Page 21 of Vampire's Choice

“This would be a good time to beg for mercy,” Merc observed. His voice had that heavy rain quality, and the earthy need in Ruth drank it in.

“I’m listening,” Ruth managed. “Whenever you want to start.”

His mouth curved. Not a smile, but a promise of temptation held out of reach until need became a raw and bleeding open wound.

“What did Marcellus tell you right before the fight?” she said, not wanting to think about what was about to happen. Maybe some pain meds wouldn’t be so bad.

“Not to kill you. Just to push you past your threshold, so he could see how you handled that.”

“How do you know where that threshold is, other than seeing me on my ass on the ground?”

His lips pursed. “It’s one of my many gifts.”

“I call it pushing someone’s buttons. You’re pretty damn good at that. What are you?”

“Incubus. Angel. Human. The worst parts of all of them.”

He said it without deprecation, owning it. His face showed her the monster. The meanness. But his hands on her weren’t rough and he handled her carefully, attending to what Charlie was doing. She also noted that when he was feeling something strongly, or concocting some deviltry, the silver streaks around the black blood irises sparked.

As a result, she was partially braced for the renewed shot of sexual desire. A cry broke from her lips, body jerking back. At the same moment, he pulled and twisted the limb.

Ruth hadn’t seen Charlie’s nod, but it was better not to know it was coming.

Merc made it a smooth, easy move, the shoulder clicking back into place. White hot fire surged through her arm and upper body, but the anesthetic effect of the sexual compulsion had balanced it. It was done. Back in place, bringing the relief she’d expected. Also some terrible residual muscle pain, but he was right about that. As a vampire, in a couple hours she wouldn’t feel it at all.

If it had been Adan or her father, that relief would have arrived in fifteen minutes, but she’d take what she could get.

Charlie’s hand remained on her. Ruth noted a flush to her face, a moistness to her lips, that suggested Merc’s act hadn’t entirely contained itself to Ruth. Perhaps it wasn’t something he could help when another woman was this close. But his gaze never left Ruth, absorbing everything, from the pain he’d caused, to the relief he’d offered, and the sexual desire she’d experienced.

Leaning forward, he put his head alongside hers. Not touching her, but his breath stirred her hair. “I can take or give. Your behavior determines which response I choose.”

Having grown up understanding what vampire compulsion could and couldn’t do, she realized her reaction to him wasn’t wholly manufactured. She couldn’t blame it all on the incubus thing.

And that sucked.

She turned her gaze to meet his. His physical proximity gave her no intimacy. Just enough of a taunting hint of it to tempt her onto the field of battle with him again. If he recognized that, then it was calculation, with motives she couldn’t trust.

“Maybe you should be thinking the same about me,” she said.

His arched brow made her want to smooth her fingers over it, feel the hard bone beneath. He drew back, tossing Charlie a look. She responded with a mildly reproving one, though Ruth noted it was brief, as if Charlie had difficulty meeting his gaze—or knew it was unwise. Which gave Ruth a weird spurt of jealousy.

Her mind was obviously scrambled. And not just because of that. The woman was blind. How could she…

“Well done,” the healer said. Ruth wasn’t sure if she meant her exchange with Merc, who was now headed back toward Marcellus, or how she’d handled the shoulder adjustment. “An ice pack will help, until your accelerated healing kicks in.”

Ruth lifted a hand in front of Charlie. A corner of the woman’s mouth twitched with good humor. “I can see. Just not in the traditional ways. I see auras. It gives me as much detail as a person who sees the way you expect. It’s a different language of seeing, if that makes more sense to you. It’s also how I see health and sickness.”

Charlie had brought a cooler with her first aid kit. When she flipped open the top, Ruth saw the ice pack she’d mentioned. “After Yvette confirms the terms of your employment, you can share lunch with the other Circus staff. I’m pretty sure you’ve been hired.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Merc had busted open her lip early in the fight, and her hands had been scraped from stopping her forward progress when he’d tossed her across the sparring area. Minor injuries, which healed with a reasonable approximation of a vampire’s normal regeneration ability.

Which was good, because by the time Charlie offered Ruth a damp towel to clean the blood off her face and hands, Yvette and Marcellus were headed her way. Lady Lyssa and Jacob had already departed.

Charlie had insisted on taping the aforementioned ice pack around her shoulder. It did help as promised, but as she rose from the crate where Charlie had parked her, Ruth wished she had no lingering evidence of injury.

“Will you tell me how I can improve?”

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