Claiming the Vampire (7 page)

He smiled without humor. “I don’t have to tell you how I chose. And a man who could make that choice doesn’t deserve you, Celia.”

She knew if she’d showed sympathy or compassion he’d reject it. So she asked a question instead. “How would you choose now?”

He turned his head away. “I don’t know.”

“Bullshit,” she said for the second time that night.

He met her eyes again. “You think you know me, Celia, but—”

“I do know you. If you had to choose between my life and yours, what would you do?”

“I would choose yours. But that’s because I’m in love with you. It doesn’t mean I—”

“What if it was Liz? What if you had to choose between saving your life and saving hers?”

He swallowed. “I would save her. But that’s because she’s your best friend. I don’t—”

“And Jack? What if the choice was between your life and his?”

“I would choose his. But that’s because he helped me save your life that night. I owe him.”

Celia laid her hands on Evan’s shoulders. “And what if it was a stranger? A soldier you’d never met, dying in a field?”

His brown eyes were full of pain. “Celia, for God’s sake. Don’t make me do this.”

“What would you do, Evan?”

“I would save him! But it’s too late for that now. Don’t you see? I can’t go back. I can’t ever change what I did.”

“No, you can’t. But you’re not that terrified boy anymore. Why can’t you see the man you are
now
?” Her hands tightened on her shoulders. “I love you, Evan Grant. And I’m not a fool or a martyr. Do you think I would love a man who didn’t deserve it? If you don’t trust your own instincts, trust mine. Let go of the past and look at what’s right in front of you.”

There was a moment of utter stillness, as though the world had stopped on its axis. She glared down at him, and he stared back at her.

Then, suddenly, Evan’s eyes turned yellow and his fangs burst from his gums. He gave a snarl that made the hair stand up on the back of her neck, and he jerked so viciously on his handcuffs that the vampire-proof chains snapped.

Adrenaline shot through her, but she couldn’t move. In an instant he’d triggered the mechanism to release the cuffs from his wrists and ankles. A second later, she was on her back under him with her arms pinned against the pillow.

“Say it,” he growled.

Her heart was pounding so hard she thought she might crack a rib. Her pulse roared in her ears. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

He gripped her so hard she felt muscle touch bone. “Do you want me?”

“Yes,” she gasped.

“Then claim me.”

“You’re mine,” she cried out, and a shudder passed through him.

“Oh God, Celia. And you’re mine.” His eyes went to her left wrist, which bore a faint white scar from his first bite.

She shook her head. “No. My throat.”

She arched her head back, her heart beating so furiously she wondered if her blood would gush into Evan’s mouth when he bit her.

But instead of the tumult of sensation she’d been braced for, the slice of his fangs made everything inside her go still, as if a cool draft of water were quenching a soul-deep thirst she hadn’t known existed.

And when he began to pull the blood from her vein she felt it everywhere.

She let out a sound she’d never made in her life—a low, keening cry. After a minute Evan stopped drinking and licked the marks he had made, and she could feel the wound closing as a pulse of pleasure made her fingers and toes tingle.

Evan braced his weight on his forearms and looked down at her. “You’ve done it now,” he said softly. “You’ve tied yourself to me for life.”

“It’s about time,” she said, wrapping her arms and legs around him. “But I’m not finished with you yet, Evan Grant. There’s something else I want.”

“What could that possibly be?” he murmured.

“I want to be on top.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do you, now?”

She grinned at him. “I liked having you tied down and at my mercy.”

He framed her face in his hands and stroked his thumbs across her cheekbones. “I’ve been at your mercy from the moment you walked through my door. Do you want to chain me up again?”

She knew he was teasing her, but she shook her head. “I just want you to lie back and let me have my way with you.”

“I think I can manage that,” he said huskily.

* * *

Hours later, Celia was lying in the circle of Evan’s arms with her cheek pressed against his chest. He was playing with her hair, twining strands around his fingers.

“I feel like I can’t ever get enough of you,” she said softly. “I feel like…like I want to crawl inside your skin.”

She felt his chuckle vibrate through her. “That’s because we just claimed each other, love. I think that feeling will ease up after a while.”

