Steal With a Kiss Read online

  Ticked off, I gather a bunch of the clothes hanging in the closet and rush them into the other room. It’s plain with a full-sized bed, a desk, and a couch—without the three-tier floor plan. The fact that my roommate tried to steal my space speaks volumes about the kind of person she is. I drop the clothes on the unmade bed. I go back and forth five times before I’m done unloading all of her crap on top of her bed. Then I lie across my bed and close my eyes. I quell my anger by reliving the last leg of my recent excursion.

  Fawn decided to introduce me to Enu. She promised to show me the Emerald Sea, and she did. When we swam in it, our bodies glowed green. That was pretty amazing. We didn’t wear a stitch of clothes the entire time we were in Enu. We bathed in underground cave-pools alongside native Enuians. The people reminded me of fingerprints—not one looks like another. They vary in the slightest of ways. Each Enuian’s skin, hair, eyes, ears, nose, lips, and face shape is uniquely his or her own. The only way I could distinguish males from females was by their figures. Females are slightly rounder in the hips and butt, like humans. Fawn told me that they don’t develop breasts or sexual organs unless they’re turned on. If they’re aroused by a humanoid creature, then a man will develop a penis and a woman will acquire our lady parts. Apparently they weren’t turned on by me.

  I sat between two males, or man’taks, and neither grew penises. Instead they told me about the seasons of harvests and the specific kinds of joy each fruit brings. I’m supposed to return for the Tilt when the sun falls dut west. The man’tak said this season, they’ll harvest the lo’nuk and rim’kek, and the fruit will make me dance into the sky, whatever that means. Heck, it sure does sound fun. We were only in the universe for twenty-four hours tops, but it was equivalent to a week on Earth.

  “Zill, are you here?” Vayle calls.

  I open my eyes. I leap off the bed but pause to listen to the high-pitched sound of girls speaking excitedly. One of them is headed this way, and I run to open the door to my room before she’s able to. She stands with her blue eyes expanded in disbelief. I tower over her.

  “Oh,” she says.

  “Are you the roommate?” I ask.

  She looks caught. “Yes.”

  “Then you know that is my room.” I point in the other direction. “That’s yours.”

  She huffs. “First come—”

  “No, not first come,” I growl. “You took my clothes out of my closet and moved them. Didn’t you see my textbooks on the bookshelf? If we’re going to make this work, then you shouldn’t do that ever again,” I say as if I’m scolding a naughty child.

  The pint-sized blonde searches over her shoulder for support. Oh boy, what a motley crew. Sabrina is with them, standing way too close to Vayle, and another guy is staring at me with stars in his eyes. This guy is also blond and looks like the adult version of Bamm-Bamm from the Flintstones cartoon.

  I snarl at my “boyfriend,” “Well hello, Vayle.”

  “Hello, Zill,” he says in the same biting tone.

  What a tool. On that note, I turn my back, stomp into my room, and slam the door.

  He and I, we’re done!

  If that’s even possible.

  2

  Strange Goings-on

  Zill

  Before I can escape through the portal, Vayle draws me into his arms. How in the world did he get into my room so fast without revealing his vampire speed to my roommate and the other guy? Sabrina already knows what he truly is.

  He kisses me so hard that his fangs sink in and out of my lips. It never stings when he pricks me; the bites actually ignite an orgasmic sensation. I feel myself jerk as if I’ve just taken off on a rollercoaster, and in a blink of an eye, we’re on top of my bed. His hands are under my sweater, and he’s squeezing my waist so tight that it hurts so good.

  “Stop,” I whisper and slap his hands off of me.

  “Why didn’t you just come with me?” He flips over to lie on his back beside me.

  I sigh and roll my eyes. “How long are you going to be angry about that?”

  “Forever,” he whispers, but I know he doesn’t mean it.

  “And why is she here?”

  “Who?” He’s playing dumb.

  “You know who.”

  “Sabrina?”

  “Bingo.”

  “She goes to school here,” he says.

  “Don’t screw around with me. Didn’t she graduate from college already?”

  “She’s in graduate school.”

