His hands closed over her arms, the claws stroking the inner part of her arm, the outer curve of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, while a rumbling sigh ruffled her hair. "Do not push, Eli," he growled over her head, his glowing eyes pinning the vampire who had risen and finally covered his ma.s.sive erection.
Roughly, Eli laughed. "I"m aware, Declan, of just how much she is yours. Too f.u.c.king bad," he sighed just as the door swung open. "Will you be needing clothes, Declan?"
Tori glanced down, remembering with some surprise, that Declan"s were in pieces and his pelt was the only thing he wore. He simply growled, "No," while he wrapped one arm around Tori, stroking her head with a hand nearly the size of a dinner plate.
He was still too angry, Tori realized. She decided, rather quickly, she wasn"t too upset by the idea of him being so possessive. Or that he was still in this rather alien form. Interesting didn"t quite begin to describe it, she figured. She wondered what it would be like to have him like this, that silken furred body between her thighs, his larger body nearly dwarfing her.
"Very well. Nina, go out to the yard and find me a volunteer. Tori needs to feed a little before we go out,"
Eli said.
"Feed?" Tori repeated, incredulous.
"Out?" Declan demanded.
"You need to feed fully," Eli said quietly, turning away from the girl who was already darting out the door. He paced closer and when he stopped Tori could have reached out and touched him. "In your youth, it is hard to feed fully without killing. We will take the edge, so to speak, off here. And then find someone deserving of what we can bring."
"You want me to kill somebody?"
"I want you strong enough to resist your sire, the next time he summons you. And I want to see what will come of you," Eli said, catching one fat curl in his hand and rubbing it with his thumb. Then he raised his eyes, dark and golden, to Declan"s. "I want to f.u.c.k her, as well. I cannot deny that, nor would you believe it."
"But whether or not that happens, I will do all that I can to help you protect yours, my brother," Eli said solemnly to the wolf.
"Excuse me, can we get back to me killing? I don"t want to kill."
"Wait until you see who I intend for you to kill before you make that choice,"
Eli advised. "I"ve had plans for him for several weeks now, but I held off, for some reason. He never made the mistake I warned him against, so I"ve been more lenient than I should have been."
"I don"t want to kill-"Tori"s words were m.u.f.fled when two clawed fingers covered her mouth. A shudder raced down her spine when Declan lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered roughly, "Wait until you see, Tori. Then, decide." "A good suggestion." Eli turned as the door opened again, and revealed not one man, but two. "Why am I not surprised?" he mused as they entered, staring at Tori. "Not one snack, but two."
Something inside Tori, something that was still far too human, revolted at the thought of treating a man as a snack. And while neither smelled as appetizing as Declan-and she doubted their blood would leave her belly filling like it was full of liquid gold like Eli"s blood had done-the scent of them, the pounding of their hearts drew her.
"She"s not fed on her own," Eli drawled, flopping bonelessly into his chair. "Who will break her fast?"
The dark haired man with the Polynesian eyes and soft mouth reached her first, baring his throat by yanking his shirt open and tossing his dreadlocks aside. "I would be honored," he whispered, his eyes raking over her pale face with an odd sort of yearning.
"I"d advise you not to expect more than feeding, James.
The wolf guarding her back will tear out your throat before she has a chance to feed. And cold blood is revolting," Eli said.
The heat that had sizzled in his eyes faded and he simply nodded, baring his throat to her, and Tori had the oddest image, of young, strong males, all lined up and baring their necks, while she went around sniffing them like vintage wines. She stifled the giggle, which was part hysteria, as she stepped closer. Casting Declan a nervous look, she trailed a hesitant hand down the throbbing vein in the man"s arched neck.
Then her hand fell away.
"I can"t," she whispered weakly. Near tears, she turned her head away and said louder, "I can"t."
Declan wrapped his arms tighter and forced her closer to the man who still stood, patiently waiting, with his neck arched. Underneath his golden skin, the vein pulsed and throbbed and beckoned, and Tori was half mad with hunger.
"I can"t."
"Then you will die," a voice said softly.
Lifting her eyes, she stared into Eli"s, so close to hers.
He had gotten out of his chair and approached them while she was being squeamish. "He"s a human being, a person. I can"t treat him like food."
"He is offering," he said urgently. "It isn"t wicked, or evil. It"s just necessary. He is offering, and that is a fine gift. And I warn you, if you do not feed, completely, and fully, and soon, your sire will summon you, and you will surrender. Either that, or he will kill you. And I fear that death would be a sweet release compared to what he would do."
