Between a Vamp and a Hard Place (28 page)

“Absolutely not,” I said, giving a wiggle of my bottom. “Have you never had sex like that? What about sitting up? Or against a wall?”

He looked utterly awestruck. “I thought what we did with your mouth on my cock . . . I thought that was sinful. An intimacy you bore simply because of my vampire state.”

“Baby, there are lots of things you have yet to learn. This is a very enlightened time.”

“It sounds it.” His expression looked sad. “I wish I would be here to explore things with you.”

Oh, I did, too. The tears threatened again, so I turned away and pushed my butt into the air, giving it a little shake to entice him. “You can do whatever you want to me, Rand. You know that, right? There's nothing wrong between us. Nothing weird or profane.”

His hand skimmed down my back. “I . . . want to put my mouth between your legs. With you like this.”

I relaxed and spread my thighs a little wider. “Then do it.”

Rand placed both hands on my buttocks, his gaze moving over my body as if I was an incredible sight. “The view of you like this nearly makes me undone, love. Would you let me drink from you? Like this?”

My eyes widened. “Um, where would you bite me?”

“Anywhere you'd let me.”

I looked back at him and saw that his eyes were hooded with lust. Just like that, I became intensely wet, and a moan rose in my throat. I had to force myself to say no, because that wasn't part of the plan. “Not tonight, I think. Tonight I want you to hold out for me,” I told him. “Can we do that?”

“Of course.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my butt, and his mouth felt cool on my flushed skin. “We shall do whatever pleases you. Always.”

“Everything you do pleases me,” I told him, arching my back to thrust my ass out a bit more. “I love you. I love your touch. I love everything about you.”

His mouth went to my buttocks and he kissed each one, making me squirm.

His touches made me anticipate what was next, so I wasn't entirely surprised when he spread my thighs wider and put his mouth on my pussy from behind.

I moaned as he began to lick me, encouraging me with his tongue. It speared my core, and I whimpered, rocking back against it. I was so close already.

Even as he licked me from behind, one hand moved to my front and gripped my breast. I moaned as he pinched the peak, rubbing it as he tongued my core. The sensations were overwhelming, and moments later, I was crying out, wracked with my first orgasm. I pressed my cheek to the mattress, dreamy. “God, that was good.”

He chuckled, giving me one final lick that made me shudder, then straightened. His fingers continued to play with my pussy as he teased the tip of one in and out of my core. As he pushed a second finger into me, I began to back against it, rocking against his hand.

“You are a beautiful sight to see, Lindsey,” he murmured. “Your eagerness and your beauty send me reeling. To have these days with you, I feel as if I am the luckiest man alive.”

The finality of that statement made my heart hurt, but he began to pump his fingers in and out, and my sorrow turned to arousal just as quickly again.

“I want you, Rand,” I told him, panting as I pushed against his fingers. “Please. I want you inside me. Now.” Screw the “let's make it last all night” concept. “I need you.”

“Whatever happened to patience, sweet Lindsey?” he asked with a sexy chuckle, stroking those teasing, tormenting fingers in and out of me, mimicking what my body needed. “What happened to teasing each other until we were mad with pleasure?”

“Already there,” I told him, whimpering as he stroked in again. “I want you so badly I can hardly stand it. Please, Rand.”

“I love it when you say my name,” he murmured, and his hand slid free from my pussy and I felt his cock nudge against me. “How can I resist when you ask so sweetly?”

“Don't resist,” I encouraged, my hands fisting in the blankets. “Don't . . . oooh.” I moaned as he sank into me from behind. He was hard, his skin cool to the touch, so it felt a bit like being penetrated by a popsicle. Which was startling at first, but then felt incredible. “Oh God, Rand. Yes, that's it.”

He gripped my hips, and I felt him give a slow, teasing stroke. “I think I like this position. It feels deviant.”

I giggled at that. If he thought this was deviant, I'd have to show him some other stuff later. Once we'd taken care of the Dragon.

If there even was a later.

I shook my head to clear it of the dark thoughts. I didn't want them in my mind while Rand was making love to me. “Keep going, my deviant warlord,” I teased, and moaned anew when he pumped into me again, rougher this time.

