Into the Darkness (14 page)

and red bell peppers and the subtle scent of cayenne for her

to dip the meat.

Finger food—playful food.

She swirled a finger in the hot cheese and brought it to her

mouth. “Are you sure you’re not hungry? I’ll feed you.”

His lips thinned, his defiance revealed in the straight, rigid

lines of his body.

She shrugged. “I’m famished.” She popped a piece of the

meat into her mouth and chewed, closing her eyes to savor

it. “You know,” she said around the mouthful, “I’m as much

at their mercy as you are . . . well, except for the chains. You

could be a little nicer.”

Rene’s breath huffed, and he refused to speak.

Hurt mixed with anger at his rejection had her thinking

that perhaps he needed reminding just how vulnerable he

was. She placed the tray near the bed and climbed onto the

mattress beside him.

He growled—an edgy sort of sound that only challenged

her more.

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She stuck her finger into the steamy cheese again and

brought a dollop to his nipple and rubbed over it in a small

circle.

Air hissed between his teeth. It was hot, but not hot enough

to burn his skin.

She leaned over him and lapped it away with her tongue,

finding the treat so much more delicious when flavored by his

unique taste. “Is it too hot?”

Already she could see the tension that tightened his belly

and thighs as he tried to reject her. But the little points of his

nipples—stiff and erect as her own—told her not all of him

was falling into line.

“Just try to resist me,” she said softly. She put the tray

down on the bed and picked up the pot of cheese. Then sitting cross-legged beside him, she began to paint his cock.

His shaft twitched, and his breath hitched. She guessed the

heat and the pepper must sting his most sensitive parts—but

she had his full attention now.

His cock jerked each time she trailed a finger along his

shaft. His sex expanded and straightened, pointing toward

the ceiling. As his erection grew, so did the angry tension that

flexed his powerful shoulders and chest.

She smiled at his fury and continued to work, taking her

time to stroke on the creamy treat.

When the upper part was coated, she leaned down and

licked him, from base to head—long luscious laps, eating the

cheese from him, curling her tongue around the ridged head

so as not to miss a spot.

When she tongued the tiny opening at the center, she

opened her eyes and glanced up into his face.

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He stared back, rage and naked lust warring in his gaze.

She tilted her head and used her teeth to strafe his length,

letting him see her fangs. She wanted him worried, although

she was careful not the draw blood with the razor-sharp tips.

When she reached his soft crown again, she chewed it, causing him to jerk in alarm. She drew slightly away, letting her

hair fall against his balls to tease. “You know, you really are

going to need a bath,” she said, keeping her tone lazy. “Would

you like me to do that for you, Rene?”

“Get away,” he said, his voice ragged.

“Is that really what you want?” she asked, reaching between his legs to cup his balls.

Air hissed between his teeth, again. She painted his taut

testicles with the cheese then drew them into her mouth and

suckled until his thighs trembled.

When she’d finished her snack, she released his sac and

grasped his shaft in her hand, pumping slowly up and down.

The heat of his skin and the humid moistness she’d left behind created friction that burned and had his hips rolling to

stroke his cock inside her curved palm.

Keeping her grip firm, she leaned closer to his cock, breathing in his musky scent, letting it build her hunger. “You

know you aren’t being fair to me. I’m not here willingly either. That’s your fault. You gave me to them.” She paused to

lick the crease between his thigh and scrotum. “I think you’re

lying to yourself. I think you want this.”

“Let go of me and get away,” he said from between clenched

teeth, only this time his command lacked any real fury.

She tongued his inner thigh, finding a throbbing pulse

beat. She knew precisely where to bite.

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When her teeth pierced his skin, his hips reared off the

bed. “
Merde!
God, sweet, fuck . . .”

She gripped his cock hard in her hand and continued to

slide up and down his shaft as cum spurted to stripe his belly

and her hand.

When he finished, she crawled up his body and lay over him

like a blanket, embracing his heat and his wet lies. She wrinkled her nose. “You know, you really need that bath now.”

Rene eyed this Natalie with suspicion. The scared, lonely

woman he’d comforted the night before had disappeared.

Now, a woman with a feral expression stalked him.

To her, he was nothing more than a rare steak with a dick.

He desperately needed her to remember who she was, lose

whatever power trip she was on, or he was toast. “I don’t

understand how this is happening,” he said, as she kissed

his chin and rubbed her face against his sprouting beard.

“I thought vamps were made by bein’ bitten, but you’re

transformin’ into one. Do you think it’s possible to halt the

process?”

She paused and her eyebrows rose. “Why would I want to?

I’m stronger than I was.”

“There are consequences. Do you wanna be a parasite?

You’ll have to live off blood—fresh blood. You won’t be able

to walk in daylight without the risk of fryin’.”

She shrugged and ran a finger along his lower lip. “So I’ll

learn to love moonlight. I’m stronger. I’m in control.”

The frown he aimed at her could have stripped paint, but

she smiled, confounding him.

How could he make her understand? “You control noth-116

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ing, Natalie. You can’t even keep a handle on your desire. You

fuckin’ raped me.”

“Raped?” Soft laughter gusted against his lips. Her smile

was easy, not the least ashamed. “
Maybe
at the start, but you

wanted it. You came for me.” Her eyes narrowed, and she inserted a hand between their bodies, pushing it down between

her legs. Moist, succulent sounds followed before she brought

her fingers up to paint his lips. “Wanna taste how hard you

came?”