“I’m not so sure about that. Have you seen Jack and Liz together?”

“Yeah, but we won’t be like that.”

“Famous last words,” she said, smiling against his skin. “I think we’ll be exactly like that. I think we’ll—”

She was interrupted by the crash and tinkle of broken glass.

She sat up with a gasp, but Evan was a lot quicker. He was standing beside the bed, growling at the intruder and ready to spring, before she saw who had come in through the window and was standing facing them.

Hawk Blakestone. The assassin who’d been hired to kill her.

His hands were up, palm out. “Steady on. The hit on your girl’s been called off. Of course you probably already figured that out, since she’s no longer a threat to anyone. I’m just here to talk.”

“How the fuck did you get in here?”

Celia was wondering the same thing herself. The magical wards and protections around this club were pretty formidable.

She pulled on her pajamas and grabbed Evan’s sweatpants from the floor. She handed them to him as Hawk reached inside his pocket, slowly, and held out something for the two of them to look at.

It appeared to be nothing more than a small chunk of obsidian, but she could feel the power emanating from it. “That must have cost a fortune,” she said, knowing the price of a charm like that on the black market. There were very few witches or spell casters with enough power to make that kind of object—and even fewer who would sell one to a vampire.

“You can have it,” he said. “The magic will wear off by sunrise.”

Evan pulled his sweatpants on, never taking his eyes off Hawk. “Somehow I doubt you paid that much for a charm just to get you in here.”

“True. I was somewhere else before I came here. That’s what I need to talk to you about.” His eyes went to Celia. “Both of you, if that’s all right.”

“You could have called, mate. You didn’t need to break the fucking window.”

“I wasn’t sure you’d see me unless I…dropped in. And I wanted to give the redhead a chance to vet me.”

Celia frowned. “Vet you?”

“Yeah. You can cast a truth spell, can’t you?”

“Yes, but I’m not powerful enough to do it without the subject’s consent.”

“Well, I consent. I don’t have time to waste convincing you to trust me. I need…” He hesitated. “I need your help.”

Celia looked at Evan, and he looked back at her. After a moment he shrugged. “Go ahead, if you’re willing. I must admit I’m curious. I’ve known Hawk Blakestone a good many decades and he’s never asked for help before. I wouldn’t mind knowing what’s brought it on now.”

Celia nodded. “All right.”

Hawk met her eyes. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “I’m grateful you’re willing to hear me out, considering.”

“Considering you tried to kill me a month ago?”

He smiled a little. “Yeah. Considering that.”

“I don’t think you wanted to.”

“No. But I would have.”

She shook her head. “I’m not so sure about that. Evan told me a little bit about you, Hawk. He said you were the most feared assassin in the vampire underworld—and that you’d never killed an innocent. You were hired to kill me, but you didn’t. Instead you went to whoever hired you and came up with that deal to save my life.”

“I would have killed you if you hadn’t taken the deal—and if the client hadn’t called off the hit.”

“Maybe…or maybe not. I guess we’ll never know.”

He looked at her curiously. “Is that why you’re willing to listen to me now? Because you think I wouldn’t have killed you if it came down to it?”

“That—and the fact that curiosity is my besetting sin. Like Evan, I want to know what’s brought you here.”

Something flickered in his eyes. “One of your kind, actually.”

“There, see? Now I’m even more curious.” She turned to Evan. “Why don’t you take Hawk downstairs, and give me a few minutes to get dressed. I’ll be down soon with my spell book.”

Evan’s eyes went to the marks on her neck, fading already into a barely perceptible scar. As if his look were a touch, goose bumps swept over her skin.

“This wasn’t how I wanted to spend the next few hours,” he murmured.

“We’ll have time later,” she answered softly. “We’re mated, now. We’ll have time for everything.”

He smiled into her eyes. “I like the sound of that.” Then he glanced at Hawk. “Still have a taste for whiskey?”

“Hell, yes.”

“Then let’s go downstairs and give my mate her privacy.”

Chapter Five

“You look lovely. Absolutely lovely.”

Jessica met Talia’s eyes in the gilt mirror that hung in her bedroom. “I thought you were downstairs with the guests.”

