Crimson Debt: Book 1 in the Born to Darkness series (35 page)

Even as I asked myself the question, I felt
his fangs leave my neck. I cried out weakly at the sensation—for
some reason they hurt more coming out than they had going in. And
then his shaft was leaving me too, pulling out of my limp body too
suddenly, making me moan again.

Corbin was gone. And I was going too.

My eyes drifted closed. I felt so empty…so
drained. I was all used up. Completely spent. For a time I simply
floated, alone in the void. And then a voice intruded.

“Addison?” it whispered. I wanted to see
where it was coming from but my eyes had closed and I felt too weak
to open them.

“Addison?” the voice said again, sounding
anxious and worried. Someone patted my cheek and my head lolled
limply to one side—I couldn’t stop it, I had no strength.

“Darling, no…
No!
” The deep voice was
choked now, it sounded like whoever was speaking was on the edge of
panic.

I’m okay,
I wanted to tell the owner
of the deep voice—I was sure he was someone I knew.
I’ll be fine
if you’ll just let me sleep. So tired. So…tired…

“No,” I heard him saying again. “Gods,
no—what have I done?”

I tried again to tell him that I was fine but
nothing came out. The darkness was eating the world, sucking me
down into the void. I was leaving…floating away…

Suddenly something warm and wet was pressed
against my lips. I felt it dribbling down my chin and then strong
hands were prying my jaws open, forcing the hot, sticky stuff down
my throat.

I wanted to cough and gag but for a long,
horrible moment I could do neither. I could only lay there, my
mouth filling with the rich, salty liquid, feeling like I was
drowning.

Then someone lifted my head and massaged my
throat, forcing me to swallow whether I wanted to or not.

“Drink it,” he muttered. “Damn you, Addison,
drink it.”

I swallowed convulsively and felt a little
less like I was drowning. The warm liquid rolled down my throat and
exploded in my belly like expensive single malt Scotch.

The effect was amazing—like someone had given
me a shot of instant energy. A tingling warmth started in my center
and radiated outward until even my fingers and toes felt like live
wires. It was like my entire body had been electrified—like every
hair on my head was standing on end.

My eyes popped open and I saw Corbin hovering
over me, a look of fear and determination stamped on his face. He
was holding his wrist against my mouth and there were tears of
blood standing in his silver-blue eyes.

“Corbin?” I asked, when I finally managed to
push his wrist away. “What…what happened?”

“You know exactly what happened,” he said
thickly. “Just drink for now—we’ll talk about it later.”

“Yes, but what—?” I started to say but he
pushed his wrist against my mouth again, forcing me to take great,
salty mouthfuls of his blood.

But now that I realized what the salty stuff
was, I started to gag. What the hell was he doing? Vampires took
blood, they didn’t give it—
ever.
Unless…was he changing me
into a vamp? Was I becoming what, until recently, I had always
feared and hated the most? Things had changed for me—I could love a
vampire—I
did
love Corbin, with everything that was in me.
But that didn’t mean I wanted to
be
one.

My eyes widened and I fought to push his
wrist away.

“No,” I gasped, shaking my head. “No, not
that.
Anything but that.”

“Anything but that, eh? Fine. You should live
now, anyway. ” His eyes were hard when he finally pulled his wrist
away.

“Corbin,” I started to say but he shook his
head and looked into my eyes.

“Sleep,” he commanded and I felt him slip the
suggestion under my mental shields. In my weakened state, I
couldn’t stop him from glamouring me.

The last thing I saw was his angry face and
then the world faded to blackness.

When I woke up I was lying in a small, dark
space on a narrow, uncomfortable cot and it seemed like my whole
body ached. Someone had dressed me in a silky kimono type robe that
felt cool and soft against my skin. I blinked, looking around
uncertainly.

“Where am I?” I muttered aloud, not expecting
an answer.

“Here, in my room.” A dim light popped on and
Taylor was suddenly hovering over me, an anxious look on her pale
face. “Addison, are you all right? Are you finally awake?”

“I guess so.” I tried to sit up and was too
dizzy to manage at first. Taylor helped me considerately and then
sat beside me on the cot.

