Almost Human Read online

  Her tears disappeared and her lips curled back into a snarl. “Being a vampire is an adjustment, but it’s not worse than death. We’ve been fed bullshit since the cradle. Most vampires aren’t bad people.”

  “They aren’t people at all.”

  It felt like a lie. Why did I feel sympathy for her? Why did I want to throw down the knife and hug the sister I thought I’d lost? It went against everything I’d been taught. I thought killing the thing that inhabited my sister’s body would be easy.

  “Yes, they are. Please, Kori, I’m no different.”

  Was she?

  She has all the memories of your sister. The demon is just a good actress.

  “What can I do to convince you, Kori?”

  I shook my head and curled my lip at her. I wouldn’t let this thing sweet talk me. “There’s nothing you can do, leech. Mother wants you dead. You’re a demon, and you are a threat to her, and to every hunter you’ve ever met. You know them on sight and you’ll get them killed. You have to be eliminated.”

  She nodded, her lips pressed into a thin line. “You won’t be able to kill me. We were almost evenly matched when I was human. Now I’m slightly more powerful, and faster than you are. Even if you manage to kill me, you won’t survive to make it out of this house. All the brothers are fond of me. Please, put down the knife and leave. If one of them even discovers you here they’ll kill you before I can stop them.”

  She glanced behind me, and her eyes widened ever so slightly.

  I spun, and slashed the large vampire I’d fought in the street the other night. How had he managed to sneak up behind me? He hissed and leapt back, avoiding much of the blow. But a thin diagonal cut marred his flesh under the black t-shirt.

  Behind me, Casey gasped. “Alaric, what are you doing up here?”

  He drew a knife from his waist and didn’t take his eyes off me. “Nyx noticed this hunter trailing after you and was nice enough to warn me.”

  “Please, Alaric, don’t hurt her. This is my sister.”

  He eyed me from head to toe. “Nice to see you again, Kori. Pagan said you’d come for us if we hurt your sister.”

  “Maybe you should have listened to her.”

  “I should have killed you in the alley when I had the chance.”

  “Yes, you should have. You won’t get another.” I rushed forward, aiming my knife for his heart. He blocked and the knife went flying. He slashed for my throat and I heard Casey scream.

  I ducked the killing blow and pulled a knife from the top of my boot. I sunk the blade between his ribs as I rose.

  “Alaric, no!” Casey shouted.

  His fist came flying in an upper cut. I didn’t have a chance to dodge.

  I crashed into the dresser, and it buckled under the impact. A large sliver of wood jammed itself into the back of my thigh. I howled and yanked it out. Blood gushed from the wound. I didn’t think I’d hit an artery, but it sure was bleeding like a son of a bitch.

  It felt like someone had detonated a bomb inside my skull. I probably had a nasty concussion. If I’d been human, the upper cut would have broken my neck. I tilted my head from side to side and grimaced. Or maybe it would have taken my head clean off.

  I glanced up, praying he was dead. I definitely couldn’t take another hit.

  To my horror, he was using the wall to help himself stand while Casey hovered around him, hands fluttering nervously like she wasn’t sure if she should pull the knife out or help him to his feet.

  Slowly, he pulled the blade out of his chest. He screamed and swayed but didn’t fall back down. The knife cleared the gaping wound and he stood there gasping for air.

  I pulled myself to my feet using one of the bedposts. It hurt to stand, but I could. If he wasn’t dead from the initial blow, then he wasn’t going to die, and I needed to get the fuck out of here.

  He straightened to his full height and buried my knife in the wall with a grunt. “You missed the heart, bitch.”

  I groaned and pulled a knife from my other wrist sheath. “You want to call a truce? I’m not feeling up to more fighting.”

  He grasped the back of his shirt and pulled it over his head, revealing the tightest set of abs I’d ever seen. He was enough to make any woman drool. If he took off his shirt, any female hunter would think twice before killing him.

  I shook my head to clear it. Maybe that blow had caused a few brain problems. If it hadn’t, then my libido had piss poor timing.