“I just came up for a moment, to see if you needed anything.”

After they had returned to the mansion, her mother had sent her upstairs to freshen up. When Jessica had looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, she knew why.

Her hair looked like a rat’s nest. Her face was flushed, and there was a smudge of dirt across one cheek. Her dress was dusty and torn in two places.

Definitely not what the Fae nobles expected of North America’s princess.

Jessica sent word by one of the maids that it would be at least an hour before she came down again. She could have managed it in fifteen minutes by just redoing her hair, washing her face, and asking one of her mother’s maids do something with her dress…but the truth was, she was desperate for a shower.

No…a bath. In scented water as hot as she could stand it. She wanted to soak away the memory of everything that had happened tonight, as if that could wipe the slate clean and allow her to start over.

But as she lay back in the sunken tub, breathing in the scent of lilac and narcissus, Hawk’s face kept appearing in her mind’s eye.

Damn that vampire.

She opened her eyes and looked down at her body. Men had looked at her with desire before, but she’d never felt an answering passion of her own. She’d always felt a kinship with Artemis, moon goddess and virgin huntress, and every time she rebuffed an advance she thought of her.

Artemis had been a warrior, too. And she had never surrendered to lust.

Lust. There was no other word to describe what she’d felt for Hawk. She, Jessica Greenwood, had been overwhelmed with lust.

She had to forget it. Put it out of her mind completely. But as she stared down at herself, she couldn’t stop picturing Hawk’s hands on her. The way he’d touched her, covering her breasts with his palms.

Sharp twinges of excitement sparked through her body. She felt restless, and at the same a kind of voluptuous languor made her limbs seem heavier than usual. Slowly she raised her own hands out of the water and settled them on her breasts.

What if her mother and the prince hadn’t come along? What if she’d let him keep going?

What if she’d said yes to his outrageous proposal, there at the edge of her mother’s property?

She started to knead her breasts the way Hawk had. She moved her thumbs over her nipples and they hardened, the way they’d hardened for him.

She closed her eyes and let her head fall back.

There was a knock on the bathroom door. “Your Highness?”

Jessica sat up with a splash, her face flaming. “Yes. Come in.”

It was one of her mother’s ladies-in-waiting.

“Your Highness, the queen asked me to do your hair for you. Are you nearly through with your bath?”

Jessica was already stepping out of the tub and reaching for a towel. “Yes, thank you. And I would appreciate your help with my hair. It’s a skill I’ve never mastered.”

Now, ten minutes later, she was standing in front of her bedroom mirror with her mother at her side. Her dress had been invisibly repaired, her hair looked beautiful, and her expression was calm and cool.

Everything was exactly as it should be, and the satisfaction in her mother’s face reflected that.

“You know, Kel was very impressed with how you handled yourself during that…ordeal. And he was quite relieved when you came back safely.”

“That’s nice of him,” Jessica said drily. “But you and I both know that the ‘ordeal’ would never have happened if I hadn’t been such a fool.”

“You weren’t a fool, Jessica. You were taken in by a master manipulator.”

She couldn’t deny the truth of that. “I know.” Then she turned away from the mirror and faced her mother. “Will you tell me what the two of you were talking about?”

Talia stiffened. “That doesn’t concern you.”

In her twenty-three years, Jessica could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times she’d pushed her mother about something, or opposed her in any way. But she wasn’t willing to let go of this.

“After everything that happened tonight, I think it does concern me.”

Talia turned away and went over to one of the windows, overlooking the circular front drive.

“A few stragglers are still arriving, but most of the guests are here. We should go down to them.”

That made Jessica think of something else that bothered her. “I wish you had let me invite Liz and Celia.”

Talia turned back to face her again, probably thinking that her daughter had accepted the change in subject.

“My darling, we’ve been over this. This ball is the first time in centuries that we have welcomed one of the Dark Fae among us. Royalty have come from all over the world to meet the Prince and to congratulate you on your engagement. There simply isn’t room in the house to invite everyone we wish. And you must remember, however much you like them, Celia is an eighth-blood—and Elizabeth is only a sixteenth. A hundred years ago, she would never have been admitted to the Green Fae.”