Blood and Kisses - By Karin Shah Page 0,40

of the job.

And to blame Thalia for Kimmy’s murder, when even now she risked her life to find the rogue? It was more than just unfair. It was nothing less than betrayal.

“Come here.” Gideon seemed to regain some small fragment of humanity, but Thalia knew he had only switched tactics. His voice was low and seductive, full of promise and urgent with compulsion. Thalia shuddered. Her body longed to obey. Sweat burned on her forehead. Her muscles trembled with exertion as she fought to retain control.

She didn’t dare use magic to resist. He needed every bit of power she could spare. She had to rely on willpower alone. She took an involuntary step forward, as if jerked by an invisible string. Gideon smiled. His eyes gleamed. A wolf watching prey step into an ambush.

Thalia dug in her heels. She imagined her feet were rooted to the floor. Her upper body swayed forward, like a skyscraper resisting an earthquake, but she stayed put. Thwarted, Gideon growled.

The sound crashed over her like a breaker of cold water and broke the spell. Freed from compulsion, Thalia raised her arms, channeling energy from every cell in her body up and out. Streams of blue light flowed from her out-raised palms. Twisting and turning, they combined into a river that washed over Gideon.

He stiffened as if punched in the stomach. His powerful body arched away from the bed. Fresh blood stained the sheets as his unsheathed claws bit his flesh. He howled. The unearthly sound pierced Thalia to the core. Her chest ached. She couldn’t seem to draw in a full breath. Tears pearled in her eyes, but she held her focus, continuing to feed him the precious force.

“Gideon, the hunger is not your master. You’ve got to fight. Take my power. Use my strength. Come back to me.” She maintained the steady current of energy, even as she carried on a desperate monologue, barely aware of the words rushing from her like the tide through a spillway.

As she spoke, Gideon writhed against the damp, blood-dyed sheets. His glorious face turned toward her, and she saw the red haze begin to fade from his eyes.

The spell was working.

Thalia drew more power from inside. She exhausted the reserves of her energy and began to take from her own life force. Her body shook with the effort. Her voice quavered. Feeding him more and more of her personal strength, she was painfully aware of her dwindling capacity; willpower alone kept her on her feet. She couldn’t go on much longer.

Gideon’s face twisted with agony. Thalia could feel the struggle raging within him as the man fought to subdue the beast. Who would win?

Thalia’s magic rushed over him like a shock wave and suddenly Gideon remembered why taking blood from her would be wrong. Not only was witch blood poisonous, but more importantly, he didn’t want to hurt the witch. A glimmer of sanity returned. Not the witch.

Thalia.

That was her name. She was brave and beautiful. A rare mixture of strength and vulnerability.

Vulnerable, no. Weak. The creature insisted. The beast wouldn’t surrender without a fight. Ripe for the taking. She was nothing more than a feeble human, after all, destined for only one purpose. To fill the hollow ache. He would gorge on her blood, milk her of every scarlet drop.

No. Fortified by the power Thalia was feeding him, Gideon rejected the vile thoughts and attacked the vicious evil within, wrestling for control. He herded the demon, prodding it into submission. Gradually the whirlpool of hate and anger let loose by starvation drained. Reason returned.

The hunger still beat within him like a swarm of angry wasps, but the beast was in retreat. Gideon, the man, reinforced by the surge of energy Thalia provided, shoved the demon into a small dark corner of his soul and raised the mental walls that would imprison it, at least for now.

In control once more, he collapsed, temporarily debilitated by his long battle despite her generous gift. The bed groaned under his weight.

The blue light flickered out like a defective neon light, and Thalia sank to the ground, her skin the color of wet clay. She’d given him almost everything she had.

She’d risked her life to help him cage the monster.

He hadn’t come so close to the edge in millennia. That this woman had seen him this way was almost more than he could bear. He closed his eyes against the crippling shame. He didn’t want to see the revulsion in her clear