Out of options, Noa tugged off her gloves, hoping her nails might be able to offer a moment of relief. She went to take another step closer to Beth as another high-pitched scream ripped from her mouth. But before she could, Michael flew across the room and, without a moment’s pause, sank his fangs straight into her neck.
Noa was shocked motionless as she watched the tall, lean man hold on to Beth’s cheek and turn her face away from him to bare the stretch of her neck.
Then reality crashed down on Noa like a tsunami. She rushed toward Michael, to rip him off Beth, but Dinah’s arm wrapped around her stomach, stopping her dead.
“Dinah!” Noa tried to argue.
“Look.” Dinah nudged her chin in Beth’s direction. “Look!” Noa followed Dinah’s guide and let out a quick exhale. Michael drank from Beth’s neck, and Beth had wrapped her hands into the longer strands of Michael’s hair, keeping him close. Her lips were parted with relief, and her eyes were closed as Michael freed her from her torment. She moaned in pleasure, back arching toward Michael’s chest. Just to get closer, to have him drink from her deeper.
Time felt momentarily suspended. Noa could barely take her eyes off the two of them. But when she did, it was to find Gabriel staring at his little brother, pride and mortification warring for dominance on his face.
Nobody moved a muscle as Michael’s fetish for blood healed Beth. In the quiet, Noa could hear Michael’s sharp sucks and swallows, hear Beth’s quick, pleasured breaths and soft moans.
Then Beth sighed, her episode drawing to a close. Her eyes fluttered open, and a few seconds later Michael slowly withdrew. He quickly put his hand in his pocket and pulled out an empty vial from the stash he kept on a string. He pushed it to the fang wound in Beth’s neck and collected a small amount of her blood.
Michael’s breathing was heavy as the glass turned crimson. His eyes were fixed on Beth. Not on her neck, or the small circular marks he had left on her skin, but he was looking directly into her eyes. Beth’s breathing was equally as quick, and she rolled her head to look at him too, a deep blush coating her cheeks. Her hand was still wrapped in his dark hair. It was like the world had fallen away around them, a fucked-up tether keeping them close to each other.
Dinah met Noa’s eyes with raised eyebrows and a slightly disturbed expression. Michael placed a cap on the vial of Beth’s blood, clutching it in his hand. As Noa edged closer to them, she could see Michael’s pupils had dilated, the black almost covering his ice blue. His pale skin wore a flush matching Beth’s … and he couldn’t seem to look away from her. He was completely fixated on the youngest member of the Coven, his usually blank stare filled with what looked like uncapped lust, with wonder … with need.
Gabriel cleared his throat and opened his mouth to say something, as if to break the oddness of the tense moment, when a thunderous boom shook the foundation of the barn, followed by a cacophony of screams from outside the door.
“What the fuck?” Dinah said, backing Noa and her sisters against the far wall. The Coven and the Fallen fell into one cluster. Noa reached over to take Beth’s hand. Beth numbly stepped beside Noa, but Noa’s youngest sister couldn’t take her eyes off Michael, who shifted directly behind Beth’s back, his attention glued to the bite marks he had left. There was barely a centimeter between their bodies. And by the parting of Beth’s lips, she liked him that close.
Something had happened between them just then, but Noa was damned if she knew what.
The priest’s voices grew louder and more panicked. Diel braced for a fight beside her. Noa had barely taken another breath when a second explosion sounded. Chips of wood fell from the walls around them. The door swung open. They all tensed, ready for the priests to come through. But when no one came, Uriel edged to the door and peered outside.
“The hallway’s empty,” he said.
“There’s an alternative way to the tunnels,” Dinah said, rushing past to take the lead. No one stalled; they all followed behind. It wasn’t until they had entered the third hallway that several priests noticed them trying to escape and ran at them. Noa saw that a number of priests lay already slain on the ground. The blast had clearly not been responsible for their deaths. They had been stabbed. Many times.
Noa frowned, wondering what the fuck was happening, but she didn’t stop fighting—picking up discarded weapons and slicing at flesh. She didn’t stop pushing her legs to move until the priests fighting them were dead too. They had just reached the other secret hatch that Dinah knew of when a priest with mousy brown hair appeared. With a stolen Brethren knife, Bara slashed at his arms and legs, and the priest dropped to the ground as his ligaments were torn. Bara yanked the back of the priest’s hair, about to slit his throat, when Noa shouted, “No!” Bara stilled. She met his eyes. “Take him with us.”