Ascension (21 page)

“This place isn’t you, Taig! You know that deep in your heart.” She lightened the pressure on his shoulders when he stilled again and then stroked his chest, following the line of his pectorals to the point over his heart. She rested her hands there and looked at them, focusing on his feelings and the growing connection between their powers. “You don’t belong here… thinking you’re fitting in when you’re all alone.”

Taig scoffed. “Where do I belong then? Tell me that.”

“You don’t belong anywhere. Not back there and not here.” Lealandra took hold of his hand and brought it to her chest, placing it over her heart. Her eyes met his. “You belong here.”

Taig’s eyes narrowed. “You said I didn’t belong here.”

“Not this apartment.” Her ascension mark shone when his fingers grazed it, lighting the room in red. “Here with me. I never should have left you.”

“It’s nothing I’m not used to.” He took his hand back and the mark dulled back to black.

Lealandra sighed, gently caught his hand again, and kissed it. “Don’t hate him… don’t hate yourself… your parents loved you.”

Taig shoved her aside, so she hit the bed, and stormed towards the door, grabbing his clothes en route. He turned back and glared at her. “Stay the hell out of my business.”

He disappeared before she could say anything. Lealandra stared at the empty living room of the apartment through the door and then huffed. Stay the hell out of his business? She was in love with him, and she was damn well sure that the feeling went both ways and he loved her. That made him her business as far as she was concerned.

She dressed and walked through the lifeless apartment to the photograph of his parents. They were in love and she was sure that they had loved Taig. What had happened all those years ago? Was it as her mother thought and they were in the underworld, trapped there, separated from their son and forced to watch him live alone and suffer?

Would Taig try to stop her if she went there to find them? She would do that for him. She would do anything to make him happy and make him accept both sides of himself.

Her gaze swept over the apartment. This place wasn’t him. He had hated her for saying it, but it was the truth. This was hollow and void of feeling, something that she knew he wasn’t. He didn’t know how to be a human. Neither did she. Couldn’t he see that? They were in this together, neither of them human, both of them unable to live a normal life.

But they had each other.

She had to find him.

Lealandra tried to teleport out but a barrier blocked her. Closing her eyes, she sensed it, feeling her way around it and familiarising herself with the way that Taig had constructed it. It was powerful, but she could slip through it. There was a back door, a path that Taig had taken, and she knew him well enough to be able to find it and follow it. Latching her magic onto the trace of his power, she followed it to the point where he had reappeared. It was the area where they had fought the immortal.

There was no sign of Taig in the dark graveyard. She could feel him but he had moved on, heading back into the city.

Was he going to the club?

Lealandra headed there, pulling her long red coat tightly around herself to keep the chill off. It wasn’t far to the club and she wasn’t pleased to be back. She smiled at the bouncer when he let her in ahead of the stream of wannabe vampires and women in far too little clothing, and then it fell off her face when she made it inside and caught a glimpse of Taig through the crowd.

He was at the busy curved black bar, sitting near the far corner.

Talking to a very pretty blonde woman.

The woman laughed, smiled, spoke to him with a glint in her eye that Lealandra was intimate with. She had given Taig that look plenty of times. An open invite to do what he pleased with her.

Lealandra held herself and watched him through the throng of people for a few seconds more, and then turned away when the hurt became too much. Her chest ached and she blinked away the tears, telling herself not to be so foolish and read into things. Taig loved her. She was just overreacting.

If he loved her, why was he smiling and laughing with another woman?

She went to leave but stopped when she saw the vampire standing at the door, his gaze on her. He smiled, no trace of fangs on show, and pointed towards a quiet area opposite the bar. Lealandra told herself not to but she went with him anyway, part of her hoping that Taig would see and would know how much it hurt to be jealous.

“I had not expected you to return.” The vampire’s pale eyes met hers and he slid into the red crescent-moon-shaped seat.

