“Yeah. What happened in Finland?” Jack turned to look at me.
“It’s too much to talk about right now,” I brushed him off.
“Seriously?” Jack raised an eyebrow. “That’s what you’re giving me? After weeks of this? You’re gonna come home and tell me it’s too much to talk about?”
“Well, I just don’t want to upset you needlessly. ”
“You were in Finland with Peter! And you wouldn’t answer my calls!” Jack was all but yelling. “You’ve upset me plenty already, and it didn’t bother you then!”
“Of course it bothered me. ” I pulled away from him. “I thought about you constantly. But I knew if I said anything you would rush over there and get yourself killed. ”
“I would get myself killed?” He turned to face me more and his expression got even more severe. “What the hell were you involved with, Alice? And what happened to Ezra?”
“Yeah, what is the deal with him?” Milo asked unhelpfully.
“It’s all very complicated. ” I shook my head, afraid that if I told Jack what had happened he would… I don’t know. Yell at me a lot and then try to beat up Peter and Ezra.
“I know you were with lycan. That’s who had Peter. ” Jack bit his lip, looking down at me. “I should’ve gone over as soon as you told me but…” If he had gone there, everything would’ve turned out much worse, and I think he kinda knew that.
“Lycan?” Milo sat up sharply, almost knocking Bobby off the chair. “You mean werewolves?”
“Not exactly,” I sighed. “Not at all, really. They’re just vampires that live in the woods. They were after Peter, but Ezra made an exchange with them, and we came home. End of story. Most of the trip was spent just looking for Peter. ”
“What was the exchange?” Milo asked, but by Jack’s expression, he’d just figured it out.
“Peter let them do that?” Jack whispered.
“He didn’t have a choice. Ezra… did what he had to do,” I explained as best I could.
“What are you talking about? What happened?” Milo demanded.
“Nothing. Never mind,” I said. Jack stared at me intently, his blue eyes full of too much anguish. “Nothing happened to me. Okay? I barely even left the hotel room. Nobody tried to hurt me. I never got in any fights. Everything was fine. Honest. ”
Jack wasn’t completely convinced, but he wrapped his arm around me, so I would curl up to him. Milo was perplexed, but he dropped the subject.
Milo had never been out of the area, either, so he pressed for more information about traveling. I told him what little I had seen and how terrified I had been on the plane.
Once Bobby started falling asleep, Milo decided it was time to excuse himself and head up to bed. He scooped Bobby up in his arms, carrying him upstairs to their room, and I gaped after him. We had to have a very long talk about all of this as soon as I had the chance.
Page 22
I would’ve loved some time to catch up with Jack, but I felt drained from the trip. Being away from home had been much harder than I had thought. Jack wanted to go to bed with me, and even with my exhaustion, I would’ve been happy to oblige.
Except I knew the only reason he insisted so hard was because Peter slept across from me, and I refused to let his paranoia control our relationship. He had to get used to Peter being around, and I needed to get some rest before trying to be alone with Jack.
Jack walked me up to his room, kissing me on the forehead before going back down to the den to sleep. I curled up in his unmade bed, falling asleep in his mass of blankets almost immediately. It felt so good to be home.
When I woke up, I felt an instant relief being in my own bed. After a long trip away, nothing felt better than that. Well, almost nothing.
I stretched, working the stiffness from my limbs. My reunion with Jack had been anticlimactic. I allowed myself to get distracted by my brother’s new boyfriend and Jack’s worry over Finland. I’d have to have a very long talk with Milo about this Bobby fellow, but I had more pressing needs in mind.
Along with that familiar thirst burning just below the surface, I had a desperate ache for Jack. A bit of jet lag and stress made it too bittersweet for me to greet him the way he deserved, and I had to rectify that immediately.
When I walked out into the hall, I could smell Bobby. That sweet, delightful scent of hot blood coursing through his veins. His heart pounded quickly, like a frightened rabbit.
I tensed up, thinking he was in some kind of danger, but I realized he was just excited. This was confirmed by a happy moan from him, and a throaty laugh from Milo. My stomach tightened with nausea and anxiety as I thought about what Milo was doing in the room next to mine.
