He twisted the thin chain, but paused. “How did you change your scent?"
"I don't recommend it.” I pushed away from the wall, and my smile broadened, flashing the smallest amount of teeth. “I had to die."
I leaped straight toward him, and as expected, he sidestepped. Perfect. I hit the ground running, but my surge of triumph was cut short as his hand snaked out, snatching the back of my coat and yanking me to the pavement.
My breath whooshed out of me. A massive fist angled toward my face, and I rolled.
The blow glanced across my shoulder, but I was already in motion. I twisted to get my feet under me, and clenching my fists, I sprang upward. Adding the leverage of the leap and all my weight, I planted both fists in the hunter's abdomen.
He had a hundred pounds on me, but he toppled backward, his back slamming into the brick wall. As he fell, his foot shot out, catching me in the jaw.
Pain exploded in my face. My head snapped back, my lip bursting. I stumbled, falling to my knees. The hunter pushed off the wall, then doubled over, a coughing spasm wracking his body.
I tried to climb to my feet, but my head spun, spots filling my vision. My attempt to stand left me face down in the snow, inches from where the hunter's hacking cough had spattered it in red dots.
Red? I stared. The vivid color stood out against the otherwise grey washed world.
My mouth hurt, a burning heat oozing down my chin. My tongue traced my split bottom lip and the coppery taste of blood filled my senses.
So sweet.
My tongue dug into the wound, not caring it was my own blood. I needed more. My eyes darted to the blood spattered snow, and then to the still coughing hunter. My legs moved effortlessly under me, and the hunter straightened as I stood. His wary eyes watched me as he wiped his gloved hand over his mouth, smearing a trail of crimson across his chin.
The energy of his beast rushed from his skin, so close to shifting. I stalked closer. He wasn't the one hunting now.
Prey to be taken down or a human-shaped form of catnip to be rolled around in? Nothing protected his throat, it would be easy enough to take him down.
He didn't move as I slid into his space. His body heat warmed the air between us, but only the fabric of our coats touched. Standing on tiptoes, I flicked out my tongue and captured the pool of blood in the crease of his lips.
He tasted husky and woodsy. A shaky breath escaped him, filling me with the taste of his fear, but overriding that fear was his excitement. The energy pouring out of him changed, his beast no longer ready to spill over his skin. Something moved in my peripheral. Someone had entered the alley. I started to look up, to step back, but the hunter closed the space between us, his arms sliding under my coat to drag me against him.
Warmth washed over my body, the pulse under his skin beating against me through our clothes. My hands moved to his shoulders, and my fangs sank into his neck. Heat filled my mouth, rushed down my throat. He grunted, his body grinding against mine.
Catnip.
His movements were frantic as he dragged my hips closer to him. His fingernails dug through my sweater, a sensation approaching the brink of pain, but I quickly forgot about that as I lost my sense of myself. People I didn't know and places I'd never seen filled my mind.
A woman with wavy brown hair laughed as she pressed my hand to her round belly. Below my fingers, something moved and pride surged though me.
I stared at the cloudy sky, waiting for a shaft of moonlight to break through and open the gate to Firth. Others grumbled at my side, a stray bound in chains babbled incessantly, everyone waited for a glimpse of the full moon, and again I was tempted to turn around and go home. Marinna never understood my monthly trips. Would the elders really mark me stray for missing one check-in?
Next the apartment was empty; a note in Marinna's tight script on the counter.
"Kita, that is enough,” someone said very far off. “Kita, stop. Now."
Fingers pressed against my eyelids, more closed around my throat, preventing me from swallowing. My fangs retracted, and I jerked back.
Disoriented, I blinked at Nathanial.
"Lick the wound to close it."
I frowned at him. I understood each word, but put together they weren't making any sense.
He pointed and I looked at the bared and bloody neck of the hunter. Stifling a scream, I jumped back. The hunter slid down the wall. His eyes were blank, happy, but empty, and a small wet stain soaked through the front of his pants. Blood trickled out of the two small puncture wounds on his neck. Nathanial looked between the two of us and then bent over the hunter. When he straightened, the blood and the wounds were gone.
I stared at the—now unbloody—hunter. His rich tan floated over paler skin. Panic twisted in the pit of my stomach, fighting the contented warmth spreading through my limbs.
"Is he dead?"
Nathanial shook his head. “Only dazed."
The hunter's heart finally beat, thudding loudly in my ears. I held my breath as I waited to hear it beat again, but it was a long time coming.