Lealandra sat opposite him, the round black table strategically placed between them so he couldn’t easily reach her. She could probably defeat him if he tried something but she wasn’t willing to take chances. All she wanted to do was make Taig jealous and then leave. She glanced past the vampire to Taig where he was still at the bar, necking whisky and grinning foolishly at the woman. A dark snake coiled inside her and her power rose, entwining with her emotions and demanding that Taig return to them where he belonged. Whether he knew it or not, he was hers now, always had been from the moment they had met, and no two-bit whore was going to change that.

They owned Taig.

She cleared her throat and locked down her power and her feelings, pulling on the reins to bring them under control. Her magic was angry, hungry, and most of all ready for a fight, and that wasn’t a good thing. The effect of Taig’s blood on her power was wearing off and her patience was wearing thin. The combination was deadly and it was a struggle to remain calm and in control when she was feeling such strong emotions. She had to though. The consequences of losing it in a public place were enough to keep her fighting her magic. She didn’t want to kill everyone here. She didn’t want to be responsible for their violent deaths.

“Hunters often gather here. If she is bothering you, I can have her dealt with.”

Lealandra’s gaze shot back to the vampire. His dark-ringed pale irises mesmerised her and she dropped her gaze to the table, unwilling to fall for that trick again.

“Who is she?” Her gaze traced the echoes of glasses that remained on the shiny black tabletop, ingrained into it now, an endless pattern of circles. She thought about the vampire’s eyes and how she was going to have to avoid falling under his spell again. She wanted Taig jealous, not her neck cut and her power stolen. If the vampire took her blood, he would take a trace of her magic too. Vampires were strong enough without stealing the power of another, but they were the lowest form of leech, desperate at all times to feed, and with blood came the abilities of those who had once owned it. The vampire had wanted the immortal’s blood and therefore his power, and she had no doubt that he wanted the same from her.

“She is often here. A hunter but nothing like the demon you stare at so adoringly.”

Her gaze crept to Taig across the sea of people and then away to the vampire when her power rose at the sight of him with another woman. The vampire raised his fine black eyebrows and leaned casually into the chair, stretching his arms out across the red velvet back. He smiled at her, all straight white teeth, as though he wanted her to see that right now he wasn’t a threat. The lack of fangs didn’t satisfy her instincts. He was still dangerous and could extend his fangs at a moment’s notice. She wasn’t about to trust him.

Lealandra unleashed her power a fraction, just enough that the vampire stopped smiling at her as though he was her best friend, and started being more honest with her and to the point.

“And do they often talk like this?” She glanced at Taig and the woman.

“They have partnered a few times.” The vampire looked away when she stared at him with red eyes, her magic surging through her veins and whispering to kill him for saying such a thing.

Taig belonged to them.

Lealandra tamped it down and brought it back under control, but it was harder this time. Her power was growing tired of this game and if she didn’t get Taig jealous and back to her soon, it was going to let the entire club know of its disapproval and she didn’t think that she was strong enough to stop it.

“Not like that. Strictly professional as far as I know. He normally works alone. Ah, speaking of jobs... would you be interested in making fifty large? I still have a contract that needs fulfilling and you would be perfect for the job.”

His smile unnerved her. It thinly veiled the hatred she could feel in him, the dark urges that flowed across the table from him and into her. They spoke to her power, teasing it with an offer of release and destruction. Fifty thousand dollars. She could use that sort of money.

“How about we discuss it over a drink?” The vampire was gone before she could refuse the drink and the contract.

What in the gods names was she doing? She had never taken a contract by herself and now certainly wasn’t the time to start. Her gaze scanned the club. It was bad enough that she had come out here without Taig’s knowledge and was risking his wrath to make him jealous. What if the bastards who had shot him came to the club and found her before Taig noticed? She could fight them, but she wasn’t sure how it would end. There was a high chance that she would take the entire club with them if she unleashed her magic and that might include Taig.

The vampire returned, lazily sliding into the seat opposite her, and placed a short glass of something down in front of her. It looked like whisky but was darker. She picked it up and sniffed it. It smelt like whisky and drowning her sorrows had a certain appeal to it right now.

