My Blood on Your Lips, Your Money in My Bra

The light of candle's flame flickered across the pages of the open books spread across the table before me. The scent of dust and magic and old permeated every bit of the room's stuffy air, and beneath it all, I could smell human. I could smell Gabriel.

I buried my face in my hands and fought back tears.

This was so stupid, pathetic, wrong...unfair. Why was I so bad at keeping people alive? Why was it always my fault that they ended up dead? I'd never cared when putting men in danger before, but none of them had been innocent. None of them had been Derrick or Gabriel.

Slowly, the single candle burned down, the flame extinguishing when it drowned in its own wax. I was left in darkness for four hours, and not once did I move.

Eli found me like that at three in the morning, with my head in my hands and my body unnervingly still. He laid a hand on my shoulder and said my name softly, but I didn't have the energy or the will to reply. He shook me lightly and repeated my name, a little louder now. Again, I didn't reply. He shook me harder, and I finally grunted.

"Why didn't you do that sooner?" the male asked as he moved to stand beside me. I didn't respond again, and he pushed my hands away from my face. "Elyria?" He leaned closer, his nose nearly touching mine. I looked into his green eyes and remembered Gabriel, but I still didn't move. I clutched to the backwards fantasy that came into my head, pretending that Eli was Gabriel for once. I pretended I hadn't failed, hadn't lost again, hadn't let someone else's life slip right through my fingers. The fantasy vanished when I began to sob and Eli wrapped his arms around me, comforting me in a way that only he could.

"It's okay," the vampire told me quietly, continuing to hold me even as my tears soaked through his black shirt. "It's better this way."

"How?" I sobbed. "How is this better?"

"He's not in danger anymore. His family has him. They don't know what happened, but they don't have to worry anymore. And you don't, either." My tears slowly began to subside. "And Terrence is gone. Everyone else you've been with is safe, and we are, too." My sobs stopped, and my teary eyes moved slowly to his. My cheek was against his chest, the light of my eyes shining through the wetness of my tears to create what almost looked like the shadows at the bottom of a swimming pool upon his face.

As he gazed down at me, the two of us silent for the moment, I felt his aura changing. No longer was it rough with worry and sadness, but smooth and calm, full of the tranquility I was used to.

"And," he began after a moment, whispering now, "we're together. That's good, right?"

"I...guess so." Slowly, my arms settled around his waist. I felt calmer now than I had for quite some time, and, amazingly, I no longer wanted sex from Eli. This was all I needed for now.

After a few seconds of that comfortable silence, Eli smiled softly. "You shouldn't cry. It doesn't suit you." I laughed and released him, beginning to wipe away my tears with my hands. He gently took my wrists, however, stopping me before I accomplished much. "I have a better way." He released my arms and, much to my surprise, slid his shirt off, revealing smooth, pale skin and those delicious abs that I loved so much. He held the garment out to me, still wearing that soft smile. "It's already wet, anyway. Just as long as you don't blow your nose on it, it'll work well." I chuckled and slowly wiped at my face, secretly savoring the scent that was Eli.

"Thank you," I said a minute later as I handed the shirt back to him. I stood once he'd taken it with a simple nod. "How are you doing?" I asked, my eyes searching his face and hands for any signs of remaining sun damage. I spotted none. Everything looked just as it was supposed to.

"All right, I suppose," the male replied, watching as I looked him over. He seemed mildly amused by it, judging by the smirk on his face, but he said nothing about it. "I'm a bit sore from that fight earlier, but there isn't any permanent damage."

"Good, good. I don't need anyone else getting hurt because of me." I gave his eyes a fleeting glance, then turned and left the room. He followed me immediately, shirt still in hand.

"None of it's your fault, you know," he informed me, continuing to follow me even when I turned into my bedroom. "You didn't kill anyone, nor did anyone get hurt because of you. It was all Terrence's doing."

"Yes, but without me, there would have been no reason for Terrence to do anything," I retorted. I turned to face him while slipping my shirt off, amazed that his eyes so easily remained on my face. I guessed that he wasn't much in the mood for anything sexual, either. And, of course, he'd always been rather gentlemanly...

"Not really." He moved to sit down on my unmade bed, continuing to look at me as I removed my blood-stained jeans. "Gabriel was bound to die, anyway. It's only because of you that he lived for such a long time after being captured. And the only other person you could have effected is Derrick, and..." He finally dropped his gaze, a tear of guilt forming in the smooth blanket of his aura. "I suppose that one is actually my fault. For that, I apologize."

I dropped the shirt I'd just pulled out of a dresser drawer. I wasn't allowed to feel guilty, but he was? Tch. Fuck that.

I had him pinned to the bed soon enough, my eyes narrowed in a glare. "You did it to save us, Eli. That's something we can also blame on Terrence, if we're not allowed to blame it on me."

He smiled up at me, his aura instantly returning to its normal tranquility. "Good. I'm glad you understand the situation."

"You just tricked me, didn't you?" I asked, my voice far too calm. I was not happy.

"I may have, yes," he replied, wearing a taunting, self-satisfied smirk.

"I'm going to hit you now." I drew my arm back to punch him, but he rolled over, laughing. Now, he had me pinned, and his hold was far more effective than mine had been.

