"I asked you a question," he said, right next to her ear.
She jerked and sliced her thumb open on the metal. With a groan, she brought her hand up and looked at the cut. It was deep, bleeding.
Hal cursed. "I didn't mean to startle you."
"I'll live."
She turned on the faucet, but before she could get her hand under the rush he gripped her wrist.
"Let me see." Without giving her a chance to protest, he bent down over her finger. "That's a bad one."
He put her thumb in his mouth and sucked gently.
Mary gasped. The warm, wet, pulling sensation paralyzed her. And then she felt the sweep of his tongue. When he released her, she could only stare at him.
"Oh... Mary," he said sadly.
She was too shocked to wonder about his change of mood. "You shouldn't have done that."
"Why?"
Because it felt so good. "How do you know I don't have HIV or something?"
His shoulders lifted. "Wouldn't matter if you did."
She paled, thinking he was positive and she'd just let him put an open cut into his mouth.
"And no, Mary, I don't have the disease."
"Then why wouldn't it - "
"I just wanted to make it better. See? No more bleeding."
She looked down at her thumb. The cut was sealed up. Partially healed. How the hell -
"Now are you going to answer me?" Hal said, as if deliberately cutting off the questions she was about to ask.
As she glanced up, she noticed his eyes were doing that glow thing, the teal blue taking on an otherworldly, hypnotic sheen.
"What was the question?" she murmured.
"Does my body please you?"
She tightened her lips. Man, if he got off on hearing women say he was beautiful, he was going home disappointed.
"And what would you do if it didn't?" she shot back.
"I would cover myself."
"Yeah, right."
He cocked his head to the side, as if thinking he'd read her wrong. Then he headed out to the living room where his coat was.
Good lord, he was serious.
"Hal, come back. You don't have to... I, ah, I like your body just fine."
He smiled as he returned to her. "I'm glad. I want to please you."
Fine, dandy, she thought. Then lose the shirt, peel off those leather pants, and lie down on my tile. We'll take turns being on the bottom.
Cursing herself, she went back to making the coffee. As she spooned grounds into the machine, she could feel Hal looking at her. And hear him take deep breaths, as if he were smelling her. And sensed he was... inching nearer all the time.
The forerunners of panic threaded through her body. He was too close. Too big. Too... beautiful. And the heat and lust he called out of her were too powerful.
When the pot was on, she backed away from him.
"Why don't you want me to please you?" he said.
"Stop using that word." Because when he said please, all she could think about was sex.
"Mary." His voice was deep, resonant. Penetrating. "I want to - "
She covered her ears. Suddenly there was way too much of him in her house. In her head.
"This was a bad idea. I think you should go."
She felt a big hand land lightly on her shoulder.
Mary stepped out of his reach, choking up. He was health and vitality and raw sex and a hundred other things she couldn't have. He was so totally alive, and she was... most likely sick again.
Mary went over to the slider and opened it. "Leave, okay? Please just leave."
"I don't want to."
"Get out. Please." But he merely stared at her. "Christ, you're like a stray dog I can't get rid of. Why don't you go pester someone else?"
Hal's powerful body stiffened. For a moment it seemed like he was going to say something harsh, but then he picked up his coat. As he swung the leather around his shoulders and went for the door, he didn't look at her.
Oh, great. Now she felt awful.
"Hal. Hal, wait." She grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry. Hal - "
"Don't call me that," he snapped.
When he shrugged off her grip, she stepped in his way. And really wished she hadn't. His eyes were utterly cold. Chips of aqua-colored glass.
The words he spoke were sharp-edged. "I'm sorry I offended you. I can imagine it's a big goddamned burden to have someone want to get to know you."
"Hal - "
He pushed her aside easily. "You say that one more time and I'm going to put a fist through the wall."
He strode outside, walking into the woods that ran down the left edge of her property.
On impulse, Mary shoved her feet into a pair of running shoes, grabbed a jacket, and shot through the slider. She ran across the lawn, calling out for him. When she got to the forest's edge, she paused.
There were no branches snapping, no twigs cracking, no sounds of a big man walking. But he'd gone in this direction. Hadn't he?
"Hal?" she called out.
It was a long while before she turned and went back inside.
Chapter Fifteen
"You did well tonight, Mr. O."
O stepped out of the shed behind the cabin, thinking Mr. X's approval was such bullshit. He kept the irritation to himself, though. He was barely a day out of the Omega's clutches and not really in the mood to get all worked up.
"But the male didn't tell us anything," he muttered.
"That's because he didn't know anything."
O paused. In the dim dawn, Mr. X's white face glowed like a night-light.
"Excuse me, sensei?"
"I worked him over myself before you got here. I had to be sure I could depend on you, but didn't want to waste an opportunity in the event you were no longer solid."
Which explained the male's condition. O had assumed the vampire had just fought hard when he'd been abducted.
Wasted time, wasted effort, O thought, getting out his car keys.
"You got any more tests for me?" You prick.
"Not right now." Mr. X checked his watch. "Your new squadron should be here soon, so put those keys away. Let's go inside."
O's revulsion at being anywhere near the cabin made him lose feeling in his feet. The damn things went totally numb on him.
But he smiled. "Lead on, sensei."
When they were indoors, he went directly to the bedroom and propped himself against the doorjamb. Even though his lungs had turned into cotton balls, he kept his cool. If he'd avoided the space, Mr. X would have thought of a reason to send him into it. The bastard knew that poking fresh wounds was the only way to determine the extent of the healing or the festering.
While slayers filed into the cabin, O took stock of them. He didn't recognize a single one, but then the longer a member was in the Society, the more anonymous he became. With hair, skin, and eye colors fading to pale, eventually a lesser just looked like a lesser.
As the other men checked him out, they glared at his dark hair. In the Society new recruits were at the bottom of the ladder, and it was unusual for one to be included in a group of seasoned men. Yeah, well, f**k that. O met each of them in the eye, making it clear that if they wanted to take him on he was more than happy to return the goddamned favor.
Faced with the possibility of physical confrontation, he came alive. It was like waking up after a good night's sleep, and he relished the surges of aggression, the good old need to dominate. It assured him that he was as he had always been. That the Omega hadn't taken his core away, after all.
The meeting didn't last long, and it was standard stuff. Introductions. A reminder that every morning, each one of them had to check in via e-mail. There was also a refreshment of the persuasion strategy and some quotas for capture and killing.
When it was over, O was the first to head for the door. Mr. X stepped in front of him.
"You will stay."
Those pale eyes held on to his, watching, waiting to see a flash of fear.
O nodded once and spread his stance. "Sure, sensei. Whatever you like."
From over Mr. X's shoulder, O watched the others head out in the manner of strangers. No talking, eyes straight ahead, bodies not touching even casually. Clearly none of them knew one another, so they must have been called in from different districts. Which meant Mr. X was reaching down into the ranks.
As the door closed behind the last man, O's skin tingled with panic, but he held himself rock still.
Mr. X looked him up and down. Then walked over to the laptop on the kitchen table and fired the thing up. Almost as an afterthought, he said, "I'm putting you in charge of both squadrons. I want them trained in the persuasion techniques we use. I want them working as units." He looked up from the glowing screen. "And I want them to remain breathing, do you understand?"