Tears of Blood (The Blood Chronicles) (16 page)

“The…air is a chilly.” He managed gruffly.

Unable to think, the contact bewitched her with each passing moment. Drawn to the strange frigidity of his skin, the tips of her fingers tingled as they lingered on the long lashes. Her heart sputtered and her words caught as she mentally attempted to etch his features into her subconscious.

“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it.” The aroma of coffee lifted into the air as she exhaled. “It’s merely different.”

He quirked a brow at her and his facial muscles tightened.

“I didn’t mean it as an insult.” Meghan hurried to explain. “It’s just your speech is slightly accented, a few words are archaic, and your pronunciation on others is way off.”

Amado wanted to jerk away from her, but found he couldn’t. Her sightless scrutiny entranced him, and he felt himself whirling into a bottomless void, slipping into a web only she could weave, the ethereal strands pulling and drawing him deeper into a world, he didn’t understand. Faintly, in a distant portion of his thoughts, he surmised if this was what his victims once experienced.

Amado broke the warm contact. Impulsively, he rose from the table and moved with silent grace until he stood in front of her, his shadow covering her. He stared down at her, quiet, watchful, before he did what she least expected.

He whispered her name tenderly, each syllable hauntingly captivating and drawing her attention. Leisurely, knowing she could sense his every movement, he leaned over her. Meghan felt the soft rustle of air just scant seconds before he placed his cheek to hers. He sighed, savoring the warmth seeping from her. Listening to the rapid increase of her heartbeat, Amado closed his eyes, and a touchingly ecstatic expression changing his tense features.

Torn, he realized the hunger raging in him was far different from the one he suffered. Weak, hungry in a sense that didn’t require the taste of blood, his chest constricted with forgotten emotion. One more unnecessary breath slipped from him, vibrating with the faint sound of her name.

Sultry, smooth, Amado recognized he had her full attention when she didn’t pull away from him.

Meghan savored the rich woodsy scent of sandalwood surrounding her, her fingers aching to touch him. Her palms itched and her flesh tingled, and pleasant warmth uncoiled in her. She clenched her legs together, her calves flexing tightly, and she whetted her lips. Conspicuously silent, she stayed motionless, wordlessly waiting.

“Meghan, you haunt me, the demon that I am.”

He murmured the odd words as he smoothed stray strands of hair from her neck with unsteady fingers. Despite the coldness of his touch, his breath was deliciously warm. Uncertain, knowing her pulse was pounding she closed her eyes. Right away, the heat of the morning sun caressed her face as gently as the words filling her ear.

As he spoke, a rich and decadent hunger shot into her body. Unable to control her reaction, every word causing her to tremble, and she flexed forward. Her fingers traced his neck, reveling at the firm feel of his flesh, his scent seeping into her lungs. Despite the chill on his skin, she felt the oddest flutter beneath her sensitive touch. She blinked, pulling her cheek from his, but not releasing her hold.

“Whether you want me to or not, I do intend to kiss you.”

“I don’t… you shouldn’t…”

Unable to think, the haunting temptation of his words filled her. Her lashes quivered as a low moan of compliance fell from her mouth. His teasing, full lips stroked her upturned face, the gentleness of the kiss a light and velvety touch.

“For once, try not to think.”

“Amado.” She was barely capable of pronouncing his name, her voice sounding distant and foreign.

“Let me taste you,
mi bella
.” He begged from the anguished depths of his tortured soul, his hunger apparent in every word.

Meghan’s heart caught as his lips moved lazily across her face. Her quivering fingers trailed over his shoulders and neck, before hesitating on the curve of his cheek, desperately attempting to memorize the feel of him. She she’d forgotten the simple joy of a kiss, the enticement the pressure of one’s mouth could invoke, and slipped further into the spell he wove with his hushed words. One part wanted to smack away the smug smile she guessed he wore before claiming an additional kiss. The other silently pleaded for him to take her into his arms, and to reveal everything she’d missed in her lifetime.

