Jennifer Rardin - [Jaz Parks 1] - Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Vayl nodded solemnly. 'In guarding my soul, you protect the world. And that is why I need you as my partner. My avhar.'

Grateful to be sitting now that my knees felt like wet spaghetti, I looked down at our clasped hands until I could speak without sounding like a reality-show confessor. Jerry, I swore never to love again until I met someone who could earn every ounce of respect and affection in my body with a single gesture. Ick. It would never work anyway. Reasons? God, I could make a ceiling-to-floor list. But mainly, because I didn't want it to. Did I? No. No. No. No. No. So. Back to the task at hand: making sure my vamp, er, boss didn't run off for some high-risk blood-letting with his willing donor. I took a deep breath. Made myself focus. 'Are you telling me this now because I need to know, or because you're putting off the inevitable?'

'Maybe both,' he said, shaking his head. 'You, me, the ring—we each possess a power that is potent all on its own. Combining the three, well, if the bomb squad knew what we were planning they would probably stick us in a lead-lined bunker.'

'Vayl, you're not talking me out of this. It's the right move. So quit lecturing and get to it.'

Vayl hesitated one more minute, then he drew me into his arms. 'I will not take much,' he assured me, 'only what I need and no more.'

No more, no more, no more.

His fingers grazed my neck as he swept my hair aside. His lips brushed my earlobe, moved down to my throat. One arm pulled me closer as the other hand tipped my head sideways. I sighed as I felt his power settle over me, warm and comforting as an old quilt. He kept nuzzling me with his lips, caressing me with the tips of his fangs until something new rose between us, a force that sizzled and snapped, making the very air churn. I could hear my breath coming in gasps.

'Vayl… please.'

'Yes,' he said, his voice hoarse with desire. For me? For my blood? I wasn't sure there was any difference just then. I wanted to share this new insight with him, but my frontal lobe chose that moment to completely shut down. Even the pain of his teeth penetrating my skin didn't wake it up.

Vayl's arms tightened around me. I reached down, digging my fingernails into his thighs as he drank me in. The air shimmered with power. With magic. My head buzzed with it. Through half-closed lids I watched colored bubbles of light dance across the walls. The darkness came so quickly after that, I never even knew it had taken me until I returned to myself and realized I was lying on the couch with one leg flung over its arm. Vayl sat on the other couch, staring at me like I'd grown an extra head as I struggled to sit up. A tightness on my neck caused me to reach up, but when my fingertips encountered a gauze pad I dropped my hand back into my lap.

'What?' I asked, trying hard not to cry. I don't know if I was more distressed that I'd blacked out or that I'd missed most of an experience that had promised to be unforgettable. 'Did I do something wrong?' I asked. 'Did I say something out of line?' What the hell just happened?

Vayl shook his head. 'You were perfect. Better than the best. I have never… it has never been like that for me before.'

'For me either.' We smiled at each other. The hard knot of fear that twisted my heart with every new blackout relaxed. Vayl didn't know. My secret still hid safe. Now that my attention could wander, I realized the experience had left some aftereffects. 'I do feel kind of funky though,' I commented.

He sat forward, his eyes wide with concern. 'How do you mean?'

'Umm, like, drunk. But not.'

I thought Vayl would come sit beside me, fuss over me a little, but he sat statue still, like a street performer who's run out of gray body paint. Finally he whispered. 'I know.'

'Know what?'

'It is as if you are an entire spectrum of light that just became visible to me. I can… hear your heart beating. I can sense your hunger pangs. I know you are scared. You are also elated, tired, worried and,' his voice dropped, 'excited.'

'Oh no,' I said. 'Oh no, oh no, oh no—' I bit my lip hard, stopping the litany with my own blood. Vayl had kept his word. He'd left me plenty. It trickled onto my chin as I tried to stand, but I moved too fast and lost my balance. Vayl caught me just before I landed in a heap on the floor. As soon as I regained my equilibrium I growled, 'Back off.'

He stepped away.

'No, I mean with your senses or whatever. You were supposed to give me super powers. You were supposed to make me fly. You weren't supposed to march through my thoughts like a lumberjack in a rainforest!'

'Jasmine, that is not how it happened! There is no need to panic.'

'I'm not panicking!' But I was, and I had no way to hide it. 'I don't want you inside my head,' I told him, keeping my voice as reasonable and level as possible considering I just wanted to stuff my face into a pillow and scream. 'It's too intimate, too scary. I'm not ready for that!' I realized I was yelling and covered my mouth.

'I warned you. I told you—'

I raised my hand to stop him talking, trying to swallow my oceanic fear as I did. 'I can't have you—exploring me like that. There are things you don't know. Things I can't explain.' I stopped, took a deep breath to keep myself from babbling on until he did discover my secret.

His lips twitched. 'Are you really that bad?'

'Well… no, I'm just… not that good.'

'Maybe that is why I find you so interesting.'

'Huh,' was my brilliant reply.

He took my hand and pulled me back down to the couch. 'Jasmine, the change has begun. You cannot let it destroy you.'