Scarlet Heat (Born to Darkness) (2 page)

“At least an animal is
alive,”
he snarled. “More than I can say
for you undead fangers.”

That was it—I had suddenly had
enough
. Years of repressed anger and
hurt rose up inside me. I didn’t care what the consequences were for breaking
the blood-bond between myself and the huge werewolf—I wasn’t going to take one
more minute of this.

“That’s it,” I snapped. “Stop the truck.”

“What?” Victor gave me an incredulous look
and kept driving. “Why the hell would I do that?”

“Because I’m leaving.” I fumbled for the
handle on the unfamiliar door. “How do you open this damn thing, anyway?” Falling
out of the speeding truck wouldn’t be a picnic but I was a vampire—I would
heal. Of course, my body was in pretty bad shape because of the enforced
starvation I’d endured recently so it might take a while. But even a slow and
painful recovery was better than taking any more of the were’s abuse.

The handle clicked and suddenly the door
flew open. The truck took a sharp curve and I felt myself slipping sideways at
an alarming rate.

Oh my
God!
I braced for the fall but just as I
started to slide out of the cab a big hand reached out and grabbed me by the
arm.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Victor brought the truck to a screeching halt and dragged me back across the
seat.

“I told you—
leaving.
So
let me go.”

“I don’t think so,” he snarled. “We’re
blood-bound—you’re not going anywhere.”

“So I’ll find a way to
break
the bond,” I snapped, yanking at
his seemingly unbreakable grip. “Anything to get away from
you.”

“You
can’t
break the bond unless you’re willing to go down some pretty dark roads and
find a witch that deals in the Shadow Lands. You want that?” Victor demanded.
“Because I sure as hell don’t. Like it or not, we’re stuck together,
sweetheart.”

“Oh, no, we’re not.” I lifted my chin. “I
spent the last
six years
of my life
being stuck in an abusive relationship—one I couldn’t get out of no matter how
hard I tried. I refuse to spend even one second more that way.”

Victor’s eyes got wide. “Abusive? What the
hell are you talking about, abusive? How have I hurt you?”

“Abuse isn’t just physical or…or sexual,
you know.” I felt my throat getting tight but I refused to let my pain show on my
face. “There is such a thing as mental and emotional abuse too. Although when I
think about it, you
did
promise not
to lay a finger on me and you’re doing a hell of lot more than that right now.”

I glared at him and then looked pointedly
at the big hand encircling my upper arm.

“Damn it!” Victor pulled his hand away as
though he’d been stung. “I was just trying to keep you from killing yourself,
lady.”

“My name is Taylor. Not lady, not
sweetheart, and most certainly not “fanger”—it’s
Taylor.
And I wouldn’t have died—I couldn’t. I’m already dead,
remember?”

“Oh, hell…” He ran a hand through his wild
black hair and blew out a breath. “Look, I’m sorry, all right?” he said,
apologizing much to my surprise. “This is just…such a bad fucking night for
this. The moon is getting high and if I don’t get home soon…”

“Oh.” Understanding suddenly hit me.
“You’re going to…what, change into a wolf?”

“If you’re lucky,” he said darkly. “And if
you’re not…” He shook his head. “Let’s just say I really need
to get home and I don’t
have a lot of time for polite chit-chat
right now.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, chastened. “I didn’t
realize your problem was that, uh, urgent.”

“Well, it is. And it wouldn’t be good for
you if I changed around you.”

My heart was suddenly in my throat. “Would
you hurt me?”

“Not on purpose, no. But my wolf—the wolf
inside me…” He thumped himself on the chest. “It would see you as a threat.
It’s an instinctive thing—we don’t like vamps. And I don’t think too well in
that form—I mostly feel.”

“So we’d better get to a place where you
can, uh, change as far away from me as possible,” I said.

