B008DSVE7O EBOK Page 10

  Seven

  I felt strange the moment I awoke. I hadn’t even opened my eyes before I knew that something was off. There was a low crackling sound charging the air. It was like static popping in my ears. I sat up at full attention. The covers fell from my body and I looked down to find Benjamin fast asleep. Panic welled up inside me in waves. Benjamin’s shoulders were hard beneath my hands and his body felt incredibly heavy as I tried to shake him from his sleep. He was like a corpse. No pulse, of course.

  “Shit!” I said, fumbling for his phone. I searched his pockets and came up with nothing. My eyes darted up and down his body, wondering where in the hell his phone could be. Then, I spotted it on the nightstand. Of course! I lunged over his body, not being careful at all. Lucky me, he didn’t have password protection on his phone. I went immediately to the most recent call list and found Thomas’ phone number. I dialed the number and almost threw the phone across the room when it went straight to voicemail. I wasn’t entirely sure if he could help, but I called Jeremiah’s number, just in case.

  “Who is this?” Jeremiah’s deep voice asked.

  “Jeremiah, it’s Olivia. I don’t know if you can help me, but there is something wrong with Benjamin.”

  “Who is this?”

  “Geez, really? It’s Olivia; you saved my butt at the bar and we officially met last night. Remember? Benjamin won’t wake up and Thomas won’t answer his phone. I don’t know what to do. Do you?”

  The line went dead.

  “Bastard!” I screamed into the phone. So much of a help he was.

  I slapped at Benjamin’s face, first lightly, but then with increased force. His head just swayed from one side to the other. Not knowing what else to do, I bit into my wrist, which to my surprise, didn’t hurt at all. The blood poured from the open wound and I positioned my wrist above Benjamin’s mouth. I tried to get him to drink, but he was absolutely uncooperative. At best, my blood was pooling into his mouth and maybe trickling down his throat.

  The phone rang. I answered it quickly, my blood smearing across the touch screen.

  “Hello?” I asked, hoping whoever was on the line could help.

  “Olivia?” Jeremiah asked.

  “Yes!”

  “I had to go somewhere where I could speak in private. You understand?” he said.

  “Oh, right,” I said. “He still won’t wake up!” I stared down at Benjamin, willing him with all my might to wake up. I didn’t know how to survive without him. My chest felt tight. If I still needed to breathe, this would be the time when I would have started forcing myself to take deep, cleansing breaths.

  “And he’s not going to wake up for another few minutes,” Jeremiah said, his voice rational amidst my confusion.

  “What? Why?” I asked.

  “Because the sun won’t be down for another few minutes,” Jeremiah said. His words hung heavy in my ears.

  “Then how am I awake?”

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  I was silent for a long beat. Some primal instinct told me the less people who knew I was awake during the day, the better.

  “Olivia, are you all right?” Jeremiah asked.

  “As far as I know,” I said. “I think I should go now.”

  “I wouldn’t call anyone else.” Jeremiah’s voice was low and serious.

  “Yes, you’re right. I’ll talk to you soon.” I ended the call and collapsed onto the bed.

  What the hell was I doing awake? I was too scared to leave the room. The last thing I wanted was to burst into flames in the middle of Benjamin’s living room.

  I felt Benjamin stirring in the bed next to me.

  Oh, shit. The blood.

  Before I could get a word in, Benjamin pinned me down on the bed. I watched his tongue roll over his fangs and then across his lips as he tasted my blood. The last time he’d had my blood, he drained me dry. I wasn’t strong enough to completely fight him off; however, I was strong enough to keep him at arm’s length long enough to talk some sense into him.

  “Benjamin, it’s me! Olivia! Hi! I tried to give you some of my blood because I thought you were dead. Like, for real dead.”

  Fortunately, he reacted well. He was still on top of me, straddling my body, but at least, he wasn’t an inch away from tearing my throat out anymore.

  “Why?” he asked, his voice thick with sleep… and hunger.

