Once Bitten, Twice Shy (19 page)

Lex stared at me, his eyes dark and beautiful just a few inches from my face. He sighed and rolled onto his side.

“I’d hoped to put this conversation off by a bit,” he said, running a hand over his face.

Suddenly, I felt very naked and a little anxious. I grabbed the sheet and pulled it over my body, tucking it under my arms. Lex noticed and his mouth tightened, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he ran a finger up my arm and across my collarbone before his hand cupped my chin and kept me from looking away.

“What we have together is more visceral than anything I have ever experienced,” he murmured. “It’s special.”

I felt a lump forming in my throat. It made my tummy flutter when he said that, yet I also felt as though the walls were closing in on me. I couldn’t say anything to stop him, so Lex continued.

“It’s rare for vampires and humans to have such a strong connection. When it happens, it’s treasured. Conner and Donna had that before he turned her.” Lex smiled. “I won’t forget how frustrating he found your friend. He couldn’t read her mind or control her. It drove him insane for a while.” He looked deeply into my eyes. “And you, you can call me. It’s a talent very few humans have and, when they do, the vampires of old usually killed them outright. Now, there are a few who remain suspicious of telepaths, but most vampires just try to avoid them.”

I felt my eyes getting wider as he continued. Telepath? I wasn’t telepathic. Other than this strange ability I had when it came to vampires, I had no other special gifts.

“Conner and I have a theory,” he continued.

I blinked at him. A theory? About what? I didn’t speak those words out loud, but Lex answered my questions anyway.

“Donna had the ability to erect mental blocks against vampires before she was turned, even the most powerful of us. You have the ability to call me, and probably others of my kind. Conner and I have discussed this. I said that vampire and human connections such as his to Donna and mine to you are rare,” he paused, “well, we think that they are signs of our soul mates. That humans meant for vampires are marked with abilities that affect us. Unfortunately, we do not know any others who have met human mates, so we cannot research the hypothesis further.”

I barely heard his words after he said ‘soul mates’. Soul mates? Even as my soul rejoiced, my mind said I barely knew him. How could we be soul mates? The claustrophobic sensation grew stronger.

“Ivie?” he asked. “Are you okay? You seem agitated.”

I didn’t speak. All I could do was focus on breathing. Damn right I was agitated. Now it made sense. He pushed so hard for me to move in so he could ‘protect’ me. He didn’t want to protect me. He wanted to control me. My thoughts careened wildly. Did he plan on Claiming me or did he want to turn me whether I agreed or not? Those thoughts, paired with my broken defenses, made me freak right the fuck out.

Unable to remain still, I leapt from the bed and started grabbing my clothes off the floor.

“Ivie?” His voice was full of concern, but slowly edging toward anger.

I couldn’t bring myself to care. I was deep in the throes of a gargantuan panic attack.

“Talk to me,” he commanded. He did sound a little worried, but now he mostly seemed pissed.

I wiggled into my underwear and yanked my pants up my legs as I spoke. “So what was the plan, Lex? You were going to move me in here, keep me under lock and key until I agreed to a Claiming? Or were you just planning to turn me?”

I didn’t bother to look at his face. I was too busy searching for my shirt. I saw it across the room, hanging from the doorknob that led to his closet. In a flash, Lex was in front of me, naked, angry, and as intimidating as hell. I flinched back from him as though he had slapped me. His eyes grew hot and bright, the color of honey in sunlight. I had seen them change before, but not like this.

“What?” he asked, his voice low and menacing. The tone pierced through the veil of panic that surrounded me and I twitched before standing perfectly still.

The look in his eyes reminded me of the tigers in the zoo. Wild and perfectly cold, as though they were just waiting for the right moment to strike and eat your face off.

“Do you think I’m playing some kind of game with you?” he asked, his face inches from mine.

I licked my dry lips. “If it’s not a game, what are we doing, Lex? I don’t know you, not really. I met you months ago, but the last few days are the most time I’ve spent with you alone since then. And now you’re talking about soul mates and Claiming and special talents.”

“And?” he asked. Perhaps he knew where I was going with this or perhaps not, either way, he was going to force me to explain myself.

“I don’t want you to turn me,” I blurted. To make matters worse, now that I was speaking, I couldn’t stop. “I’ve been trying to avoid you for so long because I know that you think I’m weaker and….less than you, because I am human. I want nothing to do with someone who won’t treat me as an equal in the relationship.”

“That’s not what you were saying a few minutes ago when my cock was between your legs,” he roared. “And when in the hell have I ever said that you weren’t valuable because you’re human?” His face drew closer until I could feel his hot breath on my lips. “I was human before I was turned. It would be a bit hypocritical of me to have that sort of attitude, wouldn’t it?”

I watched as he walked to the closet, yanking my shirt off the knob and tossing it to me before he entered. A few seconds later, he reappeared with a pair of jeans in his hands. I watched him slide into them without bothering with underwear.

He was shaking his head as he walked to the dresser against the wall and reached into the top drawer for a t-shirt. I stood with my own shirt clutched to my chest as he pulled his own garment on and then began the process of putting on socks and boots.

The entire time, he was silent and aloof. Finally, he was dressed and stalked across the room to me.

“I did want to Claim you, Ivie, and, yes, eventually turn you. But I wanted to give you time. You have a point. We don’t know each other well and you don’t have the wisdom and perspective that centuries of living can provide. I was aware of that, so I was willing to wait.” His eyes scorched a path from my head to my feet and back again. “Now, I wonder what in the fuck I was thinking?”

He moved around me to the door and I turned to watch him. With a hand on the knob, he turned and looked over his shoulder at me. “Don’t worry, my love, I won’t force you to be my Claimed and I damn sure won’t be turning you. Your precious humanity is safe.”

