Page 70 of Cursebound
He meets my eyes, and I see the moment he accepts it. The moment he agrees to let me die if he needs to. It goes against every grain of who he is, but he nods anyway. He’ll do it because I’ve asked him to.
“Okay, Boss. I get it. I’ll save the Seer, all right? But listen, don’t you think you should be talking to her instead of me? We’ve got time. Go see her. Stop being a moody vampire asshole and go tell her what you just told me.”
Fuck, I think as he leaves me and goes back to the dog. He’s right. If this whole thing goes sideways, then this might be the last time I ever get to talk to her. My heart contracts at the thought, and there’s a weird stinging sensation behind my eyeballs. I rub them, wondering what the fuck is wrong, and my knuckles come back wet.
I’m crying. I’m actually fucking crying. I haven’t done that since Isabella, and I thought I’d lost the ability.
I swipe at the tears and screw up my eyes until it stops. Nobody needs to see this, especially not Rosa an hour before we take her into the lion’s den.
Once I have myself under control, I take the stairs up to the next floor and knock on the door of the bedroom she’s using. Donatella pulls it open and gives me one of her little finger waves as I walk in. She’s painted her nails bright red, and I roll my eyes.
“What?” she asks, blowing on them, “You don’t have pre-fight rituals?”
“Sure,” I reply. “But mine involve sharpening knives and testing guns.”
“So? Mine involve personal grooming. Get over yourself, big guy. And since when did vamps use weapons?”
“Since always. You might not see much of it in your line of work, but in the Coscas, we use whatever gets the job done. Doesn’t kill other vamps, but it sure slows them down. What the fuck are those things around your neck?”
Rosa is perched on the bed, dressed in all black, her thick hair tied up in a ponytail. Both she and Donna have their amulets wrapped in little black velvet pouches.
“They’re Gucci. You like?” the blond Seer says, twirling hers in front of my face. “It was my idea. We’re heading into a vampire lair. There will be monsters everywhere, danger around every corner, and oodles of people wanting to kill us. So the amulets are likely to get real hot, real fast, and stay like that. This is a way of stopping us from getting burned. Smart, don’t you think?”
It kind of is, now that I come to think of it, and I nod. Rosa has remained silent throughout this whole exchange, her legs tucked beneath her, a collection of stakes of different sizes on the floor. All of them look sharp as fuck.
“Donatella,” I say as Rosa keeps her attention anywhere but me. “Can we have the room to ourselves? I need to talk to Rosa.”
She looks to her friend for permission, and I’m relieved when Rosa gives her a tiny nod. It’s possible she wants to use those stakes on me, but at least she hasn’t turned me away.
Donatella pauses in the doorway, hands on her hips. “Two things before I go. First of all, Rosa tells me there are Scandinavian equivalents of the Coscas. I cannot believe that there are Viking vampires out there and I’ve never fucked one. So after all this, if we get out alive, I want you to promise to introduce me.”
“Yeah, okay,” I agree. “No problem. Know a big dude called Axel who’d be happy to oblige.”
Axel is a giant with a bad attitude. He could snap her like a twig and has a thing for rough sex. Match made in heaven.
“Yippee! Okay, the second thing—you two really need to get your heads out of your asses. You’re behaving like babies.”
Rosa’s mouth drops open.
“Yes, you too, Rosa,” Donna quips. “Look, I get it. Big bad blood spell, witchy juju, loss of free will, blah blah blah. So fucking what? Plenty of worse things have happened to people. Lots of folks never have free will in their whole lives, without any spell to blame. So you’ve been set up on a cosmic blind date. Who cares? How is that different from being matched on an app, or your friends introducing to someone they know is perfect for you? Love is all about losing control, and if you don’t lose control, well… you’re not doing it properly. So quit your bitching, have one last fuck for luck, and then let’s go kill some assholes, okay?” She mimics dropping a microphone, winks at us, and leaves the room.
Amusement plays on Rosa’s lips, and her heart rate increases as I walk toward her. I stop, waiting to see how she’ll react. This has to be her choice.
She flies off the bed and crashes into me. Her lips are ferocious on mine, her tongue licking my fangs. Her tits press into my chest, and her hands go straight to my pants. Holy fuck. Looks like she’s made her choice.
“Are you sure?” I ask, already hard for her.
“Shut the fuck up.” She drops to her knees and pulls my cock out. She sucks it almost painfully hard, making sure I’m like iron down there, then stands back up. Her need chases away any doubt I have. I pull her top over her head, tug off the plain sports bra she’s wearing, and glory in the sight of her.
I bend to put my mouth on her gorgeous nipples and suck one, then the other into my mouth, making her moan as I bite them. This woman’s nipples are incredible. They seem to control the rest of her body, and I can’t get enough.
She presses the back of my head and writhes beneath me as my hand goes down to cup her pussy. Even through her pants I can feel how hot and wet she is. I tug them lower, shove my fingers between her legs, and slide two straight into her cunt. Fuck, she’s tight and so, so ready. I drive into her, sinking my teeth into her nipples as she groans.
She grabs my hair and pulls it so hard my mouth loses its suction on her nipple with a wet plop, and I drag my eyes up to hers. Green fire and need. “Fuck me,” she says simply, and I don’t need any more urging.
Growling, I pull her pants off one leg and tear off her panties. She’s trembling now. I put my hands under her perfect ass and lift her, and she wraps her thighs around me. My cock heads for her pussy like a guided missile, and she screams when I slam into her.
I walk us back toward the wall, pin her against it, and rail into her, tearing out her band so her hair spills down her bare shoulders. She bites my neck hard enough to make me bleed, and her soft tongue licking away the blood is sensational. Her fingers rake over my skull, tearing and pulling, and her hips buck back into mine in a perfect rhythm.
