Crave - Teresa Mummert Page 0,64

vampire.” My head raced at the thought of killing him again. It hurt just as much to lose my vampire brother, as it had to lose him in his human life. I refused to believe that just because Grayson was a vampire, that he was hopeless. Elijah was the most important person in my life right now and he was a vampire.

“I’m going to be sick,” I warned him. He glanced over at me with worry. The car slowed rapidly and he was opening my door before I could glance in his direction. He unbuckled my seatbelt and lifted me from the car. Carrying me to the shoulder of the road, he placed me gently on the grass. He raised his wrist to his lips and bit into his own flesh.

“This will help,” He said as he extended his arm. I snapped my mouth shut at the idea. He pressed his gaping wrist to my mouth firmly. I resisted. I didn’t want to be condemned to a life of murder and an insatiable hunger for human blood. Elijah gritted his teeth and I could tell that if I did not take his offering, I might become his next meal. I parted my lips and let a few drops of the crimson elixir flow into my mouth. The throbbing in my head subsided as I flexed my right hand. “It won’t turn you. You only need a little blood and you aren’t close to death,” he assured me. “You’d also have to have to find your own victim.”

“Good as new,” I exclaimed with a forced smile. He grinned back with approval.

“We still need to get you washed up. The dried blood in your hair is becoming hard to resist,” Elijah replied, the smile fading as he brushed my hair back from my face and tucked it behind my ear. “I almost killed you back there,” he confessed.

“But you didn’t and it made you stronger so you could fight Olivie.”

He smiled sadly. “Not strong enough. She’s going to come back for us.”

“We’ll be ready.” I nodded and looked down at his wrist, my fingers still wrapped around his arm. The wound had healed and a faded pink line marked the spot that just moments before he had ripped open. I peered up from behind my eyelashes and stared into his black, hooded eyes.

He looked like and animal who had just caught sight of his prey, but his hunger was for more than just blood. I could feel his insatiable want for me radiating through the air. He held out his hand for me. I slipped my now healed fingers into his palm and he quickly lifted me to my feet. He bent slightly and his lips brushed across my previously wounded knuckles. A shiver ran down my spine as every hair on my body stood at attention.

The momentous events of this morning faded into the background of my mind. I let my lips fall open and a flush washed over my cheeks. I stared at him like a schoolgirl with an unwavering crush.

“Come,” he murmured and I trailed behind him, my hand still in his. His blood was coursing through my veins like rum and I felt warm and wonderfully euphoric. He opened the passenger door and I slid into my seat, pausing briefly as my face passed by his. He smiled a devilishly charming grin and my heart jumped into my throat.

Clicking my seatbelt, I glanced over to Elijah, who was already in his seat and revving the engine of his muscle car. The machine shook and vibrated with each compression of the gas pedal. I bit my lip and wished that his car could move at the vampire speed that his body was able to travel.

We pulled back onto the winding road and drove in silence for several minutes. Elijah’s lips were set in a hard line and his eyes gave nothing away to what was going on behind them. I blew out a long breath and let myself relax into the seat. Never glancing my way, Elijah slid his hand over my leg, letting it come to rest just above my knee. Goosebumps immediately followed. My body stiffened back up and all hope of relaxing next to this beautiful specimen of a man was lost.

Chapter thirty

Trust

Elijah pulled the car into a dimly lit parking lot just off the main road. He jumped out of the driver seat, leaving the car idling and disappeared into the motel lobby. I rang