantly. To her surprise he didn’t seem to have moved a muscle. “What…?”

  Holding her gaze, he reached into his pocket again and pulled out a charger. “Plug it in and call Hunter for yourself, since you clearly don’t have a phone in that purse. I’ll stay right here.”

  Narrowing her eyes on him angrily, Veronica snapped, “You expect me to trust that?”

  “If I’d wanted to hurt you we both know I could’ve done it while you were fumbling with my phone,” he returned coolly. “And, for the record, don’t even think of damaging it.”

  She swallowed, instinctively knowing that she could—at the very least—trust his threat. “The cord won’t throw, and I’m not coming anywhere near you.” The words were barely past her lips when he vanished from sight, the cord appeared beside her on the counter, and then he was standing once again exactly where he’d been.

  “You were saying?”

  Holding her pepper-spray toward him, she said, “Hilarious. Fine, I’ll call him. But I’ll be watching you the whole time.” It was trickier to plug in a charger one-handed, and almost impossible to attach it to the phone, but she managed. And, fortunately, he did as he’d promised (this time) and stayed still.

  Once it had turned back on she realized she had another problem. She only knew the first three digits of Seth’s number off the top of her head. Crap.

  “If you don’t know his number,” the vampire offered casually, “it’s in my contacts under ‘Hunter.’ Please don’t misdial.”

  Veronica ground her teeth. He had to be toying with her. And the worst part was that he was getting away with it. Hoping she would at least recognize Seth’s number if she saw it, she obligingly navigated to the contacts page and searched for ‘H,’ which supplied her with a small list of names. Among them, as promised, was one labeled ‘Hunter.’ She selected it, studied the number for a second, and decided it sounded right so she hit the call button and picked the phone up.

  Her eyes returned to the vampire—still standing where he’d promised—as soon as the phone was against her ear. She kept her finger on the button for the pepper-spray, despite suspecting he wouldn’t even blink if she pressed down, and listened as the phone started ringing.

  Chapter Twelve

  Veronica waited with bated breath, eyes glued to the tall, casually threatening vampire standing just beyond the front door of Seth’s condo, as the phone rang. Once. Twice.

  “Hunter.”

  Never had as simple a thing as someone answering the phone brought her such relief. But the sound of Seth’s voice on the other end of the line—so calm, collected, and unsus
pecting—was the most beautiful thing she’d ever heard. Not that he would stay on the other end of the line if she didn’t say something, but first she had to swallow and find her voice.

  “Hello?” Seth asked, clearly growing impatient with the silence.

  “Seth,” she finally managed. “I’m sorry, I know you’re busy, but….” How did she explain this situation, exactly?

  “Veronica?” That calm and collected tone was fading rapidly. She could just picture the thin line his lips were probably forming as he tried to figure out the most important question to ask next. “What’s going on?” Yeah, that was a good one.

  She opened her mouth, took a deep breath, and blurted, “There’s a vampire I don’t know standing in front of me. He let himself in and he says he knows you. He’s staring and it’s sort of making me uncomfortable. Should I pepper-spray him?” Smooth, Veronica. Way to remain calm in the face of adversity.

  Seth was silent for a beat before he asked, “Did he give you a name?” His tone was careful and calculated—the kind that never really passed for casual.

  “No,” she replied. “But I am sort of using his phone….” Despite the truth of the statement it still sounded ridiculous when she said it out loud. She was afraid of the man who’d given her his phone so that she could call her vampire lover? He’s a big, scary vampire, too, so he’s probably toying with me.

  “You’re using his phone?” Seth repeated slowly. There was another beat of silence, a distant sigh, and then he added, “His name’s Jasen. He’s a work associate. Just tell him I’m on my way and feel free to add that I would take extreme issue to him laying a hand on you.”