Darkness (3 page)

“So,” I began very gently, “was that the first time you killed someone?”

He focused on me once again, slowly processing what I had said and then stared down at our hands and slightly shook his head. “Sadly, no. It was not,” he answered quietly.

“Oh,” was all I had for a response. I didn’t think I wanted to know any of those details from his past.

“What about Kiera and the others? Wasn’t Felix supposed to go get them?” I asked, changing the subject. I hadn’t put much thought into my friends since we’d left them at the Pancake House the previous night. I felt a little more at ease about their safety in the daylight. I did wonder about werewolves for a brief moment. I was curious if they came out only at night and if the moon needed to be full for them to change. But those questions weren’t going to get answered, not then anyways.

“He’s on his way to get them now.”

Ah, so we’re alone…
He shot me a quick smirk and I felt my cheeks start to warm. He knew where my thoughts were going and he wasted no time.

He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed the back of it gently. Then he released it and brushed my hair out of his way to lightly kiss my bare shoulder. He worked his way up my neck and to my ear where he softly whispered he loved me. I didn’t get a chance to answer because in that split second his cool lips found mine, his arm slid around me and he was moving me into the middle of the bed. He lay down beside me, propped up on his side and he began to trail his fingers along my arm.

“How tired are you?” he asked, and his voice was silky smooth, like really good chocolate.
Huh, so maybe I’m tired and hungry…
His eyes smoldered. I couldn’t sense emotions like he could, but I was positive he wasn’t suggesting I take a nap.

I turned my head towards him and smiled sinfully. There was no doubt he caught on, because in that moment he planted one of the most breathtaking kisses in the world. Then his lips left mine and traveled down my neck, to my shoulder, down the arm he had bruised, and then started their way back up. All the while this was happening I ran my fingers through his drying curls and sighed with pleasure. I felt happy. Happy to be alone with him, happy to be alive, and happy to be safe from any impending doom. For now. On his way back to my lips I caught a little hint of white protruding from his mouth. As he kissed me long and slow I resisted the urge to run my tongue across his fangs. Suddenly he hopped off the bed and closed and locked his bedroom door. I felt a surge of excitement run through me to accompany that familiar humming he always stirred inside me. I propped myself up on my elbows as I watched him close the blinds over the window. As he crawled back onto the bed towards me I said playfully, “What do you think you’re doing?”

My knees were raised and he was gently pushing them apart when he answered, “Last night you told me to show you what you’d get if we survived, remember?”

I dropped back onto the bed. He was over me, his body between my legs. I nodded silently, my eyes fixed on his.

“I’m giving you that now,” he said very seductively.

Holy crap! My entire body responded to him in every way imaginable. The next thing I knew my legs were wrapped around him and my lips were pressed against his as I desperately tried to pull his shirt off of him. There was no hesitation in him this time. His shirt was on the floor again and soon after, so was mine. His lips were making their way across my chest just above my bra and one hand was cupping a boob. An inaudible sound escaped my lips which earned me a low sexy rumble from within Oliver.

“I can’t resist that sound,” he whispered and began working his way down my stomach as his hands explored my body, touching me in places I’d never been touched before.

I felt an occasional pinch from his fangs and it sent an excited shiver through every part of me. My hands were all over his cool chest, arms and back. My breathing was coming quicker and I noticed his was beginning to also. I also noticed a familiar intoxicating aroma filling the room, his bonding scent.
Is this really going to happen?
I felt ready, no part of me was warning me to stop. There was no voice second-guessing my actions. Maybe that voice was napping and would be pissed when it woke up…Oh well.

He’d worked his way down my belly and then in that same irresistible voice he said, “I’ve seen these before.”

I looked down to see what he was talking about as he ran his tongue along my stomach just above my waist band. My panties were just barely sticking out of my pants. I dropped my head back down onto the pillow and had a quick inner laugh at the memory of dropping my bag full of underwear in front of him. His lips were on mine again and he pressed himself into me. I made an odd sound between pleasure and surprise. The sound he made in return was between a groan and a growl and he pressed himself against me again, pressing his “manhood” against my “girlyhood.” His body moved rhythmically against mine, the kisses held more passion than I’d ever felt before and I thought I was going to explode.

