Unhinged: Blood Bond: Parts 4, 5 & 6 (Volume 2) Page 7

  But where would I find him?

  Homeless people hung out under Claiborne Bridge near University Hospital. That’s probably where Abe Lincoln had been found, since he’d been brought to our ER.

  I didn’t have tonight off, though. I’d have to go today. After Dante and I…

  Dante.

  He’d promised to take me to the Quarter on my next night off to ferret out whoever was feeding on me. He’d want to go with me today. Or he’d tell me not to go, that he’d take care of it. But how could he take care of it if he didn’t have my scent to draw the vampire out?

  I was going. I needed to know. I needed to find out who was violating my brother and me.

  I jumped at the knock on my door.

  Dante, of course.

  I opened it, and he grabbed me. “I need you, Erin. Now.” He clamped his lips onto mine.

  In an instant, my nerves calmed. No longer did I worry about the vampires of Claiborne Bridge or Abe Lincoln or the bite marks on my brother’s neck and my thigh.

  Only this kiss. This amazing kiss.

  Each kiss with Dante was better than the last, more passionate, more urgent.

  He was hungry.

  Hungry for me. For my blood. I could feel it in his passion, his desperation.

  Don’t think about that. Think about what comes before. The beautiful lovemaking. The orgasm…

  I melted into him, sliding my lips over his, and then kissing his stubbly cheek, his neck, the top of his chest.

  “I need you, Erin,” he said again. “I need you to take the demons away.”

  What?

  But through my lusty haze, I couldn’t ruminate too much about his words. Not when my body was calling out for him. Calling out for what only he could give me.

  “Upstairs,” he said huskily, and then swooped me into his arms.

  In a flash we were in my bedroom undressing each other. Clothes flew about, and my satin underwear ended up torn in two pieces.

  He inhaled. “You’re already ripe. So wet for me.”

  “Always.” I wrapped my arms around him and tugged him toward the bed.

  “I want you on top of me, Erin. I want you to ride me.”

  Not a problem. I pushed him down on the bed and climbed on top of him, sinking down on his massive cock.

  Foreplay? Who needed it? Not when I was already slick as an aloe vera leaf.

  This angle created new friction, and I reveled in it. My nipples hardened, and I grabbed Dante’s hands, bringing them to my breasts.

  “So beautiful, Erin. You’re all rosy. Did you know I can feel your blood flowing beneath your skin? I can feel the pop of your capillaries when you flush all over?”

  His words, though strange, ignited something within me. He could sense things I couldn’t. He wasn’t like me.

  He wasn’t like me at all.

  Yet he was like me. Our bodies fit together as if they’d been created to do so, created to perfectly mold to one another.

  Dante caressed my breasts and thumbed my hard nipples. I rose and then sank back onto him, elated at how he nudged the tip of my cervix. Then I ground against his pubic bone, letting his coarse black hair tickle my clit.

  I closed my eyes. This wouldn’t take long. Not with that sweet friction against my clit and his fingers twisting my nipples.

  I rode him hard, again, again, again…until—

  “Dante! I’m coming!”

  The orgasm slammed into me. Quick and urgent, just like this entire lovemaking session had been.

  I opened my eyes, and his own were dark with fiery intensity. He parted his lips…and his fangs descended. Literally grew. The irises of his eyes changed too. Only slightly, but I noticed.

  An amber rim appeared around the normal coffee color.

  Fiery intensity indeed.

  How had I never noticed that before?

  I was on top of him, perpendicular to him. The two other times he’d been on top of me with access to my neck.

  “Let me look at you,” he said, his voice a husky rasp. “You’re pink all over. Your capillaries have burst. You’re still in the last fragments of your orgasm, and I can hear your heartbeat. It’s fast, fast and loud, Erin. God, what you do to me. Lean down. Offer yourself to me.”

  My mouth dropped into an O. He’d said things like this before, that he could feel my blood. Could he hear it too?

  “Obey me, Erin. Lean down.”

