Midnight Magic, page 19
You’re going to need back up at the party.
You’re not going to give me a lecture about not going?
That depends. Do you want me to lecture you?
Fuck no.
What do you want, Ava?
The question caught her off guard, and she was surprised that the answer was not a simple one.
She wanted justice—for Ross, for the other victims who had met their bitter end at the hands of monsters. She wanted to make her almost death, their deaths, count for something.
But she also could not deny she wanted to feel the blissful peace she felt with Cassius’s fangs in her skin, to feel the surge of power she felt in the ring, sparring with Dallas.
But she couldn’t tell him any of that.
Such deep questions you have at three in the morning. Ava hoped he would not press her.
What time do you get out of class tomorrow?
Two.
I’ll pick you up. If you’re going to slay your first vamp in a week, we need to make sure there’s no room for error.
Oh, so another chance to beat your ass into the ring, then? Can’t wait. Her lips turned up into a delicious smile.
Bring me your best, kitten. ;-)
Ava swung her arm out, and Dallas dodged her once again. After a solid three days of this, she had to admit her entire body was feeling the strain. Mal, Tito, and Vinny had gone out to assist Hunter, according to Dallas. It was just the two of them again.
Her tank top clung to her body like a second skin, and she could feel the strain in her muscles, in her legs, and all she wanted to do was collapse into a pile in the corner. But there would be no rest. There couldn’t be.
“Come on, Ava...” Dallas taunted her as he lunged for her. She angled herself out of his way, and her long ponytail, wet from sweat, whipped around and lashed him in the face.
His hands twisted in the bottom, and he yanked her back by her hair. She fell into his embrace, the heat from his body engulfing her as he locked his arm around her, his free hand sliding over her wrist, brushing Cassius’s bite mark with a familiar sting. His lips were at her ear, and she could feel the heat of his breath on her neck. She closed her eyes for only a moment, feeling the ache of her muscles as he tightened his grip, trying to focus.
“I know you’re better than this,” he whispered.
Ava breathed heavily, her chest rising and falling with rapid rhythm.
“Dallas...” Her voice came out much darker than she anticipated.
“You can’t let them get this close...” His lips grazed her ear.
Ava’s mind swam with a hundred thoughts, feelings.
She focused on only one, though. The feeling of powerlessness. The vampire who’d bled her with his knife and left her to bleed out on the concrete floor.
The sound of Ross’s scream.
Ava backed herself against Dallas, the motion bringing her hands smack against his hard abs, which were slick with cold sweat. She twisted with all her might, snapping out of his hold, and she reached down into her pant leg quickly, pulling out the stake she had hidden. She lunged forth to Dallas, stake in hand as she pushed with her opposite hand and forced him back against the ring.
Her eyes burned into his gaze, and she pressed herself against him, holding him with what force she possessed against the ring.
She noted the sizeable bulge in his pants, but refused to acknowledge it at the moment, despite the fact she couldn’t deny it gave her a sense of satisfaction.
“You were saying...”
Dallas let out a dark laugh.
“What’s so funny?” She tried to catch her breath, but she didn’t move, and he didn’t relent either.
“I think you’re enjoying this a little too much.” He smiled darkly.
“I’m not the one who’s all hot and bothered.” She cast him a heated gaze.
Dallas settled his hand around hers, which held the stake against his chest, and he pulled it away slowly.
“Could have fooled me.” The low ceiling lights cast shadows on him and his defined muscles, making the sweat on his skin glisten; and all his tattoos stand out.
Her insides twisted.
And suddenly it dawned on Ava, that perhaps getting close to the vampires would be the best way to slaughter them.
It was their nature to use their thrall, to placate humans into becoming wanton little things that would allow them to get close enough to bite, to kill them. But perhaps if one thought they had her, if they could get close enough to bite her...
She’d be close enough to kill them without them realizing their mistake.
But as she looked into Dallas’s bright blue eyes, she realized there were some things she just couldn’t fight.
Because she didn’t want to.
It all happened so fast, she couldn’t be sure who made the first move.
As the stake fell from her hands, it clattered on the boxing ring floor.
Dallas’s lips crushed hers with fury, his hands sliding up her back into her sweat soaked hair.
Her breasts pressed against his warm, solid chest, her hands finding their way up his arms, his neck, as her fingers traced his jaw, pulling him closer.
She slid her tongue into his mouth, and he pushed back against her, his lips traveling from her mouth to her jaw, and her heart thundered in her chest, her nerves at full attention from the adrenaline, the fight. Ava closed her eyes, and the memory of glowing green emeralds, of razor-sharp fangs biting her, pushed forth, and she couldn’t help the moan that escaped her lips.
She couldn’t deny that it felt good.
The fight.
The feel of Dallas’s body against hers.
The building cyclone in the pit of her stomach, in her groin.
“Ava...” His voice vibrated on her skin and made her entire body flush with heat as he pulled away, catching his breath.
“Dallas...” she answered skeptically.
“Fuck...” His breath caught in his throat.
“We shouldn’t do this...” He swallowed, and she could hear the concern in his voice.
