Beta'd by Angelfan984

Chapter 8 - Persuasion

Pushing his hearing into the building, Killian listened as the clerk at the front desk tried to converse with Emma. It seemed useless, as she was only giving one-syllable responses.

"You from around here?" The woman asked in a deep southern drawl, oblivious to her customers' present mood.

"Ah- No, I'm not from anywhere." The longest response to leave her mouth and Killian's head snapped up at her words. Not from anywhere? She had to be from somewhere. He had learned long ago that everyone was from somewhere.

"Oh Darlin, I know times may seem hard right now, but things will get better, you'll see." The woman responded.

With a short nod of her head she grabbed her card key to her room off the desk and hurriedly left the small lobby.

Emma collapsed against the now closed hotel room door. She had thought she would never get away from the well-meaning hotel clerk. Over the years she had dealt with tons of well meaning folks, but when it came to push and shove they were the first to vacate her life. That lesson had been taught to her at a very young age. And it was also a lesson she had let slip from her thoughts when it came to Killian. What was it about him that had ensnared her? She tossed the thought out with a snort; he was now a part of her past.

As soon as he had heard Emma break free from the conversation she had been having, he slipped into the hotel. With a brisk stride he breezed past the hotel clerk like he belonged in the building. All the woman did was stare, her mouth hanging open slightly. It was a typical reaction to his looks, unfortunately.

He tracked Emma down the dimly lit hallway until she reached her room; she slipped inside and closed the door quickly behind her. Daylight would be coming soon, so he would have to take cover in this hotel and wait for evening. He hoped Emma didn't decide to leave during the day, because he wouldn't be able to follow. With that thought he pulled out his cell and sent a quick text message to his squire to put a guard outside of the hotel, ready to follow any blonde woman that left.

As he was approaching the room he knew she was in, a man came out of a nearby room. His gaze darted away from him and Killian's dark hunter senses went on alert. A daimon. This changed everything, now he had to get Emma to let him in the room. There would be no silently watching her until she was safely out of the area. Where there was one demon there would be others.

He pinned the daimon to the wall and turned him into a shower of dust before he even got out a squeak, the ice bucket he had been holding fell to the floor. She would be safe if she stayed in her room and left just before dark. But his rash actions would alert any other daimons in the building that a Dark Hunter was nearby.

Zephyra pulled her sharp nail down Gregory's bare chest, "I understand loss." She purred. The blood started to well up along the path her nail traced. Her eyes flicked up to his before she brought her finger to her mouth and licked the blood off. "It is the betrayal I don't understand." She added using her finger to bring his gaze up to hers.

"I-I'm sorry! It won't happen again, I promise." He cried out pain filling his voice. Rage filling his non-existent soul. The pain he felt now would be paid in full to Hook and his new female interest. Gregory imagined the things he would do to that blonde beauty while Hook watched helplessly. The thought curved his lips into a sinister smile.

Zephyra hissed, "Oh is this fun for you too? I can extend you pain." She informed him as she dragged all five of her fingers across his chest. A gasp of pain left him and the last thing he heard was her laugh before the light faded from the room and everything went silent.

A soft knock sounded on the door as she stepped out of the bathroom, drying her hair with the coarse towel. They were nothing like the lush soft towels from Killian's hotel. Which brought to mind what he would look like drying off from a shower. Hair wet and a trail of water following his collar bone and down his chest. Irresistible. Her tongue could follow that water down. Another knock, this one slightly more insistent, brought her out of her erotic thoughts.

She grimaced inwardly, she would not think about him any more. A dream, it was all just a dream, she tried to tell herself. Maybe someday she would believe it. Flipping the towel over the back of the small chair next to the small table she went to check the peephole on the door. An old habit she had picked up in all her years of bounty hunting. She seriously did not want to be on the wrong side of a door opened without checking first. It had only taken once and she had barely made it out alive.

Rising slightly to her tippy toes she closed her left eye tightly and focused her right on the hole. "Oh crap." She whispered when she saw Killian on the other side of the door. "Oh no, no, no." She said backing away from the door. This could not be happening. How in the hell had he found her?

