Blood Price (New Breed Book 1) Read online

  “Where do you want it?” he asked, his voice quieter now that he was so close. The whole thing was so much more intimate.

  “I....” How was she supposed to answer that question?

  “I’d prefer the neck, but I understand if you’re too sore. It will be over faster for you on the neck.”

  “Well then, that sounds reasonable,” she said, her quivering voice giving her away. Her neck was still sore, but it was markedly better than it had been. “I think if you go for the other side, it won’t bother me.”

  Without any more preamble, he reached out, brushing the hair off her neck. He apparently remembered the side which was bitten last time. They were just going to do this? Well, what the hell was she expecting? For him to buy her dinner first?

  He leaned forward and she squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the pain. But there was no immediate sting. In fact, there was nothing. He didn’t bite her. Instead, his mouth hovered right above her sensitive skin, so close she could feel his warm breath brush against her rhythmically. If there was any doubt about him being able to hear her heart beating so fast before, it was gone now.

  “Will you be able to stop?” she eked out.

  Even though she couldn’t see him, she could feel John tense up at the question. She probably should’ve kept her mouth shut, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she was his first donor. What if he didn’t have the self-control necessary to keep her alive?

  John pulled away far enough for her to see his face. “I’ll be able to stop.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “I’ve stopped from killing men I fed on during the invasion, and I didn’t give a damn about their safety.”

  The blood drained from her face. Was that really better? “Have you killed anyone?” She winced. That wasn’t a good question. She already knew the answer to that. She didn’t need a confirmation of her fear.

  Luckily, he didn’t give her a direct answer, even though his silence told her more than enough. “This isn’t working.” He took her hand in his and led her deeper into the apartment. Before she could ask what he was thinking, he sat down on the middle of the couch and motioned her to follow. She started to sit next to him, and he shook his head. “No. On top of me.”

  She took a nervous gulp. “I don’t think—”

  “It will be easier for you to get away if you’re on top.”

  Oh. This wasn’t a sex thing. He was doing this to help her feel more in control. Tela was happy for the consideration, but she couldn’t possibly straddle him and not feel as if it were sexual. What was better? The alternative was him on top of her. There really wasn’t a good way to do this. This would all be so much easier if he were a stranger.

  “Even on top, I wouldn’t have any control,” she pointed out.

  “Sometimes the illusion of control is all you need. But I think the longer we draw this out, the more nervous you’ll be and the hungrier I’ll become.”

  God, she totally forgot he was waiting for his dinner. Was it like with humans? If Tela was kind of hungry and then she walked into a restaurant and smelled the food and became ravenous?

  “Okay,” she said hesitantly.

  He sat still on the couch, with his hands at his side. It was impossible for him to be nonthreatening. He was just so large. His face was defined by sharp cheekbones and a jawline that so many men would be envious of. He was one of the good ones, she reminded herself as she leaned forward, setting one hand on his shoulder as she put a knee on one side of him and lifted the other leg to straddle him.

  She lowered her weight slowly, careful to keep her parts from touching his parts as much as possible.

  Looking down at him, she had to admit it wasn’t the worst idea. Even though the control was all an act, it was so much less intimidating to look down at him.

  “Now, when you’re ready, bring your neck to me,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

  Against her will, a rush of warmth filled her at the words. Damn it, she was allowed to think he was attractive. Hell, he was designed to lure humans in any way possible. But she was not allowed to be turned on by any of this. At all.

  Nonetheless, she leaned forward, pushing her hair out of the way as she brought her neck right to his lips. She chewed on her inner cheek in anticipation. As his hands went around her back, instead of fear, that warmth just got hotter, and she felt the scratch of his fangs against her throat.

  Her hands squeezed his shoulder and as he punctured her, the sensation was unlike anything she’d ever felt. Before, she felt as though she were being torn apart. Like a vicious animal was at her throat.

  But this was... unspeakable.

  Her eyes drifted shut as he drank deeply from her. It would be a lie to say it didn’t hurt. Pain was an undeniable part of it, but there was so much more on top of the pain. There was heat from the site of the bite, and it was radiating out and mixing with the warmth that had already been spreading through her.

  She thought she was the only one affected, but John’s grip tightened on her and pulled her harshly against him, where the evidence of his arousal was all too present. And when she felt that erection pushing at her most private parts, instead of pulling away like a sane person, she instead found herself rubbing up against him, as though reveling in the fact that she wasn’t the only one affected.

  And even though the last time she’d been fed on it felt like it would never end, John was pulling away all too soon. He pulled his teeth out, but his mouth stayed against her neck, catching any escaping drops of blood as Tela tried to get her bearings back.

  How much time had passed? Why did she want it to go on longer? God, this wasn’t fair. How could the vampires be so damn pretty and so strong and somehow have a bite that affected her like this?

  To make it even worse, John’s mouth on her neck felt exactly like a kiss. And considering she was still straddling his erection and clutching onto his shoulders as if her life depended on it, she wasn’t doing anything to help the situation.

