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“Enough.”
Bones wrenched my mouth away and I fought him, because I didn’t want to stop. Couldn’t stop. With a snarl, I tried to snap my teeth back onto his throat, but he twisted my arms behind me and threw himself on top of me. The weight of his body and his strength pi
“Just relax. Breathe. Ride it out, Kitten, it will pass.”
At first I struggled, then gradually the craze that gripped me eased until I no longer looked at Bones and wanted to drink him dry. The word bloodlust had a whole new meaning for me now.
“How do you stand it?” My breath came in shallow pants and he released his iron grip on my arms. He didn’t move off me yet, however.
“You don’t, not for the first few days. You kill anything near you to fill the need when it hits. After that, you learn to control it. What you had was only a taste. By next week, the effects will be out of your system. You’ll be back to yourself.”
His complete confidence that I would see next week was unflappable. Who was I to argue?
“I can smell you.” Wonder etched my voice. “I smell myself on your skin. I smell everything. My God, there are so many scents in this room…”
Out of all the other senses, which were merely heightened, this one was almost completely new. Bones had often commented that my nose was for decoration only, since it was one of the few parts of me that was almost human. Never before had I any idea what an incredible asset a sense of smell was. I could be blind and deaf and know exactly what was around me by odor alone.
“I didn’t realize how different things were for you. How can you ever walk by a public bathroom and not pass out?” Fu
Bones smiled and kissed me lightly. “Willpower, pet.”
“Is this what it feels like to be a real vampire?” That was the question. It felt…good. Superior. That scared the hell out of me.
“You’ve just had about two pints of aged nosferatu. Fermented for two hundred and forty years. You’re like a hitchhiker on my power, so in a way, yes, it is. Are you telling me you like it?”
Whoa. That was a thought I couldn’t even allow myself to dwell on, because I liked it so goddamn much, I feared I would get addicted to it.
He read the emotions in my eyes and knew he wouldn’t get a response. Instead, he kissed me again with more substance, and I groaned in surprise. Even the taste of him was keener.
When he ended the kiss, he gave me an unblinking stare.
“When it is time, no matter what we find, I want you to unleash everything you have in you. Hold nothing back. You’ve got strength and I want you to use all of it. Give in to the rage and let it feed you. Kill anything, vampire or human, that stands in your way from retrieving your mum. Remember, if they’re there and they’re not in chains, then they’re He
“I’m ready.” Mentally I threw my conscience down a dark, deep well I would fish out later. Assuming there was a later.
Bones sprang off the bed with the grace and speed only the undead could manifest. Except for me now. With his blood coursing in my veins, I almost matched him in fluidity. He cracked his knuckles and rolled his head around his shoulders, and the emerald light pinpointing in his dark brown eyes was echoed by mine.
“Then let’s go kill them all.”
TWENTY-THREE
M Y STAKES AND KNIVES WERE IN MY BOOTS and lined along my thighs. Inside my belt were jammed other deadly goodies. We drove to meet He
“But what if they stake you on sight?” My gut twisted at the thought. “God, Bones, you can’t risk it.”
He threw me a jaded look. “Not He
The casual way he described his own potential torture and death stu
“Bones.” I gripped his hand and my eyes screamed everything there wasn’t time to say. He squeezed back and gave me a jaunty smile.
“Hold that thought, Kitten. I intend to collect on it.”
We were almost there. He leaned in to whisper to me before we got too close. “Let them smell your fear, it will lull them. Don’t be strong until you have to be.”
Well, that was certainly one thing I could comply with. Even I could scent it coming from me with my new nose. It smelled sickly sweet, like rotten fruit. Give in to the fear for effect? One stink platter, coming right up.
Four large SUVs waited in the dark along the shoulder of the road, their lights off. Our car came to a halt, and instantly we were surrounded by six vampires. They seemed to materialize from nowhere, but with a sense of relief I realized their movements looked perceptibly slower to me. Viva la Bones blood, I thought wryly. Amen.
“So, you came after all.”
One of them stood at the window and Bones lowered the glass and glanced at him.
“Hallo, Vincent. Fancy seeing you here.”
There was a bored tone to his voice that made me blink. I could never fake that kind of cool.
Vincent smiled. “Call me Switch.”
Son of a bitch! This was He
“You surprise me, bringing her with you,” Switch continued.
“She insisted on coming. Wanted to see her mum, couldn’t sway her from it.” Again the blandness in his voice u
Switch looked me over, and obligingly I let anxiety leak from my pores. His smiled widened, revealing fangs protruding from behind his lips.
“Nice family you have, Catherine. Sorry about your grandparents. I know it’s rude to eat and run, but I was short on time.”
With extraordinary difficulty I bit back my rage. Couldn’t let them see my eyes glow and give away the surprise. Thank God I’d gotten to be an expert at controlling my gaze. That son of a bitch thought he was going to get away with taunting me about killing my grandparents? Right then and there I made up my mind that if I died, I was taking him with me.
“Where’s my mother?” There was no nonchalant banter for me, only pure hatred. That much he would have expected.
“We have her.” Another one approached Switch and informed him they hadn’t observed anyone following us, and Switch turned back to Bones.
“Well, let’s be on our way. I trust you won’t lag behind?”
“Don’t fret over me,” Bones replied evenly.
Switch grunted and sauntered off to his vehicle.
“I’m afraid,” I said as we pulled away, speaking the words we’d rehearsed earlier. Even five car lengths away they could hear us.
“Just stay in the car and don’t come out. When your mum gets in, you leave straightaway, remember?”