Blood Cursed (23 page)

“I think I’m in love with you, Ember.”

My mouth opened, speechless.

For once, his gaze held no deceit. No lie. Nothing but determination and heat and glitterfire truth.

He didn’t come closer. Didn’t touch me. Just stood there and stripped me naked with his eyes. “You betterfy me, angel. I know that don’t sayem lots, for a rotten heart like mine. But I’m peacified when I’m with you. You’re wildsweet and precious and beautiful like … like sunshine, and you’re so far above me that … I just want to deserve you. Let me try.”

His scent washed over me, roses and glass, still spicy with a whiff of our pleasure, and with it came a glassy flash that paralyzed me. His talent, raw and bleeding with pain and confusion and secret golden wonder, and all my hard-won composure drained away like blood from an open wound.

My legs wobbled, and I righted myself on numb wings. It felt so real. He sounded so … sincere. He’d said everything I’d ever longed for, deep in my most secret places where I loathed myself.

And his fucking arrogance spiked cold fury into my bones.

Too good to be real. Too glassy perfect to be anything but a lie. And for a glorious, heartstopping moment, I’d fallen for it.

My chin trembled, and I pointed a shaking finger at him in accusation. “That is a low and dirty thing for you to say to me.”

He stared, flooding crimson.

“I’m not an idiot, Diamond. You think I don’t know how you’ve played me all along?”

“Angel—”

“Shut up.” Viciously, I wiped my eyes, wet hair flying. “I don’t mean just your lousy magic tricks, either, which oh by the way are getting
totally
obvious, so you can just give up if it’s all the same to you, but Jasper probably told you all about me, didn’t he? What makes me laugh, how he talks me around when I’m upset? What I like in bed? Jeez, I’m a gangland girlfriend, Diamond, I’ve seen it all. I’ve learned my lesson. I know when I’m being conned. Don’t you
ever
say that to me again.”

His lovely lips quivered, and he inhaled, wincing like I’d bruised him deep inside.

My eyes burned, but I swallowed on a lumpy ache, and kept it together. He deserved whatever I did to him. Too many lies loomed between us. Too late to kiss and make up.

Trouble shadowed his eyes violet. “At least let me helpify tonight.”

Tonight. Yeah.
My thoughts collided, dull. He needed me to poison Ange. And I still needed him to get my last gemstone, though I was damned if I could see how that’d work out. It wasn’t like he could just take it off, not with his soul still chained to Rosa’s and headed for hell.

Like it or not, we were stuck with each other.

Great.

My heart jittered. He was a lying asshole who’d betrayed me in the worst possible way. But that didn’t mean I didn’t ache for him. That I couldn’t still feel his lips teasing my breasts to aching pleasure, his powerful heat as he thrust inside me, the desperate, dangerous thrill in my heart when we made love.

“Okay. Whatever. Just don’t talk to me for a while, okay?” I fluttered to the bed and curled there, hot satin burning my cheek.

I closed my eyes in encroaching dawn, and darkness heaped dry and stifling like dirt. My skin still tingled with his lost touch. I wanted him here to hold me. I could still taste his rosedrenched kiss, feel his hot fairy caress on my body. I could get up, bring him inside, lay him down beside me … .

I sighed and rolled over. I needed rest. Long heatsoaked hours stretched until tonight. I’d never sleep.

But I did, and I dreamed of Famine, ripping my skin off with a sharp blade, peeling layer after layer in search of my heart, only to reach the center and find an empty space.

27

Early evening hung thick and scorching, no respite falling with the sunset, and the redbrick wall before us loomed tall and forbidding. My skin prickled with anxious sweat. Diamond pulled open a jasmine-draped wooden gate, and we walked in.

I sucked in a breath. Wow. Like a Tuscan palazzo, terracotta and cream stucco covering arched gables and balconies, a pergola draped in shiny vine leaves, red and black tiles tracing pathways through the torchlit garden. This house went on forever.

I stepped through the archway, heels clicking. Insects buzzed softly, moonlight shining down through tall hedges and walls covered in jasmine. At last the moon shone full, and excitement pierced my blood sharp. Only a few hours until perilune. I felt like a princess in a children’s story, trapped in the magic garden to wait for my prince.

But my nerves snaked, and my skin was clammy. Tonight, I’d feed a vampire. And not just any vampire. Ange Valenti, Diamond’s boss, old and cold and scary. But whatever. Vamps were all the same. All spellbound to dumb lust by my blood. I’d feed him. Distract him while Diamond rescued his girl. And then … what?

Doubt seared my heart like hellfire. Diamond had promised it was over between them, that he was doing this for me. That he’d make Rosa release him from the spell, and bring her gemstone to me.

I wanted to believe him.

But he hadn’t said he’d kill her for me. I didn’t know whether to be grateful or disappointed that I didn’t inspire murder, and my confusion maddened me. Was he still hoping we could weasel out of this, do a deal with Kane, keep all our lives? Fat chance of that.