“Yeah.” He sighed again. “Look, I know I’m
being an ass right now and I’m sorry. It’s just…the moon.” He gestured at the
full silver orb climbing higher in the sky above them and his voice dropped to
an even deeper register, sounding almost like an animal’s growl. “She’s calling
me. I’m strong but I can’t hold off my change forever.”

“Oh, right.” I nodded nervously. I had no
wish to be caught in the cab of the truck with a huge, ravenous wolf who hated
vampires. “Well…can you get us home? I mean,
your
home of course,” I added quickly.

“Yeah, if we go right now.” Victor started
the truck’s engine and looked pointedly at my door, which was still swinging
open, letting in the warm, humid Florida night air. “Could you close that? I
don’t care if you’re undead or not, you don’t look like you’re in any kind of
shape to survive being thrown from a truck doing sixty.”

“I’m stronger than I look,” I protested,
but I closed the door as he had asked. “I heal fast.”

He snorted and put the truck in gear.
“Yeah. Right.”

“It’s true,” I said, stung. “I’ve had
every bone in my body broken multiple times and I healed every time.”

The look he cast from the other side of
the truck was both incredulous and pitying. “You what? How the hell did you
break all your bones? You into skydiving or something?”

I crossed my arms over my breasts and
looked down.
“I
wasn’t the one who
broke them. But that’s not the point—the point is that I can take a lot of
abuse and still live.” I looked up at him. “But I won’t. Not anymore. Not from
you or anyone else.”

He nodded thoughtfully and I thought I saw
just a touch of respect creeping into his golden eyes.

“I got it. You’re tougher than you look.
But you don’t mind me saying so—you don’t look too good.”

“Thanks a lot,” I snapped. “That makes me
feel just
great.
Are you always this
smooth?”

“No, damn it…” He slapped the steering
wheel in frustration. “Look, it gets harder to talk when the moon is full. My
wolf comes forward and that part of me…it doesn’t have words.” He took a deep
breath. “I didn’t mean you’re not pretty—you are. Fucking
gorgeous
. I’m just saying you look, I don’t know, sick or
something. Kind of weak and frail.”

“You’d be weak and frail too if you hadn’t
had any nourishment in almost two weeks,” I said tightly. “I’m just
thirsty
that’s all.”

“Oh, right. I, uh, guess that’s my fault.”
He gave me a sidelong look as he turned the truck onto a smaller dirt road.

I said nothing. He could assign himself
the blame if he wanted to but I wasn’t going to say anything else.
I’m not going to beg,
I told myself,
even though his warm scent was making my thirst for blood worse and worse.

Victor cleared his throat and killed the
truck’s motor.

“Well, here we are.”

I looked out of the window and saw a large
clearing inside a dense thicket of woods. This being Florida, there were plenty
of vines and creepers too, all of them dark greenish-black in the deepening
night.

The house itself looked like an upscale
log cabin—one of the two-story kind with high ceilings, hardwood floors and a
fireplace in every room. The arched eves managed to look graceful and rustic at
the same time and the windows sparkled silver in the moonlight.

“It’s lovely,” I said grudgingly. “I’ve
always liked log cabins.”

“Designed and built it myself.” There was
an unmistakable note of pride in the big were’s voice. “Wait ‘til you see it in
the sunlight. It’s really, uh…” He trailed off, obviously realizing what he was
saying. “I mean, never mind. Come on.”

I started to open my door but he was
around the side of the truck in a flash. He offered me a hand to get down from
the high cab. After a moment’s consideration, I took it and stepped down onto
the sparse grass of the driveway. His skin was as hot as I had imagined and I
took my hand out of his as soon as I could.

“Can I get your stuff?” Victor asked
gruffly.

I felt some of my resentment melt a
little. Clearly he was at least making an
effort
to be less of an ass.

“I don’t have any,” I reminded him gently.
“You didn’t really give me time to pack anything.” In fact, he had dragged me
away from
Under the Fang
with nothing
but the clothes on my back—a simple black skirt and a white button-down silk
blouse with black flats. It was one of the plainest outfits I owned, which was
why I liked it. Celeste always liked to dress me up and show me off like a doll
in expensive dresses with the most elaborate hair and makeup possible. I was
glad to put that part of my life behind me.

