Bloodfever
Page 10
I told Vlane exuberantly and in vivid detail what I was going to do to him at the earliest opportunity, and exactly where I was going to shove my Fae-killing spearrazor-sharp tip firstwhen I was done. I sprinkled the expletives with colorful adjectives. I might not be much of a cusser, but a bartender gets an education whether she wants one or not.
I had fourteen matches left. I struck another.
Framed in the window beyond the Shade, Vlane rose, skin of shimmering gold, eyes of liquid amber, inhumanly beautiful against the backdrop of velvety night. I think he was floating in the air. He tossed his hair, a gilded waterfall glinting with metallic sparks, cascading over a male body of such sensual perfection, such hedonistic temptation that I had no doubt Satan had laughed on the day of his creationand sounded pretty much like Vlane did now. When his laughter subsided he murmured, And you were such a sweet thing when you got here.
How do you know what I was like when I got here? I demanded. How long have you been watching me?
The Fae prince raised a brow but said nothing.
I raised a brow back. He was Pan, Bacchus, and Lucifer, painted a thousand shades of to-die-for. Literally. Why dont you come in? I asked sweetly. I had a suspicion I wanted to test.
Vlanes mouth tightened and it was my turn to laugh.
Barrons was amazing. You cant get past the wards, can you? Is that why Im not naked? I dropped the match just as it began to burn my fingers and lit another one. Do the wards somehow diminish your pow
I didnt even get to finish my sentence. A forest fire of debilitating sexual need blasted meimhungrystarvingdyingwithoutyoupleasewontyoupleasewontyougivemewhatineedscorching the air in my lungs, flash-frying my brain, and charring my backbone.
I collapsed to the floor, human ashes.
As suddenly and unexpectedly as the sexual inferno had razed every cell in my body, it was gone, leaving me cold and, for brief moments, in agonizing pain, ravenous for delights that could only be sampled by eating from a banquet table at which humans were never meant to sit. Forbidden fruit. Poisonous fruit. Fruit a woman might sell her soul for. Perhaps even betray mankind.
Careful, sidhe-seer. I have chosen to spare you. Do not press your luck.
I locked my jaw, pushed myself up, and lit another match, studying my enemies in the flickering light. Both would devour me. Just in different ways. If forced to choose, Id take death-by-Shade.
Why have you chosen to spare me?
I want us to bewhat is your word? Friends.
Psychotic rapists dont have friends.
I was unaware you were a psychotic rapist or I would not have offered.
Ha. Id set myself up for that one.
He smiled, and I recognized theurge I suddenly felt to believe everything was wonderful with my world for the illusion it was. Royal Fae pack a psychic punch. Barrons says their entire being is designed to seduce on every level. Glamour piled upon illusion heaped upon deceit. You cant believe a word they say.
I am unaccustomed to interacting with humans, and have been known to underestimate my impact upon them. I did not understand how deeply the Sidhba-jai would disturb you. I wish to start again, he said.
I dropped my match and lit another. Start by getting rid of the Shade.
With the cuff, you would be able to saunter among them freely, without fear. You would never be so vulnerable again. Why would you refuse such power?
Oh, gee, lets seemaybe because I trust you less than I trust the Shades? At least the Shade was too stupid to be deceptive. I think.
What is trust, sidhe-seer, but expectation that another will behave in a certain fashion, consistent with prior actions?
Great definition. Examine your prior actions.
I did. It is you who do not see me clearly. I came to you offering a gift to protect your life. You are a beautiful woman who dresses to command male attention. I gave it to you. I did not know the Sidhba-jai would distress you as it did. I even offered to pleasure you without price. You refused me. Perhaps I was offended. You menace me with a weapon stolen from my race. You speak to me of reasons not to trust when you have given me a multitude. You are a suspicious larcenous being with homicidal tendencies. Despite your continued threats to do vile things to me, I remain here, withholding what offends you, offering aid.
I was getting low on matches. How cleverly hed turned things around, as if hed done nothing wrong, and I was the dangerous one. Oh, drop the act, Tinkerbell, and get rid of my problem. Then well talk.
Will we? Talk?
I frowned and lit another match. There was a catch here somewhere but I wasnt sure what it was. I said we would.
As friends, well talk.
Friends do not have sex, if thats what youre getting at. That wasnt true, but he didnt necessarily know that. Im heir to the sex is just sex generation and I hate it. Not only friends have sex, people who dont like each other have sex. Id once caught Natalie and Rick, two people I know for a fact cant stand each other, banging away in the bathroom at The Brickyard. When later Id asked her what had changed, shed said nothing, she still couldnt stand him, but hed sure looked hot tonight. Doesnt anybody get that sex is what you make it, and if you treat it like nothing, it is? I dont clean the restrooms anymore. I leave that to Val. Shes lower on the seniority totem pole.
