Dance with Darkness by Melissa Darnell Read Free Book Online Page B

them to individually come out of the closet. Too many fear-driven vigilantes threatened their survival. She could only imagine how those same people might react to members of The Clann.
    He closed the distance between them again. “My point is…you and I are more alike than I realized. Before I met you, I believed what I was taught, that vampires were the enemy because of the way they’re drawn to The Clann’s powerful blood.”
    So that’s why his scent drew her like no other human’s before. “The only reason I feel…drawn to you is because you’re descended from a family in The Clann?”
    His slow grin was unexpected. “You feel drawn to me? Right now?”
    She nodded and gulped. She’d never wanted to kiss someone so badly in her life.
    He cupped her cheek, his smile widening. “Tell me, exactly how do I make you feel?”
    She closed her eyes. “Like if I don’t kiss you, I’ll never be able to think straight again.”
    He chuckled, and his breath puffed against her lips. She licked them. “Lorena, I should also mention…I found this spell after you left my house the other night.”
    His words bounced around inside her fuzzy mind, almost lost beneath the need rising inside her for him. “Hmm? A spell?”
    The tip of his nose brushed hers once, twice, nuzzling her, tempting her to tilt her head to once side then the other for him. “Yes. This spell was very interesting. It’s supposed to block the energy flow between two people.”
    Block the energy flow. “That’s…a good idea.” Her hands drifted up to grip his shoulders against her will.
    “And it has an interesting side effect. It makes a sort of shield around people with powerful blood, so gorgeous vamps like you won’t be attracted to our blood.”
    “Oh. That would be a good one to try.” She sighed, liking how the muscles in his shoulders bunched beneath her fingers.
    “I already did. I’m carrying the charm now.”

Chapter 10
     
    I t took a few seconds for his words to penetrate her foggy senses. When they did, her eyes snapped open to meet Conor’s grinning eyes. “You…you’re using this spell now?” Which meant she wasn’t attracted to him just because of his blood now? “How can you be sure it’s working?”
    Because she definitely still wanted him.
    “Well it certainly seemed to knock a few years off my life, if the new gray in my hair’s anything to go by.” His eyes flicked upward, drawing her attention to his hair. For the first time tonight, she noticed his hair now laced with fine lines of gray.
    She frowned. “It took years off your life? Why?”
    He shrugged as if it didn’t really matter. “It was an ancient spell from the old ways, ways The Clann doesn’t use anymore, probably because it required a sacrifice instead of simply rerouting the earth’s natural energy according to our willpower like the form of magic we do now.”
    “A sacrifice?” Her eyes widened still further.
    He chuckled. “Relax, it was only a personal sacrifice of a few years of my life. No goats or other animals were involved. And I’m sure I wouldn’t have missed those years anyway.”
    Her gaze dropped to his chest where she could hear his heart pounding steady and calm. Strangely she didn’t feel the urge to listen to his blood surging through his veins. Instead, she felt much more drawn to those gorgeous lips of his.
    She licked her own lips. “What if the spell simply changed the blood lust instead of blocking it completely?”
    “Let’s try it.” He took three long steps away from her, and she sighed at the loss of his warmth. He reached into his pocket and withdrew two items…a glossy black stone, and his Swiss Army knife keychain. He tossed the rock onto the fake bed a few yards away, and immediately his tantalizing aroma hit her full force, making her stumble toward him. She gasped.
    “Oh God, Conor…” She held her hands out palm up as if that would somehow stop her from lurching toward him. Desperate to stop