“You like me deviant?” he murmured, fucking me with stronger, more powerful strokes. “Does it please you, Lindsey?”

“Everything,” I cried out. “Everything you do pleases me.”

He groaned, thrusting harder into me. “I can feel you tightening. You are about to come, aren't you?”

“Yes,” I cried, my entire body quivering. Another orgasm was building. I couldn't last long with this man, not the way he touched me. Everything about him aroused me beyond belief. “Don't stop!”

“Never,” he gritted out, and began to thrust harder, his movements so forceful they nearly shoved me across the blankets. I braced my knees and arms, pushing back against him to add to the friction. Then I was coming again, and I grabbed a pillow and bit down so it'd muffle my screams. Oh God, he was so good at that. “Rand,” I cried out into the pillow. “Rand. Rand. Rand.”

“I feel you clamping around me,” he hissed, and I could tell from the thickness of his accent that his teeth were emerging, his fangs elongating. That made my pussy quiver anew, and I whimpered as the orgasm continued. “Want . . . to . . . bite you. Drink from you.”

I stiffened under him. For a split second, I didn't want him to. I wanted us to keep playing all night long. To make love for hours more.

But that would ruin the plan. The moment Gemma got here, we needed to race to find the Dragon. I'd only have one chance to get this right. The moment Rand found out I'd drugged him, he wouldn't trust me again.

I couldn't let that happen. So, fighting the pain in my heart, I gave my ass another wiggle. “Bite me, then, love. Do it.”

His cock slid from me, and I experienced a moment of loss so great I mewed aloud.
Please, God, don't let that be the last time I feel him,
I thought as he pulled me upright until I was on my knees. He clamped my body against his, cock pressed against my back. His arm went around me, his hand to my neck, and he nuzzled at my throat from behind.

I tilted my head, closed my eyes, and waited for him to drink.

He sank his fangs, and I sucked in a breath at the sensation, holding extremely still. Then I felt him begin to suck, felt a bit of blood spill down my neck. He moaned, and I felt his entire body jerk behind me, coming with the force of his own orgasm. “So sweet,” he rasped, licking at my blood again.

I twined my fingers in his shaggy hair, holding his head there. “Take a bit more,” I encouraged. “You're thirsty. I know you are. I can handle it.”

I expected him to protest, to pull away, but instead, he took another long, hard pull from my throat. And another. Then he reluctantly licked the wound, sealing it, and held me against him, his body warming.

I leaned against him, wrapped in his arms, his scent, his love . . . and felt content. “I love you, Rand,” I told him. “So much.”

I felt the moment it hit him. He shifted against me, then staggered. I moved forward, darting across the bed, then turned to look at him.

He put a hand to his forehead, blinking, his expression woozy. “I . . . something is wrong.”

“I love you,” I said again. “I'm so sorry.”

Recognition flared in his eyes even as he slumped forward. I caught him and laid him on his back.

“Why?” he asked as I tucked a pillow behind his head.

“Because I love you,” I said, leaning in and kissing his slack mouth. “And I'm going to save you.”

“Lindsey,” he breathed, reaching for my hair. His fingers touched it, and then his hand fell back.

For one horrible, frightening moment I thought I'd killed him. I knelt on the mattress and stared at his body, watching. I worried that he was wrong. That garlic wasn't a soporific but a poison, and I'd just killed my lover.

But when he didn't turn to dust, I breathed a little easier. I fixed him up on the bed, pulling the covers up to his chin and dragging his legs onto the mattress, making him comfortable. Stupid, but it helped ease the guilt raging through me. And I kissed his sweet face over and over again. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me.”

Then I got dressed, sucked in a deep breath to calm myself, and leaned over him once more.

“Vlad,” I called. “Are you there?”

Rand's eyes flicked open, but the rest of his body didn't move.

“I think we need to talk.”

“I am listening.” The hollow, creepy voice was back.

“I want an exchange,” I said. “Me for Rand.”

“Why would I want you?”

I made my voice a sultry purr. “Because I taste
divine
. You trade me Rand's freedom, and I'll come to you.”

