Dark Horizons (The Red Sector Chronicles) (24 page)

I tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a sob. “I just dug a bullet out of you, and you’re worried if I’m okay?”

“I’ve known you long enough to be able to know when something’s wrong. Look at me,” he said, gripping me by my shoulders and trying to turn me around.

I shook my head, about to tell him to back off when pain so intense it took my breath away flared up in my arm. I gasped, clutching at the wrist of my injured hand.

“Sloane!” Leo crawled around in front of me, bending over so he could look at my face. “What is it? What’s happening?”

“It… hurts,” I said through clenched teeth.

“What does?” Leo breathed. “Sloane, dammit, you need to tell me – Whoa!” His voice cut off as he spotted my hand, his eyes rounding. “Holy shit. Is that from digging out the bullet?”

“It was… Scarlet Steel,” I rasped. My eyes were watering, making it hard to see what was happening.

“Wow,” I heard Leo breathe.

I forced my eyes
open
and my jaw dropped in awe. My skin was literally growing
back, like watching it on fast-
forward. It was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. Within seconds, my skin had stitched itself back together, and I was whole again. I turned my hand over, eyeing the smooth flesh. There wasn’t even a scratch.

Leo reached for my hand, turning it this way and that
,
and running his fingers over mine. “That’s amazing.”

For some reason, the wonder in h
is voice made my stomach churn.
I pulled my hand back, cradling it against my chest. What he said deeply bothered me. It took me
a few seconds to figure out why, and when I did,
it slammed into me with the force of a lead weight. “It’s unnatural. Yet another reminder of how different we are now,” I said, my voice sounding very small.

Leo grew still, watching me with the kind of wariness of a man trying t
o approach a stray dog. At last
he spoke, his breath fogging the air. “You’re still you, Sloane,” he said softly. “That never changed.”

“I wanted to bite you,” I blurted. I needed him to understand how dangerous I was, for his own good.

To my horror, he came closer. “
I don’t imagine you can much help that instinct. It’s part of who you are now.”

He reached out and gently pushed back a few damp strands of hair from my clammy
forehead. His touch – so warm and
alive – sent shivers through me. Reluctantly, I looked into his eyes. They always reminded me of warm cocoa; even though he had to be in great pain, the fire in his eyes burned only for me. He licked his lips. I had learned over the years it was a nervous habit of his, when he was trying to figure out what to say.  My insides tensed, dreading
the words about to come out of his mouth
. “How often do you need blood, and how much of it do you need?” he asked cautiously.

I relaxed
. That was harmless enough. “
Just a
little, every few days, I think,” I replied. Aden had explained it to me one time, but my memories were starting to run together in one big blur because so much had happened
recently
.

Leo nodded, as if he
were
expecting this. “And when was the last time you fed?”

“I had some cereal for dinner on New Year’s Eve,” I said absently.

He shook his head. “That’s not what I’m asking.”

Oh
,
duh. He means
blood.
I
suddenly felt like there was a knot the size of Texas in my throat. “Er, it was, um, the last time I saw you,” I mumbled, feeling my face heat.

Leo was silent for so long
that
I wasn’t even sure he was breathing. His breath hitched about the time I looked up at him.

“Drink from me,” he said.

My heart plummeted into my stomach so fast I was sure it skipped a beat.
I stared at him,
my
mouth open in horror. “No way.”

“Sloane,” Leo started warily.

“No!” I said fiercely, violently shaking my head. “I
can’t
do it!”

“
Can’t
or
won’t
?”

I pressed my lips together, not answering. When I went to look away, Leo grasped my chin and forced me to face him.
“What happens if you don’t get blood?”

“I… I don’t know.” Aden had mentioned that vampires become Rogues through gorging themselves on blood, but he never went into specifics into what would happen if we went without it for a long time. “We get weaker, I guess.”

“I can’t let that happen.” Leo turned his head so his neck was facing me. I could hear the thrum of his pulse through his veins. Every. Single. Tantalizing. Beat.

“Don’t,” I whispered, trying my best not to look at him like he was a meal and feeling like I was failing miserably. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“I know exactly what I’m asking.” He cupped my cheek, gently turning my gaze back toward him. His thumb traced the outline of my bottom lip
. “I can’t watch you waste away
. I won’t let you.”

I searched his eyes, protests on my tongue, but Leo pressed a finger to my lips, silencing me. “Drink,” he said softly, once again turning his head.

His neck was only inches from my mouth. I wanted it, craved his blood like oxygen or water.
Damn
, I was thirsty. Before I fully realized what I was doing, I grabbed hold of him, swift as death, and sank my fangs into a vein in his neck.

He cried out at first, then relaxed into me with a moan of pleasure as I drank. Warm, exquisite blood flowed into my mouth, the best thing I had ever tasted.
The animal in me took over, clutching him tighter as I drained the life from him.

Slow down
, a little voice inside my head warned.
Or you’ll kill him.

Who cares?
said another voice, much darker and more sinister than the other.
Humans were mean
t
to be fed on, to serve us.

“Sloane,” Leo rasped. The weakness in his voice snapped me out of my bloodthirsty haze, and I abrupt
ly retracted my fangs and straightened
. Hastily, I wiped away the remaining drops of blood on my
mouth with the back of my hand as Leo sagged, trying to catch his breath.