The irrational part won, and Meghan’s quivering fingers trailed over his shoulders, relishing the texture of his smooth leather jacket, crunching the material in her shaking hands. She vibrated with need, and felt herself spiraling as the kiss deepened. She arched upwards, savoring his taste, wanting and yearning for more than she ever believed possible.

“Amado…”

Meghan clutched at him more desperately, and his name was a minute vibration of breath, escaping her in a trembling rush brimming with forgotten need. As his tongue traced the elegant bow of her lower lip, she quivered, indescribable heat rushing through her. A fine gleam of sweat dotted her brow, and her womanhood ached.

“Meghan…” He began.

He halted and the rest of his thoughts vanished. Issuing a ragged breath, Amado turned, and mutely accepted her touch.

Her heavily dilated eyes flew wide as the tip of his tongue traced her sensitive palm. The heat increased, combined with an agonizing ache wanting satisfaction, every throbbing nerve craving more of his subtle contact. Her pulse thundered and she couldn’t form a coherent thought, bewildered by his touch. The hand she held pressed against the smooth leather of his jacket moved convulsively, clutching at his shoulder before moving upwards, and stroking his hair. Her fingers tingled, relishing the feel of each thick strand, before sinking deep.

Leisurely, his mouth settled on the exposed pulse on her neck. Meghan shuddered, rising weakly out of her seat, stars exploding behind the lenses of her damaged vision. She twisted her head to the side, allowing him far easier access to the beating vein declaring her excitement. Uncertain where to place her hands, she clutched at his shoulders, ignoring the clatter of her cane as it dropped to the ground. She drew him nearer without uttering a word, and her breath escaped in a euphoric flutter as the burning warmth of his tongue flicked the sensitive shell of her ear.

Amado groaned hungrily, his eyes darkening as he moved his mouth from her neck. Struggling with the demon lurking inside him, he breathed in, and then exhaled a shuddering gasp. Meghan’s fingers remained twined in his hair and he detected her faint moan of displeasure.

“You drive me to madness.” He managed huskily before his lips brushed over her mouth. Amado moaned hungrily, unable to control his better senses. An unfulfilled hunger caused him to gnash his teeth together before drawing away from her enchantment.

“Amado, you shouldn’t….” Meghan protested weakly, powerless of fully understand the feelings wracking her.

“You’re magic to me.” He groaned his admission heavily. “I look at you, and I see the appeal of my youth. I touch you, and I’m lost in your spell.”

Her mouth thirstily parted beneath his, savoring the tempting warmth he so willingly presented. He tasted of rich chocolate, she realized, his undeniably masculine aroma flooding her bedazzled senses. Her legs trembled as he ravenously consumed the silken petals, the firm pressure of his hand pressed against her cheek. Almost savagely, her name nothing more than a low sound, he deepened the kiss until she became a breathless and pulsating mass of aching womanhood.

Amado pulled back, and waited for her disappointed moan. Even though she spoke of not wanting him in her life, her body whispered otherwise. She needed him, and he understood her surrender was within reach. A stifled laugh escaped him as he deliberately captured her parted lips again and hauled her from her seated position, enveloping her delicate mortal form into his arms.

Immediately, she strained against him, savoring his taste. Meghan quivered with long forgotten zeal. Bit by bit, his gloved hand traveled with luxuriating deliberateness through the silken length of her golden tresses, pulling her mouth closer to his as the heated kiss grew. She felt herself losing her reason as she became lost in the wonder of his caress. Her arms encircled his neck as the pressure of his lips increased, and Meghan felt as if the very breath were being stolen from her body. Lost in his embrace, she wanted more, and returned each impassioned kiss with one of her own.

