Amy Blankenship - Blood Bond

Tabatha’s eyes widened when a flash of lightning caught her attention as it lit up the street. She licked her bottom lip still tasting him then looked down at herself to make sure her thighs weren’t really on fire. The lightning flashed again and she leaned forward, looking up at the sky to search for the storm clouds. Seeing none, she looked back at Kane and realized it was him making the storm.

“I think you might want to calm down. I was wrong… you’re not instant coffee, you’re instant storm,” she said and straightened herself in the car seat. She hadn’t noticed it before, but when Kane had leaned over her, her dress had slipped up nearly showing the frilly lace of her panties.

Kane rubbed his temple with his fingers and closed his eyes… he had to. “Just do this one thing… stay away from Misery.”

“Is that how you healed me in Warren’s office?” Tabatha whispered, somehow knowing his blood had just killed every drop of alcohol she’d consumed tonight. She missed the lack of inhibitions already but wasn’t about to call him a party pooper with the mood he was in. But, she had to admit, that if he hadn’t stopped the kiss it would have led to other things.

To say he was unstable would have been an understatement if the way he was gripping the wheel gave her any indication. After what she’d just been about to do… maybe they were both unstable.

When he didn’t answer but just stared straight ahead and shrugged, Tabatha found herself getting angry all over again. “Fine, just take me home… or better yet, get the hell out. I can drive myself now.”

Tabatha was slammed back against the seat when Kane put the car back in gear and gunned the engine, bouncing over the curb and reentering traffic… or what little there was this time of night.

“Maybe you should go find whatever bird’s nest Kriss is in and join him since both of you obviously enjoy keeping secrets from me!” she said sarcastically.

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you it’s not a good idea to antagonize a vampire?” Kane asked in a deceptively calm voice while refusing to look at her.

“I’m still alive,” Tabatha pointed out.

“For now,” Kane lied but felt satisfaction when the rest of the drive was made in irritated silence.

Tabatha sat in the passenger seat with her arms still crossed over her chest. She adamantly refused to think about that kiss and she sure as hell didn’t think about how sexy he had looked hovering over her… angry or otherwise.

As soon as Kane pulled the car into her driveway he sighed, running a hand through his hair when she jumped out of the car and took off like she’d been bitten. He found the thought rather ironic considering he had bitten her before. Getting out of the car, he silently followed her knowing it was the wrong thing to do.

Tabatha slammed the car door behind her and rushed to the front door of her apartment. As soon as she had the door safely closed behind her, she turned and spent the next few seconds locking all four locks and the deadbolt then flipped the living room light on.

“For now my ass!” she glared at the door finally feeling vindicated… until she turned around. Tabatha screeched when she saw Kane sitting on the sofa like he owned the place and threw her small pocketbook at him.

“You’re uninvited!” she raged then waited to see if he would go poof and vanish. It was actually a good thing he didn’t because she would have hurt herself with the hysterical laughter that would have followed.

“Damn it, why are you still here?” she demanded and kicked her high heels off toward him, satisfied when he had to move his leg to avoid one of them.

To her amazement, Kane just sat there staring at her with that infuriating expression that looked like a cross between amusement and anger. He shimmered and vanished for a second then she heard the thump of something hitting the door on each side of her. Tabatha couldn’t move due to him pinning her against the wood behind her. She heard thunder outside and felt her fear rise with the sound.

Kane leaned forward a bit until his cheek was almost touching hers and inhaled the mixed scent of her anger and fear. It was like an aphrodisiac and served to remind him why he hadn’t taken his soul mate as soon as he’d found her. If anything, he was fighting the urge to take her against the door… hard and fast.

The gods may have linked them together, but they had been wrong in their pairing. For her sake… they had to be wrong. When he leaned back enough to see her face, he was satisfied to see her anger and fear were still present.

Tabatha felt her bangs move with every breath he was taking as he stared down at her with those heated eyes. She became entranced watching his amethyst pupils enlarge and then felt disappointment shudder through her… she didn’t want to forget.

“Before you hocus pocus me… give me a truth,” she whispered, “A real, honest to God truth.”

“A truth love?” Kane dropped his gaze to her lips and lowered his head until his lips were barely brushing against hers… not a kiss but something far more intimate. “I’m more dangerous to you than any demon could ever be.”

Tabatha blinked away the sunlight filtering in through the window and sat up in bed. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, glaring out at the daylight that almost seemed to mock her. Growling to herself, she huffed blowing her bangs up in the air.

“Dangerous my foot,” she grumbled. “He’s so dangerous that he tucked me into bed before leaving.”

*****

Zachary was looking at the map on the wall with his head tilted to the side. They had pinned every strange event that had occurred within the last few months trying to see if there was a pattern forming. They’d started out with only a few colored pegs but, as more documentation was found, pins had started form a pattern.

Angelica took a black marker and drew a circle around the slums and the surrounding area. “Misery has been operating inside this area,” she stated. “The other occurrences we found appear to be other demons getting brave and coming out of hiding.”

“What about what happened at Love Bites?” Trevor asked. “That wasn’t exactly fitting with her MO.”

“We might need to enlarge her area before long,” Chad offered. “And what about the body we found earlier today?”

They all shivered remembering the scene. They had received a call from the police about the body of a young man being found and thought they needed to see it. The man had been about twenty years of age and was wearing the remnants of a tee shirt with the local college name on it.

When they got there, the police had taped off the entire area and about one hundred yards all around it. Chad had thought that odd and went to talk with a couple of his buddies on the force, when he came back his tan was noticeably paler.

“What is it?” Zachary asked.

“They said we need to see for ourselves… it’s just as bad as what you described about the bus the other day.”

As the four of them approached, Trevor had to breathe through his mouth in order to keep the smell from making him sick. The worst part of it was he could taste the acrid odor and that was just as bad. Zach gave him a surgical mask from his jacket pocket… he always kept a few on hand for situations like this. When they saw the body, even Zachary had to turn away and take a few deep breaths.

The body had been literally ripped apart and everything that had been inside was on the outside. The worst part was they could all see where something had actually eaten parts out as whole chunks were gone. Long claw marks covered what little bit of flesh was left and the bones were visible, some of them broken and poking out.