Feeding vampires was a good thing, she decided. Especially this one. He was wonderfully grateful.
Besides, she was probably light-headed from the blood donation, and there was no orange juice or
Oreos in sight. She should really keep lying down for… an hour or two.
Possibly longer.
He moved back up her body and kissed her mouth, thrusting his tongue against hers in a way that made her moan against his mouth. Even the slight coppery taste of her own blood on his lips did nothing but make her body tighten and ache for more of him.
The door crashed inward.
"Janie! Are you in here?" Lenny yelled.
A light came on just before the lamp smashed to the floor. Lenny grabbed Quinn and pulled him off of her. She quickly moved to cover herself.
Not that anyone was looking. Lenny was busy beating the crap out of Quinn.
Barkley stood at the doorway, with eyes wide. He glanced at her.
"Oh, my God," he said, noting with horror the blood on her neck. "What did he do to you? Quinn! What did you do?"
She grabbed for her clothes and put them on so fast she got tangled up and almost tripped. Then she ran over to grab Lenny's arm to stop him from hitting Quinn, who'd gone silent and still in the half darkness.
"Stop it, Lenny," she yelled. "Don't hurt him."
With a fervent glance at Quinn, she pulled Lenny with her out of the room.
Lenny turned around and growled, "Come near her again and you're dead, vampire. You're dead!" He turned to Janie once they left the room. "Thank God I got back. He nearly had you."
"Yes," Janie said. "Yes. That he did."
For some reason, "Thank you" were not the words that came to her mind at the moment.
Quinn was curled up in the corner of the room, his knees pulled tight to his chest, his hands covering his face. Barkley sat on the edge of the bed waiting for him to say something. Patient, that werewolf was.
Very patient. He didn't want to look up to see the expression on his face, though. He knew already what he'd see.
Disgust. Shame. Fear.
All the things that Quinn was feeling himself.
Why hadn't she stopped him?
He was truly lost now. He'd gone over the one line he'd kept for himself. The line that he felt kept him remotely human.
It was his own fault. He shouldn't have gone so long without blood. Why did he think he was special?
Any stronger than the rest of them? He'd waited too long, and now he was paying the price.
She acted all tough and strong and as if she was nobody to mess with, but he'd been able to feed from her.
She might have thought it was her idea—what in the hell had she been thinking?—but he was the one who'd taken her like an mindless animal.
Christ. She'd tasted so good. He'd known she would. And it hadn't been just that… if that wasn't bad enough. He would have taken her in more ways than just her blood if Lenny hadn't stopped him.
Janie must hate him now even more than she already did.
He screwed his eyes shut tighter.
"Quinn," Barkley's quiet voice finally broke through his wall of self-hatred. "You okay?"
He forced himself to look up. Barkley looked back at him with the strangest expression. Concern? Why the hell did he look concerned?
"I bit her," he said simply, his voice strained.
"Yeah. I managed to figure that out already."
"I drank her blood."
"Well, youare a vampire."
He grimaced. "I hurt her."
"She didn't look all that hurt to me. A couple of Band-Aids and a cold shower and I think she'll be fine."
"Don't try to make me feel any better."
"Quinn, I know you're not feeling great right now, but—"
"No, you're wrong. Ido feel great. I feel fantastic, better than I have in days." He laughed, but it sounded dry and desperate. "I got what I needed."
"Well, then it's all good."
"No, it's not. I need to get that Eye. It's my only hope."
"The Eye. That's the thing that's supposed to grant a wish—the thing that Janie and Lenny are looking for?"
He nodded. "I need to wish to be human again. If I stay this way… I don't know what I'm capable of.
Who I might hurt next."
"The past is past. The future is all you got. Whether you're vampire or human doesn't really change a damn thing."
"What are you talking about?"
"You can be a lousy vampire. You can be a lousy human. What you are doesn't mean anything. It's what you do with what you are that counts."