Taken by The Hunger: A Blood Thirst Novel (Book 1) Paranormal Romance/ Erotica/ Urban Fantasy (8 page)

Chapter 10: You Can’t Outrun Fate

“Hey
Emma you with me?” Kimmy asked with a worried look on her face. “What’s wrong you look like you just saw a ghost?” She caught me off guard because most of the time I suppressed those memories especially since she probably reported so much to Darius. I noticed the house was just within sight before answering, “Nothing, just feeling really drained after a long night is all.”

“Well if I have your attention, I’d like to tell you about pretty boy from the club… he was so freaking hot Emma, but if you’re not up to it then... I just won't tell you how absolutely fanfreakintastic, orgasmically good pretty boy was.”

I smiled, a real smile now, Kimmy’s happiness being apparent, and drawing me out of a past I could not change, so I drew in a deep breath and said, “Spill all the juicy details.”

So there was Kimmy going into the dirty details on just how good pretty boy gave it. We were both laughing with the cold weather almost forgotten when a black van with fully tinted windows swerves by almost taking Kimmy and I with it. Kimmy yanks me back by my wrist.

“Shit this can’t be happening now, shh... not freaking happening! Emma, I so failed you right now.”

“What’s going on?” I ask not liking Kimmy’s reactions.

“Stay hidden over by the trees while I call backup,” she whispered.

She was pushing me towards the forested woods on which the property lay while looking unusually panicked. As we ran, I tried my hardest not to fall behind and failed miserably because I was beyond scared. I mean what could possibly be so bad that she would readily rat us out to Darius? Didn’t she know she was contributing to both our deaths?

While my heels wobbled, and I was trying not to face plant, Kimmy was in soldier mode expertly taking out a phone, flash light, and handgun. As she placed the handgun in a garter she wore, then quickly discarded her purse with all its remains on the floor, I stood rooted to the spot watching her call the team.

Just then a guttural roar iced my blood, we both turn and look at the van when the back doors were suddenly kicked wide from the inside tearing off the hinges. While Kimmy was urgently screaming into her cell phone, giving orders and locations- I was paralyzed because nothing could have prepared me for what I’d seen.
What can possibly do that to a van?
I asked myself disbelieving what I had just witnessed. My mind was reeling when I saw the brake lights flash and heard a peeling sound.

A huge form of nothing I had ever seen, or thought possible jumped from the vehicle. What I could only describe as part human, but much larger and with very animalistic features stalked towards the front going to the driver
’s side door. I was backing up and shaking my head no when I heard another door being torn and what had started as a man’s scream was suddenly cut off as shots were fired from the van and then that too, also ceased.

Now I stood frozen, nothing I thought I knew… was. There was a ringing in my ears and everything suddenly seemed fogged. I was having difficulty breathing; it felt like my head was under water.

Shit, I think I’m having a panic attack.

God, was this what Darius had been warning me against all these years? Had he thought Jeffery capable of turning me over to this thing he had once said was out there searching for me? It had all been true… I had so misjudged him. It wasn’t my mother’s lover, the one I would not name- we had to worry about.

Kimmy slapped and grabbed my face looking into my eyes and said, “Emma baby… Emma stay with me.” Once she had my attention again, she spoke more strongly, “Emma stay away from him don’t listen to your instincts Emma they’re wrong, stay strong. You will get through this. Just stay focused Emma because Darius will always come for you... he will find you.”

I must have given her a terrified, confused look because nothing she was saying made any sense, but she didn’t have time to explain because she just yelled for me to run.

I saw as she lifted and extended her arm aiming her gun, and started shooting in the direction of the van. I didn’t turn because honestly I didn’t want to see what it was she was shooting at, he… it must have been bigger than I thought because the firing wouldn’t cease, and she was a great shot. I stopped a few feet away, and started looking at the ground for anything to use as a weapon making sure I didn’t look up at the form approaching Kimmy. I heard the reassuring sirens from the house and thought to help Kimmy – I just couldn’t leave her.

She started screaming over the gun shots. “I can’t slow him for long... RUN… and baby don’t stop running he’s after you.”

“Shit,” I said, “I can’t Kimmy,” my legs felt as if they were glued and wouldn’t budge.

