Dark Bites (Dream-Hunter #1)(14)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

It was as if something other than her was directing them. As if she were nothing more than a marionette whose strings were being pulled by the monster.

The newest monster appeared in the form of a giant snake. Only in place of a head, she had a woman’s upper body. Her scaly green complexion looked craggy, and her bluish eyes glowed.

The she-snake slithered toward her, smiling a fanged smile as she raked her eerie gaze over Erin’s body. “What a tasty little morsel she is.”

“She is mine!” the dragon roared. “I will not share her.”

The she-snake licked her lips as her long tail slithered across the floor. “She is strong enough for us both.” Then she turned toward the dragon, her hideous face a mask of rage. “Besides, I saw her first and well you know it. You found her through me and I won’t let you have her.”

The dragon attacked the snake.

Terrified beyond belief, Erin took advantage of their combat to pick up a rock and pound at the cave’s opening. “Let me out,” she demanded between clenched teeth.

She closed her eyes and tried to imagine the wall opening and her running through it.

It got her nowhere. Not until the tail of the dragon whipped around trying to sting the snake. The snake ducked, as did Erin, and in one resounding crash, the tail splintered the wall.

Trembling, Erin ran out into the darkness again. The screaming howls intensified.

“Please,” she begged out loud, “please wake up! C’mon, Erin, you can do it.” She pinched herself and slapped her own face as she ran, and did everything she could think of to make herself come out of this nightmare.

Nothing worked. It was as if the monsters wouldn’t let her go.

She rounded a corner and found herself sliding down a small slope. At the bottom was a boiling pit where the snake-woman waited. The heat of the pit burned Erin as golden-red lava percolated.

The snake rose up before her, smiling. Those demonic eyes with their diamond-shaped pupils watched her eerily. “That’s it, little prize. Come to me. It’s my turn to feed off you.”

Erin turned to run again, but her feet were locked to the ground. They wouldn’t move at all.

The snake drew closer.

Closer.

So close Erin could feel the flick of the snake’s tongue. Smell the greasy slime of her body and hear the rasping of her scales moving against the rock floor.

Defenseless, Erin closed her eyes and called out with her mind for help. She tried to summon a protector. Tried to imagine a champion who could come and defeat her monsters.

Just as the snake reached her, the cavern shook.

The snake pulled back an instant before a man appeared between Erin and the beast.

And he wasn’t just any man. Clad in a suit of black armor, he had incredibly broad shoulders and long jet hair. Erin couldn’t see his face, but she could feel the power of his presence. Feel the warrior essence of him as he prepared to fight the demon.

The snake shrieked in outrage, “Stand down, V’Aidan. Or perish from your stupidity!”

Erin’s summoned champion laughed out loud at the she-snake’s anger. “I’d perish from your breath long before my stupidity killed me, Krysti’Ana.”

Screaming in outrage, the she-snake increased to ten times her size. Her massive jowls snapped and she hissed as the cavern walls around them shook even harder than before. Loud crashes sounded as pieces of stone broke free of the cavern and formed into stone men.

Erin’s savior turned to her, and her breath caught at the sight of his face. More handsome than anything imaginable, he held eyes that were so clear and blue, they seemed to glow. A shock of jet-black hair fell over his forehead and contrasted sharply with his tawny skin.

Before she could move, he wrapped his lean, muscular body around hers in a protective cloak, shielding her as the monsters attacked en masse.

Erin could feel the blows he took as they vibrated from his body into hers. She didn’t know how he stood the pain of it. How he maintained his hold on her.

All she knew was, she was grateful for it. Grateful for the power and strength of his presence. Grateful that he cradled her so gently and that she was no longer alone to face her nightmare.

The warm, spicy scent of his skin soothed her. Instinctively she wrapped her arms around his lean armored waist and held on to him, afraid of letting him go. “Thank you,” she breathed, shaking. “Thank you for coming.”

She saw the confusion in his gaze as he frowned down at her. Then his face hardened, his eyes turned icy.

“I have you, akribos,” he whispered quietly, and yet his deep, accented voice rolled over her senses like a powerful tidal wave. Soothing, warming. “I won’t let the snake Skotos take you.”

She believed that, until one of the new monsters seized her about the waist with a stone tentacle. She screamed as it tore her from her savior’s grasp.

The dark knight created a sword out of air and pursued them through the dark cavern. She watched as he dodged the other stone monsters, as he literally ran down the walls themselves to get to her. He jumped over the thing carrying her, to land before them and cut off the monster’s escape.

The creature caught him about the waist with a hard kick and sent him slamming high into the wall.

V’Aidan didn’t seem to feel the pain at all as he slid down the wall to the floor. More monsters swarmed over him, but he fought them down. His face was a mask of determination until he stood strong and victorious over their broken bodies.

He narrowed his eyes on the thing holding her, then held his hand out, and a red glow blasted the monster, splintering it.

The knight grabbed Erin then, scooped her up in his arms, and ran with her through the darkness.

Erin wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for dear life. She could still hear the snake calling out.

“I will have her, V’Aidan. I will have both of you!”

“Don’t listen,” V’Aidan said. “Close your eyes. Think of something soothing. Think of a happy memory.”

She did and, oddly enough, the most comforting thing she could imagine was the sound of his heart pounding under her cheek. The deep accent of his voice.

“V’Aidan!” the she-snake’s voice echoed in the cavern. “Return her to me or I will make you wish you had never been born.”

He laughed bitterly. “When have I ever wished otherwise?” he mumbled under his breath.

Suddenly the wall before them burst open, spilling more monsters into their path.

