“Only an elder can handle the fifth level, like I said,” he continued. “But a middle-level vampire can handle lesser-powered demons, like you might expect.”
“I can do that math, yes. Listen, do you need blood? We can chat about sabotage and fights to the death anytime.”
“You wouldn’t sabotage me,” he said toward the ceiling.
“That line of thinking nearly got you killed the last time. You need to learn your lesson. But seriously, let’s get those fangs in my neck, yes? I want to hit the hay.”
His head turned toward me slowly. Hunger flashed in his honeyed eyes. “Are you sure you’re ready?”
“Yep. Let’s do it.” I stood, because I didn’t want to be too comfortable. “Where, over here?” I backed toward the wall next to the door dividing our suites because it was available wall space and also a good exit plan.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“If you wish. Or would you rather lie down? Get more comfortable?”
“Nope. I would not, no.” I pulled my hair thing from around my wrist and lifted my hands to tie my hair back.
“Please, no.” Darius stood. “It is so rare I get to see your hair falling around your face. Leave it, if you would.”
I pulled the band back around my wrist. I didn’t care where my hair was; I cared where his fangs were.
He stalked toward me slowly, purposefully.
The expected tingles were overshadowed by an unexpected dump of adrenaline. My stomach fluttered, not because of possible sexual relations, but because a lethal predator was sizing me up. My fight-or-flight reflexes roared to life, and very rarely did I choose flight.
“This is probably the wrong way to go about this,” I said in a strong voice, hot with the anticipation of battle. “If you want to actually make it to my neck, that is. I’mnot the normal girl you do this with.”
He smiled in a feral way, showing his elongating fangs. “Would you kill me, Reagan?”
“I’m pretty sure we covered that.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“It kind of does, though.” I watched as he slowly walked parallel to me. He was looking for anin. Most predators did this when they were sizing up a food source, and deep in my gut, I didn’t like knowing that someone was higher on the food chain than me. I didn’t like being a source for anything. It felt like a challenge, and everyone knew I went crazy for challenges. Considering the way my fire had lashed out randomly at that poor cat, this might be a very bad idea, both for him and the wellbeing of the hotel.
“I am invigorated like I’ve never been,” he said quietly, his eyes sparkling. I had to strain to hear. “Excited in a way I can’t remember. Anxious. Desperate. I must have you, Reagan.”
“What do you think I’m waiting here for?” I grudgingly angled my head to the right. “Get to it.”
He shook his head slowly and stopped, facing me. Analyzing me. “That wouldn’t be enjoyable for you. Would you rather fight and be overpowered?”
Suddenly he was right in front of me, his hands reaching.
I punched out, startled and unable to help it. My fistconnected with his midsection. I grabbed his shirt and yanked, trying to throw him away, but didn’t manage to move him far. His hand nearly got a hold of my neck, and he leaned closer.
A shock of fear coursed through me. I peppered him with punches, pushing down the fire inside me that wanted to blast the whole room. In its place, that cold thing within me swelled, filling my body. Tingling my fingers. I shoved him, trying to get him away.
His body flew backward through the air. Shock smacked into his features. He crashed against the wall before falling to the floor.
I froze. I’d moved stuff before, but it had never felt like that. It had never been so easy, or so powerful.
“There is something you are not telling me,” he said, running a thumb across his lips as he straightened up slowly. He eyed me, still predatory.
I shivered and desperately tried to regain composure. “Yes. It’s about your personality. Trust me, you’re better off living in ignorance.”
He rolled his shoulders. “Could you do that again?”
“I honestly have no idea. I’ve moved rocks—”
