Bitten by Darkness (13 page)

He
shrugged. “That's part of the bonding. You inherit some of my gifts
.“

She
narrowed her gaze, picking up on the slight tension in his shoulders. “You
could see
better
than most of your people already,
couldn't you?”

He sighed
and climbed into bed with her. “Yes. Remember how I told you I had some power?”

She
nodded. “But you've never fed on a human.” She blushed. “Well, except for me.”

He shook
his head. “That wasn't feeding. What we did was an exchange. Whatever blood I
took from you I replaced with my own.”

“And that
makes the difference?” She leaned into him, savoring his warmth. For a vampire,
he seemed oddly hot-blooded.

“Yes. The
revenants are those who feed and never reciprocate. There are also those whom
the revenants enslave.” He smoothed a hand down her hair.

“Slaves?
I don't like the sound of that.”

He
shrugged, clearly not wanting to tell her. She gave him a stern look and he
sighed.

“Yes. The
ones who attacked us were probably slaves. Revenants are rare, too rare for the
number of attackers we had. Revenants make slaves by forcing their blood on a
human, then denying the slave more. The humans who fall prey to that, well,
they live a long time, but they're no longer fully sane, nor fully human. The
longer they’re
enslaved,
the more they become like
their masters. I call them revenants too, though technically they are
different. Both are ruthless.”

Sienna
shivered. “That’s why they vanished into ash, isn’t it? That could've happened
to me.”

He
gathered her close and held her tightly. “Yes. If I hadn't given you back my
blood—”

“No. Not
you. I meant the attacks that have been happening. It's just random luck that I
was safe in the forest and at the café.”

“No, they
wouldn't have attacked you. You're too strong. They feed on the weak.”

She
swallowed, thinking of her mother and her friends. “Why would a revenant make a
slave?”

He
sighed.
“Power.
The slave will do whatever the
revenant commands.”

She
shuddered, burrowing into him. “I don't want to think about this anymore.”

“Then
sleep,” he murmured into the dark.

Chapter Eleven

Sometime
in the night Sienna woke up. The moon had set but she could still clearly see
the long, muscular line of Jasper's body, thanks to her new night vision. The
comforter had slipped down over him, baring his back to her. The soft curve of
his buttocks beckoned, but before she could put her hand on all that gorgeous
skin, he rolled over, eyes bright despite the darkness.

“You
weren't asleep?” she asked, smiling.

“I sleep
mostly during the day. The sunlight hurts my eyes. And when I sleep, I don't
breathe much, so don't freak out.” He reached for her, drawing her close for a
kiss.

Sienna
chuckled. “So, that old saying about vampires not being able to stand the
sunlight isn’t quite true? And what do you mean, you don't breathe much?”

He bit
her gently and laved his tongue over the spot. “No, it's not true. I don't
disappear in a puff of smoke or burn up. My species simply evolved in a darker
environment. And my metabolism goes mostly dormant when I sleep. My heart-rate
slows, respiration slows, like hibernation. It's also really hard to wake me up
when the sun is high.” He licked over a nipple.

She
sucked in a breath and sunk her hands into his soft hair. “Okay.” She couldn't
concentrate on his explanations while he did that. She closed her eyes as he
nibbled at her breast, pleasure sparking down to her pussy.

“You're
not going to argue anymore?” He shifted until he was lying between her legs.

“No.” She
bucked her hips, trying to tease him into position.

“Ah-ah,
none of that,” he said, going up on his knees. His cock jutted out from his
body, thick and hot.

Sienna's
mouth watered.

“You want
to taste?” he asked, eyes gleaming.

She
smirked at him. “Are you asking or telling?”

He didn't
say anything, but his hips jerked, his erection bobbing as his thighs shoved
hers wider.

She
didn’t mind. She licked her lips and scooted up, shoving pillows under her
back. “Come closer.”

“Are you
sure you were a virgin?” he teased.

“I was
inexperienced, not innocent. I have a brain, you know.” She bared her teeth at
him and he chuckled as he moved up. He smelled like musk and cinnamon and
Sienna put her hands on his thighs, enjoying the way his muscles moved under
her fingers.

“
Mmmm
,” she breathed against his hip, kissing the hollow
where his hipbone met his thigh. He shuddered.

“Sienna.
Put me in your mouth. Suck me,” he
said,
his voice low
and hoarse.

God that was hot
, she thought, looking up at him through her lashes.
His voice—
She opened her mouth and took
him in. He groaned when the tip of his cock hit her palate.

“You
smell good,” she said, pulling back a little, just to see what he would do.

He
shuddered again, then put a hand around his cock, squeezing. She batted him
away. “Let me.”

He
clenched his fists at his sides as she experimentally licked around the crown,
then down the underside, tracing the thick vein in his shaft with her mouth.

“I'm
sorry I don't know what I'm doing,” she said, running her fingers over him
experimentally. His balls were warm, soft.
Fuzzy.
She
let her mouth glide over them.

“Ah, God,
Sienna, you'll kill me,” he muttered, bending over helplessly. His hips shook
and she knew he was trying not to thrust.

She
grinned and took his cock back in, sucking and moving her mouth until the tip
was just inside. He moaned and she let her hands trail down to play with his
balls. “Is this okay?” she asked, coming up for air.

He
nodded, hands going to her hair. She licked her lips and started again, playing
with him in her mouth, scraping her teeth over the
glans
until he groaned and thrust. She let him push in further than before, then
sucked hard. He shuddered and moved her head back. “I won't last like this.”

