Page 27 of The Curse of Eternity
“Better I than you,” he answered at last, almost closing the distance between us with a single step. Inches separated us while I gazed up into his dark eyes. His hand rose, and my breath caught when his fingertips brushed my cheekbone as he swept aside the curls framing my face. A shiver ran down my spine, and for a fraction of a second, everything seemed to stop. “You are so beautifully human, Maria, and I have lived lifetimes longer than I ought.”
Breath held, my mind empty, I lunged for him. My arms went around his neck, pulling him closer until our lips met. Shock was obvious in both of us, and my mouth stilled against his when he froze under my sudden affection. I was about to die of humiliation—until he started kissing me back.
The tender swell of his lips on mine sent surges of heat through my core, reinforced by his hands at my waist. Crushed against him, I returned the sentiments tenfold as my fingers threaded through his silken hair, holding him to me. The thrum of my heart against his unmoving chest accompanied my ragged breaths.
Our kiss broke only so I could inhale, but we were like magnets. Every push and pull in sync while I made out with my blood’s mortal enemy under the overcast night sky. His tongue exerted gentle pressure against my lips, and I willingly opened. The taste of his venom-laced saliva was shockingly sweet, and I nearly moaned when he held me closer. I’d always expected everything about vampires to be wrong—inhuman.
Except, as our bodies molded against one another with natural ease, I couldn’t imagine a single thing wrong about this. Before I could think too hard about the fact that we were in a public park, and that proverbial-but-possibly-literal swordshung over our heads, my phone buzzed in my pocket. A groan rose up my throat when I was forced to pull away. Heat prickled in all the best places, demanding satisfaction.
Unlike me, Drake wasn’t breathless when he released me, his touch slipping away. Except his step backward staggered, his expression stunned while his eyes burned, craving something fierce. Drake swallowed, his composure lost, and I suppressed a bud of pride while retrieving my phone.Shit, why was Everly calling menow?Brow furrowed, I answered it.
“Hey, Eve, not a great time—”
“Maria! Where are you? Are you okay?” Her panicked voice cut through me, leaving my insides full of ice where warmth had ignited moments before.
“I’m fine, what’s wrong?” Just as I spoke, Drake’s posture stiffened. His dark eyes narrowed, focused on a spot behind me while his fingers clenched into a fist.
“I’ve got a really,reallybad feeling,” Everly continued, but my heart had already dropped, and I slowly turned to follow Drake’s gaze. “Wherever you are, you need to get out of there—”
“Too late.” Drake’s voice lowered so only I would hear. Because we weren’t alone anymore. I backed up a step, and Drake caught my shoulders before I could bump into him. Then he leaned close, his lips brushing my ear when he whispered, “Follow my lead.”
Without hesitation, I nodded, and lowered my phone only to let it drop to the ground. Staring ahead, I stomped on the phone hard enough to crack it straight through. Everly’s voice dissipated into the wind, but at least I wouldn’t worry about them going afterher. The man at the center between two vampires stepped forward.
While his buddies were dressed in simple suits, uniform and unremarkable except for their differences in height and hair color, the one who approached was clearly in charge. It wasobvious even before a grin split his beige face, the mirth never reaching his piercing green eyes. Brown hair a shade lighter than mine curled beneath a mauve beret, the color matching the gentleman’s suit he wore, outdated and old-fashioned.
In the blink of an eye, Drake subtly stepped in front of me.
“Don’t let me interrupt your goodbyes,” the man-in-charge said. His British accent was a surprise, and I gulped when his sight centered on my face before dipping to glance over the machete at my hip. “Unless your strumpet can’t be charmed?”
Drake tensed, his attention flickering between the man and the two vampires flanking him. Then I figured out why the stranger was so weird. Because he was, in fact, aman. No trace of vampirism showed in his complexion, nor any sharpness to his canines when he grinned wide like this whole thing was a joke to him. What power could he have over the two behind him?
