Having made her point, Victoria savagely bit into his neck. There was nothing slow and gentle about it, as she’d done to Aden. She dug her fangs deep, hitting tendon. The man’s body jerked, his muscles spasmed. She was careful not to allow any of her saliva to seep into his vein, which would have made the experience better for him. It would have drugged him, as Aden had felt drugged.
The metallic smell of blood saturated the air, and Aden breathed it in deeply, exactly as Victoria was doing. She loved it, her hunger luxuriating in it, and he found that through her senses, he loved it too. His mouth was watering, his throat swelling with need.
Why can’t I change their natures? Why can I only play with their memories? What good do I do? On and on she drank, until the man’s legs buckled. That’s when the direction of her thoughts changed. Thank God Aden isn’t here. I’m an animal, an animal with blood all over her face.
Her teeth pulled free, and she released him. He fell to the pavement, his head knocking against the Dumpster in front of him.
Victoria bent and cupped his chin in her hands. His eyes were closed, his breathing shallow, choppy. Blood dripped from two puncture wounds in his neck.
“You will not remember me or what I did and said to you. You will remember only the fear you felt at my words.” And maybe, just maybe, that fear would actually spur him to change his ways. Maybe not. Either way, she’d done all she could. Except kill him, and that she was forbidden to do.
One did not go against her father’s laws. The first time she’d accidentally killed, she’d been warned. The next and final time—for she’d learned her lesson well—she’d been flogged with a whip laced with je la nune, the substance in her ring.
She opened that ring now, dipped a finger inside and pressed her nail against her fingertip. Instantly her skin sizzled open, creating a pinprick wound. The burn…it rushed through every part of her, blistering, leaving her gasping and out of breath.
Aden cried out, feeling it himself.
Twice she’d done that for him, first to show him that she could and then to feed him her blood, yet she’d never betrayed the brutality of her pain. Because she hadn’t wanted him to feel guilty, he realized. Not when she already felt so undeserving of him.
He shook his head in wonder.
Not wanting to put her mouth on the man again and lick him to health, she placed a drop of her blood on each of the punctures. Flesh began to weave back together, pink and healthy as it closed the wounds, leaving no trace of injury. She stood, hunger assuaged, body strong—fury renewed. She hated relying on the depraved for her survival, but preferred them to the innocent and purposely sought them out.
Never again, Aden thought. He would make himself and his blood readily available to her. She would drink from no one but him. He would hide the wounds so that no one saw them or she would heal them. But either way, she wasn’t hurting herself like that again.
“Better?” a deep voice asked from behind her.
Slowly she spun. Her gaze lifted and Dmitri came into view. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his massive chest. At least six-foot-four, he towered over Victoria. Blond hair was smoothed back from his perfect face. His pale skin seemed to glow. But Aden knew all that beauty hid a monster.
She wiped her face with the back of her wrist and nodded. “You need to return to the house,” she said, giving the falling moon a pointed glance. “You have a long run and morning is fast approaching.”
Lips cocked in a fond smile, he straightened and closed the distance between them. He reached out and wiped a smear of blood from her chin. She turned her head, dislodging his touch, and his smile flipped into a frown. “From now on, you’re supposed to go where I go. That means you return home with me.”
Control your anger. Do not challenge him. She smiled sweetly. “Every time you force my hand, I only hate you more.”
His eyes narrowed. “Resisting me is pointless, princess.”
“Actually, it’s not. Anything that keeps you away from me serves a very important purpose.”
A red glow seeped into the darkness of his eyes. “This is about the boy, isn’t it?”
She raised her chin to hide her tremor of fear. “This is about you and the fact that I want nothing to do with you.”
Faster than the eye—even her eye—could see, he leaned down, placing them nose to nose. “I am everything you need. Strong, capable.”
“You are just like my father,” she countered, refusing to back down. “You see others’ spirit as an insult to your prowess. You rule with an iron fist, you punish indiscriminately.”
He waved a dismissing hand. “Without order, there would be chaos.”
“And what’s wrong with that?”
“Is that what the boy offers you? Chaos? I am not as stupid as you must think. I know you want him.” He wrapped his hands around her forearms and shook her. “You will not be returning to that mortal school, princess. I forbid it.”
Control, control, control. “That is not for you to decide.”
“It should be.” He gave her one final shake, then released her, doing his best to appear unaffected. “One day, it will be.”
“But for now, it isn’t.” She couldn’t stop her smile. Putting the bane of her existence in his place was like finding a chalice that never ran out of blood. “You are still answerable to my father.”
He bared his sharp teeth in a scowl. His fangs were so long they cut into his bottom lip. “That will not always be the case.”
“That sounds like a threat. You know the penalty for that, yes? Even for you, a prince in your own right.”
Dmitri stared down at her for a long while. Finally, he said, “Go. Have your fun. Enjoy your chaos. It will end soon whether you want it to or not.”
Victoria remained in place as he stalked away, breathing in the night to calm herself. Finally, when he disappeared, she leapt into motion, racing, the wind in her hair, free to be herself, to enjoy. Buildings whizzed past her, then trees. On and on she traveled, worries falling away from her as the leaves fell from their branches. The scents of the night drifted to Aden’s nose, dew and dirt and animal.
Only when the D and M came into view did she slow. There, up ahead, was his window. Open for her. Two heartbeats were beyond it. She recognized both: Aden’s, a little faster than normal, and Shannon’s, slow and steady. One was lost in a vision, she would bet, the other sleeping peacefully.
Almost there…She glided past the glass.
Warm hands banded around Aden’s shoulders and shook him. He blinked open his eyes, surprised and disappointed to find the bedroom coming into focus. Even though he should be relieved his blindness had ended, he wasn’t ready to leave Victoria’s head. He marveled anew at her strength. She had lived through that, had stood toe to toe with Dmitri and hadn’t backed down.
Aden had wanted to leap between them, throw the vampire male to the ground and cart Victoria away.
“Aden,” she whispered.
Like the first time he’d seen her, she hovered over him, hair cascading around his face and enclosing them in a dark curtain. Unable to stop himself, he reached up and traced a finger over her cheek. She closed her eyes, black lashes casting shadows over her cheeks.
“Shannon is—”
“Sleeping,” she told him.
Yes, he’d known that. Because of Victoria, he’d even sensed his friend’s heartbeat for a moment. “Thank you. For everything.”
She regarded him, unsure, but she didn’t pull from his touch. “What did you see?”
He didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “You, feeding. You and Dmitri talking.”
“Everything, then.” She sighed. “You’re probably wondering how that’s possible.”
He nodded.
“Once a vampire ingests human blood, it enters our system and…transforms, I guess is the word. It becomes alive with all that we are. Our thoughts, our emotions, our very essence. The small portion I gave you healed your injuries, but it also linked you to my mind.”