4
Oliver felt the warm lips of the strange Asian girl on his mouth, kissing him, while the scent of blood wrapped around him. Was he delirious? He had to be. Nothing else made sense. Why else would a beautiful young woman just throw herself at him and offer him sex in exchange for a ride out of this seedy area? And why would she smell so enticingly of blood when he knew he was sated after feeding only minutes earlier?
Without another thought, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. Her lips tasted sweet and clean. It told him that she didn’t live on the streets. Her body smelled fresh, despite the scent of blood that clung to her. Had she been in a physical fight or were his senses so sharp tonight that he could smell her blood as if it were oozing from her body?
When he swept his tongue against her lips, they parted instantly, allowing him inside to explore her. Despite the fact that he was a stranger to her, she invited him to play with her, to tangle with her tongue, to lick her teeth, to kiss her more passionately that he’d kissed a woman in a long time. Was this a preview of how she would be in bed? Passionate, sensual, wild? Had she really offered him sex?
At the thought, his cock began to swell.
Fired on by the way she pressed herself against him and kissed him with abandon, he intensified his kiss, telling her that he was accepting her offer, that he would give her a ride out of this area, and then, he’d give her the ride of her life. Once they’d left the Bayview area behind, he would park the van and take her on the back bench.
Getting hotter by the second, he slid his hand down her back, palming her jeans-encased backside. A moan released from her lips, and he drew her closer, but his thick coat prevented him from rubbing his hardening cock against her.
Before he had a chance to open his coat, so he could feel her body more closely, the girl went slack in his arms. Her movements ceased.
Shocked, Oliver let go of her lips and stared at her. She was unconscious.
F*ck, what had he done now?
Her head fell back, causing her long black hair to expose her neck. That’s when he saw them: the two small puncture wounds that could only have been caused by one kind of weapon. A vampire’s fangs.
Blood still trickled from them. Instinctively he pressed his fingers over them and put pressure on them to stop the flow of blood. No wonder he’d smelled blood. Two things became instantly clear: there was a vampire in the area, and he hadn’t erased the girl’s memory after feeding from her, nor had he finished, because he hadn’t licked her wounds. No wonder she had told him somebody was hunting her.
Shit!
Oliver’s eyes quickly roamed the area. In the distance, he heard hasty footsteps, somebody running, but he couldn’t yet see anybody. No matter who it was, he couldn’t just stand here with the girl in his arms. Be it human or vampire approaching, neither was allowed to find him here. A human in this neighborhood was most likely a criminal and Oliver wasn’t in the mood for a fight right now, and if the vampire who’d been feeding off her was approaching, he’d be utterly pissed off that she had escaped him. And he fancied a fight with a pissed off vampire even less.
Without further ado, he lifted the girl into his arms and unlocked the car, placing her on the back bench before he slid into the driver’s seat. A moment later, he gunned the engine and raced out of the neighborhood as if a pack of wolves were chasing him.
The girl’s blood smelled more intense now, and he was glad that he’d just only fed, otherwise he would not be able to resist the temptation she represented and continue where the other vampire had left off.
At the thought of his earlier feeding, he shivered in disgust. He’d been so greedy and already so far gone that he’d attacked the juvenile delinquent without finesse, without care whether the kid saw what he was. Only afterwards had he had the presence of mind to wipe the kid’s memory of the horrific event. He’d felt so bad about what he’d done, about how much blood he’d taken, that he’d shoved a hand full of twenty-dollar-bills into his victim’s jacket pocket. But still it hadn’t erased his guilt.
He still felt disgusted with himself that he’d succumbed to his hunger again, that he hadn’t been strong enough to resist and fight the demon inside him. Would he one day end up like one of those junkies living in the streets when Quinn and Scanguards had given up on him? When they’d decided that he was too much of a liability for them? He couldn’t allow it. He had to prove to them and to himself that he was stronger, that he could be trusted, that he could be responsible.
Gripping the steering wheel tighter, he veered around another corner, finally leaving the Bayview behind him and entering the South of Market area. Normally, this was where he fed, but for some inexplicable reason, he’d been drawn to the seediest of neighborhoods tonight. Was somebody trying to tell him something? Was his subconscious mind trying to show him how he would end up if he didn’t get a grip on himself?
