Vengeance (The Captive #6)(57)
Her lips pressed against his ear, “Don’t.”
“We need one of those cloaks.”
She held onto him for a minute more before her hands reluctantly slid away from him. He kept his mouth close to her ear, before placing a tender kiss against her temple. Stepping to the side to separate himself from her, he pulled two stakes from inside his cloak as he slid carefully in between the rock walls.
He stopped at the end of the small crevice and watched the two men continue forward. One of the cloaks would have to be ruined, but he’d do everything he could to keep the other one pristine and useable. Stepping from the interior, he rushed at the back of one of the men. He didn’t like the idea of stabbing someone in the back, not after what had happened to him, but he’d meant it when he’d told Tempest he would do whatever it took to win a fight and keep her safe.
The man released another cackling laugh just before William drove the stake through his back and straight into his heart. The man jerked, a startled cry escaped him as he took a couple of stumbling steps forward. The other one turned toward him, but before he knew what was going on, William drove his fist straight into his nose.
Staggering backward, the man’s hand flew up to his nose to stifle the blood flowing forth. No blood on the cloak, he repeated in his head as he lunged at the man. He grabbed hold of the cloak at the man’s neck and jerked it backward. The metal of the brooch groaned as it twisted and bent before popping open. Tossing the cloak free of any bloodshed, he wrapped his hand around the man’s throat, lifted him up and propelled him backward into the rock wall.
The man beat at his arms; he kicked out wildly in an attempt to dislodge William’s grasp on his neck. William twisted the stake in his hand and drove it toward the man’s chest, but the vamp dodged to the side and smashed his fist down on William’s forearm at the last second. Knocked from his grasp, the stake clattered against the rock floor as it spun away into the shadows.
The man’s teeth skimmed back before he lunged at William. Spinning to the side, he barely avoided the vampire’s grasping fingers. He’d expected the vamp to come at him again, instead he changed course and ran toward the cave exit. William snarled, he raced forward and leapt onto the man’s back, bringing him down within feet of where the rocks narrowed in on each other.
The vampire’s hands and feet kicked against the floor. Grabbing hold of a handful of his blond hair, William lifted his head up and smashed it into the floor with a savagery that caused bone to crack and blood to spill from the broken skin of his forehead.
The man released a low wail; William stifled it by wrapping his arm around his neck and jerking it up. A gurgled choking sound escaped him. His hands flailed uselessly at William over his back. He continued to pull back until the rending of the vamp’s skull tearing from his spine echoed throughout the cave.
The man’s hands fell limply to his side; he was still alive, but the snapping of his spine had left him paralyzed. He would stay that way as William wouldn’t give him a chance to heal. Climbing off him, William pulled another stake from the inside of his cloak and bent over the man who continued to make strange noises from his crushed windpipe.
He didn’t look at the vampire as he drove the stake through his back and deep into his heart. The man released another strange sound before his head smashed down on the rock floor. Rising to his feet, William wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his forearm. His teeth ground together as he stared at the body.
Turning away, he didn’t look at Tempest standing at the front of the small crevice where they’d hidden. He couldn’t bring himself to meet her eyes right now, not until he gained control of the bloodlust still thrumming through him. Killing had always been a necessity for his survival, but since becoming a vampire, he’d found a completely new level of pleasure in it.
Since meeting her, he found himself capable of more viciousness than he’d ever dreamed possible. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. He didn’t feel one iota of remorse about that realization, but he didn’t want her to see the red of his eyes or the fangs still tingling with their desire to shred flesh.
Pulling his cloak off, he wiped the blood from his hands on it before wiping his face. He removed the stakes from within his cloak and tugged the bag tied at his back forward. He slipped the stakes inside, readjusted the bag and grabbed the white cloak from the floor. A hasty inspection of the cloak revealed he’d managed to keep it blood free.
Slipping it around his neck, he clasped his horse brooch into place before turning to find Tempest standing behind him. He’d heard her approach, but had been unwilling to face her yet. Without hesitation, she rested her hand against his cheek and rose on her toes to press a tender kiss against his lips.
He hissed in a breath as a bolt of lust and something more sizzled through him. She was pulling away from him when he wrapped his arm around her waist and dragged her flush against him. Her hands flattened on his shoulders. She didn’t try to push him away as her body melded against his. Her lips parted to his gentle probing; his tongue swept inside to taste the sweet recesses of her mouth.
How could she make him feel so alive, so energized and desperate, yet strangely calm all at once? Her palm pressed against his cheek, her other arm slid around his neck when he lifted her off the ground and kept her pinned to him. What he wouldn’t give to be far away from here, with only her. However, they were in a cave, and anyone could stumble across them at any second.