It was completely unforgivable that he would have a sex life before I did. The “talk” was becoming more imminent, but I did not want to walk in on whatever they were doing right now to administer it.
Peter’s bedroom door opened, making me jump. I’d brought him home, but it was still a shock to see someone in his room. It had been shut off for so long, like a shrine for a dead loved one, even though it was the exact opposite of that.
“Oh. Hey,” Peter said, nodding at me.
“Hey,” I replied. We stood across from each other, staring awkwardly, so I assumed I should make conversation. “Did you sleep okay? I bet its nice being back in your own bed. ”
“Yeah. It is. ” Peter nodded again and shifted uncomfortably.
“You’re up!” Jack announced too loudly from the bottom of the stairs and raced up to us. He was happy to see me, but the arm he threw around my shoulder was too tight to be anything but for show. “I thought you were going to sleep all day!”
“Sorry. I guess I had sleep to catch up on,” I smiled at him. His grip around my shoulders was borderline painful.
“I’m just gonna… go,” Peter said. He turned and walked down the stairs, ignoring the look on Jack’s face.
Once Peter was out of sight, I wriggled out of Jack’s arms. It felt weird to pull away from him, but I wasn’t a big fan of his jealousy. Jack realized what he was doing, and his expression changed to one of a little boy that got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked apologetically at me.
“Sorry,” Jack shrugged. “I’m just getting used to this. You’ve had all this time to readjust to Peter but the last time I saw him…” He shivered and looked away from me. I’m not sure what he was thinking about it exactly, but it was either Peter kissing me or trying to kill him.
“It’s okay. ” I put my hand on his chest. His muscles felt warm and strong, and his heart beat gently. I leaned in towards him, preparing to give him the kiss I had been wanting to give him for ages, but a fresh scent completely diverted my attention.
Just down the hall, Milo had apparently drawn blood from Bobby, and the scent of his blood was so strong and intoxicating, my mouth instantly began to water. My stomach didn’t exactly growl, but it was suddenly ravenous. Bobby’s heart rate quickened even more, and I could associate the sound with the smell, making it irresistible. My body flushed with heat, and all I could think/hear/feel was his blood, and how badly I needed it.
The bloodlust had taken me over entirely.
- 12 -
I had my hand on Jack’s chest, and the next thing I knew, I was racing down the hall, to Milo’s room in the turret. I awoke in the moment with Jack’s hand tightly clamped on my arm. He stopped me from getting very far, but it was disturbing that I had blacked out for a second and had no control over myself. I’d been in a trance, and I wasn’t completely out of it yet. At least now I was aware of what was happening, but my desire to feed didn’t lessen.
“You need to eat,” Jack said.
“Yeah, no kidding. ” I went towards Milo’s room again, but he stopped me.
“No, not him. ”
He pulled me in the opposite direction, away from the blood. The rational part of
me understood what he was doing, that I did not want to feed on my brother’s boyfriend. But my thirst made me irate that he would take me away from the blood.
“Come on, Alice. There’s food downstairs. ”
“Not good food!” I protested.
I’d never had fresh blood as a vampire, so I didn’t have anything to compare with it. But fresh blood smelled so much better than bag blood. My body craved it far more intensely, making it almost impossible to resist.
Jack was stronger than me, and at least some of me knew he was right, so I let him drag me away.
Mae was just coming up from the basement when we got downstairs, her arms overflowing with cold bags of blood. Apparently, Ezra was eating more than normal too. She saw the look on my face and gave me a bag before I changed my mind about sparing Bobby.
As I gulped it down, loving the exotic rush of pleasure that ran through me, I overheard her talking to Jack. Ezra was still weak and required lots of rest and food, and Peter had left to do something. She was vague on the details, but I’m not sure if that was for Jack’s sake or because she really didn’t know.
By the time I finished my bag, she disappeared back into her bedroom to tend to Ezra, and that deep wooziness hit me. I’d just woken up, and I was preparing to pass out again.
I grabbed onto Jack, hoping that hanging onto him would make me more alert. He laughed at my struggle against sleep, and it resounded through me. He kissed my forehead and held me in his arms, and that was too comfortable for me to fight to stay awake anymore.
