Sire (13 page)

The car pulled to a stop, and the driver opened the door. "We've arrived, miss."

Caitlin thanked him numbly, and crawled out of the car. Her head swam, but she managed to start walking toward the dorms.

The pain in her back faded as Michael healed. She could fell the emotions boiling inside of him, the resentment and anger and confusion and lust. The fire inside of him, the raw, physical
need
he felt, almost took Caitlin off her feet.

Angelica flipped him over, and sat astride him. She closed her eyes in ecstasy and threw her head back, then ran her hand through her long, luscious hair.

Caitlin's hand shook as she tried to grasp the handle to her dorm room. Michael's back arched, and he roared. Caitlin burst into tears and sank to the floor.

The vision faded, leaving Caitlin staring at nothing but the darkness of her closed eyes.

The door opened behind her. "Babe?" Alexis asked. "What's wrong?"

Caitlin waved her hand through the air, unable to answer. Alexis stood there for a moment, then helped Caitlin inside.

Alexis sat her down on the couch, then brought her a blanket and a bowl of ice cream. Caitlin thanked her, but just stared at it.

"So ... date didn't go so well?" Alexis asked.

Caitlin fought to compose herself. "Not exactly," she said.

"What happened?"

"I met his lover."

Alexis' mouth fell open, and then her face turned red. "Oh. Oh, what an
asshole.
"

She came over and sat next to Caitlin, and put a hand on her knee. Caitlin leaned against her, grateful to for her support, and wept.

***

Alexis met Evan in the library the next evening.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on?" he asked.

Alexis looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you haven't touched your coffee, you've been drawing the same spiral in your notebook for the last twenty minutes, and you haven't said a single word since we got here. Also, you look kind of like you're ready to tear someone's arm off and beat them to death with it."

Alexis dropped her pen and sighed. "Yeah, you're right," she said. "Sorry I haven't been very much company. Or any company at all. I've just got a lot on my mind."

"You don't say."

"Yeah." She picked up her pen again.

"No, I mean you really don't say. Anything. Do you want to talk about it? You know it's not good to keep all of these violent, homicidal tendencies locked up inside."

Alexis smirked. "Thanks, but I'd rather not. It's personal."

"You're bashful?"

"It's not about me."

"So one of your roommates."

"One of my roommate's asshole no-longer-boyfriends."
 

"Oh." Evan said. "What did he do?"

"He's such a dick!" Alexis erupted. "I should have seen it coming. He's all 'ooh, look at me, I'm dark and broody and I own a nightclub and I have perfect hair and you could cut paper with my cheekbones and wow aren't my eyes amazing we should go back to my place and have meaningless sex just so I can dump you doesn't that sound fun?'"

Evan sat back and looked at Alexis with wide eyes.

"Sorry," she said.

Evan blinked and leaned forward again. "No, no, it's okay. So ... dick club owner. I'm guessing you're talking about Michael? And Caitlin?"

"Yeah," Alexis said, chewing her lip. "But you can't say anything to anybody. She doesn't want to make a big deal of it, and I don't want to have to murder you."

"Cross my heart. So, they had a one night stand that only he knew was a one night stand?"

"It's worse than that! They had a date last night, which Caitlin kind of forgot about, so she rushed out of the house to meet him, and when she got to his place, he had another girl there."

"And they were ...?"

"In desperate need of clothing."

"Damn," Evan said. "That's harsh." He shook his head. "That's the problem with so many college guys. They're just in it for the sex."

Alexis looked sideways at him. "Yeah, you're right. It's way better when a guy isn't interested in getting laid."

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Alexis said, and started doodling again.

***

The girl—Liam didn't know her name, but she was the small one with dark skin—and her boyfriend—Liam didn't care what his name was—left the library around ten that night. Liam followed them.

She wasn't really his type. She was a brunet, and he had always preferred blonds. She was short, and he'd always preferred his girls with a little leg. She was thin, and he was more into the athletic type.

