Vengeance (The Captive #6)(40)

He released the cloak and tugged at the neck to pull it more snuggly against her. “I never wanted a wooden stake so close to my heart,” she said.

He laughed as he stepped away from her. “I doubt any vampire ever did.” He took hold of her arms again to inspect them. “The scratches are gone.”

“Good.”

He handed her the last stake, wrapping her fingers around it. “How does it feel?”

“Strange,” she admitted.

“You’ll get used to that. Does the cloak feel weighted down?”

She took a few turns around the cave to test out the feel of the added weight of the cloak. The cloak swirled around her ankles and hung tighter against her neck, but it didn’t feel much different than it had before. “No.”

“Can you move as freely?”

“Yes.”

“Good, now come at me with the stake.”

“What?” she demanded as she spun toward him.

He grinned at her as he widened his stance and gave her a, come and get me, gesture with his hands. “Come at me. Unless you don’t want a crash course on how to stake someone.”

“I don’t think crash course and stake are words that should be used together.”

“Perhaps not, but you’re still going to come at me.”

“I’ve only rushed at one vampire before.”

“And how did that end?”

The smile slid from her face. “I might have killed him,” she admitted in a low murmur. His hands fell back to his sides; he stopped smiling. “He was trying to stop me from leaving Badwin; I knocked him over the side of the cliff and onto some rocks below. He may have still been alive…”

“You did what had to be done,” William interrupted sternly.

The memory of the man’s broken body faded from her mind. “The way he looked at me when he first saw me terrified me,” she admitted. “What he would have done to me should never be done to any woman; I saw it in his eyes.”

A muscle in his cheek jumped and a vein pulsed to life in his forehead. His playful exterior vanished once more. She missed it almost immediately and wished she’d never brought up what had happened on the mountain. That intense look never left his face as he strode toward her, but she didn’t have the impulse to flee from him. The touch of his hand on her arm belied the look of death on his face when he lifted the hand holding her stake.

“You did what had to be done and don’t ever hesitate to do it again.” The playful man may be gone, but his fingers slid over hers in a gesture meant to soothe. “You must put your survival ahead of everyone else’s in a fight. If you’re not alive, then you won’t be able to help anyone. Remember that Tempest and strike first.”

“I’ve never wanted to kill anyone.”

“No one does, but sometimes that choice is taken from us. Now remember that and come at me.”

He walked away again and stood ten feet away from her. “Won’t we make too much noise?”

“Short of lighting a bomb off in here, not much is going to travel beyond the wall and wind. Come on, you’re older than me; there’s a good possibility you could take me down.”

She snorted in disbelief; she may be older but she could feel the power coming off him in waves. She’d felt more of it from other vampires, but he was strong. He also had the training to move with lethal intent as she’d witnessed in the snow before.

She planted her hands on her hips as she studied him. “I think you’re spoiling for a fight.”

His eyebrows wiggled in a playful manner as he spoke, “Maybe I’m just trying to get my hands on you some more.”

“Funny,” she retorted, but he continued to stare at her with a challenging twinkle in his eyes. He gave another, come on, gesture with his hands. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Would you prefer it if I came at you?”

Her head tilted to the side as she considered that. She bit back her retort of there being many things she would prefer him to do than that. She didn’t think her playful reply would be taken as such, and she wasn’t sure it would have been entirely playful. His woodsy, fiery scent lingered from his last touch and she could still feel the pressure of his body against her skin. She longed to touch him again.

“I actually would,” she finally admitted.

“I can arrange that. Don’t accidentally stake me.”

“I won’t.” She didn’t plan to lift the weapon against him.

The position of his feet changed; the smile slid from his face as his eyes ran over her. What have I done? She may be older than him, and he may have once been human, but he moved faster than she’d ever thought possible. He hadn’t been able to pick up much speed against those creatures in the snow, but now he could.

She dashed to the side, trying to avoid his grasp, but his arm wrapped around her waist and he lifted her clear off the ground. The cave spun around her in a dizzying blur before he placed her on her feet and danced away from her. She was still trying to figure out where she stood in the cave, and he was already leaning casually against the wall with an amused smile.

“Keep your hands up,” he instructed her. Tempest lifted her hands before her. He shook his head before walking over to her again. He lifted her hands higher so her elbows protected her chest and her hands were almost in front of her face. “You’re keeping your two most vulnerable parts protected, your heart and your head, if you do this. Keep your arms loose and flowing. Stay on the balls of your feet so you can move easily, and get out of the way faster.”