Master: Crimson Page 18

  “You can’t hide. I can feel you, Brie. I can feel you all over. Inside, outside, in between—”

  “Stop.”

  Gabriel squeezed his wrists with more force. Too late, his erection announced its untimely presence. The singer squirmed a little beneath him, drawing a grunt from his unwilling lips. His vision swam, and his hold weakened—yet Raiden didn’t even attempt to escape. Instead, he slowly licked his lips, parting them, inviting his creation to take a taste. Gabriel shook his head, whining low in his throat as Raiden leaned up; waiting.

  “Stop? It’s too late to stop.”

  “I don’t want this,” Gabriel panted, pressing his nose against his creator’s face, inhaling his gorgeous, deadly scent.

  His words were merely empty threats, so Raiden inched closer. “Neither do I.”

  Furiously, desperately, Gabriel kissed him. There was an angry, blood-coated collision of lips and teeth and tongue; then, he dove into a state of ecstasy as Raiden manipulated his mouth again and again. Trembling, Gabriel gripped the singer’s back, squeezing his soft skin, unable to control his body’s reaction to the impact of those kisses. Raiden scratched his nails up and down his forearms, adorning them with small crimson lines. The scent and taste of their mingled blood was becoming too powerful for Gabriel to resist; judging by the brutal hardness pressing against his stomach, Raiden felt in a similar fashion. With a low groan, the older vampire opened his lethal, beautiful eyes; piercing him with a look so ruthless, Gabriel was almost afraid. Parting his lips, Raiden spoke into his scarlet-smeared mouth.

  “Can you taste my blood?”

  “Of course,” Gabriel moaned. He licked Raiden’s lips to keep the dark droplets from dripping down them. Right now, conversation was furthest from thought, since he couldn’t think from his dick.

  “My blood created you. You know what that means?”

  The younger vampire shook his head from side to side; a hand trailing to tether Raiden’s shaking hips to his. In a few seconds, he was going to kiss him again to shut him up so they could fuck. After all, they had been waiting for this.

  “It means you’re mine. I decide your fate.”

  Growling suddenly, Raiden lunged into Gabriel’s neck, puncturing the carotid at first bite, spraying sizzling scarlet like holy water from hell. The actor rolled over, baptized in blood, blindly clawing Raiden’s back as his vision weakened, then whitened. He was enmeshed in red from head to foot; weakly, he tried to stand, taking Raiden with him. Slipping in a pool of his own blood, the dying vampire fell onto the bed, his maker’s incisors still buried within him. His arms felt leaden, he couldn’t lift them, and his last thought before he lost the light was, it fucking figures. As if he had read Gabriel’s mind, Raiden laughed, sucking one last time to steal the remaining contents of his veins. Then, Gabriel was gone.

  * * * *

  Screaming, the fledgling vampire awoke from the nightmare, clutching Raiden’s pillow as terror descended into grief. He violently burst into tears, not ceasing until dawn crept into day.

  * * * *

  Elsewhere, Raiden was awake all night, staring at his cross in the mirror. Again, he was thinking of his creation. For the first time in years, he almost longed for redemption.

  Chapter 13

  The Last

  You didn’t paint the future’s dark outline;

  But you spoke of it in hushed whispers, chanting it to life.

  My heart was always screaming.

  Another day, another place. Another sunset.

  “Take her, Raiden, she’s waiting!”

  The singer collapsed from the sight in front of him. Justus crushed Naomi within his greedy grasp; his lips sneering with hate. Naomi’s sweet face was a ruin of blood and sewer slime. A few minutes before, Justus had ripped ragged bunches of Naomi’s treasured tresses out of her scalp when she had tried to run away. Her tear-stricken eyes pleaded for Raiden to save her. Paralyzed, he could only stare at the scarlet scratch marks on her face. The self-inflicted injuries sagged open; the bleeding wounds appeared onyx in the garish gutter light. Her tormentor continued to hold her remaining hair with one fist. Naomi—

  Raiden shuddered. At times, he wished his memories were naught but cheap souvenirs from his past; chintzy, pointless and ultimately empty. It was not the loss of Naomi, but her absence that stirred him. He breathed tightly, sorrow stabbing him with its thorns. That first long-ago kill had been his undoing. After that gruesome night, he had started to realize what he had become; then, his break from humanity had begun. Now, though—especially now—he couldn’t afford to feel any sorrow from his unchangeable history. In any case, he had assumed the reluctant responsibility of molding Gabriel into a proper bloodsucker. To succeed, Raiden would have to keep the fledgling vampire from tapping into his potentially fatal weakness—his past.