"I know you're there Emma, just open the door." He sighed, and she could imagine him standing on the other side of the door, waiting for her to open it.

Emma shook her head no in rejection of the idea of letting him into her small space, forgetting for a moment that he couldn't see her head moving. "No." She meant for it to come out strong and commanding, but it was more of a breath of air.

"Emma. The sun will be up soon and this door at the end of the hall is going to let in some very uncomfortable light, please just let me in." He pleaded.

She didn't remember seeing a door, but it wasn't like she could say no to that. What was she supposed to say, 'sorry buddy but you are going to burn to death, because I'm too much of a chicken shit to let you in my room'? Because obviously she was going to throw herself at him the moment she saw him, the uncontrollable female that she was. Right, she almost laughed. If there was one thing she knew how to deal with it was a charming man. With a defeated sigh she reached for the door handle and only paused a moment before swinging the door open before she could stop herself.

Killian stood in the doorway taking in her wet appearance. Granted he knew she had been in the shower, he had heard the water running. It had done damage to his self-control and it had taken everything he had not to forcefully open the door and join her. Emma's eyebrows rose in question followed by a slight tilt to her head when he remained planted in the same spot he had been in when she opened the door. "Well?" She gestured to the room behind her. "Do you need an invitation or something?"

"I—no." He shook his head a rueful smile tilting up the corners of his mouth. Stepping into the room he shut the door behind him without taking his eyes off of her. "Thank you." He added softly.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"You left and I made a promise to protect you." Killian told her.

"I do not need protecting. I already told you that. Besides you were just going to dump me off on one of your female friends, so what's the big deal?"

"Jealous, love?" He purred as he took a single step towards her. He could smell the citrus of the hotel shampoo from the short distance that was now between them.

"What? Of course not!" Emma sputtered, "I just know when I'm not wanted. And being pawned off on someone else definitely equates to being not wanted." What was she saying? Oh my god, the words coming out of her mouth were like verbal diarrhea. Next thing she would be doing would be crying or telling him her sob story.

"Och lass, of course I want you," he took another step closer, closing the small space between them, the palm of his hand brushed her cheek lightly, "that is the problem. Because I want you, I've put you in danger, and for that I am sorry."

"You want me?" She asked dumbly. Instead of answering he lowered his mouth to hers without warning, and her body wrapped itself around him returning to him all the sensations he was creating in her.

He couldn't hold himself back anymore. She was safe now, away from his city, he could let himself taste her just this once. Get her out of his system. He pulled her to him fully, her soft breasts flush against his leather vest, his hand brushed along her lower back making contact with the soft flesh beneath her shirt. A soft moan left her at his first touch and it ignited the flames within him. Tugging on her bottom lip he broke the contact of their mouths kissed along her jawline and down to her exposed collarbone. "Gods do I." He finally responded as he made his way back to claim her mouth in another fiery kiss.

Emma's hands roamed down his leather clad back before restlessly running back up to his shoulders and pushing his jacket off. It made a heavy thud as it hit the ground at his feet and then his arms were around her again and he was edging her backwards into the room. She couldn't believe she was doing this, so much for handling his charm. But it felt so right, so unbelievably good. The back of her knees hit the bed and they tumbled in a mass of legs and arms onto the soft mattress.

Killian ended up half on top of her. Unable to stop himself he pressed the hard length of him against her thigh, unconsciously trying to relieve some of the built up pressure. Then he was kissing her jaw again traveling past her pulse, the temptation to bite her grew each time he did so. It was becoming a dark desire to taste her in all ways. He didn't know why he craved all of her when he hadn't felt this way with anyone else. Opening his mouth he ran his tongue across one of his elongated fangs and then his tongue darted out to lick her pulse. Emma moaned low in her throat and bared her throat more for him, giving him easier access as if sensing his need. But there was no way she could; hell he had never even had this particular need before.

