by C. D. Gorri
Not him, though. Aleksei was nothing like those thick-necked thugs. Time slowed down and his silver gaze bore into mine. My breath caught in my chest at the heat I saw in that unwavering stare.
That smoldering look and his oh-so-tender touch caught me off guard. Tiny electric bolts of pleasure raced through my veins as he bent his head and pressed my face to his neck.
I breathed in his expensive cologne, surprised myself by catching a whiff of something spicy and altogether delicious beneath it. The fragrance was intensely masculine and somehow, it beckoned me.
“Relax, little one, I have you now,” his voice was a soft whisper against the cradle of my neck.
I trembled in his arms, not from the cold, but from his warm breath. That warmth and the way his words tickled my ear surprised me. Aleksei held me close in an embrace that was positively intimate, and soon I felt his open mouth close around my bruised neck in a move that was more kiss than bite.
Then I felt it, his sharp, needle-like incisors punctured my skin. There was pain, but it was brief, followed quickly by heat. So much heat. After a long, drawn-out moment, I could finally move, and I moaned out loud, clutching his shoulders as pleasure raced through my body. It started with my core, then spread, filling every inch of my being.
We were both breathing heavily when he lifted his head. I stared at his red-tinted mouth first, then at his silver eyes.
“Rest now, little one. I’ve got you,” his husky voice filled me with pleasure.
Eyes blazing, he traced a line from my eyebrow to my chin, and I swear I’d never seen anyone look at me quite like that. I wanted to say something, anything, but words were beyond me. Then it didn’t matter anymore what I would or could not say.
Blackness swallowed me.
1
CHAPTER 1
Aleksei
“Vladek the Merciless is a fucking thorn in our side,” Klaus grunted.
“Do you have to call him by that fucking idiotic nickname?” I replied.
Klaus snorted. Of course, when he used the idiot’s moniker it was meant as more of an insult. The Vampire in question had started out as a minor competitor and something of a minor annoyance about fifty years or so ago.
He was never big enough to garner my interest or concern. Till now, it seemed the asshole had suddenly grown a set of balls. Too bad he set his sights on coming after me and mine.
“What did Princess Ana say?”
“She was pissed as hell, Klaus. She expected her shipment and instead received a fake bearing my symbol.”
“That bastard had the audacity to use your royal seal? Where the fuck did he get it?”
“A forger, I assume,” I shrugged.
Vladek was going to discover sooner than later that I was not an easy mark. I was the grandson of the first Aleksei Delov. His namesake and the heir to his legacy.
“You’ve only just taken the throne as Knyaz,” Klaus sputtered.
The head of my guard was obviously furious. But he was right. As the newly crowned Prince or Knyaz of my Clan, the last thing I needed was something or someone to jeopardize my position.
Over the past few months, I’d alternately defended my right to ascend and battled challengers to my title left and right. Those who survived a challenge by my mercy, pledged loyalty and made restitution as was the law.
The others were buried in various undisclosed locations by Ivan, my right hand, and Klaus, my blood brother. The two of them had been with me longer than anyone else, though I now ruled a Clan of over five-hundred adult Vampires and was head of a major global conglomerate with many of them in corporate positions of power.
Together we had amassed quite the fortune. My reputation in business was respected, but I had earned that with Klaus and Ivan by my side. They’d helped me work to grow my business to the best of its kind.
Now Timeless Possessions was under attack. Just one of many companies under Sitio Global, this act of aggression was personal. For this company was my first and also my favorite. The hunt, tracking down various antiquities, holding history in my hands were some of the few pleasures I still found in this world filled with so much ignorance, waste, and hatred.
“Vladek made a mistake going after me,” I growled and crumpled the receipt the dockmaster faxed to me in my fist.
Stealing from a Knyaz was punishable by death without trial. I was within my rights to seek revenge. But I had to find the items he stole first.
“Did the Princess give you a deadline?” Klaus asked.
