It was only when his teeth had plunged into her throat that she’d come to her senses. Too damn late.
Her fingers tightened around the guy’s chin. “I want you to take me back to town.”
His eyes narrowed.
Shit. Terese took a deep breath, and with every bit of her will, she said, “Take me back to town.” Her voice emerged as a soft, seductive purr, but the order was unmistakable.
His pupils dilated as he stared at her. “Of-of course.”
“Good.” The sooner she got back to the safety of her place, the better. “Let’s go.”
He scrambled to obey.
She couldn’t stop the wild smile that lifted her lips. Her compulsion had actually worked!
* * *
Two hours later, Terese stepped into her one bedroom studio apartment and slammed the door shut behind her. Finally, finally, she was—
“Hello, my love.” A man’s voice, silken and dark with menace, called to her from the shadows.
She froze as ice-cold, numbing fear filled her. No, no, it couldn’t be—
He reached over, turned on a nearby lamp, and the glowing yellow light illuminated his face. His glowing green eyes. His glistening fangs. “I’ve been waiting for you to come home.”
“Eric.” Her heart raced and the furious pounding filled her ears. How had he found her?She’d tried to be so careful. She’d run far from him, leaving Baton Rouge and traveling southeast until she’d literally hit the ocean—the ocean, and the small, unassuming town of New Olympus, Florida, that graced the beach.
Eric stepped toward her and she instinctively flinched back, moving a good foot.
But he just smiled. “I’ve got your blood in me, love. That means you are in me. And I’m in you. We’re linked. Bound by the blood.”
She didn’t want to be linked with him. Didn’t want to have a damned thing to do with him.
“Our bond links us. It gives me your scent. It lets me track you. And I can track you—wherever you go, I can find you.” Another slow, gliding step toward her. His tall, sleekly muscled body moved with dangerous grace. “There’s nowhere that you can hide from me. Nowhere.”
With that, he shot forward and grabbed her. His long nails dug into her hair as he hauled her against him. “You’ve been a very, very bad girl, Terese. You shouldn’t have left me, not after all I did for you.” His breath blew across her face and sent a shudder of revulsion through her.
All he’d done for her? “You turned me into a monster,” she grated. “You took my blood and forced me to become…like you.” The memory of that night—of the burning pain, of that first, desperate taste of blood—filled her.
When the compulsion faded, when she realized what he was doing, she’d fought him. But Eric had been too strong, and he’d just held her down. He’d shoved her onto the floor as he drove his fangs deep into her throat. And though she’d struggled, she hadn’t been able to break free. As the minutes trickled by, she’d become weaker, weaker…and cold, so very cold. She’d drawn a last, gasping breath—
And then he’d shoved his wrist over her mouth and dripped his thick, hot blood past her lips. Her body had convulsed at the sickly sweet taste. Pain lashed through her. Agonizing. Wrenching. She’d blacked out, screaming—
And awoken as a vampire.
“I chose you,” he muttered, gazing down at her with his fangs bared. “I could’ve had anyone, but I chose you.”
And the sick psycho thought she should be honored. He hadn’t understood when she wasn’t thrilled by her new life. “I didn’t want this,” she whispered, not looking into his eyes. She didn’t want to look into those eyes again. Because when she did, it chilled her to the bone.
“If you’d given me time, I could have made you want this life, made you want me.” He lowered his head, and his breath tickled her throat. “I played the gentleman. I tried to give you time to accept your new world, time to accept me—”
Her hands came up and rammed into his chest. Grunting, he slipped back a step.
“Oh, yeah. You played the damn gentleman,” Terese snapped. “You just transformed me into a vampire without my permission! But, since you didn’t rape me, I guess you thought—”
His hands tightened into fists. “It wouldn’t have been rape. You would have enjoyed every moment of my touch.”
Yeah, right. She would have enjoyed it…as she gagged. “Only if you’d put me under compulsion, ass**le. And even then, I would have been screaming on the inside.” She tried to lunge around him, but he grabbed her and shoved her back against the wall so hard that her head rapped against the wood.
“You’ll enjoy it. I’ll have you begging before I’m done.” His nostrils flared as he leaned closer, “I’ll show you how much—” Eric broke off, stiffening. “I can smell another man on you.” His hands dug into her skin, bruising, as he held her immobile.
Vampire senses. She tried to bullshit her way out of this hell. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. Now, let me go!”
His head lowered toward her, and he inhaled deeply. “His scent is on you. On every inch of you.”
Oh, shit. Eric had been a vampire for over two hundred years, and she knew he had gained the enhanced sensory perception that came with age.
He can really smell Apollo on me. This scene wasn’t going to end well. At all.
A sharp sting pierced her left arm, and Terese felt the warm well of her blood. Glancing down, she saw that his claws had pierced her flesh. “I-I had to feed.” That was the truth. Another night, and the hunger would have killed her.
The claws dug deeper as they cut into her muscles. “But you didn’t have to f**k!”
No, that part had been pure bonus, though now might not be the best time to mention that fact. “Eric…”
His teeth snapped together. “You’re mine, Terese. Mine. I made you, and I’ll be damned if I let you go to another.”
Too late. I already did. “Then I guess you’re just—”
“Terese!” Apollo’s voice roared from the hallway.
Eric’s eyes narrowed. “He comes for you,” he whispered, “but he’ll get me.”
The front door shook as Apollo’s fist pounded against the wood. “I know you’re in there, so let me in! We need to talk.”