But I’m not her!
And it hurt to know that he thought I was Jolie.
This was your plan all along, Bryn! You did this on purpose; so what were you expecting? I yelled at myself again. And you know that Sinjin is in love with your sister; so if you’re feeling sorry for yourself, you’re just idiotic!
I freed the dagger and slowly started to draw it forward. “Shhh, Sinjin,” I whispered. “Let’s allow ourselves this single moment.”
“Of course,” he cooed back.
“I need to kiss you. I’ve wanted to taste you for so long,” I continued while pulling the dagger up until it was parallel with my upper thigh. Now I just had to sit up at the same time that I hoisted the dagger above Sinjin’s heart before bringing it down as quickly as I could. Another few seconds and all of this would be over …
“And I you, Bête Noire,” Sinjin replied at the same time that I held myself upright and poised the dagger into a striking position. It happened so quickly, I didn’t even feel shock upon discovering that he obviously knew who I was.
Strike! I ordered my reluctant body as I held the dagger over his heart, but failed to bring it down. Kill him! Now!
“Really, my little imp, if you intend to assassinate someone, you must do it much more quickly,” Sinjin said with a polished smile. He obviously wasn’t in the least bit concerned about his current predicament. “Timing is everything, you know?”
With the dagger suspended above his heart, after another second or two, I realized I couldn’t do it. I felt tears starting up in my eyes as my hopes for any escape began to dwindle away into nothing more than tattered shreds of their former glory. In response, I felt my magic begin waning. I closed my eyes, allowing my disguise to slip away until I was myself again, dressed in my black sports bra and stretch pants. My long brown hair splayed itself around my shoulders like a curtain.
“Shall we chalk this up to a learning experience?” Sinjin asked, his tone now mocking and patronizing. After a few “tsks,” he shook his head.
“No!” I yelled at the same moment I thrust the dagger down. Of course, Sinjin was too swift, and within a split second, I felt a swoosh of air at the front of my body. The dagger flew from my hand, and crashed against the bedroom wall. The air was forcibly expelled from my lungs and I felt myself flipping over before being thrown back down against the bed. I bounced a few times, but within a blink, found Sinjin on top of me. He was seething with rage.
“This is how you repay my kindness?” he demanded.
“Your kindness?” I spat back at him, amazed that he would even say such a thing. “And what kindness would that be?”
“The kindness known as trusting you with your weapon,” he barked at me. “And this is the thanks I get?” His tone of voice said he was more than mildly irritated.
“Don’t blame me for your own stupid judgment,” I snapped back at him, although fear was starting to spiral through my stomach and I wondered what would happen next. Sinjin could easily kill me if he chose to and simply chalk it up to self-defense on his part. If he wanted me gone, I was basically as good as.
“Apparently, it was a momentary lapse in my judgment,” he hissed at me, his mouth a mere inch from my face. “Fool me once, shame on you.”
“Whatever you’re going to do to me, just make it quick,” I replied, almost angrily. “I’m not interested in bargaining for my life or playing your cat and mouse games.”
“Bargaining for your life?” Sinjin repeated and some of his anger left his expression. “A novel idea, is it not?” I tried to move out from underneath him, but he simply tightened his hold around my wrists and pushed his legs down harder over mine. I was basically pinned beneath him and not going anywhere. “You attempted to murder me in my sleep, so would it not be fair for me to at least try to kill you in return?” he finished. “An eye for an eye?”
“It would,” I spat out.
“Then we agree,” he said, narrowing his eyes as he studied me. He smiled unexpectedly, showing his fangs. Then, gripping a handful of my hair (and none-too-gently), he yanked my head to one side.
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, knowing what was coming and trying to prepare for it. “Would you at least do it quickly?” I asked, hoping he would grant me the courtesy of a swift death.
“You do not fear dying?” he asked curiously. Opening my eyes, I found his eyes riveted on mine.
“There isn’t anything to fear from dying,” I answered immediately, in a flat tone. “It’s the ultimate freedom.”
