Tempt (Ava Delaney #3) (4 page)

“
Hey, Ava.” Carl sounded chirpy on the phone, and I faltered,
wondering if maybe I was mistaken and Peter had been right after
all.

“
I was just calling to see how you’re doing. Any
news?”

“
Me? Nah, nothing. Working hard, living clean. All that good
stuff. But listen, I’ve been reading up on the whole Nephilim
thing. Maybe you should come over one morning and have a
look.”

“
Yeah, maybe.” My heart sank. I had been hoping he’d forget
about it, but Carl sucked up knowledge like a sponge. Obviously, he
was going out of his way to learn as much about my world as he
could.

Once he
learned I had a name, he had gone into overdrive reading about it.
It made me uncomfortable, for no real reason. I had always wanted
to know more about myself, and had been given the opportunity, but
suddenly my heart wasn’t in it anymore. Having to learn about
myself in a book felt weird.

Carl and
I chatted for a few more minutes until he had to serve a customer,
and I had to get ready for my first training session with Peter.
The Council had stopped trying to find me trainers or sparring
partners. Apparently, the Nephilim-ish titles came with serious
respect, and although the Council had tried to contain it, word
spread fast. It didn’t have much impact on Peter, but I knew all I
had to do was act more than a little vampire-like for him to run
scared, too.

I knew
the Council wanted me trained and fighting-fit, but I preferred my
way. No rules, no plan, just keeping on and avoiding death for as
long as possible. Actual plans made me panic and jump at whatever
my instincts decided felt right. I had lasted long enough to
realise I couldn’t force the way my brain worked.

All
morning, my stomach turned at the thought of being in such close
contact with Peter, and I found myself washing down my widest
kitchen counter in fourteen swipes. Any more and I had to start
over. It took five goes to perfect the ritual, but the safe numbers
calmed me enough so I could leave for Peter’s house.

Clutching the cross hanging from my neck, I decided I would
be the one to make Peter think twice about the training session,
but when he opened his front door in his training gear, my mouth
watered instantaneously.

“
You made it!” He sounded surprised, and I supposed I couldn’t
blame him. I hadn’t been quite there for a while. Phoning
everything in, more like. I wasn’t sure what was piquing my
interest all of a sudden. It was as though I had an aerial that
tingled whenever something was going on, and I felt like something
was going on all around me.

Eddie
had warned that my natural ability to soak up emotional energy
might affect my moods, and that paranoid spike might simply boil
down to nervousness from Becca-related fear. Whatever it was, my
instincts were chomping at the bit to find out more.

“
I have a basement.” Peter rubbed the back of his neck
sheepishly. “Built special. Don’t worry. It’s not
creepy.”

I raised
my eyebrows but followed him underground. I had never been in a
basement apart from the one where Maximus had slept. The one where
Maximus had died. Basements had never been common in Ireland, and I
wondered what kind of builder concentrated on creating
them.

Peter’s
basement was a little creepy, but still miles better than the last
one I’d visited. It was well-lit and had gym mats on the floor,
plus some equipment.

I gazed
at the mish-mash, bemused. “Why?” I asked, gesturing around the
room.

Peter
shrugged, his cheeks pink. “Seemed like a good idea at the time. I
was angry, kept breaking things in the gym, had to deal with
trainers telling me to take it easy. Figured it would be easier to
take the real deal back here where I could work in peace. It’s my
way of relaxing, I suppose.”

“
And there I was thinking your way of relaxing was killing
something. All right then, let’s get on with it. See how long this
takes.”

He made
a face and began warming up. I sat on a mat and watched him,
enjoying his flexing muscles more than I would ever admit. He took
off his t-shirt to wrap something around his waist, letting me get
a better view of his tattoos and scars. I’d known about the tattoos
on his wrists and biceps, but he had what looked like pentacle-type
symbols on his shoulder blades and four deep scars etched across
his back like something had tried to claw out his spine.