The vampire raised his glass.

“To future relations.” He grinned.

Lealandra raised hers, tipped her head back, and drained the glass. It burned a path down her throat and then she felt strangely hot and hazy. Her gaze met the vampire’s and his eyes were bright again, shining in the darkness. She smiled, pressed her hand to her mouth when she hiccupped, and then fought to keep her eyes open. She felt so weird. Her body seemed separate to her mind, numb and beyond her control. Her power shrank back and then exploded forwards, rushing through her. She threw her head back and then moaned when something traced a line up her neck, softly caressing her skin and setting her aflame. It felt so good.

Firm hands clutched her upper arms, pinning her in place, and she didn’t resist. She didn’t want to.

A mighty roar shattered the noise of the club, bringing silence in its wake, and she trembled at the dark power that trickled through her, making her blood buzz with anticipation and hunger.

Taig.

Incredible strength surged in her veins and through her body, pulsing over her in seductive waves that pulled her under and carried her away. She closed her eyes and licked her lips, aching to feel something stronger, rougher, something that could break her if it wanted to and could command her.

The thing that had been caressing her throat disappeared in a collision of sounds, all of them indistinct. She fluttered her eyes open and stared blankly, not taking in what was happening, only catching snippets of it in her throbbing mind. The vampire was in trouble. She giggled and smiled, amused at the sight of him fighting for his life in the space that had opened up in front of the bar. People edged backwards, cramming the crowd into an even smaller space. Their emotions pounded in her skull, conveying their conflict. None of them could decide whether to keep well clear or stick around to watch the brawl.

She couldn’t blame them.

Taig was a very jealous man.

His eyes glowed red, teeth sharp and showing a trace of his demon side. He ripped into the vampire, beating the hell out of him, and then flung him across the room. The club patrons scattered as he and the vampire wreaked havoc, destroying tables and smashing everything in sight. It was glorious.

Lealandra laughed.

Taig turned on her, his red eyes meeting hers. Before she could laugh again, he had her wrist and was yanking her towards the doors. She pouted and stumbled along behind him, scratching at his hand on her. She didn’t want to leave yet. Her gaze flicked back to the vampire. He was still breathing. It wasn’t right to leave when their quarry was still alive.

With a grin, she snapped her fingers and the vampire contorted, his bloodied limbs twisting into strange shapes. She laughed and darkness pounded through her, whispering to destroy.

“Stop that.” Taig shook her and she tilted her head back and looked down her nose at him.

Who was he to order her around?

She was about to snatch her arm back and teach him a lesson when his fist came out of nowhere, colliding with her cheek, and the world wavered and grew dark.

When the light came back, Lealandra was cold and aching. Pain wracked her and her magic flared back into life, dulling her feelings but not getting rid of them completely. She squinted to focus and found Taig standing before her, a dirty alley as his backdrop. He bit his wrist, his red eyes fixed on hers, and then pressed it against her mouth.

“Drink.”

Lealandra didn’t. She stared into Taig’s eyes, watching the flickering flames. It felt as though they were burning into her, setting her on fire. Her skin crawled with fear and heat, tingling with a need that she couldn’t place.

“Drink deep.” Taig pressed his wrist harder against her lips and she swept her tongue over the ragged marks. The first touch of blood on her tongue was bliss, tempering her power until it ebbed away. The heat began to abate, leaving her feeling more aware of her feelings and more in control. “I’ll take care of you, sweet cheeks.”

Taig brushed his other hand across her cheek. “I’m sorry I hit you but you didn’t exactly leave me a choice.”

She was aware of that and embarrassed by her behaviour. It wasn’t like her to take pleasure from someone else’s torment and pain.

He ran his hand into her long black hair, caressing it back behind her ear, and she closed her eyes, shakily raised her hands and clutched his wrist to her mouth. She kept drinking, unsure of what she was doing but following Taig’s command because she was starting to feel more like her normal self.