“You know Ana,” I snorted.
Princess Ana de Medici was the leader of a very large Vampire Clan, living just across the river in Manhattan. Her numbers tripled mine and war with them would be decidedly unpleasant. To say the least.
“Well, we know the artifact arrived. It was picked up. Then a group of Werewolves hit it as soon as it left Port Jersey,” Klaus said, “that’s when our little psychic got to it.”
I couldn’t help but admire the work of the female who’d caused Vladek’s plans to be upended. Imagine being outmaneuvered by a normal? It would be funny if I didn’t need the damn artifact to appease Ana and to redeem my reputation before the whispers got worse. To a man in my position, even a hint of doubt could cost me my life.
“I think I hear something this way,” Klaus pointed, but I was not inclined to follow.
No. That way was wrong. A tingling sensation worked its way up my spine. Every extra Vampire sense was on high alert.
“Stop,” I said and closed my eyes.
Close now. I was very close. Sifting through the various smells, I looked for the one I sought among the trash, defecation, and general despair that hung in the frigid air of this part of Newark. Anticipation hummed through my veins, and I could feel myself loosening the tight grip I had on my control.
So very close now.
Everything was riding on me finding this female. My Clan was small, but it was important to the Sanguinem Council. That particular Vampiric consortium owed most of its fortune to my business endeavors. But there were whispers in the air of deceivers, upstarts, and a general unpleasantness among the members. And it all boiled down to one name. Vladek.
Rumor had it he was pulling the strings of one elder seated on the Council. I should leave. Claim my independence, but the House Delov had pledged loyalty before I came in to power, and I would honor the wishes of my forebears. And yet, this was an offense I could not let go.
The stink of fear and hopelessness invaded my nostrils, and I took shallow breaths as I hunted. Klaus’s booted steps echoed behind me, and I knew he would watch my back as I sought her. The one person who could help me end this.
The streets were ugly in this part of town. Thugs and gang members used it as their personal playground, but I paid no mind to the gun toting hustlers.
Normals slinging drugs were not my concern. The more violent offenders, however, the ones that raped, murdered, and hurt the innocent, their blood called out to me. I wanted to take it from them. To end their miserable little lives. But I had not been that kind of Vampire for centuries. Still, I knew they were there, and I was not the only monster roaming that night.
“Later,” I told Klaus. I could feel my blood brother sensing what I did, but we had no time to play hero. Not then. We had other things to do, and I sensed I was closing in.
My chest vibrated with the force of my growl. The vicious side of my nature had been at the forefront for too long since I’d been in the company of other Vampires with little time in the normal world the past few months.
Taking over the Clan, ascending to my title of Knyaz as my grandfather willed, was not as easy as it sounded. Now, I had to fight to keep my position and my reputation. The looks I was getting as I rushed down the crowded streets near Newark Penn Station were wary at best.
They’d done a good job, cleaning things up in the area. The whole Beautify New Jersey concept seemed to be working for the good people of the city council. Of course, that didn’t matter to
those of us who thrived on the fringes of what was considered civilized society.
As I drew closer to my target, the streets became less polished. Trash cans overflowed and the homeless and despondent sat in cardboard boxes huddled tight against the bitter air. One look in my direction and they averted their eyes.
Even those less fortunate were aware that predators walked in their midst. That’s what I was alright. Klaus too. Predators. Cunning, agile, and royally fucking pissed off.
Vladek had gone too far attacking my business and forging my seal, and there was going to be hell to pay. But first, I needed to find the artifact he’d stolen from me. And to do that, I needed to find the someone who stole it from him.
Unfortunately, that asshole’s fucking thugs were busy tracking the very same someone I sought. I knew I was one step behind them and that infuriated me. The stink of unleashed Werewolf was in the air. Fucking hell. That could prove fatal for the normal we were out to locate.