  “Because I woke up and you were still asleep. Then, I realized the sun was still out. But, before I realized the sun was still out and that’s why you were still asleep, I made a weak attempt to revive you with my blood.”

  “Damn, you taste good,” he said, once more running his tongue across his fangs.

  I was about to say, thanks, before I remembered the important issue at hand.

  “Really, Benjamin? This is serious. Why did I wake up?”

  Though I was wearing a long pajama shirt, Benjamin was looking at me as if I were wearing nothing at all. The look of lust and hunger in his eyes were enough to make me squirm beneath his hard body.

  “Honestly, Olivia, I’m not going to be able to focus at all until I go out and feed.”

  And there it was, the dagger in my heart. The same feelings resurfacing from last night. Was it jealousy? I wasn’t sure, I only knew that I hated the idea of him feeding from another woman. But who was I to demand anything from him?

  “I know you’re not supposed to, but can’t you just feed from me?”

  Benjamin’s face was serious as he studied me. My chest felt tight. What was I doing? Did I want to go down this road with him? I was just being practical, after all. Right? I needed to figure out what the hell was going on with me and if he went out to feed, it would just waste valuable time. That’s it. Just being practical.

  “Is that what you want?” he asked, nodding his head once. “For me to feed from you?”

  “Yes,” I answered, aware that he’d purposefully placed the whole thing on my shoulders. It sounded almost as if I wasn’t helping him out anymore—instead, I was begging him to feed from me.

  Benjamin, as quick as ever, flipped us around so that I was the one on top, straddling his body. He held onto my waist, his hands slipping against the silk fabric. He sat himself up so that our lips were just a couple of inches apart. With merciless restraint, I didn’t kiss him.

  Benjamin inhaled my scent before his fangs penetrated the delicate skin of my neck. He was slow and deliberate, as if savoring the moment. I felt a shiver all through my body. The act felt better than it did when I was human. My senses were heightened now that I was a vampire and I felt pure, unbridled pleasure as he drank. His hands, having slipped under my gown, held onto the flesh of my hips, kneading them to the point where it was almost painful.

  Benjamin continued his slow feeding, and I moaned with delight. I felt his hard arousal against my inner thigh and was unable to control myself anymore. My fingers knotted in his hair and I rocked myself against him in rhythmic motions. I only vaguely realized that he stopped feeding while I continued to rock back and forth. My pleasure was rising, almost peaking, when he slipped his fingers between my thighs. He could feel how wet I was through the thin, cotton panties. With amazing strength and control of body, he leaned me back so that he could reach my breast with his mouth. Descending on my nipple, I could feel his mouth through the fabric of my nightgown.

  Despite the silky material, the sensation of his lips, teeth, and tongue nipping and teasing at my nipple was enough to make me ache. I gasped as his strong fingers pulled the fabric of my panties to one side. Using just one finger, he stroked my clit until I was calling out. At the point of my climax, when he felt my body tense, he flipped us over again so that he was on top of me.

  This time, he greedily bit into the other side of my neck, sending me on another wave of pleasure. With just enough of his weight on me, he picked up a steady rhythm, rubbing his hard cock against my inner thigh until his body went rigid, and then he relaxed on top of me, kissing the spot where he’d b
itten into my neck.

  “I should have known that would happen,” I said, stroking the back of his neck.

  Benjamin turned the other way, pulling me close to his body, wrapping his arm around me. Everything felt so safe in his arms. I let my hand rest on the hard planes of his chest as he ran his fingers up and down the length of my arm.

  “You were hungry,” I said, enjoying the feel of his touch.

  “I haven’t fed in two nights.”

  “But, last night you said that you...”

  “I lied,” he said, cutting me off.

  Okay, I’d have to revisit that information for later review. Right now, I wanted to completely forget what had just transpired. Instead, I needed to understand why I had woken up before the sun set. As far as I knew, that was not something that ever happened.

  “Did you hear what I said... before? I woke up before the sun went down. It was only ten minutes or so, but still.”

