Soul Taker (22 page)

Not all are evil.

Garran and Alexander were both from the Grim
Sith sept, but only one of them
creeped
her out. Garran with
all his fluster and withering looks, she felt... "Safe," she
whispered and nodded. Despite the rugged warrior persona he
betrayed, and the fact he could suck her dry or even take her soul,
she trusted him.

Alexander may look like an angel, but
underneath the perfect features, evil lurked ready to strike. His
soul, his true soul was muddied with his sordid deeds, the glow
only a hazy afterthought. "No wonder he steals souls." It was as if
his being craved goodness, but his retched existence had forgotten
how to embrace such a gift. His evilness blackened it, ate it away
like a cancer until he fed again.

She stifled a yawn behind her hand. Her
mother gave her glimpses of Otherworldly beings, but Garran would
be able to separate the truth from the conjectures. He had cleared
up a few myths, but not nearly enough for her curious mind. She'd
grill him again, but he probably wouldn't be so forthcoming with
information the next time around—if there was a next time around.
He seemed bent on leaving her behind.

Her eyelids closed and her head nodded
forward, jerking her awake. "Time for bed." She was surprised she
could sleep after what happened tonight. The tea must be doing its
job. She stood and turned off the light before heading upstairs to
her bedroom with her cup of tea in hand and the journal tucked
under her arm. She entered her room and flipped on the light
switch. She took a step only to freeze as fear slid through her
veins like ice.

She blinked in hopes the vision would change,
but it didn't. Alexander stood there in his dark polo shirt and
blue jeans. He leaned lazily against her oak dresser. His arms were
crossed against his chest. His chilling blue-eyed appraisal of her
made her heart stop and restart.

This isn't real
, Isabella thought.
However, her hallucination thought to prove her wrong.

A slow smile curved Alexander's lips. "Hello,
my sweet. I decided ye would do after all."

Her book and cup slid from her grasps as she
whirled around and dashed for the stairs, but before she could make
her descent, she was yanked back by her hair.

He was so strong, his hold paralyzing. "Don't
run away so soon, my pet." His long thin fingers caressed her
cheek. "We haven't begun to play."

His breath tickled the inside of her ear,
making her shudder. Fear slammed harder through her veins, making
breathing difficult. How could he be here, when Garran and Harrison
were tracking him? She had to fight him, break away before he added
her to his growing victim's list.

"Ask me in, sweet Isabella."

Ask him in? What did he mean? He was in. He
invaded her privacy and held her hostage.

He caressed her face again and murmured
Gaelic words in her ear. Her shoulders relaxed and she swayed
against him. "Let me in," he repeated.

She licked her lips, wondering why her tongue
felt thick and why speech seemed to fail her.

Alexander held her captive, yet he wanted
her…

Then she knew.

He wasn't here. She must have fallen asleep
and he'd somehow entered her dreams. With all the strength she
could muster, she choked out the word that would send him away.
"
NO!
"

He became angry then, squeezing her.

She tried to scream, but only a choked cry
for help came out as he shook her and shook her.

"Wake up, Isabella. Wake up."

Her eyes snapped open and she began to fight,
plowing her fist into his face. She had to get away.

"Stop it. It's Harrison, Isabella. You're
safe."

She stopped struggling and focused.
Whiskey-colored eyes, not ice-blue, looked back at her with
concern. "Oh, my God, Harrison." She threw her arms around his
neck. "He was here," she sobbed the words in angry disbelief. "How
could that be? Alexander was
here
."

His arms came around her and he held her
close, rubbing the back of her head as he tried to reassure her.
"He wasn't. It was only a nightmare."

She pushed away to look at him, shaking her
head, still not convinced.

"Look around," Harrison said as he stood. "No
one is here but you, me, and Garran."

Her gaze shifted to the door where Garran
stood, leaning against the wall. She furrowed her brows in
confusion. "But it seemed so real."

"Possibly it was real," Garran commented,
making them both look at him. "Alexander may have been in yer
head."

"How?" Her voice sounded small, vulnerable
even to her own ears.

"He touched ye," Garran told her. "He sampled
yer blood, linkin' ye to him. What did he say to ye in yer
dream?"