  And that, love, would get us into a whole lot of trouble, a wise voice warned him. Raiden fully agreed. Despite everything he had allowed himself to do, he would not allow himself any regrets for having (mostly) distanced himself from the human species. A one-track-minded vampire, he was too bloodthirsty to cling to emotion, or rather…let it cling to him. Nothing good ever came of being human, anyway. Everyone always disappointed me. Except Naomi.

  At once, the setting sun impeded his thoughts, instantly entrancing him with its ruby-burnished splendor. His image of Naomi burned to ashes under the dying glory of a Midas sky. The sunset spread slowly over the horizon, coating it with apocalyptical doom. Its brazen light bled into the sky like an open wound; inevitably, the vampire began to thirst.

  * * * *

  “I’m here,” Raiden intoned, briskly stepping across the threshold of his summerhouse.

  “As if your arrival calls for me to stand on ceremony. Don’t flatter yourself.” Gabriel sat sullenly in the corner, idly playing with his hair.

  Raiden didn’t care for the hollow look of his cheeks. It had been at least a week since his protégé had last accompanied him to feed. He didn’t know how the actor was managing it. They had carried on with their ridiculous rehearsals as usual, but Gabriel had refused his bloodbath invitations both times he had offered. Earlier today, however, his quarrelsome creation had finally cracked.

  “Touché. Are you ready to go or what, sourpuss?” Raiden grumbled, head-gesturing toward the open door. Gabriel didn’t budge. Sighing, the singer closed the door. Looks like he’s headed for one of his angst-fests.

  “Is that any way to greet your co-star?”

  Raiden snorted. “It is in my book. Besides, the whole movie shit is just for show. Now hurry up, I’m hungry.”

  The younger vampire peered at him listlessly. “When are you not?”

  Raiden heaved a huge sigh, already exasperated—even though he had spent the merest of minutes within Gabriel’s dreary presence. “Well, looking at your sorry face sure spoils my appetite. Whatsa matter, Brie? Did someone make fun of your dancing again?” Raiden taunted. He strode to where Gabriel was perched like an oversized bird on top of a small chair. All he needs is a cage.

  “No, but someone sure made fun of your moves. Talk about corny.”

  “You don’t count as ‘someone’.”

  He reached out a hand to tousle the actor’s crinkled locks. Surprisingly, Gabriel shook himself out of his stupor to bat Raiden’s hand away from his head.

  “Can we please depart for our intended destination? You’re trying my patience.”

  “Oh, so NOW you want to go. What a priss,” Raiden muttered, snatching away his intended-caress. For some reason, he felt embarrassed. He wouldn’t dare admit that his feelings were slightly hurt by Gabriel’s reaction to his affection. Vampires don’t have feelings anyway, he scolded himself. Stiffly, he turned to leave.

  “We’re taking my car.”

  The actor was suddenly ahead of him. Now how the bloody hell…? Evidently, Gabriel had caught on to another one of Raiden’s tricks. Determined not to let his student best him, the older vampire manifested two f
eet forward in a millisecond. Gabriel goggled, unable to hide his astonishment. The singer was immeasurably amused. At this point, the inexperienced vampire could only manifest at distances less than a foot. There will be plenty of time for teaching him tricks later.

  Gabriel was, in any case, still a newborn. There was no way Raiden could teach him everything in less than a month. Tonight, though, he had planned a special surprise lesson. Gabriel tapped him on the shoulder, breaking him violently away from his thoughts.

  “No, Brie. You’re a terrible driver, and I hate driving your car. Besides, I’m the only one who knows where we’re going.”

  The actor’s expression soured. Raiden had never thought it was possible for someone so attractive to make so many hideous faces. Apparently, it was.

  “Why are you always the only one allowed to choose our destination? I think it’s high time for me to start picking the places.”