  He cleared his throat. “I don’t mean to alarm you, but, I’ve never heard of that happening before.” Benjamin bent his head down, inhaling the scent of my hair.

  “I’m not going to lie, Ben, I’m feeling pretty alarmed. Should I be worried?”

  “That’s a good question. Did you go out into the house?”

  “No,” I said. “I was too scared.”

  “Let’s keep this to ourselves until we know more.”

  “Sounds good, only,” I said, hesitating, “Jeremiah knows. I called him when I didn’t know what was going on and Thomas didn’t answer for obvious reasons. I was worried about you.” I shifted my body, propping myself up on Benjamin’s chest so I could look him in the eyes. Should I tell him that those few minutes were the most pleasurable, passionate minutes of my life? I decided that I’d better not. Benjamin had probably been with hundreds of sensuous women and I’d just be embarrassing myself.

  He smiled, the corner of his mouth curving up to one side.

  “I already told you, Olivia. You need not worry about me.”

  I sat up, nodding, and running my fingers through my snarled hair. I scooted off the bed and walked around as Benjamin swung his legs around his side of the bed. When I was close enough to him, he grabbed my wrist, surprising me, by drawing me closer to him.

  He circled my wrist with his thumb and forefinger.

  “Your wrists are so tiny,” he said, handling me with undue care.

  “Are you checking for a pulse?” I asked, my skin tingling under his touch. It would be even more difficult now to resist my attraction to Benjamin. Now, that I’d had a taste.

  “Not even a beat,” he said. “Simply checking to make sure you’re still a vampire. Stranger things have happened.”

  Benjamin brought his hand up my arm and cupped my face with his palm. His thumb stroked my bottom lip for a long moment. He regarded me carefully, his pale, glacial eyes melting me inside.

  “I need to get in the shower,” I said, backing away from him. “And, I may or may not have broken your phone with my blood.”

  I hurried into the bathroom and locked the door behind me

  Eight

  Obviously, I’d done everything in my power to avoid Benjamin for the next twenty-four hours. But I wasn’t about to let the incident, as I liked to call it, interfere with my demon-killing-human-saving training. Which was exactly why, the incident, or anything close to the incident, could never, ever, ever, ever happen again.

  It took every ounce of adulthood and maturity I could muster up to leave my room and greet Benjamin in the living room. I heard him moving around in the house for a good hour now, but I was taking my time to get ready. I dressed in a red t-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers. If I were going to go out on a demon prowl with him, I needed to have comfy clothes on. The red shirt would camouflage any blood. I don’t know how Benjamin hunted demons in a suit. I mean, really, he always looked so pristine at the end of the night.

  “You’re up,” Benjamin said, reading the paper while sitting on the sofa.

  “Yes, good evening,” I said, barely able to look him in the eyes. I felt so vulnerable around him. We’d been so intimate, but I knew it hadn’t meant more to him than sex and blood. If I could make it through the evening, then the next day would be better and I would never... never let it happen again. Even if I had to start feeding on humans. If I continued to get so worked up every time Benjamin and I fed from each other, then I would have to suck it up and start drinking blood donations.

  “Olivia,” Benjamin said, folding the newspaper and tossing it on the coffee table. “We need to talk about last night.”

  Oh no! My eyes went wide in surprise. I felt like a deer caught in the headlights. I thought we were just going to pretend that he hadn’t made me call out his name with his expert fingers.

  “Huh?” was all I managed to sputter out.

  “Tell me again about you being awake when the sun was still up.” His lips curled up into a wicked smile. He knew very well that I’d assumed he wanted to talk about our sexual interlude.

  “Oh,” I said, sitting on the chair furthest from him. “There’s not much else to tell. I woke up and you hadn’t yet. I called Jeremiah in a panic and he was surprised to hear from me. He told me that the sun was still up. I looked at the time, and I checked the time for sunset last night. The sun was definitely still out when I woke up.”

  “It’s strange,” Benjamin said.

  “Oh, I also called Thomas. I don’t know if he’ll have a missed call from you. Not sure if you’ll have to explain that to him or not.”