  And it wasn’t as if she could deny the effect he had on her. Not after rubbing herself against him like a horny kitten.

  Soon it became apparent that he wasn’t feeding anymore, even on spare drops. He was just holding her now, his face pressed into her neck. She could feel his breaths against her skin and the gentle rise and fall of his chest. She should tell him to let her go, but on some level she knew she didn’t want to move.

  After so many months of pain and heartbreak, being held by someone, even one of the causes of all that pain and heartbreak, felt good. Not to mention the fact that she’d been so scared all day—no, all month—about having to donate again. Now that it was over and it wasn’t nearly as terrible as she expected, all the stress rushed out of her, and it was replaced with a deep exhaustion.

  And John didn’t seem in any hurry to move her either. Even with the erection, he didn’t make any advances. He just sat there and held her. The only difference was that his hands started to rub up and down her back.

  What was he thinking in all this? Was she some oddity? A meal that was staying around too long? Well, he said he’d never used a donor before. Maybe he knew just as little as she did about normal.

  “I should go,” she whispered finally.

  When she leaned back, she expected John to stop her, but he relaxed his grip ever so slightly so she could get enough space between them and look down at him. “Your eyes.” They were still jet-black and staring up at her. It was impossible to think of him as anything other than a demon when he looked like that, but her fear was gone. If he wanted to bite her—or do anything he wanted to her, for that matter—he had more than ample opportunity.

  “They go black when I’m hungry,” he said, his voice husky, showing he was still under the influence.

  “But you just ate.”

  “I’m hungry for other things.”

  She couldn’t pretend to be surprised at that.

  “I really should go,” she said
, her words sounding unbelievable even to her own ears.

  “I won’t stop you,” he said, even though his hands didn’t move from her.

  “I....” Before she said anything to dig her deeper in this hole, she finally got the strength to push herself away from him and stand on her own two feet, however shaky. Even though she didn’t think he drank too much, she was still a little bit woozy as she stood and took a moment to get her bearings about her.

  “I can call you a cab.” John stood.

  “You don’t need to do that,” she said abruptly. He narrowed his eyes at her, and she realized they’d come back to normal. Of course, normal for him was still a sharp mix of golds and greens. The fact that she could make out that much detail meant she was standing way too close to him. She took a few more steps back. “I think this went well. I feel okay, and I think you’ve got what you needed?”

  His eyes traveled up and down her body, and she took a nervous gulp. “I’m already getting paid for tonight. You don’t have to go out of your way to get a cab.”

  “Would you prefer I walk you home again?”

  “No,” she said, all too quickly. “I bought orange juice, unlike last time. No escort necessary, I promise.”

  “It would make me feel a lot better to know that you got home safe. Let me call you a car.”

  “Another selfish good deed?”

  “Something like that.” He picked up the phone.

  Eventually, all the selfish good deeds were going to start looking like a good deed.

  John watched Tela get into the car he’d called and pull the door shut behind her. He’d allowed her to think she wasn’t going to be escorted home, but he wasn’t about to let her walk past sunset without his eyes on her. Maybe he couldn’t be there at all times, but he could at least make sure she got home safely. From what he knew, blood donors were treated fairly well among his kind. It made no sense to be rude to the people providing them with food. But he knew better than most how cruel some could be. Especially among his own kind. He’d felt protective of Tela long before he ever tasted her. And after their brief exchange in his room, the urge to watch over her was stronger than ever.

  He heard stories of this happening to other males, but he’d brushed them off. From an outsider’s perspective, it sounded as though the human females were seducing his kind and luring them away from their former lives. But with Tela, it was completely different. She was no seductress using her feminine wiles to draw him away. Maybe because humans were naturally weaker than his kind, or something about the way her giant blue eyes looked up at him, but it was somehow impossible for him to resist the urge to guard and protect.

  Even letting her go home was a struggle. Some base, primal drive inside him wanted to lock her inside his apartment and keep her there until he didn’t think it was too dangerous to go outside. So, never.

  To a lot of his kind, she was viewed as nothing more than livestock. He shouldn’t feel bad. In his studies of humans, he found they weren’t exactly that friendly to the creatures they used as food. But she was so much more than that to him. He couldn’t name exactly what she was, but she was more.

  As the cab drove off, John started to move. He had to go slow to keep tabs on the vehicle, dodge the obstacles, and avoid being seen at the same time. He wondered whether she was looking for him. Could she feel his presence like he could feel hers?

  All of his senses were on high alert when she was around. The second she showed up in the hallway, her scent had drifted over to his nostrils. Her taste still lingered in his mouth, and his cock was still hard with the urge—no, need—to feel more of her.

  This shouldn’t be a problem. Back on Vora, there were so few women around, especially for someone as low ranked as him. Celibacy was a way of life. Even when he came here and saw all of the mortal females, he hadn’t been tempted. It wasn’t until that day—thirty-four days ago, to be exact—when he first felt Tela that he ever once felt the urge to stray. And today was supposed to take care of that. He assumed a donation would scratch that itch, but apparently his need to feed and his need to fuck were two separate things that needed to be satiated.

