Bad Blood - Vampire Cohorts Book 4 #Wattys2015

Chapter Two: About the Slain

Leof's arm slid around my waist as we lay in the clearing, his gaze fixed on me as I stared up at the sky. It was a clear, cloudless night, yet above us only darkness existed. It seemed like every star and even the moon had winked out of existence. It bothered me, but Conn didn't notice the unsettling expanse of black. He only had eyes for me.

"Look at me, Little Warrior. I want to be able to remember every detail when it starts."

"When what starts?" I asked as I rolled to face him rather than continuing to stare up into the darkest night sky I'd ever seen.

He brushed my cheek, his touch feather-light as his fingers explored my face, tracing each curve as if he wanted to memorise everything about me, right down to the feel of my skin. I wanted him to be warm, but his hand seemed abnormally cool as his fingers followed the curve of my chin. Did he need to feed?

He grew colder still as he answered, "When forever starts, my love. I don't want to forget you."

A frown pinched my brows together. I didn't understand what he meant.

"Why would you forget me when you see me every day?"

At my query, the sadness in his blue eyes looked so profound, so heart-wrenching that my throat constricted around a lump I hadn't noticed earlier. A ball of pain seared in my chest, burning away as if it would ignite me, set fire to me, destroy me... But I didn't understand why. What was going on? What had I forgotten?

"I don't understand, Leof," I whispered as I curved my hand over his, holding it to my cheek and trying to warm it, before turning my head and kissing his palm.

"You do," he answered as he tugged my hand to his mouth and pressed his cool lips to my knuckles. "You just don't want to remember. But that's alright. Don't remember yet. Just lie here with me for a while."

"You're scaring me," I admitted, still frowning. "Why did you bring me here, Leof? Where is this place? It seems familiar and yet not familiar... Where are we?"

"Does it matter as long as we're together?" he enquired, and the question sent a chill cascading through me.

"We'll always be together," I insisted. "We're going to get married again. We're going to have a Star Wars wedding. We're going to be Sire and Consort forever."

He pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around me in the way I loved, but it made me shiver. He really did feel too cold. Even his embrace chilled me. Hadn't he been feeding enough? How long had we lain outside?

Shuddering, I rubbed my hands up and down his arms, trying to force some of my warmth into him as I murmured, "You're cold, Leof. We should go."

"No!"

The note of panic in his voice both shocked and worried me, but he shook his head, as if trying to hide his alarm.

"I'm not ready yet. Why don't you warm me up, Little Warrior?" he prompted.

When he rolled onto his back, I straddled his hips. Despite the unnatural cool of his fingertips, my flesh still tingled, electrified by his touch as he stroked around the waistband of my jeans. Heat pooled in my core, and I moaned as his hand slid up, under my t-shirt, to cup a suddenly aching breast. He pushed up my top, gaining the access he craved as his mouth went to my nipple. My skin pebbled against the coldness of his lips, of his tongue, but I wondered why warm breath didn't heat my damp skin.

How odd. How wrong.

Nothing made sense. Why did my mind feel fuzzy, anyway?

"This isn't right," I murmured, and I pushed him away even though I longed for him to continue. "Leof, what's wrong?"