His lips started working their way down to my chest again where they lingered for some time. I couldn’t help the sounds that kept escaping me causing him to make some of his own. He moved on, down to my stomach again and then he slowly removed my pants which caused my heart to hammer against my chest. I was in nothing but my bra and panties when he returned his body to mine. I fumbled with the button on his pants. It took me a couple tries but I got them undone. As he stood at the foot of the bed to take them off I propped myself up again to take in the entire view. As his pants dropped to the floor a spark of panic was ignited inside me. There standing in black boxer briefs and a perfect body was my soon to be vampire “mate.” But that wasn’t what scared me. What scared me was the look of the size of the thing in those briefs. The thought of that thing going into me, I knew this was going to hurt. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it was on the average side for one of those, it was just that I had never seen one before in real life and the contrast of
its
size and the size of my “girlyness” didn’t seem compatible. But I was more than willing to find out. And I was about to. He was making his way back to me then, kissing up my raised leg to my knee where he paused.

In a somewhat scratchy voice he said, “You have a fresh cut on your knee. What happened?” He sat back with one hand under my right knee.

“Shaving,” I croaked out. That was not a sexy voice, but it didn’t seem to faze him. He was back to kissing up my leg again and when he got to my knee he paid a little extra attention and ran his cool tongue over the razor nick, and not that I had been paying any attention to the sting it had been causing, that sting was now gone and I was so thankful I had shaved my legs.

He was over me again and this time when he pressed himself against me, with only the thin layers of our underpants separating his “ness” from mine, I could feel so much more of him this time. I kissed down his neck and onto his cool broad shoulder as our bodies moved against each other. He even tasted good. And his scent was the strongest I’d ever smelled it. It made me feel a little lightheaded…or maybe that was all the heavy breathing. He moaned softly as I kissed him and that about did it for me. I wanted him right then and there and I think that was the exact emotion he was waiting to feel.

His body was hard and heavy on mine and the bed made a soft creaking sound as our bodies moved rhythmically. In a seductively desperate voice he said, “I’m sorry if it feels like we’re going too fast. I just need you so bad. To be in you. A part of you. To make you mine, forever.”

Oh, that did it! My mouth did all the responding, but not with words.

His hand slid behind my back, he had the clasp of my bra in his fingers and his tongue in my mouth. My body arched, pressing against him, urging him to continue.

With his lips against mine he whispered, somewhat raggedly, “Last chance.”

“Do it,” I whispered back, rather raspy myself.

And with that the clasp to my bra was undone. He slowly started sliding the strap down my shoulder and then he stopped and laid his head on my chest.

“You have got to be kidding me!” he exclaimed, exasperated.

“What? What is it?” My voice was really ragged and another moment of panic ensued.
What on Earth could be wrong? Was he done?
I’d heard of that happening to people.

He lifted his head and his smoldering green eyes met mine. “Felix is back and he has others with him,” his fangs flashed the whole time. And I caught a couple little lisps as he spoke. It only added to his all around gorgeousness.

“Son of a bitch! You have got to be freakin’ kidding me!” were the first thoughts through my head. What I said in a low and frustrated voice was, “Crap.” And I laid my head back and covered my eyes with my arm. There was no way the throbbing I felt was ever going to fade.

Suddenly Oliver bounced off the bed, “There’s something wrong.” Yeah, there was something wrong. We’d stopped. I peeked at him from under my arm. I admired the view as he slid his pants on over all that I would be missing out on and then he slipped his shirt on over his head hiding the rest of himself from me.

“Laney, get dressed! There’s something wrong with Carter!”

And with that sentence I flew off the bed and threw on whatever I could find. We heard the front door slam open, and a commotion of shouting mixed with a few muffled screams poured in as we dashed out of Oliver’s room and down the hall.

