Midnight Unbound(2)

This particular kind of pain, though, bordered on unbearable, and it was all he could do not to grab the woman and take her vein right there in the middle of the club.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

“Sure!” She practically leaped at him. “I thought you’d never ask.”

He steered her away from the bar and out the club’s exit without another word. Although the Breed had been outed to their human neighbors for more than twenty years, there were few among Scythe’s kind—even a stone-cold killer like him—who made a habit of feeding in public places.

His companion wobbled a bit as they stepped out into the crisp night air. “Where do you wanna go? I’m staying at a hotel just up the street. It’s a shithole, but we can go there if you want to hang out for a while.”

“No. My vehicle will do.”

Desire lit her features as she stared up at him. “Impatient, are you?” She giggled, smacking her palm against his chest. “Don’t worry, I like it.”

She trailed after him across the small parking lot to his gleaming black SUV. In some dim corner of his conscience, he felt sorry for a woman who valued herself so little that she would traipse off with a stranger who offered her nothing in return for the use of her body.

Or, in this case, her blood.

Scythe had been born nothing better than a slave. Had nearly died one. The concept of taking from someone simply because he had the physical prowess to do it pricked him with self-loathing. The least he could do was make sure that when he took he left something behind as well. The woman would be weak with an unexplainable satisfaction once he was finished with her. Since he was feeling an uncustomary twinge of pity for her, she’d also walk away with a purse fat enough to rent a room for a month in the best hotel in Bari.

“This way,” he muttered, his voice nothing more than a rasp.

She took his proffered arm and grinned, but it wasn't the coy smile that had his blood heating. It was the pulse fluttering wildly in her neck beneath that creamy flesh that had his fangs elongating. They punched through his gums and he went lightheaded with the need to feed, denied for too long.

They got into his vehicle and he wasted no time. Pivoting in the seat, he reached for her with his left hand, his fingers curling around her forearm. She uttered a small, confused noise as he drew her toward him and brought her wrist to his mouth.

Her confusion faded away the second he sank his fangs into her delicate flesh.

“Oh, my God,” she gasped, her cheeks flushing as her whole body listed forward.

She speared the fingers of her free hand into his long black hair, and he had to resist the urge to jerk away as blood filled his mouth. He didn't like to be touched. All he wanted to do was fill the gaping hole in his gut until the next time he was forced to feed.

She moaned, her breath coming in quick pants as he drank. He took his fill, drawing on her wrist until he could feel the energy coursing through his body, replenishing his strength, fortifying his cells.

When he was done, he closed the tiny bite marks on her skin with a dispassionate swipe of his tongue as she twitched against him breathlessly.

“Good Lord, what is this magic and where do I sign up for more?” she murmured, her chest still heaving.

He leaned back against the cushioned leather, feeling the calm begin to move over him as his body absorbed the temporary nourishment. When the woman started to shift toward him with drugged need in her eyes, Scythe reached out and placed his palm against her forehead.

The trance took hold of her immediately. He erased her memory of his bite and the desire it stirred in her. When she slumped back against her seat, he dug into the pocket of his black jeans for his money and peeled off several large bills. He tossed them in her lap, then opened the passenger door with a silent, mental command.

“Go,” he instructed her through her trance. “Take the money and go back to your hotel. Stay away from this club. Find something better to do with your time.”

She obeyed at once. Stuffing the bills into her purse, she climbed out of the SUV and headed across the parking lot.

Scythe tipped his head back against the seat and released a heavy sigh as his fangs began to recede. Already, the human’s blood was smoothing the edge from his whole-body pain. The malaise that had been worsening for the past twenty-four hours was finally gone and this feeding would hold him for another week if he was lucky.

He started up his vehicle, eager to be back on the road to his lair in Matera. He hadn’t even pulled out of the lot when his cell phone chirped from inside his coat pocket. He yanked it out with a frown and scowled down at the screen. Only three people had his number and he wanted to hear from exactly none of them right now.