  And then I noticed the hole I’d put in his chest. It was rapidly shrinking. The initial slice I’d made was long gone. There wasn’t a mark left to show it had ever existed. I couldn’t pick my jaw up off the floor fast enough.

  He flashed an evil half smile. “I’m not done fighting. I feel fine. Better by the second, in fact. I might not have fed in a while, but I can still go another ten rounds. And if I let you go, you’ll come back in force. I say we finish this now.”

  Casey stepped in front of him and put her small, feminine hand on his chest. “Alaric, please. Let her go.”

  Alaric picked her up under her arms as if she were an errant toddler and deposited her behind him. “Nope, can’t let her go. She’ll be back to kill you.”

  He retrieved his knife from the floor. He must have dropped it when I stabbed him.

  Casey grabbed his arm, tears in her eyes. “Alaric, please don’t kill her. I’ll do anything to convince you not to kill her.”

  He growled low in his throat. “Fuck.” He tossed the knife on the ground. It thrummed as it struck and stood upright in the hardwood floor. “Fine. I’ll knock her out. Not that she would pay me the same courtesy.”

  I grinned tightly. “Nope. Sure won’t. You already have the advantage. I won’t give up my knives.”

  His eyes narrowed. “That’s all right. This little fight is going to come out of your blood. Witch blood is some powerful shit. I can’t wait to get my hands on you.”

  I eyed his chest again. “Damn. If you didn’t mean that in a blood-sucking fiend way, I might let you. You’re hot for a dead dude.”

  He shook his head. “For a hunter, you’re very ignorant. I’m not dead.”

  “Blah, blah, blah. My sister tried to feed me the same line. Drop it. The longer we discuss this crap the more blood I lose. I need to beat the shit out of you and get out of here so I can stitch myself up.”

  He smirked. “Awfully confident considering I healed before your eyes. And you’re hurt.”

  He was right, but I’d win. I always won. There was only one time I hadn’t, and it was time to finish that bit of business. I rolled my eyes. “Are we done talking?”

  The smirk disappeared. “Yeah, we’re done talking.”

  He slinked toward me, looking for a weakness. I braced myself for his attack.

  “Alaric.”

  I jumped and glanced at the door. The vampire who led Astra from the party stood in the doorway. He was injured in several places. A shiver of fear went through me. He was injured, not dead, which didn’t bode well for Astra. I prayed she was alive.

  Alaric rushed me, taking advantage of my distraction. I rolled out of the way, barely avoiding two hundred pounds of muscular, pissed vampire.

  “Report, Jairdan. And make it quick. I’m a little busy here.”

  “All the hunters are dead except this one, and the one I was fighting, but she’s pretty banged up, so it might be a matter of time. They got a few vampires before we could kill them all. Nyx was nice enough to help. I think he came here looking for a good brawl.”

  I stumbled and almost dropped my knife. Shit. I’d gotten them all killed. God, my friends…and Astra was hurt. I needed to end this quickly and get out of here. She probably needed a patch up.

  “Misha? Jason?”

  “They’re fine.”

  I rushed forward and slashed for Alaric’s throat. He cursed and jumped back.

  His hand went to his throat and came away with blood. “Damn, you’re faster than I remember.”

  I s
neered. “I was feeling my sister die in that alley. That’s why I lost. It’s time to end this. Astra needs my help.”

  He smirked, grabbed my knife hand, and slammed it against the wooden bedpost. I howled as something snapped. The knife slipped from my grip and tears blurred my vision.

  “Well, she’s not going to get it.”

  I slammed my other fist into his chin. He fell on his ass with a curse. I aimed a kick at his head, envisioning knocking it off his body. He rolled out of the way.

  I bent to retrieve my knife with my left hand. I trained with both, but the left always felt a little awkward, no matter how many hours I practiced.

  Alaric rolled to his feet and ran a hand through his sweaty hair, slicking it back from his face. God, that was hot. It was such an inappropriate thought to have. My hormones had apparently kicked into overdrive and sent my brain out for lunch. Then again, the pain from my broken hand and the blood loss had left me pretty dazed anyway. Or all of that was enough for this vampire to slip inside my head and play with my mind. It wasn’t impossible. It had happened before.