Chapter 3 - Wolf Bite

I felt a rush of horror pulse through me as I entered the kitchen. Carter was laid out on the table. I pushed through a small group of people without looking at who they were to get to him. I stood over him, examining him for an endless moment. He was a bloody mess. Open gashes were seeping. Blood was smeared across almost every inch of him. I couldn’t narrow down which wound was worse. He was in such terrible shape that he was almost unrecognizable. He was pasty white and sweating visibly. Perspiration and blood were mixing together and dripping onto the heavy wood table. He wasn’t conscious, but he was breathing.

“What happened to him?” I breathed. I wanted to hold his hand to comfort him, but I was afraid I’d cause him more pain.

Felix’s voice answered and the deepness of it was somehow soft this time, “Werewolf.”

“How?” I whispered, mostly to myself. It was daylight and I’d just assumed that werewolves went back to their normal state once the sun was up. I guess I was wrong.

I began examining his body from head to toe once again. He had a few large puncture wounds and quite a few deep scratches. His clothes were torn and ripped to shreds in some places. I had blocked out all that was going on around me until Oliver’s voice, angry and sharp, snapped my attention away from Carter.

“Why did you bring him here?”

Felix’s voice was still soft and low, “You know what they’d do to him.” I noticed then that Felix wasn’t moving his lips. He was actually in my head and apparently Oliver’s too. But right then was not the time to focus, freak or worry about a massive and powerful vampire having access to my brain.

Oliver released a low frustrated growl and forcefully ran his hands through his hair. His frustration was obvious. And I wasn’t sure how to take it.
Was
sexual frustration playing into this? Or something else?
I was hoping for the latter, although I was pretty sure the first had something to do with it.

Someone whispered my name and I immediately returned my attention to Carter. It hadn’t been him. A throat was cleared and my attention was turned to the little group huddled at the foot of the table. The group contained a sobbing Kiera in the arms of a round, dark skinned woman who was maybe only an inch taller than Kiera was. She was rubbing Kiera’s back and gently shushing her. Zoey was towering beside them and visibly trying to get my attention about something, but my gaze shot past her to Ashton. He was focused, horrified, on Carter.
What the hell is he doing here?
I hadn’t once wondered if he’d made it to Zoey’s safely with the rest of my friends. Probably because he wasn’t my friend. Then I felt bad, not because I didn’t consider Ashton my friend, but because a part of me wondered why it couldn’t have been him instead of Carter. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

Zoey caught my attention again and gestured to my chest. I looked down at myself. Apparently, in my mad rush to get dressed, I’d ended up in my velour pants and Oliver’s filthy black hoodie. Not a big deal, except I’d only zipped the zipper to my waist and–remember that fancy turquoise bra I’d bought a while back–well everyone just got a really nice view of me in it.

Oliver was in front of me instantly, his eyes hard and blazing on mine with pupils larger than normal. With a low rumbled growl he quickly zipped the sweatshirt all the way up to my neck and stepped away from me. It was only slightly embarrassing…

Carter began to shiver and moan. His face contorted in agony just before he vomited a milky white substance. His body started rocking spastically and his eyelids began to flicker rapidly.

I took a step back. I had no idea what to do and I was terrified. Kiera broke free of the arms that comforted her, arms that belonged to Zoey’s grandmother, and rushed toward Carter on the table. She was screaming, high pitched and ear piercing, “Somebody do something! Call 911!” She had his head in her arms, trying to cradle him to her. Tears were streaming down her face as blood and vomit soaked into the front of her pale pink T-shirt. “He’s been bitten by a dog! He probably has rabies!” Her sobs were coming heavily and Ashton was at her side trying to comfort her. She shoved him away with one little hand and hugged Carter’s head tighter, her hair falling forward so we couldn’t see her face. Then she crumpled to the ground in a heap pulling Carter partly off the table as she did. As I rushed around the table to her, Ashton caught Carter before he could topple to the floor and had him fully back on the table by the time I got to the other side. But Oliver had Kiera in his arms by then and he wouldn’t let me near her. She was out and completely limp.