His voice flattened and attenuated as though it were reaching me through an underground passage.
“N-no,” I murmured, even as a wave of crushing exhaustion swept over me and dragged me under without warning. The library faded away, replaced by blackness and silence.
* * *
When I awoke, I was in a comfortable four-poster bed with my head resting on Rans’ shoulder. My brain was fuzzy, and I blinked at the unfamiliar room around me—barely illuminated by the gray light of dusk.
Rans’ presence—combined with the growing number of strange beds I’d slept in over the past couple of months—kept me from panicking. With difficulty, I cast my mind back in hopes of piecing together where I was and why. We’d been in York, and then...
Oh. Right. Nigellus.
He’d shown up and dragged us to California. I’d yelled at him a bit, chugged a glass of heavily spiked lemonade, and eventually agreed to allow Edward to stay with my father and act as the world’s unlikeliest bodyguard. We’d been talking in the library, but I’d been really tired after everything that had happened. I must’ve come up here to rest while Edward was getting set up to do the magical warding thing.
We should probably get up and see if he was ready for us. I sat up and wiped drool from the corner of my mouth. Yup. Classy as ever—that was me.
“Rans?” I rasped. “C’mon... the sun’s going down. Almost vampire daytime, right? Let’s go—up and at ’em.”
I nudged his shoulder.
There was no response, which was a bit weird. Glancing around, I found a lamp on the bedside table and fumbled for the switch. Cool light illuminated a circular pool across the bed and floor, revealing the pallor of Rans’ complexion. Not that he wasn’t pale on the best of days, but...
Déjà vu slammed into me, cutting a path of clarity through the cotton-wool feeling.
“Bastard son of a bitch,” I cursed under my breath, as the puzzle pieces settled into place.
That was enough to rouse my vampire bed partner, but only just. He peered at me with bleary eyes and an expression that said he had even less idea about where he was than I’d had a few moments ago. I palmed his cheek, which was cool and waxy. Corpselike.
“Rans,” I said in a much gentler tone, aware that outside ears might be listening in. “Hey. You look like hell, lover. You need to feed.”
He blinked ice-blue eyes at me, his gaze distant and unfocused. After a few moments, a furrow formed between his elegantly arched brows. “Where...? I can’t quite... seem to...”
I pressed a finger to his lips, and tried to swallow back the rage burning its way up my throat. “We’re in California. One of Nigellus’ places, remember? Seriously, Rans—you need blood. Show me some fang, okay?”
He was still frowning, but after a moment his expression smoothed. He kissed the finger I still held pressed to his lips and pulled me on top of him. When he nuzzled against my neck with sleepy, uncoordinated movements, it felt like something warm and soft cracked open inside me, spilling through my chest until I could hardly breathe.
Jesus. Was I going to be one of those people who collapsed into tears at the slightest fucking thing from now on? That wasn’t really in line with the badass demon hybrid persona I was trying to cultivate these days.
“Blood, Rans,” I prompted, trying to ignore the slight unsteadiness in my voice.
“Mmm.” Fangs slid into my throat, and I gasped as liquid heat flooded my veins. My right hand fisted in Rans’ hair without any conscious volition, holding him to me. We were both fully dressed—honestly, sex had been the farthest thing from my mind when I’d urged him to feed. Regardless, I could picture a day not too far in the future when he’d be able to make me come with nothing more than his fangs piercing my tender skin.
Lightheadedness swept over me as he continued to draw on the twin wounds, and all I could think about was the way the seam of my worn jeans pressed intimately against my pussy as I straddled him. By the time he licked over the punctures to heal them and pulled away, I was shaking.
Succubus blood had a particular effect on vampires—even diluted as mine was. Rans arched beneath me restlessly, still half-gone after whatever Nigellus had done to him. Part of me knew that Nigellus might be listening in, even now, and that we needed to get our shit together so we could prepare for whatever came next. A larger part of me decided that Nigellus could go fuck himself for a few more minutes.
I kissed the tempting mouth beneath me, delving inside to taste the metallic tang of my own blood on his lips. Then I slid down the length of Rans’ body until I could unfasten his fly. He was going commando, god bless him, already hardening under the brush of my fingers. I freed him and swallowed his length without ceremony, humming around him in approval as his animus surged against my magical barriers.
It was fast and without finesse—I sucked and bobbed, shoving a hand down the front of my jeans to get myself off while I went down on him. I still felt dizzy from blood loss, but somehow it only made everything better... especially when his fingers slid through my hair to cradle the back of my head, steadying and guiding my movements.
I let only enough of his animus through to replenish some of the life force he’d drawn from me. Too much, and I’d undo any benefit my blood had given him, leaving him just as wiped out as before. As it was, we’d both be drained, but hopefully we’d at least be functional enough to deal with our current situation.
Rans arched silently beneath me and spilled over
