A Hunger Like No Other (Immortals After Dark 2)

The bastard had gotten himself...so that she would...when she drank...Oh, that son of a bitch! She hadn't even known this was possible!

She'd get him back for this. Uncalled for, tricking her like this. She couldn't trust him. He'd said he wouldn't lie, but she found this just as dishonest.

In the past, she would've just accepted this, taken it meekly as yet another time her wishes and feelings were ignored, but now she refused. Lachlain needed to learn a lesson. He needed to learn that sometime in the last seven days, she'd become a creature with which one did not f**k.

When she licked her lips for the thirtieth time since he'd gone, a nebulous idea formed.

A wicked, evil idea. She glanced around, embarrassed, as if someone could hear her thoughts. If he wanted to play dirty, if he wanted to throw down that gauntlet, she'd swoop the thing up...

She could do it. Damn it, she could be evil, she could.

A hazy memory arose of when she was younger, asking her aunt Myst why the vampires were so evil. She'd answered, "It's their nature." Now Emma grinned drunkenly.

Time to get back to nature.

Emma woke to the sound of the phone ringing. No phone in the history of telephonics had ever sounded so annoying. She yearned to crush it with a ball-peen hammer.

She blearily opened her eyes, turning in her blankets to see Lachlain leave the bed and limp over to answer it.

She reached a hand up and ran it over the warmed bedcover. He'd been lying there, stretched out on top of it. Had he been watching her sleep?

Lachlain picked up, then said, "He's still no' returned? Canvass farther out then... I doona care. Call me the minute you find him." He hung up the phone and ran a hand through his hair. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen anyone look so exhausted as Lachlain. She heard him exhale wearily and noticed his shoulders were tense. She knew he was searching for his brother and was sorry that he didn't know where he was. After all these years, Lachlain still wasn't able to tell his brother he was alive. She felt sympathy for him.

Until she rose.

Her head began pounding in a rush, and as she stumbled to the bathroom, she realized her mouth was bone dry. Brushing her teeth and showering helped her head and mouth, but had minimal effect on her dizziness.

He'd given her the mother of all hangovers - a run-in with the wrath of grapes. Her very first. If he'd truly had "a dram or two," surely she wouldn't have been that tanked and wouldn't be this hungover now. Last night, as she'd dressed and set out to explore once more, she'd been buzzed all the way up until she collapsed in her blankets at dawn. And the floor of the massive castle had spun. She was sure of it.

He must have drunk like a frat pledge before coming to her.

Bastard.

When she exited the bathroom in her towel to go to her closet to dress, he followed, leaning against the doorframe as she picked out clothes. There were new pieces everywhere. Purses and shoes as well.

She padded along, checking out the offerings, analyzing them with a discerning eye. She was picky about her clothes and had always eschewed anything that didn't conform to her hipster/contrarian fashion style. She'd found that any garment not vintage or D.W.O.T.B - damn well off the boat - didn't conform...

"Do you like everything?" he asked.

She tilted her head, a flare of anger bubbling up when she saw that her own luggage was conspicuously absent. "Oh, I'll be sending for everything when I go home," she answered with absolute honesty.

With her forefinger pointed down, she made a spinning gesture indicating he should turn around. When he complied, she hastily donned underwear, a bra and jeans for running, and a loose sweater.

She ambled past him and sat on the bed, only now noticing that every window was covered in shutters. Of course, he'd had this done. After all, he didn't believe she was going anywhere - because he didn't think she could escape him. "When did these come?"

"Installed today. They will open automatically at sunset and close at dawn."

"They're closed."

He eyed her. "Sun's no' fully set yet."

She shrugged, though she did wonder why she'd been rising so early. "You haven't asked me to drink."

He raised his eyebrows. "Will you?"

"Right after a Breathalyzer test." When he frowned, she said, "Measures how drunk you are."

He did not even look guilty. "I've had no liquor tonight and only want you to take." He sat down, too close beside her.

"Why did you rush to the shower last night? Do you find the act so unclean?"

A short laugh. "Emma, it's the most erotic thing I've ever experienced. In the shower, I took release so I doona break my vow to you."

She frowned. "You mean you - ?"

"Oh, aye." His lips curled as he looked down into her eyes. "Every night you've got me like a randy lad."

He was completely unembarrassed to admit he'd stroked himself to orgasm mere feet away from her. At that exact time she'd been rolling in his bed, struggling not to touch her own body. How...titillating. She blushed as much from his admission as from her own thoughts. I wish I'd seen him doing that.

No, no, no. If she kept staring at his sexy smirk, she'd forget her plan, forget the hurt she'd felt upon realizing he'd nicked himself and tricked her and held her in place against him until she drank.

Consequences. Messing with vampire Emmaline Troy now brought consequences.

When the shutters opened with a smooth hum, revealing the night, she said, "Lachlain, I have an idea." Did she truly have the mettle to retaliate? Consequences. Paying in kind. Surprising herself, she found the answer was yes. "I think there's a way we could both 'take release' while I drink."