Snippet #2473987

Sliding into the car Bethany let Andrei close the door. She was shaking like a fall leaf ready to break from the branch and sink to the forest floor. What she had seen was carnal murder. Her room was a pool of blood and death now. It was not a bedroom she could go back to. They’d have to sell the house – no matter what Brandon might say. She would not go back there. The nightmares alone would be enough.

She was clutching the picture frame to her chest still when Andrei slid into the driver’s seat. With her nerves shot as they were she couldn’t possibly have driven and she wasn’t about to argue with the angry vampire. But she looked at him with his bloody face and bit her lip. Putting the frame down on the dashboard she got up on the seat on her knees and pulled her shirt over her head.

“What exactly are you doing?” Andrei asked watching her with a raised brow.

“You’re covered in blood. If you drive like that we’re going to get pulled over by the cops,” she said matter-of-factly, gathering the fabric in her hands and using it to wipe the blood off her face.

“I am a cop and they know what I am,” Andrei replied sounding petulant about being cleaned up as though he were a child again. “And you don’t think we’ll get pulled over with you bare breasted in the passenger seat?”

Bethany shrugged and continued to go about cleaning him up. When she was done she tossed the bloodied shirt in the back and settled into her own seat feeling the cool leather against her bare skin. “It isn’t illegal to be nude in a car, I don’t see why being topless would be any different,” she replied tiredly and closed her eyes, buckling her seat belt.

She heard the engine start and reached out for her frame so it wouldn’t slide around. Instead she felt Andrei’s hand. Opening her eyes again she raised a brow this time. “What are you doing?”

“Seeing what was worth risking your neck over,” he replied lifting the frame to look at the picture.

“You probably think it’s dumb, but it’s the only picture that we’re all in,” Bethany whispered. Andrei didn’t comment on it as he handed it back to her. When she took it she cradled it to her chest and closed her eyes again. She wouldn’t be able to nap – there was too much that happened to scare her, but she needed the time to adjust to what had happened and the extensive use of her magic had exhausted her.

They were almost back at his place when Andrei spoke again. “Damn it woman, you’re not afraid. What’s with the pheromones?” he griped.

Bethany smirked a little. Poor men, so easily aroused with a little scent in the air. For a vampire it must be maddening – their sense of smell was extra heightened and she had heard that a succubus’s blood was especially alluring to them. “Who say’s I’m not afraid? You just killed a score of people in my house. That's scary I reckon,” she challenged, keeping her eyes closed to rest them.

“Your heart, breath and perspiration are all normal. You’re not afraid Bethany Anne. Now answer the question,” Andrei snapped irritably.

My, my so cranky… Bethany thought. She couldn’t help it, there was something of a thrill knowing how easily men could be taken of balance. Opening her eyes she smiled tiredly. “I can’t help it. I used up pretty well all of my magic in the house keeping those soldier people from being able to shoot me dead before you got there. My body is naturally putting out a signal to help me refuel,” she explained with a shrug. “I need to climax to balance out again.”

Bethany let Andrei digest this information and looked out the window. The downside to this whole thing was that along with her body producing supercharged pheromones she was actually physically exhausted. She felt like she could sleep for a month. It had never happened before, but Beth often wondered what would happen if she couldn’t get the fix she craved. Would she die from it? Get sick?

“Who is this Marcel person? One of the soldiers called him a Royal, but I’ve never heard of a King or Prince Marcel on the news or in the papers,” Bethany asked hoping that maybe the question would ease his focus on her scent.