Kiss of Crimson(99)

―Vampire,‖ she gasped brokenly. ―He‘s a vampire... ‖

Damn it, he hadn‘t meant for her to learn the truth like this. God help him, but he‘d thought he could ease her into his world—a world that belonged to them both—once she understood the vampire race was nothing to be feared, and once she saw how she was part of it, as a Breedmate. As the only woman he would ever want at his side.

But everything was unraveling fast, a thread of half-truths and secrets that was spiraling down around his feet as she stared at him in panic, her eyes pleading with him to make sense of an unfathomable situation.

―Yes,‖ Dante admitted, unwilling to lie to her.

―Rio is a vampire, Tess. Like me.‖





CHAPTER Thirty-three



Tess‘s heart took a sharp dive into her stomach.

―W-what did you say?‖

Dante looked at her, those whiskey-gold eyes far too serious, his expression much too calm. ―I am one of the Breed. A vampire.‖

―Oh, my God,‖ she moaned, her skin going tight with alarm, with revulsion.

She didn‘t want to believe it—he didn‘t look like the creatures who‘d assaulted her or the one who now lay in an anguished ball on the floor of the infirmary. But Dante‘s tone was so level and matter-of-fact, she knew he was telling her the truth. Maybe for the first time since she‘d met him, he was finally being honest with her.

―You lied to me. All this time, you‘ve been lying to me.‖

―I wanted to tell you, Tess. I‘ve been trying to find the words to tell you—‖

―That you‘re some kind of sick monster? That you‘ve been using me—for what, just to get close to Ben so that you and your bloodsucking buddies could kill him?‖

―We haven‘t killed the human, I swear to you. But that doesn‘t mean I won‘t, if it comes down to that. And, yes, at first I needed to know if you were involved in his Crimson dealing, and I thought you might be useful in getting more information on those activities. I had a mission, Tess. But I also needed your trust so that I could protect you.‖

―I don‘t need your protection.‖

―Yes, you do.‖

―No,‖ she said, numb with a heavy kind of dread.

―What I need is to get as far away from you as I can.‖

―Tess, the safest place for you now is here, with me.‖

When he came toward her, holding out his hands in a gesture that begged trust, she recoiled. ―Stay away from me. I mean it, Dante. Get away!‖

―I‘m not going to hurt you. I promise.‖

An image slammed into the front of her consciousness as he said the words. In her mind, Tess was suddenly transported to her clinic storeroom, crouching down over a badly injured man who‘d somehow found his way inside after a vicious fight on the streets Halloween night. He was a stranger to her then, but not now.

It was Dante‘s face she saw, bloodstained and grimy, his hair dripping wet as it spiked down over his brow. His lips moved, speaking the same words she heard him speak now: I’m not going to hurt you... I promise...

She had an abrupt but very distinct memory of strong hands gripping her by the arms, holding her in place. Of Dante‘s lips peeling back from his teeth—revealing huge white fangs that came toward her throat.

―I didn‘t know you,‖ Dante was saying now, as if he could track her thoughts with his mind. ―I was weakened and seriously wounded. I would only have taken what I needed from you and left you alone. There would have been no pain for you, no distress. I had no idea what I had done until I saw your mark—‖

―You bit me... you... Oh, God, you drank my blood that night? How... why am I only now remembering this?‖

His stark features softened somewhat, as if in remorse. ―I erased your memory. I tried to explain things to you, but the situation was too far out of hand. We struggled, and you injected me with a sedative. By the time I came to, it was almost dawn and there was no time for talking. I thought it best for you that you didn‘t remember. Then I saw the mark on your hand, and I knew there could be no taking back any of what I‘d done to you.‖

Tess didn‘t need to look down at her right hand to know the mark he spoke of. The small birthmark had always been curious to her, a teardrop poised over the bowl of a crescent moon. But it didn‘t make any more sense to her now than it ever had.

―Not many women have the mark, Tess. Only a rare few. You‘re a Breedmate. If one of my kind takes your blood into his body, or gives you his, a bond is forged. It is unbreakable.‖

―And you... did this to me?‖

Another memory swamped her now, a further remembrance of blood and darkness. Tess recalled waking from a shadowy dream, her mouth filled with a roaring force of energy, of life. She had been starved, and Dante fed her. From his wrist and then, later, from a vein he had opened for her in his neck.