"Feed, Torrance McAdams."
That low, ancient, wise voice was starting to whisper in her head again. Tori whimpered against it, against the compelling urge to bite through the lovely golden skin, and feed. She fought against the urge, the hunger. "Only a fool refuses a gift offered freely. Take what is being given."
"The hunger can drive a vampire insane," Declan whispered. His hands- smooth and human-came around her and his voice was his own-soft, low, crooning music in her ear that sounded of Ireland, that made her think of green valleys and staggering rock walls and tumbled circles of stone. He had shifted back to his human form and his naked heat was pressed against her. "It will drive you mad, unless your sire manages to bring you to him first. If it drives you mad, you will fall upon the first person you see like a ravening beast, be it man, woman or child, and you will feed until that fire in your belly is extinguished.
"Will you risk that?" he asked against her ear, holding her tightly when she started to struggle.
She had to get away from that lovely source of blood.
She had to.
"Do you hear, girl?" Declan snarled, whirling her around to face him.
"It will drive you insane and you will go feral, dying slowly inside from the guilt, while you prey night after night after night on innocents, killing them. Will you control this? Or let it control you?"
His face was livid and his eyes were full of rage and helplessness. "Ferals die quickly, Torrance. We cannot allow them to roam the streets. Will you be one of those we have to hunt? Do you know what that will do to me?"
The firelight lit his face, half in shadow, the other half painted a soft gold, his eyes stark and desperate, his hands digging into her arms tightly. He shook her slightly and she broke. Jerking away form him, she grabbed James and dove for his neck.
Instinct took over and her fangs burst from their sheaths and she struck, like a snake on a rabbit, latching on to the man"s neck, her fangs sliding through the golden, warm skin while her mouth latched on, suckling and swallowing. Distantly, she was aware of a hand on her head, of the low, humming moan that vibrated through James" chest and up his throat. She was distantly aware of the erection that was pressed against her belly, distantly aware that the man who fed her was finding pleasure in this.
She was itching.
Deep inside.
And aching. Her hand fell back and she grabbed Declan"s hips while she swallowed more, feeling the hot blood fill her belly, feeling the glorious burst of strength. With a jerk, she pulled Declan forward until his hips cupped her bottom and she could pump her a.s.s against him. Her nipples burned and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s ached. Her womb felt empty.
She wanted to f.u.c.k.
Badly. Badly enough to do it right in front of everybody while she fed. Declan"s scent flooded her mind and she whimpered with need as a picture filled her mind"s eye, her feeding like this, while he shuttled his c.o.c.k in and out of her bottom, while she rode the c.o.c.k t hat was pressed against her belly.
"...enough... "
"...let go..."
"Tori!"
She was pulled away rather roughly and Declan held her pinned against his chest, his c.o.c.k hot as a brand against her blue jean covered rear. Eli had caught James up in his arms, pulling him further back as the man lifted his hand toward her.
"Enough," Eli said softly, taking his man to the couch.
"I want to finish it with her," James said mournfully, staring at her with eyes that were still hot, but heavy with fatigue and blood loss. "Finish it?" Tori whispered in horror as her sanity started to return. "Finish it?"
"He means he wants to have s.e.x," Declan whispered soothingly, stroking her head with his hand. "s.e.x, not death. This is why he does it. A vampire exudes a s.e.xual call while he feeds, it"s like an aphrodisiac and a drug combined." "Finish," James said petulantly, trying to shrug off Eli"s restraining hands.
A low whisper of something slithered through the air, and the hair on Tori"s arms stood up. Power. Magic.
Something. It slithered through the air while Eli caught James" chin in his hand and said, "Enough." His voice was as silent as a whisper, but seemed to boom through the room.
"Enough," he repeated, as James" eyes started to clear and soften, while his lids drifted closed. "Sleep."
And then he rose, eyeing Tori appraisingly. "They aren"t accustomed to feeding without s.e.x, you see," he said softly, lifting his shoulders in a shrug. "Nina let them know you were newly changed. The new ones tend to be brutal, and rough, and unsure how to make it more enjoyable.
This should have not been a pleasant task for him. No s.e.x, a new vamp cutting her teeth, so to speak, on him.
Yet he craves more.
"I wonder how you knew to make it like that," Eli mused, eyeing Declan and Tori. Then he turned his eyes to the other man, a slender towering blond who probably stood taller than Tori by a good two feet. "Are you ready, Caleb?"