  The more casual he sounds about the whole ordeal, the angrier I become. We’re silent, and I think so many things. Maybe other than the bond, he and I have nothing in common. I’ve admittedly changed since hitting the road. And why does my bond have to be so different from me in all the ways that matter? I know—deep down—that he likes this small town filled with fresh-faced human beings. If I had passed them on the way to the dorms, then he, Sabrina, my roommate, and Bamm-Bamm would’ve fit right in.

  “I don’t like that she’s here. I thought we got rid of her in Moonridge,” I whisper and turn to look away from him.

  Vayle spoons me. One thing is the same—his firm pecker still wants to have sex. “Unfortunately, she’s no threat to you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He uses one hand to unbutton the red skinny pants I’m wearing. They belonged to Fawn. I only wear the clothes in her closet these days. He starts rubbing me down there.

  “I need your blood, Zill. I’m parched.” His voice is husky and yearning.

  The way he strokes me, the familiar warmth our touch generates, and how he lifts my hair off of my neck to kiss that sensitive spot he discovered makes me hot for him. I bite my bottom lip and exhale. Whatever he’s doing to me is working. “Okay,” I sigh.

  We’re interrupted by three hard pounds on the door. “Vayle, are we going or not?” It’s Sabrina.

  “Shit,” he growls and spins me onto my back. “One second!” He shouts over his shoulder.

  “Could you hurry it up? We’re going to be late!”

  “How about I just have your blood for now?” he asks me.

  “Get off of me!” I shove him so hard that he flies across the room and crashes into a wall between two of the windows that look out over campus.

  He’s back on top of me before I can roll off the bed. “What the hell, Zill?”

  “You tell me,” I snap.

  “They’re waiting on us.”

  “What do you mean ‘us’? I’m not going anywhere with them.”

  “It’s ‘Light’s Out’ tonight,” he says as if that explains everything.

  “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

  “It’s the night to go out and raise the roof before classes start tomorrow.”

  “That sounds stupid.”

  “We’re in college now, Zill. Let’s make the best of it.”

  I grimace. “Are you serious?”

  Bang, bang, bang! Sabrina pounds on the door again.

  “Wait!” Vayle shouts, annoyed. “Just go ahead and go! We’ll meet you there!”

  “No, we’ll wait,” she says. “Just hurry up!”

  Vayle lifts my sweater over my head. “I missed your body.” There’s a continual rumble lodged deep in his throat.

  I gasp as his teeth prick me right above my belly button and his tongue sinks into my navel. He’s drinking me. My insides tingle as my blood streams into his fangs. Once he’s finished there, he bites into the curve of my waist and drinks some more. Passionate fingers stroke and caress my hips and thighs and then slither up my belly to grasp me around the neck. His tongue snakes up my sternum. His mouth engulfs the entire tip of my breast but not for nourishment—he does it for pleasure.

  “Umm,” I moan and run my fingers through his hair.

  Then he goes for the large vein in my neck. I thrust my head back against the pillow and gasp. I’m floating on a wave of ecstasy. The tingling has stimulated all of my best nerves. I want to scream, but peopl
e are in the next room. Goodness, have I missed this. Vayle snatches the other pillow and stuffs it against his face to belt out a roar. Once it’s over, he drops the pillow on the floor.

  “I can’t believe we’re stopping here,” he breathes in my ear. The dead vampire’s body is alive and horny.

  “You can blow them off.” I lift my eyebrows suggestively.

  He dry humps me twice, and then in a blink of an eye, he’s at the door, gripping the handle. “Nope, we’re going out. You’re going to have a good time. I promise.”

  I slide off the bed, ignoring the fact that he’s left me wanting. “And wherever you’re taking me is going to give me an attitude adjustment?”

  Vayle’s playful grin is gorgeous. “I doubt it.”

  I swipe my sweater off the bed, slip it back on, and approach him, walking seductively like Molly. “Wouldn’t it be nice to go through that portal”—I point at my closet—“and make up for lost time?”

  “Don’t, Zill.” Vayle sucks air between his teeth because I’m pressing against him.

  I gently bite one of his nipples through his shirt. “Don’t do what? This?” I do the same to the other one.

