Lost (2 page)

Helplessness overtook me. Hungrily, I surveyed every inch of
his powerful thighs, not surprised to find a straining erection
pressed at the material. A rich brown belt looped a trim waist,
though the crimson silk of his shirt hid the sleek ribbed muscle of
his stomach. My inspection ended at his wide chest.

With
casual ease, he rolled his shirt sleeves up his forearms. I
swallowed a thick lump, trying to remember what I’d been so upset
about.

“
Sara,” Loren said softly, voice oh so subtly accented from
his worldly travels. Finally, I looked up into his strong,
chiselled face. He wore his long hair, tied at the base of his
neck.

Lightheaded, barely breathing, my eyes widened. “Hi.” Wow, so
smart.

“
I trust Gene told you of my departure.” He glanced over his
shoulder, with an expression that made my boyfriend’s glare appear
no more than child’s play. A silent conversation passed between
them. Gene was the first to look away. Loren’s posture crowded me,
as if he sought to protect me. From what? “I managed to wrangle him
from his…activities to ask where you were.”

I choked on any answer I could’ve given. How could this man
affect me so much?

“
Yeah, so get going already.” Gene waved his fingers toward
the front of the house.

“
When I am ready.” Loren turned back to me, sin incarnate to
behold. It hurt to look at him and not touch him.

Damn it
all to hell. No wonder Gene was so pissed at me.

Loren
took my hand, raised my fingers to his lips and kissed them. What
should’ve been a relatively polite gesture in some parts of the
world, became a claiming. A marking. I plastered against the
doorframe, unsure of myself and terrified of the rising pressure of
the situation. I craved to jump him. To crawl up his body and rub
myself all over him.

Had I ever felt that for Gene?
I thought to myself. Fuck. I told myself to shut
up. No more of these thoughts.

“
I do not wish to leave,” Loren whispered
against my knuckles.
As Gene wants you to
believe.

I didn’t
react to the telepathy.

Gene
stalked off for a small group of the female Jericho vampires, a
promise of punishment in every step. He didn’t trust me. I didn’t
trust myself.

Worse,
if I thought about it, I no longer trusted my boyfriend. With
anything. My libido, heart or emotions, the former two were in
serious damage of being shattered by a guy who’d sworn to always
stand by me. A chilling conclusion at this moment.

Said boyfriend slung an arm around a big-breasted redhead I
sort of knew, but really didn’t. He whispered something in her ear,
and she emitted a high-pitched giggle. I deserved that.

You do not.

I sagged
against the wooden frame. Couldn’t I just be swallowed into a hole
in floor? “You’re not helping me out here. You got a voice, use
it.”

You like it when I talk to you like this, and I prefer it.
Telepathy is natural for vampires.

“For the
born, not the made.”

Gene passionately kissed the redhead. I couldn’t muster even
fake jealousy. I truly didn’t care, even though this broke the
rules we'd set in place. Rule number one: only play with others,
when we were together, with predetermined partners. Then why did I
feel so guilty?

Why should you be convicted of guilt?
Because of some self-imagined loyalty to
him
? He treats you like an object,
his personal sex toy and blood bag.

“
Please, don’t.”

With our joined hands, he caressed my cheek
with the backs of his fingers.
Stop
convincing yourself you’re in the wrong, while he runs around doing
whatever the fuck he wants. Sara, darling, you are better than
this. Far better than he could ever hope to be.

A
strangled sound escaped my throat, torn of pain I couldn’t
fathom.

Loren
pushed me against the wall, and my self-loathing shattered. His
lips pressed against mine; chaste at first, then flashed to burning
passion he displayed any time he touched me. I melted, scorched to
the core, to every extremity.

I broke
away before I lost my mind and said something stupid.

“
I don’t want to leave,” he repeated, half moan, half
plea.

Dazed, I shook my head to regain my equilibrium. I collected
myself, and straightened. The steel of personality trampled my
insecurities that had no place in my life. “It’s okay, babe. I’m
sure I can find someone willing to play with me in your absence.” I
said the right words, the ones Gene would’ve loved to hear me say.
The same as most people in this very room would, but I didn’t mean
them.

This is the only time I can be with him...

I
whirled back to the window. I felt sick. I was such a pathetic
bitch. I couldn’t stand to be around myself.

Loren
reached for me, but I walked onto the patio.

Please, talk to me
. Loren long legs kept stride with me.

“
Do you have to hunt?”

Changing the subject won’t make the problem
go away.
His
fists clenched, and his biceps bulged.
A consultation. My Leader has requested my presence to
discuss an urgent matter. The Hunters are ready to go, awaiting my
expertise.

I
nodded. Loren was an accomplished Hunter for the Foxworth Coven,
just as I was for the Cornwall Coven. This similarity in jobs gave
us much to discuss when we weren’t involved in other activities.
Many a time, he spoke of my abilities with admiration, instead of
intimidation or disbelief. Converted females didn’t do well in our
field of work. The fatality and failure rate were quite high and my
stats on success paralleled pureblooded Hunters—even some of the
Council Hunters.   

The fact that you can revel and excel in
this life more than anything, makes me crave you over and over
again in ways I don’t possess the eloquence to explain,
Loren said.
I’m going to
be back for you, beautiful
. Loren leaned
forward to kiss me, long, hard and erotic, like he was going away
to war, and never have a chance to touch me
again.

Maybe he
wouldn’t. With us, one could never tell. At any moment we could be
called in by our Handlers. A hunt never made the promise we’d come
back alive. Some vampires needed to be exterminated for their
misuse of power, and that power could do the same to those who
tried to haul them in.

