Consumed (15 page)

I was rapidly losing my patience with this conversation. “I can’t imagine why you’d want to work in the legion when you didn’t approve of me coming here.”

His expression hardened. “I didn’t support you coming here because I didn’t support the idea of you punishing yourself.”

“Punishing myself?” I echoed, confused.

“You blame yourself for what happened to your parents. The only thing that gave you the incentive to live was vengeance.”

Gina spoke to Ava. “Has Salem told you why he became a vampire? How badly he wanted revenge? That the reason he joined the legion was to die? To die with honour, granted. But still to die. I cannot say I’ve met many suicidal vampires.”

Shocked, I snapped, “
What
?”

“The problem was that once you had revenge,” began Will, “you lost your sense of purpose. Even though I made you one of my fighters, it didn’t help. You gradually deteriorated. Joining the legion was, in effect, a suicide mission for you.”

He and Gina were so very wrong about that. Admittedly, the matter of whether I was dead or alive had ceased to mean much back then. But I never took the easy way out of anything. I had a number of reasons for joining the legion, but killing myself wasn’t one of them.

“Threatening to cast you out of the nest was unforgivable of me,” continued Will, his tone sad. “But I hated the motivation behind your leaving and…I just wanted you to live.”

“I wasn’t suicidal,” I rumbled, “and you know it.” And the fact that he was implying it in a public place – where people were deliberately listening to the conversation – pissed me off even more.

Will held up his hands in a placatory gesture, but his satisfaction was streaming down our link. “I’m merely trying to point out that I can see this is no longer the case; that the legion has clearly been good for you.”

“No, you’re not.” Ava’s tone was no longer cheerful and breezy. It was hard and glacial. And it had our three companions blinking in surprise. It also had some of the surrounding vampires on their feet, creeping toward the table.

“E-excuse me?” stammered Will.

“You’re jealous,” accused Ava.

“Jealous?” Will scoffed. But I realised that she was right; his frustration came from the fact that he was jealous.

“You practically reek of envy. And why shouldn’t you be jealous? Here’s this guy who you Turned, took into your nest, taught control, and trained how to fight. Did he stick around? No. He took all that and he did something huge with this immortal life you gifted him with – and he did it without you. If he deserves this success, surely then the person who trained him deserves to have it too, right?” She leaned forward. “Wrong. It takes a lot more than good control and the ability to fight well to be accepted into the legion.”

Blythe cleared her throat. “Why don’t we all calm –”

Ava raised a hand. “Blythe, we’re not gonna be friends so you might as well switch off the sweetie pie act.” She looked at Gina with utter distaste. “And you…don’t you have a hole to crawl into?” Ava pushed out her chair, and I followed her lead. Before she could move to leave, however, Gina was around the table with her hand clamped around Ava’s arm, fingernails digging into the skin.

Ava effortlessly shrugged off Gina’s hand with a fancy move, and wagged her finger. “Nu-uh.”

Gina looked shocked for a moment but quickly recovered. “You think you have him, child?” A devious, spiteful grin crept onto her face. “Has he told you how far back him and I go? I was there when he was Turned. I was the first person he fed from. His first sexual experience as a vampire happened with me.”

Ah, shit. “Shut the fuck up.” I planted myself between the two females, as if I could protect Ava from Gina’s words.

“Good in bed, isn’t he?” Gina’s devious grin widened. “There’s nothing better than when Salem lets go in bed. But I suppose you wouldn’t know that. He probably has to watch his strength with you.”

That would have been true if Ava’s gift didn’t give her a strength that matched mine, but obviously I had no intention of discussing our sex life with anyone else.

“Does it hurt you that you’ll never have all of him, child? Does it hurt to know he’ll always hold back with you – physically and emotionally?”

I turned to Ava, intending to lead her away. Her lips began to tremble, and her little face scrunched up in agony. “It hurts so badly.” She threw her arms open wide at Gina. “Hug me.” I’d honestly never seen anyone back away as quickly as Gina did then. Ava exchanged a heart-felt laugh with the vampires that had gathered around. She was still laughing when she strolled outside, shaking her head.