  I blinked to try to clear the spots from my vision and stalked toward him.

  “Goddamn. You vampire hunters are willing to take a lot of abuse. I can’t believe there are so many of you out there. One look at you all beaten to shit is enough to make anyone quit.”

  I swayed and almost fell over. “You underestimate our resolve. Most hunters want to kill your kind because you’ve killed someone they love.” I glanced at Casey. “This fight is a perfect example.”

  Alaric licked his lips and relaxed his fighting stance a bit. “Casey’s not dead. You could even spend some time with her, if you weren’t so blindly determined to kill her.”

  I thrust for his heart with my blade. He dodged and delivered a staggering blow to my solar plexus. I dropped to the ground gagging. Shit, way too slow. But I’d managed to keep a hold of my knife. I wondered if he’d obliterated any internal organs.

  Fuck winning. I just needed to do enough damage to get the hell out of here. I glanced at the door. Sometime during the fighting Misha had arrived. One vampire I could probably have taken care of, but three? And more waiting downstairs? Things were not looking good.

  I laid my head on the carpet and feigned death, or at least passing out. Which wasn’t hard to do in my condition, and actually quite tempting.

  Alaric wrapped his hands in my hair and lifted my head off the ground. I slid the knife into his belly. Blood rushed over my hands. He roared in pain. I didn’t even see his fist coming.

  Chapter Four

  I woke to someone playing the piano softly. I was trying to identify the song when the blazing pain in my skull obliterated everything. I groaned and tried to push myself up in bed. My hands wouldn’t move, and then I felt the cool metal against my wrists. I rolled my head back so I could look at my arms. The ice pack that had been resting on the back of my neck fell away.

  My wrists were firmly secured to the headboard, and I had an air cast on my aching hand. At least that was taken care of. It would heal quickly thanks to my magic.

  I glanced at the nude figure with his back to me playing the piano. “Handcuffs. Kinky.”

  Alaric laughed but didn’t stop playing. “You wouldn’t want to sit up anyway. You think the pain in your head is bad now. Imagine if you tried to be upright.”

  He had a point, but I didn’t say it out loud. I wasn’t up to agreeing with the vampire.

  “Thanks for the ice pack, by the way. Though I don’t think one ice pack on the back of my neck is going to help with the massive brain trauma you gave me. You probably would have killed a human.”

  “I know. I was half worried you wouldn’t wake again.”

  “Because you’d feel bad about killing me?”

  He shook his head. “Nah, I don’t want Casey cross with me. She’d get over it, but it would take a century or so, and probably a lot of kittens.”

  I almost gagged. “You eat kittens.”

  He faced me. I could feel the stern frown, even though I couldn’t see it in the darkened room. “Seriously? No. Animal blood doesn’t sustain us. Casey likes animals.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, she always did. She brought home every animal she came in contact with. Even wild ones would follow her home. We had a doe spend the winter in our backyard once.”

  “She is a goddess.”

  I frowned at him. “Do you love her, too?”

  He shook his head and faced the piano again. “Not in the way you’re thinking. She’s made my brother ecstatically happy, and she does have that ethereal quality that seems to win everyone over.”

  He was right. Casey could soften the hardest of hearts. I hated that he seemed to know my sister so well. This monster shouldn’t have been allowed near her.

  I eyed the curve of his nude hip. The only place the moonlight hit him. “Why are you naked?”

  His booming laughter filled the room. “I sleep like this. We won’t be having sex, if your virtue is a concern.” He glanced over his shoulder and his teeth flashed white in the darkness. “Unless, of course, you want to.”

  I glared at him. Oh, if looks could kill. “Not even in your wildest dreams, buddy.”

  “You say that now, but I saw how you looked at me when we fought. You could see yourself under me.”

  “Actually, I like to be on top.” Oh yeah, great comeback.

  “I’m sure I could arrange that, too.”

  I shook my head, but stopped when pain lit up my brain. “No, there will be no arranging.”