She then yelled, “Don’t make me turn and put a bullet in your head, he’s not here for me. You could do this Emma… don’t worry he won’t hurt me.”

That seemed to be enough to get me going. I had seen the determined possessive look in his eyes when our eyes met right after he’d jumped from the van. Somehow Kimmy’s words rang true, he hadn’t spared Kimmy a glance; almost as if he’d been looking for me. Only I didn’t recognize him. There’s no way I would forget him. So I ran towards the field and the safety of the trees because whatever he was had ripped that van apart, and he was in my path to the house. He would have cut me off easily.

I ran deep into the woods and realized it was raining hard now hitting me painfully in the face. I tried to run in the blinding darkness with only the moon’s eerie glow to keep me from hitting the trees I sought shelter in. My ability to see in the dark was dimmed, maybe it was due to the
risin
g
panic
.

I was breathing hard… my chest rising and falling with every breath I labored to take while pain sliced my side. I yanked my soaking hair out of my face and tried to just focus on pumping my arms and legs.

I must have been running for a while because I noticed I no longer had my heels. I felt the pain from cuts underneath my feet, my legs felt like they were made of lead, and my vision was blurring. I tried to remember when the shots had stopped, but everything was a haze… I was exhausted. I thought of Kimmy and almost lost my footing, so I pushed her from my mind. She said she would be fine. I needed to believe it if I was willing to keep going.

As my head pounded, I repeated Darius’s name in my mind hoping to find strength in it. Finally, I knew I had exhausted all my energy when I thought I would soon fall to my knees, crawl, and look for a hiding spot. I heard him then. The sound came unexpectedly from directly in front of me… it was an animalistic, brutal sound that had me abruptly stopping trying desperately to avoid a deathly collision.

Instead, I lost my balance scraping my hand on a nearby tree as I tried to hold on for support hoping to salvage my life… but then without time to take in a breath the monstrous form I had feared rushed me.

It happened so quickly. I was grabbed with rough hands by my neck and waist, and hoisted up against a tree. I grabbed on to him… fighting against his force. The few moments I knew of my life flashed behind my lids, and I saw the people I loved, Darius and Kamila. Time slowed, and I round up the courage to fight what my mind couldn’t even name. I had lost all my breath from the momentum of his body hitting mine. I even tried to take a large gulp of air kicking out my legs, not caring about my rising dress.

I was working on adrenaline and instinct. The hold on my neck loosened and a body made of steel pushed itself against my thighs when I heard and felt the ripping of my dress. It seemed my kicking had only served to allow him better access because he just rammed his hips into me while efficiently trapping me against the tree. He was so aroused by our struggle.

I screamed, my panic rising to new heights.

Chapter 11: Awakening of the Beast

I’d
shut my eyes at the feel of him; then, quickly opened them to better defend myself against him. His eyes narrowed on my face with a look of pure hunger as I whimpered from the sudden pain of overworking my body, and the defeat I felt as I allowed for weakness to take over. I started to shove at his arms and shoulders to create some separation between us.

His skin moved underneath my palms almost as if currents ran through him and into me, burning me. I welcomed the unrelenting rain as it came down on us, without mercy, as my hands slid on his skin making it impossible to do any damage. I was shivering trying to grab at the hands caressing my neck and parting my thigh higher on his hip. He was forcing my body to open to him. There was no moving off me the hard impenetrable body that covered mine.

So scared, I knew it was no use; nevertheless, I struggled against him with everything I had left.

Just bid for more time… I thought, so I scratched and pushed my body at hard unrelenting skin. Tore with all my strength at the forearm that had come to rest between my breasts, and now rubbed me there. Everywhere he touched me, he was feeling me… I could feel how his body sought mine as my struggles lessened. Finally unable to move, my breasts rose and fell against him when I screamed in his face for help with the last surge of energy I possessed.

All the while his fierce silver eyes took in all my struggles and watched while he caressed me with his thumbs where his hands held me. His eyes were taking me in. He held me securely to him as his hands lulled me, and he waited. I took deep panting breaths as my arms felt heavy; fatigue taking hold of me, making me complacent in his arms as my hands came to rest on his shoulders. Not knowing if he would understand I said, “Whatever you are thinking of doing to me, I promise it won’t be easy,” I managed to look at him forcing myself not to look away.