“Let me into your world,
mi bella
.” The heat of his throaty words sent tantalizing shivers across her skin. His mouth brushed her lips, teasing her with unspoken promise, filling her with hunger. “Free me from my darkness…”

“Amado,” she mouthed hotly, unaware the name spilled from her. Desire rippled throughout every nerve, and lust sent stabbing jolts of agony into the depths of her womb. Her legs trembled and her hands fluttered as she pressed her mouth to his with surprising eagerness.

“Are you finished with her yet, Gianni, or do you wish to continue making a spectacle of yourself to all of Bentham?”

Declan’s sarcastic comment sent an unexplained chill over Amado’s flesh. Reluctantly, he pulled himself from Meghan’s arms and turned. A low growl escaped as he glowered defiantly into the face that had tormented him for nearly a century. The urge to rip at Balthazar’s smug expression filled him, and the hastily shadowed hue of his eyes revealed his fury.

“Be cautious, my child of the night,” Declan soothed in a voice tinged with a hint of violence. “You don’t want me to regret harming you.”

Words caught in Amado’s throat and he couldn’t speak. Resentment raged inside him and his temper blurred his senses as he looked at the fiend.

In the distance, he heard Meghan’s cane tapping on the sidewalk as she hurried away.

Chapter Eleven

A hundred voices surrounded her, the pitch a jumbled puzzled as they echoed from the marble floor and the cathedral high ceilings of the luxurious Grand Illusion Hotel. Meghan couldn’t control the tightening of her shoulders as Chesca removed her jacket and hand it to the coat check girl.

“Relax, Meg.” She whispered close to her ear. “You’d think you really didn’t want to come here.”

“You twisted my arm, Chesca.” Meghan reminded from the corner of her mouth.

“Who the hell are you kidding?” Chesca retorted cheerfully as they linked arms. “You always wanted to go to one of these things, being the fan you are.”

“You forget to remember it’s the fan
I was
.”

“Whatever.”

Chesca shrugged and, for a moment, she heard the underlying tone of disgust coloring her friend’s retort. Meghan admitted she’d always wanted to attend the festivities gracing the Grand Illusion every fall, when time slipped back to simpler era, where a man’s was as good as a lawyer’s signature, and when the Golden Era of Films reigned supreme.

Kevin never had been one to share her love for the films, and laughed at her. Wincing, she recalled his fatalistic words, as clear as if spoken this morning.

“…
you like those damn boring events, Meg? You like those fucking nerd conventions, where all you morons look more like the disgusting idiots you really are? I’ll be damned if I’m wasting my time or money on something so fucking stupid….”

Meghan winced again. She stopped where she stood, and shook Kevin’s angered face from her thoughts. She realized Chesca turned to look at her, her expression markedly patient, but she didn’t have to tell her of the invading thoughts. Kevin’s vicious spirit would always shadow her, whispering and ruthlessly butchering whatever joy she felt.

Chesca knew how Kevin’s memory bothered her. Even after half a decade, his image often prevent Meghan from doing what she loved most, the remembered fear of his rage lingered. She didn’t know if she’d ever be able to shake the underlying terror he instilled in her after years of abuse, but realized she had to stop living in the past.

As she finished chastising herself, a different memory erased Kevin’s terror with one broad stroke. The remembered feel of warm lips caressing her mouth banished her ex-husband’s twisted visage to a forgotten world and her body tingled with startling life. She lifted trembling fingers and ran the delicate pads over her lower lip, recalling Amado’s lips pressed against hers, and sighed.

Amado’s taste, the scent of his skin, lingered in her finely tuned thoughts. He tormented her in ways Kevin never could. The faceless man filled her imaginings, the warm whisper of his breath an echo in the wind, teasing her with everything she believed unnecessary. The shell around her heart suffered a severe crack with his kiss, and she found she wanted more. In fact, she wanted him in her life.

Meghan stifled a smile and her cheeks brightened beneath opalescent powder. Chesca laughed and pulled her close, enveloping her in an embrace that nearly strangled the breath from her. Pulling back, she ran a warm hand over her upturned cheek.