An event that Ty hoped Ana would attend as his date. Miguel’s failure to respond to Ty’s phone calls and emails signaled suspicion. With Ana on his arm, maybe, just maybe, Ty would be able to convince Salvador that not only was he interested in Hispanic rights, but that he was a trustworthy vampire interested in a new food supply line, as well.
It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but the only alternative would be full-scale covert ops and forced entry. Given Belladonna’s limited numbers and resources, as well as the FBI’s instructions to keep their missions—their very existence—on the down low, that wasn’t going to happen.
Ana was their best chance of getting what they needed.
Ana.
He couldn’t help himself. Despite the fact that his body had finally started to calm, he deliberately conjured the memory of the kisses they’d shared.
Kissing her hadn’t just been about shaking her up or capitalizing on the attraction he sensed she felt for him. It hadn’t been about coercing her into agreeing to work for Belladonna. No, despite his resolve to remain clean—to drink only animal blood and refrain from having sex—he wanted her. Wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything. Wanted her enough to kiss her not just once, but twice. And he’d barely been able to stop himself from doing it again.
Just like that, the memory of kissing Ana caused Ty’s lust for her to return with a vengeance. His hands and teeth began to clench as he fought the strong urge to turn around and retrace his steps. He needed to find Ana. He needed to do more than just kiss her. He needed to mark her and make her his.
Mark her by biting her neck and drinking her blood.
Make her his by taking her, over and over again, until no one could deny the truth of their connection.
His primal reaction confused him. Scared him.
Six months ago he’d been a man. A human. He’d understood himself.
Now, he didn’t know where the line between Ty, the former human, and Ty, the vampire, was drawn. Was there even a distinction? His brief moments of closeness to Ana had triggered his vampire urges, but apparently being away from her did the very same thing.
His fangs unsheathed. He groaned and staggered, nearly coming to his knees.
His body shook as if he were caught in the throes of a major earthquake, and determinedly, he placed one foot in front of the other, pressing forward.
Instinctively, as he felt the power of the monster within him growing, Ty walked faster. He was crossing the street when a wave of dizziness hit him.
He suddenly felt parched. Starving. His stomach began to cramp, threatening to eat him alive from the inside out. He’d felt this feeling before. He knew what it meant.
His lust for Ana had triggered more than his vampire need for sex. It had triggered his need for blood, as well. Human blood.
Damn it, no. He wasn’t fully vampire, he told himself. Part of him was still human, and if he wanted to keep that part of him alive, he had to maintain control. He had to hurry …
There were several bottles of animal blood in the flat’s fridge. He increased his speed. He was almost there when a shout came from behind him. He whipped around. A homeless man reeking of alcohol stumbled down the street. Fresh wounds were visible on his forearms and legs. He was bleeding, and the scent of that blood drifted on the wind and embedded itself in Ty’s nostrils.
Ty stumbled back. “No,” he whispered. “No.” But even as he said the words, he sucked in another whiff of the guy’s scent and trembled.
“Hey … hey, man,” the man called out. “Can you spare some change?”
Ty opened his mouth to say no again. A hiss came out instead.
The man’s eyes widened with fear and Ty felt that same fear take hold of him.
Before Ty knew it, he was moving toward the stranger. Not walking. Not even running. But barreling toward him with inhuman speed.
The smell of the man’s blood and his dark memories combined with his interaction with Ana, his hunger for her, called forth his deepest primal urges, the ones that he normally kept controlled by sheer force of will. He opened his mouth. Barely managed to choke out, “Run. Get out of here.”
Luckily, the homeless man heard him and didn’t question the command. He turned. Tried to flee.
But that, unfortunately, only made Ty’s predatory instincts kick into higher gear.
Blood. He has the blood you want. The blood you need.
Get it. Get him.
Now.
Before Ty knew it, he’d dragged the man between two buildings and had him trapped against a wall face-first, the same way Ana had trapped him earlier. But instead of letting him turn around, instead of backing away the way she had, Ty punched his fangs into the man’s neck and began to drink.
The whimper that escaped Ty was one of despair but it quickly turned into satisfaction. The metallic bitterness of the man’s blood was an explosion of nirvana on his tongue.
He drank. And drank. And drank.
With every swallow, thoughts of his human life vanished.
He lost himself in the pleasure of drinking blood how it was meant to be drunk, fresh from the vein. From a warm body. From a human who was weaker than him … a human who was meant to serve him …
Ty gasped, horrified enough by his thoughts that he somehow found the strength to pull his fangs out of the man’s throat. The sound of a car backfiring and distant shouts made him jerk and look wildly around him, but there was no one in sight. Didn’t mean someone wouldn’t show up soon and discover him. Discover what he’d done …
With a shudder, Ty returned his attention to the man he still held. As soon as he’d bitten him, the man had gone compliantly silent and even now dangled in his arms. Ty stared at him, his previous thoughts echoing in his ears. The way he’d thought of the man as a mere human, as something weak and existing only for his own benefit, had him stumbling back, his arms falling to his sides.
The man crumpled to the ground, groaning. Blood trickled from the puncture wounds in his neck, but Ty could hear his heart thudding and his blood flowing. He was okay. Ty would leave him here, and the man would never know what had happened. At most, he’d assume he’d been so drunk he’d hallucinated a feral monster attacking him …
Shakily, Ty swiped his sleeve across his mouth, noting the light streaks of blood there. He expected himself to throw up, because his thoughts had indeed sickened him. Instead of puking his guts out, however, he felt a renewed energy and vitality zipping through his veins. His senses, already heightened, became even more acute. This was what was intoxicating. Addicting. Even more than the taste of the blood itself, how could anyone resist this feeling of strength? Of sheer power?
He could feel the moisture in the air changing, telling him it would rain before dawn. He could see the fleas on the cat that balanced on a Dumpster thirty feet away.
And he could smell …
He took a deeper breath.
He could smell someone approaching. His mind screamed at him to run. With a final glance at the homeless man he’d terrorized and a muttered curse, Ty obeyed. Strengthened by the blood, he ran fast. Past his flat. Past Ana’s house. Past anything resembling a residential neighborhood until he came upon a remote warehouse. He jumped the fence and found an unlocked door. As he stepped inside, the cool, dark air welcomed him like a mother’s embrace. Leaning against an interior wall, he sank to the cold concrete floor. Closing his eyes, he cursed what he’d become.
What he’d lost.