Loren
rubbed my arms.

“
Sara, let’s go,” Gene snapped from the doorway. I hesitated.
“Now.”

I
winced, and began to walk the gauntlet. Loren stayed put, though
his voice filled my head.

You don’t grant anyone else in this whole
world the right to push you around, why him? Watch him, Sara. That
is all I ask. Actually see
him. The man
you fell in love with died when you did as he asked, and you
converted him. And that too is not your fault. He has become a
monster of his
own
making.

Gene
snatched my arm and pulled me into the house.

Sara if you need me, for any reason, call me. I will
come.

“
Hey, can you loosen your grip a little?” I
whispered.

“
Sorry,” he muttered, though I didn’t
believe him. We stood in the middle of the occupied living room,
saying nothing. His gaze tracked across the room, no doubt ensuring
Loren left the house. Gene visibly relaxed. “We shouldn’t have come
here tonight. I didn’t think
he
would be here.”

Nope.
Not going to touch that comment with a forty foot pole. Mentally
and emotionally, I was exhausted. I certainly had no desire of,
well, anything. “Do you want to go home?”

Gene
brooded, while I waited for a response. He brightened. “No, I
don’t. We’re staying here. You’re not the only one who gets to have
fun.”

Fun? Is
that what I was having?

A sense
of foreboding stretched before me. I hadn’t a clue what this meant.
But the night was going to get a whole lot worse, before anything
got better.

Chapter Two

If I had
a guardian angel in this world, he watched over me now, wearing the
familiar friendly face of the head waiter of the RedLine, Carl
Cornwall.

In the
uneventful hour that had passed since Loren’s departure, my mood
hadn’t improved much.

Later, I’d tell you his appearance saved my sanity in so many
ways. His causal charm stretched to every corner as he stalked into
the room with the grace of a jungle cat, the rough beauty of
Michelanglo’s David. And he was human. I know. Shocker.

Every female within sight, vampire or not stared at him with
open lust. He was the ultimate playmate, a filthy rich playboy,
down for just about anything I could dream up. He was also the
esteemed adopted son of Corrine Cornwall, our Coven
Leader.

“Darling,” he cried in a really horrible, yet still somehow
sexy accent. He walked past Gene, hugged me, and then kissed me on
both cheeks. “How long has it been?”

I
laughed. “About four hours.”

“Mr.
Gene, how fare thee this magnificent night.” Carl rotated his wrist
in a gesture reminiscent of a beauty queen pageant
winner.

Gene
stifled a laugh, but in the end failed. He plopped down onto the
couch, pulling me with him. “Just peachy.”

“Marvellous.” He dropped to his knees in front of me. “Sara,
my gothic queen, ruler of all that is bloody and profane, how I’ve
missed thee. These horrendous four hours have been downright
dull.”

I hit him with the heel of my hand, barely concealing the
blush that stole across my cheeks. That was Carl. “Get up,
dumbass.”

A roll of sinew later, he stretched his long body along the
arm and back of the cream coloured leather couch. And stared right
down my robe. “Have I mentioned how nice your highness’ tits
are?”

“
Not today.”

“
Such a pity I neglected the twins in such a gross manner! You
shall surely punish me in wicked ways.” He plopped down onto the
couch’s arm, and surveyed the room. “Preferably while I am bound
and in your mercy.”

I
punched him in the arm.

“
Ow! Careful with the merchandise.”

I stuck my tongue out. “You told me to punish you. Be careful
what you wish for.”

“
Yeah, yeah. So, what’re you up to?”

“
About five-four, you?”

“
Not nearly enough.” Carl sighed, while watching a busty
brunette get taken from behind by another Cornwall
vampire.

A cheer went up in the kitchen as Brody
tapped another keg. As usual, any spectator in
that
room would assume this was just
a regular party, until they came in here, or outside, upstairs or
the basement, where the hardcore toys resided.

“
I just got off work, so my night’s just starting,” Carl
said.

Gene
circled his index finger around my knee, deep in his own thoughts.
I’d all but forgotten him. We hadn’t spoken much in the past sixty
minutes. He always stared off into space.

A lusty
moan rose above others. I followed Gene’s stare, and noticed what
had interested him.

A blonde
arched her back over a muscular man, who stared up at her with
unadulterated satisfaction of a man getting fucked by a woman who
knew what she was doing. His right hand was planted on her lower
back, his left on her abdomen as she rocked with abandoned over his
engorged cock.

She was beautiful, in a supermodel sense, I supposed.
Vampire, though I wasn’t familiar with the Coven she came from.
Though naked, I could say right off the bat if she wore black, it
was to compliment her pastel blue skirt that lay on the floor. Her
sedate make-up, albeit smudged, screamed skill with an eye shadow
brush.

She was my antitheses, in every way, with her long legs and
light blonde hair, tanned skin, and well manicured
nails.

My wild
tumble of black hair with large red chunks, short legs and
naturally pale skin my best friend called “moonlit,” all
constituted the Goth fashion our crowd embraced. Hell, both Gene
and Carl wore all black. I’d seen both of them wear liner when it
suited them.

I stared at my short nails complete with chipped blood red
polish. French manicure? As if one didn’t run through the forest or
city streets at the speed of light, tackling bad guys before
beating the shit out of them, and expect a manicurist to fix the
damage I wrought on the day-to-day.

Is
this
why Gene lost interest in me? He wanted me to be
a walking, talking Barbie doll?

The
blonde leaned back as the man guided her over him, and she stared
upside down right at Gene. Instant interest sparked in her
eyes.