Her pulse ratchets faster, and a sensuous shiver travels the length of her body. I brush a knuckle between her breasts and over her navel. Her breath stutters. When my fingers reach the apex of her thighs, I find her drenched. My erection turns valiantly hard. Gods, the feel of her slick folds makes my cock drool to be inside her. I’m hungry, starving for her blood, but if I’m going to take her vein, I’m going to do it while I’m in her and she’s screaming my name.
She moans into my mouth as I dip my fingers inside her, cupping her sweet pussy and massaging the underside of her clit. I bend lower, my tongue finding her breast, sucking the tight nub. I bite gently until I hear her gasp.
The clock ticks louder. “The clock. We’re running out of time,” she whispers breathlessly.
“Then I’ll need you to come faster.” I drop to my knees and replace my fingers with my tongue, sucking and licking, eating her like the starving man I am. The taste of her almost makes me weep. Her chest flushes, her nipples hard pearls that I take between my fingers.
Her pleasure sweeps through her hard and fast as a clap of thunder. She cries out, gripping my shoulders as if I’m the only thing holding her to the earth. But I’m already on my feet, my clothes gone as fast as I can think it. I lift her, dragging her up my body. Her soft curves meld against all my hard edges as her legs wrap around my hips.
I’m at her entrance, her slick need welcoming me inside, and I can’t hold myself back any longer. My foot finds purchase on the bench and I unleash myself on her, filling her again and again with sharp, quick thrusts. She cries out as another orgasm seizes her. I support her back as she arches over the bench and I run my palm along her sternum until my fingers wrap gently around her throat.
Mine.
Her pulse thrums against my fingers. Warm. Alive.
Mine.
With her body sheathing me, I’m on the verge of ecstasy.
I pull her flush against my chest, enjoying how each of my thrusts makes her breasts swell between us. “You’re mine, little bird,” I say against her throat.
“Yours,” she answers, her voice laden with promise.
And then I strike.
My fangs sink into her throat. This might be a dream, but her blood is thick and warm and real. It is all the heavens of all the worlds wrapped into one. I swallow her down, the taste, the power she feeds into my veins pushing me over the edge. I empty myself inside her, gulping down what she so freely gives me even as her body constricts around me, her hips grinding, driving me deeper.
The clock ticks again, louder, and then stops. Our eyes meet, hers wide and desperate.
“I love you, little bird. I will find a way back to you.”
She and the clock fade like blown smoke.
I wake under the mattress, the light sizzling against my exposed skin. A warrior never weeps. Tears are a waste of energy. But I gnash my teeth at the loss of her, burying my wail in the filthy fabric. Only when I gain control again do I notice a change.
I’m no longer hungry.
Eloise might have been a dream, but my body tells me her blood was real enough. The question is, will it be enough to gain the upper hand against Valeska.
8
Cold Reason
ELOISE
“Wake up! Jesus Christ, Eloise, don’t do this to me! Wake the hell up!”
Maeve’s voice is shrill in my ears as I jolt awake and draw a deep, gasping inhale. “What are you doing? Put me back. Put me back in.”
I sit up on the green velvet sofa in my parlor and reach for the mason jar we used for the potion. It’s empty. I already drank it all. My head spins like I’m tipsy.
“No way!” Maeve grabs the jar from my hands. “All the blood’s drained from your face, and I couldn’t find your pulse a second ago. What the hell happened in there? I thought I was going to lose you!”
I shiver, registering for the first time that the room is icy cold. I grab the crocheted blanket I keep on the end of the couch and wrap it around me.
“Your teeth are chattering.” She presses her palm to my forehead. “God, you’re freezing.”
“Turn up the heat. We should start a fire.” My voice sounds weak, and I’m thirsty as hell.