T
wo hours later, I waited at the train station, desperately trying to hold my shit together. Rand was asleep in our hotel room in the middle of the night, when he should have been conscious. He was completely and utterly vulnerable. It bothered me like crazy that I had to leave him. He was safe, I told myself, as long as he was in the room. No vampires could be invited in. I ignored the thought of a vampire charming a hotel employee and then coercing them to invite him in the room, because if I let myself go down that path, I'd go mad.

Rand was as safe as I could make him.

The train I was waiting on pulled in, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw a familiar face step off.

“Lindsey!” Gemma waved frantically and rushed forward, her large purse tucked under her arm. “Thank goodness. I was starting to think I'd never get here.”

It didn't help that I'd felt the same. I gave her a wavering smile. “Hey. Ready to kick some vampire ass?”

She patted her bag. “I've got some gear here. Let's get someplace private so we can talk and prep, okay?”

I nodded and followed her lead.

“Someplace private” ended up being the train station family-designated bathroom. We went inside, and Gemma locked the door.

She turned and studied me the moment we were alone. “You okay to do this?”

I sat down on the toilet and nodded weakly. I felt like crying, but it was too late for tears. “I'm good.”

“Is our boy tranquilized?”

“Yeah, he should be out for a while,” I told her. “I have the place the Dragon is staying, too.” I pulled a piece of paper out of my pocket with the hastily scribbled address on it. “I'm going to meet him at this place at two in the morning.”

“Okay, cool. Let me show you what I brought.” She set her bag down on the sink and began to pull all kinds of things out. A jar of minced garlic. Bottles of holy water. Crosses. Knives. More stakes. Then she pulled out a few things that caught my interest. A package of needles. Two T-shirts in green. And a brown wig that looked suspiciously like the color and length of my hair.

I gave her an odd look. “I can guess some of that, but I'm blank on some others.”

“So we know where you're meeting him, right?”

I nodded. “I looked it up on Google Maps. It's an old graveyard.”

“Creepy.”

I drummed my fingers on my mouth. “He thinks I'm heading over there to give myself up in exchange for Rand.”

Gemma shuddered, then composed herself. “Okay. So here's what I'm thinking. You want to stake him and not just kill him outright, right?” At my nod, she continued. “I dress up like you. We wear the same shirts. Same hair. We smell different, so we'll need to prick you and rub me with your blood. Gross, I know, but that's what he's going to notice, so we'll disguise it. Then, while he's occupied with me, you sneak up and stake him!”

I nodded slowly. “It could work. Are you sure you want to do this? It'll put you in danger.”

“The best weapon we have is our blood,” she said, and pulled out two flasks of holy water. She handed me one, then passed me the jar of garlic. “Drink up, eat up, and let's get this shit on the road.”

I wrinkled my nose. “We're in a bathroom.”

“No time to be picky. Just wash your hands before you eat, and touch nothing.” She tapped her holy water flask to mine. “Now, bottoms up.”

*  *  *

An hour later, I hunched behind a gravestone. We'd found the old graveyard, and the place the Dragon had picked out couldn't have been creepier if it tried.

Trees, bushes, and other greenery surrounded the graveyard, which wasn't all that surprising. It was on the edge of Brasov, after all. But what I found unnerving was the sheer number of graves. Back in the US, it seemed like our graveyards were perfectly spacious. Here, headstones were crammed over what felt like every freaking inch of the place, and if there wasn't a headstone, there was a stone cherub with soulless eyes staring off into the distance. I hid behind an enormous cross topped
with
a cherub.

Like I said, creepy.

The center of the graveyard had a small cobblestone path and a fountain with a bench. I guess it was for people who wanted to spend their afternoons hanging out amongst the dead or something. It was there that Gemma sat, holding my purse and playing with my phone. She wore the wig and had her head bent, presumably so she could hide the fact that she wasn't me.

Me? I got to sit and squat in the back of the graveyard, stake in hand, waiting for my moment. My stomach roiled from a mixture of too much holy water and even more garlic, and the bottles tucked into my bra jabbed my armpits. The ground underneath my feet was muddy, and it was fricking cold at two in the morning.