Cocking his head to the side, he appeared to consider my words thoughtfully. “That is an interesting point of view to adopt,” he said softly as his icy blue eyes began to glow white. Before I could form another thought, he dropped his head to my neck. I bucked underneath him as soon as I felt the sting of his fangs sinking into my carotid artery. He pushed down on my chest with his right hand to keep me in place, as he withdrew his fangs from my neck before lapping up my blood feverishly. I wanted to scream out in pain, but there was no way I could grant him the satisfaction of knowing he could hurt me. And since I’d just tried to slay him, I figured I deserved everything I was about to endure.
NINE
“How did you know it was me and not my sister, Jolie?” I ground out as Sinjin continued to drink my blood. In my attempt to ignore the pain, I decided to devote my attention to where I’d gone wrong in my escape plan. I figured it was most important that I learn from past mistakes. Well, that is, if Sinjin wasn’t going to kill me, a subject that was still up for debate.
He pulled away from my neck and chuckled as he looked down at me. There was remarkable color in his cheeks now and his eyes seemed more alive than they were before he started drinking my blood … physical responses to my blood, which still threw me. “I am a six-hundred-year-old vampire, Bête Noire,” he responded loftily, “and not what some would describe as gullible.”
He studied me for a moment or so before gripping my chin and tilting my head to the side. I closed my eyes, knowing all too well what was about to happen next. I could feel his breath on my neck, which instantly gave me goose bumps. When he sank his teeth into my flesh for the second time, I resisted and bucked beneath him. He wrapped his hands around my upper arms and pinned me to the bed underneath him, preventing me from moving. I felt his fangs withdrawing from me as he began sucking at the wounds. The pain was almost unbearable. My hands were fisting at my sides of their own accord and I clenched my eyes shut tightly, my jaw just as rigid. When I thought I couldn’t take anymore, Sinjin pulled away.
“You must have thought I was Jolie because you called me ‘poppet,’” I argued with him, my voice coming out much harsher than I intended. I tried to ignore the stinging from the various bite marks that now punctuated my neck. “So, clearly, that means you thought I was my sister at some point, which only proves you aren’t quite as beyond gullibility as you may have thought.”
“I will admit that your crafty disguise took me in for perhaps a brief moment,” the vampire conceded as he glanced down at me with a blood-stained smile. “But there was one small problem with your approach …”
“One small problem?” I repeated, eyeing him narrowly. “What was that?” I demanded, feeling irritation seething inside me. I was angry for failing to escape in the first place and it didn’t make matters any easier that Sinjin was identifying all of the flaws in my attack. Nothing quite like being forced to eat humble pie after it’s fresh from the oven.
“You failed to remember the vampire’s chief sense, which is our sense of smell,” he explained as his eyes continued to burn white while he stared down at me. His body was still pinning mine to the bed and the feel of him on top of me was arousing all sorts of strange reactions from me that I refused to indulge.
“You smelled me,” I said, solving the riddle for myself. I closed my eyes and allowed my unvented anger to increase over the ridiculous oversight. How stupid was I? Of course I should have realized that Sinjin could smell me! It
was a fatal error that never should have happened. Having dealt with enough vampires over the years, I should have known what their strengths and weaknesses were. How I’d managed to let that slip past me, I didn’t know.
“Yes,” Sinjin said with a smile before tracing his fingers in a line down my neck, and only pausing momentarily over his bite marks. “I scented you on the air as soon as you were downwind of me,” he continued. He brought his index finger to his lips and, eyeing me pointedly, stuck his finger inside his mouth. He pulled it out again and rubbed the wet pad of his finger across the wounds on my neck. I felt my skin stitching itself back together, and, strangely enough, there wasn’t any pain.