Page 23
I was curled up in the crook of his arm when I woke up, and the faint sounds of Depeche Mode filled the bedroom. Jack had one arm around me, and the other one held a graphic novel, The Killing Joke. It was one of his favorites, so it was battered and beaten. He was so into it that he didn’t even notice when I opened my eyes.
“Hey,” I smiled up at him. He pulled his head back so he could look down at me, already setting the book aside. “Sorry I just passed out like that. ”
“No, it’s cool. I understand,” he grinned.
“I missed you. ” I snuggled closer to him, pressing my body against his, and his heart sped up.
“For awhile there, I wasn’t sure if you’d ever come back. ” When he pushed a strand of hair from my eyes, his face went stormy, re-imagining all the horrible things he had thought happened to me in Finland.
“But here we are!” I hurried to erase his dark thoughts, rubbing my hand over his chest. “In your room, in your bed, alone. ” My expression faltered, and his face fell with concern. “We are alone, aren’t we?”
“What do you mean?” His arm tensed up around me, and his voice had an edge to it. He incorrectly assumed that I was thinking of Peter, but he was the furthest thing from my mind.
“Milo and his new ‘friend. ’” I nodded to the thin wall that separated our rooms.
Listening to Milo and Bobby fool around earlier had been rather nauseating, and I didn’t like the idea of them overhearing me messing around with Jack. I was really, really hoping to finally take things to next level with Jack, and I wanted it to be as intimate and private as possible.
“Oh, no, they’re long gone,” Jack smiled and relaxed next to me. “They went to a club a few hours ago. ”
“A club?” I arched my eyebrow and knew I was ruining the mood, but I couldn’t shake my concern. “Is that safe?”
“Yeah,” he shrugged. “Milo is a vampire. He can handle himself. ”
“What about Bobby?” I didn’t really care much for his safety, but Milo would, and if other vampires moved on him, I wasn’t sure how wisely Milo would respond.
“They’re okay,” he said. “And if they weren’t, they have cell phones, which they know how to use. Unlike some people. ” So he hadn’t entirely forgiven me for not calling him from Finland, but that was okay. I planned on making up for it.
“So what you’re saying is that Milo is gone, Peter is gone, and Mae and Ezra are too preoccupied to notice anything? And we are completely, entirely, alone?” I said, sliding my leg up over his.
“It would appear that way,” Jack smiled wickedly.
I tilted my head up towards him and his mouth pressed softly against mine. The kiss was only gentle for a minute, though. As soon as I felt his lips searching mine, this frantic need took over me.
Throwing one leg over him, I moved so I was sitting on top of him, straddling him between my legs. Jack moaned, but it was barely audible through our kisses. His hands searched my body, and his skin was already smoldering. My temperature would soon match his, and I felt the warmth racing through me.
I pulled away long enough to tear off my shirt, and he smiled appreciatively at me. He looked like he wanted to say something, so I silenced him with kisses. I loved talking to him, but right now, words weren’t enough.
We’d been forbidden from being together almost since day one, and even after I turned into a vampire, we’d been forced to stay at arms length.
After he slipped off his shirt, I took a moment to take him in. His skin was tan and soft over the smooth muscles of his chest and stomach. Jack was completely perfect. A painful happiness spread over me as I thought about how lucky I was that he wanted me. I leaned over, peppering him with kisses, on his mouth, cheeks, chest, everywhere.
When my lips came to his neck, a delicious heat surged through me. I could feel and smell and taste his blood through his skin, and I remembered how wonderful it felt when I drank it to turn. All of his love and pleasure had coursed through me, filling me with the most intense heat. Every other emotion paled in comparison.
“Alice, no,” Jack breathed heavily, but he sounded reluctant to stop me.
If I pushed it, I knew he would let me drink from him. It’d feel almost as amazing for him as it would me, but it was dangerous. As much as I wanted Jack, it would be nearly impossible for me to stop once I got started.
“Sorry,” I whispered, using all my strength to pry my lips from his neck.
His hands on my back slid below my pants, pressing me even harder against him. His kisses had gotten hungrier and more aggressive, and I knew it was a battle for him to keep from biting me as well. It would be too easy for me to get out of control, even if I was the one being bled.
