Taste of Torment (17 page)

When Paige hesitated, Antonio spoke. “Jared would never back out of a vow.”

After an encouraging look from Imani, Paige nodded. “I’ll need someone to transfer the taint to.”

Ava clasped her hands together. “Ooh, can we use Collins?” She truly looked excited by the prospect. Salem snickered.

“Unfortunately, no,” replied Antonio. “I have prisoners that have been here for some time who can take on the taint.”

“You haven’t executed them?” Paige asked him.

Antonio’s smile was a little on the evil side. “Why would I do that when it would make their punishment be over quickly?”

“Ah.” There was a wealth of nervousness in that sound. Paige cleared her throat. “Do you have four prisoners?”

“One will not be enough?”

“When I pass on an injury, it’s three times worse. In this case, it’ll mean the taint will be three times more advanced when the vampire gets it. He’ll have to be killed instantly.”

“Well then, it is lucky I have four.”

I could see that she wanted to ask just how many he did have, but she bit her tongue.

Antonio pressed his hand on the imprint that was situated on the glass door of the cell. The door made a hissing sound as it unlocked, but Antonio didn’t open it immediately. “Everyone ready?”

Rolling his shoulders and clearly eager, Harvey said, “Oh yeah.” Salem and David simply nodded.

The second Antonio opened the door wide, the three tainted vampires charged. Harvey stepped inside and used his telekinesis to send all three vampires crashing into the back of the cell. While he held them in place, Salem and David then used their gifts to knock each of them unconscious.

“Harvey, don’t lose your grip on them.” I wasn’t taking any chances. Squeezing past him, I walked into the cell. Paige, Imani, and Antonio came in behind me, and were shortly followed by two guards, who were dragging in an unconscious captive. They placed him beneath where Evan was pinned to the wall. I looked at Paige, who was holding her nose. Yeah, the stench was bad. “Ready?”

She answered by walking to Evan and reaching out to lay her hand on the oozing bite mark, balking at the repugnant sight.

When her hand froze in mid-air, I assured her, “Even if he wakes up, he won’t be able to move.”

Apparently those words satisfied her, because some of the tension left her body and she placed her hand on his throat. What happened next was one of the weirdest things I’d ever seen. It was like something was rippling under her skin, circling her lower arm as it ran from her hand to her elbow. That was when she pulled her hand away and gripped the leg of the unconscious vampire at her feet. The rippling happened again, this time going from her elbow down to her hand and to the now tainted vampire…And it had all happened in a matter of seconds. In a blink, he went from normal to being even more gaunt and skeletal than Evan had been. His eyes snapped open – no rationality there at all – but before he could move, I obliterated him into ashes with a bolt of lightning.

Paige’s eyes widened. “Wow. And I thought my gift was awesome.” Taking the tissue Antonio offered her, she wiped the disgusting ooze from her hand.

Darting to Evan’s side, I could only gawk as I marvelled over the fact that, yep, the bite was gone and the taint had left him. Except for the dark circles under his eyes, he looked totally normal. A lump formed in my throat. Fuck, I’d missed the shithead.

“Is he healed?” Antonio’s voice was dripping with anxiousness.

“Yes, some-the-fuck-how, he’s okay.” Everyone cheered, and I saw Paige flush under the praise that was subsequently thrown at her from the people outside the cell. Knowing that the psychic hit he’d taken to the head would mean Evan would be out cold for a while, I contemplated asking Paige to touch his head and attempt to take away the effects of the hit. But that would mean dragging in a fully aware prisoner to then take on the effects of it – the longer we messed around, the longer Sam would be tainted.

Seemingly reading my mind, Antonio said, “He will be fine in the infirmary until he wakes.” Of course I could teleport him there, but I didn’t want to leave until Sam was okay.

“I will take him,” offered Sebastian as he entered the cell. Flashing Paige a thankful smile, he scooped up Evan and disappeared. The guards then dragged in another two prisoners. Just as with Evan, Paige healed both Max and Stuart by transferring the taint to the unconscious captives, who I then quickly disposed of using my gift. Afterwards, Sebastian teleported both Max and Stuart to the infirmary.

