Blood Twist (The Erris Coven Series)

17

LIZ





Liz felt as if she’d been smacked in the face. Seeing the two of them together, on his bed, arms entangled, was a shock. Trying to speak, her words wouldn’t form, the air just rushed from of her lungs in the form of an audible squeak.

“We’re a little busy,” Maze said, her lips curling in a pleased grin.

“No, we aren’t.” Braden said, pushing Maze from his lap. “It’s not what you think,” he said desperately.

Liz flinched but tried to appear calm. She understood immensely what was going on.

Stepping backwards, she closed the door to give them their privacy. As soon as it clicked shut, she thought she would be sick. Standing frozen in the hallway, her gaze blurred with tears. Liz fought to keep them from falling, but gave up. Holding them back hurt too deeply in her heart.

How could I have thought he would want me?

Maze was beautiful, sexy and obviously experienced. No wonder Braden wanted Liz to stay in Maine. Babysitting a virgin wasn’t his idea of cutting lose. Even though they were the same age, he obviously had needs that Liz had no right trying to fill.

“Hey,” Riley said, peeking out from one of the doorways at the end of the hall.

“Don’t say it,” she heard the snarl in her voice, but didn’t care.

“I won’t say anything you don’t want me to,” he said, strolling forward with hands up in feigned surrender. “Let me just get you out of here for a few hours.”

Liz dragged the back of her hand against her cheeks, trying to dry her tears. “You’ll bring me back? No, funny business?”

“Not unless you beg me for it. You have my word.”

Listening to the footsteps and muffled exchange of words on the other side of the door, Liz knew it was now or never.

I can’t face Braden. Not yet.

Liz gave a dismissive shrug. “Okay, but just so you know, you’re buying.”

Like all big cities, Vancouver looked beautiful at night. Riley drove her across town, pointing out different hot spots. At first he stopped at Kaplan’s Star Deli and made her eat a corned beef sandwich. When she tried insisting she wasn’t hungry, he threatened to make the weary store owner his meal if she didn’t obey. After that, he drove through a trendy neighborhood he called Yaletown and stopped at a club whose music blasted half way down the block.

Once inside, all of her self-pity was forgotten as she took in the lights and bodies moving to the music. At first Liz didn’t want to dance. Top forty hits weren’t exactly her thing, but Riley wouldn’t take no for an answer. Although she didn’t entirely trust him, his enthusiasm began wearing her down.

After a few dances and his insistence she try the pink champagne a waitress in neon rubber spandex handed him, Liz felt loser. Braden may be having a wild night with Maze, but that didn’t mean she had to cry alone in her room.

After a good hour on the floor, Riley finally consented to taking a seat at one of the small tables. Liz’s muscles twitched with little spasms and her feet hurt, but it was worth it. Never had she experienced a livelier atmosphere. She even spotted a few celebrities huddled at tables having just as much fun as she was.

“I didn’t think you would get tired of dancing,” he said with a proud grin.

“I’m not superhuman,” she replied beaming back.

Tilting his head closer, she could feel his cool breath stir her heated skin. “That can be easily reconciled.”

“Uh, no…it’s the blood thing that grosses me out. I’m prolife and all,” she said, squirming in her seat.

“I’ll have you know that unlike my fellow nesters at Sunnydale, I don’t actually kill my meals. I find they don’t appreciate that much.”

“Really?” she said, surprised. “I thought all draugar did.”

“I’m different. Not quite draugar, definitely not damphyr. I feed from willing women who wake up the next day thinking they had way too much to drink and kinky sex.”

Liz had to mull that over.

She and Braden were both under the assumption that Riley was a killer. Hearing him state otherwise was a surprise, admitting he gave his donors a good time wasn’t. From the way he moved on the dance floor, he had confidence in his body. Several gorgeous women and a few men took notice. But she wondered how much of his show was an act. As cocky as Riley was, there was a part of him that seemed awfully eager to please her.

“Why do you like me?”

