Bound By Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #8)(40)

“Try to claim that it was a mistake and I’ll prove you wrong, regardless of our audience,” he snarled, his expression warning that he wasn’t bluffing.

“Barbarian,” she accused, even as a deep, primitive part of her wanted him to make good on his threat.

To simply toss her on the ground and have his evil way with her.

Over and over and over.

“You’d better believe it, poppet,” he agreed without apology.

Appalled by her arousal, which was scenting the air, she yanked free of his arms and pointed a finger in his too-handsome face.

“Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking you own me.”

Her warning delivered, she shrouded herself in shadows and moved with lightning speed down the pathway.

There was no way she was going to risk being stopped again. Not when she couldn’t be trusted not to take the blood she so desperately craved.

She skirted several farmhouses where the humans were nestled in front of their televisions or finishing up the last of their chores. Not one would ever suspect how closely death had brushed past them.

Maintaining the thick shadows that kept her hidden from even the most perceptive demons, Jaelyn angled through a field of soybeans and then slowed her pace as she reached the outskirts of town.

It was set up in the typical Midwest style.

A few brick, colonial-style homes discreetly hidden behind massive oak trees that eventually gave way to the convenience stores and local hotels. Along the main street was a line of small shops that were shuttered for the night, and farther down a cluster of chain restaurants that glowed with neon invitation to the residents.

The side streets led to tidy, well-manicured neighborhoods where the humans covertly kept track of their neighbors while attempting to hide their own naughty secrets. And of course, on the fringes were a few of the more shabby neighborhoods where the residents were too busy surviving to give a crap what anyone else was doing.

Jaelyn ignored both as she instead crossed the parking lot that was shared between the junior college and the small hospital. She slipped through a side door, choosing the back staircase despite the fact she could have easily moved down the brightly lit hallways without attracting the attention of the medical staff.

Why tempt fate?

Bounding up the steps five at a time, she reached the upper floor in a matter of seconds and was shoving open the door to the closed lab. Just as quickly she was searching the refrigerator units that lined the back wall, pulling out three bags of blood and taking them to the high-powered microscopes that were set on the long table in the center of the room.

She hadn’t lied to Ariyal when she told him that Hunters had specific dietary requirements.

Although vampires tried to keep the knowledge a deep, dark secret, their greatest vulnerability was through the blood they had to drink to survive.

With the proper skills and the willingness to risk certain death if they failed, a demon could inject just enough silver into their bloodstream so a vampire could not scent the danger until too late. Of course, they would have to be impervious to silver themselves and then convince a vampire to drink enough of their blood to poison them.

Not as easy as one might think.

And then there was the danger from their primary food source ... humans.

When a vampire consumed the blood of an addict there was a danger they could become addicted themselves. Slowly and inevitably they would be driven insane as their brains rotted from the contaminated blood.

She’d been trained never to put anything in her fangs that hadn’t been tested.

A task made considerably easier by technology, she conceded, taking a small drop of blood from each bag and studying it beneath the high-powered microscopes. Her senses were extremely acute, but they could be deceived.

Science was absolute.

Once assured the blood was hygienic, she swiftly emptied the bags, telling herself that it didn’t matter that it tasted flat. Food was for sustenance, wasn’t it? She fed because it was a necessity. Only idiots combined passion with their dinner.

And if her hunger for a certain herb-scented blood continued to plague her ... well, too bad.

Cursing the day, or rather night, she’d crossed paths with Ariyal, the pain-in-the-ass Prince of Sylvermyst, Jaelyn took time for a thorough shower in the employees’ private bathroom before heading out of the hospital and back to the main avenue. Once there she found the nearest clothing store and pulled on a pair of black stretchy workout pants that hugged her from her hips to just below her knees as well as a matching crop top that covered her br**sts and not much else.

She didn’t bother to consider what she looked like in the outfit. She chose the clothing because it didn’t impede her movements and would blend into the night. Her feminine vanity had been the first thing to be taken from her by the Ruah.

On her way out the store, her attention was captured by a rack of men’s clothing. A slow, wicked smile curved her lips as she yanked one of the shirts from the hanger, then for good measure moved to collect a pair of faded jeans from the sale bin before heading out of the door.

With her foul mood abruptly lightened, Jaelyn tucked the clothes in a bag. Then, leaving the store, she made one more stop before heading out of town.

Ariyal had never understood the claim that someone was “fit to be tied.”

Not unless it included a beautiful female, a length of satin rope, and a soft bed.

Forty-five minutes after Jaelyn had disappeared he was learning the painful meaning of being “fit to be tied.”