Free Chaos and Moonlight (Order of the Nines Book 1) by A.D. Marrow

staring at the back of his eyelids, but before he could move, a low heat surged in his gut. It spread through his entire torso, down into his feet, and all the way up to the top of his head. He could feel his heart beginning to pound, faster and faster as the heat grew warmer, turning itself into a blazing fire that lit every single warrior instinct he possessed. He hadn’t felt that heat in centuries, but it was an old flame, one he could never or would never be able to forget.
    But how could that be? Wasn’t he supposed to be
dead
? Weren’t they all dead? It was impossible.
    Taris was buried under a boxed-up vacuum cleaner and Sarah’s coat. He simultaneously pushed them off him and swung the door wide open. He wasted no time in running down the short hallway and throwing open the bedroom door. Taris didn’t care that the noise would wake her up. It didn’t matter. All that mattered now was that they both got the fuck out of Dodge, and fast.
    Her room was lit by the glow of a DVD menu. She was sprawled out on her bed in nothing but a T-shirt and a pair of old, ratty boxer shorts that rode up so high they could have passed for a pair of faded flannel panties. Her brown curls were spread out all over the bed. Her face was soft and plain, but in the light of the TV, she looked small, angelic. The heat in his gut from the very real threat of danger mixed with something else, and he let out a curse as he felt his cock slam against the zipper of his jeans with an unexpected
smack
.
    “What the…” Taris hissed between his teeth.
What the hell kind of a reaction was that?
He was there to save her from the devil incarnate that would soon be busting through her door and he got a hard-on? If that wasn’t the
Merriam-Webster
definition of inappropriate, Taris didn’t know what was. Regardless of how tacky it was that the little head wanted sex, his big head prevailed in the odd libido showdown, and he stepped closer to the bed, losing his footing on a pile of spiral-bound notebooks and a tacky romance novel with a vampire on the cover. He fell forward, catching himself on the edge of her mattress. The jostling caused her to stir. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment and fixed on him but closed again just as quickly.
    “That’s right, honey, you just keep sleeping. It’s better for both of us if you do.” Taris stood up and leaned forward, lifting her off the bed. She was light as a feather. When she nuzzled into his chest, what little relief he had in his pants disappeared, and they tightened again.
    “You unruly bastard,” he cursed. His cock seemed to answer him, twitching against his pants in a violent
thud
.
    She began to stir again, but there was no time to wait for her to go back to sleep. They had to leave now. The blaze in his stomach was growing into an inferno, which meant the danger was coming closer. The nervous anticipation that welled up in him was partly the danger factor, but it was partially because he recognized that feeling.
    Taris was out of the apartment door with doctor in hand. Leaning down, he pulled open the stairwell access door. His long legs took the stairs two at a time. He was on the landing of the ninth floor when he heard the door at the bottom of the stairs kick open. As it did, the heat turned into a violent wave of nausea.
    “Taaaarrriiiisss.”
    The sound of his name stretched out as that heinously melodious and ominously familiar voice floated up the nine stories and stopped him dead in his tracks. He couldn’t resist the urge to look over the railing, and as he did, his body went numb.
    Looking up at him, making his way slowly up the stairs, was a vampire like none other on earth. His methods were violent and abhorrent. His bloodlust was rivaled only by one other person Taris had ever known. Staring up at him from behind a mask of menacing red eye shadow and terrifying leather was Bane.
    “Son of a bitch,” he whispered. “I thought you were dead.”
    “You do know I can