I looked at Will and Blythe. “We’re done.” And I meant for good, and I could see by their expressions that they knew it. “I’ve got nothing more to say to either of you.”

Anger fairly radiated from Will. “
I’m your Sire
.”

I snorted at him. “It doesn’t mean anything to you that I’m one of your vampires, so why should it mean anything to me that you’re my Sire?” I glared at Gina. “Stay the fuck away from Ava.”

“And if I don’t?”

“You must want to die.”

CHAPTER NINE

(Ava)

“Did she really pop your vampiric cherry?” The shy question was enough to make Salem pause in his pacing.
Finally.
Seething, he hadn’t said a word since we left the restaurant. He’d just grabbed my wrist, led me to the apartment, plonked me on the sofa, and then took to pacing in front of me. I’d said a number of things in the hope of snapping him out of his ‘I’m gonna kill Will’ zone, but nothing had worked. Until now.

“It doesn’t mean anything,” he eventually responded.

I snorted. “What a guy thing to say. I take it she was also telling the truth when she said she was the first person you drank from too?”

“Technically, Will’s the first person I fed from.”

“He gave you his blood to Turn you. That’s not the same as your first feed. Was it Gina?”

“Yes,” he bit out.

My stomach dropped. I didn’t want those images in my head, didn’t want to think about Salem drinking from her, or touching her the way he did me. But knowing the facts was better than not knowing. Maybe I should have given my jealous harpy full control and choked Gina with her own intestines. “What about the ‘you becoming a vampire to get revenge’ comment? Is that true?”

Salem looked at me helplessly, and I thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then he cursed and quietly muttered what sounded like ‘Jared was right.’ Shoving aside one of my cushions, he slumped onto the sofa next to where I was sat, cross-legged. He didn’t look at me as he said, “When I failed to pay off a gambling debt, the bookies locked up and barricaded every possible exit of my parents’ house. Then they burned it to the ground. My mother and my stepfather were trapped inside.” He’d spoken in his deceptively apathetic tone, but I could sense his pain and anguish.

Twisting in my seat, I took one of his balled-up hands in mine and propped my chin on his shoulder. “I’d say I’m sorry, but it’s too inadequate.” Was there really a right thing to say, something that could actually help, when someone was grieving?

“So, yeah, it’s true that I wanted revenge and that I blame myself for their deaths. In theory, it wasn’t my debt. But the blame still lies with me.”

“What do you mean by ‘in theory’?”

“It was my half-brother’s debt. He was only seven-fucking-teen. He got into gambling because he was following in my footsteps. He ran up a big debt with the wrong person. When he couldn’t pay it off, he bolted. So I was expected to pay it for him. I didn’t have that kind of money, and the bookies weren’t interested in it being paid in instalments. They put a gun to my head, told me I had forty-eight hours to get it. But there was no way I could do it.”

In my opinion, then, the blame didn’t belong to Salem. His half-brother had
chosen
to run up that debt. And the bookies had
chosen
to react by targeting his parents. I was about to say as much when he spoke again.

“I expected them to come after me. I was ready for that. Going after my mother was the worst thing they could have done. I found out who started the fire. I killed them both. But that made the others retaliate, and they almost killed me in an alley. Will found me there, dying. Maybe he smelled the blood. He offered to Turn me. All I was interested in was making the others pay. So I said yes.”

“I hope they paid in full. With interest.”

His expression took on a faraway quality. “I could hear her screaming.”

Oh, God. I scrambled onto his lap, straddling him, and tucked my head under his chin as I leaned into him. His arm curled loosely around me.

“One of the neighbours called me when the fire started. I couldn’t get inside. I told my mother that I’d get her out. She kept screaming for me, but when she stopped screaming…Shit, I’m not sure which was worse.”

Now I understood what Fletcher had meant by Salem’s grief and need to atone. He hadn’t been able to save the people who he cared for, so now he was determined to save as many others as he could. It also explained the intensity of his protective streak. And I was obviously going to have to handle it, because it wouldn’t ease.