“What’s not to like?” he laughed.

“No, really. You’ve been asking Braden to come find you for the last eight years, but you’re out with me?”

Riley looked at her, serious for once. “It’s not just because you’re gorgeous and an insane dancer. When I look at you, I see the loneliness I feel inside. I can’t help but think if this never happened to me, if I had been allowed to stay a damphyr, I would have been fate-partnered to someone like you.”

Riley’s fingers strolled over the top of Liz’s hand, leaving a cool trail in their wake. The sensation was nice, but her thoughts floated back to when Braden touched her for the first time on the plane. It was the damphyr’s hands she longed for.

Tears from earlier began to brim again. Maybe there was more to Riley than she originally thought, but he wasn’t Braden.

“And as far as my wayward younger brother,” Riley said, nodding to one of the packed back corners of the room where the hall to the exit and restrooms were, “He’s been following us all night. He just thinks he’s too sly for me to notice.”

Liz turned quickly, trying to spot him amid all of the club’s patrons.

“Don’t look at him. Let him squirm for a while. You agreed to be my date for the evening.”

“Date?” Liz raised her eyebrow at him. “Aren’t you like thirty?”

“Uh, uh – I’m not a day over eighteen,” Riley assured. “In fact, I think that is exactly what this is. I’m showing you how very much I would like to lavish good things on you. Even detailing the kind of life we could have together.”

“I have feelings for Braden,” she answered simply. “Although after seeing him and Maze, I wish I didn’t.”

Bending down, Riley brushed his lips against her ear. The effect made her shiver. “Like I told you earlier this evening, he does for you, too. Don’t get bent about what happened until you hear what he has to say.”

“But you still asked me out?” Liz was confused.

“All is fair in love and war. I can’t help the way I feel, but at the same time, I can’t deny that I would benefit either way by changing you. If you were a vampire I could keep you forever and it might encourage my brother to join me in this life.”

Liz bit her lower lip. Her head was spinning from the loud music and the champagne she sipped on. Riley had been nothing but generous with her. The attractive vampire didn’t look at any of the other women who tried catching his eye all night. If she didn’t know what Braden told her, she would have thought he was decent. He was such a contradiction.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Yes, I’ll turn you into a vampire,” he said, leisurely studying her face.

“Seriously?” she sighed.

“Of course,” he said, taking her glass and finishing the champagne.

“Why did you ask Braden to come?”

“Is it really a mystery?” he stared around the room.

“He thinks you want him dead.”

Riley huffed. “He would.”

“Then why?”

“I didn’t ask to lose everything. It wasn’t my fault that my father did nothing to keep me from giving in to the thirst. I had to face that alone. All I’ve ever wanted is my life back, but there is no place in Erris for me anymore because they would kill me.” Riley’s glare reflected so much frustration, Liz struggled not to turn away. “I thought if Braden was a man, no longer a child, he could see I’m not completely a monster. Maybe even join up together and form our own coven.”

Liz sat back, taking in his words. The two brothers were definitely failing to communicate. It was possible that Riley was spinning a tale, but she didn’t think so. She highly doubted he was a Boy Scout, but maybe he wasn’t hell bent on ending Braden’s life either.

“What happened to your father?” she asked quietly. Even though the music from the floor sized speakers boomed through the room, she knew the vampire could hear her.

Riley looked up at her, obviously tortured. “I wish I knew.”





18

BRADEN





Braden wrestled through half the night. Watching Liz and Riley on the dance floor wasn’t nearly as bad as witnessing the two of them head to head, whispering at the table. When it was almost one in the morning, he stood out by Riley’s Porsche, waiting for the two to stumble out.

He didn’t want to know who the car really belonged to. What poor fool offered his brother a ride home, only to end up a bloody juice box and benefactor of a great set of wheels. Even the sweet scent left behind by the rain wasn’t pleasing. He wanted nothing but to have a moment alone with Liz, back home in Erris, where he could explain.