“Do you
have to?” she asked, curious.

“I want
to fuck you again,” he said, bending down to kiss her.

She knew
she tasted like him, but it didn't seem to bother him. She kissed him back as
arousal spiraled through her, thick and decadent. When he shoved her down onto
the pillows and dipped between her thighs, she froze.

“What are
you doing?” Her foot twitched against his flank. He didn’t seem to notice.

He kissed
the inside of her thigh, incisors scraping gently across her skin. “You'll
see,” he said and bent his head.

The
moment his tongue touched her clit she arched her back. Jesus. What was he
doing to her? His fingers parted her labia and he licked down around her
entrance, then back up again, flicking at her clit. An orgasm roared up out of
nowhere and she cried out, but he didn't stop. He gentled his mouth, sucking on
her carefully until the arousal built up again.

“Jasper,
come inside me,” she begged, but he didn't relent. She wanted him to fuck her
so badly. She had to clutch at the sheets to keep from scratching herself.

He sucked
harder, slipping two fingers into her pussy. It felt like he was massaging her
from the inside. When another finger teased at her ass, she didn't even flinch,
the pleasure was so intense. It felt like he’d drugged her.

“You like
that?” he asked, sounding impossibly hot.

She
nodded frantically and he slid a finger inside her ass, even as he licked at
her clit. She moaned, thrashing her head,
then
all at
once he got up and shoved his legs under hers.

“Over,
turn over,” he urged, hands on her hips.

She
groaned, boneless with need, and let him move her until she was on her knees.
She could hardly hold herself up.

“Okay?”
he asked, his cock nudging at her pussy.

He felt
hot and huge and she didn't know if he was going to fit this way, but she
nodded.

 
“Yeah, come on.” She
curled her fingers into the soft sheet and hung on.

Jasper
kissed her spine,
then
began feeding his cock into her
slowly, carefully. Sienna shuddered, wondering if she was going to split in
two, but then he put a finger right on her asshole and she opened up. His cock
sank in and he groaned, dropping her head down as he fucked her with hands and
body.

“You are
so beautiful, so lovely,” Jasper was saying as he thrust into her.

Sienna
started shoving back at him, wanting more,
right
now
. Her breasts bounced as they moved together. When he slid a hand under
her waist and began playing with her clit, she froze, it was too much—
And
then she slipped over the edge. He
orgasmed
with her, his cock jerking as he grunted,
head
pressed
to her spine. His hot breath on her skin sent another wave through her body and
she shuddered with it, letting it roll through her. When it was all over, they
collapsed on the bed in a heap, boneless and sticky.

“Wow.”
Sienna wasn't sure she ever wanted to leave, which was a problem. She had to go
to work and call her mother and figure out what the hell she’d just done to her
life.
But not now.

He
grinned against her nape, then arranged their bodies so that she could relax,
head on his arm, legs tangled. It was wonderful. Sienna felt safe and warm and
happy, right up until the moment she remembered she hadn't told her mother
where she was going. She stared into the night, wondering how she was going to
explain this.

“Stop
thinking so hard,” he whispered against her hair.

Sienna
sighed and let him run a hand down her waist, soothing the tension out of her.

“Go to
sleep. You can figure everything else out tomorrow,” he said.

She
sighed again, but then closed her eyes and let him keep her safe.

She woke
up just after sunrise, feeling refreshed and clear-headed, despite only getting
a few hours' sleep. Jasper was sleeping, she supposed, staring at his calm
face. He wasn't breathing. If he hadn't warned her, she would have freaked out
for certain. She ran a hand down his chest, but he didn't stir. His skin was
cold, a strange contrast to the warmth he usually put out. She shivered. She
had to get to work. Mondays sucked.

She
climbed out of bed, wondering how the hell she was going to get home when she
saw a key sitting on top of a scrap of paper. She frowned, pulling the note
out.

Sienna, take my SUV, not the car with the
missing door. It's parked on the west side of the house. You should be safe.
They don't like sunlight.

-J

She
huffed. Not one for sentiment, she realized,
then
she
flashed back to him kissing the nape of her neck tenderly and cradling her.
Whatever.
So the guy didn't talk a lot. She could deal with
that. His actions spoke louder than words.

She
collected her clothes from the steps and got dressed,
not
blushing as
she did so.
Definitely not blushing.
In the light,
everything that had happened last night felt surreal and impossible, the kind
of thing that happened in the movies or a romance novel, not in real life.
Having sex on the stairs of a freaking mansion happened to other women, not
her, but then, she couldn't deny the evidence of her panties flung against the
bannister
like an injured bird. Or how sore she felt,
although she had to admit, it wasn’t as bad as she expected and it was fading
fast. She inspected her neck in the mirror of Jasper’s bathroom and there
wasn’t even a mark to show where he’d bit her. Quick healing must be one of the
gifts he’d passed on to her, not that she was complaining. She pulled her
clothes on and wandered outside. The forest was lit with golden light, the
golds
and reds of autumn decorating what had been
frightening shadows last night. She shivered, wishing she'd worn a jacket,
then
spied the black SUV parked near the side of the
mansion.

She
climbed in and was on the road to the highway before her brain clicked
on,
reminding her she had to call her mother.
She's going to freak when I tell her about
Jasper
, she thought, squinting into the sunlight. When she passed the spot
where she was sure the attack had occurred, she had to rub her eyes. There was
no sign of the black cars that had forced them off the road. No sign of
anything. A chill ran down her back. The bad guys were way more organized than
she suspected. Probably more organized than Jasper suspected.