Page 24 of Blood Submission

Chapter12

The driveto Seattle took fucking forever. By the time they arrived, Dante wished he’d taken the chance of being seen at the airport and had had Luukas send a jet for him. Even if a human or two had seen him and freaked out, he could’ve just wiped their memories. A crowd would be a little harder, but not impossible.

All right, yeah. He was full of shit. It would have been impossible to handle a crowd in the shape he’d been in that first night. But he was healing faster than he thought possible, and it was still easier than being stuck in this box with a constant hard-on and an insatiable blood lust that he couldn’t satisfy until she managed to get himhome.

They’d had to stop a second night at another out of the way hotel. One look at the double bed—the only size they had—and Dante had locked the woman in the bathroom with a pillow and a blanket. He didn’t even bother to feed first. There was no fucking way he could go through another night of denying himself the use of her body. And the line between feeding and fucking was way too blurry for vampires as it was. If she’d been anywhere near him, he wouldn’t have been able to control his lust in either situation. He’d learned the night before that though he could drink from her whether she wanted him to or not, forcing himself upon her was just something he could not do. It must be an after-effect of his time in the desert.

But she needed some time to recover if he was going to keep her until they got home. So instead, he’d spent the day staring up at the water-stained ceiling, re-living over and over in his head the way she’d come in his arms with such violent abandon when he’d offered his blood to her. He wanted to make her come like that again. And he would, once he got her back to Seattle and into the underground beneath the city where he dwelled. There, she could scream and beg and try to deny him all she wanted. No one would hear her, and no one would be coming to save her. He could do whatever he wanted with her, make her do whatever he wanted to him, before he bled her dry and tossed her body into the Sound with the rest of the humans that had been unfortunate enough to be invited into hishome.

Just imagining her at his mercy in his feeding room made him hard as a rock, but he didn’t touch himself. Didn’t relieve the sweet agony of his erection. Oh, no. He was saving that for her. She was going to relieve that ache forhim.

They entered the city going west on I-90 until they hit I-5, and then he directed Laney north. The tents of the homeless lined the grassy area next to the freeway ramp, the area lit by the distant lights of downtown Seattle. Dante gave his future meals a distracted glance. There was a lot of homeless in this city. It was one of the reasons he was glad Luukas had decided to make it the home of the Vampire Council of the North American territory. There were so many lowlifes wandering around, that when a few disappeared here and there, no one really cared or made much of a fuss about it, if they even noticed atall.

From his place in the back seat, Dante guided Laney through the downtown area to the high-rise apartments that he called home, along with Luukas and the rest of his Hunters. He had her pull into the underground parking garage, the same garage he’d been abducted from weeks before. A group of fucking humans in a black van had squealed to a stop inches from where he’d stood. One had distracted him while another had snuck around and jabbed him in the neck with a needle full of gods-knew-what, effectively knocking him out cold. He’d been out long enough for it to be day when he’d wokenup.

His only consolation was that he’d managed to kill one of them and literally scare the piss out of another one before they’d managed to get him into the plane that he’d later jumped out of. Desert sand was not as soft as it looked when you hit it dropping from the sky with no parachute.

“Where should Ipark?”

Laney’s shaky voice pulled him back into the present. “Go down the ramp as far as you can, then just find a spot anywhere,” he answered.

She followed his directions, driving past another car that had their reverse lights on without stopping. He saw her glance in that direction, though, desperation clearly evident on her face, and was impressed at how much courage it took for her not to stop and endanger the lives within that vehicle.

The farther down they went, the more her hands shook on the wheel, and the more the stench of her fear filled the car. The dog sat up and whined next to him, clearly smelling it, too. Dante rubbed his head and ears, soothing the canine. When they got to the very last level, he pointed to an empty spot near the back elevator. “There.”

Laney pulled the car smoothly into the parking spot and shut off the engine. She didn’t move to get out, in spite of the fact that he’d released his hold from her shoulders. Her heart thundered so loud it echoed in the small space. At least, to hisears.