He blamed Riley. Surely, his brother manufactured the whole thing with Maze to separate him from Liz. From the moment Riley laid his eyes on her, Braden could tell he wouldn’t leave her alone. Liz wasn’t some toy for the two of them to fight over, she had feelings and it burned him knowing he was tricked into hurting hers.

The look on her face, the pain – he replayed it continuously over in his head. He hadn’t imagined her tears, although to look at her now, it was possible she already moved on.

No, she felt something for him and he wasn’t about to let Riley and Maze screw it up. He wasn’t sure how he would convince her that what she saw was a set-up, but he would try like hell. Maybe stalking her outside of a nightclub wasn’t the best way to impress her, but he feared he would never see her again if he returned alone to Sunnydale. Riley would promise her the cure, only to lure her into a trap.

Braden rubbed his eyes. He was so tired, so thirsty. All of the musky bodies damp with perspiration didn’t help. If he was newly changed, the smells would have damned him by now. Stronger than that, he thought of Eagle Lake, the way the forest sang to him at night and how the foliage was some of the most beautiful he had ever seen.

If Liz could see him there, see who he truly was – not this stressed out, uptight dick he had been behaving as, maybe she would want to be with him too.

If she can give me a chance to explain...

Like he would ever want a woman like Maze. It surprised him that he didn’t notice as soon as she walked into the room. Lacking emotion or warmth, the creature existed only to feed and screw. The look in her eyes when she realized he didn’t want her was the most surprising. She was actually confused.

What an existence. I pity her.

After an hour of waiting, Braden smelled Liz before he even saw her. Her perfume carried on the breeze. Hoping she would at least hear him out, he went to the passenger side door of the car and waited. Glancing up, he watched as she and Riley walked over. Although his brother was smiling, Liz’s expression was a little more pensive.

Before he could even say anything, Liz stepped into his arms. Hugging him tightly, her face burrowed into his chest. Braden anchored her in place with an arm around her waist. Tilting her chin up, he saw the moisture in her eyes – the relief. If she only knew how much it matched his. There was nothing about her he didn’t want – nothing at all. Maze could shift into Scarlett Johansson or a half a dozen other people and Braden would want only Liz. The feel of her against his skin was welcoming and desirable all at once.

“I’m so sorry about earlier,” he whispered.

“It’s okay,” she replied. “You don’t have any reason to apologize.”

There was still a touch of hurt in her voice. It was there, beneath the surface. Liz sank against him; her body fit so perfectly against his. He needed her to hear it – the truth, how he felt.

“I didn’t know she was a shifter. When she kissed me, I thought I was kissing you.”

“She’s a shifter,” Liz repeated, the information sinking in. Suddenly, her head popped up and her eyes met his. “You thought we were kissing? In your bed?”

Braden nodded guiltily, not sure how to explain. Still holding her to him, he hoped she wouldn’t pull away.

A sheepish grin crossed her face as she snuggled closer. “Did you want us to be kissing in your bed?”

Every cell in his body was in overdrive just because he was near her, and she had to ask that? Pressing his lips against the top of her head, he mumbled, “Hell yeah.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Kiss me.” Beckoning him closer, she tilted her chin.

He could feel her pulse under her skin. Racing and warm, it mimicked his own. Bending forward, his lips brushed her, tentatively at first, before his need took over, and he couldn’t hold back. With her body against his, he drank in the taste of her. Every cell sang with energy as his mouth moved against hers. The inside of her lips were sweet, sweeter than he could imagine.

“I hate to break up your cuddle time, but we need to jam,” Riley said rolling his eyes. “As long as there is no more cutesy talk, you can ride with us.”

Braden looked at his brother. For the first time since their arrival in Canada, he didn’t want to tear his throat out.

“Speaking of talks, you and I still need to have one,” Braden said, setting the record.





Tossing the keys in the air, and catching them again, Riley wagged his eyebrows. “Night’s young, brother. Wouldn’t miss it.”