Page 36 of Skin Trade

“Good.” Faster than anyone could see, or even stop, Alexander moved around Creven. He reached Josie, grabbed her hair the way he had with Payton’s and yanked her head back.

“Please … she didn’t …” Payton shut up.

Alexander lifted his hand, one sharp nail from his index finger and he slashed slowly across Josie’s throat. Josie tried to scream. Blood poured down from the wound. Josie fought against him, but Alexander rested his mouth against the flow, letting it drip down his chin. Josie’s bladder gave way, making Alexander step aside.

Payton cried out, jumped up. Seth caught her. His arms flying around her chest and yanking her back. “Josie … Nooooo,” Payton screamed out the words as Alexander threw Josie at Creven and wiped his own mouth. “Your turn,” he said, but his eyes were fixed on Payton. He licked at the blood around his mouth. It ran down his shirt.

“You bastard,” she screamed.

Seth pulled her back, slammed his hand over her mouth, pressed his lips to her ear. “Learn silence,” he said. She bucked against him, wanting only to get free and get to her friend as Josie was passed from vampire to vampire for drinking. Josie’s legs went limp, they dragged her around like nothing, like a chew toy. Payton tried to shout. Seth’s face was in front of hers. “For god sake. I can’t protect you. Learn silence. Now.”

He twisted with her, putting her so she couldn’t see Josie and pressed her face into his chest. Her sobs dulled against his shirt; her tears soaked through.

“If you do not get control of her, she will be next.”

Seth lifted her up, lifted her so her eyes locked with his. “No,” she said, seeing the intent in them. “No please.”

“I must do this,’ he said. She wasn’t sure if he said it in whisper, or in her head, but she heard him, “Trust me.” Then he leant down and bit her.

Chapter Twenty-Two

She was floating. No. She was flying. She was weightless in the dark somewhere and when she tried to speak, only her mouth moved, but no sound came out. Grasping blindly, she found Seth’s shirt and grabbed it by the fistful, if only to find a way to anchor herself.

“Stop,” she said, but her voice was only a whisper in her own head. He was there, his mouth on her neck, his lips on her skin, his tongue moving along her flesh, sending shivers through her body, all the way down to the juncture between her legs where they seemed to explode in warm, electrified sensations. She let out a gasp, put her head back and tried to open her eyes, but she was on a rollercoaster of exhilaration. Every time he sucked against her neck, more shivers shot along her body until her legs couldn’t hold her any longer and they gave way. If it wasn’t for Seth holding onto her, she would have landed on the ground beside his feet.

“Please …”

He lowered her, his mouth still on her neck, but his hand slid along her side, strong fingers along her ribs, sliding up to her breast. He paused only long enough to cup her in his hand and then his hand carried on to her throat. “Be silent now,” he said against her skin.

She wanted to let go and let her head flop back so she could give herself to him, all of him. But some stubborn part of her fought to stay conscious, fought to keep him in her focus.

“Don’t fight,” he said.

Swallowing hard, she felt a tear trickle down the side of her face. “I have to.”

Vampire saliva served so many purposes. It always depended on where they bit. The neck was different to the thigh. In the neck, the veins and arteries supplied blood to and from the brain. Draining from there was a fast way to render a person unconscious, if that was what they wanted. Seth had taken her to the edge of that. Payton’s vision grew hazy.

“Let go.” God, she wanted to. His voice was a whisper against her skin, her mind was slipping.

As Seth held her in his arms and she tried to blink everything away, a face came over her, shielding her vision of the room. Alexander’s dark, angular features loomed in front of her and she tried to turn her head. “No,” she said.

She lifted her hand to touch Seth and make sure he was there. He was, but she could do nothing as Alexander came for her

“Now isn’t this better? No more fighting, none of this nonsense.” He brushed loose hair back from her face, slid his hand around the back of her neck, as his gaze roved down her body. “I can see why you like her. I would save her too. I’d save her until I could have all of her, undisturbed.” He bent to taste her neck, but paused before he did, pulling back, his fangs out, mouth open, caught half-way in what he was doing. “What is wrong with your eyes?” he asked Seth.

“My eyes?”

“They glow.” Alexander grabbed Seth’s face and tilted it towards the light. “Interesting. The rims of your pupils are like light.”

Payton tried to move. Whether it was to see what Alexander was talking about or just to get away, she wasn’t sure, but her body was so heavy. All she could manage to do was move a little in Seth’s arms, but there was no way she was getting up. Seth adjusted his hold on her, tipping her towards him more. She put her hand to his solid chest, meaning to push him away, but finding herself curling in against it.

“Your blood is poison?” Alexander said to Payton.

“No,” she tried to say, but when she opened her mouth again, the word came out as nothing but a scratch in her throat.

Alexander smiled at that. “Silence. Isn’t it wonderful how it works? We could do anything to you, and you couldn’t make a sound, not a single scream. But perhaps it is as Creven suggests.” He raised his gaze to Seth. “Perhaps you do well to rid yourself with this one. Her blood is sour, tainted. Feed her to the thirsty and let it wipe them out.”

Seth said nothing. But Payton wanted to shout at him, to tell him no. To tell Alexander no. All she managed to do was close her eyes and sink back into Seth’s warm hold. She could stay here. She could probably die here.

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