I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss it.I like to think I had a good soul.At least that was one thing Piers could never take away from me.
But from the time Theron’s vampire toxins crept through me—sealing my ruptured guts, healing my splattered organs, making my holes whole—my heart had to make the biggest decision of its life: hold onto my soul and die?or live forever in the void?
I chose the void.
I want to pace the world that lives beneath the skyquake until the sun turns black.
I want to be with Theron.
Did my soul cry as I allowed the poison to make its old home uninhabitable?My heart certainly wept as my soul left.
But my eyes did not.Not one single tear will I shed for my soul until Piers Jordan is dead.
Never again will he be able to do this to someone else.
“Take it slow,” Theron warns me.“Give your wounds time to heal.”
His blood inside me feels unreal.It has its own heartbeat within my pulse.My vampire lover has reinvigorated me with his cannibal desires.I want him to eat me out.And then I want to swallow everything he can give me.The sexual hunger refuses to diminish.
My tongue comes out like a serpent’s, tasting the salty air as it savors the hunger inside.Licking my lips brings me the savory tang of our mixed fluids.
And yes, I have fangs.
Standing in the forest together, I bring Theron’s head down and kiss him.We exchange fluids in one long, hungry embrace.Falling back, I pant with lust.
“I could fuck you so hard right now.”
“Heh.Yeah.Bloodlust makes you real thirsty, Aila.But let’s not forget we’re in the middle of a crisis here.That man arrived with his alibi in tow.Quadbike’s been damaged so he can pretend he’s been walking back to the inn from Jerry Steele’s place.He’s got a sweet li’l girlfriend and her kids to say that Piers is the closest thing God has got to an angel.And, like you said, the gun’s long gone.”
Running my fingers through my blood-encrusted hair, I can see every tiny flake of dried fluids as they un-clot and spiral away into the nighttime air.
I feel supremely confident.
“Am I the only one who read the indemnity form contract before coming here?It’s rock solid.Water tight.With everything tied up in a neat little bow.If something bad happens to Piers while he’s on Landslide, no lawyer is going to be able to find a way to get around it.”
“They will if that bad thing is for him to turn up with no blood in his system, Aila.”
“We have to find him before he can spin that breakdown story to Kelly.”
Theron growls.“The Riders will have a bead on him by now.He can’t be too far from Ben’s.I must have found you within seconds of him ducking out.But there’s no way Shadow will allow Piers to rejoin the other tourists at the inn, not while the Prez thinks the man stove Amelia’s head in.”
One more kiss for the road.Mmm.Theron tastes so good.Oh, wait.That’s my blood I’m tasting.I guess I made quite a mess.I hope Ben isn’t worried about finding gore all over the carpet.
“Let’s go find Shadow.”
A tall shadow looms out of the dark.
“I’m starting to see how you got your name.”I am trying to keep my mood light, but I am totally obsessed with finding Piers.The thought of feeding on his blood consumes me.
“I smell gunpowder.”That’s all Shadow says.
“Is that what that smell is?Ugh.”
Looking at Theron, Shadow shakes his head.“Jordan shot her?”
“Yep.Aila’s out for blood.”
Shadow makes a ruling at once.“I figure Aila’s owed some payback, sure.”Turning to me, Shadow inspects my expression closely.“Piers has started walking back to the inn.He double-backed so he could pretend to be looking for Kelly and the kids.He should have made it as far as Tempest’s house by now.”