His reply was the beginning of a smile that never really managed to reach his eyes.
Then it was well worth the wait,
I heard my mind reply- startled I looked at him for any sign he had put those words there.

His hot breath fanned my face, as I watched the air escape through his full parted lips, and I felt him hard and throbbing at my center. Tremors traveled through my body even though my blood felt like it was boiling in my veins, and I could hear my heart beating incessantly.

I tried to remember Kimmy’s warning, but nothing she said made any sense because my instincts were to fight him. Fear lodged itself deep in my throat while my nipples hardened. I thought to myself how could I be reacting like this… my heart and soul belonged to Darius, yet my body betrayed me. This was so surreal; it couldn’t be real I was dreaming a fantastical dream. I was still at that horrid club where Kimmy was talking and drinking it up with some handsome stranger while I had fallen asleep at a booth somewhere dreaming of a mystical beast with full upturned lips and white sharp fangs.

The fangs fascinated me. I wanted to reach out and caress them, feel them puncture my tender skin. I imagined them gently scraping me where he was now touching me. It felt as though my skin was burning, so I tried to relax as he held me, and I looked at him more closely.

I was truly surprised to see how beautifully savage he looked. This being was looking more human now with all the hard lines of his face, emphasizing his features. High cheekbones accentuated a primitively sensual face and a straight aristocratic nose led to these lips… my god they were all I could focus on… his smooth, plump, perfectly defined lips. His skin became lighter, and soon I would see the man. Trying to break free from the spell I was in, I looked up at smooth tan skin. He seemed less beastlike and a bit more dark angel at the moment with those breath taking silver eyes and long midnight lashes. With the back of my hands, I felt his black straight shoulder length hair. I wanted to feel more of him, so lowering my hands from his neck to his arms… I quickly found myself clutching him where before I had tried to scratch and loosen his grip. My hands now tightened and gripped, claiming him. I knew I was staring, but I couldn’t help it- he truly just mesmerized me. Maybe it was the familiarity between us, but as crazy as that sounded I felt I knew him.

I thought maybe he had this uncanny ability of making me want something like him, so unmistakably brutal. I was feeling very savage at the moment. He stared so deep into my eyes. His eyes possessed me in their intensity… so strong it almost seemed as he knew what I was thinking. Glowing molten silver eyes breaching into my center, it became too much. His eyes were something I would never forget as long as I lived, but the hungered look they penetrated me with frightened me back to reality. I had to force myself to take deep breaths as I tried to regain my strength.

Our panting breaths were mingling, heating my skin, when his nostrils flared, and I felt him move back and thrust as he looked at my lips. Grinding my teeth, I caught the moan that almost escaped hoping not to voice the desire I felt as panic within me increased. His black claws drew back into his skin as he raised his fingers and held my jaw.

I knew what he wanted. Expecting to hear the reaction I withheld, he tightened his grip on my jaw forcing my mouth open. He was no longer caressing my skin instead he lifted me higher when his hand wrapped tight around my thigh while the other still held my jaw.

He thrust harder more violently against me, and this time I couldn’t contain the raspy moan no matter how much I wanted to. The friction he created with his thrusting hips was making me lose my sanity. My hands grabbed and pushed at his waist trying to distance us while my body quivered with lust. I pushed against the tree to move him off me, but it was no use- he was steel all over me. I only managed to feel him closer as he thrust again fusing our bodies together.

He was consuming me. I closed my eyes knowing that my weak struggles must be feeling more like caresses when in reality I wanted to scratch his skin from his bones for my warring emotions. I kept my eyes closed with my head upturned trying to remove his hand from my jaw. I knew if I opened my eyes I would be staring at death, and in this moment I didn’t need it to be staring back through the most beautiful iridescent silver eyes.

I came up with a desperate idea. I thought to myself, which would be the cleanest, quickest, and most alluring way to offer up my death because his intentions were clear, and I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction he sought and thought to force upon me. After all, his mind control was working to some degree. I knew he was going to use me and from the size of his body we didn’t look compatible no matter what he was making me feel.

