Night Walker (32 page)

“Then I’ll die in your arms.”

He smiled and kissed her hair, lifting his head to take one last look at her beautiful face. She was already lost to the sun, but the soft smile on her lips warmed his cold body.

“You have my heart forever, my love.”

His head settled back on the pillow, his arms holding her close as the sun stole his final breath from his body.

248 LISA KESSLER

Chapter Thirty-One

Kate shivered, her heart picking up a slow rhythm. The echo of a lone wolf’s mournful howl haunted her as her eyes fluttered open.

Seeing Calisto leaning up on his elbow, looking down at her with his lips curved in a sensuous smile, banished the residual loneliness of her dream.

She reached up to cup his cheek. “This is much better than waking up to a note that you had out-of-town business.” She pulled him down to kiss her lips and murmured softly, “I’m going to like waking up with you.”

Calisto smiled and nibbled at her lower lip. “This is the first time I have ever awakened to find a beautiful woman in my bed.”

“Ever?” Kate arched her brow.

“
Si.
When I was mortal I spent my life as a priest until I met you.

We met in the shadows, but we never got the chance to drift off in each other’s arms. The day I confessed and gave up my vows was the day Tala... ” His words drifted off as he bent to kiss her again. “Waking to see your face is the greatest gift I have ever received.” Before she could reply, Calisto got out of bed and slid one arm under her neck and the other under her knees. Kate shivered, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Where are we going?”
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Calisto smiled, carrying her from the room. “I have a hot bath ready for you.”

Kate peered around behind them and cringed, closing her eyes.

The bed was a mess, the white sheets stained and rumpled. Calisto hadn’t been kidding the night before when he told her that her body would die while they slept. No wonder she’d felt wet and cold when she woke up.

“I did all that last night?”

Calisto kissed her forehead as he lowered her feet to the floor of his large marble bathroom. “It wasn’t you, my love. The Night Walker blood banishes all of the remains of your humanity while your body is transformed.”

She wanted to crawl under a rock. Instead, she stepped down into the sunken tub. The hot water felt good on her cool skin. “I’ll clean it up. I don’t want you to have to.”

“Look at me.” She met his eyes and he lowered his voice. “Please do not be embarrassed by this change. It is like being born again to the night. Nothing more.” He kissed her. “Rest here while I clean up and feed.”

Kate settled into the steaming water, watching Calisto’s naked form disappear into their bedroom.

Their room.

She rested her head back against the marble tub and lifted one hand out of the lavender scented bubbles. Her skin didn’t look any different. She spread her fingers, turning her hand back and forth before letting it slide back into the warm water. Last night seemed like a bad dream. Under the water, her fingertips slid along her abdomen, searching for the deep cut Jose had made, but her skin felt smooth. She reached up to her shoulder for the place he’d stabbed her, but again, the wound wasn’t even tender.

Was she really immortal now? It seemed impossible. She closed her eyes, drifting off in the warm bathwater.

She sat up when Calisto returned. He stripped the sheets from the bed and bagged them. She tried not to remember the death she’d seen in the bed. Blood, vomit, and she didn’t even want to think about 250 LISA KESSLER

what else. Her wounds were healed, and the fact that she could hear something as soft as sheets sliding off the mattress was evidence that her hearing was enhanced now too.

What else could she do?

Calisto?

Instantly, he leaned against the doorway. His hair hung loose around his face, and the view only got better as her eyes slid down his muscular frame. He wore a pair of jeans and nothing else.

“You heard me.” Kate slid a little lower in the tub.

He nodded, the corner of his mouth curving into a smile. “Of course I did. Your mind reached out to mine.” Kate gnawed at her bottom lip. “Could you hear everything else I was thinking?”

“I could, but I have always respected your privacy.” Calisto stripped off his jeans and stepped into the spacious bathtub behind her. He lifted her onto his lap, sliding his arms around her waist.

“Unless your mind reaches for mine, your thoughts are your own.” Tipping her head back to look at him, she smiled. “That’s probably a good thing. I had some pretty impure thoughts going.” He held her tighter and kissed along her shoulder. “Sounds very...

intriguing.”