I looked up at him, wondering what would happen from here on out. Was he going to play with me first before he dealt the death blow? Or would he allow me to live? Of course, I didn’t think my sister would be very happy if Sinjin killed me; but I also didn’t know how deep my offenses actually were. I mean, I had tried to kill him, so it seemed only fair that he would return the favor. “Are you going to kill me, Sinjin?” I asked in a curious tone. I was surprised my voice came out as level and composed as it did, considering I wasn’t sure whether or not I would live to see the next hour. But there was something inside of me that remained calm, accepting whatever fate had in store for me.
Sinjin’s eyebrows reached for the ceiling in a brief moment of surprise before another polished smile appeared on his mouth. “It is not usually my custom to kill a woman before I have enjoyed not only the outside of her, but also the … inside of her.”
My stomach dropped all the way down to my toes. My mouth also popped open in perfect synchronization. “Well, there’s always a first time, because that is never going to happen,” I exclaimed immediately. “At least, not while I’m still alive.” I attempted to free myself from the weight of his body, but he held me in place and chuckled.
“I do not believe you are in the proper position to demand any orders, my little imp,” he responded. “As far as you are concerned,” he continued while poking his index finger onto the end of my nose as if I were a five-year-old child being scolded, “you will do whatever I tell you to do or … suffer the consequences.”
“I prefer a long, torturous death to having sex with you,” I spat back at him, my heartbeat pounding at Sinjin’s close proximity. Even though my mouth said one thing, my body was telling him something completely different. I could feel the swarm of butterflies beginning to build in the pit of my stomach. Every fiber of my being seemed alive somehow, and attuned to Sinjin. Worst of all, there was an undeniable stinging, accompanied by a yearning sensation that began deep inside me, starting at the area between my legs.
Sinjin raised one eyebrow at me as if to tell me he wasn’t buying my sentiment. “Now, my little tempest, I think we both know that such a statement is scarcely true.” Lifting his nose into the air and with his eyes still on mine, he began inhaling. He closed his eyes a moment later and tipped his chin back down again. When he reopened his eyes, his ice blue orbs bored into mine.
“And what makes you think that?” I demanded, glaring at him. I nearly regretted the words once they left my mouth because it was becoming readily apparent that I was turned on. My breath became a series of short gasps and I couldn’t stop staring at the beauty of his face. Not only that, but his heightened olfactory senses were apparently detecting my body’s reaction to him. Great, just great.
“Because,” Sinjin started, pausing for obvious dramatic effect, while the most irritatingly pompous smile appeared on his face, “I can smell your sexual excitement as clearly as you might smell a batch of cookies baking in the oven.”
“What?” I asked, feeling my cheeks instantly growing hot. I was at a loss for words for a few seconds, I was so mortified. Finally, my brain kicked in. “You are the most self-centered, smug, egotistical … asshole I’ve …”
“Not only can I smell your sexual anticipation,” Sinjin interrupted, apparently not in the mood to hear the litany of names I was more than willing to throw at him, “but I can also taste the flavor of your eagerness on my tongue, little hellion.” He said the words slowly, emphasizing each one. I felt my stomach flip-flop; but when I opened my mouth to protest the idiocy of his comments, nothing came out.
“Your attempts to dispute this subject with me are useless,” Sinjin persisted, his braggart grin rubbing me the wrong way. “It has taken me hundreds of years to finely attune myself to the scent of a woman’s libido. I have polished and honed my ability to detect that faint sweetness on the air just above your pubis mound,” he finished. He ran his fingers down my side and then over my lower stomach, stopping just above what I now knew was my “pubis mound.” Closing his eyes, he opened his mouth again before inhaling deeply. “I can smell your tangy sweetness now, my little assassin.”
“That’s the most …” I started, but I immediately lost my train of thought. He, meanwhile, lifted his body off mine and started to slide backwards down the bed, moving down my body until his face was right at my hips. “What … what are you doing?” I asked, my voice now faltering.
Resting his chin between my legs, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply again. I thought for sure I’d die right then and there from sheer mortification alone. When he opened his eyes moments later, they were glowing white and his fangs were fully exposed. “There is something about you,” he started, eyeing me narrowly. “I tasted it in your blood and now I scent it in your … unique aroma.”
