The City Beneath (18 page)

A noise escaped my lips, a worse noise than pathetic wimpering. The noise was embarrassing and inappropriate, but I couldn't contain the overwhelming sensations brewing under my skin. I shivered and twitched and fisted the sheets in my hands, desperate to hold on to something solid as I drowned in his undertow.

Dominic placed a hand firmly on the other side of my face to immobilize my neck while he worked, and I squirmed beneath him. His shoulders were hard and ridged with beautifully smooth muscle under his torn dress shirt. I vaguely realized that I wasn't fisting the sheets but rather his shirt in my hands. I should have told him to stop, that I was healed enough to survive and would get stitches if necessary. I should have at least struggled to finish the staking that Walker had attempted. I should have done a lot of things, but instead of doing what I should, I slipped my hands through the tears of his tattered dress shirt. I scraped my nails down the smooth ridges of back muscle. I reveled in the rattling, tormented vibrations that rumbled from Dominic's chest, and the twitch of his own muscles beneath my hands.

I felt Dominic's tongue lick over the healed wound on my neck and realized that my skin was mended. He was simply licking and sucking at the scar. Something touched the back of my hand. He detached my grip from his shirt, lifted my palm to his lips, and licked over that wound until it healed, as well. I'd been so consumed by his touch that I'd forgotten the cut on my palm. I'd likely smeared blood on the sheets, his shirt, and myself, and I hadn't noticed or cared.

The sensations eventually dulled until only the faint pulse of unsatisfied, lingering desire remained. I trembled from wanting him, feeling desperate for more of his touch and ashamed for feeling that way. If I was honest with myself, if I felt past the expected emotions of shame and disgust and fear, I could admit that I wanted him, all of him, inside of me to finish what he'd started.

I took a deep, shuddering breath as he pulled away. His face was fully elongated into the muzzle he wore when he fed, his mouth coated from cheek to cheek in my blood. I felt sickened by him and by my own feelings.

“I can feel it, too,” he murmured, his voice strangely civilized despite the animal-like distortion of his mouth.

I looked away. “Why did you heal me like that?”

Dominic took my chin in his hand and forced me to face him. “I will always be there to heal you.”

“This was different,” I said, ignoring the disturbing infinite in that sentence. “You took pleasure in healing me this time.”

“Healing you is always my pleasure,” Dominic said, a wide grin spreading across his animal-like features. “But I healed you the way I have always healed you. Nothing changed, except perhaps your feelings toward me. You desire me now.”

“You did something different,” I insisted.

“Tell yourself whatever lies allow you to face yourself in the mirror, but the truth is that I did nothing more than heal you. Whatever you felt—whatever I felt—during the healing, was entirely our own feelings.”

“I don't believe you.” My body was trembling. I could feel the shiver of my shoulder against the cold, unmovable stillness of his body.

He shook his head, looking vaguely disappointed. “Believe what you want. I thought you were in the business of finding and spreading truth, but maybe I was wrong.”

My temper burst through my shock and doused the trembling. “My
business
is news. To keep people aware of—”

“And yet, you are not aware of your own feelings.”

“I—”

Dominic placed a finger over my lips. The strength evidenced in the pressure of that single finger stopped me midbreath. “I'll leave you tonight, whole and healthy and otherwise untouched despite all you've done, if you grant me a favor.”

“A favor?” I asked.

“I want you to look into my eyes, and control my mind like you did earlier tonight. Entrance me like I've entranced you.”

I blinked. “Why would you want me to do that? I thought you were furious with me for controlling your mind.”

“I'm delighted that you have that ability. In all my long life, I've never crossed a night blood who displayed such power. You are a wonder, Cassidy, an absolute wonder, and the more I come to know you, the more convinced I am of your purpose and of your place with me in my coven. I was only furious that you were able to use this power on me.” He smirked mirthlessly, and with the extended muzzle, his mouth looked even more feral. “So think of this as a self-evaluation. Humor me, and entrance me one more time. If you can.”

“And you'll simply leave afterward?” I asked doubtfully.

“I swear to you by the sun that I will leave afterward,” he answered dramatically.

“And not turn, harm, or otherwise touch Walker, either.”

Dominic narrowed his eyes.

“Those are my conditions. You must simply leave this apartment directly following your ‘self-evaluation,'” I proposed.

“He doesn't deserve immunity from me.” He studied me a moment as if considering his words before he spoke. Finally, he sighed and said, “You do realize that slapping a makeshift bandage over a serious neck wound and shooting an IV in your arm wouldn't have saved you,” Dominic said, slipping the knife of doubt between my ribs quickly and deeply, all the more devastating for its truth. “He simply patched you up to survive long enough to bait me, and he put your health and safety on the line to do it.”

“So you've mentioned multiple times,” I bit out. “That's between him and me.”

“And what is between you and me?” he asked.

Nothing I want
, I thought, but I countered, “You'll earn a sliver of my trust if you keep your word.”

Dominic hesitated a moment before finally nodding. “Done.”

“Swear like you did last time,” I insisted. “Swear by the sun.”

“Smart girl,” Dominic said, grinning. “I swear by the sun that I will leave tonight without having turned, harmed, or otherwise touched you or Ian Walker.”

“All right.” I took a deep breath, feeling as safe as I could under the circumstances.

Dominic leaned closer. I could feel the movement of his breath over my face as he spoke. “I don't want a paltry command, like ‘stay where you are' this time. I want something real. Something powerful. Command me to do something I would never willingly do.”

I thought for a long, quiet moment. I envisioned our few encounters: Dominic biting my neck, sucking my blood, licking my wounds, and burning himself on silver just to prove a point. It seemed to me like he'd willingly do just about anything except walk in sunlight. “Can you give me an example?”

His eyes roamed over my face and body as he thought.