  The calmness swept over me, and I did as he bid. I leaned toward him, my nipples brushing against the soft hair on his chest, until my neck was in range of his mouth.

  I gasped as he sank his teeth into my flesh.

  The pain lasted only a split second, and then, with his cock still inside me, I began my ascent to euphoria.

  The colors, the music…could it get any better than this?

  It will get better and better, my love. Trust me.

  Dante spoke the words directly into my mind. Or so it seemed. I’d probably just imagined them. I couldn’t stop to think about it. I wanted to feel, just feel, as I flowed toward the intimate sensations that were similar, that I knew, but that were always a little bit different.

  A little bit better.

  When the tugging stopped, he swept his tongue over my wounds. Then he thrust his cock so deeply into me, I swore he touched my heart.

  “Feel me, Erin. Feel me coming for you.”

  He hadn’t come yet? Or was he coming again? I was still lounging in a cloud of rapture, and I had no desire to leave.

  “This is us, my love. This is us. Once bonded, never broken.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Dante

  Once bonded, never broken.

  Stay out of my head!

  As I came down from the headiness of my feeding and my orgasm, I caressed Erin’s shoulders and back.

  Three times I had taken her blood. Three times she had allowed me to, even though she hadn’t quite come to terms with what I was.

  It was the bond that made her feed me. I knew that. For now, it was okay, but I longed for the day when she would look into my eyes and see me for who and what I was.

  That day would come.

  It had to.

  She slid off me, and my cock, now limp, slid out of her channel. She snuggled up against my shoulder, and I wrapped her in my arms.

  She lay there in silence for a few moments, her heartbeat still faintly audible, until she opened her eyes and propped her head up in her hand.

  “Dante?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I need you to do something for me.”

  “Anything, love.”

  “I need you to help me find Abe Lincoln.”

  Most homeless people who hung out under Claiborne Bridge were out begging during the day. At least that was how it had been ten years ago. I didn’t see why it might have changed. When I told Erin as much, she insisted we go anyway.

  Although I knew who had been feeding on her brother, I didn’t know who had been feeding on Erin. If this could help me find out, I was all in.

  “You realize we won’t find any vampires in the middle of the day,” I said, as we drove to the bridge.

  “I thought vampires didn’t burn up in the sun.”

  “We don’t. But we’re nocturnal creatures. We prefer night to day, and if vampires are feeding on the homeless, they’re doing it at night.”

  Nocturnal creatures. Erin and her brother were also nocturnal creatures, both working night shifts, due most likely to their vampire blood. Another thing I was keeping from Erin. I couldn’t tell her. She had to accept me before she could accept her own vampire heritage.

  Another thing I didn’t tell Erin was that I’d never allow her to go to the Claiborne Bridge at night. Any human-feeding vampire within a mile radius wouldn’t be able to resist her scent. The Quarter was one thing. The bustling nightlife would provide a level of safety. But Claiborne Bridge at night? No way. I’d protect her with my life if I had to, but better safe than sorry. She was not goi
ng to the bridge at night. Thank God for her night shift.

  We found a place to park the car and then walked under the bridge, cars whizzing by above us. Dome tents were scattered over the cement, and only a few people milled about. As I suspected, most were probably out begging.

  An elderly man sat with a mongrel dog near the tent city. We walked toward him.

  “Excuse me, sir,” Erin said.

  “Yeah? You got some change?”

  I dug into my pocket and tossed him a few spare coins. “We’re looking for someone. Do you know Abe Lincoln?”

  “The president? Ain’t he dead?”

  “Not the president,” Erin said. “He’s a young man, maybe twenty-five or so, pretty skinny.”

  “Nah. Don’t know no Abe Lincoln.”

  “Thanks anyway,” I said.

  “Wait a minute, y’all,” he said.

  “Yeah?” Erin asked.

  “I might know him. If you buy me a bottle.”

  “Sorry, sir,” Erin said. “We’d be happy to buy you a sandwich though.”

  “Nah. I got a sandwich.” He pointed to a dirty paper bag sitting next to him.