“Hand her over to us, V’Aidan,” a large gray lizard-man demanded. “Or we will see you pay with the flesh off your back.”

Still holding her close, V’Aidan spun around to flee but couldn’t.

They were surrounded.

“Give her to us,” an old dragon croaked, reaching out its claws. “She can feed us all.”

Erin held her breath as she saw the indecision in her dark knight’s eyes.

Dear Lord, he was going to hand her over.

Her heart pounding, she touched his face, her fingers brushing against his hard, sculpted jaw. Erin didn’t want the monsters to have her, but inside she understood his reluctance to help her any further. He didn’t know her at all. There was no reason for him to endanger himself.

He’s not real.

It’s a dream.

The words whispered through her mind. But like so many dreams, this one felt so real. He felt real.

And she had an unnatural desire to protect him.

“It’s okay,” she breathed. “I don’t want you hurt. I can fight them on my own.”

Her words seemed to confuse and surprise him.

The monsters moved in.

“Release her or die, V’Aidan,” the lizard-man hissed.

Erin felt the knight’s tender touch as his fingers brushed the side of her neck, sending chills all over her.

The look in his eyes was needful and tormented.

“They will not have you,” he whispered. “I will take you some place where they can’t reach you.” He bent his head and captured her lips.

The heated passion of his kiss stole her breath.

The dream monsters faded away into vaporous clouds until nothing was left.

Not the cave, not the screams.

Nothing.

Nothing except the two of them and the sudden need she had inside her to taste more of him.

Closing her eyes, Erin inhaled the warm, manly scent of V’Aidan’s skin. He ravished her mouth with passion as his tongue swept against hers and his teeth gently nipped her lips.

Now this was a dream.

He was a dream.

A perfect, blissful moment worth savoring.

She heard him growling like a wild beast as he trailed his lips down her jaw and buried them against her throat. Licking. Teasing. Inciting her desire.

Every nerve ending in her body fired at his touch. She burned for him. Her br**sts swelled, wanting to feel the strokes of his tongue across the taut peaks while his hands held her. Her core throbbed with an aching, demanding need.

He lifted his head to gaze down at her and it was then that the rest of the scene filled itself in. The two of them stood outside on a bright, moonlit knoll.

The peace of the moment comforted her. She smelled the damp pine around them, heard the bubbling of a nearby waterfall.

Their clothes melted from their bodies as he laid her down on the ground, which, oddly, wasn’t hard. The moss under her was softer than a cloud, and it contrasted sharply with his hard muscles pressing down on her.

She liked this dream much, much better.

“You are gorgeous,” she whispered, staring at his sleek long dark hair falling around his face. His body was lean, meticulously defined, and flawless. Never had she seen a better-looking man.

She reached up and traced the sharp arch of his dark brows over those silvery-blue eyes. The color of them was so intense, it took her breath.

Then she trailed her fingers down the stubble of his cheeks to his hard, sculpted jaw. She was so grateful to him. So happy to have him hold her after the terror the monsters had put her through.

For the first time in weeks, she felt safe. Protected.

And she owed it all to him.

V’Aidan captured her hand in his and studied her fingers as if he’d never seen anything like them. There was such a tender light in his gaze that she couldn’t understand what caused it.

Moaning so deep in his throat that it vibrated through her, he led her hand to his mouth and ran his tongue over the lines on her palm. His tongue stroked her flesh with featherlike caresses while his teeth gently nipped her fingers and palm. His eyes shuttered, he seemed to savor the very essence of her skin, her touch. Her taste.

Erin shivered at the hot look on his face as he kissed her again. His hands roamed her body, stroking and delving, seeking out every part of her, and stoking her inner fire until she worried it might completely consume her.

He slid his mouth from her lips, down her body to her breast. Erin hissed in pleasure. His hand gently cupped her breast, holding the peak up so that he could take his time tasting it, rolling it over his tongue as he growled again. She’d never seen a man take such pleasure from simply tasting a woman before.

V’Aidan was heaven. Pure and simple heaven. The perfect, attentive lover. It was as if he could read her mind and know exactly where and how she wanted to be touched.

His erection pressed against her hip as his hand sought out the fire between her legs. Spreading her legs wider for him, Erin trailed her hands over the muscles of his back, muscles that rippled and flexed with every exquisite sensual move he made.

She buried her lips against his throat, tasting the salt of his skin. Chills spread over his body, making her smile that she was giving him pleasure in turn.

Never before in her dreams had she been this at ease with a man. It was the first time she’d made love without worrying if her lover would find fault with her body. If somehow she wasn’t good enough for him.

Her dream lover made her feel special. Made her feel womanly and sexy. Hot. Desirable.

She held her breath as he slid his fingers through her moist curls at the juncture of her thighs, separating the tender folds of her body until he could slide his long, tapered fingers deep inside her. Hot fire stabbed her middle.

Groaning at the exquisiteness of his touch, she ran her hands through his silken hair and held him close.

He stroked and teased her body with his fingers as his mouth worked magic on her br**sts. The power of his touch, the feel of those hard, defined muscles pressing down on her…

It was more than she could stand.

Leaning her head back, she cried out as ribbons of ecstasy tore through her. Still he kept giving her pleasure. He didn’t slow down until the last deep shudder had been wrung from her.

Breathless and weak, she wanted to please him the way he had pleased her. She wanted to look into his eyes and watch him cli**x, too.

Rolling him over onto his back, Erin ran her hand down the perfect tawny muscles of his shoulders, his chest, his abdomen and h*ps and raked her fingers slowly through the dark curls between his legs. V’Aidan sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth as she trailed her lips over the hard muscles of his chest to his rock-hard abdomen.