He
turned to grab some tape, and I spotted a scorpion on his hip,
flames on his rib cage, and some text over his heart. I tried not
to stare too hard. Something about Peter had always appealed to me,
and my hormones had been out of whack, so I was suddenly
overwhelmed with the sense that I might be the one bowing out of
the training session first.

Peter
threw his shirt back on and caught me staring at him. “Aren’t you
going to get ready?” he asked, sounding surprised.

Looking down at myself, I could only shrug. I hadn’t even
bothered to take off my coat. “I
am
ready. This is what I wear when I’m outside, so
makes sense to train in it, right?”

He shook
his head and muttered under his breath. “Whatever you say, Ava. All
right, first of all, we’ll do some basic one-on-one, see if we can
pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses.” He moved closer to me,
gesturing wildly. My eyes kept tracing the movement of the cross on
each of his wrists as if they were hypnotising me. “I’ve been
watching you, so I think I can see where you might need help, but
we’ll figure it out on the mats.”

I opened
my mouth to make a smartarse remark about him watching me, but all
I made was a heavy gasping sound as Peter rammed his shoulder into
my chest, winding me.

I lay on
the ground and choked for a few minutes. “What. The Hell,” I hissed
when I could breathe again.

Peter
grinned and plonked himself down next to me. “You take your eye off
the ball. That’s your biggest problem. Then you look surprised when
someone else takes the lead. You’re too easily distracted, and your
biggest physical weakness is when they grapple you, so don’t let it
get that far. You need to attack first. That’s where your strength
lies. Becca’s intimidated by you, for whatever reason. Use that
against her. Don’t wait for her to get brave. Don’t let her see you
hesitate. Don’t let her think ahead. When you’re impulsive, you
make mistakes.”

“
Says you. I’ve heard all about your
impulsive
actions. Gotten quite a
reputation for yourself.”

He
looked smug at the mention of his reputation. I lay on the ground
longer than necessary because I didn’t want to wrestle with him,
not if it meant feeling the heat of his skin on mine. I shook those
thoughts out of my mind and tried to concentrate. I hated when he
was right, and I was definitely easily distracted by him, so I
counted his heartbeats in a bid to calm myself down.

Peter
talked and talked about what moves to make, how to defend myself, a
million and one things that I could remember perfectly as long as
nobody was hitting me. He made me take off my jacket and warm up.
Peter was in shape. I might be strong, but I wasn’t as fit as I
would like. So when he forced me onto his cross-trainer, I felt as
if I might die any second. I had the awful feeling that he was
trying to pack as much as possible into one session in case I never
returned. If I had to keep moving, I might not have the energy to
leave at all.

“
All right, come on. Onto the mats. Let’s see if you remember
anything I said.”

Sweat
rolled down my back as I eyed Peter’s tattoos. The ones on display
anyway.

“
What do they—” My words were cut off by Peter tackling me to
the ground. I tried to remember everything he’d told me, but I was
too conscious of his body against mine. Too aware of his pulse
against my skin. Distracted, I forgot to count, and he pinned me
easily.

He
jumped up and circled me with more than a hint of swagger in his
step. “Come on, you’re not even trying! I’m just a human. What if a
vampire did that to you?”

I stood,
annoyed with myself, and tried to shake it off. His heart pumped
with adrenalin. I could hear it as though my head lay against his
chest. I concentrated on counting his heartbeat to distract myself
from the testosterone in the air. It didn’t work very
well.

“
Let’s go, Ava. I’m a vampire, ready to kill you. I won’t
leave you alone until everyone you know is dead. What are you going
to do?”

He ran
at me again, but I was ready. I tripped him, shoved his shoulder to
knock him sideways, and planted him on the ground, sitting on top
of him to pin him.

“
That’s more like it,” he said, his hazel eyes holding my
stare. The heat of his skin melted into mine, and a trail of goose
bumps raised on my skin. I eased off my grip as my throat dried,
and that oh-so-familiar ache returned. He grabbed my arms and threw
me under him, pinning me down and holding my arms above my head
with a self-satisfied grin on his face.