“I told you I’ve done a lot of bad things. I meant it. One of the very few
good
things I’ve done is join the legion. And Will just took it, twisted it, and tried to make it into something bad.”

I pulled back to meet his gaze. “But it didn’t work. He just showed himself for the envious, spiteful shithead that he is. He wants what you have, and he resents you for that. He was goading and punishing you.”

“Like Gina was goading and punishing you.”

Yeah, and it had partly worked. Of course I’d been quite aware that he wasn’t a virgin. But knowing Salem had a past and actually being face-to-face with that past – hearing the things he and Gina had done together – were two very different things.

My jealousy must have been apparent in my expression, because his eyes narrowed and he gripped my chin with his thumb and forefinger. “I told you the night of the beach party, she doesn’t matter to me. Only you do.”

I believed him, which was why her goading had only
partly
worked. “Good.” I pressed a light kiss to his mouth, and it was like lighting a match – he immediately took control; cupped the back of my head and ravaged my mouth with his lips, tongue, and teeth. Nobody had ever kissed me the way Salem did, greedily feasting and claiming. He didn’t coax or tempt, he demanded and took.

He was also pouring every ounce of his anger and guilt into the kiss, like I could make it better. I wanted to. As I shifted out of his hold and rose from the sofa, his hand snapped out to snag my arm.

“Where are you going?”

In answer, I grabbed one of the cushions he hated – and repeatedly tried to bully me into binning – and placed it at my feet. “I’m hungry.” Then I kneeled between his legs.

As understanding hit Salem, heat and need began to emanate from him; buzzing against my skin and feeding my own hunger. Jaw clenched, he watched through hooded eyes as I leaned forward and exhaled heavily against the fast-growing bulge in his jeans. Keeping my movements agonisingly slow, I tackled his fly under his heated gaze. His cock, semi-hard and all mine, bobbed free. I licked from base to tip, and swirled my tongue around the head before dipping it into the slit. His rough groan made me smile.

“See, these cushions have their uses.” Over and over, I licked and nibbled and teased, until he was so hard it had to be painful. When his warning growl told me he’d had enough of the teasing, I took him into my mouth and sucked hard enough to make my cheeks hollow.

“Fuck, that’s good.” Fisting a hand in my hair, he began guiding my movements – which was surprisingly kind of hot. “Keep that mouth wrapped nice and tight around me. Yeah, just like that.”

Determined to bring him to the edge of his control, I sporadically danced my tongue around him, or grazed him with my teeth, or glided the flat of my tongue along his underside, or swallowed around him. I wanted him to lose himself, to forget all about what was haunting him. Soon, he was lifting his hips, surging into my mouth.

“I want inside you.”

I was expecting him to pull me up, rid me of my jeans, and then impale me on his cock. Instead, I found myself kneeling on the sofa, my back to Salem, as he whipped off my tank top and ripped off my jeans. A hand on my lower back pushed me forward, and I grabbed the back of the sofa to steady me. I gasped as a finger shoved inside me.

“Wet and ready, just the way I like you.” His bare chest plastered to my back, he looped an arm around me and lifted me slightly as he put his mouth to my ear. “Hold on.” Then he plunged inside me, stretching me, causing the most exquisite burn. “All of it, Ava.” His second thrust drove him balls-deep, giving me exactly what I wanted.

He rode me hard, forced me to feel every inch of him. His pace was frenzied, and each plunge of his cock was ruthless…building the friction until I was practically sobbing with the need to come.

Feeling his teeth nip my shoulder teasingly, I moaned. “Bite me.”

Growling, he sunk his teeth deep into my shoulder just as his finger circled my clit. That was all it took for my climax to barrel into me, tearing a scream from my throat. He pounded into me once, twice, and then slammed himself deep as his cock pulsed inside me.

With a satiated sigh, I slumped; thankfully, his shuddering body held me easily. “Bastard, I’ll be damned if I don’t get to keep my cushions.” His mouth curved against my neck.