“She has no part in this, and your orders do not include her, Ezra. Of that, I am certain.” Drake’s jaw flexed, his ruthless gaze unwavering on the well-dressed man before us. Ezra sighed, twirling a finger like something invisible was swinging around it—when suddenly, there was. A long golden chain looped around his forefinger.
I inhaled a quick gasp at its appearance, absent one second and there the next.No—it shouldn’t be possible. For vampires to have reorganized after Dracula’s defeat was one thing, but to be using a sorcerer as their errand boy meant their political structure was in a whole new ballpark. In a single hour, Pandora’s box had opened.We were all fucked.
“He has a point,” Ezra murmured, glancing over his shoulder at the steadfast vampires behind him. With a shrug, he waved his hand and the pocket watch in his grasp disappeared, fading to nothing. “Plus, we didn’t pack any food in the van, did you, boys?”
Neither vampire answered, and Ezra faced us again with a wave like ‘let’s get this over with.’ Drake turned to me, his pointer finger suddenly crooked beneath my chin. Our eyes met, and for an insane moment, I wished I could go with him. Beyond Drake’s melancholy acceptance, I glimpsed Ezra’s shifty smile.
It prepared me a moment before the sorcerer muttered, “Go get her.”
Our hearing equally heightened, and Drake’s probably superior, we both whirled, our defensive stances set. The enemy advanced in a blur, one for each of us. Irony at working together with a vampire hit me as I blocked a strike with my forearm, preventing the shorter brown-haired undead guy from punching my head in.
Now several feet away, Drake and the taller blond one jabbed and dodged in quick succession, each landing hard blows but both owning dead nerves to prevent them from feeling the full effects of any impact. I couldn’t watch them, instead preoccupied by the kick my opponent aimed for my hip.
Pivoting out of reach, I withdrew my machete in one quick movement and slashed. Instinct must have made the vampire back up in a flash, not nearly as ballsy as the one Drake took out the night before. This one seemed wary of my blade, and I pressed with my advantage while I had it. The best defense was a killer offense, so I swung in an arc, aiming not for the obvious point at the neck, but the backs of the vampire’s thighs while I hastily feinted to hop-step for the vampire’s flank.
My blade managed to cut through sinew, but not down to the bone. That didn’t matter, my unexpected attack striking true meant the vampire wasn’t anticipating my tactics. By the time he realized, he was slowed down by his shredded muscles. The vampire staggered, reaching out with clawed fingers to grab my hair.
My teeth gritted when I retreated, and several hairs were pulled out by the root. Scalp stinging, I heaved a harsh breath as a wet tearing sound and noisy crack pierced the night. No scream followed, and when I dared to look, I found Drake standing over the body of his opponent. The blond vampire’s head wasn’t just torn off—half of its shoulder went with it.
Dark blood coated Drake’s clothes, his expression blank when he threw the pieces connected to the head far away. It landed in the shadows beyond a cluster of trees. Nausea swam in my guts at the brutality of the unrepentant gore. This was another level to anything I’d personally witnessed. The kind where life stopped making sense for several heartbeats.
Then my gaze met Drake’s, and his horrified expression soon blurred as cold clammy fingers dug into my wrist. My grip slackened, knuckles spasming, and my machete fell while I bit down a shriek. Pain returned me to the moment, and I kicked at the vampire grabbing me.
Close as we were, my knee rammed into the enemy’s side hard enough to crack ribs. If the vampire felt it, he didn’t show it. My wrist was twisted unnaturally, forcing me to bend with it to keep it from breaking, and I went down on my knees. The earth was hard beneath my jeans as my gaze lifted to the starry sky when the clouds parted.
For one short second, my death played out in my mind’s eye. Then there was a snap, and my wrist was freed. I slumped onto my side, scrambling away with my throbbing arm held close to my chest. Drake was on the vampire, whose arm dangled limp on one side. My vampire kicked the other’s legs out from under him, already weakened from the work of my machete.