I stared at my hands. They weren't shaking, but shouldn't they have been? They looked too smooth, all the fine lines and pores missing. From where I stood, I could see every pore in the hunter's face, every imperfect crease around his eyes, but my skin was as smooth as poured plastic. Was this shock?
As if a veil had been pulled aside, the world flooded with color. The vivid hues were dizzying, even the darkest shadows highlighted with shades of deep violet. The sound of distant traffic buzzed in my ears, and a TV audience laughed in one of the nearby houses. The scents wafting from the hunter were revoltingly poignant: the citrus of his cologne battling, and failing, to cover the acrid musk of wolf; the smell of drying sweat and blood. His heart beat again—loud, too loud. For the first time since waking up a vampire, there was no magic in hearing a heartbeat or smelling blood. No hunger stirred in my stomach, only a slightly queasy feeling.
I sank to my knees and put my hands on the ground. “I'm going to be sick."
"Don't you dare!” Nathanial hauled me up with a hard grip on my upper arm. “That is his life blood, which you have already taken. A person's blood is precious. Never waste it."
"I didn't mean to ... I wasn't trying..."
"I know, but you needed it."
I stared at him. His skin was like mine, poreless. How had I never noticed that before? And his irises, I'd always thought they were grey, but they were flecked with dozens of shades of grey, like a faceted diamond. I squeezed my eyes shut. My senses were overloading. I needed to stay focused on what was happening. On what had already happened. He'd been there. In the alley. I'd seen him in my peripheral, but he hadn't stopped me. He hadn't even tried until after the fact.
I shook my head. “You let me do this."
He didn't deny it, and a strangled scream surged out my throat.
"You stopped me from biting Bobby. We were almost to the park, why didn't you stop me now?"
He looked away and shrugged, but the movement wasn't smooth. “You needed to feed. I could tell you I stopped you earlier because you would carry more guilt over biting Bobby, but...” He trailed off, and then turned to meet my eyes. “The hunter was convenient and not an ally."
"He's a person, Nathanial! His name is Evan. He is a wolf from the Renfrew clan. He is not of an important enough family to be eligible for a mate, so he was trained to be a hunter from the time he was a child. He likes the human world. It is more a home to him, more fair, in his opinion, than Firth. He has a girlfriend here. She is pregnant, but she left him.” The details spilled out of me, bubbling up from a shadow in my mind. “Why do I know all this?"
"Shhh,” Nathanial pulled me into his arms.
I pushed away and hugged myself tight.
His face shut down. “You will carry a piece of everyone you bite, but their memories will fade with time."
"Their blood and their thoughts? Is nothing sacred?"
"If it makes you feel any better, donating to one of us is probably the most euphoric experience in their lives."
I looked at Evan's dazed figure. “Donating makes it sound like he had a choice."
Nathanial frowned at me, and then crouched beside Evan. He snapped his fingers in front of the hunter's nose but Evan didn't blink. Nathanial's frown faded as he motioned for me to move. Still hugging myself, I shuffled over a couple steps. Evan's eyes tracked my movement, but didn't become any more focused. A small smile broke over Nathanial's face.
"Before you bit him, did you feel his emotions or notice anything strange?"
I cringed at the word ‘bite’ and started to say ‘no’ but then remembered the touch of fear and excitement I felt a moment before my teeth sank in. Well, felt was really the wrong word. It was more like I tasted it, or maybe saw it, but that didn't make sense. After a moment, I nodded.
Nathanial pulled his glasses off and tapped the frames against his palm. “Very interesting."
I stamped my feet, waiting, but Nathanial was lost in his own thoughts. Hugging myself tighter, I asked, “What?"
"Did you know the most common vampiric ability is a type of hypnotism, either with the eyes or voice?” I shook my head and he continued, “I assumed that was what you did to him, albeit unintentionally. But, he would have snapped out of it by now. I think you mesmerized him."
I blinked. Mesmerized?
"That is good news, Kita. You can erase his memories."
My hands fell to my side. Erase his memories? I shook my head—that couldn't be possible. But, if I could make him forget seeing me, make him forget Bobby ... I moved to Evan's side and dropped to my knees. As I knelt, some of the blankness in his features turned to anticipation. I'd seen that look on junkies before, right before they inserted the needle.
Cringing, I looked away from the raw need in his face.
"How do I do the memory thing?” I didn't look at Nathanial as I asked, but studied the trampled snow separating Evan and me. When Nathanial didn't answer, I glanced up and frowned at him. “Well?"