"I made you feel better. Why would you want to hit me?" I averted my gaze, nearly pouting. Eli was silent for a moment, and I became slightly uneasy when I felt his aura grow more serious than normal. "Terrence is dead," he commented thoughtfully. His tone made his thoughts clear, and I suddenly realized that I was pretty much naked and that it wouldn't take much to bring him to my level.

Slowly, almost cautiously, I looked up at him.

His beautiful green eyes held no lust, no need, nothing that I'd expected. There was only a quiet thoughtfulness mingling with a cautious curiosity. His expression would have been empty had it not been for those eyes.

I said nothing. I turned my face away and tilted my head to expose more of my bare neck. I was offering only my blood with this gesture, but I knew that he was aware that the offer of sex was understood. We would start here and end up wherever we ended up.

I felt his fingers against my neck as he gently pushed a few stray strands of hair out of the way. I closed my eyes and waited, my entire body tense with anticipation.

His fangs slid into my neck just as so many others had before, but it felt so different this time. Usually, I was waiting for the satisfaction of having my blood drained from my body, of being ravaged and ripped open, of being violated and sexually pleasured. But now, for the first time, I was truly savoring the moment. These were Eli's fangs in my throat, not some stranger's or those of someone I'd long hated. He'd been wanting this for a long time, craving it even though he'd never had a taste. He really wanted me, not merely the pleasures my body offered.

This gentle beginning gave way rather rapidly to the roughness and the need I was accustomed to. His teeth tore mercilessly into my throat, his tongue lapping at the blood that seeped from the wounds he'd made. He stopped to suck at the holes, to take what he desired much more forcefully than when he'd begun.

I moaned more loudly than I'd intended. He pulled me into a sitting position, doing something fairly unexpected. He wrapped his arms around me and brought my bare chest to his, his touch strangely gentle in contrast to what he was doing to my neck.

I planed my palms firmly against his back, pulling myself as close to him as possible. His hold on me tightened in response. He wanted me closer, too, it seemed. He wanted me just as much as I wanted him. These sorts of notions never occurred to the other men I was with...

It was incredible.

A sudden spike in his aura jerked me out of my brief euphoria. His calm had been shaky since he'd gotten more vicious, but it hadn't completed vanished until that moment. His nails found purchase in my back and ripped roughly downward, forcing a groan from me that brought a pleased purr of a growl out of him. The sweet scent of my blood grew stronger as more and more oozed from the wounds on my back, slowly but surely heading toward the sheets below. I felt another jolt in Eli's aura, and the lust there became extremely obvious.

But suddenly, it vanished.

Eli's fangs left my throat, though his hands remained on my back, already sticky with my blood. He looked into my eyes and said softly, "It would've been worth dying for, you know." And with that, he placed a gentle kiss upon the bitten side of my throat and got up.

I watched him, confusion clear in my eyes. "Eli..."

"Your blood," he said. "It would have been worth Terrence's wrath."

"Better than you expected?"

"Yes." He glanced toward the pile of bloody clothes I'd left on the floor and said stoically, "You're phone's vibrating again, by the way."

"Again?" I slid off of the bed and picked up my jeans, taking my cell phone from one of the front pockets. Nathan's name was displayed on the front, and I couldn't help but wonder why he was calling. Surely he'd gotten his fill last time. He couldn't be craving my blood again already...

"Mm," Eli mumbled in response to my question. "Someone's called three times now, I believe."

I cocked an eyebrow at him, but flipped the phone open. Now I was even more confused by Nathan's call. "Yes?"

"Finally!" the vampire nearly shouted. His voice was gruff, as if he'd been busy fighting or doing something else strenuous. "I was about to give up!"

"Sorry. I didn't hear it," I told him coolly. "Now, what's important enough to warrant four calls at three in the morning?"

"Your necromancer friend. For some reason, Terrence's men are after her." A chill went through me, a spike of fear that nearly brought my lungs and my heart to a dead stop.

"What?" How could any of them have known about Kyrianna? I didn't even think Terrence had known.

"Terrence's men want revenge now. Or, at least, that's what one of them told me." He was silent for a moment, then he asked, "Did you really kill Terrence?"

"No. Eli did." My voice was faint and breathless, my eyes wide and fixed on some distant, unseen point.

"Well, they're taking it out on you, and, in turn, your new friend."

"Why are you on the phone with me?" I snapped suddenly. "Shouldn't you be trying to protect her?"

"I've been forced out, Elyria," he snarled, the vicious tone clearly a response to my bitchy one. "Besides, it's not my problem. Her family is on their own now, so I'd suggest that you come down here and try to help them. They won't last for much longer." He paused for a moment, as if he planned to hang up, but he said one more thing before the click. "Good luck, Elyria," he whispered. "You're their enemy now." And then, the line went dead.

I stared at the phone for a moment, gazing at the brightly lit screen and its dark background without seeing any of it. Here I was, about to fight for another innocent I was bound to lose in the end.

I flipped the phone shut and turned to Eli, my eyes narrowing. "They're after Kyrianna." I went to my dresser and let my phone drop onto my pile of dirty clothes. "Leave me to handle them on my own if you'd like. I won't be losing this battle no matter what happens."

"Of course you won't," Eli told me, determination a subtle undertone of his usual coldness. "I'll be at your side this time."

I turned to him once more, ignoring the black skirt I'd just taken from a drawer. Our eyes met, and a brutal smile spread across my face.

Tonight, Maple Street was going to be the site of one hell of a battle. And possibly the place where I finally lost my mind.