“I want you to love me as I really am. Not this, or any other illusion you would ever want me to wear. Oh, and I will happily wear them for you. But…I…” He sighed, resigning himself. “You’re right. I…wanted to prolong this.”
He sounded so vulnerable as if he were afraid she would say no to him. She watched him and wondered what kind of grotesque and terrible creature he was. Perhaps it would help fight off the burning heat that was pooling in her body, gathering in her core, begging her to give in to her desire.
“Are you ready?”
She nodded.
His body shimmered. It was as though a cloud around him gave away, and the mirage dropped.
She gasped.
He was not hideous. He was not a gargoyle.
He was anything but.
She should be horrified. She should look at a naked demon and find herself repulsed. Instead, she stared in awe. He had grayish-purple skin, grayer perhaps than not. His face had changed and become sharper in the cheekbones and along the jawline. His hair was still blond, but longer, and fell over one of his eyes in a rakish, jagged, and uneven cut. His eyes, still purple, were now far more saturated and unnatural.
He was lean. Long, muscular, and almost elven in his build. Not narrow by any means, but hardly bulky. A tail swished around behind him, the same color as his skin, hairless and tapered. Jewelry ran along it—no, through it—near the end. Piercings. Silver baubles and thick hoops dangled from it like they would from a woman’s ears.
That was not his only jewelry. A metal loop ran through his lush, full lower lip, silver against the darker purplish blue. A pair of black horns twisted out of his hair in elegant, graceful curls back from his head. They were carved with symbols and a strange pattern she had never seen before.
Her gaze betrayed her and wandered down.
And found more silver jewelry. Not to mention, it turned out that his horns and tail were not the only thing about him that was inhuman. She gasped and looked straight up at the ceiling. “Oh. Oh, God. Oh, God on high.”
Mordecai laughed. If he was offended, he didn’t show it. “God’s not here right now. Just you and me. Don’t be afraid.”
It really isn’t fear I’m feeling, is it? She wanted to look again. She stared at the ceiling.
He snickered. “Do you want me, Bella?”
Yes. “No.”
“Do you want to touch me?”
Yes. “No.”
“Are you wondering what it’ll feel like to be with an inhuman man?”
Yes. “No.”
“Do you want me to never touch you again?”
“No—wait!” She looked back down to him and glared angrily. “That was cheap.”
He was howling in laughter, and he flopped down onto the bed on his back and watched her with sultry, heavy-lidded eyes from his vantage point by her knees. “Sorry. You’re too much fun.”
She wanted to know what it would be like to be with him. He looked so foreign—so inhuman. She wanted to experience every inch of him.
And he could clearly tell by the warmth in her cheeks what she was thinking as he smiled at her. “There isn’t anything wrong with desire. There isn’t anything wrong with love. Let me love you, Bella. Let yourself see if you can feel the same for me. When all is said and done, and Dracula’s game is through, if you don’t love me, I’ll let you go. Unharmed. I vow it to you.”
“How can I trust you?”
“I gave you my name. My true name. I did it because despite my teasing, I trust you. My bright-eyed, beautiful, kind-hearted vampire hunter.”
“I…” She looked to him and was unable to look away. His true appearance lit a fire in her that she hadn’t even known existed. I am going to Hell, but I find his real form more beautiful than the illusion. There was something honest about it—about him. She looked into those eyes, a far more vivid purple than before, and couldn’t see a scrap of a lie.
She saw a fiend, a demon, a playful thing…a beautiful thing. And in those bright purple eyes she saw love.
“Do you really love me…?” Bella asked him breathlessly.
“Beautiful creature,” he breathed. He rolled over and got up onto his knees beside her. “I love you more than anything or anyone I have ever known.” His hands, which sported black nails, traced tenderly over her body.
She gasped. He was so warm to the touch—much warmer than a normal person.