Scorched Ice (Fire and Ice #3)(49)
Devon pulled his Challenger up behind the RV as Julian climbed inside and shut the door. He took hold of Quinn’s hand and tugged her toward the back room without another glance at the others. Pulling her inside the room, he closed the sliding door.
“Julian—”
She didn’t get a chance to ask how he was before he turned to her, grabbed her waist, and drew her against him. She jerked as the intimate feel of his fangs sinking into her flesh, and her blood being pulled from her caused her body to turn into liquid heat.
Turning her head, she kissed the tender hollow of the exposed flesh above his jacket. Her lips skimmed back until her fangs scraped over his skin. His fingers dug into her hips as he pressed her closer. Sinking her fangs into his flesh, she moaned when his blood pooled into her mouth in a rich, intoxicating way.
His exhaustion beat against her while she drank. She caught a brief flash of the images he’d received from Herb’s cabin before he abruptly shut them off. He released his bite on her neck and slid his tongue over her flesh to lick away the last of her blood.
“Too much. I saw too much from his things,” he whispered hoarsely.
Retracting her fangs, she leaned back to peer up at him. Shadows marred his eyes; lines that normally weren’t there etched the corners of his mouth. “You shouldn’t have pushed yourself,” she said.
“The Commission must be stopped, and we are so close to doing so.”
“But not at the cost of you.”
He didn’t reply as he bent and swept her into his arms. His mouth fell upon hers in a claiming kiss filled with a hunger she could never deny. Every time his lips touched hers, she felt an electric thrill of need. She kept expecting the sensation to fade away, but it only increased until there were times when she wasn’t certain where he ended and she began.
He laid her on the bed before lowering himself over the top of her.
CHAPTER 18
Julian gazed at the sea of faces before him. All of them were vampires, many of them looked a little uncertain about what he’d just laid out to them. There were more vamps here than there had been at the meeting in Arizona. Word had gotten out about what they were trying to do, and it had been confirmed that safe passage was guaranteed for all. Julian had a feeling they wouldn’t have any vamps splitting off from here at the end, like they had in Arizona. Those who were going to continue to kill wouldn’t come, even with safe passage. They wouldn’t want anyone to know who they were.
The number of vampires in the world was once believed to be as high as fifty thousand, but many of those never made it to Elder status. They’d either been killed by Hunters or other vampires before they could make it to their first month as a vamp, never mind surviving five hundred years as one. Like many of the Hunters, a lot of vampires had also been destroyed during The Slaughter the now dead Elders had unleashed in an attempt to eradicate the Hunter line.
Many vamps were extremely selective about who they turned. If their existence ever got out to the general population, the chaos that would follow may be the end of them all. It was best if most humans continued to believe they were only a myth. Due to all of those factors, there was no way to know the true number of vamps remaining in the world. The number might be ten thousand on the high side, but Julian believed it to be closer to five thousand.
Hostility radiated from some of the vamps in the crowd as they glowered at him. Julian knew he’d never been overly liked before he stood shoulder to shoulder with Hunters and Guardians. The fact he could be a dick to almost everyone he encountered was an understatement. Over the years, he’d also killed many of his own kind. There would still be those vampires who would gladly see him dead even as they accepted his protection.
Quinn remained silent by his side, but her eyes were narrowed on the crowd as they shuffled and spoke with each other in muffled whispers.
“What if we decide to try to take out the rest of the Hunters and Guardians instead of working with them?” one vamp asked from the back. “From what I understand, there are far less of them left than us.”
“If you try to make a move on one of them, every one of the vampires with us will be given free rein to destroy you,” Julian replied. “Besides, they’re not your enemies. The vampires who kill for the thrill of it don’t give a shit about you and are only looking for the pleasure of the hunt. Vampires are far more challenging and fun for them to hunt and kill than humans are, believe me, I know. We will help keep you protected from those vamps as well as what remains of The Commission and the Hunters and Guardians they control.”
More murmurs went through the crowd. In the end, their bickering and hostility were for nothing, because just as he’d expected, none of them walked away.
“I’m sure Vern, Hadie, and Prue have informed all of you what will happen if you agree to stay,” he said. “You will allow me and Chris to touch you, and there is no way you’re going to get past either one of us if you’re lying.”
Most of the crowd nodded. Julian braced himself for what was to come from them. The vast number of images he’d taken in from Herb’s things last night still tumbled through his mind, but he could withstand this new influx. He had no other choice. Quinn stayed by his side as each of the vampires came forward to extend their hands to him and then Chris.
When they were done, Chris looked as if a small breeze would blow him over as he swayed unsteadily on his feet. Julian remained composed with a blank expression on his face. No matter how much he craved crawling into bed with Quinn right now, he could never allow them to see the smallest weakness in him. They had all passed through him and Chris, but some of them would pounce on that weakness in a heartbeat.