  He’s a boulder down there. He squeezes my breasts through my shirt. “No bra?” He sighs.

  I kiss his bottom lip and lick one of his vibrating fangs. “I don’t wear one anymore.” I can’t believe he hasn’t already thrown me on the bed.

  “Not now. Later, please,” he pleads feebly. Before I can plant my lips on his neck, he opens the door, and we’re facing Sabrina’s furious eyes.

  * * *

  Round one goes to Vayle. It’s pretty strange that we’re not having sex right now. He could never resist ravishing me when I’m the one coming on to him. Things are definitely changing between us. I think he’s still upset that I didn’t go with him to play the girlfriend role around his traditional family. I mean, I met Jolly, his mother. She was perfectly nice, but it wasn’t hard to ascertain that she’s oil and I’m water. I don’t think Vayle gets that as soon as Jolly and I are together for more than twenty-four hours, I’ll say something that will offend her good ole sensibilities.

  “How are you, Sabrina?” I ask simply because Vayle will probably want me to be cordial to her.

  “Fine,” she replies snootily and without making eye contact.

  I shake my head and roll my eyes. It’s clear that she wants nothing to do with me—which is great. At least I know where we stand. We head out. Bamm-Bamm keeps sneaking peeks at me whenever he thinks no one is looking.

  I still don’t know the name of the tiny girl—my roommate. She’s Minnie Mouse to my Wonder Woman, and like Sabrina, she’s pretending I’m invisible. However, she’s doing something weird. She keeps squeezing Bamm-Bamm’s forearm. I notice three squeezes in a row, so I decide to trail the group so that I can get a better idea of what’s going on.

  We’re walking down a grassy hill with trees planted across the lawn. A vast number of couples dot the darkening landscape. They’re entangled and rolling around on the grass kissing, groping, and more.

  Vayle, who’s leading the pack with Sabrina attached to his hip, glances at me. “Those humans are worse than us,” he says only to me, and I snicker. As soon as I make a noise, Bamm-Bamm gazes at me.

  “Who is this guy?” I ask Vayle.

  “Your roommate’s new boyfriend.”

  “He keeps staring at me.”

  “I know. I’m this close to breaking his neck.”

  “And I’m this close to breaking her arm,” I retort. Sabrina just giggled at her friend’s nasty remark about “skanks” making out on the grass like squirrels, and then she slyly linked arms with my boyfriend. Even though he’s facing forward and I can’t see it, I know he’s smiling.

  “I missed you, Zillael Benel.”

  “I missed you too, Vayle Hemmers.”

  He detaches from Sabrina and turns around to get an eyeful of me. We beam at each other. Sabrina takes his forearm and squeezes three times. I assume that whatever effect that’s supposed to have doesn’t work because he gallops toward me and smashes his mouth on mine.

  “Vayle, no!” That was not a request; that was an order.

  He lets go of my tongue to say, “We’ll meet you guys there.”

  I’m trying to keep my eyes on her, but Vayle’s lips demand that I pay attention to our kiss. I see my roommate take her hand and drag her along. I draw back. “What’s up with her?”

  “With who?” He nibbles on my top lip.

  “Your ex.”

  “Oh…” He’s back to tonguing me.

  I break lip contact by dropping my face. “She basically demanded that you go with her. Why does she think she has that much control over you?” He tries to dip his face to find my lips again, but I turn my head.

  “I don’t know. She and I are friends.” He’s frustrated that he has to keep chasing my mouth.

  “Why didn’t we just stay in my room if we were going to do this?”

  “I didn’t want us to miss Light’s Out. And that”—he points to the lawn smoochers—“made me want you.”

  I sniff cynically. “You don’t feel like all of this is so beneath us?”

  “All of what?”

  “College. These kids. All of it.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Up until now, we’ve been living in a different world, you know? These people have no idea that vampires and alternate universes only people like you and me can go to exist. You don’t think that my sisters and their bonds are living the life that we should be living? Our days and nights should consist of more than this, don’t you think?” Whew. I feel much better now that I got that out. That’s exactly what I wanted to say to my father.