“
You didn’t hold your concentration. Again! What’s the
problem?”

I gave
what could only be described as the shriek of an over-excited
teenage girl. “I’m not used to the heat, all right? I don’t touch
people. It makes me nervous, so get off!” I used all of my strength
to push him off me and got to my feet, tapping my fingers against
my wrist rapidly.

“
I’m sorry, but you have to get past this. Hey, you’re doing
it again,” he said, referring to my habit of mouthing the numbers I
multiplied in my head.

“
I know!” I wanted to pull out my hair. Anything to feel in
control again.

He held
up his hands, taking a step back. “Relax. Look, we’ll work on other
stuff, okay? No more pinning, I promise.”

I
nodded, feeling more stupid than ever. Peter tried his best to
teach me how to protect myself in an actual fight, but I was so
stiff and awkward and panicky about my reactions to him that it
didn’t work very well.

“
Ava, what’s the problem? This should be fun for
you.”

“
I’m sorry,” I blurted. “I’ve been thirsty lately. I’m afraid
I’ll get too close to you.” I didn’t add what else might be a
problem. Him thinking I wanted to drink his blood was way better
than him knowing I fancied the arse off him, but my stupid hormones
couldn’t handle it.

His face
paled, but he held himself together pretty well. “I know you. You
won’t hurt me. If you feel… funny, just yell ‘stop,’ and I’ll back
off. Deal?”

I
nodded, knowing exactly what it took for him to act so cool about
it. I was a huge reminder of the things he hated, yet he was
willing to get over it, or at least try. I was back to wanting to
tuck myself under his arm where it was nice and safe. He looked
wary, but he came at me as though I hadn’t spoken of my thirst. I
relaxed and managed to avoid being put in a headlock or flung to
the ground.

“
Much better,” he said, panting, then grappled me again. The
sparring helped. With my pent-up aggression and my confidence in my
abilities. I didn’t scream once. Peter didn’t hold back, and
slowly, everything I was feeling melted away with each strike I
landed. I felt lighter and lighter as time went on, a huge contrast
to the moping I’d been doing at home.

Sweating
and claiming he ached, Peter eventually called a halt to the
training session, but I was majorly pumped. Once Peter let me at
his punching bag, it was as if I had thumped my stress away, yet
somehow soaked up new energy at the same time.

“
I feel amazing,” I said, giddy at how good it felt to move
around so much. And perhaps Eddie was right. Maybe getting used to
being around humans helped because the thirst wasn’t bothering me
anymore. Pity I couldn’t say the same about my ridiculously
inconvenient attraction to Peter.

“
Glad one of us does.” Peter stretched his arm carefully.
“Where are you getting all of your energy? The harder you worked,
the more hyped you became.”

“
I don’t know. I just feel good. Better than good, actually.
Maybe I needed the exercise.” I grinned, mostly relieved I hadn’t
made a complete fool of myself from being so close to
him.

He
raised his eyebrows, probably bemused by the change in my
demeanour. He was different, too, seeming more comfortable.
Fighting together had brought us closer in some ways. Being distant
with someone who had saved your life a couple of times was
hard.

“
Think I can handle a vampire?”

“
You know how to handle a vampire. You just need to get your
head straight. You have natural instinct on your side, but you also
have self-control.”

I raised
my eyebrows. Self-control hadn’t yet showed up on my list of
skills.

“
Seriously,” he insisted. “You hold back a little, even when
you’re attacked for real. You don’t lose it. Vampires completely
lose the plot.”

“
Is that a good thing?” I wasn’t convinced.

“
Of course it is. It means you’re thinking. And it means you
always have a little extra juice up your sleeve when you need it.
Hey.” He lifted my chin. “You’re going to be okay.” I held his gaze
for a little too long. He backed off, just as I knew he would.
Comfortable as we were, some things would always be a step too far.
For either of us. For a million reasons.