That voice ... so loud now ... They see.
He doubled over as the pain sliced right through him.
“Hey, wait ... are you okay?”
A woman’s voice. High. Worried.
Footsteps raced toward him. He opened his eyes and saw small feet. White sandals. Tanned legs.
“You sick?” The owner of those legs asked. “Want me to call someone for you?”
He glanced up, slowly, and looked straight into her dark eyes.
She can see you. The voice taunted.
Those eyes of hers widened, and he smiled. Then he lunged for her.
The bitch ran, screaming, as she jumped away from him. But he had his knife out and he was gonna make sure that she didn’t see him again. That she didn’t see anything.
Then the voice would stop.
Can’t see now.
He grabbed her hair and shoved her down.
“Hey, demon ...”
Elijah’s gaze whipped up in time to see a board come swinging at his face. He tried to stumble back, but the wood slammed right into his head.
Then he didn’t see anything at all.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Keenan and Nicole made it to New Orleans a few hours after dawn. Nicole hadn’t slept during the drive. She’d been too scared to let down her guard for sleep.
After all, it wasn’t every day that an angel said you were marked for death.
And she’d heard him. His dark, deep voice had filled her ears as he’d asked Keenan to kill her.
Her eyes squeezed shut. If Keenan killed her, he’d rise. Okay, she figured that meant he’d get a free ride back up to the clouds.
But what happened to her? After what she’d done over the last few months, there’d be no comfy cloud ride waiting on her.
I don’t want to die.
“I can’t go back to the Quarter,” she told him as she felt her nails bite into her palms. “I can’t go back to my place.” The cops might be watching.
“You don’t have a place there anymore.”
That had her eyes opening.
The vehicle slowed. “Someone else lives in your apartment. He took it over about a month ago.”
Right. Of course. She cleared her throat. “Then where are we going?” He’d been adamant that they travel back to New Orleans, but New Orleans was not the place she wanted to see again. Too much pain waited in the city.
“I’ve got a place just outside of town.”
Keenan had a place? How did he even have money?
He glanced toward her and his lips kicked up a bit. He must have read the thoughts on her face. “You keep forgetting, sweet ... I know just about every secret the humans and the Other have. I know where all the bodies are buried.”
Yes, she bet he did.
“And I had some Other who owed me. The house was payment.”
“Payment for what, exactly?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Probably not.
Her heart squeezed as they drove past the city she’d loved so much. They rode in a different car now, a nondescript Ford. They’d switched vehicles just outside of Texas, the better to keep the vampire-killing cops off their backs.
Soon the streets thinned. Oak trees and moss swept past her.
Then ...
“Here we are,” Keenan said quietly as he pulled to a stop.
She gazed out the window and saw an old antebellum. The place had been fixed up, but it wasn’t one of the too-fancy, too-rich houses she’d seen before. This house was half-hidden by the trees, yet standing strong against the swamp.
Waiting.
“Will we be safe here?” Nicole asked as she climbed out of the car.
He didn’t answer.
She guessed that was a no. The sun beat down on her as she walked toward the house, and she felt its pull on her strength.
Keenan opened the doors and the smell of the house hit her. Not the closed-in, old smell that some places could get when they were left alone too long. Instead, the scent was light, soft, welcoming.
The furniture was sparse, but after six months of cheap motels, who was she to complain? The place looked like the Ritz to her.
“You should sleep.” Keenan’s deep voice rumbled from behind her. He locked the door. “Go get some rest. Get your strength back.”
Her hand curved around the banister. Her palm was sweating. “What did the angel mean about trading one soul for another?” She hadn’t asked her questions during the car ride. Hell, for most of that ride, she’d just been numb with fear. Ten days left to live.
She’d been on a countdown before, and she’d never wanted to be on one again.
Ten days.
A deep furrow appeared between Keenan’s brows. “You heard that part?”
“I heard every part.” Including the part where he asked you to kill me.
He shook his head. “You shouldn’t have. Most folks can’t ever see or hear angels, all they can do is just catch their scents every now and then.”
Flowers.
Goose bumps rose on her arms. Six months ago, she’d caught that sweet scent a few times in her classroom and in her home. The scent—she realized now it had been Keenan. Watching.
But they’d get to that soon enough. First ... “You didn’t answer me, Keenan.” She’d noticed he was very good at avoiding answers to her questions.
The furrow smoothed away. “Instead of you dying that night, the vampire died.”
“You went against orders.” Now she could think past the rage and pain that had consumed her at the motel.
He gave a slight inclination of his head.
Nicole swiped her tongue over her lower lip. “The vamp was supposed to walk away, but he was the one who bit the dust.” Help me. She hadn’t realized it but ... he had.
In the only way he could.
Keenan stared back at her.
“Thank you,” she told him softly.
Now he blinked. “Nicole ...”
“This whole thing—it’s a little much for me, okay?” She let go of the banister and faced him. “I mean, you’re an angel. I’ve heard stories about angels all my life, but—” Her laugh sounded broken even to her ears, “I never thought I’d actually meet one.”