  “If I let you do that, I might as well go hang out on Death Row. Your ideas on where it’s safe to prey are rather limited.”

  Gabriel placed his hand over the front door just as the singer was about to blast through it.

  “Even if we were caught, and convicted, it’s not like we’d die, anyway.”

  “There are ways. In case you don’t recall, I’ve indicated that to you before.”

  Gabriel’s face lit up at last. Stupid! Raiden cursed himself for having unthinkingly set himself up for more of his incessant questioning. Had the older vampire been the praying type, he would have asked all the deities in existence to take back his rash words. There are ways, yes, but—

  “Speaking of which, are you ever going to shed some light on the whole vampire mortality situation?”

  Damn. I should have found a religion. Groaning, he pulled Gabriel by the sleeve to sit on the couch. Curious, the other vampire allowed himself to be dragged. Raiden deposited him on the couch rather roughly, and stood in front of him. Some niggling little voice in the back of his mind tried to tell him that something about their positioning was potentially erotic, but he shushed it. Can’t be thinking about THAT now. He cleared his throat.

  “Okay. Since you’re so morbidly curious about this whole subject, I guess I’ll tell you. Basically, you won’t die unless you stop drinking blood.”

  “How many days without feeding does it take before you die?” Gabriel fired back, not even missing a beat. Raiden admired him for not beating around the bush, but simultaneously cursed him for his inquisitiveness.

  “I’m not sure, I’ve never died that way,” the older vampire deadpanned. Gabriel ignored his humor.

  “But someone you know has?”

  “No. I’m just assuming so.”

  A pause seemed to sharpen the air. He didn’t have a good feeling about what Gabriel was going to say next, given the plum color of his supposedly blood-starved complexion.

  “Then how the hell do you know if your assumption is true?”

  “It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Raiden protested. “I mean, I’m guessing.”

  “You’re GUESSING?”

  The actor shot to his feet, eyes blazing. Raiden nearly cowered. He couldn’t even cover the wince that captured his features. Gabriel looked almost…scary. Scary? Wait a tick. The only thing SCARY about Gabriel is the amount of foundation he cakes on his face. The singer composed himself. Smoothly, he slid on the couch, effectively stealing Gabriel’s seat. He stretched his arms over his head, molding his body to the couch. “Hey, vampirism isn’t an exact science, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

  He heard the extra beats in Gabriel’s pulse, and the sudden rush of blood headed south. Puzzled, he risked a glance. Houston, we have a hard-on. Raiden was considerably confused about his creation’s arousal. That was, until he noticed that his pants had slipped questionably low on his hips. Raiden’s lips formed a slow grin; Gabriel was obviously enjoying the view. There may be an easier way out of this conversation than I had initially imagined.

  “Well, think of it this way.” Raiden continued, lazily tracing feather-light circles around his bellybutton. The actor watched his sensual strokes with poorly masked desire. Pity. I would have worn my piercing for him. “If, for example, someone were to chop off your head, the blood flow from your brain to your heart would cease…”

  He paused to pet the fine line of hair that trailed down his abdomen to his cock. Gabriel bit his lip, a bit of blood bursting through its surface. The lust to drink it affected Raiden more urgently than he had expected. Shit. Now I’m starting to get turned on. In an effort to thwart his impending erection, he continued his explanation. “So, I really meant to say that vampires only die as a result of direct heart-to-brain blood interference or starvation. I think it’s a pretty fair assessment.”

  Gabriel reached forward, catching him off-guard when he grabbed his hand, forcing it to the side. Raiden allowed the transgression, if only to see what his horny student would do next.

  “So you’re ASSESSING that those are the only ways in which we can be killed.”

  “Based on experimentation, yes,” Raiden drawled, minutely wiggling his hips. Gabriel’s touch melded to his flesh. He wanted to touch back—but then the younger vampire withdrew his grasp, shooting him a challenging glance.

  “Oh, please enlighten me. I’d love to hear about these so-called ‘experiments’.”

  Sharply, Raiden regarded him. The territory upon which they were treading was becoming downright dangerous. As always. He simply couldn’t stand to have the actor question his authority. Though, if he were honest with himself, he would have probably admitted that Gabriel’s dubious scrutiny of his explanations was more than warranted. Sighing, he relented.