Oliver pushed the thought aside to make way for a more pressing issue: the girl on his back seat. First, he had to make sure that she was all right, then he needed to find out what had happened, and eventually he would have to erase her memory, particularly if she was aware who’d been hunting her: a vampire. It didn’t matter who the guy was, whether Oliver knew him or not, because it was an unwritten rule to guard a vampire’s identity at all times. Humans weren’t allowed to find out about the immortal creatures living in their midst.
Oliver threw a look over his shoulder, but the girl didn’t stir. He recalled the way she’d looked at him with her beautiful almond shaped eyes that were as dark as the night itself, how she had pleaded with him to help her. He had already decided not to get involved in whatever her problem was, but then she’d surprised him with her offer.
Had she really meant it? She must have been scared out of her wits to offer a stranger sex, just so he’d save her. And by God, he would have taken it, but now? He shook his head. He couldn’t take the offer now. It would be unethical.
Unethical? the little devil sitting on his shoulder asked. What’s unethical about having sex with a hot chick?
And she was hot. Long, black hair, a slender, delicate figure, small, but well-formed boobs, and then those eyes: tilted upwards, yet large, their irises dark as night, yet brilliant in their reflection. She was Chinese, he guessed, but he’d barely heard an accent when she’d spoken, so she was probably a second generation immigrant and belonged to the large Chinese community of San Francisco. And she was more beautiful than any other woman he’d ever encountered. When she’d made her offer of sex, his heart had stopped for a moment, because he couldn’t believe his luck. This beautiful girl was willing to have sex with him?
Oliver gritted his teeth. Everything was wrong about taking advantage of a frightened woman, even though his cock didn’t seem to care about that fact. No, that particular appendage was more than willing to hold her to her promise as soon as she awoke.
“Ah, crap,” he hissed under his breath.
For once, he should have listened to Blake and stayed at home and drunk the bottled blood in the pantry instead. Then there would be two fewer things he had to worry about right now: one, he wouldn’t feel so damn guilty about having fed from an innocent, and two, he wouldn’t have an unconscious young woman in the back of his van, whose brains he wanted to f*ck out as soon as she came to.
Oliver turned onto his street and glanced at the mansion he called home. Only the lights over the entrance were illuminated, otherwise the house was dark. It appeared that Blake had gone out, since it was too early for him to be in bed already. Ever since Blake had joined them after finding out that Quinn and Rose were his fourth great-grandparents, he kept more or less the same hours the vampires kept. He slept until early afternoon and stayed up into the early hours of the morning. Soon, he’d most likely have adjusted completely and remain awake all night.
Oliver operated the garage door opener and drove inside, parking the car in its usual spot next to the stairs that led up into the house. When he switched off the engine, quiet suddenly descended around him. He opened the car door and stepped out. No sound came from upstairs. Just as well. He didn’t want to have to explain to Blake what had happened, when he didn’t even know himself what he’d gotten into. With some luck, everything would be back to normal by the time Blake returned, and his nosy half-brother wouldn’t be the wiser.
Walking to the van’s sliding door, he opened it and looked at his passenger. She still lay there without moving. He bent down to her, verifying that she was breathing—she was—then he scooped her up in his arms and carried her upstairs.
With his elbow he switched on the lights in the hallway, then headed for the living room, where he did the same. Gently he laid her onto the large sectional, snatching the woolen blanket that lay over the armrest, and covered her with it.
Then he stood there, looking down at her. When he’d been human, he’d taken care of injured colleagues often enough, but his help had mostly constituted of feeding them his blood so their vampire bodies could heal. While he knew that vampire blood too had healing properties, he was unsure what to do right now. Not knowing what the woman suffered from, he didn’t want to take such drastic steps as feeding her his blood. What if she woke while he did so? It would only make things worse.
As he shoved a shaking hand through his hair, he noticed the girl move. Instantly he bent down to her and realized that she was shaking. It was clear that she had the chills.
“F*ck!” he cursed.
He could only imagine that the other vampire had taken too much blood and weakened her. When another chill went through her body, Oliver lowered himself onto the couch, took her into his arms and held her close to him, but her shivers didn’t cease.
He needed help. Professional help.
Quickly he pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
When the call connected, he made his request. “Maya, you need to come to the house. I need a doctor.”
“Oliver?” she asked in surprise. “Are you hurt?”
“Not I. A human. Come quickly.”