The blood tasted good.
I pulled away and smiled into his eyes. ‘More.’
‘Well done, Kitty,’ Wong said. ‘Lots of new toys. Now let’s take the Dark Lord’s head.’
‘I want more blood,’ I said huskily. ‘I want you.’ I rubbed myself against him. ‘You. Now. Blood.’
Wong grinned down at me. ‘What a good job, Kitty. You want to share?’
‘That bitch?’ Kitty said with disdain. ‘Kill her.’
‘Blood,’ I whispered. I reached down, pushed my hand into him and felt him respond. He arched his body into my hand. ‘You. Now.’ I gestured with my head towards the main cabin. I put my other hand behind his neck and pulled him down and spoke into the side of his throat. ‘Blood. You.’ I nipped at the flesh of his throat just enough to make him moan without breaking the skin. I shoved my body into him. ‘Now.’
‘No, Emma,’ Simone whispered. ‘What’s wrong with you?’ Her feet thumped on the carpet. ‘Wake up, Daddy!’
Wong covered my mouth with his again. He tried to swallow me whole. I tasted the blood. It tasted good. He pulled away slightly to speak. He dug his fingernails into the back of my neck, into the pressure points, making me gasp with pain and arch my back.
‘Plenty of blood, plenty of pain, plenty of me for you, my sweet. Just let me take the Dark Lord’s head and then we’ll have some real fun. You want to feed? You can feed off him, and Leo. Lots of fun. Lots of sweet blood.’
‘No. You. Now,’ I whispered.
‘We have to take care of your boyfriend first, honey,’ he said with a malicious grin. ‘Then we’ll have some fun with both the little girls. Simone and Leo.’
Okay, this wasn’t going to work. I released him and stepped back. I gathered myself, then made a huge leaping attempt to pass him so that I could reach the phone in the main cabin.
He grabbed me in mid-air with one hand and threw me to the floor of the plane onto my back, knocking the wind out of me.
‘What an actress,’ he said with amusement. ‘Had me fooled for a moment.’ He dropped to straddle me, sitting on my stomach. ‘Well, well. Look what we have here.’
‘Please don’t hurt my Emma,’ Simone whispered. ‘Please, Daddy, Daddy, wake up, wake up.’
‘Oh, don’t worry, sweetheart,’ Wong said loudly without looking away from me. ‘She’s much more valuable in one piece.’ He lowered his face to mine and dropped his voice, speaking right into my face. ‘And much tastier too.’ He slowly licked my cheek, taking his time about it. I tried not to let my expression betray my disgust.
He pulled back and put his hands on either side of my throat, with the thumbs on my windpipe. He squeezed. I couldn’t breathe. He was strangling me. I struggled but he had me down tight. I grabbed his arms but his grip was like steel. I faded; then he released me and I gasped for breath.
‘You didn’t go blue,’ he said with disappointment. ‘Let’s try again.’
He wrapped his hands around my throat again and squeezed. I tried to relax into a trance so that I wouldn’t need to breathe as much. He saw me do it. He released me to slap me across the face but I ignored it.
He put his hands on my arms and shifted so that he was stretched out on top of me. ‘You really don’t give a damn about yourself, do you,’ he growled into my ear. ‘All you care about is the little girl.’ He shoved himself into me. ‘She has to be intact, you know. But I can still have some fun with her, and I’d love to watch your face while I make her play. Right now is as good a time as any — it’ll be a long flight before we get there. I can have some fun with her before I give her to my dad. But I’m keeping you. He won’t even know I have you.’
I looked him in the eyes and felt nothing but hate. He had nearly killed Leo. He wanted to hurt my little Simone.
I tasted the blood.
I tasted the rage.
I tasted the pain.
Ice.
Cold.
Fury.
Something between my eyes went snap. And suddenly I was huge, and dark, and powerful, and mad as hell.
Wong’s face changed from menace to fear.
Both Kitty and Simone screamed.
I easily threw him off, raised myself on my black coils and opened my mouth to strike. My fangs flew out, spraying venom.
Wong and Kitty disappeared. Gone. I tried to follow their movement but they had taken off and gone fast and far.
I looked around. Simone had collapsed into the corner, sobbing. I glanced down at Leo. His neck was broken and he was bleeding profusely from the wound on the side of his throat, but he was alive.
I closed my mouth, refolding my fangs. What was happening?
They’d hurt Leo. They’d frightened Simone. Not good enough. There was a demon nearby. I stalked it.
I slithered silently through the galley into the main cabin. Demon. Kill.
The other side of the door. Demon. Kill it.
I went through the door without stopping. The demon wasn’t paying attention. I reared up and bit its head off. It exploded into a cloud of the black stuff. I vacuumed it all into me. Not as good as blood, but it would do.
There was a corpse in the other seat. I nudged it with my nose. Dead. Too bad. I couldn’t heal him. Oh, well.
I turned. The door was still closed, but again it didn’t stop me. I just went straight through it, as if it wasn’t there. I returned to Simone and Leo. I hesitated.
Simone: drained, but okay. Leo: near death. John: also near death.
I touched my nose to Leo and healed him. He didn’t wake.
‘Call the Dragon. Call the Lady,’ I said.
Simone remained frozen, sobbing.
‘Call them, child,’ I said. ‘I won’t hurt you.’
I felt them coming. I changed. I fell.
Igasped and shot upright. ‘Who’s flying the plane?’
‘The Dragon is,’ Leo said.
‘John!’ I said, casting around.
‘I’m fine,’ John said from my left. He was sitting on the bunk and smiling. Simone was sitting on his lap, also smiling.
I sagged back and ran my hand over my forehead. ‘Whoa. That feels weird.’ I tasted my mouth and gagged.
Leo handed me a cup of something strong, sweet and fizzy, and I downed it.
‘Thanks, but I need to brush my teeth,’ I said. ‘My mouth tastes of blood.’ I looked around. ‘What happened?’
‘How much do you remember?’ Leo said softly. He crouched next to me, studying me intensely.
I hunted through my memories. ‘Oh my God.’
He dropped to sit next to me on the grey carpet. ‘Yep.’
‘Emma,’ John said sharply from the bunk, ‘did they have control of you?’
‘No, of course not,’ I said. ‘I was just playing for time.