She turned around to face him, her legs straddling his waist.

Calisto claimed her lips, and she moaned into the kiss. His tongue tangled with hers, teasing her with the faint taste of blood. Something foreign stirred inside of her, animalistic and urgent.

Kate broke the kiss, gasping for breath as she rested her forehead against his. She wet her lips. “I’m really thirsty. I think I need some water.”

He held her a little tighter, kissing her hair. “It is not water you thirst for.”

She looked up at him with a crease in her brow. “What are you saying?”

Calisto caressed her cheek. “You are a Night Walker now. To live you must feed on life.”

She pulled back from his arms. “You make it sound noble, but
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what you’re really trying to tell me is that I need to drink people’s blood. That I’m… thirsty for it.” She shook her head, her eyes downcast. “I don’t think I could bite someone. I can’t imagine drinking... ” She shuddered, her voice fading away.

He grasped her chin, tilting her head so their gazes met. “I am sorry, Kate. I wish there had been some other way. I never wanted this life for you.”

Guilt and worry filled his gaze.

“This isn’t your fault. I didn’t want to leave you. I understood what you were doing, and I’ll deal with all of this. I will.” Somehow.

She pressed her lips together, fighting the hunger brewing inside of her. Though she tried to imagine biting someone, she could only envision herself in a cape with fangs. Ridiculous. She grinned. “I don’t think I’m ready for blood-sucking vampire lessons just yet.” Calisto rolled his eyes and laughed. When he relaxed against her, she traced his chest muscles. “We are not blood-sucking vampires,” he said.

“I know.” She rubbed her pelvis against his and kissed him. “I just wanted to see you smile again.”

Calisto bit her lower lip lightly, teasing her new heightened senses.

“How did I live so long without your kisses?” She parted her lips, and her tongue tangled with his. He cupped the back of her head and moaned into the kiss. She shifted her hips, and he pressed against her opening.

He thrust up, sinking himself deep inside of her. She dropped her head back with a gasp. Calisto bent to take her exposed breast into his mouth, enjoying the way her fingernails dug into his shoulders.

He licked over her nipple slowly, slid his hands down her wet body, gripped her waist, ground against her, and claimed her.

The candlelight flickered around them, bathing them in a warm glow as the water teased her cool, sensitive skin. All of her senses seemed more acute, more intense. She could feel every sensation, every curve, every inch of his body caressing hers. He thrust into her, slowly at first, his eyes locked with hers.

Staring into his eyes, she felt her mind instinctively slip into 252 LISA KESSLER

his. She felt his heated desire and love for her, his concern over her transformation, and finally...

Before she could identify the emotion, his mind was closed to hers.

Kate brought her hands up from his shoulders to cup his face.

“No more secrets. Please, Calisto.”

His thrusts slowed and his eyes sparkled. Something was happening with his eyes. They were changing. Her heart pounded. His dark eyes now glowed crimson. She’d never seen anything like it, but she wasn’t afraid.

“What’s wrong?”

He wet his lips. “Nothing is wrong.”

“But your eyes.” She searched his face for any other changes.

He brought a hand up from her hip, trailing a wet finger along the curve of her neck. “Your blood calls to me.” She turned to kiss his finger before meeting his eyes again. “Is it because I’m a Night Walker now?”

He shook his head slowly. “No. Your blood has been a temptation for me every time we made love.”

“But your eyes never changed before.”

“I was careful, hiding my true nature as best I could.” Calisto slid his hand back into her hair as he kissed her lips, and Kate couldn’t help but wonder if he had fangs now. Calisto met her eyes again. “Do I frighten you now?”

“No.” She hesitated. “Are my eyes glowing too?”

“Not yet.” Calisto wrapped his arms around her, his kiss demanding her submission. She moaned as his tongue claimed hers.

His hips worked slow and deep, rendering her incapable of coherent thought. Tilting her head, she deepened the kiss until she tasted blood.

