His hand caressed her cheek, feeling her warmth soak into his fingers. Then he pulled her into his arms, hearing her heart rate triple as his head dipped to her throat.
"Mencheres - "
"Don't," he whispered, resting a finger against her lips as he held her in an unbreakable grip. "Don't tell me if you would prefer to stay in the grave, Kira, for no matter what you say - I am bringing you back." Then he buried his fangs in her throat, right into the pulsating large vein that thrummed in unison with her heartbeat. Kira gave a gasping moan, her hands convulsively grasping his shoulders. Mencheres drew his teeth out, allowing a wealth of hot, sweet blood to fill his mouth through those twin punctures.
He swallowed that richness, his fingers moving from Kira's lips into the thickness of her hair. Then he slid his fangs into her jugular again, deeper this time, sinking them to the hilt. Kira shuddered against him, the toxins from his fangs combined with blood loss making her sway on her feet. His arms tightened around her, holding her body and her tender throat closer to him as he bit her a third time, the three sets of twin punctures sending Kira's blood shooting into his mouth as fast as he could swallow it.
His entire body began to feel heated, heavier, and humming with the energy he absorbed with every crimson swallow. Despite hating the circumstances, feeling Kira's blood pour into him, merging them together more thoroughly than any sexual act, caused a heady exhilaration to flare through Mencheres. She would never be closer to anyone than she was to him in this moment, overflowing him with the life force that drained out of her, stitching them together with a bond that could never be undone.
When Kira hung limply in his arms, her heartbeat silent except for a few stubborn, intermittent flutters, Mencheres pulled away from her throat at last. Her eyes were closed, her mouth slightly open, those full red lips now palest pink without any breath stirring them.
Her penalty of death, paid. Now, to usher her into a new life.
Mencheres tugged Kira's silver necklace off, wrapping its thin chain around his fingers. Then he dug the long end of the cross into his neck, ripping it open. Held Kira's slack head to the wound and willed his blood out of him and into her. The silver burned his flesh, healing slower than a wound from any other material, as Kira's mouth filled with his - their - blood.
He could feel her body react to the blood even though not a muscle moved at first.
Mencheres tilted her head back, sending that blood down her throat and deeper into her body. He dug her cross into his neck again, ripping another hole, willing more of their conjoined blood along with his power into her. This time, he didn't need to assist Kira to swallow his blood; her throat worked even as her heart fell silent for the last time.
Mencheres cradled her next to his neck, stroking her hair as he felt Kira's teeth bite down into the same spot he'd torn open with her cross. A sharp sting later, and she'd broken his skin, the life and power in his blood instinctively calling to her. She fastened her teeth harder into him and began to suck while great, wracking shudders enveloped her body.
He let his necklace-wrapped hand fall from his throat, using it to support Kira as he lowered both of them to the floor. None of the other vampires spoke as Mencheres sat with her in his arms, willing more of his blood into her while she tore and chewed at his throat with an ever-increasing hunger. The slight pain felt wonderful, because in each desperate swallow, Kira absorbed life from him just as he had from her. It was a darker way of life, yes, but a stronger one than the mortality that had slipped away with the fading of her heartbeat.
Live, Kira. Live.
When she swallowed more than the blood Mencheres had drained from her, he pulled her away, flexing his power to hold her when she would have fought to return to his throat.
Her eyes were open but sightless, flashing with a darker, brighter shade of green, and two fangs curved out from Kira's previously flat upper teeth.
"Rest now," Mencheres whispered, holding her still.
A last shudder tore through her, then her eyes rolled back, and she slumped against him, her humanity murdered, her new vampire body unconscious but soon to rise.
Chapter 15
Kira was trapped in a roaring inferno. She could hear the booming crashes of her apartment building coll apsing around her, feel the agony of the flames as they ravaged her body, and she prayed for death to end the pain. And then death came, washing over her burned, broken body with sweet relief, easing the torment that seared her from the inside out. Cool, languid nothingness enveloped her, cocooning her from the fire that still raged around her.
She had to be dead, because the pain was gone, but oddly enough, Kira could still hear the crashing of her building and smell the fumes from the fire. What a strange thing, for her to so acutely hear and smell even though she was dead. Furthermore, she also could taste something incredible. Something so rich and succulent, it made even the sounds and smells fade into obscurity. She needed more of that, whatever it was. Yes.
More . . .
Then that amazing nectar was gone, and lights smashed over Kira's gaze. The roaring of the coll apsing building was back along with the choking fumes of gas that must have started the blaze, but something else was here, too. Kira whimpered. She must not be dead yet. Not yet, so any second, she'd feel the horror of her flesh being burned off her body again . . .
"Kira. "
Her name was an anchor that dragged her mind forward into reality. Suddenly, she saw Mencheres's face right in front of her, his eyes like black diamonds and his skin as perfect as colored crystal. She wasn't trapped in an apartment blaze. Something else had happened.
Mencheres . He had killed her . . . and brought her back.
That booming went off behind her again, the scent of gas rising above the darker, sweeter smell that was all around her. Kira tried to run from whatever had made such a horrible blasting sound, but Mencheres pressed her down. A jolt went through her as soon as his hands touched her skin. It felt like his entire body was electrified and shooting currents right into her.
"It is just the plane's engines, Kira. You are in no danger."
That blasting went off again, so loud and grinding, it couldn't be airplane engines. Kira looked around, but everything slid together in a blur until Mencheres grasped her chin and forced her to look only at him.
"Stay still. You have not adjusted to your new senses yet. They will feel overwhelming, but you will soon become accustomed to them."
Your new senses. Amidst the sizzling voltage that seared into her from Mencheres's hands, the crashing sounds around her, that oily-potent mixture of scents, and the flashes of light that seemed to burn her eyes, Kira's mind was seized with one single, unbelievable thought: She was no longer human.