"We haven't started to play, and…
Ask me
in
. He wanted me to ask him in."

"Did ye?" Garran's eyes were hard and
inscrutable as if he was trying to shield his emotions from her,
but Isabella could still read his aura. It flared with passion and
anger, but she didn't believe it was toward her.

"Did I— No, of course not, but I wanted to,"
she realized. "For a moment, oh God, I wanted to." She covered her
face with her hands. "What happened?" She wanted to know. "I
thought you were tailing this guy."

Harrison sighed. "The trail ran cold, but we
have a new lead. Monette Garlen, a powerful voodoo queen…" He
filled her in on their meeting with Monette and Alexander's part in
kidnapping the woman's daughter. "If we find Frimrose, we find
Alexander." Garran met Harrison's gaze with an unspoken worry.

"Sounds so easy when you say it like that,"
Isabella stated sarcastically, knowing it wasn't in the least. "If
Alexander can get into my head, how long do I have before he'll
succeed in wearing me down?"

Garran studied Isabella for a moment, his
gaze making her body respond in a wicked way. Why couldn't she be
attracted to a normal guy and preferably one who didn't prefer
blood for a snack? She squirmed in her seat and hoped to God her
cheeks hadn't flamed red.

"There's a way to counteract Alexander's bond
to ye," Garran said as he pushed away from the wall and strode
closer.

Harrison let out a curse as if that cryptic
statement revealed the plan.

"And how is that?" Isabella asked, not liking
the way Harrison and Garran exchanged looks, like some kind of
secret handshake.

Harrison crouched down beside her again and
took her hand. "Alexander is connected to you."

"Yes, I believe I got that part."

"You're in danger and the only way to prevent
it is… There is just no way of sugarcoating this, Izzie. Garran
needs to drink some of your blood."

"Could you repeat that?" Isabella chuckled,
nervously. "Because it sounded a lot like you said Garran needed to
drink my blood."

"It would be for the best." Garran took a
step toward her as if it was settled and she gave him her
blessing.

She pushed Harrison away and scrambled to her
feet, taking refuge behind the chair. "Stop right there,
Dracula."

Surprisingly, Garran halted his steps.

"I'm not letting you suck on my neck," she
told him.

"Then Alexander has won. He will wear ye
down, and ye will let him in. I do no' need to tell ye what happens
next." He shrugged as if it made no difference to him.

She didn't need a good imagination to know
what would happen next. She gulped down the bile that threatened to
come up. "Well, don't try to sweet talk me into it."

"I have no time, nor do I have patience to
sweet talk
ye, as ye so eloquently put it. I either bond
with ye or ye die. Yer choice, naturally."

"Naturally." She glared back at him. Had she
only moments before thought him attractive?

Harrison intervened again. "Listen, Izzie. I
don't want anything to happen to you. Alexander has a stronghold on
your mind. He won't stop with the one dream. He'll keep coming at
you until you let your defenses down."

She licked her lips, as the moisture
evaporated right out of them. "So how is Garran drinking my blood
going to stop Alexander?"

"Garran will stay linked with you. If you're
in trouble, he'll know it and he'll intervene. Rest assured, he'll
stop Alexander from hurting you."

"So, Garran will be in my head, too? Won't it
get a little crowded in there?" Sarcasm dripped from her words, but
she couldn't help it. Her thoughts were hers.
Dammit!
She
wasn't particularly fond of one Grim Sith in her head, let alone
two.

Garran pinched the bridge of his nose as if
this discussion was giving him a headache. "Would ye rather be
alone with the
Soul Taker
instead?" He ground out as if her
hesitation somehow offended him.

