บท 4: Mine

Nick

Dusk bled across the sky, shadows stretching as the light relinquished its hold. The fairy lights overhead winked on one by one as darkness descended over the sleepy neighborhood. Being a Monday, it was my day off. The streets were hushed, the bar's patio quiet save for the low melody I idly plucked from my guitar.

Suddenly, a prickle of awareness made the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. I went very still, senses alert. And then she appeared, turning the far corner with predatory grace. Our gazes collided and locked. I read the mirrored recognition in those hypnotic emerald depths.

Celeste. Her name whispered through my thoughts as I drank in the sight of her. Full crimson lips curved in a lazy, knowing smile. Her red hair darkened like blood in the gloaming and tumbled over one bare shoulder, skimming the thin straps of her dress. She moved like liquid night toward me, confident and contained. Yet underneath that poise, I sensed a wellspring of danger. Danger that somehow called to my own darkness I thought I had well in check.

"Fancy seeing you here," she purred, sauntering closer, full hips swaying.

Unable to control myself, I raked my gaze appreciatively over her figure. She was just as alluring as I remembered from that night in the bar. I'd seen her multiple times and what I had thought was exquisite detail in my fantasies since that night but none of them held a candle to the reality of her in front of me.

I leaned back in my chair and took up my guitar again, striving for an air of indifference. Trying not to reveal the squeezing of the once dead organ in my chest. "I could say the same for you, beautiful. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

She perched on the wrought iron patio railing, leaning in so closely I could breathe in her intoxicating scent. "I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd take a chance you might be here and free for some … company."

My mouth went dry at her suggestive tone, the waves of her hair winking like molten lava in the twinkling lights that surrounded the space. I could feel the steady pulse of her heartbeat beckoning me from the slender column of her throat. The curve of her neck was exposed and vulnerable to my hungry eyes, and I felt a shot of pure carnal hunger shoot through me. My teeth tingled in my gums; my fangs wanting desperately to taste her as they lengthened in my mouth.

As her fingers toyed with a strand of my hair, sizzling arousal flashed down my spine, making my cock stiffen immediately and press against the constraining denim of my jeans. I fought down an inhuman growl as I adjusted my guitar to try to mask the desire which warred with the need to flee her caress and the feelings she was conjuring deep within me.

My voice was barely more than a husky drawl as I rose and headed for the back door of the bar. I could only hope my feigned nonchalance didn't sound as false as it felt. Heat had suddenly engulfed my normally chilled body. The feeling was unfamiliar.

"Just about to relax and enjoy my day off," I threw over my shoulder, forcing myself to take a few steadying breaths before I continued, "but I'd never turn down the company of such a beautiful lady. Care to join me for a drink inside?"

"Don't mind if I do. Maybe we could get to know each other a little better." Something flashed in her eyes I didn't quite understand before it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. The finely honed sense of preservation that had kept me out of the Queen's reach over the last few years told me that this was a very bad idea, but I pushed the warning down and led Celeste into the dark recesses of the building.

Coming into the main room, I motioned her to a barstool, making my way behind the bar that was as familiar to me as my own face. "What's your poison?"

She slid onto the same stool she had occupied during our previous encounter. Tonight, her fingernails were a deep, emerald green that matched her eyes. They tapped her blood red pout in thought. "How about a Kiss on the Lips?" she purred.

I leaned closer, my newly created pulse escalating. "Dangerous order. I might take that as invitation."

Her throaty laugh held darkness and promise. "Who says it isn't?" She trailed a taunting finger down the line of my jaw.

My hands fisted, body tensing against the urge to vault the counter and pin her in place. Take and taste until we were both drunk on the passion swirling around us. But I held still, playing her provocative game while still trying to maintain my control.

"You're playing with fire," I warned softly.

Wicked delight flared in her eyes. "Perhaps I want to be burned."

My nostrils flared as the unmistakable smell of her arousal reached me. I swallowed thickly then cleared my throat, dragging my attention to my task.

I pulled out the champagne and juice and mixed her drink quickly. The glass flute caught the dim light as I slid it to her, the splash of cranberry inside swirling like a sweet drop of blood. From across the table, I tracked its journey to the soft swell of her lower lip, haunting thirst uncoiling inside me.

As she tipped the crystal rim back, throat rippling, I strained against my baser instincts, desperate to put my mouth to that vulnerable pulse now drumming out a siren's call only I could hear. To sink my fangs deep into the slender column exposed so temptingly before me.

As she swallowed, my eyes were laser-focused on her pale throat and the pulse that quickened there. Blood and desire warred within me, every ounce of my self-preservation being tested. I would not give into the ferocious need clawing up my insides. I could not, but the thought of tasting her was a darkly exquisite torture.

I dragged my gaze upward through sheer force of will, pouring myself a shot of McCallan. The alcohol did little more than wet my tongue, my vampire metabolism rendering its effects useless. The motion of the glass to my lips, however, granted me a moment's distraction from the urges simply being in her presence was causing.

Being this close to her made the predator in me roar to life, rattling its cage, demanding to be let out to claim her. My baser half craved to draw her exquisite body flush to mine, to sample and conquer.

Mine!

I downed another swallow of worthless liquor, the burn meaningless against the inferno raging inside me. What kind of dark power was this woman working on me? Never before had my vampire instincts roared so strongly, howling for me to take and possess the being in front of me.

Not even in my darkest hours, when I had first left Queen Oralia's court and the bloodthirst drove me to the brink of madness, had I experienced such all-consuming hunger. This blinding, visceral need to claim her wholly, in every way possible.

If Leo was right, she was Fae. Our peoples' enemies, adversaries. Her hatred for my kind had always burned bright as the summer sun. I knew well the danger her kind posed, but still I was drawn to her.

Her long, lithe fingers were creeping across the bar to my hand when the door we had entered from the patio banged open, two imposing figures coming into view. My head shot up, and my shoulders tensed. At the same moment, Celeste went rigid, confirming she recognized the threat too.

Hunters.

They were dressed head to toe in black combat gear, all leather, metal, and heavy boots. An array of weaponry glinted at their waists and across their backs—stakes, vials of holy water, knives, and crossbows. Their faces were hardened, coldly determined eyes that searched relentlessly for any hidden threats. These were seasoned hunters, lethal and intent on their prey. And that prey was me.