"Charlie, meet El, Xandar, Ruebess, Yvette and, of course, Patria," Inerra commanded, gesturing to each of the vampires sitting on the plane in their leather thrones. Each grinned, except for Patria. I didn't return it. I kept my face blank, allowing nothing to leak free.

If I was going to see him again, I had to be cool and controlled. Chances were he'd try and kill me so I had to prepare myself for this. I couldn't risk running to him carelessly, expecting him to actually return an embrace or listen to anything I had to say.

  "She seems troubled," Patria muttered, deep blue eyes curious, thinking I couldn't hear her. Her red hair had been knotted on top of her head into a bun. She looked like a model, there was no other way to put it. Not that I cared. Every damn vampire was a runaway model, especially him. In fact, if he were ever to go into modelling, the entire world would implode.

I'd given way too much thought as to how I was going to deal with standing a few metres from Acera again. I'd tried to imagine every scenario possible from his eyes flooding with rage to them smouldering when I went in to kiss him. My stomach flipped excitedly. If we ended up making out – it was too much to bear. I was short of breath with just the idea of intimacy between us again.

I was getting my hopes up.

Both Patria and Inerra were looking over at me as I moved to my selected seat and curled up before closing my eyes. I gripped my dark top in a fistful. What if by this time tomorrow I was waking up in the arms of a cold-skinned, flawless pureblood?

My heard thudded in my ears at the idea of it before my mind jabbed wickedly.

What if by this time tomorrow I was waking up in the dungeons of the Darkness Palace and having him drink my blood almost entirely every day to torture me? Then again, it'd be my honour to have the Prince of Darkness drink me dry.

Preferring not to give myself one hell of a headache, I focussed on getting some rest. No doubt jet lag would also be just one of the issues I was going to endure when we reached England.

Yes, out of all bloody places for the vampires to build a palace for their royalty, it had to be the wet, grey country that was England. My hometown. It had been right under my nose the entire time.

A warm hand touched my arm, wrapping around me there gently. I refused to open my eyes as without sleep, my common sense would be even weaker.

    "Charlie?" he whispered, giving my arm a tug. I was unresponsive. He leant in closer, lips at my ear. "Human?" I remained a dead body and his growl vibrated through me. "I was going to give you some friendly advice about what we're doing here but I guess if you're going to be such a grumpy bitch you don't wanna know."

I pursed my lips as he started to pull his hand away. I snatched it and sat up so my face was an inch from his. Any passion I'd felt before about desiring to kiss Inerra seemed dimmer, or fainter. 

    "Are you listening?" he asked.

I glared. "You better start talking or I'm going back to sleep."

He snorted, settling back in the seat next to me. "You weren't sleeping. I have magic powers, remember?"

I smiled sardonically. "My apologies, Merlin. Please proceed. You have my full attention."

He slid me a look of disapproval before beginning. "We're infiltrating the Darkness Palace at the time of six hundred and thirty hours. The others are going to be our decoy so we can go to Acera's chambers. He'll meet us there."

My eyes widened. "How does he know we're coming?" My voice broke. This was maddening. I didn't know whether to feel more ecstatic or anxious about this arranged meeting.

    "I invaded his mind, no big deal," he dismissed, giving a one-sided shrug. "Anyway, I'm aware you're still a little hung up on Acera so when you two see each other again, I don't want you to make a whole lot of noise because that would bring the palace guards to us and then any one of us will be brought to the King and slaughtered, comprende?"

So I had to contain my excitement and nerves. How hard could it be?

  "I'm not an idiot, Inerra," I said shortly, shuffling back to close my eyes.

    "Wait," he said.

My eyes flew open when I felt one of his hands slide up my shin. He started to crawl over me. "W...what are you doing?" I spluttered. Just moments ago, we'd been about to jump down each other's throats and now he wanted this?

Uncontrolled desire started to pump my blood around faster. No. I couldn't. I was about to see my true love again. So why did I feel so attracted to his older, demanding brother? Why couldn't I just say no?

It was the tension between us, it made us respond in the wrong ways.