The woman, a human named Carina Martin, was nothing special on paper. At least, not on the dossier my team of detectives sent. Of course, her photo was intriguing. Her Spanish heritage was evident in her golden-brown eyes, tanned skin, and thick, curly hair.
Though my blood was Russian, I had a soft spot for Whiskey, not Vodka. Her eyes reminded me of the 1950 bottle of Macallan single cask I had on reserve for special occasions back at my estate.
Carina Martin had a troublesome past. The female with the whiskey-colored eyes was orphaned as a baby and sent to live in a series of foster homes, one worse than the other. I hardly made it through the reports of abuse and neglect without wanting to kill something.
Fucking parasites claimed to want to help children who’d suffered the greatest loss, the tragedy of losing their parents, only to use them as a means to an end. A tiny monthly check from the government that was supposed to go towards caring for the tiny ones they’d promised to raise.
Unfortunately, that was rarely the case. Those who gamed the system at the expense of others deserved to be treated in kind. But that was for another day, and I pushed back my anger to focus on finding her now.
So many monsters in the world. Still, Carina was special for other reasons besides her tragic past. Based on various accounts from the streets, she was something of a psychic and a major pain in the ass for the low-lives and thugs who plagued the less fortunate.
Her most recent project proved that. Imagine a normal stealing a truck belonging to Vladimir the Merciless. Odd for a little normal, psychic or not, to attack a man rumored to be as dangerous as he.
Not to mention myself. But I doubted she was even aware of me or my connection to that shipment. If she was then her actions were even more brazen than I’d thought, and I couldn’t help but admire her hutzpah.
Just thinking his name brought me to murderous rage. He’d stolen my shipment, was trying to ruin my reputation among not only my best clients, but the inner circles of the Council as well. Fucking rat bastard.
If someone was hitting Vladek where it hurt, I wanted in on it. Especially after what that sonofabitch was trying to pull. He had the unmitigated gall to send a fake to my most important client with my seal. Princess Ana had not been amused.
I knew I had to make things right, and that bastard had to be taken down. If this little human was going to give it a try, I was certainly Vampire enough to join her. After she led me to my artifact.
But all my thoughts stopped and my entire body froze in place like a statue. My heart pounded heavily inside my chest and breathing became a chore. A ferocious growl tore from my lips and I turned towards an alley where the stink of Werewolf was still fresh.
“What is it?” Klaus asked.
Truth was, I had no idea. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. The stench of Wolf, fresh spilled blood, and terror filled the air, but with it was something else. I was oblivious to everything but that one elusive fragrance. It was dark and heady, tantalizingly unique. It seemed to tie me up in knots and I was incapable of movement.
“Moy Knyaz?” Klaus’ voice had my eyes snapping to his and my lip pulled back in a snarl.
“Call for the rest of the guard and hunt the Werewolves who did this. Go now,” I commanded and watched as my blood brother bowed, then turned to sniff the air.
I knew he would follow the stink of Werewolf, and I trusted him to act accordingly. I just needed him away from here. Away from her. This was it. I had found her and my control was hanging by a thread.
I turned and walked into the dark alley located not far from the Prudential Center, and my eyes zeroed in on the still form lying on the cold floor. I was stunned. A million emotions flitted through me and all I could think was I had no idea when I began this trek that she was going to be more important to me than I could have ever imagined.
They were gone already, but I trusted Klaus to pick up their scent and hunt them down. Vladek’s fucking attack dogs had done a number on her. The coppery tinge of blood filled the air. I breathed deep and suddenly my fangs descended.
Bloody fucking hell. My senses were all fucked up. My heart pounded heavily inside my chest, pulse racing as it hadn’t done in a century or more, and my dick chose this moment to go hard in my pants.
What the fuck was happening to me? My nerves twitched, and I hissed and pressed myself against the cold brick wall. I could not risk going near her until I had myself under control. Cock throbbing, thunder roared in my head, and I was fucking salivating.