That was when we exited the cell and moved to Sam’s door. She was on her feet now and was leaning against the back wall as if to reassure Paige that she was no threat.

“Sam has only been tainted for a few hours,” Antonio told Paige as he unlocked the cell door. “She is still completely rational.”

Tell her that if she feels more comfortable with Harvey pinning me in place, it’s fine,
Sam told me.

“She said that she’s happy for Harvey to hold her still using his gift, if you’d prefer that. I won’t have anyone knock her unconscious, but I’ll agree to her being held in place.”

Paige tilted her head. “You can talk to her through your bond?”

“I’m telepathic.” Panic flashed across her face. I quickly added, “But I can only read thoughts that are directed at me.” She seemed relieved by that, which made me wonder what she was hiding. “Would you rather Sam was held still?”

Paige bit her lip and glimpsed briefly at her friend. I sensed that she was more worried about Imani’s safety than her own. There was clearly a story behind that, but it simply wasn’t important to me right then. All that mattered was getting Sam healed.

“If it’s all the same to you,” began Paige, “I’d rather Harvey did his thing.”

Hesitantly, Harvey came forward, looking awkward. “You sure you’re okay with this, Coach?” It was actually kind of nice that he didn’t want to use his gift on her. She nodded and smiled encouragingly at him. As soon as Antonio opened the door, Harvey used his gift to keep her pinned to the wall.

I then entered the cell. “Hey, baby.” I wanted nothing more than to drag her to me, but that would have to wait a minute.

“They’re all okay? Evan, Max, and Stuart?”

I smiled. “All three of them are now healed and in the infirmary, where they’ll stay until they wake up.” I moved aside to allow the guards to drop an unconscious prisoner at her feet. “Now it’s your turn.”

Sam switched her attention to Paige, who was gaping at her bite mark.

“It healed.” Yep, Paige was totally freaked out.

“The skin healed, but I’m still tainted,” said Sam.

“But…how?” Finally Paige met her eyes.

Sam shrugged. “
How
can a Sventé vampire be a Feeder?
How
can a gift as offensive as yours actually do something as amazing as save a person from something that nothing and no one has ever been able to fight? Some things just
are
.”

After an encouraging nudge from Imani, Paige stepped forward and went to place her hand on the wound. But then she was gaping again. “Um…you have a snake tattoo wriggling toward the bite mark.” No doubt Dexter was downright pissed to know that Sam was tainted by The Call. It wasn’t something that he could protect her from.

“Long story cut short,” began Sam, “Dexter is my…protector. He can become a live snake at my command. He can’t hurt you as a tattoo, so don’t worry.”

Nodding at that, Paige finally touched the wound. The same thing happened as before…apart from one thing. At the same time as the rippling started to travel up Paige’s lower arm, energy began to cling to the surface of Sam’s entire body – it was almost like a protective blanket. Then those silvery-blue trickles all shot to the bite wound, and a light flashed beneath Paige’s hand just as there was a loud crackle.

Paige stumbled backwards, shaking her hand. Not taking her eyes from Sam, she transferred the taint to the unconscious vampire. Only when I’d destroyed the now tainted captive did she speak. “What was that about?” Again she shook her hand. She didn’t seem worried or afraid, just fascinated. “It was like getting a minor electric shock.”

Genuinely baffled, Sam replied vaguely, “Working with energy always brings surprises. Harvey, can you release me now?”

“Oh, sure. Sorry, Coach.”

As she sagged, I pulled Sam to me and held her tight. People piled in the room, surrounding her, telling her that they were glad she was fine and even making jokes –
jokes
, really? Despite that she was healed, I couldn’t find any humour whatsoever in this situation. I didn’t pay any attention to them; I only had eyes for Sam. “Thank fuck you’re okay.”

She looked at Paige, who was regarding everyone warily. “Paige…Thanks. You don’t need to worry. No one here will hurt you. After what you’ve done for us, I’ll never let them.”

Chico turned to Paige. “You healed four people who are important to me. I owe you for that. The last thing you have to worry about is being harmed here. You and your friend have our protection.”

Paige swallowed hard, looking on the verge of tears. It had clearly been a long time since she had felt safe. “Thanks.”