I had fourteen matches left. I struck another.
Framed in the window beyond the Shade, Vlane rose, skin of shimmering gold, eyes of liquid amber, inhumanly beautiful against the backdrop of velvety night. I think he was floating in the air. He tossed his hair, a gilded waterfall glinting with metallic sparks, cascading over a male body of such sensual perfection, such hedonistic temptation that I had no doubt Satan had laughed on the day of his creationand sounded pretty much like Vlane did now. When his laughter subsided he murmured, And you were such a sweet thing when you got here.
How do you know what I was like when I got here? I demanded. How long have you been watching me?
The Fae prince raised a brow but said nothing.
I raised a brow back. He was Pan, Bacchus, and Lucifer, painted a thousand shades of to-die-for. Literally. Why dont you come in? I asked sweetly. I had a suspicion I wanted to test.
Vlanes mouth tightened and it was my turn to laugh.
Barrons was amazing. You cant get past the wards, can you? Is that why Im not naked? I dropped the match just as it began to burn my fingers and lit another one. Do the wards somehow diminish your pow
I didnt even get to finish my sentence. A forest fire of debilitating sexual need blasted meimhungrystarvingdyingwithoutyoupleasewontyoupleasewontyougivemewhatineedscorching the air in my lungs, flash-frying my brain, and charring my backbone.
I collapsed to the floor, human ashes.
As suddenly and unexpectedly as the sexual inferno had razed every cell in my body, it was gone, leaving me cold and, for brief moments, in agonizing pain, ravenous for delights that could only be sampled by eating from a banquet table at which humans were never meant to sit. Forbidden fruit. Poisonous fruit. Fruit a woman might sell her soul for. Perhaps even betray mankind.
Careful, sidhe-seer. I have chosen to spare you. Do not press your luck.
I locked my jaw, pushed myself up, and lit another match, studying my enemies in the flickering light. Both would devour me. Just in different ways. If forced to choose, Id take death-by-Shade.
Why have you chosen to spare me?
I want us to bewhat is your word? Friends.
Psychotic rapists dont have friends.
I was unaware you were a psychotic rapist or I would not have offered.
Ha. Id set myself up for that one.
He smiled, and I recognized theurge I suddenly felt to believe everything was wonderful with my world for the illusion it was. Royal Fae pack a psychic punch. Barrons says their entire being is designed to seduce on every level. Glamour piled upon illusion heaped upon deceit. You cant believe a word they say.
I am unaccustomed to interacting with humans, and have been known to underestimate my impact upon them. I did not understand how deeply the Sidhba-jai would disturb you. I wish to start again, he said.
I dropped my match and lit another. Start by getting rid of the Shade.
With the cuff, you would be able to saunter among them freely, without fear. You would never be so vulnerable again. Why would you refuse such power?
Oh, gee, lets seemaybe because I trust you less than I trust the Shades? At least the Shade was too stupid to be deceptive. I think.
What is trust, sidhe-seer, but expectation that another will behave in a certain fashion, consistent with prior actions?
Great definition. Examine your prior actions.
I did. It is you who do not see me clearly. I came to you offering a gift to protect your life. You are a beautiful woman who dresses to command male attention. I gave it to you. I did not know the Sidhba-jai would distress you as it did. I even offered to pleasure you without price. You refused me. Perhaps I was offended. You menace me with a weapon stolen from my race. You speak to me of reasons not to trust when you have given me a multitude. You are a suspicious larcenous being with homicidal tendencies. Despite your continued threats to do vile things to me, I remain here, withholding what offends you, offering aid.
I was getting low on matches. How cleverly hed turned things around, as if hed done nothing wrong, and I was the dangerous one. Oh, drop the act, Tinkerbell, and get rid of my problem. Then well talk.
Will we? Talk?
I frowned and lit another match. There was a catch here somewhere but I wasnt sure what it was. I said we would.
As friends, well talk.
Friends do not have sex, if thats what youre getting at. That wasnt true, but he didnt necessarily know that. Im heir to the sex is just sex generation and I hate it. Not only friends have sex, people who dont like each other have sex. Id once caught Natalie and Rick, two people I know for a fact cant stand each other, banging away in the bathroom at The Brickyard. When later Id asked her what had changed, shed said nothing, she still couldnt stand him, but hed sure looked hot tonight. Doesnt anybody get that sex is what you make it, and if you treat it like nothing, it is? I dont clean the restrooms anymore. I leave that to Val. Shes lower on the seniority totem pole.