I told myself it would be a better fate to die a fast death because otherwise if he sought to rape me I would fight him every step of the way, and I knew he could easily rip me to pieces.

When you’re about to die the strangest thoughts go through your mind and what my mind kept repeating was,
you can’t let Darius find your dead raped body- at least don’t let rape be part of it.
It repeated…
make him do it clean and fast, so the guilt doesn’t eat away at Darius. He’s sacrificed so much.

In my desperation for a quick solution, I decided for some reason the neck is always so very tempting in movies, so I leaned my scalp up against the roughness of the tree, and extended my neck right before him hoping his appetite for flesh was stronger than his appetite for sex.

Man was I wrong… he became so still that I had to look at him when I saw his pupils dilated becoming long spheres that began to expand and overtake his eyes as his hands grabbed my thighs more fiercely while he roughly tore my skin tight dress at the sides to get a better feel of me. Trembling from the shock, I thought, what the hell is he and told him, “ple.. ase… please… just kill me,” he then shook me- separating us from the tree while carrying me. I had to grab onto his upper arms feeling him twitch beneath my hands as I looked down on him. He raised me above him inhaling deep at my neck, and then slowly lowering me he pressed himself against me. “I want you to keep your eyes open… keep looking at me while I touch you,” he harshly demanded. “I’ll make sure you don’t feel the pain… I’ll replace it with so much pleasure, you’ll come alive for me,” his voice was deep, rich, and warm as velvet on my skin.

I felt so alive, yes… I was burning, and it too was painful. No pain… is he freaking crazy, my mind rebutted. I was immobile, shocked he spoke and even more shocked when I saw the fangs extend; I thought I’d imagined them earlier. His hand traveled up my thigh to my hips and waist, over my breast, kneaded, and lingered.

His eyes searched my face reading my reactions. He carried me back and placed me more gently this time against the tree. His actions told me that he would not hurt me if I cooperated, but I knew pain and my death were inevitable. It seemed he meant to have me here in the woods up against this tree, and he said it wouldn’t be painful; who was he kidding? His hand greedily dove under the upper edge of my dress, lowering the top half, and leaving my black lace and silk bustier out in the open for him to inspect. He seemed fascinated by it as he firmly pressed against my breast cupping and lifting it while teasing my nipple with his thumb.

Through all the need I felt, I was shocked, all I could do was take in hard breaths and look at the starved expression on his face. I heard my dress tear… as I held my breath, prepared for the worst, and slapped him hard across the face with my bloody hand. I was looking at him alright. His jaw became tight, stretched showing the blood my palm left across his cheek and lips.

He then smiled a cruel unwavering smile that showed off his fangs. “Love, I never expected for you to make things easy for me,” he said pinching my nipple and heat spread like lava through me. He made no sense, I thought! I knew if I kept up the blows it would be my salvation.

His face miraculously returned to normal, where he was once red, on the spot I’d hurt him. Was he the same species as Darius and was this why and where the attraction originated? I looked at my crimson blood on his face and drew courage. I could do this… I was going to die, so for what it was worth I smiled back with what I knew to be just as much cold determination in my eyes and raised my hand again to slap him, but he quickly removed his hand from my breast and snatched my wrist pulling it high over my head.

“Is that all the bite you have left,” he taunted me as he pushed his body harder against mine.

I was stretched and nearly started crying and screaming, but nooo… I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction, so I spit in his face and raised my free hand to scratch out his eyes. He caught that hand while his hips pressed against my soft open body holding me in place. He licked his lips, brought his face down close to mine, inhaled, and said, “Your scent mixed with rain drove me wild with need while I was held up in that van, I imagined us like this surrounded by this wuthering wilderness. I saw myself driving hard into you making you want me all the more. Making you beg for more. It nearly drove me mad with desire for you, but your taste Emma… that supersedes all. I won’t ever have enough. I’m so hungry for you right now, all I can think about is driving myself deep into your tightness over and over again and then making you come while you scream my name.”

He took deep breaths as he lowered his face to my neck and continued speaking, “But you have to stop pushing me… I’m really trying not to let the beast takeover. I want you so… so bad.” I felt his tongue snake out on my neck making goose bumps travel all over my body as my head fell sideways then back giving him better access. His tongue had the power to soothe me.