“Oh, sorry.” Victor rubbed the back of his
neck. “Well, let’s go in. I’ll show you around and then I really have to go.”

“Right. You have to, uh, change.” I nodded
stiffly and followed him to the wooden doorframe. Victor produced a set of keys
and unlocked the front door with a muted jingle. Then he stepped inside,
clearly expecting me to follow.

“Okay, so this is the kitchen,” he
remarked, flicking on the light switches so that the long room was flooded with
light. “I don’t guess you’ll use it much but—hey…” He turned with a frown to
see me still standing in the doorway. “Why are you still over there?”

“You didn’t invite me in.” I crossed my
arms over my chest. “I’m a vampire—I can’t enter the dwelling of a living
person without an invitation.”

“Oh, right.” He cleared his throat. “Damn
it, I’m making a fucking mess of this whole thing. Uh, Taylor, would you like
to come in?”

Not
really,
I thought but was too polite to say out
loud.

“Yes, thank you,” I said, stepping over
the threshold and into the house that was going to be my home for the next
three months. “I appreciate your invitation.”

“Sure.” Victor shrugged uneasily, his
broad shoulders rolling under his plain white t-shirt. I had yet to see him in
anything but t-shirts, jeans, and work boots. Except for the ill-fitting jacket
he’d borrowed from Corbin for our “wedding,” that was.

“So, like I was saying, this is the
kitchen,” he continued, once I had come forward to join him. “You can, um, make
yourself at home and there’s plenty of stuff in the fridge—”

“I don’t eat,” I reminded him. I was
hoping against hope that he would offer me some of his blood before he went,
but I wasn’t going to ask. Not even if I starved to death.

“Yeah, of course not. You need…need blood.
My blood.” He was looking more and more nervous.

“Only if you want to give it.” I looked
down at my hands. My fingers were clenched together, the knuckles white. My
throat felt like it was lined with barbed wire and my gut twisted with need.
Please,
I thought.
Oh please…oh please…

“Fine.” Victor seemed to come to a sudden
decision. He leaned back against the kitchen counter, both hands braced on the
countertop, and turned his head, baring his neck for me.

I approached him slowly, my heart suddenly
pounding. His big body was tense, the muscles standing out hard under his thin
white shirt. Under his olive skin, I could see a steady pulse beating in the
strong column of his throat.

The closer I got, the more intimidating I
found him. He was so massive, so
alive—
his
muscular body pulsing with animal energy. Even though as vampire, I’m
supernaturally strong, I sensed he was stronger—
much
stronger. He could crush me in a heartbeat if he wanted to. I
could feel his heat, could almost taste his wild scent on the tip of my tongue…

He’s
so big…
too
big.
I wanted his blood desperately—my fangs were fully
extended and aching to pierce his warm olive skin. But to get close enough to
feed, I would also have to be close enough for him to grab me—hurt me. My time
with Roderick rose before my eyes and I pushed it back down again quickly.

That’s
over now—I won’t think about it. And Victor promised not to hurt me. Corbin
made him swear an oath. It’ll be okay. Everything is going to be fine…isn’t it?

Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to
go right up beside him. But even hunched down as he was, his throat was still far
out of reach. I began to wish I had worn heels instead of my sensible black
flats—the four inch stilettos Celeste used to make me wear would have made
getting to the tantalizing vein I saw in his neck a hell of a lot easier.

Standing on tiptoes, I touched his arm
lightly to brace myself as I tried to reach him. His biceps tensed rock hard under
my fingertips and he twitched, reminding me of a stray dog uncertain how it
feels about being stroked by a stranger.

“Hurry the fuck up, will you?” he growled.
“I never did like needles and this is a damn awkward position to be in.”