  We walked over to the next person, a woman with a crimson scarf over her head. She was dark-skinned. Dreadlocks hung below her scarf.

  “Ma’am,” Erin said, “could we talk to you a minute?”

  “Sure. I got nothing better to do.”

  “Thank you,” Erin said. “We’re looking for a man who might hang out around here. He’s young, blondish hair, skinny. Goes by the name of Abe Lincoln?”

  She laughed, revealing a missing front tooth. “Abe Lincoln? Is that what he calls himself?”

  “You know him?”

  “You can only be talking about Red Rover.” She eyed me. “I can see why you’re looking for him.”

  “Why would you say that?” I asked.

  “You’re a vampire, ain’t ya?”

  Erin turned to me, her eyes wide.

  “I can tell. But don’t worry. No one else can. I have the sight.”

  The sight? That could mean anything, and most likely meant nothing other than she was a loon. “Thanks for your help, ma’am,” I said, turning.

  “Don’t you want to hear about Red Rover?”

  “The man we’re looking for is called Abe Lincoln,” Erin said.

  “You described Red Rover perfectly,” she said. “I’m Bea, by the way.”

  “I’ll bite,” Erin said. “Who is Red Rover?”

  “He’s a young guy. Skinny. I call him Red Rover because when the vamps come around looking for blood, he goes right on over.” She let out a laugh that sounded more like a choking cackle.

  “Does he ever go by any other name?” Erin asked.

  “Not that I know of. I don’t think anyone actually knows his real name. I started calling him Red Rover, and it just stuck. No one else knows what it means though. Except the vamps, of course.” She eyed me. “Surely you must know him.”

  “Most of us don’t feed on humans, Bea,” I said.

  “You do. I can see it in your eyes. In fact”—she pointed to Erin—“you feed on her.”

  This was getting more than a little creepy. “What makes you think that?”

  “Vamps get a look once they taste human blood. Around the iris of the eyes. It lightens up, like a circle of flame. Shows they’ve tasted something they can’t go without. Addicts get the same look about them.”

  “Is this making any sense to you?” I asked Erin. She was a nurse. She’d probably seen her share of addicts.

  “Not that I’ve noticed among addicts, but…”

  “What?”

  “I’ll tell you later.”

  “She sees the mark on you,” Bea said. “She’s seen it, I tell you.”

  “All right,” Erin said. “Enough. You have no idea what I have or haven’t seen. We just want to find Abe Lincoln. Or Red Rover. Whoever he is.”

  “He has the mark, I tell you. I’ve been a voodoo high priestess since I came of age. I have the sight.”

  “So you’ve told us,” Erin said. “If you truly have the sight, tell us where Red Rover is.”

  “He hangs out on Royal during the day, begging. Sometimes he takes Old John’s dog with him, but I see he didn’t today.” She pointed to the first man we’d spoken to.

  “All right,” Erin said. “Thank you for your help.”

  “Ain’t you going to give me anything for my help?”

  I scoffed. “You’re a voodoo priestess. Why don’t you just conjure up whatever you need?”

  “It don’t work that way, Mr. Vampire.”

  “I’ll tell you what,” Erin said. “If we find Abe Lincoln on Royal, we’ll come back and reward you.”

  She hissed at us as we walked away.

  “Do you think she’s cursing us?” Erin asked quietly.

  “There’s no such thing as curses,” I said.

  Chapter Twenty

  Erin

  Though I felt I’d hidden it well, our encounter with Bea had left me more than a little spooked. I grasped Dante’s hand as we walked back to the car.

  “Are you sure there’s no such thing as curses?” I asked.

  “Very sure.”

  “Forgive my skepticism, but a week ago I would have bet everything I own that there was no such thing as vampires.”

  “Well, technically, there isn’t. Not the way you thought of vampires, anyway. The myths are almost all BS. Our DNA is nearly indistinguishable from humans.”

  “DNA. This is all so unreal.”

  Two seconds later, when we got to the car, he pushed me against it.

  “Is this unreal? You and I? What we’ve shared?” His dark gaze seared into my own.

