We passed a row of abandoned buildings complete with smashed windows and graffiti. Dark stains marred the concrete in several places. The screech of tires echoed a few blocks away. Loud rock music poured out of a sketchy bar at the end of the street.
Arys captured my hand in his as if we were just a regular couple out for a stroll. “Your wolf feels wild tonight. Dangerous.”
His fingers were cool between mine, maybe more so because of the heat rushing through my veins. I burned with the wolf. Arys was hinting his concerns but not asking. Good man.
“I’ll be fine,” I tried to say with cool assurance, but it came out through gritted fang teeth. My fingers were tipped with deadly claws, and I had to concentrate hard on the human sights and scents around me. “I’m not sure I can do this. The bloodlust is buried so deep tonight. I can barely feel it at all.”
The three nights of the full moon, before, during and after, were the few days of the month when I was free of the vampire essence rooted deep down in my core. As grateful as I was for that, it wasn’t going to work in my favor tonight. I was about to face the vampire demoness that wanted me dead, and I had to be ready to bring it hard if need be. The wolf could potentially cripple me.
Arys stroked his thumb along my finger. “I can always feel it. Some nights worse than others. I need to do this, but you don’t have to.”
“I know. You’re still not choosing though.” I squeezed his hand and smiled up at him.
I was nervous about being present for Arys’s kill when I myself was free of the bloodlust. It felt too much like being an accomplice of my own free will. When the bloodlust drove me to kill, I wasn’t making the conscious decision. That didn’t make it ok, but it made it easier to live with myself afterward.
We passed the loud bar and rounded the corner, coming upon a small group engaged in some kind of conflict. Shouts rang out, and the thud of fists on flesh was audible. A young prostitute stood off to the side, trying to avoid the melee. Her thick makeup did nothing to hide her youth. She looked like a kid playing dress up.
“Nobody touches my girls for free.” One man shouted into the face of another, holding him tightly by the collar. “I hope you got a good feel because I’m going to break every one of your fingers.”
They looked up as we approached, ready to send us on our way if we dared to do something stupid, like intervening. I took in the sight, making a quick decision. Pimp or john. Both?
I gave Arys the slightest nod. Immediately I felt the change in him as he slipped into full-on predator mode. The pimp barely had time to sneer, “What the hell are you looking at?” before Arys was on him.
Arys grabbed the greasy sleaze in a death grip, sinking his deadly fangs in a motion so fast it was hard to follow. The pimp shrieked and flailed to no avail. The john looked on in horror, as if unable to believe what he was seeing. Then he turned and fled down the street, cursing up a storm.
The woman backed up a few steps before crumpling in a dead faint. I stood there transfixed, knowing I should help her but unable or unwilling to tear my eyes from the feasting vampire.
Arys was in his element. Blood sprayed, and the tangy aroma reached out to taunt my bloodlust to life. It sprang forth with a fervor that rocked me. Just moments before it was nonexistent, but watching Arys flick his tongue over the wounds before sinking his fangs once more was bringing me to my knees.
A groan drew my attention to the fallen hooker. She rolled over and attempted to get up though her insanely high heels made that difficult in her woozy state. I moved to help her, grabbing her arm. She peered up at me with frightened brown eyes. My gaze went to the bloody cut on her forehead, and it was all over.
I dragged her close and bared my massive fangs. She screamed, a high piercing sound that hurt my sensitive ears. She lashed out, striking me repeatedly in the face as I struggled to pin her arms. She smelled like blood and cheap perfume, and I wanted her.
I fought for her throat, overpowering her with my superhuman strength. The next hand that slapped my face belonged to Arys. Everything became a blur as he wrestled the woman from my grasp and shoved her away, shouting at her to get moving if she wanted to live to see another night.
“Alexa!” He shook me until my teeth rattled. “Have you lost your mind?”
He smelled like blood and death but felt like power. So much power. I leaned into him, seeking the thrill of the connection we shared. I kissed him with dark intentions, aching for him to take me to a higher level of ecstasy. Tasting the blood on his lips had me clawing at him like a lunatic, which given the circumstances, I was.
He kissed me back, plunging his tongue into my mouth with a hunger to match my own. My larger fangs sliced his lip, and the taste of his blood had me ready to tear my clothes off right there in the filthy street.