  Vayle shrugs indifferently. “We have to get a degree, Zill.”

  I’m speechless. I wonder if he digested a word of what I just said. “Whatever.” I’m too frustrated to argue.

  He pecks my lips gently. “Let’s just get going.”

  He curls an arm around my waist and draws me against his side. We walk off campus and down a residential street lined by old-New England-style houses with wraparound porches, triangular rooftops, shingles, and broad windows that I’m used to seeing. Greek letters are posted on the gables. That explains why people are hanging out on the balconies and patios, blasting music, hooting and hollering, and mostly intoxicated. They’re fraternity and sorority houses.

  “Classy,” I comment bitterly.

  Vayle doesn’t reply. When I look at him, he’s grinning, enjoying the spectacle. We turn down Alpha Street. It’s more crowded than fraternity row. Bars and restaurants line both sides of the red brick road, which is closed to traffic. Every establishment we pass is packed.

  “Don’t they have to be twenty-one to drink?” I ask Vayle. A lot of the drunkards look like teenagers.

  “There are always ways to get around the law.”

  “So they call being stupidly drunk out of your head fun?”

  He guides me toward a place called Cricket’s. “It is fun. Stop being uptight, and you’ll have a good time.”

  It sounds like he’s chastising me for being a bore. “This kind of fun is for people who tip cows on Saturday nights. Just low class,” I hiss with a snarl.

  A flushed-faced, intoxicated kid gallops out of Cricket’s and grabs Vayle’s shoulders. “Vayle Hemmers, what the fuck!” He stupidly pounds his forehead against Vayle’s chest.

  What an idiot. I want to grab him and toss him across the street, but Vayle doesn’t seem bothered by the violation of his personal space. Instead, he pulls his shoulders back to broaden his chest so that Mr. Idiot can keep knocking his forehead against it.

  I snarl at the sight of my boyfriend behaving like a cliché. “Are you kidding me?”

  Mr. Idiot turns around, seemingly intending to mouth off at me, but the strangest thing happens. He stiffens and blinks at me as though he’s confused. We’re caught in that moment until three girls trip out of the ba
r, giggling.

  “There you are, Barney,” one of the girls croons and staggers over to hang onto his arm. In a moment, she realizes that something’s not right.

  He frowns. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Beth, your girlfriend.”

  I want to hear more, but Vayle, oblivious to what’s going on, takes my wrist and pulls me inside the bar.

  “No I’m not,” is the last thing I hear Mr. Idiot say before the glass door closes behind us.

  “Did you hear that?” I ask Vayle.

  “Hear what?”

  “What your friend said. He doesn’t recognize that girl.”

  “He probably doesn’t. He goes through them pretty fast”—he shrugs—“and he’s drunk.”

  “I don’t know,” I mutter skeptically.

  “Vayle! Over here!” Sabrina yells from across the bar. The entire place is full of overexcited, fresh-faced kids. Vayle takes my hand and drags me to the round table for five. Sabrina shoots up out of her chair and tugs Vayle into the empty seat beside her. “This one’s for you.”

  So now he has me on one side and her on the other.

  “Are your eyes yellow?” Bamm-Bamm asks me.

  I turn my head, and his eyes are fixed on my face. I hesitate. “Yeah,” I reply sharply.

  “They’re stunning. You’re sexy,” he says as if he’s under the influence of strong drink.

  “What?” I ask, shocked by the way he’s gazing at me.

  “Where are you from?”

  “Yeah, where are you from?” the roommate asks bitterly.

  I clench my teeth. “I’m from none of your business.”

  He grabs my bicep. “Something is happening to me.”

  That’s enough to distract Vayle from whatever silly and personal conversation he’s having with Sabrina. “Hey! Dude! You can look but don’t touch.”

  Sabrina’s eyes narrow to slits. His outburst is a reminder that she’s not winning. I am.

  However, Bamm-Bamm has my full attention. “What’s happening to you?” I ask, gripped by curiosity.

  My roommate jerks him by the arm. “Chris, aren’t you pledging Delta Pi Kappa? Go easy on him, Vayle!”