“Most people don’t think they’ll ever meet vampires, either.”
Right.
“You killed him ...” Her focus centered totally on Keenan. “You killed that vampire so I’d live.”
“Yes.”
She stalked toward him and pressed her hands on his chest. “Thank you for saving me.” He hadn’t just stood by. No matter what he’d said—she was alive because of him.
But he pulled away. “I didn’t save you.”
She was there, breathing, fighting bloodlust, because he had.
“The angels are coming after you. Azrael—Az, he’s coming. Nothing will stop him.”
Don’t think about that. Don’t. “Then let him come.” Don’t think about what happens after death. “Right now, I don’t care about him or what might happen in ten days.”
You’re lying.” His head cocked. “Humans lie so much, and usually so easily.”
She stepped forward and closed that distance again. “I’m alive right now. I might not be alive much longer, but I’m alive now.” Alive and with one of the sexiest men—the sexiest—she’d ever met.
He’d saved her. Suffered for her.
Protected her.
Definitely the sexiest.
She stretched up onto her toes and let her mouth hover near his. “Thank you.” She breathed the words against his lips and then her mouth pressed against his. A hot, openmouthed kiss. When his tongue touched hers, a lick of lust shot straight through her body.
But the fierce burn was so good.
His hands clamped around her arms, and he pushed her back.
What? Back?
“I won’t stop this time.” The words were a dark promise.
Oh, nice. She licked her lips and tas
ted him. Rich, like chocolate. Except better. So much better. “I don’t want you to.” But he needed to be warned. “Sex with me ...” Be careful. “It won’t be like with other women.”
His mouth claimed hers. His tongue drove deep, and she moaned. Her nipples tightened. Her legs shifted as she fought to widen her stance and feel him.
Just when she was getting desperate, his mouth lifted. “I don’t care about other women.”
Very good to know. “It’s just that vampires ...” She swallowed and still tasted him. “For us, sex and bloodlust ... it’s not like when you—”
“I haven’t been with another woman.”
Now that stopped her. “What?” Not like she’d had oodles of experience. A few lovers, sure, but ... none? And he wanted to start with her?
“Humans and most of the Other can’t even see us.” His lips quirked. “So sex isn’t a big option.”
But... “You’ve never—”
“I didn’t want to. Angels don’t feel emotions—no human needs.”
Like love. Lust.
But he’d lost his wings, and right then, she could sure feel his arousal pressing against her. “I don’t want to hurt you.” She’d try to hold on to her control. The sun was up, so she’d be weaker, but ...
“You won’t.” His lips skimmed her jaw. “You can’t.”
But he didn’t understand what it was like when a vampire’s bloodlust combined with the physical desire. Control could be so very thin. She’d learned that lesson the hard way with Connor.
“I think I wanted you,” Keenan told her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up against him, “since the first moment I saw you.” His lips pressed against her neck.
Her fingers dug into his hair. Such thick, soft hair. “I’m not the same woman I was then.”
His tongue licked over her skin. She shivered. “You’re the woman I want.”
She’d try to stay in control, for him. Try to keep the bloodlust back and enjoy the pleasure.
Just a man and a woman. She could do that.
His first time.
She didn’t want to screw this up.
His warm hands slipped under her shirt. Inch by inch, they eased up her stomach, rising until they rested just under her bra. “You’ll have to tell me ...” His teeth grazed her throat. “What you like.”
Her breath rasped in her throat. “You’re, ah ... doing pretty good.”
But he eased away from her. “I can do better.”
Then he lifted her into his arms and carried her through the house. Not up the stairs, but down the twisting hallway. Sunlight rained through the windows, chasing out the shadows. He took her inside the last room on the right. A bedroom. No dresser. No chest. Just a bed.
He laid her down, then pulled away, his gaze watching her as he began to strip.
Oh, yes. His shirt hit the floor and she had one awesome view of his chest. Muscled. So very muscled. Way more than a six-pack on her angel. Sun-kissed skin. Flesh that was so delectable she wanted to bite.
Then he dropped his jeans.
Her sex clenched.
Keenan’s body was perfect. Absolutely perfect. And she wanted to touch every inch of him. Taste every inch.
His cock, full, thick, and long, stretched toward her and she rose up, reaching for him.
“No, sweet, I want to—”
Her fingers curled around him and he stopped talking. “Let me,” she said because it was important that this be good for him.
She bent forward and nipped the hard plane of his stomach. Couldn’t help that. Sometimes a girl needed a bite, but she didn’t break the skin.
She licked the small wound, and her hair fell forward, sliding against his body. He hissed out a breath and his hands locked around her shoulders—not to push her away but to bring her closer.
“You sure?” He gritted. “Am I ... what you want?”
Her answer was to dip down and run her tongue over the top of his cock.
His fingers dug into her skin.
She opened her mouth wider, and being very, very careful with her teeth, she began to suck him. The flesh was warm beneath her tongue, the skin soft, but arousal had his cock taut and hard. Her tongue licked over the head of his erection, and she tasted the salty tang that coated him.