    "Just one last time and then I promise it won't happen again. It's just," he sighed, closing his eyes as he bent his neck down to run his tongue along my jaw. His body went rigid. "When I put that scene in your head of us sleeping together, I felt every moment of it. I was holding you in my arms while you slept, dreaming of me...being..."

I slapped one of my hands to his mouth to cut him off, not wanting to feel any sort of embarrassment. My cheeks burned. He made me feel so guilty and dirty and wrong. I should have resisted him, whether it had been in my head or not.

Inerra slid his lips from my palm and started to kiss down my neck. "I'm still a male, even though I am a vampire, and I have these urges. And you're so beautiful."

He took my hand and pressed it to his chest. We both shivered, but my eyes were wide. His face was a picture of wild desire. Was it genuine? Was he messing with me? Or was this really how he sometimes felt around me? This mad lust?

    "One last time, kiss me and make me feel like I'm the only one. I'm no idiot. When you see my little brother, I know you're going to fall for him all over again and I won't stand a chance," he told me so earnestly. He was right. When I saw Acera, there would be nothing else on my mind but him. No other man or vampire would be able to come close to how I'd feel for Acera whether he hated me or not.

Swallowing loudly, I then allowed my eyes to close, giving him what he wanted, and pulled him closer so he could position himself better. His nose skimmed mine. "I won't let it go too far," he assured softly. "And I don't want to overwhelm you, but I want to make the most of this. I want to let myself go. You'll feel everything I feel."

Before I had fully processed his words, before I could question them, his full lips claimed mine and he allowed his entire body to roll against me. Colours of vibrant reds, greens and purples and illuminated oranges and yellows flashed in my mind. My body was ensnared in some sort of spell each time his pelvis slammed against mine and each time he groaned in appreciation, tongue sliding over mine hungrily. The lights went off in the plane so we both took advantage of this.

Faster than ever before, he pulled his top over his head, exposing a muscular, pale upper body. I lay still, half of me caught up in this lust burning between us and the other screaming for me to think about Acera and only Acera.

He soon knelt in front of me wearing nothing more than a pair of grey boxers and a sultry twinkle in his electric blue eyes. My mouth ran dry. He was so sexy. So unfairly sexy. I needed to look away; control myself; stop him. He was bad.

I moved up onto my knees as well, placing my hands on his hips before moving in to trace my warm tongue over his lower lip. One last time. This was it. No more fooling around with Inerra the instant this plane trip ended. He kept still as my hands moved from his hips to his muscular stomach then up to his shoulders.

The anguish was killing me. The devil told me to love Inerra, the angel told me to love Acera. But it wasn't love I felt for Inerra. This couldn't be love. It was just hormornal.

Right?

Colours punched violently in my mind for a moment and then he was pushing me back into the leather seats only to kiss me with the most passionate side of himself I'd ever encountered. I felt as though I was experiencing some tender moment here with the most notorious vampire ever to have existed. He rarely let himself go, that much was clear. If every hooker he'd ever slept with felt like this, they'd be as responsive as a goldfish afterwards.

    "Is this the last time?" I asked for assurance. I'd tried to resist. But I doubted anyone was able to sway him once he was set on something. In this case, he was set on me.

He nodded, too pleasured to form any sort of words. I ran my thumb over his lower, bruised lip and then took it between my teeth. I pushed my fingers back through his hair and his tongue plunged inside of my mouth.

Amber eyes appeared in my mind. What if he were to do this to me? Inerra pretended he hadn't heard my thoughts and picked up my legs to then wrap them around his waist.

I tried so very hard not to think about him and how it would feel if he were to do any of the things Inerra had planted in my mind.

After some violent friction between us, he finally collapsed on top of me fully clothed in my skater dress, breathing ragged. My hand moved to his hair, stroking through the dampness so I could plant a final kiss on his temple.

It was my pleasure to leave Satan so vulnerable.

I didn't know why the others on the plane hadn't come over to check what was going on. His heavy breaths started to slow and I was aware that he was drifting off to sleep. My lids slid shut and, with my arms draped over his back that glistened with sweat, I managed to get some shut-eye.

In less than five hours, a pair of amber eyes would be trained on mine with either utter fury for messing around with his brother and not trying to escape or with the love I only wished would still be there.