Desmond’s grip on my shoulder tightened. Having arrived back at the apartment, neither of us had sensed any dangers lurking within and had locked the door behind us. We faced each other in my living room.
“What happened next?” he asked, standing in front of me. He slipped his hands under the lapels of the jacket, his bare palms rubbing over my shoulders, pushing the garment off me and onto the floor.
I let out a shaky, uneven breath as his hands continued their path down my arms.
“He was cocky. He was so sure he had me beaten he stopped feeding. He started to tease me, make me feel foolish for believing a little girl could kill the monsters under her bed. That’s what he called me, little girl. It’s what he still calls me, though he knows better now. He went in to take the last of my blood, and that’s when I hit him. Did you know vampires can heal almost anything, but they can’t regrow teeth?”
He arched his eyebrow.
“It’s part of the reason vampires have retractable fangs like cats’ claws. Because it’s their weapon and their only way to feed, it must be protected whenever it’s not being used. Fangs are only exposed when a vampire is taken by the bloodlust or when they are provoked in anger. Or when they’re aroused. ”
Desmond was less than a breath away, the tips of his finger trailing up and down my arms. I put my palms against the softness of his sweater and dragged my fingernails down to the waistband of his jeans.
“What happened next?” He lowered his mouth to the exact spot on my neck Peyton had once tried to rip out, and licked the place where only the memory of a scar existed. I shuddered, and my body pressed anxiously against his as our wandering hands moved lower. Keeping my own fangs from extending was only possible because I’d just fed.
“He was ready to feed…” as I said it Desmond nipped my neck and I let out a little yelp, “…so he was vulnerable. I kept hitting him until I knocked out one of his teeth, and that’s when he let me go. ”
Desmond’s arms were around me and his mouth was traveling from my neck to my chin. I was running out of time to tell my story. “I…” My breath quivered as my fingers found his belt and struggled to undo it with the lack of space between us. “I was lucky. Peyton was a rogue, and Keaty had been looking for him too. Keaty found me that night and saved me. He trained me and made me who I am now. But Peyton never forgot, and he’s been meaning to repay me for the last six years. ”
“He won’t get the chance. ” Desmond spoke the words right into my own mouth. “I won’t let him. ”
Finding I was lacking any further words, he pressed his lips to mine in the same moment I freed the belt from his jeans and worked my way through to the cage of his zipper. His kiss was hot, devouring, and we didn’t get to the loveseat before he pushed me down onto the carpeted floor. Within seconds he relieved me of my own ridiculously small pants and was in me with such force it arched my back off the ground.
I knew what I had to do soon, and because of that I was willing to let Desmond take me over completely. This might be the last time we’d be together, and it was the only way I knew how to say goodbye to him.
I closed my eyes and fell into the fierce rhythm of his movements so he would not see me cry, thankful the heavy makeup on my eyes would hide the pink tinge of my tears.
I never wanted this moment to end. Once it did, my whole world would come crashing down.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I sat on the lawn in Central Park, wearing a now-familiar wedding gown, its front still stained with a palm print of my blood. This time there was no one with me, no wolves chasing me and nothing but the silence of the night.
I shifted the layers of the gown so I could sit without being uncomfortable, then lay back to look at the stars. As I watched, the sky grew brighter and bluer until the stars faded out and I was left blinking into the screaming light of day.
My arms went up to protect my face, and I huddled in a ball of wedding gown, waiting to burst into flame at any moment. It took me cowering for awhile before I realized I felt only the warmth of day on my skin rather than the fire of incineration.
“Do you miss it?” said a small, female voice.
I saw Brigit, with her bronze skin and glowing blonde hair, beaming at me, looking healthy and alive.
“How can I miss what I never had?” I asked, unable to keep the sadness out of my words.
“I miss it. ” She ran a hand through her hair, and large blonde clumps, scalp still attached, came off in her fist. She held them out to me with a defeated expression, and the golden strands disintegrated between us. I reached out to her, but before I could, her eyes boiled and melted and her skin began to slip off her like thick wax. Everything that left her body turned to ashes, and I was staring at a pile of rubble where the pretty girl had once been.
“It’s because of you, you know?” Lucas was standing behind me, but he wasn’t dressed in a tux. He was no longer coming to our wedding. He looked down at me, then offered me a hand to help me to my feet.
“I didn’t change her. ”
“No. But everything will change because of you. ”
I took a step closer but stumbled on something. Casting my eyes downward, I recoiled in horror. Desmond lay at my feet, his body red with blood. Looking back to Lucas, I saw he too was covered in blood so thick it ran down his hands. My dress was soaking in it, turning everything from white to red. The whole gown was crimson and bloody.
“It’s all because of you,” Lucas said.
“No. Not this. ”
“Aren’t you afraid of the daylight?”