Hunted (The Tinder Chronicles) (3 page)

The guy deployed a
condom before pushing into me. And damn it, even though he pounded me nice and
hard, it wasn’t nearly enough. It wasn’t
Bane
. That thought made me want
to whack my head against the sticky black wall.

When that guy finished,
another took his place, shoving his cock into me without a word. I let him. I’d
always been promiscuous, but in the past week I’d become completely reckless,
going out every night, losing count of the faceless strangers that I let use
me.

I kept
thinking, if only one of these men fucked me the way Bane had. If only one of
them brought me to life, made me feel the things he did. If that happened, then
maybe I’d stop thinking about him all the time. Maybe I’d stop craving him with
every part of me. But no one even came close.

Sex had
always been one of my only forms of release, a pressure valve against the
overwhelming stresses of my job. And now, apparently, a goddamn vampire had
ruined me for sex with anyone else. Fan-fucking-tastic.

I stayed there though,
up against that wall, as stranger after stranger used me over the course of
maybe an hour. Even though it wasn’t all that satisfying, it still quieted a
part of me, a lonely, desperate part that I hated to even acknowledge.

Eventually, a young
blond was pushed up against the wall right beside me, rough hands unfastening
his pants and pulling them down before a raw cock was shoved into him. He cried
out as he braced himself against the wall, sorrowful blue eyes locking with
mine.

No, that wasn’t right.
This guy was clearly underage, he couldn’t be more than nineteen. He shouldn’t
be here. This bar attracted a really rough crowd, one that wouldn’t let a cute
little twink like that go willingly when he decided he’d had enough of his walk
on the wild side. Tonight was going to end really, really badly for this guy
unless I did something.

I started to stand up, but
whoever was in me shoved my head against the cement wall, so hard that I saw
spots for a moment. Asshole. I elbowed him in the stomach and yanked my jeans
up when he doubled over. “What the hell?” he growled.

The guy screwing the
little blond wasn’t going to stop because I asked him nicely, so I physically pulled
him off and told the teenager, “Get dressed, we’re leaving.”

The twink stared at me
wide-eyed, but did as I said. Meanwhile, the big, hairy dude that had been
topping him took a swing at me, which I easily dodged. I grabbed the blond’s
hand and dragged him after me as a fight broke out, the bar’s bouncer stepping
in and immediately agitating the guy that had been in me.

Somehow, we made it to
the parking lot unscathed, and as we ran across the asphalt the guy asked
softly, “Why did you do that?”

“Because you don’t
belong there. Do you have a car?”

“No.”

“Come on then, I’m
driving you home.” I found the rental car on my second try and he got in the
passenger seat, still staring at me a bit fearfully. “Where do you live?” I
asked, and he recited an address in a cringeworthy part of L.A.

“He wasn’t raping me,”
the blond said as I pulled into traffic. “I was letting him do that to me.” His
voice never seemed to rise above a whisper.

“That’s crazy. What
were you thinking? He wasn’t even wearing a condom.”

“But you were doing the
same thing.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m
over twenty-one, what I do is my choice. You’re what, eighteen? Nineteen? It’s
not even legal for you to be in that place.”

“I’m older than I
look.” Still that soft little voice. He was quiet for a while, then finally
said, “I’m Tyler. What’s your name?”

“The same, actually,” I
muttered distractedly, reading the street signs and trying to navigate a part
of L.A. I didn’t know very well.

“Most people call me
Ty,” he said. “You can call me that if you want to.”

“Promise me you won’t
go back to that place, Ty. If you want to get laid, there are dozens of nicer,
cleaner, safer gay bars in Southern California. That place is a shit hole.”

“Then why were you at
there?”

“In my case, it doesn’t
matter if it’s dangerous, because I can defend myself if I have to.”

He fell silent for a
while, before admitting, “I was there because I want a new master, and that
seemed like a good place to find one. Mine was killed a few months ago, and I
hate being on my own.” Oh man, so he was one of those D/s boys that thrived on
abuse. He asked, his voice softer than ever, “Do you think…do you think maybe
you might want to keep me?”