  Benjamin thought about that for a minute. “I’d rather not tell him about you. Let’s just hope he doesn’t ask. For now, I have copies of journals from some of the older vampires. I’ll see if I can find any useful information.”

  I nodded, satisfied that Benjamin was on the case. “So where are we off to tonight?” I asked.

  “You’re not coming with me tonight. Things are getting crazy out there. I’d rather you stay here, where it’s safe.” Benjamin stood up and headed for the door.

  “Hey, wait,” I said, following him. “You can’t just make me stay here. I want to help.”

  “You won’t be helping. I’ll have to keep an eye on you the whole night and I won’t be able to concentrate on anything else.”

  Well, wasn’t that a slap in the face! As if I needed someone to watch every move I made. I could hold my own against the demons and we both knew it. “Where are you going?”

  He shook his head and walked out the door. Before closing it, he turned. “Promise me you’ll lock the door and stay inside. Read a book and just be safe.”

  I closed the door in his face and locked it.

  Read a book? Was he for real? Benjamin Ward could not control me. I was the woman responsible for starting up a small business and turning it into a billion dollar company. I was scheduled to make partner of one of the largest marketing firms by the age of twenty-eight.

  Like hell would I stay inside while the city I’d grown to love was overrun by soul-sucking (and vampire-blood-sucking) demons. I waited fifteen minutes until I was sure he left and drove to the beach, where most of the attacks were occurring.

  I left my car with valet at a hotel on the beach. The great thing about Miami is it’s so full of tourists when you’re at the beach, you can pretty much never be underdressed. I remembered seeing on one of Benjamin’s maps, a lot of attacks happened near a lounge called Soundlom. I walked a couple of blocks up the mall, on high alert.

  Soundlom was packed, which surprised me, considering how early in the night it was—ten p.m. was not even close to the prime Miami Beach party hour. I had to wait in a short line to show my ID. Eventually, I suppose it will become annoying to show my ID—for example after I’ve been a vampire for over one hundred years. I’m sure it will be funny. Or depressing. Maybe both.

  The bouncer checking IDs was incredibly tall. His back easily tripled the width of my back. He wore black shoes, black pants, and a black t-shirt. He barely looke
d at my identification before returning it to me. But I got a good look at his eyes. How could people not realize when they were talking to demons? The bouncer, with his flat, black eyes was definitely a demon. And he was the head of security. This was not a good thing. The eyes were a dead give-away. Everyone has that little sparkle or twinkle to his or her eyes. It’s just normal. What the demons had, however, were flat, black eyes—completely devoid of… life.

  The bouncer was so preoccupied with the people behind me in line that he didn’t realize I was a vampire. Lucky me. Entering the lounge, I felt my stomach drop. An immense triangle-shaped bar occupied the majority of floor space. Drinking at the bar was a mixture of demons and humans. The only problem was there were about three demons to every human. What the hell was I going to do?

  One demon, completely bald and dressed all in black, was leading a young woman to the back of the lounge. I followed close behind and waited outside the bathroom door for a moment, before following them in. The demon’s eyes were glowing as he already had the woman in his arms, and was sucking the soul out of her. I didn’t wait to watch the gray mist flow from the human’s body and into the demon. I jumped in the air, delivering a hard blow to the demon. I heard the sickening “snap!” of a presumably vital bone, which would have been enough to stop a human, but not a demon. He released his grip on the woman and she fell to the floor, her body completely limp. Having literally had the life sucked out of her, now her soul floated just outside of her body, barely attached anymore.

  The demon stretched his neck to one side and got a good look at me. I bared my fangs. I meant it as a warning, but the demon screeched with renewed energy. Without so much as a running start, he slammed into me with more force than Benjamin had ever used during practice with me. Fortuitously, I was extra strong from having just drunk Benjamin’s blood.

  I stopped the demon in his tracks and lifted him well above my head before throwing him down again. I got behind him to get a better grip on his body just as Thomas and Natasha, of all people, burst into the bathroom.