Destined for an Early Grave(88)

“You know this is unheard of,” Spade was saying. His voice sounded far away. I was still shuddering in delicious rapture from sucking the last few trickles out of Bones’s wrist.

“First time for everything,” Bones replied. “Just goes to show that when you think you know everything, you don’t. Listen. Her heart’s stopped now.”

That caught my attention. Well, that and his wrist ran dry, which maybe contributed to my noticing my surroundings again.

“Do you think it’ll stay stopped?”

They all looked at each other. Finally, with a shrug, Bones removed another blood bag from the cooler and answered me before he drank it.

“Reckon we’ll find out.”



The small, reinforced basement room was essentially a prison. No windows, only one door, which was locked from the outside. A twin bed against the far wall. Several books, both new and well used. Pen and paper. And, of course, the cooler.

It was filled with blood bags and, to my surprise, bottles of water. Bones explained those would help keep me hydrated while my metabolism went haywire, burning through all the sustenance it received from the blood without sparing any to prevent me from looking, well, dry. I had to drink water for the first week or so. Then, I was told, I only needed to drink a glass a day of any kind of liquid. Gin and tonic topped my list.

The scent of blood was thick in the air. The room was also rich with the scents of Spade, Bones, Mencheres, and others who had been here before us. I was trying to identify all the different smells, but it was hard, considering my limited frame of reference.

Three more times, that overwhelming hunger hit me, and I’d black out only to find myself latched onto Bones like a rampaging leech. Mencheres had let me out of his invisible cement suit after Bones stated that as long as he kept refilling, it didn’t matter how many times I drained him. And since I went flat crazy whenever that need took me, there was no reason for anyone else to get chewed on. I also got the distinct impression that they wanted to keep my unusual diet a secret.

“It figures I couldn’t even do this the normal way,” I said, after licking the last drops from his wrist yet again. A small part of me wondered why I wasn’t embarrassed by my behavior. Helplessly sucking on someone’s vein was the height of dependence, yet I didn’t care. Maybe because I was still riding the euphoria another bellyful of Bones’s blood gave me.

“Do what, luv? Become a vampire? Or bite?”

“I’m biting wrong, too?”

Bones chuckled, brushing the wild mass of my hair out of my face. “You’re biting exactly the way every new vampire bites, which is too hard and messy, but completely normal, and you can’t help what you’re craving. No one’s ever turned a half-breed before. Maybe if they had, the same thing would have happened, then you’d just be eating what you were supposed to eat.”

“Thanks for that.” Lucidity was making its brief pit stop now that my hunger had been appeased. “Quick thinking on your part.”

“Yes, well, comes from practice. Come on, Kitten, let’s get you cleaned up.”

Bones cracked open another bottle of water and poured some of it onto a towel, then wiped my chin and throat with it. It came back red, of course, and he did it twice more until he was satisfied. There weren’t any mirrors, so it’s not like I could have checked for myself, and I liked him performing this task for the simple reason that he was touching me. His hands were so strong, but he handled me with the utmost gentleness. Like anything harsher than a caress would leave permanent damage.

Another scent filled my nose. I breathed in the fragrant smell, surprised to find it was coming from me.

Bones inhaled as well, his eyes filling up with green. Now the air began to be flavored with a heady blend of musk, burnt sugar, and spice—Bones’s scent, sharper and stronger.

“Can you smell how I want you?”

His voice was deeper. Absent of that reassuring undertone he’d been using for the past few hours while I struggled with my uncontrollable hunger.

I took in another deep breath, absorbing the intoxicating mixture of scents swirling together. “Yes.”

My voice was throatier also. Almost a low purr while I felt the fangs that had receded begin to grow once more. Another hunger swept through me. Though it didn’t hurt, it felt just as urgent as the ones before it.

I’d been sitting on the floor—how I got there, don’t ask me, I’d come to there with his wrist in my mouth—when lust took over. I flattened Bones onto the small bed, putting my legs on either side of his hips.

“Wait,” he said, reaching for something on the floor.