Predatory (Immortal Guardians #3.5)(50)

Zareb disappeared in the opposite direction.

Cassie remained silent as Ethan drove. She was tired all the way to her soul, but she knew sleep would be tough tonight. If she’d thought that seeing lots of bodies would desensitize her, she was wrong. She’d killed two men today. They would follow her into her dreams and beyond.

Ethan spoke just before they reached Zareb’s place. “Those three vampires are the friends who were staying with me.” He allowed the silence to build. “I’m thankful that we reached them before Garrity’s new binder did.”

“If the binder had already put the headstones by them, would destroying the headstones have broken the binding?” Nightmares or not, she needed sleep so that she could think clearly. Right now everything was just a tangled web of confusion.

“You didn’t get a good look at me when I was in that coffin. If you had, you would’ve noticed the same scene that was on my headstone burned into my chest.”

“That’s just sick.” She frowned. “Wait, I saw you right after you escaped from the coffin, and all you had were cuts from the glass.”

He nodded. “No one burned that into me. It just appeared at the same time the binder put the headstone next to my coffin. At the moment he died, the image disappeared from my chest. I think that even if someone had destroyed the headstone, as long as the binder was still alive, the image would have stayed on my body.” He seemed to think for a moment. “And the binding would have held.”

Cassie didn’t have time to comment on that because they’d reached Zareb’s warehouse. She climbed from the car and headed for the door. Ethan put his hand on her arm to stop her.

“I wanted to tell you how amazing you were back there. I’d have gone to my final death tonight if you hadn’t thrown that knife.”

She couldn’t see his face, but she sensed his smile.

“Zareb has a talent for reading what’s inside a person, knowing how to get the most from them. I know why he let you come with us. I think he knew that you were capable of performing ‘extraordinary feats.’”

Cassie didn’t want to be pleased. Killing a person shouldn’t make anyone feel proud. But it wasn’t the killing that brought her a sense of wonder. It was the fact that subconsciously she’d known that she couldn’t allow this man to die.

“Thank you.” She took a deep breath and asked the question that had nagged at her all night. “You sound normal. Why aren’t you all primitive rage and savagery with the Second One in control?”

She could feel his gaze—hot, disturbing.

“Exactly because the Second One is a primitive force. It only has one focus—violence. When it doesn’t have a target, it subsides.” He paused. “But it’s still there, waiting for the moment it senses anger or any emotion it can hook its claws into. I have to be careful until it fades. Oh, and my face will still kill.”

“How long until it’s gone?”

He shrugged. “Not for a while now. I killed again tonight.”

Cassie swallowed hard. She should leave now, walk into the building, because his closeness was making her forget things she needed to remember—he was a vampire, he had killed ten men tonight, he was a vampire.

But her feet didn’t move. Everything that had happened today, every moment of emotional turmoil was breaking like waves against the dam she’d erected in her mind. And the dam had sprung leaks. Lots of them.

Even as she took the step toward him that she knew would change everything, the dam collapsed and her emotions swept her away.

If she thought he’d be the one to wield some common sense, she was wrong. With a guttural groan, he pulled her to him.

“You shouldn’t do this to me when the Second One is around. It doesn’t understand limits.”

Cassie closed her eyes as she reached up to trace his jaw with shaking fingers. “Bring it on. It seems I’m into expanding my limits today. I’m willing to live dangerously for a little while longer.”

And with a muffled curse, he covered her mouth with his.

Chapter Seven

There were moments when people did things they never thought they’d do. This was one of them. She would kiss a vampire.

It was her in-between time—after Felicity’s death, after she’d killed two men, but before the dreaded instant when she’d have to finally accept that everything she’d experienced today was real. And definitely before she lay alone in her bed and slept, only to live it all again in her dreams.

This was her moment to forget—no before, no after, just now. And what a now it was. Ethan wouldn’t kiss her gently. Not with the Second One lurking so close to the surface. But that was okay, because she didn’t want kind and understanding right now. She wanted a kiss that would obliterate her memories of the day.

He pulled her to him, and she savored the anticipation. He was sexy, masculine, and warm. Who knew a vampire could feel warm? His lips moved over hers—no attempt at seduction, just all hard demand. And she opened to him.

Let the sensations begin. Or not. Because something strange was happening. She’d prepared herself to absorb the scent, the feel, the taste of him. That’s what you did when you kissed someone. But instead, she fell straight through the hole that must’ve been in the bottom of her box of sensations and hurtled into . . .