The feelings she was getting from him were strong. And the longer he spent licking and kissing her neck the more she wanted him to just be a little rougher. So when she felt his teeth lightly graze her neck she arched into him, urging him on another uncontrollable moan escaped her lips but she was beyond caring. "Please." She begged, not sure what exactly she was asking for, but knowing she wanted it all the same. Again she felt his teeth graze her followed quickly by a soft brush of his tongue.

Shame and disgust filled him at what he was contemplating doing. In his hundreds of years of life he had never once heard of another Dark hunter biting a human. It just wasn't something that was done. It was against the Dark hunters creed in every sense of the word. He pulled back from her neck slightly and closed his eyes trying to get his breathing under control.

"What's wrong?" Emma asked trying to angle her head to view his face. He had pulled away and stilled, and although she could still feel him against her and knew it wasn't a lack of wanting her, she wasn't sure what had caused him to stop. Killian kept his eyes closed and shook his head once in a non-answer. She attempted to wiggle out from under him and his hooked hand came down on the bed next to her caging her in.

"Emma, stay still." Killian commanded his voice barely restrained, but his teeth were retracted and his breathing was almost under control. In a minute he would be able to move fully away from her, but at the moment he just couldn't bring himself to move away from the warmth of her body. "Give me a minute, love."

Anger at herself flipped her stomach; of course the charming guy would get her practically in bed and then drop her while she still wanted more. Wasn't that how it was supposed to go? Love them then leave them. Or get them sent to prison. She knew better. "Get off of me." She pushed at him her anger building. "Now!"

He was off of her in a second. His shuttered gaze fell on her and her heart clenched in her chest. Then he turned from her and grabbed his jacket off of the floor, he tugged it on quickly. "Let me explain-" he started and she held up her hand to stop him, she didn't want to hear any of his pathetic excuses. She had heard them all.

"I don't want to hear it." She told him sitting up against the headboard her knees pulled tightly to her chest. "I know you have to stay here until the sun goes back down, but you can do it in that chair over there. And then you can get out of my life and get back to yours and hunting demons or whatever they are and I will get back to mine." She told him, not stopping to take a breath in her instructions.

"Emma—"

"No." She replied cutting him off a hand rose to stop him from saying more. She wouldn't be persuaded again.

Killian sat down in the chair reluctantly and she could see his jaw tick from where she sat. He dropped his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, allowing her an opportunity to study him. "Lass, I can feel you watching me." He told her, his eyes still closed.

Emma remained silent, stubborn in her refusal to talk.

"I do want you. But I almost lost control. If there is one thing that I can not do—it is lose control." Killian said his eyes coming open and meeting hers across the small space between them.

"Don't worry about it." Emma brushed off his words even though they made her heart clench painfully. "It would have only been sex anyways right?" She added nonchalantly, not wanting how she felt to affect her wording. Her eyes were cast down at her knees, not wanting to see his reaction. She heard him sigh but didn't look back up.

He could tell that she didn't mean it. Almost as though he could read her every emotion. Although he had only known her for a short while, it was as though he knew her almost as well as he knew himself. But he would let her tell her lie; it would be better that way. Less hurt when they both moved on.

"You'll need to leave before dark. There are daimons in the motel and they will be free to leave at dark. If you leave an hour before dark it will give you enough of a head start that if they were tracking you that they wouldn't be able to follow. To stay safe you will have to stay out of the big easy. If they know you are there they will come for you." Killian told her, deciding that if she were away from him she would be safer. If she just stayed away from the city nothing would harm her, and she would be free to live a normal life, a life completely free of danger. "Do you understand?"

"I do." She replied curtly as she climbed off the bed and grabbed her bag off of the floor. "I think I'll leave now. Uh—Thanks for everything and have a great life." Emma told him over her shoulder as she headed out the door, resolved to not look behind her.

A/N ~ I finally broke through the wall and freed my muse... and I have the exact direction of this story. I knew the general outline but making it happen was a little tricky, so I hope you enjoy the next few chapters as it fully unrolls. ^.^ Let me know what you think! It seriously makes me write more. It helps to know that even one person is reading and enjoying the story. Thank you for reading!