Page 41 of Cloak of the Vampire
My words echoed in the empty corridor, followed by a loaded silence. His eyes didn’t leave mine, yet I couldn’t read him.
When he finally spoke, his voice was deep and low, and it felt like he was inching closer. “What would you do if I told you there was no reason?”
My spine stiffened as I blurted, “I’d kill you.”
Before I could so much as blink, Ragnor grabbed my wrist and suddenly pulled me into an empty storage room smelling faintly of bleach. He then had me pinned in the tiny space against the shut door, his hand around my neck, his eyes glowing neon blue. “You really think you can kill me?” he growled, and I ignored how his voice made my belly drop and my skin tighten.“You?”
His pinning me to the door sent me over the edge. “Fuck you,” I growled in return.
The grip on my throat hardened, and his forehead pressed against mine, his eyes burning with cold fury. “It’s time for you to know your place, Henderson,” he grated out before taking his hand off my throat and moving it to my hair, grabbing it, pulling it down, and tilting my head back.
I gasped, but before I could say anything, his mouth was suddenly on the skin of my neck, near my shoulder, his unsheathed fangs tracing it, softly almost.
Nothing prepared me for the moment when he applied pressure and his fangs tore through my skin, causing me to cry out as pain flared at the spot.
It wasn’t what those movies made it out to be. It was like flames flickered to life from the bite, spreading through my veins, causing fire to erupt under my skin. But as he sucked in my blood and his tongue brushed against my skin, the pain slowly transformed into something far more frightening. Something that made me want to both push him away ... and pull him even closer.
And when his thigh parted my legs, the hard bulge of his cock nestled against my crotch, and his free hand grabbed my waist, I suddenly realized it wasn’t just me. He felt it too.
The absolute madness that blazed between us.
With my body on fire, a moan escaped my mouth when Ragnor rubbed his jean-clad cock against my clothed entrance. My arms were around his head, pulling him closer as he sucked my blood, and with every brush of his tongue, I felt myself grow wetter and wetter.
All the rage I’d felt transformed into sizzling, liquid heat that turned me temporarily insane. That was the only explanation for why I started moving my waist, rubbing against him, riding him, wishing there were no clothes or barriers between us so that I couldfeelhim.
He abruptly dislodged his teeth and mouth from my neck, and I almost groaned at the loss, but then his tongue licked the wound and went up to my throat, swirling against my beating pulse. From my waist, his hands were slowly moving up under my shirt until they rested on my ribs right under my breasts. I sucked in a breath as my chest grew heavy and my nipples pebbled, his touch sending waves of need down to my throbbing entrance.
I wanted more, so much more that I couldn’t think straight. My hands slid beneath his shirt to his back, and the feel of his glorious, supple muscles made me gasp and shudder. He tensed at my touch but then pushed his cock hungrily against my crotch, causing my gut to tighten and my loins to squeeze. His hands were now tracing the outlines of my breasts, driving me so mad with lust I almost begged for him to tear off my bra and cup them, skin to skin.
And just as unexpectedly as it all began, he pulled away, stepping back to put some distance between us. We were both breathless, sweaty, staring at each other in what felt like apprehensive wonder.
At that moment, I could tell we were both thinking the same thing.What the hell are we doing? Should we be doing this? Will it even be worth it?
Silence stretched between us, and it seemed he reached a decision first.
Wordlessly, he moved past me, opened the door, and left.
CHAPTER 15
RAGNOR RAYNE
Sitting in the musky pub owned by one of his League members, Ragnor kept an eye on those present. He watched a human couple sitting in the corner of the room, murmuring softly to one another. At the other end of the bar from where he was sitting, a trio of human friends celebrated a birthday, rambunctiously asking for beer refills. Behind him, his keen hearing caught the chatter of a few vampires from his League having a night out, shooting the breeze. He recognized those vampires, of course. He knew all 512 vampires in his League not just by name, but by sound and scent too.
He tapped his fingers on the bar, listening to the nearby conversations as he waited.
“You the man, Bill!” one of the human friends said, slapping another’s back.
The woman of the couple in the corner murmured, “Warren will never fit Patricia. He’s too much of a square ...”
Behind him, the vampires Maika and Jason were discussing something a tad bit more interesting. “I’m worried about Logan,” said Maika, the deputy director of Vampire Resources. “He’s been in a foul mood for the past few weeks.”
“Yeah, he’s been a pain in the neck during Troop training.” Jason sighed. “I think it has something to do with him becoming a gym teacher for the CNC—nobody wants to work for these damned noobs, after all.”
“Whatever happened to Samuel?” Maika asked. “He’d been running the CNC gym class for as long as I’ve been a vampire.”
“I tried asking our Lord about him a couple of weeks ago,” Jason murmured in response. “Let’s just say I got majorly stonewalled.”
If they knew he was here, he figured they wouldn’t have been able to relax. Thankfully, one of the perks of being a Sacred meant that he could conceal his presence. It worked so well that even his own vampires didn’t realize he was there.