Ordering the animals to stay, he got out of the car and stretched, enjoying the moment. Tormenting humans this way was one of his greatest pleasures. The fear of what was going to happen was often worse than what actually happened. Not in his case, but usually. Where he was involved, the reality of what he did to his victims was way, way worse.

Dante opened the car door. “Get out.” He spoke quietly, but firmly, so she would know he wasn’t fucking around. The time for games was over. Thirst burned his throat as her scent drifted up to his nose. “Now,” he added.

The woman struggled to take off her seatbelt, and he let her be, enjoying her terror, though not as much as he thought he should be. She finally managed to release the latch and got out of the car, bringing her backpack with her. Before they left the vehicle, he felt the need to warn her one last time. “If you run, I will catch you, little mouse. If you hide, I will find you. If you happen to see another human and you try to get them to help you, they will die a bloody death right in front of you. And you will join them immediately after.”

“And if I do none of those things?” she asked in a whisper.

Dante tracked the tears that were wetting her cheeks, trying to figure out what the fuck that twinge in his chest was. “If you do as I say, and only as I say, I might spare you the pain.” Leaning over, he put his mouth right by her ear. “Dying by vampire bite can be a great fucking way to die. I once made a woman come so many times while I drained her that she didn’t even realize she was dying.”

Her spine stiffened as he straightened again and she looked him right in the eye, in spite of the silent tears running down her cheeks. “Is that supposed to make me feel better about it?” she spitout.

“It’s your choice,” was all he said before he took her by the arm and started leading her toward the elevator.

“What about Fraidy?” she asked in a small voice. “What’s going to happen to him and thedog?”

Reaching the elevator, he pushed the button and glanced around. It was an automatic thing to do, to scan the area for any type of threat that may be nearby. “They’ll be well taken care of,” he said absently. “I’ll keep them upstairs.”

She sniffed, and then, “Aren’t I going upstairs?”

He smiled down at her, letting his fangs fully show and the blood lust shine from his eyes. “No.”

The elevator doors opened, and he pulled her inside. Opening a hidden panel, he punched a button and closed it again. The elevator jerked slightly, and then started descending underneath the city. Dante stood to the left and slightly behind the woman, watching her with a curiosity that he couldn’t seem to contain. He found her uniquely fascinating.

She stood tall as they descended to her death, her shallow breaths and silent tears the only signs that gave away what she was feeling. Her unusual mettle made him want to…he didn’t know what it made him want to do. A few weeks ago he would’ve said “destroy it.” Slowly. Piece by piece. If she were any other woman, he would want to beat her down until she was nothing but a bloody puddle of babbling fear on the stone floor of his feeding room. But the thought of breaking the spirit in this female left him with nothing but a sour taste in his mouth, and muscles tensed to kick the ass of the bastard who dared to harm her. But there was no one here to confront, except his ownself.

The doors opened, and Dante led her out into the Seattle Underground where he made his home. The original city before The Great Seattle Fire destroyed over thirty blocks, it was built primarily of wood and was prone to flooding and sewage backup. So the powers that be had decided to rebuild the city one to two stories higher than the original, leaving a maze of underground alleys and basements to fall into disuse—except by creatures such ashe.

Recently, they’d re-opened some of the underground city as a tourist attraction, but Dante turned left, heading deeper into the hidden city where humans were not allowed. This part of the passageway was lit by small squares of opaque purple glass placed in the ceiling at regular intervals, put there by the original builders to allow some natural light. Pedestrians on the sidewalks above walked over the glass, unable to hear or see what was going on directly below them. When he reached the part of the passage that was blocked off from a cave in, he swooped Laney up into his arms without breaking stride and jumped to the top of the pile of bricks and dirt. Balancing her in one arm, he found the hidden latch and released the boards at the top. They swung out on silent hinges, leaving a space just wide enough to crawl through. Pushing the woman through feet first, he dropped her down to the other side and then followed her through the opening.

She stood where he’d set her down, jumping when he landed beside her, his boots making a thud on the old wooden walkway. Her hand reached through the darkness, searching for him, looking for reassurance. Like he was the one that would save her from the monsters hiding in the dark. It made something clench inside of him. He shook it off. She had no right to seek comfort from him. He was the monster.

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