At least, he hadn’t said he loved me again. He’d been cold, in fact. Distant. Avoiding conversation.

Probably for the best.

I’d dressed for the occasion, a long black evening dress in Chinese silk, with subtle cleavage and a halter neck that left my back bare. A slit up one side let my thigh peep out. I’d pinned my hair in a simple twist, and I wore a black evening bag with a slim strap to carry the gemstones in. Elegant.
Just be demure but sexy,
Diamond had advised.
He likifies that.
But discomfort wriggled under my skin, like the whole world stared at me.

Awesome. Dressing to please a hungry vampire ganglord. So much classier than dressing to please Jasper. I sure was moving up in the world.

Diamond walked beside me, silent, a hand’s breadth away. Too close. Not close enough. He didn’t look at me. He wore deep ocean blue, soft pants and a smooth sleeveless top that made my fingertips itch to touch, and like any cocky fairy show-off, he wore everything muscle-hugging tight. He’d coiled and plaited his shimmerglass hair like some weirdpink elfin warrior, and his wings gleamed iridescent like oilpolished glass. As usual he moved easily, graceful to a fault. Only his eyes betrayed his discomfort, burning a smoky purple that tingled my spine weak.

My belly warmed. He looked gorgeous, a smoldering roseglass prince, and no doubt he was doing it to make me miserable. Fine. He could be like that. Even if we got out of this alive, sex with him was a mistake. Obviously he knew it, too. End of story.

Not looking at each other, we walked under a jasmine-draped pergola into the garden.

Torches flared, replacing the dead electric bulbs that laced the trees surrounding the whitepaved patio. Tall ladies in glittering dresses, guys in suits or bright fairy colors, jewels and gold flashing under warm glamourbright haze. I recognized a few of Jasper’s friends, a grinning blue boy who winked golden lashes at me, a skinny green spriggan with gold rings and a nasty grin. Drinks clinked and poured, bright music tinkled, chatter and teasing and vibrant laughter. But it all seemed false, the smiles forced, the glittershine eyes just a little too bright.

My heart sank. I’d attended gang parties before, though never at Ange’s house. Everyone so polite and nice to each other, swapping gifts, complimenting each other’s girlfriends, fussing over gowns and jewels to make sure everyone saw how rich and successful they were. They’d all have pistols under their jackets, knives in their clutch bags, a mouth full of ego-bright fangs. In a few hours, everyone’d be off their faces on sparkle, and there’d be fights and pissing contests and hot fumbling sex with strangers in the dark. Not for me, of course. But Jasper would punch at least one guy for looking at me the wrong way, and when we got home, he’d assume I wanted to sleep with him to say thank you, no matter how drunk or bipolar he was.

Only Jasper wasn’t here.

My wings shivered, and I painted on a smile as I tucked one hand over Diamond’s arm, clutching my bag tight with the other. I’d agreed to pretend to be with him. No one would ask questions that way, but it irked me rigid that they’d assume he’d picked me up in turn like a discarded paper cup. Did they even care that Jasper was dead? He’d put his ass on the line for them enough times to warrant at least a tear or two.

But as we threaded through the crowd, it was as if no one knew or cared. They all smiled at me, complimented my dress or my hair, sent Diamond a smirk or a dirty wink, made inane comments about the heat or obscure gang business I didn’t understand.

Diamond slipped a champagne glass into my hand, bending close to whisper. “S’okay. Chillify.”

But disgust flowered warm and salty in my mouth. I tried to cool myself down, but the moonlight and Diamond’s fragrant muscled arm under my palm weren’t helping. I wanted to flap my wings, punch someone, climb the flowering hedge and rain leaves and sticks down over all these liars.

We turned a corner, and Diamond pulled me close in the flowering hedge’s shadow, his rich scent making my head swim. “Ember, I can’t do this no more.” He wrapped warm fingers around my wrist, and his voice chimed crystal with urgency. “Can’t make silences when I want to scream. Kiss me.” And his lips collided with mine, hot and heart-melting like all our kisses had been from the very beginning.

I gasped, my defenses dissolving in sweet delirium. He tilted my chin up with his thumb, deepening the kiss. His berry flavor unhinged my reason, and I leaned into him, tasting his lips, inhaling his gorgeous scent, his magnificent body a hot tease of desire against me.

Throbbing moonache scattered my thoughts useless. God, I wanted him to be mine. I wanted all this to go away.

He pulled back, breathless and glowing, his mouth still seeking mine like he couldn’t let go. “Fuck, I wanna rip Ange’s skin off for touchifying you and he ain’t even done it yet.”

“But … it’s the only way.” I leaned my head against his cheek, and my heart stumbled, lost. “Kane’s deadline runs out in a few hours. I can do it. Ange doesn’t scare me.”

