Descent (Kissed by Death) - Tara Fuller Page 0,39
beat of a hypnotic tune, luring the human souls that watched, slack-jawed, from the edge of the room.
The room seemed to settle into a dangerous calm as we entered, and at least a dozen sets of eyes followed our progress.
“Why are they all looking at me like that?”
“Because most of them have never seen anything like you,” I said. “Put on all the black leather you want, Red, but you’ll never be able to cover up what you are.”
“And what am I?”
My gaze coasted over the soft curve of her cheek, the slender arch of her neck. She was beautiful, a warm sunrise in a world that had only ever known a cold, unforgiving night. To think I’d even tried to hide what she was from the filth here showed how foolish I really was. There was no hiding the goodness in Gwen.
“Pure,” I finally said, tearing my gaze from her. I had to stop looking at her like that. I had to stop wanting to touch her. I had to stop… I just had to stop. Giving in to that desire wasn’t going to do either of us any good.
“Then maybe I should do something to make them think I’m not,” she said, voice small and unsure.
I laughed. “Like what? Murder someone? News flash. Everyone here is already dead, sweetheart.”
“I don’t know,” she said, looking around. “What about that?”
She gestured to a man and succubus on the dance floor. Lips locked together, dancing so close you couldn’t tell where he ended and she began. A group of pain demons closed in on them, waiting for her to deplete and release the drained soul. They’d drag him away and finish him off once she’d had her fill. That was the real dance here.
Feed. Punish. Pain. Repeat.
As much as the thought of having Gwen pressed against me like that scared the shit out of me, she was right. We needed to blend in. I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against me, telling myself I was only acting. That I didn’t care. She gasped and her hands landed on my chest. She was stiff in my arms, staring at my throat. A table of demons pushed their drinks aside to watch us with suspicious, glowing eyes.
“Gonna need to come a little closer than that, Red,” I whispered against her hair. “Are you a succubus or an angel? Quick survival tip…you want to be the succubus.”
She inched forward and buried her face in my neck, releasing a shaky breath against my jaw. Her mouth pressed against the serpent tattoo on my neck, and I could feel the brand of ink writhe, basking in the pleasure of her purity. My heart kicked a painful rhythm against my ribs. Without permission, my hands slid down to her hips. She felt so warm under my palms, perfectly clumsy, trying to find a rhythm to match mine. I’d never really danced before, but in a place like this, I figured there was no right way. Not when everything was so wrong. Gwen peeked out from under my jaw, looking at the others dancing.
“Should we…kiss?” she asked. “L-like them?”
I stopped swaying and forced my hands to loosen their grip on her hips. My blood felt too hot, my body tense and unfamiliar. My gaze dropped to her mouth, and my mind went places it had no business going.
I wanted to kiss her.
I’d never wanted to kiss anyone. Almighty knows that’s all it would take to soil her. One touch from my lips and she’d never be the same. I couldn’t do that to her. I wouldn’t.
“Your father would find a way to bring me back to life just so he could kill me all over again if I touched you like that,” I said.
“Don’t use my father as an excuse,” she said, sounding embarrassed. “If you don’t want to, just say so.”
“Have you ever kissed anyone?”
The tip of her nose grazed my throat as she shook her head. “No.”
“You don’t want your first kiss to be like that, Red. Not here. Not like this. Not…not with me.”
“Have you ever kissed anyone?”
I grimaced at the flood of indecent, horrific memories burning their way to the forefront of my mind. The creatures here didn’t care about consent. They touched, they took, they ruined. There had been a time when I’d been too weak to fight them. I shook off the nauseating feeling that came with those flashbacks and shifted the conversation to safer territory.
“When I was alive,