“First of all, you and Hailey were right,” Channing said. “Brian Thompson was in witness protection. He was really Little Nicky Costello the whole time.”
Dru nodded.
“What about Johnny?” Dru asked.
“They seem to have a lot of guys scouring the woods, but so far no sign of him,” Channing said, shaking his head sadly. “I’m sorry, Dru.”
“Do they believe us that he’s Johnny Sullivan?” Dru asked.
Channing shrugged. “Trouble is, we have no photos of the guy who was here. He paid cash, used a different name. All we have are eye witnesses, which they said are notoriously unreliable.”
“Drucilla.”
Viktor’s voice shot through her, and she turned on her heel and walked away from Channing without another word.
“I’ll, uh, see you later, Dru,” Channing said somewhere behind her.
The hotel had disappeared. There was no corridor, no, floor, no ceiling, no one and nothing existed but Viktor’s dark voice.
From the darkness of the doorway to the Sapphire Suite, bright blue eyes glowed, fixed on Dru.
As she approached, the shadow detached itself from the door and snatched her up in strong arms.
She closed her eyes and felt the rush of the air around her as he swept her into the room. The door slammed behind them and her feet touched the ground again.
She opened her eyes to find that she was standing at the foot of his bed.
Viktor loomed over her, danger flashing in his azure eyes.
He reached for her slowly, so slowly, and stroked her cheek.
She leaned into his touch, sighing out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
He acted so quickly the air around him seemed to blur. She couldn’t track his movements, but she felt his hands on her.
An instant later she stood before him naked, her clothing on the floor at her feet.
Viktor gazed at her in rapturous wonder for one blinding instant, and then he was on her.
She closed her eyes and tried to hold onto herself under the onslaught of his violent kiss.
She didn’t know if he wanted to feed on her again, or if he would make love to her.
She didn’t care which, but he had to do something. She was empty, yawning open inside. Dru felt like a blank page, waiting to be written on.
Viktor was still dressed, his clothing abrading her tender flesh as he kissed her cheeks, her eyelids, her forehead, and then dove into her neck to nibble her hungry flesh.
Dru heard a low moan and realized it was coming from her own mouth.
Suddenly her back was slammed into the wall and Viktor was pressing his steely body against hers, his hands moving over her breasts, teasing and tormenting her.
“Please, Viktor, please,” she whispered.
He knelt instantly, licking her nipple and then half her breast into his mouth, while he toyed with the other one with his hand.
Dru’s hips were shivering as she arched her back into his mouth.
Viktor groaned.
She felt his other hand sliding up her thigh and a jolt of pleasure went through her in anticipation.
He groaned again as he pressed his finger inside her.
She was so ready for him. There was no pain, no hesitation as she jogged herself shamelessly against his finger.
He kissed down her belly, then grabbed her hips with one arm, pulling her forward so that his mouth could join the hand that teased her.
His tongue was velvet heat, moving at the speed of light.
The pleasure was so intense it was almost like pain. In her confusion, Dru struggled against it, and he pinned her more tightly.
Fireworks lit behind her eyes, exploding in colorful magic in time with her body. Dru was shimmering, flying.
No, she was being carried.
She opened her eyes to find herself in bed, Viktor standing above her, his clothing abandoned.
He looked like a god. Though the power was back on, his room was lit only with candles, their flickering glow highlighting the topography of his powerful body.
In place of the tortured expression he often wore, he exuded confidence. In spite of his still pale coloring, he was bristling with a healthy glow, he looked vital.
Me. That’s me inside him, my blood, my life-force, illuminating him.
The idea sent another lick of desire through her and she reached for him, desperate to feel his arms around her again.
7
Dru gasped as Viktor pounced on her.
He pinned her to the bed with his hips and stared down at her. The expression on his beautiful face was close to fury, but she knew he was just wild with lust.
The powerful line of his jaw was mesmerizing. She lifted her hand to trace it. Before she could touch him, her wrist was pinned to the bed beside her head.
“Careful, Drucilla,” he hissed through clenched teeth.
The sibilance seemed to stimulate her skin and she shivered beneath him, desperate.
He pressed his lips to hers and she tasted him once more.
Visions appeared behind her eyes.
She saw herself, delicious and vulnerable, pinned like a butterfly for his pleasure.
She saw him inside her, moving quickly, wrenching screams of pleasure from her, throwing his head back and howling with ecstasy.
She saw the black of the night sky, studded with diamond stars and felt their hands joined together.
“Yes,” she pleaded, unsure of whether he was showing her these things on purpose, or if she had invaded him with her blood and these thoughts were stolen.
“Look at me.”
She opened her eyes obediently.
He fixed her in his gaze, and she felt him press the heated steel of himself against her swollen opening.
The pleasure was so intense that she tried to close her eyes again.
“Look at me, Drucilla,” he said, ceasing his movement until she did.
Lifetimes passed as he slowly entered her, every millimeter of movement setting off sparks inside her.
“Viktor,” she moaned when he was finally seated fully inside her.
His eyes were hazy with pleasure.
It was suddenly easy not to close her own. She was so eager to watch his expression grow desperate with hunger.
He groaned and began to move.
Pleasure filled her from the tips of her toes to the follicles of her hair.
She felt her own pleasure, and his as well, sensations echoing back and forth like a hall of mirrors, lifting her too quickly.
She cried out as he slid a hand between them to thrum rapidly against her clitoris as he howled with the pleasure.
She could feel herself clenching him like a fist, his cock jetting in wild ecstasy at the same time as her own climax tore through her, a forest fire burning everything in its wake.
At last, the storm was over, and he curled himself around her and nuzzled her neck.
“Drucilla,” he whispered.
Dru felt a peace she had never known before.
“You are mine now,” he whispered into her hair, inhaling her so that she tasted her own scent.
She placed her open palm against his chest.
As she drifted into sleep, she wasn’t sure if his chest was warming her hand or the other way around.
8
Dru awoke in a darkened room to a sense of loss.
She tried to press herself closer to Viktor, but he was gone.
Panic shot through her.
She opened her eyes and sighed in relief when she saw he was still in the room.