He inhaled the mingling scents of sex and blood on the air as he tried to sort through his tumultuous thoughts. What they’d exchanged earlier was something he’d never experienced before. He’d never gotten off on pain before; he was not one of the purebreds who sought it out after fully maturing. He’d always preferred blood and death.
But now, this new, twisted creature he’d become sought to experience the suffering of others, but also thrived on it being inflicted on him too. And though there had been some hesitation in the beginning, Simone had grown more comfortable giving him what he asked for when he took her again.
Would she regret what they’d done when she woke? Would his need get worse as time progressed or would it ease if he refrained from killing humans? And if it did worsen, would Simone eventually balk and run screaming from him when his demands went from drawing his blood to something more extreme?
She’d yet to back away from anything thrown at her, but he couldn’t expect her to keep following him down this rabbit hole of increasing depravity.
Resting his hand on her hip, he gazed at her beautiful face, slack in sleep and so innocent. She was more a tigress than the timid kitten he initially believed her to be. Her proper demeanor had hidden a passionate woman who would have remained hidden if she’d continued her sheltered existence inside the hunter stronghold. Now that it was unleashed, she was more than willing to embrace it and explore it further.
Her openness was one of the things he loved about her.
The realization startled him as he stared at the woman in his arms. A woman he’d initially despised because of the circumstances of her birth. And now he wouldn’t trade her for anyone or anything; hunter or not, she was the best thing that ever happened to him.
He’d spent the years since the death of his family wondering why he survived when they died. They’d all been better than him. Animals followed his sister Betty around like she was the Pied Piper. She’d possessed an affinity with all things four-legged, and the only time she wasn’t holding something furry was when she was sleeping.
His other sister was the most loving vampire he’d ever encountered and would run across fields to hug someone. He’d never met anyone who possessed the amount of compassion she had. His brother had been so strong, and someone Killean followed like a puppy as he tried to emulate everything his brother did. And his parents, so in love with each other and so happy. The rare times they raised their voices at one of them was when they’d done something wrong, but their patience was something Killean never possessed.
But, after all these years, he realized why he survived—for her. The events of that night forged him into the man he was—one capable of doing whatever was necessary to save and protect her. Killean would never again question why he wasn’t dead too or wish that he’d died with them; he finally had a reason for living other than death.
Hewouldbe the man she deserved.
He ran his finger briefly over her lower lip before kissing her, releasing her, and rolling carefully away. Setting his feet on the ground, he stared at the sun poking around the edges of the tan drapes covering the window.
After burning and healing so many times yesterday, he needed to feed again. Because he was her primary source of nourishment, Simone’s blood wasn’t enough to ease his hunger.
Scowling at the sun, he rose and padded naked over to the window. Pulling back a sliver of the curtain, he avoided the sun’s rays as he peered out at the town. Cars packed the busy streets, while people strolled the sidewalks. There was an endless supply of food out there, but it did him little good in the daytime.
He could call the office to order dinner again, but if a woman arrived, he couldn’t feed on her. Releasing the curtain, he stepped away from the window and glanced at Simone before walking into the bathroom. He turned on the light and slipped inside.
He left the door cracked open to hear any noise as he turned on the shower and stepped beneath the spray of water. When he finished, he toweled off, redressed, and returned to the bedroom. Simone remained sleeping while he paced from one side of the room to the other while his hunger grew with every passing second.
* * *
Simone wokeand stretched her hand for Killean, but she knew he was gone before her hand fell on the cold spot beside her on the bed. The sound of running water drifted to her, and when she turned, she saw the bathroom door cracked open, but she didn’t see Killean.
Killean. She smiled as she rolled back to gaze at the covered window. Her body felt sated and well used in the most pleasant of ways. She’d never imagined things could be like this between a woman and a man or that she would enjoy being with a man so much.
She recalled the blood she spilled sliding down his tantalizing skin and the sounds of ecstasy he emitted as he demanded more and more from her. Realizing he not only craved her body and blood, but also something more twisted from her would have made the well-bred hunter she’d been run screaming.
The vampire she’d become thrived on every second of it.
She had no idea what that said about her, but she couldn’t deny Killean wasn’t the only one who had some darkness within them. Maybe hers had always been there, buried beneath the years of striving to be perfect. Maybe the torture she’d endured at the hands of Joseph unleashed it, or perhaps Killean unleashed it, but it was there.
And if she really contemplated it, she suspected it was always there. She’d never chafed against her role in the hunter society like Kadence, but a tiny part of her had longed for more than the position she was allotted. She’d successfully buried that small rebellious part years ago, but now it was spreading its wings.
She frowned when she realized the water was still running but it didn’t sound like a shower. Rolling over, she gazed at the bathroom door. All she could see was a sliver of light around the edges, but was that muttering?
Tossing the sheet aside, she rose from the bed and strode over to the bathroom door. “Killean?” she inquired as she rested her hand on the door. “Are you okay?”
Her only response was the running water and mumbled words she couldn’t quite make out. Taking a deep breath, Simone pushed the door open and bit back a gasp when she spotted Killean, hunched over the sink while he washed his hands beneath the flow of steaming water. She had no idea how long he’d been doing this, but the water ran red with his blood as it spilled down the drain. She had a flashback to him standing over the sink in the other motel room, doing the same thing.
“The blood,” he muttered. “The blood is everywhere.”
Simone broke free of the paralysis gripping her as she shoved the door open and rushed to his side. “Stop,” she whispered and rested her hand on his forearm.
“There’s so much blood; I can’t wash it away. It will never go away.”
“It’syourblood, Killean. If you stop, it will go away.”