“Why?” Her eyes focused on his lips, and all she could think about was how good they felt. How badly she needed this. The release. Someone to take away all the thoughts, feelings.
Someone to make her forget.
“Why? There are a lot of reasons...” He leaned his forehead against hers, his hair tickling her face.
“What’s the matter Dallas? Afraid I’ll bite?” She let out a little laugh.
“Mal—”
“Doesn’t need to know,” she whispered, her lips brushing his again.
Dallas slid his tongue into her mouth, groaning into her before pulling away once more.
“You’re—”
“A consenting adult.” She kissed him again.
“Fuck...Ava...”
“If you don’t want this Dallas, the door is over there...” Her heart raced; her blood boiled.
It seemed like forever until he spoke.
“I’m not going anywhere, kitten.”
“Good. Neither am I.”
This time when Dallas kissed her, there was no question or concern. He kissed her with fervor, with desire, and with possession.
And for the moment, Ava forgot about everything else.
About death, and monsters, and revenge.
In the arms of Jake Dallas, it was so easy to forget.
CHAPTER 31
“You’re sure they didn’t see you?” Taj took a sip of his beer as he relaxed on the couch.
Cassius stirred the dough absentmindedly as the oven dinged. “I am certain,” Cassius stopped his stirring, and he expertly spooned out drops of cookies onto the parchment lined baking sheet.
Jasmine padded down the hall, her hair slightly disheveled from a long sleep. Cassius glanced at the clock. It was still early in the evening, only eight o’clock.
“Oh, you’re baking again...” Jasmine’s eyes filled with hunger.
Cassius didn’t consider himself an expert baker by any means, but after spending so many years in Paris, he’d picked up the skill as a hobby and seemed to have a hard time letting it go. It helped to calm his nerves, whenever he’d feel stressed, anxious. Worried.
And he was most certainly worried about Ava attending a party in which idiotic vampires may try to challenge his claim on her or tie up loose ends as Brody had called her.
Taj looked at Cassius, his expression plain and simple. Don’t say anything to Jasmine.
Cas glanced at Jasmine’s cerulean eyes and sighed. “Ava wishes to attend a party in which I know there will be vampires.” He scooped out a spoonful of cookie dough, and Jasmine settled on the bar stool at the island.
Taj watched their interaction closely.
Jasmine was as exotic as the flower she was named after, and Taj treated her as such.
He’d only known her for about a decade, after she’d stumbled into the woods of Chester, an escapee of hunters.
Hunters like Mal. Ava’s brother.
He hadn’t mentioned his little discussion with Ava and her hunter brother to either of them, but somewhere in his depths he knew he needed to tell them. If only for the reason that by association, they would likely be made targets.
But despite knowing the danger it may put him, and even his friends in, he could not deny the truth. He would embrace whatever danger lurked beyond the woman who bore his claim on her blood.
Another cookie dropped to the pan with a soft sound.
“So go the party. Play hero. You know you want to.” Jasmine swiped her finger in the bowl, pulling some raw cookie dough onto her finger, her eyes shutting in pleasure as she licked it off.
Cassius could hear a small choking sound from Taj in the living room, and he rolled his eyes. As bristling as Taj could be, there was at least one person who could soften his edges.
Cassius wished that he could have someone the way Taj had Jasmine. The way his father, Lucius, had his human mother, Isabella, before the siring. Before their lives had disintegrated into pain, and betrayal.
“I do not play hero, why does everyone keep saying that?” Cassius grumbled as he pulled the bowl away from Jasmine.
She frowned.
“If you continue to eat my cookie dough, there will be no cookies to eat, Jasmine.” He raised an eyebrow at her.
Jasmine chuckled lightly.
“Just go to the party. Let loose a little too, while you’re at it. Have some fun.” She waggled her eyebrows at Cassius who huffed a sigh of exasperation.
“One can hardly have fun when there is danger lurking in the shadows.” He shoved the tray of raw cookies into the oven.
Jasmine rolled her eyes.
“Always so dramatic.”
Cassius’s eyes met Taj’s.
“I will go. But I can guarantee I will not have fun.”
Cassius held the coffee in one hand and a bag of cookies in the other. Yet, he felt strangely nervous in a way he hadn’t felt since he was a young teenager.
Ava sat with her back against a tree in the quad, and she looked rather spent. He could see even at a distance, the bags underneath her eyes, and the deep breaths she was taking. She looked tired, and most certainly in need of caffeine and sugar. Women loved caffeine and sugar, and he prayed she would too. Each step he took towards her felt like a canyon, but he kept going. Her eyes opened, eyelashes fluttering in the shade as he approached her.
“You must have a death wish,” she drawled as he came to the edge of the shaded tree, his shoes barely touching the edge of her boots.
“Perhaps it is you who has the death wish.” He held out the coffee.
“What is this?” She looked up at him skeptically.
“A peace offering.” He nodded at her.
“What’s in the bag?” Her eyes glanced down to his fingers that held the bag shut, and he could not deny the way they fixated on his slender wrist.
This close to her he could feel her heightened pulse, and he wondered what she was thinking about.
