Kissing Elise Saint proved to be a worthy distraction from Layla’s vicious hunger. She tasted all of the heiress, her tongue tracing the inside of her mouth, and a new hunger opened up within her. Layla’s hands dipped beneath her shirt, her fingers trailing the warm expanse of skin beyond. Elise shuddered under her touch and arched into the mirror behind them. Her breath fanned out across Layla’s face as she pulled back, baring her throat for her.
The rush of blood pulsing against her skin tempted Layla, but she refused to give in to her brutal desires. Instead, she pressed a hot kiss to the juncture between Elise’s jaw and neck, savoring the soft moan she drew from her. With her fangs out and scraping against the delicate skin, Layla could not help but think of how such a thin barrier kept her from Elise’s greatest arsenal. Her very essence—her existence was Layla’s weakness. She hesitated while Elise’s hands roamed up her shirt. Her lips lingered on the pulse point in Elise’s neck, her breath hot against her flesh as she inhaled her sweet scent.
“Do it,” Elise whispered. Her hands fumbled on the buttons of her blouse, a few of them popping as she rushed to open it.
Her desperation to bare herself to Layla only drove the desirous urges home stronger than ever. Even with the blood fury pulling all impulse control from her, its ravenous thirst driving all the years of practice and work against temptation from her system, Layla knew feeding from Elise was a reckless idea. She grabbed Elise’s wrist, stopping her as she finished opening her blouse to allow Layla better access to her throat. Blood dripped from the wounds Layla’s fangshad left in her own lips, and she let it fall between them. There was no greater rush than in the moment before her fangs found home in someone’s flesh. The fury ravaging her self-control tore at her nerves, sending prickling want across her entire body. Even the sight of Elise turned from a portrait of mortal frailty to a picture of devouring beauty. Layla needed more than just her blood. She needed all of her. The pulse of her rushing artery against her throat was all Layla could focus on with her hand still wrapped around Elise’s wrist, so close to the source.
“I’ll kill you,” Layla whispered, her voice tense with yearning. “Do you wish to turn me into a monster?”
Elise snatched her hand away and pulled Layla in by her waist. “You will do no such thing. I command it.”
Layla’s bloody smile turned vicious. The Saint girl could command all she wanted, but there was no control when it came to bloodless devils. For in this moment, Layla had become one. And she would not stop until she was full. Her hand curled around the back of Elise’s head as she leaned in to sink her fangs into her neck. At once, the hostile hunger in Layla’s core turned to something sweeter. With Elise’s blood on her tongue, coating her mouth, and flowing down her throat, there was nothing else in the world that mattered. All she saw was the curve of Elise’s spine as she again arched against the mirror and the bliss that made her eyes roll back. Her blood, her perfume, her humanity, her essence was all Layla smelled. The endless hunger before might have made her crave Elise more, but Layla was certain nothing would ever compare to her. The taste ofElise stood closer to divinity than anything Layla had ever experienced. Her blood was a sacrament on her lips, the only thing Layla might ever get on her knees for. All morals be damned, Layla would find happiness in death if it meant dying with the taste of Elise on her tongue.
Elise’s breath grew heavy in her ear, and Layla knew she should have stopped, but she couldn’t find the strength to cut off the flow of blood between them. Between the urgency of Elise’s nails dragging along her back and neck and the soft moans she let out, Layla had found heaven. When Elise dragged her leg over Layla’s, Layla gripped her thigh to haul it farther around her waist. She pressed closer to Elise—into her. Until the flesh she drank from became ragged and Elise’s breathing faint. Still now, Layla was hardly full, but when Elise drew a hand up to push her away, she complied and stepped back.
Blood dripped from both of them. It seeped from a messy bite mark in Elise’s throat, paving a path of carnage over her collarbones and between her breasts. A long tear ruined the front of her blouse; Layla hadn’t even noticed causing it due to her frenzy. Blood drenched her mouth, and her fangs remained out as her tongue curled over the leftovers of her feast. They were still close enough to touch, though Layla kept her distance, her fingers flexing while her eyes roamed Elise’s appearance.
Besides her chest heaving to catch her breath, she seemed mostly okay. A spark of desire lit her eyes alongside the anger that she had greeted Layla with earlier. Elise pulled herself away from the sinkand gripped Layla’s chin. “You look feral,” she spat out. Behind her, a crack had formed in the mirror.
“I am. Because of you,” Layla breathed. Her blood heated again, yearning for a finale that would strike the hunger from her body indefinitely.
Elise shook her head and dropped her hand. “No, this has nothing to do with me.” She began to walk away, pulling at the ruined parts of her blouse as she went.
Layla trailed after her. “Elise, please.” Her voice came out like a desperate plea. Layla couldn’t even curse herself for the desperation; in this moment, there was nothing she wanted more than the girl before her. Elise finally turned around again, and Layla wasted no time in dropping to a kneeling position at her feet. How magnificent it was that a human could bring her to her knees with just her blood.