The hot pulse of strength seemed to fill her and Tori was almost painfully aware of how much more vivid things had become. Caleb had dropped to his knees to offer his neck and it put him on level with her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, forcing her to bend over a little to get to his neck.
It hadn"t been quite so intense, and she had pulled away on her own, squelching the urge to turn and wrap her legs around Declan"s hips and demand s.e.x right there.
But she wasn"t sure how much longer she could suppress it.
He was covered now, at least.
He had a low slung pair of jeans and a cotton shirt that he had yet to b.u.t.ton, his sculpted chest and belly catching her eye every time he moved. His bare feet padded over the forest floor in silence-next to her-his hand linked with hers as they followed Eli.
They were walking now.
Eli had ushered them into a car after a.s.sisting Caleb, almost lovingly, like a parent, to lie down. Tori had heard his hushed orders to Nina to see them fed, to see that they drank, and that they rested. She had forced herself to approach them, even though she was still embarra.s.sed, so uncomfortable with what she had done. But she had looked Caleb in the eye, James was still sleeping. "Thank you," she said stiffly before turning and stalking away, her arms crossed over her pleasantly full tummy. Shocking though, as they walked through a scraggly stand of trees, her belly was already seeming to empty.
"It"s because you haven"t gorged."
She slid Eli a sidelong glance and lifted an eyebrow. He said, "You have to feed heavily at first. You"re developing your strength and building reserves. In time, you can learn to go a week or more between feedings. But you must first fully sate that hunger."
His eyes flicked to the hand she had pressed against her belly, and then to the fangs that had yet to retract.
"I know the signs of hunger, as I suffer them myself.
And I know confusion and frustration when I see them," he said, his voice soft with sympathy.
I imagine, on ce you see what I have to show you, this feeding will be easier. After this, we can simpl y let you feed from a number of my people, but-"
Tori froze as a weak, pitiful whimper sounded through the dark trees, so far away, but so very clear.
Eli sighed, his handsome face grim, as he slid his eyes in the direction of the cry. "I hate the suffering of innocents. But the monsters who cause it..." His eyes started to glow and his fangs slid out, an unworldly power sliding over him. Behind her, Declan paced alongside their back trail, his bare feet soundless on the forest floor. "This is a just thing you will do, Tori," he murmured, his hands flexing and clenching, while his eyes gleamed with fury. "Do you smell her fear? Her blood? Tis a bad one you"ve found for us, Eli."
"What"s going on?" Tori asked.
But then that fading whimper was replaced by a scream. Next to her, Eli said coldly, "Run. And find her."
CHAPTER SIX.
Tori ran.
The scent of blood and fear filled the air, but it brought no pleasure. Her belly roiled and rolled and clenched as she grew closer.
She ran.
And she found her.
A slim girl who would have been lovely except her face was marked with bruises and stained with blood as she crawled across the yard in a shredded Tshirt. One man stood in the door laughing, while the other stalked her, kicking at her side, and laughing when she cried out.
Eli laughed with pleasure and cried out, "Two for one,"
but Tori barely heard it, much less made sense of it.
Instinct took her over yet again, and she lunged, not for the man who had frozen in mid-kick. But instinctively for the man who stood laughing in the door. A man who shared the girl"s soft brown eyes. A man who had her scent, the scent of her body and her blood, all over him.
He barely seemed to see her until she was sitting atop him and his struggles felt like those of a freshly hatched chick, weak and useless and pitiful. His blood filled her mouth in a hot wash of pleasure and she held his struggling body as he bucked and strained.
There was no pleasure for him.
It hurt him, and frightened him, and this gave her pleasure. His body reeked with the smells of blood, fear, and sperm. He"d raped that girl, that girl who looked like him. And pa.s.sed her off to another man to do the same. Both had beaten her.
The rage inside her grew and she clutched his body harder, her hands shattering the fragile feeling bones in his arms as he continued to struggle.
She knew there were noises in the background, a scream, a low soothing murmur, the sound of a body being taken down, and the sound of one being lifted gently. She filtered all this information and filed it away, while she savored the weakening struggles and the salty taste of blood on her tongue.
It seemed to last forever, and no time at all.
She knew instinctively when his life faded away, even without the telltale slowing of his heart. She pulled away from his body and settled back on her heels, her head spinning, her senses heightened to near painful.
Her breath sawed in out of her lungs and Tori stifled another hysterical giggle, as she thought of the B horror movies that showed the heroine, standing in a corner, her t.i.ts half hanging out of her bra, wearing that bra, panties and nothing else while she breathed raggedly, her breaths so loud it brought the killer to her.
Only Tori was the killer.