Jack started pushing down my pants, and my body started to tremble with excitement.
I heard the bedroom door open, but it was a secondary sensation. My hunger for Jack blotted out everything else. He was slightly more grounded than I was, and thinking quickly, he pulled the covers up to hide me, since I was almost entirely naked.
He had stopped kissing me, but there was a fog over my mind where I could still taste him. It took a moment to clear, and I realized Milo and Bobby were standing in the doorway. Bobby looked embarrassed, but Milo just looked grossed out and disapproving.
“What the hell are you doing?” I was almost screaming. I had probably never been as pissed at my brother as I was then.
“What are you doing?” Milo countered, crossing his arms firmly over his chest and glaring down at us.
Jack sat up so he could shield me somewhat, and I wrapped his comforter around me. Bobby snuck an admiring glance at him, and I moved closer to Jack.
“I don’t think that’s really any of your business,” I snapped.
“Whatever. ” Milo rolled his eyes. “You both know you’re not supposed to be alone like this. And for once, its not you I’m worried about, Alice. You could kill him, and he’d be happy to let you. ” His words stung as true, and feeling ashamed, I pulled the blankets more securely around me.
Jack noticed my discomfort and rubbed my back, but I pulled away from him. The heat of the moment faded, and I hated knowing how close I had come to hurting him just because it felt good. He sighed and turned to my brother.
“So, what exactly did you want?”
“We came home to tell you something, but th
en I heard you guys,” Milo wrinkled his nose in disgust, and Bobby made a nervous giggle. He chewed at his black nail polish, and when he caught me glaring at him, he cowered more behind Milo.
Page 24
“So what’s this big news?” I asked, sounding bored.
“Jane was at V, and she’s a blood whore,” Milo said.
“A blood whore?” I asked.
“It’s like a whore, but with blood instead of sex, and usually there’s no monetary exchange,” Milo explained.
“Well, if there’s no money, than what is she getting for it?” I asked. Milo lowered his eyes, but I didn’t understand. It was actually incredibly obvious, but I was still under the fog of my lust for Jack.
“They get hooked on the feeling they get from having vampires drink their blood,” Jack said carefully. He’d never liked my former best friend Jane, but he wasn’t eager for bad things to happen to her, and he knew that I still cared about her.
Milo became shifty and uncomfortable. A few months ago, he’d been wounded protecting Jane and me from vampires, and he’d been forced to drink her blood to compensate for a blood loss. Well, he hadn’t really been forced. He just hadn’t resisted, and it was one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen. He had been like a wild animal, and she moaned with pleasure. So if Jane was addicted to being bitten, Milo had gotten her addicted.
“Milo-” I was about to tell him that it wasn’t his fault, but Bobby put his hand on Milo’s back, comforting him. I narrowed my eyes at him. “Wait. Is that what you are?”
“No, of course not!” Bobby protested quickly.
“Alice!” Milo yelled.
“What?” I asked. “That’s not an unfair judgment to come to, especially after whatever it was you two were doing earlier. ” Bobby’s olive skin burned red with shame, but Milo just glared at me.
“That’s a horrible thing to say to him,” Milo said.
“Imagine how you would feel if someone had called you a bloodwhore,” Jack looked at me with something veiled in his eyes. It made me think that somebody had probably called me a bloodwhore, and I wondered if that somebody had just been rescued from Finland.
“Sorry,” I said without looking at Bobby. “I’m just looking out for Milo’s best interests. ”
“Whatever,” Milo said, but he didn’t sound as angry as he had before. “Just get dressed. I’m not a big fan of talking to you when you’re naked. ”
Milo put his hand on Bobby’s back and ushered him out of the room. He gave us a warning glare before closing the door behind him. Jack and I just sat in silence for a minute, letting the weight of what we had almost done and the news about Jane settle in.
“So what exactly does being a bloodwhore entail?” I asked. I pulled my shirt back on, and I watched sadly as Jack did the same. “I understand the basic concept, but like… I don’t know. How does it work?” Running my fingers through my hair to smooth out the tangles, I thought of something that made my stomach twist. “I mean… you’ve had bloodwhores before, haven’t you?”