Moya krov’ pesnya.
The words resounded in my brain, and I gasped. It was nothing more than a tale. An ancient myth among my Clan. A story Grandfather Aleksei had told me long ago.
Moya krov’ pesnya. My blood song.
Could it be true? It had been a century since I last visited Saint Petersburg, and yet my Russian roots were as strong now as the day I’d turned.
Vampirism was my heritage. It was my gift to give to another. One other. Moya krov’ pesnya. Though I never thought to meet her.
“Moya krov’ pesnya,” I said it aloud this time and conviction ran through me.
The old tales were true. She was mine. A human whose blood was designed specifically to seduce me, an immortal, into creating a svyaz or permanent bond between us.
These things were not to be taken lightly. I knew this, and yet I wanted her with everything I was. I longed to join with her, to turn her. It was like a burning, pulsating need within me.
The old ones, the ancient Vampires who kept the stories of our kind, believed more than anything that these myths were true. And here she was, proving them right. I’d found her. My own blood song.
She was a gift, a blessing. Or so I’d always believed, and yet, I was not ready for it. I had so many things to do. To fix my standing with the council, appease Ana, hunt Vladek, and make my Clan strong enough to protect her.
Fuck. I had no time to do any of that. She was here. Now. I pushed aside all of my own petty thoughts and feelings. They did not matter right then. Taking the chance, I moved cautiously forward.
Her blood made a red puddle beneath her, and I trembled in my rage. But she was not dead. Not yet. Her suffering was almost too much to bear, and I struggled to breathe normally.
Bruises marred her delicate skin. Their claws and teeth had ravaged her. I wanted to roar my rage and tear down the entire city looking for the animals that hurt her. That was already in motion. Klaus would obey my command.
I knew that for the fact it was, but still I was inconsolably angry. I had been too late to save her from them. Yes, the Wolves had sealed their own fate, and maybe that would be enough, but right then I didn’t think so.
My fangs refused to withdraw, and my claws elongated, at the ready to defend my female, but the bastards were gone. I closed my eyes, and that was when I heard her struggle to breathe, growing fainter and fainter still. I had no time to lose. I needed to present her with a choice.
“Have you heard of the Ouroboros Society?”
Whatever idiocy
made me speak of that which was more underground ideology than an actual place or group, I had no idea. But it was as honest as I could be at the moment.
I did not want to frighten her more than I had to. She’d already gotten a taste of violence from the dogs in Vladek’s employ. And I meant that literally. Only wannabe mobsters used rogue Werewolves as errand boys.
Fucking coward.
I offered to heal the sweet mortal’s wounds, but giving her my bite was not as easy as it sounded. Her blood called to me. Literally. I feared once it touched my lips, I’d succumb to bloodlust and consume every drop of her sweet life’s essence.
The burning need to fill her with my own blood, to bond us permanently roared to life, and I had to fight to control myself. I would never harm her, never take against her will, but yes, I wanted to perform the exchange. The svyaz which would tie us for eternity. Only sanity stopped me, and the sound of her faint heartbeat growing stronger as the healing agents of my saliva and venom worked to close her wounds.
Cradling Carina safely in my arms, I used my supernatural speed to whisk us back towards where Klaus and I had left my black Mercedes. He would find another way home, this I knew as I placed her gently in the car.
The taste of her blood was still on my tongue and, gods forgive me, I wanted more. Thirst and desire burned inside of me, but she was weak, unconscious, and I would never ever take advantage of the situation.
I needed her whole, alive, and completely well. Her skin felt warmer now than it had when I first lifted her slight weight and I was relieved I had the ability to help her. The sound of her heartbeat returning to its former strength pressed my own to thud gratefully inside my chest. She would recover. She had to.
The drive back to my estate passed in a blur as I navigated back streets and alleys until we hit the highway. I stepped on the gas pedal of my Mercedes AMG GT, pushing it to the floor.