The Vampire's Requiem II [malexmale]

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Eight (Newell)

An odd chill crept through me as I laid in the dark of the hotel room.

Even the warmth of Xed's body wrapped around mine wasn't enough to ease the ice cube that felt like it was coming down my spine as some kind of premonition that something bad was going to happen. I clenched my teeth at the sensation, reaching down to cover Xed's hand with mine over my stomach.

He twitched, but that was about it. Tonight was one of the rare nights in which he fell into a deep sleep. He could only lightly sleep for so long before the comfort and warmth of sleep engulfed him and he was so fast asleep that not even a scream could wake him up. I was tempted to wake him anyway in order to ease the chill in me, but it wouldn't do much good and he would need his sleep for when the Stratius decided to spring out on us.

We had managed to make it from Alister's flat to a hotel two blocks down, so either the Stratius had lost track of us or they were waiting to jump us when we least expected it. Of course, I was always expecting it. The churning and tugging sensation in my stomach that warned me something dangerous was coming had kept me paranoid. I had checked to make sure there was no suspicious activity and much to my relief, I didn't even need to ask Walter and Hunter to do rounds of the hotel every so often. Walter barely slept and Hunter, well, Hunter was a nocturnal creature half the time.

Daimonas and Starling shared a room with us, both of them sleeping on the other side of the room in their bed, cuddled up. Starling snored quietly, being the only one making any real sound in the room. Even in his sleep, the brat was still making some kind of noise. I sighed, frustrated at that.

I leaned back against Xed's chest, savoring the rock hard stability of him. I ran my hand up and down his steely arm, wishing that this was all I needed to feel safe, but it only made me feel more vulnerable. The Stratius was coming for us, and while it didn't bother me that they could kill me, it bothered me that they could kill Xed. He'd already left me once. I wasn't going to allow him to leave me again.

And oddly enough, it concerned me that they could kill Daimonas and Starling and even Dominik. Peter, Walter, Hunter. Orion and Ollie. Half of those people I loathed with a hatred so hot that it boiled my blood just to think about their existence on the same planet as mine. And yet, knowing that they could be killed and wiped off said planet bothered me. If anyone was going to kill them, it would be me, not the Stratius.

And I had become unintentionally attached to Daimonas and Starling and Dominik. They were innocent, just children in a war that didn't even concern them.

But it was a war that I had started and knowing that made guilt pool into my stomach. It was a nearly foreign sensation, but I recognized the ache and discomfort it caused me. People were being killed because I had been stupid and selfish. Why was I even thinking like this? Had my feelings for Xed softened me this much?

That angered me, but when Xed moaned in his sleep and tightened his hold on me, burying his nose into my hair and breathing deeply, my anger simmered and became placated. I tightened my hold on Xed's hand, lacing our fingers together and tugging his hand closer. I wanted to feel him inside me again, knowing he would be staying with me, knowing he was part of me, knowing he cared about me. I hadn't felt this kind of thing for anyone before. It both hurt and pleased. It was such an odd combination.

I stared down at the way my fingers locked perfectly with Xed's. His were long, tapered, rough. I loved the way they felt touching me, skimming over my skin like a ghostly whisper. I squeezed my eyes shut, gritting my teeth and hating the fact that despite the sweet moment, I was still in despair.

Someone was coming to take him away from me.

And I'll be damned before I let anyone put their hands on him.