Hellfire

Chapter Eight

'I'm not leaving.' I announced stubbornly, my folded arms and tilted chin matching my hard tone.

Alistair growled softly, infuriated at my block-headedness. 'This is getting dangerous.'

I knew that. Forty-eight hours had passed since Lucius first summoned me and, while it wasn't as intense anymore, I still got flashes of his mind touching mine - a husky voice calling my name, images of my body trembling with pleasure beneath his, his ivory teeth burying as he drank and drank from me. It was hard not to go to him, partly because his summons were dangerously sexy, partly because he was clearly suffering and I wanted to end it. It knotted guilt in my chest that I'd done this to him, my blood driving him to destruction.

But I wouldn't leave. I refused. I wasn't going to run from my home again. Never.

'He shouldn't be reaching for your mind at all, Susan.' Alistair pressed as he paced fluidly, something that seemed to attract Ella by how she avoided looking at him frantically. 'He should be blocked.'

'You still haven't told me how he's blocked. Vampires reaching for minds is second nature, like breathing.' I said stiffly.

Alistair gazed hard, his jaw flexing with unspoken fury, but refused to speak. My gaze smouldered with embers and ash flecked my breath, anger rising that he wasn't answering. That was the only reason I dropped it. I didn't need to be combusting right now.

'Look, he's just flickering thoughts here and there, it's nothing I can't cope with.'

I was only partially confident about that. Those thoughts of his made my pulse quicken and stirred me up in that fiery sweet way only he could. They were dangerous and I had to constantly remind myself this was just his addiction and not him. He didn't want me. I'd just perverted him with my blood, that was all. But it was so difficult not to enjoy those thoughts he had of me, the sheer possession and dominance of him towering over me, ivory teeth glittering, his wintry gaze hooded with hunger.

I rubbed my hands over my face, trying to rid those thoughts and somehow scatter them.

'But those odd thoughts can slip into something worse.' Alistair said firmly. 'If we get you out of the house, it may help him breathe and gather control back.'

I opened my mouth to argue, determined not to be bullied from my home - only for Lucius to abruptly snatch at the back of my neck, his icy touch dominating me and giving me no choice but to let him in. Suddenly all I thought about was him, how much pleasure I'd find in him; his velvet tongue flicking over the pink bud of my breast, his powerful body so terribly male and his sex so achingly full it hurt, hands possessive as they roamed, slipping over my curves, cupping my femininity, fingers caressing the liquid heat with a languid stroke. He wanted me, craved me, and he wanted me to feel it; this maddening ache in him, how starved he was of me. A storm flourished in me, so violent I couldn't breathe until his grip and thoughts snapped from me, leaving me swelling with heat, an achingly wet throb between my legs, and my pulse a frantic mess.

'That's twice in one hour.' Sam pointed out with concern.

Embarrassment turned the back of my neck red at the knowledge it was obvious when he was in my head, and I shot her a flaming scowl. 'I can handle it!'

'We don't doubt you can, Susan. We doubt Lucius can.' Alistair said, his tone softer as he swapped to a gentler tactic. 'If he breaks, nothing can stop him.'

I knew that, but I refused to leave. I refused to run away and to not have faith in Lucius. I had to be near in case he needed me.

'Won't he drink any blood at all?' Sam queried.