  “Very well, Gabriel. Like I’ve said before, we can’t die from sun exposure. I doubt you’ve even spent enough time in the sun since your change to judge the true effect it has upon you, but I have. The worst side effect of the sun is the itching sensation it brings. It’s like you have constant sunburn. Also, your skin darkens more quickly, and looks kind of, well…burnt to a crisp if you stay outside all day. However, I’ve never tried to stay in the sun unprotected for more than a few hours, so I suppose I’m not a hundred percent sure if you can die that way or not.”

  The younger vampire knelt beside him, adapting an air of condescension that made Raiden’s stomach roil.

  Gabriel’s next words were overflowing with arrogance. “So actually, your experiment was inconclusive.”

  He balked. “Not really.”

  “Hmm,” Gabriel pondered, fingers absentmindedly tracing the popped veins on Raiden’s forearm. The singer choked on a gasp. He couldn’t believe Gabriel’s boldness. In all their heated moments together, his creation had never been the one to initiate. He had always resisted any sort of moves Raiden had made on him.

  Oh, fuck. I made the moves on Gabriel? He felt sickened. Sort of. If the actor noticed his uneasiness, he didn’t comment. Instead, he continued to press his fingertips lightly along the veins, stroking them with a reverence that was somehow dangerous. Raiden didn’t much care for the look in his eyes.

  Gabriel spoke downward, addressing his arm. “Unless you stayed outside for longer, how could you know what would happen to your body?”

  “Well, I didn’t want to find out,” Raiden retorted. He moved to snatch his arm away from the other vampire’s hungry caresses. Gabriel derailed his motions for a moment, and then disappeared. Moments later, he manifested in Raiden’s lap, crushing their pelvises together with startling strength. He writhed in pain as Gabriel forced his wrists upward. With a sinking feeling, he realized that the younger vampire was much thirstier than he’d first imagined. Shit…a week was too long…

  “You didn’t want to find out, huh?” Gabriel breathed, sniffing his pulse in the very same manner Raiden had done to him on the boat.

  A numbing sensation drifted through his body as Gabriel savored his scent. Amazingly enough, his student was still talking, though his voice had acquired a definite rasp
, as if he were speaking through the thick stupor of desire. A libidinous thrill scampered up Raiden’s spine.

  “This is precisely my point,” Gabriel sighed, throaty, sensual. “You really don’t have any idea how vampires can be killed. All these theories you have are just theories. There is no conclusive evidence to support anything you’ve said, other than the hypothesis that vampires are slightly more allergic to the sun than humans.”

  “Well, shucks, Brie.” The note of humor in Raiden’s tone masked the slight panic he felt. Though Gabriel was catching on rather quickly to his newfound abilities, the older vampire was miles ahead of him. Still, he at least had the good grace to let the man finish.

  “So basically, Raiden, I’ve been staying at your house for nearly a month, taking lessons from you, hanging on your every word of advice about vampire life, and really, Raiden, really—you don’t know shit about shit.”

  With that, Gabriel’s fangs extended, and he went for the kill. His intended target, however, eluded him yet again. Raiden manifested behind him, growling deep in his throat as he flipped the couch over, trapping his creation beneath it.

  “I don’t know shit about shit, huh? Then find your own way,” Raiden sneered. He took vicious pleasure in watching the actor struggle like a trapped bug. After less than a minute, he managed to free himself from his confines. Eyes bulging, looking for all practical purposes like he was ready to explode, Gabriel reached forward, grabbing the singer’s face between his hands. For a moment, Raiden thought he was going to kiss him. Instead, the younger vampire leaned forward, his words a harsh, wet whisper across his creator’s lips.

  “Don’t worry. After tonight, I’m done with you.”

  Raiden’s heart did not beat—but paused, as if waiting. There were but ghosts of sounds to cry the lonely echo of Gabriel’s avowal. However often he might have fantasized about eliminating the actor from his life, Raiden had never expected to hear those words from him. He had never expected that Gabriel would be the one who ended it. And yet…it doesn’t feel ready to be over. His creation suddenly released him, breaking the silence in a strong, strident voice that almost made Raiden shiver.