“What?” I barked at him, suddenly feeling completely unsure of myself. “What in the hell are you talking about?” When I was finally able to gather some of my fleeing wits about me, I tucked my heels into the bed and shot all the way up to the headboard. I sat up and pulled my legs into the haven of my chest.
Sinjin watched me and chuckled. “You have no reason to fear me, Bête Noire,”
“I’m not afraid of you,” I snapped immediately. I was more afraid of the feelings Sinjin’s words were unexpectedly evoking from within me. They were feelings that made me think about losing myself to his touch ...
“Then why is your heartbeat racing?” he demanded. His left eyebrow arched into an expression of suspicion. “Unless, perhaps, I am mistaken and you are … excited instead?”
“No,” I responded immediately, taking a deep breath to calm my heart and keep it from pounding so loudly. “No, it’s not that.”
“Perhaps we shall never know what ‘it’ is then,” the vampire continued, clearly making fun of me. “But returning to my earlier thought,” he started with a broad grin, “there is something about you that I have not tasted, nor even scented, in any other woman.” He sat up straight and studied me as if I were a strange specimen on display. “This peculiar trait of yours first came to my attention after I feasted on your blood initially. I became inordinately invigorated and energized beyond all explanation.” His gaze seemed to trail off on the wall behind me as he shook his head, indicating he had no answer. His eyes found mine again before he continued. “Blood is basic sustenance to the vampire, of course; but your blood actually produced a chemical reaction inside me. It allowed me, I daresay, to feel warm again!”
“That’s impossible,” I scoffed at him. “You drink blood merely to survive, but the donor can’t influence you. The only thing you can take from blood is nutritional sustenance.”
“How nice to learn that you have studied my kind,” he responded quickly, spearing me with an irritated expression. Maybe he didn’t like knowing his explanation didn’t fly with me. “And, yes, usually a vampire drinks blood merely to survive. Hence, you can imagine my utter surprise when, even now, after feasting upon you, I can feel your body heat burning in my veins.”
When he held his hand out to me, I begrudgingly touched him. “You aren’t warm,” I announced with a frown.
“But am I cold?” the vampire inquired.
I gulped. “No.”
“Exactly,” he finished with a polished smile. “Perhaps this will be one of
those mysteries of the world that no one shall ever solve.”
“I guess so,” I replied, watching as he stood up while keeping his attention on me.
“If you truly do not fear me, as you insist so vehemently, you may uncurl yourself now,” Sinjin said, an amused grin brightening his face.
I figured he was referring to my legs, which were still drawn up into my chest. I probably resembled a ball. Brandishing my courage, because I wasn’t afraid of him in the least, I stretched my legs out and stood up. No sooner did my feet touch the floor then I felt a swoosh of air against my face. Moments later, the hard coldness of the wall was against my back. It was so unexpected and sudden, I didn’t even have time to react.
“There is one other subject on which I must be perfectly clear,” Sinjin whispered into my ear, his tone of voice acidic.
“And what subject would that be?” I ground out, not appreciating the grip of his hand as he wrapped it around my neck. It took me another second to realize his other hand was between my legs, cupping me over my stretch pants. As soon as that insight hit me, I was flooded with lightheadedness as that familiar, but strange, yearning started to build again.
“Should you ever attempt to take my life again, I will not be as courteous where yours is concerned.”
“Then you are going to let me live?” I asked, a stubborn twinge of doubt still residing in my tone. “Color me surprised.”
He chuckled and ran his fingers back and forth over the sensitive nub between my legs. I felt my breath catching as the stinging sensation from deep in my core started to spread. “If you recall what I already told you, little outlaw, I prefer not to kill women whom I have yet to … know and experience.”
“And if you recall what I told you,” I replied in a breathy voice, “there is no way in hell …”
“Ah, yes, I do recall something about preferring a long and tortuous death to having sex with me,” the vampire interrupted with another baritone chuckle. “I daresay, your body sings quite a different tune.”