Page 93

Bennett patted Vann’s knee and rubbed. “You’ve gone on enough blood runs for me when I was too weak to go myself. Let me do this for you.”

Vann nodded.

“I don’t want to hurt you, either.” Eryn pinned back against the sofa to keep from touching him.

“Just a little sip, so we know.” One side of his mouth curled up arrogantly. He laughed and shook his head. “Honestly, I could take Tisiphone on by myself, but I don’t want to steal the glory every time. I’m a demon hunter, enhanced by a powerful demon, changed into a vampire, and I fucking gulped the original vampire’s blood—and vampires share power through blood. Tisiphone is conniving. Tromos was a juggernaut. Trust me, I can take it.”

Vann choked on a laugh.

“What?” Bennett flicked up an eyebrow in challenge.

He angled a grin at Eryn. “Every hunter in this room is stronger than any you’ll ever meet. Ryan is tough shit, son of the king of the demon realm; not just powerful, but he fucking goes on holiday to the demon realm. And Bennett… fuck. Once. I will say this once. Bennett is probably the most powerful being on this side of the veil. He can take it.”

Bennett grinned and winked, and extended his palm again.

Eryn sat up straight, and held her hand by his cheek, not yet touching. “I don’t know why, but it has to be your face.”

He lifted his chin.

She touched her fingertips to his cheek. The same urgent rush didn’t strike her.

She focused on the vibration of life that coursed under his skin.

Her heart trembled with an erratic beat. There. The same sensation as the dying man, but deeper. Calmer.

She focused on that sensation.

Her veins froze. Eyes welled. She refused to close her eyes, and flattened her palm over his cheek.

And let it flow.

Only a moment. A taste.

Bennett’s brow dropped. His breath halted.

A rush of energy burst into her veins. Her mind. Each pulse of her heart was an intentional beat of a drum.

Not a frightened man who begged for death, but a rich spice.

Quenching life rushed into her. Euphoria. Comfort.

She ripped her hand back. “I’m sorry.”

Bennett rubbed where she had touched, and laughed with a shocked whoop. “Holy shit. That, um… how do you feel?”

“Like I can fly.”

He moved back, and sat next to Astrid and the baby by the fire. “Sorry to say it, Eryn, but you fed off my soul. Another second of that, and I would have been crying my damn eyes out and begging you to stop.”

“I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “I fed off a lot of vampires when they changed me. I can’t feed off a soul, but I think Adair’s right, that the sensation we feel as someone dies is their soul leaving their body or fading out in a swan song or whatever. Whatever you did to me? That wasn’t my life. It was deeper. Wrenching. Death doesn’t scare me—I’ve tasted my own… a lot. What you just did to me was terrifying as fuck.”

Adair waved from her spot across the room, a mirroring shock on her face. “Yeah. I felt it, too. Bennett, honey, don’t ever die. That was not comfortable.”

Eryn glared at her hand, as if the answers lay there. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure how to give it back.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He shrugged easily. “Not saying I want to try that again, but that was no more than a pinprick from a fingertip. No harm done.”