Ecstasy in Darkness (Alien Huntress #5)(71)
Author: Gena Showalter

Ava bit her tongue to keep from grunting. Or screaming. Whatever. Her skin and muscle split open, and crimson blood flowed. “Bitch, did you have to go so deep? Damn!”

“You big baby,” Noelle muttered. “You wanted gushing, remember? ‘Don’t just scratch me,’” she said in a mocking parrot of Ava’s earlier words. “Take that shit to the bone.”

“You should know me well enough to know when I’m mouthing off.” But this was another reason she’d stunned McKell. Noelle was right. He wouldn’t have let her do this. He was too protective.

Although he might not be so protective anymore.

She couldn’t hold back her grunt this time. Not of physical pain, but of mental.

“What?” Noelle asked, sheathing her blade. “I didn’t touch you that time, I swear.”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Ava held her arm against her middle, pressing the wound against her stomach. “Come on. We’re wasting time.”

They left the alley. There was a clinic two miles from here. They planned to walk to it, hopefully drawing vampires out in the open along the way. And if they didn’t, if they failed, well, she’d kicked Noelle’s ass for daring to agree to this shitty idea in the first place.

If she was going to lose McKell over this, she wanted something good to come of it. Not that any outcome would be good enough.

Maybe, if she apologized with a kiss, perhaps followed by some heavy petting, he’d be willing to listen to her side. Yeah, she’d jump on that grenade if necessary. Anything to keep him, just for a little longer.

What’s gotten into you?

“Nothing so far,” Noelle muttered.

People gaped as Ava walked by, but everyone jumped out of her way, as if she were an infected parasite. Bastards. Would a little compassion have been amiss? She could have been beaten by a boyfriend or have accidentally fallen into a window, for all they knew.

Worse, the more she and Noelle walked, the more brightly the sun shone, bouncing off glass and metal buildings and burning her skin. She wore her sunglasses, yet still her eyes watered. Why would the vampires want to walk around in this? She couldn’t even remember why she did. Heat seemed to seep through her shirt and jeans, and little beads of sweat broke out over her skin, burning her wound. If she were a vampire, she would—

Oh, no. No, no, no. She wasn’t going down that thought path. As she’d told McKell, she liked being human. Didn’t she? And she still liked the sun. On every day but today.

“Anything?” she asked.

“Anything since sixty seconds ago, when I said nothing so far? Nope.” Noelle was the lookout, searching for hungry gazes as they walked. “What if we’re going about this the wrong way? What if vampires work at hospitals, where they have an endless supply of blood?”

“An endless supply of bagged blood and constant temptation from the injured? No. They’d give themselves away, and they’re afraid of that.” Well, afraid of being found by McKell and those like him.

“Good point.”

“Of course. I said it.”

“Remind me never to cut you again. You get grumpy.”

They turned a corner and hit a crosswalk. They stood there, waiting for the streetlight to switch to red so they could cross. One minute, two, Ava’s legs beginning to shake, but finally the signal flashed, allowing them to pass.

A car eased to a stop, honked at them, and the driver’s side of the window lowered. A female head peeked out. “Hey, do you girls need a ride to the hospital?”

“No, thanks,” Noelle called, and they continued onward.

Compassion at last. Still. “I’m starting to get pissed. And offended! Here I am, bleeding all over the place, yet no self-respecting vampire views me as appetizing.”

“Maybe we should have used my blood. Clearly, I smell better than you.”

“Then why didn’t McKell call dibs on you?”

“Because he has no taste.”

“Bitch.”

“Stinker.”

Laughing, they pushed through a throng of people and rounded another corner. Ava tripped over her own boots, the shaking in her limbs more noticeable. Cold seeped into her fingers and toes, and despite the heat, she actually quaked.

“So you really like McKell, huh?” Noelle asked. “And don’t try to deny it. He’s lasted days without you kicking him out of your life for good.”

She didn’t want to talk about him. Not when she could only picture him frozen in place, cursing her very existence. “Maybe I just can’t shake him loose,” she said, hoping the subject would drop.

Stubborn Noelle never let anything drop. “Please. You could shake your teeth loose if you wanted. You like him. Just admit it before I remind you of how I found you when you pulled into my driveway. You know, on your back with your hand down his pants.”

“Fine.” She might not want to talk about him, but maybe she should. Worry about him and how he felt about her was eating her up inside. “I … like him.” There. She’d admitted it. And lived. “He’s just so … I don’t know. Strong.”

“Not strong enough. You’ve stabbed him and stunned him twice.”

“I only got him that last time because he trusted me not to hurt him,” she practically shouted. Why was she defending him so forcefully? Against Noelle, of all people?

Because she was weakened, she immediately rationalized. And because she didn’t like the thought of anyone, even her best friend, viewing him in such a disparaging way. He was a good man. With faults, sure, but good all the same. And for whatever reason, he clearly did trust Ava. He’d slept at her house, had moved in, made out with her. Hadn’t yelled at her for enjoying satisfaction, yet offering him no release after they were interrupted.

That was true strength.

“I wasn’t badmouthing him. Much,” Noelle added sheepishly. “But lookit. I know you better than anyone, and I know you have daddy issues.”

“Do not.” She raced through another crosswalk, but as she placed her foot on the concrete, her knee almost buckled, and black dots began spiderwebbing through her vision. She quickly righted herself and caught up with Noelle, who hadn’t noticed her decreased speed.

“Ava. Your dad left when you were just a kid, and your drunk-ass mom dated a thousand ass**les after that.”

“Fine. I have daddy issues.” So did a lot of other girls. And Ava was over hers. Really. She no longer cried herself to sleep because other kids had loving daddies to tuck them in at night. (She just didn’t sleep at all.) She no longer watched kids being pushed on swings by their dads, clutching her chest to stop the sudden ache.