But she was Caitlin's friend, and that was enough.

And she wasn't without her own redeeming qualities. Liam could tell that the girl was feisty. The way she carried herself, the way she talked ... she would put up a fight, Liam was certain of it. And it was always so much better when they put up a fight.

The boy was perfectly generic; Liam would snap his neck and be done with it. But the girl? The girl, he would take his time with.

He wondered how long it would take to break her.

He wouldn't use pain, not at first. Anyone would break if you hurt them enough. Liam wanted more. He wanted the girl to understand that she was powerless. He wanted her to know that she was helpless. He wanted the girl to understand that Liam was her God, that she lived and bled and died at his whim, for his pleasure.

He wouldn't be satisfied until there was no more fight in her, until he had slowly, carefully,
lovingly
removed her sense of control. Her sense of safety. Her sense of self. He wanted to leave her a broken, empty shell, to see her quiver and tremble before him.

Then
the pain would start.

They started walking down the path—the deliciously twisting, enticingly dim path—back to the dorms. Liam leapt into the trees and stalked them from above.

He could already hear her whimpers, her pleading, her screams. She was so beautiful, with tears streaming down her face. With blood running down her throat. He could practically taste the salt of her skin, the iron of her blood. The thought made him smile.

They came to the end of the path. Liam crouched on a tree branch above, and listened.

"So, any plans for the rest of the night?" the girl asked.

"Oh, you know. I've got a ton of reading to do, and I want to get a jump on it before the weekend."

The girl stepped closer to him, and hooked her thumbs through his belt loops. "Any way I could convince you to spend the night with me, instead?"

The boy laughed nervously, and stepped backwards. "You're so funny, Alexis. You know, one of these days, someone's going to call your bluff."

The girl removed her hands and made a face. "God I hope so."

"What?"

"Nothing. Have fun studying. I've got some work to do, too."

Liam was disgusted. The boy was utterly clueless. He'd be doing him a favor by putting him out of his misery.

Liam watched through the front windows. The girl entered her suite and walked to her bedroom. Liam jumped onto the dorm's rooftop, crossed it in two jumps, and leapt into the trees behind the dorm.

The girl's light flicked on, and she sat at her desk. She made a face, gave a deep sigh, and switched on her computer. She had left some very ... interesting pictures of some very excited young men on her screen.

Caitlin's window was open, and the curtains were pushed aside, letting the cool night air blow in. She was stretched out on her bed, sleeping on top of her covers. Liam's eyes took in every delightful curve of her body. The long legs, the full breasts, the way her hair fell around her head like a halo.

Anger rose up inside of Liam. She was a vision, and he wanted to possess her. To break her, the way he would break those around her. But Angelica had taken a personal interest in the girl, and Liam's desires would have to be denied. Or at least postponed. His claws cut gouges into the branch he crouched on.

The short girl had closed her computer, and opened a textbook. How boring.

Liam was about to jump down from the trees when a light came on in the corner window. A tall blond was walking into the room. Now
she
was intriguing. She certainly had the look that Liam preferred. The way she walked, it was like she thought she was sex on legs. Delicious.

A boy walked in after her, carrying her books and looking at her with puppy dog eyes. He set her things on the bed and reached out to touch her, but the girl slapped his hand away, and turned her back on him. The boy left, crestfallen.

When did all the men in this city lose their balls?

The girl rummaged beneath her desk, and threw a pair of running shoes onto the bed. Then she turned around and opened her closet. She stripped off her shirt, threw her bra on the ground, and started rifling through her clothes.

Liam's teeth lengthened into fangs.

This girl would be
much
more fun to play with.

Chapter Eight

When Caitlin woke up, she found Michael sitting at the foot of her bed, head hung low.

She gasped and pushed herself against the headboard, and drew her legs up in front of her chest. She looked herself over to make sure she was decent. "What are you doing here?" she said. She was whispering, so she wouldn't wake the other girls up, but she put as much ferocity into her words as possible.