With that horrendously accurate parting shot, Lex opened the bedroom door and left. The door shut behind him with a gentle click. A few moments later I could hear the boom of the front door slamming so hard the entire house seemed to shudder. Which was a feat considering Lex’s home was as large, if not larger, than Conner’s McMansion.

Shaking, I thrust my arms into my shirt and dragged it over my head. I went downstairs to my bag and fished around for my cell phone. Praying that she wasn’t already occupied with Conner, I called Donna.

“Hey, hooker. What did you forget?” she answered breathless and giggling. I could hear the murmur of Conner’s voice in the background and knew that I had interrupted them. My chest tightened.

“Hey, Dee. Um, Lex and I had sort of a fight,” I whispered. “Can you come get me?”

Despite my determination that it wouldn’t happen, tears filled my eyes and began to trickle down my face. Donna, being an incredible friend, didn’t hesitate.

“Yes. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Is Lex still there?”

“No,” I said, trying to swallow back the sobs that were threatening to choke me.

“I’ll knock when I get there. Have your stuff ready,” she said.

“Okay.”

I hung up and dashed back upstairs. When I reached the bedroom, I realized that my suitcase was still in the back of Lex’s SUV and swore. Well, maybe Conner could get it for me. I didn’t think I’d be able to stand seeing Lex again anytime soon.

I went back downstairs and waited by the front door. I paced for what felt like an eternity until I heard a car pull up in the drive. I grabbed my purse and took a deep breath before I opened the door. I didn’t want to fall on Donna as a sobbing mess. When I was sure I had myself under control, I threw open the heavy wooden door.

Standing on the other side, baring his teeth, was the vampire that haunted my worst nightmares. I barely managed to scream before he lunged forward and grabbed for me. Just as I had in all my nightmares for the last six months, I turned and ran for my life.

T
he nightmare was back.
Only this time, I wasn’t in the woods. I was in Lex’s house, running down a hall. I heard the pounding of feet behind me. Ahead of me was the door that led down to the dungeon. At the bottom of the steps was a heavy steel door, much like the safe room at Conner’s house. I knew from what Donna had said to me, that it should be strong enough to keep out a vampire, at least for a while.

I dashed down the stairs. I was three steps from the bottom when I felt fingers brush my shirt. I shrieked and leapt off the stairs, almost diving through the door. I grabbed the door as I went through, slamming it behind me, seeing that face from my nightmare sneering at me just before it shut. I managed to throw the first bolt when he hit the door with a bone-jarring thud.

With shaking hands, I slid home the floor and ceiling bolt. I saw a cross-bar to my left and dropped it in place as well. The heavy door vibrated under the force of his blows, but it held. I suddenly realized how dark it was in the dungeon and ran to the switches on the wall. I turned on every single one, filling the huge space with light. I grabbed the spanking bench and dragged it over to the door, wedging it against the steel to reinforce the locks. I tried to move the St. Andrew’s Cross but it was too heavy. I would have to be satisfied with the spanking bench.

Shivering, I looked around the room and realized I was trapped. My purse, which held my phone, was lying on the floor somewhere between the front door and the basement. Unless Lex had a tunnel leading from beneath his house, I was well and truly stuck. I paced through the dungeon, opening the first of the three doors. It was a small but luxurious bathroom. I glanced around, hoping that maybe Lex or the previous owner had been the pretentious sort to have a phone in the bathroom. No such luck. I sighed and exited the bathroom.

I walked to the next door and opened it as well. When I flipped on the switch, I blinked. There were chains and manacles hanging from the corners and some sort of harness set up in the middle of the small room. I assumed it had once been a closet, due to the size. I shivered when I realized what this room might be used for. For punishment or pleasure. When I realized the direction my thoughts had taken, I shook myself out of the daze. Hopefully there would be time for that in the future. If I got out of here alive. And if Lex forgave me.

I decided to throw my pity party later. I had to figure out how to get out of here in one piece before I could begin to worry about fixing things with Lex. I turned off the light to that room and closed the door. I went to the final door on the other wall. I tried to open it, but it was locked. I examined it and couldn’t figure out where a key might go.

I stared at the door in confusion for a few minutes before hope began to take hold within me. If the door locked from the other side, perhaps it somehow led to the outside. The bad news was I didn’t know how to get out and had no way to call for help.

Suddenly, it hit me that the bangs and thuds at the steel door on the other side of the dungeon had stopped. I crept over to it, trying to be as quiet as possible. I pressed my ear to the metal, trying to hear what might be happening on the other side. At first it was completely silent. I hoped that meant the vampire had given up, but I wasn’t about to open the door to find out.

I was just about to give up and go back to the other locked door when I heard something sliding against the steel.

“I can hear you, little rabbit,” a deep accented voice said hoarsely.

Every hair on my body stood on end. Holy shit.

Though the door was thick I heard him inhale. “I can smell you too. The fear, gods, it smells divine. I can’t wait to fuck that fear out of you before I cut your throat and let your blood spray all over me, then I’ll be able to smell it for days.”

I jumped away from the door, gagging. I managed to make it to the little bathroom just in time to wretch into the toilet. Oh God, not only was he planning to kill me, the sicko planned to torture me first. I had to find a way out of here.

When I finished dry heaving, I staggered to the sink and rinsed out my mouth before I washed my face with icy cold water. Though I was still scared, the frigid water helped to clear my mind of the unadulterated terror his words had created. As I began to calm, I realized that he should have been able to use mind control on me. Then it became clear, making me feel sick all over again. He wanted to chase me, terrify me, and torture me as long as possible. It was like foreplay for him. I shuddered, scared to death that no one would come for me or that they wouldn’t get here in time.