“I was so worried about you,” she said,
taking my hand and squeezing hard.

I winced, expecting to feel pain at her
too-tight grip but for some reason I didn’t.

“How long have I been out?” I asked, looking
down at my new robe which was a nice shade of dark green. At least
it wasn’t crimson—I’d had enough of that color for a while.

“All day and most of tonight. You were so
still…barely breathing. And I thought…I was so afraid I’d lost
you.” She made a little sobbing sound and a single droplet of blood
welled in her eye but refused to fall.

It was my turn to be concerned about her. Was
she really so dehydrated she couldn’t cry? Her blue eyes looked
huge and her face was even thinner and paler than last time I had
seen her. She was wasting away before my eyes.

“Taylor,” I said, grasping her arm. “Honey,
you look
terrible.”

“
I
look terrible?” She gave a little
sobbing laugh. “Addison, you should look in a mirror.”

“What? Why?” I felt my face with my hands, as
though whatever was wrong would be immediately apparent to my
touch.

“It’s not your face so much—although your
neck is kind of torn up,” she said. “It’s your body—you’re bruised
almost from head to toe. You look…” Her voice dropped. “You look
like somebody beat you. Addison, what happened between you and
Corbin last night?”

“Corbin…” Suddenly it all came rushing back
to me—the way I had chained him down, foolishly thinking my puny
restraints could hold him. The way he had turned into a mindless
creature, bent only on sex and blood. The rough sex that had
followed and the way he had made me come until I felt like I was
wrung inside out, completely spent and exhausted…

But the question was—had it worked?

“Corbin,” I said again, grabbing Taylor’s
hand. “Is he…alive?”

“Yes, of course, he is. He’s back to his
normal self—although he’s in a
horrible
mood. I’ve never
seen him so angry.” She shivered. “Luckily I’ve been staying out of
his way back here with you. He’s been checking on you every once in
a while but even though he said you’d be fine I was still
worried.”

I was still worried myself. Had my actions
really broken the power of that damn soul eating stake? Or had I
only delayed the inevitable?

“Addison,” Taylor began. “What—?”

“She’s in here. The master said to put her
where he didn’t have to see her.” The snotty voice outside Taylor’s
door couldn’t be anyone but the annoying barmaid, Bambie.

There was a cursory knock and then the door
was flung open to reveal the barmaid and, standing beside her,
Gwendolyn LaRoux.

“What is this, a broom closet?” the witch
asked, shouldering her way past Bambie and into Taylor’s room
without so much as a by your leave. “I mean, why are you hiding in
here?”

“We’re not hiding,” Taylor said with dignity.
“This is my home—for now, anyway. You ought to ask before you come
barging in.”

“Sorry,” Gwendolyn muttered. "I didn't
know."

“Why are you here?” I asked and my heart was
suddenly in my throat. “Does it…does it have to do with the
stake?”

“You’re damn right, it’s the stake,” the
witch snapped. She fumbled in the giant, oversized purse she was
wearing and pulled out something that looked like an old, dried up
tree branch.

“What’s that?” I asked, staring at it
blankly.

“That’s the stake! The soul eater.” She
thrust it at me and I pulled back instinctively.

“What the hell—keep it out of my face!”

“It can’t hurt you now—it can’t hurt anyone.
Someone neutralized it—someone
reversed my spell.”
She
glared at me as if I was personally responsible. Which actually, I
probably was. “That was my best magic and I come from a long line
of powerful witches. Even
I
couldn’t have reversed that
spell. How the hell did you do it?”

Taylor turned to me, her eyes wide. “You
reversed a witch’s magic? But how, Addison? You’re not a witch—are
you?”

“No, of course not.” I tried to laugh. “I
think you’d know by now if I was. You would have caught me out
casting spells at midnight or dancing with the devil or
something.”

An uncomfortable look crossed Gwendolyn’s
face.

“That’s a fucking stereotype and I don’t
appreciate it. Witches are neutral agents of power—they have
nothing to do with demons or any other creatures of the Shadow
Lands.” She glared at me. “So how did you reverse my magic?”

“She paid the Crimson Debt.”