She inhaled deeply and met Garran's gaze. She
took in the colors, caressing his skin and haloing around him. She
could detect no deceit. He truly believed this would work to keep
her safe. "Okay. Fine. Do it already." She waved her hand at him as
she came around the chair and plopped back down in it. "You know
when I was young, like many girls, I dreamt about a knight in
shining armor coming to rescue me from the monsters that hid in my
closet." Garran's brows rose and she shook her head. "I didn't
expect the knight to sport fangs." She moved her hair to the side,
leaving her neck bare.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Garran hadn't had an offering like this for
two centuries. Too bad it wasn't by choice. He knelt down beside
her and gently caressed her neck with his fingertips. He could hear
her heart thumping wildly against her chest and the small throb of
her carotid artery called to his inner beast, calling to his
hunger, his need to touch her... taste her. She should be afraid,
but he didn't smell fear. Damn, even with all her blustering to the
contrary, the infernal lass trusted him.

His hand fell away, and he sighed with
regret. He wouldn't take her intimate offer, not when it had been
given under duress. He reached for her hand instead. She looked at
him, her eyebrows furrowed and her lovely hazel eyes rimmed with
gold peered at him in question.

"The inside of the wrist will be safer," he
told her. "It's less… personal." He didn't wait for her to question
him on what he meant. The woman had so many questions churning in
her head; he was surprised Alexander could enter her subconscious
mind without being devoured and meshed into the onslaught of her
thoughts.

With his incisors lengthened, he lowered his
head and nipped the tender flesh at her wrist. She inhaled sharply
when he pressed his mouth hard over the pulsing vein. The taste of
her blood flooded his system… sweet and smooth, like silk. The
taste he had half expected, but not the other sensation that
followed.

He sometimes caught glimpses of the person's
life when he'd taken their blood, but not like this. He connected
fully with Isabella. Flashes of her life hit him like a fast
playing movie: Isabella hugging a puppy. Another, of her doing
gymnastics.
Her first kiss.
The accident that cost her, her
life… and her brother… He was there when it happened, and after…
Her waking up in the hospital. Despair at losing her parents. Then
a man, who had broken her heart flashed into view. He had the urge
to kill the man for hurting her. Before he could decipher why he'd
have such a thought, her moan of pleasure distracted him.

Her body flooded with desire as he took her
close to the edge. He eased back. He couldn't take her too far
over, just enough to make the experience satisfying for her.

She tasted so good. He couldn't remember the
last time he tasted human blood. Fifty years ago? A hundred?
Nothing he had tasted in the past had been this fine, this
sweet…this intoxicating. God, he wanted her, all of her and he knew
the desire wasn't one sided. Her soft murmurs purred in his ear and
her spiked scent washed over him in waves.

When Harrison cleared his throat, Garran's
body tensed. For a moment, he'd forgotten where he was and why he
was doing this. A growl vibrated in his throat in protest, but he
gave Isabella's wrist a healing kiss, to close the wound, before he
dragged his mouth away. He stood and took a step back as he wiped
his lips with the back of his shaking hand. He quickly shoved his
hand into his pocket.

He stared at Isabella, her eyes glazed over
with passion. He bloody well knew by the way Harrison grinned at
him that he must look the besotted fool too.

"Don't say it, ye wee dunderhead." His
Scottish burr thickened, infuriating him further. He cleared his
throat. "I should have never—"

"You had to." Harrison shrugged and looked
away, giving him a moment to compose himself.

Aye, he had to, but it didn't explain the
connection he felt when he had linked with her—strong and binding
when he had only meant to link to sense her distress.

Isabella blinked as her wits returned, and
she didn't quite meet his gaze. Her cheeks blazed crimson under her
olive skin and she hugged her arms around her.

"I'll stay with her," Harrison offered. "It's
almost sunup."

"No…" she tried to object but Garran spoke
up.

"It's for the best. Until we're sure we're
linked—" He really had no doubt they were. Flashes of her life were
still fresh in his mind, as if he'd experienced them too. He
cleared his throat. "Harrison should stay with ye."

"But I thought…" she touched her wrist where
only two small pinpoints marred her once perfect skin, the only
evidence of his vampire kiss.

"I'll be in yer dreams." His voice sounded
rough and unused. He cleared his throat again and hoped Isabella
didn't hear the longing behind those words.

Isabella's brows furrowed. She shook her head
at the disturbing thought of Garran being in her dreams. Not
because she feared Garran, but because she feared her dreams would
be about him. She worried her lower lip. How could he irritate her
so, and on the other hand make her want to... touch him…kiss
him?