He shook his head and blinked several times, as if trying to wake up. “Wow,” he breathed, reaching up and cupping his neck. “That was better than sex.”

I flushed, mortified. I had suspected Leo wasn’t a virgin, but sex was something I had no
desire to talk about with him.
I wouldn’t even know
what
to talk about
,
considering I was still a virgin. Sure, I knew how it worked, but that didn’t mean I had hauled every guy I’d been remotely attracted to into my bed.

His eyes finally cleared, and he stared at me like I was a goddess. I squirmed,
uncomfortable under his stare. T
he blood singing in my veins was amazing. It had an electric tingle to it, making me feel alive, invincible.

Not human.

I loudly cleared my throat. Leo blinked and the twinkle in his eyes vanished. It took him a few seconds to find his voice. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” I whispered. I squeezed my eyes shut.
How ungrateful did that sound?
“I mean, thanks.” I mustered up
a small smile
. “I’m feeling much better.”

“Good,” he said, rather breathlessly, then fell over onto my lap.

“Leo!” I rolled him over so his face was up. “Leo,” I said again, br
ushing his curly, damp
bangs back. “Leo, look at me.”

Lazily, he opened his eyes, a drunken smile on his face. “I’m a little dizzy, kind of like that demonic machine you insisted we ride at the fair one time.
What was thing called? A Tilt-A
-Something?”

“Tilt-A
-Whirl,” I finished tightly, feeling a hard ball of guilt form in my gut. “I drank too much. Plus you’re high off vampire endorphins. You should sleep it off.”

“Are you kidding?” he said lightly as I ripped another strip off my sweater. I gently rested his head on the pavement so I could wrap up his bleeding leg.
He continued rattling on as I worked.
“We’re
cold. We’re horny. We’re alone, and
we’re
most likely going to die by morning. I think we should get it on.”

“Leo!” I snapped, blushing even harder. Without meaning to, I tied the tourniquet off with a jerk, but that only made him laugh.
I rolled my eyes as I crawled to the mouth of the tunnel and leaned against it, lifting his head onto my lap.
I knew we needed to get out of here before we turned into popsicles, but I couldn’t risk going anywhere with him in this drunken state.

His laughter died away as he gazed up at me, his eyes slightly glazed over. I frowned.

“Rook told me you’re running after Orion because you’re trying to save a guy,” Leo said.

I sat there for a moment, stunned.
So that explains the stormy-eyed glare he got when we were sitting on the swing.

I made a mental note to tell Rook to be more discreet with his forthcoming information, provided we lived through this. Deep down, I hoped the others were all right.

“Orion needs to be stopped, regardless of why I’m doing it,” I said casually.

“Do you love him?
This guy?
”

I blinked, my heart picking up its pace. “Excuse me?”

Leo’s eyes bore into mine for a few seconds. “You do, don’t you,” he murmured, his expression sobering. “It’s written all over your face.”

I looked out over the water. “You don’t know what you’re seeing. You’re hallucinating from the
endorphins
.”

He laughed bitterly. “Wow. I’ve been beaten out by a vamp.”

That sent a surge of anger through m
e. Did he think he had some sort of claim over me?

Pot meet kettle
, I thought wryly.
I dug my nails into my jeans to keep from doing anything stupid.

“Let me guess: He’s
the one who made you this way?”

“No,” I said quickly.

He smiled. “I knew it.”

His shoulders sagged, and I once again I felt bad for deceiving him. “Leo, it’s so much more complicated than what you think.”

“Really?” He looked back up at me. “Because the way I see it, you like this guy enough to risk your life for him. Sounds pretty uncomplicated to me.”

His feelings are
hurt.

I sighed. “I’m sorry, Leo. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”

“How about telling me you still care about me?”

That earned an indignant glare. “Of course I still care about you. Why do you think I just saved your leg?”

“You know what I mean.”

My breath caught at the depth of emotion in his eyes, of a passion that burned like
starfire.
After a few seconds, I wetted my lips. “Leo, it’s cold. Maybe we should continue –”

“Hear me out,” he said, holding up a hand.

Our breaths fogged the air between us as I tensed, waiting. 

“I don’t know when I’ll get ano
ther chance to say this – maybe
never, at the rate we’re going – but I want you to know
that
I’m not mad.”

I stared at him, my gaze tearing up. “Leo,” I whispered. The word sounded tiny because my throat was so tight.

He reached up and cupped my face. His fingers were like ice. I laid my hand over his, trying to warm it, but it was no use because my hand was just as cold. “I still feel the same way,” he said,
his
voice barely above a whisper as he leaned in. This close, I could hear his teeth rattling. “And if for some reason we don’t make it, I don’t want to leave this world without telling you how I really feel.”

I started to shake my head, but Leo
held
my face steady as his forehead touched mine. I couldn’t move as his lips parted, hovering over
my own
. “I’ve done a lot of thinking, believe me,” he whispered against my lips. “And no matter what common sense said, that you were a vampire and dangerous and all this other bullshit, I still couldn’t stop thin
king about you. My heart trusts
you. It always has, and it always will. I love you, Sloane McAllister.”

Before I could draw breath to respond, his mouth closed over mine
in a scorching kiss that set fire to my senses.

Leo.

Right then, I didn’t care that we were freezing or that the world was against us. None of that mattered.
My Leo. My best friend.