The new voice came from the doorway. I looked
up to see Corbin standing there with a scowl on his face. He was
wearing jeans and a t-shirt—a black one this time that clung to his
broad, muscular chest and seemed to match his mood. His
announcement brought a collective gasp from everyone in the room—as
well as outside it. Bambie was still standing there just behind
him, her eyes wide, no doubt soaking up the gossip.

Taylor shook her head. “Addison…you
didn’t.”

“Of course, she didn’t,” Gwendolyn said
flatly. “If she did, she wouldn’t still be here. The vamp she paid
the Debt to would have killed her.”

“He very nearly did,” Corbin growled,
frowning at me.

Okay, it was getting just a
little
too
crowded in Taylor’s tiny room for my taste. And I didn’t like
sitting meekly on her lumpy cot like a naughty child while Corbin
glared down at me like an angry father.

“This is not the place to be talking about
this,” I said, getting up and only wobbling a little bit as I
pushed past Taylor and Gwendolyn to get to Corbin. “I think,” I
said, looking up at him, “We could use a little privacy.”

“Oh, is it privacy you want?” He suddenly
swept me into his arms and carried me down the hallway. He was
moving so fast I barely had time to see the shocked look on
Bambie’s face before he turned the corner and entered his
office.

Once we were alone, he shut the door and put
me down. Then he walked across the room, leaned back against his
desk, folded his arms over his chest and just…
glared
at
me.

“Corbin—” I started but he shook his
head.

“So now we have some
privacy,”
he
said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. “Only I seem to recall that the
last time you asked for privacy you lured me downstairs and chained
me to the bed.”

I lifted my chin. “Yeah, well, I didn’t see
you protesting at the time.”

“That is because I had no idea what you were
about to do. Gods!” He ran a hand through his hair in a very human
gesture of frustration. “How could I have not seen it? How could I
have not understood what you were about to risk?”

“Because you were almost dead at the time,” I
shot back. “And you were about to be
all
dead if I didn’t do
something fast—so I did it.”

“You nearly
died
, Addison!” he
roared.

I couldn’t help it—I flinched. I had never
seen him angrier.

“Corbin—” I started.

“I could have killed you—could have ripped
you to shreds!” His eyes were blazing and every muscle in his big
body was tight. But I was through flinching.

“You think I don’t know that?” I shouted
back. “I knew what I was getting into—I see it at work all the
time. Hell, I saw it last night, right before I came to you.”

Corbin shook his head. “You are insane. If I
had killed you…”

“But you
didn’t,”
I said more softly.
“You didn’t, Corbin—I’m all right. We both are. Yes, I took a risk
but it paid off.”

“No, we are not
all right,”
he ground
out, his eyes narrowed. “Even though I didn’t kill you I still hurt
you—and badly.”

“Look,” I said, putting out a hand. “I know
I’m a little banged up but—”

“A little banged up?” he repeated. “Addison,
come here.”

I came to him reluctantly and stopped about
two feet from him.

“What?”

“Look.” He tugged at the belt of the silky
dark green kimono I was wearing and it fell open with a whisper of
cloth.

I looked down at myself…and bit back a
gasp.

I was covered in bruises. My arms, my thighs,
my hips and torso, all were covered in long, finger shaped marks
that had to be from Corbin’s hands.

“I did that,” he said softly and there was a
depth of sorrow and regret in his voice that made me ache to hear
it. “I hurt you, Addison. And…forced myself on you, as well.”

“Oh, come on,” I objected. “If anyone forced
anyone it was
me
forcing
you.
I chained you down,
remember?”

“Yes, and now I know why.” He shook his head.
“You should have known that silver wouldn’t hold one of my age and
strength.”

“Well, I
didn’t
. And it seemed like a
good idea at the time. Corbin…” I stepped closer and put my hand on
his arm. “You didn’t force me, okay?” I said gently. “It was
consensual, all the way.”

He frowned. “Maybe it started out that way,
but I know how it ended. Darling… I saw blood on your thighs. I
know what I did. How I hurt you.”

The pain in his eyes was awful to see. It
felt like someone had reached into my chest and was squeezing my
heart.