The scent of their sex nearly undid him. However, the stubborn tilt of her chin kept him on task. “If I’d had a choice,

I never would have fucked you,” he ground out, hoping to

wound her—anything to get her off him before his dick recovered. “From the first moment I touched you, something

drew me to you. But it wasn’t natural. I’d never have chosen

to be with you.”

She flinched. He could tell his words pelted her like tiny

stones. Her eyes lost a little of their flinty spark.

“Natalie, don’t play their game,” he pleaded his case. “We

need to get out of here. I need your help to do it.”

Along with her shoulders, her gaze dropped. “Why should

I help you?”

“I saved your life.”

She blinked, as though rousing from a dream. “It’s strange.

But I almost forgot about that . . . I’m forgetting about anything . . . before.”

“It’s this place. It’s us in here together. But we have to fight

it. We have to get out.”

Her eyebrows drew together, and she shook her head.

When she rose to straddle his hips, his heart pounded. Was

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she going to take him again—because dammit, he wouldn’t

be able to fight her allure.

Instead, she slid off his body, still not meeting his gaze. “I

need a bath.”

Rene gripped the chain and pulled with all his might, but

it didn’t budge.

Watching Natalie withdraw, first inside herself, then into

the bathroom ate at his gut. Not that he hadn’t meant every

word he’d said. He just wished he hadn’t hurt her.

She’d started this journey as an innocent. Even now, after

everything she’d done to him, he knew instinctively she

hadn’t any more choice than he did.

However, time was running against him. The longer he

spent in her company, the more certain he became that he

was a dead man if he didn’t find a way out.

First, he had to get out of these cuffs. Trussed up like a

Thanksgiving turkey, he was at a decided disadvantage every

time Natalie’s libido kicked into high gear.

He had to figure out a way to keep her far away.

The sound of running water slowed, and he could imagine

her lying in the tub, water covering her body to her shoulders, the scent of perfumed bubble bath hanging in the air.

His body hardened, as he imagined how sweet she’d smell,

warm and moist coming from the water.

Lord, he couldn’t seem to veer from the topic of sex any

more than she could. Only, she didn’t have any incentive not

to follow her hunger. He did. He didn’t want to die.

Maybe they intended for her to turn him like the poor bastards who hung out in the blood banks just outside the French

Quarter. He’d watched Chessa stop for a bite on a couple of

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occasions when her hunger made her too grumpy and edgy to

be safe to be around.

She’d disappear into one of the seedy backrooms for a

while, only to return with a haunted look on her face.

For the first time, he wondered how Chessa had become

one of the walking dead. Funny, he’d never thought to ask.

Had she been like Natalie? Alone and confused? Hunted by

unnatural creatures and not understanding the changes occurring inside her?

If he ever got out of here, he’d make damn sure he knew.

Natalie sank below the surface of the water and stared

through the water at the ceiling. Maybe if she held her breath

long enough, she’d just fade away.

She’d forgone the array of bath salts that lined the ledge

next to the large claw-foot tub. She didn’t want cloying scents

to lead her thoughts down another tempting path.

All the changes occurring inside her hadn’t made a damn

bit of difference in her life. She was still alone.

Rene was right. She needed to get out of here. Return to

the French Quarter and her search for her mother.

When she’d first discovered evidence of her adoption amid

the papers in her father’s lock box, she’d felt betrayed somehow.

Like her whole life had been a lie. Neither her birth mother’s

nor her father’s name appeared on the document. However,

she knew where the adoption had been recorded—New Orleans. She also knew her true birth date. With those clues to

work with, she’d come here determined to find her family.

But now, knowing what little she did about herself, she realized the Lamberts had likely protected her all along. The

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mother she thought had abandoned her at birth might actually have done her a favor.

The menace stalking her in Memphis had followed her here.

How much sooner might it have found her if she hadn’t been

hidden amid the normal trappings of a human family?

Her lungs burned and finally she gripped the curved edge of

the tub and hauled herself up. She didn’t want to die. She still had

a purpose. Two actually, if she counted thwarting her stalker.

She’d like to forget him. For long periods over the last

twenty hours, she almost had. The muzziness that had followed the blonde woman’s suggestions dissipated, and she realized she might have been under some hypnotic spell—the

same as she’d received the night she’d been taken by the dark

Frenchman from Rene’s bedroom.

Their low, seductive urgings had fed right into her fantasy

of having Rene for her own.

With Rene, she felt safe. Even chained, he radiated strength

of will and a steely confidence. She’d like to aspire to an ounce

of his courage.

But he didn’t want her—didn’t want the trouble that having her would entail. He thought her a freak of nature. A

parasite, he’d said.

Well, he needn’t worry again that she’d drain him dry. If

she had to suck on steak for the rest of their imprisonment,

she’d give him what he wanted—his freedom and his life.

She owed him that much.

Rene didn’t realize he’d dozed until the mattress sank beside

him. He jerked awake to find Natalie kneeling beside him, a

basin of steaming water held between her hands.

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One glance and he knew something had changed.

Gone was the sly, sensuous creature that had tempted him

beyond his ability to resist.

A subdued aura of sadness clung to Natalie, as her glance

met his then darted away. “I know you’re going to object, but

let me do this for you. Afterward, I’ll see about someone helping you relieve yourself.”

Her blush confirmed that whatever had had a grip on her

was gone, at least for now.

“I’d like that,” he said softly. “Whatever was in that cheese

is still burning my skin.”

Her lips curved at the corners. “Cayenne pepper.”

Relieved to see that hint of smile, he drawled, “That wasn’t