At dusk, we were called for a meeting with Sam and Jared. They, along with the rest of Salem’s squad, were already waiting inside the conference room when we entered. We had no sooner taken our seats than Sam was speaking.

“Evening, all. You will be pleased to know that our researchers came up with three possible suspects for the brothel owner. All are Pagoris, all are rumoured to have identity-protecting gifts, all have reasonably small nests of their own, and all have Sires that live in Manhattan – perfectly matching the profile.”

Jared spoke then. “We could sit here and waste time by reviewing all three of them, or Sam and I could skip to the third suspect, who we are pretty sure is the woman we’re looking for. Which option do you prefer?”

Chico frowned. “That all depends on how sure you are about this third suspect.”

Sam’s answer was immediate. “Ninety-nine percent sure.”

The utter confidence in her voice was enough for me. I smiled. “Then introduce us to who’s behind door number three.”

“Diane Glass.” Jared handed me a photograph.

I took a quick look at the brunette, noticing her prominent cheekbones and bow mouth, before passing it on. “Her gift didn’t protect her from being photographed?”

“She was human when that was taken,” said Sam. “According to our researchers, she’s quite the business woman – has her hands in many pies, none of which could be considered legal or moral. But that’s not why we’re certain she’s the Pagori we’re looking for. During her human life, Diane worked in a brothel.”

“As a keeper?” asked Stuart.

“No, as a prostitute.” Sam gave a faint smile at the shocked faces staring at her.

Jared draped a possessive arm over the back of her chair. “Originally, Diane came from a prestigious family in Long Island. She ran away from home when she was a teenager. Considering her father was charged fifteen years later for sexually abusing his niece, it’s not such a stretch to conclude that Diane left home because her father had been doing the same to her.”

“She was an easy target for pimps,” I pointed out sadly.

Jared nodded. “This particular pimp was known for using emotional manipulation rather than violence as a way to recruit and control his employees.”

“You can picture it now, can’t you?” said Sam. “Here we have this lost girl who’s been exploited, is all alone, and feels unloved. Some bloke comes along, tells her she’s beautiful and pretends to care for her, making her the focus of his superficial charm. The pimp then makes himself the centre of her world, isolating her from others by convincing her that he’s the only person who cares for her. He shelters her, feeds her, seduces her, and makes her totally dependent on him. Which only makes it easier for him to take control when he says, ‘Hey, it wasn’t all for free; now you owe me money and you’ll have to work for me to pay me back’. Diane was a prostitute in his brothel –”

“Wait a minute, she was a victim of this shit, and yet she opened a brothel of her own?” Damien’s voice rang with both disgust and bafflement.

“It’s sadly not uncommon for prostitutes to attempt to recruit other prostitutes,” Chico told him. His human years on the police force had probably taught him that.

“As for opening her own brothel…” Sam shrugged. “It could have been her way to reclaim the control she lost when she was exploited this way. The reversal of roles means she seized the power, isn’t a victim anymore.”

“And it’s probably a little bit of that ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’,” said Denny.

“She’s angry at men.” When everyone looked at me questioningly, I went on, “She lures her clients, who are mostly men, with this unique brothel, records their deeds, and holds it over their heads by blackmailing them – punishing them with what they’ve done. The people she forced to work there…they were just pawns to her.”

Sam cocked her head as several emotions flitted across her face. “You’re right. This wasn’t about making money or trafficking. The brothel was just something that enabled her to punish the type of men she believes wronged her all her life.”

“It would even explain why she owned the fight club.” Jared rubbed his nape. “A primary result for the men – even the winners – was pain. By owning that club, she was the bringer of it, in a sense.”

“It’s looking like this Diane Glass is in fact the owner,” said David.

“Please tell me the researchers have an address.” Butch sounded eager to exact some retribution.

“Actually, they have two addresses.” Sam’s words made the entire squad smile. I felt the air change and lighten with anticipation and eagerness. Both emotions fairly radiated off Salem – typical.

“She has an apartment in Manhattan and a house in the South of France. We’ll hit France, and one of the other squads will visit –” Sam paused as the door swung open and Evan entered, closing it behind him.