Darker (Alexa O'Brien Huntress Book 6) - By Trina M. Lee Page 0,82

way he was hurting. He needed them to beg and cry so he could take pleasure in the torment. Only when he caused suffering did he himself cease to suffer. Arys saw nothing but the couple he had chosen to inflict his wrath upon.

If he felt my presence, he didn’t acknowledge it. The scent of blood was so strong it choked me. I woke up with a start, sitting straight up in my bed. The screams faded, replaced with the pounding of my heart. The hunger remained.

I sat there shaking in my bed despite the heat that had me throwing off the sheets. I was thankful Jez had returned to her apartment. After making me promise several times not to go after Lilah again without her, she had bravely gone home to face an apartment filled with memories.

As I went through the motions of showering and brushing my teeth, I could focus only on one thing: the heady rush that came with taking blood. Ravenous and impatient, I rushed through my human activities. A solid eight-hour sleep and the meal I’d eaten before bed had helped, but it wasn’t what I needed to be at full strength. That would only come from stealing the life force from another. As much as I hated it, I wouldn’t be sated until I had.

My eyes glowed Arys’s vampire blue. Absorbing another’s power so it visibly showed was unsettling. It made me feel a little like a freak, though what didn’t these days?

Bloodlust drove me. I didn’t think; I just acted. Like an addict who feels no remorse until after they get a fix, I moved mechanically, need and buried hurt guiding me. I should have known how Arys would choose to deal with the pain I’d inflicted.

It hadn’t been my intent. I was hurting, too. I didn’t know how to be apart from him. I couldn’t accept that I could no longer exist without him. Lilah’s remark about the twin flame bond being a curse lingered, taunting me, telling me it was true.

“Lying fucking demon,” I muttered, punching buttons on the radio in the Charger. The country station was out of the question. A Top 40 station playing a lost love ballad was quickly changed. I settled on a heavy metal satellite radio station and headed for the city with electric guitars screaming in my ears.

If I couldn’t hand Lilah over to Salem, I would have no choice but to keep confronting her until one of us was no longer standing. First, I had a desperate hunger to take care of, whether I liked it or not. Unfortunately, I would like it, and I would hate that.

I found myself sitting in The Wicked Kiss parking lot half an hour later. What was I thinking? I shouldn’t be here. Not only was it the one place I’d told myself I would never patronize, but Kale’s classic Camaro was parked near the rear door. He’d moved it for the first time in weeks.

I watched those milling about the front entry smoking and talking. Their raucous laughter carried. I saw them all as prey, ready and willing victims just waiting for someone like me to choose them.

Where was Arys right now? Tearing apart the couple I saw in his mind? Or, had that been a memory? I gripped the steering wheel tight and fought back the bloody images that surfaced. If I went into the club, I might not be able to control myself. And, though I sure as hell couldn’t avoid Kale forever, I just wasn’t up to that tonight.

I left the car and breathed deeply of the crisp night air. It did nothing to clear the haze of bloodlust fogging my head. I had just one purpose.

The will to fight had left me. The blood hunger ruled, and I thought of nothing but appeasing it. In a black skirt that flowed around my knees and a red halter-top, I crossed the lot with a predatory gait.

Upon walking through the lobby into the club, I was hit with the dizzying rush of excited energy oozing from those inside. I embraced it, wrapping it around me like a blanket. I wasn’t in the mood to wait out the right victim. I scanned the crowd for my chosen one.

Kale was near the dance floor with a tall brunette in his arms. He whispered in her ear. She blushed and threw her head back in laughter. He looked at me, and I redirected my gaze. I wasn’t here