Void(69)

I didn’t slow down. Instead, I revved my bike faster, letting the wind whip across my face. It was a challenge—him facing me in the middle of the street, and me heading at him like a bullet shot from a gun. A game of chicken, to see who would cave first. I wanted to go until I saw the reds of his eyes and the gleam of his teeth.

He didn’t even flinch despite being entirely in line with my bike. I kept going, daring him, but still, he didn’t move. Fifty feet away. Forty. Twenty. Ten. Five.

It wasn’t until the rubber of my tire was only inches away from his boot that Render flashed out of the way.

Cocky bastard vamp.

After he spit himself ahead, I gripped the handlebars and adjusted direction to where he’d flashed ahead of me. I raced for him, and once again, he flashed out of the way at the very last second. Again and again we did this risk-driven challenge. Me trying to clip him, and him throwing down the gauntlet that I couldn’t.

By the fourth time, I’d nearly gotten him. My tire brushed against the fabric of his pants before he flashed to the right. I anticipated the move and already had my bike pointed at him, but he backtracked and disappeared again before I could get to him. I was panting, a huge smile spread across my face, my cheeks numb from the cold wind, and my eyes lit up in the moonlight. This was dangerous, crazy, and invigorating. It was perfect.

When he flashed right in front of my tire, making me squeal in surprise, I heard his laughter echo around me before he flashed out of the way again. His vampire speed was impressive, but I’d had no doubt it would be. He was the paragon of his people, after all.

“That all you got, Dev?” I heard him yell at me from his strip of pavement across the way. We were in some sort of industrial part of town, with only lonely warehouse buildings and street lights to keep us company. My tire marks were branded all over the road from our little game.

“I’m going easy on you, vamp!” I called back. “I could easily catch you!”

He flashed right in front of me again, so fast that he whipped the hair back from my face as he leaned in close. “That so?”

I turned hard and took off again with a laugh, racing down the straightaway as excitement took over me. This right here—this was what I’d missed. Having fun, being wild, and taking risks that had nothing to do with the Void. I was riding high on the thrill of the chase, and I loved it.

“You can’t outrun me, Void!”

I went faster. The buildings passing by me in a blur. It felt like I was flashing.

Render appeared in front of me again, but this time, instead of moving out of the way at the last second, he bent his knees and sprung straight up into the air. I slammed on the brakes, marking up the road with yet another black streak against the asphalt. I yanked off my helmet and whipped my head around, searching for him, my chest rising and falling with rushed breath.

There was a breeze at my back, and then my bike suddenly bounced with added weight. I felt arms wrap around me from behind, and I turned to look at him over my shoulder.

“I win,” he breathed into my ear.

I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my lips. “Maybe I let you.”

His dark, thick lashes were even more pronounced in the night, and his steely eyes were intense as he looked at me. His fangs were extended, probably because he’d been feeling the same adrenaline rush as I had. For some reason, the sight of his sharp teeth pressed into his full bottom lip had me leaning in closer. Render didn’t pull away. Instead, his hands moved down to my hips, squeezing slightly.

“How did you find me?”

“Your power calls to mine. I can sense you.”

His answer surprised me, but as the adrenaline began to drain out of me, I started remembering the whole reason I’d needed this escape in the first place. I think he must’ve seen the change in my face, because his gray-blue eyes softened, turning more vulnerable than I ever thought possible. “Do you...fear me now? Because of what happened?”

I had to think for a second. Did I fear him? I’d just been assaulted by a classroom full of vampires. I’d had a dozen fangs sunk into my skin, with both excruciating pain and forced pleasure injected into me. My blood had been stolen, my dignity trampled on, and if the paragons hadn’t intervened, I could’ve been killed. And yet…

“No. I don’t fear you. You’d never do what they did.”

Call me crazy, but I truly believed that. Render might have been prejudiced against me when we’d first met, angry at the job I had to do on his fellow vampire at the council, but things were different now.

“How do you know?” he challenged. “Maybe I would’ve.”

I shook my head, more sure of myself by the second. “I just know.”

He swallowed hard and leaned in, making his chest press firmly against my back. “Well, you’re wrong, Void. I want nothing more right now than to sink my fangs into you and drink your sweet blood.”

My breath hitched at his words, and I couldn’t resist it anymore. I turned my neck as far as I could and leaned in, flicking my tongue gently over his fang. The sharp tip of it immediately cut open my tongue, but I moved away. Instead, I scraped it against his teeth, wanting to feel him—wanting to spread my lifeblood into his mouth and fill him with the taste of me. I was running on risk, feeling reckless and wild. I’d been letting this fucked up situation take control for too long. It was time to take my power back, metaphorically speaking, and this right here? Tempting Render? That made me feel more powerful than my Void ever had.