Darker (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #6)(52)

I bared my fangs in a snarl and ignored the growing pressure in my head. It took great effort to hold him. Unfortunately, I too have weaknesses. Rather than trying to outstrength me, Falon targeted my greatest one.

In a swift motion, he jerked my hand hard, slashing my claws across his neck. Blood blossomed up from a wound beneath his ear. The scent hit me, and I shuddered; that crimson spill promised absolute rapture. I resisted the immediate urge to run my tongue over that pumping fount.

The bloodlust smashed into me like a Mack truck. It left me dizzy, and my concentration broke. The connection between us was lost. Falon didn’t hesitate. He jerked his hands from mine, swiped a finger through the blood from his healing cut and smeared it on my lips.

“What the f**k?” I muttered in confusion.

Falon’s blood tasted like nothing I’d known. If power had a taste, this would be it. I ran my tongue over my lips, and that was it for me. The hunger swallowed me whole, and I was lost in it.

Because he made no attempt to fight me off, my attack was more forceful than was necessary. I heard Willow shouting for me to stop, but it was an irritation I ignored. Knocking Falon down, I ravaged his neck with a vicious bite. It wasn’t just blood but power as well. I drank him in with a rabid appetite to feast on everything he had to give.

The tangy taste of him fed my lust for more. I pressed him to the floor and straddled him. I bit again, frustrated with his impeccable ability to heal so quickly. The power rose to a dangerous level as I took his into me and fed upon it. I needed more. I had to devour him.

I ground my groin against his, creating a push and pull of power as I did. A pulsing, throbbing storm filled the circle to capacity. Falon pulled me close, encouraging me to feed from his body and power. In my crazed state, I didn’t think to question it.

Cursing beneath his breath, Falon grew hard beneath me. It encouraged the succubus nature of my vampire side, and I bit him again. The rest of the room fell away, and all I saw was the angel bleeding for me. It was ecstasy. Nothing else mattered.

Like the moment a fabulous dream is shattered by wakefulness, the blissful illusion was shattered when Willow destroyed the circle. He practically threw me across the room where I landed in a heap against the door.

The sound of wind rushing through the trees filled my ears. Blood dripped from my nose. More power than I could handle flowed through me, threatening what little remained of my sanity. Everything played out in a blur before me as I sought to catch my breath.

Now free of the circle, Falon came out fighting. He tossed Willow aside with little effort and turned toward me. Jez was there, ready with a silver dagger. She plunged it into Falon’s midsection, holding it pressed to the hilt. Smoke rose from the wound, and he doubled over.

“How’s that for a tiny piece of silver?” She hissed between bared fangs.

Falon’s wings flared out, and with a great flap, he filled the room with an ear-piercing sound. It drove Jez back. She grabbed her head, trying to shut out the noise. Falon pulled her dagger free and held it high.

“I hope you learned a valuable lesson here, wolf,” he said, scowling at me. “Your power is no match for me.”

“Yeah,” I gasped out through the pain filling my head. “I learned that you get a hard on from the power of an unnatural Hound like me. How does that make you feel, Falon?”

He crouched down in front of me so we were eye to eye. Turning the bloody dagger over in his hand, he said, “Don’t flatter yourself, sweetheart. That kind of thing would happen to any heterosexual male with a woman wriggling around on top of him. I’m as disgusted by it as you are.”

Grinning, he rose and tossed the dagger so it stuck in the carpet beside Jez. He shot a warning look at Willow and wagged a finger in scolding. To me he added, “I’m sure you’ll never make a mistake like this again. Enjoy the ride, bitch.”

He was gone, just like that. The horrible sound faded away, but the strange sensations continued to overwhelm me. My head felt like it might pop. It was a floaty, light-headed feeling accompanied by the overwhelming pressure of foreign energy. I tried to channel it back out, into the earth, the building, anything. It was no use. Falon’s strange power roiled around inside me like a tornado on a path of destruction.

“Alexa?” Jez was at my side, lifting my chin so she could peer into my eyes. What she saw made her own grow wide in terror. “Willow, what the hell did he do to her?”

Willow pulled me to my feet and looked me over. “He purposely dosed her.”

“What does that mean?” I squeezed my eyes shut as the room began to spin.

“He used your bloodlust against you, knowing you’d take power as well as blood. You can’t handle immortal power like ours. He could have killed you, but since Shya won’t let him, he let you take enough to really knock you on your ass for a while.”

“I don’t understand.” I shook my head, and the room spun faster. It was hard to focus on either one of them.

“My God, Alexa, your eyes are silver,” Jez breathed, a hand over her mouth.

“In basic human speak, he got you stoned off your ass,” Willow explained. “Your power is life and death. What Falon and I are, it has never been human. It’s beyond life and death. You can’t control it. It will run rampant through you. You’ll have facets of Falon’s power. They will likely overwhelm you. It won’t kill you, but it might feel like it.”