Page 197 of Bitten & Burned
“They were seeking us out—the Ashbornes. Vampire hunters. It was poetic, I suppose. Vampires taking out most of the family like that. Guess we had it coming.”
“Quil… no one deserves something like that.”
“My father did. My brothers. My mother. Me. But not all of them. I tried. Tried to protect them. I couldn’t. I was the only one of our branch of the family left alive at the end of it. The one who did it—who turned me—her name was Claudia Bane.”
“She told you her name?”
“No. Dmitri and I found her about ten years ago. Took careof it. Vampires will tell you a lot when you’re pulling out their fangs.”
I swallowed hard.
“She turned me because she thought I was cute. Said I’d make a good pet when I found my way back. They buried me under my family’s bodies. It took me until dusk the next night to dig out. By then, it was done. I was a vampire. And I hated myself.”
“Quil…”
“I went feral. For a while.” His gaze stayed on the rippling water. “Dmitri pulled me out of it. Taught me how to… not be that thing.”
“So this cave is…”
“Where I lived before. Yeah.”
Instead of replying to that, I turned towards him, the water sloshing softly between us, and I cupped his jaw in both hands. His stubble was rough against my palms, and I could feel the tension in his muscles—like he was bracing for judgment.
I leaned in and pressed my mouth to his. Not frantic, not hungry. Just steady. Certain. A kiss to anchor him to now instead of then.
When I pulled back, I stayed close, my forehead resting against his.
“That wild, broken thing… it lives in you, yes. But it’s just part of you. Not all of you. It’s just one note in the song, Quil—and there’s so much more to the music.”
He let out a shaky breath, and before I could move away, his hands were on my face—warm, steady, anchoring me in place.
“You always do that,” he murmured.
“Do what?”
“Make the ugly parts sound like they’re worth keeping.”
Then he kissed me.
Not the desperate, teeth-clashing heat from before. This was slow, deliberate… a claiming without fangs. His lips moved over mine like he was relearning the shape of them, tasting the words I’d just spoken.
I shifted, turning in the water until I was straddling his thighs. His hands slid down to my hips, holding me against him. The whole time, his mouth never left mine. He sat down on a ledge beneath the water, pulling me with him. The steam curled around us, the water cradling us, and for a while there was no past, no vampire hunters, no wounds—just the quiet push and pull of his lips and mine.
When we finally broke apart, his forehead rested against mine, and I couldn’t tell if the warmth flooding my chest was from the springs or from him.
Either way, I didn’t want to come up for air.
Thirty-One
SLOW
The Veilwood, Sol, Verdune
29 Ebry, Year 810
QUIL
Rowena pressed herself against me,and I groaned into her mouth. The steam was heavy around us, like a blanket of warmth. Everything was so warm. Most of all, her.