"I came to apologize," Michael said without looking at her.

Caitlin's throat suddenly felt thick. She let out a shuddering breath and swallowed before speaking. "You don't owe me an apology."

"Yes I do," he said, finally looking at her. His face was gaunt, haunted. "I didn't mean for that to happen. Especially with you there. I didn't know that Angelica was coming for me."

Anger flashed through Caitlin at the mention of her name. "But that wasn't anything unusual, was it? You two have been going at it for a while now?"

Michael looked back at the floor. "Yes."

"Do you love her?"

He was quiet for a moment. "I did," he said eventually. "But everything changed. Everything that happened with Liam, I knew that I couldn't ... and then I met you, and everything changed again. The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew I couldn't live without you."

"Oh come on! Look, Michael, I might be a little ... but I'm not dumb. I don't believe in love at first sight. I believe that you can want to get to know someone at first sight, or want to sleep with someone at first sight, but love? No way."

"I didn't believe it either, until I met you."

"So that's why you slept with Angelica? Because you want
me
so bad?"

"You don't understand," Michael said in a pleading voice. "I can't control myself when I'm around her. I can't stop myself."

Caitlin rolled her eyes. "That's exactly what a girl wants to hear, that a guy can't control himself around
another
woman. Does that line ever work for you?"

"You're not being fair. You know that. She can force me to do things."

"Yeah? Well it sure seemed like you were enjoying all of the forcing," Caitlin spat.

Michael's face blanched. "You saw that?"

"I lived it. Every single second. Everything you did to her." Michael looked miserable, but Caitlin continued. "Everything you
should
have been doing to me."

Michael's head jerked up. "What?"

"Oh come on. I've been throwing myself at you since we met! You had every opportunity, but you just brushed me off."

"I thought you didn't believe in love at first sight."

"I believe in having a good time!"

"I didn't want to hurt you."

"Well it's a bit late for that, isn't it? I got my own personal peep show, starring you and the woman who let a killer go free."

Caitlin stood up and walked to the corner of the room, facing away from Michael. He followed after her, and gently touched her shoulders, but Caitlin shrugged away from him. Michael took hold of her arms, more firmly this time, and turned her around. Caitlin fell against him, tears springing to her eyes.

"Do you have any idea how hard this is?" she asked. "God, you want to talk about everything changing? I just learned that vampires are real. Do you remember what that was like? And I got
kidnapped
by one of them. And you, you're this beautiful, perfect thing, and you come charging through the night to save me, and I drank your blood and now all I can think of is you, all of the time, but I can't have you. It's killing me, Michael. It's killing me."

Michael lifted her face up toward his, and wiped away a single tear with his thumb. "But you
can
have me."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it's over. I told her that I was done. I told her I won't be kept as her pet any more. I told her that you're all I want now."

Caitlin wanted to believe him, but could she? Would Angelica, after her flagrant display and pointed declaration, really give up so easily? It didn't seem possible.

But Michael was standing
right there,
close enough to touch. Close enough to ...

She stood on her toes and slowly, gingerly leaned toward him. Their lips touched lightly, just a quick, chaste peck.

They stared at each other for what felt like hours, and then Michael lifted her off the ground and pressed her against the wall. He kissed her hard, and Caitlin found herself short of breath. The feel of his lips pressed against hers, the taste of his mouth, his cool breath blowing over her skin, lit up every nerve in her body. She felt like she was going to explode.

She wrapped her legs around him, and he stepped backward. They fell onto the bed, Caitlin on top. She ran her nails over his chest and through his hair. She pulled his shirt over his head and threw it to the ground, then, after reveling in the beauty of his bare torso, pulled hers off as well. She trailed kisses over his abs and across his chest.

Michael grabbed her and flipped her over, and pulled her hands up above her head. With one hand he held her wrists, and with the other he stroked her hair, her face, her skin.

His eyes began to turn crimson.

Caitlin's heart skipped a beat, but she fought back her panic. "Do it," she whispered.