  “That’s not what I mean.”

  “Then what do you mean, Erin? When are you going to accept all of me?” He nudged into me, his erection apparent. “Just being near you has my cock hard, my teeth ready to descend. We’re not animals, Erin. We know how to control our urges, our desires, but when I’m around you—” He shook his head. “This is real. I’ve never known anything more real.”

  My gaze was glued to his mouth, his full lips, but then inside, those…

  I rose onto my tiptoes and kissed him, a current of electricity racing through me. Our tongues tangled, and then—

  “Ouch!” I pulled away from him.

  His eyes were dark as espresso, but that flaming rim. He said nothing, just burned me with his intense gaze.

  I touched my lips. “How do—” God, how to find the words? “What happens with your teeth? Why do they…do that?”

  He let out a slow breath. “Give me a minute. You can’t just—” He closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them. “Teeth are living tissue. They may not feel that way to you, but anyone who has a dead tooth will tell you a living tooth has feeling. Our cuspids are the teeth that make us carnivorous. Humans have them too. Ours just happen to have another use, and they change to fulfill that purpose.”

  Keep an open mind, Erin. “What does it…feel like?”

  “My gums begin to itch, and then they tingle, like tiny pin pricks. Kind of like when your foot falls asleep and then wakes up. Those pin pricks are the oxygenated blood flowing back into the nerves of your foot. The blood flows into my gums and stimulates the nerve in my tooth, and it grows. Once I’ve fed, the teeth retract.”

  “But your teeth also come out when…”

  “When I’m turned on. Or when I’m angry. Testosterone and adrenaline both stimulate the vampire canine nerve.”

  Vampire canine nerve? “You make it sound so clinical.”

  “It is clinical. It’s a physiological response, just like any other.”

  Not like any other, actually. I was a nurse. I knew anatomy and physiology as well as most physicians. A thought speared into my head, and I jerked slightly. “I wonder if I’ve seen vampire patients at the hospital.”

  “In New Orleans? I’m sure you have. When you lived in Ohio it w
as probably unlikely. There’s no way you would know the difference unless you knew what to look for. We’ve been living among humans for so long that we’ve become adept at hiding our miniscule disparities.”

  “What differences are there? Other than your teeth.”

  “Our fair and sensitive skin.”

  “I have that too.”

  He cleared his throat. “Yes, you do. And our females only menstruate every two to three years.”

  “Ha! Lucky them. Every human woman in the world would gladly trade places.”

  “Really? It screws with fertility big time.”

  Yes, it would. Infertile women who wanted children suffered greatly. I felt pretty stupid for making that comment. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It would be almost impossible to get pregnant. You’d have to really watch the timing.”

  “It’s very difficult for vampire women to conceive. That’s one of the reasons why there are so few of us left.”

  “But your sister…”

  “Got…lucky, I guess.”

  Dante’s voice sounded funny. I got the feeling he didn’t consider his sister lucky at all. I didn’t feel comfortable pressing him about it. It was none of my business anyway. Or maybe it was. Maybe Dante and I—

  I drew in a breath before the thought could fully form. “Shall we head over to Royal?”

  It was nearing noon, and I should have been sleeping, but my curiosity won out. Dante held my hand as we strolled along Royal Street, looking for Abe Lincoln. We got hungry and stopped for some beignets and coffee at a little shop, and then kept searching. Street musicians were out in abundance, along with beggars and, of course, tourists. We really had to keep our eyes peeled.

  Red Rover. What Bea had told us jibed with what Abe had said to me about letting vampires feed on him without hypnotizing him. I hadn’t thought to examine Bea’s neck for bite marks. If we found Abe, I had every intention of going back and giving Bea some food and money. I made a mental note to check then.

  We continued walking, passing the Cornstalk Hotel, where Dante told me his sister worked as a night manager. A few blocks more, past the St. Germain house, where a vampire had reputedly lived. It was a gorgeous red brick residence that was, last I heard, owned by a rich attorney who spent his weekdays in Baton Rouge.