“Nicole.” No mistaking the raw hunger in that voice.
But she wasn’t done with him. Not yet.
Death was coming too close to her. Right then, she wanted to grab life.
And taste it.
So she used her mouth and her tongue, and she caressed his flesh. Nicole took him in deeper as she sucked him, and she enjoyed the rough hunger in his voice and the hard grasp of his hands on her.
But too soon, he pulled away and held her back with a steely grip. “This time, I’ll be inside you.”
That was where she wanted him.
Keeping her eyes on his, she rose onto her knees. Nicole yanked off her shirt and tossed it to the floor. Her bra followed seconds later. Her breasts pointed toward him, the peaks tight and aching.
She wanted his mouth on her.
Wanted him, in her.
He moved quickly, coming down on the bed in a rush and caging her with his body. His legs pushed between hers. His mouth took her breast.
When Nicole felt the edge of his teeth on her nipple, her panties got even wetter. She arched up against him, hating the jeans and the thin cotton that kept her from him. Her nails raked down his back as she pushed closer to him.
His fingers fumbled with her jeans, then he jerked the clasp open. He shoved down the rough fabric, and she helped him, lifting her hips, kicking off her boots, and when the jeans hit the floor, her panties were with them.
Yes.
Flesh to flesh now. His mouth was on her. Licking. Kissing. Stroking her and making her crazy.
Her fangs were burning as they stretched in her mouth. Even in the daytime, she wouldn’t be able to hold the instincts and the changes back. Sex brought out the bloodlust too much.
Bite.
His fingers were at her sex—parting the folds and finding the center of her need. He stroked her and the sensual touch had her shaking beneath him. “Keenan ... more.” She wouldn’t be able to wait. She needed the pleasure now. Just as much as she needed air. Blood.
Him.
“You’re hot and wet.” His voice surrounded her, and the rough need she heard in his words had a dark thrill racing through her body. “I’ve thought about you ...” The tip of his erection pressed against her, lodging at the entrance to her sex. “Dreamed about you, so many nights ...”
The admission had her eyes widening. “You—”
His hands caught hers. He pushed them back on the mattress, holding them with ease. “Then I’d wake, and you weren’t there.”
His eyes looked as black as hers. Because they were. The blue was gone. Only darkness remained.
He drove into her then, a long, plunging thrust that stole her breath. “You won’t leave me ... again.”
Nicole locked her legs around him. She wasn’t planning on going anywhere.
He pulled back, thrust, slamming balls-deep inside her, and they both gasped.
Pleasure ripped through her in a white-hot wave. Pulsing, cresting ... The bed groaned beneath them as their movements became harder, wilder.
She licked her lips—want more.
He thrust deep.
Her sex clamped greedily around him. Her body was stretching, yearning. The tension built inside of her, and the promised release waited just beyond her grasp.
As he thrust, his head tilted back and his throat—his throat was right at her mouth. Her lips pressed against him as she tasted Keenan’s skin. The pulse beat so fast beneath his flesh.
Thrust.
Her heels dug into his back as she pushed up to meet him, thrust for thrust.
Her teeth scraped against his neck. Control. She didn’t have much control left. She wanted his blood, wanted his body, wanted ever
ything he had.
Her mouth opened wider. Her teeth scraped harder.
“Do it.” His order. “Nicole ...” His hips flexed as he plunged into her. When he withdrew, his cock glided right over her clit. Glided—
Thrust.
She bit him when she came. Her teeth plunged into his neck even as his cock drove into her. The tension exploded in a firestorm—pleasure, hunger, need, blood.
Her body shook, every muscle trembling, and she drank from him as her sex contracted around his cock.
He kept thrusting. Keenan surged inside her, filling every inch of her sex. “Yes ... good ... so ...” His voice rumbled around her, then he stiffened, his muscles locking, and the hot tide of his release filled her.
She licked his throat and caught the drop of blood that slipped down his neck. Her hands were free—when had that happened?—and she wrapped her arms around him.
His body shuddered against her as his hips pushed forward. Keenan’s head lifted. He stared down at her with glittering eyes.
I didn’t mean to bite. I tried to hold back.
But sometimes, there was just no fighting what you were.
She stared up at him, and, for an instant, the light seemed to dim around him. Dark shadows spread behind him, stretching out, up. Strong, thick shadows of black that curved from his back.
Like wings.
Fear whispered through her even as she pulled him closer. Her hands slid down his back, over the rough ridge of scars where wings had once been.
No more.
Because she didn’t see those shadows anymore. They must have just been a trick of the light.
You will die within ten days. The only question is ... by whose touch? The angel’s voice pushed into her mind.
By whose touch ...
Keenan’s strong hands were on her. Stroking. Caressing.
It only took one touch to kill.
And it only took one touch to bring pleasure. This time, Keenan had brought pleasure.
But what about next time?
She closed her eyes and pressed closer to him.
Carlos Guerro stared at the demon before him. The bastard had tried to kill his cousin. He was so tired of the supernaturals thinking they could destroy his kind.