The sun hit him at his back, and he felt flush and warm, between its heat and the vibrating pulse of his marked human. Never in a million years did Cassius think he would have marked anyone. But he had, and he knew because of his actions, it would be rather difficult to stay away. He needed to be near her, if only to keep an eye on her. To make sure she was safe. He had vowed to do so, and he intended to keep his word. Even if being near her put him in danger.
Mal had relented, but he knew it may only be a matter of time before the hunter found a way to discard him. It was what he did.
Kill people like Cassius.
“Chocolate chip cookies.” He handed her the bag, and she took it, her fingers brushing his lightly, sending a jolt of electricity through him.
The touch felt so...good, but it was rather short lived.
Ava opened the bag and peered in, as if expecting a spider or something to jump out and scare her. “A peace offering, huh? How do I know you didn’t poison this shit, and this is how I end up in your fucking lair?”
“I suppose you’ll just to have to trust me.” He smiled, trying to look as innocent as possible.
“What kind of drink is that?” She looked up at him.
“Coffee.”
“Black?” she asked as she wrinkled her nose.
“Heavens, no. No sane human drinks black coffee.” The wind rustled his hair, and he could feel her pulse start to race once more. He held the coffee out to her.
She took it from his hands and set it on the ground.
He slid his hands in his pockets, and she pulled a cookie from the bag, looking it over with suspicion before taking the smallest bite.
“Thank you. For the other night,” he spoke.
“Like I said, we’re even now.” She took another bite.
“Please don’t go to the party,” he pleaded.
“Is this why you brought me sweet treats? Try and butter me up? Did you think if you bought me food I’d just agree to your demands?”
I had hoped so, yes.
As she said the words, Cassius could feel his own dark blood start to heat. It sounded like bribery.
It wasn’t not bribery.
Suddenly he felt on the spot. “I am not demanding anything of you, I just—”
“Good. Because I don’t like to be told what the fuck to do.” She rose from her seat, bag and coffee in hand. She took a step closer to him. “Especially by bloodthirsty killing machines who wear leather pants when its eighty-five fucking degrees.” She brushed past him.
“What’s wrong with my pants?” Cassius felt perplexed as he watched her saunter off.
“See you around, Cas.” She waved to him as she walked off.
“Thanks for the poison,” were the last words she spoke before she disappeared around the corner.
CHAPTER 32
Ava walked past the array of shops on Main Street, her hands in her jeans pocket. It was still early afternoon, and due to Hunter wrapping up whatever it was Mal and the others had assisted him with, Dallas was occupied. She wasn’t angry, jealous, or perturbed by any means. She understood the relationships between Mal and his best friend, and even the other hunters as she’d observed, was something that had been built over several years. They had a bond, the five of them. A bond that was born of blood, and death.
After all, it wasn’t as if she and Dallas were...anything really. They’d kissed, sure. But that didn’t mean they were together or anything.
She’d just lost her boyfriend. It was a moment of weakness, a moment of just...
Being able to forget. A moment of lust, nothing more.
But she couldn’t deny that she enjoyed the moment. She enjoyed it quite a bit more than she probably should have.
Just remembering the feeling of his hands running up her back, his arousal pressed against her... The way his stubble brushed her skin as he ran his tongue up her jaw... And the fight beforehand hadn’t been without its charms either.
Then there was Cassius.
A part of her felt guilty, it had been his image that filled her brain as she kissed Dallas, but she was also thankful that he was able to redirect her desires, if only for a moment.
She didn’t want to think about Cassius. About his deep green eyes, his perfect model face, or his sharp fangs.
Or the fact that he had brought her a peace offering. Whatever that fucking meant.
He was a vampire. A monster.
The enemy.
Cookies and coffee didn’t change that. It never would.
She was grateful he had saved her, but she was also angry.
He certainly didn’t have time to explain but...
It still felt unfair. He’d asked her permission, but how was she to know what he was truly asking? He may have saved her life, but she knew as she looked up at him amidst the daylight, that it was much more complicated than that.
Her hair blew in her face, and she remembered the night before, with Dallas. How easy it had been to wade into those waters. How, for only a moment, she had forgotten about all of it. How the fight had transpired into something else when Dallas pulled her by her long, sweat soaked ponytail into his hard embrace.
Even though it had led to a most enjoyable, hot make out session, she had to admit if Dallas could use her long, silken locks against her, perhaps a vampire such as Cas may be able to do the same.
She stopped in front of Lori’s Hair Salon, her reflection catching in the window. She’d never cut her hair before. She’d had plenty of trims, to keep it long and luscious. It looked so pretty when she’d tie it back, especially with a bow when she donned her cheerleading uniform. But it had started to become a nuisance.
Always flying around in the wind, sticking to her lip gloss. It took nearly an hour to wash and dry every day.
And it could be the difference between life and death, quite literally.
When Lori took the scissors to her hair, Ava closed her eyes. She couldn’t bear to watch the years of growth tumble to the floor. When she opened her eyes finally and looked in the mirror, she felt a sting of panic.
Lori brushed and straightened her shoulder length locks, and Ava couldn’t deny a sense of excitement swelled in her stomach. It brought forth a feeling of newness, of confidence she hadn’t quite expected.