“Anything involving my body isn't an option. Think of something else.”

Dominic shrugged. “I would willingly do all those things anyway.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Tell me to stake myself,” he said.

I stared at him, not sure I'd heard him correctly. “What?”

“Command me to take this stake”—he held out the stake in his hand—“and stab myself in the heart with it.”

I opened my mouth, but it took me a moment to speak. “But you'll die, won't you?”

“We shall see.” Dominic smirked. “Go on. Command me. You've already sworn that you would.”

I blew out a long breath. “Right.”

I locked eyes with Dominic and gazed deep inside his soul. “Dominic Lysander,” I said, and I felt the instant connection between our minds, as if the nerves and synapses that fired in mine were also suddenly firing in his. The last time I'd linked our minds, I could feel his shock and anger and bone fear. This time, I could only feel anticipation. “Stab yourself in the heart with the stake in your hand. Now.”

My command travelled between us as fast as thought, but as usual with anything involving vampires, Dominic was faster. The moment I uttered my command, Dominic constructed a defense against it. I couldn't discern what was between us, only that our bond was blocked like it hadn't been last time.

When my command hit his defense, I could finally envision what he'd constructed: a mirror. The command reflected off the mirror protecting his mind, and without his speed or mental defenses, I couldn't defend myself against my own command any more than I could defend myself against his. The command hit me.

Both my hands reached out of their own volition, grabbed the wooden stake from Dominic's hands, and tried to plunge its tip into my own chest.

Fighting the urge to stake myself was impossible; my muscles couldn't move faster than neurological synapses, and my synapses had already staked my heart. The spear was unbelievably sharp and split my skin easier than I would have thought possible. I screamed; the pain was sudden and shocking. I couldn't believe that after everything I'd witnessed and struggled through and survived, that I would die by my own hand.

Dominic placed a hand over both of mine, stopping me from stabbing myself further. Only the tip of the stake had pierced a superficial layer of skin, so even as he held my actions at bay, my arms still strained to finish the command. Blood trickled down between my breasts and stained my already hopelessly stained silky dress shirt.

“I want you to remember this moment,” Dominic said, looking utterly smug. “What you are thinking and feeling is the fate you would have given me.”

“How?” Scalding tears flooded my eyes. I swallowed a sob as they burned and constricted my throat. “How did you do that? You reflected our connection.”

Dominic leaned mere inches over me and licked the tears from my face. I cringed away from him.

“It's a power I've always had, but haven't put to use lately. I certainly hadn't thought to need it in defense of you,” Dominic whispered. “You could see the mirror when your command reflected?”

I nodded.

“Lovely.” Dominic rested his cheek against my temple and breathed in the scent of my hair. “You are simply lovely.”

My arms were trembling and burning from the strain of trying to pull the stake into my heart.

“I'm going to save you from yourself, but I want your promise that you'll remember this moment and note my favorable actions when you remember it. I want you to promise me like I promised by the final certainty of sunlight,” Dominic commanded. “And in return, I will never again control your mind, if you never again attempt to control mine. We will trust one another.”

“Okay.” I swallowed, sweating bullets from the strain in my arms. “I swear to remember this moment and your favorable actions.”

Dominic raised his eyebrows. “And?”

“And?” I blinked. “I don't understand.”

“I swore by the sun, my final and certain death, making my oath final and certain. You must do the same.”

“Seriously,” I said, trying to think past the twitching and burning in my biceps. “Something final and certain?”

He nodded.

I gritted my teeth. “I swear by the final, certain passage of time that I will remember this moment and your favorable actions.”

Dominic smiled broadly, and this time, despite the blood and slight extension of his mouth, he was almost handsome by the joy that radiated from it. “Very well.”

He leaned down over me, the stake like a promise between us, and kissed me. His lips were soft and sensually urging, waiting for me to respond like before. I'd have preferred that the connection between us be a fluke. I didn't want to feel the heat that sparked again, and I didn't want to enjoy the rhythm and cant of his lips and tongue. I shouldn't have angled my head to the side to deepen the kiss or felt so sizzling under his movement and weight, but I did. The heat pulsed and swirled around us in escalating momentum. Even after his lips parted from mine and he stared down at me—a deep wonder, almost fear, shining in his gaze—the heat continued to swirl and pulse.

I wondered what he had to fear. I couldn't imagine anything between us that could frighten this creature, but as I breathed heavily, both from his kiss and from keeping my own instincts to deepen and further the kiss at bay, terror washed over me. I wanted him. More deeply rooted than my instinct to live, when Dominic touched me, I unfathomably wanted more. I bit my lip to keep myself in check, and Dominic's gaze darkened.

He leaned close, his mouth against the shell of my ear. “Have a good night, my lovely Cassidy DiRocco.”

Dominic flew from the bed and out the window in a blur of windswept speed, taking the spear with him. The window slammed shut behind him.

My empty fists pounded into my chest, completing the motion of spearing my heart. I fell backward, limp onto my mattress and gasping in grateful exhaustion that I had survived.

Walker blinked slowly. His gaze sharpened as his mind once again took control of his body, and he snapped back into himself.

“Son of a bitch!” Walker spat. He ran to the window and pounded his fist on the frame. The wood splintered and pieces rained over the floor, but Dominic was long gone. It had only been a moment, but with Dominic's speed, he'd likely already returned to the coven.

For all of Dominic's faults, and they were many and egregious, he obviously cared for the prosperous existence of his kind and himself. He was consistent. As much as Walker claimed that we couldn't believe the vampires, any vampire, he was making it very difficult for me to believe in him. He claimed to hunt vampires to protect humans, but the fact was that Walker ran to the window to confront Dominic rather than to the bed to check on me. He cared more about killing vampires than he did about protecting humans.