I glanced over at him.
His huge blue eyes were so hopeful. It was absolutely heartbreaking. “Ty, you
don’t even know me. Do I really need to tell you what a bad idea it is to go
around offering yourself to total strangers? That’s a great way to wind up in
the morgue.”

“I know you’re a nice person.
You wanted to save me from that place.”

“I could be a total
psycho, for all you know. You need to be more careful.”

“I am careful. And I
know I don’t seem like it, but I can defend myself, too,” he said, looking down
at his hands, which were folded in his lap.

“No offense, but I
really doubt it.” Then I asked, “Am I going the right way?”

“Yeah. Just take a left
at the next light.”

When we pulled up in
front of his building, I muttered, “You have got to be kidding me.” It was a
total dive. In fact, the word ‘dive’ wasn’t nearly strong enough to describe
it. Some whole new word would have to be invented to really capture the essence
of this place, something like
‘terrifying-hellpit-shithole-of-retched-fuckedupedness.’ Ok, that was more of a
phrase. And even that didn’t cover it. I looked at my companion and said, “How
have you not gotten murdered twice a day, every day, living in this place?”

He grinned, just a
little. “Like I said, I can defend myself.”

“Christ,” I muttered.
This had to be one of the roughest neighborhoods I’d ever been in – and I
didn’t exactly spend most of my time in Mayberry, if you know what I mean.

“Will you come inside
with me? Please? I’ll let you do whatever you want to me.”

Man, this guy was one
huge cry for help. “Oh come on!” I exclaimed. “It’s like you’re
trying
to get murdered! Never say that to a stranger. Never! Do you hear me, Ty?”

“You’re really sweet,”
he said. “Thank you for caring about what happens to me.”

I normally didn’t stick
my neck out for other people like this. But God, this guy was like a tiny
newborn kitten playing in traffic. Not even the most heartless asshole could
leave him out there to get run over. “Look,” I said, “let me drive you to a
motel, someplace where the murder rate isn’t measured in deaths-per-minute. My
treat. At least that way, I know you’ll be somewhat safe for a night or two.”

“You don’t need to do
that. But you can walk me inside if you want, Tyler,” he said, his grin
graduating to a very cute smile. He hopped out of the car and stood waiting for
me on the sidewalk. It was surprising that he didn’t get murdered in the four
seconds it took me to jump out and come around the car to stand beside him.

“Ok. Let’s not waste
time out here,” I said, and shepherded him into the building quickly with a
hand on his lower back.

His room was on the
ground floor, and contained only a rickety twin bed and an old, beat-up
backpack. When we stepped inside, he turned to me and put his arms around me.
He was only about five-six, and fit perfectly right under my chin.

“You’re like a
superhero,” he said as I sighed and hugged him, “out there saving people. I
didn’t actually need saving, but I think it’s sweet that you tried anyway.”

“Maybe we both needed
saving tonight,” I murmured, and he looked up at me. I was kind of surprised
I’d said that out loud.

He led me over to the little
bed, and tugged on my hand until I gave in and sat on the edge of the mattress with
him. “I’m not going to fuck you, Ty,” I said. “I’m actually a bottom. Maybe you
noticed, given what I was doing back at that bar.”

He was still holding my
hand. And I was letting him, because it was kind of nice. “I was going to ask
for something else,” he said, a faint blush rising in his pale cheeks as he
looked at our joined hands. “You’re going to think it’s really weird. I
wouldn’t even ask if I didn’t desperately need it.”

I hated to think what
that could possibly be. “I’m not going to smack you around, or spank you, or
whatever Dom/sub shit you’re into,” I told him.

He grinned again. “It’s
weirder than that.”

“Awesome. So, I’m
probably not willing to do that to you, either.”

“It’s not what you’d be
doing to me. It’s what I’d be doing to you,” he said.