  The cab stopped in front of her apartment building and she got out, saying a few words before heading to her building. As she unlocked the door, she stopped and glanced around.

  This was it. She must’ve known he was there. He took one step forward, about to close the distance between them. If she felt him, that meant she must be feeling the pull too. He wasn’t imagining it. There was something between them and it was undeniable.

  He took one more step before he noticed they weren’t alone on the street. About a hundred feet away from Tela, another Vopura was coming up. He was forced to let Tela disappear into the building as he walked out fully under the lamplight so he’d be sure that the other Vopura would see him.

  He felt the need to be seen. Other vampires should know that as of right now, this place was under his protection. But instead of leaving, the other vampire approached. Faster than a human would, but slow enough for John to track his progression.

  As he came closer, he recognized the male. He probably would’ve recognized him sooner, but obviously he had been distracted.

  Dante stopped a few feet away. “I thought you were off duty tonight.”

  “Just out for a walk.”

  Dante glanced around them. “In District Six? Lots of mortals around this side of town. What made you walk here?”

  “That’s the fun of being free. I can go where I want, when I want.”

  “Yes, but as your commanding officer, I’m also allowed to ask you why.”

  John shook his head. “Commanding officer. You’ve been reading too much human lingo. The closest translation I’ve found for what you are is master.”

  Dante didn’t look annoyed or upset by John’s correction. Considering how rocky the transition had been, John had really lucked out that he hadn’t gotten someone worse than Dante. Just because he had his freedom now didn’t mean that any of his new peers looked at him as an equal.

  Even if he wasn’t a slave anymore, the soldier and superior relationship was still different from humans. If one of them stepped out of line, it wasn’t unheard of for a superior officer to issue—what was it the humans called it? Capital punishment. So Dante referring to himself as a commanding officer was an understatement, regardless of John’s free status.

  “You’re right. It doesn’t matter why you’re here. Have you seen anything out of the ordinary while you’ve been out?”

  John frowned. “There’s something wrong?”

  Dante gave him a stern look. “Don’t put words in my mouth. It was a simple question.”

  “Nothing out of the ordinary,” he said. Except the fact that he’d followed a mortal here. But Dante didn’t need to hear about that.

  “All right. You didn’t hear it from me, but there’s talk of... something going on.”

  That had his attention. “What does that mean?”

  “There are rumors of a traitor. A Vopura working with the humans.”

  John scoffed. What idiots. Earth had made them soft. Back at Vora, with resources so scarce, violence was a way of life. A constant. It made war second nature to them. It was naive to think humans would ever accept their kind. Making a deal with them was making a deal with death. Humans might be weaker, but they had numbers and the sun on their side. The only way the Vopura stood a chance was with magic. The barrier around the city was strong, but no one knew whether it would last forever.

  And they didn’t have a lot of witches on their side.

  “Do you suspect there’s a rebellion going on?”

  “I know there’s a human rebellion going on. Even slaves revolt every few centuries. We’ve hardly been here long enough to beat anyone into submission. We’ve been playing nice and hoping for acceptance, but I don’t see that happening any time soon. The resistance hasn’t given up searching for a way to bring the wall down.”

  “You want
to go in harder then?” The thought didn’t sit well with him. Maybe a few days, a few weeks ago, it would’ve been a palatable idea, but things were different now. Before, humans were nothing but an enemy. An obstacle to him living the life he’d always wanted.

  But now the humans had a face, and her name was Tela.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “How did it go?” asked Dani as soon as Tela walked in.

  “Fine.” Tela took another big gulp of orange juice. If she was covering her face with a bottle of juice, maybe Dani wouldn’t be able to see her blushing. Hey, maybe the blood loss would make the blushing less noticeable. That was one hell of a silver lining.

  Though she had a feeling nothing would help with this current blushing problem.

  She’d sat in the back of the cab and relived every single second she’d spent in John’s apartment. This was bad. This was very bad. No, even worse. It was unacceptable.

  She could not have feelings for a vampire. Not romantic ones and especially not sexy ones. The very idea was crazy.

  This wasn’t just some bad boy. She’d done bad before. This was different. This was a bad species. Every time she’d ever heard those stupid stories about a human falling for a vampire, she’d immediately written the woman off as crazy.

  And that applied to her as well. There was nothing normal about these thoughts going through her mind. She just had to go on. Go to bed and push all these crazy events out of her mind.

  Dani came out of the room Tela had left her in and looked over Tela skeptically. Great. The last thing she needed was her sister studying her.

  “I mean, it went as good as it could go,” she said quickly as she started to head to her room. Sleep and forget about all of this. It was a good plan. She just needed to stick to the plan.

  “I got a hold of a few people,” said Dani in an excited voice that let Tela know she didn’t want to let the conversation go.

  Tela took a breath and came to terms with the fact that she wouldn’t be making a quick escape any time soon. “I told you not to get your hopes up about any of those people.”