  He turned around and stepped toward the bed. My protests died in my throat. God, every inch of him was perfect. He was all lean, hard muscle. His erect cock was thick and gorgeous. I had the vivid image of sliding it past my lips before I slammed my eyes closed.

  The bed dipped under his weight, and it took all my willpower to keep my eyes firmly shut. He stretched out next to me. His erection pressed insistently against my thigh.

  He took a deep breath in through his nose. “God, you smell like you want me. I love that smell. I can’t wait to taste you.”

  I opened my eyes to glare at him and met the bluest gaze I’d ever seen.

  “Have you ever been bitten by a vampire, Kori?”

  My confused brain tripped over itself, first to decipher what he said, and second to answer him with something other than babble. The “no” finally popped out of my mouth. “It’s kind of my job not to get bitten.”

  “Then you have no idea how erotic it can be, for both parties.” He trailed a hand down the side of my body. Part of me begged him to touch me more, and another part recoiled at the idea. His magic hummed along my skin, heightening the pleasure.

  “I’ve never had a vampire touch me and not have it be uncomfortable.”

  One side of his mouth curled into a smile. “You touch most of us in violence. And even if you didn’t, most of us don’t have the control I have. I’m very good.”

  To prove his point, he ran one finger between the valley of my breasts and down to my navel. I shuddered and gasped. My nipples hardened and goose bumps sprang up all over my body. I could only imagine the reaction he’d get if he put those fingers in other places.

  He ran his hand lightly up my neck and pushed my head to the side. He lowered his mouth to my throat. I felt his breath on my neck and tensed. I tried to turn my head back to block him, but he grabbed my jaw and easily kept me in place.

  I struggled against the handcuffs. This game he was playing had gone too far.

  The image of my father with his throat torn out came to mind. It was seared into my brain. The wound was raw, and gaping. What little blood he had left seeped onto the wooden porch as I’d tried futilely to stop the bleeding.

  The stain wouldn’t come up. Mother had to rip out the whole porch and replace it. As stone cold as she was, she couldn’t bear to see her husband’s blood every day as she left the house.

  “Let me go,” I shouted as I strained harder against Ala
ric.

  He put some of his weight on me to try and stop my struggles but released my chin.

  I snapped my head around and met his concerned gaze. “Get off me.” I gasped. “I need space.” My heart pounded in my chest, and I couldn’t breathe.

  “Take a deep breath. I’m not going to hurt you. Breathe.”

  I managed to suck in air. He laid his head on my chest as I started to breathe normally. “Boy do I know how to kill the mood.”

  “Actually, listening to your heart pound is pretty erotic to me.”

  I glared at him. “Horn dog.”

  “Pretty much.” He raised his head to look at me. “Want to tell me what the freak out was about?”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Hell no. Just because part of me wants to fuck you doesn’t mean I want to share my inner secrets with you. You’re not my therapist, vamp.”

  “All right. I didn’t want you to freak out when I try to bite you again.”

  I growled and bucked my body to throw him off of me. “Why don’t you forget about taking my blood?”

  He smiled. “Well, that doesn’t sound fun to me.”

  “Too damned bad.”

  “Really? Because I seem to have the advantage.” He brushed his lips against mine.

  “I’d like you to leave now.”

  “But I’m having so much fun.”

  He pressed his lips to mine again. His tongue stroked my bottom lip, begging for entry. I opened my mouth and his tongue slid inside. He tasted like honey. I groaned as his tongue tangled with mine.

  He broke away and kissed his way down to my throat, while carefully shifting my head to the side. I tensed again, and he glanced at me.

  “It doesn’t hurt. I promise, and I don’t plan to kill you.”

  “I still don’t want you to bite me.”

  His warm, wet tongue traced a path up my throat and he rubbed a thumb across my clavicle and down my shoulder, using his magic to heighten the pleasure. I shuddered. He was certainly persuasive.

  His fangs slid into my throat with the slightest prick of pain, and then an intense pleasure radiated from the wound, sending shivers down my spine. Heat curled through my womb. I wanted him to fill me. It didn’t matter that he was a monster. I needed him to touch me.