“Um….”

“Can I just show you?
Please? I’ll stop the moment you tell me to, I swear.”

 I knit my brows at that.
“If I say no, you’re going to go right back out there, to another bar just as
bad as that last one, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “I really
need this tonight.”

“What is it?”

“I guess…I guess I
shouldn’t try to describe it. I just need to show you.”

I stared at Ty for a
long moment. He looked so incredibly innocent. What the hell was he about to
spring on me? A torture device? A farm animal? What? I was curious, wondering
what brand of depravity could possibly lurk beneath that angelic exterior. “Ok,
show me. But if I say stop, we stop. Got it?” I said.

“I will. I promise.” He
pulled the hem of my t-shirt up to my shoulder, holding it balled up in his
small hand. “Wow, you have a lot of tattoos,” he murmured, gently caressing my
chest with his other hand before sliding it around my shoulders to embrace me. Then
he leaned in and took my nipple in his mouth, and began suckling.

Was that it? This
wasn’t particularly weird. It was kind of pleasant, actually.

After a minute or two
of this, Ty bit down. I gasped as he murmured, “Sorry,” and went back to
sucking on my nipple. Ok, that was slightly weird. He’d bitten me fairly hard,
too…
probably hard enough
to draw blood
.

Reflexively, I switched
to my second sight, and Ty lit up in pure white light. I froze, my breath
catching in my throat, fear and panic flooding me. Oh God.
Vampire
. Seriously?

How was I going to get
out of this? Could I reach my stake before he tore my throat out? He might be
small, but he was absolutely stronger and faster than I was, all vamps were.
His hold on me was relaxed now, but the moment I started to make a move he’d
probably tear me limb from limb.

He gently licked my nipple
a couple times, and then sat up and took my hand as he said, “I’m sorry. It got
scary for you all of a sudden, didn’t it? You stopped breathing and your heart began
racing. Why didn’t you tell me to stop, Tyler?”

I pulled away from him
and jumped off the bed, then grabbed the knife and the stake that were
concealed in my boots, pointing them at him with shaking hands. “How the hell
can you be a vampire?” I exclaimed.

Ty looked absolutely
astonished, wrapping his arms around himself. “How do you know what I am?”

“Drinking my blood was
the first clue.”

“Most people have no
idea, though. They just think it’s some kinky sex thing.”

“I’m a hunter, Ty. You
brought a vampire hunter home with you.”

“Oh God,” he murmured,
his eyes going wide and fearful.

I stared at him for
several moments, then blurted, stalling for time, “The thing I don’t get is why
you didn’t try to compel me. It wouldn’t have worked on me, but it’s weird that
you didn’t even try.”

“I don’t compel people.
It seems really unfair.”

“It…wait, what?”

“Well, if I compelled
someone, then they really wouldn’t have a choice about feeding me. That’s not
right.”

I had been crouched
down in a defensive position, but I straightened up a bit now and said, “Wow. You’re
really bad at being a vampire.”

“No, I’m really good at
it. I’ve never killed anyone, and never had to compel anyone, either. Granted,
I’ve only been on my own for four months, but I’m really proud of how well I’ve
managed to survive.”

“What’s with living in
squalor? Not to give you pointers or anything, but you understand that you can
have anything you want, right? Most vamps compel humans to give them all kinds
of things – cash, cars, houses.”

“This is all I can
afford. And obviously, I’m perfectly safe here.” Well, he did have a point
there, since it turned out the cute little kitten was actually the most deadly
predator on the block. “Like I said, I’m not about to compel people.”

“Who the hell sired you,
Gandhi?”

He smiled sadly. “Not
quite. My maker was a wonderful person, though. I miss him so much.”

“You know there were no
vamps at that bar, right? At least, not until you showed up. If you were
looking for someone to take the place of your maker, you weren’t going to find him
there.” I was still stalling, because I somehow just couldn’t make myself kill
this guy. At least, not until he gave me a reason to.