Without warning, Jonah’s fangs burst out with an almighty crack. Lifting his wrist to his mouth, he gauged rips as he tore through his own skin and drifted in close to my body. Taking me with his muscular arm, he yanked me close, so there was no gap between us.
“What are you doing?” I muttered.
My initial angst was rapidly overtaken by the sudden sensation of a billion butterflies in my tummy, and they were far from being nervous. Expelling pure adrenaline, with every frantic flap of their wings, a feeling of electric anticipation raced up and down my body.
I realized then that I was hungry for him to touch me.
He lifted his wrist to my mouth. The sweet scent of cinnamon tickled my taste buds as I breathed him in. It was as though I was back under the water again and he was the air I so badly needed.
“Taste me,” he murmured.
I fixated on the red trickling down his arm, and whimpered in reply, “What … Why?”
“If you are what I think you are, you’ll … enjoy me.”
I locked my eyes with his and said, “If I am what you say I am, I would surely end you.”
“Perhaps, but at least you would know the truth.”
Moving his hand up my T-shirt and scraping past the gash, he rested his palm on my lace bra, grazing my breast. A shudder of excitement filled me; a snap of desire exploded in a way I’d never felt before. I wanted to taste him—have him—more than anything.
My knees began to buckle, and Jonah pulled me in closer.
“He can never be with you. But me, you can have me any which way you like. I want you,” he said, grazing my earlobe with his shiny fangs.
Moving my cheek next to his I panted hard, my mouth watering.
As I lingered, his intoxicatingly sweet aroma filled me and a heat rose in my throat. Obediently I moved his wrist to my lips and contemplated his request.
The clouds that had threatened a downpour finally opened and torrential drops hit us both. Taking my time, I peered up at the gray clouds, still grasping Jonah’s wrist tightly, allowing the rain to wash over me. They didn’t put out the fires that were burning inside me. As I brought my face back down, I caught the darkness inside him waging a war across his eyes.
“Please,” he whispered.
The demon inside was getting the better of him; seemingly the demon inside of me was, too.
Nearing the bloodied slices across his wrist, I ran the tip of my nose along his skin, avoiding the tear. I cupped my cheek with his hand, and then found his lips instead.
Bringing both his hands now over my cheeks, he pressed firmly. I was tired of fighting and exhausted by my life, so I let myself get lost in the darkness that now filled me and was overflowing.
Emptiness replaced everything.
* * *
I WAS BROUGHT BACK by a white dot at the end of the void. It grew until it overcame the dark. The sun. Its light blinded me and I crumpled in the grass.
I lay on my back, met by the frost beneath, and Jonah perched beside me, looking perplexed.
“Cessie?” He seemed calm, almost motionless.
Leaning over me, he placed his hot hands on my collarbone. I realized then that my top was torn and practically falling off.
“What happened?” I asked, taking in the red crimson splattered around his mouth. “Did you drink from me?”
He slumped next to me, his infernos extinguished by the cold, accusing words that fell from my mouth.
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
“You, you cut your wrist, but I kissed you. I told you, I’m not like you.”
I didn’t see or sense any bite marks on my skin: even the cut across my waist had repaired in record time. I considered for a moment that the blood around his mouth did not belong to me. “What happened?” I insisted again.
Staring at me blankly he answered gently, “Nothing, beautiful, it’s okay. I think maybe you’re not ready yet.…”
“Not ready for what?”
“Nothing. Don’t worry, come on.”
“No,” I stated, sitting up. “Not you as well.” I shook my head in frustration. “You’re going to tell me what I missed, Jonah.”
Ignoring me, he reached for my hand and slid his fingers in between my own, lifting me off the sloping stream bank.
“How about you start with what happened to my T-shirt!” I said, flustered, throwing my hand down from his.
Again, he didn’t answer; instead he grabbed his discarded jacket from off the ground and placed it over my shoulders.
“Did Ethan come back?” I offered him the most hopeful explanation I could think of.
I scoured the scenery intently.
That would make sense. We must have gotten into an altercation. That was why my top was torn and why Jonah had traces of blood smeared on his skin. I must have fainted or something.
While he didn’t seem willing to fill me in, apparently he wasn’t prepared to lie to me either. “Nope, he did a disappearing act when you fell in.”
“Then why is my top barely in one piece?” I practically hissed. “Why is there blood on your cheeks and around your mouth?” I was getting angry, and Jonah was pacing away from me. “Tell. Me. Now,” I enunciated, and Jonah stopped in his tracks.
He let the silence drift between us for a moment, and with his back to me he bowed his head toward the ground.
“Jonah!” I shouted.
Looking over his shoulder, finally he said, “I think the question you should be asking is why is there blood on your cheeks and around your mouth.”
He was right; I wasn’t ready to hear that.
TWENTY-FIVE
CHRISTMAS EVE. Gabriel was due back this evening and I was nervous.
I was striding up and down the living area, trying to take my mind off the fact that he had an Angel and Hanora in tow. I was dreading the conversation we were certain to have about him and her.
Making his way to the kettle, Ruadhan proceeded to brew me a cup of tea. It was now midday, and Jonah and Brooke had been gone for hours. She had nagged him to drive her to Toulouse in the hope of finding some decent shopping haunts, and as usual he had bent to her will.
Despite Brooke’s cool-as-a-cucumber persona, the look of relief on her face when she’d returned to find Jonah back safe and sound made it plain to see how worried she’d actually been. I half suspected that for once she didn’t really want to go shopping, and that she was using it as an excuse to mask her need to be alone with him for a while.