“Lise.” Layla’s hand trailed up Elise’s leg, feeling the heat of her blood beneath her flesh. The sensation had her fangs digging into her lips again and more blood spilling over her teeth. “I’ll do anything for you. Anything you want. I need you.” Her hand slid farther up, fingers curling around the back of her thigh. “I can make my apologies more repentant.” Most days, Layla hated how weak she became when presented with the only thing she needed. Her affections for blood turned her into a fool. She could stomach it for Elise Saint only. Her blood had a hold on her like no other.
For the first time all night, the anger melted out of Elise’s expression. Intrigue replaced it, and while she continued to frown, allure became visible in her trembling lower lip and glowing eyes. “I’ll takeyou up on that offer some other time,” she murmured. Then Elise exited the bathroom, leaving Layla desirous and kneeling by herself.
Eventually she collected her thoughts and got up to follow Elise down the hallway. Sterling and Jamie met them both with incredulous stares. Hendricks, who sat comfortably between the two young men on the couch, paused in licking his paw to peer up at the girls.
Jamie blinked. “What the hell kind of calming down did you do to her?”
A faint look of disgust darkened Sterling’s face as he eyed the blood still spilling from the bite wound in Elise’s neck and then the scarlet stain on Layla’s mouth. “I would rather not know. Please do not answer his question,” he grumbled.
Layla brushed the back of her hand over her mouth, wiping the blood away. With most of her hunger subsiding already, the cool, calming relief of a fresh feeding settled over her body. Her tense frame relaxed, her shoulders slumping and fangs retracting. “She’s fine now,” Layla said.
Elise nodded and crossed the room to pick up the vial with the bow. “I wonder if this would be enough to blackmail Karine with.”
20
With Layla’s venom rushing through her veins and marking her bite wound, Elise felt safer than she should have walking the streets of Harlem alone. It helped that she had just been ravaged by a reaper experiencing a blood fury and survived. The wound in her throat still wept, but she did not wrap it, if only to remind herself of the consequences that might occur if she was not careful executing her plans tonight.
At her destination, an elegant brick building loomed above her. Jazz music, loud and bumping, trailed from behind the walls, its presence so entrancing, it caused a thunderous vibration in the sidewalk outside. Elise hesitated as she glanced up at the light bursting from the windows. Being among people had never been easy for her, but since the accident with Charlotte and all that had happened with her family and every party she had attended between those times, she was especially wary of putting herself among drunkensocialites. Danger thrived in places where the music rose to volumes loud enough to drown out screams and people drank enough to be unable to tell their right foot from their left. Elise couldn’t tell if she had a death sentence or if she was so far buried beneath the guilt of losing Josi that doing anything to find her had become the only choice.
“Are you looking for the Renny?” someone asked nearby. A young Black couple passed by, the man stopping to look at her.
Elise nodded.
The young woman waved a hand toward the building. “There’s so much to do, you’ll be overwhelmed the moment you walk in, but just remind yourself you can always come back.” Sparkles lined her eyes, and they fell into the white fur shrug draped over her shoulders. The sight of her carefully done makeup and nice dance outfit reminded Elise of nights when she would get dressed up and head out with Sterling. Those times no longer existed, and even with all her efforts to make things right, Elise feared she would never know a sense of normalcy again. The way people continued to drown the darkness out with alcohol while monsters in plain daylight and nighttime preyed on the vulnerable made Elise’s stomach turn. She wasn’t sure she could ever fall into their patterns.
A piece of paper flew across the ground, catching on her heel. Looking down, Elise found her own face staring up at her. Her face along with crass renderings of Layla, Jamie, and Sterling sat beneath a jarring WANTED. Elise picked it up and crumpled it in her fist before letting it blow away with the breeze.
As Elise stepped into the Renaissance Ballroom, she was immediately hit with the aroma of sweat and liquor associated with parties these days. She craved no part of it. Avoiding stray feathers from boas and the long trains of fabric from people’s dresses proved difficult as she weaved her way through the crowds. The place had been a prime spot for entertainment for years, with a casino, a ballroom, a theater, and a basketball court. And wherever a crowd gathered, there was bound to be illicit behavior and activities. Elise knew the Renny was the perfect place for politicians to meet gangsters—or for any illegal opportunities. She’d also discovered her father frequented the place, though he had never been a dancer or a gambler, unless she counted him betting on others’ lives. Tonight, however, she hoped not to find him but his previous partners in misdeeds.
Elise made her way to the casino, the best area for deals to take place under the table. Smoke weaved through the room as she surveilled the various people at each game table. Some leaned heavily against their seats, weighed down by liquor. Politicians placed bets on their cards while whispering to gangsters who stood behind them with loaded guns strapped to their bodies. Money spilled between fingers just as quickly as liquor flowed from cups into mouths. Elise might have been the most sober person there and reaper venom still wreaked havoc on her system.
She swallowed past a particularly intense wave of heat that radiated from her bite wound. Every time she blinked for a bit too long, Elise saw flashes of Layla’s eyes, golden and desirous, gazing up ather in the darkness. She should have let Layla take her—consume every inch of her. Falling victim to a reaper’s wants only ever felt right when it was Layla’s desires Elise was satisfying.