I pressed my forehead to Sam’s. “I need to be alone with you.” Ignoring the questions coming from the others, I took us to our apartment. Okay, that was kind of selfish but I’d always be that way where Sam was concerned. I brushed her hair aside to frame her face with my hands. “I don’t know what will happen now that Paige is here, but I don’t want to think about it yet.”

“Me neither. I need to shower. I can still smell rotten fish on my skin from when that vampire dived on me.” If the taint had progressed, the same stench would have been wafting from her.

Cupping her ass, I lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around me. Licking and nibbling on her mouth, I carried her to the bathroom. When she went to undress herself, I shook my head. “Let me take care of you.”

What I wanted most was to be buried inside her, wanted to fuck her hard and release all that fear and anger. But she came first, and the last thing she needed was that. So instead, I slowly stripped her naked, placed her under the spray, and gently soaped her body. I had to bite back a groan when she started to return the favour, sliding her soft hands everywhere she could reach. When she went to touch my cock, I gripped her wrist. “Baby, you may have noticed I’m hard as a fucking rock right now. It’s already hard enough to hold back. I can’t have you touching me.”

“Why, exactly, are you holding back?”

“I don’t have the control to go slow, to be careful with you.”

She kissed my chest. “Where did you get the strange idea that I need you to be slow and careful?” Her free hand shot out and curled around my cock – sneaky bitch. Her strokes were firm, sure, and bold. When I wrapped my hand around hers, halting her movements, she sank her teeth hard into my pectoral.

Groaning, I knotted my hand in her hair, intending to yank her away and stop her feeding. Instead, I found myself pressing her closer to me, encouraging her to take more. I was on the verge of coming, thanks to her Sventé saliva, when she suddenly stopped. There was no fucking way I could resist her then. I took her mouth, dominated it, plundered it, loving that it was mine.

I tugged her hand off my cock, backed her against the tiled wall, kicked her legs open wider, and then dropped to my knees. Her whole body jerked as I parted her folds with my thumbs and blew on her clit. “I love how responsive you are.” I began toying with her clit, alternating between suckling on it, flicking it with my tongue, and lightly nibbling on it. Then I tilted my head and slid my tongue between her folds. “Let me hear you, Sam.” The entire time I ate her out, she groaned and moaned and whimpered. Of course she also cursed me to hell and back for keeping her hanging on the edge.

“Enough,” she croaked, trembling.

“It’s never enough, baby.” I got to my feet, slipped my arms underneath her thighs, and elevated her high. Then I dropped her hard on my cock, making her cry out. Fuck, the feel of her muscles pulsing around me was almost too much. “Is that what you wanted?” I ground out.

She groaned in assent and squirmed, tempting me to move. Keeping her legs balanced in the crook of my elbows, I slowly withdrew before slamming back inside, going deeper this time. But it wasn’t deep enough. “I want you to take it all, Sam.” Once more I slowly pulled out and then, with one smooth, fierce stroke, buried myself balls-deep inside her. “That’s it.” I flexed my hips, making sure I was as deep as I could get. Her face was scrunched up in either pleasure or pain, I couldn’t tell. “Too deep? Does it hurt?”

She nodded. “But not in a bad way.”

“Good because I need to be deep inside you right now.” I needed to know,
feel
, that she was okay.

“Good because I need you there.”

I hitched in a breath. It wasn’t often that Sam ever claimed to need anything. “I’m here. And I’m going to fuck you hard. So hard. And you’re going to love it. And you’re going to explode all over my cock and wring me dry.” Then I was mercilessly punching my cock in and out of her. Her irises were glowing mercury with arousal – so fucking beautiful.

She grappled at the wall for purchase, and tried arching into my thrusts, but I had her pinned exactly as I wanted her. There was only one other thing I wanted. I bit into the juncture of her neck and shoulder, groaning as her blood flowed onto my tongue. The syrupy punch to it was too damn good. I drank deep as I pounded into her, groaning again when I felt her teeth sink into my shoulder.
Fuck
. My pace became frantic, violent, as she completely overwhelmed every one of my senses. “Come, Sam,” I ordered roughly. “Milk me.” She screamed around my shoulder as she came; her muscles tightened and rippled around my cock, wringing every last drop of come out of me, like her body was determined to have it all.