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box that enabled the vampires to travel anywhere at anytime-as long as a human flew the plane during
day-light. She knew that vamps could easily entice a human pilot to fly for them, either as a blood slave
or just because they paid an exorbitant fee.
The vampires had fetched the bikes and their gear, which were now stashed in the back of the plane.
Valerian had already closed his eyes and drifted to near-sleep.
Amber sighed and ran her hands through her hair. After a moment, she felt the scrutiny of the vampire
who'd helped her in, and turned her head. He watched her from across the aisle, his gaze behind his flat
sunglasses making her feel slightly soiled. She frowned at him and turned away.
Now that the immediate worries about freezing to death or dying on the ice had been alleviated, her
worry about Adrian returned. It returned full force, threatening to unknot the tension inside her into
breathless sobs. Only the vampire's continued scrutiny kept her from falling apart.
The demon held Adrian. Her confidence that she'd be able to find him with her spells ebbed. He could
be anywhere, and not necessarily still on this earth.
She had a thought and peeked into her jacket at the inside pocket. Ferrin was coiled into a tight ball,
asleep. She wondered if the snake would be able to sense Adrian or be drawn to him, no matter how far
away he was. She'd rarely seen Ferrin more than a few feet from Adrian.
She thought of Adrian's body hard against hers as they'd made love in the tent. And before that, in his
bed in his house, tangled in sheets. He'd rested his body half over hers, fingers gently touching her hair.
His eyes had been soft, his mouth relaxed-a man content with loving.
The picture filled her mind, and she closed her eyes to keep the tears inside. She'd finally found a man
who could make her forget everything that ever hurt her, everyone who'd tried to harm her in the past. A
man with whom she could be happy. And he has to be a five-thousand-year-old warrior with sibling
issues.
Her blissful vision shifted, like a beautiful melody suddenly discordant. In her dream, instead of Adrian
stroking her hair, it was the vampire watching her. Slowly he lifted the sunglasses so she'd be forced to
look directly into eyes that were startlingly green. She felt herself pulled into his gaze, wanting to lift her
neck to him, wanting to feel his fangs biting into her skin as much as she wanted his erection penetrating
her opening.
She snapped her eyes open and glared at the vampire across the aisle. His sunglasses were firmly in
place, but he smirked, lips parted to reveal his fangs.
"Stop that," she glowered, then leaned against the bulkhead and focused on the wood paneling to shut
him out. She heard him laughing softly, but at least he stayed out of her daydreams.
The journey took only a few hours, but the sky had become gray by the time they landed in a tiny
airport, which was a landing strip with a wind sock and a shack. The vampires quickly offloaded the
bikes and packs, glancing nervously at the horizon.
Now that they'd landed safely, Amber could feel some gratitude. The vampires had made a dangerous
journey to rescue them, following orders they hadn't wanted to obey. As Valerian started packing up the
bikes, Amber turned to the vampire who had so thoroughly scrutinized her.
"Thank you for helping," she said stiffly. "If you ever need a spell or something..." She trailed off, not
wanting to promise too much to a vampire.
A cold smile spread across his face. "I could use a blow job." Amber gave him a look of disgust, and
he laughed. "Hey, you asked, little blood donor."
"Piss off." She tried to make her tone menacing, but she was so exhausted that the words came out a
croak.
He leaned down to put his face close to hers. "If it were up to me, you'd be back on that plane, your
legs spread and my fangs in your neck. You'd be begging for it. And for my friends to take you while I
watched."
The disgusting image he put into her head made her furious. The fact that she was too weak and tired
and worried to do anything about it made her angrier still. She unzipped her parka.
He grinned. "Ready for it, are you?"
 Amber pulled open the jacket's flap. Ferrin was already rising from her pocket, his neck flaring into a
hood.
"I want you to meet a friend of mine," she said clearly. "This is Ferrin, a cobra. His venom is so strong
that one bite will make you too sick to feed for months. Wonder what that would feel like?"
To her intense satisfaction, the vampire recoiled. He snarled swear words, grating out the vilest things
he could call a woman, before he turned on his heel and stomped away.
Amber let out her breath, her muscles unclenching. He could shout whatever abuse he wanted, as long
as he got on that plane and flew far away. Ferrin, after a satisfied look, retreated to her pocket.
The first rays of sun streamed over the horizon as the vampires shut themselves into their windowless
airplane. The pilot taxied away and took off, leaving Amber and Valerian alone in the strong morning
wind.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Air whooshed from Adrian's lungs, and he found himself flat on his back in snow-covered woods,
alone. He looked around in surprise before hoisting himself to his feet.
The last thing he remembered was grabbing the demon and letting it drag him through black denseness.
But the demon was gone, its taint of death magic nowhere near this place. The demon had dropped
Adrian off here, but where was he, and why?
It was slightly warmer, wherever he was. Adrian divested himself of his ultra-cold-weather gear, most
of which was dripping wet from the watery prison. The air smelled fresh, the woods clean and teeming
with wildlife. He had no idea where he was, possibly in Canada or the northern United States.
He zipped up his parka, regretting the loss of his compass and global positioning device, which were [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]