“Well, he should, angel.” Diamond kissed my hair. His heartbeat thudded through me, comfort and restless longing. “He should. Fuck. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I closed my eyes, let his fragrant warmth envelop me, protect me. “None of this is your fault. I’ll keep Ange occupied. You go find Rosa, make her undo that spell.” If she could. If anyone could. And if Diamond wasn’t deceiving me with one last, horrid trick.

I felt warm and safe in his arms. It couldn’t be real. I didn’t deserve it. Surely, this would turn out badly.

He held my face in his hands, caressing my cheekbones with light claws. “Swearify my life, Ember. I won’t let him hurt you. I’ll come for you. Trustify.” And he dizzied me with one last kiss and pulled me around the corner into the light.

My vision blurred, vague images mingling of figures, faces, black suit, dark curls, flashing gold links.

Diamond’s smile dazzled me, rich with deceit. “Hey, Ange. Nice party. I bringified you a gift. This is Ember.”

I focused with a jolt, spilling my champagne.

My pulse trembled. Hulking shoulders in expensive couture, damp dark curls cut close, a darkly good-looking face and a fang-tipped smile.

And Angelo Valenti kissed my hand, gray eyes intense on mine. “My pleasure, miss.”

My fingers burned icy like Jasper’s ring. His lips were cold. So was his hand. Or maybe I was just too warm. I wanted to recoil. So he wasn’t staring at my cleavage or checking out my ass like every other guy. I didn’t care. His old-fashioned manners made me shiver, and the reality of what I’d volunteered for shook me cold. This was Angelo’s house. His party, his sycophantic guests.

And his insatiable vampire appetite I was supposed to feed.

My stomach twisted. Not just some starved vampire kid with a hard-on who’d come in his jeans from a taste. Not even a virus-mad psychopath like Vincent DiLuca. At least with Vincent, it’d be over quickly.

But Ange Valenti, 350 years old with patience and savage hunger to match. I’d heard about Ange and his pleasures. He could make it last all night. And not in a good way.

Bile boiled in my throat, and I forced a smile. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“And I haven’t heard a thing about you, miss, which makes me wonder what other secrets your fairy boy’s keeping.” Ange’s flat local Italian accent made him sound like a steroid-dumb muscle guy from Brunswick. I wasn’t fooled for an instant.

“Nothing you need knowify.” A dangerous undercurrent darkened Diamond’s grin. “Don’t break anything, okay? She’s expensamive.”

My nerves chilled. How could Ange not see Diamond’s deceit? Or was I just spelled by Famine’s ripping emotional torture to forever see nothing but the truth on Diamond’s face? Either that, or Diamond truly became a different person with me.

You betterfy me, angel. I’m peacified when I’m with you.
His words echoed in my mind, tart with desire and regret. We’d become so close so quickly, colliding in some beautiful, magical world where I felt like I’d known him forever.

But surely not. Magic didn’t happen. I was just a bloodfae girl, and not a very bright one. I couldn’t bring anyone peace. I didn’t know him. We’d fucked. That was all.

Ange smiled tolerantly, his grip still possessive on my hand, and he spoke to Diamond but never shifted his gaze from mine. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Did you fix up that vermin problem we talked about?”

“Not yet.” Diamond shrugged, easy. “I’ll get ’em for ya. No sweat. But I wanted to introducicate you two first. Show I’m meanifying well.”

“Kid, you’ve outdone yourself. Go get a drink, have some fun. And don’t p—Don’t annoy Tony. He’s got a real bug up his … well, ya know what I mean. Sorry, miss.”

A homicidal vampire ganglord who didn’t curse in front of girls. Cute. I affected a smile. “That’s okay.”

Ange crept cool fingers up to my wrist. My pulse jerked. I couldn’t hide a gasp, and I saw his real smile for the first time. Cold. Slow. Hungry.

I swallowed, and fear swallowed with me.

Ange glanced slyly at Diamond. “Oh, and Rosa’s here. Dying to catch up with you. Just keep your hands off, she ain’t yours no more.”

Diamond glanced at me, that hotpink gaze for once impenetrable. Then he flipped Ange a mock salute and a grin, and sauntered off.

And the most dangerous vampire in Melbourne pressed my hand once more to his lips, his gray eyes backlit with crimson anticipation. “Ember, is it?”

Ice brittled my spine. Diamond had left me. Whether he’d told me the truth about Rosa or not, I’d no one to rely on now. I didn’t want to be afraid and alone.

But I was. No one could help me but me. And I should have realized that a long time ago.

My mind thrashed for an idea, a plan. Stall. Scream. Run.

But I couldn’t run. Ange would never let me escape. All I could do was hope Diamond’s vampire poison wasn’t a lie.

I tried a smile. “That’s me.”

Ange stroked my cheek with a cold finger. Only it wasn’t cold anymore, that calculated caress. It was warm. Flushed, with my pulse’s trembling echo and a vampire’s hateful lust.

I shivered, and sharp white teeth glinted in Ange’s smile. “Well, Ember. How about we get to know each other?”