She jerked back from the kiss, shocked to feel her pulse race at the sight of blood coloring Calisto’s lips. He reached up to wipe it away, but she caught his hand. This was the blood that saved her life and changed every part of her. She leaned forward and kissed him, her tongue tasting his lower lip.

“Did I cut you?” She whispered against his lips.

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“Yes.”

She shivered at the desire in his voice. “You liked it?” He nodded, meeting her eyes. “Very much.” His lips curved into a dangerous, sexy smile. “I have never made love with another Night Walker.”

Kate wet her lips, feeling truly desirable for the first time ever.

She didn’t know if it was because she was a Night Walker, or knowing that she’d loved Calisto for lifetimes.

At the moment, she didn’t care.

Kate smiled and leaned in close, her lips brushing against his ear.

“I have.” She drew back and rested her forehead against his with a satisfied grin. “I’ll be gentle with you.” Calisto smiled and wrapped his arms around her, fusing their lips together. Kate clung to him, no longer sure where her body ended and Calisto’s began. Her mind slipped into his once more, and in that moment she’d never felt closer to another soul. They were one.

Almost, my love.
Calisto’s voice whispered through her mind.

Drink from me.

Kate’s heart fluttered, but he responded, slamming into her harder and faster, driving conscious thought from her mind as he kissed and nibbled his way down her neck to her shoulder. She felt his sharp teeth brush over her skin, but instead of tensing, her pulse quickened. Her skin felt hot, hungry. His lips caressed her shoulder and his mind reached out to her again.

Please Kate. Be one with me.

Kissing along the muscle of his shoulder, she surrendered herself to the passion. She sucked at his skin, her teeth teasing his flesh. One of his hands sank lower in the water, between them, stroking her and urging her even closer to the edge. With her body on fire, aching for release, she sank her teeth into his shoulder.

Lightning shot through Calisto’s body the moment Kate burst through the final barrier between their souls. The pull at his veins as she drank him into herself sent waves of hot, erotic pleasure through his entire body. He kissed along her perfect ivory shoulder until he could no longer fight the temptation.

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He moaned against her skin when he tasted her blood on his tongue. Making love to her, sharing her body, her blood, her soul, he’d never felt passion like this before. He could feel her love for him, her acceptance of their new destiny and life together. Her hunger and desire for him.

The water splashed around them, out onto the floor, but he didn’t care. He needed her now. All of her.

I’m yours.
She gasped into his mind as her body clenched around him, taking him over the edge with her. He didn’t loosen his hold on her as he kissed over his bite, watching the pinpricks close on her skin.

“And I am yours, my love.” He drew back just enough to meet her eyes. “I love you.”

She smiled, and he felt his spirit soar. “I love you too.” Kate kissed him and whispered against his lips. “Always.”
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Epilogue

The moonlight sparkled on the water. Calisto lay on the beach, leaning back on his elbows, laughing as he watched Kate practice calling fish onto the shore.

“You could help me, you know.” She grinned over her shoulder, struggling to catch the jumping fish before the tide pulled them back into the water.

“I could, but watching is much more fun.” He smiled.

She amazed him more with each passing night. Over the past two weeks she had already embraced so many changes, in her body and her mind. He tried to introduce her new powers slowly, to ease the transition, but Kate took to her newfound talents and abilities with a natural grace that astonished him.

What pleased him most, in spite of all of the changes she faced, deep down she remained the same spirit, his mortal love, Kate. The moon still shone in her eyes, and she never missed an opportunity to laugh.

And as impossible as it seemed, he loved her more with each passing night.

Kate splashed through the water, groaning as the last fish got away. “I give up!” She walked up and plopped down onto the sand 256 LISA KESSLER

beside him. “What good is using telepathy to call the fish to me if I can’t get them to stay still once they’re up on the sand?” Calisto shook his head with a smile. “I never did like fish anyway.”

“I was just practicing. I’m new to this Night Walker thing, remember?” She smiled and kissed him. “Ready to dance with me?” He raised a brow. “Are you finished calling the fish?”

“Would you stop that?”

“Stop what?” He struggled to keep from smiling.

“Answering my questions with another question.”